"An affiliated power?"
Galaxy Past and Lin Yaoyue were stunned when they heard Shi Feng's words. Then, complicated emotions appeared on their faces.
If the person saying these words to them wasn't Shi Feng, the representative of Zero Wing, but a representative of some other superpower instead, their answers would've told this person to get lost without hesitation.
Although there were many first-rate Guilds in God's Domain, it didn't mean that they were weaklings. A typical first-rate Guild would have control over a hundred major cities or more. Top-tier first-rate Guilds would even have control over an entire medium-sized kingdom. Hence, first-rate Guilds were by no means pushovers. It was especially true for their two Guilds. They were confident that their respective Guilds could become a super-first-rate Guild and join the ranks of God's Domain's superpowers in the future.
At that time, apart from the Five Great Super Guilds, there would be no other existence that their two Guilds would be afraid of offending.
Thus, asking their two Guilds to become affiliated powers was nothing but a joke.
After pondering in silence for a moment, Lin Yaoyue took a deep breath and said in a neutral tone, "I'm afraid I do not have the authority to give you an answer right now, Mr. Black Flame. I will have to discuss your offer with my superiors first."
"I'm afraid I will also have to discuss it over with my Guild's current Guild Leader," Galaxy Past said, nodding in agreement with Lin Yaoyue.
"Do you think that my condition is a little too brazen?" Shi Feng wasn't surprised when he heard Galaxy Past and Lin Yaoyue rejecting his offer. Chuckling, he said, "Don't be so quick to shoot down my offer. I understand the pride you have for your respective Guilds. After all, a first-rate Guild is only one step away from joining the ranks of superpowers. I'm guessing that your respective Guilds aren't even afraid of ordinary superpowers right now, much less becoming an affiliated power to one."
Galaxy Past and Lin Yaoyue remained silent as they looked at Shi Feng, evidently agreeing with what Shi Feng had just said.
"Since you wish to consider, take your time doing so," Shi Feng said. "However, before that, I plan to show you Zero Wing's foundations. How about making a decision after that?"
"May I know how you plan to display it, Mr. Black Flame?" Galaxy Past asked curiously.
Lin Yaoyue also nodded her head, her eyes looking at Shi Feng with curiosity.
There was no way any of their Guilds would willingly become an affiliated power without something to convince them. Though, even if Shi Feng did show them Zero Wing's might, their two Guilds would most likely still reject his offer. After all, their two Guilds possessed great ambitions for the future. How could they possibly submit themselves to another power just for some small profits?
However, it'd be a lie if they said that they weren't curious about how powerful Outerworld powers were.
After thinking for a moment, Shi Feng said, "How about we raid this Team Dungeon together?"
"Raid this Team Dungeon? Does that mean you plan on having your Guild's other experts come over?" Galaxy Past's eyes brightened.
The strength of a power relied heavily on the number and quality of the experts it possessed. If he could use this opportunity to see the number and quality of experts Zero Wing possessed, he could make a rough guess of Zero Wing's strength.
"No, it'll be just me," Shi Feng said, shaking his head.
"Only one person?" Lin Yaoyue was stunned. She failed to understand Shi Feng's intentions. "How will you display Zero Wing's strength, then?"
A power's foundation couldn't be composed of just one expert. Even if a Guild had a Tier 6 God-ranked expert leading it, it would simply be evaluated as a top-tier first-rate Guild in God's Domain.
"I'll show it through our Mana Technique!" Shi Feng said with a faint smile.
"Mana Technique?" Lin Yaoyue grew even more confused.
Any expert at Tier 4 or above would come into contact with Mana Techniques. It was because Mana Techniques were a form of manipulating Mana, just like how combat techniques were a form of manipulating the physical body. Meanwhile, after reaching Tier 4, players would need to learn a lot about Mana usage since only by doing so could they display the power of Tier 4 Skills and Spells.
Hence, so long as players reached Tier 4, they would have to touch upon knowledge of this aspect even if they didn't want to. Meanwhile, Mana Techniques were the best tools for learning how to manipulate Mana.
However, while Mana Techniques might be rare in God's Domain, their rarity hadn't reached a point where they could be considered priceless. Even first-rate powers would have a few Mana Techniques in their possession, let alone superpowers. Thus, Mana Techniques couldn't be used to prove a Guild's strength.
"You'll understand once we reach the Boss," Shi Feng said, not bothering to explain himself. "What do you two think?"
"The Star Alliance has no problem with this arrangement," Galaxy Past said nonchalantly. Since he had already lost the challenge, the Star Alliance naturally wouldn't have anything to do with this Hell Mode Team Dungeon any longer. However, while he couldn't acquire the items inside the Team Dungeon, getting the opportunity to understand an Outerworld expert wasn't a bad idea, either. After all, the current powers of God's Domain had incredibly little information on Outerworld players.
"Mysterious Moon doesn't have any problem with this arrangement, either," Lin Yaoyue said, nodding.
"Good. We'll form a 1,000-man team and enter right away, then," Shi Feng said. Then, he sent a team invitation to Galaxy Past and Lin Yaoyue.
Meanwhile, neither Galaxy Past nor Lin Yaoyue had a problem with Shi Feng becoming the leader of the team. After all, they wouldn't have felt reconciled if they had let each other lead the team. Rather than have one of them lead the team and the other feeling unreconciled, they might as well let Shi Feng become the team leader.
After joining Shi Feng's team, Galaxy Past and Lin Yaoyue had their respective team disband and join Shi Feng's team. In less than ten minutes, a team of 1,000 top-tier experts was formed and ready to enter the Hell Mode Team Dungeon.
The inside of the Miniature Ancient World's Team Dungeons was completely different from that of the outside world's Team Dungeons. The inside of the Team Dungeon was so massive that it looked more like a Regional Dungeon instead. Moreover, not only were there Level 103 to Level 105 Great Lord ranked Demonic Beasts, but there were also plenty of Level 105 Grand Lord ranked Demonic Beasts leading these Great Lords.
Even the smallest group of monsters in the Team Dungeon had at least several thousand Great Lords and 50 Grand Lords, while some of the bigger groups had over a hundred Grand Lords and a Mythic ranked Demonic Beasts leading them.
Rather than a Dungeon raid, it felt more like they were fighting on a primordial battlefield instead. Moreover, these Demonic Beasts behaved more like soldiers than monsters. Not only did they move in unison, but they would also always fight in groups instead of alone. An ordinary Tier 3 expert team would stand no chance against these organized monsters.
However, faced against the elites of two first-rate Guilds, these Demonic Beasts were still a little lacking.
Even the weakest expert on the team was geared in a mix of Level 100 Dark-Gold and Epic Equipment. In addition, there were over a dozen Refinement Realm experts on the team plus Lin Yaoyue and Galaxy Past. Lin Yaoyue was a Great Mage who had reached the Flowing Water Realm. She was akin to a human-shaped cannon, and she could instantly cast Tier 3 AOE Spells one after another. As for Galaxy Past, he was a Domain Realm Berserker. Even when Mythic ranked Demonic Beasts tried to attack Lin Yaoyue and stop her rampage, none of them could get close to her because of Galaxy Past.
In less than five hours, Shi Feng and the others had already successfully arrived at the central castle inside the Team Dungeon.
"And here I thought this Hell Mode Team Dungeon was going to be challenging. It seems I overestimated it."
"That's not true. We already killed four Mythic monsters on our way here. These Mythic monsters could already be regarded as the Final Boss in other Dungeons. Moreover, you shouldn't forget that our team consists of the core experts of two first-rate Guilds. Any other team would've gotten annihilated several times by now."
"That's right. Didn't you see Guild Leader Galaxy stopping a Level 105 Mythic monster all by himself? I doubt you can find another expert with such strength in the Miniature Ancient World."
Everyone was thrilled when they arrived in front of the ancient castle. It also didn't look like they had just experienced a series of tough battles at all since none of them looked tired.
"This should be where the Legacy is located, right? Everyone's already rested, so should we open the door now?" Lin Yaoyue asked Shi Feng when she saw that everyone was mostly rested.
Shi Feng had hardly ever fought on their way here. Apart from when he needed to protect the healers, he spent most of his time commanding the team.
Meanwhile, Lin Yaoyue had to admit that Shi Feng was an incredibly capable commander, his commands maximizing the team's combat power. However, even until now, she had yet to see the foundation Shi Feng had promised to display.
Now that they were about to fight the Final Boss, she couldn't help but wonder what the Mana Technique Shi Feng mentioned was all about.
"Alright, open it!" Shi Feng said as he stood up from the stone pedestal he sat on.
Upon hearing Shi Feng's command, the several dozen Berserkers on the team approached the massive stone doors that measured 30 meters in height. Then, they pushed against it with all their might, opening it slowly.
When a gap formed between the doors, an ancient aura promptly flooded out of the gap. At the same time, a vast courtyard with a dragon statue in the middle entered everyone's eyes. There were also divine runes engraved across the courtyard ground.
Meanwhile, as the doors gradually opened, not only did the runes on the ground light up as if awakened, but the dragon statue in the middle also started to tremble and crack. Then, under everyone's gaze, the statue exploded, and a real Dragon appeared in its place.
"A Tier 4 Bronze Dragon?!"
"How is this possible?!"
"Why would a Dragon appear in a Hell Mode Team Dungeon?!"
Everyone was stunned when they looked at the 80-meter-tall Bronze Dragon.
…
[Schwartold] (Dragon, Mythic)
Level 105
HP ? ? ? ? ? ?
…
Dragons were the personification of destruction in God's Domain. They were also the apex race of God's Domain. Even a Tier 3 Infant Dragon was more than capable of destroying a city by themselves, while a Tier 4 Adult Dragon could plunge an entire kingdom into despair and possibly even annihilation…
"Let's retreat quickly, Mr. Black Flame. A Tier 4 Dragon isn't something current players can go up against," Lin Yaoyue hurriedly suggested.
Even Tier 5 players would have a headache fighting a Tier 4 Dragon, let alone Tier 3 players like themselves. Unless they could get the help of a Tier 5 expert, only death would await them if they tried to challenge Schwartold.
"A Dragon? No, that's not right!" After looking at the engravings on the ground, Shi Feng said, "While he might be a bona fide Tier 4 Dragon, he has already died for quite some time by the looks of it. His body is merely being controlled by the runes on the ground."
"That should be the case." Galaxy Past agreed with Shi Feng's analysis. "If this Hell Mode Team Dungeon really requires players to fight against a Tier 4 Dragon, I doubt there is any team in the current Miniature Ancient World capable of raiding this Dungeon. Looking at the raid environment, I believe we are required to figure out a way to destroy the pillars with engravings located around the battlefield. If we do that, the Dragon will probably fall on its own."
"That is true, but we have to face a Tier 4 Dragon as we destroy those pillars!" Lin Yaoyue said, feeling a little exasperated. Even if they had the strength to destroy the pillars, they had to survive the Dragon's onslaught before they could do so. However, even if all of them combined their strength, they probably couldn't survive even a hit from the Tier 4 Dragon…
"Indeed. If we cannot face the Dragon's attacks, destroying those pillars will be nothing but a dream," Galaxy Past said, nodding in agreement. "It seems our only option now is to retreat."
"Let's leave quickly, then. If the Dragon starts attacking us, none of us should think of leaving," Lin Yaoyue hurriedly said.
"Hold on a second," Shi Feng suddenly said. "Although we have to face a Tier 4 Dragon, we are not without a chance."
"A chance?" Looking at Shi Feng in confusion, Lin Yaoyue asked, "What chance?"
Honestly, Lin Yaoyue felt reluctant to give up on the raid so easily. After all, this was one of the Miniature Ancient World's Legacies they were talking about. If she could get her hands on it, she might be able to improve herself further. However, no matter how she looked at it, there was simply no way they could go up against a Tier 4 Dragon.
"I'm not sure if I can succeed, but I will only know after I try."
After saying so, Shi Feng took a step forward, instantly entering Schwartold's area of influence. Immediately, the Bronze Dragon stood up from its resting position and swung one of its massive claws at Shi Feng.
"Is he crazy?" Lin Yaoyue was momentarily dumbfounded by this situation.
At this time, even Galaxy Past couldn't help but gape in shock at this scene. He didn't think that Shi Feng meant this when the other party said he would "try."
Shi Feng had just provoked a Tier 4 Dragon!
Although it is a little early, I can use this opportunity to test out the effects of this move, Shi Feng thought as he looked at the approaching claw that destabilized the surrounding space. Then, he unsheathed the Winter of Eternal Night, wielded it over his head with both hands, and activated the sword's Skill Radiant Night, which increased the rank of his attack by two.
Immediately afterward, Shi Feng swung down his sword against the approaching dragon claw.
First Sword, Lightshadow!