Raging flames filled Nie Yan’s view. Just as he was about to be hit by the fist, he activated Gale Step and fled away.

BOOOOM! The Lava Titan’s fist smashed into the ground. The ground melted into a pool of lava and splashed everywhere.

The Lava Titan searched for traces of Nie Yan. It was thoroughly enraged by his onslaught of attacks.

The surroundings were ablaze, resembling a world of fire.

If there were a skill that could go against the Lava Titan’s lava domain, that would be great.

A light bulb suddenly lit up in Nie Yan’s head. If they didn’t have any high rank skills that could do it, a low rank one would have to do.「All those with Frozen World, cast it!」

The Elementalists were dumbstruck. Frozen World was a spell that didn’t deal any damage. Why would they use it? Even so, they raised their staffs and started chanting. Soon, a thick, icy mist emerged, as the surrounding temperature plummeted by several degrees. Sheets of ice started forming in the air. As they rained down, they were immediately evaporated into steam by the Lava Titan’s lava domain. The lava flowing in the ground cooled down considerably. The Lava Titan also appeared to have an adverse reaction to this spell. As a thin layer of ice formed over its rocky skin, its movement speed slowed to a crawl, and its health regeneration speed too.

Frozen World was one of the few spells that could be stacked on top of each other. With over 260 Elementalists casting it at once, 60 of which had enhanced versions of the spell, the effects were clear and immediate.

Bladelight activated Bulwark of the War God, greatly increasing his magic resistance. However, he still couldn’t escape the effects of Frozen World. His body became stiff as he was covered in a thick layer of ice. Lofty Shadow didn’t fare any better. Only Nie Yan who had activated Holy Descent was unaffected.

Shaking the ice off its body, the Lava Titan shifted its attention to the Elementalists. It was in a weakened state.

Nie Yan chanted out an incantation and summoned Lil’ Gold. Locking down the Lava Titan was their main priority!

Lil’ Gold couldn’t withstand even a single blow from an existence like the Lava Titan, but he could still be useful in other areas!

「Frozen World works! I can’t believe it!」

「We stacked over 260 Frozen Worlds on top of each other! Of course it would be effective!」

The expedition team members stared at Nie Yan in amazement. How did he come up with the idea of using Frozen World? They all thought low rank spells were utterly useless against a super high level boss like the Lava Titan. However, he proved them wrong.

In truth, Nie Yan was nothing more than a blind cat coming across a dead mouse. A lucky guess, that was all. Thankfully, it was correct. Ingenuity was oftentimes one of the requirements for dealing with bosses.

「Watch out for its Lava Breaker skill! Discuss your tactics first before acting! We can’t risk any mishaps!」Nie Yan reminded.

The expedition team members all stood on top of boulders. Over 600 Mages let loose with their spells. They bombarded the Lava Titan with a barrage of magic.

About half an hour later, the Lava Titan’s health fell to 10,000,000. Suddenly, it started rampaging and rained down a flurry of blows on Bladelight, pushing him back bit by bit. “GROOOOAH!” It let out a deafening roar as a powerful sound wave swept out.

Mind Resist!

Tranquility!

Everyone activated skills to evade the Lava Titan’s attack. However, 700 players still failed to react in time. After being hit by the sound wave, their bodies turned rigid.

Immediately after, the Lava Titan activated Lava Breaker. An endless amount of lava surged out of the ground. A tidal wave swept over the expedition team.

Everyone was blindsided by this sudden turn of events. They had all discussed prior that if the Lava Titan used Lava Breaker, they would immediately escape with their various escape skills, something they had practiced to a great extent. As long as they reacted quickly enough, most of them could avoid it. However, none of them expected the Lava Titan to use Lava Roar first. Those who managed to dodge the first skill hurriedly teleported away with Unknown Transfer Scrolls. However, far more were engulfed by the lava.

It was a brutal wipe. The battle immediately ended. With no more enemies in sight, the Lava Titan lost all aggro and started roaming around. Its health quickly recovered back to full.

Only when the Lava Titan walked far away did the surviving Priests dare to start resurrecting their fallen teammates. Even more players had to run back to their corpses because the 20-man teams they belonged to didn’t have a Shaman or were completely wiped out.

After everyone was revived, they sat down in the forest clearing and started recovering their health and mana.

Gazing at the Lava Titan roaming around in the far distance, they couldn’t help but sigh. Sure enough, a Level 200 Lord wasn’t so easy to deal with.

Over 800 team members had died. However, wiping once or twice was a fairly common occurrence. No equipment was lost, just some experience.

「So, how did it feel? Facing the Lava Titan for the first time?」Nie Yan asked with a faint smile.

「Its attacks are too fast! There were no warning signs at all before it used Lava Roar.」

「Yeah! We couldn’t react at all!」

Nie Yan glanced at Paladin of the Elegy and Tyrannical and asked,「What do you guys think?」

「All bosses show a tell before doing a big attack. I saw the Lava Titan’s eyes burning brighter than usual right before the Lava Roar.」

「Also, the mana in the air started fluctuating violently,」Summer Bug chimed in.

This battle was different from the one with Phantom Princess Ina. At that time, they were relying purely on numbers to overwhelm her. There was almost no skill or strategy involved. This method wasn’t feasible with the Lava Titan. It had powerful AoE magic that would simply wipe everyone out. Nie Yan also knew this, so he’d only assembled a 1,000-man expedition team. To beat the Lava Titan, he needed a group of elites with fast reaction speed, great skill, and a good sense of strategy.

Soon, the Masters pointed out a lot of useful information. The rest of the expedition team members were left gaping in shock. How did one improve their skills? By taking in what these Masters shared.

The expedition team members practiced how to avoid Lava Roar and Lava Breaker. When everyone was fully recovered, they were ready for round two. Nie Yan and the other Shadow Dancers set off to lure the Lava Titan back.

An intense battle broke out. Even though the expedition team members managed to evade the first Lava Roar and Lava Breaker, they still couldn’t cope with its berserk state after its health fell below 30%. They suffered another wipe with 900 players dying.

After reviving and resting back up, they reviewed their mistakes and practiced methods to deal with the Lava Titan.

It wasn’t just the expedition members who had to learn from their mistakes, but Nie Yan too. He found out that if he didn’t give Bladelight and Lofty Shadow the time to properly secure aggro, his high burst damage would cause it to shift. This put immense strain on the two tanks and made mishaps more likely to happen.

Everything looked good for their next attempt. Third time’s the charm, Nie Yan thought. However, the servers would soon go offline. They would have to wait until tomorrow.

Footage of the battle with the Lava Titan leaked online, creating a stir on the forums. Players once more witnessed the frightening might of the Lava Titan. Even Asskickers United’s elite expedition team was wiped out twice. Yet they also felt intense shock at the frightening strength Asskickers United displayed. They could actually fight a Level 200 Lord! Not to mention there was clear improvement between their first and second try. It was only a matter of time before the Lava Titan was taken down its pedestal.

Players could sense that Asskickers United was progressing at an astonishing speed. They were rapidly approaching the throne of hegemony. The Lava Titan was only a stepping stone on their path.

The expedition team spent the remainder of the day chatting. In the final few minutes before the servers went offline, Nie Yan’s voice chat rang. It was Guo Huai.

「I compiled the data you asked for.」Guo Huai sent over a file.

Nie Yan opened it. It contained a list with the locations of all the Level 130 and higher boses in the Viridian Empire—over 3,000 in total with detailed information on all of them.

「Thanks. You worked hard.」

「No problem.」Guo Huai chuckled.

Nie Yan planned to research this carefully, all in preparation for his next plan.

...

Necropolis City, the capital of the Undead Empire. Located on the corner of the main street was a villa. This was the private residence of Angel Corps’ guild leader, Plenty.

There were currently 30 players gathered here.

“Boss, are you sure about this? We already have over 100,000 players on the surface. If we dispatch another 100,000, the burden will be huge,” Warlance asked. He feared deploying these additional troops would be beyond what the guild could bear. He couldn’t understand why Plenty was so determined to take down Angel Corps.

“I have my reasons. All you need to do is listen and obey,” Plenty said. He showed no signs of changing his mind.

“Alright, but I think we should at least take some measures against Asskickers United. Nirvana Flame recently obtained the Tyrant Abak Set, and their main tank has a Legendary tower shield. Plus, they have 30 Masters already! I heard they’re fighting the Level 200 Lava Titan right now. If the situation continues to develop like this, I think Angel Corps will be wiped out by them even without our help. When the faction wars begin, Asskickers United will become our greatest enemy. Why don’t we let Angel Corps hamper their growth a little first?”

“You guys don’t understand. Between me and Soaring Angel, only one can remain standing. When we finish dealing with Angel Corps, we won’t have anything else to worry about,” Plenty said in an indifferent tone.

Everyone gazed at Plenty in doubt. What did he mean by between him and Soaring Angel, only one could remain standing? They always had been curious about this connection in the past, but they never dared to poke their nose too deep. Since Plenty didn’t elaborate, they didn’t dare to continue asking questions.

Another 100,000 players from Fallen Angel set out for the surface.

...

After stepping out of the game capsule, Nie Yan received a call from Plenty informing him that he had dispatched another 100,000 players to the surface. Asskickers United couldn’t not get involved, or else their alliance with Fallen Angel would fall apart. So, Nie Yan agreed to dispatch another 500,000 players over to the Satreen Empire to lend support.

These additional troops weren’t going to attack Angel Corps’ strongholds directly. Because of the previous few battles, Asskickers United’s catapults were at an all time low. Even though they were busy producing more, because the crafting materials were in limited supply, the amount was far from enough. So, Nie Yan would have his troops merely annoy Angel Corps by harassing the players levelling out in the wilderness.

This was a tested method abused by all his past and current enemies, like Victorious Return and Angel Corps. It had put him in quite the predicament back then. Now, the shoe was on the other foot. It was Asskickers United’s turn to put pressure on Angel Corps.

Nie Yan ended the call with Plenty. Like usual, he and Xie Yao headed to school together.

Even with Qin Han’s mysterious disappearance, school carried on like usual. After suddenly losing their backing, all the people in his posse became quiet, no longer daring to act as brazen as before. Liu Rui was one of them. He was now forced to settle down and started behaving like a proper person. Whenever he saw Nie Yan and Xie Yao, he would make himself scarce. When noon arrived, Nie Yan received a text from Bayonet. The mission was completed.

Nie Yan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He gave Bayonet a reply, then deleted the message.

Everything went as planned. The Monet Financial Group’s people had killed Liu Tianshi. Over in China, Liu Tianshi’s father was a powerful high official with a lot of influence. Few people could touch him. On the other hand, the Monet Financial Group was a powerful oligarch in South America. They were powerful enough to influence the entire political sphere of the region. They didn’t care at all for the influence of Liu Tianshi’s father in China. If the two sides clashed, there would be a fun show to watch. However, they could only use their influence to minorly inconvenience the other, nothing more. Unless a large-scale war between nations broke out, there was no way they could wipe each other out.

As long as Nie Yan, Bayonet, Wang Duo, and the others kept their mouths shut, the cause of Qin Han and Liu Tianshi’s death would forever remain a secret. With regards to Bayonet, Wang Duo, and the others, Nie Yan had complete trust in them.

After receiving Bayonet’s report, Nie Yan felt a weight lifted off his heart. He had quietly dealt with two calamities without any consequences. This was definitely the best case scenario. In the afternoon, he and Xie Yao went to visit Tang Yao in the hospital. Tang Yao had already woken up. The doctors had given him a blood transfusion and treated his wounds. Given today’s medical knowledge and technology, he would be as good as new in a few days. Better yet, the doctor said he could already start playing Conviction again. This was a great piece of news!