The Great Thief

Ragnaros was furious, which was a terrifying sight.

Meanwhile, Executus was pleading for forgiveness.

“My Firelord, please do not take away my flames.”

The plea was not enough to prevent Ragnaros from destroying his servant who had woken him from his deep sleep. Lu Li scorned at him. If Ragnaros had not been woken up, his fate might have been like the Old Tree Bathran. He was cut down in his sleep, then grew a ground full of hair.

Ragnaros then said, “Now it’s your turn. You have foolishly chased after Ragnaros’ power. Now, you can taste it for yourselves.”

Lu Li wanted to give him the middle finger. It didn’t matter how strong Ragnaros was. Whether it was Sargeras or Nozdormu, if they were in an Instance Dungeon, then they were bound to be defeated again and again by players.

Perhaps they were truly powerful outside of Instance Dungeons. However, from a designer’s perspective, they were bound to be Experience fodder for the players here.

“Taste Sulfuron’s flames!”

Two basic attacks fired towards them.

Sulfuron meant ‘Purifying Flames’. It could also be understood as the ‘Firelands’, or even a self-made title for the King of the Fire Elementals, Ragnaros.

Of course, this was not the time to deal with Ragnaros’ words.

When these words were said, the team of 40 that Lu Li personally chose instantly had five or six casualties. There were also a few who fell into the molten lava and died. Broadly speaking, a third of the team was already dead, which was pretty much a squad wipe. Lu Li glanced at the time elapsed and realised that they had only officially begun battling for less than a minute.

A squad wipe within one minute of battling – this was only currently possible with the Firelord in front of them.

“What happened?”

Everyone revived and gathered together. They were all stunned and couldn’t make sense of what had occurred.

“The Boss used a skill and instantly killed nearly half of our team. It happened again afterwards, so we wiped.”

Lu Li decided to keep some information secret in his explanation. In fact, he knew the skill that the Boss used, and also knew how to adjust to this skill.

Ragnaros was the last Boss in Molten Core. In his previous life, this Boss had made many give up.

Temporary teams composed of powerful players may be able to defeat the first few Bosses, but when they reached this Boss, the competency of the players’ equipment or ability to comprehend instructions were no longer the only criteria. Therefore, only mercenary groups, guild teams, or an extremely well-oiled regular party had a chance at defeating Ragnaros.

The Molten Core could be compared to the Mathematics Olympiad competitions.

A normal student was like a normal player. They didn’t have to enter these Olympiad competitions and could still progress through school without them. However, the more capable ones could enter. Within this group of students, some would be able to go far in the test, while some could only complete the basic questions. It was still extremely commendable to even answer the basic questions.

It was only the prodigious students who were able to answer the other questions and complete the test.

This didn’t prevent the normal students to attempt the Olympiad. They still tried their best at it. Now, instead of students, consider the players within Dawn. There were many normal players who were extremely passionate in strategizing for Ragnaros. After all, they all hoped to one day defeat Ragnaros and gain his equipment.

Although most of these strategies were useless, they were helpful in letting Lu Li understand the Boss’ mechanics.

For example, the skill that Ragnaros had just used – Rage of Ragnaros – dealt 1000 fire-based damage to nearby enemies and also knocked them backwards.

The 1000 damage was not enough to cause a squad wipe, since everyone had more than 2000 HP. The highest HP in the party even neared 4000. The main problem was the knockback, since that also dealt damage, especially when the players were close to the Boss.

The players who died in that run were almost all melee classes. They were all killed by the knockback damage.

A few more were knocked into the molten lava and died accordingly.

“I think we should spread out,” Wandering suggested.

“We’re already spread out around the Boss. I don’t think anyone was spared when he used that skill.”

Lu Li wasn’t rushing to start again. It was better for them to discuss strategies like this, especially with his guidance.

After discussing for a while, Azure Sea Breeze suddenly realized, “Actually, when he used the skills both times, he also said the same thing twice.”

“Are you saying…” Wandering’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right. When the Boss finishes his sentence, we have a window of opportunity to react and adjust,” Lu Li revealed. “Now the question is, what should we do during this time? We can come up with different strategies and try them out one by one.”

The second time, they tried to spread themselves out. This clearly could not work. The casualties were not any less than the first run.

The third time, they went with what they had discussed among themselves. When the Boss yelled out his words, everyone gathered together, hoping to minimise the damage and possibility of getting knocked back.

By bumping into each other, they could reduce the velocity at which they were being knocked back. Unfortunately, this didn’t work, and they were all still sent flying. Lu Li thought that the people standing at the most outer part of the circle were knocked even further, so they died mid-air.

The fourth time, the strategy used was the one that Lu Li suggested. He told everyone to stand far away from the Boss, besides the Main Tank.

This was clearly Lu Li taking charge. Under his instructions, when Ragnaros began yelling, everyone besides the three Main Tanks all retreated away.

There was a chance for the Main Tank to resist the knockback from the skill. If everything went according to plan, then there would be at least one Main Tank standing there to regain the aggro. This time, it was World’s Best Friend’s responsibility to hold the Boss’ aggro, since the other two were knocked back.

However, they quickly found that something was different.

Many players were dead by this point during the previous runs. As for this run, the number of casualties were significantly less. This meant that Lu Li’s strategy had worked. At the very least, the damage from the skill was minimised by the players retreating away.

However, there were still many players who died, not from the actual knockback, but from being knocked into the molten lava.

The fourth time was the most successful run thus far. They managed to withstand against three uses of Rage of Ragnaros before being wiped. This process only further enforced the validity of Lu Li’s strategy. Everyone also discovered a method to escape the lava as quickly as possible.

It didn’t matter if it was doggy-paddling or breaststroke, the number one priority was to leave the lava immediately.

Lu Li also distributed roles within the healer group to specifically heal those who fell into the lava. After this, they managed to unveil Ragnaros’ second skill. This skill made the players speechless. It melted players’ weapons when they charged to attack. This made the durability of their weapons decrease rapidly.

This skill wasn’t too lethal. After all, it was impossible for the durability to be melted down to zero in the blink of an eye.

The main idea behind this skill was to make the items cost more to repair after the battle. During this time, the leader of the team could not afford to be a cheapskate. Everyone needed to pay close attention to their weapons. Then, Lu Li could summon a few repair robots to repair their weapons.