Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

Nie Yan returned to Okoron and immediately began preparations to deal with Half-Demon Angud.

Before long, a 1,000-man team assembled in the square in front of the guild headquarters. Clad in brilliant armour, they stood at attention, brimming with icy killing intent.

Each of these players were one out of 10,000 hand-picked elites!

A large crowd of curious passersby gathered too.

“What are they up to?”

“Surely, they aren’t going to attack Angel Corps with such a small force?”

“One of my friends in Asskickers United told me they’re preparing to face Angud.”

“Really? With only these guys?”

“You’re joking, right? Angud is a Level 180 Demonified Lord!”

“Yeah! Super bosses like that can even wipe out entire guilds!”

“I don’t know guys, that’s what I heard.”

The crowd was awestruck by the domineering line-up. Sure enough, Asskickers United’s elites were on a completely different plane.

“Don’t underestimate those guys. I heard that on average their Warriors have over 13,000 defense, and their Mages over 17,000 magic power.”

“My god! How? That’s insane!”

For most Warriors it was impressive to reach about 8,000 defense by the time they hit Level 140. The same could be said for Mages with 10,000 magic power. Yet the average player in this 1,000-man expedition team almost doubled those stats. An insurmountable gap separated these top players from the rest.

The 1,000-man expedition team was split into different ranks.

Nie Yan and Guo Huai stood outside the entrance of the guild headquarters.

「So, how’s it going? Did you locate Angud yet?」Nie Yan asked. He had sent out Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and several others to track down Angud.

「Not yet. It’s like he vanished into thin air.」

「Be patient. He’ll show himself,」Nie Yan said. Worst comes to worst, he would step forth personally to act as bait.

「I don’t think our 1,000-man expedition team is strong enough to face him.」

「I have a plan.」Nie Yan explained the use of the Kelo Runestones.「Just follow my commands. When the time comes, I’ll summon War God Kelo.」He’d mobilized the 1,000-man expedition simply to reduce the workload on himself.

「War God Kelo? You mean the Level 360 Lord you rescued from Sinful Gorge?」

「Correct.」

「That’s great news!」

Learning there was a way to deal with Angud, everyone became excited. Angud had harassed them for long enough. It was about time they got their revenge!

「Smoke Stub, Bladelight, Monochrome, Edgeless, Lofty Shadow, Lei Su, you six come back first,」Nie Yan said.

「Why? Is something up?」

「You’ll find out when you get here,」Nie Yan replied.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other four teleported back to Okoron with Return Scrolls. A few minutes later, they arrived at the guild headquarters.

“Take this.” Nie Yan tossed a War God Insignia to Smoke Stub.

“What is this?” Smoke Stub asked skeptically. The War God Insignia looked like an ordinary medal with no real use.

“If you have this War God Insignia with you when you class swap to a Raider, you won’t need to restart from Level 0,” Nie Yan replied before distributing the remaining five War God Insignias.

Smoke Stub couldn’t help but become excited and asked, “War God Kelo gave these to you?”

“Yep. It was one of my quest rewards.” Nie Yan chuckled.

These six Warriors had been faced with a difficult choice. Stick to their current class and eventually be outclassed by other players. Or class swap to a barbarian Raider and start back at Level 0, becoming utterly useless to the guild for the foreseeable future. They’d be leaning towards sticking to their current class, simply because they couldn’t let their guildmates fight Angud, or Angel Corps and the Century Financial Group without them. Thankfully, the War God Insignia had resolved this issue.

Bladelight and the other five couldn’t help but wonder how much a War God Insignia would sell for in the marketplace. Its value was certainly immeasurable!

War God Kelo only gave Nie Yan six War God Insignias, which he was offering to them! They couldn’t feel prouder. Clearly, their boss viewed them as the pillars of Asskickers United!

“Hurry up and go class change. I’ve already done some research. The quest is pretty easy. You guys should be able to finish it in half-an-hour tops. You’ll be the six strongest barbarian Raiders!” Nie Yan said. He heard barbarian Raiders had many powerful skills. His eyes shone with anticipation.

“Alright, wait for the good news.” Smoke Stub patted Nie Yan on the shoulder.

Smoke Stub, Bladelight, and the other four left. Half-an-hour wasn’t long. The fight with Angud wouldn’t even have started by then.

About 15 minutes later, there was finally information on Angud.

「Boss, several of our people reported seeing Angud flying over Sky Lake! He’s probably heading straight for Okoron!」Undying Scoundrel reported.

Nie Yan’s heart trembled. Is he planning to assault the city? He couldn’t help but recall the battle with Phantom Princess Ina. If Angud decided to attack Okoron, the city might be razed to the ground for real this time!

「Where are you guys right now?」Nie Yan asked.

「We’re rushing back to Okoron,」Undying Scoundrel replied.

Nie Yan guessed Angud was coming for him. That son of a bitch knew he was in Okoron!

「He’s after me. I’ll draw him away from the city,」Nie Yan declared. Asskickers United was on the verge of an all-out war with Angel Corps. If Okoron were destroyed, Soaring Angel wouldn’t hesitate to kick him while he was down.

Guo Huai looked at a recent report. His face paled. “Nie Yan, An Angel Corps force of nearly 600,000 players is making their way to Okoron!”

Nie Yan’s eyes flashed with a cold light. It appeared Angel Corps wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and attack Okoron while they were busy dealing with Angud.

“How large is our NPC army now?” Nie Yan asked.

“About 30,000 strong, all Level 160 Elites. I’ve assigned all the weaker NPCs to other work,” Guo Huai replied. Asskickers United had put in an enormous amount of effort into nurturing these NPCs, outfitting them with the highest quality equipment, all for the sake of building a powerful army.

When Phantom Princess Ina attacked Okoron, Nie Yan had the NPC army sit out of the battle. After all, having them face off against a Level 180 Demonified Lord was a simple method of killing off his entire army. Now, all his efforts paid off, and they would finally show their use in dealing with the forces of Angel Corps!

Okoron’s players also started to mobilize, organizing into ranks in preparation for the city’s defense.

“How many catapults did they bring with them?” Nie Yan asked.

“Over 200.”

“Mhmm, we should be good.“ Nie Yan nodded. Okoron had 100 catapults and 300 Goblin Magic Cannons stationed on the walls.

Okoron had entered battle mode.

Angel Corps’ army slowly approached Okoron. They were taking their time, seemingly waiting for something. The 600,000 troops stretched out across the plain. The players guarding the walls couldn’t help but shudder at the sight.

“Looks like we have a big battle on our hands.” Guo Huai chuckled. After serving as Asskickers United’s executive guild leader for so long, he had the air of a leader. “Are we still planning to fight Angud outside the city?”

“Yeah. Nothing’s changed.” Nie Yan nodded.

“Then we better watch out for Angel Corps ambushing us!”

“Mhmm. Don’t worry. I will,” Nie Yan turned to the 1,000-man expedition team. “The enemy’s 600,000 troops are right outside our walls. Tell me! Are you afraid!?”

“NO!” the 1,000 players cried out in unison, shaking the entire square.

“Good! Follow me!” Nie Yan said. According to War God Kelo’s conditions, Angud had to be a direct threat to his life for the Kelo Runestone to work. At the same time, it would also take some time to channel. That’s where the 1,000-man expedition team came in.

Following Nie Yan’s lead, the 1,000-man expedition exited the city gates.

Soaring Angel and Cao Xu were closely monitoring Asskickers United’s every movement. So, they immediately knew when Nie Yan and the 1,000 players set out.

After another 20 minutes, Nie Yan heard back from Smoke Stub and the other five. They were hurrying back to Okoron. The class change quest was fairly simple. All they had to do was talk to a few NPCs and pass a short trial. The only real hurdle was restarting from Level 0. However, the War God Insignia allowed them to completely bypass this.

「So, how’s it being a barbarian Raider?」Nie Yan asked.

「Pretty damn awesome!」Smoke Stub exclaimed, his voice cracking with excitement.

After hearing Smoke Stub’s words, Nie Yan knew the rewards for becoming a barbarian Raider were better than he expected.

「Thanks to the War God Insignia, we also obtained two additional skills.」

「I got Auto Counter and Mad Howl.」

「I got Frenzied Charge and Thunder Rend!」

…