Nie Yan looked around once more to see if there was anything else of value. But apart from half-finished potions, he found nothing else. He jumped off from the top of the cabinet, landing gently on the ground, and stealthily returned to the tent entrance. He lightly pushed open the flaps and peeked outside. Seeing that the two large groups of Bloodshadow Warriors had left, he breathed out a sigh of relief. As he made his way to the center of the encampment, the round building with a gold roof eventually came into vision.
Outside the building was a wide open square where Bloodshadow Warriors held practice drills from time to time. Nie Yan would have to enter this building to obtain the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints, but security here was tight. This would be an enormous challenge.
After sneaking past several Bloodshadow Warriors and approaching the square, Nie Yan spotted another one bigger than the rest. Built like a bear and clad in dark crimson armour, he stood guard outside the entrance of the building.
It's him! Nie Yan's mind trembled.
This fellow was the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion-Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze, a Level 90 Lord!
Sneaking past him and entering the building was going to be incredibly difficult. But before that, Nie Yan would have to get past the more than 100 ordinary Bloodshadow Warriors patrolling the square first.
Thankfully, Nie Yan had already planned ahead.
Nie Yan circled around to the back of the building. It was built out of stone and painted a gold that glittered brilliantly under the sunlight. He inspected the walls with his hands and confirmed they were too solid to break through. The only way inside was the front entrance. However, that was so heavily guarded that even approaching would prove difficult.
Nie Yan opened up Divine Recruitment and summoned Paladin Kreuk. Glancing at Kreuk's stats, he had more than 12,000 health, which was quite substantial.
Paladin Kreuk could also buff himself with blessings, greatly increasing his own strength.
Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring and slowly started climbing up the wall of the building, evading the sight of the nearby patrols. He arrived on top of the roof and made his way toward the ledge above the front entrance. He stayed there motionless. No one noticed his arrival.
Nie Yan looked down below and saw the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion, Furblaze, standing about eight meters away from him at the foot of some stairs. He could clearly see the back of Furblaze's head.
Nie Yan instructed Paladin Kreuk to circle back around the building and slowly approach the Bloodshadow Warriors standing on guard at the entrance.
Indomitable Will!
Paladin Kreuk hasted himself with several skills and charged toward the square. He would faithfully carry out Nie Yan's orders, regardless of what they were.
The Bloodshadow Warriors patrolling the vicinity were caught off guard by the sudden emergence of Paladin Kreuk.
Paladin Kreuk kept running, not stopping to attack anyone. Before long, a large number of Bloodshadow Warriors ran after him.
Furblaze also aggroed onto Paladin Kreuk and rushed forward with Charge. It would only take a brief moment for him to catch up and kill Kreuk.
How could Furblaze allow Kreuk to behave so arrogantly in his presence?
Seeing Furblaze successfully distracted, Nie Yan cracked a faint smile. His silhouette blurred as he jumped off the ledge and dashed into the building.
The interior of the building was far from spacious. There was a lounge that covered an area of eight by eight meters. Further back were rows upon rows of doors leading to various rooms. By the time Nie Yan came to this map in the previous timeline, every nook and cranny had already been explored. So, he had no clue what sort of treasures were hidden here. All he knew was the location of the items he was looking for.
There were several obelisks in the lounge, along with multiple tables and chairs.
Nie Yan made a beeline toward a Dark Gold treasure chest tucked away in a corner of the lounge. He had to open this chest and retrieve the key inside to unlock the cabinet where the Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints were kept. When he came here in the previous timeline, he was only hired help. Of the more than 200 players brought on for the expedition, only a few dozen remained by the time they cleared the map. As a Level 110+ Great Thief, he barely managed to survive until the end. Back then, he lacked the qualifications to open this chest.
In this timeline, Nie Yan had accomplished many great things people would never dare to imagine.
Nie Yan bent down and started opening the chest.
As the seconds ticked away, Nie Yan checked his progress.
Opening treasure chest... Progress: 5%... 8%...
In the middle of opening the chest, Nie Yan received a notification that Paladin Kreuk had been killed.
Nie Yan never had any hopes of Kreuk surviving in the first place. Kreuk's only job was to distract Furblaze long enough for him to sneak into the building. In that aspect, Kreuk had accomplished his task wonderfully.
When the progress was at 89%, a giant silhouette appeared at the entrance of the building. It was Furblaze. He had come inside!
This immediately put Nie Yan on edge. He feared Furblaze would notice him, rush over, and stop him from opening the chest.
Nie Yan's nerves were stretched taut. He discovered Furblaze was gradually moving towards him, his footsteps growing louder and louder.
The several pillars in the lounge blocked Nie Yan from view. Nie Yan stayed low and continued unlocking the chest. Just as Furblaze was about to arrive, the chest popped open with a click.
Nie Yan quickly fished around the chest and retrieved the key.
After getting the key in his hands, Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and fled away, disappearing into the corridor.
With its contents gone, the Dark Gold chest started slowly fading away.
A furious roar escaped Furblaze's throat as his sight finally fell on the disappearing chest. "Which thief stole my key!? I'll smash them into pieces!" he cursed while heading to the rooms at the back.
Nie Yan bolted toward Furblaze's private room with all his might and kicked open the half-closed door. His eyes quickly locked onto the golden cabinet. He didn't have much time. Furblaze would be arriving in just a moment!
Nie Yan immediately ran over and started using the recently obtained key to open the cabinet.
With the matching key, unlocking something was fairly simple. In only a few seconds, the cabinet doors opened with a click. Inside was what he had come here for. The Armoured Ice Catapult Blueprints were divided into 20 scrolls, with each one being necessary.
Nie Yan tossed the blueprints into his bag, then examined the cabinet and discovered a red box sitting in the corner.
Nie Yan opened the box and saw a fist sized black marble. It was black and flashed with a dark lusture. A powerful miasma radiated outward from it.
Nie Yan examined the black marble.
Evil Gemstone (Special): Quest Item
Description: This Evil Gemstone contains extremely powerful evil energy. Only the power of light can melt it away.
Note: The holder of this item cannot use teleport scrolls. This item is guaranteed to drop upon death.
If he wanted to snatch away this item, it was necessary to get away from Furblaze. Being barred from using teleport scrolls made this task a lot more difficult.
Nie Yan put away the Evil Gemstone in his bag.
At this moment, a silhouette flashed through the door. Furblaze had arrived.
After seeing Nie Yan, he let out a sinister laugh. "Damned thief, this is the domain of the Bloodshadow Legion! All that awaits trespassers is death! Hand over the items you stole!"
Furblaze charged toward Nie Yan and slashed down with his greatsword.
Thunder Slash!
Furblaze who was completely covered in muscle was just like an enraged grizzly bear. His blade slashed toward Nie Yan with frightening sword energy.
Since Nie Yan couldn't use teleport scrolls, he could only test his luck. If worse came to worst, he would have no choice but to abandon the Evil Gemstone. However, he really wasn't willing to give back something he had already taken.
Nie Yan avoided the Thunder Slash with Gale Step and dashed under Furblaze's arm.
Nie Yan who was still in pygmy form appeared extremely small compared to the gigantic Furblaze. His movements were nimble. The difference in size was too great. Furblaze was having a hard time catching him.
Furblaze swung around and searched for traces of Nie Yan. As his eyes blossomed out with a crimson light, he almost immediately locked onto the fleeing Nie Yan. He went into pursuit with Charge.
As a Level 90 Lord, Furblaze was much faster than Nie Yan. It only took him a brief moment to catch up and chop down on Nie Yan's neck with his greatsword.
Sensing the sharpness of the sword energy behind him, Nie Yan's heart tightened. This bastard was too fast!
Nie Yan had shrunk down to a third of his original size, so his speed was also reduced proportionally. Under these circumstances, Furblaze easily kept up with him.
Nie Yan understood his disadvantage. Right now the only thing he could rely on was his small size, which made him much nimbler and harder to catch. Just as Furblaze's sword was about to slash down on him, he rolled away.「Bang!」The ground behind him was immediately rent asunder by the greatsword of Furblaze, leaving behind a two meter long sword scar.
Nie Yan sucked in a breath of cold air. What frightening power!
littleshanks's Thoughts
After double checking the official raws, it appears has Mad Snail has decided to retcon the leader of the Bloodshadow Legion from the Bloodshadow Great Mage to the Bloodshadow Warrior Furblaze. This will be corrected I previous chapters retroactively.