Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Paladin Lafus’ death bought Nie Yan some time.

As Nie Yan struggled back to his feet, he was greeted by an enormous icicle quickly increasing in size. He hurriedly leaped out of the way.

BOOM! The icicle shattered into countless shards, which shot around the battlefield like stray bullets.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. Gale Step was back off cooldown. He quickly activated it to avoid taking damage.

Magister Lefis went berserk, firing spells at a faster and faster rate.

Nie Yan fled about 300 meters away from Magister Lefis and entered into stealth.

Due to the distance, Magister Lefis couldn’t detect Nie Yan’s position. Lefis calmed his mind and started walking around step by step, carefully scanning his surroundings.

Damn! NPC Magisters are really strong! Nearly all of Nie Yan’s skills had been countered by Magister Lefis. This time around, he had no idea what to do. Gazing at Lefis slowly walking around in the distance, he didn’t even know what the safe range was for him. So, he stayed 200 meters away for good measure!

If Nie Yan had Adjudicator of God, this fight would be much simpler. However, he had used it while facing Drakuru. It was still on cooldown.

Nie Yan glanced at his skill bar. His other trump card, Annihilation Slash, was also on cooldown. Ordinary skills wouldn’t do, he had to pull off something special. However, he currently didn’t even have a chance to close in on Magister Lefis. Even if by some miracle he did close the distance and was in range to stun him, Lefis would simply counter it with magic.

If things continued on like this, Lefis’ health would slowly recover, and Nie Yan’s chances of defeating him would become even slimmer.

Magister Lefis calmly paced around the square. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk's. They could see through anything.　

The icicles in the air gradually scattered. After witnessing Magister Lefis killing the shadow clone and Paladin Lafus, the onlookers were quietly chatting with each other.

“It’s not looking good for Nirvana Flame.”

“Magister Lefis is too strong. Sure enough, NPC Magisters are on a whole different level.”

Even though they weren’t optimistic about Nie Yan’s chances of winning, he’d still thoroughly earned their respect. Any other player would’ve long since died. He was the first to last this long against an NPC Magister.

Magister Lefis slowly closed in on Nie Yan.

Nie Yan could sense the ice elements around him stirring. He focused his mind. Lefis drew closer and closer, 230 meters, 200 meters, 170 meters...

Time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Nie Yan knew there was no turning back. This was his one and only chance!

“You repulsive brat! I’ll turn your corpse into an ice sculpture and store it in a cave in the tundra!” Magister Lefis spat out maliciously.

Nie Yan could faintly hear Lefis’ words. He sneered. Don’t get ahead of yourself, old geezer! I’m still alive!

Calm, calm. Gotta stay calm! Nie Yan repeatedly told himself. Magister Lefis was definitely the strongest opponent he had dueled. After getting this far, he definitely couldn’t turn back now. Win and he’d be one step closer to completing the Tyrant Abak Set. Lose and his dream of completing the Tyrant Abak Set would go up in smoke, and many important items on him would end up dropping.

Watching Magister Lefis slowly approaching, a strange feeling overtook Nie Yan. His heartbeat slowed, and his mind sharpened to the limit. He’d entered a special zone.

Nie Yan was in a state of absolute calm. There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his heart. There was nothing else in the world beside him and Magister Lefis.

100 meters, 80 meters, 60 meters… Magister Lefis suddenly sensed something. His eyes locked onto Nie Yan’s position, and he waved his staff.

A dense cluster of ice spikes erupted from the ground.

At the same time, Nie Yan made his move. His steps seemed painfully slow, yet were incredibly fast. He easily escaped the range of the ice spikes.

Freezing Hailstorm!

Glacial Roar!

Magister Lefis fired out spells wildly one after the other. Magisters weren’t lacking in mana anyway. Using these kinds of low level spells didn’t require any chanting either. They were all instant casts.

Nie Yan’s silhouette flashed around like lightning, as he evaded Magister Lefis’ attacks with seeming ease.

Nie Yan’s grasp of speed became more and more fluid. He felt and indescribable rush of excitement, as everything rapidly flitted past him.

This was the speed of a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan had an urge to holler out in excitement. In the eyes of ordinary players, it looked like he was dancing on a blade’s edge. But he knew he still had a lot of room to maneuver around. He wasn’t worried at all about being hit by Magister Lefis’ attacks.

These movements, were they some kind of footwork? Nie Yan suddenly had a flash of insight.

You have learned Vorpal Steps.

As expected, this was one of the footwork techniques of a Shadow Dancer!

Nie Yan dashed forward with large strides. He was so fast he was like a streak of light. As he familiarized himself with this speed, he locked onto Magister Lefis.

So what if you’re an NPC Magister!? I’ll let you experience a true Shadow Dancer!

A Shadow Dancer’s speed was the bane of Magisters. As long as he was fast enough, not even the strongest Magister would stand a chance against him!

Magister Lefis felt the heat turn up. No matter what he did, none of his spells connected. He couldn’t understand for the life of him what had changed. His opponent had turned from a small fish into a powerful dragon! He pushed himself to the limit, firing out spells at a frightening rate, but couldn’t touch a hair on Nie Yan’s body.

Nie Yan suddenly changed direction and pounced for Magister Lefis, as Zennarde’s Sword drew a brilliant arc through the air.

Blink!

Magister Lefis teleported five meters away. Before he had any chance to move, Nie Yan had closed in on him again with Zennarde’s Sword coming right down on his forehead. He could feel the heat from the black flames assailing his face.

Blink!

Before Magister Lefis’ feet were firmly on the ground, Nie Yan was already on him again.

What frightening speed! Even Magister Lefis broke out in a cold sweat. He could only blink and blink and blink again; anything in an attempt to break away from Nie Yan. However, the effects of consecutive blinks were limited. Nie Yan was too fast and perfectly predicted where he was going to blink to every time. 

Magister Lefis fell on the backfoot for the second time this fight.

Nie Yan wouldn’t give him another opportunity to escape!

As Magister Lefis touched the ground after another blink, Nie Yan suddenly leaped up and stabbed toward the back of his head with Zennarde’s Sword.

Magister Lefis raised his staff to cast another Blink, when Nie Yan targeted him with Lockdown. A powerful force locked onto him and interrupted his magic.

Magister Lefis’ heart tightened. He waved his staff again in a panic, only to feel a sharp pain piercing into the back of his skull. He was stunned.

Nie Yan was simply too fast. Magister Lefis had no time to react!

Nie Yan coldly smiled. Ha! Got you stunned. Don’t even think about coming out of it again!

Nie Yan plunged his dagger into Magister Lefis’ spine with a Backstab, then followed up with a Lacerate.

After several attacks, a string of 6,000s floated up above Lefis’ head. His health rapidly plummeted.

BANG! An icy blast of frost energy erupted from Magister Lefis’ body.

It was right in his face, but Nie Yan quickly activated Death Exemption. The blast swept over him and covered him in a layer of frost.

Magister Lefis actually had a counter-type passive skill! Thankfully, Death Exemption made Nie Yan immune to crowd control effects. So, he wasn’t frozen. Though, the damage still went through, shaving away more than 10,000 of his health.

Magister Lefis’ fingers twitched. The stun was about to wear off, when Nie Yan circled round to his back and struck him with Backbreaker. BANG! He was immobilized again.

Nie Yan then followed up with Reverse Grip Backstab, which nearly completely emptied Magister Lefis’ health bar.

Nie Yan held Zennarde’s Sword about half an inch from Lefis’ throat, the raging black flames looking as if they would swallow him whole.

Even though Magister Lefis had an eccentric personality, he wasn’t evil. In fact, he had made great contributions to the Viridian Empire. If Nie Yan killed an NPC like this, it would undoubtedly leave an ugly mark on his record. So, he decided to not go through with killing Lefis and withdrew his blade.

Several seconds later, Magister Lefis regained control of his body. He gazed at Nie Yan.

“I lost,” Magister Lefis said in a dejected tone. This was his first time losing at the hands of a player. Even though he was dismayed, he accepted his loss with grace.

“According to our bet, please hand over Abak’s Vorpal Striders to me,” Nie Yan said.

Lefis flicked his wrist as a pair of boots appeared in his hand. He tossed them over to Nie Yan. “Here, this is the item you wanted.”

Nie Yan caught the boots. Examining them, they were Abak’s Vorpal Striders no doubt. He had obtained another piece of the Tyrant Abak Set! That made seven, only one more piece to complete the set! He couldn’t help but get excited.

“I’ll be taking my leave,” Nie Yan said. He turned around and walked away. With this matter settled, he could go back a happy man. Apart from Abak’s Vorpal Striders, he had also learned the Vorpal Steps. This was quite the harvest.

None of the onlookers expected the battle to end like this. An NPC Magister was actually defeated by Nirvana Flame! They all looked at each other in shock and dismay. Watching Nie Yan disappear in the distance, they couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. If they could reach Nie Yan’s level one day, they could die without regrets.

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Translator: LittleShanks (Follow me on Twitter)
Editor: Sietse

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