People like Tang Yao and Yuwang usually choose high-level elite creatures even if they want to solo monsters, because lord-class creatures are too troublesome and ordinary players dare not provoke them.
As the Darkwing Dragon flew across the sky, Nie Yan traveled onward while browsing the information of all remaining bosses. In the entire Abernathy Grasslands, the strongest boss was the Ancient Troll living in the Shadowed Swamp—a two-hundred-level demonized lord!
It was actually this one!
Seeing the name of the Ancient Troll, Nie Yan’s heart skipped a beat. In the Glireland Empire, there were ten supremely powerful super bosses. Most of them lived deep in swamps and canyons, rarely appearing in players’ sight, but they were definitely invincible presences. Even those legendary NPCs dared not confront them because they were just too powerful. Occasionally, they would leave their habitats, which would bring a huge disaster to both the NPCs and players of Glireland Empire.
Wherever they went, cities could be destroyed.
The Ten Lords were fearsome beings that sent chills down people’s spines.
The Ancient Troll of Abernathy Grasslands, the nine-headed sea monster of the Dead Sea, the Black Dragon King of the Sukralei Forbidden Area, the Frost Dragon King of the Mopiai Northern Wastes, and so on—ordinary players wouldn’t dare to approach their territories.
Any player encountering such monsters would undoubtedly face certain death, no matter how powerful their skills were; before these beings, they were nothing. These were godlike peak existences. Nie Yan estimated that at least someone at the level of War God Kro could stand against such super lords.
Besides the Ancient Troll, the Abernathy Grasslands also had six mutated lords above level one hundred, each also a terrifying presence.
Compared to the remote Abernathy Grasslands, Karol City was naturally much safer. Back then, Emperor Jopia led around 300 magic masters from the Glireland Empire’s mage group. They sacrificed nearly two-thirds of their numbers to establish Karol City, clearing out all mutated lords nearby and defeating a 160-level demonized lord, thereby securing Karol City’s peace.
In contrast, the Abernathy Grasslands were a savage land filled with danger everywhere.
Nie Yan divided the map into seven regions and duplicated it, sending it to every Bull Man Tribe player active in the Abernathy Grasslands, strictly forbidding them from entering these areas. Provoking mutated lords or demonized lords would lead to serious consequences.
Regarding the Ancient Troll, Nie Yan had only heard of its name and seen some related literature. He knew nothing about its actual strength or skills. However, he had heard that lords of such caliber could use powerful forbidden magic. Creatures capable of using forbidden magic could not be defeated by sheer numbers.
There were also legends claiming that these powerful demonized lords possessed extremely potent divine artifacts, which were fundamentally different from legendary items. As to what these divine artifacts looked like or whether they were merely rumors, Nie Yan couldn’t judge. Anyway, he had never seen any divine artifact in his previous life over ten years.
What Nie Yan especially remembered was an incident where some players unknowingly provoked the Frost Dragon King of the Northern Wastes, which then marched southward, slaughtering millions and turning the Flame City into an icy wasteland. Later, the Frost Dragon King seemed to have killed those players and then returned.
The Flame City suffered heavy casualties, with more than half of the NPCs perishing. Later, the city’s governor expelled those players, forbidding them from stepping into Flame City ever again.
That incident made players truly realize the might of demonized lords. Since then, no one dared to provoke them, and the regions where demonized lords roamed were marked as the Ten Deadliest Places in the Glireland Empire.
Even if Shadow Dancer had superior stealth and escape skills, Nie Yan dared not approach those demonized lords. To a 200-level demonized lord, Shadow Dancer was like an ant.
The Ancient Troll lived in the Abernathy Grasslands. Would it affect Okolen City? Nie Yan felt some concern, but thought that it was perhaps too early to consider such matters now.
About ten minutes later, Nie Yan, riding on the Darkwing Dragon, spotted a giant bear moving across the distant plains and began to descend slowly.
Abernathy Ravager Bear, level 160 lord, five million hit points, reviving every five days after death.
Nie Yan didn’t bring Berserker Yalop with him; he was alone. If he only had the Gold Earth Dragon and Paladin Lefis to fight the Abernathy Ravager Bear, they definitely wouldn’t last.
Nie Yan summoned the Gold Earth Dragon and Paladin Lefis, then ordered them to move far away. Nie Yan activated stealth and slowly approached the distant Abernathy Ravager Bear.
The Abernathy Ravager Bear was leisurely wandering. It was enormous, two yards tall, weighing 1,200 pounds, like a moving giant fortress. Its snow-white fur emitted a faint white glow under the sunlight. Its tough skin was harder than steel, undoubtedly a giant in this area. However, it had one flaw—it could only attack in melee. Generally, Nie Yan was reluctant to challenge lords with ranged attacks because such lords were not only annoying to fight but also rarely dropped good loot. Units like the Ravager Bear, which could only attack in melee, were easier to deal with.
Nie Yan continued approaching the Abernathy Ravager Bear. The bear slowly entered the 120-yard attack range.
The bear seemed to sense something and suddenly became alert. Its perception was too sharp, detecting danger from such a distance.
Nie Yan raised his Dull Knight Doro’s cavalry crossbow, loaded five ordinary arrows, and pulled the trigger. With a few whistling sounds, five arrows shot out.
Thud! Thud! Thud! All five arrows struck the bear, floating damage numbers of two to three thousand appearing above its head.
Nie Yan’s attack damage was quite significant, but compared to the bear’s terrifying hit points and regeneration speed, it was practically negligible.
After being attacked, the bear roared furiously and charged toward Nie Yan’s location. Although the bear was huge, its movement speed was not slow, shaking the ground as it ran.
After his first attack, Nie Yan immediately went into stealth and fled, reloading arrows while running, employing the same kiting tactics used by archers and mages.
The Abernathy Ravager Bear’s hit points dropped very slowly. Nie Yan’s attack damage was only slightly higher than its regeneration speed. After nearly two minutes of attacking with the Dull Knight Doro’s cavalry crossbow, Nie Yan had only inflicted over six thousand damage.
However, due to Nie Yan’s frequent attacks, the Abernathy Ravager Bear was completely enraged. Unable to catch Nie Yan, it entered a berserk state, gaining 50% attack power, losing 30% defense, and increasing movement speed by 50%, pursuing Nie Yan even more fiercely.
The bear charged to Nie Yan’s side and swiped its paw downward. With a bang, it missed and hit the ground because Nie Yan was too fast. After missing, the bear stood up, opened its mouth wide, emitting a low growl, and swung its giant paw downward.
Nie Yan quickly retreated, locking his gaze on the bear’s mouth, where the red tongue emitted a foul stench. Now was the moment!
Nie Yan swiftly drew five arrows tied with flame bombs, loaded them into the Dull Knight Doro’s cavalry crossbow, aimed at the bear’s mouth, and pulled the trigger.
The five arrows flew straight through the air. The first arrow pierced into the bear’s wide-open mouth. With a loud explosion, the flame bomb detonated inside the bear’s mouth. The bear’s body shook. Then came four consecutive loud explosions.
Flame bombs exploding in a monster’s mouth, a fragile area, produced an astonishing effect. After five explosions, Nie Yan looked again at the bear. Its mouth was completely blown apart, with five consecutive damage numbers of over two hundred thousand floating above its head.
The bear was severely wounded, crashing heavily to the ground. The flame bombs caused irreversible severe damage, leaving it barely alive.
Flame bombs had certain special effects and additional damage when hitting vital points.
Taking this opportunity, Nie Yan summoned the Gold Earth Dragon and Paladin Lefis to attack the bear head-on while he himself circled behind it, using skills like Spinebreaker.
Combined, Nie Yan, the Gold Earth Dragon, and Paladin Lefis delivered extremely high damage, reducing the bear’s hit points to about 50% in over ten minutes.
The bear tried to fight back after getting up, but Nie Yan mercilessly sent another five flame bombs its way. This time, the bear was completely incapacitated and soon fell to the ground, becoming a corpse.
A crisp system prompt sounded, indicating a level-up.
Nie Yan checked the time—it had taken nearly twenty minutes to defeat the bear, which was very efficient. Ten flame bombs costing nearly ten thousand gold coins earned nearly 80% experience, which was quite worthwhile.
The bear dropped three pieces of equipment for Nie Yan, who wasn’t particularly surprised because physical melee units often dropped warrior gear.
After checking, Nie Yan found the Abernathy Ravager Bear’s Resilient Battle Armor and Resilient Pauldrons, plus a pair of Quickstep Boots. The Resilient Battle Armor and Resilient Pauldrons were level 160 dark gold equipment, while the boots were sub-legendary, with excellent attributes.
Nie Yan thought that when the bear respawned, he might get other components of the Resilient Set. Usually, if a dark gold set was completed, its power wouldn’t be inferior to sub-legendary equipment.
With so many NPC guards joining Okolen City, covering various professions, there was a huge demand for equipment between levels 130 and 180, which created a significant shortage. Nie Yan had to figure out ways to acquire more.
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