Chapter 735 - Instrument of War
The news of the various large Guilds inside the Stoneclaw Mountains suffering heavy damage spread like wildfire.
Players throughout the entire Star-Moon Kingdom were paying very close attention to this Guild war. Hence, the moment this news appeared on the official forums, it instantly exploded, shocking many players throughout the entire kingdom.
The uploaded battle videos of the war staggered them even further.
Hundreds of Intermediate Frost Grenades exploded continuously, filling the land with ice flowers and dyeing the land in snow-white color.
Several thousand elite players were suddenly nothing more than lifeless ice sculptures doomed to shatter and scatter with the wind.
Just seeing this scene alone could give one the shivers.
What elite players? What zerg tactics? Under the bombardment of the Frost Grenades, everything was insignificant.
Without using any words, Zero Wing had proven to everyone that its strength was no trifling matter.
Even when going up against over 100,000 elite players, Zero Wing was not afraid. With just the sacrifice of a dozen or so players, Zero Wing had managed to slaughter thousands of elite players.
"Zero Wing is simply too powerful! They are actually able to obtain so many AOE attack tools!"
"The effects of this item are so good, so it should be very rare and expensive, right?"
"That's an engineering tool! I've bought engineering tools before, so I know how insanely expensive those things are! Since that item they used is practically an instrument of war, it's definitely much more expensive! Despite that, Zero Wing is actually able to casually toss out so many as if they were just toys! Zero Wing is simply too rich!"
…
Many players on the official forums began a heated discussion over Zero Wing's financial strength.
Although everyone was unclear about the exact price of the Intermediate Frost Grenades, they could still estimate the price range of the Frost Grenade based on its effects. After making a rough estimate, they then calculated the number of Frost Grenades Zero Wing had used.
Suddenly, everyone was shocked.
Just the first wave of Frost Grenades Zero Wing had thrown in one battlefield cost dozens of Gold. Since there was a total of ten battlefields, that meant Zero Wing had spent several hundred Gold just on the first wave of Frost Grenades. In God's Domain, the liquid funds of many Guilds did not even amount to several hundred Gold, yet Zero Wing had just casually tossed out that sum, using up an entire Guild's liquid funds in the blink of an eye.
Zero Wing was no longer fighting using players. The Guild was practically drowning its enemies with money.
However, no one could criticize the effects of this strategy.
Based on initial estimates, the number of deaths the various Guilds had suffered already exceeded 10,000.
After looking at this scene, one could not help but admit that this money was well spent. If Zero Wing were to rely on its Guild members to claim that number of kills, the total cost of the equipment lost and compensation given out would indeed be a lot more.
Due to Zero Wing's frightening performance, the Guild's prestige, which had been on a constant decline before, suddenly began rising rapidly. Many players, who had initially belittled its chances in this war, also started anticipating the final outcome.
Meanwhile, the ones that this sudden turn of events affected the most emotionally would be none other than the Guilds that were watching from the sidelines.
At this moment, they were all inwardly celebrating the fact that they had not rushed to join the Star Alliance's coalition.
The outcome of this war, which was initially against Zero Wing's favor, had suddenly taken a big turn.
For the Guilds directly participating in this war, should the Star Alliance come out victorious, they would definitely benefit greatly from the Stoneclaw Mountains in the future. However, should Zero Wing win, then Zero Wing would surely banish from Stone Forest Town every Guild that had aggressed. These Guilds would then have a much harder time developing themselves at the Stoneclaw Mountains.
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"So this is his trump card. It's no wonder he insisted on being the spearhead and attracting enemy fire to himself." Gentle Snow could not help but smile after looking at the video showing the situation on the battlefield. "It seems that I have really underestimated him."
Black Flame had deliberately dispatched only 10,000 members, giving his enemies the impression that Zero Wing was vulnerable. He had then brought out the Frost Grenades and taken his enemies by surprise.
Although the Star Alliance's side had lost over 10,000 players, the impact on the overall situation of this war was negligible. However, it had still awakened the belief that Zero Wing might emerge victorious in this war.
---
This counterattack of Zero Wing had also struck anxiety in the Star Alliance.
"Guild Leader, what should we do now? If Zero Wing possesses such an instrument of war, we will only be going to our deaths if we charge forward, yet we are no match for Zero Wing in a ranged battle. We also can't utilize our numbers advantage," Red Feather said. When Red Feather received news of this situation, he immediately reported it to Galaxy Past.
Due to Zero Wing's counterattack, the various large Guilds no longer dared to close in, only fighting at range.
However, such ranged battles were extremely time-consuming—and extremely disadvantageous for the Star Alliance's coalition.
When their members died, they would have to travel over ten hours to return to the battlefield in the Stoneclaw Mountains. However, when Zero Wing's members died, they only needed an hour or so to rejoin the war.
Regarding reinforcements, Zero Wing was overwhelmingly superior to the Star Alliance. A war of attrition was unfavorable to the coalition.
"They should not have too many of such tools. We have the numerical advantage. Continue sending people forward, but lower the number of people charging at a single time. It would be best if we can have people attacking Zero Wing from all sides. I want to see just how much money Zero Wing has to spend." Galaxy Past was aware of the severity of the situation this time. Hence, he decisively made such a costly decision.
"I understand." When Red Feather heard this, he immediately realized the limitations of the Frost Grenade.
The Frost Grenade was not a Skill with indefinite use. Moreover, the grenade should not be cheap. With their numbers, they could simply use a small fraction to bait Zero Wing to use the Frost Grenades. Once Zero Wing depleted its supply, its elite army would merely be sheep for the slaughter.
As long as they defeated Zero Wing and obtained Stone Forest Town, all the losses they suffered now would be negligible.
After the various large Guilds received the directions from the Star Alliance, they also began attacking Zero Wing's elite legions from multiple locations as well as using the lives of their members to draw out Zero Wing's Frost Grenades.
Time passed slowly.
The battle between both sides grew increasingly intense and increasingly concentrated.
Although the effect of the Frost Grenades was indeed striking, the results now were much more subdued, compared to the first time Zero Wing used the instruments of war.
After facing several charging attempts from the Star Alliance, Zero Wing exhausted its supply of Frost Grenades. However, the Star Alliance suffered only 40,000-plus casualties. In terms of their number of elite members, the Star Alliance was still superior to both Zero Wing and Ouroboros combined.
Without the Frost Grenades, Zero Wing's casualties also began rapidly rising.
"Hahaha! Zero Wing has already run out of AOE attack tools! Brothers, it's time to let Zero Wing know how amazing the Star Alliance is!"
"Brothers, charge!"
Suddenly, the Star Alliance and the various large Guilds initiated an all-out charge. Many expert players, who could exert massive destructive power, accompanied the assault teams.
These experts could kill an elite Zero Wing player in just a few hits.
However, nobody was capable of stopping these experts.
---
"Guild Leader, if this continues, our people won't be able to last long. Why don't I lead a team to go and clear out some of the Star Alliance's teams?" Fire Dance took the initiative to ask. She could no longer stand watching this one-sided battle.
The Star Alliance's experts had already begun moving and were casually killing their companions. Meanwhile, they, the experts of Zero Wing, could only stand and watch from the sidelines. This inaction made them feel greatly troubled.
Standing at the peak of the mountain, Shi Feng shook his head, saying, "Your duty is to guard this place, not to kill elites."
Since Stamina was a limiting factor in God's Domain, even an expert like himself would still slowly drown to death in the flood of players. Hence, exchanging the Stamina of experts for the lives of the enemy's elite members was unjustifiable. It would be a different story if they had a large number of expert players. However, Zero Wing had far fewer experts than their opponents.
"But…" Fire Dance truly could not understand why Shi Feng wanted them to guard this location.
"Relax. When going up against elite players, we naturally have to use a method for dealing with elite players." Shi Feng laughed. He then spoke through the team chat, saying, "Aqua, are you guys ready on your side yet? If you don't take action soon, Fire is going to start growing anxious."
Before he had come to the Stoneclaw Mountains, he had already thought of a way to cope with the Star Alliance's army. He had never once thought of relying on just the Frost Grenades to win this war. His real trump card was another item he had asked Melancholic Smile to purchase.
Basic Mana Pulse Cannon!
He had spent a full 20,000 Gold to purchase this thing.
However, in order to use this item, they had to fix it to the ground and could not move it. Moreover, its assembly and disassembly were extremely troublesome processes. It was also very easily destroyed. Generally, it was an instrument of war used to defend towns and cities.
Despite it being only a Basic Mana Pulse Cannon, the power contained in a single shot could rival even a Tier 4 large-scale destruction Spell. The cannon had a shooting range of 15,000 yards, and it was a tool often seen in wars that occurred during the later stages of God's Domain.
"Guild Leader, it's ready. We're just waiting for your orders now," Aqua Rose replied through the team chat, smiling.