Chapter 1 The Borderlands

The border between the Greenland Empire and the Saturn Empire was a vast, unbroken stretch of mountains, within which lay a forest that sprawled across an area equivalent to one-fifth of the Greenland Empire. This forest was perpetually shrouded in mist, severely limiting visibility. Under normal circumstances, ordinary players could only see about five yards. Using a Mist Dispelling Scroll helped a little.

The creatures that spawned in the Gryphon Woodlands were quite varied, including numerous flying creatures such as griffons, wind serpents, and poisonous flies, and occasionally even dragons.

Around five thousand members of the Ni Ren Tribe were active in the Gryphon Woodlands, divided into ten teams, searching daily for unhatched flying mounts. Their work was dangerous, requiring them to be constantly prepared for potential threats, including the various monsters that spawned within the Gryphon Woodlands. They also frequently encountered members of rival guilds.

The Gryphon Woodlands had many graveyards where players could resurrect, leading to prolonged and bitter struggles whenever guilds clashed. However, the Ni Ren Tribe hadn't suffered much. Angelic Dominance had at least a hundred thousand players searching for flying mounts in the Gryphon Woodlands, dozens of times more than the Ni Ren Tribe. Sacred Guardians, Judgement of Gods, the Empire of Light and Darkness, and other guilds had also sent many people in. The Ni Ren Tribe was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, but their players were of higher quality, able to avoid danger with their quick reactions.

In fact, the Ni Ren Tribe could have deployed over fifty or sixty thousand players into the Gryphon Woodlands, but that would have been too detrimental to the guild's strength. Players who weren't strong enough were likely to encounter danger in the Gryphon Woodlands. Therefore, Nie Yan had specifically instructed Guo Huai to deploy a maximum of five thousand people. The rest should continue to level up and try to advance to top-tier classes. As for flying mounts, they would come when the time was right.

Nie Yan, riding his Darkwing Dragon, circled in the sky for a long time, looking down at the mist-shrouded forest. Occasionally, some flying creatures flew past. He had to be extremely cautious. Although a seventh-order Darkwing Dragon was unlikely to encounter opponents, it would still be dangerous to encounter powerful creatures or large numbers of low-level flying mounts.

He received coordinates from various teams in the Gryphon Woodlands, but with the mist below, he couldn't pinpoint their exact locations without going down.

"Everyone, gather to the southeast of the Gryphon Woodlands, target coordinates 385.288.386!" Nie Yan issued an order to the leaders of the teams.

Knight's Elegy, in the distant dense forest, had just finished off a wind serpent nest with his team, obtaining a flying mount pet egg, when he suddenly received a message.

Seeing that it was from Nie Yan, Knight's Elegy quickly opened the message. After reading the content, he immediately issued orders to his team members: "Boss Nie Yan is coming! He wants us to head southeast. Everyone, form up immediately!"

Hearing that Nie Yan was coming, the team members were immediately excited, talking amongst themselves.

"Knight, is it true?"

"Of course it's true."

"Great!"

The players quickly gathered and set off in a southeastern direction.

Team after team from the Ni Ren Tribe in the Gryphon Woodlands organized themselves and set off from all directions towards the location specified by Nie Yan.

Just as Nie Yan was about to descend to explore the situation in the Gryphon Woodlands, some black dots suddenly appeared in the distant sky, numbering about several dozen.

Nie Yan was startled. Were they a pack of gregarious flying creatures from the Gryphon Woodlands?

It was best to avoid encountering groups of flying creatures. Generally, if you provoked one member of a group, it would trigger an attack from the entire pack, relentlessly pursuing you and calling for reinforcements until you were dead. They were extremely troublesome.

He was about to control the Darkwing Dragon to descend when the black dots rapidly approached. It was a team of about twenty flying creatures, a mixed group consisting of wind serpents, venomous dragonflies, griffons, and so on. There seemed to be people riding on the backs of those flying mounts.

It was a team of players!

Currently, there weren't many guilds that possessed more than twenty flying mounts. He wondered which guild the approaching team belonged to.

If it was just a few players, Nie Yan wouldn't be too worried. Such teams composed of different flying creatures had difficulty coordinating their attacks in the air, making them vulnerable to being defeated one by one. When the Darkwing Dragon was only at the sixth order, Nie Yan had already defeated the Mages Alliance's aerial forces. Now that his Darkwing Dragon had reached the seventh order, he had even less to fear.

Hunter Fox was one of the frontline players of the Angelic Dominance guild, ranked around thirtieth in the guild. His Void Ray Serpent flying mount was one of the few fifth-order flying mounts in Angelic Dominance. The Void Ray Serpent had a very powerful skill that had helped Angelic Dominance obtain five flying mounts, making it a secret weapon.

Hunter Fox, as usual, was leading his team members to capture flying mounts when he spotted a black dot in the distant sky. He led the players to give chase.

Twenty-six flying mounts arranged themselves in a formation and converged on Nie Yan's location from all directions.

"Hunter Fox, there seems to be a player standing on that flying mount," a warrior below suddenly said in surprise.

Hunter Fox focused his gaze and discovered that there was indeed a person standing on the flying mount.

"What kind of flying mount is that?" As they got closer to the Darkwing Dragon, Hunter Fox felt that something was wrong. He took a sharp breath of cold air. It was a Darkwing Dragon! Mad Rogue Nie Yan was here!

"It's a Darkwing Dragon!"

The people of Angelic Dominance immediately became agitated. Some reined in their flying mounts, while others continued to advance. The team was thrown into chaos.

"Damn it, he's only one person! We have twenty-six flying mounts! What are you panicking about! You're embarrassing us!" Hunter Fox cursed. The battle hadn't even begun, and they were already in such a mess. It was a disgrace to Angelic Dominance.

The Angelic Dominance players who had panicked and reined in their flying mounts felt their cheeks burn. They were supposed to be elites of Angelic Dominance, yet they had lost their composure at the sight of Mad Rogue Nie Yan. Mad Rogue Nie Yan's reputation was too great, and the Darkwing Dragon's size was too shocking.

The seventh-order Darkwing Dragon was much larger than it had been at the sixth order. Compared to the enormous Darkwing Dragon, ordinary flying mounts looked like children who hadn't grown up yet. The largest of them were only about one-third the size of the Darkwing Dragon.

Seeing such a huge flying creature, and the infamous Darkwing Dragon at that, how could they not panic!

"Hold the formation," Hunter Fox said in a deep voice from the back of the Void Ray Serpent.

The Angelic Dominance players reined in the flying mounts beneath them.

"Hunter Fox, according to the information we gathered last time, the Darkwing Dragon is a sixth-order creature, but it doesn't seem to be this big. Could it have advanced?" a warrior beside Hunter Fox said.

Hunter Fox frowned, weighing the situation in his mind. Should he lead these flying mounts to besiege the Darkwing Dragon? If he failed, he would undoubtedly bear a heavy responsibility. If he succeeded, he would undoubtedly become a hero of Angelic Dominance, and his position in the guild would definitely improve significantly. This was a great temptation for him.

Nie Yan stood on the back of the Darkwing Dragon. Because the distance was too great, he couldn't see the faces of these people clearly. He could only vaguely discern some of their features. They were from the Saturn Empire!

He watched as the flying mounts slowly approached, showing no intention of fleeing.

If a fight broke out, he definitely wouldn't suffer a loss.

He wanted to determine which side the people opposite belonged to. Besides Angelic Dominance, there were many other powerful guilds in the Saturn Empire. Those guilds weren't harmonious with Angelic Dominance, and Nie Yan didn't want to make enemies for no reason. But the distance was too far. He couldn't see the guild badges on those people's bodies clearly.

His gaze fell on a higher-level flying mount on the opposite side. It was a huge ray serpent. The ray serpent's body was very strange, like a ray fish, with a grayish-black color. Many tentacles grew under its body, constantly swaying in the wind, and a long, giant tail hung down.

A fifth-order Void Ray Serpent!

Nie Yan sent a message to Guo Huai, asking, "Do you know which guild has a fifth-order Void Ray Serpent?"

"Void Ray Serpent? It seems that Angelic Dominance, Sacred Guardians, and the Garan Temple all have a Void Ray Serpent," Guo Huai said. After learning about Nie Yan's situation, he quickly searched for information.

Angelic Dominance? Nie Yan's eyes narrowed sharply, and a murderous intent flashed across them. If he encountered Angelic Dominance's flying mounts in the wild, he would obviously look for opportunities to kill some of them to weaken Angelic Dominance's strength.

While the two sides were at a stalemate, an idea flashed through Hunter Fox's mind. If Mad Rogue Nie Yan attacked first, he wouldn't have to bear too much responsibility even if he failed, since they were acting in self-defense. If he could successfully kill Mad Rogue Nie Yan, he would have struck gold. As for how many flying mounts Angelic Dominance would lose, he didn't care. If losing some flying mounts could kill Mad Rogue Nie Yan, then Angelyric Angel would probably be very happy.

The thought flashed through Hunter Fox's mind, and he sent a message to a trusted warrior.

That warrior whispered something to a tall but seemingly dim-witted mage beside him.

"Old Six, notify Boss Angelyric Angel that we've cornered Mad Rogue Nie Yan. Tell him to come and support us," the big, dumb mage shouted.

The voice fell into Nie Yan's ears, and he finally confirmed that they were indeed from Angelic Dominance. He surveyed the surroundings. There were a total of twenty-six flying mounts here!

After the Darkwing Dragon advanced to the seventh order, Nie Yan hadn't had a chance to see how strong it really was. This would be the Darkwing Dragon's first display of strength since advancing to the seventh order!