Chapter 973: The Grand Arbiter!

In an instant, numerous thoughts flashed through Nie Yan’s mind. Which step had he missed? Could it be that he had to defeat all the Shadow Lords to complete the mission?

But how was that even possible! How could anyone at this stage defeat so many Shadow Lords!

Just when Nie Yan thought he was doomed to die, Karenna, the guardian angel on his left shoulder, suddenly raised her staff. A white shield spell enveloped Nie Yan completely, relieving him of the immense pressure he had been suffering.

It was Karenna’s Protection!

Nie Yan finally caught his breath and glanced at Karenna on his left shoulder. That had been extremely close.

Testing cautiously, Nie Yan took a few more steps forward to confirm there was no danger, and then proceeded toward the throne ahead.

System: You have discovered the Throne of Death.

The mysterious metallic throne ahead was actually the legendary Throne of Death.

The throne was empty. Legend had it that the God of Death and the God of Light had perished together. Nie Yan shifted his gaze from the throne downward. Beside it, on the ground, lay a small black box. The wooden box had no carvings and appeared simple and unadorned.

Nie Yan couldn’t tell what was inside, but as he picked it up, he noticed it wasn’t locked, and an eerie aura seemed to emanate from within.

Slowly opening the box, Nie Yan found a black skull inside. His heart skipped a beat. The skull resembled a human skull but was entirely glowing with a black luster, like it had been crafted from black crystal. A large red gem was embedded in the center of its forehead, and within its eye sockets were two eyeballs that moved around. Its mouth twitched, emitting sharp, cackling sounds, as if it were alive.

This was definitely the God of Death’s skull Nie Yan had been searching for!

Got it! Nie Yan quickly closed the box, preparing to leave, when suddenly he discovered that the random teleportation scroll was useless!

As he was wondering what was going on, the entire hall began to shake violently. Terrifying cracks rapidly spread across the hall, and the building was about to collapse!

Nie Yan immediately dashed outside as fast as he could!

He unleashed his full speed, rushing like the wind and lightning at an incredible pace into the narrow tunnel.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The sounds of the collapsing hall echoed behind him.

Less than half a minute later, Nie Yan burst out of the tunnel and looked ahead. Outside, fifty to sixty Shadow Lords were fleeing in all directions.

They seemed to sense something powerful and were filled with fear.

Thankfully, none of them blocked his way, or he would have been finished!

Looking forward, he saw a thick column of white light descending from high above, tens of thousands of yards away, piercing through the endless darkness of this gloomy world.

It was the portal back!

Nie Yan was ecstatic. Although it wasn’t yet time for the portal to open again, having obtained the God of Death’s skull meant he had completed his task, and Archangel Tyrode would open the portal for him.

Nie Yan sprinted forward for about five or six hundred yards when the ground suddenly shook violently. Behind him, the bone mountain completely collapsed, and a massive skeletal creature emerged from the pile of bones—a huge skeletal being.

This colossal creature was at least a hundred yards tall. Compared to it, the Shadow Lords were nothing; it could crush them with a single step.

Nie Yan cast a Detect Level spell on it.

Bone King: Level 300 Lord.

As it rose from the pile of corpses, it locked its gaze on Nie Yan and let out a deafening roar.

Seeing this creature, Nie Yan was terrified. The whirlwind caused by the Bone King’s roar nearly blew him away!

Nie Yan felt a chilling gaze fix on him, making him shudder to the core. Damn it, how could such a terrifying boss exist? Escaping from under its nose to tens of thousands of yards away seemed an impossible task!

What kind of difficulty rating was this task? SSSSS?

Nie Yan didn’t know that the original difficulty of the task wasn’t this high. However, after the Chaos Temple and the Sword of War God were introduced into the game over the past three years, the system had increased the task’s difficulty, making it far beyond what someone of his level could handle.

First, there were the tightly packed groups of Level 180 elites and bosses—no one below Level 200 could even survive here. Then came the large groups of Level 210 Shadow Lords. Even players at Level 210 or 220 might struggle to clear them all.

Nie Yan reaching this point and obtaining the God of Death’s skull was already a miracle.

Seeing the Bone King, Nie Yan didn’t even consider fighting it. Battling a Level 300 Lord was practically suicide! Even escaping would be impossible given his speed!

In the sky above, at least eighty or ninety giant flying creatures circled around. Trying to escape on a ghost dragon would be certain death.

Suddenly, an idea struck Nie Yan. Fighting the Bone King directly was suicide, but he wasn’t without options. At the very least, he still had two Kero Stones!

Nie Yan reached into his bag, pulled out a Kero Stone, and crushed it with a snap.

The Bone King had just locked onto Nie Yan and was about to deliver a fatal blow when suddenly a more powerful and fierce aura swept over it. Startled, the Bone King halted its advance.

The towering War God Kero appeared within Nie Yan’s sight. Nie Yan had originally worried that War God Kero wouldn’t be able to enter this map. Seeing him now, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief—finally, he was safe.

“Honored Lord Kero, greetings,” Nie Yan greeted him, glancing at the Bone King behind. As expected, the Bone King had stopped moving.

War God Kero’s gaze fell on Nie Yan, then shifted to the Bone King ahead. He smiled slightly and said, “Mr. Nieren, it seems you need my help.”

“Yes,” Nie Yan nodded.

“I cannot assist you with completing your task, but your task was merely to obtain the God of Death’s skull, which apparently doesn’t include this fellow. Well then, I can help you defeat it. Hurry and leave,” War God Kero mused for a moment before saying.

Nie Yan thought back. Indeed, War God Kero had mentioned this before. His task was only to obtain the God of Death’s skull. This was somewhat of a gray area, but due to the previous conditions being hard to define, the system’s settings weren’t that strict. After all, the Dark Death Domain was a monster-spawning map, not a simple task map, and there were many intricacies involved. If it had been a dedicated task map, War God Kero wouldn’t have been able to enter at all, let alone intervene.

Now that War God Kero had decided to intervene, Nie Yan felt at ease. He turned and sprinted toward the distant portal. Anyway, defeating the Bone King wouldn’t grant him anything, so staying was pointless.

Behind him, the sounds of battle erupted. With War God Kero’s strength, defeating the Bone King would be effortless. Without looking back, Nie Yan stepped into the beam of light. A flash of white light enveloped him.

The scene before his eyes changed abruptly. Nie Yan had already emerged outside the Death Domain Gate.

“Young man, I must say I’m quite surprised you managed to obtain the God of Death’s skull,” Archangel Tyrode said in astonishment.

Hearing Archangel Tyrode’s words, Nie Yan couldn’t help rolling his eyes. It turned out there was some truth to their earlier conversation. He had told Nie Yan to hand over the Blade of Death and then he could leave. But Nie Yan had foolishly entered the Dark Death Domain and nearly died there.

Still, it was a case of misfortune turning into fortune. If he hadn’t entered the Dark Death Domain, he wouldn’t have leveled up so quickly. And without entering the Dark Death Domain, he wouldn’t have obtained those two shattered divine fragments.

Thinking about it, Nie Yan’s mood improved significantly.

“Respected Lord Tyrode, this is the God of Death’s skull you requested,” Nie Yan handed the skull over to Archangel Tyrode.

Archangel Tyrode accepted the wooden box with both hands. Suddenly, his hands burst into roaring white flames. A piercing scream echoed out as the wooden box, along with the God of Death’s skull, turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished completely.

System: You have completed Archangel Tyrode’s commission and received the title of High Arbiter.

Three crisp system prompts sounded in succession. Alongside the title reward came experience points! Nie Yan couldn’t help but feel excited. This was a divine-level task—how could its experience reward be small? Those three system prompts sent waves of excitement through him—three whole levels!

If he had gained three levels at Level 140 or 150, he wouldn’t have felt this excited. But now, he was already Level 193. Gaining three levels meant reaching Level 196!

This task’s reward had brought Nie Yan a significant step closer to the Level 200 milestone.

Nie Yan glanced at his High Arbiter title. High Arbiter was a Tier-3 Temple title, replacing his previous Advanced Light Arbiter title. This title surpassed the Grand Prophet and was nearly on par with the Pope.

The High Arbiter’s status bonus: All attributes increased by 50%, movement speed increased by 200%. When holding the complete Chapter of Order, one could summon an Archangel.

What an amazing title! Holding the complete Chapter of Order allowed one to summon an Archangel. Nie Yan wondered how powerful that Archangel was—would it reach the Legendary level?

Besides these stat bonuses, there was another exciting discovery: Karenna’s ultimate shield skill, Karenna’s Protection, had now become available to Nie Yan. This meant that in the future, whenever needed, Nie Yan could use this skill.

A title rivaling that of the Dark Council’s leader, combined with an incredibly powerful shield spell, and soon he would ascend to Legendary status. If he challenged Duo Duo right after completing the task, what would his chances of victory be?

It should be pretty good now. However, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that Duo Duo might have some hidden tricks. Since he had come this far, he needed to defeat Duo Duo with overwhelming strength, making him abandon any lingering hopes completely!