Blade of Tyranny - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Swordtooth Nymph

‘Should I use cast Toxic Miasma?’ Nie Fan pondered endlessly. The Thieves would definitely die if he used it right now, what with all the withered Soulcraving Thorns strewn all over the ground. If he didn’t, he was going to have a hard time escaping their encirclement.

Moreover, there were too many Demon Goblins around them for Nie Fan to cast Bloodthirsty Vines. He would definitely be interrupted by those creatures if he stopped to cast it.

But in that very moment, a pleasant, stirring voice spoke. “Need help?”

Nie Fan looked towards it to find Dancing Phoenix, who had already arrived beside him unbeknownst to him.

Her bright smile left Grievous Harm and the others stunned too.

Dancing Phoenix was a friend of Dark Night’s? They rarely even heard of Dancing Phoenix mingling with men!

Even as the Thieves were left doubting what they see, Nie Fan grinned. “My thoughts, precisely.”

He wasn’t one to put on airs, and though it was not a problem for him to handle three opponents at once, six was a little difficult.

Whirling Chop!

Nie Fan had just spoken when Dancing Phoenix sent one of the Thieves flying, and killed him with another lethal slash.

With one Thief down, she immediately rushed away and intercepted another Thief!

To avoid being red listed for killing another player, Dancing Phoenix limited her targets to the yellow listed Thieves.

It was hard to imagine that a woman of every sweetness and charm could move so agilely. No wonder there were those who call her the War Goddess.

Still, Nie Fan was not one to be outdone. He lunged towards a Thief who tried to turn and run, and unleashed a Smite square on the back of his head.

The Thief was instantly rendered Dizzy.

Thud-thud-thud!

With a few more blows, from Nie Fan, damage values over fifty and sixty were popping up continuously over the Thief’s head.

Although Nie Fan’s equipment was just above average, the buffing from the Ring of Fate meant his attacks were quite vicious. Moreover, the Thief’s Defense and HP weren’t that high, and he dropped to the ground with just a few blows.

Grievous Harm and the others turned pale from fear, losing all will to fight from the sheer surprise of Dancing Phoenix joining the fray. She was quite famous for her prowess after all, not to mention that they could not use their numbers against her—with other Phoenix Down members nearby, wouldn’t she just call for them?

They started to withdraw, ready to leave when several Warriors came up on their rear to block their path.

They immediately realized that they were surrounded.

“It’s Bloodbath Studios! Shit!” One of the Thief cursed just before he fell to the ground as well.

Grievous Harm simply couldn’t understand why players from Phoenix Down Studios and Bloodbath Studios would come to Nie Fan’s aid, and even before he could ponder, he had dropped to the ground already after Warhammer cut him down.

All six Thieves from the Wandering Souls Studios were slain.

“Much thanks.” Nie Fan sent Warsong a message afterwards.

“You’re too kind—it really wasn’t much.” Warsong smiled nonchalantly, since Nie Fan and Dancing Phoenix would have handled things even without him. That said, where had she come from? Could she be connected to him as well? It was a point of concern since Bloodbath Studios and Phoenix Down Studios were rivals and could clash at any given moment…

Still, the only important thing was that Nie Fan wasn’t affiliated to Phoenix Down. They wouldn’t have recruited Nie Fan since that group was all girls anyway, and Warsong smiled in relief at the thought.

“Thanks.” Nie Fan messaged Dancing Phoenix as well.

“You’re welcome.” She pursed her lips in a smile, and quickly returned to her own party when she saw that there’s nothing to do there.

Looking at the six Thieves’ corpses in the dirt, Nie Fan thought that he would have been forced to cast Toxic Miasma just to kill them eventually. Even if he was a little stronger than other players of the same level, he would still be disadvantaged against numbers.

In the end, others had the support of their gaming studios while he was a solo player. Nie Fan therefore felt an urgent yearning for ability right then, to be powerful enough so that he would not be pushed around like today, and at least flee altogether in times of danger!

***

The other side of the battlefield.

“Boss Shadow Fiend, Grievous Harm failed again. All six of our boys are dead.”

Shadow Fiend frowned and growled. “What happened? Wasn’t the mark just one person?”

Six Thieves attacking one Druid only to end up all dead. What astounding joke was that?

“That’s because we didn’t know about his background. When Grievous Harm and the others attacked him, both Dancing Phoenix and Warhammer of Bloodbath Studios came to help at the same time, and all of our boys were counter killed.”

Shadow Fiend lifted a brow. To think that he could get Dancing Phoenix and someone from Bloodbath Studios to help… that fellow certainly wasn’t some minor character!

“Drop that quest. Pay close attention to that Dark Night, and find out everything about him!” Shadow Fiend himself felt intrigued with Nie Fan right then.

“Got it.”

Drop the quest meant refunding the client with ten times the money they original paid. That was their studio rules, and Shadow Fiend certainly would not take it lying down after suffering such a huge loss… although that would have to wait after he solved the riddle of Nie Fan’s identity.

Moreover, there were only three studios active in Tajit Village: Bloodbath Studios, Wandering Souls Studios, and Phoenix Down Studios. Being one of them, the other two joining forces was not something they wanted to see.

***

Meanwhile, the defense of the village continued. Just a moment after the first wave of Demon Goblins were killed, another wave of stronger monsters charged towards the village, most of them being Level 20 Fire Goblins.

At the moment, there were around five to six hundred players left. It meant that almost half out of the thousand over players were dead, not to mention that some of the cowardly players had retreated inside the village, leaving around four hundred players to hold the line. It was fortunate that NPC militia and the Elite Guards were helping with their formidable power, as such easing much of the pressure on them.

While Nie Fan scouted around the battlefield, he found an enormous creature which was entirely green amongst the faraway hordes of fire goblins. It was around three meters tall and moved very slowly, with sharp spines growing all over its body. It was also carrying a thick two-meters long wooden log over its shoulder, which was probably its weapon.

It was the Swordtooth Nymph, a Rare monster!

Nie Fan could not stop himself from reacting. Rare monsters appeared at random and were Boss-class at minimum, not to mention that their item drops tend to be very good, with a high chance of being Dark-Enchanted Bronze equipment, or it could be certain special rare items as well. The best item Nie Fan had was the Dark-Enchanted Bronze Ring of Fate, and at his current level, any item of that same grade was a priceless treasure.

Seizing the moment before his Cheetahmorph was over, Nie Fan pounced and dodged to approach the Swordtooth Nymph, and launched a Mini Fireball at it.

The spell exploded over the nymph’s body with a bang, and [-7] points of damage appeared over its head.

[Swordtooth Nymph: Boss, Level 26, Rare, HP 12000.]

Wow, Nie Fan gasped. It was actually a Level 26 Boss with twelve thousand HP.

It really was stunning.

Amongst those present, it was perhaps only the NPCs who could kill it, but the Boss would not drop any items if the NPCs dealt half of the total damage against it. In the end, it just isn’t worthwhile to have the NPCs kill it.

Though Nie Fan had many coordinates of Minibosses and Bosses, finding a Rare monster out in the wild remained extremely difficult. After all, Rare monsters spawned at random and followed no patterns, not to mention that they were extremely few in number!