The Great Thief

“Don’t worry – Rockjaws aren’t that powerful,” Haggle said with a calm expression.

“But don’t the books say that Rockjaws are the bosses of the underground world?”

I Love Big Boobs didn’t quite understand, and the others were also lost.

“The combat power of an individual cannot decide the overall rank of the whole species. The underground world looks at the overall strength of a race. These Ice Lizards are just food for the Rockjaws. You guys can grab some too; their meat is quite tasty,” Haggle explained.

These kind of quests were quite the opportunity for Ruling Sword. This was an unexplored map, and they might even have to take down a Wild Boss that no one else had touched before.

However, this didn’t mean that the quest this time came without risks. The most direct risk was that the Boss would be too powerful. If it wiped all of them out, they would have gained nothing. Just the Experience alone would be a major loss for Ruling Sword.

“Keep outputting damage. Be careful,” Lu Li’s reminded. His expression was grim, but at least he remained calm.

It wasn’t that he believed Haggle, but more of the fact that he trusted the System not to design a quest that could not be completed. After they walked a little further, the geography had changed greatly. Ot no longer seemed like a closed-up tunnel. If it wasn’t for the fact that they walked all this distance, Lu Li and the others would have thought that they had arrived in a brand new world.

There was a giant tree that radiated a faint light which made the empty underground world seem less dark.

In the distance, they heard screams and roars. Within the soft glow, Lu Li could even see a dog-like creature being eaten by a Python-like monster.

“Fan formation; look out for high leveled monsters. Druids and Warlocks can walk in the middle,” Lu Li instructed.

Although Haggle was still at the front, there were also two Thieves on either side to help him. If they ran into a monster that was difficult to kill, they could bait it away. This way the Druids and the Warlocks would remain protected in the center.

All the Thieves were master players in Ruling Sword; they had already trained their techniques in all sorts of environment.

However, exploring the underground was a first for them too. The twist of the path made Stealth even harder, and the weak light source hamstrung their Detection ability. If it wasn’t for the fact that they had a high-leveled Scout like Haggle, they probably would have run right into a hive of some insect monster.

Insect monsters were one of the scariest types in the underground world. No matter how weak they seemed, they were still led by the Ancient Gods and were beyond the ability of the current Ruling Sword.

It was quite common for elite monsters around level 50 to appear.

If the target looked weak, the team would pounce on it. Otherwise, Lu Li and the others would send out a Thief to direct the monster away.

Monsters were monsters after all – they weren’t smart enough to see through all of these tricks.

The only accident that occurred was caused by Bai Renyou, when he tried to distract a Dark Wasp. He accidentally entered the aggression range of other Dark Wasps. Although he did manage to make it out of the swarm, he was afflicted with poison and died before he even got the chance to reach help.

The usefulness of the Druids then came in; they could revive dead team members anytime.

There were a lot of monsters underground which dealt Posion damage. Lu Li didn’t want to risk anything yet for this area before they developed better antidotes.

At the same time, this also meant that once you solved the poison issue, this would be a leveling-heaven here since all the monsters had low Defense but rewarded high Experience.

“There were a lot of Rockjaw tracks last time I visited this area. Looks like we’re getting close to them.” After wandering around for what seemed like an eternity, Haggle finally halted near a little hill.

Lu Li and the others looked down from the hill and found the habitat of the Rockjaws.

They were standing above a mine filled with strangely-shaped rocks. Further ahead was giant palace formed with minerals and teeming with Rockjaws.

The palace had likely been built for Khaz’goroth. Although the Rockjaws and the Dwarves fought endlessly, they still originated from the same roots.

“How many Rockjaws are in this tribe?” Lu Li asked after studying his surroundings. He believed that Haggle hated the Rockjaws and would have done more homework that he could imagine.

“About thirty-thousand; the average monsters are level 50. Their aggression is chained together,” Haggle answered.

Thirty-thousand with chained aggression. Lu Li suddenly felt like he may have been baited by the NPC. He couldn’t help but keep asking, “How many Rockjaw Bosses are there, and about what level?”

“Three bosses. I didn’t manage to detect their levels,” Haggle replied, slightly embarrassed.

“Level 50 monsters…The bosses should be around level 55. How do we do this?” Cain’s Left Hand asked, clearly worried. There were three capable main tanks in Ruling Sword. One was Azure Sea Breeze, the other was Global Friendship and the last one was God of Destiny.

These three were the only tanks in Ruling Sword who could withstand the attacks of a level 50 Boss.

Wild bosses were also slightly stronger than dungeon bosses, which meant that they were only three options. Once a tank died, all of them would wipe.

A wipe in the Wild was beyond imaginable.

“We need at least six main tanks, ones who can survive level 50 dungeon bosses without dying.”

After they had a discussion, they all reached the same disappointing conclusion.

This was a big cake that they couldn’t eat.

Lu Li began to think about backing out; he had to consider all the brothers in the guild.

“It’s a shame to say that this was a quest that we can’t do at the moment. If you all don’t mind, how about we wait for about half a month?”

This was the Wild – they could lose money, experience and equipment.

After about half a month, the level of most players would have increased. They would probably have a few more level 50 tanks by then and the level gap wouldn’t be so large anymore. With their new equips, they would have a far better shot at the Bosses.

“Half a month…” Haggle began as he held his fist and shook his head immediately, “We probably can’t wait half a month. If you and your friends can’t take this place down, I’ll find some helpers from my race and do it ourselves.”

Lu Li and the others exchanged glances; this was a quest that couldn’t be delayed at all.

“Hmph, why don’t we contact Drizzle Court and Water Fairy…Hmmm…everyone understands.”

I Love Big Boobs was just as his name suggested. None of his thoughts were proper, especially his coughs. It was hard to not take things the wrong way with his words.