Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Blood Devil brandished his greatsword, which was ablaze with raging hot flames as he cleaved down.

Nie Yan leaned back and avoided Blood Devil’s attack.

Dark Whirlwind!

A whirlwind of black swordlight erupted out from him, pushing back the Shadow Clone. He clutched his chest, as he took to the air with a flap of his wings and fled toward the north.

Blood Devil was still alive even after taking a fatal blow like that! Nie Yan inspected Blood Devil with Transcendent Insight—56% health. Just how large was his health pool!? In all likeliness, Demon God Sacrifice dramatically increased his health, defense, and various other stats. However, he was still no match for Nie Yan’s blade.

Blood Devil’s wings gave him the ability to fly, but only at a low altitude of no more than 10 meters. Even so, it was far faster than running speed.

Nie Yan broke out into a dash, rapidly accelerating as he quickly closed the gap. Only a few more meters! Seizing the opportunity, he leaped into the air and soared toward Blood Devil.

Blood Devil sensed Nie Yan’s presence behind him. He swung around and slashed out with a sword beam.

Darkbright Barrier!

BOOOM! Nie Yan braved the attack and retaliated with a slash to the throat. The two only crossed paths for a brief instant in the air before Nie Yan fell back down to the ground.

THUD! Nie Yan gracefully landed on the ground. He glanced at his health bar, still over 80% health left.

Blood Devil’s attack didn’t do much damage to him.

In the instant Nie Yan landed, the shadow clone leaped over a dozen meters into the air and soared toward Blood Devil. Meanwhile, he entered stealth and chased down Blood Devil from the ground.

Blood Devil had flown only a few meters before sensing Nie Yan on his back again. He hurriedly downed a Specialist Health Potion and restored his health back to full. Glancing at his skill bar, most of his skills were on cooldown. His eyes fell on a certain skill. This one wasn’t. A strong killing intent flashed through his eyes. Nirvana Flame, die! He turned around to face Nie Yan and let out a roar, as the flames around him erupted out. With a slash of his sword, he sent three enormous crescent-shaped sword beams flying out.

Tri Demon Slash!

Darkness fell over the barrens. There were only three sources of light, the three sword beams.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, the Masters from Asskickers United had finished killing the last survivors from the Blood Reaver Corps. They were stunned by the sudden dazzling black radiance. Looking up in the sky, they were greeted by a magnificent sight—three ink black crescent moons hanging in the sky.

“Boss! Watch out!”

The players from Asskickers United were crying out in a panic.

Dodging or moving around in mid-air was impossible. Nie Yan couldn’t possibly evade Blood Devil’s attack!

BOOOOM! Struck by the three crescent sword beams, a silhouette was sent rocketing towards the ground.

“I-is the boss dead?”

The Masters anxiously glanced at each other. They’d all seen it, Nie Yan struck head-on by the sword beams. Given the might of Blood Devil’s attack, this surely was an instant kill!

“The boss isn’t dead!”

None of them received a notification that Nie Yan had died.

Seeing the silhouette crashing in the ground, Blood Devil grinned. Nirvana Flame was dead. He coldly snorted. Overconfidence would only lead to failure! As he glanced down at his notification, he had to take a second look. There was no notification of him killing Nie Yan! How was this possible!?

Could it be that Nie Yan didn’t die? No, impossible! His Tri Demon Slash could instantly kill any opponent. A thought suddenly crossed his mind. The clone! What he killed was Nie Yan’s clone! He immediately sensed something off. His wings fluttered in a mad attempt to flee, only to discover his body was frozen in place.

It was Lockdown again!

Screw it! If I can’t run, I’ll take you down with me! Blood Devil brandished his greatsword and prepared to retaliate, when a gloomy dark energy fell over him. His body felt weak and his movements were sluggish.

Nie Yan silently appeared behind Blood Devil. With a Backbreaker, he plunged Zennarde’s Sword into his back. With the dagger in his other hand, he slashed Blood Devil’s throat with Cut Throat.

Blood Devil’s health fell to zero. His body plunged down from the sky.

Nie Yan reached out his hand and grabbed the two items Blood Devil dropped.

THUD! Blood Devil’s corpse crashed into the ground.

It’s settled. Nie Yan clapped his hands after he gently landed on the ground. He inspected the two items Blood Devil dropped. One was a Level 130 Legendary-grade chestpiece. It was a set item that would drop upon death. That explained why two items dropped after he died. The other was a Level 130 Sub-Legendary leg guards with pretty decent properties. However, both pieces of equipment were restricted to evil faction players only. The leg guards wasn’t worth much, probably 5,000–6,000 gold at most. As for the chestpiece, since it was a unique set item, its value couldn’t possibly be estimated. One thing was certain though, it was definitely an excellent item.

Nie Yan wondered how he should deal with these two items. Having the Temple of Light purify them seemed like a waste. He could always exchange them with Fallen Angel for the right price.

Nie Yan put the two items away in his bag.

“What are the results? How many Blood Reaver Corps players did we kill? Young Seven, Painted Muslin, go revive the fallen,” Nie Yan said. Asskickers United’s side had only lost three people. This was quite impressive. He originally expected their losses to be in the double digits. The current figure didn’t even come close to that. Their ambush was far more effective than he thought.

The results were quickly calculated.

“We killed 57 of them. The three that managed to escape were all Thieves.”

Nie Yan was satisfied with this outcome. It wasn’t realistic to prevent all Thieves from escaping. As soon as they activated their escape skills like Gale Step, it would be easy to lose track of them. Only a Priest’s mark could track them. However, Young Seven and Painted Muslin could only keep tabs on a single Thief each.

“Clean up the battlefield. We’re leaving,” Nie Yan said.

Before long, Summer Bug, Lei Su, and Black Hell were revived. They had only lost a bit of experience. The equipment dropped by the Blood Reaver Corps was also all collected. Since none of the Dark Zealots escaped, there was no need to guard the corpses. Nie Yan and the others activated their Return Scrolls. With a flash of light, they returned to Okoron.

News of Nie Yan’s group wiping out the Blood Reaver Corps quickly spread. The first to hear it were the members of Asskickers United.

「See! What did I say? I knew the boss would deal with them! Idiots! What did they expect by trying to mess with us?」

「They probably thought they were invincible after fighting for months in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire unchallenged. They just hadn’t met the boss yet! The fools.」

Asskickers United’s guild chat was filled with people discussing this news. When word spread to the rest of the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire, players from both empires went into an uproar. The Blood Reaver Corps had killed countless people. Even several large guilds working together could do nothing to stop them, suffering heavy losses instead. So, when the Blood Reaver Corps had started killing players from Asskickers United, even attacking their strongholds, everyone began to despair. It’d seemed like no one could put an end to these demons! All they could hope for was for them to get bored and eventually return to the underworld. Who would’ve thought Nie Yan taking action once was all it took to wipe the floor with them?

Neither Angel Corps nor any of the other large guilds could put a stop to the Blood Reaver Corps, but the Masters of Asskickers United under the leadership of Nie Yan had done just that. This caused their prestige to soar, above and beyond the likes of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group.

After this incident with the Blood Reaver Corps, the players from both empires could all see the truth. Even though powers like Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were formidable with numerous members, their glory days were over. There was nothing they could do to put a stop to Asskickers United’s rise. Asskickers United was like the mid-day sun! A new wave of experts from both empires packed their bags and headed for Okoron to try and join Asskickers United. They wanted to be a part of this legend in the making.

The Abernathy Great Grasslands was located on the border between both empires, and Okoron was its capital. Its geographical location was exceptional. Add on the fact that the laws and policies in Okoron were drawn up to greatly favour the player, and one could imagine how attractive this place was.

There were about 8,000,000 players heading to Okoron from all over. Some were strong enough to enter Asskickers United while others weren’t but still came to try their luck.

Asskickers United had no way of absorbing so many players all at once. Every member they recruited had to pass through stringent tests. This would take no small amount of time. On top of that, they didn’t have a limitless cash stream and their benefits were by far the most generous out of all the guilds. There were only so many players they could accept.

Luckily, Asskickers United could afford to be picky with so many applicants. At the same time, This large influx of players also solved a crisis for Nie Yan. The number of Righteous Faction players staying in the Abernathy Great Grasslands already far exceeded the number of Evil Faction players. Badly outnumbered and after the defeat of the Blood Reaver Corps, the players from the underworld lost their brazenness. Several days of clashes later, the number of Evil Faction players in the Abernathy Great Grasslands plummeted. There were now five Righteous Faction players for every Evil Faction player.

This development was a pleasant surprise for Nie Yan. He no longer had to worry about Okoron’s safety.