Nie Yan and Lil' Gold trailed after Paladin Lafus. As Lil' Gold spewed out scorching hot Dragon Breath, the Dark Maidens were collapsing in droves.
With a ding dong, a level up notification rang out.
Lil' Gold had reached Level 89!
Thanks to Lil' Gold's powerful innate skill, the higher his level, the exponentially stronger he became. His stats gains would be several times greater per level up compared to ordinary pets. This was the benefit of a high growth rate.
The ground was littered with corpses. Even Nie Yan was speechless when he saw Lafus shrug off the attacks of several dozen Dark Maidens like they were nothing. Lafus tanked at the front while Lil' Gold provided ranged support from the back. They worked together seamlessly. There was no need for Nie Yan to do anything. The Dark Maidens were being harvested like fields of wheat.
As Nie Yan walked forward, the corpses around him were enveloped by a white light and transformed into ash before disappearing.
Nie Yan's Purifying Aura could purify the corpses of the Dark Maidens. After purifying enough evil creatures, he would obtain a Holy Spirit Heart. Only then could he safely remove the seals on Zennarde's Sword.
This was the most important quest in Nie Yan's quest window. He naturally wouldn't forget it. Checking his progress, he had already purified more than 110,000 evil creatures. This was accumulated from grinding mobs regularly.
Lafus charged onwards with vigor. Due to the large disturbance he was creating, more and more Dark Maidens were converging on him. When several hundred had gathered, Lil' Gold chanted out an incantation and called a blazing meteor down on the large crowd.
With a powerful explosion, everything within a 30-meter radius was enveloped by raging flames.
The Dark Maidens let out miserable shrieks and collapsed to the ground.
Suddenly, a white light enveloped Nie Yan. Feeling a peculiar sensation on his arm, he looked down and discovered a Holy Spirit Imprint. It looked like an ancient totem drawn out of various symbols and patterns. It was quite mysterious.
You have obtained a Holy Spirit Imprint.
Nie Yan didn't know what it did, but he guessed the Holy Spirit Imprint was somehow related to the Holy Spirit Heart quest.
Nie Yan checked his character status. He discovered his Devil Slayer title had advanced from Junior to Intermediate.
With this, Nie Yan obtained a new skill called Devil Radar. It allowed him to detect demonic creatures in his vicinity and doubled the damage he dealt to them.
Many of Nie Yan's skills and equipment were specialized against demonic creatures. So, the damage he dealt to them was several times that of ordinary monsters.
"I should probably only hunt demonic creatures from now on. That way, I'll gain experience faster."
With his Devil Slayer title having risen a rank, Nie Yan started to wonder what it would be like when it progressed even further.
Nie Yan continued sweeping his way through. Dark Maidens stretched out as far as the eye could see. This would definitely be a frightening sight for ordinary players. However, all he saw was endless amounts of experience. It was the perfect grinding spot!
After killing roughly 900 Dark Maidens, Lafus was starting to run low on mana. Nie Yan had him switch out with Lil' Gold and take a small break.
Lil' Gold was also surprisingly resilient. Being surrounded and attacked by a horde of Dark Maidens, he lashed out with several Explosive Counters.
Whenever Lil' Gold's health fell low, Lafus would restore it back to full.
Paladins were amazing. They could tank, heal, and buff. Even though they didn't excel in any one aspect, their flexibility definitely ranked highest among all classes.
Levelling here was fairly fast. Nie Yan gained about 10% experience after an hour of grinding and reached Level 99, 72%.
The Dark Maidens had dropped quite a bit of good loot too. He had obtained more than a dozen rare gems and 20,000 gold in equipment.
As Nie Yan delved deeper into the underground tomb, the number of Dark Maidens he encountered gradually decreased. Passing through a long corridor, he eventually came across two doors. He didn't know which to pick.
Leaving Lil' Gold and Lafus to continue grinding mobs, Nie Yan approached one of the stone doors. As soon as he pushed it open, he heard the sound of arrows whistling. Sensing the danger, he activated Gale Step and ducked out of the way.
「Put! Put! Put!」Several dozen arrows struck the ground where Nie Yan previously stood. These arrows were crafted out of metal, and the tips were smeared with a translucent green liquid.
Thieves frequently dealt with traps. So, no matter the time or place, their reactions had to be quick enough, or else they would end up dying without even knowing what killed them. They had a fairly high Reflex stat, so their survival rate after triggering a trap was much higher than other classes. Even so, countless Thieves died to traps every day, and often in the most gruesome of ways.
Thankfully, Nie Yan reacted in time. He shuddered at the thought of being struck by those arrows. Even if he didn't die immediately, he would still be barely clinging onto life.
After making sure the trap wouldn't reset, Nie Yan walked back to the door. He looked inside and saw a three by three meters stone room with a sarcophagus in the center. Apart from this, there was nothing else.
This sarcophagus was rectangular shaped and constructed rather crudely. There were a few decorative engravings on it, but they weren't very detailed.
Beside the sarcophagus was a button. It was probably a mechanism to open the sarcophagus.
The things that came out of sarcophagi like these were random. Sometimes it was a precious treasure. Other times it was a powerful monster or even a frightening curse.
Nie Yan hesitated for a moment but then walked up and pressed the button. The stone room trembled before the sarcophagus' lid slowly opened.
Nie Yan took several steps backs in caution. He tightly gripped Zennarde's Sword, ready to deal with any monster that might jump out.
After the sarcophagus fully opened, nothing happened. The room remained still.
Nie Yan walked up to the sarcophagus. Looking inside, he saw the mummified corpse of a woman. She had already decayed to skin and bones. Beside her were three blue gems.
Reaching his hand inside, Nie Yan collected the three gems and examined them.
Aqua Ripple Sapphire: Socketable
Properties: Reduces the level requirement of a piece of equipment by 10.
A gem that reduced level requirement by 10 was extremely rare. Nie Yan didn't expect to obtain three of them all at once.
"What a lucky find!" Nie Yan stored away the three Aqua Ripple Sapphires in his bag. After confirming there was nothing else in the room, he left.
Nie Yan walked over to the other door and carefully opened it. This time there were no traps. The room looked identical to the one from before. Even the placement of the sarcophagus was the same.
Just like before, Nie Yan pushed the button. As the sarcophagus gradually opened, a strong smell of gunpowder permeated the air.
"Shit!" Nie Yan cried out in alarm. He sensed great danger. Activating Shadow Waltz, he bolted out of the room.
With a loud bang, a large explosion rocked the room. The powerful shock wave swept out and sent Nie Yan flying.
The entire underground tomb trembled.
Nie Yan flew six meters through the air before crashing into the ground. He coughed up a mouthful of blood as a damage value of 6,000 floated up above his head. Thankfully, his health and defense were high enough. An ordinary Thief would've been instantly killed.
Crawling back up to his feet, Nie Yan turned back to the room with an ashen face. It had been completely wrecked by the explosion. The door and sarcophagus were turned into rubble.
Thankfully, Nie Yan reacted when he did. If he had been a second slower, he would've been ripped to shreds by the explosion.
The dust and smoke from the explosion gradually settled.
Everything was calm again.
Nie Yan sat in a corner to recover his health. Up ahead were even more doors, at least a couple dozen of them. He couldn't help but hesitate after that close call. He wondered if he should continue exploring.
Thinking about it, Nie Yan wondered how many treasures there were in the stone rooms. It would be a waste to pass up on them.
"No risk, no reward..." Nie Yan gritted his teeth.
Nie Yan continued opening the doors. When he was lucky, he would obtain gems, scrolls, or other rare items. On the flip side, he was nearly done in by a curse. Thankfully, Lafus was there to dispel it. Apart from this, he also encountered an Elite-class Dark Maiden. However, with the aid of Lafus and Lil' Gold, it was easily taken care of.
All in all, despite the many dangers, he had reaped a bountiful harvest.
Continuing forward, Nie Yan encountered two golden doors, one to his left and one to his right. These doors were more luxurious than the ones before. Their craftsmanship was excellent, covered in all sorts of detailed carvings.
There were likely sarcophagi past these doors as well. Nie Yan hesitated. "Should I go in? Will there be danger?"
Nie Yan guessed the treasures behind these two doors would be better than anything else he'd found so far. However, that also meant the traps he faced would be the most dangerous so far. The fear of the explosion and curse still lingered in his mind. That was twice he had toyed with death!
At the end of the day, Nie Yan's current level was simply too low. One misstep could mean instant death in this high level map.
"I'll think on it a little longer. Let's collect all the loot and purify the corpses on the ground first," Nie Yan muttered. He went to regroup with Lil' Gold and Lafus.