These spiders kept moving around the fork, constantly shifting positions.
Nie Yan patiently waited for an opportunity. About half a minute later, the rock spiders began moving inward, and one rock spider near Nie Yan's side got separated from the group.
Nie Yan's eyes lit up. Now's my chance. He raised his crossbow, aimed at that rock spider, and fired.
The rock spider took the hit and charged straight toward Nie Yan.
No other rock spiders followed. Nie Yan stepped forward and killed the rock spider.
The rock spider dropped a level 5 white-quality dark leather armor for thieves.
No matter the class, equipment drop rates were extremely low, keeping prices sky-high. This level 5 white leather armor, if auctioned on the market, could sell for at least six or seven copper coins.
Nie Yan tossed the dark leather armor into his backpack and continued waiting for an opportunity.
After five or six minutes, Nie Yan lured out three rock spiders and killed them. He counted and saw there were only twelve rock spiders left at the fork.
These twelve spiders were a bit too close together.
Nie Yan looked around for a long time but couldn't find a good spot to strike.
"Still a bit off. It's too risky. Forget it."
Nie Yan raised his crossbow again, and three bolts shot out.
-5, -5, -5. The three bolts struck a rock spider, which screeched strangely and charged forward, with another spider following closely behind.
"I've pulled two." Nie Yan's heart tightened. He quickly retreated to a narrow area in the cave where two rock spiders couldn't pass through side by side.
Nie Yan drew his dagger and engaged the faster rock spider head-on, thrusting repeatedly.
The rock spider kept lunging at Nie Yan, damage numbers floating up from above his head.
92%，87%，72%……
Nie Yan carefully controlled his positioning so that only the front rock spider could attack him, while the one behind could only screech in frustration.
Nie Yan landed a Vital Strike, killing one rock spider. He checked his health—still at 25%, not bad—and quickly backed away.
With the front rock spider dead, the one behind immediately gave chase.
Nie Yan retreated while using a combat bandage.
+20, +20, +20. Nie Yan's health ticked back up steadily.
The rock spider lunged repeatedly while Nie Yan dodged by jumping. Soon he was left with no way out—if he retreated further, there was another rock spider about five yards behind him. With no room to fall back, he raised his dagger and charged forward, his health having recovered to about 80%.
They clashed together. All of Nie Yan's skills were still on cooldown, so he could only land normal attacks.
Nie Yan jumped to dodge the rock spider's attacks while stabbing out with his dagger repeatedly.
Under the rock spider's ferocious assault, Nie Yan's health dropped rapidly, leaving only about 35%. The rock spider still had over eighty health points, his normal attacks dealing limited damage. A thief still had to rely on skills for output.
Thirty seconds passed.
The Assassinate skill cooldown finished, the Gouge skill cooldown finished, and the Vital Strike skill cooldown finished.
This was undoubtedly a blessing for Nie Yan.
The rock spider leaped and pounced over.
An opportunity had arrived！
Nie Yan's dagger slipped past the rock spider's leg, thrusting straight at its face, sinking it to the hilt before wrenching it open viciously. Thick green liquid gushed out.
Bang. The rock spider crashed into Nie Yan, and a damage value of -33 floated up from his head.
He glanced down at his health; it was down to 12%.
Danger！
Nie Yan pulled out a low-grade instant recovery potion and gulped it down, +30. His right-hand dagger struck with a Vital Strike, dealing 39 damage to the rock spider, and they brushed past each other.
The rock spider's body slammed into Nie Yan, knocking off another 35 health points.
Nie Yan quickly ran back.
The rock spider turned and chased after Nie Yan.
Nie Yan glanced at the rock spider's health—15 points—while he had only 9% left. Even a graze from the rock spider would kill him.
Nie Yan retreated swiftly; the rock spider gave relentless pursuit.
If they attacked at the same time, it would surely be a mutually destructive outcome.
-5, -5. Bleeding damage values floated up one by one from the rock spider's head.
The rock spider leaped high into the air, its front legs stabbing down toward Nie Yan.
Nie Yan rolled on the ground. With a boom, the rock spider's front legs plunged into the ground, gouging a deep crater in the rocky surface.
It was a close call; he was almost hit. Nie Yan broke out in a cold sweat.
－5。
The Rock Spider's health was drained by the bleeding effect, its body losing support and crashing to the ground.
System： You have gained 80 experience.
This Rock Spider was finally dead. Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief, propped himself up with his hands, and sat down beside the rock wall. His health began to recover slowly.
This Rock Spider didn't drop much. Using something as expensive as an Intermediate Combat Bandage on a normal mob like a Rock Spider was clearly not cost-effective.
After a moment, Nie Yan's health finally recovered to full. That had been too close. If he was going to pull aggro, he absolutely could not lure two Rock Spiders at once.
At the fork in the path, there were still ten Rock Spiders left, and the area was clearly much more open.
These ten Rock Spiders moved in groups of two or three, so Nie Yan had no real opportunity to strike.
"The path is so open here; I should be able to Stealth through." Nie Yan thought to himself. After learning the Stealth Enhancement skill, he should be able to get within about one yard of a Rock Spider without being detected.
Nie Yan's body slowly faded away, blending into the dark background as he crept forward.
30 degrees to the left, 3 yards away, there's one Rock Spider, moving toward the right-front. 60 degrees to the right-rear, 5 yards away, there are two Rock Spiders, moving toward the left-front.
Nie Yan observed the position of each Rock Spider and judged their movement paths.
Two Rock Spiders crawled past less than two yards from Nie Yan. He quickly stopped in his tracks. The two Rock Spiders didn't detect his presence and crawled slowly onward.
Nie Yan's eyes inadvertently swept across a corner of the rock wall. Among several rocks sat a chest, emitting a faint silvery-white glow.
Rocks blocked his view, and Nie Yan could only see a corner of the chest.
Wow, you were hiding deep.
It was actually a silver-grade chest. Nie Yan's heartbeat couldn't help but quicken a few beats.
The three rock spiders ahead suddenly stopped, looking around.
The three rock spiders' movements were like a bucket of cold water, quickly sobering Nie Yan up. It was still too early to get excited. His stealth time was limited, and he didn't have time to open the chest; he could only wait for the next chance.
Nie Yan held his breath.
The three rock spiders didn't find anything, crawling further and further away.
Nie Yan carefully weaved between the rock spiders, finally making it through this dangerous zone. He let out a sigh of relief. This kind of work really isn't meant for humans.
After walking ahead for a distance, he checked the coordinates. This was the exact spot.
“Tang Yao, where are you？” Nie Yan asked.
A figure slowly emerged from the shadows nearby. This guy had been hiding in some corner somewhere and finally crawled out, covered in a lot of grime.
“Nice, you were hiding deep.” Nie Yan chuckled.
Tang Yao brushed the dust off his clothes and said gloomily, “Don't even mention it. There are so many rock spiders over there. How did you get here？”
“Stealth,” Nie Yan said.
“That's even possible？” Tang Yao was stunned. There were so many rock spiders on that fork in the road—how could a thief possibly sneak through！ That seemed pretty tough.