The Great Thief

”Take advantage of his tiredness! Go Elevenless!” the Wings of Dawn’s substitute player Bloody Sunset shouted as he waved his arms excitedly.

Fortunately, he was in the competitor’s seat, which was equivalent to the backstage of the stadium. The audience couldn’t see him. Otherwise, it would have been embarrassing for him.

Bloody Sunset squatted in front of the other players and walked around quietly.

”Oh dear,” the Wings of Dawn’s coach Dream 13 sighed as he looked at the club’s veterans sadly.

”Coach, why are you saying that? I think Elevenless is about to make a comeback,” Bloody Sunset asked in confusion.

There were many others who were like him in the audience, especially those who were fans of Wings of Dawn. They were just a step away from jumping up and cheering for Elevenless.

Humans were always sympathetic to the underdog because they liked seeing a great reversal of results. After Lu Li’s unusual performance, it was now Elevenless that was the underdog. The voices of support for Lu Li were becoming softer and those cheering for Elevenless were getting louder.

”As a professional player, you can’t always just look on what’s happening on the surface,” Dream 13 answered.

”Is there a problem? You can see that Elevenless is about to make a comeback too, right?” Bloody Sunset said dismissively. Young people tended to not like listening to older people and believed only in what they saw.

However, it wasn’t just him who didn’t understand. The two commentators Pure White Season and Dark Wind also did not realize what was happening.

”This is just a last-ditch struggle,” Water Fairy said coldly.

This was the first time she had openly refuted the views of the two commentators.

Water Fairy didn’t keep the audience in suspense and explained it for everyone who didn’t understand, including the commentators that she disagreed with.

”Lu Li is tired, but that doesn’t mean that his skill level has decreased. Does no one see that he is now at 70% HP?”

After hearing her say that, everyone else realized that she had a point.

How did Lu Li’s HP suddenly go up? They all remembered that it had been well below 50% previously.

Pamela’s Gift (Dark Gold) *3: Critical Hit +30%, Damage +15%, Special Effect: Pamela’s Sweet Water tea. Instant Cast. Immediately regenerate 25% HP and regenerate 2% HP every second for 5 seconds. Can be interrupted and cannot be cast on anyone but yourself. 30-minute cooldown. Level Requirement: 30. Durability: 72/72.

After being enhanced three times, ”Pamela’s Gift” could regenerate Lu Li’s HP by 35%.

”Lu Li won’t kill Elevenless right away because he can take the time to regenerate his HP. This is why I say that Elevenless is fighting for a lost cause.”

Everyone was convinced by Water Fairy’s point, which also highlighted Lu Li’s ingenuity.

In the beginning, when he could only deal a few dozen points of damage, most people thought that he was going to lose. Now, not only was he going to beat Elevenless, but he was also going to stall for time so that he could regenerate his HP.

He was employing stalling tactics!

This concept was well-understood by Lu Li and quite common on Dawn’s stages. In many future matches, the stronger party would deliberately not kill their opponent in order to prepare themselves for the next round.

The Game Company would then have to modify the rules of the arena and enforce a time limit on matches. If a match went past a certain duration, it would be ended and the victor would be decided based on who did the most damage.

However, at this time, Lu Li was abusing the stalling tactic to its fullest extent.

From the moment the game began until when Elevenless finally fell, it had been nearly an hour, making it the longest game in the arena to date.

When he stood on stage to receive the cheers and taunts of the audience, he had regenerated back to full HP, most of his skills were off cooldown and he was no longer exhausted.

The cheers were for obvious reasons, but those who taunted felt like Lu Li had played dirty.

Regardless, Lu Li had won the first round.

Wings of Dawn’s second player was Tracer, who was a veteran professional player. Although he wasn’t the strongest Hunter in Dawn, he was notoriously difficult to fight. Otherwise, Lu Li wouldn’t have used the stalling tactics. He wanted to face this hunter in a more acceptable state.

Both players clashed in battle and Lu Li once again found himself in the weaker position.

The first reason was because his energy. Prior to this, he had gone through a whole day of Instance Dungeon exploring, then had depleted all of his energy fighting Elevenless.

The second issue was their professions. Hunters had ways to restrain Thieves, but Tracer in particular had Flare and his pet was a Shadowmaw Panther with strong Detection.

Shadowmaw Panthers were a very common leopard and could be found almost everywhere in the forest environment.

Their attack power was far worse than the rare leopards, but they had a skill that some hunters particularly liked – Stealth.

When a Hunter threw a Flare, an area with an 8 yard radius would be lit up. Any opponents who tried to Stealth in this area would be revealed.

Lu Li still had a chance to stalk around the area, but this was where the pet came in.

Tracer could cover the front, while his pet could cover the rear. Once an enemy in Stealth was found, they could immediately engage.

An ordinary pet could play such a role, but they still had some flaws in their perception. However, a real master often used their pet’s flaws to launch surprise attacks.

If a pet could go into Stealth, the opponent wouldn’t be able to see the direction that it was looking at and wouldn’t be able to act with certainty.

At this time, Lu Li knew that he couldn’t act rashly. He didn’t know where the hidden panther was looking and could only wait patiently.

”Ha!”

A wave of arrows rained down near Lu Li and almost hit him.

This area-of-effect attack didn’t have high damage, but it did not have a cooldown, so Hunters often used this skill to probe areas. Tracer was trying to determine Lu Li’s position, but also trying to flush him out at the same time.

Obviously, stalling tactics didn’t work against every profession. After all, there were so many different matchups.

Elevenless might have struggled with Lu Li, but a ranged player with area-of-effect skills like Tracer would naturally have an advantage.