The Great Thief

Lu Li’s bag still contained four Seaforium Bombs that he would be able use next time.

He had expected a challenging, close-combat battle, but he had guessed wrongly. From the beginning, they had not been discovered by the Orcs at all.

The stealth elixir was extremely impressive. Both him and Water Fairy were expert Thieves, so as long as the Orcs’ levels did not exceed 50 and they kept their distance, they would naturally remain undiscovered.

”Number 46,” Keeshan said calmly. ”We have 35 seconds at max. The patrolling squads of Orcs will have already found that the soldiers standing guard at the gate are missing. We must leave now.”

As they had previously entered, they now had to exit from Stonewatch Fortress’ gate.

This steel fortress had been built by the Orcs on the Redridge mountain range. The purpose behind the unrestrained hunting and capturing was for its construction. Otherwise, the Orcs would not normally feed and sustain captives who would waste their already short supply of food.

”Will the commander die?” Lu Li asked. He was quite keen on killing the Boss.

Judging from the levels of the elite Orcs, the Boss would not be too powerful. Furthermore, Keeshan was as powerful as a Boss and possessed a barbaric type of strength.

”Whether the commander lives or dies does not matte – we just need to kill enough Orcs to foil their battle plans. Even if they try and regroup, reinforcements from Stormwind castle will have already arrived.” Although Keeshan appeared to not care about whether the Lakeshire Guard died or lived on the surface, the way he did things were obvious at a glance.

”Alright then, when do we trigger the explosion of the bombs?” Lu Li asked begrudgingly.

”They’ve already been triggered.”

As soon as he heard the voice, the whole Stonewatch fortress was immediately enveloped in a barrage of seemingly unending explosions. Lu Li and his party only just managed to run through the gate before it collapsed with a loud rumble.

As he turned around and looked back, he saw that only rubble and the light of the fire remained.

The crushed rocks and stones were the most effective method of reducing the destructive power of the Orcs. It was no wonder why Keeshan had strategically considered the positioning of the explosives.

Suddenly, Lu Li discovered something miraculous.

His EXP bar was beginning to increase!

It had been a long time since his EXP bar had even moved, let alone by 7% at once.

Five percent experience was equivalent to one block, so this change was glaringly obvious.

Water Fairy also noticed this. Her level was lower than Lu Li’s by two, so her EXP rose even more. When it finally came to a stop, she had levelled up and reached level 43.

As it turned out, the Orcs that were killed by the explosives had given them shared experience.

If they could enjoy it alone, the high ranking Elite monsters in the fortress would have given them even more.

By now, the party which consisted of Lu Li and the NPCs had already made their way in the direction of the lake. They did not dare to stop temporarily, as there would still be many surviving Orcs, along with a Boss.

Unless it was unavoidable, even Keeshan would not want to face the Orc commander.

Suddenly, a dark shape blotted out the sun in the sky, growing larger and larger as it flew closer to them. Lu Li turned around and was nearly frightened off his feet.

Black Dragon!

It had to at least be level 50. This was a real Black Dragon – not a Raptor or Dragonspawn, and had the authentic bloodline of the Dragonkin.

”Prepare for battle.”

Keeshan’s leg shifted as he turned his head and twisted his body, firing an enchanted green arrow towards it. It was a pity that it only grazed the large dragon’s neck, but it was enough to slightly interrupt its dive.

After this, Messner unleashed a large Fireball that struck the dragon squarely on its head. Unlike the regular Fireball skill, Messner’s Fireball did not dissipate quickly. Instead, it enveloped the dragon’s head and continued to burn.

”Spatial Lock!”

Messner released the staff in his hand and tore a silverly-white scroll. A dense amount of magical energy began to rise from the ground that instantly enveloped the entire area. The large dragon then began to fall from the sky like a stone as a damage value of 50000 floated above its head. Compared to the large Fireball, the damage of this spell was significantly higher.

A dragon that had lost its ability to fly was basically a giant lizard. It roared in suffering as it was immediately surrounded and violently attacked.

Apparently, the dragon was not that strong after all.

In his previous life, Lu Li was only an ordinary player. Even though he had attained level 50, he did not have a chance to encounter a dragon.

Perhaps it was because these NPCs were too strong. The two spells that Messner had unleashed were extremely dazzling. Lu Li felt slightly regretful that he had not chosen to play a Mage as there were many powerful Mage NPCs. It would be much easier for him to receive guidance.

While deep in thought, Lu Li had also found his own attacking position and proceeded to slash at the dragon’s abdomen a few times.

”Be careful and protect yourself.”

Keeshan did not possess the carefree attitude that Lu Li had. He wore a grave expression on his face and stood poised to react at the slightest hint of danger. Perhaps even the strength and speed he was using to fire his arrows had begun to fatigue him, as his fingers were dyed in blood.

The flame that was on the large dragon’s head had finally died out. In the meantime, it opened its eyes and saw a few small, weak humans attacking it. Then, it took in a deep breath.

A large stream of flames surged out of the dragon’s mouth. The first to be hit was Jorgensen the Paladin, who promptly used his damage reduction. Even so, he was still badly burned and lost a large portion of his health.

”This attack is too powerful.”

Lu Li finally understood why Keeshan’s expression was grave.

Unexpectedly, a stream of black dragon flames could incinerate an NPC with Plate Armor and deal more than 1000 damage. If Lu Li had been hit, he would have been burnt to a crisp. Understandably, he was quite frightened and moved to another attacking position.

”Attack its eyes!” Keeshan bellowed at the Mage as he also began to target the dragon’s eyes. After all, it seemed unfazed when they were attacking other parts of its body and only tried to dodge when its eyes were in danger.

”We can’t fight it! Let’s run!” Krakauer yelled.

”Krakauer, you go first,” Keeshan cried out in pain as he rolled on the ground after being hit by the dragon’s claws. However, he quickly got up and returned to the fight.

”I won’t go yet; you guys can escape first. I’ll keep it occupied and escape by myself afterwards,” Krakauer said confidently.