Chapter 450: The Challenge

Nie Yan had not yet fully shifted his mindset. He intended to interact with Stab as friends, but Stab never formed friendships with anyone. In their line of work, having more friends meant more danger. In Stab’s eyes, there was only a transactional relationship between him and Nie Yan—nothing else. Nie Yan paid, and Stab did the job. Friendship and camaraderie were nothing but burdens to him. Stab only had a few brothers—his comrades-in-arms who had survived the battlefield with him. As for others, he was accustomed to being cold and indifferent, including Nie Yan!

Stab’s words were meant to awaken Nie Yan to the reality of their relationship.

Upon hearing Stab’s words, Nie Yan understood his principles. Since that was the case, Nie Yan had nothing more to say and decided to treat Stab as an ordinary mercenary for now.

“Just as you said, from now on you will be my shadow. I will give you the activation conditions for some legendary equipment. Start gathering them and report the progress to me before logging off each day. Most importantly, if anyone obtains the final chapter of the Order Scroll, you must avoid them at all costs!” Nie Yan said. He had already collected the Shadow of Darkness and triggered the “Unsealing History” quest, which had already deviated history from its original course. The five chapters of the Order Scroll were already in Stab’s hands. If Stab obtained the final chapter, a new expansion would be triggered, further derailing history beyond control.

Before history was completely altered, Nie Yan intended to use his advantage of being reborn to expand his strength as much as possible. Only when history was completely rewritten would he have sufficient power to handle any unpredictable situations.

Stab was somewhat surprised. Wasn’t the completion of six items required to form a legendary scroll? Why did Nie Yan specifically tell him not to collect the sixth volume?

Despite his confusion, Stab followed the code of conduct for mercenaries. A mercenary never questioned the reasons behind the employer’s orders; they simply followed them without question, as per their professional code.

“Understood,” Stab nodded.

Nie Yan slightly nodded in response and said, “Then you can get to work.”

These tasks would keep Stab occupied for about five days. Once Stab’s equipment improved, Nie Yan would assign him to collect some rarer items.

After receiving Nie Yan’s instructions, Stab got to work.

After riding on the Volkhavaar warhorse for more than fifty minutes, a magnificent fortress appeared on the distant horizon, nestled among the canyons of the wastelands like a giant dragon.

The fortress walls were over twenty yards high, built entirely from massive stones. Legend had it that Emperor Jobia of the Glinlan Empire had summoned hundreds of thousands of people to construct this fortress, transporting the sturdiest stones from all over the land like ants carrying food, piece by piece, until the fortress was completed.

This was a powerful super fortress with an extremely robust defense system, housing tens of thousands of residents, functioning like a city in itself.

With these sturdy walls, they had successfully defended against the annual invasions of monsters emerging from underground, forming the strongest defensive line of the Glinlan Empire.

Nie Yan quickened his pace, urging his horse toward the Hilton Fortress. Once there, he would be able to claim the reward for defeating the legendary undead wizard.

As he rapidly approached Hilton Fortress, an unsettling atmosphere stirred in the city of Carol.

Two players from Angel Empire arrived in Carol via teleportation. One was an elven rogue, clad in sub-legendary gear, wearing a green vine armor and wielding two small daggers, similar in size to regular daggers, gleaming with an oily green luster. The other player was an orc warrior, tall and muscular, his skin a pale bluish-white. He carried two massive greatswords on his back, each about a palm wide, appearing extremely heavy. This was the unique ability of a berserker—wielding two greatswords simultaneously!

“Kuang Shen, remember our mission today. We must lure Kuang Zei Nie Yan out. Make sure to keep some tricks up your sleeve. If we can defeat him, we can make him look foolish!” The elven rogue’s eyes gleamed with an unusual excitement. Every time he faced a powerful opponent, he would get excited and his blood would boil.

“Understood. With the two of us working together, how could we possibly fail?” Kuang Shen, the orc warrior, laughed loudly.

If Nie Yan were here, he would immediately recognize these two. The orc warrior Kuang Shen ranked second among all orc warriors in the Sa’thern Empire, a level 63 orc warrior. The other player, the elven rogue Dropped, ranked among the top three thieves in the Sa’thern Empire, a level 62 elven rogue. In a previous life, these two were among the most prominent figures in the Sa’thern Empire. The orc warrior Kuang Shen and the elven rogue Dropped were just as famous in the Sa’thern Empire as players like Sun and Cui Can Dao Guang.

Their sudden appearance immediately drew the attention of the surrounding players. The recent battle between Angel Empire and Niu Ren Tribe had just concluded, and their presence here was highly sensitive. This news quickly spread to Niu Ren Tribe.

Upon receiving the news, the Niu Ren Tribe chat channel erupted into a flurry of activity.

“F***ing hell, the bastards from Angel Empire dare to come here again! As soon as they step outside the city, we’ll hunt them down to level zero!”

“Brothers, keep an eye on them. As soon as they leave the city, we’ll go kill them together!”

…

Angel Empire’s actions in the Krips Fortress had already angered the Niu Ren Tribe greatly. Upon hearing that members of Angel Empire had arrived again, they were naturally furious.

“Executive President, what do they want in Carol City?” Knight’s Elegy asked in the guild chat.

“We don’t know yet. Send a few people to monitor them closely and report any developments to me immediately!” Guo Huai replied. A sense of unease stirred in his heart. The presence of these two Angel Empire members in Carol City definitely meant no good. However, with only two people, they couldn’t cause much trouble. Still, this matter needed to be reported to Nie Yan immediately so he would be aware.

The orc warrior Kuang Shen and the elven rogue Dropped walked through the bustling and lively streets of Carol City.

Kuang Shen glanced at the continuous flow of people on both sides of the street and smiled slightly, “Carol City is quite lively. I wonder how many of these people are members of Niu Ren Tribe. Our arrival must have already reached the ears of Niu Ren Tribe’s guild leader.”

“Speaking of which, Niu Ren Tribe is truly remarkable. Originally a small guild, they managed to survive amidst the pressure from numerous large guilds in Carol City and eventually grew strong enough to push the Triumph Empire out of Carol City. Now they have unified Carol City. This Kuang Zei Nie Yan is indeed a formidable figure,” Dropped said with some admiration. Even if they could defeat Nie Yan, their achievements would never match his.

“You’re not scared of that Kuang Zei Nie Yan, are you?”

“Not at all. I admit that guy is quite skilled, but I’ve never feared anyone. We serve different factions, so there’s nothing we can do. If Angel Empire and Niu Ren Tribe weren’t enemies, I would actually like to befriend him.”

As they spoke, the two reached the central square of Carol City. They rented a 100×100-yard area from the city guards, paying 20 gold coins per hour.

After securing this area, they set up simple barriers, creating a temporary arena.

Curious players from Carol City gathered around, wondering what these two Angel Empire members were up to. Among the crowd were some Niu Ren Tribe players who were quite surprised by the actions of the orc warrior and the elven rogue.

“What are these two up to?”

“No idea.”

Several Niu Ren Tribe players grumbled, frustrated that the two hadn’t left the city, leaving them unable to act against them. Even though they were the top guild in Carol City, they still had to abide by the city’s rules.

Everyone was watching closely for the next move of the orc warrior and the elven rogue.

After a while, the arena was set up.

“Alright, send the message,” Kuang Shen said, looking at Dropped.

With the arena complete, their excitement and determination began to rise.

Nie Yan was galloping on his horse when he suddenly received a message from Guo Huai.

“What are an orc warrior and an elven rogue doing in Carol City?” Nie Yan frowned slightly. Just as he was about to ask Guo Huai to keep monitoring them, another message came in from Guo Huai: Check the official forum!

Nie Yan opened the official website, where a prominent headline was pinned to the top of the Carol City forum.

The title read: Kuang Zei Nie Yan, Are You Daring Enough to Fight?

“We have set up a challenge arena in the central square of Carol City. If you from Niu Ren Tribe have the guts, come and face us! Sincerely, Kuang Shen and Dropped.”

The names of Kuang Shen and Dropped were quite well-known. A simple search on the Sa’thern Empire’s official website would reveal videos of their gameplay. Their sudden appearance in Carol City, directly challenging Nie Yan by name, quickly became a hot topic among players.

The forum post was a direct provocation, targeting their guild leader. The players of Niu Ren Tribe were instantly enraged.

“What do they think they are, challenging Leader Nie Yan like that!”

“Executive President, let us go after them!”

…

Guo Huai glanced at the guild chat and sent a message to Nie Yan asking, “What do you think?”

“I’m heading to Hilton Fortress now. It’s not appropriate for me to get involved in this matter personally. What are Shui Se and Dao Guang doing?” Nie Yan replied. If he had to personally confront every Angel Empire player who challenged him, he would be exhausted. As the leader of Niu Ren Tribe, even if he defeated Kuang Shen and Dropped, it wouldn’t bring much honor. Instead, he preferred to let other members of Niu Ren Tribe handle them, demonstrating to the players that Niu Ren Tribe was not solely reliant on Kuang Zei Nie Yan!