Just as Nie Yan was about to be dogpiled on by these Variant Lords, he activated Leap and soared over 20 meters into the air.
Numerous spells flew through the air, blotting out the sky.
The Druids immediately changed from their bear forms into large black eagles and took to the air.
Nie Yan was about to be inundated with spells.
What can I do…? Nie Yan despaired.
At this moment, Nie Yan's eyes happened to fall on a pillar some 10 meters away. He shot a web line at it, and with a hard tug, he swung over.
Nie Yan activated Crawl to make his hands sticky. With a light pa sound, he firmly landed on the pillar. Whew! That was close. Nie Yan broke out into a cold sweat as he looked over his shoulder at the barrage of spells he'd evaded. Seeing several large black eagles swooping down on him, he crawled around to the other side of the pillar, then leaped off, flying more than several dozen meters.
The Variant Lords in the back immediately went into pursuit of Nie Yan and moved to surround him.
These bandits were extremely fast. Nie Yan was forced to use every speed boosting skill in his arsenal. He ran away from them for over half-an-hour before finally losing them.
Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He hid behind some scattered rubble. According to Twilight Chill and the others' description, this area didn't have many guards at first. Only after a few of them got discovered, did more appear. If it were only one or two Variant Lords, Nie Yan felt some confidence in handling them. On the other hand, against several hundred of them, even if he had three heads and six arms, it would still be useless.
The Variant Lords searched around. After failing to find any trace of Nie Yan, they finally scattered.
After passing through this section of the ruins, Nie Yan continued exploring deeper. There were crumbling walls and structures everywhere. Every so often, he would encounter some Level 180 Variant Lords. They were patrolling around all over the place.
These Variant Lords had extremely keen senses. Nie Yan had no choice but to hide and wait for them to leave before continuing forward. Sometimes, he simply sat in a corner for up to half-an-hour waiting.
Nie Yan wasted almost a whole day in the outer hall. Finally, he found himself outside the inner area of the temple. He could see several towering obelisks about 100 meters away. They stood over 60 meter high and required six grown men linking arms to fully wrap around their circumference.
The entrance to the inner area was a flight of ascending stairs leading to who knows where.
Nie Yan passed around a corner and gazed over at the entrance. It was guarded by 70 Level 180 Variant Lords. They were in groups of twos and threes and chatting with each other.
In order to avoid being discovered, Nie Yan immediately retreated back. He started counting, "...67, 68, 69,...73. Shit, 73 in total. This is going to be a pain in the behind…" With so many Variant Lords guarding this area, sneaking past them would be impossible. He would have to fight them.
Nie Yan felt a headache coming on. Just how was he going to get past these Variant Lords?
After going over all his options, Nie Yan's gaze fell on a certain skill—Disguise!
This skill would definitely work, but he had to kill a Level 180 Variant Lord first!
Nie Yan would have no problem soloing a Level 180 Variant Lord, the problem lay in finding one that was alone.
Nie Yan wandered around the ruins in search of a lone Variant Lord. He could only rely on his luck. Even up until the servers shut down, he had none.
During the day, Nie Yan went to school with Xie Yao. In the early evening, the two ate dinner, after which they entered back into the game.
Nie Yan continued searching around the ruins, but he still couldn't find a lone Variant Lord. They were always in at least pairs. However, he did make a pleasant discovery, a gray chest which was hidden behind some rubble in a secluded corner. It was covered in a thick layer of dust.
Even though it was well-hidden, it still couldn't escape Nie Yan's sharp eyes. He crouched down in front of the chest. Since it was covered in so much dirt and dust, he couldn't even see what kind of chest it exactly was. As he reached out his hand and wiped the surface, its appearance was gradually revealed.
It was a dark green coloured chest of Sub Legendary rarity!
Nie Yan started opening the chest.
Opening chest… Progress: 35%... 67%...
With a click, the lid popped open.
Nie Yan stuck his arm inside and rummaged around before pulling out a black book.
It was a skill book!
Apart from this skill book, there was nothing else inside the chest.
Nie Yan checked the skill book.
Extreme Vanish: Sub Legendary
Description: Completely erase your presence for a brief period of time. Stealth +300% and Cloaking +300% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 20 minutes. Can be ranked up.
Restrictions: Thief
Nie Yan's face lit up with elation. This was just the kind of skill he'd been looking for! He'd found some similar skills before, but they failed to meet his standards and were forgotten in the end. Extreme Vanish, however, did meet his requirements. With this skill active, he could sneak right up to an enemy completely unnoticed!
Nie Yan placed the Extreme Vanish skill book in his palm. With a flash of light, it melted in his hands. A new skill appeared in his skill bar.
After learning Extreme Vanish, Nie Yan continued roaming around the area in search of a lone Variant Lord.
Six hours felt like six seconds, as time quickly passed by. Even though Nie Yan still didn't have any luck finding a lone Variant Lord, he did make an unexpected discovery. He found the library Twilight Chill spoke of. The entire place was practically on the verge of collapsing. He wondered what mysteries lay within.
As Nie Yan stepped foot inside the library, he gazed around in wonder and amazement. Nobody had entered this place in a long, long time, that much was clear. The books were covered in a thick blanket of dust. Who knew what kind of materials they were made out of to have not completely rotted away by now. He picked up a book and tried to place it in his bag so he could slowly read through it later. However, a notification popped up.
Item cannot be stored in bag.
The books here couldn't be taken away!
Nie Yan hesitated. Since he had plenty of time, it wouldn't hurt to stay here and read these books. Perhaps he could learn some valuable information. He searched for a catalogue of all books related to the Goddess of Life, Abak, and divinities. Skimming over the pages, a flood of information poured into his mind.
Clearing the Temple of the Goddess of Life and obtaining Abak's Leg Guards of Focus in the next few days wasn't realistic. He might as well sit down and carefully think of a plan.
After spending an entire day in the library, Nie Yan logged out of the game. He had read through many legends related to the Goddess of Life. He planned to continue his research tomorrow.
Nie Yan stepped out of the game capsule and yawned. Today was a holiday. He could go outside with Xie Yao and do whatever they felt like. Looking out the window, the sky was clear.
Nie Yan walked into the garage and started his Thrawn. He glanced at the date and time in his car—August 8th. Suddenly, his heart started racing, like something bad was about to happen. He felt extremely uneasy, but he didn't know why.
Xie Yao also got in the car with a light smile on her face. "Where are we going today?"
"Nowhere in particular. Let's just look around town," Nie Yan replied in a somewhat absent-minded tone.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Xie Yao asked in a worried tone. She quickly noticed something was off about Nie Yan.
"No. I'm fine." Nie Yan shook his head uneasily.
"If you're feeling sick, we can rest at home today." Xie Yao gently stared at Nie Yan. She placed her hand over his forehead. He didn't have a fever.
"Let's go to the beach," Nie Yan said. He didn't want to dampen Xie Yao's mood. Pushing down on the accelerator, the Thrawn sped out of the garage and down the street.
The two spent the morning on the beach. Around lunchtime, as they were searching for a place to eat, Nie Yan's phone rang. He didn't know why, but the call made his heart jump. Looking at the caller ID, it was Guo Huai. He probably wanted to discuss some guild matters.
「Guo Huai, what's up?」Nie Yan asked.
「This morning, Tang Yao and I went to a gathering with some friends at Spring Moon in Huahai. One of his friends dragged him somewhere else. I tried calling his phone, but it was off. It's already been three hours since I last heard from him. I'm starting to get worried,」Guo Huai said.
After hearing Guo Huai's words, Nie Yan instantly became nervous as if he had confirmed something in his heart. An intense feeling of uneasiness swept over him.
「Did he tell you where he was going?」Nie Yan anxiously asked.
「I think they went to a bar. He wanted to refuse, but that friend kept on pressuring him until he finally gave up and agreed. It seemed like Tang Yao wanted to call you, but he got swept up in the moment and forgot,」Guo Huai said. He sensed the uneasiness in Nie Yan's tone.「Why? Is something wrong?」
「That dumbass! I told him not to go to any bars!」Nie Yan cursed out in anger, his heart racing uncontrollably. Dammit, Tang Yao! Nothing better happen to you! He quickly turned his Thrawn around and started driving towards Huahai. However, even at top speed, it would still take him over two hours to get there!
Hearing Nie Yan's words, Guo Huai also understood the seriousness of the situation.「I'll send some people to go find him. If anyone dares to touch him, I'll make them pay!」
Guo Huai hung up the call and immediately got in touch with his subordinates.
"Nie Yan, what's going on? Is Tang Yao going to be alright?" Xie Yao asked. She'd overheard the conversation between Nie Yan and Guo Huai.