The Great Thief

The Dilan Ruins was a castle surrounded by a forest and black fog. There were quite a few players around.

What shocked Lu Li was that there were 300 or 400 players gathered here.

Could it be that they wanted to fight the High Disciple Anzelin?

Anzelin was a difficult Boss. He was like Janila and was not a simple wilderness Boss. They were special Faction NPCs and with the current players’ strength, even 500 of them wouldn’t be able to take him down.

Lu Li found an isolated spot to stop and recover some HP. He put on his Steel grade Bandanna, Nameless, and hid his information, then slowly edged over.

These people were really fighting a Boss. It wasn’t the massive Boss Anzelin, but a humanoid Boss.

It was wearing a tattered Mage’s Robe, and its pale face was filled with the aura of death…

The Plague Messenger Nois!

Based on his knowledge of the game, as well as the name of this place, Lu Li deduced that Nois was formerly the Baron of Dilan.　

Before he had fallen, he was part of the aristocracy and was a genius Necromagus. He was incredibly accomplished in the arts of Necromancy and Curses.

However, his madness and cruelness had reduced Dilan to ruins.

The Plague Messenger Nois was a summoned Boss, like the Cynocephali Elder that Lu Li had killed in the past. They were both unique and would not respawn after being killed. Lu Li had entered the game fairly late in his ‘past life’, so he had never seen the Plague Messenger Nois. However, he knew some information about it and had read some descriptions from players who had taken it down.

The guide for killing the Plague Messenger Nois was very simple – remove Curse.

Only Druids and Mages could remove Curses in Dawn. The Skill Books for those skills were incredibly rare, but this wasn’t a problem for large guilds. With thousands of Mages and Druids, there would be at least 10 to 20 of them who had these skills.

Lu Li didn’t dare to get too close – a LV15 Boss wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

He observed the players fighting the Boss and identified the guild badge on their chests- the Gangnam Royals.

They were the number 3 guild in China and had 200 year old history, which dated back to when keyboards were still being used. It had been established by a bunch of rich kids.

Although the guild went through some rough times, it managed to survive with the financial support of these people.

They only had one strength, which was their wealth. Of course, wealth often brought about arrogance.

When training, they would monopolised the entire area and oppress others with their numbers in PVP battles. As well as this, they would destroy their opponents using money in guild battles. They were a blight in the virtual world and had ruined many great games. However, game companies simply couldn’t ban them due to the inflow of revenue that they brought.

Most people in the Gangnam Royals had chosen the Human race, so he had not encountered them in the Novice Village. Otherwise, they definitely would have gotten into conflicts.

The Gangnam Royals loved monopolising areas, which was what Lu Li hated.

If someone wanted to monopolise an area he was training in, he would not rest until they were gone.

In his ‘past life’ he had often gotten into fights because of things like this. It seemed that this would be the same in his new life.

The one in charge of this expedition was the guild executive Sword Raise Sand. He was a LV14 Warrior and was 9th on the Level Rankings. It was said that he was fairly skilled, but didn’t have many opportunities to show off, because the Gangnam Royals always fought as a group.

The player who received the Plague Messenger quest was guildless, so he contacted the Gangnam Royals for help. He thought that he might as well let them take the rewards from killing the Boss, as he could receive the excellent rewards for completing the quest.

There were many benefits in killing a Boss, so the Gangnam Royals readily agreed.

As for the players they had killed at the start, they simply didn’t care about them.

Lu Li hid behind a collapsed wall and curled up into a ball. Even if he wasn’t stealthed, no one would be able to detect him.

He had originally planned to kill a few of them to relieve his anger, but seeing that they were fighting the Plague Messenger Boss, he changed his mind.

The Plague Messenger had a chance of dropping Plague Shards – one of the materials he needed for upgrading the Supreme One Ring. Plague Shards were incredibly difficult to find, and in his ‘past life’, Azure Sea Breeze said that he had spent half a year finding 3 Plague Shards.

Lu Li planned to wait and steal the Boss.

Wanting to steal a Boss was easy, but actually doing it was hard.

First of all, one had to be close enough to the Boss. In a battlefield with hundreds of players squeezed together and spells and arrows flying everywhere, it would be difficult for a Thief to be able to remain Stealthed.

Moreover, even in an army of one thousand, the players would be split into small teams of 5 or 10 players. The Captain would immediately recognise a stranger trying to mix in.

As well as this, one had to be familiar with the Boss’ skills. It was a crucial mistake to think that the Boss was on his or her side and that it wouldn’t attack them.

Finally, the player had to be able to react fast enough and act quickly. Only by dealing the final blow would the player receive the EXP and equipment from the Boss.

Dawn’s system of giving out rewards for killing Bosses was quite unique. Apart from the team that dealt the most damage to the Boss, the player who dealt the final blow would receive 20% of the EXP and the right to take equipment as well.

This sometimes created some problems. For example, in order to take the 20% EXP for themselves, some people paid teams to lower the Boss’ HP, then dealt the final blow. Some people camped others who were fighting Bosses and would rush in to deal the final blow. However, that usually resulted in the player being completely annihilated by the others.

Thus, it was understandable why guilds often forced any other players out of the area when fighting a Boss.

However, Lu Li did not accept what they had done. Even if they wanted to monopolise the area, they didn’t have to kill anyone. To Lu Li, it was wrong to kill for such selfish reasons.

The Plague Messenger had quite a few powerful skills, such as the Plague Messenger’s Curse. This was a classic big move, which could instantly affect 20 or so players. If the Curse remained on a player for more than 10 seconds, it would turn into the Plague Messenger’s Fury.

It was just a Curse, and didn’t seem all that powerful. However, that was only if one did not know what the Plague Messenger’s Fury did.

Plague Messenger’s Fury: Affected players turn into a bomb, dealing 400-600 Nature Damage to other players within 30 feet. Additionally causes 300-500 Nature Damage every 2 seconds for 10 seconds after that.

With the players’ HP at the current stage of the game, this was a death sentence for large teams.

The hundreds of players fighting the Boss had no idea what was coming for them.

Lu Li’s was positioned quite well. He was in a shadowy corner where he was hidden from the Plague Messenger, so he would not be Cursed. He also would not be blown up by other players.

Even if another player looked his way, they still wouldn’t see him if they weren’t paying attention. After all, the Dilan Ruins were filled with dark grey smoke all year round.