The Great Thief

“After he says those lines, we can wait for 2 seconds before retreating. Don’t rush it, since we lose a considerable amount of DPS if we retreat too early,” Lu Li said.

“Eh? That makes a lot of sense. Hey boss, if we have escape skills, we can wait until the last second, right?” Cain’s Left Hand asked.

“Theoretically, yes, but don’t risk it too much. Too much confidence can be a bad thing in Instance Dungeons, since you will be more likely to expose yourself to danger. If we make a mistake here, then Ragnaros would definitely kill us. I won’t use revive on a Thief,” Lu Li calmly replied.

“Oh crap. Boss, I received 10000 critical damage.”

“Impossible. You only have 3200 HP. If the critical hit was 10000 damage, you would be dead.”

Thieves had more escape skills. Under Lu Li’s suggestion, they would use these skills so that they could maximise their DPS before needing to retreat. They should still retreat at the 2 second mark, but retreating with 3 seconds was the safest option.

If they retreated to a spot that was too close to the Boss, then the damage of the knockback would be extremely high, so their Cloth Armor could not handle it. Retreating too far would also waste time.

Their DPS needed to be as high as possible, as if they took their time, then they would inevitably wipe.

“Five Thieves. I’m third. I think I can get the number two spot,” White Traveller said, then continued, “Hey bro, you reckon that I’ll be able to surpass you in the next 20 seconds?”

“I reckon so, but you’re a Battle Thief. A Battle Thief only at third spot? Isn’t that shameful?” Lu Li chuckled.

“Hm…classes don’t really matter here, do they? If I managed to pass two professional players, then I would be a god. When that time comes, there will be a lot of clubs coming after me. Where should I go? Hey, Water Fairy, do you guys need Thieves?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Water Fairy responded without even glancing at him, then added, “But I’m sorry. We don’t want Battle Thieves.”

“Condolences.”

“Condolences +1.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with Battle Thieves? We are still Thieves,” White Traveller protested.

“Is it that strict in the professional circle? What’s wrong with Battle Thieves? There are people trying to recruit me to go play for them. They say that my Armor is really high. Even professional players might not kill me easily,” Azure Sea Breeze interjected.

“Wow, you’re so annoying. Even if you were in the professional ranks, you would just be there as a meat bag.”

Wandering’s words were like a knife right through Breezy’s heart.

“Focus! Quickly climb out of the molten lava ASAP. If I see anyone with more than 50% HP die in the lava, I’ll decrease their points.”

Lu Li couldn’t stand it any longer. These guys didn’t have any sense of urgency; it seemed like a social event to them.

“Aiya…There’s a new skill now. This one’s a little cool,” Azure Sea Breeze said in surprise..

Elemental Fire: Burns the target, dealing 2000 fire-based damage and 600 fire-based damage per second over 8 seconds.

This was a lethal skill. There was a requirement for Fire-resistant gear to enter Molten Core. If there was no Fire-resistant gear at all, then it was possible for the damage to be doubled. 4000 damage was enough to instantly kill most players.

There was also the damage over time effect, which was 600 damage per second for the next 8 seconds. Even Azure Sea Breeze wouldn’t be able to tank this damage.

Healing was vital, so March Rain was extremely important here. Her Mass Dispel managed to save many from this skill.

It was only through multiple squad wipes that they were able to reach this stage of the battle.

Half the day had already passed. Looking at the Boss’ HP, they hadn’t even reached the 50% mark. As for whether they could defeat the Boss today, many already thought that they might not be able to.

“I’ll purify you using these flames!”

Perhaps the dry terrain made everyone slack off after an extended period of time, so when this new skill was unveiled, it caused another squad wipe.

“I didn’t tell you guys to huddle together. Why are you all so close to each other? Is it too cold?”

The leader’s words were quite piercing. There were a few newly-joined players who didn’t know this side to Lu Li. When Lu Li said these words, they were surprised that he was this toxic when it came to commanding battles. He was, in a sense, similar to those commanders who liked to scold people. All in all, a toxic style was never good.

Fire Explosion!

The Boss randomly chose a target and casted a fireball-type magic at it. The target did not receive damage, while the surrounding players would be knocked backed and receive damage.

“Who got hit last time?” Lu Li asked.

“It was me,” Bearded Zaza answered as he raised his hands. He seemed a little nervous. He knew that he couldn’t compare to Remnant Dream, who was raised in the guild. Even if his ability was slightly lower than hers, it was still unacceptable. Therefore, with the aim of performing well, he always took great caution. During this Molten Core dungeon period, he made minimal mistakes.

“What happened there? You are one of the ones involved. Please explain it to everyone,” Lu Li said.

“I…I’m not too sure myself.”

Bearded Zaza began to panic a little. He didn’t die, but the ones who died were players surrounding him. Because they were trying to avoid the fire, they unintentionally ended up grouping together.

“Alright. Pay attention next time. We are clearing this dungeon, so it’s really important for us to be determined. Determination and caution will allow us to continue. At the very least, we need to know the cause of death,” Lu Li continued.

“A light appeared on Zaza’s body. It seemed like it was the effect of the fireball that hit him. Then, the fireball exploded, with Zaza in the middle. The ones who were surrounding him were instantly dealt huge damage and were even knocked back. It was similar to the melee classes that were fighting the Boss.”

Finally, there was a player with a keen eye and confident judgement. Lu Li remembered him – the Ice Mage, Sky Moon. He was a player in the elite squad and was rather skilled, but he couldn’t be compared to Fat Monkey or Nuo Yu. If it wasn’t for the need for Ice Mages, he probably would not have joined them on this raid.

He wasn’t a reborn player like Lu Li and it was the first time that he saw this skill. Furthermore, he had personally experienced the skill and remembered the whole process. He must have been quite intelligent.

“What do you think about avoiding this situation?” Lu Li asked.

“The process of the skill goes from firing the fireball, then hitting the player. Then, an explosion occurs. There is definitely time for us to react to it. I suggest that we spread out,” Sky Moon said.

“Okay, very nice. We can try this.”

Lu Li tried to think if there was a famous Sky Moon in his previous life, but he couldn’t remember. The name itself seemed to exude wisdom. Lu Li decided to use his actual name because he was lazy, not because he wasn’t knowledgeable.

Although Lu Li couldn’t remember, it didn’t mean that he wasn’t capable. There were so many players in Dawn, and Lu Li didn’t know a large majority of them.

Sky Moon had deduced the correct strategy; they instantly had positive results.

This skill and Rage of Ragnaros were both similar. Therefore, the strategies to adjust to them were similar as well.

They ended up being wiped again and again for a whole afternoon. At the end of this, everyone was a little tired.

Normally, a continuous raid of three hours needed at least half an hour of rest, but ideally around one hour. Otherwise, players would be extremely weary and unable to continue.