Klarence Stronghold, main hall of Pantheon's guild headquarters. Godking sat on his throne, looking over the various reports coming in.

The top experts of Pantheon were gathered here, several dozen in total. They were all quietly chatting about something.

“Boss, Autumn Gust just sent an update. The Blood Reaver Corps is already on their way toward Nirvana Flame,” a Thief whispered into Godking’s ear.

“The Blood Reaver Corps are pretty quick. But if Blood Devil thinks they can take down Nirvana Flame, he’s going to be sorely disappointed.” Godking chuckled.

“I heard Blood Devil has a trump card up his sleeve.”

“Nirvana Flame isn’t that easy to kill. Let the two fight,” Godking said, showing no faith in Blood Devil whatsoever. ”How’s Autumn Gust doing? Has he made any progress?”

“He’s managed to find the real life identities of three of the members of the Blood Reaver Corps.”

“Not bad, have him continue,” Godking said. As early as nine months ago, Autumn Gust had fallen under his control. He relayed back all information, no matter what the Blood Reaver Corps was up to. Blood Devil, of course, was oblivious to this all.

Godking had never put Blood Devil into his eyes. The two simply weren’t on the same plane. He could easily have Blood Devil dance in the palm of his hand. The people he viewed as worthy rivals didn’t surpass 10 in the entire game. One was the guild leader of Fallen Angel, Plenty. Another was Asskickers United’s Nirvana Flame. Still another was Soaring Angel from Angel Corps. Cao Xu of the Century FInancial Group could be counted as one too. There were also a few others from secret powers.

“Boss, the Death God’s Edge is in Nirvana Flame’s hands. The Blood Reaver Corps alone can’t kill him. Should we dispatch our own forces? Just give the word, and I’ll pick out a few thousand experts. We can have them hide their identities and ambush him,” the Thief said.

“It doesn’t matter if they hide their identities. You underestimate Asskickers United’s intelligence network too much. They’ll trace it back to us.” Godking shook his head.

“Even if Asskickers United finds out we were behind it, we can just deny all accusations, maybe blame someone else. They already have their hands full with Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group anyway. Plus, we’re too far away from them. Honestly, us hiding our identities is giving them face. If we openly ambush and assassinate Nirvana Flame, they’ll find themselves in an awkward position where they have no choice but to declare war. By hiding our identities like this, even if they found out we were behind it, they’ll still have to turn a blind eye,” the Thief said.

Godking had to admit the Thief’s words made sense, but he still shook his head. “A few thousand people won’t be enough to kill Nirvana Flame. Even if he can’t win, he’ll just escape. I have a plan though. Flowing Maple, follow me. The rest of you, go off and level.”

The others in the room enviously gazed at Flowing Maple before dispersing.

Godking brought Flowing Maple through one winding corridor after the other to the deepest part of the guild headquarters. Several minutes later, they entered a secluded courtyard.

Flowing Maple looked around curiously. Bright red Crimson Bloodflowers grew in the garden. This was an extremely frightening species of plant. According to legend, they blossomed only once every half decade. Their fruit could be harvested to make an extremely vicious poison, potent enough to even kill immortals. It was a well-known evil flower, and demons loved to eat the fruit they produced.

When Godking and Flowing Maple entered the courtyard, a low and raspy voice range out.

“I told you not to disturb me!”

“Sir Angud, I have important information to report to you,” Godking said respectfully.

“If it turns out to be something unimportant, you know the consequences…” A big burly figure came walking over.

Flowing Maple raised his head and glanced up at Angud. His appearance was incomparably hideous. He was a head taller than the two of them with a very large and muscular build. There were patches of fair and white skin between the crimson red, resembling something human. However, the rest of his body looked like that of a demon. A single horn grew from his head and a long scaly tail grew out of his behind. Surprisingly, unlike an ordinary demon, he didn’t have wings.

Flowing Maple’s heart trembled. This was a half-demon! Angud’s level showed up as question marks to him, meaning this NPC was likely extremely powerful!

After hearing Angud’s words, Godking trembled. He was clearly fearful of Angud’s punishment.

Flowing Maple was flabbergasted. Why would Godking be so afraid of Angud?

“Sir Angud, I’ve recently received word that the Death God’s Edge has appeared. It’s in the hands of a mortal. He’s currently in the Desolate Marsh.”

“Bring the Death God’s Edge to me,” Angud commanded. His eyes flickered with a trace of excitement.

“Sir Angud, we’re not his match. He’s too strong. Besides the Death God’s Edge, he also carries another Sacred Object, Paternoster’s Warhammer,” God King sasid, carefully paying attention to Angud’s reaction.

Angud sunk into silence.

“This is the Thief with the greatest potential in our guild. He’s called Flowing Maple. Sir Angud, I require a capable helper. Please bestow him some strength,” Godking requested.

Angud shot an indifferent glance at Flowing Maple. “I don’t trust in your capabilities. Since that mortal has both the Death God’s Edge and Paternoster’s Warhammer in his possession, it proves he’s somewhat powerful. I’ll be going there personally. You two may leave.”

Angud refused Flowing Maple.

Godking stared at Angud in shock. He just wanted Angud to raise Flowing Maple’s strength. Flowing Maple was a member who had only recently risen to prominence in Pantheon. He showed great promise. According to the person himself, he had learned from watching footage of Nirvana Flame. As a result, his combat style was quite similar to that of the Mad Rogue. Godking believed he was the Thief with the most potential to catch up to Nie Yan. So, he wanted to lend Liu Feng a helping hand. However, things didn’t turn out as planned. Angud actually refused his request. But at the same time, he was quite excited that Angud would personally take action.

Given Angud’s strength, killing Nie Yan would be as easy as lifting a finger.

After Angud dismissed them, Godking led Flowing Maple out of the courtyard. He turned to Flowing Maple with a somewhat apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. I hoped he’d help you become a Gold Wing. Seems like I got ahead of myself. However, Angud setting out personally is good news. Nirvana Flame is dead for sure.” Speaking to this point, Godking became somewhat excited. If Angud obtained the Death God’s Edge, the first person to be rewarded would be him!

Flowing Maple glanced back at the courtyard and sunk into silence.

“Let’s leave,” Godking said.

...

Nie Yan carried out a wanton slaughter in the Desolate Marsh. He had already lost count of how many players and monsters he cut down. Words of fear quickly spread and reached the ears of many Evil Faction players. Nirvana Flame was back! This news caused a huge uproar. Everyone remembered the mess he caused the last time he came to the underworld, even earning himself the nickname of Slaughter God. At present, that moniker still rang true as ever!

Information that the Death God’s Edge was in Nie Yan’s hands also quickly spread, sending waves of shock through the underworld. Some players started drooling with greed. The allure of a Sacred Object was simply too great to resist. Nie Yan’s name was a powerful deterrent, but some daredevils still decided to go over and test their luck.

Nie Yan left a trail of corpses in his wake, striking fear into the hearts of those who saw him.

After only a short while, a crisp notification jingle rang out. Lil’ Gold levelled up!

Lil’ Gold had reached Level 139, with his defense rising greatly. The golden scales became thicker and gave off a deeper luster. Looking at Lil’ Gold’s status, his defense had risen up by one rank to Rank 9, and several of his passive skills had also improved. He hadn’t learned any new skills. Likely, that would have to wait until Level 140. After breaking past Level 100, he would only learn new skills every other 20 or even 40 levels.

Nie Yan followed behind Bennett’s Soul. After walking for three hours, passing through a rotten marsh, he arrived on the outskirts of a large open space. It was more than several kilometers wide. The ground was flat and paved with stone.

This area was a small tribal settlement. There were roughly 60 buildings, all built with grass and mud. They looked run-down. The perimeter of the settlement was surrounded by a wooden fence, with a few bows and arrows resting on top of them.

This was clearly a village. Players were walking up and down the main street. On both sides were NPC vendors selling their goods.

Nie Yan found it hard to understand why there’d be such a flourishing village in the middle of a swamp.

What Nie Yan didn’t know, was that before he came here this village was pretty much deserted. Almost no players wandered out here. However, with his arrival, it became lively again. Everyone was here for him!

There were about 500-600 players in the village, and about 20-30 NPCs.

Bennett’s soul circled around the village for a short time.

The quest clues were in this village?

He couldn’t say for sure. Nie Yan pondered for a moment. It seemed he had to go into the village and find out!

Many players had already noticed his arrival. Since the Death God’s Edge was in his hands, his position was completely exposed. So, sneaking into the village was pointless.

Nie Yan raised his head and looked at Lil’ Gold, who burped out some flames with a shake of his head.

Nie Yan decided to summon Paladin Lafus and his shadow clone. He spun the dagger in his hand with a flick of his wrist, a cold light emanating from it. The four walked over toward the village.

The players tasked with tailing Nie Yan looked at this scene with incredulous eyes.

“What’s Mad Rogue Nirvana Flame doing? Is he really going to walk into that village!?”

A single thought popped into everyone’s minds—village slaughter!