Before the imposing five-meter tall Seres Tothe, Dark Gladiator appeared to be naught but a feeble house gecko.
The golden armoured lord, who resembled a titan that had resurrected from antiquity, emanated an incredibly oppressive aura.
Things would get dangerous if Seres Tothe was allowed to get within striking range!
Upon receiving Nie Yanâs command, Dark Gladiator suddenly soared into the air and then, after reaching an optimal height, plummeted towards the earth in an attempt to dive-bomb its opponent.
Seeing Dark Gladiator closing in on him, the pale cyan flames in Seres Totheâs eyes pulsated. He gazed over the frail skeleton dragon, his eyes showing utter disdain, and raised his arm up towards it. With a single flick of the wrist, he sent it crashing into the ground before it even had a chance to reach him.
ăBOOM!ăDark Gladiator fell to the ground and tumbled along until finally colliding with one of the tomb walls. â139
Seres Totheâs damage output was truly terrifying. Even Dark Gladiator, who possessed a formidable defense, instantly lost over twenty percent of its health in a single strike.
Regardless, Dark Gladiator still stumbled back to its feet and charged at Seres Tothe once more.
If Dark Gladiator couldnât hold off the boss, then Nie Yan would have no hope of escaping.
It was truly an unfortunate situation, as a servant like Dark Gladiator was hard to come by. However, in a life or death plight such as this, he didnât really have any other choice. Besides, there wasnât much time left on Undead Rite.
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Once Dark Gladiator drew near, it pounced on Seres Tothe and latched onto his waist, firmly refusing to loosen its grasp. In response, however, Seres Tothe simply raised his golden longsword.ăSlash!ăA streak of light cleaved through Dark Gladiatorâs shoulder and cleanly lopped off its arm. Then, he followed with an elbow strike, which knocked aside the frail bone dragon like a ragdoll.
Like most undead, Seres Totheâs actions were extremely clumsy and stiff. Because of this, Dark Gladiator was just barely able to avoid a fatal blow.
However, the undead dragon was only hanging on by a thread. With merely twenty-one percent of its health left, it wouldnât be able to withstand another one of Seres Totheâs attacks.
Now, with Dark Gladiator nearly out of commision, Nie Yan felt as though his heart would burst from anxiety. Although Dark Gladiator had slightly hindered Seres Totheâs movements, it still failed at holding him back.
The plan had failed, Seres Tothe couldnât be stopped. Presently, the golden armoured lord was standing before him with his massive body ominously looming over Nie Yan. Seres Totheâs sword flickered with a sharp glint as he gradually raised it high above his head. Nie Yan knew only one thing was certain, heâd die if he allowed that sword to hit him!
Staring at the sword, Nie Yan couldnât help but imagine himself being chopped in half. He quickly glanced over at Dark Gladiator who was still struggling to get up. Câmon! Câmon! Hurry up!
Dark Gladiator crawled back to its feet. Though it still appeared to be somewhat unsteady, it charged at Seres Tothe once again.
ăBang!ăJust as Seres Totheâs sword was about to come down on Nie Yan and cleave him in half, Dark Gladiator rammed its skeletal frame into Seres Tothe and caused him to stumble. Seemingly infuriated that a lower being had caused him to stagger, Seres Tothe brandished his longsword and attacked in retaliation.
A cold arc of light followed his sword as it slashed across Dark Gladiatorâs skeletal frame, splitting it in half. The bone dragonâs halves collapsed to the ground and shattered.
After turning Dark Gladiator into a pile of bone fragments, Seres Tothe turned its attention back to the other pest that he had been too preoccupied to deal with.
Eighteen... Nineteen... Twenty!
Luckily, by then, the Return Scroll had already finished channeling. A bright radiance shone from the teleportation circle beneath Nie Yanâs feet as he disappeared from the tomb.
The scenery in front of Nie Yan changed as he emerged from Caloreâs transfer point. Yet, despite his successful escape, his heart was still racing. I finally got away from that bastard. Itâs unfortunate I ended up losing Dark Gladiator in the process though...
Ah, whatever. There was nothing else I couldâve done. Even if I didnât sacrifice him, he wouldâve disappeared soon anyway.
Nevertheless, he had still accomplished his objective, which of course was retrieving Sulgataâs Boots. Now he just needed to figure out how he could equip them as quickly as possible.
ă Where are you guys? ăNie Yan messaged Young Seven and his crew.
ă Weâve already returned to Calore. Weâre at the alchemy shop right now, ăYoung Seven replied. They had actually returned pretty early on to restock. Since there were simply too many mobs in Sulgata, they ended up burning through their supply of consumables fairly quickly.
ă Alright, meet me at the auction house. ă
ă No problem. See ya there. ă
...
After some time, Young Seven and his team arrived at the auction house and spotted Nie Yan waiting just outside.
âNice to see you,â Nie Yan greeted and nodded his head in acknowledgement. If it werenât for their help back in Sulgata, he wouldnât have been able to to find those gems or retrieve Sulgataâs Boots.
âLikewise,â Young Seven replied, followed by Forgotten and the others who joined in.
âDid you complete your quest?â Forgotten asked. He didnât bother to pry any further than that though, as the contents of Nie Yanâs quest were his business and his alone.
âI completed it.â Nie Yan nodded in reply. âAccording to my original offer, I owe you all a Gold-grade piece of equipment.â
âItâs fine. You donât need to compensate us,â Young Seven replied.
âTwo of your members ended up dying. I canât just leave you empty-handed! How would I be able to live with myself?â Nie Yan insisted as he sent Young Seven a trade request. He held a favourable impression of Young Seven and his team. They were sincere and kept to their word, so heâd be sure to keep in contact with them in the future.
Urged on by Nie Yan, Young Seven finally hit accept, which brought up a trade window in front of him. However, when he saw the item that appeared in the window, his eyes widened in surprise.
It was a pair of shoulder guards for Fighters! Although it could only be equipped at Level 10, it didnât detract from the fact that it was definitely a good piece of equipment! Strength +13, and Resilience +17... This sort of item would definitely sell for at least thirty silvers or higher on the marketplace!
Young Seven initially thought Nie Yan would simply give them some random piece of Gold-grade equipment. After all, even the most average pieces of Gold-grade equipment were still quite expensive since their base properties were innately higher. He could never have imagined that Nie Yan would actually give him something of such high quality. Thinking of how beneficial it would be for them, he no longer had any plans of refusing Nie Yanâs kindness. Otherwise, heâd be failing his responsibility as a leader to his team considering that a Fighterâs defense played an incredibly significant role in most teams.
âSince you insist, refusing would be impolite. Brother Nie Yan, if anything comes up and you need our help, please donât hesitate to ask. Weâll definitely do our best to lend a helping hand!â Young Seven replied in a truly sincere manner, unlike earlier when he was putting on a pretense of being polite.
Truthfully, Nie Yan did in fact plan to give them an ordinary Gold-grade item in his bag. However, when he saw them giving an earnest effort to help him, to the point of even losing two of their members in the process, he changed his mind. He couldnât possibly let them suffer a loss. Besides, he didnât mind giving it away since it wasnât an item he could equip. As for the money he could have potentially received from selling it, he couldnât care less for an amount he considered pocket change.
Nie Yan would have ended up disliking Young Seven if he had continued refusing out of politeness. He preferred people who were straightforward with their actions and didnât mince their words. These kinds of people were easier to interact with; plus, they werenât hypocrites. He glanced at Young Seven, then at the members in the back. âIf I need any help in the future, Iâll keep you guys in mind. I might even ask you to form a team with me.â
âWeâd gladly oblige!â Forgotten interrupted from the side. They never had a set team in the first place, and though they liked the idea of forming one, they always lacked the time. Nie Yanâs willingness to form a team with them was exactly what they were looking for. When they had met him near the pyramid earlier, they actually came with the intention of recruiting him. In retrospect, however, that didnât seem all too likely because, after witnessing his prowess, they realized their little temple was much too small to host a deity like Nie Yan.
With the game servers having only been open for approximately two weeks, the number of players capable of forming a team wasnât very high. For Nie Yan to have won over so many exceptional players during this short period was without a doubt an extremely good opportunity. It wasnât like his current circumstances were all that bad either, though. He was able to frequently collect good items, farm high-level monsters, and occasionally join with other teams in dungeon runs.
With the transaction complete, Nie Yan continued chatting with Young Seven, Forgotten, and the others a little longer, which caused his impression of them to grow even more favourable. In the end, he had ended up adding all of them to his friends list so it would be easier to contact each other in the future.