After this encounter, Shadow Kill was convinced by Nie Yan’s strength. The fight had been short, and Nie Yan had barely used any of his stronger skills, relying mostly on basic ones. Yet under Nie Yan’s assault, Shadow Kill hadn’t had the slightest chance to fight back. This was indeed a gap in sheer strength.
“Let’s split up and act separately,” Nie Yan said to Shadow Kill, glancing ahead where there were at least five or six branching paths.
“Okay,” Shadow Kill nodded.
The two entered stealth mode one after the other, and Nie Yan said in the team chat, “Everyone share your coordinates every half minute.”
To avoid friendly fire, this was the only method they could use. Besides, sharing coordinates wasn’t a burdensome task.
“Understood!” Sun and others replied.
As they gradually ventured deeper into the cave, Nie Yan seemed to hear a certain call. He couldn’t help but walk further inward.
This voice must be strange, Nie Yan thought, but his mind remained clear. Without strong resistance, he followed the sound and moved forward.
After walking for about thirty minutes through the rugged and bizarre cave, Nie Yan entered an extremely vast space. The spectacular sight made him gasp in admiration. Above, there was no sky visible—probably the interior of a mountain range—with a height of over a hundred yards. Below was a roaring river of molten lava, its red magma surging and continuously producing waves of fiery red. In the center of the lava river, a stone bridge, five yards wide, stretched forward. Suspended about five yards above the lava, it ran parallel across the river for five to six hundred yards, unsupported yet incredibly stable.
Looking toward the end of the stone bridge, Nie Yan saw a towering stone pillar. A giant, approximately five yards tall, was chained upright to it. The chains allowed him only limited movement. Unlike demons, he lacked wings, but his skin was rough like a demon’s, displaying a strange red hue. His clothes were tattered, barely covering his lower body, and his entire frame was covered in bulging muscles.
This was an 180th-level demonized lord. However, due to being bound in chains, his danger level was significantly lower than other demonized creatures. His strength was estimated to be comparable to a 130th-level demonized lord. Even so, his power was formidable, far beyond what ordinary players could handle.
Feeling Nie Yan’s arrival, the giant suddenly raised his previously drooping head, his eyes burning with intense red light.
A deep, magically resonant voice echoed in Nie Yan’s mind: “Fragile human, if you can help me escape this place, I can grant you immense power. You shall become an unsurpassable existence, possessing limitless wealth…”
Nie Yan couldn’t help but take a few steps forward, but he forced himself to stop. He understood that accepting the request of the traitor Dilacrue would mean his complete fall into betrayal, with severe consequences.
However, after hearing Dilacrue’s words, Nie Yan recalled something. In his previous life, there had indeed been such an incident. A top-tier professional player named Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan (lit. “Sword Saint Riding Shrimp Transformed”), an elven rogue, had a rather humorous ID, which was relatively common in Faith. Among the elite professional players, he was a rather low-key type, often training alone and rarely grouping with others, so few people knew him well. It was said that he had some conflicts with Angel Tyranny, and thus no team was willing to accept him, and practically no guild dared to recruit him. This caused a major uproar. In a rage, Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan ambushed and killed over ten thousand members of Angel Tyranny within three months, averaging over a hundred kills a day, sometimes even reaching three hundred.
At that time, Angel Tyranny’s reputation was ruined. They mobilized all their top professionals to hunt him down, finally succeeding in killing Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan. Since he had become an infamous red name, upon his death, he lost all his equipment. For a long time afterward, he vanished without a trace.
However, nearly five months later, when Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan reappeared, he had already transformed into a demon slayer, an alternative class wielding two demon daggers, causing widespread fear. He successively killed six top-tier professional players from Angel Tyranny, along with numerous other players, leaving Angel Tyranny helpless. For a time, he was the talk of the town. However, during his killing spree, he gradually fell under demonic control, becoming a public enemy of the Sa’thern Empire, constantly hunted by high-level NPCs, and then disappeared once again, never to be seen.
Nie Yan didn’t know how to evaluate Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan. The fact that a single person could push Angel Tyranny to such a state was truly admirable. In his previous life, when Nie Yan was hunted by the Triumph Empire, he and his teammates had hidden deep in the mountains. He had only managed to kill about five to six hundred members of the Triumph Empire, most of whom were of relatively low levels.
Anyone who dared to oppose a super guild like Angel Tyranny alone was a formidable individual.
Nie Yan wondered—if he accepted the traitor Dilacrue’s request and rescued him, would he end up like Xian Jian Qi Xia Zhuan, transforming into a demon slayer? Could they be on the same quest?
But thinking further, Nie Yan would not rescue Dilacrue. As the leader of the Bull Player Tribe, he had to consider the bigger picture. If he transformed into a demon slayer, what would happen to the Bull Player Tribe?
As a guild leader, he couldn’t act as freely as a solo player.
Seeing Nie Yan halt and ignore his call, the traitor Dilacrue’s eyes glowed with an increasingly eerie and bewitching crimson light.
Looking into Dilacrue’s eyes, Nie Yan felt his consciousness begin to blur.
No good—it was a mind control spell!
Snapping back to his senses, Nie Yan quickly activated a mental immunity skill.
Dilacrue was pouring all his mental strength into forcibly controlling Nie Yan, but unexpectedly, the mental force, upon reaching Nie Yan, met an invisible barrier and could not advance even an inch further.
“Another demon—I hate demons!” Karenna, the guardian angel perched on Nie Yan’s shoulder, frowned. Despite her tiny size, her delicate face carried an indescribable charm as she waved her staff, casting white halos of light onto Nie Yan.
Dilacrue’s mental force was reflected back by a powerful holy power. With a dull thud, it felt as though his heart had suffered a heavy blow. He spat out a mouthful of blood.
Attribute -35%, mental power scattered.
A debuff appeared on Dilacrue’s status bar.
Seeing this debuff on Dilacrue’s attributes, Nie Yan raised his eyebrows—it was a great opportunity. Not knowing how long this debuff would last, Nie Yan immediately sent a message to Sun and others: “Assemble at coordinates 382.80.28.”
After sending this message, the team members immediately checked their own coordinates and began converging toward Nie Yan’s location.
Players like Not For Me, King of Kings, and Love at First Strike were closest to Nie Yan and arrived shortly.
They reached the stone bridge and looked into the distance, their gazes fixed on the traitor Dilacrue.
“Demon creature?”
“It seems so.”
Looking at the towering giant Dilacrue, everyone was somewhat astonished. This was a demonized lord! Except for Nie Yan, none of them had ever encountered one before.
Approximately three minutes later, all twenty-one members of the team had gathered.
Nie Yan summoned his Golden Earth Dragon and the holy knight Livers.
“We don’t have much time. Let’s begin. Blade Light, coordinate with my Golden Earth Dragon and let it take the front-line damage,” Nie Yan said thoughtfully. The Golden Earth Dragon had high defense, not inferior to the shield warrior Cui Can Dao Guang (Blade Light), except for lacking certain defensive buffs and immunity skills. However, the dragon had Counter Storm, which could deal massive damage during attacks.
Even if the Golden Earth Dragon were to die, it wouldn’t be a big deal, as Nie Yan thought.
“Alright,” Blade Light nodded.
The team dispersed and began forming their positions. The battle scenario was unique—the bridge was only five yards wide, with no railings on either side. If someone accidentally slipped, the roaring lava river below would instantly devour them, resulting in an unquestionable one-hit kill.
If Dilacrue had a knockback skill, it would be even more terrifying.
Under Nie Yan’s control, the Golden Earth Dragon slowly approached Dilacrue, stopping at a distance of about thirty yards. Blade Light followed closely behind the dragon, maintaining a distance of about three yards.
Feeling the dragon’s slow approach, Dilacrue’s eyes, like copper bells, glared at the Golden Earth Dragon as he roared heavily: “Cursed humans, you shall pay dearly for this day! I will throw you into this boiling lava river, leaving no trace of your bones!”
Dilacrue’s roar caused the stone bridge to tremble and shake violently.
Nie Yan and the others felt as though the bridge might break at any moment.
They didn’t know what was supporting it, but at this point, they had no time to consider such matters. They had already resolved themselves to fight to the death. After all, they had invested a lot of levels in the Dark World, so even if they died and lost a level, it would still be worth it.
Under Nie Yan’s control, the Golden Earth Dragon exhaled a stream of dragon breath, which struck Dilacrue and exploded with a loud bang.
Dilacrue raised his right hand, revealing a whip over a hundred yards long, and lashed it toward the Golden Earth Dragon.
The dragon suddenly accelerated, charging forward. With a loud crash, it took the heavy blow, and a damage number over 90,000 floated above its head.
Seeing this damage figure, Nie Yan excitedly typed in the team chat: “There’s hope! Everyone, keep pushing!”
The Golden Earth Dragon had approximately 360,000 HP, capable of enduring about three hits. In boss fights, a tank being able to withstand three hits was already impressive.
Hearing Nie Yan’s words, everyone felt their morale rise.
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