Chapter 1 A Swarm of Ghouls

In a swamp in the central region of the Demonkin Tribe's territory, a group of twenty-odd players from the Pantheon Guild were grinding monsters. Two Beastkin Warriors had aggroed a large group of ghouls, using Taunt to maintain their attention, while the mages in the back began to deal damage.

The team was quite organized. They would probably kill all the ghouls in five minutes.

As they were focused on grinding, a huge black shadow rapidly approached from the sky not far away.

What was that?

They were thrown into disarray, their formation instantly collapsing. The priests in the back couldn't heal in time, causing the two Beastkin Warriors in the front to be knocked to the ground. The ghouls launched a frenzied counterattack.

They scattered in all directions, watching as a large flying creature swept past less than twenty yards above the ground, stirring up a strong whirlwind in the swamp, causing the players and monsters to stagger and lose their footing.

Fortunately, the flying creature didn't attack them. It just flew past, quickly disappearing into the darkness in the distance.

"What was that?" a mage asked in the team chat, still shaken.

"Darkwing Dragon! It's Mad Rogue Nie Yan's Darkwing Dragon!" a dual-wielding Swordsman player said.

"Mad Rogue Nie Yan? Are you sure?"

"Definitely Mad Rogue Nie Yan!"

"Quickly, tell the boss!"

Soon, they relayed the message to God King.

"Mad Rogue Nie Yan is in the Ghoul Swamp. What does that guy want?" God King mused.

"Mad Rogue Nie Yan hasn't left the Demonkin Tribe territory. I think he must be doing a quest!" Liu Feng guessed from the side.

"That makes sense."

"Boss, should we leak the information to the Demi-human Angud and let him deal with Mad Rogue Nie Yan?"

God King shook his head and said, "If we leak the information to the Demi-human Angud, Mad Rogue Nie Yan will just teleport away again as soon as the Demi-human Angud arrives. That will definitely anger the Demi-human Angud. Let's figure out our own way." God King had a deep fear of the Demi-human Angud.

"But our people can't deal with Mad Rogue Nie Yan," Liu Feng said. Even the Demi-human Angud hadn't been able to catch Nie Yan, who had escaped. Who among them could catch Mad Rogue Nie Yan?

"Mad Rogue Nie Yan is riding a Darkwing Dragon?" A flash of inspiration struck God King.

"Yes, according to the players who witnessed it, that's right."

"What level is Mad Rogue Nie Yan's Darkwing Dragon now?"

"Currently, it's showing as Rank 7."

God King nodded. Although a Rank 7 flying mount was still high-ranking, it wasn't unbeatable. With the accumulation of time, the Pantheon Guild already had more than three thousand flying mounts, one hundred and thirty of which were Rank 6. Ten Rank 6 flying mounts were enough to take down one Rank 7 flying mount. Since they couldn't defeat Mad Rogue Nie Yan on the ground, they could completely attack from the air. Although the Niu Ren Guild had more flying mounts than the Pantheon Guild, the two guilds were one on the ground and one underground, thousands of miles apart. It was impossible for the Niu Ren Guild to send flying mounts to reinforce them.

"Pay close attention to Mad Rogue Nie Yan's movements. Have Zi Yan and the others remove their guild emblems and block Mad Rogue Nie Yan. If you can't kill Mad Rogue Nie Yan, at least kill the Darkwing Dragon! Remember, this operation is absolutely confidential." God King glanced at several core members of the guild. Mad Rogue Nie Yan would sooner or later be a formidable enemy of the Pantheon Guild. If they could weaken Mad Rogue Nie Yan's strength now, it would save them a lot of trouble in the future.

"Understood," the people below replied in unison.

Nie Yan rode the Darkwing Dragon and swept across the Ghoul Swamp.

He didn't know what was ahead, so Nie Yan opened the Demonkin Tribe's map and checked. Beyond the Ghoul Swamp, there was a fortress. He didn't know which guild it belonged to.

Just as Nie Yan was preparing to bypass the fortress, two flying mounts flew towards him from a distance.

After discovering Nie Yan, they didn't dodge but instead charged straight towards him. Judging from their posture, they wanted to attack his Darkwing Dragon!

Courting death!

Nie Yan's body suddenly sank, and the Darkwing Dragon suddenly accelerated, charging towards the two flying mounts.

They were two Rank 6 Nether Wyverns!

Nether Wyverns were known for their speed. They were very aggressive, fierce, and cruel. Their sharp claws inflicted severe corrosive damage and could even tear through the scales of dragon-type flying creatures.

The Darkwing Dragon swooped down, but the two Nether Wyverns suddenly performed a graceful side flip, dodging the Darkwing Dragon's attack, and attacked the Darkwing Dragon from both sides.

Nie Yan saw the players on the backs of the two Nether Wyverns, but he couldn't see their faces clearly because the light was too dim.

They attacked him right away, so they were obviously prepared. Maybe it was for the Zennarde's Sword again!

Nie Yan manipulated the Darkwing Dragon to raise its altitude sharply, performing a roll to dodge the two Nether Wyverns' pincer attack.

The three flying mounts became entangled in the sky. Seeing a Nether Wyvern pounce from the front, Nie Yan's heart sank. Instead of manipulating the Darkwing Dragon to dodge, he quickly had the Darkwing Dragon adjust its position. The Darkwing Dragon's claw struck down, and with a puff, the Darkwing Dragon's steel claw grabbed the Nether Wyvern's claw. With a crisp crack, the Nether Wyvern's claw was twisted off.

The Nether Wyvern let out a shrill scream, flapped its wings to get away from the Darkwing Dragon, and turned to fly away.

Nie Yan immediately manipulated the Darkwing Dragon to chase after it. In two minutes at most, he could kill the Nether Wyvern and retrieve its dark crystal core!

The Darkwing Dragon was getting closer and closer, only five yards away from the Nether Wyvern. Suddenly, two or three dozen flying mounts appeared a hundred yards away, of all types, all Rank 6.

He was surrounded! Nie Yan's heart tightened. The light here was too dark, and his vision was very limited, so he didn't notice those flying mounts until they were about a hundred yards away. By the time he noticed them, it was too late. There was no time to recall the Darkwing Dragon.

At this critical moment, Nie Yan showed a composure beyond ordinary people. He still pursued the Nether Wyvern in front of him relentlessly.

Nie Yan leaped from the Darkwing Dragon's back, firing a Spider Silk Shot from his left hand, pulling himself to the Nether Wyvern's back.

The player on the back of the Nether Wyvern discovered Nie Yan flying over and stood up abruptly, but before he could react, a cold light flashed across his throat. His eyes widened, his expression incredulous, and his body fell from the Nether Wyvern's back.

Nie Yan's right-hand Bloodthirsty Dagger stabbed into the Nether Wyvern's head like lightning, slicing it open. Blood spurted out, and a black crystal core shimmered with an alluring luster.

The Nether Wyvern let out a shrill wail. Nie Yan reached out with his right hand and scooped the crystal core into his hand, then leaped up.

The Darkwing Dragon swooped down and caught Nie Yan on its back, then flew forward.

The Nether Wyvern's corpse fell from the sky.

Nie Yan had actually killed a Nether Wyvern right in front of so many of them, leaving them both shocked and angry.

"Don't let Mad Rogue Nie Yan escape!"

"Damn it, kill him!"

Numerous flying mounts swarmed up.

Nie Yan looked down and found that a Dark Priest had used a lock-on spell on him. The Random Teleportation Scroll was no longer usable. He was trapped in the heavy encirclement of these Rank 6 flying mounts!

Damn it! Nie Yan's heart sank to the bottom. He had underestimated the Dark Faction players' determination to seize Zennarde's Sword. He thought that the previous few battles would be enough to make most players retreat, but he didn't expect to be intercepted in the air. The Darkwing Dragon's flying speed was so fast, and it only swept over the Ghoul Swamp for less than half an hour, yet he was still ambushed. The enemy's strength must be extraordinary.

In the entire Dark Faction, only a few forces like the Pantheon Guild and Fallen Angel could accomplish this!

The Pantheon Guild was the most likely, because this was the Demonkin Tribe's territory!

Even knowing this was useless. Nie Yan couldn't retaliate against the Pantheon Guild for the time being. The Niu Ren Guild wasn't strong enough to deal with so many enemies at the same time.

With the Darkwing Dragon's strength, it would probably be very difficult to deal with so many Rank 6 flying mounts!

Three Silver-ringed Venom Flies sprayed several streams of poison mist towards him, and the area was immediately shrouded in green poison mist. The poison mist sprayed by the Silver-ringed Venom Flies was a highly toxic poison that could cause paralysis. They had their own special antidote, so naturally, they didn't care. But Nie Yan was in trouble. Nie Yan had high poison resistance and drank a bottle of Expert Antidote, but his body still felt slightly numb. As for the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan could feel that its movements were noticeably more sluggish.

Nie Yan couldn't help but curse, pulling the Darkwing Dragon to a higher altitude and crashing heavily into a Nether Wyvern, knocking it away.

In the face of adversity, the Darkwing Dragon unleashed its powerful combat strength, severely damaging five Rank 6 flying mounts in a row. Nie Yan tried to escape with the Darkwing Dragon, but those flying mounts were like leeches, clinging on relentlessly, with several flying mounts ganging up on the Darkwing Dragon.

Puff, puff, puff. Several more wounds appeared on the Darkwing Dragon's body, the flesh turned outward, and the wounds looked like they had been smeared with black ink, which was shocking.

It was the Nether Wyvern's corrosive effect!

The Nether Wyvern's corrosion was slowly but surely consuming the Darkwing Dragon's remaining stamina.

Noticing a Silver-ringed Venom Fly flying up, its tail raised high, with a sharp stinger on it, like a bee's stinger, Nie Yan's heart tightened. He couldn't let it attack the Darkwing Dragon. Nie Yan leaped up and pounced on the Silver-ringed Venom Fly.

Standing on the Silver-ringed Venom Fly was a rogue. Seeing Nie Yan pouncing over, he quickly manipulated the Silver-ringed Venom Fly to retreat.

But it was already too late. Nie Yan landed on the Silver-ringed Venom Fly, his right-hand dagger stabbing into the Silver-ringed Venom Fly's abdomen, slicing it open. Foul-smelling green liquid gushed out.

The Silver-ringed Venom Fly was severely injured, its body stalled. The Darkwing Dragon swooped down, its two claws grabbing its head and abdomen respectively, and with a force, it tore it in two.