Chapter 366 - Thief Treasure Hoard
Nie Yan dashed away with all his might, allowing the bleed and poison damage to shave away at the Dusk Thief’s health. He was no match for the enemy in a direct confrontation, but this method was also quite effective. It just took a bit more time.
The Dusk Thief eventually cornered Nie Yan into a dead-end. There was nowhere left to run.
As the Dusk Thief pounced in for the kill, Nie Yan suddenly leaped up in the air and kicked off the wall into a backflip, landing gracefully behind the opponent. He struck the Dusk Thief in the back with Assassinate and Blast.
Nie Yan’s dagger lit up brilliantly, unleashing an explosion that sent the Dusk Thief crashing into the wall with a heavy thud before falling to the ground.
By the time the Dusk Thief struggled back to its feet, Nie Yan had already run far off into the distance.
Nie Yan continued kiting the Dusk Thief, slowly chipping away its health until it finally died.
A dark gray chestpiece lay glittering on the floor beside the Dusk Thief’s corpse. It was a piece of equipment from the Level 70 Dark Gold-grade Ashen Punisher Set. By completing the full set its level requirement could be reduced by 10. However, pieces from this set only dropped in certain maps.
The Ashen Punisher Chestplate greatly increased Strength and allowed the player to deal an additional 120 Shadow Damage with every strike. It was best suited for Berserkers following an offensive build path.
These Dusk Thieves didn’t respawn after being killed. Nie Yan wondered if he could acquire a full Ashen Punisher Set. It would be perfect for Berserkers like Smoke Stub, Edgeless, or Monochrome.
Nie Yan searched under the Dusk Thief’s corpse but found nothing else. He looked around the room he had just entered. It was very cramped, lacking even basic furnishings. He exited back to the corridor and continued exploring.
The rooms in the corridor frequently had Dusk Thieves lying in ambush. Nie Yan used the same method as before to deal with them. Then he would continue exploring the rooms which usually contained one or two chests, with Silver and Gold-grade being more common and Dark Gold-grade rarer. During this time he also acquired the gauntlets and leg armour for the Ashen Punisher Set. Now he was only missing the shoulder guards, helmet, and greaves.
Nie Yan opened the door to a room with his guard raised. But to his surprise he wasn’t greeted by a Dusk Thief lunging at him. The room layout was similar to the others. However, a fat middle-aged man dressed in gray robes sat at the bedside. His blonde hair was disheveled.
Nie Yan inspected him with Transcendent Insight.
Noble Ferbrazes: Level 0
Health: 200/200
“Sir Demon Hunter! Please get me out of here!” Noble Ferbrazes pleaded with a mournful expression after seeing Nie Yan.
“Here, take this Instant Transfer Scroll. You can use it to leave this place,” Nie Yan said as he handed over an Instant Transfer Scroll to Noble Ferbrazes.
“Oh, Sir Demon Hunter, thank you! Thank you!” Noble Ferbrazes said gratefully.
Nie Yan was a bit fed up with NPCs constantly addressing him with his titles. However, their dialogue was tightly restricted, and title address settings couldn’t be tampered with.
Noble Ferbrazes used the Instant Transfer Scroll and teleported away.
Rescued Hostages: 1/100
Nie Yan swept his eyes around the room but found nothing interesting. Only rooms guarded by Dusk Thieves seemed to contain chests and other loot.
Nie Yan passed through one room after the other, rescuing a total of 8 hostages. After going through all the rooms in the corridor, he entered a large hall. There were rows of pillars on both sides with a red rug running down the center, leading to a magnificent throne. The hall looked empty and devoid of any people, but this only served to make him all the more wary.
Eye of Truth!
Nie Yan’s pupils turned red as his eyes blossomed with a mystifying radiance. Silhouettes gradually started appearing in his vision. He counted at least 60 Dusk Thieves! A cold sweat drip fell down his forehead. There were dangers lurking everywhere in this hall! Thankfully he had used Eye of Truth; otherwise, he would’ve died without even knowing what killed him.
If Expert was already this difficult, Nie Yan couldn’t even begin to imagine what Specialist was like. He reaffirmed his decision to take a step back was the correct choice. In the previous timeline, the vast majority of Thieves did their Great Thief class advancement quest on Easy. A few hundred Thieves passed it on Normal, a few dozen on Hard, and only one on Expert. He had forgotten that player’s name, but it was rumoured they simply got lucky. Sun, King of the World, and other famous Thieves completed their class advancement quests on Hard.
Nie Yan accepting his class advancement quest on Expert was already the limit. He didn’t dare to think about challenging it on Specialist. It would be tantamount to throwing his life away!
The Great Thief class advancement quest could be started at Level 50. However, the success rate at that level was less than 1 in 2,000, so most players chose to wait until they were much stronger. Beyond this was the Shadow Dancer class advancement quest, which could be started as early as Level 100. But this was a hurdle that couldn’t be brute-forced. Those who went on to become Shadow Dancers could be counted on both hands. Shadow Dancers were godly existences in the eyes of the players.
Nie Yan’s level in the previous timeline was quite high at Level 180. Only two or three players surpassed Level 200 back then, and all of them were world-shaking existences who possessed godly equipment. He was firmly in the middle of the pack among top-tier players.
Nie Yan didn’t know if there was anything above Shadow Dancer. But it was rumoured that after Level 200 progressing became much more difficult. Every mob gave very little experience. Even several weeks of non-stop grinding would barely fill up your experience bar by 1%. It appeared Level 200 was the soft cap.
Levelling at the later stages of the game was simply too difficult. This was why Nie Yan put in so much effort on raising Lil’ Gold’s level. Levelling generally became much slower for melee classes at higher levels. They would have to rely on their pets to grind effectively. Every pet that had powerful area-of-effect abilities would sell for sky-high prices. Lil’ Gold’s level had to keep up; otherwise, it would be too troublesome to go to low-level maps to grind weaker mobs.
Nie Yan had already planned out his own development. When the war with Bloodlust Blades came to an end, he planned to level during his free time as he travelled back and forth between the surface and Underworld every 10 days.
Too many matters required Nie Yan’s attention. If he had devoted all his time to levelling, he would’ve already reached Level 90.
Seeing the crowd of Thieves up ahead, Nie Yan thought for a moment. He activated Disguise and transformed into one of the Dusk Thieves he killed, complete with the black garb.
Nie Yan entered stealth and started making his way towards the throne.
Nie Yan felt several dozen gazes fall on him while he was in stealth. But none of them saw through his disguise.
Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He used Eye of Truth to look around as he bypassed one Dusk Thief after another. After a while, he arrived in front of the throne. It was crafted from pure gold. A Thief in dark gold leather armour patrolled around the throne.
The Thief carried two short-swords. It appeared they specialized in battle rather than assassination.
Nie Yan hid behind a pillar and inspected the Thief with Transcendent Insight.
Bloodthirsty Thief (Lord): Level 70
Health: 150,000/150,000
Expedition teams would generally avoid hunting Lord-class Thieves. They were simply too difficult to deal with. Their movement speed was very high, and they had gap closers, stuns, and other annoying abilities.
Among the Lord-class monster an expedition team might face, they would have the highest chance of wiping against Thief-types.
As for soloing a Level 70 Lord-class Thief, this was simply wishful thinking.
Even though this hall had many pillars, it wasn’t possible for him to take advantage of them to kill the Bloodthirsty Thief. Crossbows were an essential item for Thieves. This wasn’t an exception for NPC Thieves. If he clung on top of the pillar and shot at them, the Dusk Thieves and Bloodthirsty Thief would probably take out crossbows to shoot at him too.
This method was out of the question.
Nie Yan had come to this hall in the previous timeline. But by then the Thieves here had already been defeated. He remembered there was an entrance to an underground dungeon behind the throne. This was probably where most of the hostages were held.
This passage was fairly well hidden. Thankfully Nie Yan was familiar with the map. Were it any other player, they wouldn’t make any progress even after searching around the colosseum for multiple days.
Nie Yan looked around the hall. He discovered a large chest tucked away in a corner not far from the Bloodthirsty Thief. It wasn’t a treasure chest but an ordinary one.
It was different from a treasure chest, which was unmovable, indestructible, and would disappear after being opened. It was just like a chest from reality.
This chest was made out of bamboo. Above it was a carving of three daggers.
When Nie Yan came here in the previous timeline, this chest was here too. However, it was empty, the items inside having long since been taken.
The chest wasn’t locked. Nie Yan wondered what was inside.
Opening this chest without being detected by the Bloodthirsty Thief would be extremely difficult.
Nie Yan inspected the chest with Transcendent Insight.
Thief Treasure Hoard: All the money and loot the Thieves stole are in here.
Nie Yan’s heart shook. In the previous timeline, everything in the hoard chest had already been taken. In this life, he was the first person to arrive here. No player had laid their hands on this chest yet!