The Great Thief

Unfortunately, just as the Quilboar rushed out to attract their attention, a crow had rushed out of the tent with it. Dancing Star Dream’s Blizzard hadn’t even been cast yet.

”Caw caw…”

The crow couldn’t speak, but Lu Li’s laugh was converted into a mocking caw.

. Dancing Star Dream’s mind was filled with emotion, similar to the first time he had lost a professional game. All the thoughts almost caused his head to explode, but he was a professional player, so he quickly calmed himself down.

”Star Bro, what do we do?” an underling asked.

”Didn’t I say that I’d kill anyone that called me that?” Dancing Star Dream threateningly said before he slowly pulled down his bandana and continued, ”Look very carefully, I’m Unforgettable Maple. That damned girl’s voice is so hard to imitate; he probably guessed from it.”

”Oh….”

They had suffered such a crushing defeat that they didn’t even know how to respond to that.

”Let’s go home. Failure is the mother of success; we’ll get him one day,” Dancing Star Dream smiled as he gave the command to retreat. The Quilboars of the forest quickly regenerated after they left.

The Wild Boar Forests were once flooded by torrents from the mountains and were invaded for many years. The trees were dirty and the area was generally quite muddy.

A dark crow sat among the trees, quietly watching the group leave. He didn’t try to catch up to them and retaliate. This wasn’t like his first run-in with the Imperial Secret Service – back then, everyone was unfamiliar with the game and easy to kill. Now, they had more experience, so he probably couldn’t escape without getting hit by a Cheap Shot.

Moreover, there was no reason for them to just leave one or two players behind for him anyway.

There was also something else that he had set his mind on.

After asking about it, Square Root 3 requested that he come back so they could talk it about it. The situation must have been more serious than he thought.

”Moonlight died twice, Memories died once, Monkey died once and there were many elites who also died. The guild is in chaos at the moment,” Square Root 3 summarized.

”I see. Looks like it really was an assassination operation. Was anyone else targeted?’ Lu Li asked as he sat down with a serious expression.

It was unexpected that Moonlight would die twice; he probably had something that revived him. However, given his temperament, it was unlikely that he would have just returned to the city either. Many players probably ended up dying at his hands.

Although Memories was a Shaman, she happened to be farming on her own. Because she didn’t spend much time with other guild members, it was natural that she would be a target.

As for Fat Monkey, he was quite an impulsive guy, so he was easily provoked and fell into a trap. However, he wasn’t as fearless as Moonlight, so he only died once.

”Dreamy spends all her time taking care of her pets, so she’s fine. March Rain was farming with a large group of people. They were rushed by a group of players, but no one died. In fact, under Wandering’s leadership, they actually managed to kill quite a few of their attackers,” Square Root 3 said, then paused as he made a weird face and continued, ”As for those who targeted Hachi Chan, they got chopped up by an NPC and found that they weren’t even safe in the safe area…”

”What about the Elite Group?”

Everyone had been targeted, so this was no small operation.

”The Elite Group took quite a heavy hit,” Square Root 3 sighed. ”We had at least a thousand players die today and many of them were from the three Elite Groups.”

At the thought of a thousand-death’s-worth of EXP lost, Lu Li’s stomach convulsed.

This was a time when the major guilds were beginning to become more productive. With the League around the corner, the guilds needed to keep up their morale, but he didn’t expect something like this to happen.

”Was it only the Gangnam Royals who were involved? What about the other guilds,” Lu Li asked, bracing himself for the worst.

”From the looks of it, there were probably five to six guilds involved, but we weren’t the only ones targeted,” Square Root 3 answered. ”In fact, a similar situation occurs each year just before the large-scale competitions. We weren’t well-known enough before the Shadow Cup, but this time they knew.

”So what exactly happened?” Lu Li asked with a puzzled look.

Rebirth didn’t make him omniscient. What he knew was from what he had heard and experienced in his lifetime. The game that the major guilds played and the game that an average player played were wildly different. There were always rumors floating around, but only those involved knew the truth.

”Each year, the guild rankings are re-evaluated. There are many factors involved, but the main one is the outcome of the competitions…” Square Root 3 explained as he shook his head.

There had been many competitions earlier in the year, but none had the influence of Dawn’s ultra-popular Shadow Cup. Even the Magic Cup, which no one had previously cared about, took advantage of Dawn’s popularity.

This year, several major guilds were worried about their situation and the danger of losing their position.

For example, the Gangnam Royals didn’t win any important competitions in the first half of the year and in the second half of the year, they lost the Shadow Cup and the Magic Cup. If they continued on like this, they probably wouldn’t even be able to place in the top ten. Last year, they had managed to place in second position.

The Brotherhood, Peacetime Dynasty, Freedom Sky, Star Moon Guild and the Imperial Secret Service all faced a similar dilemma.

After getting to the top, no one wanted to be pulled down again.

So, at a time when the major guilds were at risk of losing their position, they would try various methods to cause chaos, either by killing or destroying things. Ruling Sword was just one of the guilds that had suffered at their hands today.

Dancing Star Dream was an expert and was very popular in the gaming circles. He could even be described as a master, so for Gangnam Royals to send this person to kill Lu Li was a sign of respect.

However, the next thing that Square Root 3 asked almost made Lu Li spit out his tea.

”Did you kill him?”

”Please, 3 Bro, do you think I’m some kind of God? He brought so many players; I was lucky to escape with my life.”

Lu Li was speechless. After thinking about how he had escaped, luck was all he had left to be thankful for.

If Sorrowless had encountered such a situation, he definitely would have survived very easily. There was no expert in Dawn that could have survived that based on their skill alone.

However, killing those experts was like fighting a Boss.

They always had a large group of Elite players following them. Only a Thief like Lu Li would commonly be found on their own, which was why solo players like Moonlight and Memories were so easily killed.

As for Hachi Chan, the players from Gangnam Royals shouldn’t have attacked her in front of the NPC.