Chapter 254 – Blocking the Way
The abilities from both the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring had allowed Nie Yan to benefit tremendously. If not for these two items, completing Volume I: Glimpse of Darkness of the Book of Order would still be a wishful dream. And now, he had just obtained the Leaper Ring. Although he lacked a ring slot to equip it in, he could just keep it in his bag for the time being and take it out when needed.
With this Leaper Ring, the range of options at his disposal grew all the more varied, allowing him to tackle obstacles he wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
Now that Nie Yan had so many treasures on him, including the Sub Legendary Cavalry Crossbow, he felt confident enough to snag himself a full set of godly equipment! Of course, the ‘godly’ in this case was simply referring to Sub Legendary gear. As for a true Legendary set, that was temporarily beyond the scope of his ability.
It might be a good idea to put some Sub Legendaries up for display in the treasury as well. Any self-respecting guild should have a few amazing items that stand out above the rest.
Nie Yan searched around for a while longer but failed to find anything else, so he left the building and went to regroup with the expedition team.
Before long, Nie Yan found his way back to the others. They had made good headway advancing deeper into the city. What left him pleasantly surprised was that they hadn’t suffered a single casualty during his absence.
Assuming the role of commander once more, Nie Yan led the team to a public square large enough to fit tens of thousands of players let alone six hundred, where they saw an eight-meter tall golem roaming the center. Its bolted metal carapace was mottled with rust. Its left hand was a giant metal cudgel while its right was an enormous buzzsaw. Its lower half resembled a tank with giant treads on both sides, rumbling loudly as it moved about.
This terrifying mechanical behemoth resembled a ferocious beast baring its fangs.
It was one of the five Lords that spawned in Everlasting City, Goblin Eviscerator!
It was undoubtedly a powerful foe! Countless teams ended up wiping at its hands in the previous timeline. After being defeated, it would take three days to respawn. It was guaranteed to drop equipment of at least Dark Gold-grade, with a 1/1000 chance for a Sub Legendary to appear.
“I’ll go take a closer look,” Nie Yan said before stealthly approaching the hulking Goblin Eviscerator which radiated a stifling pressure.
Nie Yan arrived behind the golem and activated Transcendent Insight.
Goblin Eviscerator (Lord): Level 40
Health: 100,000/100,000
The Goblin Eviscerator possessed several powerful abilities. The first was Machinery Evisceration, a three-hit attack that was guaranteed to crit on every hit. No matter how tanky a Fighter was, if a Lord landed three critical hits in a row, it was virtually a certainty that they would die. The second was Dash Charge. Anyone hit by this ability would be sent flying away. Finally, there was Steamroll, an attack that dealt massive area-of-effect damage to every unit in a three-meter radius.
In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had joined up with others to hunt the Goblin Eviscerator. It wasn’t until their third attempt that they didn’t wipe, slaying the behemoth instead.
Back then, Nie Yan was with over 100 other players, all of whom were at least Level 40. They checked online guides on how to defeat the Goblin Eviscerator, while also attempting to put what they learned into practice. Only after wiping twice did they finally figure out the tricks to defeat it.
Although Nie Yan had 600 players at present, their levels were comparatively much lower. He wasn’t sure if they could succeed.
「Bladelight, come with me. I need another Thief and a Priest too!」Nie Yan said in the team chat.
Bladelight scanned over the players, hesitant on who to pick.
“I’ll go,” One Strike Vow volunteered herself, stepping out of the crowd.
“Me too.” Young Seven came forward as well.
「Painted Muslin, Moon Child, and Black Heaven, join the party as well, though you guys don’t need to follow. If we end up dying, come over and revive us,」Nie Yan added. This was a necessary precaution.
Bladelight, Young Seven, and One Strike Vow went over to Nie Yan’s side.
Nie Yan nodded in approval. He had full trust in the ability of these three players. He turned to Bladelight and said, “You don’t have to attack in this battle. Just block the Goblin Eviscerator’s way. Take note of your positioning, and keep your Guard Stance up at all times! Its frontal charge is fast, but it can’t change directions. As long as you stand in front of it like an immovable boulder, it won’t be able to get past you easily.”
Nie Yan ordered the rest of the team to hide far away to avoid any mishaps.
Nie Yan turned to One Strike Vow and said, “When Bladelight engages the Goblin Eviscerator, listen to my commands. We’re going to slowly lure it to the fountain garden at the center of the square.”
“What do I do?” Young Seven asked.
“You keep Bladelight alive,” Nie Yan replied. Young Seven had the easiest job out of the four of them.
Inside the fountain garden were several large sculptures which made excellent obstacles for limiting the Goblin Eviscerator’s movements. If they were to try fighting it out in the open, it could easily break out of the Warrior encirclement with a Dash Charge or Steamroll. What awaited them then would surely be a massacre!
There was a special method to deal with the Goblin Eviscerator!
Nie Yan explained the process of luring the Goblin Eviscerator to Young Seven, Bladelight, and One Strike Vow. Although they understood in principle, they felt actually pulling this off would be incredibly difficult. They wouldn’t necessarily succeed on the first try. It was very likely they were going to end up dying once or twice.
“Alright, let’s start. Don’t worry if we end up failing the first time,” Nie Yan said, staring at the Goblin Eviscerator up ahead.
“I’m going up,” Bladelight said. He raised his heavy shield and ran up to engage the Goblin Eviscerator. Nie Yan and One Strike Vow didn’t dally either, dashing towards the east and west side of the square respectively.
Bladelight appeared before the Goblin Eviscerator, prompting the golem to rev into action and charge at him.
He quickly activated Guard Stance, holding up his shield to face the oncoming attack.「Klang!」The Goblin Eviscerator heavily collided with him.
Bladelight instantly lost over 300 health. But his health bar soon recovered after a gentle radiance fell over him. It was Young Seven’s Heal!
Bladelight quickly stabilized himself as he maintained Guard Stance. He firmly withstood the Goblin Eviscerator’s blows. But during this whole time, he never attacked back.
In the distance, Nie Yan took out the Dullahan Cavalry Crossbow. He took aim and fired「Whoosh whoosh whoosh!」Five bolts flew out in quick succession and struck the Goblin Eviscerator.
−23
−24
−21
−25
−22
A string of damage values floated up above its head.
The Goblin Eviscerator’s aggro immediately switched over to Nie Yan. It clumsily turned around before charging towards him at full speed. However, Bladelight appeared in front of it like a roadblock.「Klang!」It collided heavily with his shield, treads still rotating rapidly. But he staunchly barred its way, digging his feet into the ground as he was slowly pushed back.
The Goblin Eviscerator gradually advanced, but it couldn’t get past Bladelight.
On the other side of the square, One Strike Vow shot out arrow after arrow, attracting the Goblin Eviscerator’s attention. It slowly changed directions yet again, then charged toward her.
Following Nie Yan’s prior instructions, Bladelight continued to block the Goblin Eviscerator’s path, only allowing it to press forward bit by bit.
Just like this, the Goblin Eviscerator was slowly led closer to the fountain garden at the center of the square.
If it were only Bladelight luring the Goblin Eviscerator, with all of its aggro focused on him, he would undoubtedly be turned into mincemeat. However, with Nie Yan and One Strike Vow splitting the aggro, Bladelight didn’t need to tank as many attacks.
Only now did Bladelight, Young Seven, and One Strike Vow comprehend the ingenuity of Nie Yan’s plan.
After setting the cadence, the party grew extremely focused, not allowing the slightest mishap.
With Nie Yan and One Strike Vow controlling its movements, the Goblin Eviscerator was slowly led into the fountain garden.
“382.278.285! Go to that point with your Guard Stance up!” Nie Yan anxiously yelled.
Bladelight blanked for a moment, taking several steps back as he moved toward the coordinates Nie Yan called out. However, he was half-a-step too late. Before he could get his Guard Stance back up, he was sent flying by a Dash Charge.
The Goblin Eviscerator charged toward Nie Yan with its buzzsaw spinning menacingly.
Nie Yan turned tail, fleeing for his life.
However, the Goblin Eviscerator was simply too fast. With a sweep of its enormous buzzsaw, Nie Yan was struck in the back.
−723! It was an instant kill!
As Nie Yan’s corpse collapsed to the ground, the Goblin Eviscerator switched targets to One Strike Vow, who died just as miserably. The next to follow was Young Seven. A moment later, Bladelight was cut down as well.
With all the enemies dead, the Goblin Eviscerator resumed a passive state.
After the Goblin Eviscerator roamed far enough away, Black Heaven, Ten Li Painted Muslin, and Moon Child ran over and started reviving everyone.
As rays of holy light descended on their corpses, Nie Yan and the others were revived.
Nie Yan picked up his equipment, then glanced at his experience bar. It had dropped by 30%. The experience penalty was pretty harsh.
The four convened in a vacant area near the edge of the public square.
Nie Yan gazed at Bladelight and asked, “So how was it? Did you get a feel of things?”
Bladelight replied in an apologetic tone, “My bad, I lapsed for a moment. I think I know what to do now.”
Nie Yan nodded. In the previous timeline, each of the seven Fighters in his team had died five or six times before reaching this point. He could imagine the difficulty of repositioning himself on such short notice. Bladelight only had to die once to understand what he needed to do.
“The Goblin Eviscerator normally only attacks with the buzzsaw. All you have to do is guard against attacks coming from that side, and you’ll reduce the damage you take by over two-thirds. After we lead it into the fountain garden, just hold down that point I shouted out earlier, and the rest will be a piece of cake,” Nie Yan said. This advice came from the accumulated experiences of countless players in the previous timeline. It made the Goblin Eviscerator’s Machinery Evisceration and Dash Charge completely ineffective. In this way, they could defeat a Level 40 Lord without breaking a sweat!