Seeing several players from the guild rushing to pick up equipment, Shou Gou and others thought that this Lord-level Necromancer was the first one they had defeated, so at the very least, it should drop some decent gear.
Necromancer Hall was a named Lord-type creature. These Lords usually had their own unique background and history. They were tougher to handle than unnamed Lords and their dropped equipment was generally better.
The Triumph Guild dared to spend so many scrolls and suffer heavy casualties to obtain the Necromancer’s loot because they were confident it wouldn’t be a loss.
In their view, sacrificing dozens of regular guild members to boost the development of one elite member was absolutely worthwhile. Even if the fallen players lost a level, they could always grind it back.
The several Triumph players who went to collect the loot were somewhat excited. The better the gear dropped, the happier Boss Potian might be, and perhaps reward them with a lot of guild contribution points.
Suddenly, they noticed someone ahead moving even faster than them. They hadn’t noticed when this figure appeared, but it bent down and picked up the loot, causing them to freeze in confusion.
Much to Nie Yan’s frustration, in the interest of fairness, the Core made thieves’ figures appear as vague silhouettes when they picked up loot, allowing others nearby to see them.
Therefore, as Nie Yan bent down to collect the loot, he was already exposed.
However, the players hadn’t immediately recognized Nie Yan. They only knew he was a red name whose face was obscured by a black robe. They didn’t pay attention to Nie Yan’s guild affiliation and naturally assumed he was one of Triumph’s members.
Nie Yan successfully collected three pieces of equipment and was ecstatic inside, though his expression remained calm. He raised his left hand and made an OK gesture, then slowly ran outward.
All the Triumph players assumed Nie Yan was signaling them that the loot had been collected, so many of them shifted their attention elsewhere.
“Who is he?”
“Why does he look unfamiliar?”
Shou Gou glanced at Nie Yan in the distance, thinking that since the loot had been collected, it was about time to wrap things up. Looking at Nie Yan’s profile, he found it vaguely familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. He glanced through some system messages but noticed no information about loot acquisition! A chill ran through his mind, and he shouted urgently, “F***, he’s not from our guild! Stop him!”
The guild members were momentarily stunned and didn’t react immediately.
“It’s Nie Yan! It’s him!” Shou Gou shouted in frustration, giving chase.
Only then did the players realize that the one who had just picked up the loot wasn’t from their guild. The mages began chanting spells, hurling a barrage of magic at Nie Yan.
Nie Yan was running outward when warriors around him initially didn’t react, but upon hearing Shou Gou’s shout, they immediately understood and activated their charges toward Nie Yan.
Nie Yan was completely surrounded, with hundreds of spells flying from behind.
“Die!” shouted a warrior, swinging his blazing sword downward.
In their view, surrounded by their forces, Nie Yan was certainly doomed.
However, Nie Yan shot a strand of spider silk from his left hand. The silk soared over their heads, reaching a tree branch five yards away, sticking to it. With a sharp tug, Nie Yan launched himself into the air, flying over the heads of the players.
All the spells missed, and the surrounding warriors failed to block Nie Yan.
Nie Yan could actually fly, which completely defied their expectations. By the time they turned around, Nie Yan had already landed outside their encirclement and was sprinting away.
“Stop him! Don’t let him escape!”
The warriors turned around and charged frantically toward Nie Yan.
Spell after spell pursued from behind. Nie Yan activated his rapid retreat, weaving wildly through the woods, quickly shaking off the warriors charging in a straight line. Bang! Bang! Bang! Dozens of spells struck nearby tree trunks, leaving them charred and blackened.
Nie Yan took a few hits but wasn’t in any real danger.
He maneuvered around the players’ line of sight and then vanished, disappearing into the dense jungle.
Moments later, Shou Gou and others arrived, but the area was already empty; Nie Yan had vanished without a trace!
“Where is he?” Shou Gou snapped angrily.
“We couldn’t block him—he got away!”
“Fools! So many people couldn’t even stop one guy!” Shou Gou cursed. He already had a bad temper, and now his anger flared. The team had sacrificed over thirty people to get the loot, so how could he not be furious?
The nearby warriors felt somewhat wronged and tried to explain, “He can fly! Many people saw it just now. We really couldn’t stop him!”
Juzi quickly stepped in to mediate and calm Shou Gou down, saying, “Shou Gou, it’s not their fault. Let it go!”
It wouldn’t be good to further strain relations with the guild members.
“He definitely hasn’t gotten far. Have everyone around here search for him—I don’t believe he can just fly away!” Shou Gou cursed. Around him, the Triumph players began splitting up to track Nie Yan. Other players from Triumph who were leveling on this map also gathered, determined to hunt down Nie Yan.
“Shou Gou, calm down first. How did he even know we were here killing the Necromancer?” Juzi asked. Though she was also angry, she remained relatively calm.
“I don’t know either. Maybe he was just leveling nearby and happened to come across us. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come alone—he would’ve brought a large group to surround us.” Shou Gou replied. His anger had slightly subsided, replaced by a feeling of defeat. Even if they found Nie Yan, what could they do? The loot they had worked so hard to obtain was already gone. “Let’s think about how to explain this to the boss.”
“Just tell him the truth.” At the thought of Boss Potian, Juzi also felt a bit nervous and asked doubtfully, “Earlier, the team said Nie Yan could fly—what’s that about?”
They hadn’t seen what happened from the back, and the priests were also at the rear. Otherwise, they could have placed a mark on Nie Yan, and even if he had wings, he wouldn’t have escaped.
“I’ll ask a team member for the video,” Shou Gou said. A while later, he received the video from a teammate and, after watching it, he was stunned. “What’s this spider silk thing?”
“I’ve seen something like this from a friend—it’s the Ring of the Weaver!” Juzi said. She hadn’t expected Nie Yan to possess such an item.
Nie Yan was hiding in the jungle, knowing his danger hadn’t passed yet. There were Triumph players everywhere nearby. It would take some effort to escape, but for him, it was basically safe now.
After escaping from such a tight encirclement, now that he had entered the jungle, it was like a fish returning to the sea. Even if the entire Triumph Guild came after him, what could they do?
He was contemplating teaching the Triumph players a lesson to avenge the fallen members of the Bull Tribe who had died at their hands. After all, at least three to four hundred Bull Tribe players had been killed by Triumph.
The Triumph Empire and the Niu Ren Tribe were now locked in a bitter, life-or-death conflict. The Holy Roman Empire and the Garam Guild were unlikely to get involved in this war for the time being. The Niu Ren Tribe had to face Triumph alone, but though their strength was weaker, their morale couldn’t afford to falter. After all, the Niu Ren Tribe didn’t yet possess a fortress territory, and their guild headquarters were located within the city. What tricks could Triumph possibly pull?
If he could take down a few Triumph Empire players and send the video back, it would be a huge morale boost for the Niuren Tribe players.
In the jungle, groups of players searched for Nie Yan in clusters of four or five, maintaining close proximity so that if one squad was attacked, the others could quickly come to their aid. Thus, they felt completely safe.
But for Nie Yan, they were walking prey.
Nie Yan examined the three pieces of equipment he had just seized. Among them was one particular item: the Flame of Souls Staff—a rare dark gold-tier equipment!
Flame of Souls Staff (Dark Gold): Requires level 25.
Attributes: Attack 106-119, +12 Intelligence, Ignore Level +2, 10% Flame of Souls Piercing Damage.
Attack Speed: 5.5
Weight: 5 pounds.
Restricted: Can only be used by Elemental Mages or Arcane Mages of the Good, Lawful, and Light Factions.
Nie Yan examined the attributes of this staff. Currently, it was an extremely rare and valuable item, especially with the Ignore Level +2 and 10% Flame of Souls Piercing Damage, which were great for Elemental and Arcane Mages. Previously, Nie Yan and Tang Yao had cleared a Lord, but Tang Yao didn’t get any gear. This time, he would be lucky to get this staff. With it, Tang Yao would find it much easier to take on higher-level monsters.
As for the remaining two pieces of equipment, both were golden items—gear for warriors and paladins, with excellent attributes. He stowed the two items into his backpack. This time, Triumph had suffered a major loss. The Flame of Souls Staff alone was worth at least six gold coins, while the other two items were worth about one gold coin combined. If this money had been distributed among the players who participated in the event, each person could have received at least one silver coin or more.
But all of it had fallen into Nie Yan’s hands, a classic case of losing both the bride and the dowry.
A group of five players passed by Nie Yan. A priest moved his right hand, casting a white glowing orb into the sky. A white radiance flowed down, illuminating the area brightly.
Nie Yan was hiding behind a tree, so the priest’s light was completely useless.
“How long is this going to take?” a rogue frowned. As a rogue, he understood that as long as there were trees to hide behind, the priest’s light wouldn’t work!
“If only we had learned Divine Vision, this priest’s light is practically useless in such a dense jungle!” a paladin complained bitterly.
“You think Shou Gou wants to find Nie Yan like this? He’s just waiting for Nie Yan to come out on his own!” a priest looked at his two teammates with disdain.
“He just needs to hide in a corner, staying hidden, and no one can do anything to him. Why would he expose himself?” The two teammates were puzzled. Ordinary players could never think like an expert.
“We’re a five-man group, just bait. Experts are usually very confident in themselves. He might even ambush us. We must protect the priest at all costs—even if we die, we must make sure the priest marks him. Then he’s finished!” The warrior leader said darkly. That’s exactly what Shou Gou had told him.
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