Chapter 2023 - Misconceived Victory

Chapter 2023 – Misconceived Victory
Everyone in the central plaza fell silent as the Fire Spirit’s thunderous roar echoed through the town, its powerful aura making every player feel uncomfortable. However, the pressure they felt wasn’t just due to the Flame Dragon’s high Level, but also due to the creature’s superior Life Rating.
“Waiting for us to gather? Are you claiming that you’re so much stronger than us?” Wind Cloud questioned as he eyed the Fire Spirit. He then returned his gaze to Shi Feng and laughed, saying, “Since that is the case, show me how this Tier 3 Archaic Species of yours will defeat our monster army! Smoke monsters, attack!”
As Wind Cloud gave the command, the humanoid smoke monsters charged past him, running at the Fire Spirit.
These smoke monsters were more like NPCs than ordinary monsters. They did not charge at the Fire Spirit as a disorderly mob. Rather, they fell into proper offensive formations.
Eight Level 75 Grand Lord ranked smoke monsters led the charge, smoke pulling away from their forms to create shields and spears. Like a group of hunters chasing after a large beast, they quickly surrounded the Flame Dragon. Behind these Grand Lords, multiple groups of 10 Great Lord ranked smoke monsters transformed parts of their bodies into longbows. In organized rows, they nocked their arrows and prepared to launch a concentrated attack.
Intense killing intent filled the central plaza. A chilling sensation encompassed the players standing close to the monsters.
The smoke monsters’ formation shocked everyone watching. Even the Starlight Alliance’s upper echelons were stupefied.
What high intellect! Roaring Flame was just as stunned to see the smoke monsters move like an orderly army.
He wasn’t incredibly familiar with Sin Realm’s trump card. It had been mentioned briefly during the meeting, but he hadn’t dreamed that it would be this powerful.
Militaristic formations were a large part of the reason that players could defeat a large number of powerful monsters in God’s Domain. Players would be able to exert greater combat power when they used such tactics than without. This was also why players could fend off monster sieges despite being outnumbered.
The weakest of the hundreds of smoke monsters was a Level 70 Great Lord. If these smoke monsters worked together and fought like players, they could even defeat a Level 80 Mythic monster, let alone a Level 80, Tier 3 Archaic Species.
“Good! While these smoke monsters pin down that Dragon, the rest of us will surround and attack Black Flame! Do not let him escape!” Sky View commanded. As he watched the smoke monsters inch closer to the Fire Spirit, he knew that Shi Feng’s final trump card had been neutralized. He no longer felt threatened by Shi Feng’s calm exterior. He only needed to concentrate on slaying Shi Feng and announcing the Starlight Alliance’s victory in Star-Moon Kingdom.
As Sky View fell silent, he and Shadowlight Axe led a dozen or so Great Lord ranked monster players to surround Shi Feng. The weakest among these players could reach the Trial Tower’s sixth floor, and including their powerful Attributes, any one of them could hold their ground against a Mythic monster of the same level.
“Die!” Sky View shouted as he finished chanting the incantation for a Tier 2 Curse.
However, before Sky View released his Spell, he paused, noticing something that confused him. Despite more than a dozen monster players charging at him, Shi Feng’s expression hadn’t changed. It was as if he viewed these Great Lord ranked monster players as nothing more than air. Or, perhaps, he was ignoring these players.
Even a true Tier 3 expert would feel threatened by so many Great Lord ranked monster players, yet Shi Feng was unfazed… Am I overthinking this? Sky View could not help but wonder if he were being too careful.
Meanwhile, Shadowlight Axe and the others moved within 10 yards of the enemy Swordsman and launched their attacks. Finally, Shi Feng made his move.
He hadn’t launched his own attacks, yet Shi Feng’s aura abruptly skyrocketed. With unbelievable speed, the Swordsman unsheathed Killing Ray, swinging the blade in a forward slash.
Lightning Slash!
A lightning bolt instantly tore through Shadowlight Axe and his companions.
The monster players and their leader lost HP at a horrific rate. After a single attack, Shadowlight Axe collapsed to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. The impact threw the dozen or so Great Lord ranked monster players over 30 yards back as they lost more than a quarter of their HPs.
Everyone who saw this was stunned.
The Starlight Alliance had carefully selected expert players to become these Great Lord ranked monster players, yet a single strike had shattered their coordinated assault Moreover, Shadowlight Axe, the assault’s leader, had died instantly. In contrast, Shi Feng hadn’t received one point of damage. In fact, he hadn’t even moved from his original position…
“Die!” Sky View growled. He finally realized how terrifying Shi Feng truly was, but he still shouted in an attempt to restore his courage.
Tier 2 Curse, Flame Blast!
This was the most powerful Spell Sky View had in his arsenal. When cast with an active Berserk Skill, even a Grand Lord of the same level would suffer heavy injuries if struck directly.
Suddenly, four gigantic fireballs appeared around Shi Feng, each the size of a small house. These fireballs then descended on their target
The surrounding experts reacted and prepared for Shi Feng to evade the attack, but something surprised them. Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Shi Feng didn’t try to dodge the fireballs. He didn’t even try to defend himself.
Suddenly, four sword lights blinded the crowd, carrying enough power to split the four fireballs in half.
How is this possible?! Sky View was dumbfounded as he watched the Swordsman slice apart his attack so effortlessly. Before today, he had felt that even the various superpowers’ old monsters would flee from this attack, but now, he found the idea laughable. He also viewed all of the effort he had spent trying to master the Spell as one big joke.
The strength to fight monster-level experts?
That had only been wishful thinking.
However, Sky View didn’t know that Shi Feng had already reached Level 70, wearing equipment that not even Super Guilds’ Guild Leaders could dream of equipping. Most importantly, he was currently affected by both the Ring of Brilliance and Heavenly Dragon’s Power. Not even a Level 60 Mythic monster could match his Strength.
Following which, Shi Feng appeared before the Great Lord ranked monster players and brandished his two swords. After just a few seconds, one of these monster players was dead.
“What should we do?”
“His Strength is too high!”
“He’s using his Berserk Skill! Get away from him for now! Once his Berserk Skill is over, we can easily take him out!”
After witnessing Shi Feng’s performance, the Starlight Alliance’s members wondered which side had the real monster. They had never expected to find a normal player that could be this powerful. They had to buy themselves some time. If even the Great Lord ranked monster players were helpless against Shi Feng, other players would die instantly if they faced him. Although the Grand Lord ranked smoke monsters had high intellect, they were only monsters.
After killing a few Great Lord ranked monster players, Shi Feng sensed what the Starlight Alliance was trying to do. At this rate, he’d only be able to kill several dozen monster players before Heavenly Dragon’s Power ended.
Now that I’ve seen these monsters’ strength, it’s time to end this battle, Shi Feng thought to himself as he surveyed his Guild members fighting in the plaza. Although only a short time had passed since the battle in the plaza had begun, Zero Wing had lost a considerable number of lives. Turning back to the Starlight Alliance’s upper echelons, Shi Feng said, “Since you have no intention of fighting, let’s remove Golden Flow Town from the Witch’s Hill!”
“Remove?”
“You really think you can accomplish such a thing?”
Although the Starlight Alliance’s members watched Shi Feng with fear in their eyes, their gazes still contained a spark of hope. While they were at a disadvantage now, as time passed, the situation would become more favorable for them.
Suddenly, Shi Feng snapped his fingers.
The Fire Spirit, which had been battling the smoke monster army, abruptly transformed into a small fire and appeared above Shi Feng’s head. A complex chant reached the surrounding players, increasing the town’s Mana density.
The various superpowers hadn’t viewed the Fire Spirit as such a strategic item, even fearing it, in the past due to its prowess, but because of the number of fire-type large- and super-large-scale destruction Spells it wielded.
“No! Stop him!” Sky View yelled in panic, turning deathly pale when he saw the two gigantic magic arrays forming in the sky. He could sense the power in those Spells, and he knew they could rival the power of Tier 4, large-scale destruction Spells.
Before anyone could react, massive fireballs, easily dwarfing the ones Sky View’s Flame Blast had created, fell from one of the arrays above the plaza, one after another. At the same time, a raging inferno erupted beneath the second magic array. In the blink of an eye, a fiery hell engulfed Golden Flow Town.