The Great Thief

A Shaman without Bloodlust was more useless than a Berserker. Lu Li made the judgement call purely based on what was best for the team.

Although they had lost a DPS player, the Boss was already on low HP. As long as the core of the group survived, Lu Li was sure of their victory.

Other guilds may have attempted this reckless and head-on strategy. However, they would most likely have failed miserably because the Xin Xin Mercenary had the best tank and healer in Azure Sea Breeze and March Rain.

The formation and positioning of the group members also increased the risk of them being charged by more than two monsters. Most classes, except for defensive tanks, couldn’t survive more than two hits.

”Hachi Chan, come stand here!” Lu Li yelled.

”Oh ok.” Hachi Chan came running over and stood over the corpse of Sakura Memories.

”Stand here and heal the main tank. Do not move, no matter what. Do you understand?” Lu Li commanded, emphasizing the importance of this.

”But…” Hachi Chan had finally realised Lu Li’s plan and sobbed, ”You’re planning on using me as a sacrifice, aren’t you? Lu Li you’re a bad person.”

”Sacrifices must be made in order to achieve success. We will remember this, friend,” Lu Li consoled sarcastically.

When the next wave of monsters charged down from the hill, the Boss was on less than 13% HP. At this very moment, Antu’sul casted three abilities at once – Earthgrab Totem, Earth Shock and Healing Wave.

These chain skills changed the tempo of the fight completely; it was Antu’sul last ditch effort to defeat the intruders.

Lu Li immediately interrupted his healing wave without hesitation.

The Healing Wave of Antu’sul was a Shaman skill that was much stronger than the normal version.

Lu Li’s kick landed onto Antu’sul stomach and his skill was successfully interrupted. However, Earthgrab Totem and Earth Shock were both still unleashed.

Everyone was trapped by the Earth Grab Totem as the monsters charged towards them.

They were lucky this time because only four had spawned.

Lu Li had to be in melee range to interrupt the Healing Wave, so he was rooted in place near the Boss. Unfortunately, two monsters targeted him.

Lu Li was furious. First, he was hit with four, and now he had to face two more. He didn’t have any damage reduction skills off cooldown because they had all been used up in his last encounter. Besides a 300HP heal from his chest piece, Gale Steps and his Ring’s actives were both on cooldown.

Lu Li’s current HP was at 2981, so even with an additional 300 HP, he wouldn’t have enough to tank 120% damage. It was certain death!

Lu Li saw that there was only one monster that was targeted onto Hachi Chan.

This must have been the System’s way of punishing him for using Hachi Chan as a sacrifice.

It was extremely unfortunate that he had been charged by so many monsters.

There were four monsters and six players, so the chances of two monsters targeting him was extremely low.

Lu Li could already imagine Hachi Chan’s face when she started mocking him.

Moonlight was the one that saved him in clutch moments like these. Even though Moonlight was quite a shy and quiet guy, he displayed his loyalty and friendship with Lu Li by tanking the second hit.

Everybody survived!

”We’re so close to victory! Everybody burst the boss down with all you’ve got,” Lu Li said as he used up all sorts of curses, skills and actives in order to finish off the Boss.

The Boss went berserk and Azure Sea Breeze lost almost half of his HP from one hit.

”You piece of crap – I bet you want me to die at the very end so that I miss out on the EXP! In your dreams!” Azure Sea Breeze seemed to have held onto his damage reduction skills until the very end and was able to survive for a very long time.

4%.... 3%...

What?! Eight monsters spawned?!

It didn’t matter anymore. Lu Li yelled with all his heart, ”Ignore the monsters and burst the Boss! Everyone DPS the boss!”

Three seconds were all that was needed to finish off the last 2% of the Boss’ HP. Lu Li even casted a 96% Skill Completion Backhanded Backstab.

He had never hit such a hit Skill Completion, not even with his favorite skill, Ambush. When the 1600 damage value popped up, everyone was shocked and speechless.

Even though Lu Li was the same level as the Boss, it was still incredible that he was able to deal six times his usual damage.

If his teammates didn’t know any better, they would’ve reported him for hacking.

Most players that could deal triple their normal DPS would be bragging endlessly to their friends.

The reason why he was able to deal such an absurd amount of damage was due to the combination of a high Skill Completion as well as critical strike.

Usually, the higher the Skill Completion, the lower the chances of a critical hit. This had been implemented in order to decrease the gap between a casual player and an expert player.

The gaming company was trying to make a game that was friendly to all players.

Top level players could increase their Skill Completion rate in order to deal double, or even triple their usual damage. However, casual players didn’t have the time and resources to do the same.

This would create an even large gap between the casual and pro players, thus discouraging them to continue playing.

Every game required casual players because they were the people that kept the game going.

Without casual players, the game would eventually die off. As such, critical strike and skill completion were carefully balanced during Dawn’s development.

For example, if Lu Li casted a 93% Completion Shadowstrike, it would deal around 210% skill damage. If a casual player was to critically hit a monster, they would also deal around the same damage.

Although high Skill Completion meant a lower critical chance, it was still very possible. This was exactly what happened with Lu Li’s Backhanded Backstab.

Themonsters on the hill vanished into thin air as Antu’sul was defeated.