Chapter 397 - Apocalyptic Extinction

The berserk lightning slowly dissipated before disappearing entirely, giving way to a clear blue sky. It was peaceful and calming, like the feeling of respite after a particularly rocky storm. The players from Asskickers United breathed a sigh of relief. They were saved.

If it wasn’t for Nie Yan pulling off a miracle against all odds, an endless storm of lightning would’ve undoubtedly taken all their lives.

None of them held any hope of surviving the unparalleled might of a Rank 2 Elemental Hall Magic like Lightning Storm.

“Fuck!” Mad Blade couldn’t help but curse after witnessing Nie Yan stop Cold Flame from casting Lightning Storm. “Kill that bastard! Don’t let him get away!”

A barrage of spells flew toward Nie Yan. As a group of top elites, how could they allow him to escape so easily?

Cut Throat!

After stunning Cold Flame, Nie Yan slashed him across the neck with Zennarde’s Sword.

−1,702!

Critical hit! Nie Yan emptied all the remaining life from Cold Flame’s health bar, killing him instantly!

Cold Flame collapsed on the ground. He was a squishy cloth-armoured Elementalist, so it was no surprise Nie Yan felled him in a single blow.

At this moment, eight spells rained down on Nie Yan. If he were hit by so many spells, he would undoubtedly be blasted into oblivion!

Nie Yan had just recently used Gale Step and Shadow Waltz, so both of them were on cooldown. Mad Blade refused to believe he possessed a third life-saving skill.

Nie Yan was dead for certain!

Life-saving skills were extremely pricey. For the vast majority of players, obtaining even one would be impressive. A second was a matter of luck. And a third meant that that bastard had to be some kind of cheat character!

Nie Yan was precisely that, a cheat character. Although he didn’t actually have a third life-saving skill, he had Quick Reset, which would reset the cooldown of any ordinary skill!

Besides Quick Reset, Nie Yan still had Adjudicator of God at hand!

In terms of skill arsenal, Nie Yan had more than enough to spare!

Nie Yan reset the cooldown of Shadow Waltz.

It looked like Nie Yan was going to be obliterated in the next moment, and his undefeated streak as the Mad Rogue would finally come to an end! Everyone’s hearts tightened.

Mad Blade coldly watched on with a smirk on his face. “Let’s see you try and act arrogant again!”

Shadow Waltz!

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A hail of spells ruthlessly bombarded Nie Yan.

When the dust and smoke settled, to everyone’s shock Nie Yan wasn’t a corpse lying on the ground.

Their eyes were wide like saucers.

“Fuck! This guy actually has a third life-saving skill?” Mad Blade cursed loudly. This fellow was becoming increasingly ludicrous in his eyes. His visions of killing Nie Yan had gone up in a puff of smoke.

With three life-saving skills and his excellent awareness, killing Nie Yan was practically impossible. The only way was to ambush him with thousands of players like before!

Seeing Nie Yan escape the bombardment unscathed, the players from Asskickers United immediately erupted in cheers.

“Brothers, the boss just showed off his skills! We can’t lose face for Asskickers United either! So what if they’re stronger than us? Let’s mob these bastards to death!” Paladin of the Elegy cried out, then pointed his sword at Mad Blade. “It’s time to return the favour! Mages, blast his ass back to Glory City!”

More than 80 Mages raised their staffs and took aim at Mad Blade. A dense hail of spells whizzed through the air.

Mad Blade’s face paled immediately, and he hurriedly activated God’s Descent. His skin glowed with a lime-green radiance, and his health rose to 3,600. More importantly, his magic resistance increased significantly. He also activated a shielding spell as a black barrier of light enveloped him.

God’s Descent was an Advanced Skill. As the guild leader of Bloodlust Blades, Mad Blade naturally had a hidden trump card or two.

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」One spell after another bombarded Mad Blade, dealing roughly 10 or so damage each. Even so, he was still constantly being pushed back. A moment later, the black barrier protecting him violently shuddered before shattering like glass. The damage he received instantly increased eightfold.

One healing spell after another fell over Mad Blade while one Priest hurriedly gave him a barrier.

“Boss, we need to leave now. It’ll be too late if we don’t! Three Blades and them have spotted several of Asskickers United’s top players heading over here! We also received reports of more than 5,000 of their players moving to surround us!” Starbright shouted anxiously. Right now, he no longer had any delusions of trying to kill Nie Yan. Even if he had more control skills, he knew it would still be a futile effort.

Around 500 players were left to guard the jars of Black Gunpowder while the rest were charging over.

With only around a dozen or so people, even if they were stronger individually, they would still end up smothered to death. A group of 200 players was a force to be reckoned with, especially given the caliber of the enemy. Without powerful area-of-effect magic, they absolutely weren’t a match in a direct confrontation.

It was still possible to cast Advanced Magic in the beginning since they had caught the enemy off guard. But now that the players from Asskickers United had had the time to react, with more than 200 players swarming towards them, it was impossible! After all, there were only so many Paladins they could stop from casting Silence.

The dazzling explosion of spells left Mad Blade unable to open his eyes. It was already impressive enough that he could endure such an intense bombardment for this long.

At this moment, several silhouettes appeared out of the thickets. They were Sun, Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the others! All of them spread out through the battlefield.

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield before focusing his attention on a figure in the distance. He was determined to make sure Mad Blade didn’t leave this battlefield alive today!

“Everyone, retr-” Mad Blade shouted. But before he could even finish his sentence, a sharp dagger struck him in the back of the head.

Nie Yan had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for his skills to come off cooldown. Seeing Mad Blade blinded and pushed back by the bombardment of magic, he took advantage of the opportunity to circle behind him. He activated Apocalyptic Extinction, then struck Mad Blade in the back of the head with Smothering Strike.

A small jingle rang out. Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar and discovered that his Smothering Strike had finally ranked up!

Smothering Strike was one of the few skills that could rank up. It wasn’t a frequently used skill, so few people knew what happened when it did rank up. Its proficiency could only be increased under very specific circumstances, which didn’t become common knowledge in the previous timeline until many players were well over Level 100. At that time, numerous players would look for places to train their Smothering Strike.

The effects of the upgraded version of Smothering Strike were pretty decent. Nie Yan wondered how powerful it would be at Advanced and Specialist.

Mad Blade’s attention was wholly focused on defending against the barrage of spells, so he naturally failed to sense Nie Yan’s approach. By the time he was hit, it was already too late.

Nie Yan was ruthless. Were it just the Smothering Strike, Mad Blade might have been able to survive. However, Nie Yan had also activated Apocalyptic Extinction and inflicted Mad Blade with a myriad of curses, causing his stats to plummet. His barrier shattered, and he started taking 300–400 damage from each of the spells.

At this point, Mad Blade couldn’t endure no matter how much health he had. Even God’s Descent couldn’t save him.

Although God’s Descent provided some protection, the curses from Apocalyptic Extinction were simply too powerful and cut Mad Blade’s defenses by more than half.

When the several Priests and Shamans saw Mad Blade in danger, they quickly raised their staffs to heal him. But it was already too late.

As the dense barrage of magic ruthlessly pummeled Mad Blade, he could endure no longer and was blasted backwards into the air. When several dozen spells hit him at the same time, dealing 300–400 damage each, it was no different from an instant kill.

Seeing Mad Blade sent flying, Nie Yan’s lips cracked into a satisfied smile. He reentered stealth and dashed toward his next target.

“Hurry! Use your Unknown Transfer Scrolls!” Starbright shouted. Just as the words left his mouth, he felt a cold chill nip at the back of his neck.

It was Nie Yan! He was taking action again!

Starbright reached into his bag and grabbed for an Unknown Transfer Scroll as fast as he could while retreating backwards. However, he was still too slow!

Intimidate! Nie Yan pounced toward Starbright like a cheetah hunting its prey.

Starbright immediately felt an intense wave of fear wash over him as his body stiffened. Just as he was about to crush the Unknown Transfer Scroll, Nie Yan struck him in the forehead with a Concussive Blow.

“Dammit, so fast...” Starbright muttered before his vision turned white. Nie Yan’s speed left him with no time to react. A second or two more, and he could’ve escaped with the Unknown Transfer Scroll.

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

His previous thoughts of wanting to PK Nie Yan seemed like nothing more than a joke now. Putting aside the fact that Mages were innately at a disadvantage against Thieves, he was simply no match for Nie Yan in terms of skill or game sense.

Nie Yan circled behind and followed through with a Backstab and Lacerate. Starbright’s body powerlessly slumped onto the ground.

The players from Bloodlust Blades, Alliance of Mages, Divine Protectors, and Angel Corps all crushed their Unknown Transfer Scrolls and disappeared from the battlefield.

They had prepared to great extent for this operation, with every single one of them carrying a Unknown Transfer Scroll. Such a rare item wasn’t something that would be used casually. Even Asskickers United only had a few hundred stockpiled.

In spite of the enemy’s ambush, Asskickers United had come out on top in this battle. Even though the damage they suffered wasn’t small, they had also killed more than 20 of the enemy’s top elites and looted over a dozen pieces of equipment from their corpses. All in all, it couldn’t be considered too big of a loss.