After the major guilds received word that Zero Wing had dispatched ten thousand elites into the Stone Claw Mountains, they moved into action one after another.
While no single guild had secretly sent many elites and experts, when ten or more major guilds pooled their forces together, the resulting number was truly terrifying.
Within the Stone Claw Mountains, the combined total of elites and experts from all the guilds was only slightly fewer than the Star River Alliance's forces—over seventy thousand in all. If every guild committed their full strength, the numbers would far surpass the combined elite members of the Star River Alliance and Snake of the Body.
"Ten thousand elites? That's not even enough to pick our teeth with."
"Zero Wing was obviously just going through the motions—they don't have the guts to fight with everything they've got. We're closest to the entrance, so their equipment will be ours to claim."
Zero Wing had made a name for themselves in the Star Moon Kingdom for their exceptional equipment.
A typical guild's elite members were around level thirty-one or thirty-two, and the weapons and armor they wore were generally level twenty-five Iron Rank and Mythril Rank gear. Level thirty Iron Rank equipment was already rare—only a tiny fraction of elite players managed to get their hands on level twenty-five Gold-grade weapons and armor. Level thirty Mythril Rank gear was considered a luxury, and as for level thirty Gold-grade equipment, that was the current pinnacle—only core members had any hope of obtaining it.
After all, Gold-grade equipment only dropped at a slightly higher rate from large-scale team Dungeons.
But teams capable of clearing level thirty hard-mode large-scale team Dungeons were exceedingly few. Even a first-rate guild couldn't produce more than a handful of hundred-person teams for the job, which was exactly why Gold-grade equipment was so scarce.
And what about Zero Wing's elites?
The worst among them wore level twenty-five Mythril Rank gear. Many carried one or two pieces of level twenty-five Gold-grade equipment, and some even had level thirty Mythril Rank gear. That wasn't even counting Zero Wing's core members and main raid team.
Taking out two or three Zero Wing elites was comparable to the loot you'd get from killing a level thirty-plus Leader monster. But Leader monsters were incredibly rare and difficult to deal with. Even a twenty-man elite squad would have to sacrifice quite a few members to bring down a level thirty-plus Leader, not to mention the risk of a total wipeout. Elite players, on the other hand, were a different story. Field Leader monsters grew stronger as more players engaged them, but elite players didn't—making them far easier to handle.
As the major guilds quietly moved into position, quite a few players who had been stationed at favorable terrain started grumbling.
"Tell me, why is our luck always so terrible? They get to go feast on meat while we can't even get a sip of broth. What's the point of sitting in this godforsaken place? The Zero Wing members probably won't even make it here before they're all dead."
"Management said this time we can keep half the spoils from kills we make ourselves—before it was only a quarter. I still haven't gotten my hands on a single piece of level thirty Gold-grade equipment. What a shame those bastards get all the good stuff."
"If I'd known, I never would have swapped positions with him. Then I could be out there killing a few Zero Wing members and upgrading my gear."
……
Standing atop the mountain peak, the two-thousand-strong elite corps watched the distant firelight of the battle unfolding below, each of them green with envy, practically drooling.
Meanwhile, beneath the same peak, Shi Feng had already led the main raid team up using Concealment Scrolls and Invisibility Potions. With both the scrolls and the potions, even a Ranger's Hawk Eye skill couldn't detect them, so sneaking into position had been effortless.
"Guild Leader, I used Hawk Eye to take a look. There should be about two thousand of them up there, and around twenty of them have really good gear—they're definitely experts," Beifeng Diaodiao reported through the party chat.
"Twenty-something expert players?" Shi Feng couldn't help but smile. "They really aren't taking this mountain seriously at all. Huo Wu, you and your group rush the healers first. Everyone else, watch your positioning and try to bunch them up before using AoE skills."
Shi Feng completely disregarded the two thousand elites.
The main raid team's equipment was among the very best in the entire Divine Realm. In terms of base stats, the gap between the two sides was at least twofold—and that was before accounting for the difference in combat technique.
The Black God Legion alone could have wiped out the two thousand elites with ease.
The only real threat came from those twenty-something experts. To be called an expert these days, you had to have cleared at least the fourth floor of the Trial Tower. Unfortunately for them, every member of Zero Wing's main raid team had cleared at least the fifth floor. Without a moment's hesitation, Shi Feng gave the order to charge.
On the mountaintop, the Rangers keeping watch on their surroundings had no idea that Shi Feng and his team had already closed in.
"Guild Leader, I'm in position," Huo Wu whispered through the party chat, stationed not far from the enemy's healer group.