The Great Thief

The next Boss was called Ebonroc.

This was another one of Nefarian’s experiments. While the previous three Bosses were similar, they also all had some differences.

A lethal attack to a Main Tank like Azure Sea Breeze would result in 3500 to 4000 of damage. Compared to the third Boss, Broodlord Lashlayer, its attack frequency was much faster.

The point where Ebonroc wasn’t comparable to Broodlord Lashlayer was that he was able to reduce healing effects while sustaining high damage at the same time.

This Boss also didn’t have deal compounded fire damage, but it had one more Debuff for the current target – Ebonroc’s Shadow.

Ebonrock’s Shadow was maintained for 8 seconds once in effect. During this time, the Main Tank who received this debuff would suffer fatal blows from the Boss. Each successful attack by it meant that it would recover 50 000 HP.

This effect was not easily dispelled, meaning that as long as Ebonroc had a chance, he could recover up to 100%, even if he only had 1% left.

It was precisely because of the existence of Ebonroc’s Shadow that this Boss fight had been dragged out for so long. This required a higher demand on the Main Tanks’ coordination. Once one of the Main Tanks received Ebonroc’s Shadow, the other had to immediately taunt the Boss over. Otherwise, the Main Tank that received Ebonroc’s Shadow would be quickly killed while the Boss’ HP recovered. All the effort spent fighting before would be simply wasted.

As well as this, Ebonroc also had some Shadow Damage that was comparable to Fillmore.

After the team had been wiped twice, the Main Tanks all changed into two pieces of Shadow Resistant equipment under Lu Li’s command.

Nobody could have only one set of equipment in a qualified team. There were requirements for what type of Resistance equipment that one needed to change into. This practice was particularly seen in mercenary groups who maximised this by organising Gold Collection Units to make money. They even had people who owned a warehouse of equipment.

“There’s not much time left. It seems too hard to kill this Boss. Our Main Tanks’ coordination is not great,” Wandering said, becoming a little worried.

“Don’t feel any mental pressure. We were only thinking about killing the little Red Dragon just this morning. Now, we’ve already gotten to Boss number five. What’s there to be dissatisfied about?”

Lu Li, on the other hand, was very calm. You couldn’t be too greedy, or else it could affect how well you played in a game.

Once this was said, everyone was a lot less restless.

There was half an hour until the game time finished for today. It wasn’t impossible to kill off Ebonroc in this last half an hour.

The key was with these few Main Tanks. If their coordination went well, Ebonroc wouldn’t be invincible, even if it recovered HP. The times before when the team was destroyed were all due to the Main Tanks. On the contrary, Lu Li felt that their damage output wasn’t lacking in any way. Instead, he felt that the DPS professions should slow down a bit, or else the Main Tanks would not be able to handle it.

“Actually, we can do this,” Sky Moon said, then suggested, “We can split up the commanding. Boss, you can oversee the whole team. I’ll command the Healing professions, and help adjust the team along the way. Wandering can be specifically in charge of the interchange of Main Tank Aggro…”

“That seems plausible,” Wandering’s said as his eyes sparkled.

“Okay, let’s do it your way. It’s a very new and interesting idea.”

Lu Li thought the idea wasn’t bad. It was most suitable for this team at the current moment.

Usually, a team could not be commanded by three people – that would be a road leading straight to death.

It would be like a three-headed hydra. While it had three heads, they couldn’t all work together at the same time. One would go left, the other right and the last one forwards, which would tear it apart.

The difference in Lu Li’s team’s case was that each head was responsible for a different thing, so the chance for conflict was not as high. This was especially the case given how Lu Li’s existence was enough to hold down anyone else.

Another reason was because everyone had already worked together for quite a while. These three commanders all had previously commanded everyone and understood each other. They had the mentality of trying everything possible in this desperate situation and began the new fight again.

“Breezy take a break over there and recover. I’ve got the aggro. World’s Best Friend, you start accumulating aggro and get ready to taunt when I get hit.”

Wandering didn’t care about anything else other than the Main Tank’s first natural response.

“Darkness heal Wandering a little more. Machine Bro, focus on Breezy’s HP, then give the Main Tanks Shields after March,” Sky Moon directed the Heal professions.

If the Main Tanks had any changes, the Healers needed to swap their targets accordingly in a timely manner. Otherwise, the new Main Tanks could die due to Healers not keeping up. The Healers just needed to keep their attention on Main Tanks.

Lu Li made use of every opportunity to focus on where everyone was stationed. Once he relaxed, his DPS increased to within the top three.

Considering DPS alone, under the effect of Dragon Slayer’s Roar, Lu Li alone more than enough compared to Sky Moon and Wandering put together. As such, having three separate commanders didn’t lower the team’s damage output by much.

After over half an hour, Ebonroc’s arrogant body fell to the ground with a loud thud.

At this moment, there was still nearly an hour left to spare.

“Everyone’s pretty tired hey? How about let’s just distribute the equipment and leave for today?” Lu Li suggested.

The next BOSSBoss Flamegor, wasn’t considered hard. However, to kill him in only 10 or so minutes was a bit of a stretch. Moreover, how could everyone not be tired after having killed several Bosses over these past few hours without even half an hour of rest?

“We’re not tired! Let’s keep fighting!” He heard a clear-cut response.

Lu Li looked at everyone’s mentality – each one of them looked so hyped it was kind of scary. It was as if they would immediately turn hostile if he asked them to leave right now.

“Fine, usual rules. Remnant Dream will loot the corpse at the back. We still need to clear small monsters. No matter what, the next one will be the last Boss for today.”

An army’s morale could be utilised effectively so there was no need for Lu Li to discourage them. Regardless, there were still unanticipated rewards no matter if they were killed or not.

Ebonroc wasn’t considered hard to kill, but the equipment it dropped was not bad.

First was a Synthetic Gem, which was very suited to Main Tanks. Lu Li distributed it to World’s Best Friend as Azure Sea Breeze’s weapon was already stuffed full of gems.

What’s more surprising was that out of the few Skills Books, there was even an Enhanced Skills Book.

Enhanced Allied Therapy!

This would restore 500% of Magic Enhanced HP for you, one Defensive Target, as well as three other friendly targets within a 20-yard radius.

Enhanced Allied Therapy was originally made for the person itself, a chosen target and another person. The three people would recover 300% of Magic Enhanced HP. This skill was of little value and interest; it wasn’t as good as other regular Healing skills. However, this was not the case after being Enhanced. It would double HP and could increase it for five people at once.

Since the last Enhanced Skills Book was given away, this Enhanced Allied Therapy would be left with Ruling Sword.

Without a doubt, Lu Li handed this to March Rain.

Meanwhile, the Gold and Dark Gold equipment was casually distributed. Everyone was focused on clearing smaller monsters and didn’t have much spare capacity to pay attention. Lu Li would distribute everything properly anyway. Everyone often called him Cruel Lu. They said that he was brutal, greedy, and would take advantage of equipment, but in fact, they were all satisfied by Lu Li’s way of distribution.

Ebonroc dropped T2 gloves as well. Actually, he, Fillmore, and Flamegore (who were the 4th, 5th and 6th respectively) all dropped T2 gloves.

Hence, the T2 gloves were the most easily obtainable set items.

It was all Thief items that were dropped. Lu Li could take them too, but since his Guild Points had largely been used to bid for the Dark Grey Robe, many other Thieves here had much higher Guild Points than he did.