"What did you say? The Hell Legion has compromised?"
"How is that possible! Those are nearly three hundred Tier 3 experts, and every last one of them is a lunatic!"
As news about the Hell Legion continued to pour into the ears of the various major superpowers, those who received the reports found it utterly incredible.
They had all assumed that Starlight Bastion was as good as finished. Even if it hadn't been captured outright, it would surely have been thrown into utter chaos — because they knew a thing or two about the Hell Legion.
Those people were absolutely insane.
Sure, a dragon guarding the bastion was formidable, but a dragon was still just one creature. Keeping nearly three hundred members of the Hell Legion in check was virtually impossible. These were no ordinary Tier 3 experts, and the Hell Legion was the type that would keep rising from the ashes over and over again, launching attack after attack given even the slightest opening, wearing their opponents down until they simply couldn't hold on any longer.
That was precisely why every major superpower had been so wary of the Hell Legion.
And yet now things had turned out like this.
Forget about launching any assault on Starlight Bastion — there hadn't even been a proper battle. After nothing more than a brief negotiation, the Hell Legion had simply become allies of Starlight Bastion, and without taking a single share of the bastion's equity at that. They seriously wondered whether this was really the same Hell Legion, because none of it lined up with how those people operated.
And because of this news, every major superpower that had been eyeing Starlight Bastion suddenly found itself full of hesitation.
Before, they had been willing to make a move precisely because the Netherworld Empire had shown great interest in Starlight Bastion, and they had planned to tag along for a piece of the pie. But now the Netherworld Empire had changed course entirely, becoming one of the forces jointly defending the bastion — and that was nothing short of a disaster.
The thing was, they didn't need to fear the Divine Tribe. In terms of sheer numbers of Tier 3 experts, the Divine Tribe wasn't much stronger than any single one of them, and combined they could easily crush the Divine Tribe. Moreover, Starlight Bastion was only half-controlled, which worked in their favor.
But with the Netherworld Empire in the mix, causing trouble at Starlight Bastion would be an entirely different matter.
Setting aside the combat strength of that bunch of maniacs from the Hell Legion, their Tier 3 headcount alone was enough to rival several superpowers combined — and there was still a dragon standing guard. How were they supposed to stir up trouble?
Still, the major superpowers weren't quite ready to give up.
Although they knew that getting a slice of the Starlight Bastion pie was no longer realistic, they nevertheless dispatched large numbers of powerful experts to the area to see the situation for themselves.
After all, the stakes involved with Starlight Bastion were enormous, and as long as there was even the faintest sliver of a chance, none of them wanted to let it go.
Meanwhile, at the Magic Silver Mine guarded by the Azure Trading Company, far from Star Valley.
"So the Hell Legion failed too?" Ruan Xiaoqian stared at the subordinate delivering the report, stunned, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Earlier, the fact that Shi Feng had cooperated with the Divine Tribe to raid Starlight Bastion had already been hard enough to wrap her head around.
Then a dragon had appeared out of nowhere at Starlight Bastion.
And now even the Hell Legion — the very force that everyone on the Western Continent feared — had compromised on the matter of Starlight Bastion.
If she hadn't known Shi Feng and his people inside and out, she would have assumed they were some hidden, shadowy superpower lurking within the Western Continent.
But she knew the truth.
Shi Feng and his group had come to the Western Continent with only ten people. There were no other Zero Wing members, not even a single ally.
And yet how much time had passed?
In that short span, Shi Feng and his people had not only established a foothold in the Western Continent but had also secured two powerful allies — and that foothold was none other than Star Valley, the place every major superpower dreamed of controlling. Their rate of development was nothing short of miraculous.