The NPC army continuously repelled the waves of orcs and monsters surging up along the narrow battlefield paths, the corpses piling up on both sides of the road forming a literal wall of bodies.
"They're too strong! I feel like this NPC squad could capture an ordinary guild town."
"Exactly! Look at those third-tier NPCs — they can repel a level seventy-plus Great Lord with a single strike. Their individual combat power against players is probably even stronger than high-tier Great Lords of the same level. With over a dozen third-tier NPCs, even if they can't capture a guild town, they could wipe all of us out."
"Black Flame really is Black Flame — truly the number one player of the Star Moon Kingdom. Just his ability to command so many NPCs could easily annihilate an army of ten thousand. No wonder the major superpowers can't do anything about Zero Wing."
……
Members of various guilds and adventuring parties doing quests nearby couldn't help but swallow hard as they watched the scene unfold.
Second-tier NPCs of the same level were already significantly stronger than second-tier players. Only top experts decked out in several pieces of Epic equipment could hold their own — and as for second-tier NPCs twenty or more levels above them, players could only await their deaths, let alone third-tier NPCs, who would likely need just a few strikes to finish off a second-tier player, and a single hit for those without strong survival abilities.
Against their first-tier classes, the NPCs could wipe out whole groups in the blink of an eye.
"Well, the Black Water Guild is in for a world of hurt now."
"Yeah! The Black Water Guild and Zero Wing have clashed plenty of times in the Beastman Empire. Running into Black Flame now — they're as good as dead."
Members of the major guilds couldn't help but glance toward the Black Water Guild, still entangled with orcs in the distance. A hint of sympathy flickered in their eyes.
The Black Water Guild and Zero Wing had fought on sight whenever they crossed paths in the wilderness. Although the Black Water Guild now had over a thousand players on hand, in front of the Sword King Black Flame, they meant nothing — especially when he was leading a squad of level eighty high-tier NPCs. Even escape seemed like a pipe dream.
"Why is Black Flame here?!"
"It's over — we're dead!"
The Black Water Guild members stared fixedly at Shi Feng standing in the middle of the road, their eyes filled with terror.
There was no one who knew the name Black Flame better than they did — they had experienced it firsthand. He was truly unstoppable, cutting through armies and slaughtering players as if it were child's play. Facing a thousand-man elite party like theirs, no matter how good their equipment was, a head-on clash would end with Black Flame single-handedly wiping them out.
The only thing they could do was run…
To anyone else, this would sound like a joke — over a thousand elite players unable to take down a single top-tier player, each of them needing only a single strike to finish off. Even top experts had to take detours around him. How could they possibly not be a match for one person?
But they knew all too well that this could actually happen. Black Flame commanded several large-scale destructive magics, moved faster than a ghost, and had the strength to go toe-to-toe with legendary monsters. Dealing with them would be nothing more than one or two sword strikes per person. On top of all that, he could summon powerful creatures.
Possessing the wide-area destructive power of a mage, the agility of a melee fighter, the ability to summon powerful creatures like a Summoner, and a level of skill at the very pinnacle of the Divine Realm — one could say he was a one-man army of a thousand, and that would not be an exaggeration.
"Damn it — why is he here?" Yi Xiao Du Zang stared at Shi Feng clad in his black cloak, his face turning ashen.
Looking at Shi Feng now, all the bravado he once had was gone. Charging at him in a desperate last stand — he knew that would be nothing but futile, even counterproductive, only hastening his own death.
He couldn't understand why Shi Feng had come to such a backwater place. The Beastman Empire was vast — why would a powerhouse like Shi Feng come to its outer regions? Even if he were on a quest or grinding, he should have been headed for the empire's core territories.
It had taken him considerable effort to finally secure a foothold in the Black Water Guild. He had elevated the former members of his Heaven Burial Guild, giving them a chance to push into the Black Water Guild's first-line army and raise his own standing within the guild. And now, of all times, he ran into Shi Feng.