The attack Nian had launched just now was merely an initial probe, using only basic skills. In fact, he could have used the invulnerable period of his Dash Step to unleash a burst of damage and kill Cansè. However, if he had done so, he would not have been able to dodge the incoming attacks from the surrounding group of mages. Taking so many mages’ attacks head-on would have certainly meant death.
Therefore, he temporarily retreated, planning for future opportunities.
With Nian’s cautious combat habits, whenever he encountered skilled opponents, he would always try to gauge their strength first before engaging. He would try to bait out some of their trump skills in advance to avoid situations where, when he was already giving his all, his opponent suddenly pulled off a fatal move to turn the tide.
As a rogue, rushing in and immediately using all your most powerful skills at the start of a duel usually indicated that you weren’t a true expert. Most high-level skills had cooldowns lasting several full days, or even more than ten days. If you used them all at once, you wouldn’t be able to use those skills for several days. If a similar situation occurred later without those skills at your disposal, the result could be devastating.
Every skill was extremely valuable and must never be used unless absolutely necessary. This was a hard-learned lesson from Nian’s ten years of gaming experience.
After interacting with this group of teammates, Nian could tell from their rapid response during the rescue that none of these players were pushovers! They were all highly skilled in player-versus-player combat.
Even though he had far more gaming experience than these players, Nian dared not claim that he could dominate everyone. One-on-one was absolutely no problem, but the issue was that there were thirteen of them.
In situations where there were many players, the combined use of different classes’ skills could produce a combat effectiveness far beyond simple addition!
Nian received a message that Wu Dao had shaken off pursuit and was now wandering nearby, looking for another opportunity to strike.
Just as Nian was preparing for his next attack, a strange feeling came from his left rear—there was another rogue!
Thanks to his high perception, Nian could sense the other rogue’s position immediately. A dagger came down toward the back of his head. Nian sidestepped with a Shadow Dance, like a ghostly shadow, and blocked the rogue’s attack with his right hand.
He hadn’t expected to be detected even while stealthed. After dodging the attack, Nian launched a stun strike toward the rogue’s forehead.
The shape and color of the rogue’s pupils caught Nian’s attention. His heart sank—he now understood why this rogue had been able to detect his position.
The rogue’s eyes were segmented into diamond shapes, emitting dazzling blue light like a sparkling sapphire—this was Deep Blue Gaze, a special skill capable of revealing stealth!
No wonder he had been watching here for so long; others would probably arrive soon! Nian hadn’t expected such an unexpected situation. Even the most careful person could make a mistake.
Seeing Nian’s dagger heading straight for his forehead, the rogue blocked the attack.
At that moment, figures appeared on the nearby high ground—Cansè, the holy mage Feng Yanxin, and others!
Taking advantage of the rogue’s block, Nian vanished, disappearing from the players’ sight.
The rogue scanned for Nian with Deep Blue Gaze, but there was no trace of him anymore!
The vanish skill was undetectable at the beginning!
“I can’t see him!” the rogue said in the party chat. Deep Blue Gaze couldn’t locate Nian’s position! What kind of skill was this?
Just then, the rogue noticed a faint figure more than ten yards away. Finally, Deep Blue Gaze was effective! Nian had run so fast that he had gotten so far in such a short time.
“There he is!” the rogue pointed toward Nian’s direction. A Glow spell flew into the sky, and white light poured down, revealing a quickly moving shadow.
Feng Yanxin waved her staff, and a beam of light fell from the sky.
Nian rolled to dodge, but fireballs were already being launched from the mages.
Another Holy Smite struck Nian, removing over 100 hit points and purging his Obsidian Shield, which flickered and became thinner.
Feng Yanxin continuously cast spells at Nian at an alarming speed, with timing so precise that every time Nian had just dodged, another spell would immediately arrive, making it almost impossible to defend.
A group of warriors and paladins surrounded him from all directions. They had clearly coordinated before, otherwise they couldn’t have perfectly blocked all of Nian’s escape routes.
Nian rolled to dodge several incoming spells from behind, but still took a few hits. Explosions of magic struck Nian one after another, reducing his health by over 600 points.
A priest far away waved her staff and cast a mark on Nian.
A small cursor appeared above Nian’s head, accurately pinpointing his location.
Two shield warriors, a berserker, and a paladin closed in from all sides, blocking all of Nian’s escape routes.
Charge!
Charge!
“Wild Rogue Nie Yan, die here!” Cansè’s lips curled into a sinister smile as he swung his greatsword in a Flaming Slash.
The paladin attacked with a Holy Strike.
Front, back, left, and right were all occupied by them, and the mages outside still posed a threat. Nian smirked coldly. Did they really think it would be that easy to kill him?
Demoralizing Shout!
Cansè and another warrior’s throats rumbled, and a low-pitched howl erupted from them, like a thunderous bell rolling through the air.
Before the sound reached his mind, Nian activated his Will Save. The powerful sound wave pierced his eardrums.
MISS!
Cansè and the other warrior were stunned—how could Demoralizing Shout have no effect!
In that moment of hesitation, Nian drank a mid-tier instant health potion. As he collided with Cansè and the warrior, he sidestepped and slipped past them, sprinting into the distance.
Cansè swung his shield in a heavy strike, but by the time the shield swept past, Nian had already passed him by.
Nian activated Quick Retreat, used an acceleration scroll, and performed Death Dance, sprinting away at full speed.
Several spells struck Nian, and with a bang, his Obsidian Shield shattered and vanished into the air.
Nian endured the magical attacks and disappeared from the players’ sight. The group pursued him based on the mark on his body, but the distance between them was clearly increasing. Eventually, Nian quickly disappeared from their sight.
After chasing for a while, Cansè, Feng Yanxin, and others noticed that Nian was already far away.
Seeing Nian vanish into the distance, Cansè, Feng Yanxin, and others stopped.
“Damn, he runs too fast,” Cansè cursed. Their speed was simply no match for Nian’s. The reason they had been able to surround him earlier was purely because their rogue had detected Nian’s position with Deep Blue Gaze and reported it in advance.
“He’ll come back!” Feng Yanxin looked at Nian’s retreating figure. Throughout the encounter, Nian hadn’t used any high-level skills. With such great equipment and as the leader of the Bull Tribe, the famous Wild Rogue Nie Yan couldn’t possibly have no high-level skills. Therefore, he concluded that Nian had only been testing them so far.
They followed the mark for a while, but Nian had already disappeared into the vast wilderness.
After about five minutes, they still couldn’t find any trace of Nian.
“Wild Rogue Nie Yan, running away so fast already? If you’ve got guts, come out and fight!” Cansè shouted toward the wilderness, his voice filled with mockery and carrying far away.
Any person with a bit of temper would likely have been provoked into coming out by Cansè’s taunts.
Hidden in the swirling dust, Nian’s priest mark had already expired after such a long time. Hearing Cansè’s taunts, he sneered coldly—fool! He had a fiery temper deep inside, but this temper wasn’t foolish. He wouldn’t be provoked into action so easily.
“Boss, I couldn’t lure the two priests away earlier; they turned back too quickly, and the paladin blocked me,” Wu Dao explained through voice chat. Originally, they had planned for him to lure away a few people, especially the two priests, so that Nian could launch a surprise attack, but unfortunately, this group was too alert.
“It’s okay,” Nian replied. He understood that defeating such a group of players wasn’t simple.
Cansè and others were still waiting for Nian to appear, pulling a few monsters nearby, though they didn’t dare to pull too many at once.
Nian and Wu Dao circled around, looking for opportunities. At this moment, the arcane mage Youran ran out of mana and sat down in an open area to recover. The thirteen players split into three groups, scattered around.
“Wu Dao, you attack from the direction of the mage Youran!”
“Okay.”
After a while, Wu Dao stealthed to the designated position.
Nian looked at the distant Cansè, who had finished his taunts. It was time to pay him back a little.
Used up Flame Shock, let’s see what skills you have left!
Nian gripped his dagger tightly, checked the positions of the thirteen players, and a sinister smile appeared on his face. Thirteen people, not one more, not one less! It was time to end this battle. What followed would be a Day of the Reaper, a feast of slaughter!
Burst of Speed!
Focusing on Cansè in the center, Nian suddenly accelerated. Burst of Speed granted 200% speed increase. He was like a cheetah that had locked onto its prey and suddenly burst into action, rushing forward at maximum speed, leaving only a faint afterimage behind.
“Damn, it’s Wild Rogue Nie Yan, he’s back!” The paladin spotted Nian charging out of the wilderness.
“Finally came out. We’ve been waiting for you,” Cansè sneered coldly, charging toward Nian with a fierce assault.
Charge!
Rushing forward with unstoppable momentum!
The melee units all charged toward Nian, their blades cold and sharp. Feng Yanxin, Youran, and the other mages also launched spells one after another.
“Kill!” a thunderous shout echoed.
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