Chapter 1 The Plight

After about thirty minutes, a group of around thirty top players from the Niuren Tribe arrived at the village. The scene was one of utter devastation, with the ground littered with the corpses of Greenland Empire players. Even the Greenland Empire NPCs hadn't been spared, mercilessly slaughtered.

This was clearly the work of evil, lawful players, as it was impossible for players from the Greenland and Saturn Empires to kill even the NPCs.

The cold wind howled through the village, stirring up dust devils, making the scene desolate and barren.

"Report the situation here to Guild Leader Guo Huai."

"Mm."

Soon, Guo Huai received the message. He keenly realized that something was amiss. To wipe out an entire village, NPCs and players alike, would require at least a team, and a top-tier one at that.

Such a group appearing in the Abernathy Great Plains was definitely not a good thing.

Guo Huai immediately dispatched people to investigate the group, including finding the players killed by Xue Mo and his group to inquire about the details from them.

Over the next few days, he received message after message, reporting that fifteen villages had been attacked, with at least three hundred NPCs and over seven thousand players killed at their hands.

After thoroughly investigating the situation, Guo Huai immediately sent a message to Nie Yan via the game pod.

"What is it?" Nie Yan asked. Guo Huai knew he was in the Dark World and wouldn't send him a message unless it was important.

"Recently, a group of Demonkin Tribe members has appeared in the Abernathy Great Plains. There are sixty of them, all Silverwings. They've already raided fifteen villages, killing at least seven thousand players and three hundred NPCs," Guo Huai said, preparing to send Nie Yan all the information he had gathered.

Before Guo Huai could finish, Nie Yan immediately realized what he was talking about and asked in surprise, "Is it the Bloodfiend Knights?"

Guo Huai was taken aback for a moment before asking, "How did you know?"

"Those guys have quite the reputation. I didn't expect them to come to the surface." In fact, Nie Yan rarely paid attention to matters in the Underworld. It was only because the Bloodfiend Knights had been so infamous in his past life that the name was so deeply ingrained in his mind.

He remembered a time in his previous life when the Bloodfiend Knights acted recklessly and arrogantly, when he was only around Level 130. By then, the Greenland Empire already had many top-tier professional players, probably around sixty or seventy. The Silverwings from the Demonkin Tribe numbered around five or six hundred, yet the Bloodfiend Knights, with only sixty members, were all Silverwings. That was indeed frightening.

Besides being all Silverwings, their coordination was seamless, and their tactics were bizarre, opening the eyes of the Greenland Empire players. Many top-tier professional players from the Greenland Empire who encountered them fell at their hands.

They stayed at the border between the Greenland Empire and the Saturn Empire for over two months, killing a staggering hundreds of thousands of players. Any player who carelessly ran into them was killed. Later, the Greenland Empire organized about twenty top-tier professionals to fight them. They retreated after losing five people and only killing two of the enemy. The Greenland Empire players considered this a disgrace. Later, top-tier professionals from the Saturn Empire also suffered at their hands.

The top players from the Greenland and Saturn Empires besieged them for over a month, but to no avail. Eventually, the two empires had to cooperate. Seventy top-tier professionals, supported by a large number of players from over a dozen guilds, finally located the Bloodfiend Knights and engaged them in a decisive battle. The Greenland and Saturn Empires lost seven top-tier professionals, while the Bloodfiend Knights lost sixteen. After suffering some setbacks, the Bloodfiend Knights finally retreated back to the Underworld.

Although they won the battle, the victory left the top-tier professional players who participated feeling a little bitter.

Although Silverwings were considered top-tier professions in the Demonkin Tribe, they were different from the top-tier professional players of the Greenland and Saturn Empires. In terms of talent, the Silverwings were no match for the top-tier professional players of the Greenland and Saturn Empires. The battle had turned out the way it had, so the top-tier professional players of the Greenland and Saturn Empires didn't consider it a victory and felt ashamed.

Despite their defeat, the Bloodfiend Knights became famous after this battle, hailed as the number one team in the world. No other team could compare to them.

It was said that the Bloodfiend Knights were founded by a player named Xue Mo. All the members had been playing virtual reality games with him for decades, like old brothers. They had no interest in establishing a guild and only formed a studio to farm gold and earn money. Their method of farming was very aggressive, which was to hunt down expert-level players, loot their equipment, and sell it for money. It was said that many guilds had suffered at their hands. Regardless of which guild they belonged to, such as the Gods, Fallen Angels, or Angel Corps, they didn't care when they wanted to rob them. They killed whoever they wanted. Although they had been ambushed many times, they always escaped with ease. The guilds that ambushed them suffered even more severe reprisals. After a few incidents, the major guilds didn't dare to provoke the Bloodfiend Knights anymore. As long as the Bloodfiend Knights didn't go too far, they would turn a blind eye. After all, these players were too terrifying to provoke.

With the Bloodfiend Knights coming to the surface, Nie Yan immediately felt the pressure on his shoulders increase. His guild had a total of twenty-one top-tier professional players. It would be difficult to drive out the Bloodfiend Knights, but he couldn't allow them to run rampant in their territory. Where would they put their faces?

However, these guys were well-informed and elusive, making it difficult to catch their tracks. Their strength was also astonishing, making them extremely difficult to deal with, unlike anyone Nie Yan had encountered before. The Demonkin Tribe had many strange tactics that were hard to defend against. One careless mistake could easily result in suffering at their hands. If a decisive battle were to occur, any casualties would be a loss.

Nie Yan frowned. They couldn't avoid it.

"What are their movements now?" Nie Yan whispered to Guo Huai.

"They're currently heading towards the Saturn Empire," Guo Huai said, glancing at the newly received information. He breathed a sigh of relief. Nie Yan and the others were in the Dark World. If such a group stayed in the Abernathy Great Plains, he would definitely have trouble sleeping and eating. Now that the group had run off to the Saturn Empire to cause trouble for Angel Corps, Guo Huai couldn't help but feel a little Schadenfreude. Let's see what Angel Corps does!

"Pay attention to their movements. If they return to the Abernathy Great Plains, immediately send me a message. Have the members below hurry up and advance to top-tier professional!" Nie Yan said. Compared to the Bloodfiend Knights, the Niuren Tribe didn't have enough top-tier professional players.

Based on his experience from his previous life, these Bloodfiend Knights wouldn't return to the Underworld unless they suffered some setbacks. After all, killing players from the Greenland and Saturn Empires on the surface not only didn't incur sin points, but also granted them a lot of experience and reputation rewards every day. It only took two days to clear their red names, and they could sell the equipment they obtained through various channels. Besides these, they could also earn high military ranks. After reaching the rank of Ten-Thousand-Man Commander, they had to maintain a certain number of kills every day to prevent their rank from dropping. If they killed enough people, they even had a chance to advance to Warlord or High Warlord. After reaching the rank of Warlord or High Warlord, they could even buy a set of Sub-Legendary or Legendary equipment for each of them.

Once they tasted the sweetness, they would become addicted to staying on the surface.

If they didn't drive the Bloodfiend Knights back to the Underworld, they would eventually return to the Abernathy Great Plains. If the Niuren Tribe kept dodging and didn't take action, they would be seen as afraid to fight, and the Bloodfiend Knights would only become more arrogant.

"I've sent some Thieves to follow them from a distance. If nothing goes wrong, we shouldn't lose track of them," Guo Huai said. Dangerous elements like these, of course, had to be monitored as much as possible.

"Have them keep a good distance, at least one hundred and fifty yards away, otherwise it will be dangerous. The group they're following is no joke," Nie Yan said. He had heard many legends about the Bloodfiend Knights in his previous life, so he had a rough understanding of their strength.

He still had to stay in the Dark World for a while. With the Bloodfiend Knights as a lurking threat, they had to return as soon as possible. Without a top-tier professional player sitting in the guild, uncontrollable situations could easily arise.

"Guild Leader, should we hurry back?" Undying Scoundrel had also heard about the Bloodfiend Knights and asked in the team chat.

"No, stay here for now. There's no use in being anxious!" Nie Yan shook his head. The Bloodfiend Knights were definitely the most skilled group of people at the moment. They had to improve their strength as quickly as possible so that they wouldn't suffer when they encountered the Bloodfiend Knights.

Everyone was somewhat worried about the situation in Ocoron City, but after hearing Nie Yan's words, they calmed down and continued to grind monsters.

"Speed up the pace!" Nie Yan said, feeling a little depressed that completing the task seemed so far off. He really couldn't wait that long.

For now, he could only take things one step at a time.

While Nie Yan and the others were grinding monsters in the Dark World, they also paid attention to the situation outside. The Bloodfiend Knights wandered around the Saturn Empire, even raiding two small towns. They were addicted to killing and were becoming more and more daring.

Naturally, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group wouldn't sit idly by and watch the Bloodfiend Knights act so arrogantly. They dispatched large forces to intercept them, but it seemed that every ambush was anticipated, so not only did they fail, but they were also given a fierce counterattack.

This situation reminded Nie Yan of something. It seemed that the same thing had happened in his previous life. The Bloodfiend Knights definitely had inside help in the Greenland and Saturn Empires, otherwise they wouldn't have been so well-informed. Moreover, they needed channels to sell the equipment they obtained. Selling it to players in the Underworld was useless, so they had to sell it to players on the surface.

No wonder they dared to run rampant so unscrupulously in the Greenland and Saturn Empires!