Chapter 259 - Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga
Nie Yan’s body was a treasure trove, brimming with all kinds of wonderful items. The Crawler Ring would absolutely fetch a sky-high price if listed up for auction. As a matter of fact, it was something that couldn’t be bought even if the player had the gold. The crowd couldn’t help but wonder how he got his hands on such a trinket.
It was difficult to determine how useful this sort of item was, an irreplaceable tool to some but dead weight in the hands of others.
The players scaled the buildings one after another until all six were jam-packed, forming a peculiar sight.
With this, the area between them turned into the focal point.
Only Nie Yan, Bladelight, and Yi Yan stuck to the ground. The rest of the Warriors retreated off in the distance.
Nie Yan turned to Bladelight and Yi Yan after reequipping the Crawler Ring. “I’ll go draw the Goblin Hunter’s aggro.”
“Alright, be careful,” Bladelight cautioned. This was a Level 40 Lord, after all. It wouldn’t be easy to lure the Goblin Hunter out of its spawn, all the way to the center of the six buildings.
Nie Yan stealthily approached until he was within some 30 meters of the Goblin Hunter, whereupon he took aim with his Cavalry Crossbow.
「Whoosh whoosh whoosh!」Five bolts flew out toward the Goblin Hunter.
−24−21−22−21−23
After being struck, the Goblin Hunter fired out a red-hot iron ball that quickly picked up speed as it rolled toward the assailant.
Nie Yan activated Shadow Waltz and dodged to the left.
The cannonball detonated with a loud explosion, spewing out flames into the sky and sending shrapnel flying everywhere.
Even though Nie Yan hid himself in stealth which was further amplified by the cloud of smoke from the explosion, the Goblin Hunter quickly located him and gave chase.
Every step the Goblin Hunter took shook the ground heavily.
Another cannonball was fired out.
Nie Yan ducked to the side, only to notice the cannonball still on his heels.
It was homing in on him!
Seeing the cannonball was about to explode, Nie Yan shot out a web line from his Silk Spinner Ring which stuck to the wall of a nearby building and swung away.
「Boom!」Not a second later, Nie Yan felt a sweltering shock wave ruthlessly slam his back as a piece of shrapnel brushed past his arm.
A frighteningly high damage value floated up above Nie Yan’s head. Luckily he wasn’t at the center of the blast radius; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been left with a complete corpse!
Nie Yan let go of the web line and made a graceful landing, whereupon he bolted toward the area at the center of the six buildings with the Goblin Hunter in hot pursuit.
“That was a close call!”
“The boss almost died there!”
“What kind of skill is that? Since when could Thieves shoot out webs?”
“That’s obviously his secret, of course! Amazing! He even dodged an attack like that!”
The players were able to get a clear view of Nie Yan being chased by the Goblin Hunter from atop the buildings. It was nerve wracking, like a good thriller. There were many times where they thought he was toast, only to see him somehow survive by the skin of his teeth.
It was an exciting game of cat and mouse. No matter the danger, Nie Yan always found his way to safety.
Atop of one the buildings, Xie Yao felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat whenever the Goblin Hunter closed in on Nie Yan. But he would deftly evade its attacks every single time. His speed was unmatched, his silhouette resembling a cheetah sprinting through the savannah.
Seeing Nie Yan was in no real danger, Xie Yao calmed down. No longer hers to control, her mood was subconsciously linked to his wellbeing.
Nie Yan finally arrived at the designated location. Letting out a deep roar, Bladelight charged forward and struck the Goblin Hunter with a Shield Bash.
「Klang!」The Goblin Hunter was knocked back a step by the impact.
Drawing only partial aggro, Bladelight activated Taunt.
The Goblin Hunter finally focused all its attention on Bladelight.「Klang!」It swung a fist at Bladelight’s shield, sending him staggering several steps back.
Bladelight charged back up after steadying himself.
“Everyone, attack! Give it your all!” Nie Yan shouted at the top of his lungs. Even if these players attracted the aggro of the Goblin Hunter, there was nothing it could do to them!
The Mages started casting their spells.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」They bombarded the Goblin Hunter’s body. A long string of damage values floated up above its head.
None of the Mages held back in the slightest. It wasn’t every day they could completely let loose like this without fear of suffering retaliation. They unleashed every high-damage single-target spell at their disposal.
Tang Yao was especially thrilled. Under normal circumstances, he would force himself to hold back out of fear that he would be the sole reason for the team wiping. But this time, he could go all out!
Magic rained down from the sky as the Goblin Hunter furiously fired out cannonballs.「Boom! Boom! Boom!」Every explosion sent Bladelight recoiling back.
Every cannonball that hit Bladelight took away almost 70% of his health. Fortunately, the Goblin Hunter’s attack speed was rather slow, and the intervals between them were long. The Priests had ample time to cast Heal.
A curtain of light descended on Bladelight, restoring his health directly back to full.
Shield Bash!
Bladelight charged back up and slammed his shield against the Goblin Hunter.
The Goblin Hunter couldn’t attack Tang Yao, Undying Scoundrel, and the other Mages, so it could only vent out its anger on Bladelight.
“All Warriors, block off the Goblin Hunter’s path of retreat!” Nie Yan ordered. All their efforts would go to waste if the Lord lost aggro and returned to its spawn.
The Goblin Hunter’s health was quickly shaved away, finally falling to 20% under the concentrated barrage of spells.
The Goblin Hunter turned to escape but was stopped dead in its tracks.
“Want to run? Not so fast!” Bladelight took up Guard Stance to protect himself from the boss’s powerful attacks.
The Mages never let up, not even for a moment.
The Goblin Hunter bellowed out in rage, letting out a steaming whistle. Energy converged at the tip of its Magic Cannon which started to shine brilliantly.
“Priests, keep the Heals coming!” Nie Yan shouted anxiously.
Three cannon shots rang out in quick succession as several red-hot iron balls dropped to the ground and started rolling towards Bladelight.
Sensing the danger, Bladelight took out an Intermediate Health Potion while maintaining his Guard Stance.
Bladelight’s sense of awareness was by no means dull, but he was still a beat too late.
「Boom boom boom!」The three cannonballs exploded almost simultaneously, sweeping everything away. Bladelight was blasted away like a ragdoll and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.
The Goblin Hunter immediately took this opportunity to flee. However, Yi Yan rushed up to take Bladelight’s place and prevented its escape.
The Goblin Hunter couldn’t charge past Yi Yan no matter how much it struggled. When its health fell to 10%, its cannon began to charge again.
Three cannonballs exploded in quick succession, blasting Yi Yan away.
“Don’t let it flee! Go up one by one!” Nie Yan ordered, knowing that he had no choice but to sacrifice some players to prevent their target from escaping.
Charge!
Edgeless led the charge. None of the Warriors alive could take a single hit from the Goblin Hunter. They were going into this knowing full well they would die. However, they hoped to buy enough time for the Mages to finish the boss off in this final stretch.
Edgeless stalled the Goblin Hunter for a brief moment, only to be blown away by a cannonball.
The next to go up was Monochrome, though he didn’t last long either. It was a tragic scene. The Warriors rushed up one after the other, meeting miserable ends, all for the sake of preventing the Goblin Hunter from running away. Their deaths only bought a few seconds each. But even so, they advanced dauntlessly in an endless wave. As soon as one died, another would rush up to take their place.
Seeing the Warriors dropping like flies, the Mages couldn’t help but feel their hearts ache. They intensified their barrage. They understood the sooner they killed the Goblin Hunter, the fewer lives would be lost.
Because their expedition team had Priests who could cast Revive, the death penalty was reduced to only 30%. However, this was still valuable experience lost. It would take them at least six hours of nonstop grinding to get it back!
The Mages frantically bombarded the Goblin Hunter with spells. Its health fell to 3%, 2%, 1%....and finally, 0%!「Boom!」It died in a fiery explosion, collapsing into a pile of scrap metal.
Looking at the ground, Nie Yan saw 36 corpses forming a long line. The Goblin Hunter had taken out a Warrior with every step.
The only reason the Goblin Hunter couldn’t escape was thanks to the sacrifices of these players.
“Priests, come down from the buildings and start reviving them,” Nie Yan said. Even the tallest of the six buildings was only about 12 meters high. The fall damage wasn’t enough to kill them at that height.
All the Mages and Priests jumped down from the buildings.
The Priests began reviving the fallen Warriors.
One Warrior gathered up all the loot from the Goblin Hunter. There were three pieces of equipment in total—one for a Warrior, one for a Mage, and one for a Thief.
“Boss, some leather armour for a Thief dropped! Holy shit! What luck! It’s a Legendary item fragment!” a team member exclaimed in excitement. Even though it was only a fragment, it was still extremely rare!
“Legendary item fragment?” Nie Yan asked in surprise. This was the first time he heard of a Thief Legendary fragment dropping on this map. However, a thought struck his mind. Could it be the Darkbright Leather Armour of Solga? “Quick, let me see it!”