Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Chapter 269 - Kill!

Nie Yan swiftly retreated. His eyes flashed with a sharp light. The Ice Wolf’s claws inched ever closer to his throat, signalling imminent death. In that instant, he activated Shadow Waltz and gave himself an explosive burst of speed, dodging the claws by a hair’s breadth.

His figure blurred before disappearing without a trace.

The Ice Wolf missed its pounce and landed on the ground. It quickly sniffed around in an attempt to find traces of Nie Yan, but it was to no avail.

Nie Yan retreated a good distance away. He had no intention of facing the Ice Wolf head-on. He pulled out the Cavalry Crossbow and fired at the Golden Dragon. 

「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew out and struck the Golden Dragon in quick succession.

The Ice Wolf bounded toward Nie Yan after spotting him again.

Due to Nie Yan’s damage being far above what others could deal, the Golden Dragon reaggroed onto him. It let out an angry roar, chanting several syllables in the dragon language, and breathed out a surging torrent of Dragon Breath. 

However, Nie Yan didn’t try to evade. In that instant, the Ice Wolf leaped high into the air and pounced in front of him.「Boom!」An explosion rang like a clap of thunder. The Dragon Breath struck the Ice Wolf mid-air with unmatched power, instantly blasting it into smithereens as a shower of ice crystals gently fluttered down from the sky, glistening beautifully under the sunlight.

It was a scene straight out of a winter wonderland.

The Ice Wolf was blasted apart by the Dragon Breath!

Seeing his plan come to perfect fruition, Nie Yan revealed a satisfied smile.

It would’ve been a real headache to take out the Ice Wolf by regular means, even more so with Nightbreak Trickster glaring at his back like a tiger stalking its prey. In such a scenario, it was hard to say who would come out on top.

Nie Yan borrowed the Golden Dragon’s power to effortlessly kill the Ice Wolf. With this obstacle taken care of, his hands were freed up to deal with Nightbreak Trickster.

Nightbreak Trickster was alarmed by the sudden death of the Ice Wolf. It appeared he had played right into the opponent's hands. Both Nie Yan’s timing and ability to grasp the situation and adapt were superb. He had no time to call the Ice Wolf off.

Witnessing the Ice Wolf’s miserable death, the various guild leaders dropped their jaws in shock. Even this was possible? They previously believed Nie Yan was dead for sure when they saw the Ice Wolf pouncing on him. Who could’ve predicted the situation would be reversed in an instant?

A nimble mind and sharp insight were crucial for becoming an expert. Outside of relying on your own strength, it was also pivotal to learn how to seize an opportunity, just like how Nie Yan was exploiting the environment and everything within to gain the upper hand.

It was a brilliant strategy to bait the Ice Wolf into the path of the oncoming Dragon Breath!

While the various guild leaders were still mesmerized by the death of the Ice Wolf, Nie Yan’s silhouette blurred into action as he dashed toward Nightbreak Trickster, causing all eyes to refocus.

Would Nightbreak Trickster fall today, just like Hei Zhuo? Everybody was eager to find out. They previously believed Nie Yan had no way of succeeding. But now, they weren’t so sure anymore. There was a very real possibility he would exceed expectations yet again.

At this moment, the players of Radiant Sacred Flame felt immense pressure. The Warriors and Paladins closely guarded Nightbreak Trickster, not leaving any cracks in their ranks. They were confident nothing could get past them.

Eyes of the Divine!

The eyes of the Paladins emitted a dazzling radiance as they scanned their surroundings for signs of Nie Yan.

The Priests cast Illuminate nonstop as dazzling orbs of light shot up into the sky. However, Nie Yan was simply too fast. They had no time to tag him with a Marking Sigil before losing track of him.

Very few Priests could cast Marking Sigil in less than 3 seconds.

Leader Young Seven and Ten Li Painted Muslin required 2.6 and 2.7 seconds respectively to cast Marking Sigil, while those slightly slower such as Black Heaven and Moon Child required around 3.1 seconds. Every individual had areas they excelled at; Young Seven and Painted Muslin’s just happened to be PvP.

Ordinary Priests required four seconds or longer to cast Marking Sigil, while those who took five or six seconds could be found everywhere. The Priests in Radiant Sacred Flame were far from being as skilled as Young Seven, Painted Muslin, and the others, so Nie Yan wasn’t pressured by them.  

Seeing their iron-tight defenses, Nie Yan couldn’t help but sneer. You think this alone can stop me?

A dazzling orb shot up into the sky and revealed Nie Yan’s silhouette. Within two seconds, ice spikes erupted from the ground beneath him at breakneck speed.

Relying on his sharp senses, Nie Yan rolled out of the way. He felt the ground tremble as more ice spikes erupted around him. It appeared Nightbreak Trickster wanted to rely on his enhanced state to overwhelm his opponent.

At this moment, Nie Yan was also feeling the pressure as he constantly leapt and rolled out of the way, while ice spikes erupted out right under him every time he touched the ground. Out of nowhere, ice spikes erupted out right in front of him. He was going to collide with them in the next moment. If he was hit by them and stopped for even a second, he would be skewered by endless ice spikes.  

This was exactly why Nightbreak Trickster’s skill was so dreadful.

Nie Yan suddenly accelerated and spun himself around to evade. He could feel the ice spikes brushing against his back, transmitting a frigid aura through his body.

While dodging them, Nie Yan came to a realization. Blindly relying on speed was no good. It made his movements too linear, allowing the opponent to preemptively strike. He began varying his tempo, constantly shifting directions as he pressed closer toward Nightbreak Trickster.

Around 20 meters separated both players. Nightbreak Trickster was guarded by a ring of players at the 10 meter mark.

When some of his attacks started going way off mark, Nightbreak Trickster’s mind slightly trembled in alarm. He noticed Nie Yan’s movements gradually becoming harder to predict until he had no idea where to attack anymore.

Nie Yan had already memorized the Golden Dragon’s attack pattern. He estimated it was going to attack with another Dragon Breath very soon.

Nie Yan made a beeline for the wall of Warriors and Paladins protecting Nightbreak Trickster.

“There he is!”

“Kill him!”

Nie Yan simply swept past. He was too fast.

A brilliant orb flew into the sky, revealing Nie Yan’s silhouette. Just as the Priests raised their staffs to tag him with a Marking Sigil, something occurred that made their eyes widen in shock and terror. The Golden Dragon opened its maw and spewed out scorching hot Dragon Breath in their direction.

“Run!”

“Shit, Dragon Breath!”

The players of Radiant Sacred Flame cried out in alarm, panicking as they tried to save their own skins.

Nightbreak Trickster slightly raised an eyebrow in surprise and quickly retreated far away. With the buff from Speed of the Windwalker, he made it to safety with ease.

「Boom!」The Dragon Breath crashed into the crowd of players from Radiant Sacred Flame, causing gravel and flames to fly everywhere. A wide area was scorched black, and over 20 players died on the spot.

A large crack was opened up in Radiant Sacred Flame’s defenses.

It was total mayhem!

The Golden Dragon charged over, plowing through Radiant Sacred Flame’s forces. The air tight wall of Paladins and Warriors that took great effort to form was destroyed beyond recognition.

In order to evade the Golden Dragon, Nightbreak Trickster had no choice but to retreat far into the distance, arriving in an empty area without any other players.

Divinity and Magic Ignition were about to end, while he was struggling to keep his nerves in check.

He gazed into the distance, only to see Nie Yan staring back at him with a cold smile before disappearing into stealth.

Nightbreak Trickster had lost the protection of his players. From this point forward, it would be a one versus one.

Seeing Nie Yan disappear, Nightbreak Trickster’s heart trembled. He finally felt the domineering pressure coming from the threat his opponent posed to him.

He recalled Nie Yan’s cruel smile atop the tree branch, a biting cold killing intent that made a person’s blood run cold.

Death was slowly encroaching in on him.

Before long, he felt an intense sense of danger from behind him. This bastard’s quick!

Nightbreak Trickster waved his staff, Repel!

He quickly turned around, but there was no sign of Nie Yan.

Nie Yan had baited him into wasting Repel!

Hidden in the shadows far off in the distance, Nie Yan let out a faint snicker. The psychological attack he launched on Nightbreak Trickster had already begun showing its effect. All he would have to do was put on the pressure to instill a sense of foreboding into the enemy, causing them to make lapses in their judgement. Their defeat would follow.

No matter how skilled a person was, they still had their weaknesses.

Nightbreak Trickster’s weakness was that he cared too much about defeat since it would mean a heavy blow to Radiant Sacred Flame. So when he was truly put in danger, he couldn’t maintain his normally calm mindset.

As for Nie Yan, he had gone through two lifetimes. These sorts of things had long since become meaningless to him. So what if he was defeated? What was important was an unbreakable and unbendable will! With this kind of will, even if you were stomped into the ground, you could still climb back up and give the other person a good punch. In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had patiently endured for so many years waiting for Cao Xu to lower his guard before dealing the fatal blow. If he couldn’t accept something as simple as defeat, his two lifetimes would’ve been wasted.

Even if Nie Yan was placed into the most dangerous situation, he would still maintain absolute calm. This was one of the things that allowed him to finally break through the barrier of a Shadow Dancer in this life.

Nie Yan was continuously taunting Nightbreak Trickster from a distance, occasionally launching feints and directing his killing intent at the opponent. Nightbreak Trickster’s heart was already stretched extremely taut. Even the slightest breeze would cause him to cast a spell. 

While the two were still fighting, the Golden Dragon roared in anger. Under the concentrated barrage from the Mages, its health finally bottomed out. It let out a mournful cry before crashing heavily to ground, giving rise to a cloud of dust.

“We killed the Golden Dragon!”

“Go, grab the loot!”