Nie Yan quickly retreated, keeping his gaze fixed on the incoming arrows.
As six arrows rapidly approached, Nie Yan swung his Zennarde’s Sword, slicing three of them mid-air.
The remaining arrows were about to hit Nie Yan when, at the last moment, he activated Shadow Dance.
With three sharp sounds, the arrows struck Nie Yan but were blocked by the invincibility effect of Shadow Dance, falling to the ground.
Facing the Tracking Arrow skill of Angel Wing for the first time, Nie Yan had used two escape skills, and he wasn’t entirely satisfied with the outcome.
As Nie Yan dodged the arrows from Angel Wing, other members of Angel Empire also took action.
More than ten players gathered toward Nie Yan, each group consisting of five players. Their priests waved their staffs, casting Light spells into the air, and white beams poured down. Paladins activated Divine Eyes.
“Crazy Thief Nie Yan is over there!”
“Damn, so fast!”
They had just spotted Nie Yan when they lost sight of him again.
Nie Yan glanced at them. Angel Empire’s tactics were methodical, with groups of five players each, no more than five yards apart, each squad equipped with priests and paladins, making it hard for him to find an opportunity to strike. Nie Yan recognized many of them; they were top-tier players from past lives, exemplary figures in Angel Empire. Nie Yan had watched many videos of them, knowing they wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
As they pursued Nie Yan, four warriors led by Li Yan surrounded the paladin Laifusi, pinning him in place.
Six mages quickly flanked and occupied six positions, approaching the golden earth dragon that was wreaking havoc among Sacred Guardians. Beams of light flashed across the ground, forming a massive six-pointed star array.
Nie Yan raised his eyebrows seeing the scene in the distance. They were trying to trap his golden earth dragon with an Ensnaring Barrier!
Nie Yan had some knowledge about the Ensnaring Barrier’s power. When used well, it could trap a Lord-level boss for half an hour, making it an ultimate move against boss-level creatures.
As the barrier was about to form, Nie Yan directed the golden earth dragon to charge forward, swiping at one of the mages.
The mage, unable to dodge in time, quickly used Blink to escape.
The Ensnaring Barrier was temporarily disrupted.
The six mages quickly adjusted their positions, forming the six-pointed star array on the ground again.
The best feature of the Ensnaring Barrier was its adaptability.
The golden earth dragon missed its strike, letting out a low dragon roar, then spewing a torrent of dragon breath downward.
The mage chanted a spell, preparing to complete the Ensnaring Barrier with the others, but was caught off guard as the golden earth dragon suddenly unleashed its dragon breath. With a loud bang, he was hit and flung backward.
The golden earth dragon’s terrifying attack was something no single mage could withstand.
“Damn it, Lime is dead. Hongying quickly take his place!” Luo Bai, a Holy Words mage dressed in white robes, cursed in the team chat.
Immediately, another mage replaced the fallen one. This time, they were more cautious. The golden earth dragon’s powerful attacks made them wary; they absolutely couldn’t be hit by its dragon breath or they would be instantly killed without question.
After adjusting their positions, twenty seconds later, a golden barrier formed around the golden earth dragon, slowly shrinking until it was tightly bound and immobilized.
“Angel Boss, we’ve trapped the golden earth dragon, but Lime is dead,” Luo Bai reported in the team chat.
“What the hell did you do? Retreat as planned,” Angel Wing responded in the chat, feeling frustrated that they had lost one of their top players. Even though they had defeated the golden earth dragon, Nie Yan could revive it with just a slight drop in loyalty, which could be restored. However, they had lost an elite player, making it a net loss.
After completing the Ensnaring Barrier, the mages quickly withdrew. Seeing them retreat, Nie Yan was about to direct the golden earth dragon to break free when suddenly, several sharp whistling sounds came from the sky. His expression changed as he looked toward the distant towers, where a total of five magic cannons fired shells toward them.
The golden earth dragon struggled but couldn’t break free from the Ensnaring Barrier in the short term. Five solid iron cannonballs traced curved arcs through the air, landing at the dragon’s location. Two hit directly, while the remaining three landed nearby, exploding with loud booms and engulfing the golden earth dragon in flames.
Nie Yan heard a system notification and looked down.
System: The golden earth dragon has died.
These guys acted decisively. Nie Yan tightened his grip on Zennarde’s Sword, veins bulging, before finally relaxing his hand. He had lost a pet, while Angel Empire had lost an elite player. Comparatively, it wasn’t a bad outcome. In the current situation, Angel Empire had the numbers and were all top-tier players, making it hard for him to gain any advantage.
After the mages eliminated the golden earth dragon, they prepared to target the paladin Laifusi. However, Nie Yan chanted a spell from the shadows, and suddenly, the paladin vanished.
“Boss, Crazy Thief Nie Yan ran away,” Li Yan said, as they couldn’t locate Nie Yan anymore.
“Damn, so fast!”
The pressure on the players lifted, and they relaxed slightly.
“Stay alert, no one is to leave their teammates by more than five yards!” Angel Wing sternly ordered. Although Nie Yan seemed to have fled, he remained cautious. He understood Nie Yan’s personality; Nie Yan wouldn’t easily back down and might suddenly attack them alone when they were careless. With Nie Yan’s ambush capabilities, they couldn’t afford the slightest negligence or they might be ambushed successfully.
Nie Yan lingered at the periphery for a while, looking for an opportunity to strike, but these people gave him none. Angel Wing and others summoned flying mounts and rode them into the air, making it impossible for Nie Yan to ambush them.
Angel Wing had finally become smarter. If their group continued operating in Crooks Fortress, Nie Yan would eventually get a chance to kill one or two of them. However, by directly leaving on their flying mounts, Nie Yan had no way to stop them.
Watching Angel Wing’s group disappear into the distance, Nie Yan clenched his fists. This time, you came to the Grinland Empire; next time, it will be my turn to visit the Sa’thun Empire. Let’s see who is more ruthless between us!
“Brothers, we’re retreating,” Nie Yan said in the team chat. Crooks Fortress was no longer a safe place to stay, as they might face more ambushes. They had caused quite a commotion here, slaughtering thousands, achieving a rather glorious result. Although they lost two people and Nie Yan’s golden earth dragon died once, the losses were still within an acceptable range.
Nie Yan and his team prepared to break through the gates of Crooks and evacuate from the main entrance.
Ten players quickly gathered near the gate. In the distance, the edge of the gate had several arrow towers, and Sacred Guardians had set up extremely tight defenses near the gate.
“Boss, let me cast a forbidden spell and blow them up directly,” Yuwang Renzhi Qingchun said. With Nie Yan’s permission, he found a suitable position, stood behind a building, and began chanting while waving his staff.
Low, deep syllables emerged from Yuwang Renzhi Qingchun’s mouth, and his entire body was enveloped in white electric currents, slowly lifting him into the air.
After twenty sets of syllables, dark clouds gathered in the sky, fierce winds howled, and lightning flashed through the clouds. Ten thick lightning pillars descended from the sky, piercing through heaven and earth.
Under Yuwang Renzhi Qingchun’s control, the lightning pillars slowly moved toward the arrow towers near the gate.
The Sacred Guardians on the towers panicked. They felt the electric currents in the air, and the ten lightning pillars, each as thick as pillars supporting the sky, gave them a heavy oppressive feeling. Anything touched by the lightning pillars was completely destroyed, leaving deep pits more than ten yards wide in their wake.
“Everyone, run quickly! It’s a lightning forbidden spell!”
The players on the towers scattered in panic as the ten lightning pillars swept forward. More than ten arrow towers in their path were instantly crushed. The lightning pillars didn’t stop, continuing forward and slamming into the city wall. The wall groaned under the impact, creating ten breaches.
After moving forward a bit, the lightning pillars gradually dissipated, and the gloomy sky returned to brightness.
“Boss, we can go now,” Yuwang Renzhi Qingchun said, putting away his staff. This was his first time casting a large-scale forbidden spell, and he was clearly satisfied with the lightning attack’s effect.
“This forbidden spell has good power,” Nie Yan remarked. Yuwang Renzhi Qingchun’s forbidden spell was more focused and destructive, with just a slightly smaller area than other forbidden spells, which explained why it required twenty sets of syllables to cast.
Sacred Guardians tried to block Nie Yan and his team with arrow towers, but they ended up leaving Crooks through the main gate of the fortress in broad daylight.
By the time Sacred Flame and others resurrected at the graveyard and returned to Crooks, Nie Yan and his team had long gone. The fortress was in ruins, with the front wall completely shattered and the inner arrow towers reduced to rubble. The aftermath of the forbidden spell left them with a chill in their hearts.
Sacred Flame began to clean up the mess with a sense of sorrow. Once, Sacred Guardians had been so glorious, but now they couldn’t even protect their main fortress.
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