Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Nie Yan hadn’t tested out the Tyrant Abak Set in actual combat yet. He had no doubt in his mind that it would feel amazing to hunt monsters with this kind of godly equipment. However, he didn’t dare to set foot outside of the city for the time being for fear of running into Phantom Princess Ina. She’d definitely revived again. He feared she was already a Level 180 Demonified Lord. Being stalked by this kind of existence definitely was certainly no pleasant matter.

Nie Yan started making preparations to tackle the latest expansion. A new dungeon map called World’s Edge was released with the Age of Gods expansion. The first reports mentioned that the final boss was a Level 200 Demonified Lord fallen angel. Apart from this, the dungeon also contained 20 smaller checkpoints with over 100 Variant Lords and 300 Lords of various levels roaming around. The gear that dropped from this dungeon was of the highest quality for every class. There were also many other rare, high level items, and even some of the chapters from the Book of Order were hidden there.

Exploring World’s Edge was non-negotiable. The progress every guild made in the map would directly influence their position in the power struggle.

Nie Yan hurriedly had Guo Huai collected data related to World’s Edge. After making ample preparations, they could start running this dungeon.

After receiving the Holy Fairy, Xie Yao immediately set out for the wilderness. With her mobbing speed, she could probably raise its rank in no time.

The other players in the guild also started busying themselves with levelling, running dungeons, or doing their class advancements quests. No one wanted to fall behind.

News of Nie Yan obtaining the Tyrant Abak Set eventually reached the forums. Its properties caused everyone to gape in amazement. They messaged their friends, and they theirs. From a few hundred admirers, to thousands, millions, and even more. It didn’t take long for the Tyrant Abak Set to be dubbed the strongest set of equipment in the game. Of course, Nie Yan was always mentioned in the same breath. This was another chapter to his legend.

Nie Yan’s acquisition of the Tyrant Abak Set struck a huge blow to the confidence of the likes of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group. Nirvana Flame was already an undefeatable legend. Now, with the Tyrant Abak Set, it seemed all the more impossible to beat him.

Talk of the Tyrant Abak Set continued on for almost two weeks straight. 

Even Nie Yan couldn’t gauge how much influence he had over the playerbase. He just knew that experts from both the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire were flocking towards Okoron to join Asskickers United. Those who failed to get into the main guild were lining up to join their branch guilds.

The Tyrant Abak Set once more pushed Nie Yan to the very forefront of everyone’s minds. He was almost unanimously declared the number one player in the game. The few dissenters were quickly drowned out by the overwhelming majority naming him the greatest of all time.

As for the moniker of number one player in the game, Nie Yan didn’t care much for it. It was an empty title given by those who couldn’t achieve greatness themselves. Like usual, he put on his cloak and turned off all the visual effects for his equipment. After which, he headed for the Starry Night Potion Shop branch in Okoron.

If Asskickers United was going to dispatch an expedition team to World’s Edge, potions were a must. An army marched on its stomach or in this case their supply of consumables. A large amount of high quality potions had to be stockpiled first.

The Starry Night Potion Shop’s had enjoyed a stable growth as of late. The number of high rank Alchemists working under them grew by the day. They occupied 95% of the potion market in the Viridian Empire and Satreen Empire. Their daily profits exceeded 9,000,000 gold. This was an extremely frightening figure. Nie Yan ran the numbers. He had more than 90,000,000 gold on hand. This kind of capital could create huge waves no matter where it was used.

Strolling through the streets of Okoron, Nie Yan felt proud. To see his city bustling with activity, it was an indescribable feeling of happiness. Players and NPCs of all races blotted out the six-meter wide streets. Lavish and grand shopfronts were everywhere he looked. Most were Tier 10 or higher, with none below Tier 7.

As an Advanced City, many special buildings could be constructed in Okoron, such as Mage Towers, Warrior Training Camps, Holy Halls, and so on. Players could pay a certain fee to use these facilities. There were also Equipment Crafting Workshops, Equipment Upgrading Workshops, Gem Workshops, and so on, where players could upgrade their various equipment. There were even several secret shops where players could purchase special items they couldn’t get anywhere else.

Okoron generated 3,000,000 gold in profits every day. However, since the city was still growing and required a large sum of gold to support that growth, Asskickers United was investing 5,000,000 gold into it every day. As such, they were still running at a loss. The investment was well worth it, though, as could be seen by Okoron’s astonishing expansion.

Even Nie Yan couldn’t help but sigh in amazement at Okoron’s growth speed. According to Guo Huai’s reports, there were over 8,000,000 players active in the city every day. This was more than even in most NPC cities!

Nie Yan never dared to dream of ever reaching such heights. But now that he was here, he felt incredibly proud of all his achievements.

Nie Yan handpicked 1,000 players from the guild. He spent a large sum of gold to acquire rare materials, gems, and other items from the marketplace and outfitted them with the best equipment money could buy. Aside from that, he was also planning to hunt down some bosses to acquire top quality equipment. This was all in preparation for setting off to World’s Edge. From what he read in the reports, Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group had already dispatched their expedition teams there.

While Nie Yan was in the midst of working on a plan of attack for World’s Edge, the emergency sirens in Okoron went off. Several red orbs shot up in the sky before exploding and blossoming out like dazzling fireworks. The entire city was shrouded in a red veil of light. 

“What’s going on?”

“Did something happen?”

The players in Okoron immediately started stirring.

“It’s the siege sirens! The city is under attack!”

“Which guild has the balls to attack Okoron!? They’re crazy! Angel Corps? No way, right? They’re no match for Asskickers United. If it really is them, they’re basically asking to be humiliated!”

The ordinary players were chatting fervently. At this moment, many Asskickers United players were rushing to the city gates. They couldn’t help but be curious. Angel Corps definitely wouldn’t be so stupid as to challenge Asskickers United, right? Before long, the players at the front sent back news. The city wasn’t being attacked by a guild but rather a super boss!

Nie Yan also rushed toward the commotion.

「What’s going on?」Nie Yan asked in the guild chat.

「Boss, it’s Phantom Princess Ina! She's a Level 180 Demonified Lord! She’s already on top of the walls!」Undying Scoundrel cried out.

She’s finally shown herself! Nie Yan activated Gale Step and dashed toward the scene. About 600 meters away, he saw an enormous kraken-like creature flailing its 10 tentacles on top of the walls. Phantom Princess Ina had grown much bigger than before. She was easily over 10 meters tall, and her body was jet black. 

There were already over 60,000 players fighting off Phantom Princess Ina. Spells were whizzing through the air and bombarding her body. A string of mostly 1s and misses floated up in the air. Their damage was simply pitiful. 

Phantom Princess Ina was wreaking havoc. She thrashed about with her enormous tentacles. BANG! BANG! BANG! Wherever her tentacles struck, rubble would fly out and players would be transformed into rays of light.

She left a trail of carnage and destruction in her wake.

Asskickers United’s players put up a fierce resistance, advancing dauntlessly like a surging tide. The arrow towers and turrets around the walls also started providing supporting fire. They dealt at least some damage at around several dozen damage on the low side to a few hundred on the high side. The hundred catapults in the city were also firing nonstop, with a barrage of shells arcing through the sky.

「Shit! She has too much health! There’s no way to see it!」

「God dammit! My flame burst only dealt three damage!」 

…

Everyone was cursing up a storm. Their levels were simply too low. With Phantom Princess Ina’s formidable magic defense, their already mediocre spells barely dealt any damage. Even Undying Scoundrel and the other Masters only dealt 100-200 damage, occasionally critting for upwards of 600 damage.

Phantom Princess Ina wrapped her tentacles around an arrow tower. As she tightened her grip, cracks started appearing around the walls before it finally broke and collapsed into a pile of rubble. The players below scattered in every direction. Those who failed to get away in time were crushed to death.

The Level 180 Demonified Lord that Nie Yan and the others encountered in the Temple of the Goddess of Life was a defensive type. Bencroft had extremely high defense while his attack power was somewhat lacking. Since his health didn’t fall by much either, he didn’t use any powerful attack skills. That was why they never got to experience his full might. Phantom Princess Ina, on the other hand, was an attack type monster. The kind that destroyed everything she came in contact with. Seeing her frightening destructive might, everyone started to realize just how powerful a Level 180 Demonified Lord on a rampage was!

Relying on their numbers, players rushed toward Phantom Princess Ina from all over. Many of them weren’t even Asskickers United members. They had only come to join in on the fun.

The streets, roofs, walls, players were standing everywhere. They attacked Phantom Princess Ina non-stop with magic, arrows, or bolts.

More than 50% of the players in Okoron had mobilized. This was a super large scale battle!

Seeing so many people willingly participating in the defense of Okoron, Nie Yan was shocked.

Spells and arrows whizzed through the air and blotted out the sky!

Phantom Princess Ina’s health finally started falling. After such a long time, it had only fallen by the tiniest sliver. She roared out in a fury.