Blade of Tyranny

The battle escalated as the Black Nymphs charged, while Phoenix Down Studios and Bloodbath Studios continued luring a large number of Elites and a few Minibosses from their ranks to Nie Fan. He was quite competent as a laborer too, with over a dozen of Copper and Cyan Bronze items dropped from his skills, later split between while Phoenix Down Studios and Bloodbath Studios. Still, there were no Dark Enchanted Bronze items like Assala’s Judgement amongst the drops, nor were there Rare monsters like the Swordtooth Nymph.

Soon, the crisp sound of the system’s notifications rang. Nie Fan was now Level 23.

At the same time, the players were slowly withdrawing into Tajit Village as the numbers of Black Nymphs increased. They were wreaking destruction everywhere, and the interior of Tajit Village was left in ruins in no time at all.

The players were also being parted into different zones, each fighting for themselves. Some had even logged out, going offline because they couldn’t handle the pressure.

Nonetheless, the two Elite Guards were still standing by the village entrance, unleashing skill after skill and blowing swarms of the Black Nymphs into pieces littering all over the ground.

Still, both Dancing Phoenix and Warsong were become worried as more and more of their party members fell. At another corner, every gamer from Wandering Souls Studios had already left the game.

“Dark Night, we can’t stop this. Let’s log out.” Warsong said into the party’s channel.

“We’ll all die if we stay here. We have to retreat.” Dancing Phoenix agreed with Warsong’s decision. They had to think for their studios, because exceeding losses would definitely leave a huge impact on their later developments.

After all, the Black Nymphs were now in every corner of the village, destroying every building they could reach in a mad frenzy. What remaining players are logging out or already dead, leaving around thirty NPC militia fighting on bitterly.

“You guys go. I’ll stay a while longer!” Nie Fan said.

“Alright, you be careful.” Warsong and the others began to exit the game.

Dancing Phoenix eyed Nie Fan for a while before leaving the game as well.

With only himself left, Nie Fan hid in an alley, killing off each Black Nymph rushing inside as he checked his bag: There were seven bottles of Novice Mana Potion, which would sustain him for quite some time.

Nie Fan then looked up at the clearing in the center of the village, which was overflowing with piles of Black Nymphs’ corpses.

He did not have to worry being seen since there was no one else in the village, and as such began casting over thirty counts of Soulcraving Thorns. As one thorny vine began to grow out of the ground after another, they soon reached an astonishing number.

Toxic Miasma!

At the chanting of the incantation, a black fog gathered before Nie Fan and fired forward.

The Toxic Miasma exploded in the village with a reverberating bang, and rapidly spread towards every direction as if it could grow, enshrouding an area of over twenty squared yards. Any Black Nymph that entered the range of the black fog would have numerous damages numbering up to fifty or sixty popping up over their heads.

At the same time, the NPC militia immediately drank up Novice Antidotes after sniffing out the poison in the Toxic Miasma, and stayed immune against it.

Nonetheless, Nie Fan did not stop after one blast of Toxic Miasma. He continued casting Soulcraving Thorns, having them grow out of the ground without end until they withered and died, becoming corpses that he could convert into Toxic Miasma.

The lethal fog did not vanish either. In fact, it was becoming ever stronger, its range stretching further and further.

And when he saw that he was out of MP, Nie Fan quickly drank a bottle of Novice Mana Potion, and continued his ceaseless casting of Soulcraving Thorns. That skill had no cooldown time, and with the many corpses on the ground, he could unleash it infinitely as long as his MP was not drained.

Meanwhile, the Black Nymphs’ MP were eventually emptied as time passed, and started to drop down by the dozens.

Unsure himself how many monsters he had killed, Nie Fan flicked on his EXP notifications bar.

[System: You have slain a Black Nymph and gained 560 EXP.]

There were six whole pages of similar notifications. His EXP had leapt up one notch after another, although Nie Fan had been busy collecting the item drops from the Black Nymphs aside from casting Soulcraving Thorns as well. After a few moments, another crisp system notification sounded.

He was Level 24 after just a dozen minutes!

That was when the number of Black Nymphs were slowly dwindling, and some stragglers were cleared away by the NPC militia. As Nie Fan looked towards the village entrance, he found hills of Black Nymph corpses piled where the two Level 60 Elite Guards were positioned.

It’s over?

Nie Fan stopped casting Soulcraving Thorns then, and the poisonous vapor of Toxic Miasma finally dispersed and faded. It appeared that the Toxic Miasma had actually killed a few Elites and Minibosses too, since he managed to pick up a few Copper items and gem shards.

Soon, the village NPCs began to step out from the houses where they had been hiding as well, their faces full of smiles in their fortune of escaping death.

Their village was in a bad shape, and would take a long time to repair.

Still, it was better than being completely destroyed.

“O venerable brave warrior, thank you for saving our village.” Solamu the Librarian said.

He was the first person Nie Fan had met when he started playing the game.

“It’s what I should do, such is the call of honor.” Nie Fan replied humbly, surprised that the monsters’ siege ended so quickly. But he remembered then that the village’s defense had also lasted for almost two hours, and that would sound about right.

He was also the last one left in the village’s defense, so there was no telling how many Honor points he would get. Dancing Phoenix, Warsong and the others should have held on a bit longer, since they would receive more rewards that way.

“This is your deserver Honor and rewards, given in gratitude for your contribution to Tajit Village. We have also decided to grant you this Skill Tome.” Solamu respectfully held up the book as he handed it to Nie Fan.

Nie Fan’s heart thumped wildly at the sight of that Skill Tome. He did not know what skill it held, and though he could not read its title, he could tell from the cover alone that it was not a normal item. It was entirely silver-gray and made from unknown materials, decorated with golden threads on its seams and golden totems over its cover, which shrouded it in an air of mystery.

[System: You have slain a total of 7329 monsters and gained 2305 Honor points.]

[You have earned the title of Brave Warrior.]

Accumulating Honor points in Tajit Village would confer several titles, including Third-class Citizen, Second-class Citizen, First-class Citizen, Brave Warrior, and Knight-Errant. It’s only after earning the title of Knight-Errant, reaching Level 60, obtaining a letter of recommendation from the village chief and completing a quest that any player earns a pass to head out to Kelfield.

On the other hand, Nie Fan himself did not expect that he had directly skipped past the citizen ranks to Brave Warrior. Most of the players participating in the village defense ought to have earned a lot of Honor points as well, albeit not as much as he did.

With his new title, he could now purchase a set of Level 25 Cyan Bronze equipment from the militia captain.

If he had been farming monsters in the wild, there was no telling how much time it would take for him to gather a complete a set of Level 25 Cyan Bronze equipment, and there was nothing better than being able to purchase it with money now. Moreover, the equipment the militia captain was selling was much cheaper than the market price, although it was Soulbound upon purchase and cannot be traded.

Nie Fan accepted the Skill Tome from Solamu then, brushing his fingers over its cover.

That soft sensation to the touch was certainly pleasing to the spirit!