Chapter 1 A Valley in Star-Moon City

Star-Moon City, a valley deep within the Stoneclaw Mountains.

A long line of carriages rumbled along the rocky path of the valley. Seen from above, there were over fifty of them, the poorest being high-grade freight wagons pulled by two horses each, loaded with various large boxes.

These goods were the rare commodities that wandering merchants were transporting to Stone Forest Town.

Because Stone Forest Town now had an Adventurers Association, more wandering merchants were drawn to sell their wares there. What was originally a single town, Same Town, had grown to three. However, the other two towns were further from Stone Forest Town, so trade was not as frequent as with Same Town.

The wandering merchants transporting goods to Stone Forest Town led to an increase in high-level escort missions in these three towns.

Although high-level escort missions didn't grant much experience, they paid well. For free players, this was a considerable income. Players wanting to go to Stone Forest Town could accept these missions, earning money along the way—a win-win situation.

But this win-win opportunity wasn't available to everyone. As it was an escort mission, there were certain requirements for the player's strength. The larger the merchant caravan, the higher the requirements. Players who could accept these missions were generally at the elite level or above. The determination method involved players competing with the caravan's npC guards. The Main God System would set the guards' strength to the level of current elite players. Winning meant getting the mission.

To become a caravan deputy leader and earn even more, a player needed to reach the master player level.

These high-level escort missions were simply not accessible to ordinary players.

At this moment, the caravan had over a hundred players in tow. Even if a level 45 Grand Lord-led monster group appeared, the npC guards wouldn't even need to lift a finger. The escorting players could handle it themselves.

"Guild Leader, are we really going to Stone Forest Town to buy a private residence this time?" A beautiful woman with fiery red wavy hair, wearing a grey mage robe, sat in a carriage and turned to ask a rather carefree-looking man with disheveled hair.

Her words immediately attracted the attention of nearby players.

They paid attention to this woman not only because of her beauty and figure, but also because she was a level 43 summoner and the vice guild leader of Fire Cloud Fox, a well-known adventure guild in the Black Dragon Empire. She was among the top hundred summoners in the Black Dragon Empire's combat power rankings.

Yue Wange!

Many large guilds in the Black Dragon Empire had tried to recruit her, but to no avail.

The carefree-looking man with disheveled hair was even more impressive. He was Can Yun, the guild leader of Fire Cloud Fox, a level 43 Shield Warrior. His strength was also ranked among the top hundred Shield Warrior experts in the Black Dragon Empire, even higher than Yue Wange.

It was because Fire Cloud Fox had such a powerful mt that it had become one of the most well-known adventure guilds in the Black Dragon Empire, a large adventure guild with over five hundred members.

"I plan to take a look first. If Stone Forest Town is as good as the rumors say, buying a private residence there wouldn't be bad," Can Yun said with a smile.

The name of Stone Forest Town was quite famous in the Black Dragon Empire, mainly because of its arena.

The reason for its fame was that many new experts who had entered the top hundred of the Black Dragon Empire's various class combat power rankings had trained in the Stone Forest Town arena, and their rankings were constantly improving.

Because of this, the Stone Forest Town arena had become a hit in the Black Dragon Empire.

To improve the strength of the adventure guild's members, he had come to take a look.

"It's fine if you just want to take a look, Guild Leader. But as for buying a private residence and developing in Stone Forest Town, I think we should reconsider. I heard that the Zero Wing Guild and the Tianzang Guild are at war, and the Tianzang Guild is currently gaining the upper hand. In the future, the Tianzang Guild's Scarlet Iron Town has more potential for development. Not only does it have more high-resource maps around it, but it can also transfer through the Eternal Night City, which is much more convenient than Stone Forest Town."

"As for the arena, all the major guilds are now building arenas in their respective towns. The Stone Forest Town arena will be surpassed sooner or later."

Yue Wange didn't think much of the Zero Wing Guild's Stone Forest Town. In her opinion, Stone Forest Town only had some advantages at the moment, but as time passed, the major guild towns of the Black Dragon Empire would catch up sooner or later. After all, the Black Dragon Empire was much stronger than the Star-Moon Kingdom.

Even if they really wanted to buy a private residence in the Star-Moon Kingdom, buying a private residence in Scarlet Iron Town would be better than Stone Forest Town in the long run.

"True, but since we're already here, let's go take a look." Can Yun thought about it and felt that Yue Wange was right. Arenas were becoming popular in the major guild towns, and the major guilds were also trying to solve the problem of magic density. Resolving this issue was only a matter of time.

Just as Can Yun and Yue Wange were chatting, a commotion suddenly erupted in the dense forest on both sides of the trade route. Immediately afterward, black figures darted out of the forest, numbering over a thousand, blocking the caravan and surrounding it completely.

The appearance of these monsters immediately alerted all the players present.

These monsters that had suddenly appeared were not the wild monsters they had encountered before. Each of them exuded a terrifying aura that sent chills down their spines. Their eyes also possessed a hint of human-like wisdom, which was beyond the capabilities of ordinary monsters. Moreover, their levels were obviously shockingly high.

Each of them was level 70, 25 levels higher than the previous monsters. They were simply not monsters that current players could deal with.

"What's going on? Didn't they say that these Fiends only attack passing players? Why are they attacking caravans now?"

Some Star-Moon Kingdom escort players recognized the Fiends at first glance. They were no strangers to Fiends, after all, a large number of Fiends had attacked Stone Forest Town before, and it was not news that Fiends attacked players traveling to and from Stone Forest Town.

But what surprised everyone was that these Fiends dared to attack npC caravans.

The npC caravan's guards were not just players, there were also a large number of npC escorts. Their levels were all at level 80, led by three level 80 Tier 3 guards, with over sixty level 80 Tier 2 guards and hundreds of level 80 Tier 1 guards remaining. They were simply not something that current players could easily contend with.

However, before everyone could recover from their shock, the surrounding Fiends surged forward.

"Hahaha, go! Destroy all these goods. Let's see what the Zero Wing Guild will do then." Gui Yingzi, hiding in the forest, looked at the surrounded npC caravan and said with a faint smile.

This time, in order to ensure the capture of the npC caravan, their Tianzang Guild had not only sent out the elite of the Gui Yingzi Legion, but also the Fiend army sent by Beast Emperor. Among the leading Fiends, there were also two level 70 High Lord, so there was no problem in taking down the npC caravan as long as there was enough time.

Although the Fiends' levels were lower than the npCs, they had the advantage in numbers, and they didn't need to completely eliminate the npCs. They just needed to deal with the goods and players on the carriages.

"Damn, how can there be so many powerful monsters!" Yue Wange's eyebrows furrowed as she watched.

Her summoned beasts were easily killed by the level 70 Elite Fiends, and they could also dodge her Magic Missiles. If it weren't for Guild Leader Can Yun activating his burst skills and life-saving skills to block, she would have been approached by the Fiends long ago.

The other players were not so lucky. Even with the npC guards, more than a dozen people died in an instant…

In this battle, these players were completely useless, just ants to be slaughtered.

"Wange, I'll cover the rear, you leave quickly!" Can Yun could also see that staying any longer would only lead to death. This level of battle was simply not something that these players could participate in.

"But…" Yue Wange wanted to say something, but seeing Guild Leader Can Yun, who had activated burst mode, being completely suppressed by a High Lord Fiend, she could only grit her teeth, take out a Teleportation Scroll, and start casting.

"There's no need to struggle!" Gui Yingzi, watching several players in the team take out Teleportation Scrolls, said with disdain.

Before they took action, he had already used the item that Beast Emperor had given him to block the surrounding space. Players wanting to use Return Scrolls and Teleportation Scrolls to escape were simply dreaming.

"How could this be?" Yue Wange's face darkened as she watched the Teleportation Scroll dissipate.

And Guild Leader Can Yun, even with the healing from the back row to barely hold on, would only be killed sooner or later in the face of more and more Fiends.

Seeing that Can Yun had less than 20% of his health left, a Grand Lord Fiend suddenly circled behind Can Yun, and its sharp claws suddenly slashed towards Can Yun's back. Can Yun was already exhausted from blocking the Fiends in front of him, and had no extra strength to block the attack from behind.

"Guild Leader!" Yue Wange couldn't help but exclaim.

"Am I going to be killed like this?" Facing the attack of a Grand Lord Fiend, Can Yun knew that he was doomed.

Just then, a spatial rift suddenly opened between Can Yun and the Fiend, and a figure darted out from inside. But the Fiend's attack did not diminish, and it still slashed down fiercely.

"Careful!" Can Yun could roughly see that the figure that had appeared was a player, and he couldn't help but shout a warning.

But the two sides were too close, only less than three yards apart. Facing the sudden attack of a Grand Lord Fiend, even expert players who knew about it couldn't keep up with the Fiend's speed.

But when the Fiend's claws were less than a yard away from this figure, a cyan light bloomed.

In an instant, the Grand Lord Fiend was sent flying like a cannonball more than ten yards away, heavily impacting the large tree beside the road. Immediately afterward, the towering tree also collapsed, while the figure remained motionless in place, as if nothing had happened…