Dark Night Empire, Thousand Night City.
Though the sky was still bright and several hours remained before nightfall, the city's streets were already packed with players. More than seventy percent of them were Third Order experts at Level 140 or above, yet the faces of these expert players were uniformly tense and grim.
As the border fortresses and cities of the Dark Night Empire fell one after another, the empire's major factions and top players now had no choice but to retreat to the largest southern border city. The number of Third Order experts alone exceeded eight million, while Fourth Order Class users had reached over two hundred—a figure that would have been unthinkable back in the Dark Night capital.
Star Ring Headquarters, Guild Master's Office.
"We won?"
Lu Tiandi stared at the Twin Towers Kingdom intelligence his subordinates had just relayed, his mind momentarily blank.
The outer world's NPC armies had suddenly launched offensives against several kingdoms—exactly what Lu Tiandi had most wanted to see. After all, with the NPC forces of the Twin Towers Kingdom and the Star Moon Kingdom alone, there was simply no way they could defeat the outer world's NPC armies.
Kingdoms almost never had Fifth Order NPCs stationed within their borders, yet the outer world's NPC armies all came with Fifth Order NPCs leading them.
In his view, even if Shi Feng was a Fifth Order Class user, holding a fortress was nothing more than a fantasy. The outer world's NPC armies possessed a vast array of tactics and considerable Fifth Order combat strength. The entire Twin Towers Kingdom falling was a foregone conclusion.
After all, even the great empires of the Eastern Continent—only the Fire Dragon Empire among the Four Ancient Kingdoms had truly repelled the outer world's NPC invasion. And even then, it had cost them two fortresses before they managed to halt the advance, after which both sides gradually shifted to competing for territory in the open fields.
Yet Zero Wing had not only held Steel Lion Fortress, but also Thunder Gorge City and Red Thorn Fortress, completely blocking the outer world's NPC armies at the border. It was practically a fairy tale.
The guild masters of the five top-tier guilds standing nearby were equally dumbfounded.
They had never expected Zero Wing to actually pull it off. Without any support from their five major guilds, Zero Wing had single-handedly repelled assaults on three locations and even inflicted significant damage on the outer world's NPC armies.
The guilds and independent players who had participated in those battles were now poised to earn a massive windfall from the Twin Towers Kingdom. Without air interference, killing Third Order NPCs on the ground was far easier…
"Guild Master, according to our detailed intelligence, Zero Wing's Bai Qingxue and Shui Se Qiang Wei have both advanced to Fifth Order Classes. The reason they held all three locations comes down to Zero Wing's Azure Thunder Flying Ship—that single vessel single-handedly suppressed the entire outer world's air forces," Yi Kui said from the side, his voice tinged with envy. "Without that flying ship, even with Fifth Order Class users standing guard, Zero Wing could never have held!"
"The Azure Thunder Flying Ship?" Lu Tiandi watched the combat footage, his eyes lighting up. He turned to Yi Kui and declared with absolute resolve, "Use every means necessary to find out exactly how Zero Wing obtained the Azure Thunder Flying Ship. If we can acquire one of our own, then dealing with the outer world's NPC armies will no longer be a problem!"
The fall of so many fortresses and cities in the Dark Night Empire came down primarily to weak air power. Once the defensive magic barriers were breached, enemy air forces could quickly tear through the core magic arrays, reducing the fortresses' and cities' defenses to a joke.
The Azure Thunder Flying Ship's air combat power was overwhelming.
It could simultaneously contend with a Fifth Order Sacred-tier Ancient Bone Dragon and chase the outer world's fleet across the sky—it was nothing short of an aerial warfare godsend.
And it wasn't just Lu Tiandi thinking this way. Every major superpower that witnessed the Azure Thunder Flying Ship's performance immediately dispatched people to investigate how Zero Wing had obtained it and through what means one could acquire such an aerial marvel.
It wasn't even limited to the superpowers on the Divine Realm continent—the outer world's major factions also sent investigators one after another.
In an instant, countless spies from various powers infiltrated the Star Moon Kingdom and Zero Wing, seeking to uncover every piece of information about the Azure Thunder Flying Ship.
Lu Tiandi even went so far as to publicly announce a bounty: anyone who could deliver detailed blueprints and the source of the Azure Thunder Flying Ship would receive a reward of one hundred million Credit Points. Anyone who could procure an Azure Thunder Flying Ship for Star Ring, the guild was willing to pay one hundred billion Credit Points.
The bounty instantly sent the entire Divine Realm into a frenzy.
An ordinary person couldn't earn ten million Credit Points in a lifetime. One hundred million Credit Points made someone an absolute tycoon—in a small city, they would be the center of attention. Ten billion Credit Points could make someone the richest person in a city. A hundred billion Credit Points rivaled some major conglomerates.
Star Moon Kingdom, Star Moon Royal City.
"Guild Master, Star Ring's bounty has tempted quite a few of our trading company's core members. They've sold everything they know about the Azure Thunder Flying Ship to Star Ring." Youyu Weixiao handed a list to Shi Feng, looking thoroughly ashamed. "Many of these people have been with Candlelight Trading Company since its founding, yet this time they…"
The construction of the Azure Thunder Flying Ship required a great many hands. Even though everyone had signed confidentiality agreements and been well compensated, some still couldn't resist leaking all the ship's data. Even the fact that the Azure Thunder Flying Ship came from Shi Feng had been exposed to the outside world.
Huo Wu, standing nearby, actually laughed and said flatly, "You call that something? You have no idea—while the Azure Thunder Flying Ship was undergoing maintenance at the Heavenly Spring City base, quite a few Zero Wing members tried to steal it. If Hei Zi and the others hadn't taken turns standing guard, it probably would have been pilfered."
Iron Rank flying ships had no binding mechanism. While a key was required to activate them, stowing one inside an Epic-grade spatial backpack didn't require a key at all.
"A hundred billion Credit Points—forget about them, even I'm tempted," Shi Feng said with a smile. "There's no way to stop it completely. All we can do is strengthen our guards. After all, we can't keep it on us at all times."
Using an Iron Rank Azure Thunder Flying Ship required a minimum crew of ten. Carrying it personally could prevent theft to some extent, but the outer world's NPC armies could attack at any time. If the holder ran into trouble during an assault, the situation would become rather awkward.
"I've stationed Fourth Order Gold-grade guards to watch the control room around the clock. Unless you or the vice guild masters give authorization, no one else is permitted to pilot it," Fang Shihan nodded in agreement. "That way, even if someone inside the guild tries to steal it, they'll have to deal with the Fourth Order Gold-grade guards first."
Fourth Order Gold-grade guards possessed peak Fourth Order combat strength—two or three ordinary Fourth Order experts couldn't handle them. Only Fourth Order users who had truly reached the Void Realm and were clad in full Epic-grade equipment could put up a fight. As for Third Order Class users, they shouldn't even dream of it.
"Oh right, how is the construction of the Azure Thunder Flying Ships and the Fire Beast Puppets coming along?" Shi Feng asked Youyu Weixiao.
In the current war between worlds, even a Fifth Order Class user could do only so much against the outer world's NPC armies. The only way to resist them was with the Azure Thunder Flying Ship and the Fire Beast Puppets.
"The Fire Beast Puppets are simpler to construct and require fewer people. We've successfully built three so far—they just need the final core rune and core magic array inscriptions," Youyu Weixiao said with a slight frown. "But the Azure Thunder Flying Ships are proving difficult. We have enough materials to build three more, but because the information leaked, every major faction has been frantically snapping up construction materials. Sourcing materials for future builds is going to be a serious problem…"
"Then focus on completing the three Azure Thunder Flying Ships first, and devote all remaining effort to manufacturing Fire Beast Puppets," Shi Feng said after a moment's thought.
Currently, the outer world's Nineteenth Legion was only targeting three locations in the Twin Towers Kingdom. Given the outer world's NPC army's strength, they could assault five or six locations simultaneously without breaking a sweat. A single Azure Thunder Flying Ship simply couldn't be everywhere at once.
At least three were needed to truly defend the Twin Towers Kingdom's border.
"Guild Master, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion contacted us earlier. They're hoping we can bring the Azure Thunder Flying Ship to assist them. For each city defense battle, they're willing to pay one hundred thousand gold coins and three hundred thousand Magic Crystals as compensation." Fang Shihan produced the support request from the Celestial Secrets Pavilion, clearly tempted. "Ever since we offered bounties for killing the outer world's NPCs, the revenue at Zero Wing City and Ancient Rock City has dropped sharply. If we help the Celestial Secrets Pavilion a few times, it would ease a lot of the guild's financial pressure."
Shi Feng had practically drained Zero Wing's liquid funds to obtain the blueprints.
Now Zero Wing was frantically recruiting and fortifying Ancient Rock City, spending at a pace the guild could barely sustain. Earning one hundred thousand gold coins and three hundred thousand Magic Crystals per deployment was an incredible deal.
"That could work," Shi Feng said after considering. "But the Azure Thunder Flying Ship can't be deployed for the time being. At most, we can send three Fire Beast Puppets. And in addition to the gold coins and Magic Crystals, I'll need twenty Mana Spirit Stones, one hundred Titan Gold Ore, and one hundred units of Seven Luminaries Crystals."
The Azure Thunder Flying Ship was crucial to the Twin Towers Kingdom's current defense and absolutely could not leave its borders.
As for holding a fortress or city, three Fire Beast Puppets with Fifth Order combat strength were more than sufficient. Fifth Order combat power was rare even among the outer world's NPC armies.
Adding three Fifth Order combatants to the defense would make things harder-fought, but holding the line would be absolutely no problem.
"I'll notify them right away," Fang Shihan nodded.
The terms were steep, but losing a city or fortress would be far worse. Every location that fell meant fewer resources, since players wouldn't dare set foot in those areas to gather materials—let alone occupy resource nodes that major factions had claimed.
And exactly as Fang Shihan expected, the Celestial Secrets Pavilion agreed without hesitation. They even hoped Zero Wing would arrive as quickly as possible, since the outer world's NPC armies were already on the move. The next NPC city they would target in the Fire Wing Empire was at most a day or two away.
Shi Feng immediately set to work inscribing the final core magic arrays on the Fire Beast Puppets.
In just half a day, the inscriptions were complete. He then had Fang Shihan escort three war puppets—each over fifty meters tall—to East Lake City, a border fortress of the Fire Wing Empire.
The Battle of East Lake City saw a considerable disparity in strength on both sides. Even with the Fire Wing Empire's full effort—dispatching two Fifth Order Class users to garrison the city and over five hundred Fourth Order Class users—the outer world's NPC army assembled even greater force: four Fifth Order Class users, over a thousand Fourth Order Class users, and a staggering six million Third Order NPCs.
The gap between players was just as stark. Even with the Celestial Secrets Pavilion deploying its elite forces and rallying the combined might of numerous major guilds, they fielded only four hundred or so Fourth Order Class users and around ten million Third Order Class users. But the outer world's player army was even more formidable—over eight hundred Fourth Order Class users, and their Third Order numbers were no less impressive.
The battle raged for over a full day, a thunderous clash that seemed to shake heaven and earth. Thanks to the three Fire Beast Puppets, the defenders not only held off the two extra Fifth Order Class users but also managed to pin down a Fifth Order summoned beast.
In the end, the summoned beast's control period expired, forcing the outer world's NPC and player armies to withdraw. Both sides suffered heavy casualties in a rough four-to-six ratio—the Celestial Secrets Pavilion bore sixty percent of the damage while the outer world took forty. Even so, the outcome sent shockwaves across the entire Eastern Continent of the Divine Realm.