Chapter 1 Nie Yan's Confidence

Nie Yan was absolutely confident in taking down the Scale Frog. With his increasing level, his speed had greatly improved, allowing him to completely disregard the Scale Frog Lord. Since the level difference between him and the Scale Frog Lord was only 1, his attacks could inflict significant damage.

Nie Yan stealthily approached the Scale Frog Lord, stopping about ten yards away.

The Scale Frog Lord hadn't noticed Nie Yan yet, so Nie Yan cast a Detect on it.

Scale Frog Lord: Level 30 Lord, HP 50000/50000.

With Nie Yan's current attack power, it would probably take about twenty minutes to grind down the Scale Frog Lord—not too long. Back then, Tang Yao had spent ten hours to kill the Scale Frog Lord, partly because his level was too low, his attack power was limited, and the attack frequency of a mage was much lower than Nie Yan's, who was a Thief. Moreover, Nie Yan's current bleed and poison damage were terrifying. With a Bleeding Split Blade and the poison damage from the Scarlet Poison Ring, his normal attacks could inflict more than fifty points of bleed and poison damage per second. If skills like Eviscerate were added, the bleed could even reach seventy or eighty points. The bleed alone could wear down the Scale Frog Lord to death. Bleeding ignored defense, unlike normal attacks. It was especially effective against high-level creatures with low HP and high defense.

"Be careful," Yao Yao said worriedly, a little concerned about Nie Yan's safety.

"Don't worry." Nie Yan smiled slightly and sneaked towards the Scale Frog Lord's back. The Scale Frog Lord sensed something and was about to turn around when Nie Yan's speed suddenly exploded. He rushed forward and struck the Scale Frog Lord's back with a Muffle.

The Scale Frog Lord paused for a second or two.

Nie Yan's dagger pierced the Scale Frog Lord's back, and an Eviscerate ripped open its back, causing blood to spurt out.

-151, -32, -12, -20, -32...

A series of damage numbers floated above the Scale Frog Lord's head. The first was attack damage, followed by attack bleed, poison damage, and Eviscerate bleed. The damage numbers were terrifyingly high, even more so than the damage of mages with high spell damage sets. Especially against high-defense creatures like the Scale Frog Lord, bleed damage was extremely considerable.

Nie Yan's current damage output allowed him to disregard any creature of the same level, and even challenging higher-level creatures was not a problem.

The Scale Frog Lord turned its head in fury, charging towards Nie Yan like a giant tank.

Nie Yan anticipated the Scale Frog Lord's attack direction, and with a flash of his figure, he circled behind the Scale Frog Lord. A Backstab easily pierced the Scale Frog Lord's hard armor.

The dagger in his hand continuously stabbed the Scale Frog Lord, always keeping his position behind it no matter how it turned. Damage numbers floated above the Scale Frog Lord's head one after another.

Nie Yan's movements were as smooth as flowing water, and his speed was astonishing. Every time the Scale Frog Lord made a slight movement, he could predict its attack direction in advance, always dodging its attacks by the slightest margin.

His flexible movements were not much different from a true Shadow Dancer.

This was Shadow Dance, disregarding all magic classes. If warriors didn't have small-range knockback skills like Concussion, they would only meet their demise when encountering a Shadow Dancer Thief.

The flashing daggers and swords were dazzling, and blood splattered everywhere.

The Scale Frog Lord's HP dropped bit by bit. Nie Yan's attacks were too ferocious. Although the Scale Frog Lord had a recovery speed of nearly 20 points per second, it was useless against the bleed and poison damage.

Sun stared intently at Nie Yan's movements, his eyes gleaming with a wolf-like light. This was the technique he had been pursuing all along! This precise prediction and evasion were simply magnificent! A flash of realization went through his mind—this was a true Thief!

The master leads the way, but the cultivation depends on the individual. Nie Yan had already shown Sun what Shadow Dance was, and the rest depended on his own comprehension.

With Nie Yan's damage output, he could take down the Scale Frog Lord without any support from his teammates.

Yao Yao waved her staff, and rays of Sanctify and Holy Light struck the Scale Frog Lord. Her level was much lower than the Scale Frog Lord's, so her attack damage was only about fifteen or sixteen points, but it was at least somewhat useful. With Nie Yan's high attack damage, she didn't have to worry about the Scale Frog Lord's aggro shifting.

Yu Lan, Sun, and Bai Kai Shui also took out crossbows and began shooting at the Scale Frog Lord, although their attack damage was only two or three points, it was better than nothing.

For nearly ten minutes, the Scale Frog Lord had not been able to attack Nie Yan. It opened its mouth and spewed out a scarlet toxin, which spread rapidly through the air.

At the moment the Scale Frog Lord spewed out the poison, Nie Yan quickly retreated, timing it perfectly so that the poison did not hit him.

The Scale Frog Lord was enveloped in a red poisonous mist, and bleed and poison damage numbers continued to float above its head.

Although the Scale Frog Lord's recovery speed had increased somewhat, it still couldn't withstand Nie Yan's fearsome bleed damage.

Nie Yan distanced himself more than ten yards from the Scale Frog Lord and switched his dagger to the Bloody Crossbow, firing arrows rapidly.

Puff, puff, puff. All the arrows hit the Scale Frog Lord, but the damage was extremely limited, only about five or six points per arrow.

The Scale Frog Lord's HP was only about 23% left, which was faster than Nie Yan had expected.

The red poisonous mist spread rapidly, becoming thinner but covering a wider area, encompassing a region of about fifty yards.

The bleed damage disappeared. If the Scale Frog Lord continued to recover HP, his previous efforts might be in vain.

Nie Yan held a bottle of Novice Antidote and tested the Scale Frog Lord's poison. After touching the poison, his HP decreased by 5 points per second. It seemed that the damage of the poisonous mist decreased after it dispersed. However, five points per second was still alarming. He would lose three hundred points in a minute, and if he didn't use health potions, he would die in two minutes. Nie Yan drank a bottle of Novice Antidote. The effect of the Novice Antidote only lasted for about thirty seconds, but the cooldown time was five minutes, so its detoxification effect on this continuous poison effect was extremely limited.

Luckily, he didn't call over Cui Can Dao Guang and the others. Otherwise, with the Scale Frog Lord's attacks and poison damage, it was questionable whether they could withstand it. Cui Can Dao Guang's level wasn't high enough yet; he probably needed to reach around level thirty to withstand the Scale Frog Lord.

The Scale Frog Lord opened its mouth and spewed a stream of poison at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan rolled to dodge the Scale Frog Lord's attack and charged towards the Scale Frog Lord through the poisonous mist.

The Scale Frog Lord lunged at Nie Yan, who sidestepped to evade the attack, moving like the wind, quickly circling behind the Scale Frog Lord, then Backstabbing and Eviscerating.

The Scale Frog Lord's pounce missed again. Its slightly obese body was clearly unable to be as agile as Nie Yan.

Nie Yan instantly unleashed his maximum output. Two minutes later, the Scale Frog Lord's HP was only about 5% left, and it became berserk, its speed greatly increased.

The Scale Frog Lord's speed surpassed Nie Yan's, and Nie Yan clearly felt much more strained, unable to be as relaxed as before.

The Scale Frog Lord crashed into him horizontally. With no way to avoid it, Nie Yan activated Hasty Retreat and quickly retreated.

The Scale Frog Lord fiercely pursued Nie Yan, who darted through the forest. Although it seemed perilous, Nie Yan was able to maintain the distance between himself and the Scale Frog Lord each time, preventing himself from being attacked.

Yao Yao and the others also intensified their output. Their small damage numbers seemed relatively considerable at this time, after all, the Scale Frog Lord's HP was less than 5% left.

Nie Yan's bleed was also still in effect.

It was about to die!

The Scale Frog Lord leaped and pounced on Nie Yan from above. Just as it was about to reach him, Nie Yan used Shadowstep, suddenly disappearing and quickly dodging.

With a bang, the Scale Frog Lord landed on the ground. At this moment, Nie Yan flashed behind the Scale Frog Lord, Assassinating and Eviscerating its back. The Scale Frog Lord suffered another heavy blow, and its HP rapidly decreased, 4%, 3%...

When the Scale Frog Lord turned its head to attack Nie Yan, Nie Yan had already moved five or six yards away. He was going to use bleed damage to wear down the Scale Frog Lord to death!

The Scale Frog Lord furiously chased after Nie Yan, its HP now less than 1% left.

Yao Yao's attacking spells and the others' arrows landed on the Scale Frog Lord.

The Scale Frog Lord got closer and closer to Nie Yan's back, and just as it was about to catch up to Nie Yan, -12, the last bit of HP was exhausted by the bleed, and its plump body lost its support, crashing heavily to the ground with a bang.

"It's dead," Sun said excitedly.

Their role in the entire battle was very small. It was almost entirely Nie Yan who fought. It was unbelievable that a level 29 player could solo a level 30 Lord, yet Nie Yan had indeed done it.

Nie Yan looked at his experience points and gained about 12%, which was still a lot, but obviously not as much as when he challenged monsters many levels higher than himself.

"Let's see what dropped," Bai Kai Shui said in the team chat.

What would a Lord-level creature drop?

Nie Yan bent down and picked up the items that had dropped on the ground. There was a skill book, two gems, and a dark red medal. This dark red metal medal had an ancient style and was engraved with a demonic beast totem, looking extremely strange and exuding an eerie, bloody aura.

Nie Yan's brow twitched—was it the Murderous Maniac Medal?

In his previous life, Nie Yan had seen pictures and attributes of the Murderous Maniac Medal online, so he had a slight impression of it.

When he picked up the dark red metal medal, Nie Yan heard a crisp system prompt and opened the system notification to take a look.

System: Do you wish to bind the Murderous Maniac Medal?

There were two options below, one was Bind, and the other was Discard.

This Murderous Maniac Medal could only be used by him alone, so Nie Yan naturally chose to bind it.

Fa Biao De Wo Niu