Nie Yan returned home and ate dinner with Xie Yao. By the time they finished, the servers were about to reopen.
Nie Yan and Xie Yao entered the game. One after another, with bright flashes of light, the 21 Masters reappeared in Barthe.
"Have any of you thought of a plan?" Nie Yan asked, his gaze landing on the 10 Dark Druids in the distance.
Everyone had a bitter smile on their face. They looked at the others in the hope someone had thought of a method. In this kind of circumstance, what could they possibly come up with?
"Seems like we can only brute-force it."
"We don't have any idea how deep the mana pools of those Dark Druids are. If they can continuously heal each other without limit, we'll only be wasting our time," Bladelight said. Brute-forcing it was a last resort method. He faintly knitted his brows. "Is there anything we can do to drain away their mana? That'd make it a lot easier."
"Draining mana? What about the Mana Burn spell Priests have?" Tang Yao suggested.
"Casters won't work. They're too easily killed." Lei Su shook his head.
Druids had powerful crowd control skills. On top of this, after transforming into cheetahs, they gained a stealth ambush ability similar to that of a Thief, which was the bane of casters. Not to mention there were 10 Dark Druids on the opposing side while they only had three Priests in the form of Black Hell, Young Seven, and Painted Muslin. There was no way their Mana Burn spells could drain away all the mana of these Dark Druids.
"Then what are we going to do?"
"What about a Mana Burn Arrow? Those could work."
"Mana Burn Arrows are crazy expensive though. Also, they might work on regular casters, but it's definitely a no-go against a Level 160 Lord."
"Bah! This doesn't work. That doesn't work. Nothing works!"
Everyone heavily discussed with each other, but no one could come up with a good plan.
"I think my Mana Seal Domain might work," Dark Requiem said. He was the team's sole Guardian.
20 pairs of eyes fell on Dark Requiem. He and Street Vulture were recent additions to Asskickers United. They had almost forgotten he was here. Not to mention, none of them were familiar with the skills of a Guardian.
"Mana Seal Domain?" Nie Yan recalled this skill was the most famous Forbidden Magic of Guardians in the previous timeline. It could seal all the mana in the atmosphere in an area with a 500-meter diameter, leaving all casters incapable of casting magic and nullifying all active spells. It had a duration of one hour and a cooldown time of 30 days.
"What kind of skill is that? Share it with us," Undying Scoundrel said.
Dark Requiem shared the skill information of Mana Seal Domain in chat. After seeing it, everyone was taken aback. What a powerful skill! No wonder it was a Forbidden Magic.
"Mana Seal Domain is pretty useful. It can stop the Dark Druids from healing, but the problem is that it also targets ally magic. If you activate it, we'll lose the DPS of our Mages. That means we'll be relying completely on the melee units for damage."
"Right, the transformation of druids is also magic. With the Mana Seal Domain active, they can't transform or cast any support magic," Young Seven remarked with excitement. Losing access to both these things meant the Druid's strength would fall by at least 50%.
"Let's give it a go. I'll tank two Dark Druids," Smoke Stub said. As a Master, he was no stranger to taking on Elites and Lords alone. But this would still be his first time facing off against two Level 160 Lords at once.
"I'll take on two as well," Lei Su said.
"I can take on three," Bladelight said. He was a Champion. He had the highest health and defense out of everyone here.
"I can also keep one busy," Dark Requiem said. He was a Guardian, a jack of all trades wearing a set of plate armour.
Like this, the plan started taking shape. Smoke Stub, Lei Su, Bladelight, and Dark Requiem would tank eight of the 10 Dark Druids. Sun, King of the World, Mistaken Smile, Shadow Killer, One Strike Vow, and Nie Yan would be the main damage dealers.
"I'll have Lil' Gold and Paladin Lafus handle the remaining two Dark Druids. Thieves, come here," Nie Yan said. The six Shadow Dancers gathered together. "We'll use wolf-pack tactics and take out the Dark Druids one by one. Quick and clean in and out."
"Got it!" The Thieves all agreed.
Nie Yan looked up information on the Two-Headed Hellhounds. They possessed powerful magic, even capable of breathing fire. This was precisely why the Dark Druids kept them by their sides. However, with the activation of Mana Seal Domain, even the most powerful magic would be rendered completely moot. Without any non-magic ranged attacks and chained up to the obelisks, they would be rendered useless.
Nie Yan started to understand why Mana Seal Domain was known as the most powerful Forbidden Magic of Guardians. Once it was activated, even a Magister couldn't activate Forbidden Magic.
"Alright, listen up. We're about to set out." Nie Yan explained the plan.
After everyone got into position, Dark Requiem leaped on top of the roof of a nearby building and started chanting out an incantation. One syllable after another left his mouth. After several sets of syllables, his entire body lit up with a dazzling radiance.
Mana Seal Domain only had a cast time of 70 seconds. This meant that if you saw an enemy Magister casting Forbidden Magic, you had plenty of time to stop them with this spell.
After Mana Seal Domain was activated, Nie Yan and the others could feel the mana in the atmosphere completely stagnate. Even the wind stopped blowing.
"Did it work?"
"How come I can't tell?"
Tang Yao extended his hand and tried to conjure up a flame. Not even a spark lit up. Concentrating harder, he tried again. But alas, there was no reaction.
"It's working," Tang Yao said, gazing at Nie Yan.
"Let's go!" Nie Yan said. As soon as the words left his mouth, Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Lei Su, and Dark Requiem each headed toward one of the five obelisks in the center of the square.
The restless reactions of the Two-Headed Hellhounds immediately alerted the Dark Druids. Their blood red eyes locked onto Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the others. They attempted to transform and buff each other, only to discover their magic didn't work. They then lumbered forward.
Dark Requiem discovered none of the Dark Druids noticed him. He quickly took out a hand bowgun from his sleeve and pulled the trigger, shooting out five bolts into the air.
Put put put! The bolts struck one of the Dark Druids. It let out an enraged roar and immediately charged toward Dark Requiem, who turned and ran away.
「I've aggroed one,」Dark Requiem said.
「Bladelight, you handle those three on the left.」
「Smoke Stub, be careful!」
As five Dark Druids charged over, Smoke Stub bent his body and slid through the gap between them. At the same time, he activated Whirlwind Slash, accurately tagging two of them. After which he immediately fled away.
The two Dark Druids struck chased after Smoke Stub.
The remaining three Dark Druids also wanted to pursue Smoke Stub. However, Bladelight came charging in from the side and rammed into them, immediately attracting their aggro.
As for Lei Su, Lil' Gold, and Paladin Lafus, they had successfully attracted the aggro of the Dark Druids they'd set their sights on.
「Help Dark Requiem take down that lone Dark Druid first!」Nie Yan said. The six Shadow Dancers immediately disappeared into stealth.
The Dark Druid repeatedly smashed down with his gnarled wooden staff as Dark Requiem evaded left and right. Dark Requeim's skills were top notch. No matter how the Dark Druid attacked, it couldn't land a single blow on him. On the other hand, he found openings to retaliate in between attacks.
−12,327
−10,193
−11,438
…
A string of damage values floated up above the Dark Druid's head.
「This guy's defense is way lower than Phantom Princess Ina's. His health is only 15,000,000 too,」Dark Requiem said. Sure enough, without the ability to transform and cast buffs, these Dark Druids were much weaker than other Level 160 Lords.
Six silhouettes appeared around the lone Dark Druid. They nimbly evaded his attacks.
Nie Yan circled behind the Dark Druid, then shot forward with a Backbreaker.
BANG! The Dark Druid was immobilized. The cripple effect of the Rank 18 Backbreaker was pretty good, lasting for five seconds.
「Keep him CC'd!」Nie Yan checked his skill window. He still had many crowd control skills available. In coordination with the other Thieves, it'd be possible to keep the Dark Druid locked down indefinitely. Such were the crowd control skills of Shadow Dancers.
After the cripple wore off, before the Dark Druid had a chance to make a move, Sun struck him with a ruthless elbow to the spine, incapacitating him again.
A string of damage values floated up above the Dark Druid's head. Sun, King of the World, and the others were dealing approximately 10,000 each hit, critting for up to 40,000 damage. Nie Yan was the anomaly. His normal attacks were hitting for 30,000 damage and critting for over 300,000!
The Dark Druid was quite frail with only 15,000,000 health. Its health rapidly plummeted. After only 30 or so seconds, it collapsed on the ground.
Nie Yan picked up the Dark Druid's drops off the ground. A violet crystal among the loot caught his attention.
His heart trembled. An Evolution Crystal!
After such a long time, Nie Yan had finally obtained a second one. Not to mention it was violet coloured, which meant it was of a far higher quality than the one he got before.