The Great Thief

The Aresenal was a part of the Scarlet Monastery dungeon series. Herod sat alone in the Warrior Hall that was filled with sculptures and statues of past heroes.

Under the warm Southshore sun, Lu Li saw the cutscene of a youthful blonde boy walking by. The boy was so naïve and joyful; he too dreamed of becoming a hero when he grew up.

Little boys always wanted to impress their crushes. For Herod, his crush’s name was Sally Whitemane.

In the same year, a plague spread across Lordaeron. The Scarlet Crusaders and the Forgotten put away their differences and allied to fight against the Scourge.

The Scarlet Monastery base camp was left empty and was vulnerable because they needed the numbers to fend off the Scourge. Herod’s mentor contacted the Stormwind Capital to seek assistance and requested them to guard the Scarlet Monastery.

The Scarlet Crusaders were too focused on sacrificing their lives for justice and were unaware of the social-political situation. They were very desperate for help from Stormwind and as such, they let their guard down.

The Alterac kingdom fell and Dalleran was demolished, yet the Scarlet Crusaders were still determined to defend Lordaeron. This created the perfect opportunity for the Humans from Stormwind to betray their own allies.

The Stormwind troops advanced towards the border and they drew swords against their own alliance.

The Scarlet Crusaders led by Herod were determined to defend their land with their lives, against the invaders who outnumbered them by many.

The battle was fierce and many Crusaders fell. They fought hard and every warrior made sure to bring down as many enemies as possible before being going down. It was very easy for the players to sympathize with the Crusaders. They were defending the only land in their kingdom as well as the citizens, who were mostly the young, the old and the injured. They had nowhere else to retreat to and all they had left was their courage and their lives!

Herod and his troops suffered many injuries and casualties. They held back the Stormwind troops and bought enough time for the returning troops for backup, managing to fend off all of the Stormwind Royal Army.

From that day onwards, Scarlet Crusaders swore to never ally with Stormwind again.

Herod was crowned as the Champion of the Scarlet Crusade.

During that very battle, he was struck deep by an axe into his left chest. The wound was so deep that it almost exposed his heart. He became paralysed on the left side of his body and was unable to wear his armor, let alone pick up heavy weapons with his left arm.

If players observed closely, they could tell that he was a Berserker and held a one-handed axe in his right hand which corresponded to his lore.

Herod sat in the Warrior Hall quietly, guarding the most sacred building of the Scarlet Crusaders. He was accompanied by statues of brave warriors that had fought alongside him during the battle against the Scourge.

When the heavy wooden door to the Warrior Hall was opened, Herod turned to face his enemies. His eyes were lit with the same fiery red passion that he always had.

In reality, Herod was a simple warrior and had nothing to do with the wars, the betrayal and the suffering of his people. He was just a man who wanted to uphold the Scarlet Crusade and bring peace to his people.

”I’ve been waiting for a real challenge.” Herod swung his battle axe and charged towards them before Azure Sea Breeze had the chance to taunt him.

Azure Sea Breeze held up his shield and was struck by Herod’s Whirlwind, receiving 460 points of damage. Wandering was struck as well and received more than 200 points of damage.

Whirlwind was an AoE skill and every player in the affected area received damage.

”His Whirlwind is so much more powerful than all of yours,” Wandering mocked.

”No matter how good his technique is, he only has one arm. The damage isn’t very high,” Azure Sea Breeze said in defence, taking his insult personally. ”Besides, I’m a defence-oriented warrior. As long as I hold up my shield, I’m much more useful than you.”

Herod was relatively easy to deal with at the beginning of the fight as long as the main tank could block his damage. As such, Lu Li decided to narrate the lore of Herod.

”Why do I feel like… this guy is a very respectable man?” Azure Sea Breeze began to feel bad for trying to kill him.

Lu Li’s narration presented Herod as a passionate, strong-willed hero, typical of the main character in an anime or TV show.

As a fellow Warrior, Herod’s lore really resonated with Azure Sea Breeze, who felt very emotional and became very respectful towards him. Moonlight, on the other hand, was a lot more calm and quiet. However, looking at Herod’s eyes and knowing that he was a man with such a respectable back story, Moonlight couldn’t help but develop a sense of admiration towards him.

”Oh no… are we the bad guys?” Hachi Chan wasn’t sure whether to be sad or happy.

”Don’t be stupid. Be careful not to get chopped in half.” Wandering was cold-hearted as per usual.

”Remember that the lore is made up by the developers. Don’t let your guard down; this is just like any other instance dungeon,” Lu Li said, realizing that he might have told them too much.

Unlike Doan, it was clear that Herod wasn’t very clever. He didn’t interact with the players and ignored the conversation between Lu Li and his teammates.

Some monsters interacted with players while others were just designed to be killed; it was all up to the System.

Some instance dungeons like the Scarlet Cathedral had bosses that were cleverer and could interact with players. These were often the main bosses and were usually harder to deal with.

”Careful, beware of his positive and negative Whirlwind,” Lu Li reminded after glancing at Herod’s HP.

”What’s positive and negative Whirlwind?” The two Warriors that could also use Whirlwind were confused. They had never heard of a ‘positive and negative’ whirlwind.

”Positive Whirlwind starts from the left and spins to the right. When this happens, everyone should run away except for the main tank. If anyone else is swept up in the positive whirlwind, it’ll be certain death. Remanent Dream and Hachi Chan, be extra careful. Make sure you follow March Rain throughout the whole fight,” Lu Li explained.

”What about negative Whirlwind?” Positive Whirlwind sounded similar to the normal Warrior Whirlwind, which dealt massive AoE damage and slowed enemies struck.

Negative Whirlwind must be quite different, otherwise they wouldn’t give it a different name.

”Negative Whirlwind starts from the right and spins to the left. If Herod casts negative Whirlwind, everyone must charge into the Whirlwind and share the damage. Otherwise, Azure Sea Breeze will die instantly. Negative Whirlwind deals more damage when there are less players struck and can instantly kill anyone if they’re in it alone.”

”Goddamn, that sounds very annoying.”

Everyone felt the pressure because this fight would test their teamwork as well as their individual judgement.

The Gaming Company was very troll. If it weren’t for Lu Li then they would have probably had to attempt the same dungeon several times because it was such a subtle detail.

”There’s a reason why no one has completed the First Clear for Scarlet Arsenal,” Lu Li said with a smile.

The earlier stages of the Scarlet Arsenal were annoying and difficult to figure out as well. Most guilds had a strategy team and eventually, someone would figure out how to defeat Herod.

When his HP dropped to 30%, Herod began spinning around with his axe. This was a unique technique developed by Herod himself; no other Warriors in Dawn had access to this skill.

Azure Sea Breeze began receiving heavy damage and had no other choice but to activate his damage reduction skills. Along with March Rain’s healing, he was able to keep himself alive.

Everyone scattered like rabbits to escape the Whirlwind. Hachi Chan and Remnant Dream followed closely behind March Rain.

Sakura Memories ran in the wrong direction and almost face-planted into the Whirlwind. Luckily, Moonlight stopped her in time. This was one of the benefits of having star players on your Instance Dungeon team – their quick reactions and ability to remain calm made everything much easier for Lu Li.

Herod used positive Whirlwind which meant everyone had to ditch Azure Sea Breeze.

No one doubted Lu Li and followed his orders accordingly.

Now understanding what they had to do, everyone made the correct judgement during the second Whirlwind.

Lu Li let out a sigh of relief because he knew that it would only be a matter of time for Herod to be killed.