Nie Yan would be out of luck if he couldn’t get away this time. His supply of Unknown Transfer Scrolls was rapidly dwindling.

In the distance, specks of light began to appear in Nie Yan’s vision, growing brighter and more numerous as he approached. The twinkling lights were a relief to him, like a lifeline for a drowning man.

Nie Yan once more burst forth at maximum speed during this final stretch, zipping closer and closer to Valitin Village.

Suddenly, a large shadowy figure appeared before him, hovering a meter off the ground. It waved the staff in its hand, conjuring a black fireball that shot out at Nie Yan before he even got a good look at it.

Nie Yan grimaced under the pressure of the black fireball cast by Elder Arachne Kasil as he considered his options. He activated Gale Step and slammed into the projectile, causing it to explode into a firework of cinders.

Nie Yan threw out a pouch of Flash Powder and blinded Kasil. He then slid under him and sprinted past.

Nie Yan hastily swapped factions as the entrance to Valitin Village entered his sight, hoping to dear god no one had noticed him.

Luckily, the nearby players were distracted by the appearance of Kasil. Why would a Level 60 Lord appear so close to town? Several Necromancers quickly reacted by summoning swaths of skeletons.

Elder Arachne Kasil waved his staff in annoyance, summoning a sea of black fire that instantly evaporated the mass of skeletons around him. The Necromancers stared in shock, almost unwilling to believe their eyes. This old man was way too strong!

“Shit! It’s a Lord-class Level 60 monster!”

“Everybody, run!”

However, their shouts came too late. By the time people were able to react, Kasil had already cast an area-of-effect spell to rain down black flames on the entire area. Like the skeletons before them, these players were quickly melted away and their bodies dissolved into motes of black light.

Having brushed aside the players in his way, Kasil continued chasing after Nie Yan.

More and more Evil Faction players gathered near the entrance, and several Spectral Knights already began advancing. They prepared to block the boss.

“Everyone, attack this Lord-class monster!”

The Spectral Knights engaged, stepping up to stop Kasil as the Mages in the back began casting spells at it. However, Kasil continuously waved his staff, one-shotting players left and right. Finally, he cast another area-of-effect spell laying waste to the entire front-line and causing the backline to fall into a panic. This boss was too powerful!

Kasil carved a path of blood toward Nie Yan, massacring players like pigs in a slaughterhouse. Wave after wave of Evil Faction players collapsed onto the ground.

Finally, someone realized Kasil was no ordinary Lord, but rather a Variant Lord! The crowd quickly scattered, not wanting to die pointlessly.

Fortunately for Nie Yan, they had bought him quite a bit of time. He finally reached the gates of Valitin Village, where he slowed down to a walk and hid his face with a long cowl before approaching the guards.

Kasil was still rushing angrily towards him, causing Nie Yan to be distressed. However, if he tried to rush into the village, he would certainly draw a lot of unwanted attention from the guards.

Two of Valitin Village’s skeletal guards suddenly noticed Kasil rushing towards the town. Brandishing their massive halberds, they charged at him in perfect harmony.

Alarm bells started ringing across the entire village. Several NPC Necromancers rushed out, summoning countless skeletons to form a dense wave of bones that blocked Kasil’s path into the town.

The tide of skeletons quickly grew and wrapped around Kasil to completely surround him.

As Nie Yan quietly entered the village, he could see many groups of players rushing towards the source of the commotion.

“I heard a monster is attacking Valitin Village! Apparently it’s a Level 60 Variant Lord!”

“Let’s go take a look. Maybe we can get lucky and snag some of its drops!”

The flood of players began to fill the area, enclosing Kasil in a flood of summons and players. Kasil continued waving its staff to instantly clear entire groups of skeletons. The Necromancers, not to be outdone, waved their staffs in response and counterattacked by summoning more and casting their own spells.

Flashes of light lit up the darkness as various spells took form and bombarded Kasil.

The outskirt of Valitin Village was transformed into a chaotic battlefield!

Nie Yan couldn’t help but find this situation a little similar to the time he lured the Guardian of Order to Link Town. It wouldn’t be long before Elder Arachne Kasil was killed. And no one would know he was behind this event. Checking the time, he could open a portal and return to the surface in about an hour.

Nie Yan started cleaning out his bags, first by selling off all his potions and other consumables to the NPC shops. Afterwards, he had Life’s a Drama head to Necropolis City in his place and auction off all the equipment he picked up during his travels. To compensate him for his hard work, Nie Yan offered him a portion of the profit.

The only items remaining were the Black Kingsnake Shield and the mysterious Conjuring Skull. Even his Soul Pendant was emptied out, though not for long. Nie Yan made a trip to the Scroll Shop and filled it up with 50 full stacks of Death Wave Scrolls.

A while later, Nie Yan and Plenty met up in the run-down tavern at the appointed time.

Plenty and Proud Warlance were both present. They also brought along two other members of Fallen Angel, their confidantes.

“Did you bring everything?” Nie Yan asked, wondering what sort of items Plenty prepared for him.

Plenty glanced at Warlance and the two other Fallen Angel players, who promptly showed the items to Nie Yan. “Take a look, there’s 270 pieces of equipment in total. Just in case you didn’t have enough space, we’ve also brought along five 56-slot bags.”

Nie Yan never expected Plenty to prepare bags for him as well. Looking over the items, there were 180 pieces of equipment with at least Night Vision +10, 60 pieces of equipment with Focus +30 or higher, and 30 pieces of equipment with other stat bonuses which were hard to find on the surface.

“This is about 20,000 gold’s worth of equipment. I’m sure you’ll earn a staggering amount by smuggling them back to the surface.” Plenty gazed at Nie Yan, then continued, “I hope you don’t forget our agreement. I’m expecting to hear word from you in five days.”

“Rest assured I won’t bail out. I’m confident there’ll be many more opportunities for cooperation to come,” Nie Yan replied with a smile. A cooperative relationship with Fallen Angel was absolutely beneficial to the growth of Asskickers United.

Nie Yan estimated he would earn 1,000,000 gold, maybe even more, by selling all this equipment on the surface!

Nie Yan handed back the Black Kingsnake Shield to Plenty and further compensated him with 10,000 gold. Like this, all debts were fairly settled. Even if the guards of the Undead Empire discovered his identity, they could simply deny knowing he was a player from the Righteous Faction since he was disguised as a member of the Evil Faction when they traded with him. The system had no way of reading their minds.

As long as Nie Yan made sure he wasn’t exposed, they could continue carrying out their smuggling trade.

“You’re the one who brought that Level 60 Variant Lord here?” Plenty asked. He had a vague suspicion Nie Yan was the one behind this mess.

“How’s the situation outside?” Nie Yan asked with a faint smile, not denying anything.

“That Elder Arachne is pretty strong. He’s killed three of the NPCs in Valitin Village and over 180 players. However, he won’t last much longer.” Plenty couldn’t help but view Nie Yan in a new light, wondering just how he managed to lead such a powerful Variant Lord from deep in the wilderness all the way to Valitin Village.

During this time, Plenty had done a thorough investigation of Nie Yan’s background. He more or less had an understanding of Asskickers United.

The Evil Faction and Righteous Faction didn’t have any contact. The frontier wouldn’t open up until the players were at least Level 100. For the time being, no one could spare any attention for the opposing faction. However, right now Asskickers United and Fallen Angel were collaborating together. This was truly unprecedented in both timelines.

“That Variant Lord should have some pretty good drops. Don’t miss the opportunity,” Nie Yan reminded Plenty.

Fallen Angel’s forces had already assembled in Valitin Village. Monsters killed by NPCs wouldn’t drop any items, unless players also dealt some damage. But with the NPCs helping out, it saved them a lot of trouble.

“This is only thanks to you leading that Variant Lord to the village,” Plenty said with a faint smile.

This matter had led to both sides benefitting.

“Oh, one more thing. Can you take a look at this?” Nie Yan placed the Conjuring Skull on the table.

“A Conjuring Skull!?” Plenty blurted out in surprise, failing to hide his shock. It was actually one that summoned a Bone Mammoth too! “Where did you get this?”

“It dropped while I was hunting Rum Spiders,” Nie Yan replied. He could instantly tell the Conjuring Skull wasn’t simple based on Plenty’s intense reaction. It was definitely a precious item worth at least 10,000 gold.

“You really have some amazing luck, to actually get something like this from hunting Rum Spiders. I can assure you the drop rate is at best 1 in 500,000. Sell this Conjuring Skull to me. I’ll give you 30,000 gold for it, which is the market price. Ordinary Conjuring Skulls only sell for a few thousand gold. But since yours can summon a Bone Mammoth, it’s worth a lot more,” Plenty said straightforwardly. The price he offered was fair. Since they were going to cooperate in the future, he wouldn’t damage their relationship over something small like this.

“What’s the Conjuring Skull used for?” Nie Yan asked curiously. He was blown away by why this ordinary looking skull was so precious.