The Great Thief

Mistakes weren’t things that could be avoided just because you wanted to avoid them. Or at least, Lu Li hadn’t gotten to that point yet.

When everyone got wiped again, they were exhausted.

This time, it couldn’t really be blamed on anyone. The Boss’ critical hit damage was too strong and its attack speed was inhumanly fast. When it critically struck a few times in a row, even the two Main Tanks couldn’t withstand it.

In Dawn, there were two common ways for a party to get wiped. One was when someone made a mistake and added to the death count, and the other was when the Main Tank died.

The former could be blamed on the person who made the mistake, and would be dealt with either by reprimanding them or deducting some points. On the other hand, if the latter situation arose, the leader would have to hold back. The Main Tank was treasured so much that unless they made an obvious and crucial mistake, they wouldn’t take the blame.

Lu Li thought through the last two attempts and tried to address the reasons of their failure.

“Breezy, how about you take off all your Main Tank equipment. Wandering, see if any of them are useful for you and take two. Breezy, equip as many defensive equips as possible; we have no shortage of damage output.”

If they had failed because of the level difference, the best thing that they could do was increase their resistances.

In fact, there were several pieces of equipment that reduced damage taken. Dawn wasn’t the kind of game that could be played with only one set of equipment. Players needed to have several sets of equipment to rotate through depending on the circumstances.

“Take it slow and steady. We have already killed the first few Bosses, so even if there are other competing guilds, they won’t catch up so quickly,” Lu Li encouraged.

They couldn’t be too stressed or too relaxed; this was the balance that a party leader had to deal with.

Despite Lu Li’s words, Wandering was still very serious about his role. This was arguably his first time taking such a heavy responsibility in the Mercenary Group. As someone who cared about face, he obviously didn’t want to die.

The start of the attempt was a little rocky; two players were almost immediately sent flying.

Lu Li wanted to get everyone to stand against the wall. Although this would mean that they would be hit more often, they would be less likely to die as they would be left at critical HP. As long as they casted their damage reduction skills while airborne, they wouldn’t be in much danger.

By the time Furious Anger came around, if someone had asked how Wandering was feeling, he would have undoubtedly told them how nervous he was.

“This is my anger!” Magistrate Barthilas boomed as he was enveloped in flames, and couldn’t help but attack more violently.

“One, two, taunt!” Lu Li shouted loudly.

Azure Sea Breeze bit down and used his Taunt against the Boss. This time, he didn’t miss.

In fact, a Warrior didn’t actually need to buff their accuracy. With Azure Sea Breeze’s equipment, the possibility of missing was extremely low. The only explanation for what had previously happened must have been some kind of divine retribution!

“March Rain don’t hold back; make sure the tanks don’t die,” Lu Li instructed. He had considered, but decided against using Hachi Chan’s healing skill.

Hachi Chan’s ultimate healing skill was powerful, but this was not the last crisis they would face. After all, there would be even more crucial moments later down the line. If March Rain couldn’t heal through this part, their best course of action was to give up and go back to training.

After what seemed like a painfully long time, the Boss’ skill duration ended, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Everyone did well. Keep it up,” Lu Li praised.

Everyone liked compliments, especially from Lu Li who said these things so rarely. As such, when they heard his words, they were reinvigorated once again.

Even after two more heavy attacks, they didn’t suffer a single casualty. When Remnant Dream was accidentally hit, she managed to cast some skills to save herself.

During the second Furious Anger, the target was Wandering.

The advantage of the Boss attacking him was that he generally didn’t land critical hits. However, even without the burst of critical hits and with the healing of March Rain and Hachi Chan, he barely sustained the attacks of the Boss.

Although Wandering was at half HP, if they let up for a second, he would have been instantly killed.

Magistrate Barthilas had dropped to one third of his HP.

Was it going to be over?

All up, they still had two unused Resurrects and a heal from Hachi Chan. March Rain and Hachi Chan still had plenty of mana, and the Main Tanks still had their damage reduction skills…

They just needed to avoid any further accidents. Lu Li started to pray for a victory in his heart.

However, whether an accident arose was beyond the control of the player. In many cases, the Boss would wipe a party in the last moments of its life.

Because of this, not everyone was suitable for taking First Clears.

Although it was normal to get wiped repeatedly like this, it was quite a painful experience. They had started the Instance Dungeon a little late, and could only afford to get wiped two more times.

Also, as they repeatedly died, the players would get more tired and would play worse.

Lu Li just asked that the other players remained calm. He also demanded this of himself and was always restraining his attacks. He didn’t want to pull the Main Tank’s aggro, especially given this Boss’ skills.

Sakura Memories was finally the first to die. Lu Li had no choice but to Resurrect her as her Bloodlust had already refreshed and he didn’t want the skill to be lost with its master.

Bloodlust!

This was followed by a wave of frenzied attacks, which caused the Boss’ HP to drop rapidly.

“Don’t hold back. If you have skills, use them now,” Lu Li said, trying to burst down the Boss as quickly as possible. According to Magistrate Barthilas’ previous attack patterns, he would not use another skill for a while.

Magistrate Barthilas reached critical HP by the time Bloodlust timed out.

Lu Li wasn’t worried about whether the Boss would go Berserk; he was more afraid of the Boss going Berserk while using Furious Anger, which was in order words a double Berserk. If that happened, the Xin Xin Mercenary Group would probably be wiped again.

Suddenly, Magistrate Barthilas roared as his body began to change color.

“The Boss has gone Berserk. Wandering, be careful. March Rain, keep up the hard work. Hachi Chan, get ready to use your healing,” Lu Li said as he carefully stared at the Boss, watching whether it was going to cast its second Berserk.

Wandering had experienced Furious Anger twice and was able to deal with regular Berserk quite easily.

“Dammit.”

Just as the Boss’ Berserk was about to end, he suddenly saw Magistrate Barthilas’ expression change. At the same time, he noticed Lu Li shouting loudly at Hachi Chan. Then, Wandering’s vision immediately turned black and white.

The Boss had gone into double Berserk, and he had been instantly killed.