The Great Thief

Lonesome Flower looked at him condescendingly. He did not see them as equals, although Unforgetful Maple was older than him.

Lu Li couldn’t help but recall when Lonesome Flower was being attacked by a wolf and was nearing death. There was no way that he could be so cold and ruthless back then.

Azure Sea Breeze rose his shield and prepared for the incoming enemies, while Lu Li and Water Fairy instantly activated Stealth. The squad members could keep track of everyone’s positions in the team, so they did not have to worry about getting lost.

“This doesn’t look like a place with monsters,” Water Fairy said as she scouted the area with Lu Li.

“It’s still better to be cautious. Although this may not be the main quest, it’s still an important side quest.”

Lu Li did not dare to relax, as they could land into deep trouble if they were unprepared when encountering monsters.

“If it gets too dangerous, should we run?” Water Fairy asked.

She asked this because this was an area where they would lose EXP if they died. Self-preservation actions were accepted, especially because they were players at the peak of the Level Rankings.

“You think I can run? In this squad of ten, seven of them are mine and two of them are underaged females.”

“Then I’m not running either.”

Water Fairy did not think about the possibility of running away, since it was only a little bit of EXP. She could always grind the EXP back.

Lu Li froze for a bit. These words from Water Fairy, although unnecessary, had warmed his heart a little.

“Can you guys focus on your job? Stop flirting with each other. I hate it,” Elevenless said in frustration. It was a

wonder as to how he saw so clearly in this dark place.

“Careful, your head.” As Lu Li turned around to look at Elevenless, he suddenly saw a shadow that had nearly enveloped Water Fairy’s head. He instantly sprung towards her using Shadow Step.

Because of the effect of Cheap Shot, the monster spread its wings out like a bat and froze, allowing Water Fairy to escape the claws.

From its appearance, it was a giant bat, but it did not really have a clearly-defined shaped. Rather, it just looked like a ball of darkness. It had no skin, no feathers and no distinct facial features. It would be more fitting to call it a gathering of power.

Azure Sea Breeze immediately rushed over and took aggro of this monster.

Level 50, 30000 HP, with high Attack and average Defence.

The annoying thing about this was not the strength of the monster, but the thought that if this was only a regular mob, how strong would the Boss be?

As for how it discovered Water Fairy and managed to sneak up to them in complete silence, he wasn’t sure. If it wasn’t for Lu Li turning around just before it struck, they would have only discovered it after the attack.

After killing the monster, it dropped an item called Void Dust, which was a Forging or Alchemy material. Beside this, a Green-Bronze grade item that was level 50 also dropped.

“Let’s speed things up. We’ll let the monsters attack us first,” Unforgettable Maple suggested as he raised his shield.

“Alright, let’s do it.”

Lu Li knew that it was dangerous, but he agreed as this quest had a time limit. As such, they needed to take a few risks. Furthermore, it was difficult to prepare for these attacks, but after analysing the bat, Lu Li realised that they were not strong enough to instantly kill a player anyway.

After speeding up, the number of attacks definitely increased.

Besides these bat-like monsters, there was also a snake-like creature. The attacking methods of the snakes was enough to scare the living daylights out of a player, since they would instantly wrap around their bodies.

Even though this was a game, it was still terrifying when your movements are restricted.

Fortunately, the items that the snakes dropped were decent – they were Enhancing Stones.

Everyone had already decided how they wanted to split the drops. The main drops were Void Dust and Enhancing Stones. As for the equipment, they were mostly rubbish, so no one wanted them.

Hachi Chan would take the equipment that no one wanted. No one knew how large her storage was, since no one had ever seen reject an item for a lack of space.

“Have you guys realised that that we’re all part of the Alliance, yet we have to go and rescue a Chief from the Horde? This game has no logic,” Elevenless suddenly quipped.

“Thrall is my idol. I regret not picking Orc so much. How fierce would I be? That’s a real man,” Azure Sea Breeze regrettably sighed.

“Orc people won’t find girlfriends,” Unforgettable Maple chuckled.

“You’re saying this like you have a girlfriend. You’re already pretty old, buddy, and you still don’t have a girlfriend.” Azure Sea Breeze wasn’t a professional player, but after hanging with Lu Li for so long, the title of being a professional player did not mean much to him.

“****. Can we not talk about this anymore?” Unforgetful Maple began to sigh and looked towards the sky.

“Stop arguing and focus. Have you not noticed that there are many more monsters now?” Lu Li was speechless at their actions. There would not usually be this much back-and-forth between Azure Sea Breeze, Elevenless and Unforgettable Maple if they weren’t together.

Truly, the number of monsters did increase.

Lu Li, with his rich experience in battle, realised that they were entering an area where the levels and strength of the monsters were higher. According to Dawn’s game design, only new areas would begin to spawn different monsters.

It was easy to understand why – it was to make the Boss more difficult to fight.

Lu Li told his hypothesis to everyone, then asked, “If there really is a Boss, should we fight or avoid it? ”

If this was an Instance Dungeon, they would definitely try and test their strength against the Boss.

However, they were in the Twisting Nether, which was an open environment with no map.

The Twisting Nether was different to the other areas. If this was a level 50 map, the monster levels would not exceed 50, but here, a random Demon Lord could be summoned at any moment.

“These monsters are only level 50, so I think we could try it out,” Azure Sea Breeze said as he licked his lips.

People agreed with Azure Sea Breeze since they did not want to retreat, even if they were not strong enough. They still wanted to test their strength against the Boss. After all, the monsters were level 50, so the Boss was probably around level 52 to 55.

“Alright then, let’s try it out. If we can’t, then retreat immediately.”

Lu Li saw that everyone was extremely determined, so he did not have a reason to retreat.