The sea of skeletons swarmed toward Nie Yan, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the 30 paladins.
Quickly skimming over the surroundings, Nie Yan spotted several large boulders nearby. They were five meters high and scattered all over the area. These overhanging boulders were obstacles the skeletons would have a hard time getting over.
For the clumsy undead skeletons, climbing was an incredibly difficult task.
By relying on these boulders, they could provide themselves with some safety from the relentless onslaught of the skeletons..
"Let's go over there!" Nie Yan said. He dashed toward one of the boulders.
Both Tang Yao and Xie Yao used a blink skill to teleport after Nie Yan. The 30 Paladins followed behind them.
One of the biggest factors that set apart Magisters from Great Mages was that the cooldowns and cast times for their ordinary skills were greatly reduced. Teleport skills like Blink would have their cooldowns reduced from 50 to 20 seconds. So, they could be used much more frequently.
Tang Yao and Xie Yao quickly reached the boulders. Nie Yan had the 30 Paladins get into position. After chanting out an incantation, he summoned Lil' Gold. He didn't need Paladin Lafus for the time being. The strength of their current force was enough.
At this moment, the mob of skeletons swarmed over from all around. Nie Yan and the others were completely surrounded. If ordinary players were to encounter this kind of situation, they would likely pass out from fear; an endless sea of skeletons, cackling violently, ready to make you one of them. Even a powerful team of first-rate player would eventually be overwhelmed and swallowed up.
The silhouettes of several dozen Thieves appeared on top of a hill in the far distance. Leading them was a Thief in silver gray leather armour. They were players of God Executioner Sword.
"Unfettered, that's the Golden Dragon of Nirvana Flame! Those Paladins are with him too!" a Thief cried out after seeing Lil' Gold emerge on the battlefield.
"Nirvana Flame!" Unfettered's heart trembled. As he looked closer, he saw the 30 Paladins standing in front of Nie Yan and two others, forming a human wall. "Who are those two beside him?"
"I think that's Young Sparrowhawk to his left and the other should be Yao Yao. An Arcane Magister and a Holy Magister," a player replied.
After confirming this, Unfettered immediately reported the information back to Qin Han. Their group continued observing the battle.
"No matter how strong they are, I refuse to believe they can stand up against tens of thousands of skeletons!" Unfettered said. From his point of view, their skeleton army was invincible. It had wiped out everything in its path and had yet to meet any real resistance. Even some of the more powerful villages and towns still ended up being buried under the sea of skeletons and transformed into ruins. In contrast, Nirvana Flame's side only had 3 players and 30 Level 140–150 Elites.
The Thieves from God Executioner Sword observed from the sidelines. Looking up ahead, they saw multitudes of skeletons converging on Nie Yan's group. They had expressions of schadenfreude on their faces. They wanted to see if Nie Yan would end up just like those countless other experts before him, consumed by the sea of bones.
The skeletons closed in on Nie Yan's group. There was roughly 70 meters between them.
The skeletons had already entered Xie Yao and Tang Yao's attack range. After becoming Magisters, their base attack ranges had reached 80–90 meters. Combined with the bonuses from their equipment, their attack ranges surpassed 100 meters.
"Nie Yan, should I start?" Tang Yao asked.
Nie Yan nodded. "Xie Yao, hold on for a moment. Let Tang Yao go first."
Nie Yan glanced at Tang Yao and Xie Yao's stats. With the bonuses from the Rank 6.5 Arcane Fairy, Tang Yao's mana pool had already reached 120,000, far more than ordinary Level 100 Great Mages or even most Magisters. Having 40,000 mana was already quite astonishing. Xie Yao's mana was roughly half that of Tang Yao's at 60,000 mana. However, her magic power was 20% higher than Tang Yao's. Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.
Before the skeletons got any closer and started attacking them, having Tang Yao thin out their numbers would be the best choice. At the same time, Xie Yao could conserve her mana.
Xie Yao waved her staff, casting the Mana Surplus spell on herself. After activating this spell, when her mana bar was full, it would continue to accumulate at the rate of her mana regeneration up to 30,000 mana and last for up to three hours. This was also one of the ways to increase her mana.
Seeing the skeletons swarming over, Tang Yao's eyes lit up with excitement. "I finally get to test out the strength of a Magister!
Flame Wall!
Flame Wall!
Flame Wall!
Raging flame walls erupted in the distance. The first flame wall emerged 30 meters away, then gradually started expanding. Every five meters another flame wall would appear until Tang Yao had cast a total of seven.
The first wave of skeletons made contact with the first layer of fire. As they passed through the raging flames, a string of damage values displaying 10,000 floated up above their heads. They braved through the first flame wall, only to meet with the second, then the third, and so on. After passing through five flame walls, the ordinary skeletons collapsed into pieces. The elites managed to survive through the flame walls. However, they were few and far between. Even then, they still had to face the assault of 30 Paladins. Before they could even take several steps, they were purified by holy light.
The flame walls continued burning for roughly three minutes.
Tang Yao quickly brandished his staff, erecting flame wall after flame wall, transforming the surroundings into a sea of fire.
More and more skeletons collapsed into piles of bone fragments under the flame walls. These remains were quickly purified by Battle Angel Kalenna.
Time ticked away. No matter how many skeletons swarmed over, they were still transformed into ash all the same.
Seeing this scene from atop the hillside, the Thieves from God Executioner Sword were dumbstruck. They glanced at each other in dismay. These flame walls were too fierce! How was this possible!? Seeing the skeletons getting wiped out wave after wave without getting any closer, they started losing confidence. Would these skeletons really be able to kill Nie Yan's group?
"I refuse to believe they can keep this up forever! They'll have to run out of mana some time!" Unfettered said. Flame Wall was a spell with one of the highest mana costs.
Around 15 minutes later, Tang Yao was still casting Flame Walls one after another. It didn't look like he would be running out of mana any time soon.
As more and more skeletons collapsed on the ground, Nie Yan and the others' experience bars skyrocketed, filling up chunk by chunk. In the blink of an eye, their bodies lit up with a brilliant light. They had all levelled up.
These skeletons gave ample experience!
Holy power surged into the Holy Spirit Imprint. Nie Yan glanced at the seals on Zennarde's Sword. The fourth seal was already showing signs of being released.
If they continued hunting mobs at this rate, all the seals on Zennarde's Sword would be unlocked within the next two to three months.
Nie Yan was full of expectation.
"I'm going to recover my mana. I've used up about a third," Tang Yao said after looking at his mana. The mana cost of Flame Wall was truly astonishing. These kinds of wide area spells with high killing power required a fairly large amount of mana. No matter how much mana a player had, it would be impossible to bear this kind of high mana consumption indefinitely. Right now, he had to maintain a certain amount of his mana reserves, lest he finds himself helpless in an emergency.
After Tang Yao stopped casting spells and the Flame Walls dispersed, more and more skeletons circled in. Just as they approached within 50 meters of Nie Yan and the others, pillars of light descended from the sky. A blanket of damage values rose up into the air. In a short while, they were purified into ashes by the holy light.
The skeletons collapsed in droves. Unlike Tang Yao's magic, Xie Yao's AoE spells couldn't cover every single corner of the battlefield. Nie Yan had Lil' Gold cover the gaps, spewing out Dragon Breath and blasting the skeletons away.
Nie Yan pondered for a moment. For the sake of increasing their mobbing efficiency, he had Lil' Gold clash with the skeletons head-on. The skeletons quickly swarmed Lil' Gold, thinking he'd gone astray from the group.
Lil' Gold endured the assault of these skeletons with his powerful defense. Further in the back, the 30 Paladins continuously healed him. His life was in no danger as his health bar was constantly maintained at full.
Explosive Counter!
Explosive Counter!
Under the endless assault, powerful tempests of power erupted from Lil' Gold, sweeping through all the skeletons in the vicinity.
Nie Yan glanced at Lil' Gold's level. He was at Level 99, 62%, only a step away from Level 100. Expectations flashed across Nie Yan's eyes. When Lil' Gold finally broke through Level 100, just how strong would he become?
The Thieves on the hillside were completely stupefied. Rather than Nie Yan's group despairing as they were swallowed up by the sea of skeletons, it more looked like they were having a field day farming the skeletons and receiving a power-levelling session.
...
Back at God Executioner Sword's guild headquarters, Qin Han had received a report from Unfettered. Looking at the video he sent him, his eyes flashed with a cold light.
「Boss, we can't keep going on like this. No matter how many skeletons we send, all we're doing is making them stronger!」Unfettered said. He felt extremely helpless right now.
Qin Han crushed the teacup in his hand. Nirvana Flame, don't think you're invincible just because my ordinary skeletons can't do anything to you! This is only the beginning!
「You guys keep observing,」Qin Han ordered.
「Understood!」
Nie Yan and the others' mobbing speed was astonishingly fast. In only half an hour, they had killed several thousand skeletons.
As skeletons kept dropping at their feet, Lil' Gold received his share of the experience. His experience bar was gradually rising, already reaching 93%. He was exceedingly close to levelling up.
In another five minutes or so, Lil' Gold would reach Level 100!
Seeing skeletons stretching out as far as the eye could see, Xie Yao waved her staff and chanted out two sets of invocation syllables.