Chapter 950: The Black Magic Crystal

As soon as the clash began, four people were killed. The remaining ones were filled with horror and rage.

“This bastard is really tough!” the leading magic swordsman cursed. He hadn’t fought for three years, and if it were an ordinary person, they would have long been tossed aside like trash. It was easy to imagine how glorious and formidable Rogue Nie Yan had been back in the day. “Keep your eyes on him! Don’t let him escape!”

Two undead rogues closed in on Nie Yan’s position, while four necromancers’ Eyes of Scouting covered a radius of five to six hundred yards, cutting off any possible escape routes for him.

Meanwhile, the magic swordsman and the dual-wielding swordsman pursued from behind.

“The cooldown for Destruction Slash is very long. He won’t be able to use it again anytime soon,” the Dark Knight said gravely. “During this period, Rogue Nie Yan has been grinding in the Black Mage Realm and likely hasn’t acquired any new skills. Be wary of the scrolls in his inventory. Don’t give him a chance to use them! If we take down Rogue Nie Yan, Boss Blackgun will surely reward us handsomely!”

After the analysis by the Magic Swordsman, the others felt more confident and were determined to eliminate Rogue Nie Yan. Since they were roughly at the same level as Nie Yan and had faced countless experts before, they held no reverence for him.

Still, being able to withstand the pressure of being outnumbered twelve to one and killing four of them showed that Rogue Nie Yan was no pushover.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Although he still had many skills left, none could instantly kill. He could only rely on control skills to eliminate enemies. With so many enemies, they could rescue each other, but at least they had no healing class.

Nie Yan decided to target the necromancers first. He activated Swift Step and charged toward one of them.

“Block him!” a necromancer shouted.

Immediately, rows of bone walls appeared in front of Nie Yan, forcing him to dodge carefully. Although bone walls were fragile and could be destroyed easily, necromancers could summon them endlessly. A regular rogue trapped in bone walls would likely be pierced into a sieve by countless bone spikes.

Nie Yan leaped over the bone wall and swooped down from above, his dagger aiming at the necromancer.

The necromancer had seen many attacks before and didn’t panic. As Nie Yan charged, he waved his staff, summoning a golden skeleton, over two yards tall, holding a bone shield that completely blocked his body.

Upon seeing the golden skeleton, Nie Yan summoned his Golden Earth Dragon. The massive body of the dragon slammed into the skeleton, causing a loud explosion and shattering it into pieces.

“It’s Rogue Nie Yan’s Golden Earth Dragon!” the necromancer said nervously, quickly retreating.

“No problem, I have Mind Stun. It can’t attack at all!” the Magic Swordsman said calmly.

Nie Yan checked the Golden Earth Dragon’s status bar and indeed saw the Mind Stun effect, rendering his pet unable to move or use any ranged skills.

However, Nie Yan’s intention wasn’t to use the Golden Earth Dragon to kill. He used it as a cover to activate his Shadow Assassin skill.

As the players were distracted by the collision between the Golden Earth Dragon and the golden skeleton, they suddenly realized Nie Yan had disappeared.

“Where’s Rogue Nie Yan?”

“I don’t know where he went!”

“Be careful, everyone!” the magic swordsman shouted. As soon as he finished speaking, they saw a faint figure rapidly approaching one of the necromancers.

“He’s over there!”

All the melee players charged toward the figure.

Seeing the distraction, Nie Yan activated Swift Step and Perfect Stealth, suddenly appearing behind one of the necromancers.

The necromancer was focused on the distance and never expected Nie Yan to attack from behind. As he sensed something wrong, his body was already paralyzed.

Seeing Perfect Stun take effect, Nie Yan stabbed his dagger into the necromancer’s head, stunning him. Then he delivered an elbow strike, a backstab, and a sever, completing a three-hit combo before fleeing.

The melee players had already run dozens of yards away. There were two necromancers nearby, but before they could react, Nie Yan had already completed his combo.

Two magical attacks shot toward Nie Yan, but he used Vanish to dodge the necromancers’ attacks.

The attacked necromancer took three hits and was left with over 6,000 HP. As he regained consciousness, two damage numbers, each over 3,000, floated above his head. He fell to the ground before he could use a heal.

“What’s going on?” the leading magic swordsman frowned, sensing something amiss.

“It’s probably Rogue Nie Yan’s Shadow Assassin,” the dual-wielding swordsman said, looking at the quickly disappearing figure. If that was Rogue Nie Yan’s shadow, was it worth chasing?

“Gather everyone!” the Magic Swordsman commanded. Rogue Nie Yan had summoned his Shadow Assassin, making escape effortless. Yet he remained, signaling his intent to annihilate them all. If they persisted in battle, they faced the risk of total annihilation.

Everyone regrouped. Five had died, leaving seven. This was a heavy loss, but at least they recovered their equipment.

“What do we do now?”

“No need to keep pursuing Rogue Nie Yan. Our reinforcements will be here shortly. If he gets away, we’ll have to let it go,” the lead Spellblade said. They couldn’t afford to sustain any more losses.

Nie Yan recalled his Golden Earth Dragon and circled around, observing the seven players huddled together, each within three yards of another, clearly frightened.

Nie Yan smiled slightly. If they wanted to hunt him, they should know their own strength!

Even with them grouped together, he could still eliminate a few and escape, though it would waste time and carry some risk. He glanced ahead and noticed some Light-aligned players approaching. He decided to abandon the fight and head to the Black Mage Realm to continue leveling up after submitting the Black Mage fragments.

Nie Yan dashed toward the entrance of the Black Mage Realm.

The dark-aligned players remained on alert for a while but noticed Nie Yan didn’t reappear.

“Did Rogue Nie Yan leave?”

“I don’t know.”

As the Demon Swordsman was about to order a retreat, he suddenly noticed many Light-aligned players surrounding them.

“It’s the Bullshitter Tribe!” The Demon Swordsman’s expression darkened. Their reinforcements hadn’t arrived, but the Bullshitter Tribe had. There were about sixty to seventy members of the Bullshitter Tribe, most of them over level 180. They were doomed!

Nie Yan had already left, unaware of the events unfolding behind him. He entered the Black Mage Realm.

“Welcome, noble warrior. How may I assist you?” Angel Gao asked.

“These are the Black Mage fragments I collected.” Nie Yan handed over a large quantity of Black Mage fragments to Angel Gao.

Nie Yan watched as his submitted Black Mage fragments rapidly increased, quickly climbing to the top. The previous leader had submitted nearly 370,000 fragments, while Nie Yan submitted nearly 890,000.

Two crisp system prompts sounded, and Nie Yan’s level jumped to 179 from the submitted fragments.

The accumulated experience from so many Black Mage fragments was considerable. This was why the Black Mage Realm was called a paradise for leveling up. Besides the concentration of monsters, players could collect Black Mage fragments and exchange them for experience. Some powerful spellcasters could level up even ten times faster here than outside.

System: You are currently ranked first for submitted Black Mage fragments and have received the Black Mage Crystal.

Nie Yan wondered what the Black Mage Crystal was. He looked at his item list and saw a black, elongated crystal emitting a faint black glow. The crystal’s color wasn’t entirely pure.

He checked the Black Mage Crystal’s attributes.

Black Mage Crystal: Chaos item, Unique.

Usage: Any pet consuming this item will be transformed into Chaos attribute, gaining a 30% increase in attributes and a significant boost in growth rate.

Nie Yan noticed the word “Unique” on the Black Mage Crystal’s description. Was this a unique item?

This thought made him naturally think of Light-Dark Holy Dragon. Could Light-Dark Holy Dragon be enhanced further?

The idea excited him.

Light-Dark Holy Dragon already had high growth, and with Nie Yan’s Dragon King’s Power providing significant boosts to dragon pets’ attributes, its power was already terrifying. If further enhanced, it would be almost unbeatable.

Nie Yan instinctively realized that Light-Dark Holy Dragon would be key to his return to the peak. Although pets’ strength was somewhat restricted during PvP and boss fights, to compensate, their monster-killing ability was enhanced, and the experience required per level was reduced.

This made it easier for pets to grow and help players reach higher levels. Nie Yan’s Light-Dark Holy Dragon was already a unique and powerful pet. If further enhanced with the Black Mage Crystal, how could he worry about catching up in levels? With higher levels, he could find opportunities to improve his gear!

“Respected Great Prophet Nie Yan, do you have an item called Death’s Edge on you?” Angel Gao asked.

“Yes,” Nie Yan nodded. Why was Angel Gao asking about this now? Why hadn’t he asked before? Nie Yan keenly sensed that he might uncover a clue because of this.

“Archangel Tyrode has been waiting for you at the Death Domain Gate for a long time,” Angel Gao said.

“How can I find him?” Nie Yan asked. The Death Domain Gate’s terrain was complex, and no players had discovered Archangel Tyrode’s existence there yet. If he went searching, he might turn the entire map upside down and still fail to find Archangel Tyrode.

“I can teleport you there,” Angel Gao said.