Chapter 27：Unexpected Failure

The Necromancer's pupils narrowed. He fixed his gaze on the withered bones of a skeleton soldier beside him.

Corpse Explosion!

The corpse of the skeleton soldier beside him exploded, and the shock wave swept across the area around it, devouring the Barbarian Warrior.

Nihility Hide!

The Necromancer morphed into a mass of black mist which scattered slowly, evading the havoc of the shock wave.

Corpse Explosion was a high-damage spell of a Necromancer after their class advancement at level 30. It could inflict more than 3,000 points of damage. However, the only flaw of this skill was that it was indiscriminatory. Fortunately, the Necromancer had a life-saving escape skill, Nihility Hide. With that, he managed to avoid being hit by the Corpse Explosion, but the Barbarian Warrior did not have such luck.

The Barbarian Warrior's vision blackened as he fell to the ground. The Corpse Explosion had killed him.

His carelessness had cost him dearly! If the Barbarian Warrior had not underestimated his opponent, the Necromancer would not have the chance to kill him.

The Necromancer had disappeared to some unknown place. The surroundings were now empty save for the three bodies.

'The spoils are unclaimed!' Xiao Ling's heart gave a leap. These were bodies of level 40 players! Any single item they dropped would be a great treasure for a player at Xiao Ling's level.

Xiao Ling looked toward the Barbarian Warrior's corpse. There seemed to be something gleaming on the forest floor. It resembled a dagger. Its lower half was of a dark golden sheen, luxurious and exquisite. It was about an inch long, and its blade gleamed dark blue. It was lying silently under the Barbarian Warrior's body.

He was sure that the items on the Barbarian Warrior would not be cheap. It would at least be Rare. Otherwise, the Barbarian Warrior would not have carried it around.

Xiao Ling walked out from his hiding place. His guts told him that the Necromancer had not gone far. He had to exercise utmost caution.

The lure of the item was so strong that Xiao Ling ran over to the dagger. He could see it clearly now. Mechanical Alchemists had a special eye for the grades of metallic items. With a single take, Xiao Ling could tell that this dagger's grade was not too shabby. Judging from the exquisiteness of the workmanship, it might even be an Epic.

A cold wind blew. The atmosphere was slightly eerie.

A faint black mist floated across the edge of the forest. It gathered and scattered, scattered and gathered. Xiao Ling felt a chill at the back of his head. He had the feeling that he was being watched.

The black mist at the edge of the forest began condensing slowly into a humanoid form. There was a limitation to Nihility Hide—the caster's movements would become extremely slow under the Nihility condition. Also, as it could only be maintained for 30 seconds, there was no way for the caster to travel far. In other words, the Necromancer had been keeping an eye on Xiao Ling.

The Necromancer regained his original form and fixed Xiao Ling with his cold glare. A black mass of light appeared on his palm. He was preparing to cast a spell.

Xiao Ling cursed inwardly. He lowered his head to look at the dagger. It was only a few steps away now. A level 40 Necromancer could kill him with any random spell. Should he run away or take the treasure?

'F*ck it. Humans will die for riches, just as birds will for food.' Xiao Ling ran forward, picked up the dagger, and stuffed it into his rucksack.

"Die, you level 8 garbage!" When the Necromancer saw Xiao Ling taking the dagger from the ground, he was infuriated. He was the one who'd killed the Barbarian Warrior. The Necromancer had already regarded the items dropped by the Barbarian Warrior as his own. He would not allow anybody else to snatch it away from him. When he saw Xiao Ling harvest it hurriedly before he could do anything, he was completely livid.

The black ball of light shot from the Necromancer's hand and drew a perfect arc in the air. It bore down toward Xiao Ling, who had nowhere to run from the Necromancer's attack.

Xiao Ling's vision blackened when the black ball of light hit him. The glaring black light made Xiao Ling lose his sight momentarily.

With a bang, Xiao Ling staggered backward. Surprisingly, he was still alive!

Xiao Ling saw that he had taken more than 100 points of damage. The Necromancer's spell had only nicked one-third of his health bar. Xiao Ling was shocked. 'A level 40 Necromancer didn't take me out with a single hit? This is unbelievable!'

Perhaps the Necromancer was currently in a weakened state? It might be the debilitating effect caused by the Nihility state! Also, after a battle with the Barbarian Warrior, he could not have much of his health left!

Xiao Ling's eyelid jumped. Should he choose to fight or flight? Xiao Ling had a strange idea. Perhaps he could defeat this Necromancer! The thought exhilarated him. Even if there was only a 1% chance of victory, there was no reason for him not to take it.

Corruption!

Shadow Bolt!

The black Shadow Bolt streaked toward the Necromancer with a bang, and inflicted 20 points of damage onto the Necromancer. Even in his debilitated state, Xiao Ling's spell could only deal about 10 points of damage to the Necromancer.

After his fight with the Barbarian Warrior, the Necromancer was only left with 3% of his health points, which amounted to 60 points. Xiao Ling took 20 from him, and he was now left with 40 points.

After taking the hit from the Shadow Bolt, the Necromancer was slightly stunned. He'd never thought of fighting Xiao Ling. He merely wanted to scare him away. A level 8 warlock was now facing a level 40 Necromancer; did this kid have a death wish? Even though he was debilitated, did the level 8 warlock think that he could actually defeat him?

Searing Pain!

A jolt of pain as if he was being burned pulled the Necromancer back to the present. Was Searing Pain not a Destruction Warlock's spell? Was Corruption not an Affliction Warlock's spell? He had to be seeing things.

Looking at his dwindling health bar, the Necromancer pushed all thoughts of retaliating out of his mind. He hastily fished a Journeyman rank health potion from his bag.

If he could only drink this potion, Xiao Ling would have no chance of winning!

Arcane Spell!

A gray-white ball of light streaked toward the Necromancer. Xiao Ling sped toward the Necromancer and got within five paces of him.

Force Blast!

With a bang, the sweeping force collided with the Necromancer's body. The Necromancer lost what was left of his health points. His expression was still incredulous as his eyes lost their focus. His body fell limply onto the ground.

Perhaps even at the point of his death, he could not believe that he could die under the hands of a level 8 warlock. Even with only 60 health points and weakened, a level 40 player of any class could have easily crushed a level 8 warlock. However, he had lost all the same!

The spells of warlocks were unlike the spells of the other classes. Warlocks specialized in soul and their spells could be fired spontaneously, whereas the other spellcasting classes needed time to prepare. However, due to their low affinity with the elements, they could only rely on the dark power they inherited from Terhida to battle. Hence, the dps of the warlocks' skills was much lower compared to that of the other classes. After all, they were only half-assed mages.

Perhaps the Necromancer could not wrap his mind around the fact that a single player had learned that many warlock skills. That, to him, was unbelievable.