"A hundred-plus Tier 3 class experts! Is this the strength of a top-tier guild?"
"That female Tier 3 Priest is way too strong — she's wearing a full set of 105-level Gold-grade equipment on top of three Epic-grade weapons. It's absolutely ridiculous. Her base stats alone would probably crush Purple Lightning Rakshasa!"
The crowd from the Shelter stared at the members of the Crimson Emperor Guild, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
Shock. Nothing but shock.
Setting aside the terrifying pressure brought by over a hundred Tier 3 professionals, the weapons and equipment worn by these Crimson Emperor members alone were enough to blind everyone in Aurora Shelter.
After all, in the entirety of Aurora Shelter, never mind 105-level Mythril and Gold-grade equipment — even 105-level gear in general was exceedingly rare, and most of it was still Iron Rank.
Yet the worst equipment on the Crimson Emperor members was 105-level Mythril gear…
And the Tier 3 female Swordsman Jun Ya, witnessing this scene, was also deeply shaken. She was finally beginning to understand why Purple Lightning Rakshasa held the Crimson Emperor Guild in such high regard.
Aurora Shelter ranked among the top ten Shelters in the entire Dark Cavern, gathering a large number of experts — but compared to the Crimson Emperor Guild before her, it was nothing more than a firefly beside the moon.
Never mind the number of Tier 3 professionals — the gap in combat proficiency alone was enough to breed despair. She could tell that even the weakest among these experts had reached the Flowing Water Realm, and among them were plenty whose combat level exceeded her own. As for the leading female Priest, she couldn't gauge her depth at all, but her instincts told her that this woman's strength was far beyond hers — she probably wouldn't last more than three or five exchanges.
It had to be said that everything was just as Purple Lightning Rakshasa had described. Even if Qingshuang and the others from Zero Wing showed up, it would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket. The Crimson Emperor members alone could probably handle the Bronze Gate this time.
Before long, the Crimson Emperor Guild members had walked up to Jun Ya and her group. Over a hundred Tier 3 experts stood there in silence, like a torrent of steel, making everyone nearby feel as though they couldn't breathe.
"Jun Ya, let me introduce you. This is Huan Yu, the Vice Guild Master of the Crimson Emperor Guild. I owe it all to Vice Guild Master Huan Yu that I completed that Epic-grade quest — otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to level up so quickly." Purple Lightning Rakshasa introduced her with great respect. "If Vice Guild Master Huan Yu and her people step in this time, holding the Bronze Gate won't be a problem at all."
She had personally experienced Huan Yu's power. With just her own strength, she had suppressed a Superior Grand Lord of the same level to the point of helplessness. If not for the fact that Superior Grand Lords above level one hundred had absurdly high HP, she suspected Huan Yu could have soloed one.
This was the kind of strength she had always been pursuing. Compared to Qingshuang and the others from Zero Wing, the two were simply not in the same dimension.
"Hello! I'm Jun Ya, captain of Aurora Shelter's first adventurer team." Jun Ya introduced herself as well. "Everyone here should already know the situation regarding this Bronze Gate contest. On behalf of all of Aurora Shelter's adventurer teams, I'd like to invite you to help our Shelter defend the Bronze Gate. In return, Aurora Shelter is willing to offer thirty percent of the slots to the Crimson Emperor Guild. Would you and your people be willing, Vice Guild Master Huan Yu?"
The greatest function of the Bronze Gate was to connect the Dark Cavern with the outside world, allowing up to one thousand players per day to travel between the two realms. This held enormous appeal for both the players inside the Dark Cavern and those outside — and it had also become Aurora Shelter's primary source of income.
Unfortunately, outside forces had somehow obtained the key to the Bronze Gate's control authority, granting them the right to contest it.
Fortunately, it was Aurora Shelter that had originally activated the Bronze Gate, giving them a dominant position. The contest key could only send up to five thousand people to seize the Gate, whereas Aurora Shelter faced no such numerical limit — they could send as many defenders as they wanted.
Jun Ya had originally been fairly confident in their ability to hold it, but after seeing the Crimson Emperor Guild, she understood.
Aurora Shelter's hundred-plus Tier 3 professionals were a joke in front of a superpower. As for the Tier 2 professionals, their only real contribution would be draining the stamina of enemy Tier 3 fighters — but if their own Tier 3 line couldn't hold, no amount of Tier 2 bodies would make a difference. The gap between Tier 2 and Tier 3 was simply too vast…
After Jun Ya finished speaking, she watched Huan Yu with a somewhat tense expression.
Thirty percent was close to the absolute limit that their various adventurer teams were willing to offer. After all, the Shelter still needed to develop — beyond the entry and exit slots they needed for themselves, they also had to sell slots to earn the resources and gold coins required for the Shelter's growth.
Whether the Shelter could be held this time depended in large part on whether the Crimson Emperor Guild was willing to help.
Currently, they weren't the only Shelter with a portal connecting the two locations — it was just that Aurora Shelter's Bronze Gate had been the first to have its key discovered by outside superpowers, forcing monthly contest battles with fixed timing.
In other words, the Crimson Emperor Guild could only help one Shelter at a time. They wouldn't lack for Bronze Gate slots in the future.
Just as Jun Ya and Purple Lightning Rakshasa quietly watched Huan Yu, awaiting her response, Huan Yu surprisingly gave no reply to Jun Ya. Instead, her gaze had drifted to a figure some distance behind Jun Ya — Shi Feng and his group, who had already turned to leave. A strange look flickered across her face.
"Vice Guild Master Huan Yu, is something wrong with those people?" Purple Lightning Rakshasa noticed the change in Huan Yu's expression and glanced curiously toward Shi Feng's group.
"It's nothing. I just thought those people looked a bit familiar, but they couldn't possibly be here." Huan Yu shook her head, dismissing it as overthinking.
According to their guild's intelligence, Shi Feng and his group were currently on the Western Continent. There was no way they would have come to a backwater little world like this to compete for resources.
"Oh, you mean them? They're Zero Wing experts from the First Shelter who probably came here to trade with us." Jun Ya also looked toward Shi Feng's group, now over three hundred yards away and walking off. "I previously invited Qingshuang, Zero Wing's Vice Guild Master from the First Shelter, hoping to unite all of Zero Wing's Tier 3 experts to defend the Bronze Gate together. Unfortunately, Vice Guild Master Qingshuang got tied up with something — otherwise, they could have been a meaningful reinforcement for the defense."
"The First Shelter's Zero Wing only has Qingshuang and a few others worth mentioning. The rest of their Tier 3 professionals are barely worth a footnote. If they actually joined this defense, they'd be lucky to survive." Purple Lightning Rakshasa glanced at Shi Feng's group dismissively. "Zero Wing's Tier 3 experts changing the outcome of this battle? That's completely impossible."
Tier 3 professionals were impressive in ordinary circumstances, but this Bronze Gate defense was anything but ordinary. Average Tier 3 experts weren't that much stronger than top Tier 2 fighters.
"That's not necessarily true." Huan Yu shook her head, a flicker of admiration in her eyes. "If it's that particular person from Zero Wing, then maybe it really could make a difference this time."
"Zero Wing has someone like that?" Jun Ya asked, suddenly curious.
She was quite familiar with the First Shelter's Zero Wing. Their strongest fighter was Qingshuang, but Qingshuang was only somewhat stronger than Purple Lightning Rakshasa at best — she probably wouldn't last ten exchanges against Huan Yu.
It was hard to imagine that Zero Wing had any expert capable of shifting the outcome of this defense — let alone one that could earn Huan Yu's admiration.
Purple Lightning Rakshasa wore a look of complete disbelief as well.
Huan Yu looked at the thoroughly skeptical Jun Ya and Purple Lightning Rakshasa and smiled.
"Of course they do! And that person is Zero Wing's current Guild Master — Black Flame!"