Chapter 1375 – Display of Strength
Star-Moon City region, in one of the forested valleys in the Stoneclaw Mountains…
A fleet of carriages rolled along the gravel road as it passed through the valley. From the top of a mountain, one could easily spot over 50 carriages. Among them, the most inferior carriage was an Advanced Transport Carriage pulled by two horses. Meanwhile, the carriages carried all sorts of large crates containing rare merchandise to be sold in Stone Forest Town.
Due to Stone Forest Town’s Adventurer’s Association, the town had attracted far more wandering merchants. Moreover, Saimu Town was no longer the only town connected to Stone Forest Town. A total of three towns now had roads leading to the Guild town. However, the two new trade routes weren’t as lively as the road linked to Saimu Town since the other two towns were further away.
Regardless, due to the increase of wandering merchants traveling to Stone Forest Town, the three NPC towns began to receive more high-rank escort quests.
Although escort quests did not award a lot of EXP, they did offer plenty of Coins. To independent players, these quests offered a considerable income. Moreover, players who just so happen to plan on heading to Stone Forest Town could rake in some additional income while they were at it, killing two birds with one stone.
However, such a profitable opportunity was not available to everyone as escort quests had a minimum strength requirement. Moreover, the larger a merchant fleet was, the higher the requirements were. As for how these NPC merchants determined if a player were strong enough, said player would be required to spar with the fleet’s NPC guards. The Main God System would automatically lower the guard’s strength to the standard of elite players at this stage of the game. If the player defeated the NPC guards, they could accept the escort quest.
If a player wanted to become the merchant fleet’s vice leader, receiving greater pay, they needed to defeat an NPC guard adjusted to the standard of current expert players.
In the Stonclaw Mountains’ valley, over a hundred players accompanied this merchant fleet. Even without t the NPC guards’ aid, the escort players easily defeated any monsters the fleet came across. Even monster groups led by a Level 45 Great Lord were no match for these players.
“Commander, are we really going to buy a private house in Stone Forest Town this time?” a gray-robed woman with long, crimson hair asked the man with disheveled hair seated next to her in one of the Transport Carriages.
This charming woman’s question quickly attracted the attention of the other players in the carriage.
These players weren’t only focused on the woman because of her beauty. Rather, it was because this woman was a Level 43 Summoner. She was also the vice commander of Firecloud Fox, a well-known adventurer team from the Black Dragon Empire, and one of the empire’s top 100 Summoners.
Graceful Moon!
Many of the Black Dragon Empire’s large Guilds wanted to recruit Graceful Moon. Unfortunately, none of them had ever succeeded.
As for the disheveled, cool-looking man, his identity was even more astounding. His name was Remnant Cloud, the Firecloud Fox’s commander. Similarly, he was one of the top 100 Shield Warriors within the empire. It was due to such a powerful MT that Firecloud Fox had grown into a large-scale adventurer team with over 500 members and a reputation known throughout the Black Dragon Empire.
“I plan to look around first. If Stone Forest Town is as impressive as the rumors make it out to be, buying a house wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Remnant Cloud said, chuckling.
Stone Forest Town was considerably famous in the Black Dragon Empire. One of the main reasons for its popularity was the Battle Arena.
Recently, quite a few experts had earned themselves a spot among the top 100 on the Black Dragon Empire’s various class ranking lists. After some research, many other players discovered that these newcomers shared one similarity; they all trained in Stone Forest Town’s Battle Arena. Moreover, these players’ ranks in the empire continued to rise.
Because of this, Stone Forest Town’s Battle Arena had become quite popular in the Black Dragon Empire.
To improve his team members’ strength, Remnant Cloud had decided to make the trip and investigate the town himself.
“Commander, it’s fine if you just want to look around, but if you decide to purchase a private house, I suggest otherwise. I’ve heard that a war has recently broken out between Zero Wing and Heaven’s Burial, and the latter seems to have the advantage. Furthermore, Heaven’s Burial’s Red Iron Town has more potential. Not only are there plenty of high-level and high-resource maps nearby, but players will also be able to use Evernight City as a transfer point between the Guild’s other towns in the future. Investing in Red Iron Town will be more convenient than investing in Stone Forest Town.
“As for the Battle Arena, currently, other Guilds have already begun to construct Battle Arenas in their own towns. It is only a matter of time before they catch up with Stone Forest Town’s Battle Arena.”
Graceful Moon did not view Stone Forest Town’s future in a particularly positive light. In her opinion, the town only had a few minor advantages at the moment. However, as time passed, the various large Guilds’ towns in the Black Dragon Empire would undoubtedly catch up. After all, the Black Dragon Empire was far more prosperous than Star-Moon Kingdom.
Even if their adventurer team wanted to purchase a private house in Star-Moon Kingdom, considering their long-term development, purchasing a house in Red Iron Town was the wiser choice.
“I guess you’re right. But since we’re already here, let’s go take a look.” After giving the matter some thought, Remnant Cloud saw the reasoning in Graceful Moon’s words. Various Guild towns were already prioritizing their Battle Arenas. As for the Mana density, these Guilds were doing their best to find solutions. They would deal with the problem sooner or later.
While Graceful Moon and Remnant Cloud conversed, they heard a commotion in the forest on both sides of the gravel road. Suddenly, easily over a thousand pitch-black figures darted out of the dense woods. Not only did these figures block the merchant fleet’s path, but they had also surrounded the carriages.
Upon seeing these monsters, the escorting players prepared for battle.
These monsters were nothing like the wild monsters they had faced on the road thus far. Every one of these monsters radiated a frightening aura, their eyes containing human-like wisdom. Moreover, their levels were shockingly high.
These monsters were all Level 70, roughly 25 levels higher than the monsters the merchant fleet had previously encountered.
“How is this possible? Didn’t they say that these Evil Demons only assaulted passing players? Why are they targeting the merchant fleets?”
Some escort players from Star-Moon Kingdom recognized the Evil Demons immediately. After all, they had seen these Evil Demons siege Stone Forest Town. These monsters’ attacks on Stone Forest Town’s players was nothing new, either.
What surprised these players was that these Evil Demons actually dared to assault an NPC fleet.
Aside from the escort players, a large number of NPC guards protected the merchant fleet. Each one of these guards was Level 80, and among them were three Tier 3 guards, over 60 Tier 2 guards, and over a hundred Tier 1 guards. They were not existences current players could easily defeat.
Before these players could recover from their shock, the Evil Demons surged forward.
“Hahaha! Go! Destroy the merchandise!” Ghost Shadow, hiding amongst the trees, laughed as he watched his legion surround the merchant fleet.
To ensure the fleet’s destruction, Heaven’s Burial had dispatched the Ghost Shadow Legion’s elites, and Beast Emperor had sent them an Evil Demon army to assist. Two Level 70, Grand Lord ranked Evil Demons led the army. Given enough time, they could certainly eliminate the NPC merchant fleet.
Although the Evil Demons’ levels were lower than the NPCs, they had the numerical advantage. Moreover, they didn’t’ need to kill the NPCs; their goal was simply to kill the players and destroy the cargo.
“Damn it! Why are there so many powerful monsters?!” Graceful Moon’s eyebrows rose in surprise.
Not only did the Level 70 Chieftain ranked Evil Demons easily defeat her summoned creatures, but they also dodged her Spirit Bullets. If not for Remnant Cloud activating a Berserk Skill and Lifesaving Skill to hold the Evil Demons back, the monsters would’ve long since closed in on her.
The other players weren’t as lucky. Despite the battle beginning only a brief moment ago, over a dozen players had already died…
On this kind of battlefield, these players were utterly useless. They were slaughtered like ants.
“Moon, get out of here! I’ll hold them back!” Remnant Cloud barked. He could tell that only death awaited them should they stay. They couldn’t win a battle of this level.
“But…” Although Graceful Moon wanted to argue, when she saw a High Lord overwhelm her commander, she took out an Instantaneous Movement Scroll and activated it.
“A futile struggle!” Ghost Shadow growled disdainfully when he noticed several players removing Instantaneous Movement Scrolls from their bags.
Before they had taken action, he had used a tool Beast Emperor had given him to seal the area, making it impossible for players to escape via Return Scrolls or Instantaneous Movement Scrolls.
“Why did it fail?” Graceful Moon’s expression darkened when she realized that she was still on the battlefield even after the Instantaneous Movement Scroll had disintegrated.
As for Remnant Cloud, despite barely holding on thanks to a healer’s help, it would only be a matter of minutes before he died as more Evil Demons descended on their prey.
When Remnant Cloud had less than 20% HP remaining, a Great Lord ranked Evil Demon circled the man, swinging its claws at the Shield Warrior. Remnant Cloud was already doing everything he could to block the Evil Demons’ attacks from the front. He did not have any spare power to protect his back.
“Commander!” Graceful Moon gasped.
“Am I going to die, just like this?” Remnant Cloud understood that there was no escaping death when he noticed the Great Lord behind him.
Suddenly, a spatial tear appeared between Remnant Cloud and the Evil Demon, and a figure leaped onto the battlefield. However, despite the spatial tear’s abrupt appearance, the Evil Demon’s attack did not falter in the least.
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“Be careful!” Remnant Cloud shouted. He could faintly tell that the figure behind him was a player.
Unfortunately, only three yards separated this figure and the Evil Demon. Not even an expert could react in time to block such an unexpected attack from a Great Lord with so little distance between them.
However, when the Evil Demon’s claws were less than one yard away from the newcomer, a blue glow blossomed on the Evil Demon’s body.
Like a cannonball, the Great Lord ranked Evil Demon shot backward, crossing a dozen yards before crashing into a large tree. A second after the impact, the towering tree fell to the ground. As for the figure that emerged from the spatial tear, he remained where he had stood, his calm composure making it seem as if nothing had happened…