Nie Yan coldly smirked. "For a bunch of cowards who have no real fighting ability to speak of, you're pretty mouthy online, huh." Asskickers United was fairly quiet on the forums. Nie Yan was the type of person who spoke with his actions not words, and that trait was unwittingly passed on. Few guild members got into flame wars with others on the forums.
Nie Yan decided to post up his own response on the forums.
「Divine Protectors Death Note - Nirvana Flame」
On the list were the names of Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, Bloodlust Mad Blade, Heaven Breaker, and several other notable characters in Divine Protectors.
Many players were confused after clicking on Nie Yan's post. They didn't understand the meaning behind this list. Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, and the others were still well and alive in the Karukes Stronghold, directing their forces to surround and kill Nie Yan's group.
Even if the post was confusing, because Nie Yan was the poster, many people upvoted it anyway, bumping it up to the top of the front page. Some players on the forums correctly guessed it was a death note. But from their point of view, Nie Yan and company were in a perilous situation themselves. Whether they could make it out alive was still up in the air, let alone if they could kill Divine Flame and the others on this list.
At this moment, Divine Flame dispatched 600 top experts toward the location of Tang Yao, Xie Yao, and the others. The number of players in the square decreased substantially.
"Looks like Nirvana Flame posted something up on the forums," Crazy Magic said.
Divine Flame checked the forums with a somewhat doubtful look. Seeing Nie Yan's post, he was immediately enraged. He coldly chuckled. "Nirvana Flame, you bastard. You really are too cocky for your own good. Do you think Karukes is your house or something?" Nie Yan's intentions were crystal clear. He was so confident in his own skills he even dared to warn them about their impending doom!
"Our names are on here too. Do you think Nirvana Flame will come and try to kill us?" Bloodlust Mad Blade asked. He wanted to see just how Nie Yan planned to do that.
"It's about time," Nie Yan said after seeing the drop in the number of people in the square.
Nie Yan retreated back into the alley. Chanting out an incantation, he summoned Lil' Gold with a flash of light.
Lil' Gold let out a deep dragon cry and spewed out flames toward the players in the square.
The players closest to Lil' Gold had no time to react. After being hit by the dragon breath, they wailed out in pain as they were engulfed by the scorching hot flames.
"It's the Golden Dragon! Nirvana Flame is here!"
The players in the square descended into a panic. The first to react was a group of Fighters. They charged toward Lil' Gold to block it from advancing.
After noticing the commotion in the corner of the square, Divine Flame and the others turned and looked over. A large golden dragon entered their vision. Their faces paled. Speak of the devil and he shall appear!
Divine Flame, Crazy Magic, and the others glanced at each other in dismay.
Divine Flame put up a bold front and snarled, "He's only one person! Don't let him think he can walk all over us! Let's kill him together!"
Divine Flame glanced at his bag. He had several dozen high level scrolls, totems, and other similar items inside. "I'll give you guys some scrolls. Use them when the situation calls for it." He understood catching any trace of Nie Yan was incredibly difficult. Killing him would be an enormous challenge to them. They could only rely on external aid.
Seeing Lil' Gold wreaking havoc in the square, Divine Flame called over two subordinates and had them summon their flying mounts. Lil' Gold's might was known far and wide. Sending ordinary players to deal with him was useless. Not only would they be slaughtered, they had no way of dealing any real damage to him. It'd be no different from throwing their lives away. Only flying mounts could do the job. With the flying mounts keeping him preoccupied and the Mages bombarding him with magic, only then would they have a chance of killing him.
Seeing the two flying mounts were in position, Divine Flame had his subordinates install traps and totems in the vicinity in the hopes of killing Nie Yan.
Lil' Gold had attracted a lot of attention. The number of players guarding Divine Flame decreased significantly.
Seeing Divine Flame planting something into the ground, Nie Yan's eyes flashed with a red light.
Eyes of Truth!
Surrounding Divine Flame and the others were all sorts of traps and totems. It appeared they were well prepared and ready to catch him off guard.
Nie Yan coldly chuckled. Did they really think he was stupid enough to just walk into their traps?
He took out his Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. Peering through the scope at Divine Flame standing in the center of the square, he gauged the distance between them was roughly 200 meters. His shooting range was about 120 meters. He planned to kill Divine Flame and the others from afar.
Who said Thieves had to get close to attack? Who said Thieves couldn't kill from afar?
Ordinarily, a Thief's ranged damage was limited. It could only be used to draw aggro from mobs at best. However, the Reinforced Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow had shattered this norm. A shooting range of 120 meters meant he could completely ignore these traps.
After sweeping through more than 100 players, Lil' Gold was met with the assault of a Wind Serpent and Thunder Eagle. However, with his astonishing health, he would have no issue holding on for at least 15 minutes.
Nie Yan stealthily approached Divine Flame and the others. The distance between them gradually closed from 200 meters to 120. He was already within attack range! There were a dozen players standing only a few meters from him. They vigilantly looked around at their surroundings, oblivious to his presence.
With their Awareness, even if Nie Yan approached within two meters, they still wouldn't notice him.
After setting up the traps, Divine Flame and the others still hadn't discovered Nie Yan. They swept their eyes over the entire square.
"Do you think he chickened out?" Bloodlust Mad Blade finally asked.
"No." Divine Flame shook his head. "Knowing his personality, he definitely won't give up so easily." He was extremely nervous right now. His plan had to succeed! But if it didn't… he was already coming up with countless different ways to kill Nie Yan.
Seeing Nie Yan still hadn't taken action, Divine Flame had his players gradually withdraw. He knew these people were nothing more than cannon fodder. If Nie Yan still didn't appear, all the traps he set up here would go to waste.
Divine Flame slightly lowered his guard and turned around to have a word with Crazy Magic and the others. In this fleeting moment, Nie Yan took aim at his throat and pulled the trigger.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh! Five bolts flew out toward Divine Flame.
After attacking, Nie Yan's stealth was dispelled as he gradually materialized. However, before the nearby players could react, he reentered stealth and dashed several dozen meters away. He grabbed five more bolts from his bag, reloaded the crossbow, and pulled the trigger again. All of this was done in one fluid movement.
Seeing Nie Yan's silhouette flash by, the players from Divine Protectors quickly cast Illuminate, Eyes of the Divine, and other similar skills to find him. However, it was like he had vanished into thin air. There wasn't a trace of him anywhere.
"Divine Flame, watch out!" Crazy Magic shouted.
Divine Flame turned around. Seeing the five bolts flying towards him, his heart tightened. Put put put! The bolts struck the barrier he had installed around him. After the third bolt, the barrier distorted, allowing the fourth and fifth bolt to pass through.
Radiant Barrier!
Divine Flame waved his staff, protecting himself with a magic shield. Put put! This second barrier was also pierced through, and the fifth bolt struck him.
−6,332
"What is this damage!?" Divine Flame felt a cold sweat run down his neck.
His barrier reduced all incoming damage by 70%. However, Nie Yan's bolt had still dealt well over 6,000 damage to him. This was quite simply unbelievable!
Divine Flame felt a cold sweat behind his neck.
Weren't the crossbows of Thieves supposed to be weak?
Qin Han had previously been killed by Nie Yan's crossbow. However, he didn't have the face to mention this to Divine Flame, or anyone else for that matter. So, they were completely unaware of Nie Yan's frightening ranged damage, leaving them caught off guard.
Before Divine Flame could recover from his daze, another five bolts were coming straight at him.
"Boss, careful!" A nearby Warrior jumped in front of Divine Flame to block the attack.
Put put put!
−11,818
−10,142
−23,099!
The Warrior was instantly killed.
The Warrior couldn't comprehend his death. It was only three bolts. Why was the damage so high?
Nie Yan never stopped firing. It all went incredibly fast. Load, shoot, move, load, shoot… he never missed a beat.
Several players beside Divine Flame had jumped out in front of the bolts to protect him and were killed one after the other.
Seeing three bolts flying towards his forehead, Divine Flame quickly rolled out of the way. The bolts flew inches away from his head, causing his scalp to go numb. He had just barely survived this brush with death.
Before Divine Flame could climb back to his feet, several more bolts came flying over. He couldn't help but curse in his heart, What the hell kind of firing rate is this!?
Nie Yan was firing from more than 100 meters away. So, there was still some time between the attacks, just enough to evade. If Nie Yan was even a bit closer, he would've already died.
Just as he was about to be hit, Divine Flame swung his head away. Two bolts brushed past his cheeks.
"Fuc-" Divine Flame cursed. But before he could get the words out, a bolt pierced his throat. Then another pierced his forehead and came out the back of his head. The powerful force behind the arrows sent his body flying back.
−8,921
−17,382!
Two damage numbers floated up above Divine Flame's head. His health fell to zero, and he collapsed to the ground.
Divine Flame's sudden death left Crazy Magic and the others dumbstruck.
Nie Yan cracked an evil smile. "That's one!" He entered back in stealth and disappeared without a trace.