The Great Thief

These guys were only there to annoy them!

By the time that the Satyrs noticed Lu Li, a thunderous boom resounded through the air. The wall was finally demolished.

Lu Li fell from the wall. Just before he landed, he transformed into a leopard and in a whoosh, he was gone.

If he didn’t run then, he would have surely died.

Lu Li was a pitiful man within the walls, with the monsters all looking at him. It was fortunate that the boom from the wall was quite sudden, which left the monsters dumfounded.

He ran out from the hole that was made, then transformed back into human form, waved his hand and yelled, “Defensive Warriors and Paladins, rush into the Stronghold! Everyone else, follow tightly! Healers, remember to heal. The Chariots will continue firing until there is another hole. Also, clear out the remaining two archers on the wall!”

There were originally many more, but most of them fell off the wall after it was destroyed.

At the same time, Lu Li also activated the flag that was placed there.

A low rumbling sound travelled over the 100-metre range, covering all the players in a buff. All the players received a significant boost to their strength with the buffs from the Battle Standard. 5% HP recovery every 2 seconds? It would be hard to die even if they wanted to in a normal situation.

Unfortunately, this effect only lasted for 60 seconds. Otherwise, this battle would be over extremely quickly.

Even if it was only 60 seconds, it was still enough for them to charge into the Stronghold and hold their position. The monsters guarding the entrance were annihilated.

The players who died during the battle was revived at the angel statue that Lu Li placed down previously. As soon as they were revived, they charged into the battle. The eighty players absolutely cleaned the place of monsters as if there were thousands of them participating.

The Chariots also managed to make a much larger hole in the wall, so they came roaring in as well. Cannonballs were fired at the monsters that the Main Tank were holding. They didn’t do that much damage, but this definitely raised the morale of the players.

“The EXP is pretty high here. It’s much faster here compared to the outside monsters,” a player realized.

Even if these monsters were level 59 and provided no EXP bonuses, this gap was closed by the sheer abundance of them. The monsters didn’t stop coming, which meant that AoE classes were dealing huge amounts of damage with just one skill.

There was pressure on the players as well. After all, long periods in battle would result in quick drainage of mana.

When Mage classes couldn’t handle their mana anymore, the melee classes needed to replace them and toughen up. Furthermore, healing was also quite taxing on mana, so their injuries couldn’t be managed too well.

This battle was much more ferocious than Lu Li expected.

Lu Li took a deep breath, then yelled, “Retreat! Retreat!”

“What? We can’t retreat, no matter the difficulty!” Wandering roared as he grabbed Lu Li in anger. He knew the importance of the Stronghold. Furthermore, this was a nearly conquered Stronghold as well.

“Do you have better ideas? Do you not know the strategy of a strategic retreat?” Lu Li roared back.

A strategic retreat?

Wandering suddenly realised the meaning of Lu Li’s words. This was only a game. Furthermore, retreating did not mean that they were giving up on the Stronghold.

“Chariots, fire at the stairs over there!”

It was impossible for all the players to scatter at once. That wouldn’t be a retreat, but an utter defeat. Furthermore, they needed to get the Chariots out of there first. However, before retreating, Lu Li wanted the Chariots to destroy the staircases that connected the ground to the top of the walls.

The stairs were different to the walls. A few rounds easily destroyed them from the inside.

The Chariots then retreated away; only five remained from the original eight. There was one that was also on the brink of destruction. Another two hits would destroy it.

“Alright! Block the holes in the wall!”

It was clear that Lu Li didn’t mean to retreat completely. It was a hard-fought battle to get in the Stronghold, so it wouldn’t be worthwhile for them to retreat. Furthermore, if they had actually retreated, the monsters would repair the walls. Lu Li also saw some Infernals within the monster ranks. These Infernals were extremely capable with stone. They would make things troublesome if they were given enough time.

There needed to be three Main Tanks standing at the hole to completely cover it up. This was already much better than before. They also didn’t have many monsters to deal with. Lu Li and the team had an opportunity to rest here.

The players without mana or HP could retreat to a further area to recuperate. They could also borrow potions and elixirs from other people.

The Main Tanks could also rotate and rest accordingly while three of them blocked the wall. Lu Li stored away the Battle Standard. After all, it was a potent weapon for Stronghold battles. It was a shame that it only lasted 1 minute, which was far too short.

It was said that there were many Battle Standards in Dawn that could be combined. Lu Li wasn’t sure about this and he didn’t know if this was true or not.

“The monsters are nearly all gone. There’s still the Boss in there,” Wandering nagged. He didn’t quite

understand Lu Li’s slow actions in times like these.

The revival point was only just outside. If they died, they could just revive back there, recuperate and re-join the battle. If Wandering was the commander, he would have done all he could to take the Stronghold first, then consider everything else. He thought that Lu Li’s actions here were very indecisive.

“Just wait a little bit more. The monsters will come out by themselves. There’s no need to go into their territory and fight there,” Lu Li said. He was calm and assertive with his words.

It seemed like Wandering would only believe that the Boss was there for show. The real hard parts were the Outposts, the wall and the huge abundance of monsters rushing out. A level 59 Boss? How hard could it be?

Nevertheless, Lu Li was the commander. Wandering could only state his opinions and suggestions.

“Alright, we can go in now.”

Lu Li looked at the time and saw that two and a half hours had passed. The small monsters were pretty much cleared out.

Besides a few guards around the Boss, there was also a huge Fire Elemental. This was quite a terrifying sight. Even Baron Geddon would seem like a dwarf next to it. Then Lu Li realised something and had to stifle a laugh.

This was an old friend – Lord Magmathar!

This guy’s appearance did not match his skills at all. Lu Li recalled a time when he lent a player an Iron Sword and two gold coins. He was doing quite well for himself. After returning the gold coins back to Lu Li, he joined Ruling Sword under Lu Li’s invitation. He even managed to join the elite squads.

His role in the guild was to protect the Profession players.

Lu Li met him while taking him along to a battle against Magmathar. At that time, Magmathar was still a low-grade monster.

Lord Magmathar wasn’t the Boss.

If Magmathar’s skills remained the same, but he was level 59, Lu Li was confident enough to take him in a one-on-one duel.