Chapter 830: Abnormal Advancement Speed

Underground is a gathering place for dark creatures; out of a hundred creatures, at least ninety-nine are dark creatures.

Therefore, going there to farm dark creatures is the best choice.

Nie Yan checked the progress of the Sage’s Heart, which had reached 98%. For some reason, after reaching this level, it became extremely slow to improve even slightly, making him anxious to watch. Fortunately, even though it was rising slowly, it was still rising, so Nie Yan had not completely lost confidence.

He decided to go prepare first. Nie Yan thought and headed to the Starry Sky Pharmacy to replenish consumables.

This time going underground, if nothing happened to the Niuren Tribe, he would stay for a long time before returning. With the current strength of the Niuren Tribe, even if attacked by Angel Empire or Century Financial Group, they could handle it calmly, so Nie Yan was not worried.

After picking up some necessary potions at the Starry Sky Pharmacy, Nie Yan, who had a large backpack space, packed a lot of items. After preparing the necessary consumables, he left Aokelun City and headed north, entering the End Times Canyon.

The dark teleportation still needed several days to cool down. Without it, he could only enter through the underground passage.

This was his first time taking the underground passage. In his previous life, as a professional player who preferred caution, he dared not take such a dangerous route. But now, he was different. With great skills came great courage. Even if the underground passage was completely occupied by players underground, he would dare to venture in.

Weaving through the dense jungle of End Times Canyon, players from both factions were everywhere, engaged in a game of hunting and being hunted. Those who dared to stay in End Times Canyon were basically high-level players, all here for equipment and glory.

Nie Yan quickly passed through, heading toward the entrance of the underground passage at the center of End Times Canyon.

At the edge of End Times Canyon, near a small grove close to Aokelun City, five players had just finished a battle. The undead rogue and dark elf dual-wielder were on watch, fully alert, while another dark elf shadow mage, a fallen human shadow mage, and a fallen human dark priest were sitting on the ground drinking magical spring water to restore their mana.

They were chatting.

“Cuoluo, how much honor points do you need to become a warlord?” the undead rogue looked at the dual-wielder and asked.

“Just five more points. I’ll probably level up after defeating a few enemies,” the dark elf dual-wielder replied after checking his status bar.

“You’re the slowest now. After you leave the team, defeat a few enemies, we should return underground to replenish consumables,” the undead rogue checked his backpack and said.

“Got it.”

Among this group of players, the undead rogue was clearly the leader. He wore a silver-gray leather armor set, the level 130 legendary set called Dark Adherence. This legendary set provided little bonus to health and defense, focusing mostly on skill enhancements. This set was battlefield gear purchased from NPCs after reaching a certain honor level, and was very cheap.

Battlefield gear belonged to a different system from regular gear. Regular gear had a significant advantage when fighting monsters, while battlefield gear was more suitable for players skilled in player-versus-player combat.

“Boss Heitong, how long until you reach high warlord?”

“It’s still a long way. Probably a few more months,” the undead rogue replied. Reaching high warlord status was still very distant for them.

“Boss, the latest clue: the guy with the Scythe of Death is heading toward the underground passage,” the dark priest said, having just received a system message.

“Isn’t the Scythe of Death in the hands of the rogue Nie Yan?”

“That’s an unconfirmed message. It might be a fake message from some people to scare others away.”

“The person with the Scythe of Death is heading toward the underground passage. Could he be going to the underground world?”

“Maybe someone got the Scythe of Death and is preparing to return to complete a quest!”

Everyone looked at the undead rogue called Heitong.

“What should we do, boss?”

“Follow him first and see what happens!” the undead rogue said after a moment of thought.

The several magic users sitting on the ground quickly stood up. The five of them rapidly ran toward the entrance of the underground passage. The undead rogue suddenly accelerated, activating his Windstep and disappearing.

Nie Yan had forgotten one thing: the Scythe of Death in his hands was something coveted by the entire evil-aligned faction. From the moment he entered End Times Canyon, many people had already noticed him. If he entered the underground world, what kind of storm would it cause?

As Nie Yan was heading toward the underground passage, Cui Can Daoguang and others had already led their team into the World Barrier, initiating the World Barrier process under the Niuren Tribe’s guild name.

The World Barrier was divided into ten areas. Cui Can Daoguang and others entered the first area first, which had a total of two major checkpoints, including more than 150 bosses ranging from level 150 to 180.

As soon as Cui Can Daoguang and others entered the World Barrier, it attracted the attention of the entire server.

Forces such as Angel Empire and Century Financial Group had organized players to enter the World Barrier and were struggling to clear it. Angel Empire had a slightly faster progression, having defeated more than 120 bosses, while Century Financial Group’s affiliated guilds had reached more than 90 bosses. The progress of other forces was less than half of Angel Empire and Century Financial Group. The Niuren Tribe had not entered the World Barrier for a long time, which made players very curious. The Niuren Tribe had been delayed for so long and had already fallen far behind Angel Empire and Century Financial Group. What exactly was the Niuren Tribe planning to do? Because of this curiosity, as soon as the Niuren Tribe entered the World Barrier, it triggered heated discussions on the forums.

“The Niuren Tribe should be upgrading their equipment before entering the Century Barrier.”

“It’s going to be difficult for the Niuren Tribe to catch up with Angel Empire and Century Financial Group after falling so far behind.”

“Angel Empire and Century Financial Group should have obtained a lot of good equipment in the World Barrier.”

The forums were filled with discussions about the World Barrier and the Niuren Tribe’s elite team.

However, as soon as Cui Can Daoguang and others entered the World Barrier, all doubts disappeared.

Cui Can Daoguang and others began their violent instance run. They defeated the first boss in five minutes, setting a record for the fastest time. But this was just the beginning. At the fifteenth minute, they defeated the second boss and continued to advance at an astonishing speed.

Each boss in the World Barrier had special skills. Other guilds basically had to wipe repeatedly before defeating each boss one by one. However, the Niuren Tribe’s elite team not only had extremely good coordination, but their equipment was also terrifyingly good. They effortlessly defeated ordinary bosses.

The Niuren Tribe’s advancement speed was breathtaking. Only three hours later, they had already defeated five bosses.

A system announcement rang out.

System: The Niuren Tribe has completed the first progress, setting the best record and receiving additional rewards.

The forums exploded.

“What the f***, they defeated five bosses in three hours. Are these guys even human?”

“It’s said that each member of the Niuren Tribe’s thousand-man team has at least two sub-legendary equipment pieces, and over a hundred have legendary or higher equipment. The average magic damage of the mages is over 6,000!”

“I heard that Nie Yan wasn’t in the team. If Nie Yan had been there, the result would be even more terrifying.”

Cui Can Daoguang used his execution skill to kill a level 160 mutated lord, Bloody Butcher, and picked up the dropped equipment. Looking at the system announcement, he asked in the group chat, “What’s the reward?”

The elite team was commanded by Water Smoke, who was the team leader, so the items directly went into Water Smoke’s backpack.

“It’s a blueprint for a new type of catapult with a range of 2,000 yards and tripled power. It’s pretty good,” Water Smoke said. This new catapult blueprint was of great significance to the Niuren Tribe, more valuable than some sub-legendary and legendary equipment.

“We hit the jackpot today. Let’s keep pushing forward. We’ll defeat fifteen lords today!” Cui Can Daoguang said enthusiastically.

Such a large-scale action by the Niuren Tribe immediately made Angel Empire and Century Financial Group feel a great deal of pressure. The Niuren Tribe was just too extreme. What kind of advancement speed was this! When they had defeated the first five bosses, it had taken them a full two days and many wipes. This comparison immediately highlighted the gap between the two sides. To avoid being overtaken by the Niuren Tribe, Angel Empire and Century Financial Group had to accelerate their advancement speed, but sometimes haste makes waste.

Nie Yan received the news from Cui Can Daoguang and others and smiled slightly. Just as he had expected, sharpening the axe doesn’t delay chopping wood. Their decision to delay entering the World Barrier and instead collect equipment outside was correct. Now that the Niuren Tribe’s thousand-man team had such equipment, advancing in the World Barrier was naturally twice as effective with half the effort.

The entrance to the underground passage was already close in the distance, a deep cave embedded in the mountainside, winding and dimly lit.

Nie Yan looked at the surrounding environment and marked a coordinate here. After marking the coordinate, Nie Yan could teleport directly here anytime.

Just as Nie Yan approached the underground passage, a rogue crept up, stopping about one hundred yards away from Nie Yan and enhancing his stealth.

Nie Yan suddenly felt something amiss, his eyebrows lifting. There was a thief!

His powerful perception could sense even the slightest movements around him. The moment the rogue appeared, he detected it.

True Vision!

A strange red glow suddenly burst from Nie Yan’s pupils as he scanned in the direction of the rogue.

A faint figure appeared in Nie Yan’s eyes, but it vanished instantly, running away quickly. He withdrew his gaze, not bothering to deal with it, and continued walking toward the underground passage. Encountering such players in the wild, Nie Yan didn’t even deign to lift a finger.

End of translation.