They looked like miniature versions of the Lava Titan in Kiln Fire Woods. They were immune to fire and had high physical defense. The only way to effectively deal damage to them was with ice magic. Their attacks were also troublesome to deal with since they dealt neither physical nor magic damage, but rather lava damage along with additional fire damage from a burn debuff.

Health: 120,000/120,000

Level 80 Elites, a lot of health too... It was impossible for Nie Yan to kill these two Lava Giants. He could only try to sneak around them.

Nie Yan checked his surroundings. The ground was pockmarked with pools of bubbling lava. The two Lava Giants completely blocked his way forward. Everywhere they went they left behind a trail of lava that wouldn’t disappear for a long time.

The ceiling was glowing red hot due to the heat coming from the pools of lava below. Thankfully, the yellow Sulfur Crystals appeared unaffected. He could probably get around the Lava Giants by climbing across the walls.

Nie Yan entered stealth and made his way forward. He leaped over some lava flow and started clambering across the wall with the Crawler Ring.

The two Lava Giants were oblivious to Nie Yan’s presence thanks to his high Cloaking.

Suddenly, the Lava Giant closest to Nie Yan stopped and looked in his direction.

Nie Yan froze in his place. He hurriedly activated a few skills that increased his Cloaking.

The Lava Giant stared at Nie Yan’s hiding spot for a long time before swinging its right arm and lobbing a glob of lava in his direction.

Nie Yan’s heart tightened. Did I get discovered?

However, Nie Yan quickly noticed the glob of lava was only aimed in his general direction.「Bang!」It struck the wall several meters to his side, opening up numerous cracks. The tremors were so intense he nearly slipped off.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat. The Lava Giant’s attack was truly frightening!

After not discovering anything, the Lava Giant turned around and returned to a passive state.

Nie Yan continued creeping his way forward. Some of the crevices on the wall were more difficult to climb over than before. Just as he placed his hand over a Sulfur Crystal and put his weight on it, a chunk snapped off and loudly shattered on the ground.

Crap! I’m done for! Nie Yan silently cursed as he saw the two Lava Giants charge toward him.

Nie Yan was out of options. He leaped off the wall and bolted toward the closest exit.

The two Flame Giants slung globs of lava at Nie Yan. They arced through the air and struck the ground around him, splattering flames everywhere.

Before the splashing lava could hit him, Nie Yan activated Gale Step to avoid taking damage without breaking pace.

The two Lava Giants quickly caught up to Nie Yan. They sent their lava fists hurtling towards him from different directions.

When it looked like Nie Yan was going to be turned into a meat patty, he shot a web line from his left hand at the wall up ahead and swung away to safety. With the Crawler Ring still being active, he quickly climbed up the wall before leaping away.

The two Lava Giants slammed into each other, sending their colossal bodies crashing into the ground.

Nie Yan took advantage of this opportunity to bolt far away, escaping his pursuers.

This map was unexplored, so there were many Elites still roaming around. Nie Yan moved deeper into the cave with extreme caution, for fear of attracting any unwanted attention.

After travelling for about an hour, avoiding the detection of numerous Lava Giants, Nie Yan couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. Just how deep was this cave?

Checking the time, there were about five hours left before the meeting with Warlance. It looked like he was going to be late at this rate. Even now he still hadn’t found his goal. He still had no clue where Bennett’s Soul was leading him to.

After travelling through another rugged tunnel, Nie Yan saw an exit up ahead. It led to a giant chamber of 1,000 by 1,000 meters with a 20-meter high ceiling. Lava flowed over the floor, and there were almost 30 Lava Giants wandering around.

A lone pillar roughly 14 meters tall stood at the center of the chamber. There appeared to be something placed on top of it.

Reaching the top of the pillar was going to be a tall order. The Lava Giants guarding the vicinity would immediately swarm any intruder that got too close. Nie Yan would normally just get past them with the Crawler Ring. However, the ceiling was also flowing with lava, making climbing or even swinging with a web line impossible.

Nie Yan was in deep thought when he suddenly received word from Guo Huai that more than 50,000 players from Bloodlust Blades were moving towards the Blackstone Stronghold. Asskickers United had one Intermediate Stronghold and three Basic Strongholds. Among them the one with the weakest defense was precisely the Blackstone Stronghold. Even though it was developed, there weren’t many NPC archers and zero siege crossbows. The defenses on the walls paled in comparison to those of their other strongholds. The real-world business district inside also wasn’t yet fully developed.

Although the loss of the Blackstone Stronghold wouldn’t be a huge blow to Asskickers United, it was still a stronghold! And perhaps more importantly, who was to say Bloodlust Blades would be satisfied with just one stronghold? They would definitely want a mile after taking taking an inch!

「How did Bloodlust Blades get over there?」Nie Yan asked.

「Around 50,000 set off by horse five hours ago. Another few thousand teleported to Calore. I had Sapphire Shrine and Holy Empire hold off the ones that teleported here. They won’t get out of the city,」Guo Huai replied. He had handled things in a timely and appropriate manner.

Riding on horseback took a long time, but it was the most cost effective method. Not to mention if all 50,000 players from Bloodlust Blades teleported to Calore, Asskickers United would keep them locked up within the city walls.

Bloodlust Blades definitely had something up their sleeves since they dared to attack the Blackstone Stronghold.

「Have Alliances of Mages and Divine Protectors shown any sign of movement?」Nie Yan asked. What he was most worried about were these two guilds joining the fray. They had basically grown unhindered in their territories, so it would be troublesome if they participated in this conflict.

「Both of them dispatched a thousand elite players. Angel Corps also sent over 500 players to stir up trouble,」Guo Huai replied in an anxious tone.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. A war wasn’t simply won with numbers alone. A group of 20 elites working together could easily wipe out more than 1,000 ordinary players with area-of-effect magic. Angel Corps, Divine Protectors, and Alliance of Mages had all sent over their elites. This matter had just become a whole lot more troublesome.

「Any other news?」Nie Yan asked before sinking into silent thought. It seemed like war was unavoidable. If Asskickers United was defeated, the enemy would cling onto the momentum and follow up with an even fiercer onslaught. But if Bloodlust Blades lost, it would most likely lead to the guild disbanding. No matter how you looked at it, neither side could afford to lose. It would be a battle with their fates at stake.

「This is a video recorded by our scouts. Take a look.」Guo Huai sent over a video to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan found a safe hiding place and opened up the video.

This video was probably recorded by a Thief. It showed a fairly up close view of the forces of Bloodlust Blades marching onwards. After a while, a giant siege machine came into view. It was made out of wood and covered in metal plates. At the center was a long, solid wooden beam with a bucket at the end large enough to hold boulders and similar sized objects. Its design was intricate.

Nie Yan’s face paled after seeing this giant siege machine. Although he had never participated in sieges in his past life, he had seen these types of contraptions while passing through battlefields before. This thing was called an Armoured Catapult!

There were many types of ranged siege machines, such as trebuchets and catapults. Where trebuchets had a larger range, catapults were more destructive. They could launch six exploding iron balls at a time, wreaking havoc to the enemy lines and walls. Armoured Catapults were true killing machines, even excelling in war on an open battlefield. A single launch could wipe out a huge slew of players.

In the previous timeline, Nie Yan had watched several hundred Armoured Capaults decimate a Tier 6 reinforced wall after just two bombardments.

「What is that thing?」Guo Huai asked. His knowledge in the game was limited. But judging from the appearance, he could guess it was a ranged siege weapon. He just didn’t know how powerful it was.

「It’s anArmoured Catapult. Do you know how many they have?」Nie Yan asked with a frown.

「We don’t know yet, but probably not many.」

「Mobilize the Hundred Thieves to find out exactly how many Armoured Catapults they have!」Nie Yan ordered in a serious tone. This information was critical.