Chapter 390 - Defeating the Wraith of the Ancient Castle

This room in the basement was oddly shaped like an oval. A table sat in the center littered with all kinds of gold oddities and bobbles. Tucked away in a corner were many earthen pots and jars, having collected a couple decades’ worth of cobwebs and dust. Some of them were broken with black powder leaking out.

Nie Yan detected the unmistakable scent of gunpowder as he breathed in through his nose.

Nie Yan recalled an incident in his past life where a medium-sized guild called Moon Wolf had discovered valuable treasures and crafting materials in this ancient castle. But before they could dispatch people to transport the goods away, Victorious Return ambushed them and snatched everything away for themselves.

It seemed there was some basis to that rumour.

On top of an adjacent table were piles of mysterious scrolls. However, Nie Yan couldn’t be bothered to spare them a glance. His attention was wholly focused on Abak’s Bloody Dagger. It was rumoured that due to the countless lives Tyrant Abak reaped with this dagger, a powerful curse was placed on it which prevented ordinary people from approaching.

The dagger was mounted to the wall. A bloody aura slowly leaked out of it, emanating an ominous presence.

The Tyrant Abak Set was Nie Yan’s ultimate goal. With this set, he would need nothing else. He would have to keep progressing through the questline, finding one clue after another, completing the set one piece at a time. This endeavor would probably take at least three years to complete.

Since he had discovered Abak’s Bloody Dagger, he absolutely had to have it!

At this moment, Patience floated down the stairs and charged after him.

“You wretched human and your holy light!” Patience’s appearance was frightening as she stabbed at him with her claw-like hands.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. It appeared Patience had some rudimentary intelligence. These kinds of monsters were the toughest to deal with. They didn’t fight blindly. If they couldn’t beat you, they’d call for back-up. If they saw your health drop low, they’d pursue you relentlessly to the end of the world. And if you dropped their health below a certain threshold, they’d try to flee.

Nie Yan glanced at Patience. She still had over 110,000 health.

Defeating her would be no easy task.

Since Nie Yan couldn’t beat her by himself, there was only one option left. Call for help!

Nie Yan took out a pouch of Flash Powder from his bag and chucked it at Patience.「Poof!」A dazzling radiance engulfed the surroundings.

Patience let out a miserable shriek. She was blinded by the intense brilliance.

Nie Yan quickly ducked into a corner. He activated Deterrence, then opened up the skill window for Divine Recruitment. After a quick glance at the list, he made up his mind and summoned the Rank 7 Paladin Keo who had 200% of his stats and an hourly fee of 1,000 gold.

For the sake of obtaining Abak’s Bloody Dagger, Nie Yan went for broke.

Keo materialized beside Nie Yan, wielding a sword and shield.

“Sir Devil Slayer, it is an honour to serve you. May the holy light forever be with you.” Keo stared at Patience up ahead and shouted in a righteous tone, “For the sake of spreading the faith of Light, by God’s will, I will exterminate all evil creatures! This is the duty of a Paladin!”

All Paladins summoned by Divine Recruitment were pious followers of the Light. They also had a rudimentary level of intelligence.

When Patience regained her vision, she resumed her pursuit of Nie Yan but halted in her tracks after reaching within six meters of him. This was the effect of his improved Deterrence! The emergence of Paladin Keo also filled her with a sense of dread.

Keo should be able to hold his own against Patience, for a short while at least. Nie Yan immediately began chanting as one syllable after another flowed out of his mouth. He was preparing to summon Lil’ Gold as the space around him started to warp and fluctuate.

With the addition of Lil’ Gold, the three of them combined could definitely take down Patience.

At this moment, Patience let out a piercing shriek which spread out as a destructive sound wave and struck Nie Yan.

−32 A damage value floated up above Nie Yan’s head. He was interrupted mid-cast.

Nie Yan clicked his tongue. He didn’t expect Patience to have a ranged control skill that could interrupt his cast.

Bosses with intelligence were truly tricky.

Nie Yan failed summoning Lil’ Gold! Even so, it was still possible to defeat Patience with just the help of Keo. He checked the most important skill in Keo’s skill window, Heal! It had a cooldown of roughly 20 seconds and could restore over 2,000 health.

Good! It’s enough! Nie Yan dashed toward Patience.

Patience floated forward and greeted him with her sharp claws.

Nie Yan activated Gale Step, blocking the attack, then circled behind Patience and slashed her in the back with Zennarde’s Sword.

Patience turned around and retaliated by slashing him across the chest.

−1,357

Nie Yan was bathed in a gentle radiance as Paladin Keo healed him for over 2,000 health!

In the next moment, Keo charged forward and struck Patience with Divine Strike as a holy radiance burst forth from his blade.

−15,928! Patience screamed in pain as a frightening damage value floated up above her head.

Holy light was effective against the undead!

This was why Paladins loved to grind on undead mobs.

Even Nie Yan was frightened by Keo’s high damage. He inwardly rejoiced. Like this, dealing with Patience would be a piece of cake!

Keo let out a roar and bathed Patience in the cleansing light of Purify. Her face warped in pain as she started releasing smoke. However, a bloody aura was slowly building up around her.

Nie Yan was wary, but he threw caution to the wind. He furiously stabbed and slashed at Patience with reckless abandon. Keo was much the same.

−6,738

−12,957

−7,023....

In a short while, Patience’s health fell below 10%.

She was only one or two attacks away from being defeated!

Just at this moment, Patience let out a blood-curdling screech.

Howl of Terror!

Nie Yan had no time to react at all. Fear permeated into every cell of his being, his mind blanked as he started unwillingly fleeing.

Paladin Keo reacted in the same manner.

Patience charged after Keo. She was completely aggroed on to him, given that he was dealing the most damage and the undead had an innate loathing of anything holy.

She relentlessly attacked Keo, slashing away with her sharp claws, shaving away his more than 5,000 health in the blink of an eye.

Keo collapsed dead on the ground.

Patienced shifted her attention to Nie Yan.

Fortunately, Mind Magic generally didn’t last long. The first six seconds of Howl of Terror was hard crowd control. But after that, he was free to use his skills again, even if he still didn’t have control of his body.

Mind Immune!

After six seconds passed, Nie Yan immediately freed himself from the effects of Howl of Terror. Seeing Patience pounce at him with her sharp claws, he activated Shadow Waltz to block the attack and circled behind her.

Patience only had 6,783 health left. Nie Yan’s muscles swelled as Zennarde’s Sword sped toward her neck.

Cut Throat!

At this moment, Patience activated Three-Hit Flurry!

Her claws slashed across Nie Yan’s chest.

−1,356

−1,287

Just as the third hit was about to land, Nie Yan’s blade streaked across Patience’s neck.

−6,788! Patience let out a dying wail.

Nie Yan, wary that Patience might try to pull something funny, immediately drank an Intermediate Health Potion and prepared an Advanced Combat Bandage.

Patience exploded into a pile of ashes, from which a white ball of light floated out and flew away.

Her evil spirit was exorcised.

It’s finally over... Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief.

Patience dropped two pieces of Dark Gold-grade equipment. One was for a Shadow Priest and the other for an Arcane Mage. Nie Yan stored them in his bag, then approached Abak’s Bloody Dagger. The Holy Stone in his hand vibrated intensely and released a brilliant light. With a hard tug, he dislodged the dagger from the wall.

Nie Yan could feel a powerful corrosive energy surrounding Abak’s Bloody Dagger. If it weren’t for the purifying light of the Holy Stone, he would’ve long since died.

This dagger could only be obtained through the quest from the Glimpse of Darkness!

Nie Yan turned his attention to the pile of sheepskin scrolls piled on one of the tables. He didn’t know how long they had been sitting there, but they had already turned grey.

They appeared to be recipes!

Just as Nie Yan was about to walk over to check them out, he felt a slight nip at the back of his neck. It was extremely faint, almost indiscernible, but it was still picked up by his sharp senses.

It’s a Thief! Nie Yan’s mind trembled.

Given how high his Awareness was, it was surprising that he couldn’t sense the opponent’s location.

Nie Yan surveyed his surroundings, but it was completely empty. He couldn’t find a single trace of the enemy Thief!

Since this was a Level 50 map, his opponent had to at least be Level 50. Furthermore, their Cloaking had to be extremely high as well! How else could they go unnoticed by him in this relatively cramped space?

Nie Yan judged that the opposing Thief must have just arrived; otherwise, they would’ve already attacked him while he was dealing with Patience.

Nie Yan’s eyes narrowed, flashing with killing intent. He walked over to the table and reached out his hand to pick up the sheepskin scrolls.

Are these what you came here for? Let’s see what you do when I try to take them...

At this moment, the unmistakable glint of a dagger emerged behind Nie Yan.

You’ve finally shown yourself!