Chapter 343 – Black Kingsnake Shield
Nie Yan was curious about the properties of a greatshield dropped from a top ranked Spectral Knight from Fallen Angel. It would be great if it had no faction restriction. The shield of a main tank was usually the most precious piece of equipment on them. For example, Bladelight’s current shield would go for over 4,000 gold in the marketplace.
Just as Nie Yan put away the shield in his bag, a shower of spells came raining down on him. He quickly activated his Darkbright Barrier as a membrane of light enveloped him.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The bright flashes of magic blinded Nie Yan as his health rapidly plummeted.
Nie Yan hurriedly drank an Intermediate Health Potion. There was no time to examine the properties of the greatshield. He activated Disappear and vanished like a puff of smoke in front of these players from Fallen Angel.
At this moment, the Zombie Overseer swung down withs its machete and sent one of Nie Yan’s Zombie Foremen flying. It didn’t differentiate between friend or foe, attacking anything within sight.
Nie Yan hurriedly commanded his minions to withdraw. He had lost a Zombie Foreman to the Zombie Overseer. But the players from Fallen Angel suffered far heavier losses, with more than 10 of them dying to the Zombie Overseer, while several fleeing survivors were picked off by him.
Nie Yan inspected the Zombie Overseer’s health. It had recovered from 5% to 15%. It sauntered over to the Zombie Foreman’s corpse and took a huge bite, whereupon its health started recovering even faster.
This was the Corpse Eater skill of the Zombie Overseer!
Nie Yan could’ve finished the Zombie Overseer off by himself if it had remained at low health. But now, it was impossible. He was forced to give up and retreat with Lil’ Gold and his two remaining Zombie Foremen.
While the Zombie Overseer pursued the fleeing players from Fallen Angel, Nie Yan took advantage of the opportunity to pick up all the loot of the ground. He had burned through a lot of his consumables the day prior, so he had plenty of free space in his bag. He obtained quite a few pieces of Level 45 Gold and Dark Gold-grade equipment. Sadly, only a chestplate and a mage hood could be brought back to the surface. The rest of the equipment was restricted to players of the Evil Faction. However, both these items were Dark Gold-grade with decent properties. He planned to store them in the guild’s treasury.
Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat when he examined the shield dropped by Blood Scar.
Black Kingsnake Shield (Sub Legendary)
Description: The undead Blacksmith Ini used the scales of a Black Kingsnake to create this greatshield with superb defensive capabilities.
Requirements: 620 Strength, 520 Dexterity
Properties: Defenses 1039–1051, Defend Rate 32%, Resilience +37.
Full Guard: Nullify the damage and effects of any attack targeted at the player. Cooldown: 1 day
Weight: 52 lb
Restrictions: Spectral Knight; can only be equipped by players of the Evil Faction.
What high defense! It was a piece of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. Sadly, it wasn’t worth much on the surface due to the faction restriction. Even though it could be broken down into about 600 gold’s worth of crafting materials, this was a piddling amount compared to its true value of 6,000 gold!
Nie Yan thought for a moment. He wasn’t allowed to sell items from the Righteous Faction to the Evil Faction. But he was free to do as he pleased with items from the Evil Faction. He could earn quite a bit of gold by selling the Black Kingsnake Shield in an auction house. However, this required him to infiltrate a city in the Underworld first.
This method was also applicable to the other items Nie Yan couldn’t bring back to the surface!
It was a pity Nie Yan didn’t have enough bagspace. He had to leave behind a few things to make room for more valuable equipment.
Nie Yan headed in the direction Dark and his group fled.
Dark rounded up the scattered survivors after escaping the Zombie Overseer. There were still around 30 of them left, but all the Dark Shamans had died. He was still recovering from his shock that a single human Thief had wiped out more than half of them in the blink of an eye.
“Dark, Blood Scar lost his Black Kingsnake Shield,” a subordinate informed dejectedly after receiving word from Blood Scar who had revived in the graveyard.
“Shit! That bastard! We’re screwed!” Dark couldn’t help but curse. The Black Kingsnake Shield was the most precious piece of equipment in their group. It was a Sub Legendary item worth at least 6,000 gold! How were they going to explain themselves to the guild leader?
Nie Yan’s timing was just too perfect. He had ambushed them at the most crucial moment during the battle with the Zombie Overseer. Otherwise, given the level of their skill, even if they couldn’t kill him, they wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.
“Aren’t the players from the Righteous Faction supposed to suffer a 30% stat penalty in the Underworld? Why the hell is he so powerful?” a player asked in bewilderment. “I saw him one-shotting people with full health!” No matter how squishy Dark Shamans were, they should at least be able to take a few hits! However, that Thief killed them instantly! What kind of attack power was this!?
“Did you not see the weapon in his hand? Someone offered 20,000 gold for it as long as it isn’t restricted to only the Righteous Faction!” a nearby Necromancer replied. Many players were curious about the properties of Zennarde’s Sword.
However, even if Nie Yan was killed, Zennarde’s Sword wouldn’t necessarily drop.
“Dark, what do we do now?” asked a Spectral Knight. “Should we chase down Nirvana Flame after we rest and regroup? We’ll get all our equipment back if we kill him! If we return like this, we’ll definitely be punished by the boss.” He sounded a bit desperate.
“Fuck! If you want to die, don’t drag me down with you! Do you think we can find him in this wilderness? Even if we did, so what? He can escape whenever he wants!” Dark cursed. If Nie Yan wanted to run, they had no way of stopping him. With him appearing and disappearing like a ghost, who knew if they could handle him with just their numbers? Dark understood the temperament of the boss. He could tolerate mistakes, but he absolutely wouldn’t condone stupidity!
Everyone nervously scanned the darkness around them. Even if they went looking for Nie Yan, it was impossible to find him. At best, they might find his Zombie Foremen or Lil’ Gold. But that still wouldn’t be useful in catching him.
Everyone was dispirited. They could only return and endure the anger of the boss.
“I’ve reported sightings of Nirvana Flame in Falling Gully on the forums. I’ve also added that he has over 7,000 gold worth of Evil Faction equipment on him. Even if we don’t do anything, I trust many people will come looking for him. Persimmon, have all the Thieves gather here. There’ll soon be a large number of players coming to look for him. Go scout around. It’ll be best if you find his Zombie Foremen and Golden Dragon. Let’s see if we can retrieve that Black Kingsnake Shield. But remember, don’t engage him. You guys aren’t his match,” Dark instructed.
The Thief called Persimmon nodded. “Alright, I’ll follow your plan.”
Six Thieves entered stealth and melted into the darkness.
“Everyone else, we’re returning to Necropolis City,” Dark said. The players around him began channelling Return Scrolls.
Following a series of flashes, one player after another teleported away.
When Nie Yan caught up, Dark and his group had already departed. He couldn’t help but feel these players were smart. He was more than satisfied with his harvest this time. There was no need to kill them down to the very last man. He checked his own rank. He wasn’t far from becoming a commander.
It was quite hard hard to ascend in military ranking. No wonder so few players in the previous timeline could reach the rank of General in the previous timeline, despite spending so much time on the battlefield. Not to mention you could also drop in rank. If a General died several times, they would be demoted to a 10,000-man Commander. 1,000-man Commanders were a common sight.
The players who reached the rank of General generally spent at least two or three years roaming around battlefields. Nie Yan had no delusions about raising his military rank quickly.
Nie Yan entered stealth. He hunted monsters in his path with his Zombie Foremen and Lil’ Gold while searching for a nearby village. During his journey, he took control of three more Zombie Foremen. Like this, the number of minions following him increased.
With Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen clearing the path, Nie Yan killed countless Zombie Miners and reached Level 39, with Level 40 not being too far away. He had purified a total of 3,201 evil creatures. He wondered how far he was from unlocking the first seal of Zennarde’s Sword. He could only take things one step at a time.
Nie Yan noticed that player activity in the area suddenly spiked. He regularly bumped into large groups of high level players with decent gear. He figured they were here for him. He increased his vigilance.
In the event of trouble, Nie Yan would unsummon Lil’ Gold and escape with an Unknown Transfer Scroll.
Just at this moment, Lil’ Gold encountered a group of 100 players, all of whom were at least Level 40. They were slowly starting to surround Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.
Trouble had come knocking at the door. Nie Yan stopped scouting ahead and started making his way back to Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.
Nie Yan saw silhouettes moving in the wilderness. They were players from the Evil Faction. He slowly approached them until he was only 10 meters away, observing them silently from the darkness.