THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 14 Episode 39

A sea of Evil Beasts surrounded Stone Forest Town.

The monster army stretched out as far as the eyes could see.

Meanwhile, Heaven’s Burial’s members, hiding in Stone Forest Town, secretly live-streamed the siege. This allowed the players throughout Star-Moon Kingdom to watch the battle in real-time.

“There are so many monsters! This is the first time I’ve seen so many in one place! Can Zero Wing really face these monsters with so few people?”

“By the looks of it, Zero Wing should be giving up on Stone Forest Town. After all, these monsters are simply too strong. Guild towns have no way to fend of such a horde at this stage of the game. The players who bought houses in the town and applied for membership to the Battle Arena are out of luck.”

“Zero Wing is just going to sacrifice such a large town? They’re not even going to try to defend it? If that’s the case, who would be dumb enough to invest in their towns in the future?”

“You have a point. In any case, I won’t be buying a house in Zero Wing’s towns in the future. The Guild is too unreliable!”

…

The spectacular sight of the monster army shocked the players watching the live-stream. At the same, they voiced their discontent about Zero Wing’s decision to give up on Stone Forest Town. Despite being Star-Moon Kingdom’s number one Guild, Zero Wing wasn’t even brave enough to face the monster army.

The players who had wanted to join Zero Wing began to hesitate.

Some Zero Wing members even began to withdraw from the Guild.

…

“Did you think you can reduce your losses just by giving up Stone Forest Town?” Singular Burial sneered as he read the recent forum posts. “I want to see just how long you all can endure.”

Zero Wing’s determination had put a wrench in his plans. However, if he uploaded the live-stream of the siege battle to the forums, he could force Zero Wing into making a decision.

Either Zero Wing chose to conserve its strength and give up Stone Forest Town, or it would try to defend the town with all its might at the cost of reducing the Guild’s overall strength.

While the former option was a good choice, it would also damage the Guild’s carefully built reputation. Most likely, the results would halt the Guild’s development for some time.

If Zero Wing wanted to continue developing, its only choice was to protect Stone Forest Town with everything it had.

He did not hope that Zero Wing would mobilize all of its members to protect the town. It would be enough if the Guild moved a portion of its members in White River City. At that time, Zero Wing would lose both Stone Forest Town and its Stable.

If that happened, Heaven’s Burial would take Zero Wing’s place as the number one Guild of Star-Moon Kingdom.

…

Just as the players discussed the live-stream on the forums, the Evil Beast army began its assault.

The earth trembled as the monsters swarmed towards Stone Forest Town.

The players watching were stunned.

They finally understood what zerg-tactics truly were.

With so many monsters, even Stone Forest Town’s Defense Turrets and Magic Towers were utterly inadequate defenses…

It was no wonder why Zero Wing had given up Stone Forest Town. The Guild might’ve expected this outcome.

“Huh? What are Zero Wing’s members bringing out?”

“Aren’t those Miniature Ballistas?”

“It seems that the Guild did prepare.”

“So what if they are prepared? The Defense Turrets and Magic Towers can’t even slow down the monster army. What could a few Miniature Ballistas do?”

When the monster army was less than 3,000 yards away from Stone Forest Town, some of the spectators noticed quite a few Miniature Ballistas emerge atop the ramparts, and they couldn’t help but laugh.

Although the Miniature Ballistas were easy to move, their power was subpar at best. Moreover, their AOE wasn’t as large as the Defense Turrets. The Miniature Ballistas might be useful against players, but against so many high-HP monsters, they were simply a joke.

However, before these people could finish their words, something else occurred on the ramparts that stunned the watching players.

There were nearly 20 Miniature Ballistas on each wall. With all four walls, Zero Wing had almost 80 Miniature Ballistas protecting Stone Forest Town…

“How is this possible?! Those are Miniature Ballistas we’re talking about!”

The large number of Miniature Ballistas stupefied the spectators. The various large Guilds watching the live-stream were particularly shocked.

Ordinary players might not understand how precious war weapons like the Miniature Ballistas were, but the major powers understood their importance well. Although the Miniature Ballista could not rival the Gnome Cannon’s firepower, it wasn’t easy to obtain.

Not even Super Guilds could collect nearly 80 Miniature Ballistas, yet Zero Wing had.

Before everyone could recover from their shock, Zero Wing’s members began to load the ballistas with two-meter-long arrows. Crimson runes danced across these arrows’ shafts. It was obvious that these weren’t arrows you could purchase from NPC merchants.

Following which, explosions filled the air around Stone Forest Town. In the next moment, flaming arrows flew from the town’s ramparts, raining down on the approaching Evil Beast army.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

Rings of fire erupted among the monster troops as the arrows struck, each covering a 15-yard radius. The Miniature Ballistas’ attacks were no less devastating than the Defense Turrets.

The explosions forced back the Evil Beasts on the front line as they received heavy injuries. The Elite ranked Evil Beasts had lost over one-third of their HPs.

After the first volley of arrows, the Defense Turrets and Magic Towers launched their attacks as well. When the Magic Towers attacked, the seven-colored beams they fired struck the heart of the monster army. The attack, which could rival Tier 4 large-scale destruction Spells, instantly killed all of the monsters below Lord rank.

As three seven-colored beams cut through the Evil Beast army, over 8,000 Evil Beasts died instantly, tearing large holes in the enemy formation.

Due to the Miniature Ballistas’ short Cooldown, another volley of Exploding Arrows rained down on the Evil Beasts as soon as the Defense Turrets and Magic Towers finished their attacks.

Before the army had even reached 2,500 yards of Stone Forest Town, over 30,000 Evil Beasts had died. Stone Forest Town’s frightening defenses stupefied the spectating players.

“This is insane! These are Stone Forest Town’s defenses?”

“Zero Wing is amazing! They have so many Miniature Ballistas! If not for these monsters’ numbers and strength, the Guild might annihilate the monsters before they even reach the walls!”

…

“How is this possible!? Why does Zero Wing have so many Miniature Ballistas?!” Singular Burial balled his fists as he glared at the live-stream. However, although he was very surprised and confused, he quickly recovered as he sneered and said, “Although I didn’t expect such a trump card, so what? This army isn’t like the last one you faced.”

While the Miniature Ballistas had claimed many of the Evil Beasts below Lord rank, this war would be as good as over once the monsters reached the ballistas.

…

“Interesting! And here I thought you had given up! Let’s see how you deal with this!”

Abandoned Wave, who stood at the very rear of the Evil Beast army like a coward, sneered. He then waved his hand, and immediately, another large wave charged forward. This time, however, there were far fewer Evil Beasts in the charge. However, these were higher-quality monsters, with the majority being Chieftain rank and above. Even the Grand Lords had joined in the charge.

These monsters were too large to have taken part in the initial charge, but now that less of their companions occupied the field, the Grand Lords could easily dodge the attacks from the town’s static defenses.

As these Chieftain rank and above Evil Beasts inched closer to Stone Forest Town…

Before anyone had realized it, two Mana Pulse Cannons had appeared above one of Stone Forest Town’s Magic Towers. Larger than the Basic Mana Pulse Cannon, these two weapons were none other than the Intermediate Mana Pulse Cannons Shi Feng had obtained from the Fallen Ark.

“Target the densest areas of the monster army! Fire!”