After silencing Violet Night, Ronin turned back to face Nie Yan . He reached into his bag and pulled out an ashen, parchment scroll . The edges were heavily worn, and judging from the overall condition of the scroll, it was quite old .
Ronin spread out the scroll on a large stone, revealing a simple map .
Nie Yan narrowed his eyes . This was a treasure map!
The area represented on the map was the Orc King Mountain Range .
“We’ve been researching this map for over a month . We’ve basically confirmed all the important locations . Now we just need a skilled Thief,” Ronin explained . If he didn’t show Nie Yan this map, it would be impossible to complete their objective since several important stages of the quest could only be cleared by a Thief .
“Why pick me? Why not another skilled Thief you know and trust?” Nie Yan asked . After all, he was just a stranger to them .
“Call it a gut feeling . I can confidently say you’re the strongest Thief I’ve ever come across,” Ronin earnestly said . You didn’t necessarily need to look at the stats or equipment to determine whether a Thief was strong . You could tell just by their actions and how they carried themselves .
Additionally, Ronin got a strange feeling from Nie Yan . It was almost as if he didn’t exist .
Ronin was confident in his Awareness . But despite standing right in front of him, he couldn’t sense Nie Yan’s presence at all! Just how high of a Cloaking stat was required for this!?
To confirm his suspicions, Ronin had asked Suyo in a private whisper to use Enhance Perception . Even with her Awareness buffed to 600, she still easily lost track of Nie Yan . This was hard to fathom .
After Suyo reported her discoveries to Ronin, he became all the more convinced Nie Yan was someone extraordinary .
Real experts like Suyo and Ronin had keen insight, unlike Violet Night . It was no wonder those two didn’t give him the time of day .
When Ronin spread out the map, he carefully observed Nie Yan’s expression . Ordinary players’ eyes would burn with greed after seeing a complete treasure map like this, but Nie Yan merely raised an eyebrow in interest . This reaction all but confirmed Ronin’s guess .
“This treasure map is related to Paternoster’s Warhammer, a Divine weapon . There are also three Legendary-grade weapons . The X is the treasure trove of the dark elves,” Ronin hurriedly added . He hoped to pique Nie Yan’s interest enough for him to lend them his services .
Nie Yan chuckled . “I’m only interested in Paternoster’s Warhammer . If we get to the treasure trove, I want the hammer . You guys can split the rest among yourselves . ”
The group was at a loss for words . Nie Yan demanded the best item right off the bat . How greedy!
“Fuck you! Who do you think you are? Why the hell should we give you Paternoster’s Warhammer!?” Violet Night cursed . He already didn’t like Nie Yan very much in the first place . He was just a lowly human Thief, and his skills were a complete mystery . Now he was even making this kind of ridiculous demand!
“Why? Watch and see . ” Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with killing intent . , and in the next instant, he was right behind Violet Night with a dagger to his throat .
Violet Night didn’t even get a chance to react . The sharp blade pressed against his throat told him that if Nie Yan wanted him dead, he would already be a cold corpse on the ground .
Nie Yan merely displayed a tiny fraction of his skill, but Ronin and Suyo felt waves of shock batter at their hearts . His movements were too quick, too precise . They hadn’t seen anything, yet he suddenly stood behind Violet Night . They felt a cold sweat on the back of their necks . If he were to take action against them, no one in their party would survive .
Violet Night never thought Nie Yan was so strong, to the extent that it was far beyond his comprehension . His eyes flickered with a trace of fear .
“How did you all end up recruiting a piece of trash like him? If you guys don’t mind, I’ll take care of him right now,” Nie Yan said in a cold and emotionless tone .
Violet Night suddenly felt like a fish on the chopping board . He had no doubt in his mind that Nie Yan would follow through with his words . He started shivering in fear .
“Please let him off this once,” Ronin mediated . He didn’t want to see Violet Night killed . After all, they had been teammates for so long .
Nie Yan released Violet Night .
Suyo’s eyes lit up . Her interest in Nie Yan’s identity was piqued even more . In the entire Viridian Empire, the number of Thieves who could display this kind of ability definitely didn’t exceed 10 . She closely examined his face . Hmm… he doesn’t look like Nirvana Flame .
“Well, we didn’t have high hopes of obtaining Paternoster’s Warhammer in the first place . The monsters guarding the treasure trove are too strong . We’ve already wiped quite a few times trying to get past them . If you can help us reach the treasure, the warhammer is all yours,” Ronin said . He was fairly reasonable . Although Paternoster’s Warhammer was a Divine item, whether or not they were qualified to keep it was another matter . He had an inkling it was a quest item . If they could get to keep the remaining three Legendary items, he would be more than satisfied . After all, they didn’t even have a single piece of Legendary equipment on them . Three pieces was something they could normally only dream about .
Violet Night was still dissatisfied, but he didn’t voice it out . Nie Yan had scared him into submission .
“Sorry . I came here today solely for Paternoster’s Warhammer . It’s related to my quest,” Nie Yan explained .
Ronin nodded . Besides, it was better to clear up any potential disagreements before they set off .
Suyo also nodded . So, this was the reason why Nie Yan demanded Paternoster’s Warhammer . She couldn’t help but become curious about his quest . It definitely couldn’t be a simple one .
Nie Yan had his own thoughts . Since Ronin’s party had already spent a month on this quest, they had likely collected ample data . Cooperating with them would be much faster than going at it alone . After all, he was a stranger in this place . It would take him at least a week to sufficiently explore this map .
“Let’s set out,” Ronin said .
Nie Yan nodded .
The party headed deeper into the forest .
On the way, the group exchanged banter . Nie Yan hid his identity . So, he changed the topic to hunting monsters, levelling, and running dungeons . His knowledge benefited all of them .
Suyo was especially chatty . Nie Yan only chimed in here and there .
Violet Night venomously glared at Nie Yan’s back . Ever since Nie Yan appeared, he’d been ignored and pushed off to the side . Even more infuriatingly, Suyo, who was normally cold and indifferent to him, was treating Nie Yan in such a friendly and cordial manner .
About 20 minutes later, the group arrived at another clearing . They spotted a Twin-Headed Ogre roaming around up ahead . Standing over three meters tall with a hulking body of muscle and fat, it carried a large, spiked wooden club fashioned out of a tree trunk and wolf teeth .
“That Twin-Headed Ogre is a servant of the dark elves . It’s a Level 180 Elite with 12,000,000 health . It drops a key fragment upon death . If you don’t use the key fragment within five hours, it’ll disappear, and the Twin-Headed Ogre will respawn . So, we’ll have to be quick,” Ronin explained .
“You’ve killed it before?” Nie Yan asked .
“Yeah, this'll be the 16th time . Our best time was 15 minutes . There’s more steps after that, though . We’ll be pretty tight on time . This quest is really difficult . Over the past month, even though we’ve made some progress, we’re still far away from completing it,” Suyo explained . She was quite confident in her party, believing even if they joined a large guild, they would firmly rank among the top players .
Nie Yan had to give it to them . For a party of level 110–120 players to kill a Level 180 Elite like this Twin-Headed Ogre in the span of 15 minutes was quite impressive .
However, Nie Yan stood on a different plane . Common sense didn’t apply to him . He was basically as overpowered as you could get .
Nie Yan had long since stopped putting Level 180 Elites like these in his eyes .
“Sky Origin, let me teach you a trick . Lure the ogre to this choke point over here,” Ronin pointed out . They had discovered this spot on their fifth attempt .
Nie Yan surveyed the surroundings . There was indeed a choke point hidden in the topography, though it wasn’t easy to discover . However, harder than finding it, was luring it there . This task was far too tedious and time consuming for him!
“This is usually my job . But since you’re new here, we need to test out your skills . If you can’t do it, you can leave it to me,” Violet Night said, glancing at Nie Yan with a cold smile . This was one of the things he was proud of . With his combination of long ranged attacks and blinks, he was confident no one in this party could do this job better than him .
“I’m not specialized in luring and trapping monsters, but there’s no need to go through that kind of trouble for a monster like this,” Nie Yan said indifferently . He then started walking towards the Twin-Headed Ogre .
“What’s he doing?” a teammate asked .
“I don’t know . He’s probably tired of living . ” Violet Night coldly chuckled .
Ronin and Suyo stared at Nie Yan’s back, then glanced at each other . He likely wasn’t so foolish as to get himself killed . They were curious to see what he was planning to do .
Nie Yan leisurely walked out of the undergrowth .
The Twin-Headed Ogre looked around . Its two heads gave it a wide vision range . One of the heads quickly discovered Nie Yan, soon followed by the other head . Two pairs of eyes locked onto him . ”GROARG!” It brandished its spiked club, knocking down a nearby tree .
The Twin-Headed Ogre charged over, the earth quaking with each step .
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