The battle between Karsi and Vorderman lasted longer than anyone anticipated, shifting from the Holy Mountain to Fire Canyon in the east of the Viridian Empire. Vorderman showed signs of faltering, retreating as he fought. The pursuit extended more than 1,000 kilometres.
Asskickers United lost track of them at one point. When they finally caught up to the two, they had already covered the entire span of the Viridian Empire.
More than 10 days passed. During this time, Nie Yan led Asskickers United all over to clear the skeletons. As the days went on, the number of skeletons they killed exceeded 1,600,000. This was a heavy blow to Qin Han's skeleton army.
Qin Han was on the verge of tearing his hair out in anger. Every time he tried to surround Nie Yan's group, they would use various methods to teleport away. Then they would start all over again somewhere 10 kilometres away.
The skeleton army's growth had come to a screeching halt. They fervently sought for NPC settlements to replenish their numbers, and also caught some players off-guard here and there. It was just enough to offset their losses. The army's size stabilized at around 7,000,000.
Because of Asskickers United's interference, the Vengeance of the Undead event failed to sweep over the entire continent like in the previous timeline. It was doomed to an early ending.
There was more good news for Nie Yan. Another six players from Asskickers United had succeeded in reaching their Master Class.
Black Hell, Young Seven, Smoke Stub, Lustboy, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World combined with those who previously completed their class advancements, Sun, Bladelight, Tang Yao, Xie Yao, Lei Su, and Nie Yan, meant Asskickers United had a total of 12 Master Class players. Besides this, there were 10 others, including the likes of Black Heaven, who failed to class advance. Nie Yan believed they were strong enough to take their class advancement quests. However, when they were in the middle of doing it, they encountered some mishaps and ultimately had to give up. It wasn't that they weren't skilled enough, but rather they were unlucky. They could only wait two to three months to try again.
Those who could advance to a Master Class right after reaching Level 100 were elites among elites. Most people only succeeded after reaching higher levels.
Archbishop, Sword Saint, Champion, Magister, Shadow Dancer, all they were missing was a Guardian. The several Paladins in Asskickers United who were capable of class advancing still hadn't succeeded yet.
News of Asskickers United having 12 Master Class players quickly spread like wildfire, creating a huge stir among the playerbase. Masters were practically god-like existences in the eyes of the players, and Asskickers United had 12 of them! Just how frightening of a number was this! There was also news from other guilds. Over in the Satreen Empire, Soaring Angel and an ice-lightning Elementalist called Howling Wind[1] had succeeded in reaching Master Class. As for others, none of them succeeded.
The 12 Master Class players had once more confirmed Asskickers United's unrivalled position. A guild with only 100,000 players had produced so many Masters in such a short amount of time. This only further underlined the individual strength of their members.
Nie Yan arrived in the Asskickers United guild headquarters in Calore. He passed down an order for Smoke Stub, Mistaken Smile, and all the other Master Class players to assemble. All of them immediately hurried over.
About 5 minutes later, 12 people were gathered in the conference hall. If an image of this line-up was posted online, the players on the forums would definitely gasp in admiration.
These were the 12 Master Class players!
Nie Yan looked over the room. Everyone was here. Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and Lei Su were all clad in plate armour, looking like three metal titans. Smoke Stub and Lei Su were Sword Saints. Their weapons were generally two-handed greatswords. If they learned a special skill, they could even dual wield greatswords. Meanwhile, Bladelight was a Champion, which was distinctly different from a Sword Saint despite both being Warriors. Champions used greatshields and one-handed swords. Their main role was to serve as the main tank. So, the vast majority of their skills were defensive in nature.
Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and Lustboy were all wearing top-quality robes. Nie Yan could even identify them by their names. In the previous timeline, these robes were pieces of equipment that countless players dreamt of but couldn't have. A magical aura radiated from their bodies, powerful magical energy pulsing out into their surroundings.
Comparatively speaking, Nie Yan, Sun, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World's equipment all looked fairly ordinary at first glance. Thief equipment was usually pretty simple and unadorned. The Thief was a fairly low-key class. However, any single piece of equipment from their bodies had a rich history behind it. You couldn't find a single piece of Dark Gold-grade equipment on them anymore. These inconspicuous looking pieces of equipment were all at least Level 100 Sub Legendary or Legendary-grade. Among the four of them, Nie Yan had the most Legendary equipment.
Lastly, there were the two Archbishops. Young Seven was a Radiant Archbishop. He wore the Radiant Mystery Robes. His entire body emanated a light aura. On the other hand, Black Hell was a Dark Archbishop, one of the most rare Master Classes in the previous timeline. He wore the silver gray Dark Revenant Robes. Embroidered on the nape and collar with gold silk were faintly glowing runes which gave off a mysterious feeling.
The number of Priests who successfully class advanced to Dark Archbishops in the previous timeline didn't exceed five. As for what sorts of skills they had or how they attacked, Nie Yan had no idea since information on them was the most limited. So much so, that it was rumoured Dark Archbishops ruled over PvP. With their skill sets being a mystery, including to other Masters, they could kill the enemy without them even knowing what happened.
Nie Yan turned to Bladelight. "How goes everything? Are you guys making good progress?"
Bladelight faintly smiled. "Lei Su shared some of his insights with us. We put it into practice ourselves, and the results are pretty good. We've also comprehended a few things on our own."
Since Asskickers United had many Masters of the same class, they could all share their discoveries with each other. As such, their training would produce twice the results with half the effort.
"Since we're all together, this is a good opportunity for us all to swap pointers," Lei Su suggested. He had recently completely absorbed himself in mastering the techniques of a Sword Saint.
Nie Yan originally wanted to bring Bladelight and the others to deal a heavy blow to Qin Han. However, there was no need to rush. Having everyone swap pointers would definitely improve their strength. It could be considered sharpening their blades before the real fight.
Lei Su's suggestion quickly received the approval of everyone. Young Seven turned to Nie Yan. "Right, is there a reason you gathered us all here?"
"You'll find out later. We aren't really urgent on time. There's no harm in you guys having a go at each other." Nie Yan mysteriously smiled.
None of them knew what Nie Yan was thinking. Considering he had gathered all of them here today, what he was planning definitely wasn't small. Seeing Nie Yan's smile, Young Seven and the others could guess that Qin Han was going to be in for a nasty surprise.
Bladelight looked around. The guild hall was too small. The square outside covered a roughly 300 meter wide area. Although that was plenty for Sword Saints, Shadow Dancers, and the other melee classes, it was far from enough for Magisters. Their destructive power was astounding.
"Let's find a place outside the Cripss Stronghold. We don't want Sparrow Hawk, Lustboy, and Yao Yao to bring the whole place down with their magic," Bladelight joked.
"Sounds good." Nie Yan nodded. Asskickers United's guild headquarters definitely couldn't withstand the spells of a Magister. He had already experienced their destructive power first hand. They could only really shine and go all out in a vast, wide open space.
The group chatted as they headed out of the guild headquarters.
When Nie Yan and the others appeared on the streets, the entire Cripps Stronghold boiled over with excitement. Regardless of whether they were Asskickers United players or not, they all came flocking over.
"Boss!"
"Look, it's Bladelight!"
...
The players gave their greetings. Those who knew Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others excitedly crowded around them. It was an extremely rare sight to see all 12 of them gathered together.
12 Master Class players was definitely a shocking sight. The crowd could feel a domineering aura radiating out from Bladelight, Tang Yao, and the others. Facing them in the flesh, the players found it hard to breathe. After reaching Master Class, the air surrounding them was completely different from before.
As for Nie Yan, Sun, Mistaken Smile, and King of the World, the players couldn't feel anything from them at all, almost as if they didn't exist. If they were distracted for a moment, they would easily lose sight of these four Thieves, to the extent they wouldn't even notice if the four were right behind them. This feeling, or lack thereof, was also quite shocking. What powerful cloaking ability! This was a Shadow Dancer, hiding within the shadows, ready to reap a life at any moment!
Nie Yan and the others continued walking forward. The crowd naturally parted ways and and let them through.
News of Asskickers United's 12 Master Class players appearing in the Cripps Stronghold was posted online. The people on the forums were all guessing what this group of people were planning. If a line-up like this wanted to do something, there was nothing that could stop them!
When Qin Han received this information, he felt an enormous pressure weigh down on him, with all his limbs going numb. Nie Yan, Xie Yao, and Tang Yao, and the others had already struck fear into his heart over these past two weeks. After hearing all 12 Master Class players were setting out together, he was completely terror-stricken. Especially since among these 12, five were casters. Qin Han felt his scalp go numb. He still had lingering fears from Xie Yao and Tang Yao's Forbidden Magic. This time with five casters moving out, it was all the more frightening, especially since two among them were Archbishops who specialized in dealing with the undead!
1. Howling Wind was first mentioned in Chapter 503. In the previous timeline, he became mortal enemies with Soaring Angel. He was betrayed by his friends and ambushed by Angel Corps' forces before eventually disappearing from the game.