"The Miracle Guild was completely wiped out?!" Jiu Long Huang stared blankly after hearing Feng Qianyu's explanation. "How is that even possible?"
The Miracle Guild was not like other top-tier guilds. Aside from having somewhat weaker legacy inheritances, their overall strength rivaled or even exceeded some super-guilds, to say nothing of the fact that this expedition had been led by Qian Li Wu Ya himself.
Even if another super-power had been fully prepared, facing an army of thirty thousand would have been a grueling battle — let alone completely annihilating that force.
And this was not merely a defeat. It was total annihilation.
If the Miracle Guild's thirty thousand troops had scattered and fled, even several times the manpower would not have been enough to hunt down every last one of them. What ability could Zero Wing possibly possess to pull off something like that?
"Sister Qianyu, you must have seen wrong!" Qing Huang blurted, unwilling to believe it. "I could accept that their thirty thousand troops were destroyed, but Qian Li Wu Ya is the Miracle Guild's vice guild master. Between his own strength and the life-saving items the guild gave him, killing him should have been nearly impossible. How could he possibly have been taken out?"
As a member of one of the super-powers, she was well aware of just how tightly the major organizations protected their vice guild masters and other senior leaders. Before the Divine Realm, incidents where guild masters or vice guild masters of super-guilds had been assassinated were not exactly unheard of in the virtual gaming world.
But as each faction's systems had grown more refined, the protections around guild leadership had become increasingly robust.
Take, for instance, the Miracle Guild's earlier attempt to ambush Feng Qianyu. The Miracle Guild might have been able to kill the core members of her main raid team, but eliminating Feng Qianyu herself was virtually impossible. If her core team was on the verge of being wiped out, she could always activate the life-saving items the guild had provided and escape from Barbarian God Island. Losing core team members would certainly hurt future development, but that was a far cry from losing the leader.
Jiu Long Huang nodded in agreement upon hearing Qing Huang's objection, feeling that this news was simply too absurd to be true.
Zero Wing managing to escape the Miracle Guild's encirclement was already an astonishing feat in its own right. No matter how impressive they were, there was no way the situation had actually ended with the Miracle Guild being wiped out.
"I thought I'd misread it too," Feng Qianyu replied, "but I've just confirmed it. The Miracle Guild has already issued a Red Annihilation Decree against Zero Wing. That is their highest-level kill order — no room for negotiation, no quarter given, no matter the cost. Any Zero Wing member caught in the wild is to be slain on sight. If Zero Wing hadn't completely annihilated the Miracle Guild's forces, why would they issue a Red Annihilation Decree?"
"No way! That was thirty thousand troops, with over four hundred Tier 2 experts among them! The Miracle Guild has taken a devastating hit. It's definitely going to throw off all their plans going forward." Qing Huang still could not quite believe it, but the facts were staring her in the face, and she had no choice but to accept them.
The Red Annihilation Decree had appeared before — it was something only deployed when preparing for an all-out war against another super-power. Using it against Zero Wing now meant that something truly catastrophic must have happened to the Miracle Guild for them to be this desperate to wipe Zero Wing off the map.
"Jiu Long Huang, what a shame," Feng Qianyu said, turning to him with a pointed look. "It seems my ally's strength is more than reliable, and my help is no longer needed. If you have nothing else, please see yourself out. I'm not nearly as idle as you — I have plenty of matters to attend to on Thunder Wind Island."
"You—" Jiu Long Huang's temple twitched with fury. He took a moment to compose himself before speaking in a frigid tone: "Feng Qianyu, don't celebrate too early. Zero Wing may have gotten lucky this time, but the Miracle Guild's true terror is something you understand better than I do. Zero Wing has simply pushed itself off a cliff without even realizing it. Just watch — soon enough, Zero Wing will be completely erased from the Divine Realm!"
With that, Jiu Long Huang swept out of the room in a huff, unwilling to stay another instant.
Watching him storm off, Feng Qianyu felt a measure of satisfaction but also understood that Zero Wing's situation had just grown far worse.
At the same time, it was not only Feng Qianyu who had received the news. Every major super-power had learned of the Miracle Guild's annihilation.
"Ha ha ha! This Zero Wing guild is something else! Making Miracle take such a massive loss — even that Qian Li Wu Ya got taken out. Miracle's reputation is in tatters. Let's see if they still dare call themselves the number-one top-tier guild!"
"Who would have thought even Miracle could capsize in a ditch? If they don't handle this properly, they'll never be able to show their face in the Sea of Death again."
"Zero Wing really is something. Taking Miracle down like that puts them in the top five among newly rising guilds, easy."
……
For a time, every major faction was stunned by the news of the Miracle Guild's total defeat. At the same time, many felt a twinge of sympathy for Zero Wing. They had only just begun to flourish — given a bit more time, they might have had a real shot at breaking into the top tier. But now, having truly enraged the Miracle Guild, Zero Wing's future was as good as over.
Under normal circumstances, the super-powers might make moves against certain guilds, but those actions were always restrained — mere skirmishes. Each super-power had far too many matters to deal with to go all-out over minor provocations.
But this was different. Zero Wing had not only annihilated thirty thousand of the Miracle Guild's troops — they had also killed Qian Li Wu Ya, the Miracle Guild's critically important vice guild master. This was a humiliating slap across the face. If the Miracle Guild could not wipe out Zero Wing and reclaim its dignity, it would truly be unable to hold its head up among the super-powers.
Because of this battle, Zero Wing — previously little-known in the Divine Realm — had suddenly become famous. Players in kingdoms and empires far removed from the Star Moon Kingdom had now heard the name Zero Wing.
The Divine Realm was simply too vast!
It dwarfed any virtual game that had come before. Countless events transpired every single day, and no one could possibly keep track of them all. People generally only caught wind of the biggest headlines. But thanks to this incident with the Miracle Guild, Zero Wing had become front-page news across the realm.
Meanwhile, on Garna Island in the Sea of Death.
Shi Feng had spent over two hours sorting through the loot.
The Miracle Guild had brought over thirty thousand people, among whom more than eight thousand were elite players and over four hundred were Tier 2 professionals. The sheer volume of dropped items was staggering.
Shi Feng had not stored everything in his backpack — his inventory space was limited — so he selectively picked up only the noteworthy items and left the common weapons and equipment where they lay.
Even so, he had collected over seven thousand items. Among them were more than five hundred Gold-grade weapons and equipment at Level 50, over a hundred Dark Gold-grade pieces at Level 50, to say nothing of the countless Mithril-grade items…
Just as Shi Feng was passing through a narrow canyon, he spotted a deep crimson crystal orb lying on the ground. Inside the orb, golden flames flickered and blazed, and the fire seemed almost alive — it coalesced into the shape of a small fire dragon.
"A Fire Spirit!" Shi Feng stared at the crystal orb on the ground, disbelief flashing across his eyes.