1498 Capturing Ancient Towers

Chapter 1498 - Capturing Ancient Towers

"Damn it!"

Nine Dragons Emperor's glare was frosty as he watched Phoenix Rain's team pull away from his own.

Arranging this ambush to eliminate Phoenix Rain had taken a lot of effort, yet Shi Feng had ruined his plans.

With Shi Feng maintaining Chilling Field in the narrow valley's center, his team couldn't pursue Phoenix Rain. Even if they launched ranged attacks, Shi Feng would have no trouble dodging them with his speed and techniques.

He didn't have the option of using a large-scale destruction Spell either. Shi Feng could easily pull away from the caster while the Spell activated.

In addition, Nine Dragons Emperor had already used Twelve Firmaments, his strongest trump card. He would not be able to use it again for the next ten hours.

After time passed, Shi Feng took a look at his system map. When he noticed that Phoenix Rain and the others were far enough away, he turned and sped away from the battlefield, no longer worried about distracting Nine Dragons Emperor and his people.

"Pavilion Master, should we give chase?" Martial Dragon asked after watching Shi Feng depart.

Although Phoenix Rain's team had escaped, Shadowtooth had placed a marker on Alluring Summer during their previous fight. Hence, it was entirely possible to chase after Phoenix Rain's team.

"No need. They've gotten lucky this time. You and Shadowtooth will go and occupy the ancient tower. Once we group up with Miracle's team, we'll have plenty of opportunities to deal with Phoenix Rain," Nine Dragons Emperor calmly stated as he shifted his gaze to the nearby ancient tower.

The main goal in this contest was to occupy Thunder Island's various monster encampments. However, there were a limited number of encampments on the island.

With so many superpowers participating in the contest, he'd be putting the cart before the horse if he chased after Phoenix Rain.

Moreover, not only had Phoenix Rain lost the chance to capture the ancient towers as a result of this battle, but her team had sustained heavy damages. After such a painful setback, Phoenix Rain would have a very difficult time turning things around.

Although this outcome wasn't what he had planned, he had achieved part of his goal.

"Understood!" Martial Dragon took one last look at Shi Feng's retreating figure before containing his killing intent. He then led a 20-man team towards the ancient tower on the side of a nearby hill.

Meanwhile, the various watching superpowers had gained a new understanding of Phoenix Rain's team. This was especially true for Zero Wing's Ye Feng.

Although it had only been a moment, Shi Feng had held back over 200 experts by himself.

Even the superpowers' Domain Realm experts would struggle to replicate the feat.

"Ye Feng is really unlucky. Had he joined a superpower instead of a small Guild like Zero Wing, his future would've been limitless."

"Send someone to investigate Ye Feng. I want to know his background."

"Nine Dragons Emperor is ruthless. Although Phoenix Rain still has her core combatants, over 70% of the island's ancient towers have already been captured. She'll have no choice but to wait until the next contest."

After the battle between Phoenix Rain and Nine Dragons Emperor's teams, the various superpowers returned their attention to capturing ancient towers and raiding monster encampments. While some teams pitied the Phoenix Pavilion Master, some celebrated her misfortune.

The first few minutes were the most important in the contest.

Thunder Island's ancient towers were easily defensible. Once players captured an ancient tower, other players would have a challenging time trying to steal it. Without dispatching a force that was several times stronger than the defenders, the ancient towers were impossible to take.

Hence, the participating superpowers' final achievements were usually decided during the first few minutes. Moreover, among the various superpowers, Phoenix Rain's overall combat power ranked the weakest. After all, unlike the other superpowers, the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion had split its forces.

After Phoenix Rain and her companions escaped, they searched for an unoccupied ancient tower while waiting for their dead teammates to resurrect.

Finally, after ten minutes or so of searching, one of the scouting Assassins found an unclaimed tower at the edge of a bay.

Phoenix Rain immediately led her team to capture it.

The team spent around ten minutes clearing out the dozen or so Level 55, Lord ranked Savage Orcs before they captured the ancient tower.

"Big Sis Rain, I've just received news from our men outside of Thunder Island. All 39 ancient towers have been captured. I'm afraid we've lost our chance to secure a second tower," Blue Phoenix reported helplessly.

"What's the situation on Nine Dragons Emperor's side?" Phoenix Rain asked, frowning.

She hadn't expected the other superpowers to take action so quickly that she wouldn't even have the opportunity to capture a second tower.

Thunder Island's monster encampments were no trivial matter. Without tools or Berserk Skills, taking down ordinary Grand Lords of the same level would be extremely difficult, not to mention Thunder Islands' Grand Lords.

The Defense and Magic Resistance a single tower provided wouldn't likely be enough to help them capture a monster encampment, even if they worked together. They needed the weakening effects of two ancient towers.

"With the help of Miracle, Nine Dragons Emperor has captured three ancient towers. His team is already preparing to raid a monster encampment," Blue Phoenix said. She then sent Phoenix Rain a statistics chart and continued, "These are the forces he has guarding the three towers. He's allocated 102 players in total. Forty-two people are guarding the tower closest to us."

"Nine Dragons Emperor isn't taking any chances." Phoenix Rain revealed a bitter smile as she read the information.

She had planned to attack one of Nine Dragons Emperor's ancient towers after she recovered her forces, but it seemed that was no longer possible.

They would have to run for nearly 15 minutes to reach the closest tower. Although only 42 people defended the tower, the party included Blood Dragon, the Branch Guild Leader of the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion's Black Dragon Empire Branch Guild. With the defender's advantage, her team wouldn't be able to take the tower unless it attacked with everything it had.

If they wanted to attack the second closest ancient tower, they'd need roughly 23 minutes to reach it. Moreover, they'd have to pass by Blood Dragon's tower during the run. They wouldn't be able to avoid Nine Dragons Emperor's detection. He'd easily be able to send reinforcements to the second tower before they reached it.

No matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to steal one of Nine Dragons Emperor's ancient towers. And taking a tower from another superpower was impossible. All of the other competitors already knew her team's predicament. Hence, they had intentionally dispatched more manpower to defend the towers close to her team, strengthening their fortifications beyond what Nine Dragons Emperor could manage…

To put it simply, her team had lost any chance of securing a monster encampment during this contest.

As he read the collected information, Shi Feng suddenly commented, "We're not completely out of options."

"We still have a chance?" Phoenix Rain took another look at the report in her hands, but even after reading through it again, she couldn't find an ancient tower that her team could raid.

"What about this tower?" Shi Feng said as he pointed to one of Nine Dragons Emperor's ancient towers, the farthest from their current location.

"That one?" Phoenix Rain had initially been excited to hear that they still had a chance, but after seeing the ancient tower Shi Feng had pointed at, she was speechless. "Although only 25 players are defending that tower, it'll take us 30 minutes to reach it. By the time we arrive, Nine Dragons Emperor's reinforcements would've beaten us there. We'll never be able to capture the tower."

"No. We won't just target one tower; we'll capture two of his ancient towers simultaneously," Shi Feng said, chuckling as he shook his head.

"Capture two towers?" Phoenix Rain looked at Shi Feng's grin in confusion. For a moment, she wondered if the man had lost his mind after Nine Dragons Emperor's provocation.

"Big Brother Ye Feng, you know the advantages players get after capturing a tower. Not only will allies near the towers receive a buff to their Basic Attributes, but they'll also receive a damage reduction buff. With our current combat power, we'll be fortunate to capture one tower. We just don't have the power to capture two at once," Blue Phoenix stated as she pointed at the magic barrier around each of the ancient towers.

"How will we know if we don't try?" Shi Feng said, chuckling.

To accomplish the contest's objectives, one had to have a lot of team members.

At this stage of the game, it was likely that no one understood Thunder Island's contest better than he did. Furthermore, he had a strategic tool to capture the ancient towers.

He had wanted to avoid using it, but since Nine Dragons Emperor had ruined his plans, he didn't mind teaching the man the cost of doing so.