32 Oversight

Nonetheless, the Thieves' Cloak and Nie Fan's Cheetahmorph were not flawless. Their movements could be heard faintly despite being invisible, and it was only the top players who could use the invisibility to that greatest effect.

The three Thieves were clearly being careless in that respect: their attempt to outflank Nie Fan was too obvious that even he could sense it.

Most players would not feel concerned over a little wind or rustling grass, but Nie Fan was different because he had gone through the strictest training as a child, and had a sharp sense of danger that surpassed most.

"That Druid must have gone far."

"My invisibility is almost over!" One of the Thieves said in the group chat. There was a time limit to Cloaking and the active period for it was low since his skill was low, and his body hence slowly gained form.

Meanwhile, Nie Fan did not actually run off after casting Cheetahmorph. Instead, he had hidden in a corner and waited patiently, and soon saw the Thief appearing.

He was being followed by that Thief just as he had expected!

No, there should be another!

His brow slightly wrinkled, Nie Fan saw the other Thief gaining form in another few seconds.

If he hadn't noticed them earlier and allowed them to surround him, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

Still, he wasn't sure if they had come targeting him or had simply run into him by coincidence, and was attempting to rob him.

Players are red-listed if they engaged in deliberate player killing, and reluctant to get involved in any trouble, Nie Fan was about to leave when he suddenly found that those two players were actually yellow-listed.

He felt a sudden pang of inspiration just then.

A player killing would get the culprit red-listed, but the culprit would also drop a few items at random if they were killed in turn—including some items from their bags, as well as decreasing beyond two player levels. They couldn't return to town either as the Elite Guards would cut them down on sight, although they would be yellow-listed in the next ten hours following the one hour of red-listing. When yellow-listed, they were basically no different from normal players and were allowed to return to town, but should they be caught in a duel, their murderers would not be red-listed for killing them.

And it seemed that those two had killed someone before!

That being said, Nie Fan was not actually aware of their background, although he wouldn't be curious if he knew that they made a living through assassination.

Nonetheless, when he remembered that he was a newbie and had a low chance of winning if he fought them, he decided to leave.

However, that was also when one of the Thief exclaimed, "There's no telling how far Dark Night has gone. Hurry up!"

Nie Fan's brows lifted at those words.

They were actually gunning for him? Really, he didn't know how or when he had crossed them!

Nie Fan groaned. He took a look at his skill bar where his one Level 6 and two Level 5 abilities were displayed—he had acceptable combat ability, and even if he did lose, his Ring of Fate was Soulbound and would never drop off. It would not be a waste to lose his other items either, and he could quickly regain his player level even after dropping by one.

He didn't have experience in PK, but it wouldn't hurt to try with the rare chance he had now.

Seizing the moment before his own Invisibility was over, Nie Fan slowly sneaked towards the rear of those two Thieves. His footsteps were light, and they would never hear him with ten yards between them.

Bloodthirsty Vines!

Nature Force stirred powerfully as he chanted the spell.

The two Thieves paused for a moment when they felt the abrupt sense of peculiarity, before turning to find Nie Fan casting his skill.

"It's that Druid! It's Dark Night!"

Their pause lasted longer than two seconds.

"Kill him!" One of the Thieves let out a stifled cry.

Meanwhile, Nie Fan kept his eyes fixed on one of the Thieves dressed in robe armor, whose other equipment was clearly better than the other Thief. He should kill the stronger first!

At the same time, he had finished chanting the incantation for Bloodthirsty Vines!

That robe-armored Thief had just advanced a few steps when he suddenly sensed something unusual suddenly happening to the ground around him. A thick, powerful Vine shot out and he couldn't evade it in time, but he pursed his lips all the same—it was only a normal Vine skill. He could not help thinking then that the Druid called Dark Night was such a second-rate player. What did he think he could do with an ordinary Vine skill?

But halfway through those thoughts, he suddenly realized that the Vine was a little different from other Vine spells—this one was red!

Before he could understand what happened, the Vine was already tightly wrapped around him.

Then, with a whipping thud as the Vine lashed out upon him, a [-120] damage point appeared over his head.

Such horrific damage!

Startled, he quickly drew his dagger to attack the Vine.

"Rupture!" He cried out, stabbing the Bloodthirsty Vine with the dagger in his right hand and causing a loud, sharp burst of energy. It was a trick of his: a strengthened Level 2 skill with considerable damage… but he was left dumbfounded after his eyes focused again following that strike—Rupture, which had worked every time in previous PK only dealt [-21] damage to the Bloodthirsty Vine's astonishingly high 230 HP. He would have to attack over a dozen more times to break it, and he could not help feeling that he had run into a wall right then. What manner of a Vine spell was that?!

Naturally, he didn't know that Nie Fan's Bloodthirsty Vine was Level 6. After all, no ordinary players at the current phase of the game could even fathom the concept of a Level 6 skill!

Thud. With another lashing from the Bloodthirsty Vine, the Thief dropped to the dirt.

Meanwhile, the other Thief panicked for a moment after realizing that his partner had been killed, but he soon lunged at Nie Fan at top speed.

Still in Cheetahmorph, Nie Fan rapidly retreated. His movement was a lot faster than that Thief in that state. At the same time, he had managed to cast Black Oil with a lift of his right paw, drenching the Thief with the dark grease overhead and all over his face.

"What is this!?" Irritated, the Thief tried to brush the grease away but to no effect, and the black goo was so utterly disgusting.

There were rarely any Druids who would choose to major in Plant-type with only two Talents to choose from, just as there were rarely any Druids who would pick a skill like Black Oil. Taking that into account, Black Oil was a rare skill and the Thief would not have any defense against such a niche skill, and could not think of any solution at once.

However, while Nie Fan was about to cast Mini Fireball, he suddenly sensed the cold glint of a dagger cutting down at the back of his head.

There's one more!?

Nie Fan's eyes tightened and he canceled his Mini Fireball casting while he rolled off to his side.

Whoosh!

The sharp dagger cut past the side of Nie Fan's face, drawing blood and splattering it everywhere.

A damage value above seventy popped up over Nie Fan's head. Such a high attack value!

With the Thief's powerful attack stat and the fact that Nie Fan had lowered defense in Cheetahmorph, the Thief shredded off almost a third of Nie Fan's HP with one hit.

In fact, it was fortunate that he had stats buff from the Ring of Fate, or that one strike would have halved his HP instead!

After Nie Fan finding his feet on the ground, the Thief relentlessly pressed towards him, brandishing his dagger as he lunged, this time aiming for Nie Fan's throat.

That was fast!

With the corner of his eye, Nie Fan saw what the Thief looked like: it was a man over thirty years old, armed with Level 20 items from head to toe with at least three being Copper-grade or better!

There were three men pursuing him, not two! But realizing that now was already too late!