Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World Chapter 171-172

Chapter 171 – Guild! Brothers!

There were nine players all together, all of whom were part of Victorious Return. The Fighter among them engaged the Wild Boar, accompanied by a Priest healing from the rear. Out of the remaining seven, the thief was still cloaked in stealth. The rest positioned themselves to prevent Paladin of the Elegy and his party from interfering. They consisted of three Mages, one Berserker, and two Paladins.

Both sides stared each other down. The tension was palpable, it seemed like a battle was about to erupt at any moment.

The leader of the party was a Berserker known as Broad Blade. He was approaching thirty years old with a rotund stature, narrow eyes, and a nose bent crookedly in the shape of a hook.

“My friends, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. You see, this Wild Boar was discovered by our Thief, and he’s been tracking it for a long time. We were already on our way over when you fellows engaged it. Let’s not make any rash decisions now, alright? We’re from Victorious Return. If we’ve done anything to offend you, I sincerely apologize…” said Broad Blade with a light chuckle and a squint.

“Bullshit! He’s trying to make it sound like we stole the monster from them!” Sugar Cane blurted out.

“Peh! What a lousy excuse! Pretending to act all nice after forcing us off our mob. Do they think we’re pushovers? That we’ll just let it go after an apology? What’s so great about Victorious Return! Are we supposed to be afraid!?”

The other members of Paladin of the Elegy’s party voiced their dissatisfaction.

When Broad Blade overheard them, his eyes filled with murderous intent. His lips curved into a sinister smile, “So what you gonna do about it?”

“Give the Wild Boar back to us!” Sugar Cane furiously shouted.

By this time, Paladin of the Elegy calmed down and analyzed the situation. Their party had fewer people, and the quality of their equipment was severely lacking in comparison to their opponents’. If a fight really did break out, they’d undoubtedly get the worst of it. Not to mention Watchful Snail had repeatedly reminded them to just focus on leveling up. It wasn’t worth getting into a scuffle over a single piece of Bronze equipment. Once they leveled up, there’d be no shortage of good equipment in the guild treasury.

“Sugar Cane, forget it, let’s just go. We’ll get back at them some other time…” Paladin of the Elegy ordered.

“We’re gonna leave…? Just like that?” Sugar Cane said in disbelief. He really couldn’t tolerate such bullying. Besides, just how many of his fellow guildmates had Victorious Return killed so far? It was only normal for him to feel angry.

“Oh? So you’re not brainless after all. Good, make sure to remember our guild emblems the next time you set out. If you see members of our guild, be quick about scurrying out of sight,” Broad Blade sneered. He grew even more unbridled when he saw Paladin of the Elegy’s group turning to leave. He took that as a sign of them being afraid.

Paladin of the Elegy trembled at Broad Blade’s taunting. Even a buddha’s tolerance had its limits. He really wanted to fight, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that they were outnumbered and outgunned. He struggled to find a solution, when an idea popped into his mind. He didn’t have much faith in it, but he sent a message in the guild chat anyway.

「Are there any guildmates levelling near Peaceful Dream Valley?」

「I’m there. Why, what’s up?」someone in the guild chat answered back.

Paladin of the Elegy explained the situation, informing everyone in the guild chat of how a group of Victorious Return players had snatched a Leader-class monster from his party.

「… So I want to teach those goons a lesson, but we don’t have enough people.」

More guild members replied in the chat.

「Paladin, where are you guys?」

「Tell us your coordinates. Let’s show those bastards we’re no pushovers! 」

「I’m at Peaceful Dream Valley!」

「I’m heading over there right now! Screw those Victorious Return dogs!」

「I’m rushing over from Blaze Town!」

Soon, the chat was flooded with angry messages cursing Victorious Return.

Paladin of the Elegy’s plea for help sent the members of Asskickers United into a flying rage. They had let Victorious Return walk all over them for far too long! They were fed up with the constant harassment.

「No-no-no, guys, calm down… Don’t all come. I only need a few more people to take them on.」Paladin of the Elegy nearly had a heart attack. He didn’t know how to react, especially after getting responses from several hundred people. All of whom were fellow group leaders with at least half-a-dozen subordinates behind them. If so many people arrived, things might not just end with a small skirmish!

Paladin of the Elegy felt genuinely moved by the fiery responses and show of support from his guildmates as well as a sense of belonging in the guild.

An intense desire rose up in his heart. He wanted to make Asskickers United even more formidable. Only then could they beat back those dog bastards from Victorious Return!

「Everyone, all of you don’t need to come. Just a dozen of us will be enough to butcher those sons of bitches into dog meat!」

「Paladin, quickly tell us your coordinates!」

「I’m at Peaceful Dream Valley: 285.283.3809.」

「Alright, I got it. You’re in the northern part of the map. We’ll be there in three minutes tops!」

「To all those brothers who can’t get there within five minutes, don’t bother coming!」

Paladin of the Elegy, Sugar Cane, and the others smiled. It seemed they would be getting their revenge much sooner than they expected. With such a passionate band of brothers willing to spring to their aid, they felt like shouting, Up yours, Victorious Return! Who the hell is afraid of you?!

“What’s so great about Victorious Return? We’re from Asskickers United!”

“Hey, Victorious Turds! You want me to remember your guild emblem? When this is all over, you’d better remember my assprint on your face!” Sugar Cane vulgarly cursed.

Broad Blade’s expression instantly darkened. Heaven Breaker had issued out an order throughout the guild. If they ever met players from Asskickers United, slaughter them!

“Asskickers United, huh. You’re the runts that are too scared to wear your guild emblems out in the open. I was starting to worry we’d never find any of you… I didn’t think any of you would be be stupid enough to show up right in front of us! Guess I was wrong!”

“Well, what are you waiting for? We’re right here! Come bite me!”

The atmosphere grew incredibly tense. The Fighter from Victorious Return was still preoccupied with the Leader-class Wild Boar, along with a Priest. Broad Blade’s group had their focus split between killing the Wild Boar and holding back Paladin of the Elegy and his men. They were left in a stalemate until the monster fell because it would be difficult to face both enemies at the same time.

The Wild Boar’s health fell very slowly. Even after two minutes, a third of its health still remained.

Both sides remained at an impasse. Paladin of the Elegy’s side intended to stall for time. However, if Broad Blade’s side decided to focus on the Wild Boar, they would have no choice but to attack and force Broad Blade’s group onto the defense.

The Wild Boar’s health dropped to 25%, 20%, 15%, then to critical levels!

「Finish off the Wild Boar! We’ll deal with those punks after!」Broad Blade ordered in chat. The Mages beside him sent out a volley of magic at the Wild Boar.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」A string of damage values rose above its ahead.

The Wild Boar was about to die very soon. Paladin of the Elegy’s group grew anxious. At this rate, the drop would undoubtedly fall into enemy hands!

They were losing out on a single piece of Bronze-grade equipment, but it was still very valuable to them. It was a Level 15 piece of equipment after all, and they were mostly wearing Level 10 Bronze-grade equipment right now. Paladin of the Elegy was the only one that currently had a few pieces of Level 15 equipment.

“Priest, pay attention to my health!” Paladin of the Elegy shouted before rushing toward the Wild Boar.

“That punk wants to snatch the drop! Kill him!”

A torrent of magic rained down on Paladin of the Elegy.「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Half his health disappeared in a single instant. When the Priest at the rear saw this, he hastily cast Heal. As the gentle radiance from the spell enveloped him, Paladin of the Elegy chugged down a Junior Health Potion before pressing on.

“They attacked us first! We get to retaliate in self-defense!” Sugar Cane shouted.

He and the other Mages in the party fired off a barrage of spells at the Victorious Return players from the rear.

Broad Blade and two Paladins sprinted toward Sugar Cane’s group. The three Mages from their group focused their firepower on Paladin of the Elegy.

“Wipe out this group of trash!” Broad Blade activated Charge as he rushed towards Sugar Cane.

The Wild Boar only had a sliver of health left by the time Paladin of the Elegy closed in. The opposing Fighter was about to finish it off with his next attack when a brilliant idea popped into Paladin of the Elegy’s mind, like a divine revelation. He cast Protect on the Wild Boar.

A hazy, translucent screen of white light enveloped the Wild Boar as the Fighter’s sword hacked down.

「Klang!」

−1

The Fighter was taken aback at the pitiful damage value that appeared above the Wild Boar’s head.

The Wild Boar bellowed angrily. It pushed its forepaws deep into the ground and propelled itself forward, ramming into the Fighter’s shield. The attack forced the Fighter to take a few staggering steps back, dizzy.

“Good job, piggy!” Paladin of the Elegy rejoiced. He was only a few meters from the Wild Boar. With a Lesser Dispel, he stripped the Wild Boar of its shield before hacking down on it with his sword. The Wild Boar let out a final, pitiful squeal before collapsing on the ground.

“Hot damn! Who knew he had that in him!” Sugar Cane exclaimed. He never thought that Paladin of the Elegy would react so quickly, or come up with a strategy like that. Was he possessed by a god? He actually managed to snatch away the experience for killing the Leader-class Wild Boar!

Paladin of the Elegy was quite elated with his success, having never felt so pleased with himself before. Just as he was about to bend down and pick up the drop, the Fighter from Victorious Return charged up to him.

“Get that kill-stealing bastard!” shouted an Arcane Mage as he shot an Arcane Fireball at Paladin of the Elegy.

The Fighter slashed down with his sword.

Tendon Break!

Perhaps by instinct or a stroke of amazing luck, Paladin of the Elegy activated Endure just as the Fighter’s sword came down.

「Klang!」Two swords clashed together.

Demoralizing Shout!

The Fighter let loose a furious roar!

Indomitable Will!

Paladin of the Elegy self-cast the blessing, countering the Fighter’s Demoralizing Shout, kicking him aside and picked up the drop from the ground.

“It’s mine!” Paladin of the Elegy celebrated. He took advantage of the speed boost from Indomitable Will to run away.

“Stop him!”

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」Three spells successively hit Paladin of the Elegy’s back and exploded.

「Bean, heal! Quickly heal me!」Paladin of the Elegy angrily hollered in chat. When he glanced back, wondering why he wasn’t getting any heals, the only party members left alive were Sugar Cane and an Elementalist and they didn’t have much health left either.

With a single Berserk Slash from his greatsword, Broad Blade beheaded the Elementalist beside Sugar Cane. His name grew more red from that second kill.

Sugar Cane only had around forty health left at this point, so he started to flee.

Paladin of the Elegy sensed a Thief on his tail, getting closer and closer.

“You want to run? It’s not going to be that easy!”

Broad Blade’s group relentlessly pursued the fleeing Paladin of the Elegy and Sugar Cane.

“You Asskicker United brats! If you have any courage at all, stop running away!” Broad Blade cursed. This was turning into a complete disaster. Not only was his name red now, both the equipment and experience had also been snatched away. He chased after them like an enraged lion, brimming with the desire for blood.

Broad Blade finally managed to catch up to Paladin of the Elegy. Just as he was about to cut him down, he noticed a dense crowd of players emerging from the hills around him. There were almost a hundred players already, and more people continued to arrive. Players of every class, all equipped with different gear, gathered together in one place. The crowd bubbled with excitement and the promise of deadly retribution.

“What are all these people doing here!?” Broad Blade cried out in shock.

“Broad Blade, we have to go! They’re players from Asskickers United!” A few of his party members called out to him.

Broad Blade felt his heart sink. With his name so red, he’d drop a minimum of two levels along with all of his equipment if he was killed.

“Paladin, we’re here to save you!” one of the players in the crowd shouted.

“Kill those Victorious Return dogs! Don’t let them escape!”

Several dozen Fighters and Berserkers from the crowd charged down the hill, like arrows from a bow.

“Kill!”

“Wipe those bastards out!”

The sixty or seventy Mages still standing on the hill brandished their staffs, shining with a deadly radiance. Their spells spells covered the sky and cast a shadow over the entire area, whistling towards Broad Blade’s group.

Chapter 172 – Hellfire Cavern

「Bang! Bang! Bang!」

Several dozen spells battered Broad Blade’s group, instantly killing five of them as they were transformed into brilliant rays of light. Two of them had red names, so all of their gear dropped to the ground when they died. Only three survived the barrage of spells with just a sliver of health remaining.

The survivors tried to escape from the area, but several dozen Fighters and Berserkers caught up and surrounded them before they could take a single step.

With the sheer disparity in numbers, Broad Blade’s group wasn’t able to put up the least bit of resistance.

They were immediately slaughtered.

“Thank you, brothers!” Paladin of the Elegy shouted to the crowd. Without the timely and enthusiastic assistance from his fellow guildmates, his party would’ve been wiped out by Broad Blade’s group.

“Ah, it feels good to finally blow off some steam after being pushed around by those bastards for so long.”

“Sooner or later, we’ll wipe them all out!”

“There’s a report from our brothers stationed at the East. They say they’ve spotted roughly three to four hundred Victorious Return players heading towards us!”

All of the Asskicker United members’ faces turned ashen. They hadn’t even been here for five minutes, yet Victorious Return somehow already deployed forces to their location. The response was just a little too fast to be a coincidence.

“We definitely have moles in our guild; there’s no way they could’ve reacted so quickly!”

“So what! Let’s take them on!”

“No, we’ll suffer heavy losses if we try to clash with them. Let’s just go back.” Paladin of the Elegy shook his head. Even after that frantic battle, he still managed to remain level-headed. Guo Huai had repeatedly warned them that now was not the right time to start a full-scale conflict with Victorious Return.

“Pick up all the equipment they dropped! We’re withdrawing!” shouted an influential Warrior among the crowd.

Everyone took out a Return Scroll, and after twenty seconds, the crowd disappeared in a symphony of flashing lights.

Several minutes later, a large group of Victorious Return players arrived at the area. They were led by Underworld Flame.

“The bastards ran away!” Underworld Flame cursed in frustration. “These runts have been reacting too quickly lately. I can’t rule out the possibility that we’ve been infiltrated by them…”

“Boss, what are we gonna do now?”

“What are we gonna do…? What do you think we can do!? We’re going back!”

Just because a battle didn’t break out this time didn’t mean that everything would calm down. With so much friction between them, it was obvious to everyone that both sides hated each other. Asskickers United was constantly suppressed in the conflict, and suffered far more than Victorious Return did. There were only a few skirmishes where they got off lightly. Despite all of this, Asskickers United endured patiently. They were slowly raising their strength, waiting for the day when they would finally have the power to fight back.

…

In a vibrant forest—a beautiful paradise, lush with green, where various wildflowers bloomed abundantly, giant Golden Beetles carrying pitchforks whizzed about. The sunlight reflected brilliantly off their glossy carapaces. They flew around the forest, occasionally landing to rest on the ashen-coloured barks of the trees.

Nie Yan activated Stealth, blended into the forest background, and made a detour around the Golden Beetles. He found a certain tree and uncovered a locked silver chest by its roots. He crouched down and started opening it with Lockpicking Specialist.

Opening… Estimated Completion: 3%… 37%…

The chest popped open with a click. Nie Yan dug around and fished out a Warrior’s chestplate and a Paladin’s spiked hammer, both of which were Level 20 Silver-grade. Not bad… he thought after examining their properties and tossing them into his bag.

Perhaps alerted by the sound of Nie Yan opening the chest or just plain bad luck, several dozen Golden Beetles in the vicinity charged at him, brandishing their pitchforks.

The Golden Beetles were Level 21 mobs. Nie Yan wouldn’t last a second against such a large swarm. Just as he was about to be skewered by the pitchforks, he vanished from their sight by activating Shadow Dance. He fled for his life, while the Golden Beetles looked around for him.

Once they lost sight of their target, the Golden Beetles returned to flying around aimlessly.

Nie Yan ran through the forest for about ten minutes before he reached the base of a mountain. After searching around the rubble for what seemed like half-a-day, he finally found another locked silver chest tucked away behind several boulders. He dropped down on one knee and proceeded to open it.

The chest opened with a click a short moment later.

After rummaging through the contents of the chest, he took out a Lesser Heal skill book for Priests. It was a good find for the guild. Only players that contributed heavily to the guild could obtain skill books and other similar items.

He threw the skill book into his bag.

「Nie Yan, are you there?」Guo Huai sent a message.

「Yeah, what’s up? Need anything?」Nie Yan cloaked himself in stealth before proceeding to his next destination.

「I want to apply for a couple of guild quests. We’ve gathered a little over 10 gold, but it’s still not enough.」

「How much do you need?」

「About 3 gold.」

「You can head over to the Starry Night Potion Shop and withdraw 10 gold.」Nie Yan replied. Applying for guild quests required a huge sum of gold. During the initial phase of a guild’s growth, guild quests were like a black hole where money disappeared. Despite their exorbitant cost, they were quintessential to raising the overall quality of the guild.

「Has there been any activity from Victorious Return lately?」Nie Yan asked.

「Minor skirmishes… they don’t seem to stop,」Guo Huai answered before letting Nie Yan know what had happened with Paladin of the Elegy’s group earlier in the afternoon.「It’s a pity four of them died. They were too rash; otherwise, they would’ve all lived.」

Nie Yan thought about the incident for a minute. These sorts of disputes occurred frequently among the major guilds. If repeated calls for help from a fellow guildmate were ignored in the guild chat, that was a sign that the guild was done for. He was quite pleased that so many guild members joined forces to help out a fellow guildmate, and decided that this was something that should be encouraged. After going through situations like this one, everyone, especially those rowdy players that always looked for a fight, would grow devoted to the guild and each other.

「Four for eight, and three of the enemies even had red names! Not a bad trade!」Nie Yan laughed.

「Reward every member that participated in the battle with 10 merit points!」

「Are you sure? Over a hundred players joined in. That’s more than a thousand merit points!」Guo Huai cried out in shock.

「I actually think 10 merit points is still a bit too stingy. Tell them… since the guild was only recently established, we can’t give out too much. Thank them for their understanding!」Nie Yan said.

Honestly speaking, 10 merit points was quite generous to ordinary members of the guild. They needed 200 merit points to get decent Silver-grade equipment from the treasury, and Nie Yan’s generous gift brought them all much closer to that total.

To earn 10 merit points, they would normally have to contribute many ingredients, materials, and other items to the guild. The alchemy ingredients supplied by the guild members would be given to the Starry Night Potion Shop and turned into concoctions. The profits from selling these concoctions would be spent on buying equipment to stock the guild treasury. The new equipment in the treasury could then be exchanged for even more ingredients, materials, and so on. This created a self-sustaining cycle that allowed the guild to grow.

The guild treasury was rapidly expanding, not through the contributions of guild members, but because Nie Yan was investing extravagant sums of money. It seemed like he could continue investing for a while, but it wasn’t wise to depend on one person to keep the guild afloat. The sooner the guild became self-sufficient, the better it was for everyone.

「I think they’ll be delirious with joy,」Guo Huai said with a smile.

「If that’s all, I’ll close the chat. I’m a little busy right now,」Nie Yan said.

He was near Hellfire Cavern.

…

A crowd of over one hundred players gathered together in a hall at the Asskickers United guild headquarters. They were all discussing what happened today and basking in the excitement of the moment.

“What are we going to do about the equipment that dropped from those Victorious Return players?” Sugar Cane asked.

“We’ll auction all of it off for merit points. Then we’ll split the merit points evenly between everyone that showed up to help us.” Paladin of the Elegy staunchly replied. Without the aid of his guild brothers, his party would have definitely been wiped out. He wasn’t about to forget them now that he was safe. He even planned to auction off the drop from the Wild Boar!

Sugar Cane nodded. “We’ll have to give a bit more to Bean and the others, though. They went down a level and lost a piece of equipment when they died.”

“Yeah.”

A brief moment later.

“Thank you everyone for your help today. We’ll be starting the auction now. The first item up is the Silver-grade Warrior chestplate that dropped from the Leader-class Wild Boar.”

The crowd burst into furious bidding.

“I bid 70 merit points!”

…

“96 merit points!”

…

“129 merit points!”

…

The chestplate wasn’t too spectacular, so the bidding hit a ceiling of 130 merit points. Paladin of the Elegy auctioned off the other items after that. The equipment that dropped from the Victorious Return players with red names was fairly decent. All of the equipment was auctioned off for a total of 1,860 merit points, which was then evenly divided between all the members that participated in the battle.

“The amount of merit points everyone receives will be fairly small because there are so many of us, so I’m hoping none of you mind.”

“Nah, it’s not a big deal. We just joined in for a bit of excitement. Besides, I didn’t even get to cast a spell. All I did was show up, and then use a Return Scroll to go back. So you don’t need to give me any merit points.”

“Haha!”

The crowd burst out into cheerful laughter.

“Next time you run into Victorious Return players, if they try to make a move on you, you better not keep it from us. Just give us a holler in the guild chat, and we’ll all come running over to teach those bastards a lesson!”

Paladin of the Elegy had a warm feeling in his heart. Joining this guild was the right choice.

“Did you all have your fill of fun?” Guo Huai entered with a stern expression.

The atmosphere suddenly turned silent.

“It’s Watchful Snail…”

“Boss.”

“You guys acted too rashly today. Four of you died pointlessly for a single piece of equipment!”

The crowd stayed taciturn. From their perspective, if someone died, then so be it. A piece of Silver-grade equipment was worth it. Guo Huai looked furious, so none of them dared to voice their disagreement.

Seeing how he intimidated everyone, Guo Huai continued with a faint smile, “But… a fellow guildmate was in trouble and all of you banded together to help him. That’s something worth commending. So Nirvana Flame has decided to reward all of you with ten merit points each. This guild was only recently established, so don’t think this is too little.”

“Woo! Long live Nirvana Flame!”

“The executive guild leader is the best!”

The crowd burst out in cheers. Ten merit points was already more than they expected. More importantly, it signified that their actions had won the approval of Nie Yan and the other higher ups.

There were over one hundred players in the hall. If Nie Yan was rewarding each of them ten merit points, that was a grand total of over a thousand merit points! With that many merit points, a person could take out five pieces of Level 10 Silver-grade equipment from the treasury. He considered this a small reward? They were all left speechless.

Nie Yan’s actions generated a lot of goodwill towards the guild. In his eyes, gold was of secondary importance. If it could be used to gain a person’s loyalty, then it was well worth it. If this enabled him to create a group of absolutely devoted followers in the guild, even if it was only 10,000 players, it would far surpass the value of 100,000 ordinary guild members. Battle Crazed Alliance was clear proof of that.

The excitement in the guild eventually settled down. Everyone went back to working their hardest to level.

…

You’ve discovered Hellfire Cavern.

Nie Yan examined the area around the cavern. The rock was charred black without any plant life growing on top of it. A scorching wind blew out from the entrance. Every so often, a burst of flame would shoot out of the cave.

Nie Yan drank an Intermediate Fire Resistance Potion he picked up from the Starry Night Potion Shop. He glanced at his status bar to confirm that his fire resistance was increased for the next five minutes. It was more than enough time for what needed to be done. He activated Stealth, his body turning transparent, and snuck into the cavern.