Chapter 846 - Game of Courage (1/2)

Nie Yan searched this side of the mountain for more than half-an-hour. The map wasn’t detailed enough, and the symbol too large. He could only discern the grave’s general location. How hard could it be to find? Harder than he expected, upturning even the pebbles in a desperate attempt to find it.

Looking over at the hillside to his left, Nie Yan noticed a green light flickering within the darkness.

Is it over there…?

Nie Yan had already searched that area before, but had only found a few mounds of dirt.

Let’s look again, Nie Yan thought before heading towards the green flames.

Several minutes later, Nie Yan arrived back at the mounds of dirt. A burial ground! He wondered how he could’ve missed this, though perhaps due to the lack of grave houses. The earth was muddy, with the stench of rotting corpses afoul in the air and crooked, broken gravestones scattered here and there. Specks of green flames floated up into the dark sky from a patch of weeds.

It was as if Nie Yan had been plopped into the set of a horror movie.

Is this it? The Lich King’s Tomb wouldn’t be this obvious, right?

Even though Nie Yan was doubtful, he still entered the burial ground. The moment he did, a powerful dark energy pervaded the area. Rotting hands erupted out from the earth as corpses crawled out of their graves and started stumbling towards him.

As a corpse stumbled within three meters of Nie Yan, he raised his leg and threw out a lightning fast fick. POP! Its head exploded.

It was only an ordinary Level 160 monster.

Losing its head, the corpse slumped back to the ground.

Nie Yan directly entered the heart of the burial ground and discovered a single intact gravestone. It was badly eroded by the wind and rain. Several words were written on it in Ancient Undead, a language he couldn’t read. On the corner of the stone face was the drawing of a blood red skeleton along with a thumb sized recess.

A secret mechanism?

Nie Yan dealt with the corpses crawling towards him while searching online for information related to Lich King Insar’s treasure. Failing to find anything new, he couldn’t help but get annoyed.

Looking back at the recess, Nie Yan suddenly recalled something. He still had Lich King Insar’s Finger Bone in his bag!

A light bulb lit up in Nie Yan’s head. He took out Insar’s Finger Bone from his back. Looking back at the recess, the two were a perfect fit!

Nie Yan inserted the finger bone into the recess. After which the gravestone lit up with a dazzling radiance.

A series of characters flashed in Nie Yan’s mind.

「You have opened Lich King Insar’s Tomb. Before the powerful Necromancer died, he placed down a terrible Nightmare Curse. Anyone that disturbs the sanctity of his final resting place would have their stats reduced by 80% for a month. He then cut off his 10 fingers, sending each to faraway places all over the world. Any single one of them can open the tomb. Brave, or perhaps foolish grave robber, do you dare to continue forward even after losing your great strength?」

A harsh cackle lingered in Nie Yan’s ears for a long time, ridiculing him.

Nie Yan could sense a gloomy energy invading his body and sapping away his strength. His body felt much weaker all of a sudden, almost foreign.

Looking at his status, he had received the Nightmare Curse.

All his stats were reduced by 80%, something no player could bear.

“Shit!” Nie Yan’s face was covered in dark clouds. This curse lasted for a month, and there was no way to remove it, meaning there was nothing he could do during this time. If he were to encounter players from the Evil Faction, he would be in even more trouble. With his current stats, even ordinary players could beat him.

As Nie Yan was mulling over what to do, the ground in front of him suddenly collapsed, revealing a flight of stairs leading down to an underground cave.

Nie Yan nearly lost his balance because of the violent shaking. After stabilizing himself, he looked down at the dark cave. He hesitated. Should he continue forward?

With his stats reduced by 80%, even against a Level 100 Elite, he might lose.

While Nie Yan was pacing back and forth outside the entrance, a zombie slowly closed in on him.

The zombies were still ordinary Level 160 monsters, the same as before. But now, Nie Yan had no choice but to raise his vigilance.

What little flesh still covered this zombie’s bones was rotting and gave off a foul stench. It was missing an eye and its face didn’t look quite alright.

Nie Yan brandished the Bloody Dagger and stabbed forward. PSHFT! He stabbed the zombie in the forehead, shaving away about 6,000 health from its pool of 160,000 health.

Nie Yan could normally down these zombies in one hit. Now, however, it would be a long and hard battle.

“GRAAGH!” The zombie swung down its arm.

Nie Yan leaped back. However, he was still a beat too slow. The arm struck him in the shoulder.

THWACK! Nie Yan stumbled backwards.