Chapter 423 - Dance of the Thief!

Nie Yan summoned Lil’ Gold, who charged into the fray along with the group of 1,000 elites from Asskickers United. He barrelled through the enemy forces, sending players flying left and right, and decimated them en masse with his Dragon Breath.

Spells whizzed about through the sky, resembling a dazzling display of fireworks.

Smoke Stub took the lead and rushed into the crowd. Swinging his sword with reckless abandon, he slaughtered players like reaping wheat. The ranks of Bloodlust Blades fell into mass panic.

“Boss, reinforcements from Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire have arrived,” Paladin of the Elegy reported. “Also, all Level 40+ players from the five branch guilds are here too.”

“How many?” Nie Yan asked. In this sort of large-scale guild war, numbers also played a critical role. Even an expert could die to a random lucky shot from an ordinary player.

“50,000 from Sapphire Shrine, 70,000 from Holy Empire, and 50,000 from our five branch guilds. The War God Tribe and Battle Crazed Alliance also sent over 5,000 elites.”

“Any movement from our enemies?” Nie Yan asked. He figured Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors wouldn’t be willing to allow their elites to die here for nothing.

“Victorious Return is finally growing restless. They’re going for broke this time. All 70,000 high-level players still remaining in their guild are being mobilized, and they’re frantically trying to rally Radiant Sacred Flame to their side. Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors also deployed more reinforcements. We don’t know the exact number. But given the size of both guilds, we expect around 60,000–70,000. They’ve teleported to Faimon Plains from Roland Town,” Paladin of the Elegy replied. The scope of this war was getting larger and larger, with more and more guilds getting swept up in it.

Nie Yan analyzed the present situation. With how Asskickers United had been supressing Victorious Return all this time, to the extent they were on the verge of being expelled from Calore, Heaven Breaker was definitely fuming with rage and resentment. So, when a rare opportunity like this came by, he naturally wouldn’t pass it up. What he didn’t know was that Nie Yan had already acquired Radiant Sacred Flame. At Guo Huai’s orders, they were currently feigning cooperation, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Alliance of Mages and Divine Protectors weren’t all too enthused about sending their forces over to aid Bloodlust Blades, which was why they previously hadn’t taken any action. The outcome of the war with Asskickers United didn’t have much of an impact on them. In fact, if Bloodlust Blades went defunct, their members would be absorbed into Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors. It was only because of the pressure they were receiving from Cao Xu that they had no choice but to step into the conflict, first with sending some of their elites over and now with dispatching more reinforcements.

With so many guilds taking part, this war would soon become a lot more chaotic.

While Nie Yan was lost in thought, the 1,000 elites on the sides of Bloodlust Blades charged forward and collided with the 1,000 elites from Asskickers United.

The enemy side was quite powerful and didn’t lack Great Mages, Great Warriors, or any other class advanced players in their ranks. The two sides were evenly matched. As soon as they were locked into battle, a bloodbath occurred.

Nie Yan looked around and saw a Level 60 Great Warrior wearing the Dark Gold-grade Black Blood Set slaughtering a path forward. With a single swing of his sword, he killed six elites from Asskickers United that had yet to class advance.

“That’s Tyrant Sword!” Paladin of the Elegy cried out. “He’s a famous and skilled player from Divine Protectors. He’s only slightly weaker than Mad Blade!”[1]

Seeing his fellow guildmates getting killed left and right, Paladin of the Elegy couldn’t help but feel anxious. He rushed forward with Indomitable Will.

Nie Yan ordered Lil’ Gold to blast Tyrant Sword with Dragon Breath.

Seeing the scorching flames coming in his direction, Tyrant Sword protected himself with a golden barrier.「Bang!」It shuddered slightly under the impact but remained fully intact.

After being besieged by the joint attack of several Asskickers United players, Tyrant Sword was forced to retreat. Several players from Alliance of Mages immediately rushed over to cover him.

At this moment, Paladin of the Elegy arrived on the scene.

Divine Judgement!

As the two players clashed, Tyrant Sword swung his blade at Paladin of the Elegy’s waist with a Tendon Break. His attack was fierce and decisive.

Paladin of the Elegy cast Holy Protection in the nick of time. Even though he still took damage, he didn’t suffer any status effects.

Tyrant Sword smashed down with a Seismic Slam while Paladin of the Elegy hurriedly retreated.

Neither side could gain any advantage.

Just as Lil’ Gold was about to unleash another Dragon Breath, a Great Warrior charged over and locked him down with Intercept.

Three Great Warriors from Alliance of Mages surrounded Lil’ Gold. They struck him with Shield Bashes in tandem, continuously interrupting him whenever he tried to cast magic. However, Lil’ Gold’s Explosive Counter took a great toll on them. If it weren’t for the Priests in the back healing them, they would’ve long since dropped dead on the ground.

Some nearby players from Assskickers United wanted to rescue Lil’ Gold, but their hands were currently tied dealing with the enemies in front of them.

Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, Bloodlust Blades, and Angel Corps currently had three to four times as many class advanced players. So, Asskickers United was on the backfoot.

Nie Yan snuck behind a Great Priest from Alliance of Mages and immobilized him with Intimidate before stabbing towards the back of his head with Zennarde’s Sword.

The Great Priest was focused on healing a Great Warrior up ahead when an alarm suddenly went off in his head. He immediately let out an ear piercing shriek.

Howl of Terror!

This was the go-to life-saving skill of Priests.

At this critical juncture, Nie Yan activated Mind Immune from the Medal of the Ten Holy Paladins. As the sound entered his ears, aside from a little annoyance, nothing else happened.

Nie Yan struck the Great Priest with Smothering Strike before following up with Backstab!

−1536!

Nie Yan dealt an astonishingly high amount of damage, only to discover the Great Priest didn’t die. They had more than 2,300 health! Even Priests gained significant boosts to health and defense after class advancing.

A nearby Great Mage finally took notice of the commotion. He waved his staff and targeted Nie Yan with an Ice Rupture.

Nie Yan would be frozen into a human popsicle if he was hit!

A sphere of pulsating frost whizzed toward him.

Seeing how he failed to instantly kill his opponent, Nie Yan followed up with Eviscerate. Since Smothering Strike’s stun was still in effect, the Great Priest could do nothing to defend.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan vanished from sight just before he was hit.

「Bang!」The Ice Rupture exploded in the middle of the air.

“It’s the Mad Rogue!” the Great Mage cried out. He was shocked by how quickly Nie Yan cut down a Great Priest.

Nie Yan was a bit exhausted after his encounter with these class advanced players. Because top-ranking players like these were quite cohesive in groups, it was difficult to find openings to exploit. However, he could still take out one or two of them.

Sun was a ghostly specter on the battlefield just like Nie Yan. Every time he showed himself, he would reap a life.

Sun retreated behind a dense patch of thickets and observed the battlefield. Asskickers United had already suffered heavy losses. The enemy simply had too many Adept Class players. It was too difficult for players that had yet to class advance to overcome this gap, especially when the other side was evenly skilled.

In a battle between top experts, Mages rarely had the opportunity to get off any Advanced Magic because the casting took 20 seconds or longer, while a Silence from a Paladin was instant and only had a cooldown of 20 seconds.

This was why players would almost always get interrupted midway through casting any super impactful spells.

Looking in the distance, Sun noticed Tyrant Sword overwhelming Paladin of the Elegy. It was only natural that a Paladin was a step below a Warrior in melee combat.

“Not good! He’s in danger!” Sun immediately sensed something off after seeing a subtle change in Tyrant Sword’s movements.

Sun was about to rush over to help Paladin of the Elegy, when a cold glint flashed before his eyes. A dagger headed straight for his forehead!

Sun blocked the attack with Gale Step.

The enemy Thief hurriedly activated his eye skill, but Sun had already vanished without a trace.

A hundred meters away, Paladin of the Elegy barely warded off a Quake Smash from Tyrant Sword with a Parry.

“Die!” Tyrant Sword suddenly thrusted his greatsword forward into Paladin of the Elegy’s stomach.

−813! A damage value floated up above Paladin of the Elegy’s head. He was also stunned!

Tyrant Sword was just about follow up with another attack when the glint of a dagger appeared behind him. His eyes widened in alarm. Activating Crusader’s Shield on instinct, he turned around and slashed at the silhouette behind him.

“Just a Thief!” Tyrant Sword sneered. The class he was least afraid of on the battlefield was a Thief. Even if he allowed several Thieves to wail on him non-stop for 10 full seconds, they could only leave a scratch on him. The defense of Great Warriors was too high for most Thieves to pierce through. On the other hand, if they were hit by a Tendon Break, they were toast. The only thing Thieves were good for was dealing with squishy casters.

Got you! Tyrant Sword chopped down with his greatsword. However, the disdainful look on his face froze when he discovered he had only struck an illusion!

A sharp dagger stabbed toward Tyrant Sword’s forehead.

Seismic Slam!

Tyrant Sword slammed his greatsword into the ground, creating a shockwave that struck everything within a two-meter radius of him, including Paladin of the Elegy who was just about to come out of the initial stun.

Believing he had succeeded in landing a hit this time, Tyrant Sword was shocked when the Thief was nowhere to be found.

“Slippery bastard!” Tyrant Sword cursed. He gave up on trying to deal with the Thief. With a sinister expression on his face, he turned around with his greatsword raised and pounced toward the defenseless Paladin of the Elegy. “I’ll finish you off first!”

1. The full name, 邪皇霸劍, translates to Evil Emperor Tyrant Sword. I decided to shorten it to Tyrant Sword since it was too much a mouthful.

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