The sudden news of the Tower of the Dark Witch being captured caught the dark players who had been planning a sneak attack completely off guard.
"The Tower of the Dark Witch is gone? What on earth happened?" Mo Wudao frowned as he watched Zero Wing struggling to hold their ground. "Wasn't Shen Yin's Shadow Claw supposed to be at the Tower?"
The Tower of the Dark Witch was a crucial stronghold for the dark players against Zero Wing, and it also served as a teleportation point that allowed them to operate throughout the southeastern region of the Beastman Empire — it was the very foundation of their control over that area.
Losing the Tower of the Dark Witch meant that it would be extremely difficult for the dark players to continue operating in the southeastern region of the Beastman Empire. After all, the empire was vast, and moving around without a teleportation point was incredibly inconvenient.
That was why Dark Soul and the other dark factions always kept a number of experts stationed at the Tower. When he learned that Zero Wing had dispatched a thousand-man squad there, he had even specifically sent Shen Yin's Shadow Claw — and now he was being told that the Tower was gone.
It was as if the system were playing a cruel joke on him.
Shen Yin had brought three hundred experts with him. Even without the help of other dark players, relying on the Tower's own defenses and NPCs, it was not a place that a mere thousand people could take.
Mo Wudao immediately contacted Shen Yin, wanting to demand an explanation for how he had managed to lose the Tower. This would make it even harder for Dark Soul to target Zero Wing's Silver Wing Town and could seriously impact Dark Soul's future plans.
Meanwhile, the various superpowers were also investigating what had happened at the Tower. Suddenly, all the major factions across the Beastman Empire sprang into action, mobilizing every resource they had to learn the truth. Some even offered substantial bounties, desperate to find out what Zero Wing had done to breach a dark stronghold that they themselves had never been able to conquer.
The generous bounties quickly attracted the dark players who had fled the Tower, and one by one, they sold their recordings of the battle to the various factions.
After watching the footage, every faction fell completely silent.
The battle at the Tower, while not as breathtaking as the one at Ancient Rock City, had demonstrated terrifying combat power and frightening potential.
Six Hell Chariots had effortlessly slaughtered over two thousand dark players. Their devastating destructive power was like that of mobile magic towers, and the subsequent battle against the Evil Dragon had been even more jaw-dropping.
An Evil Dragon — a Tier 3 Primordial — had been unable to deal any significant damage to the Hell Chariots...
Such terrifying instruments of war were unheard of even among the superpowers. Combining devastating offensive power with heaven-defying defense, they were nothing short of nightmares on the battlefield.
Of course, there were ways to deal with them — but the cost was simply too high.
Take Tier 4 Large Destruction Magic Scrolls, for example. Attacks wielding Tier 4 power would certainly be effective against the Hell Chariots, but the question was — how effective? And how many scrolls would it take to destroy one?
Tier 4 magic scrolls were extremely difficult to obtain even for superpowers, let alone Large Destruction magic scrolls. These were the hidden reserves of their guilds — treasures they would never use lightly.
Moreover, the most terrifying aspect of the Hell Chariots was not their battlefield performance, but the fact that they were capable of field combat.
Over two thousand dark experts had been easily wiped out by just six Hell Chariots. If a thousand-man ambush were to take place in the open field, a single Hell Chariot would likely be enough to handle it. Ambushing Zero Wing's teams in the field to weaken them would become extremely difficult to execute, while small-scale raids simply couldn't deal any real damage to Zero Wing's foundation.
"So this is the hidden card that Black Flame had up his sleeve? Truly impressive!" Azure Phoenix watched the battle footage from the Tower of the Dark Witch, feeling a pang of envy.
These six Hell Chariots were practically six miniature magic towers. No wonder Zero Wing hadn't needed Dragon Phoenix Pavilion to intervene.
One could say that with the Hell Chariots, Zero Wing now had the foundation to establish itself in the Beastman Empire.
Although the superpowers coveted Secret Stone Fortress and were even prepared to join forces against Zero Wing if they couldn't obtain it, the forces they could bring to bear in such an alliance would still be quite limited. They couldn't actually send massive armies to directly assault Zero Wing — after all, Silver Wing Town's defenses were no joke, and even if they did manage to take it, the cost would be one that even the most powerful superpowers would be unwilling to bear.
Their only options were to target Zero Wing members in the field or wage a war of attrition through economic pressure.
Now, with the appearance of the Hell Chariots, targeting Zero Wing in the open field had become extremely difficult for the superpowers. As for economic warfare — there was no need to even discuss it. Zero Wing had Silver Wing Town, Stone Forest Town, and Zero Wing City, three solid bases. As long as those three locations remained secure, how could their income possibly be insufficient?
With that, the superpowers no longer had any means to deal with Zero Wing at minimal cost, and they would naturally give up on trying to bring the guild down. After all, the superpowers were far from united — each had their own agenda. Only if they truly harbored a deep hatred for Zero Wing, or if some superpower had gone completely insane, would they recklessly throw everything they had against the guild.
"Damn it! How the hell did Zero Wing get their hands on these chariots?" Jiulong Huang scowled at the intelligence report in his hands. "Send people to investigate immediately. I want to find a way to acquire these chariots no matter what, and I want to know where they came from — spare no expense!"
He was genuinely jealous of the Hell Chariots. Seeing them was like having a door opened to an entirely new world. Perhaps cultivating expert players was important, but in the future struggle for the Divine Realm, chariots would absolutely be a devastating weapon.
"Understood." Long Wu nodded, bowed, and withdrew.
Jiulong Huang was not the only one thinking this way. Almost every faction that had seen the battle footage from the Tower had come to the same conclusion. The appearance of the Hell Chariots had effectively declared that the era of victory through sheer numbers was over. And so, nearly all the major factions simultaneously ordered their subordinates to investigate everything related to the Hell Chariots.
Meanwhile, the Zero Wing members who had been fighting in Ancient Rock City were all extremely excited. They hadn't expected their guild to silently capture a dark stronghold — it was absolutely incredible. This was a stronghold that even the superpowers had been powerless against. And with the Tower of the Dark Witch gone, operating around Silver Wing Town would become much easier from now on.
"Did the Guild Master succeed?" Watercolor Rose asked with a slight smile as she noticed the system notification. "In that case, let's start withdrawing."
With the Tower of the Dark Witch gone, it was as if one of Black Water's and Beast Emperor's arms had been severed in their fight against Zero Wing. Without the threat of the dark players, Silver Wing Town's development would return to its peak. And with Secret Stone Fortress on top of that, they might very well be able to rival Black Water in the Beastman Empire going forward.
And on the battlefield, as Watercolor Rose issued the order to retreat, the Zero Wing members began an orderly withdrawal.
"Boss, it looks like Zero Wing is pulling back. Should we pursue?" Lie Feng Zhuihun glanced at the many ruined buildings throughout Ancient Rock City and quietly asked Beast Emperor.