Chapter 1 Approaching the Black Elf Tribe

The two-headed giant rushed towards Nie Yan, swinging its mace down at him.

Seeing the mace about to smash Nie Yan into mincemeat, Su Youyou and Sanjie Buliu couldn't help but feel a knot in their stomachs.

Everyone thought Nie Yan was done for.

Just as the mace was about to fall on his head, Nie Yan looked up, a flash of divine light suddenly appearing in his eyes.

With a loud crash, the mace slammed into the ground, but the spot where Nie Yan had been standing was now empty. The two-headed giant wore a bewildered expression.

Before the two-headed giant could lift its mace, a figure appeared beneath it. Nie Yan delivered an elbow strike to the two-headed giant's massive abdomen.

The force of the blow staggered the two-headed giant back a few steps.

Nie Yan braced his hands on the ground, using the momentum to flip himself up and kick the two-headed giant in the chin.

With a loud thump, the two-headed giant flew backwards.

The two-headed giant crashed heavily to the ground, and Nie Yan's body followed, a knee strike slamming into the two-headed giant's abdomen once more.

A glance at the system prompt showed a combo of 3.

But this was just the beginning. Nie Yan had already removed some of his legendary equipment to make his attacks seem more plausible, but his damage was still over ten thousand. Under Nie Yan's continuous assault, the two-headed giant's health plummeted.

At this moment, Su Youyou, Sanjie Buliu, and the others, who were watching Nie Yan fight the two-headed giant, were stunned. Their mouths hung open, their faces filled with disbelief.

Nie Yan moved so fast that he was just a series of afterimages. All they could see was the two-headed giant being knocked back repeatedly.

The fluidity of his movements was breathtaking.

Although they couldn't see Nie Yan's actions clearly, the constant flashing afterimages made his attacks appear extraordinarily dazzling.

Su Youyou and Sanjie Buliu exchanged glances, and a single word escaped their lips in unison: "Shadow Dance!" They couldn't describe their inner shock. They never expected to encounter a Shadow Dancer here!

These people were quite knowledgeable and immediately recognized Nie Yan's movements.

Zi Ye's gaze was somewhat dazed. He had thought Nie Yan was just an ordinary human thief and had never associated him with a Shadow Dancer. His previous taunts about Nie Yan not being able to lure monsters had become a complete joke. Nie Yan didn't need to lure monsters at all. He could solo a Level 180 two-headed giant!

"Is this guy even human?" one of Sanjie Buliu's warrior teammates couldn't help but exclaim.

"Can you find out where this guy comes from? There are only a few thieves in the Greenlund Empire who have reached the Shadow Dance level. Where did this guy pop out from!"

"Judging from his appearance, it shouldn't be Mad Rogue Nie Yan. It probably isn't King of the World, Smile Not For Me, or Sun either. We're too familiar with their faces."

They didn't know that potent disguise potions existed. Ordinary disguise potions that lasted for two or three tens of minutes were already considered very good. They had been in contact with Nie Yan for almost half an hour now.

Who Nie Yan was didn't matter anymore. What mattered was that Nie Yan was a Shadow Dancer, and he might really be able to lead them to the treasure!

Time passed by, minute by minute. Su Youyou checked the time. In less than five minutes, the two-headed giant was lying on the ground, unable to move.

This guy had actually taken down the two-headed giant single-handedly in five minutes. What a freak!

Nie Yan picked up the items dropped by the two-headed giant. There was a Level 180 gold-grade equipment piece, trash. Normally, Nie Yan wouldn't even bother to glance at it. Besides the gold equipment, he also got a piece of a golden key, about the size of a thumb. It was probably what they were looking for. He checked the system prompt. A continuous combo of 17 hits. The two-headed giant didn't even have a chance to fight back from beginning to end. Nie Yan was quite satisfied with this. He was using his skills much more smoothly than before.

If he put on all his equipment, Nie Yan estimated that he could kill the two-headed giant in at most two minutes.

Sanjie Buliu, Su Youyou, and the others walked over.

Nie Yan tossed the gold equipment to Sanjie Buliu and said, "Let's go, hurry up. Next one."

Su Youyou's clear, bright eyes carefully scrutinized Nie Yan's face, trying to find a flaw, but undoubtedly, she failed. Nie Yan was truly a mysterious person.

"Okay, sure." Sanjie Buliu nodded and turned to his teammates, saying, "I'm resigning from the position of captain. From now on, Tian Yuan will be our captain. Listen to his commands."

"Understood."

Everyone agreed without any objection. Zi Ye surprisingly didn't say anything to refute it. He understood that people like him were just scum in Nie Yan's eyes.

In fact, Nie Yan probably didn't even need these people and could do the quest alone. However, Sanjie Buliu had the treasure map and had been preparing for more than a month, so he definitely had a lot of clues. That made them indispensable, equivalent to being Nie Yan's guides.

Over the next period of time, Sanjie Buliu, Su Youyou, Zi Ye, and the others witnessed what it meant to be a real freak. Along the way, there were a total of seven Level 170-180 elites. At their own speed, it would take at least three or four hours to deal with them. Nie Yan swept through them all in just thirty-five minutes. All seven elites were killed.

The last elite was a two-headed giant with a completely blue body, a Level 180 elite with extremely high defense and the ability to cast group attack magic. It was the main culprit that had caused Sanjie Buliu, Su Youyou, and the others to wipe out several times. But this same two-headed giant, in Nie Yan's hands, was weak as hell. Nie Yan played it to death in less than three minutes, without even letting it cast a single spell. As they passed by the two-headed giant's corpse, they had an unreal feeling. Was this two-headed giant really the same one that had caused them to wipe out several times?

But the truth was right in front of their eyes!

After collecting eight key fragments, Sanjie Buliu said with delight, "That's it."

He took the eight key fragments and slowly pieced them together. A brilliant light flashed, and the dazzling light made Nie Yan and the others quickly shield their eyes with their hands.

When they could see clearly, the eight key fragments had already merged into a single key.

The palm-sized key was for opening some kind of box. It was the first time Nie Yan had ever seen such a big key.

Sanjie Buliu and the others showed expressions of wild joy. They had finally gotten their hands on this key.

"Where do we go next?" Nie Yan asked.

"We don't know either." Sanjie Buliu said with a wry smile, "We only got to the blue two-headed giant. There are quest clue prompts after that, so we can only continue to explore. But now that we've collected the key, there's no five-hour time limit anymore, so we can take our time."

"Alright then, lead the way!" Nie Yan said. He could understand that Sanjie Buliu and the others had limited strength, and it was already very difficult for them to get to the blue two-headed giant.

Sanjie Buliu looked at the quest clues and studied the treasure map, then said, "Follow me."

Sanjie Buliu led Nie Yan and the others through the jungle. Along the way, they passed several black elf settlements. They saw that the black elf settlements were in the midst of a chaotic battle, and groups of players were grinding monsters in these areas. When they saw Nie Yan and the others, they looked very vigilant. In the wild, if strangers approached, conflicts could easily arise over monster spawns, treasure grabs, and so on. Seeing Nie Yan and the others leave in a hurry, they turned their attention back to their own business.

Passing through these black elf settlements, they gradually approached the center of the black elf tribe. The black elves active here were clearly of a higher level than before, generally Level 170-180 monsters.

In the distance, inside the black elf tribe's settlement, houses stretched out one after another, and black elves were walking all over the streets. It would take a lot of effort to clear out these black elves, but if they didn't clear them out, Sanjie Buliu and the others definitely wouldn't be able to get in.

Without summoning the Golden Land Dragon and the Holy Knight Leifus, it would take at least two or three days to clear out these black elves. If he summoned the Golden Land Dragon and the Holy Knight Leifus, then his identity would be exposed.

"No players dare to grind monsters here yet." Sanjie Buliu jumped onto a large tree and looked inside. The center of the black elf tribe was a plaza. "The place marked on the treasure map should be in the center of the tribe."

If that was the case, then it coincided with some of the information Nie Yan had gathered.

"We can gather some friends and form a five-hundred-man group. If we clear it out little by little, it should take about three days," Su Youyou said to Sanjie Buliu and Nie Yan. She could gather many high-level teammates, and Sanjie Buliu and the others also had extensive connections.

Nie Yan thought for a moment. If he left these people behind, infiltrating the center of the black elf tribe shouldn't be a problem for him. He wondered if he could open the treasure. At worst, he would give Su Youyou, Sanjie Buliu, and the others what belonged to them according to the agreement. The only slightly depressing thing was that the treasure map was bound to Sanjie Buliu, and Sanjie Buliu was still somewhat wary of Nie Yan.

"I'll go in and take a look at the situation first, then we can make a plan," Nie Yan said after thinking about it.

"You alone?" Su Youyou was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized something. "I almost forgot, you're a Shadow Dancer. Infiltrating this black elf tribe shouldn't be a problem for you."

"Be careful. Take this key with you. It might be able to bypass the black elves and open the treasure. The treasure map seems to have some hints about how to open the treasure, but I can't interpret them without seeing the situation over there," Sanjie Buliu said. At this moment, he couldn't help but envy Nie Yan. Being a thief was great.

Nie Yan nodded and said, "You guys continue to study it. Send me a message if you find anything new."

After saying goodbye to Sanjie Buliu, Su Youyou, and the others, Nie Yan entered stealth mode and headed towards the black elf tribe.