Chapter 11 Ambush

The shield warrior roared and charged forward, his long sword slashing down, drawing a wound on the horned deer leader with a *poof*.

The horned deer leader stepped forward, its sharp antlers lunging.

The shield warrior retreated slightly, holding his shield in front. The antlers collided with the wooden shield with a dull *thump*.

The berserker and holy knight immediately attacked the horned deer leader from both sides.

"Watch your aggro," the shield warrior cautioned, concerned. Since the shield warrior had an extra shield, his defense was higher. The horned deer leader could only knock off a dozen or so health points each time. If the horned deer leader's aggro shifted to the berserker or holy knight, they would be killed in no more than five hits.

The person who attacked a monster first would be the primary target of its aggro. However, if someone nearby dealt excessive damage, was a much lower level, or was too weak, the aggro would shift.

"We know, don't worry," the berserker and holy knight replied.

The holy priest and elemental mage behind them began to dish out damage, one spell after another.

Their coordination was decent enough. It shouldn't be a problem to kill the horned deer leader after a while. However, what they didn't know was that danger was quietly approaching.

Nie Yan was only a few steps away from the holy priest and elemental mage in stealth. The holy priest and elemental mage stood close together, their attention focused on the horned deer leader.

In just half a minute, they could kill a horned deer leader and get a piece of equipment. They were extremely excited.

The heads of the holy priest and elemental mage were completely exposed to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan slowly approached, moving slower and slower. The closer he got, the more careful he had to be, or the prey within reach might fly away.

Patience was also very important when judging whether a thief was qualified. The outcome of a thief's battle often depended on whether the first strike was successful. Before the first strike, there were long preparations such as stealth and approaching. If he lacked patience, he would easily be caught.

The battle between the horned deer leader and these players had entered a fierce stage. The horned deer leader kept ramming and attacking the shield warrior, whose health points quickly dropped to just over 20%. He took out a bottle of beginner instant health potion and drank it.

"Everyone, keep up the damage, the horned deer leader only has half its health left," the shield warrior said, blocking with his shield and then slashing with his sword.

The berserker and paladin also stepped up their damage. They had lost nearly half their health in the battle with the horned deer. The only ones on the team who hadn't taken any damage were the holy priest and elemental mage.

"Lei Zi, back up a bit, why are you charging so far forward?" the shield warrior shouted to the berserker.

"Got it, got it," the berserker quickly backed up a bit.

Among these five people, the shield warrior was clearly more experienced in combat.

"When we go to dungeons later, berserkers and paladins must never charge too far forward, that's just asking for death. Once we're done here today, we'll go to a five-man dungeon tomorrow, you guys can familiarize yourselves first, and then join a raid for a big dungeon after a while," the shield warrior said, taking a few steps back, luring the horned deer leader between two large trees behind them.

"Are there any guild events recently?" the berserker asked, his eyes lighting up.

"There are always guild events. The guild leader and the others have been farming the Treant Forest and the Dark Swamp. Can you guys even go?" the shield warrior asked rhetorically.

Those who were farming the Treant Forest and the Dark Swamp were all elites of Holy Light, and there were strict requirements for players' defense, attack, health, etc. If their equipment didn't reach a certain level and their skills weren't up to par, there was no way they could go. The five of them could forget about it.

"No level two dungeons, like the Elk Rat Cave or the Skeleton Cave?" the berserker asked. Those were also twenty-man dungeons, with lower requirements and decent equipment drops. Once they upgraded their equipment, they could challenge higher-level dungeons.

"The guild leader will organize it in a few days. Let's level up first, focus a little, and kill this horned deer leader first. Maybe we'll get some good equipment," the shield warrior said, taking two more steps back, but his retreat was very steady.

The holy priest and elemental mage also followed, taking a few steps back.

Nie Yan could tell that the shield warrior on the opposite side was pretty good. He was pulling aggro very well. As soon as he saw signs of the horned deer leader's aggro shifting, he immediately used Shield Bash to pull the horned deer leader's aggro back.

Guiding and luring, he prevented the horned deer leader from exerting its full combat power.

If it weren't for a shield warrior like that, they wouldn't be able to fight a level three horned deer leader at all.

In order to avoid being discovered by the holy priest and elemental mage, Nie Yan moved very carefully, but unexpectedly, the holy priest and elemental mage retreated towards him.

*Heaven is helping me,* Nie Yan thought. The holy priest had already retreated to his side.

Nie Yan raised the dagger in his hand and stabbed the back of the holy priest's head.

"Muffle!"

Nie Yan hit the holy priest, and the holy priest fell into a stunned state.

"Someone's stea—" The elemental mage next to him noticed the movement and turned around, discovering Nie Yan. But he only managed to say half a sentence before Nie Yan pounced, stabbing the elemental mage in the forehead with the dagger in his right hand, stunning him!

After stunning him, Assassinate was followed by Cut, and then a Vital Strike straight to the throat.

Nie Yan moved quickly, unleashing maximum damage in a short time.

-20, -22, -29, -36, four damage numbers floated above the elemental mage's head. The elemental mage had just woken up, and his health was already down to 18 points.

He panicked. Nie Yan's damage output was too terrifying.

-5, -5, two damage numbers floated above the elemental mage's head.

The elemental mage took out a bottle of low-level instant health potion and was about to drink it when Nie Yan's dagger lightly brushed across his chest. -8, a damage number floated above the elemental mage's head.

The elemental mage's hand froze in mid-air. His health reached zero, and he fell to the ground.

"Got one," Nie Yan said, picking up the equipment dropped by the elemental mage.

When the holy priest woke up, Nie Yan had just killed the elemental mage. He turned to flee, but how could Nie Yan give him the chance!

Nie Yan chased after him, swinging his dagger at the holy priest's back.

-12, -13, -15, all his skills were used up, leaving only ordinary attacks. But because the thief's attack speed was fast, the damage was still considerable.

The holy priest turned back and used Holy Judgment, then Holy Strike, counterattacking Nie Yan and knocking off 53 health points.

The shield warrior, berserker, and holy knight were besieging the horned deer leader, but the elemental mage and holy priest, who had been maintaining damage output from behind, had disappeared.

"Someone's ambushing, it's that thief, Nie Yan!" the shield warrior said anxiously. It was the critical moment for them to fight the monster, why did this guy come!

Nie Yan still had more than twenty minutes of legitimate defense time against them!

"What do we do?!" the berserker retreated step by step. The current situation was that they were being attacked from both sides by Nie Yan and the horned deer leader. The three of them had been tanking the horned deer leader all along, and their health was less than half. If they were careless, all five of them would die here. In the blink of an eye, the elemental mage was killed by Nie Yan, leaving only the holy priest. Their situation was even more dangerous!

"Kill the horned deer leader first!" the shield warrior said. All the horned deer leader's aggro was focused on them. If they didn't kill the horned deer leader and turned to deal with Nie Yan, this horned deer leader wouldn't let them off easily.

The horned deer leader didn't have much health left!

"Cleave!"

The shield warrior slashed with his sword, and the berserker and holy knight also quickened their movements, constantly hacking at the horned deer leader.

"Flame Slash!" "Holy Light Slash!"

The berserker and holy knight both used their strongest moves, and damage numbers floated above the horned deer leader's head one after another.

Everyone was racing against time.

The battle between Nie Yan and the holy priest had also entered a fierce stage. The two of them ran and fought, Nie Yan running and jumping, circling behind the holy priest, continuously swinging his dagger. Blood splattered wherever the dagger went.

The holy priest, on the other hand, fled to get rid of Nie Yan, while casting spells one after another.

Both of their health points were dropping steadily, but clearly, the holy priest's health was dropping faster. He quickly took out a bottle of low-level instant health potion and drank it, then downed a bottle of slow recovery potion.

+3, +3.......

The holy priest's slow recovery potion was interrupted by Nie Yan's dagger just a few seconds after he drank it.

"Run this way." The shield warrior attacked the horned deer leader while paying attention to the battle between Nie Yan and the holy priest, shouting anxiously. He could see that the holy priest was no match for Nie Yan.

-18, -15.......

The holy priest's health was only thirty-six points.

"Damn thief, is this guy specifically targeting us?" the shield warrior cursed, attacking the horned deer leader with his sword. Nie Yan had first killed Dian Cang and the others, and now he had appeared here. This was definitely not a coincidence. Could Nie Yan be a friend of Tang Yao and the others?

"Nie Yan, I'll remember you. Our Holy Light guild won't let you off easy," the berserker said, exasperated.

"It's a great honor, I'm always waiting for you." Nie Yan replied calmly. Holy Light was just a small guild at this time, with only a thousand or so members up and down. How could they have so much energy to search the world for Nie Yan and Tang Yao? Even if they found Nie Yan and Tang Yao, they couldn't possibly send the entire guild over. Even if they did send them, couldn't he just hide if he couldn't afford to provoke them?

Back then, Nie Yan alone had caused chaos for five guilds under the Cao Xu Century Consortium, and hundreds of thousands of people couldn't do anything about him. How could he be afraid of Holy Light?

The reborn Nie Yan was definitely more difficult to deal with than before.

What did Nie Yan have to fear?

"A second one, no matter how many come, they're just delivering food!" Nie Yan said contemptuously, stabbing the holy priest in the chest with his dagger, killing him. He glanced at his health, still over fifty points, about what he had expected.

Nie Yan pounced towards them. At this time, the horned deer leader's health had been reduced to only about 10%, and it was about to die. He was preparing to snatch the equipment that the horned deer leader dropped.

"Kill!" the shield warrior roared, using Shield Bash to knock the horned deer leader back.

The horned deer leader's figure paused for a moment.

"Ichimonji Slash!" the berserker slashed down at the horned deer leader with his greatsword.

-15, a large number floated above the horned deer leader's head, a critical hit!

The horned deer leader wailed and fell to the ground.

The shield warrior bent down and picked up the items dropped by the horned deer leader, throwing them into his backpack.

"One step too late." Seeing the shield warrior pick up the items dropped by the horned deer leader, Nie Yan stopped and retreated.

The shield warrior had 25% health left, the berserker had 38%, and the holy knight had 35%. Although they didn't have much, the three melee classes gathered together weren't as simple as 1+1. Moreover, the thief's dagger dealt very low damage when attacking heavily armored classes like shield warriors. He couldn't deal with the three of them, so he shouldn't take the risk, Nie Yan thought.

The shield warrior and the other two didn't have much health, and they didn't dare to rush up and surround Nie Yan. They stood in place to recover their health. They lost two people for a bronze equipment from killing a horned deer leader, it was too not worth it.

"Another two dead." The shield warrior's eyes were like knives. Counting it like this, the Holy Light guild had lost five people to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan was not far away. The shield warrior, berserker, and holy knight looked at each other, but none of them dared to attack rashly. They didn't have much health, and the three of them together could definitely deal with Nie Yan, but once they separated, no one could say for sure.

Three melee classes were scared by a thief and didn't dare to move. This was simply a great shame, and the three of them felt their faces burning.

Nie Yan stretched out his right hand, thumb down, and made a contemptuous gesture.

"Aren't you three coming over? If you don't come, I'm leaving." Nie Yan glanced at the three of them, laughed, and glanced at the jungle in the distance. There were some movements in the southeast and west directions. It was estimated that the people from Holy Light had surrounded him from all directions, preparing to encircle and suppress him.

Nie Yan didn't dare to be careless. He ran away, like a rabbit, shuttling through the forest.

"Our people are here, hold him back, don't let him run away!" The shield warrior chased in the direction Nie Yan escaped.

The berserker and paladin followed closely behind.

"Why are you only coming now?" The shield warrior said depressingly in the team chat.

"We found the hiding place of that arcane mage, and almost caught him. If you hadn't been so anxious to have us come over, that guy would have been dead. What happened to you?"

"Dao Zi and Huang Ni were killed," the shield warrior said.

"What's going on, weren't they with you?"

"It was that thief named Nie Yan again, he ambushed us and killed Dao Zi and Huang Ni," the shield warrior said, hiding the fact that they were fighting the horned deer leader just now.

"Damn it, that thief again!"

They had never seen such a powerful thief. This guy seemed to have appeared specifically to target them.

"He's probably a friend of the group we killed before. He went north, we're chasing!"

Several figures flashed through the forest.

Nie Yan was very fast. In the blink of an eye, he had created a long distance from those behind him. There were three or four figures ambushing him from the front. With no way forward and pursuers behind, if he kept running like this, he would definitely be blocked.

Nie Yan turned behind a tree and entered stealth.

The shield warrior and the three met up with the team members who had come to encircle them.

"What's going on, where is he?" the shield warrior asked, his eyes scanning his surroundings. It was empty, where was Nie Yan's figure?

"Did he run away?"

"He probably went into stealth, search more carefully."

These players dispersed and conducted a carpet search of the surrounding area.

Nie Yan held his breath and crept out.

This place was full of Holy Light's people, and the danger had not been lifted.

"How's it going on your end?" Tang Yao sent a message asking.

"Killed another two," Nie Yan said, glancing at his backpack. Although he dropped two pieces of equipment, they weren't anything special. They would sell for at most a few copper coins if put in the auction house.

"Awesome, I'm impressed by you, kid." Tang Yao sighed in admiration. Most of the people in Holy Light were in groups of three or five. How did Nie Yan do it?

"Where are you now?" Nie Yan asked.

"I ran into those Holy Light people earlier and almost got caught by them. I ran into the depths of the mine, but they went back. The mine is full of level five monsters, and I can't get out." Tang Yao said. It was estimated that Nie Yan had killed two Holy Light people, and they had gone back to deal with Nie Yan. In other words, Nie Yan had indirectly saved his life. But the problem was that his current situation was even more dangerous. The depths of the mine were full of level five Rock Spiders, and he might die if he was careless.

"You hide there first, I'll send you a city return scroll."

"It'll be much easier with a city return scroll, can you get in? The exit is blocked by Rock Spiders."

"We'll talk about it when the time comes. I have some trouble here, I'm hanging up first."