Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World Chapter 289-290

Chapter 289 – God’s Blessing

Zennarde’s Cenotaph was where some of his belongings were buried, including the sword he wielded during the Dark Era. The tyrannical weapon tasted the blood of countless lives, leaving an everlasting mark on history.

It was simply impossible for a person without a Holy Spirit Heart to subdue this godly weapon which brimmed with an aura of slaughter.

Nie Yan didn’t know much about Holy Spirit Hearts except for they were difficult to obtain. Only three players were rumoured to have ever received them in the previous timeline. However, he didn’t know what methods they used. Holy Spirit Hearts weren’t class-exclusive, but Paladins did have a somewhat easier time acquiring them. This was because it was reported a Holy Spirit Heart could be gained after purifying a certain number of undead, and at the later stages of the game, Paladins possessed an aura skill which had a chance of purifying any weak undead that entered their sphere of influence.

No matter how difficult, Nie Yan wanted to at least get a look at Zennarde’s Sword. He knew wanting to obtain it was a fool’s errand. But just seeing it was still within the realms of possibility, right?

Nie Yan and Yao Yao moved in the direction the guidestone pointed.

Still barring their path was the endless sea of Undead Bone Hunters. However, Nie Yan discovered they were a lot easier to deal with than before. He quickly realized why after checking his status:

Advanced Demon Hunter – Increases Influence in all human nations by 30. Reduces the stats of every creature of darkness within 20 meters of the player by 30%.

Intimidate (Enhanced): Inflict the target with fear and cripple their movements for 3 seconds. Range: 5 meters.

Deterrence (Enhanced): Disperse all monsters within the surrounding area for 15 minutes. Not valid if the monsters’ level exceeds the player’s level by over 30.

Advanced Demon Hunter didn’t give anything new, but all of the existing properties received a substantial boost. Nie Yan would probably have to raise the title’s rank again or maybe upgrade it to an even higher tier to receive a new skill.

The greater the debuff to the surrounding undead, the faster Nie Yan and Yao Yao shredded through them.

In the distance, a massive grave gradually revealed itself to them. It was made of ashen gray rocks and piled several tens of meters high. The highest stone, which showed clear signs of weathering, sported a dark entrance that led deep underground.

With his sights set on Zennarde’s Sword, Nie Yan planned to explore the depths of this Cenotaph. Regardless of what happened to him down there, his journey here could be counted a success.

“I’m running out of Spring Water,” Yao Yao said with furrowed brows after checking her bag. Even over 60 stacks couldn’t hold up to so many days of non-stop grinding.

Nie Yan thought for a bit, then suggested, “How about you return to Calore with the Black Sin Lotus without me? I’ll explain you how to proceed with the next step of Karsi’s Blessing. Go find Blacksmith Kade and ask him to craft you a Silver-grade Rosary. Wear it during the next stage of the quest.”

Yao Yao thought for a moment. Without any mana recovery items, she would only be a burden to Nie Yan if she stuck around.

Her only choice was to die to return back to the city.

“Alright, I’ll go finish Karsi’s Blessing by myself.” Yao Yao nodded. Nie Yan appeared quite interested in this quest, to the extent that he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw it through to the very end.

Nie Yan traded the Black Sin Lotus to Yao Yao. He only needed to give her a bit of guidance for the next stage, and she would be fine. With the Silver-grade Rosary, the difficulty would become a lot more bearable.

“Alright, Nirvana Flame, I’ll take my leave.” Yao Yao’s eyes flashed with deep reluctance as she began taking her equipment off.

“Ok.” Nie Yan nodded. He planned to explore the interior of the grave. If he was going to die anyways, he might as well try to get something out of it.

It took over 20 seconds for Yao Yao to finish unequipping her gear, after which she found a way to commit suicide and return to Calore.

After she left, Nie Yan looked at Lil’ Gold. Without the support of Yao Yao’s area of effect magic, their mobbing speed would drop considerably.

Nie Yan redirected his attention to some guild affairs. This afternoon signalled the end of the five-day deadline between Asskickers United and Dragonsoar Financial Group. He ordered Bladelight, Young Seven, and the others to capture a Basic Stronghold by themselves. With a force of 500 strong, they succeeded after wiping seven times. Although the evil creatures guarding the strongholds gave ample amounts of experience, it still wasn’t enough to cover their losses. On average, each member dropped by 2 levels. But compared to the worth of a stronghold, this was a decent trade-off.

It wasn’t just Asskickers United. Other guilds were also hard at work clearing strongholds, but the losses they suffered in the process were far steeper.

Nie Yan looked at the vast sea of bones before him, waves of them moving around seemingly without purpose. Directing Lil’ Gold, who could massacre entire groups of Undead Bone Hunters with his Dragon Breath, he steadily advanced.

Nie Yan arrived outside the entrance of Zennarde’s Cenotaph. He could detect a dark energy radiating from its depths, giving a cold and gloomy feeling. Before him was a long flight of stairs that led deep underground.

Nie Yan descended the stairs along with Lil’ Gold.

Carved into the walls on either side of the passage were simple murals depicting the history of the dragon race, from their abrupt rise in the Kanasi Mountain Range to their rapid occupation of the territories of other races, then finally the establishment of their empire, ruling over the entire Atlanta Continent.

As the saying went, nothing lasts forever. After dominating the continent for 2900 years, even King Zennarde grew old. In the fight for his inheritance, the ruling class tore itself apart. On top of that, the various races revolted against the dragons’ atrocities, causing the Hiberyth Empire to fall into a sharp decline and never regain its former glory.

In the end, the nobility of the dragon race had no choice but to place Zennarde’s Cenotaph in Zennarde’s Domain. Otherwise, it would be destroyed by the other races.

The dragon race was nearly slaughtered to extinction while the survivors were scattered all over the continent!

Even a powerful existence like the dragon race was ultimately wiped away from the slates of history.

As ancient legends like the one before Nie Yan seeped into both the civilization and various quests, they joined together to form the mystical world of Conviction.

Seeing these simple yet clear murals, Nie Yan felt like he was wandering through the rivers of history.

As Nie Yan travelled deeper into the tomb, the passage gradually grew more spacious. He guessed the ceiling was about 10 meters high, while a couple of meters to either side he was met with bones and skeletons along the wall. Some were human, others were elves, and still others were giants. All of them had fallen victim to a one-sided slaughter. Glowing pearls on the side of the walls lit up the passageway. Under the dim light, he saw several silhouettes flash by.

Nie Yan didn’t know what sort of monsters lurked here. He entered stealth and went forward to investigate. Several figures appeared before his eyes—skeleton mages. Besides their black robes, all he could make out was the eerie green flames flickering in their otherwise empty eye sockets.

One of the skeleton mages suddenly turned around and stared in Nie Yan’s direction.

Nie Yan held his breath. His entire body was hidden and merged with the darkness.

The skeleton mage searched around. But after not finding anything, it continued on its way.

Nie Yan inspected the skeleton mage with Transcendent Insight.

Skeleton Dragon Priest (Elite): Level 50

Health: 5,000/5,000

There were roughly 16 Skeleton Dragon Priests in this area. Could it be that his journey would end here?

Nie Yan wasn’t willing to give up yet. He had already come so far. Besides, even if he decided to stop here, he would still have to die to escape this quest map. He might as well give it a shot. He unsummoned Lil’ Gold, then walked into the room.

After Nie Yan activated the Crawler Ring, he began slowly climbing the walls like a house gecko. He hid in a corner that was the furthest away from the Skeleton Dragon Priests and slowly made his way to the other side with careful control over his every move.

While surrounded by so many enemies, Nie Yan didn’t dare to behave rashly. He looked up ahead and saw two groups of Skeleton Dragon Priests. Although this room was spacious, avoiding them would be extremely difficult.

A Skeleton Dragon Priest suddenly turned its head, staring straight at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan’s heart jumped in fright. He had been discovered!

Then again, in a closed environment like this, it was hard not to be discovered.

The Skeleton Dragon Priest waved its staff and cast Ensnare!

If Nie Yan was immobilized, he would fall down.

However, he couldn’t use any skills right now because he was on the wall!

Miss!

Nie Yan was caught off-guard but overjoyed by this unexpected development. However, why did the Skeleton Dragon Priest’s Ensnare not work on him? He suddenly recalled a certain item, the Chapter of Peace! It had a passive skill that had a chance of nullifying any spell targeted at him!

The Chapter of Peace actually had such a life-saving use. Its value in his heart increased immensely. Sometimes this item could act as a timely life-saver! Targeted spells like Ensnare or Petrifying Gaze from both players and monsters were very difficult to deal with. Because he possessed the Chapter of Peace, when encountering such dangers, his life could potentially be saved!

But he understood there was only a chance for it to activate. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t be so lucky next time! Nie Yan flipped over and jumped off the stone wall. Landing gracefully on the floor, he perfectly executed Shadow Waltz to suddenly rush forward.

The Skeleton Dragon Priests sent over a dozen spells whizzing towards Nie Yan.

Nie Yan leaped out of the way in an attempt to dodge. While midair, he activated the Darkbright Barrier skill from his Darkbright Chestpiece.「Bang! Bang!」Two fireballs still managed to hit him.

−236

−224

What terrifying damage!

Fortunately, Nie Yan managed to avoid the vast majority of the attacks. Otherwise, this barrage would’ve easily sent him to his grave.

He quickly dashed toward the passage. Since he had already been discovered, he might as well make a break for it. The group of Skeleton Dragon Priests attempted to intercept him, sending numerous spells flying in his direction.

Fireballs flew all over the place with dozens of projectiles being launched in each wave!

As Nie Yan made his escape, nasty sizzles sounded out repeatedly as he was hit by one fireball after another. However, he wasn’t instantly killed by the barrage but instead bravely withstood the Skeleton Dragon Priests’ spells to make his way to the next room.

In the instant before the next barrage of spells hit him, marking his imminent demise, Nie Yan activated the God’s Blessing skill from the Chapter of Peace, becoming immune to all magic!

Chapter 290 – Zennarde’s Sword

Since the Chapter of Peace was guaranteed to drop upon death, Nie Yan decided to take advantage of its God’s Blessing skill while he still could. He might even come out of here alive by some stroke of luck!

God’s Blessing had a duration of 60 seconds. During this time, Nie Yan wouldn’t have to fear any magic.

After downing a Haste Potion he got from the Starry Night Potion Ship, Nie Yan fled for his life while brushing off the bombardment of spells. With only 10 seconds remaining on God’s Blessing, he bolted past the last group of Skeleton Dragon Priests and escaped through the passage to the next room. He found a dark corner to duck into and disappeared into the shadows.

The Skeleton Dragon Priests chased after Nie Yan into the passageway. But after finding no signs of him, they turned around and left.

Nie Yan breathed out a sigh of relief. He left his hiding spot and continued travelling deeper into the tomb. Much to his dismay, the next room he arrived at contained nearly six times as many Skeleton Dragon Priests. He had no idea how to deal with so many Elite-class monsters.

These Skeleton Dragon Priests completely barred Nie Yan’s path forward.

“How do I get past this room…?” Nie Yan muttered. He surveyed his surroundings and confirmed that this room didn’t differ much from the last in design, meaning sneaking past these Skeleton Dragon Priests would be next to impossible. Taking them out one by one was another route he could take. After all, with his outstanding gear and wide array of skills, disposing a Level 50 Skeleton Dragon Priest would be a piece of cake.

However, in front of him were over 70 Skeleton Dragon Priests with even more further up ahead.

Even with the Silk Spinner Ring and Crawler Ring in his possession, Nie Yan had no way of sneaking past them.

While Nie Yan was pondering his next step, one of the Skeleton Dragon Priests split off from the group and began wandering in his direction. In its idle state, it alternated between moving around and stopping to survey its surroundings.

It got closer and closer to Nie Yan. Only a few more steps and it would discover him!

There was a large crowd of Skeleton Dragon Priests only 20 meters up ahead. If they were all alerted of his presence, Nie Yan would be left without a corpse!

His only option was to take out this Skeleton Dragon Priest as quickly as possible!

Nie Yan gritted his teeth and activated Gale Ambush. He dashed forward with an explosive burst of speed and plunged his dagger deep into the Skeleton Dragon Priest’s chest. After which he circled around and followed up with Cut Throat.

Nie Yan’s speed reached its absolute limit thanks to the 200% bonus from Gale Ambush.

Gale Ambush increased damage by 60% and ignored armour and level difference. Combined with the Advanced Demon Hunter title which reduced the stats of all nearby undead by 30%, Nie Yan dealt massive damage.

Before the Skeleton Dragon Priest could react, Nie Yan had brought it down to almost half health.

The Skeleton Dragon Priest began casting, a sphere of light condensing in its palm. But before it could retaliate, Nie Yan temporarily delayed it with a swift kick to the shoulder.

Nie Yan threw himself back at the Skeleton Dragon Priest and struck out with Backstab and Eviscerate.

Just as the Skeleton Dragon Priest was about to unleash its magic, Nie Yan activated Blast and finished it off with a loud explosion.

The ruckus alerted the crowd of Skeleton Dragon Priests up ahead. As they turned their heads to look over, all they saw was a black robe and scattered bone fragments on the ground. Nie Yan was nowhere to be found.

These undead lacked the intelligence to wonder how their comrade ended up in such a state. Without a target, they would remain idle, leaving Nie Yan safe for the time being.

Nie Yan returned to the corner. He relaxed his breathing after seeing the Skeleton Dragon Priests turn their gazes away. Had he not acted with such resolve, he would be facing a calamity right now!

Taking down a single Skeleton Dragon Priest wasn’t enough to allow Nie Yan to get through this area, nor did he have the luxury of waiting all day for them to split off from their groups, allowing him to pick them off one at a time.

“Is there nothing else I can do?” Nie Yan scanned through the list of skills and items available to him before his gaze settled on the Pearl of Disguise. “Maybe I really can sneak past these Skeleton Dragon Priests if I disguise myself as one of them!”

After a moment, Nie Yan made his decision. He could think of no other way.

Nie Yan activated Disguise, and his body was instantly shrouded by a black robe. His face concealed beneath the robe turned skeletal while flickering green orbs emerged in his eye sockets.

He looked identical to a Skeleton Dragon Priest!

The Disguise skill was quite impressive. Nie Yan examined his body and confirmed that the transformation was complete. Every part of his body had turned into a skeleton!

Nie Yan didn’t know if the Skeleton Dragon Priests could see through his disguise, or if there was a safe distance and what it was. So he decided it best to stay as far away from them as he possibly could.

What awaited Nie Yan if he was caught was an endless barrage of spells. Later, he would awake in the Calore graveyard.

Nie Yan took a deep breath, then began walking towards the Skeleton Dragon Priests in the distance. He even perfectly mimicked their gait. This way, his cover was less likely to get blown.

Nie Yan silently prayed that the Skeleton Dragon Priests didn’t possess any skills like Eye of Truth; otherwise, he was toast.

Nie Yan slowly approached the Skeleton Dragon Priests. At about five meters, he could clearly make out their faces under the robes. Their bone-white, skeletal appearances were extremely off-putting.

Even though Nie Yan couldn’t see his own face. He reckoned it didn’t differ much from these Skeleton Dragon Priests.

This was the effect of Disguise!

Nie Yan lowered his head. He saw a pair of hands that were mostly bone with a bit of mummified muscle and tendons attached to them.

These were his hands!

He firmly grasped his staff as he advanced. He was only a short distance away from the Skeleton Dragon Priests.

Nie Yan felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest as he got closer and closer to them. I’m done for if I expose myself now! Calm down! He forcefully composed himself, then continued onward.

Several Skeleton Dragon Priests looked over at Nie Yan. They stared at his face for what seemed like an eternity before finally turning away.

None of the Skeleton Dragon Priests noticed anything off about Nie Yan.

Nie Yan felt reassured as he slowly snuck past the groups of Skeleton Dragon Priests without being noticed. When he reached the end of the room, he breathed out a sigh of relief. This sort of activity truly tested the limits of a person’s mental fortitude.

Nie Yan took advantage of his disguise to travel deeper into the tomb. He bumped into Skeleton Dragon Priests in every room and corridor. If a player hadn’t reached Level 70 or didn’t possess any special methods, there was no way they could make it this far by themselves!

Nie Yan used the Pearl of Disguise to make it through the areas that were littered with Skeleton Dragon Priests. After travelling for another half an hour, he exited a long, narrow passageway and arrived in a room significantly hotter than the others. Below was a lake of boiling lava while ahead was a stone arch bridge that stretched past the haze of volcanic gas.

Nie Yan spotted a statue towering over the lava in the distance. It was roughly 70 meters tall and resembled a titan of antiquity. Clad in golden armour and sporting a pair of giant wings, it was a spectacular sight to behold.

This was a statue of Dragon King Zennarde in his prime! Brimming with muscle, he appeared domineering with a murderous countenance that inspired fear to all.

Slaughterer of all beings, the indisputable tyrant throughout the ages!

His establishment of the Hiberyth Empire and subsequent reign was known as the Dark Era! For all other races, it was the darkest time in their history!

The statue’s right hand was placed in front of its chest with its palm facing upward. Its immense palm was large enough to fit six people. Floating just about a meter above the center of the palm was a pitch-black short sword. It was covered in a blazing black flame.

Zennarde’s Sword was roughly the same size as an ordinary one-handed sword. It was entirely black, shrouded in an otherworldly flame.

Since Zennarde’s Sword was so high up, Nie Yan couldn’t get a good look at it. However, it immediately drew his attention. In this expansive room, it was undoubtedly the focal point.

This was a frightening weapon that took millions of lives, but also a legendary weapon that countless people drooled over.

Nie Yan stared at the treasure that was so close, yet so far away. Even though he was fully aware of the danger, he had an urge to charge up ahead.

Nie Yan walked over the stone bridge. A dense noxious cloud of smoke rose up from the boiling pit of lava below, carrying along with it waves of heat and even smoldering flames. The burning smoke enveloped him, lingering for a long while, before gradually extinguishing.

Despite being burned by the smoke, Nie Yan was still unscathed.

Nie Yan possessed the Kilnfire Heart, making his fire resistance extremely high. Even a Level 80 player wasn’t necessarily a match for him in this regard. So the environmental hazards here had no effect on him. These clouds of smoke only dealt 50 points of damage at most.

Ahead of him was a 10 meter wide lava river. Nie Yan searched for a long time but he couldn’t find a bridge to the other side.

The lava below boiled and rolled. From time to time, gas bubbles would explode, sending waves of heat rising into the air.

After considering his options, Nie Yan equipped the Leaper Ring. He leaped over the lava and landed safely on the other side

Nie Yan gazed into the distance. He was one step closer to the statue at the center.

There was still roughly 60 meters to go!

There was a vast sea of lava ahead of him. Wanting to obtain Zennarde’s Sword wouldn’t be an easy task.

Nie Yan wondered how the people in the previous timeline reached Zennarde’s Sword or how many of them were engulfed by the boiling lava.

Nie Yan felt his expectations for Zennarde’s Sword soar. It was definitely on par with the Grimmar Soul Staff!

Nie Yan’s eyes swept over the ground in the distance. To his shock, he discovered a person hung up on a giant cross, about eight meters above the lava. The hanged man looked quite large and muscular.

Because it was so far away, Nie Yan couldn’t see this person clearly. However, for an NPC to appear in this place, and to be strung up on a cross no less, they were definitely related to Zennarde’s Sword and the quest in this map.

It was hard to tell if this NPC was still alive.

Nie Yan thought for a moment before decisively walking over.