The Great Thief

“Hey, Great Guru, how many chances do you think I have?” Half a Smoke asked as he walked up to greet them.

“Probably none,” Lu Li answered. He couldn’t just pretend he didn’t hear it even though he wanted to end the battle quickly.

“Great Guru, surely you’re being too confident. I have killed Blood Dagger before; this fight will be different.”

Half a Smoke was obviously not convinced; he felt like he was being looked down upon. Recently, playing against Thieves in the arena had been easy for him. In the minds of most players, Blood Dagger was someone who was comparable to Lu Li.

“I think Blood Dagger should thank you,” Lu Li dismissed him.

“Why?” Half a Smoke asked.

“Because you were his practice dummy. If you fought him again, you probably would have no chance of beating him.”

Lu Li was sympathetic towards Blood Dagger. It was quite possible that Blood Dagger had gone to the arena after the System Update to adapt to the nerfed Stealth. When he came across Half a Smoke, he would have decided to use that opportunity to practice.

He might have lost in the process of getting used to it, but once he was used to it, the nerf would no longer affect him.

Lu Li was the same. He couldn’t beat Moonlight and even Kitty Likes Meat had killed him once. However, once he had adapted to the new Stealth, he quickly regained his old techniques again.

Although the nerfs would still have an impact, they wouldn’t be as exaggerated as Half a Smoke had imagined.

“Now, Lu Li has entered Stealth and Half a Smoke is trying to catch him. After the last System Update, Stealth has been nerfed, so let’s see if Half a Smoke can take the initiative on this attack. As everyone knows, getting the first attack on a Thief has a significant impact on the result of the fight,” Jiu Feng commented.

“Not at all,” Four Seas Dragon sighed.

Sure enough, just as he spoke, Half a Smoke was successfully hit by Lu Li’s Cheap Shot. He obviously had no intention of giving Lu Li any chances and immediately use Ice Block. In a competition like this, it was a matter of taking every advantage. Even if Half a Smoke lost, he had to make it as difficult as possible for Lu Li so that the next fighter could have an advantage.

Lu Li couldn’t help but go back into Stealth and look for another opportunity.

The moment he stepped back, Half a Smoke broke out of the ice and frost covered the ground on which Lu Li was standing.

Although it seemed like Lu Li couldn’t defend against this, he had suddenly disappeared. He had cast his shoes’ special effect and appeared behind Half a Smoke, stunning him once again.

Half a Smoke cast his badge, followed by a Cone of Cold, blowing frost at Lu Li’s position once again.

This time, Lu Li didn’t retreat but attacked with Gouge through the Cone of Cold to stun Half a Smoke.

Both sides were playing very quickly, with their decisions being made almost instantaneously. Some of the ordinary viewers couldn’t even understand everything that was happening, but they knew that they were exchanging skills. Half a Smoke was obviously trying to force Lu Li to use up as many skills as possible.

Lu Li remained calm, willing to exchange skills for as long as Half a Smoke could cast them.

Half a Smoke obviously didn’t have as many tools to fight Lu Li with. In terms of crowd control, Lu Li’s effects vastly outnumbered what Half a Smoke had.

When the last crowd control effect was cast, it was naturally left to Lu Li now to deal with Half a Smoke.

“What just happened?” Jiu Feng was confused. It seemed like Half a Smoke had played in quite a self-defeating manner.

The frequent exchange of skills from the very beginning had caused him to lose all his crowd-control abilities. Now, he couldn’t help but allow Lu Li to attack him. As long as Lu Li’s crowd-control was uninterrupted, Half a Smoke would remain stunned and be unable to take any of Lu Li’s HP.

“He knew that he was going to lose, so he wanted to consume as many of Lu Li’s skills as possible, even if that means he can’t deal damage anymore,” Four Seas Dragon explained.

“Which strategy do you think is better” Jiu Feng asked.

“There isn’t any strategy that is particularly effective against someone like Lu Li, but if it was up to me, I would exchange skills whenever I can,” Four Seas Dragon said, siding with Half a Smoke. He paused for a second before adding, “If I’m not mistaken, Peerless City’s next player will be Deadly Gold Underpants…”

Half a Smoke finally found a window to fight back, but was soon crowd-controlled by Lu Li again.

The two fights that Lu Li had fought had come at a cost, but he was such a skilled player that he had dealt with his opponent without dropping below half HP.

“Half a Smoke has played quite well and has surpassed my expectations. It can now be seen that even Lu Li isn’t invincible,” Four Seas Dragon said.

“Lu Li still has half of his HP left,” Jiu Feng reminded him. It was likely that the rest of the audience wasn’t convinced by Four Seas Dragon’s words as well. Lu Li had dealt with his opponent and still had half-HP left. Anyone who could do that was generally seen as a very strong player.

“He has used Shadow Step, his Shadow Cloak’s effect, Sprint, his badge and a number of damage reduction skills. Most of his other ultimate skills had also been used as well. Unless Lu Li uses some skills that we haven’t seen before, he won’t have any firepower to fight his next opponent,” Four Seas Dragon said.

“Let’s take a look at the next player for Peerless City. Oh, it’s as you said – Deadly Gold Underpants. They obviously want to take advantage of this situation,” Jiu Feng laughed.

Deadly Gold Underpants was the best player for this situation. Warriors were already quite effective against Thieves, especially one that had used up most of their skills.

“If I was Lu Li, I would use some delaying tactics,” Four Seas Dragon said as they watched him Stealth away from Deadly Gold Underpants. It wasn’t that he was on Lu Li’s side, but as a commentator he wanted to arouse the audience’s emotions. The audience was obviously very attentive as to what would happen next.

“Surely, this is too cunning,” Jiufeng said.

“This is the nature of playing Thief. Do you expect them to fight players like Deadly Gold Underpants head on and win?” Four Seas Dragon responded.

“The arena is a bit smaller than usual. I don’t expect that Deadly Gold Underpants would be unable to catch Lu Li. Moreover, there is a time limit in the match. If Lu Li stays hidden for too long, the System will determine that to be a loss,” Jiufeng reasoned.

Lu Li certainly understood that he couldn’t expect to wait until his cooldowns refreshed.

However, he would be able to make a move when his skills were nearly available.

Unfortunately, this time it wouldn’t be so easy to overcome his opponent. Deadly Gold Underpants was in good form, and Lu Li wouldn’t have much of a chance in crowd-controlling him.

“The tides of the match seems to have turned. Lu Li now seems to be consuming the skills and effects of Deadly Gold Underpants. If he wants to catch the Thief, he now has to pay the price.”