The Shadow Demon Wolf gazed at Nie Yan with a fearful expression. It couldnât display anywhere close to its full strength due to this suffocating pressure coming from that hateful human. It felt another heavy blow landing in its side, its paws losing touch with the ground.
It wasnât that the Shadow Demon Wolf was weak, but rather that the suppressive aura coming from Nie Yan was closely tied to God, whose authority couldnât be blasphemed.
Not just the five Thieves, Tyrannical too was in shock as he looked on in bewilderment. Even though Nie Yan was strong, absurdly so, he certainly wasnât on the level to manhandle a Level 180 Demonified Lord.
Tyrannical pondered for a moment before realizing what was going on. This was likely the effect of the Wolf King skill, allowing the Great Prophet to obtain a mount they were more satisfied with.
If he claimed he wasnât envious, that would be a lie. Tyrannical couldnât help but think how wonderful it would be if he could gain the Great Prophet title as well. However, this was only a wishful dream. In the entire Righteous Faction, only Nie Yan had this title. One could imagine how hard it was to get.
The Shadow Demon Wolf stubbornly resisted the pressure, only to be continuously beaten down by Nie Yan. No matter how it tried, it failed to touch a single hair on Nie Yanâs body, let alone land an attack.
The Shadow Demon Wolf whimpered pitifully, and tried to hide from Nie Yan. However, its legs were paralyzed from fear.
Tyrannicalâs group deeply engraved this scene into their hearts.
The Shadow Demon Wolf finally lied down belly flat against the ground, lowering its head as if begging for mercy. Nie Yan calmly walked over and placed his hand over its head. A white radiance emerged from his palm and slowly entered its body.
Roughly 10 seconds later, a notification rang out.
Nie Yan glanced at the Shadow Demon Wolfâs status page. A Level 180 Demonified Lordâs stats were truly frightening! Moreover, the effects of his Wolf King skill boosted its stats by 30%.
Nie Yan was quite satisfied. Though he couldnât have the Shadow Demon Wolf help him hunt monsters since anything it killed wouldnât give him any experience or loot, it would still be a great asset against players in the upcoming battle. It would almost certainly be a killing machine on the battlefield.
The Shadow Demon Wolf stood back up. Its black fur gave off a bright lustre. Paired with its large size, it appeared especially domineering once again.
Nie Yan turned to Tyrannicalâs group. âYou guys can go back now.â
âAlright.â Tyrannical nodded.
âThe boss actually turned that Shadow Demon Wolf into his mount! Amazing!â The Thieves gawked at the giant wolf, their hearts racing with excitement.
âWhat we saw today has to be kept absolutely confidential! Got it?â Tyrannical said, sweeping his eyes over the group.
âUnderstood!â the five Thieves cried out in unison. They naturally understood the sensitivity of the matter and that leaking this information out was equivalent to betraying the guild. They didnât dare to wade into this minefield.
Nie Yan recalled the Shadow Demon Wolf into his pet space. With this super powerful mount, his Falkner Warhorse was now basically obsolete. After which he summoned his Darkwing Dragon and took off.
âLetâs head back as well,â Tyrannical said to his team. They took out their Return Scrolls.
Apart from these six Thieves and Nie Yan, no one knew what happened here today.
...
While Nie Yan was capturing the Shadow Demon Wolf, Asskickers United clashed with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Groupâs forces several times. They were small skirmishes between smaller forces, with both sides getting a few wins. Before their armies fully assembled, an all-out battle was unlikely to break out.
Even though both sides were on a tense stand-off, no major battles broke out over these past few days.
Nie Yan divided Asskickers Unitedâs army into 10 legions, one of which was their main force composed of 100,000 players. He also had the surrounding mountains, rivers, forests, and other terrains completely mapped out. As for the side of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group, apart from setting up tight defenses, they also dug out deep trenches in the plain. All preparations pointed to a long and drawn out war.
...
Back in the Clemenci Stronghold, Cao Xu, Soaring Angel, and the other highers ups of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group were holding a meeting. The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy.
A large screen was affixed to the wall. It played a video showing surveillance footage of Asskickers Unitedâs army, which one of their scouts had brought back.
âFan, my boy. Iâll be troubling you this time around. Youâll be commanding the troops from the front lines,â Cao Xu said. Though they were once fierce rivals, they had found a common threat in Nie Yan. Only by fighting against him as a united front did they stand a chance.
âWhat is there to trouble me about? Itâs only natural that go. Iâll be relying on you to oversee the overall situation from here, Brother Cao. If anything unexpected happens, please guide us.â Soaring Angel had to admit that Cao Xu was a far superior commander. His knowledge on everything Conviction-related was impeccable. His ability to direct an army was not the slightest bit inferior to Asskickers Unitedâs. The only area he was lacking was that he never actually played the game. Even up until now, he was still only Level 0. He had no way of garnering the respect of countless players with his astonishing strength, like Nie Yan.
Cao Xu offered his hand. âThis concerns both our futures. Let us gentlemen work together to defeat Asskickers United and bring about our glory!â
Soaring Angel accepted Cao Xuâs handshake. He knew they were tied to the same ship. If they still had reservations with each other, what awaited them was only death.
Soaring Angel led the top experts of Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group toward the frontlines. As for Cao Xu, he stayed behind in the Clemenci Stronghold with 500 members of the command group to direct the army.
Cao Xu wore his usual ash gray robes. He stood with his back straight as he stared at the screen. His gaze looked distant as he thought back to the past. He never expected that a brat who had gotten some fame early on in the game would force him to this kind of state. At first, Asskickers United was only a small guild of a few hundred players, not worthy of his attention. Though their guild leader Sparrow Hawk was far ahead of the pack on the level leaderboards, it wasnât enough to threaten him. At that time, the Century Financial Group was a major financial powerhouse, with several dozen guilds scrambling over each other to be acquired by him. Hegemony was only a matter of time. However, now it seemed that he might be defeated at the hands of a single player.
Thinking about Nie Yanâs rise to power, Cao Xu felt a chill run down his spine. It wasnât because of Nie Yanâs astonishing strength. No matter how strong a player was, it wouldnât cause him to feel any sense of danger. An individualâs strength was limited. No, it was something else. Ever since he started looking deeper into Nie Yanâs actions, he discovered that since the start of the game, Nie Yan had the uncanny ability to buy all the right properties, invest in the right items, and rally countless powerful experts to his side. This all culminated into him growing powerful enough to unite the entire Viridian Empire. Every business venture Nie Yan went into netted a profit. Every shop and property he bought became prime real estate sooner or later. Even the people he recruited, like Bladelight, Smoke Stub, Sun, and the others were genuine peak experts that couldnât be bought with money alone. It was almost as if he could predict the future.
Cao Xuâs intuition told him that Nie Yan had been gunning for him from the start, as if the two were fated to become sworn enemies. Every action Nie Yan took had thoroughly foiled his plans, causing him to suffer repeated setbacks. Heâd contemplated sending people to take out Nie Yan several times, but he never dared to in the end. One reason was Heavenly Kings. If he assassinated Nie Yan, he would also have to do something about them. World Bloc had the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups as backers as well. Another reason was that even if he sent assassins after Nie Yan, they wouldnât necessarily succeed. Leaving aside that the person in question was already pretty strong themselves, Nie Yan also had a top expert in Bayonet by his side. And Shadow Killer too since recently. Even though heâd never appeared, Cao Xu knew Shadow Killer was guarding Nie Yan. This phantom-like hitman caused him to feel a deep sense of fear. If either one of these two world-class assassins were to come after his life, they would probably succeed. If the two worked together, his fate would be sealed. If he failed at assassinating Nie Yan, the consequences would be unimaginable.
With so many variables to consider, even though Nie Yan had been a constant thorn at his side, Cao Xu never dared to take action. From what he knew, Soaring Angel had once tried sending people to assassinate Nie Yan. However, they were taken out by Bayonet and Shadow Killer, including the number two ranked assassin in the world Blood Moon. It appeared everyone had underestimated Bayonetâs strength. Since even Blood Moon failed, there was no point in sending anyone else.
As for World Bloc, back when it was just a small upstart, Cao Xu couldâve nipped them in the bud. However, theyâd already grown too powerful. They werenât a publicly listed company either, with the Nie Family controlling 100% of the equity. Unless some problems arose in their businesses, it would be extremely difficult to find an opportunity to take action against them. They were closely tied to the Dragonsoar and Glory Financial Groups, and at the same time, theyâd partnered with several dozen other companies. Because of their connection with Mo Yuntian, many long-established names didnât dare to slight them. Plus, with how rapidly they were growing in the virtual reality industry, it was impossible for any problems to occur! The amount of capital they controlled was astronomical!
Cao Xu had recently discovered something that caused his heart to shiver. World Bloc had already acquired 7% of the Century Financial Groupâs shares. This piece of information was far more frightening than anything else. He hadnât had a good nightâs rest since he learned of it. Just what were they planning to do?
Cao Xu felt a profound sense of helplessness against Nie Yan and World Bloc. The more he realized they were his destined enemies, the more he wanted to spare no costs to thoroughly defeat them so that they could never rise back up again. However, reality was often disappointing. Any advantage or influence the Century Financial Group had in the past was already neutralized by Nie Yan. He genuinely felt like he was slowly sliding deeper and deeper into an abyss. As a result, he became more and more desperate with his actions.
As for the war at hand, thanks to his meticulous preparations, he felt confident they at least had a 50% chance of victory. He wanted to see who would win in the end. Throwing one last glance at the footage of Asskickers Unitedâs two-million strong army, he turned around.