The Great Thief

With their numbers, they soon cleared their way towards the captain. There were already hundreds of corpses left around Lost Rigger Cove, and they managed picked up some good equipment and materials along the way.

These elite monsters dropped Silver grade equips; it was no wonder why people said that pirates were rich.

Unfortunately, these were all level 35 to level 40 equips, so nobody was able to currently use them.

”Don’t go any further; we don’t know the range of the boss. Everyone, step back. Go around and clear the monsters from the other side; I’ll get closer to test his range,” Lu Li instructed.

Based on game settings, every boss had a range. Under normal circumstances, a Boss wouldn’t attack you as long as you didn’t step into its range, even if it saw you or if you were killing its underlings.

To make the task of clearing monsters easier, it was a general rule of thumb to send someone to test the range of a Boss beforehand.

At this level, any classes besides defense classes would probably be instantly killed by the Boss.

However, Lu Li didn’t delegate this task to someone else. He could if he wanted to; most commanders won’t risk their own lives.

Lu Li slowly approached the captain.

As the distance between them shrunk, Andre Firebeard became more and more visible. He began to turn his vision in Lu Li’s direction. Finally, he yelled and raised his foot to charge towards Lu Li.

Lu Li had been keeping a close eye on the situation, and as soon as the boss saw him, he began preparing himself.

The moment Andre Firebeard charged over, Lu Li used his Gale Steps. Not only did he gain Stealth, but he also gained a movement speed increased. The boss unwillingly stopped his footsteps and cursed as he returned to his original spot.

If the distance was far enough, the Stealth effect of a Thief would cancel the aggro from a Boss. Lu Li also used his movement speed buff as an extra precaution.

He didn’t use the special effect on his boots. Since the effect was random, there was the probability of teleporting him forwards. That wouldn’t be running away – that would be committing suicide.

”We’re in the wild, so even if you are resurrected, you will still lose experience. I’m hoping that everyone will stay focused. Even if you have a death wish, don’t drag others with you. The safety distance is 36 yards. Everyone keep out of the 40-yard range. Anyone who attracts monsters before I start the fight will have 30 points taken off them. Three mistakes and you’ll be kicked out of the team as a substitute.”

Lu Li’s style as a commander was straightforward, but also forceful.

He didn’t think that he was the best commander, so if players under him were to fool around, there would be no hope for their victory.

Deaths in the wild came with a 10% experience loss, but resurrection within a certain amount of time could reduce this penalty by half. However, if they couldn’t wait until the healers left battle and had time, they would have to lose 10%.

Lu Li’s 10% was equivalent to one or two days’ worth of work.

Monsters within forty yards of Captain Andre Firebeard were cleared. The total number of these monsters was more than two thousand; only a guild would be able to clear out this many.

Of course, these monsters would refresh, so Lu Li instructed two teams of ten to be in charge of clearing them.

There were some monsters that remained within the 40-yard radius of the boss. Since these were within the aggro range, they would have to wait until the fight began to clear them out.

”Distribute the potions. Each captain should distribute the potions accordingly to their team members. Three minutes preparation time. After three minutes, everyone follow my command,” Lu Li said as he scanned around. His tone was stable, almost to the point that it was cold.

Square Root 3 finally confirmed that Lu Li was normal; he hadn’t lost control because of what happened to his sister.

”Azure Sea Breeze tank. Monsoon, heal the tank. Hachi Chan, you’re also looking after the health of Azure Sea Breeze. If the tank dies, you two will be in question. God of Destiny, you’re the second tank... March Rain look after the health of the melee players. Alright, elite team nine and ten, once Azure Sea Breeze holds onto the boss, clear the monsters.” Following Lu Li’s instructions, the first wild battle of Ruling Sword began.

”The Captain is level 45, and has 350,000 health points. His normal attacks deal around 600 points of damage to me,” Azure Sea Breeze said after he charged forward and the captain landed a blow on his head.

He was the main tank, so he needed to report the situation for his team members. This also made the situation easier for Lu Li to give instructions.

Just his normal attacks alone dealt around 600 points which was a surprising amount. Lu Li was a little confused – didn’t the thread claim that the captain was really weak and that he had died to a small guild?

He wasn’t thinking on the right path, so he forgot about the time.

The small guild had fought the boss a month later. At that time, the players mostly wore level 35 equips. Their level difference was also smaller, which made the fight much easier.

Lu Li also didn’t know about the exact details of the battle. The boss wasn’t an easy kill for the small guild, and only the guild would know how many players actually died in the fight.

”Darkness, go and heal Azure Sea Breeze. You two can make a combination; try not to over heal. Smoking Rain City, go and put down some mana totems for them…” Lu Li said, adjusting the distribution of the team.

Smoking Rain City was a Shaman form the elite team and his techniques were quite good.

He had come from the major guild Brotherhood, but what he had done to the executives of the guild remained unknown. After they entered Dawn, he secretly chose the Alliance Faction, standing on the opposite side of his previous contractor.

With two healer Paladins and a main tank, they were able to make it through the situation.

”Under my command...”

A shout appeared, but this command wasn’t from Lu Li. He was stunned, then saw the smoke that rose from the cannons of three ships.

”Damage reduction! Everyone use damage reduction!” Lu Li called out loudly.

This was a challenge of reaction time; not everyone made it in time to use their damage reduction skills.

The sound of cannons filled the air as shellfire rolled around and exploded everywhere on the shore. A sea of damage text arose, and at the one minute and forty second mark of the battle, the first players were killed.

Thirteen players died.

The damage was too much; Lu Li had to admit that he had underestimated the strength of this level 42 Boss.

Just this skill alone was enough to destroy most guilds. This wasn’t a Boss that a small guild would be able to fight. He warned himself again to forget the conclusion about the captain being a weak Boss.

Thirteen – there weren’t enough Druids to resurrect all of them.

Lu Li calmly instructed his injured team members to reposition themselves. The three warships had 24 cannons that were aimed towards this shore. As long as they positioned themselves away from consecutive shellfire damage, they would be able to effectively reduce their casualties.

A single cannon alone wasn’t enough to kill a player instantly. Players with good game sense and technique would even be able to dodge the damage of the cannons.

”Stay concentrated – I don’t want this situation to happen again. Their deaths were pointless and they lost 10% experience too. Since this was the first time, those who died can still participate to receive points. The next time this situation happens, points will be deducted by half,” Lu Li mercilessly said in the guild channel.

Ruling Sword was aiming for the first kill of Captain Andre Firebeard and the battle was intense.

The other guilds, especially the major guilds, eventually received this information. Perhaps even before Lu Li talked about this event, some elite team members had already sent the information out.