After Fire Dance finished speaking, Shi Feng fell silent for a long while.
What was going on?
An NPC?
And a Tier 5 NPC at that, along with two Tier 4 NPCs?
According to everything he knew, Plaguefall City had never contained anything like this. It was a completely dead city — a city built from departed souls, where no living creature should exist.
"Guild Master, should we pull back?" Fire Dance asked.
A Tier 4 NPC was one thing. With their numbers and the Ring of Gospel, they might actually stand a chance if they pushed hard enough. But a Tier 5 Sword Saint was something else entirely. That was an existence standing firmly at the very peak of the Divine Realm — not even a kingdom would dare provoke one. Slicing through Tier 3 players would be no easier than chopping vegetables.
Unlike monsters, whose magical skills and combat capabilities were mediocre — relying only on high defense and massive HP — an NPC of the fifth class possessed terrifying combat proficiency. Their fighting technique alone could utterly crush Peak Mastery experts and hold their own against the very top players.
She might not have been able to tell before, but with her level now significantly improved, she could clearly see it: every move this Tier 5 NPC made resembled a combat skill in its own right. Combined with an absolute advantage in stats, killing Tier 3 players would be no more difficult than wringing the neck of a chicken.
To deal with a Tier 5 NPC, you'd need dozens of Tier 4 experts armed to the teeth. Without that, there was virtually no chance.
"No. Stay where you are and wait for me — I'm bringing people over right now," Shi Feng said, shaking his head.
The fragments of Solomon's Sword were the easiest fragments for him to obtain. Any other fragments didn't even come with a lead. Giving up without so much as looking was completely out of the question.
As far as he knew, no player had obtained any fragments of Solomon's Sword yet, which meant they were still findable. Once a player got their hands on one, though, finding the rest would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. The fragments had no mutual resonance — if a player acquired one without publicizing it, nobody would ever track it down.
That was exactly why he was in such a rush to collect Solomon's Sword fragments.
Right now it was still relatively simple. But as player levels climbed higher and higher, completing the set would only grow more difficult. That was why Legendary items were so extraordinarily rare in his previous life — especially weapons. It was just too hard, far beyond what mere effort could achieve. It all came down to luck.
Of course, there was one exception: ancient tomes. Lost ancient tomes.
These consumable items could be used to search for clues, but lost ancient tomes were equally rare, and acquiring them also required a stroke of luck…
In less than two hours, Shi Feng and his group had cleared their way to a small square in Plaguefall City. At the center of the square stood a dried-up fountain, choked with weeds, but faintly glowing magical runes were visible on the ground around it. A dark gray longsword was thrust into the heart of the fountain, and the earth around it had been reduced to a realm of absolute death and silence.
It was clear that without the sealing magic of the array, the influence of this dark gray sword would have been far more devastating.
Standing motionlessly before the fountain were three NPCs. At their head was a one-eyed, red-haired man draped in a snow-white cloak, staring blankly at the longsword resting in the basin of the fountain.
Elwoze (Red-Eyed Sword Saint), Human, Sword Saint, Level: ???, HP: ??????
"Holy crap! A titled Sword Saint!" Shi Feng stared at the one-eyed, red-haired man, feeling a deep sense of unease settle in.
A fifth-class NPC was already an existence at the very pinnacle of the Divine Realm. But one who had earned a title at that tier was like a king among kings — someone who had accomplished miraculous feats. Even other peak Tier 5 monster-class experts wouldn't want to provoke one.
The only beings who could match a titled Sword Saint in combat were heroes of the same rank. But unlike heroes, who relied on overwhelming stat advantages, a titled expert achieved their combat power entirely through terrifying skill and technique. All things considered, players would rather face a Tier 5 hero than a Tier 5 titled powerhouse.
And such a colossal figure was currently standing here, in a Level 120 secret realm like Plaguefall City…
At that moment, forget about Shi Feng feeling uneasy — everyone present had drawn a sharp breath. A figure of this magnitude was someone you wouldn't even encounter in an entire empire. If they became an enemy, you were as good as dead. You might as well delete your character and start over.