Chapter 1 The Saintly Word Priest

Saintly Word Priests were indeed the bane of thieves. Once marked by a priest, even if a thief went into stealth, players could easily detect them. Therefore, Saintly Word Priests were often the targets of thieves' ambushes. They were cloth-armor users, very fragile, and had the lowest health among all cloth-armor classes. Although they had offensive skills, many priests often weren't proficient in PK techniques, unlike Elemental Mages, Arcane Mages, Saintly Word Mages, or even Shadow Priests.

This group of players hadn't realized the danger approaching. Nie Yan had done everything possible to conceal his presence. Unless someone had exceptionally high perception and sharp reactions, they wouldn't be able to sense his approach.

The higher the perception, the stronger a player's sense of danger. If the perception was low, the sense of danger would only be fleeting and difficult to grasp. To counter the perception of players, thieves desperately enhanced their stealth and concealment attributes. Nie Yan's stealth and concealment attributes were already very high. As long as he was careful, only those with extremely high perception could detect him, and even if they sensed danger, they wouldn't be able to pinpoint his location.

Setting a trap to hunt me? Nie Yan curled his lips slightly. The people from Triumph must hate him to the bone, willing to pay any cost to capture him.

This was a dangerous game.

Nie Yan trailed behind them, moving lightly.

He loved this feeling, lurking in the shadows, watching the enemies' every move. The moment his opponents showed the slightest flaw, he would strike with deadly force.

These five players consisted of a Warrior, a Priest, a Thief, a Paladin, and an Arcane Mage. It was a typical mixed setup, with a lot of melee classes and not enough firepower. Their burst damage was also poor, but such a team had one advantage: endurance. In any case, melee classes like Thieves, Paladins, and Warriors didn't have mana issues. They could keep slashing and accumulate energy to use skills, allowing them to continuously deal damage.

They were still chatting, searching for Nie Yan's trail. This was a Black Bear spawning area, and occasionally one or two Black Bears would spawn, forcing them to stop and deal with them.

"I'll tank the monster. Be careful, that thief might be nearby!" the Warrior said, charging towards a Black Bear and using Heroic Strike.

With only one Warrior tanking, the pressure was too much, so the Paladin followed.

"Understood." The surrounding teammates looked nervous. Every time they encountered a Black Bear spawn and had to stop to deal with it, they felt frustrated, because they had no idea if the thief would appear at that moment. The occasional passing Triumph players gave them a bit of reassurance.

Seeing the Warrior and Paladin dealing with the Black Bear, Nie Yan crept towards the Priest's back.

The Priest was very cautious. After each heal on the Warrior, he would move around a few times to ensure his safety. However, his sense of danger was clearly not high enough. These short-range movements were completely ineffective against Nie Yan.

The Priest's movements were somewhat perfunctory, lacking any practicality. His route was also simple, allowing Nie Yan to predict his direction. Nie Yan waited on the Priest's path and, as the Priest approached, delivered a Sap to his back!

The Arcane Mage and Thief were protecting the Priest, staying within two yards of him. They suddenly realized there was danger, and a cold glint flashed behind the Priest.

"Not good!" the Thief exclaimed.

Before they could react, Nie Yan's Sap struck the Priest's head, putting him in a stunned state.

Nie Yan's dagger stabbed into the Priest's back, followed by an Eviscerate. Damage numbers of over two hundred floated above the Priest's head as he collapsed to the ground. The Priest's defense was too low, and he was wearing cloth armor, so the damage Nie Yan dealt was terrifying.

Seeing the Priest die, the Thief cursed and lunged at Nie Yan, using a Stun.

Nie Yan sidestepped, avoiding the Thief's dagger. His right-hand dagger arced through the air, striking the Thief's forehead with a Vital Strike, then circled around for a Backstab.

Each of Nie Yan's attacks dealt nearly two hundred damage. The Thief, who was at full health, fell dead in just a few seconds!

The Arcane Mage was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected two teammates to die so quickly.

They had said they would protect the Priest at all costs, so the Priest could mark Nie Yan. The Priest didn't even have a chance to react, so how could he mark him? The Arcane Mage grumbled inwardly, quickly casting Mage Armor on himself. He was preparing to cast Arcane Fireball when his body suddenly stiffened, and he couldn't move.

This was Nie Yan's Intimidation effect!

In the Arcane Mage's despairing eyes, Nie Yan's dagger landed an Assassinate strike, followed by a Garrote, reducing his health to just over ten points. Once he could move again, he quickly drank a Beginner Instant Health Potion.

Everything happened too fast, giving them little time to react. The Warrior and Paladin heard the commotion behind them and turned to see the Thief and Priest dead, with only the Arcane Mage remaining.

"He's over there!"

The Triumph team in the distance was alerted and began to encircle them.

Nie Yan picked up two pieces of equipment, not bothering to finish off the Arcane Mage, and disappeared from the players' sight. The Arcane Mage stared blankly at his health, which was steadily dropping, until he inevitably ran out of health and fell to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, three teammates had died. The thief's figure only flashed past, and they hadn't even seen what Nie Yan looked like. A chill ran down their spines. Leader Shrunken Dog had told them to come and hunt down Nie Yan, but he hadn't said that this thief would be so terrifying.

When a group from Triumph arrived, they found only three corpses. The Priests used Light Illuminations to search, but the area was empty. They expanded their search, but Nie Yan had vanished into thin air, nowhere to be found.

Once his skills recovered, Nie Yan would be able to launch the next round of ambushes.

Like a ghost lurking in the forest, each of Nie Yan's appearances took away two or three players. Shrunken Dog had instructed them to protect the Priest at all costs, so the Priest could mark Nie Yan, but every time Nie Yan appeared, the first to die was always the Priest.

Without exception, never a miss.

Triumph had lost thirteen people in a row, including six Priests. Priests were often the hardest to level up.

Shrunken Dog was furious.

"Shrunken Dog, we can't keep this up. Let's go back!" Ju Zi realized the seriousness of the situation. They had all fallen victim to Nie Yan before. Normal players wouldn't survive against Nie Yan! They hadn't even touched Nie Yan's clothes, so if they continued, they would definitely suffer losses.

"We have over five hundred, and he's just one person!"

"So what if we have over five hundred? Do you think we can catch him in this large jungle?" Ju Zi scolded.

Shrunken Dog dejectedly realized that it was very difficult. If these five hundred people were tracking him, he had a 30% chance of escaping, but from the information the team members were giving, Nie Yan had even more escape skills than him.

At that moment, more news came from the team members that several more people had died. Shrunken Dog reluctantly gave the order to gather the team, withdrawing and giving up the hunt for Nie Yan.

Seeing the Triumph team retreating from the jungle, Nie Yan, hiding in the shadows by a tree, revealed a faint smile. The dagger in his hand was stained with blood, its red glow dazzling. He calculated that he had killed as many as seventeen people.

Nie Yan understood the principle of not chasing a desperate enemy. If he chased after them and killed one or two more people, it would be troublesome if the gathered Triumph team launched a counterattack.

He thought of the Murderous Maniac Badge. Why hadn't they seen any sign of the badge after grinding Scaled Frogs for so long? Could it be that Tang Yao hadn't killed enough people?

He suddenly remembered an NPC, a famous one at that, a defector from Greenland named Bolderol, a thief, a Level 160 elite. This guy had absconded with the thief's sub-legendary item, the Dagger of Gedor, and before leaving, he had killed over a hundred guards in Carol City, earning the title of Murderous Maniac Bolderol. Therefore, Nie Yan came up with the idea that the Murderous Maniac Badge might only drop from Scaled Frogs after killing at least a hundred people.

Killing over a hundred people meant becoming a murderous maniac?

There was too little information about the Murderous Maniac Badge. He only knew that it dropped from Scaled Frogs, and some super red-named players would occasionally get the badge when killing elites there. The more powerful the red name, the higher the drop rate. Both Sub-Elite Scaled Frogs and Elite Scaled Frogs could drop it, and the drop rate was highest when killing the Scaled Frog Leader.

Tang Yao ground at least three elites and a large number of sub-elites every day, but it hadn't dropped yet, so it probably wasn't just a matter of luck.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to collect the Chapter of Justice first. He ignored the people from Triumph and flew through the jungle towards the Light Monastery.

After receiving the news from Shrunken Dog, Triumph's higher-ups severely scolded Shrunken Dog and Ju Zi. They had spent so much to get the equipment, and so many people were watching, yet it had been stolen. Triumph had completely lost face.

However, a video began to circulate within the Niu Ren Tribe, showing Nie Yan stealing Triumph's equipment while surrounded by over five hundred people, and then killing seventeen people from Triumph. This kind of event that boosted morale and destroyed Triumph's prestige was a great encouragement to the players of the Niu Ren Tribe.

The players of the Niu Ren Tribe had been suppressed for too long, constantly harassed by Triumph, and morale was wavering. However, the higher-ups of the Niu Ren Tribe hadn't taken any action. If they weren't careful, the hearts of the people below would scatter. Nie Yan was regaining face for the Niu Ren Tribe and telling the players of the Niu Ren Tribe that it wasn't that they weren't acting, or that they were afraid of Triumph, but that they were accumulating strength and waiting for the opportunity.

Fa Biao De Wo Niu