The skeletons covered the hills and fields, surging toward Nie Yan and his group.
Nie Yan quickly scanned the nearby terrain. Not far from him, several giant boulders stood over five yards high, scattered in a way that made them steep and difficult for the skeletons to climb, forming a natural barrier.
For the slow-moving skeletons, climbing was an extremely difficult task.
Using these rocks as a defense could prevent them from being attacked from both front and back.
“Let’s move over there,” Nie Yan said, dashing swiftly toward the distant rocks.
Xie Yao and Tang Yao both used their Blink spells, teleporting far ahead, followed closely by the thirty paladins.
One key distinction between Archmages and ordinary Grand Mages lies in the substantial reduction of their basic skills’ cooldown periods, as well as their casting time. For instance, abilities such as Blink saw their cooldown decrease from over fifty seconds to under twenty seconds, allowing for far more frequent use.
With all spatial magic such as Blink and Teleport fully recharged, the Archmages could move quite fast—faster even than Shadow Dancers. However, this rapid movement wasn’t sustainable for long. Once the skills were used, they would be stuck with their slow base movement speed, making them unable to outrun melee classes.
They quickly reached the edge of the boulders. Nie Yan positioned the thirty paladins and, after chanting a spell, summoned the Golden Earth Dragon. He didn’t need to hire the paladin Levith at the moment since their current forces were sufficient.
At that moment, a massive wave of skeletons surged in from all directions, filling the open space in front of Nie Yan and his group. For ordinary players, this sight would be terrifying enough to scare them out of their wits. Even some of the strongest top-tier player teams would be overwhelmed by this endless tide of skeletons.
On a distant high slope, dozens of rogues appeared. Leading them was a rogue clad in silver-gray leather armor. They were members of the Divine Annihilation Blade guild.
“Free and Easy Leader, it’s the Golden Earth Dragon! Those paladins belong to Rogue Nie Yan!” one rogue exclaimed upon seeing the scene.
“Rogue Nie Yan!” Free and Easy was taken aback. Looking toward them, he saw thirty paladins standing in front of Nie Yan’s group, forming a solid wall. “Who are those two next to him?”
“They’re Yaozi and Yaoyao from the Bull Tribe, an Archmage and a Holy Archmage,” a player replied.
After confirming the identities, Free and Easy immediately sent the information to Qin Han, while their group continued observing from their position.
“No matter how strong they are, if we surround them with tens of thousands of skeletons, there’s no way they can escape!” Free and Easy declared. In their eyes, this skeleton army was invincible. They had swept across the land, leaving nothing but ruins in their wake, even powerful villages and towns falling to the sea of skeletons. As for Rogue Nie Yan and his group, they were just three players plus thirty elite NPCs of level 150.
They stood by as countless skeletons surged inward like rivers flowing into the sea, amassing in ever-increasing numbers. With a sense of schadenfreude, they eagerly anticipated whether Rogue Nie Yan would meet the same fate as countless other elite players before him—crushed beneath the relentless tide of skeletons.
The skeletons drew closer, now about seventy yards away.
They had already entered the attack range of Xie Yao and Tang Yao. After their promotion to Archmages, both had a basic attack range of around eighty to ninety yards, which extended to about a hundred yards with equipment bonuses.
“Nie Yan, can I start?” Tang Yao asked, looking toward Nie Yan.
Nie Yan nodded. “Hold on, Xie Yao. Let Tang Yao go first.”
Nie Yan glanced at the stats of Tang Yao and Xie Yao. With the bonus from his level 6 Arcane Sprite, Tang Yao’s mana had reached an astonishing 120,000—far beyond the 30,000 to 40,000 mana considered impressive for a level 100 Grand Mage or even an Archmage. Xie Yao’s mana was about half of Tang Yao’s, around 60,000, but her spell damage was about 20% higher. Each had their own strengths.
Since the skeleton attacks weren’t too intense, it was better to let Tang Yao deal more damage while conserving Xie Yao’s mana. That was Nie Yan’s plan.
Xie Yao waved her staff and cast Mana Reserve. Once activated, this skill allowed her to store up to 30,000 mana over a period of about three hours, based on her mana regeneration rate when her mana was full. It was a way to effectively increase her total mana pool.
Seeing the skeletons approaching from afar, Tang Yao wore an excited expression. “Finally, I can test out the Archmage skills!”
Wall of Fire!
Wall of Fire!
Wall of Fire!
One after another, blazing walls of fire appeared on the open ground in the distance. The first wall was about thirty yards away, then they gradually extended outward, each spaced five yards apart. In the end, Tang Yao cast a total of seven walls.
The first wave of skeletons encountered the first wall of fire. As they passed through the roaring flames, a string of damage numbers exceeding ten thousand floated above their heads. After enduring two hits, they barely made it through the first wall, only to face the second wall ahead. After passing through the second, they encountered the third. Ordinary skeletons were felled after passing through five walls of fire. Some elite skeletons survived the onslaught, but they were few in number. As soon as they emerged, they were met with the radiant strikes of thirty paladins and were obliterated before even taking a few steps.
Each wall of fire burned for about three minutes.
Tang Yao swiftly waved his staff, continuously reinforcing the fire walls, turning the surroundings into a blazing inferno.
More and more skeletons disintegrated in the fire walls, their remains scattered as broken bones, which were quickly purified by Guardian Angel Kalenna.
Minute by minute, no matter how many skeletons came, they all met the same fate—none returned.
The rogues on the distant high slope watched in stunned silence. This Wall of Fire was too powerful! Watching wave after wave of skeletons fall before even reaching Tang Yao’s group, they began to doubt for the first time—could these skeletons really defeat Rogue Nie Yan and his group?
“Just wait until their mana runs out, then see what they do!” Free and Easy said. Wall of Fire was one of the most mana-intensive spells.
Fifteen to sixteen minutes quickly passed, yet Tang Yao’s Wall of Fire continued unabated.
As more skeletons fell, Nie Yan’s group gained experience at an astonishing rate. In short bursts, Nie Yan, Tang Yao, and Xie Yao all leveled up, their bodies glowing with white light.
The experience gained from these skeletons was incredibly rich.
A surge of holy energy gathered around the Holy Spirit Mark. Nie Yan checked the seal on Zennarde’s Sword. The fourth seal was on the verge of breaking.
At this rate of grinding, the powerful artifact Zennarde’s Sword would likely be unsealed in just a couple of months.
Nie Yan was filled with anticipation.
“I need to restore some mana. I’ve already used up a third of it,” Tang Yao said, looking at his mana bar. Wall of Fire consumed a massive amount of mana. Even with such a high mana pool, the relentless expenditure was staggering. It was necessary to maintain a certain reserve for emergencies.
After Tang Yao stopped casting, the Wall of Fire gradually extinguished. More skeletons surged forward, approaching within fifty to sixty yards of Nie Yan’s group. Suddenly, thick beams of light rained down from the sky, dealing massive damage to the skeletons, reducing them to ashes in an instant.
Wave after wave of skeletons fell. Xie Yao couldn’t cover every corner with area spells like Tang Yao did. Nie Yan had the Golden Earth Dragon fill in the gaps, unleashing streams of dragon breath that blasted the advancing skeletons away.
After a moment of silence, Nie Yan decided to increase the grinding speed. He sent the Golden Earth Dragon charging into the sea of skeletons, becoming surrounded.
The Golden Earth Dragon used its formidable defense to withstand the onslaught. Behind it, over thirty paladins continuously cast healing spells, keeping its health stable near full.
Counterstorm!
Counterstorm!
Triggered by the skeletons’ attacks, the Golden Earth Dragon unleashed one Counterstorm after another, sweeping the surrounding skeletons off their feet.
Nie Yan checked the Golden Earth Dragon’s level—62% of level 99. It was just a hair away from reaching level 100. He couldn’t help but wonder how much its stats would improve once it broke through to level 100.
The rogues on the distant high slope were stunned. The situation no longer looked like the skeletons were hunting Nie Yan’s group—it seemed more like the skeletons were willingly throwing themselves at Nie Yan’s group for them to grind.
At the Divine Annihilation Blade guild headquarters, Qin Han received the video feed from Free and Easy’s group. Watching the footage, his expression turned icy cold.
“At this rate, even with more skeletons, they won’t be able to stop them,” Free and Easy said, frustrated by the situation.
Qin Han crushed a glass in his hand. Rogue Nie Yan, don’t think you’re untouchable just because these ordinary skeletons can’t harm you. The game has only just begun!
“Keep watching,” Qin Han ordered coldly.
“Understood.”
Nie Yan’s group ground skeletons at an incredible pace, eliminating thousands in just over half an hour.
As more skeletons fell, the Golden Earth Dragon gained a steady stream of experience, its progress bar reaching 93%. Promotion was within reach.
It would reach level 100 in just another five to six minutes!
Looking at the endless tide of skeletons in the distance, Xie Yao waved her staff and began chanting a spell—two full sets of syllables.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage