The Great Thief

Chapter 812: Gnome Thief

Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations

If Lu Li had been slightly slower, he would have been a corpse by now.

After he entered the door, he found himself in a yellow land covered in withered grass.

The Undead Thieves were blocked outside the door and couldn't come through, which put Lu Li slightly at ease.

He immediately decided that he liked this place, because it wasn't as dark as the forest. Thieves liked to hide themselves in the shadows, but this didn't mean that enjoyed the darkness.

However, he still couldn't let his guard down.

Using his Detection, he felt someone tailing behind him.

If his opponent had attacked him as soon as he stepped through the door, would he still be alive?

Lu Li pretended that he knew nothing of the situation, as if he was an adventurer that had just escaped from danger and was carefully scouting his new environment.

"Hi, let us fight like real men." Evidently, it wasn't this mysterious person's plan to sneak up on Lu Li.

A Gnome!

Lu Li was speechless. Fortunately, he had not attacked first.

Usually, those who attacked Gnomes first ended up dead, because they were too short to deal with properly. Most of these people saw their height and underestimated them.

It was hard to hit the critical spots of a Gnome, but they also faced this same problem when dealing with taller people. It was an exaggeration to say that they needed to jump to hit your knees, but it would be difficult for Lu Li to hit them behind their neck or head as well.

"Who are you? What is this place?' Lu Li asked.

He had first been teleported into a dark forest and run into a pack of Undead Thieves. Everyone that he could possibly talk to ended up fighting with him. At this point, he was dying to knowing the truth.

Most importantly, he wanted to know if this had all been set up by Garona.

"I'm an assassin, as you can see. A Gnome assassin." This Gnome Thief seemed to possess an intellect, unlike the previous Undead Thieves.

"What is this place?" Lu Li continued to ask.

"That isn't important. What you need to do now is to defeat me. Let us not Stealth, but fight head on," the Gnome Thief said, then raised his chin and continued, "Let me introduce myself – I'm level 48 with slightly better equipment than you and ten thousand health. If you are defeated and die, you won't lose experience either. I'll even send you back."

"What if I win?" Lu Li's expression turned serious as he gave this Gnome more respect.

"Alright, I suppose that's not impossible either," the Gnome Thief mumbled. "If you win, I'll count you as having passed this stage and you can head to the next trial."

"I want to know who's testing me," Lu Li demanded.

He thought that the Gnome wouldn't answer him, but he nodded and laughed, "You already know, don't you?"

Garona – the legendary Thief who was rumored to be dead! She had been described as the closest existence to a demigod in many legends. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to kill King Llane.

"Let's start," Lu Li said with determination.

His opponent was higher level than him by three levels, with better equipment and more health, but so what? Lu Li had not made it this far with his level and equipment alone.

Lu Li was confident in himself, even though he was facing a Gnome Thief that he knew nothing about.

The Gnomish Thief took out two daggers – both Shards of the Defiler.

Was the Shard of the Defiler so common now? Lu Li could feel himself break down a little on the inside, but he was still confident. If a Thief lost their confidence, then they would have also lost their life.

Regardless of the situation, they needed confidence, even if they were facing Sargeras.

These were the words that Lu Li had read from a Thief's notes. Apparently the one who had penned these notes was the director of an insurance company, a Goblin Thief called Lazduke.

Lu Li and the Gnome began to duel with their daggers, each party testing out the other.

By blocking alone, Lu Li appeared to be more skilled. His dagger struck the Gnome Thief right on the shoulder, while the Gnome's only brushed passed the leather armor on his thighs. No real damage was dealt.

From this short encounter, Lu Li seemed to have more combat experience.

The Gnome Thief seemed stronger than he was, but was lacking in combat experience. Lu Li was slightly relieved.

"I hope you don't underestimate me," reminded Lu Li, as if he knew what he was thinking. In a flash, he launched an attack on Lu Li's legs.

Compared to the Undead Thieves, he was much faster, so Lu Li didn't have time to react.

Empowerment: Shadowstep?

Lu Li was stunned; he didn't believe that someone would learn something as unpopular as Empowerment: Shadowstep. Or perhaps, the Gnomish Thief just happened to have an equip with a similar special effect.

Lu Li had dealt 76 damage to the Gnome previously, but this time the Gnome dealt 253 damage to him instead.

This was quite a large gap indeed. Lu Li looked deeply at his target as he barely escaped from being controlled. As the Gnome rushed in front of him, he focused his energy and casted a Shadowstrike.

This was his bread and butter; he managed to achieve a 97% completion level.

-570!

The skill even stunned for two seconds, but the Gnome Thief was three levels higher.

Two seconds was enough for Lu Li to do many things. First, he used a Backstab for an Armor Penetration effect, then stacked on Ambush and Mutilate. Finally, with 5 combo points stored up, he applied an Armor Reduction effect before his target woke up.

With 50% Armor Reduction, even the best equipment would be rendered useless. Over the next ten seconds, the Gnomish Thief was pressured under Lu Li's intense wave of attacks.

He had never encountered an opponent like this.

Or rather, he didn't have any real combat experience. Although he had a large, bushy beard, he was actually still quite young. The beard of a Gnome was like the height of a Dwarf – neither could be used to judge their age.