Though Shi Feng's words were soft, they filled every veteran Zero Wing member present — Fire Dance, Ke Le, Ziyan Liuyun, Yan Tianxing, and the others — with an indescribable sense of reassurance and excitement.
"Guild Leader, the situation is really unfavorable for us right now. Their aerial forces are too strong." Fang Shihan glanced at the Tier 5 commander across the field who wasn't rushing to attack, and at the thirty-odd high-grade airships behind him poised to strike, her tone tinged with helplessness. "It'll take at least another ten minutes before the fortress's defensive magic barrier can be reactivated. I'm afraid we can't hold out that long…"
Shi Feng's arrival could certainly tie down the enemy's Tier 5 commander, but they still faced hundreds of Tier 4 NPCs, not to mention hundreds of Tier 3 and Tier 4 flying mounts.
Their own Tier 4 combatants numbered fewer than a hundred in total. Even with the fortress's magic array assisting — canceling out the Tier 5 NPC's magic domain and suppressing the Tier 4 NPCs' control over magic elements — they were still at an overwhelming disadvantage.
And right now, the commander of Steel Lion Fortress, the 200-level Tier 4 Sky Knight Sepper, had less than half his HP left, despite constant healing from multiple Tier 3 and Tier 4 healers. Without that sustained recovery, he would have been beaten to death long ago by the twenty-odd 180-level Tier 4 NPCs swarming him…
"Don't worry," Shi Feng said, looking at Fang Shihan and glancing up at the Azure Thunder airship with a smile. "When it comes to aerial power, we're no slouches ourselves."
"No slouches?"
Fang Shihan looked at the Azure Thunder airship, then back at the enemy, still unconvinced.
She knew perfectly well how powerful Iron Rank airships were — they could go toe-to-toe with a Tier 5 class. But the enemy's Tier 5 strength was far from weak either. Especially behind that Tier 5 commander, dozens of Tier 4 caster NPCs were already working together on a summoning spell, preparing to call forth a powerful monster.
A summoning spell cast jointly by dozens of Tier 4 casters could only produce something extraordinary. It was entirely possible — even likely — that they could summon a Tier 5 Sacred Domain monster.
The moment Fang Shihan finished speaking, the outside-world Tier 4 casters completed their incantation. A colossal bone dragon spanning over five hundred meters materialized in the sky, blotting out the clouds and the sun. It was every bit as imposing as the Azure Thunder airship — its wingspan alone reached over a thousand meters.
The mere appearance of this bone dragon, coupled with its furious roar, sent a shockwave through the battlefield that left every Tier 3 combatant reeling with dizziness.
Ancient Bone Dragon. Undead creature. Sacred Domain. Level 180. HP: 200,000,000,000.
The moment the Ancient Bone Dragon's stats appeared, every player inside Steel Lion Fortress gasped in horror. Even the countless players across the Twin Towers Kingdom who were watching the battle on the official forums were struck dumb — quite a few in the taverns spilled their drinks all over themselves without even noticing.
A Tier 5 Sacred Domain Legendary-grade monster. Actual data like this was something no player in the Twin Towers Kingdom had ever witnessed before.
Despair was all they could feel. Even the many Tier 4 experts present could manage nothing more than bitter smiles.
Leaving aside the mind-boggling attack range that came with its enormous size, the dragon's two hundred billion HP alone was enough to crush any Tier 4 fighter's will. The Ancient Bone Dragon's combat recovery was 2% every five seconds — that meant forty billion HP restored every five seconds. Combined with its Tier 5 defenses, even a hundred Tier 4 fighters going all-out wouldn't make its HP budge…
"It's… over…"
"We're all dead for sure…"
The Tier 3 players inside the fortress looked at the bone dragon hanging in the sky like a demon god, and every last shred of fighting spirit drained away.
Shi Feng arriving as a Tier 5 Sword Saint was undoubtedly a massive boost — but the enemy was bringing out something even stronger. Even a Tier 5 Sword Saint like Shi Feng couldn't simultaneously face a Tier 5 NPC and a Tier 5 monster. And that enemy Tier 5 commander was no ordinary foe: he wore a full set of Legendary-grade fragment equipment and wielded a Legendary greatsword. Among Tier 5 NPCs, he would rank among the absolute pinnacle — far beyond what any current Tier 5 player could hope to match.
Fang Shihan and the others wore grim expressions as well.
They hadn't expected the outside-world NPCs to actually summon a genuine Tier 5 Sacred Domain Legendary-grade monster. This was far more powerful than the Nine-Headed World Serpent that the outside-world player army had called forth before.
Those outside-world players hadn't used true summoning magic. They'd employed a mimetic magic array — the same type used for Sacred Beast Descent — which produced not real creatures but magical phantoms. As long as you damaged the magic array enough, the phantom would scatter.
But a real summoned creature was different. Once summoned, it was truly there. Like a Summoner's familiar, it could only be made to vanish by killing it outright — or by killing the summoner themselves.
A mass summoning spell like this had no single designated summoner. Unless every caster was killed, the summoned creature would persist indefinitely, obeying its summoners' commands.
Before anyone could even recover from their despair, the outside-world Tier 5 commander, Ross Fried, waved his hand and pointed toward Steel Lion Fortress: "Charge! Wipe out every last native in this fortress!"
The moment his words fell, the Ancient Bone Dragon at the center, flanked by over thirty high-grade airships and six Bronze Rank airships, unleashed a coordinated assault on Steel Lion Fortress.
The Ancient Bone Dragon cast the Tier 5 spell Infernal Lotus. Crimson flames so scorching they shattered space itself cascaded toward Steel Lion Fortress like a colossal waterfall. Simultaneously, every airship fired — hundreds of beams of annihilation light hammered down on the fortress like rain.
BOOM!
The apocalyptic explosion echoed across a radius of ten thousand yards. The shockwave set the heavens and earth trembling violently within a two- to three-thousand-yard range.
The outside-world NPCs charging Steel Lion Fortress all wore expressions of triumphant joy.
With a hit like that, if the fortress's defensive magic array hadn't been active, every single person inside would have been reduced to ash — nothing left behind.
Unfortunately, not long ago the fortress's defensive barrier had been shattered by a single strike from Commander Ross Fried. There was simply no way to reestablish the barrier in such a short time.
But as the smoke blanketing Steel Lion Fortress gradually cleared, the entire battlefield fell dead silent.
"How is this possible?!"
The outside-world Tier 3 NPCs stared in disbelief.
Steel Lion Fortress had somehow — at some unknown point — formed an enormous magic barrier that had blocked every last attack. Not only had the fortress suffered no casualties, there wasn't even a scratch on its walls…
In that moment, it wasn't just the outside-world Tier 3 NPCs who were stunned. Everyone inside Steel Lion Fortress was equally dumbfounded, utterly at a loss for what had just happened.
But before anyone could fully process what they'd seen, the magic barrier enveloping the fortress suddenly vanished. Six house-sized magic crystal spheres — floating devices — zipped back up to the Azure Thunder airship hovering overhead.
"That defensive magic just now… came from that airship?"
"You've got to be kidding! Is that really an airship?! That was a Tier 5 Sacred Domain monster's Tier 5 destructive spell!"
Every player and NPC in Steel Lion Fortress stood with mouths hanging open, because the Azure Thunder airship before them had shattered every conception they'd ever had of what an airship could do.
A defensive spell that terrifying — this wasn't some airship. This was a flying fortress!
Even Fang Shihan, who knew the full details, was left slack-jawed. She had never imagined that an Iron Rank airship could be this powerful.
Only Shi Feng seemed to take it all in stride.
The Azure Thunder airship was technically just an Iron Rank airship, but the technology packed inside it was incredibly advanced. Its application of magical principles had reached the absolute pinnacle. If not for limitations in construction materials and its power source, it could easily have qualified as a Mythril Rank airship.
"You're done hitting? Now it's my turn!" Shi Feng turned to the outside-world NPC army and waved his hand. "Give them everything we've got!"
The moment Shi Feng finished, the Zero Wing crew inside the Azure Thunder airship — who had been champing at the bit — slammed the engines to full power.
Forty high-grade Magi Elf Cannons, twelve floating magic crystal turrets, and the main cannon charged with Annihilation Thunder all opened fire on the Ancient Bone Dragon below, along with the dozens of airships and numerous flying mounts.
BOOM… BOOM… BOOM…
For a moment the sky turned into divine judgment as countless bolts of lightning and beams of light rained down.
The Ancient Bone Dragon and the outside-world NPCs reacted quickly, activating defensive magic right away.
But aside from the Ancient Bone Dragon's Tier 5 defensive barrier, which held against the barrage, every other defensive barrier — on the airships and flying mounts alike — was instantly pierced. Dozens of flying mounts that were struck plummeted from the sky, crashing into the ground. The high-grade airships that took hits suffered catastrophic armor damage, their mobility crippled — a few more shots would send them spiraling down as scrap.
The Bronze Rank airships fared somewhat better, but even their armor durability had taken a massive hit.
The entire aerial battle ground to a halt. Every combatant stared in disbelief at the Azure Thunder airship hovering overhead.
"That's… that's… way too powerful!"
"Is this Zero Wing's true strength?"
The defenders of Steel Lion Fortress looked at the enemy's aerial forces, then at their own ship, their minds struggling to keep up.
Their aerial power had been at an absolute disadvantage moments ago. Yet now, with just a single Azure Thunder airship, the tide had completely reversed — a reversal so dramatic that no one would believe it if they heard about it.
In the distance, Ke Le stared at the Azure Thunder airship with eyes gleaming, drool nearly spilling from his mouth. He couldn't help asking, "Guild Leader, when can I buy one?"
With an airship like that, he could walk sideways across the Divine Realm. Flying mounts? All obsolete. Piloting a steel behemoth like this was every man's dream!
"There'll be a chance," Shi Feng said, smiling at Ke Le's excitement. "But this thing requires at least ten people to operate. One person can't pilot it alone."
After Shi Feng spoke, every Zero Wing member present lit up with excitement.
If Shi Feng's words meant what they sounded like — that this airship would eventually be available for purchase within the guild, just not right now — then every one of them had a shot at owning such a steel behemoth. One person couldn't afford it? They could pool together. Flying out in one of those would be absolutely legendary.
But just as Shi Feng finished, the commander who had been hovering in the sky without rushing to engage — Ross Fried — turned his head toward Shi Feng. The dismissiveness was gone from his gaze. On his somewhat weathered face, a faint smile appeared.
"You're quite impressive, Chosen One," Ross Fried said, lifting his greatsword and resting it on his shoulder. "Might I have your name?"
"Black Flame," Shi Feng replied calmly.
Black Flame wasn't his real ID, but the name had long since become second nature to him. And the outside world knew only Black Flame, not Night Edge.
"Black Flame?" The commander, who appeared to be in his fifties, nodded. He then introduced himself with notable gravity: "I am Ross Fried, Grand Commander of the Nineteenth Corps of the Divine Realm Expeditionary Army, one of the Holy Grail's Seventeen Stars. From this moment forward, you are worthy of being my enemy!"
As he finished, the pressure radiating from Ross Fried surged dramatically, like an ancient beast awakening from slumber. Even the fortress's magic array — which had been suppressing magic domains — became ineffective against it.
A terrifying magic domain enveloped all of Steel Lion Fortress in an instant. Everyone on the battlefield felt an invisible weight press down on their bodies along with searing heat, as though they had been cast into a scorching hell. For Tier 3 fighters, even wiggling a finger was excruciatingly difficult…
Even Fire Dance, clad in her eight-piece Epic-grade set and wielding a Legendary-grade weapon, felt immense pressure. She could barely squeeze out fifty or sixty percent of her true combat power — a far cry from the 180-level Tier 5 advance commander they'd faced earlier.
"One of the Holy Grail's Seventeen Stars?" Shi Feng's expression turned grave as he regarded Ross Fried.
He had never heard of the Holy Grail's Seventeen Stars, but the Divine Realm Continent had the Sacred Ten — the Ten Great Warriors representing the Temple of War. Rumor had it that each of them wielded demigod-level power and represented the absolute peak of the Divine Realm.
Ross Fried was probably cut from the same cloth. Through his magic domain, Shi Feng could tell that the commander had already grasped a law of the world. His spirit simply hadn't reached Tier 6 yet, and he hadn't forged a divine body — but with a Legendary-grade weapon in hand, he was among the strongest of the demigods.
That said, Ross Fried's formidable magic domain was as good as nonexistent against Shi Feng.
In an instant, Shi Feng activated One Thought, One World. It didn't merely neutralize Ross Fried's magic domain — it even exerted a slight suppressive effect on the commander himself.
"Come, then! Show me what you Chosen Ones are made of!" Ross Fried declared, raising his greatsword and slashing down at Shi Feng.