Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

After advancing to Magisters, Mages could buff their melee ability. However, it was still only one tenth as strong as their magic.

In fact, the ability to fight in close-combat was relatively important for Mages. If the occasion were to occur where your mana ran out and the enemy only had a sliver of health remaining, sometimes the only choice left was to give them a good clonk on the head with your staff.

Brannigan was quite powerful in close-combat, especially with that giant scepter in his hand.

KLAANG! Brannigan’s scepter struck Lafus in the chest and sent him flying out.

Seeing things take a turn for the worse, Nie Yan pounced toward Brannigan.

Brannigan waved his scepter, calling down a meteor onto Nie Yan.

Gale Step!

Nie Yan deftly evaded. An explosion resounded behind him. Without pause, he stabbed at Brannigan’s head.

Nie Yan’s crowd control skills were quite powerful. If he could lock Brannigan down, this fight would be much easier.

Brannigan shot Nie Yan a look of disdain. He waved his scepter as a powerful repelling force swept out.

Nie Yan suddenly collided with a wave of force mid-dash. His body was sent flying back.

“What a powerful Repel!”

Most Repels only pushed a player five meters away. It was clear Brannigan’s was on a whole nother level.

Death Exemption!

Nie Yan became immune to crowd control and gained 10% movement speed for two seconds. With the repelling force no longer acting on his body, he regained his balance and landed steadily on the ground.

Nie Yan employed Shadow Steps as he left a trail of afterimages behind him.

Brannigan was enraged. He repeatedly smashed down with his scepter. BANG! BANG! BANG! Rubble flew everywhere and cracks spread out on the ground. However, none of his attacks landed on Nie Yan.

Under the purifying light of Holy Radiant Shine, Brannigan’s health fell to 3%.

Although Nie Yan failed to get close enough to CC Brannigan, he had still bought some time. Lil’ Gold and Lafus climbed back to their feet. Lafus raised his sword as a white light fell over him and Lil’ Gold. After which they both charged toward Brannigan.

After escaping the room, Brannigan had become powerful beyond compare. He completely overwhelmed Lil’ Gold and Lafus with his unrivalled firepower. If it weren’t for Lafus spamming heals, they would’ve long since died.

Nie Yan knitted his brows. Brannigan was too strong. It looked like Lil’ Gold and Lafus were starting to falter. “I have to do something...”

As Nie Yan passed down his order, Lil’ Gold fiercely charged at Brannigan.

Brannigan waved his staff and sent a stream of fireballs flying towards Lil’ Gold.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Lil’ Gold instantly lost more than half his health. Lafus quickly raised his sword as gentle rays of light fell over Lil’ Gold, restoring his health back to full. Lil’ Gold finally closed in Brannigan. With a swipe of his claws, he interrupted Brannigan mid-cast.

Dragon Breath!

BOOM! Blasted by the scorching hot flames, Brannigan staggered several steps back. “You foul beast!” He furiously attacked Lil’ Gold.

All the while Nie Yan had activated Disappear and snuck around behind Brannigan. He inched closer and closer.

Lil’ Gold had successfully acted as a distraction. Brannigan was oblivious to Nie Yan’s approach.

Brannigan raised his scepter as ice elemental energy started converging at the tip. It was pulsating with waves of frost.

The magical energy in the atmosphere undulated violently as the surrounding temperature plummeted.

Lil’ Gold pounced forward with Rend.

−4,857

Brannigan staggered back a step before resuming his chant. His magic wasn’t broken mid-cast.

As the last syllables flowed from Brannigan’s lips, Nie Yan leaped into action.

Gale Ambush!Backbreaker!

Nie Yan’s speed explosively increased as he dashed forth and plunged Zennarde’s Sword into Brannigan’s spine.

Brannigan was in the middle of casting his spell. He was in no position to dodge.

KRAACK! The sounds of bones breaking rang out as Brannigan was crippled. The ice elemental energy gathered around the tip of his scepter dispersed.

“Success!” Nie Yan was elated. He could keep Brannigan locked down for at least eight seconds.

This was more than enough time!

Lil’ Gold and Lafus let loose, using all their highest damaging skills. Nie Yan didn’t hold back either and delivered a fearsome onslaught of attacks. Since Apocalyptic Extinction didn’t work on Brannigan, he opted to use his killing move.

Hell Execution!

Zennarde’s Sword emitted a crimson glow. Nie Yan slashed down on Brannigan’s back, his sharp blade easily cutting through flesh, bone, and all. Brannigan’s health had finally bottomed out. With a thud, he collapsed on the ground.

「Ding-dong!」A melodious jingle rang out as a white light enveloped Nie Yan. Level 100! He was finally Level 100! Brannigan had given him much more experience than he expected.

“After I get that piece of the Tyrant Abak Set hidden here, I’ll go do the Luminous Dancer class advancement quest.”

Lil’ Gold also levelled up and reached Level 90. He learned a new AoE spell called Inferno Storm.

Reading the description of Inferno Storm, Nie Yan was shocked. “This skill is pretty powerful. I can’t wait to see it in action.”

After rummaging through Brannigan’s corpse, Nie Yan failed to find anything. He went back into the room and searched around too, but it was empty. “Shameless... completely shameless! How can such a high level Lord be so stingy and drop nothing?!”

As Nie Yan walked out of the room, Brannigan’s corpse transformed into a pile of ash. A speck of white light rose up from the pile and flew into the Holy Spirit Imprint on his hand.

The Holy Spirit Imprint appeared to collect the souls of purified monsters. Nie Yan didn’t pay it any mind for now.

Brannigan’s corpse had been purified. Nie Yan glanced at his Intermediate Devil Slayer title. It was 35% of the way to ranking up.

Nie Yan was still disappointed that Brannigan only gave experience.

Nie Yan sat down and ate some bread to recuperate. Lil’ Gold and Lafus also rested until their health and mana recovered back to full.

“Hmm... should I open the other gold door?” Nie Yan gave it some thought. “Eh, why not? Even if another pharaoh shows up, I’ll just deal with it like with Brannigan.”

Nie Yan walked up and pushed open the other gold door. The room was identical to the last one with a large golden sarcophagus at the center. He pushed the nearby button.

Nie Yan readied his battle stance. He expected a powerful boss like Brannigan to pop out. To his surprise, however, the sarcophagus was practically empty. There wasn’t even a corpse inside. Instead, embedded in the center was a small golden chest.

“It’s a Sub Legendary-grade!” Nie Yan rejoiced. If he had decided it was too risky earlier, he would’ve missed out on this chest.

Two gold doors, one was a punishment while the other a reward. Nie Yan was fairly unlucky, opening the door with Brannigan first. Were it not for the help of Lil’ Gold and Lafus, he would’ve certainly met a tragic fate. If an ordinary expedition team encountered the same situation, without a Champion, they would wipe for sure.

Even if that expedition team did manage to defeat Brannigan. All they would get for their hard work would be experience and nothing else. After such a harrowing experience, they probably wouldn’t dare to open the other gold door.

Nie Yan was definitely an anomaly. Even after encountering a powerful Lord like Brannigan, he still dared to face a second one.

He bent down and started opening the chest.

Opening treasure chest... Progress: 12%... 35%...

Click! The chest lid popped open. Nie Yan fished around inside and pulled out a skill book.

This skill book was unlike any he’d seen before. It was about as thick as a finger and crafted out of some peculiar material. The edges were stitched with golden silk. The craftsmanship was delicate. Every ornamentation was flawless with nothing left to be desired.

Based on appearance alone, this skill book looked far more precious than any other Nie Yan had ever seen before.

“It’s a Master Skill Book!” Nie Yan cried out in a shock. “I hope it’s for a Thief...”

Nie Yan impatiently flipped open the skill book. The words were written in Ancient Common. What caught his eye were the several words on the first page—Shadow Dancer Skill - Mode: Release.

It was a Shadow Dancer skill book!

Nie Yan’s heart started madly racing. It was a skill that could only be learned after advancing to a Shadow Dancer. He had only ever heard of Shadow Dancer skill books in rumours, having never actually seen one himself. In the previous timeline, a nobody like him simply wasn’t qualified to acquire such a high tier item.

Shadow Dancer skills were exceedingly rare. Even most Shadow Dancers didn’t have one. However, those who did and mastered it to perfection would become incredibly powerful!

“Let’s see what this skill does...” Nie Yan calmed his heart, then started flipping through the pages.