−29,444
−27,551
−26,397
...
Looking at the damage the Nagas took from the Flame Walls, it appeared this Spectral Thief was using some pretty high rank scrolls.
Someone helping him clear out these Nagas would save him a lot of trouble. Nie Yan gazed toward the plaza in the center of the village, where he saw a larger Naga roaming around.
That was Nie Yan's target, the Level 180 Variant Lord, Naga King!
Nie Yan would hesitate to face a Demonified Lord. However, he was confident in soloing a Variant Lord.
The Spectral Thief was fully focused on dealing with the Elite Nagas. He was pretty fast, everytime opening a small distance with the chasing Nagas and then activating a Flame Wall scroll, but he still couldn't hold a candle to Nie Yan. Even so, his speed was still more than enough to deal with these Elite Nagas.
Extreme Vanish!
Nie Yan quickly closed in on the Spectral Thief and inspected him with Transcendent Insight. Seeing the Spectral Thief's name, his eyes widened in surprise.
This Spectral Thief was called World Dragon Emperor. He was Level 147.
This name rang a bell. In the previous timeline, World Dragon was a fierce character. He was a lone wolf who until the very end never joined any team or guild. Apart from his battle prowess, he was also one of the few Grandmaster Tinkerers in the Evil Faction. However, the reason his fame reached all the way to the surface wasn't his battle prowess nor his Tinkering skills, but rather his unrivalled flying mount. It was a Sanguine Dragon, which just happened to match his name and also made him an apex existence.
Nie Yan recalled that the Sanguine Dragon had risen all the way up to Rank 9. In the previous timeline, where flying mounts were still scarce, this was a mindblowing achievement. It would already be impressive to have a Rank 5 or 6 flying mount. Back then, Fallen Angel had hired Dragon Emperor to fight against Angel Corps in several battles. His Sanguine Dragon had dealt heavy losses to the forces of Angel Corps. Even while surrounded by several dozen flying mounts, it had slaughtered six and escaped unscathed. After that incident, players engraved the image of Dragon Emperor and his Sanguine Dragon deep into their hearts.
Nie Yan estimated that the Sanguine Dragon and Darkwing Dragon were the same level of existence. At present, his Darkwing Dragon was Rank 7 and only a step away from reaching Rank 8. One could only imagine how powerful the Rank 9 Sanguine Dragon was back then!
Dragon Emperor was running around hunting the Nagas non-stop.
If I used Extreme Vanish to kill him, he probably won't even know who hit him. But do I really want to make an enemy of someone with a potential Rank 9 Sanguine Dragon? Nie Yan hesitated.
After weighing his options, Nie Yan decided it was best not to pointlessly make more enemies.
However, the Naga King was right in front of him. If Dragon Emperor didn't leave, Nie Yan wouldn't feel at ease facing the boss.
Nie Yan crept over toward Dragon Emperor and dispelled his stealth when he was only five meters away.
Dragon Emperor pulled out a scroll and was just about to activate it, when he saw a person appear beside him from the corner of his eye. He nearly had a heart attack. Activating Gale Step, he retreated more than 10 meters away.
A Naga came slithering over. Losing sight of Dragon Emperor, it shifted its attention to Nie Yan. It immediately brandished its weapons and pounced toward him.
Nie Yan took several steps back. With a Phantom Assassination, his body blurred into multiple after images. PSFHT! He pierced the Naga in the throat, then sent it flying with an elbow strike.
"Nirvana Flame!" Dragon Emperor cried out in shock. He came to an abrupt halt.
What was Nirvana Flama up to? Dragon Emperor sunk into silence. When Nie Yan had sneaked up on him, he hadn't the slightest clue. If Nie Yan wanted to kill him, he would already be a corpse on the ground. His life was clearly spared!
Dragon Emperor came out of stealth. The two met eyes.
"Hey, mind if I take the Naga King?" Nie Yan asked. There were already three Naga corpses around his feet.
Dragon Emperor was bewildered. If it was simply laying claim to the Naga King, wouldn't it be simpler to kill him? After all, the two of them belonged to different factions. He couldn't for the life of him understand what Nie Yan was thinking. Perhaps the Mad Rogue was just eccentric like this.
"Go ahead. I can't defeat it anyway," Dragon Emperor said. He was still taken aback. However, even though Nie Yan spared his life, he wasn't willing to show weakness.
"Thanks." Nie Yan dashed off in the direction of the Naga King.
"Is this guy really planning to face the Naga King…?" Dragon Emperor muttered. After grinding here for the better part of the last six days, he knew just what kind of existence the Naga King was. Perhaps Nie Yan really did have the ability to face the Naga King. But wasn't Nie Yan worried he would try to ambush him, or wasn't he a threat in the eyes of the Mad Rogue?
Dragon Emperor let out a sigh as he watched Nie Yan dashing off toward the Naga King. "Fine, you win this time." Nie Yan had spared his life just now. He wouldn't have the face to ambush Nie Yan while he was dealing with the Naga King.
"I want to see how you're going to do it," Dragon Emperor muttered. As he continued hunting the Nagas in the vicinity, he occasionally glanced over in Nie Yan's direction.
It wasn't that Nie Yan didn't feel any sense of wariness, but rather he could tell at a glance that Dragon Emperor was an extremely prideful individual. Why else wouldn't he join any teams or guilds? People like him hated resorting to underhanded methods. So, Nie Yan was gambling that Dragon Emperor wouldn't try to bother him.
The Naga King was five meters tall with stone gray scales. It looked like an enormous statue, wielding six different weapons, a blade, sword, halberd, trident, spiked mace, and pole.
The Naga King slithered around the plaza, oblivious to the impending doom.
Since the shadow clone was still on cooldown, Nie Yan couldn't use it in this fight. He summoned Lil' Gold and Paladin Lafus, then approached within 100 meters of the Naga King.
The Naga King noticed Nie Yan's gaze and locked its eyes onto him.
The two sides entered a stand off.
"Is he planning to face the Naga King head-on?" Dragon Emperor couldn't help but mutter. That was practically seeking death! However, wasn't this exactly how Nie Yan acquired the name of Mad Rogue? He became even more curious. Just how was Nie Yan going to take down the Naga King?
"HISSS!" The Naga King charged toward Nie Yan, causing the ground to rumble.
Dragon Emperor glanced over in Nie Yan's direction. What he saw left him completely dumbstruck. A blur was dancing around the Naga King leaving behind a series of afterimages. Nie Yan launched a furious assault, pushing it back with every attack. It eventually lost its balance and fell down. When it finally struggled back upright, it swung its weapons in a frenzy, but none of its attacks could touch a hair on Nie Yan's body.
He's pushing the limits of speed! Dragon Emperor thought. He believed this kind of speed to only be a legend. He never expected someone to actually achieve it. Just how high were Nirvana Flame's stats!? He immediately recalled the Tyrant Abak Set and Zennarde's Sword in Nie Yan's possession and broke out into a bitter smile. With such amazing equipment, it was only normal to have insane stats.
Nie Yan easily evaded the Naga King's attacks. Even when its attacks rained down like a fierce gail, he was still finding openings with seeming ease and retaliate with a string of attacks.
Seeing Nie Yan repeatedly knocked the Naga King to the ground, Dragon Emperor sucked in a breath of cold air. Was this guy still human!?
The Naga King which was viewed as invincible in the eyes of ordinary players was being played around with like a small rodent. This completely overturned Dragon Emperor's common sense. The Mad Rogue really did live up to his name!
Lil' Gold and Paladin Lafus provided support fire from the back. In the rare occasion that Nie Yan did get hit by the Naga King, Paladin Lafus would instantly heal him back up.
About half-an-hour later, the Naga King's health fell to 10%.
The Naga King went berserk. Its entire body burned hot red as its attacks came at a much faster rate.
Under the dense torrent of attacks, Nie Yan was gradually being overwhelmed.
PSFHT! PSFHT! Two damage values of over 10,000 floated up above Nie Yan's head. If it weren't for Paladin Lafus' Rank 16 Holy Barrier taking the brunt of the damage, he would already be dead.
A gentle light fell over Nie Yan, restoring his health back to full.
Nie Yan quickly retreated back, then switched over to Zennarde's Sword.
"HISS! HISS!"The Naga King flickered its red tongue and went in pursuit.
Nie Yan took two steps back, drawing the Naga King in between two buildings.
Annihilation Slash!
10 flaming swords emerged in the air above Nie Yan. They merged into one as they came cleaving down on the Naga King. BAANG! It was sent staggering several meters back.
Nie Yan leaped into the air and switched back to the Bloody Dagger and Slaughter Edge. He then started dishing out a string of attacks from kicks and elbow strikes to slashes and stabs, knocking the Naga King on to the ground. As he came falling down from the air, he ruthlessly stabbed his blade into its throat, causing blood to fly everywhere.
The Naga King's health bar finally bottomed out as its body stopped struggling.