Chapter 131 – Encounter (1/2)

Chapter 131 – Encounter

After returning to the city, Nie Yan planned to head to the auction house and get rid of all the equipment in his bag. His bag only had seven spaces left and would be completely full if he randomly chucked in a few more items. He stood up and was prepared to begin channeling a Return Scroll.

However, a deep muffled roar cut through the air as it reverberated from the distance. He halted for a moment before putting away the scroll in his hand. This roar, it’s from a Sub-Elite Zombie or possibly… an Elite Zombie King! Reigning over a certain region of space, these monsters would occasionally roar to announce their presence to potential intruders.As for weak players, this was a sign that they should depart the area immediately.

After killing countless Leader-class monsters over the course of two days, he was finally going to meet a truly strong opponent.

He headed toward the source of the sound. After passing through a mound of rubble, he entered a wide open area and was greeted by the sight of an enormous Zombie. Towering over its surroundings, it was three meters tall and entirely pitch-black in colour, while a fishy-smelling pus oozed out of its body. Its nails were extremely long and sharp, resembling steel swords. Even more odd was the dark scarlet aura that faintly enshrouded it.

He activated Transcendent Insight.

Zombie King (Elite): Level 10

Health: 3,200/3,200

“It’s an Elite!” Nie Yan muttered as he surveyed the terrain for features he could take advantage of, causing his eyes to fall on the scattered mounds of rocks. “Sigh… killing this guy shouldn’t be a problem, but I’ll have to use my Flash Powder, Web Scrolls, and Sheep Transformation Scrolls.” His heart ached at the thought of how expensive each one was. “But… the items it drops should cover the costs!” He faintly smiled before leaping onto a large boulder where he retrieved his crossbow and took aim.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Three bolts flew in a straight line towards the Zombie King.

「Put! Put! Put!」 All of the bolts struck the Zombie King in the back.

−13, −12, −15

The Zombie King angrily roared as it turned around and searched for its aggressor among the mounds of rocks.

Nie Yan turned tail and fled toward the cover of the scattered mounds while firing bolts non-stop from his Crossbow of Blood. I’ll wear it down with ranged attacks first.

The Zombie King furiously clawed at its surroundings while seeking out Nie Yan, sending rubble flying everywhere as it quickly closed in on him.

「Poof!」Just as the Zombie King was about to reach him, he lobbed a pouch of Flash Powder which promptly exploded upon impact with its eyes.

The cloud of dazzling powder temporarily blinded the Zombie King as it let out a roar of anguish from the intense burning sensation in its eyes.

Seeing the Zombie King helplessly flailing around, Nie Yan faintly smiled before circling behind and attacking it with Eviscerate followed by Lacerate. The two skills dealt 120 damage, and afterward, it was struck by the bleed status effect which caused it to lose 10 health every second.

The blinding effect from Flash Powder would only last for so long. In fact, against an Elite monster, he would be lucky if it lasted more than a few seconds. Hence, after finishing his combo, he activated Swift Retreat and quickly withdrew from melee range. Having created some distance, he glanced at the Zombie King’s health bar. The bleed damage from Eviscerate and Lacerate was quite potent and would gradually accumulate with each passing second.

He took a stance and resumed firing crossbow bolts. Against an equal level opponent, he received no negative modifiers; thus the damage he dealt was fairly significant.

Soon after regaining its vision, the Zombie King charged after him again. However, just as it was about to reach him, he crushed the Web Scroll he had prepared beforehand, whereupon a giant spider web emerged out of thin air and firmly bound it in place.

He then dashed toward the Zombie King and leaped into the air before stabbing it in the neck with Vital Strike. After gracefully landing on the ground, he circled behind it and used Backstab to plunge his dagger deep into its spine.

After two more attacks, he didn’t dare to stick around any longer and quickly created some distance again. Just like before, he retrieved his crossbow and began peppering it with bolts.

With his pitiful health and weak leather armour, he wouldn’t be able to endure even a single strike from such a monster. Normally, an Elite monster like the Zombie King required a team of five or more players to effectively bring it down. Of the members in the team, a strong healer and a powerful tank were an absolute necessity, as well as having all members carry several Antidotes; otherwise, if they were struck by the acute poison in the Zombie King’s claws, they would lose 30 health every second until either the player died or the poison was cured. As such, Nie Yan had to take extreme caution in avoiding the Zombie King’s attacks.

The battle between them persisted as the Zombie King’s health was gradually being chipped away. Even now, it was still unable to land even a single hit. He had effectively sealed off all methods for it to attack. No matter how angry it got, its struggling was futile in the end.

“I think the sound came from there.”

“Let’s go over and take a look.”

A party of three arrived near the mounds of rocks where Nie Yan and the Zombie King were battling. They were all members of Victorious Return, and as players who could level in Black Gold Mines at this stage of the game, they definitely weren’t simple. In fact, among their guild’s ranks, they were considered the crème de la crème.

The party consisted of a Battle Thief, Berserker, and female Arcane Mage. They were farming mobs relatively close by when they heard roars, so they rushed over to check out what was going on.

“Night Shadow, hurry up! Go take a look at what’s happening,” the Berserker called out to the Battle Thief.

“Fine, fine, I’m going! Sigh, why do I always have to do the tedious work…” Night Shadow replied in a begrudging manner. Of course, if he didn’t want to scout, who told him to pick a Thief? As one of the nimbler classes, they were twenty percent faster than Warriors on average, and this was without taking skills into account. Hence, there was no one more suited than him for scouting up ahead.