Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World

“Follow me,” Nie Yan said, leading Xie Yao deeper into the cave. After a while, they arrived at a deep, narrow tunnel.

This tunnel could only fit two people side-by-side at most. Even turning around was cumbersome.

It was impossible for large monsters like the Flame Giant to fit inside.

After describing his plan to Xie Yao, Nie Yan said, “Wait here, I’ll go draw aggro.”

“Don’t Flame Giants have ranged magic? Can’t they attack us from inside the tunnel?” Xie Yao asked. Nie Yan’s plan didn’t seem feasible.

“You’re right. Flame Giants do have ranged magic. However, haven’t you noticed that this tunnel isn’t straight but winding? Their magic attacks won’t be able to hit us directly, so the damage will be greatly reduced. Even though we’ll be hit by the splash, as long you have more than 100 Fire Resistance, the damage will be negligible. That’s why I gave you so many Advanced Fire Resistance Potions,” Nie Yan explained. He was already clear on every aspect of his plan. Thanks to the curve in the tunnel, they could still hit the Flame Giants with magic going in a straight line at a distance of 30 meters. If they retreated back to a distance of 40 meters, the Flame Giant couldn’t attack them.

As long as Nie Yan and Xie Yao could tank the attacks, they could slowly whittle the Flame Giant to death. There were over 10 Flame Giant spawn points in the vicinity, more than enough for them to level up continuously.

Nie Yan already had everything planned out. Xie Yao had to admit that his words made a lot of sense as she suddenly came to an understanding.

“Then, I’ll wait for you to come back. Be careful,” Xie Yao said. She retreated into the tunnel.

Nie Yan smiled. He entered stealth and made his way over to the Flame Giant. As he drew closer, its silhouette gradually came into view. It was about 30 meters away. He raised his cavalry crossbow, took aim, and pulled the trigger.「Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!」Five bolts flew forward.

「Put! Put! Put!」All five bolts struck the Flame Giant.

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The Flame Giant roared out in pain. It locked onto Nie Yan and charged toward him.

“Success!” Nie Yan quickly put away his cavalry crossbow, then turned tail and fled.

After a while, under Nie Yan’s lead, the Flame Giant was brought to the narrow tunnel.

With a whoosh sound, a ray of holy light flew out of the tunnel entrance and struck the Flame Giant, exploding on impact.

Xie Yao started attacking while Nie Yan ducked into the tunnel. She brandished her staff non-stop, firing off one spell after another. Her gear was much better than Tang Yao’s. After all, she already had three pieces of Sub Legendary-grade equipment. The only thing she lacked was a fairy. She was superior to Tang Yao in terms of raw power but lost out in cast speed and mana recovery. Like this, the two were roughly neck and neck in damage.

Xie Yao’s spells were each dealing more than 1,600 damage to the Flame Giant. This was quite considerable.

Nie Yan checked the Flame Giant’s health, roughly 1,200,000. Its health recovery speed was also quite high. With Xie Yao’s damage output, killing it would take at least three hours.

“Keep attacking. Be vigilant. If the Flame Giant starts casting magic, quickly pull back and drink an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion,” Nie Yan said. He was closely watching every move of the Flame Giant.

The unending barrage of magic caused the Flame Giant to roar out in pain and thrash about ceaselessly. Its aggro shifted onto Xie Yao. However, due to the tunnel being too narrow, it had no way of squeezing inside. It stuck its thick arm into the tunnel and tried to grab Nie Yan and Xie Yao. However, they were out of its reach.

Nie Yan also took out his cavalry crossbow and started shooting at the Flame Giant. Although he didn’t hit nearly as hard as Xie Yao, every little bit of damage helped.

The Flame Giant attempted to widen the tunnel entrance. However, the best it could accomplish was breaking off a few rocks from the wall.

With a thunderous roar, the Flame Giant shook the entire tunnel.

None of the Flame Giant’s actions influenced Xie Yao. She was still firing out an endless barrage of spells.

As the spells struck the Flame Giant one after another, it finally became enraged. It opened its mouth and fired off a beam of flames into the tunnel.

“Pull back! Drink the Advanced Fire Resistance Potion!” Nie Yan anxiously called out as he swiftly retreated back.

Xie Yao drank an Advanced Fire Resistance Potion while retreating back.

As the two retreated 10 meters, the surging flames swept over them before disappearing.

−2,382, −2,762

Nie Yan and Xie Yao instantly lost a large chunk of their health.

The Flame Giant’s flame jet greatly diminished in power after travelling through the cave, only dealing 30% damage when it hit Nie Yan and Xie Yao. This was even further reduced by their high Fire Resistance. As such, they survived the attack.

Nie Yan patched Xie Yao up with a Combat Bandage while drinking a Health Recovery Potion himself. Their health gradually restored back to full.

Xie Yao walked back up and continued firing spells at the Flame Giant.

Time gradually passed. After about two hours, Xie Yao and Nie Yan finally brought the Flame Giant’s health down to zero. It let out a mournful cry and collapsed on the ground, transforming into a charred pile of rubble.

Nie Yan checked his experience bar. It had risen by about 30%. As a demon beast from the Underworld, the Flame Giant gave a fairly generous amount of experience. Furthermore, the demon beast subjugation quest would give an equivalent amount of experience as reward. Like this, players hunting around the Hilton Stronghold were effectively earning double experience.

Since Xie Yao’s level was relatively low, she instantly levelled up after killing the Flame Giant.

Nie Yan picked up the loot dropped by the Flame Giant. He obtained a Level 80 Dark Gold-grade fire staff with decent properties.

“Let’s go open that chest now,” Nie Yan said. He and Xie Yao headed to the location where they found the chest.

After a while, the two arrived at the place with the Firestone deposits. The chest was right there.

The Firestones were burning brightly with red flames jumping about.

After approaching the Firestones, Nie Yan felt a scorching wave of heat assault him. His face, hands, and any other body parts with exposed skin turned bright red.

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Nie Yan was taking fire damage! He didn’t expect the fire elements in these Firestone deposits to be so concentrated. His gaze focused on the chest. It was red hot, resembling an ingot that had just been taken out of the furnace. A phoenix was carved into the side of chest. It was vivid and lifelike, like a spirit dancing in the flames. This engraving dated back to the Era of Shared Governance. The phoenix represented rebirth through fire, a totemic beast that Fire Mages worshipped. Among all creatures, phoenixes were apex existences on the same level as dragons.

Nie Yan suddenly heard the faint cry of a phoenix. It seemed illusory, but the sound had clearly entered his ears.

Nie Yan’s mind trembled.. His judgement earlier was wrong. This wasn’t a Dark Gold-grade chest. It was clearly a Sub Legendary-grade chest!

“Nie Yan, is this a Sub Legendary-grade chest?” Xie Yao asked. Before she also believed it was only Dark Gold-grade. However, the illusion of the phoenix cry just now changed her mind. She didn’t expect to encounter such a rare chest here of all places. Pinching her arm, she checked whether she was dreaming.

“I think so, I’ll try opening it,” Nie Yan replied. He approached the chest. The closer he got, the more intense the heat became. The damage he was taking every second increased to 500. Just as it looked like he was about to die, he quickly pulled back to safety and drank an Intermediate Health Potion.

The temperature around the chest was too high. Nie Yan had no way of opening the chest. Just approaching the chest had almost killed him. Even 100 Fire Resistance couldn’t protect him. He might instantly go up in flames and die by simply touching the chest, let alone trying to unlock it.

“Xie Yao, can you pass me the Kiln Fire Heart?” In this kind of situation, the Kiln Fire Heart was perfect.

“Alright.” Xie Yao unequipped the Kiln Fire Heart and handed it over to Nie Yan.

Nie Yan equipped the Kiln Fire Heart. Looking at his skill bar, he activated the Kiln Fire skill, making him immune to all fire damage. He then quickly went over to open the chest.

After activating Kiln Fire, Nie Yan no longer felt the pain of the searing heat. It was as if his entire body was covered in a protective film.

Without an item like the Kiln Fire Heart, opening this chest would truly be an ordeal.

Nie Yan couldn’t help but wonder who had opened this chest in the previous timeline and what sort of loot they found inside.

Nie Yan furrowed his brows after inspecting the chest. This was bizarre. The lock was extremely high level. He had no way of opening it with his current Lockpicking skill.

This was only a Level 80 map. Why would such a high level chest appear here?

Nie Yan suddenly had a thought. Did this chest belong to some sort of special quest, and only those with a special key could open it?