Chapter 394 - Obscurus Magic, Explosion Inferno!

Although 200 Thieves seemed like a lot, it was far from enough to scout out every inch of these forested hills. Trying to find only several dozen people in such an area was no different from fishing a needle out of a haystack.

Nie Yan wasn’t the least bit suspicious. After all, no one in Calore was capable of opposing Asskickers United. Victorious Return was under heavy scrutiny, and Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors were too far away to pose any real threat.

Asskickers United was deeply rooted into Calore, with roughly one out of every ten players having a relation with the guild. The moment anything happened, they would know. Informants were practically everywhere, so it was nigh impossible to escape their sights. This was why 2,000 players sufficed to transport the jars of Black Gunpowder.

The portal those six Shamans opened was a secret spell from the Shamic Temple, which was the hardest type of magic to guard against. Furthermore, they had already made ample preparations, having set up transfer points in Glory City long ago. They could teleport 50–60 players with each portal.

Bloodlust Blades had already been planning to attack Asskickers United’s strongholds for a long time. But with the appearance of the Black Gunpowder, they were forced to slightly alter their plans. They would deal with the Black Gunpowder first!

Black Gunpowder was a military good that took up a lot of bagspace. The amount Nie Yan uncovered in Earl Kelfield’s Castle could fill tens of thousands of bottles, a task which would take at least several days. The only feasible method was to transport it by hand. When transport caravans became available later on, things would become much more convenient.

Black Gunpowder had many applications and could be used to craft a variety of siege weapons, such as magic explosives, incendiary bolts, explosive projectiles, etc.

Although people had heard of siege weapons like Goblin Magic Cannons, blueprints for them were extremely hard to come by.

Nie Yan placed great importance on transporting these goods safely to United City. Even if these materials were only enough to craft one or two Goblin Magic Cannons, they were well worth the effort.

「Boss, it’s safe up here. We bumped into a few players levelling, but we shooed them away.」

「Everything is clear on our side too.」

...

The 200 Thieves reported back one after another after scouting out their respective zones.

This information put Nie Yan’s mind at ease. He glanced behind him and felt that putting all the Black Gunpowder in the same place was a bit too dangerous. After thinking for a moment, he decided to split the people carrying the Black Gunpowder into seven smaller groups and had a large number of Thieves and Warriors patrol the thickets around them to prevent anyone from getting close.

「Nie Yan, I just received word that all the top experts in Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors disappeared. They were gathered together in Glory City only 20 minutes ago. I had people monitor the transfer points in Calore, but we didn’t discover them. Maybe they’re doing a dungeon run or something?」Guo Huai reported at this time. The top experts of three large guilds suddenly disappearing was too strange an occurrence. So, he immediately reported this information to Nie Yan.

Since those players didn’t teleport to Calore, even if they rode on the fastest mounts, it would take them at least seven hours to cover the distance between the two cities and enter Calore. As such, Guo Huai never considered the possibility of them suddenly launching an ambush. However, this news immediately roused Nie Yan’s suspicions. How could it possibly be a coincidence that all the top experts in Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors would disappear at the same time his group was transporting the Black Gunpowder?

Conviction had all sorts of mysterious spells and items. Nie Yan couldn’t eliminate the possibility those people obtained something that allowed players to teleport between cities without the use of transfer points.

「Tell all guild members who’ve finished their class advancement quests to come over here immediately! Also, send over a force of at least 5,000 players as back-up!」Nie Yan ordered in a grave tone.

Guo Huai was taken aback for a moment. But hearing Nie Yan’s tone, he immediately understood the gravity of the situation.「Understood, I’ll get to it right away!」

As the 2,000 players carrying the Black Gunpowder travelled through the forested hills, Nie Yan swept his gaze over the dense foliage. It would be extremely simple to hide several dozen people here!

A sense of unease crept into Nie Yan’s mind.「Everyone, be on guard. We’re preparing for battle!」

At this moment, the magic energy in the air vibrated. Nie Yan looked up ahead and saw a red cloud condense in the sky as flames started pouring down. The players closest to the spell immediately became restless.

“We’re under attack!”

The players in the back were about to rush forward to provide support but were stopped by Nie Yan.

「Stop! Protect the Black Gunpowder!」Nie Yan shouted his orders. The only reason the enemy attacked the front of the group was in hopes of drawing away the players escorting the jars of Black Gunpowder from the back. They definitely had people hidden in other places.

Asskickers United’s procession was extremely long. There were roughly 400 players opening the path up ahead, all of whom were around Level 45. Even though they couldn’t compare to the top ranked members, they were far above ordinary players. Asskickers United didn’t have a single trash player!

Seven players from Angel Corps, Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors suddenly appeared in front of Nie Yan’s group. There was an Arcane Mage, Holy Mage, Priest, Berserker, Paladin, and Elemental Shaman.

The Arcane Mage stood proudly atop a clifftop. He waved his staff as a series of cryptic syllables came out of his mouth. He was surging with magical energy as an unimaginably powerful spell condensed in the air.

Obscurus Magic, Explosion Inferno!

A single Advanced Magic could cover everything within a 100 meter radius of a targeted area. It certainly wasn’t as easy to avoid as normal area-of-effect magic, not to mention the terrifying damage which few players could endure for more than a couple of seconds.

The group of Asskickers United players immediately erupted into an uproar. The five Paladins closest to the front activated Indomitable Will and charged toward the Arcane Mage. They had to stop him at all costs; otherwise, most of the 400 players at the front of the procession would be wiped out.

Another six Warriors followed behind the five Paladins.

Advanced Magic generally required two sets of syllables to cast, or in other words roughly 20 seconds. If one of the Paladins could get within 5 meters of the Arcane Mage to cast Silence, the Advanced Magic would be interrupted.

Seeing Asskickers United’s people charging towards them, the several players beside the Arcane Mage naturally didn’t stay idle.

The Elemental Shaman waved his staff and summoned a Windfury Totem. After which he spat out several words in the orcish language as electricity surged around his hand. He shot three lightning bolts at one of the Paladins.「Bang! Bang! Bang」

−856!

−847!

−889!

The Paladin was sent flying and crashed into a nearby tree.

It was an instant kill!

Windfury Totems increased the critical rate of all nearby allies to 100%.

This Elemental Shaman’s reaction speed was quite quick. The several nearby players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, and Divine Protectors couldn’t help but be surprised. Players from Angel Corps were really something else.

“Lunatic, we can’t let Angel Corps show us up! Come on, let’s show off our skills!” a Berserker shouted before charging into the Paladins.

“Understood!” The Holy Mage waved his staff and buffed himself with several spells that increased Holy Magic damage before attacking one of the Paladins with Holy Judgement.

−2,321!

「Bang!」The Paladin was blasted away. It was another instant kill!

The Holy Mage stood there with a blank expression on his face. Even he was shocked by how much damage he dealt. He glanced at the Windfury Totem floating beside him. It only looked like a piece of carved wood. Who knew it had such a powerful effect!

“Sweet! Darkwing, your Windfury Totem is amazing!” the Holy Mage exclaimed. Only a Windfury Totem with a skill level of five or higher could have such an effect. He waved his staff and cast Light’s Judgement.「Bang!」Another Paladin was sent flying.

Lunatic had already class advanced to a Great Holy Mage, so he already dealt a lot of damage to players who hadn’t yet class advanced. With the buff from Windfury Totem, he could directly one-shot them!

Charge!

Charge!

The Warriors from Asskickers United charged up the hill toward the enemy.

The Berserker let out a roar and rushed up to greet them, holding off three of them on his own.

Whirlwind Slash!

“Stop the Paladins, don’t let them silence Starbright!” the Berserker reminded. He roared and activated Seismic Slam, knocking the three Warriors back.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got this!” Darkwing said. He waved his staff.

Polymorph!

A Warrior who had just arrived in front of Darkwing was struck by the spell and shrunk into a frog.

Darkwing no longer cared for the Warrior after turning him into a frog and moved onto his next target.

One of the Paladins managed to get close to the Arcane Mage Starbright. Just as he was about to cast Silence, the Holy Mage activated Repel and forced him several meters back. The Paladin failed to cast Silence!

Although this was the first time these people were cooperating together, as top-ranked players, their senses were top-notch. They could understand their teammate’s intentions even when pressed for time.

The spells from Asskickers United’s Mages started flying over in their direction. The Priest and Paladin immediately started healing Starbright and the others.

“These bastards are tougher than we thought! Be careful, watch your health!” the Paladin said as he healed the Berserker.

The Berserker’s health rapidly fell. The Paladin’s healing couldn’t keep up, forcing the Berserker to down an Intermediate Health Potion. He then struck out with a Crippling Strike, immobilizing one of the Warriors that was charging over before quickly pulling back.

These seven players were like fish in the water during this high-level battle, not slipping up in the slightest.

Twenty seconds was a fairly short amount of time. By the time Asskickers United’s players had noticed Starbright’s presence, eight seconds had already passed. Time had passed in a blink of an eye. They could barely react before they heard the Arcane Mage chant out the final syllable.

Explosion Inferno!