Chapter 916: The Eight Orders

Fort Gillingham of Century Conglomerate.

Fort Gillingham is one of the most prosperous strongholds under the Century Conglomerate. The central thoroughfare bustles with endless streams of pedestrians, flanked by numerous shops with players constantly coming and going, presenting a scene of lively prosperity.

Besides the shops, there are many stalls set up on the street-side steps, with vendors continuously shouting to attract customers.

However, beneath this prosperity lurks some hidden crises.

Since the aerial forces of Angel Dominion and Century Conglomerate suffered defeat at Sinner’s City, the number of shops listed for sale within the city has increased by seventy percent compared to usual.

If Century Conglomerate continues to suffer defeats, the thriving commerce of Fort Gillingham might collapse, vanishing like a fleeting dream.

Thirteen players from the Maniac Guild, a subsidiary of the Century Conglomerate, were walking down the street. Fort Gillingham falls under the jurisdiction of the Maniac Guild. Previously, these individuals were local tyrants in Fort Gillingham, though their influence has greatly declined.

In the past, merchants tried every means to appease them in order to establish themselves and earn profits in Fort Gillingham, fearing any offense that might jeopardize their standing. However, things are different now. Maniac Guild has issued orders from above to carefully placate the city’s merchants. If they commit any excessive acts that trigger a complete commercial collapse, the losses for Maniac Guild would be substantial. Despite this, many merchants still decide to sell their shops and flee this troubled place. Their ideal destination is Abernathy Grasslands, where Bull Tribe has implemented numerous preferential policies, resulting in highly prosperous commerce. Anything available in the market can be purchased there, and players from both empires can easily cross the border to buy goods, making the area extremely popular. Bull Tribe’s consecutive victories have further strengthened their confidence, making them believe Abernathy Grasslands is absolutely safe.

An increasing number of merchants are leaving Fort Gillingham, making life difficult for Maniac Guild. With commercial decline and reduced tax revenue, they can only rely on financial support from Century Conglomerate.

“Cursed! Another six shops have posted sale notices, and the selling price is thirty percent lower than before. These profit-driven bastards are actually willing to sell!” a warrior from Maniac Guild angrily cursed.

“We can’t stop them from selling. If we do, even fewer people will buy shops,” replied an Elf Mage in a blue robe, clearly the leader of the group.

“Windthunder Leader, don’t you have a better solution?”

The Elf Mage called Windthunder shook his head bitterly, “What better solution can I have? Unless the allied forces of Angel Dominion and Century Conglomerate can win one or two battles, which might slightly reassure these people. Otherwise, more and more people will sell their shops, as they understand that once Bull Tribe lays siege to the city, their shops will be even less valuable.”

Previously, when they walked the streets, many people sought to befriend them. Now, however, most people immediately lower their heads and hurry past upon seeing the Maniac Guild emblem on them, prompting feelings of nostalgia.

Windthunder is the top player in Maniac Guild and one of Cao Xu’s confidants. He has little confidence in Angel Dominion and Century Conglomerate winning the war, let alone others. Glancing at the Silver Moon Scroll in his backpack, he thought, “It would be great if I could collect a complete volume. Then, even if Century Conglomerate collapses, I can rely on my own strength to earn a substantial income.”

If even one of Cao Xu’s confidants harbors such thoughts, it’s easy to imagine the rest.

“Let’s go to the auction house and see what good stuff there is!” Windthunder said. As he took a step forward, his body suddenly froze, unable to move an inch. Scanning his skill bar, he found all his skills silenced. What was happening? A sudden thought flashed through his mind: enemy attack!

Windthunder would never have been so careless in the wild, but here in Fort Gillingham, under Maniac Guild’s jurisdiction, he had completely let his guard down, never expecting an enemy attack in this place.

At the moment he paused, a flash of dagger light streaked by. His pupils constricted. Before he could react, two daggers pierced his body simultaneously from front and back. So fast, at least Shadow Dancer level! This was the last thought flashing through his mind.

Almost simultaneously with Windthunder being eliminated, the other twelve Maniac Guild members also fell to the ground. As Windthunder’s Order Scroll dropped, it was immediately taken.

These thieves appeared only briefly before vanishing without a trace.

There were at least hundreds of players around who witnessed this scene, all stunned. In less than a minute, these thieves had taken down Windthunder and his group and disappeared quietly. What an incredible feat!

“Who were those thieves?”

“They must be from Bull Tribe!”

“Look, that was Windthunder, Maniac Guild’s top player, said to have reached the Archmage level long ago. These thieves are too terrifying. Windthunder didn’t even have time to react.”

Everyone felt a chill down their spines. Bull Tribe was too domineering, daring to come to someone else’s territory to kill people, and then getting away with it.

Witnesses developed an even deeper reverence for Bull Tribe. Soon after, nearly a hundred more shops posted notices to sell.

Cao Xu was in the armory of Croft Fortress, under Century Conglomerate, wanting to rely on subordinates to win the current war, which seemed unrealistic. He could only depend on advanced weapons. He painstakingly collected various blueprints for advanced weapons at great expense, preparing for the final battle. Suddenly, his voice chat rang out.

“What’s going on?” Cao Xu asked, his voice deep and powerful, exuding an aura of authority.

“Boss, bad news! Windthunder, Mingye, Amber Leader, and others have been attacked.”

Hearing the report, Cao Xu’s heart sank. He thought of something. Previously, to maximize the effectiveness of the Order Scrolls, he had distributed them among these individuals, although he had hoped to collect one or two volumes. However, opportunities had been scarce. Upon hearing that Windthunder and others were attacked, he immediately sensed something was wrong and asked, “How are they now?”

“Windthunder and the others are dead. The attackers were too fast, striking without warning. At least twenty or more Shadow Dancers from Bull Tribe must have been involved.”

“What about the Order Scrolls?”

“They’re all lost.”

“What? All lost?” Cao Xu exploded in rage, slamming his palm on the table. The precious Order Scrolls he had painstakingly gathered were all lost, making him furious. But he couldn’t blame Windthunder and the others. With so many Shadow Dancers from Bull Tribe launching a surprise attack, no one could have defended against it.

Cao Xu furrowed his brow. Bull Tribe sending so many Shadow Dancers to seize the Order Scrolls made him keenly aware that something was amiss. It probably wasn’t just about those fragments. Could they have found a way to assemble a complete volume, or even… the full set?

If they had the complete set, that would be terrifying. Anyone collecting the full set of Order Scrolls could become the High Priest of the Holy Sanctuary. Once Kuang Zei Nie Yan was crowned High Priest, Century Conglomerate and Angel Dominion would certainly lose.

Thinking further, according to the information he had gathered, some Order Scrolls were in the hands of 200-level demonized lords. Bull Tribe would likely find it difficult to collect the full set, probably managing only two or three volumes at most.

However, he couldn’t afford to be complacent. Kuang Zei Nie Yan was a person who couldn’t be predicted by conventional logic.

Cao Xu understood he had no retreat left. He could only gather his forces quickly for a decisive battle with Bull Tribe. The longer the conflict dragged on, the more restless he became.

“Boss, our gold is almost gone. What should we do?”

“Have all the funds from the gold-making teams been used up?”

“Yes, completely exhausted, and still not enough. These days, the armory is spending money like water, using five or six million gold coins daily.”

Cao Xu was silent for a moment before decisively saying, “Continue buying all the gold on the trading platform!”

“Understood.” The player obeyed and left. Someone unknown had listed tens of millions of gold coins for sale on the trading platform. Buying these would sustain them for some time.

By nature, Cao Xu would never abandon his long-established business empire and quit Faith. No matter how much more he invested, he was determined to go all-in and fight to the end. With Bull Tribe squeezing his in-game industries, he could only mobilize funds from outside to purchase large amounts of gold to support the guild’s expenses, thus increasing his investments continuously.

Nie Yan also invested heavily in developing war machines like armored catapults.

“Nie Yan, we just received news that Century Conglomerate has bought another thirty million gold coins from the trading platform. Should we continue selling? Should we pause?” Guo Huai asked, feeling uneasy about Nie Yan’s actions. After all, every time Century Conglomerate bought a portion of gold on the platform, their strength grew, making them even harder to fight in battle.

“Regardless of them, keep selling. How are the materials for the self-destructive wind dragons? How many have been purchased?” Nie Yan asked. Besides armored catapults, he had recently been mass-producing self-destructive wind dragons, whose power exceeded that of five or six armored catapults combined.

“We’ve bought over a hundred sets, but it will take significant effort to complete all of them,” Guo Huai replied. Self-destructive wind dragons indeed possessed formidable power, making them extremely potent weapons for attacking ground forces.

“Tell Ziyan to accelerate the progress. Otherwise, we won’t be ready in time,” Nie Yan said. The decisive battle could erupt at any moment, and they needed to accumulate more strength before it arrived.

“Also, Sun and others have sent word. They’ve already collected eight Order Scrolls. All scrolls from Angel Dominion and Century Conglomerate have been secured.”

“Excellent work!” Nie Yan exclaimed excitedly. Sun and his team had acted quite swiftly.