Chapter 1 The Dark Gladiator

The Dark Gladiator relentlessly attacked the Skeleton Gladiator, swinging it around and slamming it heavily against the walls of the crypt.

Boom, boom, boom. The Skeleton Gladiator was mercilessly pummeled. It swung its giant tail, slamming it heavily into the Dark Gladiator, sending the Dark Gladiator staggering backward a few steps with a loud thud. But it immediately charged back in.

In the fierce battle, the Skeleton Gladiator and the Dark Gladiator fought like two ancient behemoths, risking their lives.

Nie Yan raised his Bloody Crossbow, skillfully loading it with damage-enhancing arrows, shooting them *swoosh, swoosh, swoosh*. Numbers floated above the Skeleton Gladiator's head, not particularly high, but still considerable, at least several dozen points each. Occasionally, a piercing shot would deal over a hundred points of damage.

The Skeleton Gladiator and the Dark Gladiator were entangled, and Nie Yan's crossbow bolts found their mark every time, hitting the Skeleton Gladiator in its weak spots.

During this time, Nie Yan continuously replenished his health with blood vials and other items, and cast Undead Sacrifice on the Skeleton Gladiator, but unfortunately, he failed three times in a row.

Looking at his own health, only 12% remained. That wasn't enough to cast Undead Sacrifice. Bandages and blood vials were all used up and still on cooldown.

Under the Dark Gladiator's fierce attacks, the Skeleton Gladiator's health was nearing its limit.

Nie Yan had originally wanted to turn the remaining Skeleton Gladiator into one of his summoning creatures, but it seemed impossible. The Dark Gladiator's health wasn't high either. If he dragged it out any longer and the Skeleton Gladiator killed the Dark Gladiator, it would be a terrible loss.

After nearly twenty seconds of fighting, the Skeleton Gladiator was hit in the chest by the Dark Gladiator's fist, its health bottoming out. The Skeleton Gladiator's wraith rose from its chest cavity, floated into the air, and gradually dissipated. Its skeletal remains, without support, collapsed with a crash, shattering into pieces.

*Ding dong*, a beam of white light shone on Nie Yan, and he finally leveled up again, reaching Level 6.

The 1700% extra experience for killing a Level 10 Elite was still quite substantial.

Nie Yan walked over to the Skeleton Gladiator's side and picked up the items it had dropped. It was a Level 10 Gladiator's Pauldron for warriors. Surprisingly, it was a Gold-grade item, with Defense 57-62, Strength +13, and Tenacity +17. Absolutely fantastic equipment, probably worth a lot of money.

Even if the stats of a warrior's Gold-grade equipment were terrible, its defense was still impressive, so it would definitely sell for a good price. Moreover, it added Strength and Tenacity. Its value was only slightly lower than the Lion King Shield.

If someone wanted this piece of equipment, Nie Yan wouldn't let it go for less than twenty silver coins. Of course, it would be different for acquaintances, depending on how close they were.

After killing the Skeleton Gladiator, Nie Yan's level had advanced to 13% of Level 6. Looking at the level rankings, the highest was only Level 8, and that was a mage. A thief's leveling speed couldn't compare to a mage's. Some skilled mages could easily kill monsters several levels higher than them, either by kiting, using terrain, or using AoE (area of effect) skills. With good technique, they could even kill bosses without taking damage. Melee classes didn't have it so easy. Of course, Nie Yan was an exception.

Nie Yan glanced at the Dark Gladiator beside him. The Dark Gladiator's tall body was covered in wounds, but these wounds were healing at a visible rate. Its hands had grown more sharp serrations than before, looking quite terrifying. The green fire burning in its eye sockets flickered with a chilling light. Those were its eyes, and one dared not look directly at them.

The Dark Gladiator lowered its proud head and knelt before Nie Yan.

It was now Nie Yan's summoned creature!

Nie Yan could now freely control it.

Nie Yan looked up at the exit above. This time, he should be able to go up.

Nie Yan stepped onto the Dark Gladiator's hands. The Dark Gladiator supported him with its hands, and Nie Yan easily soared up, leaping to the open space above the crypt. The Dark Gladiator also jumped up, landing with a *boom*.

With a super tank, he didn't have to fear those ordinary skeletons this time.

With the Dark Gladiator guarding him for the next three hours, Nie Yan was determined to get the Fragment of Sothot's Shadow.

Nie Yan walked toward the center of Sothot City, the Dark Gladiator following behind him, its tall figure like a giant.

As soon as Nie Yan appeared, countless skeletons swarmed toward him. The Dark Gladiator pounced forward, sweeping its tail like autumn winds sweeping away fallen leaves. The skeletons fell to the ground in droves, and his experience points increased rapidly.

Nie Yan had the Dark Gladiator clear out the large groups of skeletons, leaving one or two Skeleton Mages. Every so often, he found a suitable opportunity to cast Undead Sacrifice, and soon he successfully recruited four Skeleton Mages. Two were ice-type, one was fire-type, and one was lightning-type. The four Skeleton Mages guarded Nie Yan's side.

Constantly moving through the maze-like passages, Nie Yan relied on fragments of memories from his previous leveling experiences here to find the entrance to the inner city.

"Leveling here is pretty fast." Nie Yan glanced at his experience points. In just a few tens of minutes, his experience points had already increased by 8%. As Nie Yan cleared out large numbers of skeletons in the vicinity, the skeleton spawn rate couldn't keep up.

Suddenly, some noise came from behind. Nie Yan frowned. It sounded like human voices.

"Leveling here is so fast, but there are too many skeletons here. I almost couldn't escape. If we want to keep grinding here, we need to call three more priests. Two priests aren't enough."

"Too many priests are a burden. It would be better to have more Holy Word Mages. They have a 200% attack damage bonus, which speeds up grinding."

"That's right, let's go back and get some Holy Word Mages to come grind."

"There's a Skeleton Mage Elite at the end of this passage. We have to go around it first."

The voices of several players came from behind, clear as day. Nie Yan was shocked. He turned his head and saw eight players staring back at him, having just walked around the corner.

Suddenly, the players who were talking stopped.

"Why did you suddenly stop talking? What's wrong?......" An Arcane Mage asked, puzzled. He followed the gaze of his teammates and immediately stopped talking.

Nie Yan, dressed in thief attire, was standing at the end of the passage. His equipment, especially the two daggers in his hands, clearly weren't ordinary. How could a thief be here? Even more shocking, a huge, dark-red skeleton was standing next to Nie Yan, its tall figure, huge tail, and hands covered in spikes making it clear that it was fundamentally different from the skeletons roaming around here.

In addition to the Dark Gladiator, there were four Skeleton Mages standing scattered around, looking at the players.

Because of the Dark Gladiator, Nie Yan's identity seemed even more mysterious.