Chapter 660: The Holy Swordsman

Archmages are devastatingly powerful forces, and every guild cultivates them as strategic assets.

Being able to take on ten thousand enemies alone is no myth for an Archmage. If an Archmage unleashes a forbidden spell, wiping out tens of thousands in one strike is entirely feasible.

The attack range of ordinary area-type forbidden spells is at least 500 by 500 yards, with some even reaching up to 1000 by 1000 yards. In his past life, Nie Yan had seen scenes of Archmages casting forbidden spells, and they truly gave off a feeling of destroying heaven and earth.

However, forbidden spells usually have very high requirements for casting, needing some advanced magical mediums, including spellbooks, magic energy crystals, and so on. Additionally, the incantation time is extremely long, generally at least half a minute to three minutes, with some even requiring more than ten minutes. The stronger the forbidden spell, the longer the required incantation time.

During the preparation of a forbidden spell, it is most vulnerable to interruption, especially from fast-moving, ambush-specializing rogues. Therefore, it is essential to prevent interruptions before casting a forbidden spell.

Shortly after Tang Yao’s ascension to Archmage, Xie Yao also sent Nie Yan a message, stating she had successfully advanced to the rank of Saint Archmage and was preparing to head to the Mage Tower to learn forbidden spells.

In dealing with undead creatures, Saint Archmages are significantly more powerful than regular Archmages.

Xie Yao’s advancement was faster than expected. Their group’s strength was so overwhelming that they barely spent much time transitioning into Archmages and even earned numerous rewards from side quests.

With this, the Bull Man Tribe now had three top-tier professions.

Currently, it seemed other guilds hadn’t yet successfully transitioned into top-tier professions.

The Bull Man Tribe had taken a solid step toward domination. Having Archmages meant having the capital to dominate.

The news of Xie Yao and Tang Yao advancing to Archmage was first released in the Mage Guild and quickly spread.

In the Bull Man Tribe’s guild chatroom, everyone was excitedly discussing Archmages, a novel profession for them. They still didn’t know exactly how strong Archmages were and could only imagine.

Forums across the regions of Faith were buzzing with discussions, with Archmages and Shadow Dancers becoming the most talked-about topics. Many players couldn’t help but speculate in their minds: between Archmages and Shadow Dancers, who would be stronger?

In reality, there was no clear answer; both had their advantages. In a one-on-one scenario, the Shadow Dancer might have the upper hand, as their unmatched speed and ambush capabilities could silently eliminate an Archmage. However, Archmages wouldn’t simply stand there waiting to die either. Their combat abilities were still formidable, with each Archmage having numerous instant-cast spells at their disposal. If an Archmage managed to unleash a forbidden spell, not only one Shadow Dancer, but even a hundred Shadow Dancers hit by the forbidden spell would be helpless.

Nie Yan browsed the forums, where many players were speculating about the strength of Shadow Dancers and Archmages. However, their opinions were unreliable, as they hadn’t truly witnessed the power of either. If they had seen the real might of Shadow Dancers and Archmages, they would surely be shocked.

After Tang Yao and Xie Yao completed their class changes, the Bull Man Tribe would soon have more top-tier professions emerging. Just how many people would successfully transition?

Nie Yan couldn’t help but look forward to it. In the Bull Man Tribe, there were at least one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty players with the potential to advance to top-tier professions. Of course, having strength alone wasn’t enough to complete the transition; sometimes a bit of luck was also needed.

Every player who successfully transitioned into a top-tier profession, aside from possessing strong skills, also had to make the most of timing, location, and human support—none of which could be missing.

Those with bad luck would have to wait until the second class change several months later.

The future seemed within reach.

Once Xie Yao and Tang Yao learned their forbidden spells, he planned to team up with them to clear out some skeletons, which would slow the expansion speed of the Undead Vengeance.

Besides Xie Yao and Tang Yao, soon the Warrior Guild also brought news: a player named Lei Su had also transitioned into the top-tier profession of Holy Knight.

This was the fourth top-tier profession player!

Lei Su? Nie Yan furrowed his brow, recalling this figure. In his past life, he was known as the War God Lei Su, who had never dropped out of the top three rankings among warriors—a tough character. Previously, during the First Military Academy reunion, a guy named Lei Su wanted to join the Bull Man Tribe through Blue Wind Bell and requested a meeting with Nie Yan. However, since Nie Yan was busy transitioning in the Ancient World, he had no time to come out, so the matter was dropped.

The War God Lei Su was from the First Military Academy, which surprised Nie Yan a bit. After returning from the Ancient World, Nie Yan had sent him a private message, but never received a reply. He figured he would eventually meet the guy, so he didn’t send anyone to look for him. Unexpectedly, that guy was so strong, transitioning into a top-tier profession right after Tang Yao and Xie Yao.

The reason Tang Yao and Xie Yao could transition into top-tier professions so quickly was largely due to Nie Yan providing them with a lot of information. Nie Yan wrote down practically all the information about Archmages he had seen online in his past life, making their transitions much easier. As for War God Lei Su, he had done it entirely on his own strength, which genuinely impressed Nie Yan.

Lei Su had expressed interest in joining the Bull Man Tribe. Nie Yan wondered what kind of demands he might have. Such talent absolutely couldn’t be poached by other guilds. Nie Yan immediately instructed Guo Huai to send people to find Lei Su.

If they found the War God Lei Su, Nie Yan would definitely go personally to invite him.

The news of Lei Su successfully transitioning into a Holy Knight astonished many players, as many of them had never even heard of Lei Su before. Previously, Lei Su had just been an obscure nobody, but now he was suddenly famous worldwide. Many players rushed to inquire which guild Lei Su belonged to, and when they found out he had no guild at all, they were quite taken aback. On one hand, a solo player without the strong backing of a guild had managed to reach a top-tier profession so quickly, showing just how strong he was. On the other hand, the fact that someone like Lei Su had gone unnoticed was quite surprising.

After successfully transitioning into the Holy Knight, numerous guilds sprang into action, searching for Lei Su, all wanting to recruit him under their banners.

In the Plague Canyon of Karol City, this was a level 120 map, where the monsters that spawned were at least level 120, with many reaching level 150. It was filled with elites, and generally, only teams of at least twenty level 100+ players dared to enter this area.

In a dense forest at the center of the canyon, a player wearing a dark purple set and wielding a giant sword was moving through the jungle, searching for his prey.

This person was none other than Lei Su. He was tall and muscular, about 1.85 meters tall, with prominent muscles all over his body, yet not appearing bulky, giving off a powerful vibe.

Usually, he would bring his team into dungeons or go monster hunting, but after transitioning into a Holy Knight, he wanted to test his new abilities, so he came here alone.

This place was isolated, and he had no idea how much commotion his transition into a Holy Knight had caused outside. Many guilds were searching for him, almost turning every city upside down, but they couldn’t reach Lei Su, as he had his private chat set to do not disturb mode, making it impossible to contact him.

While searching through the jungle, he encountered many level 140-150 monsters, but they were quickly slain by him. The immense power of the Holy Knight made him delighted.

In the distance, a huge Shan Mei appeared in the jungle, wandering around.

A level 130 Lord!

After a moment of consideration, Lei Su slung his sword behind his back and charged forward.

The Shan Mei was five yards tall, with a massive wooden club over three yards long on its back. Seeing Lei Su charging, it swung the club downward.

Lei Su nimbly jumped aside. With a loud crash, the ground was smashed into a deep pit.

Lei Su suddenly threw a punch. With a bang, a powerful explosive force surged from his arm, like thunder.

The Shan Mei took the heavy blow, staggering back a few steps before falling heavily to the ground, struggling to get back up.

Lei Su leapt high into the air and delivered a knee strike to the Shan Mei’s jaw, sending its heavy body flying.

As the battle progressed, Lei Su became increasingly proficient in utilizing the power of the Holy Knight, and this was without even using his sword in hand-to-hand combat. The level 130 Lord was being beaten without any resistance. If he had drawn the Sonad Sword from his back, the Shan Mei would have suffered even more.

Lei Su landed behind the Shan Mei, grabbed its horn on the head, and performed an over-the-shoulder throw, sending the Shan Mei flying with a fierce impact.

The Holy Knight’s speed wasn’t as agile as the Shadow Dancer’s, but their strength was far superior, delivering astonishingly powerful attacks.

Dozens of swordsmen of the same level would struggle to match a single Holy Knight.

After a while, about five minutes later, the Shan Mei, unable to withstand further abuse, fell heavily to the ground.

Didn’t expect it to end so swiftly. Lei Su was astonished by his own power. Coming to a halt, he threw a punch into the void. The force from his fist, scraping against the air, produced a resounding sonic boom.

What incredible strength!

If this punch landed on a player, it could probably instantly kill an average player.

He drew the Sonad Sword from his back and swung it down. A crescent-shaped sword wave slashed downward, leaving a deep trench on the ground over five to six yards long.

He was starting to get the hang of being a Holy Knight.

He ran his hand over his large sword. Currently, there were only four top-tier professions in the entire Granland Empire. Among melee classes, he and the Mad Thief Nie Yan were the only ones. He wondered how the Shadow Dancer’s power compared. Was the Shadow Dancer stronger, or was the Holy Knight more powerful?

He couldn’t help but feel excited. “Nie Yan the Mad Bandit, let’s have a good match.”

As various guilds were searching everywhere for Lei Su, Lei Su had his subordinates spread the word outside: whoever wanted him to join their guild had to first defeat him in a one-on-one duel in the arena! Suddenly, all the guilds were silenced. They didn’t even have a single top-tier class member now, how could they possibly duel against Lei Su?