Everyone was already of aware of Nie Yan's frightening level of skill. They had seen many of his videos, especially the one of him felling Hei Zhuo in a single strike, which led to him being nicknamed the Mad Rogue. His legend was still standing strong to this day. His disappearance into stealth only meant one thing. He was about to take action yet again!
"Priests, Illuminate!" a Warrior cried out in fear.
A nearby Priest quickly raised his staff in preparation to cast Illuminate. However, at this moment, a blade enveloped in black flames streaked across his throat. The last syllable failed to come out of his mouth as his lifeless body collapsed on the ground.
"Fucking hell! He's too fast!" the Warrior cursed. Nie Yan was like a phantom, no one knew where he would strike next.
After killing the Priest, Nie Yan entered back into stealth. Looking around, the people here were too weak, failing to serve even as a warmup. His gaze locked onto the cloaked figures in the distance. They were probably the two Direwolf players Lustboy mentioned earlier.
Nie Yan chanted out an incantation, summoning Lil' Gold onto the battlefield. The massive Golden Dragon resembled a behemoth from antiquity, causing the players on the side of Alliance of Mages to descend into panic.
"It's the Golden Dragon! Nirvana Flame summoned his Golden Dragon! Everyone, quickly retreat!" An advancing Warrior halted his steps, then turned around to flee.
At this moment, Lustboy blasted the Warrior with an Ice Ball, sending him flying.
"You want to run? Not that easy!" Lustboy snorted. With Nie Yan backing him up, he could go all out.
All the players near Lil' Gold were fleeing away in fear.
Lil' Gold chanted out an incantation and spewed out Dragon Breath. One unlucky Elementalist was caught by the scorching hot flames and rendered into ashes.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」More than a dozen spells pummeled Lil' Gold's body, exploding into dazzling displays of fireworks upon impact. Though visually impactful, these spells actually did little damage, on par with mosquito bites. At present, Lil' Gold was already Level 86. With more than 80,000 health and high magic resistance, he could basically ignore all the attacks from these Level 70 Mages.
The situation took a dramatic turn. Once Lil' Gold appeared, the players on the side of Alliance of Mages lost any hope of winning, going from being the pursuers to the pursued.
Lustboy and Lil' Gold started slaughtering enemies left and right.
A Mage summoned a giant Ice Wolf, which pounced toward Lil' Gold, only to be melted into a pool of water by a blast of Dragon Breath.
With the Ice Wolf providing a brief distraction, three Mages quickly fled for their lives, not even daring to look back as they fled into the trees.
Observing everything from a distance, Sikong and Gambler's expressions darkened. Nirvana Flame was just as the rumours described, tyrannical and arrogant beyond imagination.
"Gambler, what do we do?" Sikong asked. As members who ranked within the top 30 of Direwolf, they naturally felt their skills were top class. Though they normally kept a low profile within the organization, they unabashedly flaunted their superiority as soon as they stepped outside, since they knew there were very few that could rival them. Today, their luck was fairly poor. They had encountered two players in a row whose strength far outstripped them. One was Lustboy, and the other was Nirvana Flame. Comparing themselves to those two, they could easily see the difference. If everyone in the top 30 of Asskickers United was this strong, they might as well give up and admit defeat.
"We're not their match. I think only Raven, Krow, and the rest can handle Nirvana Flame. Let's retreat," Gambler said. This was the conclusion he came to after some considerable thought.
While Gambler and Sikong prepared to retreat, Nie Yan quickly closed in on them while in stealth. From Nie Yan's point of view, ordinary players were nothing more than dregs. If he could kill one or two top experts from Direwolf, his companions would have a much easier time. He didn't know if they had Unknown Transfer Scrolls. If they did, ambushing them would be difficult.
Nie Yan halted his steps when he was roughly five meters from Sikong and Gambler. If he approached any closer, he would likely be detected. He waited in a spot where they would likely pass through.
Sikong felt something off, but he couldn't say what. He began looking around.
"What's wrong?" Gambler asked.
"Nothing." Sikong shook his head. "Let's go."
Sikong and Gambler quickly pulled back, preparing to leave.
Nie Yan gripped his dagger. If Sikong and Gambler had Unknown Transfer Scrolls in their possession, that meant he would only have one chance. If he failed his ambush, those two would definitely teleport away!
Gambler was approaching closer and closer to Nie Yan. None of them would've imagined that Nie Yan was already lying in ambush.
From beginning to end, the two of them failed to get an exact estimate on Nie Yan's movement speed. From a normal player's perspective, 300-400 movement speed was already quite amazing. Meanwhile, Nie Yan, with the bonuses from his various titles and equipment, already had more than 800 movement speed. It was impossible for them to grasp this. Add this on top of skills like Gale Step, and his movement speed could reach more than twice that of top ranked players.
In the instant Gambler turned around, Nie Yan suddenly accelerated and pounced towards him. At this close of a distance, it was impossible to evade Nie Yan's ambush.
There was a limit to a human's reaction speed, which was 0.1 seconds. No matter how quick your reactions were, it was impossible to overcome this limit. Nie Yan had tested with the other elites of Asskickers United. Under these kinds of circumstances, even Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others failed to avoid his ambush!
Naturally, the success of the ambush was on the premise that Nie Yan's Stealth was high enough to evade their Awareness!
In the instant Nie Yan took action, Gambler felt a cold chill behind his neck. His pupils dilated. Just as he was about to react, Zennarde's Sword appeared in front of his eyes and struck his forehead, stunning him.
It wasn't that Gambler lacked skill but rather Nie Yan's attack was too deadly. Under this kind of situation, no matter how strong you were, death was pretty much inevitable. Perhaps only with high enough Awareness to sense Nie Yan's approach early could he survive.
Sikong was still chatting with Gambler. He never expected Nie Yan to appear beside them so quickly. They had just seen Nie Yan summon Lil' Gold in the distance not long ago. How did he arrive here so quickly? This kind of speed was on the level of freaks!
In the instant Gambler was stunned, Sikong raised his sword and slashed down on Nie Yan with Holy Strike.
A Rank 7 Holy Strike, Sikong's blade glowed with a resplendent light, carrying unrivalled might as it slashed down.
After stunning Gambler, Nie Yan didn't even have a chance to activate his second attack skill before Sikong's blade came slashing down. He quickly activated Gale Step to avoid the Holy Strike.
Worthy of being called top ranked players, their reactions were quite quick. Nie Yan had no choice but to recognize their strength. Circling behind Gambler, he activated Apocalyptic Extinction.
Inflicted with five kinds of curses, Gambler's stats immediately fell by more than 60%.
"Die!" Nie Yan's cold voice entered Sikong and Gambler's ears.
Sikong quickly raised his sword, preparing to heal Gambler.
Zennarde's Sword slashed down, hacking through Gambler's back. A Warrior with close to 6,000 health was instantly killed!
Nie Yan's attack was too fierce. Sikong had no opportunity to heal Gambler.
Instantly killed with almost 6,000 health? Sikong was dumbstruck. Seeing his companion's corpse on the ground, he felt his blood freeze over. If he was slow, he would be next! He quickly activated Indomitable Will and fled for his life.
Blink Strike! Nie Yan disappeared and reappeared behind Sikong.
Just as Nie Yan's attack was about to land, Sikong crushed an Unknown Transfer Scroll. The space around him warped, and he disappeared.
"Tsk..." Nie Yan halted his footsteps. The enemy got away. However, he still managed to kill the Warrior.
"I wonder what he dropped." Nie Yan bent down to collect the three pieces of equipment Gambler dropped. In the Realm of Death, dying meant losing five levels and three pieces of equipment! This kind of penalty would leave Gambler feeling sore for quite a while.
"Boss! Be careful!" Lustboy cried out.
A dagger suddenly appeared behind Nie Yan. It was aiming for the back of his head!
"A Thief!" Nie Yan's mind trembled.
Reverse Grip Strike!
Nie Yan twisted to the side, evading the attack as his dagger plunged toward the Thief's back.
The Thief activated Gale Step, evading the attack and disappearing from sight.
Eye of Truth!
Nie Yan's eyes blossomed out with a profound light. He spotted a silhouette flicker by and dive into the trees in the distance. It was a Thief from Bloodfiends. He was pretty skilled, considering he approached Nie Yan without being detected. He probably used some kind of special ability to hide his presence.
The Thief evidently didn't dare to tangle with Nie Yan. After failing the ambush, he immediately fled into the trees.
"Bloodfiends." Nie Yan's eyes flickered with a cold light. He still hadn't paid them back for the last ambush. This time, they had come back again!
That fellow had already run. It was probably no longer possible to catch him. Nie Yan could only give up. He bent down and picked up the three pieces of equipment Gambler dropped on the ground.