Chapter 693: Encirclement and Blocking

The sudden raid by the Cowled Tribe caught the Holy Guardians off guard. Within moments, hundreds of players had fallen to Nie Yan and his companions, reaching into the thousands.

Merchants and ordinary players in Krooks quickly gathered their belongings and evacuated using recall scrolls. A bustling fortress was nearly emptied within ten minutes, leaving only the Holy Guardians behind.

Yu Ranran, Tang Yao, and Xie Yao became nightmares for this fortress. Their magic was extremely devastating, obliterating all the Holy Guardians’ players rushing toward the streets.

The attack range of these three had already reached nearly a hundred yards. Ordinary players couldn’t even get close to them. Even if someone managed to approach, they couldn’t keep up with the Runemage who had the Haste ability.

A group of rogues surrounded Xie Yao and had just entered within ten yards of her when she waved her staff and chanted a spell.

“Stasis Field!”

All the rogues nearby froze in place, entering a state of immobility, their bodies slowly becoming visible.

They had never seen such a skill before and were instantly affected.

“Radiant Judgment!”

Xie Yao waved her staff again, and a massive beam of holy light struck down, BOOM! More than ten people were blown away.

Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Yu Ranran, and others operated in this area, using nearby buildings as cover to wipe out group after group of players.

Nie Yan, seeing that things below were under control, leaped from the rooftop and quickly disappeared into an alley, heading toward where Saint Flame was.

“Nie Yan, we’ve entered the Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters, but we couldn’t find Saint Flame,” Cui Can Daoguang said in the team chat.

“The Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters only had a few small fry, all eliminated,” Shui Se Yantou said with a rather disgruntled tone. They had entered the Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters hoping to capture the leader first, only to find it empty.

“No worries, I’ve already located Saint Flame. Leave it to me,” Nie Yan smiled.

Hearing Nie Yan say he had found Saint Flame, they no longer worried about the matter. No one who had been targeted by Nie Yan had ever escaped alive.

The central hall of the Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters was very spacious. On both sides of the hall stood pillars over ten yards high, covered with various bas-reliefs, making the place look magnificent and grand.

“Damn, the Holy Guardians are really rich, making their guild headquarters so grand. It must have cost a lot,” Lei Su looked around the hall in awe.

“This guild headquarters is at least a level ten building, costing no less than 100,000 gold coins,” Cui Can Daoguang said. The Cowled Tribe had money, but spending it on a guild headquarters wasn’t really necessary—it was only for the convenience of gatherings.

This guild headquarters was a landmark building in Krooks, symbolizing the Holy Guardians.

“Let’s go.”

“Before we leave, let’s destroy this guild headquarters.”

“Great idea!”

Lei Su walked to a pillar at the edge of the hall and punched it with all his might. With a loud bang, the pillar was shattered. The entire hall trembled violently, and some large stones fell from the ceiling.

Shui Se Yantou and Cui Can Daoguang also began destroying the pillars in the hall. With the central pillars destroyed, the building groaned and the walls rapidly cracked, soon to collapse.

Seeing that the destruction was nearly complete, Lei Su, Shui Se Yantou, and Cui Can Daoguang quickly evacuated from the Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters.

In a square in the southeast of Krooks, a large number of elite Holy Guardians players gathered, numbering in the thousands. Outside the square stood several massive summoned creatures.

“Have we figured out how many there are?” Saint Flame asked in the group chat.

“Reporting, boss. We’ve only found twelve people so far.”

“What about outside the city? Any activity?”

“No enemy forces have been spotted within the range of Kolondo City or its neighboring cities.”

Saint Flame furrowed his brows in thought. Could the Cowled Tribe really be so bold as to send only twelve people into Krooks? Did they think Krooks was made of paper?

“Activate Spatial Confinement Field!” Saint Flame ordered. After upgrading to advanced city defenses, they gained a special effect—Spatial Confinement. Within the fortress of Krooks, all players were prohibited from using recall scrolls, and only a few teleportation arrays could be used. This way, once Nie Yan and his group entered, they wouldn’t be able to leave!

As the defenses of Krooks were activated, a stagnant force quickly spread. All the arcane cannons had already been aimed at the sky. If Nie Yan and his companions summoned flying mounts, they would be targeted by anti-air arcane cannons. Additionally, the walls of Krooks were heavily fortified with countless arrow towers. For Nie Yan and his group to break through the defenses and escape Krooks wouldn’t be easy.

Saint Flame was determined not to let Nie Yan and his companions escape from Krooks. If the Holy Guardians, as the main fortress of Krooks, allowed others to come and go as they pleased, it would be a great humiliation. How could they maintain their authority afterward?

“Boss, the arcane cannons are ready.”

“Arrow towers are ready.”

Receiving reports from all fronts, Saint Flame gave a slight smirk. This time, let’s see where you run! Nie Yan and his companions were completely trapped inside the Krooks fortress. He admitted that the Holy Guardians couldn’t find any player who could rival Nie Yan and his group, but even if they had to wear them down, they would make sure Nie Yan and his companions wouldn’t leave Krooks alive!

Just as Saint Flame was thinking this, a loud explosion echoed from a distance. The towering Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters collapsed with a thunderous roar, causing the entire Krooks to tremble as if an earthquake had struck.

“Boss, our guild headquarters has been destroyed!”

Saint Flame looked toward the location of the guild headquarters, which had now become a pile of rubble.

“Damn it, Kuangzei Nie Yan, I’ll give you that one. If I don’t avenge this, I’m not Saint Flame! All aerial riders, assemble! I don’t believe we can’t kill them!” Saint Flame clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. Nie Yan and his companions had destroyed the Holy Guardians’ guild headquarters, a major humiliation for them.

As they were speaking, Nie Yan had already arrived outside the square.

Nie Yan was hiding in the alleys around the square, looking into the distance where Saint Flame and his group were clearly visible.

Seeing the group in the distance, Nie Yan gave a slight smirk: “This time, everyone’s here—Kuang Fa, Xue Kuang Dao, Po Tian too.” These people were old adversaries of Nie Yan.

At least two to three thousand people had gathered in the square, so Nie Yan couldn’t act immediately and had to wait for the right opportunity.

At that moment, dozens of Holy Guardians players from a distance chanted spells and summoned their flying mounts, which soared into the sky.

“Everyone, be careful. The Holy Guardians’ aerial units are coming,” Nie Yan warned in the team chat. Nie Yan and his companions dared not summon their flying mounts because the fortress of Krooks was certainly equipped with numerous anti-air arcane cannons. If they summoned their flying mounts, they would easily become concentrated targets for the anti-air cannons. This meant they had to face the Holy Guardians’ aerial forces without being able to summon their own flying mounts.

“Don’t worry, Nie Yan, even if their aerial units come, we’ll make sure they don’t return!” Yu Ranran said confidently. After advancing to top-tier professions, they had become capable of challenging flying mounts. Although it was somewhat difficult, it wasn’t impossible. They had their own methods for dealing with such large summoned creatures.

Nie Yan wasn’t particularly worried. Back in the ancient world, when he advanced to the Saint Shadow Dancer class, he had already discovered that flying mounts weren’t especially difficult to deal with.

For ordinary players, flying mounts were indeed formidable opponents. But for top-tier profession players, flying mounts were merely somewhat stronger summoned creatures. In their top-tier profession quests, one of the tasks was to slay high-tier creatures. Those who couldn’t defeat high-tier creatures couldn’t advance to top-tier professions!

Nie Yan refocused his attention on Saint Flame, estimating that Saint Flame must now be seething with hatred toward him.

The news of Nie Yan and his twelve companions attacking Krooks quickly spread, causing a massive stir among players. For twelve individuals to dare to storm a major fortress of a guild—such a bold act could probably only be carried out by someone like Kuangzei Nie Yan.

On the forums, all players were closely following the battle in Krooks, eager to know the final outcome. When they learned that Krooks had been sealed off and that the Holy Guardians were preparing to wear Nie Yan and his companions down, they couldn’t help but gasp in shock. If the battle continued like this, how long could Nie Yan and his companions hold out?

Additionally, upon learning that Nie Yan and his team were trapped, the Money Consortium had already dispatched their elite forces to Krooks. It was rumored that the Century Consortium and Angel Dynasty were also sending reinforcements. Nie Yan and his comrades had been too audacious. The formidable combat prowess of top-tier professional players had instilled a deep sense of crisis in all the guilds and consortia vying for global dominance. As a result, they sought to unite and eliminate Nie Yan’s group in Krooks, aiming to suppress their rising momentum.

Nie Yan hadn’t found an opportunity to act yet and casually browsed the forums, discovering that discussions about the battle in Krooks were extremely active.

Many posts had been published and pushed to the top, with titles such as “Krooks Fully Locked Down, Kuangzei Nie Yan Trapped!” and “Waiting for Kuangzei Nie Yan to Be Surrounded and Killed.”

Nie Yan saw many posts from Holy Guardians’ sock puppets, which he dismissed with disdain. Of course, there were also posts from Cowled Tribe players, with titles like “Holy Guardians’ Guild Headquarters Destroyed, Cowled Tribe Invincible.” However, Cowled Tribe players were relatively few in posting on the forums.