Chapter 966 – Zero Wing Alone Is Enough

World Ark, Shadowring Town:

“Guild Leader, here are the latest reports on the Guild’s income and expansion progress. I’ve also included reports on the recent state of the war,” Blackie said, wearily placing a stack of papers onto Shi Feng’s desk.

“This many?” As Shi Feng perused the documents Blackie had prepared, he was reminded of Blackie’s managerial talent. Blackie’s attention to detail was unquestionably superior to that of combat-oriented Vice Guild Leaders like Hidden Soul and Gentle Snow.

The data Blackie compiled not only listed the Guild’s various revenue sources in detail but also provided recommendations for expanding them to allow the Guild to maximize the use of its Eternal Coins. He had also categorized the Guild’s newly recruited members so that they could be put into roles that best utilized their talents.

For example, some experts were more adept at using combat techniques, while others were more adept at using Skills and Spells. Even if these experts had similar combat standards, their performances in battle would differ depending on their assigned roles and opponents.

Besides that, Zero Wing managed to attract many fifth-floor experts to join it thanks to the 10,000 Level 235 Taboo Fragmented Legendary Equipment that Shi Feng had obtained from Dragon’s Crown. Currently, Zero Wing already had nearly 2,000 fifth-floor experts under its command.

Even before the Tower of the Abyss’s appearance, only a few pseudo-apex powers could come up with a force of nearly 2,000 fifth-floor experts. The only problem was that most of Zero Wing’s fifth-floor experts were under Level 230. As for those who were Level 230 or above, there were only 106 of them, and they primarily consisted of players from the Greater God’s Domain who had entered the Eternal Realm by luck.

All 106 players were fully equipped with Level 235 Taboo Fragmented Legendary Equipment. Paired with the Behemoth Set (a Combat-ranked Secret Treasure Set) and the Intermediate Divine Strengthening Scrolls that Blackie had distributed to them, they could barely match the standards of the various powers’ Level 235-plus elite experts.

Currently, excluding the main force members operating in the Flame Dragon God’s Nest, these 106 players were the strongest members of Zero Wing. They also played a crucial role in ensuring the development of Zero Wing’s members in the World Ark. If not for them, Zero Wing’s members would be easy prey for the Holy Race’s elite experts. A few elite experts from the Holy Race would be enough to slaughter a 100-man team of Zero Wing members under Level 230.

Even so, these 106 players could, at most, let 50,000 of Zero Wing’s Level 225-plus elite members[1] safely grind in the Taboo Maps around the Blood Curse Resurrection Camp. As for the Guild’s more numerous normal and internal members, they had no choice but to fend for themselves. After all, the World Ark’s Taboo Maps were limited in size and number. This made competition in these maps extremely intense, making securing even a small leveling spot challenging.

Moreover, it was largely thanks to the Seven Luminaries Alliance, the Red Dragon Nation, and Azure Fang that Zero Wing could have its current leveling spots in the World Ark’s core area. Otherwise, Zero Wing would be fortunate if it could even occupy a 10,000-man leveling spot.

However, the biggest change Zero Wing experienced during this period was to its income. Originally, Zero Wing earned at least 300 million units of Seven Luminaries Crystal and 800,000 Eternal Gold daily through Shadowring Town. But now, Shadowring Town wasn’t generating even one-third of those amounts, and these numbers were still falling by the day…

“Does Evil Nature’s interference have such a huge impact?” Shi Feng was surprised by the sharp drop in the Guild’s income.

“Yes, it’s affecting us massively,” Blackie sighed, nodding. “It might have been fine if it were only Evil Nature harassing us since Evil Nature only has a limited number of elite experts operating in the World Ark. But after Evil Nature constructed its Guild City, it placed a bounty on all players entering and leaving Shadowring Town.

“Evil Nature is rewarding each kill with one Eternal Gold and one merit point. Merit points can be used to redeem items from Evil Nature. The more merit points a player accumulates, the better the items they can redeem. With 1,000 merit points, players can redeem Fragmented Divine Artifacts, Advanced Gold Holy Arts, and even permanent priority access to all of Evil Nature’s Guild Towns and Cities.

“This bounty has sparked a frenzy among the Holy Race players in the World Ark. They are targeting every player caught entering or leaving Shadowring Town, including Holy Race players. This situation has scared many players from visiting Shadowring Town. Now, only the experts of powers affiliated with Zero Wing dare to come. If not for Holy Ring City’s NPC patrols, those people would have flattened Shadowring Town by now…”

Shi Feng was astonished by this revelation. He never thought that Evil Nature would take things so far.

It would have been nothing had Evil Nature simply placed a bounty on Zero Wing’s members. All of Zero Wing’s members getting killed once would only cost Evil Nature a few hundred thousand Eternal Gold. Even if this were repeated several times, Evil Nature would simply lose a few million Eternal Gold.

However, it was simply ludicrous to place a bounty on every player caught visiting Shadowring Town. Over two million players visited Shadowring Town daily at its peak. Even at a conservative estimate, Evil Nature would lose tens of millions of Eternal Gold just by keeping its bounty active for several days. Not even apex powers could afford such an expenditure.

Of course, Shi Feng had to admit that Evil Nature’s ludicrous move was incredibly effective. Now, most players entering and leaving Shadowring Town had to do so in armies. Many elite experts also had to garrison the town at all times. This restricted Zero Wing’s development and deterred many experts from joining the Guild.

“Although the number of hunters outside the town has decreased significantly recently since everyone is occupied with the core area’s Taboo Maps, Evil Nature has a 1,000-man legion of elite experts garrisoning Evil Sky City at all times. This legion will also occasionally attack the armies coming and going from Shadowring Town,” Blackie sighed. “Previously, Miss Aurebeth, Azure Fang’s Saintess, got fed up with the constant harassment and brought the fight to Evil Nature. But it didn’t take long before Evil Sky City mobilized three Level 230 Ancient God-ranked experts against her. Although Miss Aurebeth has already reached the sixth-floor standard, she was ultimately forced to retreat.

“Guild Leader, with Zero Wing’s current state of development, unless we find more powers to reinforce us, there is nothing we can do about Evil Nature’s blockade. We can only watch as Shadowring Town declines.”

In the past, Blackie didn’t have much of an understanding of royal powers and only knew they were stronger than apex powers. However, as more outside players entered the Eternal Realm, he eventually realized the fearsome might of royal powers.

Despite Aurebeth being a Level 230 sixth-floor expert equipped with multiple Divine Artifacts, even she was no threat to Evil Nature…

In Blackie’s opinion, the only way Zero Wing could survive this ordeal was by sacrificing some of Shadowring Town’s benefits to partner with the several apex powers that had previously expressed interest in the town.

“Finding more partners is indeed a way out.” Shi Feng nodded. Then, he chuckled and continued, “But if we are simply talking about dealing with the current Evil Nature, we don’t have to sacrifice Shadowring Town’s benefits. Zero Wing alone is enough to handle this problem.”

…

TL Notes:
[1]Zero Wing’s elite members:
This is not referring to elite experts. This is simply referring to the rank of members above normal members.