THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 14 Episode 37

Noticing Shi Feng’s entrance, the players in the meeting room began to calm down.

Shi Feng was followed by a man and a woman. This situation confused everyone present.

Most of the people in the room were unfamiliar with the man behind Shi Feng. They could tell he was a Lifestyle player of high standards based on his attire. As for the woman, they knew her well as she was none other than the Candlelight Trading Firm’s manager, Melancholic Smile.

Thus far, Shi Feng hadn’t invited Candlelight’s people to take part in any of Zero Wing’s meetings. Hence, everyone was surprised to see these representatives.

However, with the situation as it was, they weren’t in the mood to welcome these two to Zero Wing’s upper-echelon meeting. Instead, they focused on Shi Feng, who sat in the Guild Leader’s seat.

“Guild Leader, the situation in Stone Forest Town is quite dire…

“Based on our investigation, we are likely facing more than 500,000 monsters. Many of which are Chieftains and Lords. Even if we dispatch all of our Guild’s forces, the likelihood of fending off these monsters is slim. I suggest that we offer a reward to the town’s adventurer teams and independent players and request their help. This way, we can make up for the numbers we lack. Our chances of winning will also increase considerably.”

Aqua Rose’s suggestion earned the approval of many of her comrades.

Stone Forest Town’s player population far exceeded 500,000. Moreover, the average standard of the players in the town was considerably high. If Zero Wing offered an appropriate reward and offered players a small discount on the town’s houses in exchange for their help, they would likely tempt many players into action.

With so many players in addition to Stone Forest Town’s defenses, they may be able to protect the town. At most, they would have to pay a huge price to do so. It was likely that the Guild’s development would stagnate for a considerable amount of time.

However, paying such a price was better than losing Stone Forest Town entirely. After all, Zero Wing had invested too much into the town to lose it now.

Suddenly, Gentle Snow spoke up, “Guild Leader, we’ve discovered some hidden ruins in the Black Dragon Empire and obtained over 600 Intermediate Thunder Bombs. Although they are not as powerful as the Mana Pulse Bombs, they can rival Tier 3 Spells. They have an effective radius of 20 yards and can paralyze the targets they hit for a short time. They can also amplify the effects of the Defense Turrets. Aside from these Thunder Bombs, we have also obtained two Advanced Gnome Cannons that are roughly equal to the Defense Turrets’ firepower. Originally, I had planned to use these items to capture a town, but defending Stone Forest Town must be our priority.”

The other upper echelons were astonished to hear Gentle Snow’s report.

Tools of war were extremely useful and highly sought after by the various large Guilds. However, they were also extremely rare, and very few Guilds actually got their hands on them.

They had never imagined that Gentle Snow would secure so many of these items. They had assumed that Gentle Snow had been struggling in Lake Heart City. After all, there were plenty of first- and second-rate Guilds in the Black Dragon Empire. It was even the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s territory. Without the home-ground advantage, stabilizing a Branch Guild in the empire would be miraculous.

However, it seemed that they had severely underestimated Gentle Snow.

Shi Feng was similarly surprised. He hadn’t expected Gentle Snow to be capable of capturing a town in the Black Dragon Empire so soon. Moreover, based on her expression, it would seem that she was very confident in succeeding.

“Guild Leader, give us the command! We can’t stand to just sit still! We’re all determined to stop these monsters from stepping foot into Stone Forest Town, even we’re slaughtered!” Many of the other upper echelons voiced their desire to join the fight.

At this point, requests to take part in the upcoming war flooded the Guild chat. Even the Guild’s normal members, who were not required to take part, wanted to defend the town, with some already forming their own teams.

Zero Wing had defeated many Guilds to become Star-Moon Kingdom’s number one Guild. How could it abandon Stone Forest Town and accept defeat at the hands of a mere monster army?

“I understand your sentiments.” Shi Feng could not help but laugh when he heard everyone’s opinions. “However, Zero Wing has not fallen so far that we need to resort to such methods. I’ve only called you here to tell you to continue your duties. The 40,000 elite and expert members stationed in Stone Forest Town are enough to defeat the monster army.”

“But—”

Before everyone could argue, however, Shi Feng stood and continued, “Let me introduce you. This is Melancholic Smile. I believe you are familiar with her by now. This gentleman here is Candlelight’s Chief Engineer, Burning Abyss. He has had a hand on many of our precious engineering tools. Both will participate in our Guild meetings from here on out. Whenever I’m not around, Zero Wing and the Candlelight Trading Firm will be able to work together.”

Shi Feng’s announcement confused his commanders. They couldn’t figure out what he was trying to do.

The monster army was quickly approaching Stone Forest Town, yet Shi Feng’s goal for this meeting was to tell them to continue their tasks and introduce Candlelight’s managers?

“First, Melancholic, tell everyone about your recent results,” Shi Feng said as he implied that the others stay silent. He then let Melancholic Smile take charge of the meeting.

“After Candlelight obtained the Miniature Ballista Design, we invested a lot of time into manufacturing Miniature Ballistas each day. Thus far, we have manufactured 73 Miniature Ballistas. We have also successfully researched the Exploding Arrow. The arrows rival Tier 2 Spells and any Engineer[1] can craft them. Moreover, both the arrows’ production success rate and speed are considerably high.

“Thus far, we have produced 200,000 Exploding Arrows. We’ve secretly moved these arrows to Candlelight’s warehouse in Stone Forest Town. They can be retrieved and used at any time. In addition, if Candlelight’s 200-plus Engineers, who have learned the Exploding Arrows’ design, produce them quickly, they can craft 4,000 arrows per hour.”

As everyone listened to Melancholic Smile’s brief report, they were stunned into silence.

Even Aqua Rose, who was very familiar with the ins and outs of Zero Wing, was dazed when she heard this. It was obvious that she struggled to process the information.

Seventy-three Miniature Ballistas!

Two hundred thousand Exploding Arrows that could rival Tier 2 Spells!

These players began to doubt that their Guild was actually Zero Wing. Not even Super Guilds had this kind of weaponry.

…

Apocalypse Empire, Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s Residence in the imperial capital:

Over a hundred players had gathered in the Residence’s top-floor lounge. Every one of these people was a Level 43 or above expert. They were the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s core upper echelons.

Among these people, there were some that even Pavilion Masters like Phoenix Rain and Nine Dragons Emperor couldn’t command and had to treat with respect.

Normally, these people were scattered across the various Branch Guilds. Today, however, the Great Pavilion Master had summoned them here.

Although many of these players were pleased to be here, Phoenix Rain, who sat in a corner, wore a serious frown.

“Why would so many monsters attack Stone Forest Town?” Phoenix Rain’s expression darkened as she read the latest report her subordinates had sent.

Stone Forest Town had only begun to develop properly after many challenges. Even leisure players had begun to move into the town, while real-world companies’ virtual stores had begun to rake in profit. If Stone Forest Town were destroyed now, all of Zero Wing’s effort would go to waste.

Nine Dragons Emperor, who had also heard the news, strode over to Phoenix Rain with a smug look. Laughing, he said, “What a pity! All of your investment in Zero Wing was for nothing! I’m sure the Guild Elders will also be very interested to hear about this!”

“The outcome has yet to be decided! Don’t celebrate so soon!” Phoenix Rain snapped. Ignoring Nine Dragons Emperor, she turned and left to contact Shi Feng.

The Great Pavilion Master had ordered her to complete a particular quest, so she couldn’t mobilize too many players to assist Zero Wing. However, she could lend Zero Wing seven or eight Gnome Cannons and a large stock of special ammunition.