After Zero Wing's team swiftly cleared the perimeter of the rock giants' gathering point, the news spread like wildfire to every major superpower.
"Thirty minutes to finish off the perimeter rock giants? How is that even possible!"
"They swept the perimeter in one wave? Aren't they only fifty people? How can they have that much damage output?"
"I really underestimated Zero Wing. The team's damage output is insane — at this rate, the rock giants' gathering point might actually fall."
Upon receiving the news, every major faction could do nothing but express their shock. The rock giants' gathering point was widely considered one of the most troublesome gathering points among all the superpowers. The rock giants' armor-piercing ability made simple defense and blocking extremely risky — it could easily result in the main tank getting killed.
So when fighting rock giants, players had to dodge as much as possible. But the rock giants were massive, with wide attack ranges, forcing even main tanks to make huge evasive movements. Even experts who had reached the Micro Step level couldn't conserve much more stamina with their larger dodges — at the moment of evasion, they still had to exert maximum effort, the only difference being the precision and distance of the movement.
Small evasive movements, on the other hand, were completely ineffective against the rock giants' attacks. So in terms of stamina consumption, Micro Step experts didn't save that much more than ordinary experts.
For heavily armored main tanks, making large evasive movements for a short time wasn't an issue. The problem was that the rock giants had high defense and massive HP pools, requiring considerable time to take down. If the main tank couldn't hold on, they'd have to start over from the beginning…
The time wasted during those attempts was one thing, but the real issue was that player deaths meant losing levels. Once they dropped too far, they might not be able to equip their current weapons and armor anymore, rendering them useless as combat force. Simply put, this wasn't like a team Dungeon — the number of deaths a main tank could afford was extremely limited.
While other factions were still digesting the news, Nine Dragons Emperor's face had already turned iron-green as he dealt with the situation at his own gathering point.
First, Zero Wing had snatched the Half-Beastman gathering point right out from under him, making all his efforts for nothing. Now, before his side had even finished clearing the perimeter of a new gathering point, Zero Wing had gone and cleared the perimeter of the rock giants' gathering point — the very one no major faction had been willing to touch.
If word of this reached the guild elders, his reputation would absolutely plummet.
"Pavilion Master, Zero Wing's team has only just finished the perimeter. We have a perfect window to organize a strike team and disrupt them. Even if we can't wipe them out, we can at least prevent them from capturing a second gathering point," Long Wu suggested.
The difference between a gathering point's perimeter and its interior was enormous. The perimeter had the highest number of monsters, but the ones inside were far more powerful. In the case of the rock giants' gathering point, everything inside was a Great Lord-level rock giant or above. There might not be as many, but clearing them was far more difficult.
It would take them roughly thirty minutes to gather enough manpower and get there. For Zero Wing, that amount of time likely wouldn't even be enough to reach the guarding boss — they had a real opportunity to sabotage Zero Wing's assault plan.
"No. We can't afford to take that risk," Nine Dragons Emperor said. "Don't forget they have the Teleportation Gate. They can teleport anywhere on Thunder Island. If we send people to disrupt them, Zero Wing might just turn around and come after our boss instead. By the time our people get back, the battle would likely be over already. Besides, is the rock giants' gathering point really that easy to capture? Don't forget there's a High Great Lord-level Primordial species in there."
Although he hated to admit it, Nine Dragons Emperor knew they genuinely couldn't afford to provoke Zero Wing's team anymore. "Concentrate all of our forces here. We're going to clear this gathering point with everything we've got."
"I'll get on it right away."
It was only after Nine Dragons Emperor's reminder that Long Wu recalled Zero Wing's killer advantage. That very advantage was what had caused them to suffer defeat after defeat, to the point where they hadn't captured a single gathering point.
Meanwhile, Azure Sky Guild's Guild Master Cangtian Duxing watched with a grim expression.
"How did it come to this?" He stared at Zero Wing beginning its assault on the rock giants' interior zone, and a wave of regret washed over him.
Previously, Feng Qianyu had placed great value on Zero Wing, offering generous benefits and even investing a massive amount of Credit Points. That had made him deeply unhappy. After all, his guild was a genuine first-rate guild and one that was wholly dedicated to developing maritime power.
And yet, in Feng Qianyu's eyes, he couldn't even compare to a mere Zero Wing Guild.
That was why he had chosen to join Nine Dragons Emperor's side — not only would he gain a temporary teleportation quota to Thunder Island, but Nine Dragons Emperor's faction would also pour enormous funds into the Azure Sky Guild, allowing it to grow even stronger.