Chapter 1 The Lingering Gloom

Star-Moon Kingdom, Zero Wing City's Zero Wing Residence.

A palpable atmosphere of gloom permeated the expansive Guild Residence, as if an unspoken pressure weighed on everyone's hearts, filling them with fatigue.

"Aqua Rose, our people just got word that the Underworld Guild has received another investment from the Blackwater Financial Group. They've been given another 200,000 gold, and the number of Refinement Realm experts they've hired to deal with us is also increasing. Just relying on the Conqueror Squads we've pulled back is only enough for passive defense..."

"According to our people planted in the Underworld Guild, they had some significant gains in the Ancient God Ruins. They've apparently obtained two sets of top-grade Intermediate Magic Arrays and a lot of Level 50 top-tier equipment, which they plan to use to explore Level 50 super-large-scale Team Dungeons."

Yaya stood beside Aqua Rose, slowly reporting, her expression somber.

In just a few days, although their Zero Wing Guild was constantly growing stronger, especially Zero Wing City, which was attracting more and more players, and the number of experts was steadily increasing, the number of players leaving the guild every day was also increasing. It wasn't for any other reason than the constant ambushes they encountered when leveling up in the wild.

If it was just for two or three days, it would be fine, but it was happening every day, which had become exhausting, severely affecting their leveling speed and equipment upgrades. Coupled with the growing strength of the Underworld Guild, many people couldn't bear it anymore and couldn't see any hope, so they had no choice but to give up.

"They're going to explore a super-large-scale Team Dungeon so soon?" Aqua Rose frowned.

Various guilds had already conquered 100-man Team Dungeons, but super-large-scale Team Dungeons were like an insurmountable barrier, blocking them all. Only super-large-scale Team Dungeons had Level 50 top-tier equipment and sets.

If the Underworld Guild managed to secure the first clear of a super-large-scale Team Dungeon in the Star-Moon Kingdom, even if the Zero Wing Guild wasn't exhausted to death by the Underworld Guild, the guild members would collapse under the immense pressure.

Securing the first clear of a super-large-scale Team Dungeon would not only allow the guild to advance to a Three-Star Guild, but also give it the ability to obtain large amounts of Level 50 top-tier equipment.

Why did players join guilds? Wasn't it to get better weapons and equipment and level up faster?

If the Underworld Guild succeeded, a large number of experts would flock to them. After all, super-large-scale Team Dungeons were beyond the reach of random groups. Any free expert who wanted to pursue Level 50 Dark-Gold equipment would know that conquering super-large-scale Team Dungeons was the fastest shortcut.

Watching the Underworld Guild grow stronger day by day, Aqua Rose gradually understood how terrifying guilds with the support of large financial groups were.

With endless money being poured in, they had resources if they needed them, and experts if they needed them. Guilds like Zero Wing, which started from scratch, couldn't compare at all. Just being able to resist them was already very difficult. After all, the difference in the foundations of experts between the two sides was too great...

Even if their Zero Wing Guild had a great advantage in top-tier experts, the Underworld Guild was willing to spend a lot of money to hire those experts, so they still couldn't gain any advantage. On the contrary, their ordinary experts were at an increasing disadvantage.

"Aqua Rose, the Underworld Guild has announced that if our Zero Wing Guild is willing to surrender and hand over 51% of our shares, they will stop any further action against us. If we stubbornly resist, they will completely erase our Zero Wing Guild from God's Domain. They're only giving us two days to consider. This is the video they sent," Yaya said in a low voice.

"How could this be?"

Aqua Rose was about to refuse directly, but when she saw the video sent by the Underworld Guild, her expression became incredibly solemn.

The video showed dense hordes of demons and demonic beasts, including Legendary Demonic Beasts as high as Level 72 and High Lord ranked demons at Level 70. There were more than five Legendary Demonic Beasts and as many as twenty High Lord ranked demons at Level 70, in addition to a large number of Level 70 Lord ranked demons.

Although the overall number wasn't large, only two or three thousand, the quality was unprecedented. The lowest level was Lord ranked. In terms of threat level, they were far more dangerous than the previous demon beast armies.

If these demons and demonic beasts moved in the wild, the consequences would be unimaginable. They didn't even know if Zero Wing City could withstand them.

Just as Aqua Rose was lost in thought, not knowing what to do, Shi Feng suddenly contacted her.

"Aqua Rose, how is the equipment you're preparing coming along?" Shi Feng asked.

"Almost done. It'll take a few more hours at most to gather everything," Aqua Rose said in a low voice.

"Good, I'm done here too. I'll be back in a while," Shi Feng nodded. He didn't expect Aqua Rose to be so efficient. Although he hadn't asked for Level 50 top-tier equipment, just elite-level equipment, Level 50 equipment wasn't that easy to obtain. After all, in God's Domain, equipment became very difficult to acquire after Level 50.

"They're already Level 50?" Aqua Rose was shocked to hear Shi Feng say that.

A full seven hundred people!

Their previous level was only in the thirties, so they were far from Level 50. Even though she knew Shi Feng leveled up people quickly, she thought it would take more than ten days to do it.

The elite members of the various guilds were only around Level 47, and only the top experts were close to Level 50. After all, the higher the level in God's Domain, the more experience points were needed for each level, especially after Level 45.

Now, they had reached the level of top experts in less than half the time she had expected.

"Yeah, most of them are Level 50, and a small portion have reached Level 51," Shi Feng nodded. If the number of demons inside the town hadn't decreased so much, it wouldn't have been a problem for the entire team to reach Level 51 or higher.

Shi Feng's words stunned Aqua Rose on the screen for a long time.

Seven hundred top experts at Level 50!

Level 50 was a watershed moment. Although the Underworld Guild had many experts, most of them were only Level 49 and were still far from the Level 50 mark. The difference of just one level would result in a huge difference in equipment.

Level 50 Bronze equipment was equivalent to Level 45 Mithril equipment. As for the elite members' Mysterious-Iron and Mithril equipment, they were equivalent to Level 45 Fine-Gold and Dark-Gold equipment. Level 50 Mithril weapons and equipment had higher defense and attack than Level 45 Dark-Gold equipment.

Now that they had these seven hundred Level 50 experts, the combat power of the Zero Wing Guild would definitely increase significantly.

Just as Aqua Rose thought of this, she suddenly remembered the video sent by the Underworld Guild, and her excited heart sank again.

"Guild Leader, this is the video the Underworld Guild just sent. They want us to surrender and hand over 51% of the guild shares as soon as possible, or they will take further action." Aqua Rose immediately sent the video to Shi Feng, unsure of what to do.

Faced with that terrifying army of demonic beasts and demons, Zero Wing's seven hundred experts were just a drop in the bucket.

"Their strength has accumulated so quickly?" Shi Feng looked at the army of demons and demonic beasts in the video. Although he already knew about it, he couldn't help but click his tongue when he saw it for real.

More than five Level 72 Legendary Demonic Beasts and twenty Level 70 High Lord ranked demons, plus hundreds of High Lord ranked demonic beasts and Lord ranked demons, they definitely had the strength to capture any guild town in the Star-Moon Kingdom.