Chapter 15: Better to Take the Straight Path Than to Seek Through Crooked Ways (Please Subscribe and Recommend!)

Neutral Map — Red Rain Woodlands.

In a vast forest drenched by crimson rain, a thousand-strong third-tier raid party was locked in a frenzied battle against over ten thousand Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts, all level 120 and above.

The weakest among these Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts were level 121 Leaders, while the strongest reached level 126 High-Tier Great Lords. The clash between both sides resembled two armies colliding head-on.

On the players' side, Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights wielding shields held the very front line, while the Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts countered with Iron-Armored Savage Beasts — renowned for their defense — serving as living battering rams that crashed into the Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights in relentless waves. As soon as one wave finished ramming, the next wave of Iron-Armored Savage Beasts charged in, cycling endlessly.

Meanwhile, from the rear, Giant-Force Savage Beasts hoisted massive crimson tree trunks — each as hard as solid rock — and hurled them toward the players, turning the entire sky blood-red…

The spectacle was terrifying. Even third-tier players accustomed to combat felt a chill of dread, not daring to face these monsters head-on.

Yet this thousand-man raid party treated the storm of attacks as though they were nothing more than a light breeze.

"Everyone's drawn enough of them! Magic squads, move out!"

At the head of the formation, a fierce-looking woman with long hair surveyed the ever-growing horde of Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts and issued her command.

Instantly, over a hundred magic-class players stationed at the center began chanting complex incantations in unison. With every syllable, the ambient mana grew denser, more volatile, and more devastating.

In less than four seconds, the ground began to quake violently. Massive fissures spread across a five-hundred-yard radius, swallowing the Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts whole and shattering their offensive in the blink of an eye.

"Swordsmen and Berserkers, cut through! Rangers and Assassins, prioritize taking out the Savage Beast leaders directing the fight!"

The long-haired woman surveyed the now-fragmented horde and ordered the entire party to split up, focusing on hunting down the Savage Beast commanders first.

Then she moved like a demon of the night. In the blink of an eye, she appeared behind a massive beast — seven or eight meters tall, its level a staggering 126, a High-Tier Great Lord.

She flicked her dagger, and the air itself seemed to twist. A dozen streaks of cold light lanced forward and pierced straight through the Bloodthirsty Great Lord's heart.

Damage numbers of over five hundred thousand each erupted above the beast's head, stripping away nearly eight million of its total health in a single burst.

Then her figure blurred. In what seemed like a teleportation, she dissolved into the surrounding darkness, as though night itself consumed everything around the Great Lord. When she reformed in front of it—

Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!

Blood sprayed from all four of the Bloodthirsty Great Lord's limbs. Its mobility plummeted, and its health drained at a terrifying rate of six to seven hundred thousand per second. Even the three level-124 Great Lord-tier Bloodthirsty Guards nearby bled profusely, their movements freezing as though they'd been pinned in place…

In under fifteen minutes of combat, the Bloodthirsty Great Lord and its three guards collapsed to the ground, thoroughly dead.

On the battlefield, the ten-thousand-strong horde of Bloodthirsty Savage Beasts had been all but wiped out. Loot scattered across the ground, yet not a single player moved to pick anything up. Instead, they advanced in orderly formation deeper into the Red Rain Woodlands, leaving only a few Assassin squads behind to clean up.

A level-119 female knight suddenly approached the long-haired woman leading the command team and whispered, "Vice President Han Guang, Zero Wing just sent word — they're willing to sell the Fourth-Tier job change data."

"Oh? He's actually willing to sell now?" Han Guang Shi Ying looked at Yu Bai with mild surprise.

In her view, the Fourth-Tier job change data was unquestionably Shi Feng's single greatest trump card for maintaining his advantage in the Divine Realm. There was no way he would sell any of that information to outsiders.

"Willing, yes — but the asking price is outrageous." Yu Bai's expression was grim, and she deliberately emphasized the word "outrageous."

"Outrageous?" Han Guang Shi Ying smiled faintly. "How much?"

"Five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals." Yu Bai's voice dropped. "Shi Feng clearly has no intention of selling that Fourth-Tier data at all. He just wants to mock us!"

"Five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals — that's one hell of an asking price." Han Guang Shi Ying let out a soft laugh. "I'd say the major superpowers are probably furious with Zero Wing by now. Some might even be willing to make a move against them."

"Without a doubt. Five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals is more than any superpower can afford on their own. If they want that data, their only option is to band together and go to war." Yu Bai nodded.

Asking five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals was treating every major superpower like an easy mark. No self-respecting power would agree to that.

"Fine. Pass along our response to Zero Wing." Han Guang Shi Ying nodded as well, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I'll buy it."

"You'll buy it?!" Yu Bai's eyes went wide, staring at her VP in disbelief. She couldn't help but protest, "Vice President, that's five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals!"

Illusionary Myth could technically afford five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals, but it would take a serious toll on the entire guild. Moreover, Seven Luminaries Crystals had always been designated as a top-priority resource by their superiors — they were absolutely not to be squandered.

"That's right. I'm buying it." Han Guang Shi Ying nodded, then suddenly turned the question back on Yu Bai. "Tell me — do you think Zero Wing is run by idiots?"

Yu Bai considered for a moment. "Probably not. But they're far too arrogant!"

Indeed, Zero Wing's arrogance went bone-deep. They treated every major superpower as though they were utterly irrelevant, as though they had no concept of what it meant to die.

"Then that settles it. Since they're not idiots, they know full well what consequences this will bring." A trace of resentment flickered through Han Guang Shi Ying's eyes. "I despise Zero Wing, but the fact that they've survived this long is far simpler than you or I might assume. Even Lord Odin gave up on killing that Shi Feng — that alone tells you how extraordinary he is."

"But it's still five thousand units of Seven Luminaries Crystals!" Yu Bai couldn't hold back. "The guild will never agree to it."

"Like I said — I'm buying it personally, not asking the guild to foot the bill." Han Guang Shi Ying shook her head. "So we don't need to worry about what the guild thinks."