Nie Yan struggled to turn his head. Half-Demon Angud was only 100 meters away from him.
A premonition of death welled up from the bottom of Nie Yan's heart. He glanced at his skill bar. He had no other choice. He had to face the enemy. His eyes fell on the only skill that could be of some use, Frozen Fortress. At the very least, it would buy him some precious time which he could use to find an opportunity to escape. The Tyrant Abak Set had the Instant Transmission Skill. However, bosses like Angud all had skills that could interrupt teleportation. He needed at least 10 seconds of time to escape with Instant Transmission or an Unknown Transfer Scroll.
Angud approached closer and closer. Nie Yan clenched Paternoster's Warhammer in his hand, preparing to activate Frozen Fortress at a moment's notice.
At this moment, Battle Angel Kalenna awoke from her slumber and waved her staff. A white radiance descended from the sky and fell over Nie Yan.
The fear status effect was dispelled. Nie Yan could move again!
Gale Step!
Nie Yan bolted for his life.
"Curses! A Battle Angel! Wretched being of light!" Angud chased after Nie Yan.
Nie Yan felt a corrosive miasma forming into a powerful whirlwind beside him, threatening to swallow him up.
Battle Angel Kalenna waved her staff, shielding Nie Yan with a formidable shield of holy light.
Angud spat out several deep syllables. A shower of black meteors started raining down from the sky, destroying everything in a 600-meter wide area.
Nie Yan believed he was dead. With so many meteors, there was no way he could dodge. Glancing down at his hotbar, he discovered Instant Transmission and the Unknown Transfer Scrolls were grayed out.
Just as Nie Yan was about to be annihilated by the black meteors, an enormous pillar of light shot up into the sky. It dissipated the meteors into ash and then disappeared.
Nie Yan's jaw dropped as he stared at the scene with widened eyes. He didn't expect Battle Angel Kalenna to take action, let alone go toe to toe with a Level 180 Demonified Lord!
Nie Yan realized what was going on. Angels and demons were sworn enemies, like fire and water. That was why Kalenna was helping him.
Angud unleashed various spells and curses. However, they were all neutralized by Battle Angel Kalenna. If it were just Nie Yan, just one or two of these spells or curses would've been enough to kill him.
Nie Yan turned tail and ran as fast as his two legs would carry him. He tried anything to shake off Angud. But no matter what he did, even after 20 minutes, he couldn't get away. Battle Angel Kalenna's mana was starting to run low.
"This lousy incarnation! Running out of mana so quickly! If I were in my real body, this would already long be over! I need time to recover my mana," Kalenna grumbled in an annoyed tone. Her white gown was as thin as a wisp of smoke, wrapping around her curvaceous figure. Her cute and immature face made it difficult to stay angry at her. Nie Yan couldn't give her commands. Sometimes she would buff him with one or two blessings or give him a shield. Other times she would ignore his existence, occasionally even disappearing without a trace or hole away in his breast pocket and sleep. She gave him endless headaches. How was he supposed to deal with her!? But at this crucial moment, against all his expectations, she stood up to save the day.
Angud soared several dozen meters into the air, then came diving down.
Seeing Angud getting closer and closer, Nie Yan shot a web line at a nearby tree and swung to safety. He opened up a distance of more than a dozen meters.
BOOOM! Angud's struck the ground like a meteor, sending rocks and rubble flying everywhere.
Vorpal Sprint!
Nie Yan activated the skill from Abak's Vorpal Striders. His body immediately transformed into a seven-coloured streak as he left Angud in the dust.
With his base stats, Nie Yan was already starting to push the limits of speed. After activating Vorpal Sprint, he reached an astonishing height.
Angud ran at his fastest speed, but Nie Yan was getting further and further away.
Nie Yan glanced over his shoulder and saw that he had already pulled open a distance of 100 meters between him and Angud. He continued running for his life, not daring to linger for the shortest moment. He was terrified of Angud striking him down with some random spell.
Battle Angel Kalenna kept waving her staff, neutralizing Angud's attack.
About six minutes later, Nie Yan had widened the distance to over 300 meters.
Vorpal Sprint only lasted for 10 minutes. In other words, he could only pull open the distance between him and Angud to 600 meters at most. This was still far from enough. Angud would eventually catch up to him.
Glancing at his hotbar, Nie Yan had no idea what sort of skill Angud had used on him. The Unknown Transfer Scroll was still grayed out.
After running for a bit more, Nie Yan spotted a rocky barren up ahead. This rough terrain would make escaping even more difficult.
As he climbed past several rocks, he found a deep, pitch black pithole.
Looking behind him, Nie Yan saw Angud's silhouette still chasing after him. Screw it! Not like I have any better options! He lunged forward and leaped into the pithole. After falling for about half-a-minute, the echoes coming from below him told him he was close to reaching the bottom. He activated the Crawler ability and dug his hands in the wall to slow his fall. THUD! He landed on the ground.
Nie Yan had no idea where he was. He could still clearly see around him with his high Night Vision. He didn't linger for long and headed deeper inside.
Above ground, Angud was standing in front of the pithole. He paced back and forth around the entrance, hesitating to go inside.
News of Angud chasing after Nie Yan quickly reached the ears of the players from the Evil Faction. Some Thieves had even followed from a distance and witnessed Nie Yan leaping into the pithole. Angud was extremely frightening, striking dread into the hearts of all those who saw him. Yet Nie Yan had successfully escaped such an existence. This was an inconceivable matter! Battle Angel Kalenna also started gaining players' attention. Since she hadn't done much before, some players even believed she was purely decorative. But today, people finally got to see how powerful she was. Just what was she, that she could go toe to toe with Angud?
Discussion about Angud and Battle Angel Kalenna flooded the forums. However, many players were wondering about something else. What was Nie Yan up to right now!? One had to know, the pithole he entered was a famous forbidden zone. No one that entered there had ever returned alive.
Nie Yan trekked through the underground passage for roughly three minutes, when Bennett's Soul floated out from his bag and came to a halt in mid-air.
Nie Yan took a few more steps forward, but Bennett's Soul wouldn't follow after him. So, he could only turn around and walk back.
What the hell was going on?
"I hate it here!" Kalenna grumbled.
Nie Yan could sense the wariness in Kalenna's heart. Just what could make even her afraid?
Looking in the depths of the passage, all Nie Yan saw was a pitch-black darkness. He had no idea where he was going.
I better get out of this place fast, Nie Yan thought. This place left him feeling all sorts of uneasy. Conviction had many forbidden zones where players shouldn't enter, especially maps where Level 200 Demonified Lords made their territory. Any intruders would be killed beyond a shadow of a doubt. If you accidently stumbled into such a place, it was best you turn around and leave quickly.
Kalenna wasn't even afraid when fighting Angud, but whatever was inside the depths of this pithole left her trembling in fear.
Nie Yan determined the thing lurking inside here was even more powerful than Angud. Going amy deeper was simply seeking death.
Nie Yan glanced at his hot bar. He still needed to wait five minutes to activate his Unknown Transfer Scroll.
"Guess I have no choice but to wait. I hope nothing happens," Nie Yan muttered, sitting down on the ground. He glanced back behind him. "Looks like Angud didn't chase after me."
Time slowly ticked away. There were still two minutes left. Nie Yan gazed around at his surroundings out of boredom. With his powerful Night Vision, he could see everything clearly within a 10-meter radius.
Nie Yan suddenly discovered a chest tucked behind some rocks. He didn't know what rarity it was. It was nine meters away. He only needed to go just a bit further to open it!
Nie Yan hesitated for a moment. It was right in front of him! He looked at the chest. No, he had to open it! It'd be too much of a waste to leave it sitting here.
Glancing at Bennett's Soul and Kalenna, Nie Yan took a deep breath and walked forward.
A sinister chill blew out from the depths of the passage, causing Nie Yan to shiver uncontrollably.
Nie Yan knew attempting to open that chest was an extremely dangerous and risky action.
The cold wind howled, and eerie screams and cries came echoing out from the depths of the passage, causing his hair to stand on end.
From this distance, Nie Yan could see that the chest was dark gold in colour and made out of some unknown metal. It was covered in black gems that resembled the night sky.
A Legendary chest!
Nie Yan could vaguely make out some different shapes next to the chest. Taking another step forward, his eyes widened in shock. They were skeletons! The bones were scattered over the rocks. Who knew how long they had been there. They had been badly eroded by the elements, brittled to the point that they could collapse into dust at any moment.
Nie Yan felt a chill in his heart. He wondered if there were any traps in this place.
Nie Yan thought for a moment. Let's give it a shot! He recalled all the gadgets and bobbles in his bag. After rummaging through them, he pulled out two small capsules. These were specially made by Violet Mist. Her Tinkering had already reached the astonishing rank of Grandmaster, meaning she could make all sorts of high level items. On this trip to the underworld, he had brought 30 different kinds with him and 70 in total. They were quite good, coming in handy in many situations.
Nie Yan tossed the two capsules on the ground. BOMF! BOMF! Two basketball sized spiders ermerged. They looked just like real spiders, but they were actually automatons. They had zero attack power.