Chapter 497 – Skyfire Wing
Gloomy Forest, Level 90 Spiny Lizards roamed this map. They had thick armoured hides covered in sharp spikes. On top of their solid defense, they returned a portion of damage received as thorns damage. However, their health pools were on the low side relative to other Level 90 monsters.
Nie Yan clambered up a large tree. Looking into the distance, he spotted a group of Spiny Lizards passing between the thickets. He took aim with his Cavalry Crossbow and pulled the trigger.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts whizzed through the air, passing through the gaps between the trees, and struck a Spiny Lizard in quick succession.
“Hiss!” The Spiny Lizard locked onto Nie Yan. It rushed toward him along with several dozen of its companions in tow.
Nie Yan jumped off the tree before bolting away, using his Cavalry Crossbow to aggro every group of Spiny Lizards he encountered in his path.
More and more Spiny Lizards started chasing Niie Yan.
“Eat this!” Nie Yan activated a Death Wave Scroll. Ripples of death energy spread out, sweeping over the Spiny Lizards in the vicinity.
−1,000
−1,000
−1,000…
Nie Yan fled to safety. After a while, when the Death Wave Scroll came off cooldown, he used another one. Ripples of death energy spread out.
A few minutes later, as Nie Yan activated another Death Wave Scroll, the Spiny Lizards began dropping like flies as more than half the group collapsed dead on the ground.
Nie Yan circled around to the back in stealth and finished off the remaining low-health stragglers. He then collected the loot they dropped.
Levelling was dull and monotonous. Nie Yan’s levelling speed right now was already pretty fast. In the previous timeline, he would grind in one area for two to three months straight for a single level—two if he was lucky. He would only return to town to sell off his harvest once every few weeks.
In order to become an expert, getting used to solitude and loneliness was a must.
Nie Yan continued grinding the Spiny Lizards in the forest.
…
The Elemental City, Kavodin, was situated halfway atop a mountain. The skyscape dotted with tall buildings glowed with a seven coloured radiance, giving the place an illusory feel. The current state of the city could be best described as chaotic, with more than 20 Level 4 guilds vying for dominance. Since they were all similarly sized, a clear leader had had yet to emerge. This absence of a major unifying power allowed guilds like Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and God Executioner Sword to establish a presence in this city, in the hopes of one day taking it for themselves. Asskickers United also had an office here.
Asskickers United’s player presence in Kavodin wasn’t large. However, their businesses were flourishing. They had no less than 10 shops in the city, of which five were branches of the Starry Night Potion Shop. They already controlled 70% of the market. Besides this, many artisans were flocking to their doorsteps.
A group of five emerged from Kavodin’s transfer area. They teleported again, this time southwest to a small town called Keynes. They had an Arcane Mage, a Warrior, a Thief, a Paladin, and a Priest. This was a fairly standard party composition.
“Watchful Snail told us to head southeast of here and search for a travelling scroll seller. Why do I feel like we’re being led on a wild goose chase? We don’t even know when this hidden NPC will show up. We’re just supposed to level in this area and hope we bump into them. Don’t you think it’s strange, Panda?” the Arcane Mage called Daybreak turned to the Warrior and asked.
“Maybe Watchful Snail received a tip from somewhere. Let’s just check it out first,” Fat Panda replied.
“Should we hide our guild emblems?” Daybreak asked.
“Kavodin is pretty chaotic right now. Keeping them on will probably attract trouble. It’s best if we take them off. Besides, Watchful Snail told us to keep our mission under tight wraps.”
The party members took off their guild emblems.
These five players belonged to Asskickers United. Fat Panda was the strongest among them at Level 63. The other four hovered around Level 60. They could only be considered as second rate players in the guild. But among ordinary players, they were experts.
The party passed through a field. After arriving at their destination, they searched for the hidden NPC while grinding the mobs in the vicinity.
The party was determined to complete the mission Guo Huai gave them. The Thief unceasingly scouted around the map. They searched for two days straight, but the hidden NPC was still nowhere to be found.
“What do we do? I’m starting to doubt if there really is an NPC around here…” Daybreak sighed.
“I don’t know,” Fat Panda said helplessly. This NPC’s existence was a mystery within a mystery. It was quite vexing searching around aimlessly like a bunch of headless flies, but what else could they do? “I asked Watchful Snail again. He confirmed the NPC is around here. Let’s just keep searching.”
At this moment, the Thief reported back. He found the NPC!
The faces of Fat Panda, Daybreak, and the other two lit up with joy. They immediately moved to regroup with the Thief.
Announcement: Eternity is claiming this area. All other players, please clear out or suffer the consequences.
Fat Panda’s eyes widened in surprise. “This Eternity guild is pretty brazen.” Asskickers United was the defacto number one guild in Calore, but even they weren’t so aggressive when clearing out an area. They preferred to gently coax other players to leave, almost never using tyrannical methods. The only times they resorted to force was when they were left with no other choice.
“Eternity is the biggest guild in Kavodin. They have about 50,000–60,000 players, and they’re allied with two other guilds. They seem pretty strong,” Daybreak said. Before coming here, he had skimmed Kavodin’s forum boards.
Fat Panda felt nothing but contempt for Eternity. No matter how powerful they were, could they beat Asskickers United? Of course not. However, he didn’t want to stir up unnecessary trouble for the guild. He would complete the mission Guo Huai gave them first.
“Let’s go find that NPC, then leave,” Fat Panda said. At this moment, he spotted a group of 10 players walking over in the distance. They didn’t look too friendly.
More and more players from Eternal were swarming into this area. There were roughly 2,000–3,000 players within a 1,000 meter radius. They were forcing everyone else to leave as groups of Miners started arriving.
「I’m surrounded by enemies. They’re blocking me from that NPC!」the Thief informed through voice chat.
「What’s going on?」Fat Panda frowned.
「Those dirty fucking bastards. They went to talk to the NPC first!」
Your party member Triblade has died.
After a while, Triblade revived in the graveyard.
「What happened?」Fat Panda asked. Triblade’s death was too sudden.
「It’s those assholes from Eternal. They thought the NPC was some sort of hidden quest giver, so they stopped me from approaching. Their Mages tried to gib me with their spells, but I managed to dodge. I just didn’t expect there to be five Thieves in the area as well. I ended up being surrounded and killed!」Triblade clenched his fists. PKing in the wilderness wasn’t at all uncommon. But it was still infuriating when it happened to you.
Daybreak turned to Fat Panda. “What do we do? The NPC got snatched away.”
“Let’s leave and report this matter back to Watchful Snail,” Fat Panda said. He also felt aggrieved. He normally wouldn’t hesitate to teach those sons of bitches from Eternal a lesson. However, due to the mission, he had no choice but to bear with it.
Daybreak nodded. As they channelled their Return Scrolls, a group of Eternal players approached, leaving them no choice but to stop. They would be left vulnerable if they were interrupted while channeling their Return Scrolls. They would lose the initiative and be forced on the back foot.
The opposite side had more than 10 players. Their leader was a Level 65 Warrior in a full set of Dark Gold-grade equipment.
This was the number one Warrior in Eternal, Skyfire Wing!
Skyfire Wing could be regarded as a big shot in Kavodin. He ranked among the top three Warriors in the city.
Fat Panda, Daybreak, and the other two frowned after seeing Skyfire Wing’s equipment. The opposite side was strong. He was no pushover.
“Which guild do you belong to?” Skyfire Wing glanced at Fat Panda’s group. Their equipment was pretty good. He was certainly no stranger to PKing. This area was surrounded by players from Eternal. Fleeing was impossible. He just wanted to make sure of one thing. As long as they didn’t belong to one of the allied guilds, he would kill them.
Watching Eternal’s players gather into a mob around them, Fat Panda and Daybreak exchanged glances. It looked like they couldn’t resolve this peacefully, so the team took up defensive positions.
“They’re not wearing any guild emblems They probably don’t belong to any guild.”
“Boss, their equipment ain’t bad,” one of the players chuckled.
“Alright, kill them,” Skyfire Wing said in an indifferent tone. He wasn’t afraid of other guilds in Kavodin, to say nothing of a bunch of guildless solo players!
「There’s too many of them! I’ll hold them off. You guys run!」Fat Panda said. He brandished his greatsword and welcomed the charging enemies head-on.
