The Great Thief

Fortunately, Lu Li was prepared and had asked everyone to bring Advanced Antidotes. Otherwise, they were bound to lose members when they were surrounded by the Poison Clouds of the Poison Fang Druids.

“The mobs are already level 22; what level will the Boss be?” Azure Sea Breeze was no longer thinking about how higher-levelled monsters would give him more EXP.

“You’ll know when you see it.” Lu Li didn’t want to scare him.

The level range in the Howling Caves was quite wide – monsters were anywhere between level 15 and level 25. This was before considering the eight Bosses as well. For a player, this was simply a nightmare.

Even up until level 30, there were many players who remained stuck on the last three Bosses.

Lu Li actually had no faith in their ability to defeat the last three Bosses. In his previous life, he had been level 25 when he reached the Howling Caves, but he was also with two other level 30 players.

The two players didn’t help him out because of their kindness – it was so that the Boss would continue to drop its normal items.

If the level gap was too wide, the Boss wouldn’t drop as many items.

However, even with such a strong lineup, they still fought until they were within an inch of death when they were facing the sixth Boss, Serpentis.

The later recounts of players detailing their experiences in this Instance Dungeon instilled a fear for this Boss in those who heard them.

The general consensus was that there was no specific strategy to Serpentis. It was a true test of everyone’s equipment, skill and positioning.

But of course, the difficulty was proportional to the reward.

In the Elite and Difficult levels, only the last three Bosses would drop Silver Molds.

“Why are there so many mobs? How can anyone survive this?” Azure Sea Breeze was struggling to move, but he was unable to with the number of Poison Fang Druids that were attacking him.

These Magic Mobs weren’t capable of being pulled together either. They could only kill them one at a time.

“Try blocking them in,” Lu Li suggested.

Azure Sea Breeze scanned the terrain and reluctantly found a position in the corner where he was outside of their field of vision.

As the mobs couldn’t see him, they continued to move forwards and eventually got really close.

“Little sheep, I’ve been waiting for you.”

Azure Sea Breeze moved out of the corner and sent out a seismic wave while Lonesome Flower cast Blizzard onto the group.

This was a useful trick, but was usually useless in the virtual world as it required an enclosed space.

“Rice ball, go to the Exchange Hall if you’re free and see if you can find an AOE skill book,” Lu Li said then turned to Hachi Chan and continued, “You too. It doesn’t matter how much damage you do; a magic profession player is incompetent unless they have an AOE skill.”

“But they’re so expensive,” Hachi Chan protested bitterly.

Ever since she had started playing, she had only ever wanted to do quests. As such, she could be considered as a solo player. When there were too many mobs, she couldn’t fight them, but if there were too few, she wouldn’t need to use an AOE skill.

However, Sesame Rice Ball was more obedient and immediately nodded, “No problem. I’ll look into it.”

With this blocking technique, the group could clear out the mobs a little faster. Nevertheless, they still consumed their antidotes at roughly the same rate, which posed a problem for them.

“I’ll scout ahead.” Lu Li entered Stealth and explored the path ahead.

After some time, he returned.

“We don’t have to fight the mobs in here – I have plan for us to escape.”

Upon hearing that they didn’t need to fight anymore, everyone’s spirits were lifted.

The Poison Fang Druids gave quite a bit of EXP, but they were too hard to fight and there were too many of them. It was a task as difficult as fighting the Boss itself.

“The Main Tank will need to activate their damage reduction skills and rush forwards. You all need to listen to my instructions… you have to okay?” Lu Li anxiously looked at Remnant Dream and Hachi chan before saying, “Do you dare to jump over a ditch?”

“Yes.” The two girls patted their chests to assure him.

Azure Sea Breeze had quite a few damage reduction skills, and his shield also provided additional damage reduction if his HP fell below a certain threshold. As such, he bravely went ahead and drew aggro from all the mobs.

Lu Li went into Stealth and went ahead, while everyone else took a bottle of the Antidote and ran behind Azure Sea Breeze.

They made it through half of the cave after minute of walking, but Azure Sea Breeze’s damage reduction was about to finish. When everyone finally caught up to Lu Li, he said, “Ditch.”

“Lu Li, please. How can you call this a ditch?”

It was actually a ravine that was near the wall. It wasn’t very wide, but the players couldn’t see the bottom of it. Even Azure Sea Breeze felt his legs go soft when he saw it.

“You don’t jump first – hold off the mobs. Everyone else, jump quickly,” Lu Li said, ignoring him.

“Can I say no?” Hachi Chan and Remnant Dream were both shaking.

“Quickly, just close your eyes and jump. Watch me.”

Lu Li didn’t sprint, but simply jumped and reached the other side.

“I’ll go first. I’ll go first,” Sakura Memories volunteered.

The ravine wasn’t actually that wide. Sakura Memories jumped back and forth a few times.

After seeing a girl do it, the boys had to follow suit, as they didn’t want to appear timid. Wandering, Sesame Rice Ball and the others all jumped across, one after the other.

March Chan gritted her teeth and rushed across with her eyes closed.

This gave Lu Li a fright – she had almost fallen down. When he had told them to close their eyes and jump, he had done so out of desperation. He didn’t mean for them to actually do it.

Luckily she jumped from the right spot and made it, despite the scare.

“Quickly, you two old ladies. If you don’t jump soon, I won’t be able to hold them off for much longer.” Azure Sea Breeze was at 20% HP, which triggered his Shield’s damage reduction effect.

“Dreamy, you first. I’ll follow you,” Hachi Chan encouraged.

Remnant Dream was scared as well. She sprinted for a few steps, but planted her feet into the ground when she reached the edge of the ravine. Her momentum almost tossed her into the depths below.

“If you don’t want to jump, then just die on that side. After the monsters leave, we’ll get March Rain to revive you.” Lu Li didn’t have any more ideas, but he couldn’t let Azure Sea Breeze die.

“No, don’t leave us behind.” Once she heard that they were going to be left to fend for themselves, Hachi Chan was suddenly prompted to action.

It was easy to convince someone in a virtual game that something was real.

Azure Sea Breeze quickly downed an Intermediate Health Potion while March Rain healed him from the other side of the ravine. The two girls were taking their time, but eventually took the leap of faith.

Remnant Dream had already been scared once, so she didn’t want lead again. This time, it was Hachi Chan going first, and after a sprinting for a few steps, she jumped furiously.

“Ahh!”

Girl, don’t scream first – you jumped a little too high.

If she kept going… she was definitely going to fall in.

If she fell from this height, who knew what kind of mental toll that would have? Lu Li sighed before using his Cloak’s effect and appearing behind Hachi Chan.

Party members couldn’t attack each other, but he could still push her.

Bang! Hachi Chan hit the other side of the ravine.

The person who was falling had now become Lu Li. While everyone felt touched by his sacrifice, he activated his glove’s effect on Azure Sea Breeze – Sudden Thrust.

He then immediately appeared back on the top.

“So cool!” Remnant Dream exclaimed as she clapped.

“Alright, it’s your turn,” Lu Li urged.

Time was ticking and when all of the mobs began to attack Azure Sea Breeze, he wouldn’t be able to tank them, even if he was receiving healing.

“Will you help me?”

“Of course,” assured Lu Li.

“I’ll be jumping then.”

Like Hachi Chan, she sprinted for a few steps, shut her eyes and jumped over with great vigor when she reached the edge of the ravine.

By the time she had opened her eyes, she was already safe and sound on the other side.

Lu Li and Azure Sea Breeze looked at each other for a moment before jumping over together.

The width was actually quite small. It was just that the perceived depth of the ravine applied an immense amount of psychological pressure.

Before long, the game company would change this part of the Instance Dungeon. They would reduce the width of the ravine and also add a foggy effect so it didn’t appear so deep.