Chapter 311 - Necklace of Deception
Nie Yan opened up the official website and searched up a few keywords such as Bennet and Empress Finas.
He found an information page on Empress Finas. She was the leader of an ancient tribe of spider worshipers that resided in the Underworld. The tribe was classified as a neutral evil faction, often attacking other races indiscriminately. Humans or even fellow inhabitants of the Underworld like Dark Elves and Fallen were all regarded as food. They were called Arachne for their distinctly sharp jaws.
Nie Yan skimmed through this brief background information.
The Crystalline Moleguards collapsed to the ground at a steady pace.
The group’s teamwork was extremely smooth as they whittled down the enemies.
After 20 minutes, only a single Crystalline Moleguard remained. This one was also a Level 50 Elite. But unlike the others, its skin was crimson instead of bluish-green.
“It looks different from the others,” Bladelight pointed out. ”It might be related to the quest!” He rammed his shield into the Crystalline Moleguard’s massive frame, then bellowed out with a Demoralizing Shout, firmly attracting its aggro.
The Mages unleashed a hail of spells while Nie Yan circled around and slashed down on the Crystalline Moleguard’s back with Zennarde’s Sword.
−534
Spells ruthlessly bombarded the Crystalline Moleguard as sparks flew out everywhere.
Bladelight slowly pulled the Crystalline Moleguard to a nearby open area. The group members were scattered in the surroundings. There were 7 Warriors, 1 Paladin, 3 Thieves, 6 Mages, and 2 Priests for a total of 19 players. They had a few too many Warriors, but it was still a balanced team composition. Besides, there were advantages in having a larger number of frontliners.
The Crystalline Moleguard struggled and thrashed about ceaselessly. But the Warriors firmly held their ground, not giving it any chance to break out of the encirclement.
When the Crystalline Moleguard’s health fell to 20%, it let out an angry roar. Its body swelled in size and its skin glowed red hot.
The Crystalline Moleguard slammed down with its pike, pushing Bladelight and the other Warriors back with Seismic Slam.
In the same instant, Nie Yan avoided the attack with Gale Step.
After breaking free of the encirclement, the Crystalline Moleguard charged toward the Mages.
Nie Yan suddenly emerged out of nowhere and tossed out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」A flash of blinding light enveloped the surroundings, causing the Crystalline Moleguard to cry out in pain. Its vision was adapted to the poor lighting of the Crystal Caverns, so the Flash Powder was even more effective. It ran around frantically like a headless chicken.
Nie Yan had used the Flash Powder at the perfect moment. Were it not for his quick reaction, the Crystalline Moleguard would’ve already started wreaking havoc on the Mages in the backline.
This red Crystalline Moleguard was a tough nut. It was much harder to deal with than the others. The Mages quickly retreated.
Just as the blindness was about to wear off, another pouch of Flash Powder exploded in front of the Crystalline Moleguard’s eyes. Two pouches of Flash Powder was the limit. The third would most likely have no effect whatsoever.
The Mages went all out, especially Tang Yao who practically never stopped firing spells. They threw caution to the wind, no longer caring about aggro.
Only now did Bladelight and the other Warriors come out of their stuns. They quickly moved to surround the Crystalline Moleguard.
The Crystalline Moleguard’s health rapidly plummeted. It only had a tiny sliver remaining.
“It’s almost dead! Everybody, give it that final push!” Nie Yan shouted.
Everybody stepped up the pace. When Tang Yao landed the killing blow, the Crystalline Moleguard let out a mournful cry. Its entire body was giving off steam while its head started swelling up like a balloon.
“Everyone, get out of the way!” Nie Yan called out as he suddenly had a bad premonition.
Nie Yan, Bladelight, and the others quickly fled as far away as possible.
The Crystalline Moleguard kept swelling up before finally reaching a critical point.「Boom!」It exploded in a rain of blood and gore that splattered all over Bladelight, Smoke Stub, and the other five Warriors.
Even the faraway Mages felt the shockwave of the explosion.
A naked imp-like creature suddenly emerged from the corpse of the Crystalline Moleguard. It had hands resembling claws, arms covered in fine bristle-like hairs, and a pair of appendages that protruded out of its cheeks like fangs. Aside from these features, it looked just like an ordinary person!
It was actually living inside of the Crystalline Moleguard! Nie Yan, who hadn’t been hit by the Crystalline Moleguard’s explosion, was closest in proximity to this creature. It immediately pounced toward him.
Its hands were the sharpest weapons.
This was an Arachne like the ones mentioned in Empress Finas’ information page!
It was extremely fast, appearing in front of Nie Yan in the blink of an eye!
Nie Yan instantly activated Shadow Waltz and disappeared without a trace.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」The Mages bombarded the Arachne with spells to attract its attention.
While hidden within the shadows, Nie Yan inspected the Arachne with Transcendent Insight.
The Arachne was sent flying by the impact but landed gently on the ground, whereupon it pounced toward one of the Mages.
With a stab of its claw-like hands, the Mage’s more than 900 health was instantly reduced to 0. He collapsed dead on the ground.
Before it could move onto another target, Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Intermediate Flash Powder.「Poof!」It was temporarily blinded by the dazzling radiance.
Nie Yan circled behind it and slashed its neck with Cut Throat as a dazzling streak of red blossomed in the air.
−502!−86−93…
Nie Yan then followed up with Backstab and Eviscerate. Meanwhile, Tang Yao and the other Mages never stopped bombarding it with spells. The Arachne’s health instantly plummeted by more than half.
It swung around and swiped at Nie Yan. However, he avoided the attack with the Shadow Dancer’s footwork and activated Disappear to vanish into stealth.
A string of damage values floated up above Arachne Finnie’s head. It let out a growl as it scanned its surroundings. It suddenly locked onto a silhouette and pounced toward the stealthed Nie Yan.
Crap! He found me! Nie Yan quickly fled for his life. For every bit of distance he covered, he would be giving more time for his teammates to attack and for the burn and bleed damage to continue chipping away at its health.
The Arachne’s health continuously fell.
It quickly caught up to Nie Yan and stabbed toward his back with its right hand.
The Arachne only had about 500 health remaining. Just as its attack was about to land, Nie Yan avoided it with a sharp pivot of his body.
Vital Strike!
Nie Yan’s dagger slashed the Arachne’s neck as their bodies crossed. His movements were sharp and decisive.
The Arachne far out-classed Nie Yan in both movement speed and attack speed. But he could rely on his experience to predict its movements, allowing him to dodge while simultaneously retaliating with an attack of his own. This was something unimaginable to ordinary players.
Nie Yan’s Vital Strike dealt over 300 damage to the Arachne.
Thanks to the Ignore Level property of Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan could still deal massive damage even against Level 50 Elites. He could hit much harder than his Level 40 teammates.
「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Six spells bombarded the Arachne’s body and finally shaved away its last bit of health, causing it to collapse on the ground.
“Whew, that was tough.” Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief.
Seeing the Arachne’s corpse laying on the ground, Tang Yao and the others whose nerves were stretched taut finally relaxed.
Everyone was watching nervously when the Arachne was chasing Nie Yan. None of the Warriors could provide help. Several times they even believed he was a goner for sure. However, he somehow miraculously survived. Not only this, but he also accounted for nearly half their total damage!
Young Seven and Painted Muslin walked over.
Nie Yan glanced at the corpses of their comrades on the ground. “Go ahead and revive them all.”
Only after reviving these teammates could they continue exploring deeper.
“It definitely wasn’t easy taking down that Arachne. I wonder what sort of stuff it dropped,” Tang Yao said. It would only be a matter of course for such a strong monster to drop high-quality equipment. There was also a high likelihood of it dropping a quest item.
Nie Yan spotted three pieces of equipment beside the Arachne’s corpse. He bent down to pick them up.
There was an Arcane Mage’s accessory and surprisingly a necklace.
This was a strange necklace. It was made out of ash-gray metal while three sharp fangs were attached to it. It was simple and unadorned.
Nie Yan glanced over the necklace’s properties.
Description: This item is divided into two states: Righteous and Evil. In the Righteous state, the player will show up as part of the Righteous Faction. In the Evil state, the player will show up as part of the Evil Faction. All stats -30% upon activating this item for 3 hours. Cooldown: 1 day. (Can be seen through by some skills.)
Restrictions: None
Nie Yan raised an eyebrow when he saw the Necklace of Deception’s properties. It was definitely a useful thing. He clearly understood the value of such an item.