The Great Thief

After receiving the Azure fragment, Lu Li immediately gave it to Anachronos. Anachronos was satisfied with Lu Li’s work, rewarding him with two Dark Gold items to bolster his firepower.

Lu Li: Are you blind? I don’t need this!

After completing this part of the stage-based quest, Lu Li was still quite happy. He only had one more to go.

The third fragment was given to the red dragon. The problem was that the guardian of this fragment was Vaelastrasz, a fallen dragon who had become one of Nefarian’s servants, as well as a Boss within the Blackwing Lair.

Nothing more needed to be said. Lu Li just needed to bring people and fight.

When Vaelastrasz was first released, every club struggled greatly against it. However, after many updates and nerfs, it no longer posed a threat to the major clubs. Lu Li brought along a rag-tag group of players and they didn’t even wipe once.

Half of this group were elite players, while the rest were ordinary players.

In order to train more potential players into elites as well as to take care of the ordinary players in the club, Lu Li decided to use more promising amateur players in Instance Dungeons that he knew that could handle. Now, the squads would consist of players who performed excellently on a regular basis.

These players were assessed by a panel during the dungeon run, after which assessments would be sent to Wandering.

If they passed, then they would be integrated into a newly formed elite team. This was the most common way of integration.

Vaelastrasz fell to the ground. However, this time, it had some parting words instead of dying straight away like last time.

“Where is this? What happened? Oh, I remember. I am Vaelastrasz. I…I failed. Blackrock…Blackrock Mountain’s leader was too strong. He easily…easily absorbed my power. I…I have fallen…”

“We will avenge you. Do you remember guarding a fragment of a sceptre?” Lu Li asked.

“Fragment? Oh, that was many years ago. Is Anachronos well? How could I forget my own mission? Nefarian took it away from me. Elf, you need to retrieve it within two hours. Otherwise, he will destroy the fragment.”

After saying his last words, Vaelastrasz’s head dropped and died.

So rushed!

Two hours! Lu Li looked at the squad composition with an annoyed face.

“Boss, how about you call people over? I’ll get some of my men to stand outside and wait.”

The squad leader knew that Lu Li was doing an important quest and he also knew that with their current strength, they might not successfully defeat Nefarian within two hours.

“No need. Everyone just needs to try their best. I believe in everyone,” Lu Li disagreed.

If he decided to swap in stronger players, then it would definitely be much safer. However, it would be unfair for the players already in the team, and it wasn’t good to deny their efforts, which wouldn’t be positive for the overall morale in the club.

This team’s overall strength was actually quite high. After all, they did defeat Vaelastrasz in one attempt.

Lu Li was willing to give them a chance to prove themselves. He did have a backup plan. If something went wrong, then he would swap in the stronger players.

All the elite and ordinary players were surprised that Lu Li made the decision for them to stay. They thought that they were going to be swapped out and sacrifice this week’s Instance Dungeon cooldown.

“Stop daydreaming. Leave one person behind to loot the items. The rest, charge forward!” the team leader roared as everyone rushed toward the next Boss.

Lu Li only tagged along for this battle. He didn’t assume command over the team, but he would interject and say a few words during the key moments.

The team performed well, far exceeding his expectations.

Actually, this was normal.

Regardless of whether they were elite players, if they were selected into joining the elite teams, they would be the cream of the crop among the ordinary players, so the power gap was not that large.

Adding onto the encouragement from Lu Li before, everyone went above and beyond their normal performances.

They quickly arrived at Nefarian.

“Keep going. I believe in you all that you won’t disappoint me. This quest will be complete with you guys as part of it!” Lu Li encouraged.

He saw potential in these players. Potential that they themselves didn’t know that they had.

When the battle began, everyone fell speechless.

Nefarian held a fragment in his hand and called out, “You are looking for this red fragment for the sceptre, right? Come and get it!”

When the players started rushing towards Nefarian, a red silhouette suddenly appeared again.

It was Vaelastrasz, the one that they had just defeated. He landed in the middle of Nefarian and the players in clear pain and struggle as he cried out, “Friends! Nefarian’s fallen power has allowed me to come back here! Run before I lose my mind! Black flame is burning in my heart, and I need to release it!”

“What do we do now?”

The team leader was actually quite competent. His commanding skills were top-tier.

However, upon seeing that there were two Bosses at the same time, he panicked. He quickly looked to Lu Li for help, as Lu Li was the commander with the highest credentials here. The team leader couldn’t handle the pressure of failing this incredibly important quest.

“Why are you panicking? It’s not like you haven’t killed either of these Bosses before,” Lu Li replied.

“But if they’re both coming at the same time…”

The team leader didn’t know what to do.

“If both Nefarian and the little red dragon came at the same time, then even the strongest teams in our club wouldn’t be able to deal with it, let alone you guys. That’s why it’s impossible for them to attack at the same time,” Lu Li assertively said.

If Vaelastrasz and Nefarian paired up and fought together, Lu Li didn’t think that any team would be able to take them down. At least, this was the case at level 60.

On the other side of the battlefield, the fallen Vaelastrasz yelled in excruciating pain, “Flame! Death! Annihilation! You mere mortals! Lord Nefarian’s flames will burn everything…No! I must resist! I must resist to the end!”

“Vaelastrasz, what are you waiting for? Destroy them! Destroy everything!” Nefarian laughed loudly. He was satisfied with the pain that he was inflicting upon the red dragon. It seemed that he took joy in the pain of others.

“Vaelastrasz, you are one of the noble Red Dragons! Do you remember Alexstrasza?” Lu Li yelled while stopping the players who were about to rush forward to attack.

Alexstrasza, also known as the Dragon Queen, was one of the three Dragons who fought in the War of the Ancients.

Some people said that Alexstrasza was Vaelastrasz’s mother, while others said that they were lovers. No matter what, she was the most important being to the little Red Dragon.

As expected, upon hearing the name, the fallen Vaelastrasz’s behaviour immediately changed.