Chapter 783: Nearly a Fatal Mistake

The Death Reapers and Paternoster Hammers both require divine power, specifically 300 points.

Mephist’s Soul Blessing only added one point of divine power. However, just this one point gave Nie Yan a glimmer of hope. As long as this attribute existed, there would be opportunities to gradually improve until he could wield these two weapons.

After checking, Nie Yan noticed subtle changes in his attributes after the increase in divine power. For example, skills like Broken Spine now added extra damage. Similarly, when attacking super-tier demons or bosses, players with divine power could easily penetrate their armor. Besides these, other attributes such as jump height and focus had also significantly improved.

The gains were quite substantial.

Seeing Nie Yan emerge from the hut and pass through the barrier, people like Cui Can Daoguang (Cui’s Radiant Blade), Shui Se Yan Tou (Smoke with Water Hue), and others quickly gathered around.

“How did it go?”

“Did you gain anything?”

Xie Yao also silently looked towards Nie Yan, waiting for his response.

“I accepted a task to kill a demonized lord. It might be dangerous, but since we’ve come this far, there’s no way back. If we fail the task, we’ll just have to die,” Nie Yan said. He had already prepared himself and felt much more relaxed. If failure was inevitable, then the Death Reapers and Paternoster Hammers simply weren’t meant for him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He would do his best and accept whatever fate had in store.

“A demonized lord? How many levels?”

“One hundred and eighty.”

“My God, one hundred and eighty levels! How can we possibly stand a chance against it? The previous one hundred and thirty-level demonized lord could directly attack Clemency Fortress. A one hundred and eighty-level demonized lord is simply unimaginable.”

They had all seen the video of the battle at Clemency Fortress and understood how terrifying a demonized lord could be. This time, it was even a one hundred and eighty-level one.

“This is a task. There are often special methods to deal with task bosses. Did you get any task clues?” Shui Se Yan Tou asked Nie Yan.

“There were task clues, related to the Paternoster Hammer, but I’m not sure exactly what to do yet,” Nie Yan replied. He was still pondering the meaning of Mephist’s final words.

“Let’s find that boss first,” Shui Se Yan Tou suggested.

“That’s exactly what I was thinking. Let’s find it first and then figure out how to deal with it!” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan called back people like Sun and Xiao Rong (Smile), and the team set out toward the mountaintop. He looked toward the peak, where thick smoke billowed from a live volcano.

According to Mephist, the traitor Deiracru was trapped inside the crater.

The twenty-one of them followed the rugged path upward, reaching the crater’s edge after about ten minutes. A thick, pungent odor hit them, causing dizziness and a sense of suffocation.

“Hurry up and use the Divine Silence Potions!”

Everyone took out the Divine Silence Potions from their backpacks and drank them.

After consuming the Divine Silence Potions, their breathing stopped. Even in the toxic smoke, they could move freely. These Divine Silence Potions were crafted by several master-level alchemists from the Starry Sky Pharmacy. There were only about seventy bottles in total, averaging about three per person. Each potion lasted about five hours, which was quite long.

They entered the area with the densest smoke and looked down, faintly seeing the hot magma inside the volcano, like boiling water constantly forming bubbles. A wave of intense heat surged toward them.

“There’s no path down.”

“What should we do, Chief?”

“I’ll go down first and check,” Nie Yan said.

“Brother Nie Yan, we’ll come down too. We’ve also obtained the Ring of the Crawler,” Sun said. Nie Yan had used the Ring of the Crawler skill to great effect. After realizing its potential, they either acquired it themselves or bought it at a high price from the market, obtaining some Rings of the Crawler. The Ring of the Crawler had almost become an essential item for this group of top-tier players.

“Alright, let’s split up and search!” Nie Yan nodded, which would greatly improve efficiency.

“Let’s go down,” Wang Zhe Tian Xia (King of the World) said as he activated the Ring of the Crawler and started climbing down the crater.

Everyone quickly began to act.

Nie Yan jumped down, his body rapidly descending. He looked up and saw everyone clinging to the crater wall like lizards.

About fifty yards down, hot air currents rose from below, almost scorching Nie Yan.

As he drew closer to the red-hot lava, Nie Yan was about to use the silk from his left hand to reach the nearby wall when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. He glanced at the Magma Heart in his backpack.

Nie Yan activated the Magma Heart skill. As he was about to fall quickly into the scalding lava, he immediately used a Feather Fall skill.

He felt his body rapidly becoming lighter, his descent slowing more and more until it was only slightly faster than a feather, gently landing on the lava. Because his body was so light, the surface of the lava alone was enough for Nie Yan to stand steadily. If it were an ordinary player, merely touching this scalding lava would result in massive fire damage. However, due to the Magma Heart, Nie Yan was completely unafraid of the intense heat of the lava and could easily walk on it.

Nie Yan felt as if his skin had been coated with a layer of mint, a cool sensation completely unlike walking through the center of flames.

Looking around, the lava here was about 500 yards in diameter. On the rock walls at the edges, about five to six yards above the lava, there were more than a dozen dark caves, their destinations unknown. They must be the place. These caves needed to be searched one by one, and Nie Yan headed directly toward one of the caves.

Upon arriving here, Nie Yan felt as if a voice was calling him. A seductive demonic voice made Nie Yan feel a bit dizzy. He shook his head to keep himself alert.

Above, Sun, Wang Zhe Tian Xia, and others saw Nie Yan walking on the scalding lava, moving around calmly, and were all stunned. What was this skill?

They were about to ask Nie Yan, but they noticed he had already entered one of the caves. They decided to ask him later.

Each of them entered a deep cave and began searching separately.

Inside the cave, waves of scorching heat filled the air. The terrain was extremely complex, with winding caves intertwined like a maze, and strange echoes reverberated within.

Following his instincts, Nie Yan carefully explored forward.

Flames flickered from deep within the cave entrance, indicating there were things like lava below. When the volcano erupted, these caves would be filled with scorching lava, and after the eruption ended, the lava would naturally recede.

Just as Nie Yan was preparing to move deeper, he suddenly felt something unusual, as if something was slowly approaching him.

Nie Yan’s gaze suddenly sharpened. He stood still, slowly expanding his perception, quickly locking onto the opponent’s position.

The thing was about ten yards away, but he couldn’t tell what it was.

Before confirming the opponent’s identity, Nie Yan dared not make any moves, nor did he activate True Sight. Activating True Sight had the advantage of revealing invisibility and accurately viewing the surroundings, but it also had the disadvantage of easily exposing his own position.

Since he had already determined the opponent’s location, there was no need to use True Sight anymore.

Feeling the opponent slowly approaching, Nie Yan suddenly sprang into action, thrusting his right-hand Zennarde Sword straight toward the opponent’s front.

A flash of cold light appeared, and with a clang, the opponent blocked Nie Yan’s attack.

Good reaction! Nie Yan immediately lunged forward, delivering an elbow strike with his right arm.

The opponent quickly raised his hand to block, and with a dull thud.

Although the opponent blocked the attack, the powerful force from Nie Yan’s arm sent him flying backward.

Both revealed their forms.

The opponent was a rogue? Could it be a humanoid monster?

In the darkness, Nie Yan could only vaguely make out the opponent’s facial outline, unable to see his features clearly.

After delivering the elbow strike, Nie Yan was about to use a control skill to immobilize the opponent, not leaving any room for escape.

At that moment, a voice sounded: “It’s me.”

Hearing the voice, Nie Yan was momentarily stunned; it was Shadow Killer.

With the maze-like caves, the two had entered from different entrances and coincidentally collided.

“I thought it was a humanoid rogue monster. Fortunately, you spoke up in time, or I might have attacked again,” Nie Yan said, nearly mistaking Shadow Killer for an enemy.

Shadow Killer stopped in his tracks. At this moment, his hands were numb, barely able to hold his dagger, and his health was already halved. In just one exchange, he was nearly killed by Nie Yan. Looking at Nie Yan, Shadow Killer couldn’t help but mutter to himself, this guy was becoming more and more monstrous. Although Nie Yan had discovered him first, Shadow Killer had sensed Nie Yan’s movement and made a defensive move. However, even under these circumstances, he was completely helpless. If it weren’t for his timely call-out, he might have already been lying on the ground. Fortunately, he recognized Nie Yan from his fierce moves.

About five or six months ago, he could still exchange a few moves with Nie Yan, but now he was completely outmatched, the gap between them widening. Shadow Killer was no longer Nie Yan’s equal.

Originally, he had planned to fight Nie Yan a few more times to at least get a win, but after this brief encounter, he completely abandoned the idea of fighting Nie Yan. With such a huge gap, fighting Nie Yan was simply asking for trouble. He decided to give up, his heart filled with mixed emotions at that moment.