"Is Zero Wing planning to besiege a city?"
"They've lost their minds! Zero Wing has completely lost its mind! This is Ancient Rock City — how dare they?"
Shi Feng's proclamation left the players in Ancient Rock City momentarily unable to believe what they were hearing. Some even suspected that Zero Wing was simply joking.
Ancient Rock City had been continuously fortified by the Sacred Heart's Hand. Setting aside the fact that its city defenses far surpassed those of other guild cities, the forces garrisoned within Ancient Rock City alone were enough to give every major superpower pause — and that was before accounting for the dark factions from over a dozen surrounding kingdoms and empires that had congregated here.
Among these dark factions were not only dark guilds but also numerous dark NPC forces that had taken up residence. These powers had paid an enormous price to establish a foothold in Ancient Rock City, cultivating it painstakingly and treating it as their very base of operations.
To attack Ancient Rock City meant making enemies of all these dark factions at once.
What few people realized was that each of these dark guilds and dark NPC forces had two or three — sometimes even more — fourth-tier Class holders defending the city. Factor in the Miracle Guild, which had recently moved in, and the total number of fourth-tier Class holders guarding Ancient Rock City was likely close to two hundred.
That many fourth-tier Class holders would be enough to conquer an entire kingdom, let alone defend a city that was merely a single step away from becoming a main-city-level guild city.
It wasn't just the ordinary players of Ancient Rock City who were stunned. Beast Emperor, who had been conducting research in the City Lord's Mansion, also received the news and couldn't help but crush the research instrument in his hand, a cold glint flickering through his eyes.
"Black Flame, you've got quite the nerve! I haven't gone out of my way to provoke you lately, and instead it's gone to your head!"
"Lord Beast Emperor, there are reports that Black Flame has already advanced to a fifth-tier Class. Should we notify the Saint Envoy immediately?"
A level 152 fourth-tier Berserker who had come to deliver the report looked at Beast Emperor, whose body was still wrapped in bandages, and couldn't help but ask.
News of Shi Feng's advancement to a fifth-tier Class had long since spread across every major power in the Divine Realm. Faced with the existence of a fifth-tier Class holder, even the Sacred Heart's Hand had to take it seriously.
Beast Emperor swept all the items on the desk aside, glanced at Fury Blood Berserker — the president of the Sacred Heart's Hand standing before him — and smiled faintly. "No need. Gather your people and come with me. I want to see for myself what gives Black Flame the audacity to act so shamelessly in my Ancient Rock City!"
With that, Beast Emperor turned and strode out. A hulking figure clad entirely in black, runic patterns flashing across his body, who had been standing guard in the research lab, silently fell in behind him.
"Yes, sir!"
Fury Blood Berserker quickly followed behind the hulking man.
Within less than three minutes, many players and adventuring parties in Ancient Rock City who had no desire to get involved had already begun evacuating. Only a handful of daring players and a large number of dark players remained.
Simultaneously, players from the various dark adventuring parties and dark guilds within Ancient Rock City had gathered atop the city gate walls, gazing down at the flood of fleeing players below.
"Cowards! Zero Wing only sent a few dozen people, and they've all run scared!"
"Zero Wing's reputation is huge, so running is understandable. Besides, there's the fifth-tier Black Flame — not running would be the truly crazy move."
"These people are idiots! Zero Wing relied on their powerful city defenses and all sorts of strategic weapons just to hold on to what they had. Now they've only just advanced to a fifth-tier Class and they think they can come and siege a city? Today is the day we show Zero Wing exactly how powerful we dark guilds really are!"
The dark players gathered at the gate all glared up at the Crimson Dragon Flying Ship overhead, their expressions a mix of fury and excitement.
Zero Wing's reputation had grown immensely in recent times, and with Shi Feng's advancement to a fifth-tier Class, there was a growing sense that Zero Wing was poised to become the number one guild in the entire Divine Realm.
If this had been anywhere else, the top players of these dark guilds would indeed have feared Shi Feng as a fifth-tier Class holder. But here, within Ancient Rock City, protected by the city's reinforced magic array — even facing a fifth-tier Shi Feng, their nearly two hundred fourth-tier Class holders could certainly put up a fight.
And that was without mentioning the massive number of Sacred Sculpture monsters surrounding Ancient Rock City, along with the two upper-tier Legendary-class Sacred Sculpture Soul Reapers.
Even if they couldn't kill Shi Feng, a fifth-tier powerhouse, they could at least make sure the rest of Zero Wing paid dearly!