Chapter 345 – Slaughter God
Breaking Cliff Crypt Stronghold, the territory of Fallen Angel, was constructed out of giant stone structures with numerous towering spires.
A Dark Incantist sat solemnly in a spacious hall within the Fallen Angel guild headquarters. He held a bonewood staff with a dark blue orb embedded at the tip in his hand. His coal-gray robes embroidered with gold embellishments overflowed with magical energy. Stitched to his collar was a crimson shadow vine coiled around a white skull.
He was a 27-year-old man with a tall stature and somewhat of a heroic appearance. His gaze flickered with a frosty and imposing light.
He was Plenty, the guild leader of Fallen Angel.
Dark, Blood Scar, and several others were trembling in front of Plenty, not daring to utter a single word. They could sense his fury from losing the Black Kingsnake Shield.
Dark wanted to speak up but hesitated. He didn’t dare to challenge the authority of the guild leader.
“Dark, explain yourself,” Plenty said in a heavy tone.
Dark gulped before taking a deep breath. “Everything was originally going according to plan, the Zombie Overseer was almost dead. But then, we were suddenly caught off guard by several Zombie Foremen and that Golden Dragon. That human Thief, he was too fast. He wiped out all our Dark Shamans before we could even react. Blood Scar was incapacitated by the Zombie Overseer’s kick. He had no way of defending himself…”
Plenty cut off Dark. “I’m not looking into who was at fault. However, I want the Black Kingsnake Shield back at all costs. Did Persimmon report back with anything?”
Dark breathed out a sigh of relief after knowing Plenty wasn’t going to punish anyone. He hurriedly replied, “We last heard from Persimmon when he reported spotting that human Thief’s pets. I’ll ask him for an update right now.”
Before long, Persimmon sent back a video.
“Boss, Persimmon sent over a video. I’ll play it for everyone to watch.”
The video started off with five Zombie Foremen and a Golden Dragon crushing a group of 100 players. The Zombie Foremen were especially eye-catching as they swept everything before them with their perfectly synchronized three-pronged attacks. Even though Nie Yan never appeared during the actual battle, one could imagine the mental drain of controlling six minions at the same time. Nie Yan finally revealed himself walking out of the darkness near the end. He seemed to sense something off and swung his head around, staring directly at the viewer. The veins around his eyes were visible, and his pupils shone with a soul-piercing light.
Dark, Blood Scar, and the others gasped.
Plenty tapped on the armrest of his throne. “This fellow is a bit interesting. Have Persimmon continue tailing him!” He debated whether or not he should dispatch a few hundred to a thousand players to surround Nie Yan. Catching a Thief, especially a highly skilled one, was no easy feat in the eternal night of the Underworld.
Dark inwardly rejoiced after seeing Plenty’s mood lighten up. Persimmon’s video had undoubtedly saved their hides. It wasn’t due to their incompetence that they almost wiped, but rather the enemy was simply too powerful!
“Boss, what do we do now?” Dark asked.
“Keep a watch over him. The Black Kingsnake Shield isn’t worth much on the surface, maybe a few hundred gold in raw materials. Its value in the Underworld is more than tenfold higher. He surely know this as well. I doubt he’ll be so foolish as to bring it back to the surface. Find someone to get in touch with him,” Plenty ordered. He was determined to retrieve the Black Kingsnake Shield at all costs. It was best if he could achieve this without force. But if things went down that path, so be it.
No matter how strong Nie Yan was, Necropolis City was his domain. Even a dragon would fail to repress a local snake.
Dark immediately passed down Plenty’s orders to Persimmon.
Persimmon’s group was no match for Nie Yan, but they were still elite Thieves. Tailing someone without being noticed, especially in this dark environment, was a relatively simple matter. They probably couldn’t shadow Nie Yan directly, but tracking his Zombie Foremen and Golden Dragon was no problem.
Bits and pieces of the battle between Nie Yan and the 100 players surfaced on Necropolis City’s forums. Seeing everything had basically been revealed, Persimmon posted up the full video, which immediately rose up to the top.
The three pronged attacks of the Zombie Foremen and Nie Yan’s Eye of Truth left a deep impression on the players of Necropolis City. Even after slaughtering around 300 players in total, he was still running amok.
His icy gaze brimming with killing intent and glowing eyes that pierced through the darkness were deeply imprinted into their minds.
The players of Necropolis City began referring to Nie Yan as the Slaughter God. Only this nickname properly conveyed the reverence they felt for him. It was an apt description of a fierce character like him who had single-handedly repelled hundreds of Level 40 and over players.
Nie Yan’s bounty subsequently rose to 1,000 gold. Add this to the more than 7,000 gold’s worth of Evil Faction equipment known to be on him, and the players of Necropolis City viewed him as a walking treasure vault. Many guilds were starting to grow restless. But they all restrained themselves because Fallen Angel had yet to take action!
Fallen Angel was the top guild in Necropolis City. All the other guilds naturally followed their lead.
Nie Yan continued travelling through Falling Gully. Following the defeat and subsequent retreat of Obsessed’s group, he saw a dramatic decline in the number of players looking for him. Even though he encountered a few fools every now and then, he easily dispatched them with Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen.
Nie Yan was like a phantom, sporadically revealing himself near Lil’ Gold and the Zombie Foremen. Very few players were able to catch a glimpse of his silhouette.
Nie Yan finally left Falling Gully. He saw a towering lighthouse in the distance. It was over several dozen meters tall. Its flame gently flickered in the wind as if it could go out at any moment.
This was a sign of civilization!
It was quite easy for people to lose their way in the Underworld, so many villages, towns, and cities created lighthouses to serve as landmarks.
Nie Yan had finally found a settlement in the Underworld!
It was risky for Nie Yan to infiltrate an Evil Faction settlement. The place might end up as his burial ground if he made the slightest mistake.
Nie Yan was forging a completely new path. Success would equate to another huge source of capital!
Some risks were worth taking.
Nie Yan no longer hesitated and started heading in the direction of the lighthouse.
As Nie Yan drew closer to his destination, he unsummoned Lil’ Gold and ordered the Zombie Foremen to go off grinding mobs on their own. Afterwards, he entered stealth and dashed toward the settlement.
Persimmon and the other Thieves were taken aback. They had completely lost sight of Nie Yan after he unsummoned Lil’ Gold.
They didn’t dare to get too close to Nie Yan. They could only rely on their Night Vision to keep track of him from afar. When they saw him disappear, they initially thought he had discovered them. But after a brief moment of tension, they found out he was no longer in the vicinity.
They had lost Nie Yan!
The several Zombie Foremen scattered in different directions and started hunting mobs on their own, as if they had been abandoned by Nie Yan.
「Boss! Nirvana Flame unsummoned his Golden Dragon and disappeared,」Persimmon reported to Plenty. When he learned the guild leader had decided to personally handle this matter, he was terrified. Now that he had lost the person they were supposed to be tracking, he began panicking and was at a loss at what to do.
「Where did you lose him?」Plenty asked with a frown. He doubted Nie Yan would disappear for no reason. From his observations, the Zombie Foremen were minions that could be discarded at any time. Only the Golden Dragon was his real pet.
「We lost sight of him near Valitin Graveyard Village. I saw him heading there,」Persimmon replied. He couldn’t help but wonder if Nie Yan was really going to Valitin Graveyard Village. But that was a settlement of the Evil Faction! It was filled with players, and the NPCs there were at least Level 50 Elites. He recalled there even being two Level 100 guards. Going there was suicidal for a player from the Righteous Faction!
Logically speaking, players from the Righteous Faction would do their utmost to stay as far away as possible from places like this. What could be gained from throwing their life away?
「I think Nirvana Flame might have unsummoned the Golden Dragon to avoid drawing attention from the NPCs and players from Valitin Graveyard Village,」Persimmon tried to give a plausible explanation.
Plenty was deep in thought, so he didn’t pay attention to Persimmon’s ramblings. He was trying to guess Nie Yan’s objective for coming to the Underworld. He doubted a player would wander around aimlessly in the wilderness for days and brave so many dangers for leisure, especially considering Nie Yan was also a guild leader.
“I should make a trip to Valitin Graveyard Village…” Plenty muttered. He stood up and began walking towards the stronghold’s transfer point.
The Fallen Angel players he passed in the hallway would immediately greet him with respect.
“Hello, Boss!”
“Good day, Guild Leader!”
…
Plenty slightly nodded in acknowledgement. He entered the stronghold’s transfer point and set his destination to Valitin Graveyard Village before teleporting away with a flash of light.