Gilbart stood quietly in the guild hall, eyes shut. His towering three-meter frame dwarfed even the other NPCs, like a guardian deity—no enemy could approach the guild banner within half a step.
"Is this the hero the Guild Master talked about?" Seisha Rose gazed at Gilbart, a flicker of surprise stirring in her heart. "What an overwhelming presence!"
The Tier 3 NPCs she had seen before were terrifyingly powerful as well, but none had ever given her this kind of suffocating pressure.
The Gilbart before her didn't feel like an NPC at all—more like an ancient beast.
"Damn it! How does Zero Wing Guild still have a Tier 3 NPC guarding the place?"
Qi Yitao watched Gilbart inside the guild hall through a demon's eyes, his expression cold beyond description.
To keep those Tier 3 NPC adventurers from coming to reinforce the defense, he had already committed every surviving high-grade Great Lord demonic beast to desperately pin them down, with several Great Lord-level demons lurking nearby, waiting for their chance.
That was the only reason thirty Tier 3 NPC adventurers had been held up halfway.
He hadn't expected Zero Wing to still have a trump card hidden at this point, granting Stone Forest Town a brief reprieve.
Even a Tier 2 NPC who excelled at melee combat couldn't block a Lord-level demon, let alone the current players. Probably only those top experts who activated burst skills could hold their own—but preventing a Lord-level demon from striking the guild banner was utterly impossible.
Only a Tier 3 melee NPC could fully suppress a Lord-level demon.
One strike!
Just one strike.
The guild banner would be completely destroyed, and Stone Forest Town would become a monster town for good.
"Barely clinging to life! If thirty Tier 3 NPCs were defending together, I might actually have to expend some effort—but trying to hold the guild banner with a single Tier 3 NPC? Overestimating yourself!" Qi Yitao sneered, then began manipulating the dark gray crystal ball in his hands, chanting a spell.
Immediately, more than a dozen figures hidden within the monster army burst forth, leaving nothing but afterimages in their wake.
By the time Zero Wing's people noticed, those dozen-plus figures had already broken through the perimeter and materialized all around the guild hall, smashing through walls and charging toward the guild banner one by one.
And the true identities of these figures were demons—though unlike the demons that had attacked the guild banner before, this batch was far more powerful.
"No good—there are Great Lord-level demons hiding among them! We have to stop them!" Seisha Rose, who was guarding inside the hall, quickly activated her Dark Power and cast her Tier 1 skill, Shadow Vines.
Immediately, hundreds of dark green vines erupted from beneath Seisha Rose's feet, transforming into streaks of black shadows that shot toward the charging demons.
"Futile struggling!" Qi Yitao said dismissively.
These sixteen demons were the strongest forces remaining—eleven were high-grade Lords, and five were Great Lords. Even a group of Tier 3 NPCs would struggle against such power, let alone a Tier 1 Warlock like Seisha Rose.
The Shadow Vines lashing out were all dodged effortlessly—not a single one even came close.
"Incredible reaction speed!" Seisha Rose was startled.
Her Shadow Vines had all been aimed at the demons' blind spots, yet the demons had seemed to know in advance, not only evading the bindings perfectly but also closing the distance in one swift rush.
"Finish it!"
Through the demon's eyes, Qi Yitao watched the guild banner, now less than thirty yards away, already seeing the dawn of victory.
Sixteen high-grade Lord-or-above demons attacking the guild banner from multiple directions—even two or three Tier 3 melee NPCs working together couldn't hold them back.
"Is this really it?" Seisha Rose watched the demons bearing down on the guild banner, her eyes filled with unwillingness.
She had worked so hard to develop Stone Forest Town to this point, only for it to be lost just like this...
The sixteen demons drew ever closer to the guild banner.
Twenty yards... fifteen yards...
The players' attacks inside the hall were completely ineffective—the demons didn't even bother dodging anymore, focusing solely on charging at the guild banner.
With less than ten yards remaining, Gilbart, who had kept his eyes closed the entire time, suddenly opened them and let out a thunderous roar that even those outside the guild hall could hear crystal clear.