The Great Thief

The next day, they went right back at it.

The first few runs were more to get the feel of the Boss. Instead of scolding everyone, Lu Li gave more words of encouragement to his team.

After their practice yesterday, the start was much easier and they quickly reached the phase that they were previously stuck at.

“After the Boss talks, try gathering in the center. Maybe he thinks that we want to run away because of how far some of us are standing,” Lu Li said.

“When did you get so funny, Lu Li?” Azure Sea Breeze asked, not believing him.

The others thought that Lu Li’s reasoning was too childish as well but didn’t let him know.

“You cannot escape from me!”

After yelling out his line, Ragnaros began casting fireballs and flung them towards the players standing the furthest away. The fireballs also dealt splash damage to the area of impact.

These fireballs dealt around 600 to 800 damage each, meaning that players were able to survive if they were only hit by one or two. However, if they were struck by multiple, it would be an instant death. “Gather up!” Lu Li yelled.

He was serious about his strategy, even though his reasoning seemed ridiculous. However, they actually had to gather in the center in order to survive the fireball stage.

“Eh, I think you’re right.” When everyone gathered near the Boss, many of the fireballs flew past and missed them. However, those that were slow to react were still killed.

The Boss was at 30% HP and more Scions of Fire were summoned again.

“Crap, I think we’re screwed.”

Azure Sea Breeze knew that they would be wiped again upon seeing his teammates fall one by one.

“Why did the Boss summon mobs again?” Some of the players were very frustrated.

Summoning eight Scions of Fire at once was the biggest test to their teamwork and chemistry. Although they were small mobs, they were individually very powerful and since there were so many of them, it caused chaos and made everyone panic.

Once someone began panicking, they would make mistakes that could potentially drag down the entire team.

They attempted it again, but this time, they were wiped after the first time Scions of Fire were summoned.

“Did you guys realize that we’re afraid of the small mobs now? It’s because we’re afraid that we’re not performing up to our standards,” Lu Li said, pointing out their problem. “Why are we afraid of these mobs? How come we cleared it the first time but got wiped the second time? Now whenever they’re summoned, we become flustered and panic like rats.”

Water Fairy was the first to speak up.

“Because the mobs are a waste of time. Even if we killed the mobs, the Boss doesn’t get damaged.”

“And they make it really easy for us to get wiped,” Sesame Rice Balls added.

“Our team morale is a bit low as well.”

White Traveller’s face was exhausted. It was unfortunate that his first experience in a dungeon group was in such a difficult dungeon that had taken more than two days of continuous grinding.

“You’re tired just from this? Look at Remnant Dream and Hachi Chan – they’re both high school girls that have been through so much more than you. You don’t see them complaining,” Lu Li chided, unafraid of hiding his emotions.

“….” White Traveller wanted to find a hole and die in it.

“Why is it easy for us to get wiped? How come we didn’t wipe the first time? I counted before – the second wave of Scions was summoned 6 minutes after the first wave. I’m guessing after we defeat the 2nd wave, there’ll be a 3rd wave in 6 minutes as well, meaning that we must continue defeating them until the Boss is dead. It’s unavoidable and if you guys want to quit, then just leave the dungeon. There’s no point of you wasting time here…” Lu Li ranted. He was mad that his team was not stepping up.

No matter how patient Lu Li was, it was always very frustrating when it came to First Clears.

Some said that successful dungeon runs were built on an individual player’s equipment and levels, as well as the team leader’s voice.

Lu Li felt like he was about to lose his voice soon, so he bought a potion which was soothing for his throat.

Everyone fell silent, including Water Fairy. No one dared to challenge his authority nor his leadership.

This authority was not simply because he yelled loudly, neither was it given to him through his position as a guild leader. In fact, he had earned it through his abilities and leadership.

The greats were great because they could achieve things no one else was capable of.

Water Fairy was born of high status and had an incredible amount of wealth to back her up. Drizzle Court, Peerless City and her other sub-guilds added together had a lot more wealth, resources and numbers than Lu Li. However, in terms of a dungeon progress, she was far inferior from Lu Li to the point where she was willing to sign an unfair contract just to learn from him.

Many outsiders would often speculate how Lu Li and Water Fairy got along.

Most people thought that it was Lu Li that was the one chasing after her since she was so beautiful and wealthy. They knew Lu Li was talented, but she was definitely out of his league.

However, in reality, even when Lu Li was just the leader of a small mercenary group, he was the one in control of their relationship. He knew of many fighting techniques and mechanics that Water Fairy had no idea about and the things they had achieved together could mostly be credited to Lu Li.

Most of the time, Water Fairy would blindly trust and even worship him.

After being scolded, everyone was focused again.

Sometimes the leader would scold others in a dungeon, not because he wanted to but because he had to.

After his pep talk, they were able to reach the second wave of Scions relatively easily and the number of players that died also decreased. Because of this result, Lu Li decided that he was going to be stricter in the future.

They could leave one of the Scions because they could be stunned.

“Don’t kill the last one. Azure, go grab aggro of it. Everyone else, try to heal up as much as possible,” Lu Li commanded, stopping everyone from killing the last Scion of Fire.

“Yeah, if we don’t kill the last mob then the Boss won’t come out again. We might as well kill the last one slowly while healing up,” Wandering said as he slapped his legs, impressed with Lu Li’s thinking.

“We can’t leave it forever. I’m guessing the Boss will eventually come out anyways,” Lu Li sighed as he shook as head.

His ‘guess’ wasn’t actually a guess at all but pre-existing knowledge from his past life. As expected, Ragnaros appeared again.

If they killed the Scions within 3 minutes, then the Boss would reappear early. However, if they didn’t kill them in 3 minutes, the Boss would still appear after the 3 minutes were up.

Lu Li’s strategy was to allow the team to recuperate and get back on their feet even if it was only a few extra seconds.

They weren’t allowed to sit down to recover HP mid-battle, but they could drink potions and wait for cooldowns.

“Our DPS is a little low,” Lu Li said calmly. “DPS classes with mana, try to maximize your mana to damage ratio. Everyone else, remain calm and try not to make mistakes.”

Lu Li watched as the Boss’ HP continued to drop.

They had been at it the whole morning and if they didn’t make a breakthrough somehow, then Lu Li would consider giving up.