Rebirth of the thief who roamed around the world (BOOK 1)

Chapter 131 - Encounter

After returning to the city, Nie Yan planned to head to the auction house and get rid of all the equipment in his bag. His bag only had seven spaces left and would be completely full if he randomly chucked in a few more items. He stood up and was prepared to begin channeling a Return Scroll.

However, a deep muffled roar cut through the air as it reverberated from the distance. He halted for a moment before putting away the scroll in his hand. This roar, it's from a Sub-Elite Zombie or possibly... an Elite Zombie King! Reigning over a certain region of space, these monsters would occasionally roar to announce their presence to potential intruders. As for weak players, this was a sign that they should depart the area immediately.

After killing countless Leader-class monsters over the course of two days, he was finally going to meet a truly strong opponent.

He headed toward the source of the sound. After passing through a mound of rubble, he entered a wide open area and was greeted by the sight of an enormous Zombie. Towering over its surroundings, it was three meters tall and entirely pitch-black in colour while a fishy-smelling pus oozed out of its body. Its nails were extremely long and sharp, resembling steel swords. Even more odd was the dark scarlet aura that faintly enshrouded it.

He activated Transcendent Insight.

Zombie King (Elite): Level 10
Health: 3,200/3,200

"It's an Elite!" Nie Yan muttered as he surveyed the terrain for features he could take advantage of, causing his eyes to fall on the scattered mounds of rocks. "Sigh... killing this guy shouldn't be a problem, but I'll have to use my Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls." His heart ached at the thought of how expensive each one was. "But... the items it drops should cover the costs!" He faintly smiled before leaping onto a large boulder where he retrieved his crossbow and took aim.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew in a straight line towards the Zombie King.

「Put! Put! Put!」 All of the bolts struck the Zombie King in the back.

−13, −12, −15

The Zombie King angrily roared as it turned around and searched for its aggressor among the mounds of rocks.

Nie Yan turned tail and fled toward the cover of the scattered mounds while firing bolts non-stop from his Crossbow of Blood. I'll wear it down with ranged attacks first.

The Zombie King furiously clawed at its surroundings while seeking out Nie Yan, sending rubble flying everywhere as it quickly closed in on him.

「Poof!」Just as the Zombie King was about to reach him, he lobbed a pouch of Flash Powder which promptly exploded upon impact with its eyes.

The cloud of dazzling powder temporarily blinded the Zombie King as it let out a roar of anguish from the intense burning sensation in its eyes.

Seeing the Zombie King helplessly flailing around, Nie Yan faintly smiled before circling behind and attacking it with Eviscerate followed by Lacerate. The two skills dealt 120 damage, and afterward, it was struck by the bleed status effect which caused it to lose 10 health every second.

The blinding effect from Flash Powder would only last for so long. In fact, against an Elite monster, he would be lucky if it lasted more than a few seconds. Hence, after finishing his combo, he activated Swift Retreat and quickly withdrew from melee range. Having created some distance, he glanced at the Zombie King's health bar. The bleed damage from Eviscerate and Lacerate was quite potent and would gradually accumulate with each passing second.

He took a stance and resumed firing crossbow bolts. Against an equal level opponent, he received no negative modifiers; thus, the damage he dealt was fairly significant.