“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn't have been able to get here at all," said Half-Asleep Fox, still half-conscious.

Along the way, the team members looked at Nie Yan with complex and admiring expressions, almost completely trusting his commands. Nie Yan's orders were executed flawlessly.

Nie Yan had brought them this far, which was more than enough to prove his strength.

A person like Nie Yan was destined to become a legend.

“Brother Niè Yán, are you really not willing to join our guild? Our Holy Roman Empire is considered one of the top guilds. If you're willing to come, our benefits will definitely be no worse than other guilds. If that's still not enough, you can first hold an honorary elder position in our guild. You don't have to do anything, just stay in touch," Half-Asleep Fox tentatively asked. Nie Yan wasn't wearing any guild badges, meaning he probably wasn't a member of any guild. He still wasn't willing to give up.

“There's no need,” Nie Yan said with a smile, refusing. Half-Asleep Fox was trying to get him on board first, then slowly change his mind, so he would completely become a member of the Holy Roman Empire. Becoming an honorary elder of the Holy Roman Empire would indeed grant many conveniences, but there was no such thing as a free lunch. Nie Yan didn't want to waste his time on guild affairs.

"Oh, well then, forget it," Half-Asleep Fox said, quite disappointed.

"But if we have the chance in the future, we can cooperate," Nie Yan said. In this virtual world, countless economic myths had been born. It was a veritable second world, a sunrise industry in the eyes of countless politicians. Back when Cao Xu's power was at its peak, he acquired five large guilds, and his various industries were spread throughout Calore, Nisode, and Glorious City. The industries under his control encompassed dozens of projects, with virtual assets worth hundreds of billions. He had to be stronger than Cao Xu. Either he completely defeated Cao Xu, or he made himself so powerful that Cao Xu wouldn't dare to act rashly. Only then could he be at peace, and prevent the tragedy of his previous life from recurring. He couldn't achieve anything alone; he had to slowly develop his network of relationships. Half-Asleep Fox was someone worth cultivating.

"You're always welcome," Half-Asleep Fox said, assuming Nie Yan was talking about going to dungeons together in the future. He never considered Nie Yan as a force to be reckoned with.

Nie Yan didn't reveal his intentions and focused on luring out and killing the female scorpion lions one by one.

"Seven Nights, expand the search area, search to the southeast! Watch out for traps, especially swampy mud pits," Nie Yan said. Seven Nights Falling was the third-ranked Thief in the team, a handsome young man in his twenties. Seven Nights Falling wasn't valued by Half-Asleep Fox at the moment, but he had good potential. In the future, he would slowly grow into the Holy Roman Empire's number one Thief, a pivotal figure in the Holy Roman Empire's elite squad. Although Seven Nights Falling was relatively quiet, he was gentle. Nie Yan had a good impression of him, so when giving orders, he unknowingly favored Seven Nights Falling a bit.

"Understood." It was finally his turn to perform. Hearing Nie Yan's order, Seven Nights Falling searched towards the southeast. He had no doubts about Nie Yan's orders.

Also a Thief, Seven Nights Falling was in complete admiration of Nie Yan. Nie Yan ignored the other two Thieves in the team, but was quite polite to him, which made him very excited. He had a thought: after this mission was over, he would definitely ask Nie Yan for advice on how to play Thief well.

Nie Yan had no idea that his slight difference in attitude had caused such a big wave in Seven Nights Falling's heart.

"Why search to the southeast?" Half-Asleep Fox asked in surprise. Logically speaking, the Scorpion Lion King was right in front of them. Why bother making trouble for themselves by expanding the search area?

"You'll find out in a bit," Nie Yan said with a smile.

After a few minutes, news came from Seven Nights Falling's side: "I've found an ancient lighthouse here, but there are a few scorpion lion guardians!"

"Go up and light it, use Stealth to go around to the back and avoid the scorpion lions!" Nie Yan said, thinking that Seven Nights Falling was quite quick. With Seven Nights Falling's skill, avoiding those scorpion lions under his guidance shouldn't be a problem.

After a while, a faint light lit up at the tip of a dilapidated lighthouse in the distance.

The light grew brighter and brighter, becoming radiant, piercing through the layers of black mist and reaching here.

Under the illumination of the light, the black mist shrouding the Ogmarr Muddy Marsh was actually dispelled a lot.

The oppressive mood that everyone had due to the black mist was greatly relieved.

Half-Asleep Fox understood now. This lighthouse was likely crucial to defeating the Scorpion Lion King!

"Good job," Half-Asleep Fox said to Seven Nights Falling.

Half-Asleep Fox rarely praised his subordinates, and Seven Nights Falling was very excited. This was all thanks to Nie Yan giving him this opportunity to perform.

"Alright, the lighthouse is activated, let's continue. There are three elite-level scorpion lions near the Scorpion Lion King. We need to lure them out one by one and then eliminate them," Nie Yan said. This was also where the Expert-level dungeon was more difficult. It placed high demands on the players, but he had his own set of solutions.

Hearing what Nie Yan said, Half-Asleep Fox's heart skipped a beat. He knew that in the Difficult and Skilled difficulty dungeons, the final Scorpion Lion King was only an Elite-level monster. But in the Expert-level dungeon, there were actually three Elite-level scorpion lions beside the Scorpion Lion King!

The difficulty of the Expert-level dungeon was evident. Half-Asleep Fox was a little apprehensive. Even if they could kill the three Elite-level scorpion lions, could they defeat the final Scorpion Lion King?

However, since they had reached this point in the Expert-level Ogmarr Muddy Marsh, even if they were wiped out here, the equipment they had obtained so far would be enough to make up for their losses. Now they could basically go all out.

Most of the team members had the same thought.

It was this mentality that made everyone relax instead.

Those three Elite-level female scorpion lions were the queens of the entire lion pride, and their strength was not to be underestimated.

After luring out and killing all the ordinary female scorpion lions, there was only the Scorpion Lion King and three Elite-level female scorpion lions left. They weren't far from each other, and they were active in this open grassland, sometimes leisurely strolling, sometimes lying down to rest for a while.

Everyone scattered among the swamp shrubs, sitting on the ground to rest, restoring health and mana. Only when all states were full did they dare to fight the Elite-level scorpion lions.

While everyone was resting, Nie Yan wasn't idle. He was searching for suitable attack spots around the open space.