A blessing that could at least double one's stats was called a godly blessing by players.
If a Paladin or Priest learned such a blessing, their value would increase five or sixfold. Using this kind of blessing at a crucial moment inside a dungeon would often have extraordinary effects.
This was also why Guardians and Archbishops were so highly regarded in the previous timeline. Their godly blessings had an enormous impact on any team.
Paladin Lafus had at least eight such skills. These blessings were originally fairly ordinary skills. However, due to their ranks being so high, all of them at Rank 10 or higher, they had become awe-inspiring skills.
Dark, Ardent, and the other Thieves from Bloodfiends were also astonished. They were quickly losing control over the situation.
"What's going on? Where did this Paladin Lafus come from? Why is this NPC suddenly helping Splendid Temple?" Dark muttered. After receiving those blessings, the players from Splendid Temple became extremely difficult to deal with. They had no choice but to retreat. Dark was inwardly apprehensive. The change in the strength of the players from Splendid Temple was obvious. This kind of before and after difference allowed them to all the more understand Paladin Lafus' might.
"I don't know. This NPC just popped out of nowhere." Ardent was baffled. NPCs generally wouldn't help players deal with an enemy. There were only a few exceptions. Could Lafus be Splendid Star's summon or servant? Ardent immediately discarded this thought. If this were true, why didn't Splendid Star summon Lafus from the beginning?
The situation was getting out of their control. Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever were mysteriously on the backfoot. Phantom Princess Ina who still hadn't died was sweeping through the players in her vicinity. Due to the damage not being enough, she was slowly recovering her health. The disturbance on the side of Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever attracted her attention, and so disaster struck them. After taking three rounds of spells from her, they suffered heavy losses.
Nie Yan observed Phantom Princess Ina wreaking havoc in the distance. Even though taking her down would be difficult, it was still doable. He would put that aside for now and focus on killing the players from Bloodfiends. He had no idea where Dark, Ardent, and the other three went.
Nie Yan moved over to the area where he last saw them.
Eye of Truth!
His eyes flashed with a profound light. As he searched the surroundings, it wasn't long before he spotted numerous silhouettes. They were all Thieves from Bloodfiends. They didn't appear to have any intention of running.
"Should I kill a few of them myself...?"Nie Yan wondered.
After pondering for a moment, Nie Yan looked toward Lafus in the distance. "It's better if I have Lafus do it."
At Nie Yan's order, Lafus quickly rushed over. He was only 30 meters away from the Thieves from Bloodfiends.
"That NPC is coming over. Should we leave?" Seal asked. With their strength, defeating Lafus would pose some challenge. Winter Darkness, Death Descent, and Sky Siever were currently at a disadvantage. If they revealed themselves at this crucial moment, perhaps they could flip the balance of the battle back to their favour.
"I doubt he can discover us. Let's keep waiting. He's just an NPC. He probably doesn't have much intelligence," Dark said. After interacting with so many Lords and NPCs, he came to realize that their biggest weakness was their poor AI. As long as you grasped certain tricks, they were easy to deal with.
What Dark and the others failed to realize was that Paladin Lafus was being controlled by a player. So, his combat senses weren't any worse than a player's.
Lafus slaughtered the players from Sky Siever while inching closer toward Dark and the others. He appeared completely oblivious to their existence.
Dark and the others carefully probed Lafus. After discovering that he still hadn't noticed them even after approaching within five meters of him, they became bolder. They continued trying to find out his detection range.
Nie Yan's gaze fell on the skills in Lafus' skill bar. With so many overpowered skills, killing one or two Thieves couldn't be simpler.
Dark and the others weren't the slightest bit aware that they had fallen into Nie Yan's trap.
"This NPC's Awareness is really low. Dark, how about we try killing him?" Ardent said. He was starting to get restless.
They figured out that Paladin Lafus' detection range was only three meters. At that range, they could easily pull off an ambush. Like this, the five of them could CC him to death.
"Who's going to take the lead?" Dark asked.
"I'll do it," Seal replied. He was the youngest out of all of them.
"Alright, you take the lead in CCing that NPC. When he's stunned, we'll all pounce on him!" Dark said. Aside from having powerful blessings and high health, Lafus' other stats didn't seem like much.
Seal started approaching Lafus from behind.
Seeing a silhouette gradually approaching Lafus, Nie Yan smirked. It was finally starting.
After arriving within three meters of Lafus, Seal pounced toward his back.
At this moment, Lafus protected himself with Holy Rite, which made him immune to all crowd control.
KLANG! Seal struck Lafus in the back.
The crowd control skill had no effect. Seal was dumbstruck. He didn't expect Lafus to have such sharp senses. Lafus had activated Holy Rite at the same instant he pounced forward. A feeling of dread washed over him.
Eyes of the Divine!
Lafus' eyes suddenly shone with a golden light. He immediately locked onto Seal, Ardent, Dark, and the others.
All the Thieves in the vicinity were revealed before him.
Before Seal's feet could even touch the ground, Lafus cast Holy Binding, locking down all the Thieves.
Holy Strike!
Lafus cleaved down onto Seal's body. His blade easily cut through Seal's armour. It was an instant kill!
"Shit, we've been baited!"
Lafus' combat senses were much sharper than they originally imagined.
"Everyone, run!" Dark anxiously shouted. They activated skills like Gale Step to escape.
Seeing Dark and the others fleeing, Nie Yan's eyes flashed with a cold light. "You want to run? It won't be that easy!"
Indomitable Will!
Lafus' speed sharply increased severalfold. He barrelled toward Dark and the others like a tank at full throttle.
Even though Dark and the others were quite fast with the speed buff from Gale Step, they were moving at a snail's pace compared to Lafus. Even Nie Yan couldn't hope to outrun him, let alone them.