Chapter 172 Mephisto's Blessing

Both the Deathknell and the Paternoster Warhammer required divine power, 300 points to be exact.

Mephisto’s Soul Blessing only added one point of divine power. But it was only because of this one point that Nie Yan saw a glimmer of hope. As long as this stat existed, he could find opportunities to slowly increase it in the future until he could wield these two weapons.

After taking a look, the addition of one point of divine power brought subtle changes to Nie Yan’s various attributes. For example, skills like Spine Break inflicted additional damage. Similarly, when attacking super-elite demons or bosses, players with divine power could easily break through their armor. Besides these, other attributes, such as jump and focus, had also undergone significant changes.

The gains were quite substantial.

Seeing Nie Yan emerge from the shack, passing through the barrier, Brilliant Golden Light, Blowjob Pig, and the others quickly surrounded him.

“How was it?”

“Did you get anything?”

Xie Yao also quietly looked at Nie Yan from the side, waiting for his answer.

“I accepted a quest to kill a Demonified Lord. It might be dangerous, but since we've come this far, there's no turning back. If the quest fails, we'll just have to respawn outside," Nie Yan said. He was prepared and felt much more relaxed. If failure was inevitable, and the Deathknell and Paternoster Warhammer were ultimately not meant for him, there was nothing he could do. Do your best and accept fate.

“Demonified Lord? What level?” everyone asked.

“Level 180.”

“Good heavens, Level 180? There's no way we can be its opponent! The Level 130 Demonified Lord nearly breached the Crencissi Fortress. A Level 180 Demonified Lord is unimaginable!”

They had all seen the video of the battle at Crencissi Fortress and understood how terrifying Demonified Lords were. And this time it was Level 180, even more so.

“This is a quest. Dealing with bosses in quests often involves special methods. Did you get any quest clues?” Blowjob Pig asked, looking at Nie Yan.

“I do have quest clues related to the Paternoster Warhammer, but I'm not sure what to do,” Nie Yan said. He was still pondering what Mephisto had said at the end.

“Let's find that boss first,” Blowjob Pig said.

“That's what I'm thinking. We'll figure out a way once we find it!” Nie Yan nodded.

Nie Yan called Sun, Xiao Yan, and the others back. The team set off, heading toward the summit. He looked towards the top of the mountain, where thick smoke billowed. It was an active volcano.

According to Mephisto, the Betrayer Drakuru was trapped inside the volcano’s crater.

The group of twenty-one climbed along the rugged mountain road towards the summit. After about ten minutes, Nie Yan and the others reached the edge of the crater. A thick, pungent odor assaulted their nostrils, causing dizziness and a feeling of suffocation.

“Quick, use the Godslumber Potion!”

Everyone took out the spare potions from their backpacks, found the Godslumber Potions, and gulped them down.

After drinking the Godslumber Potion, everyone stopped breathing, allowing them to move freely even in the poisonous smoke. These Godslumber Potions were made by several grandmaster-level alchemists from Starry Night Pharmacy. There were only seventy or so bottles in total, averaging out to just three bottles per person. Each potion lasted for about five hours, which was quite long.

They entered the denser smoke and looked down, vaguely seeing the fiery magma inside the volcano, like boiling water, constantly bubbling. A wave of intense heat washed over them.

“Can't find a way down.”

“Boss, what do we do?”

“I'll go down and take a look first,” Nie Yan said.

“Nie Yan, let us go down too. We got Crawler Rings as well," Sun said. Nie Yan had used the Crawler Ring's skill to its fullest potential. Since learning how else the Crawler Ring could be used, they either got one themselves or bought them at a high price on the market. The Crawler Ring had become almost essential for these top players.

“Alright, let's split up and search!” Nie Yan nodded. This would increase efficiency significantly.

“Let's go down,” King of the World said, activating his Crawler Ring and climbing down the crater wall.

Everyone else began to move as well.

Nie Yan jumped down, his body falling rapidly. He glanced upwards, seeing everyone clinging to the crater walls like geckos.

After falling about fifty yards, scorching air currents rose up, almost burning Nie Yan.

As he got closer to the fiery lava below, just as Nie Yan was about to use the Spider Silk on his left hand to reach the nearby rock wall, an idea flashed in his mind. He glanced at the Molten Core in his backpack.

Nie Yan activated the Molten Core skill. Seeing that he was about to fall quickly into the boiling lava, he immediately used Feather Fall.

He felt the weight of his body rapidly decrease, and his falling speed slowed down, only slightly faster than a feather. He slowly landed on the lava. Because his body was so light, even just a little bit of support from the lava’s surface allowed Nie Yan to stand firmly. Ordinary players would suffer extremely high fire damage simply by touching this boiling lava. But due to the Molten Core, Nie Yan was not afraid of the lava’s intense heat and could still walk on the lava with ease.

Nie Yan felt as if his skin was covered with a layer of mint, a cool sensation completely incongruous with walking in the heart of the flames.

Looking around, the lava here was about 500 yards in diameter. On the edge of the surrounding rock walls, five or six yards from the lava, were a dozen dark caves, leading to unknown places. It must be there. These caves had to be searched one by one. Nie Yan headed straight towards one of the caves.

After arriving here, Nie Yan felt as if a voice was calling out to him, a seductive demonic sound that made his head feel a little dizzy. He shook his head to keep himself clear-headed.

Seeing Nie Yan actually standing on the boiling lava and still walking with ease, Sun, King of the World, and the others were dumbfounded. What skill was that?

Just as they were about to ask Nie Yan, they noticed that he had already entered one of the caves. They thought for a moment and decided to wait until later to ask.

Each of them entered a deep cave and began searching separately.

Scorching air currents filled the caves. The terrain inside was extremely complex, with winding, convoluted caverns entangled together like a maze. Strange echoes reverberated throughout the caves.

Trusting his instincts, Nie Yan cautiously explored ahead.

Flickering light came from the depths of the cave, indicating that there was lava or something similar below. When the volcano erupted, these caves would be filled with fiery lava. After the eruption, the lava would naturally recede.

Just as Nie Yan was about to sneak deeper, he suddenly felt something was off, as if something was slowly approaching him.

Nie Yan's gaze suddenly turned cold. He stood still and slowly expanded his senses. Soon, he locked onto the other party's location.

The thing was about a dozen yards away from him. He didn't know what kind of creature it was.

Without confirming what the opponent was, Nie Yan didn't dare to make any movements for the time being, nor did he activate True Sight. Activating True Sight had the advantage of seeing through stealth and accurately observing the surrounding environment, but it also had the disadvantage of easily exposing his own position.

Since he had already determined the opponent's location, there was no need to use True Sight anymore.

Feeling the other party slowly approaching, Nie Yan suddenly burst forth. His right hand, wielding the Zannard Sword, launched a thrust straight at the opponent's front.

A flash of cold light, and with a clang, the opponent blocked Nie Yan's attack.

Good reaction! Nie Yan suddenly closed the distance and thrust his elbow forward.

The opponent quickly used his hands to block, resulting in a muffled thud.

Although the opponent blocked the attack, the powerful force from Nie Yan's arm still sent him flying backward.

Both of them revealed their figures.

The opponent was a Thief? Was it a humanoid monster?

In the darkness, Nie Yan could only vaguely make out the outline of the other person's face, unable to see his appearance clearly.

After the elbow strike, Nie Yan was about to use a control skill to immobilize his opponent. In order to prevent his opponent from escaping, Nie Yan's movements were decisive and ruthless, leaving no room for error.

At this moment, a voice sounded, “It’s me.”

Hearing this voice, Nie Yan was stunned. It was Shadow Killer.

These caves were crisscrossed and winding. The two of them had entered from different entrances and had unexpectedly run into each other.

“I thought it was a humanoid Thief monster. Luckily you spoke up, or I might have attacked,” Nie Yan said. He had almost mistakenly killed Shadow Killer.

Shadow Killer stopped. His hands were numb, and he couldn't even grip his daggers. His health was also reduced by more than half. In just one exchange, he had almost been killed by Nie Yan. Looking at Nie Yan, Shadow Killer couldn't help but mutter to himself, "This guy is getting more and more freakish." Although Nie Yan had discovered him first, he had also sensed Nie Yan's movements and made a defensive move in advance. But even under these circumstances, he was still powerless to resist. If he hadn't spoken up in advance, he would probably have already been lying on the ground. Fortunately, he had recognized Nie Yan from his fierce attacks.

Five or six months ago, he could still exchange a few moves with Nie Yan, but now it was completely impossible. The gap between them was widening. Shadow Killer was no longer Nie Yan's opponent at all.

He had originally thought about fighting Nie Yan a few more times to at least win one round, but after this exchange, the idea of fighting Nie Yan was completely dispelled. The difference between them was so great that fighting Nie Yan was simply asking for trouble. Better to forget it. For a moment, he felt a mixture of emotions.