Chapter 546 - Surrounded

King of the World’s lips curved into a bloodthirsty smile as a devilish killing intent stirred in his heart.

A woman’s intuition was never wrong. Xie Yao was right to say King of the World was a dangerous individual.

After fighting in war zones for so long, King of the World’s killing intent was quite potent. At this moment, he wasn’t concealing it in the slightest.

Even in the face of death, King of the World could maintain absolute calm. Compared to braving through hails of bullets, this kind of situation was trivial.

The instant the two Thieves came close, King of the World determined their positions and plan of attack. As he lightly leaned to the side, one dagger stabbed past his ear while another brushed past his cheek.

King of the World could feel the sharpness of the daggers’ blades.

This exquisite skill was something King of the World had developed during his time as a mercenary, after countless brushes with death. From the eyes of an ordinary person, such movements seemed impossible.

The ambush failed!

The two Direwolf Thieves were dazed. Escaping the pincer, King of the World circled behind as his dagger pierced through one of their throats at a seemingly impossible angle. It was a reverse grip Smothering Strike.

Both sides were top experts. This exchange ended in the blink of an eye.

Every skill had a particular set of movements, including Smothering Strike.

Logically speaking, executing a Smothering Strike in such an awkward angle was impossible. However, King of the World had succeeded! The Direwolf Thief was stunned.

This was a special trick King of the World had mastered after practicing Smothering Strike non-stop. Even players like Sun and One Strike Vow would fall victim to this move without prior knowledge.

King of the World was quite familiar with a certain principle. A move that existed outside common perception was the most likely to succeed. Even if the opponent was a peak expert, the result would still be the same!

The slightest mistake and the Smothering Strike would’ve failed. King of the World was precisely challenging the boundaries of the system.

King of the World immediately followed up with a Reverse Grip Backstab and Lacerate before disappearing with Gale Step.

The Direwolf Thief collapsed to the ground as his health bar bottomed out.

Seeing his companion’s corpse lying on the ground, the other Thief was slightly trembling while tightly holding onto his dagger. Looking around him, King of the World was nowhere to be found. However, he didn’t dare to relax his guard.

“Old Seven, what happened.” Raven and the others rushed over. Their expressions morphed into ones of shock as soon as they laid their sights on their fallen comrade.

“We failed our pincer attack, and Old Eight got killed.” Old Seven bitterly smiled.

This information greatly unsettled Raven and the rest of the group. Others might not have known who Old Seven and Old Eight were, but they did. During Dark Hero’s prime, Invincible and the several hundred top experts under him had swept through virtual reality game after virtual reality game without ever once being defeated. Old Seven and Old Eight were core members of the group. Exclusively playing the Thief class, they both earned the titles of Thief God along the way. Shadow Killer, Nirvana Flame, Sun, and the others had all risen to fame later. Old Seven and Old Eight were only slightly inferior to them.

“Was it Nirvana Flame?” Raven asked, believing Nie Yan was the only one who could achieve this kind of feat.

“No, it was a Thief called King of the World.”

“King of the World?” Raven was dumbfounded before recalling such a person. King of the World was originally an obscure character. During the conflict between Bloodlust Blades and Asskickers United, though, he achieved great fame by successfully ambushing more than a thousand Bloodlust Blades players. Afterwards, he vanished without a trace. Who would’ve thought he had joined Asskickers United?

One Nirvana Flame was already bad enough. After that Sun appeared. Now a King of the World had popped up too? Asskickers United’s Thieves truly left other guilds speechless.

“A single lousy Thief left you two in such a sorry state. And you call yourselves Thief Gods,” Krow remarked.

After hearing these words, Old Seven cast an angry glare at Krow.

Raven glanced at Krow, then said, “If you think you’re up to the task, when we get back, how about you face off against Old Seven and Old Eight and see if you can win so easily.”

Krow thought for a moment before letting out a cold snort.

“Let’s get out of here. Nirvana Flame can’t be too far behind,,” Old Seven urged.

After killing Old Eight, King of the World had never left. He was still closely watching these players.

Nie Yan had finally finished up things on his end.

「Is everyone finished? We’re about to pay those Direwolf players a visit/back with interest. Who wants in!?」Nie Yan asked.

「Me!」Tang Yao was the first to reply.

「Me too!」

....

Bladelight, Xie Yao, and the others also replied.

Of the 12 Hyperlink Rings, King of the World had one in his possession. All the others who had one would be participating too.

「Everyone, split up into 10 teams. Occupy the castles and end he battle!」Nie Yan issued his order in the guild chat. Paladin of the Elegy carried out his orders.

After leaving the rest to Paladin of the Elegy, Nie Yan recalled his Darkwing Dragon, then activated his Hyperlink Ring.

At this moment, deep within a secluded spot in the forest, rays of light flashed as Nie Yan and the others materialized around King of the World.

All 12 players were present. With this kind of lineup, anything could be accomplished!

“Where are the Direwolf players?” Nie Yan asked.

“Over to the east. We can catch up to them in about two minutes,” King of the World replied.

“Alright. Let’s set out.” Nie Yan and the others went into pursuit of the fleeing Direwolf players.

Raven and the others were travelling through the forest. Almost all of Alliance of Mages’ forces had been wiped out. The surviving few players didn’t dare to come out. When asking a question in the voice chat, no one would reply. In a map without coordinates, they were basically headless flies. They could only continue wandering aimlessly.

“The boss passed down his order. He wants us to keep Asskickers United in this map as long as possible. He’s going to take action,” Raven said. He had just received word from Cao Xu.

In the Century Financial Group’s eyes, Asskickers United’s growth until now had been tolerable. However, with these recent events, Asskickers United was clearly starting to encroach on their bottom line. If they didn’t take immediate action, Asskickers United stood to become a major threat in the future.

The Century Financial Group was planning to teach Asskickers United a lesson. Strength alone wasn’t enough for a guild to establish a foothold in a game.

“It’s impossible for our small group to stop Asskickers United from occupying all ten castles,” one of the Direwolf players said.

“Dividing their remaining forces into ten castles, that’s about 200 players each. It’s not too bad. Come on, let’s do what we can. Try not to get caught by Nirvana Flame,” Raven sighed. It was already impossible to turn things around.

While they were chatting, a rustling sound came from the forest around them. One player after another dashed out of the trees, appearing in front of them.

Seeing Nie Yan in the distance, Raven’s heart dropped into his stomach like a sinking anchor. “It’s Nirvana Flame. We’ve been surrounded!”

They didn’t expect to be surrounded by Asskickers United’s forces so quickly. What kind of speed was this!?

Nie Yan surveyed the battlefield. The enemy had seven while he had twelve. Asskickers United had a clear numbers advatage. As for how powerful these Direwolf players were, no one really knew. However, the number of people that could match their group in the entire Viridian Empire could be counted on one’s fingers.

Krow raised his golden greatsword. Even someone as arrogant as him recognized that the players before him weren’t to be looked down upon. He focused his attention.

“Nirvana Flame, I didn’t expect we’d still meet in the end,” Raven greeted in a calm manner.

“Mage God Raven, a famed player in five different virtual reality games, and twice voted as the strongest Mage. I also didn’t expect to meet such a legendary figure here,” Nie Yan said. He gazed at the group of Direwolf players. Every single one of them were once world-shaking characters. After gaining fame and recognition they suddenly disappeared without a trace. Who would’ve thought they joined the Century Financial Group.

Aside from Raven and Krow, three of the Five Great Experts of the Dark Hero guild were also in Direwolf. There were also several whose videos Nie Yan had watched before. All of them were famous experts. He had seen information about these people before in other games. The depth of the Century Financial Group’s influence was truly unfathomable.

“Each person has their own allegiances. Any more words are meaningless!” Raven said. He raised his staff, the sapphire at the tip shining with a dazzling radiance.

The other Direwolf players also prepared for battle.

“My target is Nirvana Flame! No one interfere!” Krow shouted.

“Let’s end this in three minutes. We’ve still got another battle to fight outside. No time to dawdle,” Smoke Stub said, a look of disdain on his face as he gazed at the blonde haired Krow. A monkey like him dared to challenge Nirvana Flame! He was truly overestimating himself! He wasn’t qualified!

Nie Yan and the others closed in. About 50 meters separated the two groups. The smell of gunpowder was in the air. A battle could break out at any moment!

Smoke Stub’s words had infuriated the Direwolf players. No matter where they went, everyone would shudder at the mention of Direwolf. Smoke Stub was too arrogant!