Chapter 1 Raging Flames

A barrage of raging flames descended, seemingly about to engulf him. Nie Yan activated Gale Step, darting away.

*Boom!* The flames scattered.

The Lava Giant searched for Nie Yan, enraged by his extremely high damage output.

Flames blazed all around, an inferno of fire.

*If only there was some skill to counter the Lava Giant's Lava Domain,* he thought.

Suddenly, an idea struck Nie Yan. If high-level skills wouldn't work, maybe low-level ones would. He shouted in the team chat, "Everyone with Ice Age, use Ice Age!"

The mages were stunned. Ice Age had virtually no attack power. What was the point? Nevertheless, they didn't hesitate. After chanting their incantations, a misty fog gathered around them, and the temperature plummeted. Frost formed in the air, falling and instantly vaporizing in the Lava Giant's Lava Domain, turning into steam. The temperature of the lava on the ground rapidly decreased. The Lava Giant seemed to dislike Ice Age; a thin layer of white frost formed on its rocky skin, greatly slowing its movement speed and reducing its health regeneration.

Ice Age was one of the few mage skills whose effects could partially stack. When over two hundred and sixty mages cast it simultaneously, with fifty or sixty using enhanced versions, the results were immediate.

Brilliant Blade quickly cast War God's Protection on himself, greatly increasing his magic resistance. However, he still succumbed to the effects of Ice Age, his body stiff and immobile. Cold Arrogance Shadow on the other side was in a similar state. Only Nie Yan, with Divine Descent active, avoided the freezing effect of Ice Age.

The Lava Giant shook off the frost and struggled forward, trying to attack the mages.

Nie Yan waved his right hand, summoning the Golden Earth Dragon to block the Lava Giant's path!

Against a monster of this level, the Golden Earth Dragon was completely outmatched, but it could still be useful.

"Ice Age, a mid-level skill, is actually effective against the Lava Giant? Unbelievable!"

"The combined effect of hundreds of Ice Ages is pretty impressive!"

The team members looked at Nie Yan. How did he think of using Ice Age, a mid-level skill, against the Lava Giant? They had assumed that all mid-level skills were completely ineffective against a super Boss like the Lava Giant, but Nie Yan had overturned their assumptions.

In truth, Nie Yan was just guessing, a lucky shot. Sometimes, when dealing with a Boss, a flash of inspiration was all it took.

A dense barrage of spells bombarded the Lava Giant.

"The Lava Giant has Lava Surge! Everyone be careful, stick to the pre-arranged tactics, no mistakes!" Nie Yan warned in the team chat.

The team stood on the rocks, six or seven hundred mages unleashing a concentrated torrent of firepower.

After about half an hour, the Lava Giant's health gradually dropped to just over a million. It raged and thrashed, swinging its massive arms and repeatedly knocking Brilliant Blade back. It opened its mouth and unleashed a Lava Roar, a powerful sonic wave that swept across the area.

Mental Resistance!

Mental Inhibition!

The team used skills to evade the Lava Giant's attack, but six or seven hundred players didn't manage to cast their defensive skills in time and were directly hit by the Lava Giant's Lava Roar, entering a petrified state.

Immediately afterward, the Lava Giant unleashed Lava Surge. A surging torrent of magma formed a terrifying wave, crashing down.

The Lava Giant's attack caught everyone off guard. They had planned to use various skills to dodge the Lava Surge, and had even practiced it. With enough reaction speed, most players could evade the attack. But they hadn't anticipated the Lava Giant using Lava Roar first, leaving them unable to react. Some of the faster players used random teleport scrolls or other skills to escape, but many more were still affected by the Lava Roar's petrification and couldn't move in time, engulfed by the Lava Surge.

Players died en masse, interrupting the battle. The Lava Giant, unaware of any remaining enemies, wandered around, its health quickly recovering to full.

The Lava Giant moved further away, and the surviving priests dared to resurrect their teammates. Many more, because of the total party wipe, could only resurrect by running back to their corpses.

They resurrected and sat scattered in the clearings of the forest, recovering their health and mana.

The team members looked at the Lava Giant wandering in the distance, silently acknowledging the difficulty of a level 200 Lord.

Over eight hundred members had died, but wiping once or twice while fighting a Boss was normal. They hadn't lost any equipment, only some experience.

"How did that feel?" Nie Yan asked with a smile in the team chat.

"The Lava Giant's attacks are too fast. There's no warning when it uses Lava Roar."

"Yeah, we couldn't dodge it!"

Nie Yan looked at Knight's Elegy, Wu Dao, and the others. "What do you think?"

"Usually, Boss attacks have some kind of tell. When it used Lava Roar, the Lava Giant's eyes seemed to burn more intensely."

"Before the Lava Roar, the magical elements around us became chaotic," Summer Cicada said.

Fighting the Lava Giant with over a thousand players was different from killing the Ghost Princess Ina in Okoron City. They had simply overwhelmed her with numbers. But against the Lava Giant, a zerg rush would result in too many casualties. It wasn't cost-effective. If they wanted to kill a level 200 Lord with just over a thousand players, they needed skill. Wiping once or twice was normal.

Quickly, the top-tier professional players summarized a lot of useful information. The average team members listened in awe, witnessing firsthand how skill was acquired.

The team rested, summarized the lessons learned, practiced dodging Lava Roar and Lava Surge, reorganized, and prepared to go again. Nie Yan, King of the World, Sun, and the others once again drew the Lava Giant's attention.

A fierce battle began. Although the team dodged the Lava Giant's first wave of Lava Roar and Lava Surge, they couldn't evade the Lava Giant's rage after its health dropped to 30%. Another nine hundred members died.

The team resurrected, rested, and continued to summarize the techniques for dealing with the Lava Giant's rage.

*Probably the third time will be enough to kill the Lava Giant,* Nie Yan thought. He realized that it was more reliable to have Brilliant Blade and Cold Arrogance Shadow tank. If he unleashed a combo, he would draw the Lava Giant's attention, leading to unexpected situations.

There wasn't enough time. They would have to wait until next time to kill the Lava Giant!

The video of the Nilfgaard Law killing the Lava Giant was leaked online, once again making players deeply aware of the Lava Giant's power. Even the strongest elite team in Nilfgaard Law had wiped twice. At the same time, they were amazed by Nilfgaard Law's strength. They could fight a level 200 Lord to this extent, and after just two wipes, they had figured out how to defeat the Lava Giant. From now on, the Lava Giant was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter.

Players could feel that Nilfgaard Law was rapidly approaching the throne of dominance. The Lava Giant was just one step along the way.

Nie Yan chatted with the Nilfgaard Law's players for a while, whiling away the last of his time. His communicator rang. It was Guo Huai.

"I've found what you wanted," Guo Huai said, sending over a list.

Nie Yan looked at it. The list marked the locations of all the level 130 and above Bosses in the Greenland Empire, about three thousand in total. It also included detailed information. This was a lot of material for Nie Yan to study.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"No problem," Guo Huai said with a smile.

Nie Yan needed to study this list carefully to prepare for his next plan.

In the Undead Empire's capital, the Graveyard of the Dead, on the edge of the main road of Fallen Angel, there was a villa, the private territory of Fallen Angel's guild leader, Duo Duo.

About thirty people were gathered here.

"Guild Leader, are you really going to do this? We already have over a hundred thousand people on the surface. Sending another hundred thousand will be a huge expense," Arrogant Battle Spear said. He was worried that such a large investment would increase the guild's burden. He didn't understand why Duo Duo was so determined to oppose Angel Corp.

"I have my reasons. Just listen to me," Duo Duo said firmly, not changing his mind despite the others' dissuasion.

"Alright then. Boss, I think we need to be wary of Nilfgaard Law. Mad Rogue Nie Yan just got the Abak Set, and their strongest Defender Warrior just got a Legendary-grade Demon Shield. They're currently farming the level 200 Lava Giant, and their top-tier professionals have already reached thirty. At this rate, I think Angel Corp will eventually be wiped out by Nilfgaard Law. If the national war opens, Nilfgaard Law might be our biggest opponent. It's better to keep Angel Corp around to restrain Nilfgaard Law," several players said.

"You don't understand. Only one of me and Angelic Dominance can survive. Once I've dealt with Angel Corp, no problem will be a problem," Duo Duo said faintly.

The others looked at Duo Duo in confusion. They didn't understand what the Guild Leader meant by this. Why could only one of him and Angelic Dominance survive? They had been wondering about this for a long time, but whenever they asked deeper questions, Duo Duo would gloss over them, and they didn't dare to ask further.

Another hundred thousand troops from Fallen Angel left the underworld and headed to the surface.

After Nie Yan logged off, he received a call from Duo Duo. Fallen Angel had sent another hundred thousand troops to the surface. For the sake of the alliance, Nilfgaard Law couldn't stand idly by. Otherwise, losing Fallen Angel as a strong ally would be a huge loss. So, he decided to deploy five hundred thousand players to cooperate with Fallen Angel.

These five hundred thousand players weren't planning to directly attack Angel Corp's fortresses, because Nilfgaard Law's catapults had been almost completely destroyed in the previous battles. Although they had rebuilt some later, the number of catapults was still far from sufficient due to resource shortages. Therefore, the five hundred thousand players Nie Yan sent weren't planning to engage Angel Corp in a frontal battle, but rather to intercept and kill Angel Corp's players who were leveling outside.

Back then, Angel Corp, Victorious Return, and other guilds had used this method to kill many of Nilfgaard Law's guild members, putting Nilfgaard Law in a difficult situation several times. Now, the tables had turned, and it was Nilfgaard Law's turn to aggressively advance and attack Angel Corp.

Nie Yan hung up the phone with Duo Duo and went to school with Xie Yao as usual.

First Military Academy was as peaceful as ever. Qin Han, that hateful guy, had done many evil deeds and had received his just punishment. His faction had all retreated and didn't dare to be as arrogant as before. Liu Rui, that guy who had previously sided with Qin Han and acted so lively for a while, was also gradually fading away, starting to behave honestly, and basically avoiding Nie Yan and Xie Yao when he saw them. At noon, Nie Yan received a message from Thorn, saying that he had completed his mission.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow when he saw this message. He replied to Thorn and then deleted the message.

Everything went very smoothly. It was the people from the Monet Financial Group who had killed Liu Tianshi. In the mainland, Liu Tianshi's father was a high-ranking official with a strong background, and few people could touch him. But the Monet Financial Group was a financial giant from South America, powerful enough to influence a country's politics. They wouldn't care about Liu Tianshi's father's power in the mainland. If the two sides fought each other, there would be a good show to watch. However, they were only using their influence in various fields to trip each other up. Unless a large-scale war broke out between countries, they wouldn't be able to kill each other.

The causes of Qin Han's and Liu Tianshi's deaths would remain a secret forever, as long as Nie Yan, Thorn, Wang Duo, and the others didn't speak of it. He still trusted Thorn, Wang Duo, and the others.

After receiving Thorn's message, Nie Yan finally felt relieved. He had quietly solved two problems without bringing trouble upon himself. He had handled this matter quite well. After school in the afternoon, Nie Yan and Xie Yao went to see Tang Yao. Tang Yao had woken up. The doctor had given him a blood transfusion and treated his internal injuries. With the current level of treatment, Tang Yao would be back to his old self in a few days. The doctor said that Tang Yao could enter the game tonight, which was good news.