Chapter 1 The Battlefield

Below the mage tower was an open space, the battle a chaotic mess. Players of various classes were scattered about, with mages crowding the surrounding area. Some were even perched on the outer branches of trees, their hands glowing with magical light as spells shot out in straight lines towards the base of the tower.

A group of several dozen warriors surrounded the evil warlock, clad in red robes, who stood at the foot of the mage tower. He was an old man, withered and gaunt, his beard and hair bristling, his body wreathed in white soulfire.

He had only about a fifth of his health remaining, but even with that little, it would take the Triumphant Return at least another ten minutes to take him down.

"The undying fire of Sordanmi, your followers summon you from distant Atlantea, let the flames of destruction incinerate this land. Damned heretics, savor death's embrace!" the evil warlock cackled.

The evil warlock waved his staff, summoning a torrent of burning flames that cascaded down like a waterfall, instantly engulfing more than twenty players in the open space before him. The flames raged, reaching over three yards high, resembling a living hell. Damage numbers over 200 floated above the players' heads, and within just three seconds, all twenty-odd players were incinerated.

Chaos erupted as the flames burned relentlessly, lasting for five seconds before finally dying down, leaving behind a patch of black ash.

The evil warlock suddenly had a wide space in front of him.

"Such powerful magic!" Skinny Dog, the one in charge, gasped, quickly adjusting the formation and ordering the warriors in the rear to fill the gap.

"Hurry it up!"

"Move faster!"

A dozen warriors activated Charge and rushed towards the evil warlock.

The evil warlock unleashed waves of spells, keeping the healers in the back busy. Brilliant white lights descended from the sky as they healed, with two or three healers focusing on each warrior. The warriors' health bars fluctuated wildly, making for a breathtaking sight.

Magic missiles and fireballs from the mages sprayed towards the center, hundreds of spells flying from all directions and exploding on the evil warlock. The scene was truly spectacular.

With the Ni Ren Buluo's (Bullsh*t Tribe's) strength, they wouldn't dare to be so reckless in dealing with a high-level Lord. The Ni Ren Buluo didn't have that many high-level players to expend, and this was the difference in foundation between a newly established guild like the Ni Ren Buluo and a large guild like Triumphant Return.

Nie Yan gradually made his way behind a tree. The closest player was less than two yards away from him. That player, an arcane mage, didn't notice Nie Yan at all. In a battle, if a mage was approached by a thief in stealth to within two yards or so without noticing, it could basically be said that the mage was dead.

"This guy's too hard to deal with. Scarface, are you guys ready?" Skinny Dog shouted to the players to the east when he saw the evil warlock's attacks were still so fierce. He had to use their trump card.

"Skinny Dog, we're ready!" a tall, sturdy man with a scar across his face shouted back.

Nie Yan was slightly surprised, wondering what the Triumphant Return players were planning to do.

"Warriors in the middle, retreat!" Skinny Dog yelled.

The warriors who were holding the line against the evil warlock quickly retreated as Scarface and another group of players pulled out scrolls, and radiance bloomed.

Weakness Curse!

Darkness Curse!

Ice Imprisonment!

…

All of them were intermediate scrolls, at least a dozen of them. They were thrown out as if they were free, and even Nie Yan felt a little heartache watching them.

Triumphant Return was rich and powerful, and they didn't care about the money. If they could kill the Lord, it would be worth using these scrolls.

While these players were frantically using scrolls to bombard the evil warlock, the ranged magic users behind Triumphant Return made their move, unleashing area-of-effect spells with incredible destructive power.

Nie Yan glanced ahead and a familiar figure caught his eye. It was Tangerine, whom Nie Yan had defeated once. The woman was chanting magic in a low voice, and the magical elements were rapidly gathering. One set of syllables had passed, but the magic hadn't been cast yet.

It must be a powerful spell, otherwise it wouldn't require such a long casting time.

The magical effects of a pile of scrolls landed on the evil warlock, immediately reducing his stats significantly and trapping him firmly in place.

The surrounding warriors and mages quickly retreated, leaving a large open space.

Immediately afterwards, the magical elements in the sky rapidly converged, surging violently.

First, chunks of ice rained down, landing on the ground and the evil warlock, exploding into ice flowers and causing the surrounding air to plummet in temperature. A thick layer of frost covered the evil warlock's body.

Element Hall ice magic, Frost Hail!

Next, waves of arcane fireballs bombarded down, like a storm, wreaking havoc on the evil warlock and the ground around him.

Arcane magic, Firestorm!

Then another Element Hall fire magic came down.

Three mages who could cast Element Hall and Arcane-level magic. This was the foundation of the Triumphant Empire. These players had undergone very strict testing to learn these types of magic. These powerful spells could often exert extremely strong effects in guild wars. In contrast, not even one player in Nie Yan's Ni Ren Buluo had learned Element Hall or Arcane-level magic.

From this, it could be seen that the Ni Ren Buluo still had a long way to go.

Under the frenzied magic, the evil warlock's health plummeted, 17%, 13%, 9%...

The evil warlock let out a mournful cry in the raging flames. Seeing that his health was about to reach the bottom, his body suddenly transformed continuously, rapidly growing larger and turning into a bear covered in red fur, five yards tall, like an ancient behemoth. His health increased greatly.

"It's Polymorph, everyone be careful!" Tangerine said nervously, activating Arcane Presence of Mind, and launching waves of spells.

The bear stood up high, then pounced down, swatting out with its paws and directly sending a warrior flying.

The warriors quickly swung their greatswords to attack the bear. Clang, clang, clang, their attacks landed on the bear, but all of them missed.

"It's physical immune! Warriors, retreat!" Skinny Dog's dagger struck the bear and he immediately yelled when he discovered the attacks were ineffective.

"It moves slowly, everyone keep your distance!"

The warriors surrounding the bear quickly retreated and the mages retreated quickly, maintaining a high rate of output as they moved. The bear roared incessantly, but it crawled slowly, moving little by little towards the forest.

The group of mages retreated backwards, releasing spells. The spells shot straight at the giant bear, exploding into clusters of sparks.

The giant bear took damage, though not much, only a few points, but the number of mages in Triumphant Return was too great. The accumulated damage from hundreds of mages was still considerable.

The battlefield gradually shifted backwards, and a large group of mages retreated towards Nie Yan.

Some mages passed by Nie Yan, but their attention was focused on the bear, and they didn't notice Nie Yan hiding behind the tree.

Surrounded by Triumphant Return players, Nie Yan's situation seemed dangerous, but in reality, it was very safe. He put on the black robe that concealed his appearance and name. In such a crowded and chaotic situation, most people wouldn't notice Nie Yan sneaking in.

They simply didn't realize that someone from outside the guild was nearby! With so many Triumphant Return players patrolling outside, how could another player sneak in? And even if someone did sneak in, wouldn't it be suicide to be surrounded by so many Triumphant Return players?

"It's almost dead, everyone, push harder!" Skinny Dog shouted excitedly.

Tangerine paused her fire, drank a magic potion, and continued to output frantically.

"I'm out of mana!"

"Me too!"

There were also many who had used magic potions, but their mana was still stretched thin. They quickly retreated and refilled their mana with spring water.

The bear had only 2% health left. It swung its giant paw, swatting sideways. A large tree that required three players to encircle was broken in half. The tree flew out, falling down and crushing five or six players.

Despite the heavy casualties, their magic output didn't stop.

A group of melee fighters tried to approach the bear. Although their attacks were ineffective, they could still use positioning to block the bear's attacks, but they were quickly frightened back by the bear's powerful attacks.

Nie Yan moved forward. He was only about five yards away from the bear, hiding behind a tree, and no players noticed him!

His superb concealment skills allowed him to completely blend into the background of the tree.

Skinny Dog, Tangerine, and the others couldn't possibly have imagined that Nie Yan was right next to them, within reach.

Although she felt a faint unease in her heart, as if something was nearby, Tangerine naturally assumed that all the threats came from the bear.

They were focused on dealing with the bear, who would pay attention to such things!

Another wave of magic bombarded the bear. The bear let out a mournful roar and collapsed to the ground. Its body quickly shrank, turning back into the evil warlock.

"Finally dead. How many people died?" Skinny Dog asked, the deaths of so many players hurting him a lot.

"Didn't count, at least thirty or forty!" Tangerine said, looking around at the corpses. The evil warlock's magic, even before it transformed, killed more than twenty people in one attack, and with the others who died later, they could see more than thirty corpses already.

The players slowly ran out from their hiding places.

The scene was a mess, and some players ran to pick up equipment.

Nie Yan activated Shadow Dance and ran towards the evil warlock's corpse. His speed was clearly faster than the Triumphant Return players. Several pieces of equipment under the evil warlock's corpse were gleaming.