Chapter 1 Nie Yan's Actions

Nie Yan entered the gate and walked up the huge spiral staircase behind it towards the upper reaches of the Golden City castle.

He climbed to the third floor and entered a corridor where level ninety Furnace Smiths often wandered. Fortunately, they were all acting alone.

Seeing a Furnace Smith walking towards him, Nie Yan slowly went into stealth, snuck up behind the Furnace Smith, and delivered a Strangle to the back of his head, followed by Backstab and Eviscerate. When the Furnace Smith was about to wake up, Nie Yan circled around to his front, used Gouge, and then Garrote. After this wave of attacks ended, Nie Yan took off running, dragging out the time with the Furnace Smith, using bleed damage to kill him.

Nie Yan’s damage with each attack was only around several hundred, with a maximum of five or six hundred. However, the bleed damage was quite considerable. This amount of damage was enough to kill the Furnace Smith.

Nie Yan continued on his way, passing through a rotating corridor five or six hundred yards long, taking down twenty or thirty Furnace Smiths, and entered a dark hall. Around the hall stood huge golden sculptures of demons, monsters, and various other fearsome figures. Beneath the sculptures, some tall figures occasionally moved about.

Looking towards the front of the hall, a massive giant statue stood on a circular platform. It was five yards tall, like a Luohan (arhat), covered in golden armor, with six arms. Each thick arm held a different weapon: a hammer, a sickle, a shovel, a long staff, a giant axe, and a chain hammer.

Seeing this statue, Nie Yan's heart jumped. This was the Mine Slave Igerlin!

Normally, it was just a statue, but as soon as a living being touched it, it would awaken and become a powerful level ninety Lord.

It would take at least a team of two hundred level eighty players to kill it, and the defense of the shield-bearing warriors had to be high enough.

Nie Yan observed that there were at least twenty or thirty Furnace Smiths wandering around the hall among the many sculptures. These Furnace Smiths were much taller than the previous ones, and their appearances were even more ferocious.

Nie Yan snuck next to a sculpture and used Detect on a Furnace Smith not far away.

Demon Furnace Smith: Level 90 Elite, HP 50,000/50,000.

Dealing with these Demon Furnace Smiths would be very difficult. Nie Yan wondered if he could use stealth to bypass them and search for the Abak Set. It would be best if he could avoid alerting these elite monsters.

Hiding behind the sculpture, using it for cover, Nie Yan cautiously moved forward.

In the distance, six Thieves walked along the rotating corridor towards the hall where Nie Yan was. Every time they advanced a certain distance, they would find the corpse of a Furnace Smith lying on the ground. There were at least twenty or thirty corpses along the way, and they were increasingly shocked.

“Tian Fa, are all these corpses on the ground the work of Crazy Thief Nie Yan? This is too fierce. We've been tracking him the whole way, but we haven't even seen his shadow,” one Thief said. They were both Thieves, but the difference between them and Nie Yan was too great.

“Let’s follow him first. Crazy Thief Nie Yan is clearly not someone we can deal with. Captain Chi Yan will bring a group of people over in a while. The guild master wants us to take a chance to strike Crazy Thief Nie Yan, and maybe we’ll get a big reward. Remember not to expose our identities. If we’re discovered, we’ll say we’re from the Mage Alliance. This is what the guild master personally ordered,” Tian Fa said. This group of people had temporarily withdrawn from the guild, and they were using black cloaks to hide their appearances, in order to avoid being detected.

There were quite a few people who wanted to make a move on Nie Yan, not to mention his equipment, which was all top-notch. Just the bounties from the Mage Alliance, Sacred Guardians, and Angel Corps added up to 30,000 gold coins. This reward was enough to make many people's hearts flutter. Many people wanted to assassinate Nie Yan, but he was usually elusive, and they couldn't find an opportunity. However, the situation was a bit different today. Everyone saw Nie Yan enter the Golden City alone, and some people naturally began to plot.

The reason why this group of people concealed their identities was because they were worried about retaliation from the Niu Ren Tribe after hunting down Crazy Thief Nie Yan. After all, the strength of the Niu Ren Tribe could easily overturn their guild.

At first, they were driven by profit, but after following Nie Yan for a while, they each felt a little apprehensive and requested reinforcements from outside.

What Tian Fa and the others didn't know was that after they entered the Golden City, even more people came in, all of them Thieves. People from the Mage Alliance and Sacred Guardians had also arrived.

These Thieves had only one goal, and that was Crazy Thief Nie Yan!

They didn't know what Nie Yan's purpose was in entering the Golden City. They all wanted to launch a sneak attack and take advantage when Nie Yan was killing monsters or in danger.

Nie Yan was still in the hall, looking ahead. In the distance, there were many Demon Furnace Smiths moving about. It wouldn't be easy to get around them. Since the Demon Furnace Smiths had ranged skills, it would be easy to get discovered even if he used skills like the Creeper Ring.

Nie Yan retreated, gritted his teeth, and decided to risk it! He retreated to a corner, summoned the Golden Earth Dragon, hired a level ten Holy Knight named Leimante, and took out the Headless Horseman Doro's Cavalry Crossbow. He used the Cavalry Crossbow to shoot the ground, creating some noise, and slowly lured a Demon Furnace Smith over.

It would be easier to deal with if there was only one. Nie Yan led the Demon Furnace Smith into a corner, circled around to the back of the Demon Furnace Smith, and delivered a Strangle to the back of his head.

The Golden Earth Dragon opened its mouth and spat out a Dragon Breath. With a muffled bang, the Dragon Breath hit the Demon Furnace Smith. The Holy Knight Leimante activated Rising Morale and charged towards the Demon Furnace Smith.

Under the combined attack of Nie Yan, the Golden Earth Dragon, and the Holy Knight, the Demon Furnace Smith's health was constantly decreasing. He woke up and opened his mouth to shout, wanting to summon the other Demon Furnace Smiths over.

Gouge!

Nie Yan Gouged the Demon Furnace Smith's forehead, causing him to fall into a stunned state.

Undead Sacrifice!

The Demon Furnace Smith was a dark creature. Nie Yan didn't know if he could summon it, so he cast Undead Sacrifice on the Demon Furnace Smith. The system prompted that Undead Sacrifice had failed. He cast Undead Sacrifice on the Demon Furnace Smith again, but it still failed.

The Demon Furnace Smith woke up and swung his iron hammer at the Golden Earth Dragon. The Golden Earth Dragon was hit by the iron hammer, its body paused, and a damage number of over 3,000 floated up. Fortunately, the Golden Earth Dragon had high defense and a lot of health. If it were an ordinary pet, it wouldn't be able to withstand the Demon Furnace Smith's attack.

Undead Sacrifice!

System: Undead Sacrifice failed.

The Demon Furnace Smith opened his mouth and let out a sharp cry. He was about to call for his companions.

If the Demon Furnace Smith summoned his companions, Nie Yan wouldn't be able to deal with two or more Demon Furnace Smiths.

Just as the Demon Furnace Smith was about to shout, Nie Yan kicked out, hitting the Demon Furnace Smith's abdomen, interrupting the Demon Furnace Smith's shout. He had just uttered a few syllables when he swallowed them back.

The Golden Earth Dragon spat out several Dragon Breaths, hitting the Demon Furnace Smith, and damage numbers floated above the Demon Furnace Smith's head.

The Holy Knight Leimante cast several Purifications, and rays of white light shone on the Demon Furnace Smith.

The Demon Furnace Smith furiously waved his iron hammer, constantly attacking the Golden Earth Dragon. Nie Yan had the Holy Knight Leimante constantly heal the Golden Earth Dragon from behind, enduring the Demon Furnace Smith's attacks. Once the Demon Furnace Smith wanted to call his companions, Nie Yan would go up and kick him, since the cooldown time for the Kick skill was relatively short.

Under their combined siege, the tall Demon Furnace Smith finally fell heavily to the ground.

Looking at the Golden Earth Dragon's health, there was only about 20% left. Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as the Demon Furnace Smith fell to the ground, the Sword of Zennarde in Nie Yan's hand shone brightly. A strong force rushed towards him, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He quickly opened the Sword of Zennarde's attribute page and looked at its attributes.

Sealed Sword of Zennarde: Kalando Divine Object.

Item Description: A divine object created by the Dragon King Zennarde ordering the Kalando creation god, infused with the dark magic power of Zennarde. When you do not control its power, you will suffer the backlash of the Sword of Zennarde. The sword was sealed by the God of War Keros with six layers of divine seals. Seal 5/6.

Item Attributes: Attack 830-812, Crit +50, 20% chance to trigger 5x critical damage, Ignore Level +15, Ignore Armor. Attached skill, Purgatory Execution, when the enemy's health is below 20%, using this skill has a certain chance to kill the opponent. The success rate depends on the levels and defenses of both sides. Skill cooldown time 3 seconds, requires 50 energy. Attached skill, Elementary Cataclysm, attacking the enemy inflicts five curses of Level 3 Weakness, Level 3 Cripple, Level 3 Plague, Level 3 Fear, and Level 3 Corrosion, lasting 5 minutes, skill cooldown time one hour.

Attached: Undead Nightmare Curse, the wielder of the Sword of Zennarde will suffer the Undead Nightmare Curse, all attributes decreased by 30% (suppressed, effect halved).

Usage Limit: None.

Nie Yan looked at the attributes of the Sword of Zennarde. One of the seals on the Sword of Zennarde had been unlocked, and its attributes had been greatly improved. It already had the attack power of a level ninety Dark Gold weapon, and the other attributes were also very high.

After such a long time, the Sword of Zennarde had finally become stronger. He wondered what the final, complete state of this upgradeable weapon would be like.

The black flames on the Sword of Zennarde were even hotter than before. When swung, the firelight flickered, captivating the soul.

Nie Yan picked up the items dropped by the Demon Furnace Smith, took the Golden Earth Dragon to a corner to recover health, had the Holy Knight Leimante heal the Golden Earth Dragon, and then bandaged the Golden Earth Dragon. Soon, the Golden Earth Dragon's health was restored to full.