The Great Thief

Ruling Sword’s advance didn’t last for too long.

The Horde simply added some reinforcements which solved their problem. They easily killed many players with their turrets and Ruling Sword’s morale dropped by quite a bit.

”This isn’t working.” Square Root 3 could feel his heart aching.

It felt good to have the Horde forced up against their wall, but too many of their players had died. Most importantly, you couldn’t pick up the equipment that you dropped. They were giving items away for free.

”Play it safe. I’ll try to come up with something.”

Lu Li didn’t fly too close to the Gorgrom Camp; the turrets were too strong.

Although most people wouldn’t be bored enough to aim a turret at a crow, their eyes were quite sharp. What if they realized he was a player? He would die in one shot.

Ruling Sword had lost their advantage after their attack wave was successfully defended, so Square Root 3 informed all group leaders to tighten their defense line. The twelve groups sent out to attack dropped down to five.

”Haha, talk more. Why aren’t you guys coming anymore?” On the walls, the Horde players were taunting their attackers.

”Ruling Sword, you guys came to give us your equipment, right? I’ve picked up a weapon. Who dropped it? If you call me grandpa I’ll give it back to you.”

All sorts of spiteful words were hurled towards the Alliance. The Horde players instantly felt better about their previous defeat.

The commander on the Northside thought that Ruling Sword was scared, so they sent out more Horde players. They didn’t like being on the defensive either.

Around 700 to 800 Horde players swarmed out from the North gate. Some jumped down from the walls; their landing didn’t deal much damage to them. Besides, there were a bunch of healers on the wall tossing out healing spells.

They grouped together with the Paladins and Berserkers at the front and ranged classes at the back, then charged towards Ruling Sword’s camp.

If they couldn’t make an advance, the others at the back will definitely support them.

These Horde players had wanted to make their move for a long time already. Ruling Sword had placed themselves in danger since there was no support behind them.

Lu Li didn’t participate in the defense. Even in this small corner, there were thousands of players battling. If he jumped down, he would simply be asking for death.

This battle was too hopeless, but he was the hope of the guild. He couldn’t jump in like other professional competitors and kill as many players as he wanted.

However, he had to do something – he was well and aware of the threat that the Gorgrom Camp posed.

The resistance army camp had been destroyed, so the other Alliance defenses had a reason to join in now, but Lu Li didn’t really place his hopes in this.

Most Alliance forces had their own responsibilities in different areas and usually wouldn’t leave. Those in the resistance army camp were Horde players, not the Horde faction itself. It was rare for NPCs to fight players – this only happened when they were attacked first and they had to fight back.

If the Alliance NPCs didn’t help them, they could only rely on Alliance players.

Although there were millions of Alliance players in Stranglethorn Vale, there were just as many in the Horde. They also had the geographical advantage and could afford to drag out the battle.

Lu Li thought for a while and felt like it wouldn’t be too hard for them to take down their frontline defense.

After all, players weren’t real soldiers. If a few thousand elite players gathered and focused their attacks on one area, it wouldn’t be too hard to make a breakthrough. Lu Li had seen many of these instances in his life; this was quite a popular tactic.

But what would happen after they made a breakthrough? He couldn’t possibly hope for these players to stand their ground and kill Aggro’Gosh or Mok’Thardin.

Hence, Lu Li gave up trying to slaughter the Gorgrom Camp.

To be fair, if they did make a breakthrough, it would make Ruling Sword look good. However, they would have to do this in the face of the great advantage that the Horde players have.

They couldn’t afford to give time to the opposing expert players. Although Ruling Sword claimed to have 60,000 players, they didn’t have the qualities to stand up to their title. If they asked for reinforcements, they wouldn’t look as good.

After he filtered out all possibilities, Lu Li bitterly shook his head. What was he supposed to do – ask monsters for help?

Right, why didn’t he think of that earlier!?

Lu Li was so excited by the thought that he nearly dropped from the sky.

In this case, a reference to a Thief called Shadow Wind had to be made. He wasn’t the typical solo player, but after the incident, he became more famous than the celebrity players.

Apparently, on the day, Stranglethorn Vale was in good weather. Elevenless from Wings of Dawn brought groups of 600 men to take down a level 50 boss in the wild.

Based on how major guilds functioned, what they were about to do was normal.

At the time, Shadow Wind happened to be hanging around and had been cleared out from the area. He wasn’t impressed, and thought to himself, ”You do you – I’m not going to go over and cause trouble. Why did you clear me out? I’m a top player too; you can’t just take me out when you feel like it.”

Since he was upset, he used his technique to kill some players from Wings of Dawn.

Unfortunately, he ran into Elevenless. Although Elevenless often died to others, he was still a top-ten Warrior player. If he was in a good state, he could even make it into the top three. Elevenless killed Shadow Wind after he casted Gale Steps.

Shadow Wind was furious.

It was strange how he could kill others but would get mad when other players killed him. Most players were like this though, but this was besides the point.

More importantly, Shadow Wind had been in this area since he was level 15 and had stayed until he was level 50. He knew the map well – every blade of grass, every tree and every single monster. He even knew secrets that others did not.

He managed to lure out the Ogres from Mosh’Ogg.

These were a strong bunch who could compete against the Trolls. Although they were lesser in number, they were strong enough to fight against the Trolls, and even captured some for their meals.

They governed their surroundings and no one dared to intrude their territory. Even level 50 players didn’t want to catch their attention.

The giant army, led by their two bosses Mai’Zoth and Roloch, followed behind Shadow Wind. The group from Wings of Dawn had no way to fight against this and they all died.

Apparently, Gold and Silver equips were strewn all over the ground. A few players who heard of the news came and picked it all up.

As for Shadow Wind, he died in the situation too, but this didn’t stop him from being a legend. For months, Wings of Dawn members hunted him down.

Lu Li never really envied Shadow Wind – he was someone who did whatever he wanted and wasn’t the best role model for a professional gamer. He was envious of the average players who had picked up the dropped equipment.

As for the details of what happened with Shadow Wind and how he did it, this was eventually discovered by some other players. The system eventually fixed this bug in the patch after.