The arcane mage cast an arcane shield on himself, which was the strongest shield available to arcane mages. While the arcane shield was active, it could ignore all control magic and should last for a few seconds, during which time he could attempt to save himself.
However, ideals are beautiful, while reality is cruel.
Nie Yan’s Zennarde’s Sword came crashing down, shattering the arcane shield into countless fragments. The mage’s health instantly dropped to zero.
A one-hit kill!
Even at the moment of his death, the arcane mage still wore an expression of disbelief.
In all his previous combat experiences, nothing like this had ever happened before. A rogue actually managed to kill him in one strike while he was protected by an arcane shield. Rogue Nie Yan was simply inhuman. His pupils gradually lost focus. Although he was unwilling to accept his fate, he had no choice but to surrender to it eventually.
After eliminating the arcane mage, Nie Yan directed his attack toward the flamingo’s head. The flamingo let out a mournful cry before being instantly killed by a strike from the Shadow Wing Dragon.
After absorbing the flamingo’s life core, Nie Yan felt that the Shadow Wing Dragon had undergone some changes. Its body changed from black to dark purple and became increasingly translucent.
The Shadow Wing Dragon’s power had significantly increased, and its skin had become tougher, as if coated with a layer of enamel, giving it a smooth texture.
Though still far from advancing to the next stage, the Shadow Wing Dragon’s power increase was very noticeable.
Riding atop the Shadow Wing Dragon, Nie Yan looked down at the vast landscape beneath him, feeling a sense of supreme dominance over the world.
At this moment, Benzhimonic, riding the Canglan Winged Bird, shakily took flight. He was covered in wounds, his body smeared with blood, making it impossible to distinguish whether it was his own blood or the Butterfly Demon’s. In any case, the Butterfly Demon had been defeated by Benzhimonic, their corpses scattered all over the ground.
“Boss, I’ve got a life core,” Benzhimonic gasped, breathing heavily. Exhausted and barely alive, he had narrowly escaped death alongside the Canglan Winged Bird, just managing to survive instead of the Butterfly Demon.
The Canglan Winged Bird’s claws tightly gripped a blood-red life core, emitting a dazzling glow.
“You keep it,” Nie Yan replied, glancing into the distance. During the battle between the Shadow Wing Dragon and the wind serpent and flamingo, the other two flying mounts’ riders had sensed the worsening situation and fled on their respective mounts, unwilling to stay behind.
Out of the six flying mounts from the Mage Alliance, four were killed and two escaped. Thus ended Faith’s first aerial battle in this manner.
Nie Yan’s Shadow Wing Dragon and Benzhimonic’s Canglan Winged Bird would leave a significant mark in the history of guild wars in Faith. Facing six opponents and managing to kill four and chase off two, such an achievement was undoubtedly brilliant.
As Nie Yan, riding the Shadow Wing Dragon, descended to the ground, he found that the ground battle had already concluded.
“What was the outcome of the battle?” Nie Yan asked. Looking around, he saw the ground littered with corpses, mostly from the Mage Alliance, with only a few belonging to the Bull Riders.
“So far, we have eliminated a total of 2,506 enemies. Kuangfa fled with a group of people; those guys were pretty quick at escaping. We lost a total of 310 people,” Cui Can Dao Guang said with a smile. This was the most brilliant battle they had ever fought.
“The Bull Riders have preserved their strength. Our opponents were the Mage Alliance, Holy Guardians, and various elite teams from major studios. In theory, their strength was slightly superior to ours, yet our casualties were minimal, far better than expected. This was largely thanks to Nie Yan weakening the Mage Alliance significantly beforehand. Additionally, the simultaneous explosions of Ice Barrage and Sea of Flames made it impossible for the Mage Alliance to withstand. We pursued and killed them relentlessly afterward,” Shui Se Yan Tou, standing nearby, analyzed. By the end of the battle, it was essentially a chase, with them continuously charging forward, eliminating one enemy after another. The Mage Alliance members were too terrified to resist, and anyone who ran slightly slower was killed. At that point, the Mage Alliance players wished they had more legs.
Everyone collected the equipment dropped by the Mage Alliance players, amounting to a total of 6,000 pieces, all of high quality. This was a devastating loss for the Mage Alliance. The sheer number of their fallen players alone was enough to cripple them. Additionally, they would have to compensate for the losses suffered by others. This was a massive blow, estimated to cost them no less than 2 million gold coins.
Although Kuangfa and his group managed to escape, they inevitably lost five levels. As long as Nie Yan could capture ten castles and hold them for more than an hour, the Mage Alliance would lose and still suffer a five-level drop. Even if they managed to hide well within this map, it would be of no use.
Next came the Bull Riders’ massive pursuit and extermination of the Mage Alliance. Nie Yan, riding the Shadow Wing Dragon, soared rapidly through the skies. Whenever he encountered a Mage Alliance player traveling alone, he would command the Shadow Wing Dragon to dive down and eliminate them. Meanwhile, Cui Can Dao Guang, Xie Yao, Tang Yao, and others led eleven teams in hunting down the remnants of the Mage Alliance, causing another round of chaos and panic.
The Mage Alliance had already disintegrated, with the remaining members fleeing in disarray, forced to hide in corners, too afraid to emerge. Kuangfa was unable to regroup these scattered forces and had become a fugitive himself. Even after running thousands of yards away, he still felt no sense of safety, as Sun relentlessly pursued him like a ghost.
He no longer had any teammates by his side, wandering desolately through the vast jungle.
“Damn those Bull Riders!” Kuangfa angrily cursed, waving his staff to cast a fireball. The fireball exploded, sending a large tree flying.
He wanted to vent his rage, but he also felt uncertain about the Mage Alliance’s future. At this moment, the Bull Riders’ trebuchets were advancing en masse toward Moonlight City. The Mage Alliance had already suffered heavy losses in this battle and would now have to cede five strongholds to the Bull Riders. This meant the Bull Riders would gain a foothold in Moonlight City, enabling them to attack at will while having a secure retreat.
The terms of the agreement stirred an urge in Kuangfa to kill someone. The five ceded strongholds could not be attacked for a month. During that month, the Bull Riders could accomplish a great deal with these five strongholds, allowing them to methodically prepare for an assault on the Mage Alliance’s main fortress.
Suddenly, the desolate and quiet jungle gave Kuangfa a sense of a fallen hero. He removed all his top-tier equipment and replaced it with a set of inferior decorative gear. After a moment, a dagger suddenly appeared at his throat.
It was finally here. Kuangfa closed his eyes.
With a “plop” sound, blood splattered.
Seeing Kuangfa collapse, Sun wore a puzzled expression. He had expected Kuangfa to fight him to the death, but he never anticipated that Kuangfa would choose to commit suicide in this manner.
Kuangfa understood that any further resistance on his part would be futile. It was better to die quickly and head to Moonlight City to stabilize the overall situation. With the Bull Riders making such significant moves, if he wasn’t there, Moonlight City might descend into chaos.
With Kuangfa disarmed, others continued fighting. Approximately fifty to sixty individuals remained, belonging to the Wild Wolf Studio and Blood Slaughter factions. They engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Bull Riders, determined to take down as many Bull Riders as possible and loot their equipment, even though they acknowledged their inevitable defeat.
The Bull Riders lost dozens of members in these skirmishes, suffering significant losses themselves.
Wang Zhetian stealthily moved through the dense forest, targeting a group of eight individuals. At the head were Wu Ya and Keluo from the Wild Wolf Studio.
“Kuangfa has disarmed,” Wu Ya said, checking the message panel.
“That idiot ruined us. We’re stuck in this damned place, unable to escape,” Keluo grumbled, his broken Chinese occasionally interspersed with English curses.
“One step at a time. We might still be able to kill a few Bull Riders,” Wu Ya said. He glanced toward the distant jungle.
“What’s wrong?” Keluo noticed Wu Ya’s unusual expression and asked in the team chat.
“We’re being followed. It’s a rogue!” Wu Ya replied. Although the pursuer was moving stealthily, he still detected their presence.
Wu Ya had always maintained a very cautious habit: placing a type of charm called a conduction rune on trees along his path to detect any potential followers.
As a result, Wang Zhetian’s location was exposed. Wu Ya now had a rough idea of Wang Zhetian’s position, though capturing him still posed a challenge.
Wu Ya, Keluo, and the others maintained their composure and continued forward. Two rogues in their group slowly entered stealth mode.
Seeing the two rogues from the Wild Wolf Studio disappear into stealth, Wang Zhetian furrowed his brow, sensing something ominous. Should he continue following them?
As the Wild Wolf Studio members moved further away, Wang Zhetian hesitated for a moment but decided to continue tailing them.
“Nie Yan, I’m currently following the Wild Wolf Studio group from behind,” Wang Zhetian reported in the team chat.
“Stay close to them. I’ll send reinforcements in a few minutes,” Nie Yan replied, as he was directing the Shadow Wing Dragon to strike down Mage Alliance players one after another.
Just as Wang Zhetian was reporting to Nie Yan, suddenly, a cloud of dust filled the air. Wang Zhetian’s heart sank—it was Reveal Dust! He had seen Nie Yan possess this item before but had never used it. However, he was well aware of the effects of Reveal Dust.
The dust clung to Wang Zhetian’s body, causing his silhouette to gradually become visible.
These particles had exposed Wang Zhetian’s position!
As Wang Zhetian attempted to flee, two rogues, like lightning bolts, lunged at him from both sides, launching a pincer attack!
“Just see where you can run now!” one of the Wild Wolf Studio rogues sneered.
Not good! He was caught in a pincer movement! Wang Zhetian’s heart sank as two sharp daggers came rushing toward him, gleaming with deadly intent, like the summoning of the Grim Reaper.
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