Yulan glanced at Ni Yan, who appeared utterly indifferent. She thought to herself that the debt of gratitude they owed Ni Yan was growing larger and larger, and soon they wouldn’t be able to repay it.
“Yaoyao, help us thank Ni Yan. Without him, we wouldn’t have obtained so much good equipment,” Yulan said. In comparison, it seemed perfectly reasonable for Ni Yan to take all the rogue gear.
“Mm,” Yaoyao responded softly, walking over to Ni Yan and leaning in slightly to observe his expression with her bright eyes.
“Why are you staring at me?” Ni Yan smiled, glancing at Yaoyao.
“We took that round shield, and you really don’t mind at all?” Yaoyao smiled faintly, her fair face revealing dimples.
“Just a round shield—do I seem like such a petty person to you? Besides, I took everything else that’s useful to me, and even got the Featherfall Gem from the Treant King. That’s already pretty good. I don’t really even need that shield. You guys also contributed to entering the Treant Forest; I couldn’t have cleared the instance alone,” Ni Yan replied. Yaoyao’s dazzling smile caused his heartbeat to quicken slightly, but he immediately thought of Xie Yao and calmed himself.
“That round shield is worth a lot of money. Our team leader asked me to thank you.”
“Mm,” Ni Yan thought to himself, glancing toward Yulan in the distance. Yulan had a tall, well-proportioned figure, nearly perfect. If she smiled a bit more on her pretty face, she’d actually be quite nice. From his impression, Yulan had always been rather proud, and it was rare to see her humble herself.
Ni Yan’s knowledge of Yulan was limited mostly to an incident when she flew into a rage and hunted down a player who had verbally harassed her, chasing him all the way back to level zero. At that time, Ni Yan had thought to himself that such a woman was terrifying. In their interactions since, Yulan had not spoken much, but her temper was generally mild, leaving him with no negative impression. Other than occasionally admiring Yulan’s figure, Ni Yan didn’t have much opinion of her, and their conversations were few, remaining at a superficial level.
With the motivation of obtaining new gear, the team members fought monsters more enthusiastically, especially Baikanshui (White Water), who charged ahead aggressively. The group circled through a small path and, in a corner, killed five treants. As Ni Yan had predicted, another Lesser Healing Tome dropped. With this, the team now had two priests who could cast Lesser Healing.
The treants along the way were thoroughly cleared, and gradually, the group ventured deeper into the treant forest. The surrounding vegetation became sparse, and no more treants appeared; even the birds and beasts within the forest became extremely rare.
“We’re almost there. Watch your step for vines,” Ni Yan became alert, walking ahead of the group to lead the way, clearing out traps one by one. Suddenly, two vines lunged toward him like snakes.
Ni Yan sidestepped, sweeping his dagger in reverse, severing the two vines which fell to the ground.
The main group behind also faced attacks, but with their numbers, even if someone encountered danger, others could assist, so there wasn’t much of a problem.
Through the sparse undergrowth, Ni Yan and the others finally saw the Treant King. It was a massive tree, over ten yards tall, several times larger than ordinary treants, with thick foliage like a canopy casting a large shadow on the ground, its body covered in gray-black bark.
Sensing Ni Yan and the others approaching, the Treant King awoke from its slumber, opening its eyes and emitting a chilling glow.
Treant King: Level 5 Lord, HP 10000/10000.
“It’s a boss creature!” Huiwu (Dusk) exclaimed in surprise. When he previously entered the Treant Forest on normal difficulty, the Treant King had only been an elite mob, a whole tier lower with significantly less health.
Without the powerful Ianpat’s Flute, even the elite squad from the Holy Roman Empire would likely only face annihilation.
“Everyone, prepare yourselves, form up in position. When I give the signal, the shield warriors will go first. Don’t rush,” Ni Yan said, then charged toward the Treant King.
Ni Yan was the first to enter the Treant King’s line of sight.
“Damned humans, you have invaded my territory—die!” The Treant King roared in a deep voice, swinging its thick branch-like arm toward Ni Yan. Seeing the massive arm swinging down, Ni Yan rolled aside. With a thunderous crash, the arm struck the ground, leaving a deep crater.
Ni Yan ran sideways, but the Treant King swung its massive arm toward the direction he was running.
Seeing the arm coming, Ni Yan ducked low. The arm whistled over his head, creating a strong gust of wind that stung his cheeks.
He had barely avoided being smashed flat by the Treant King.
Ni Yan turned and fled. Although the Treant King’s attacks were fierce, it couldn’t even graze Ni Yan as he dodged effortlessly.
In a typical team, they would usually send the shield warriors first since only they could withstand the Treant King’s attacks. Other classes would be instantly killed if struck by the Treant King. However, they overlooked one thing: shield warriors wore heavy armor, making them slow and clumsy. The Treant King’s attacks had knockback effects. Without support, shield warriors couldn’t even get close to the Treant King.
Ni Yan’s dodging appeared clumsy to the team members. Every time they thought he was about to fall under the Treant King’s attack, he always managed to evade using basic movements like rolling, sidestepping, or jumping, narrowly escaping danger.
Huiwu was secretly astonished. This was incredible—what an amazing rogue! Comparing Ni Yan to some rogues in their team, he suddenly realized that no rogue in the Holy Roman Empire could match Ni Yan. Even having half his skill would be extraordinary.
In Ni Yan’s eyes, the Treant King’s attacks were painfully slow. Each attack had at least a one-second interval, making them extremely easy to dodge.
It was like an adult solving elementary school math problems—extremely simple.
Seeing that the Treant King’s attention was fixed on him, Ni Yan shouted in the team chat, “White Water, lead the charge first. Other melee fighters follow. All casters must stay outside a thirty-yard radius from the Treant King.”
White Water charged toward the Treant King. Since the Treant King’s focus was entirely on Ni Yan, he quickly reached its front and launched a Shield Bash followed by a Heroic Strike.
“Damn, the Treant King has such high defense!”
-36, -52. Even with Ianpat’s Flute, White Water’s attacks only dealt this much damage.
The melee players gathered together, surrounding the Treant King tightly.
Under White Water’s fierce assault, the Treant King’s aggro soon shifted to him, beginning to swing its arms at White Water.
“Mages, attack!” As soon as Ni Yan spoke, countless spells flew into the air, exploding on impact with the Treant King.
Damage numbers floated above the Treant King’s head. The lowest were in the teens, some were misses, while the higher ones reached the thirties, dealt by Huiwu and Tangyao (Tang Yao).
Huiwu’s Dark Winter and Tangyao’s Fire Chaser were both forged in black flame, so their damage was relatively decent.
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