The Great Thief

It was a level 58 Elite; no wonder it had so much HP.

Above 50, every level was a significant leap, but most importantly, damage dealt would be reduced while damage taken would increase.

”I hope we don’t encounter it. If we do, its best if we run away,” Lu Li insisted. ”Left, you scout out the way. I’ll give you directions.”

”Alright,” Cain’s Left Hand agreed, nodding without hesitation.

Following Lu Li’s instructions, he stepped into the forest in Stealth and saw a black bear beating a tree not too far away. The noise alone made it hard to miss.

There were some large honeybees dancing around on the tree.

”Fall back right now,” Lu Li said urgently when he saw this scene.

This was the Ringed Black Bear, which was a level 55 Pseudo-boss that had at least 180,000HP. Those bees were level 52 or 53 Golden Devil Bees and were venomous monsters that lived in colonies.

The Ringed Black Bear and the Golden Devil Bees always attacked each other because the black bear was interested in the honey.

Lu Li hadn’t encountered this last time, but now, they had to find a different way.

They had no idea what other monsters were lying in wait for them, but Lu Li had no other choice than to withdraw.

He then decided to take the risk of transforming into a Crow and flew through the forest. It was faster than going on foot, but the chances of dying were much greater. He was almost swallowed by a python as he flew through a thicket of trees.

All kinds of birds, insects or monsters could try to attack him.

Even a mosquito could defeat him if it was highly-levelled enough. This was the difference between a game and reality.

Lu Li directed the two players following him in this way.

”Walk to the left; there is a herd of monsters behind the right bush,” Lu Li wrote into the channel.

”Alright. Take care Boss,” Cain’s Left Hand said as he took the lead, followed by Sesame Rice Ball. Rice Ball was a Warlock and couldn’t go into Stealth, so he had to wait until Cain’s Left Hand could confirm that it was safe.

Although he was holding a bottle that could protect him from three seconds of physical damage, it didn’t guarantee that he would survive.

”Dammit, there’s a monster Boss,” Cain’s Left Hand cried out in surprise when he saw a Demonfang Crawler in the trees to the left.

”Rice Ball, run. Left hand, go in the opposite direction and use your equipment’s effect to escape,” Lu Li quickly instructed.

The trip had gone smoothly so far and they were near their destination.

Cain’s Left Hand did not have the time to activate his equipment’s effect, so he just fought to the death. Meanwhile, Sesame Rice Ball took the opportunity to run away and escape the Demonfang Crawler’s aggro range.

”Boss, I’ll go back first and make my way back,” Cain’s Left Hand said as he lay on the floor and watched the Demonfang Crawler slowly leave.

”Wait a minute; let me see if I can sneak up and save you. Have a look around to see if there are any monsters,” Lu Li said, stopping him. There were many monsters on the way and it wasn’t really a safe route.

Lu Li found a place to land before entering Stealth.

While he was on top of the trees, he carefully planned a route to bypass the Demonfang Crawler and reach Cain’s Left Hand.

After transforming into a Leopard and leaping down, he casted Resurrect on Cain’s Left Hand.

The two of them returned to the side of Sesame Rice Ball. This time, they didn’t alert the Demonfang Crawler. This wasn’t a monster that walked around; it sat around quietly and waited for its prey.

”Boss, Rice Ball probably won’t make it. He can’t use Stealth and the aggro range here is too big. There’s a crawler that way and two Kaliri over there,” Cain’s Left Hand said as he shook his head.

Lu Li had seen the monsters as well and thought for a moment before suggesting, ”I’ll pull the Kaliri and free up that way.”

”Isn’t that too dangerous,” Sesame Rice Ball asked. He felt like he was being a burden.

”If I die, you don’t need to come over. I can revive myself.”

Lu Li was still carrying the Darkmoon Card, and had several opportunities to resurrect himself. They had almost arrived at the destination, so he didn’t mind using it once.

He also decided to go himself instead of sending Cain’s Left Hand because he moved a little faster.

Only one-fifth of the total journey to the Troll Trial Tower remained; he had to succeed.

The Kaliri were descendents of the Rukhmar, but the low-level Kaliri in the Hinterlands were far weaker than those. They had even lost their ability to fly and were only a little higher than level 50, which also made them far weaker than the Demonfang Crawler. This was the reason why Lu Li had chosen to aggro the Kaliri instead of the Demonfang Crawler.

The two Kaliri fluttered their short wings as Lu Li approached.

Lu Li began to accelerate, rushing towards an area he had previously spotted that was free of monsters. Meanwhile, Sesame Rice Ball and Cain’s Left Hand were able to sneak past.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but just as Lu Li had left the Kaliri behind and was about to go into Stealth, a huge floral-like creature erupted up from the ground and swallowed him whole.

As his vision went dark, his HP started dropping rapidly until he died.

Of course, he didn’t dare to use his Darkmoon Card in an environment like this. If he revived, he would still be in the monster’s belly. Moreover, jungle monsters like this were very strong; even asking a hundred players to reinforce them might not be enough.

Even after the players reached level 50, they would still run away if they encountered this monster.

”Boss, what should we do now that you’re dead?” Cain’s Left Hand and Sesame Rice Ball asked after finding a safe position.

”You guys go home first. We’ll start again.”

Just because they were in a safe area now didn’t mean that it would stay that way. It was unrealistic for both of them to just wait there for him.

After returning to town, Lu Li looked at his equipment.

He had so many things in his backpack, but it was still full. Instead, he had lost an equip.

Captain Sander’s Belt (Gold): Armour 32, Agility +16, Strength +8. Special Effect 1: Critical Hit +10%. Special Effect 2: Evasion +15%. Special Effect 3: When hit, there is a certain probability of silencing the attacker for 3 seconds. Level Requirement: level 30. Durability 64/64.

This was the original equipment dropped for killing the captain. It had very good properties and was useful against Magic Professions.

Unfortunately, the area where the item had been dropped was so hard to reach that there was no chance of him retrieving it.

Lu Li also knew that they couldn’t go on like this, so he gritted his teeth and started calling for members from the guild.