The Great Thief

As they walked down the corridor, they could see the two bosses from afar.

There were too many bosses in Zul’farrak, so the developers had to force them together to save space.

Shadow Priest Sezz’ziz and Nekrum Gutchewer were glued together like lovers, while Chief Ukorz Sandscalp and Ruuzlu were a couple.

”Careful!” Lu Li shouted. Two Sul’lithuz Abominations jumped onto Azure Sea Breeze from both directions and went straight for his throat.

Sul’lithuz Abominations were even stronger than Sul’lithuz Sandwalkers and could instantly kill Azure Sea Breeze. Azure Sea Breeze was shocked by the ambush and jumped in fear.

Everyone was now on high alert for any surprise attacks from other monsters.

Ukorz Sandscalp saw this and laughed, ”Who dares to step into my presence? Do you not fear death? Feel the fury of the sands!”

Four Sandfury Guardians spawned before them, pitting them against a total of six Elite monsters. A team that came unprepared could easily panic and become flustered at the sight of this, which would lead to them being wiped.

Sandfury Guardians were giant green serpents that appeared like rattlesnakes, but with a thicker body and sharp fins on their backs. They had cold, blue eyes that stared into the souls of players, instilling fear into them before the fight even began.

In a virtual reality game like Dawn, the models and designs of the monsters would sometimes take a psychological toll on the players.

All six of these monsters were difficult to deal with, unlike other normal Elites.

Sul’lithuz Abominations had high HP and critical chance, as well as powerful poison abilities. Sandfury Guardians could apply an Armor Pierce debuff and dealt a critical hit every third attack.

Low-defense classes that wore cloth and leather were the most susceptible to Armor Pierce attacks.

Lu Li was planning on collecting some anti-poison equips to make this dungeon easier. However, the game had only been out for 2 months and there weren’t any available on the market.

The poor little Hunter Remnant Dream was poisoned to death because of her lack of defensive skills.

It took a lot of effort to finally slay all six of these Elite monsters. The poison lingered for a while after the fight and they were forced to stay back and heal until the debuff finally timed out.

Then, they resurrected their fallen teammates and prepared to face the Boss.

Like many other Trolls, Ukorz Sandscalp had heard the legendary stories of the Trolls during his childhood. Long ago, Trolls ruled the ancient lands without Goblins, Dwarves, Pirates, Ogres, or any other races that caused them trouble.

Ukorz was obsessed with the past glory of his tribe and invited Ruuzlu to create a new chapter in the story of the Sandscalp tribe. They planned on doing this with the only way they knew how – violence.

He obtained Jang’thraze the Protector, then sealed off Zul’farrak in order to protect it from his own people.

These new intruders caused Ukorz Sandscalp to be infuriated, so he picked up his hammer and shouted, ”The desert be mine; the Sandfury reign begins! Feel the fury of the Sands!”

This marked the beginning of the fight before the players were even ready.

”Wandering, take aggro from Ruuzlu. Everyone aim him,” Lu Li assigned. It was impossible for the Main Tank to tank both bosses.

Normally, in a team of ten players, there was a Main Tank, a Sub Tank and two healers, with the rest being DPS classes. There were certain guilds that ran a more glass-cannon team composition with only one tank and healer. However, they would struggle in situations like these where there were two Bosses.

Azure Sea Breeze was uncomfortable with tanking Ukorz Sandscalp by himself and constantly reminded March Rain, ”Please don’t forget about me. I feel pretty insecure right now.”

”I’m healing you; don’t worry,” Hachi Chan encouraged while casting her spells on him.

Azure Sea Breeze became less demanding, and responded nicely, ”Hehe, I’m just looking out for the team. If I die, the whole team gets wiped, right?”

”Yeah, Azure Sea Breeze, be ready to use your damage reduction at any time.” Azure Sea Breeze’s worries were very much a possibility. Ukorz could be extremely strong in his Frenzy mode.

Frenzy: Ukorz Sandscalp enters Frenzy mode, increasing Attack by 20% and Attack Speed by 60%. Lasts for 1 minute.

This was more powerful than Berserk mode. If the Main Tank didn’t time his damage reduction well, or if the healing wasn’t enough, they could easily be killed. The healers also had to work in synergy in order to keep everyone alive.

”March Rain, try to stabilize everyone’s HP. If your HP drops below 50%, then make sure you drink potions,” Lu Li reminded.

Ruuzlu was also a formidable boss with an ability called Cleave which damaged the target and two nearby allies.

As such, not only would Wandering’s HP drop significantly, but those around him would be lucky to survive this attack as well.

Usually, the healer would focus on healing the Tank up to full HP as a higher priority and neglect their other teammates. However, Ruuzlu had another skill that would cause the healer to regret this.

Execute: Ruuzlu attempts to finish off a wounded enemy, causing 320% weapon damage. Execute can only be used on enemies that have 20% or less health.

This was similar to the execute that Warriors had, but was much stronger. There were very few players that could survive this attack.

With Lu Li’s reminder, nobody dared to drop below 50% HP. No matter how strong Ruuzlu’s execute was, if no one dropped below 50% HP, he wouldn’t be able to use it.

Ukorz Sandscalp was much more difficult to deal with. In his Frenzy state, he randomly used abilities that rained down upon the players. Fortunately, it was Azure Sea Breeze that was distracting him instead of Wandering.

”Help!” Even with his damage reduction used, Azure Sea Breeze’s HP continued to drop at a scary rate.

Lu Li felt guilty from his screaming and doubted his ability to survive Ukorz’s attacks. If he fell, then the entire party would be wiped out and they would be stuck on this Boss.

This wasn’t impossible, as the dungeons in the level 50 to 60 range took major guilds months to take the First Clear. Even with guides and strategies handed down, around 60% of the total player base wouldn’t be able to make it past these dungeons.