The Great Thief

No matter how much Princess Huhuran appeared like a large bumblebee, she was indeed a very powerful Boss.

At the beginning, they just kept getting wiped. Lu Li didn’t even get to test very much before it would happen, so they were struggling just to decide on a team composition. Time was being wasted, but fortunately, they were able to maintain good spirits after watching a match of the competitions together.

Lu Li wasn’t in the hurry anyway. This Instance Dungeon was very difficult, and if they were making a little progress, then the other clubs would be even slower.

The other guilds that Lu Li was thinking about weren’t even trying to fight the new Boss. In fact, they were all in a chat room gossiping. Glory Capital, Seventh Heaven, Blood Red War Flag, Azure Guard, Wings of Dawn, Purple Lunar Paradise, and Glory Capital’s Gale Legion were all there.

There were some other clubs that had completed the starting Quest, but they had failed to defeat the second Boss, so they were excluded from the group.

“So, you haven’t defeated the third Boss?” Jade Flower Lover asked.

Blood Red War Flag had defeated the third Boss, and was one step ahead of Glory Capital. As such, Jade Flower Lover took this opportunity to have a bit of fun. Given the equipment that it dropped, it didn’t make much of a real difference anyway.

“I already told you we haven’t done it. You don’t have to believe me,” Sorrowless said impatiently.

“Hey, I just thought you were ahead of us this whole time,” Jade Flower Lover sighed before smiling and saying, “So Lu Li obviously wasn’t telling the truth. When we defeated the second Boss, he said that he had just defeated the first Boss.”

“We defeated the second Boss before then, and it wasn’t the First Clear at the time,” Sorrowless said.

“Damn, what a liar,” Jade Flower Lover cursed at Lu Li.

“You didn’t invite us here just to get angry at someone else did you?”

Azure Guard’s Floral Paralysis was puzzled. He didn’t understand what Jade Flower Lover wanted.

“I invited you all here to talk about how we can cooperate,” Jade Flower Lover said, beginning to talk about his intentions.

He first gave his analysis of Ruling Sword’s progress. He hypothesised that Ruling Sword had probably already defeated the third Boss and was in the process of fighting the fourth or even fifth Boss. All of that was to say that Ruling Sword had entered the Instance Dungeon late, but had made more progress than everyone present.

“Although it seems unbelievable, we don’t know who took the First Clear from Blood Red War Flag since Glory Capital hasn’t even defeated the third Boss yet,” Lucky Southern Persian chimed in. “I would rather believe that it was Ruling Sword, especially since I don’t trust the things that they have been telling us.”

“It can’t be one of the other clubs either. I have asked about it, and there are only a few other clubs on the second Boss,” Jade Flower Lover said.

“So how do you want to cooperate?” Floral Paralysis asked.

“We can share the strategy of the third Boss. Then, let’s work together on the strategy for the fourth Boss, then the fifth Boss, and the sixth…” Jade Flower Lover said.

“Wait, you would be so generous?” Floral Paralysis couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t believe it either. Flower bro is trying to fool us. We know who you are.”

Dream 13 could be a bit naïve at times, but he wasn’t a complete idiot. Both he and his brother Elevenless knew that good things such as this were never for free.

“Well, you have two options,” Jade Flower Lover said with a smile.

This guy always thought of himself as a master tactician, and would often try to come up with intricate schemes. But everyone knew that about him, so they didn’t usually believe the things he said.

However, he continued to explain, “The first is that we cooperate until the we get to the final Boss. Then, we will allow everyone to fight for themselves, and whoever is able to clear the Boss first will take the First Clear of the Instance Dungeon. The second is that we will take turns in future Instance Dungeons. We will take this First Clear, and next time…”

“Wait!” Dream 13 interrupted him, “Why does Blood Red War Flag get this one?”

“Big bro, we have already defeated the third Boss. What are you guys up to? Come and tell us if you’ve made more progress. Then you get to be the ones to take the First Clear.”

“We’re almost there. We’ll beat the third Boss soon,” Dream 13 said disdainfully.

“So, we’ve still made more progress than you. Does that make sense to everyone?” Jade Flower Lover tried to suppress his anger as he defended his club.

“Why would you want to be so fast? I like taking things slow,” Dream 13 joked, trying to stir the pot.

“Your face is fast, your whole family is fast,” Jade Flower Lover swore, losing it at this guy. He felt like this second-generation gamer was being insolent towards him, a veteran.

“If you guys are just going to quarrel, then I will be leaving. Glory Capital isn’t interested in your proposal,” Sorrowless said as he left the chat room.

He was such a proud person; how could be possibly allow them to get into a relationship like this?

“Hey 13, this is all your fault,” Jade Flower Lover said, feeling a headache coming on.

“I think this is a good proposal, but I want to choose the first option,” Lucky Southern Persian spoke up.

“Alright, since Southern likes it, I will listen to him.”

Dream 13’s club has actually been lagging behind. Since Jade Flower Lover was going to hand the strategy to him, why would he decline?

“Wendelian, what about Gale Legion?”

Jade Flower Lover counted the rest of the people in the chat room, and noticed some who hadn’t said anything.

Gale Legion was a branch of Glory Capital, but since they were still here, it meant that they definitely didn’t have Glory Capitals resources nor were they that closely controlled by them.

“I only represent Gale Legion. Are we not qualified to work with you?” Wendelian asked coldly.

“Can you guarantee that you won’t share the strategy with Glory Capital?” Jade Flower Lover felt like his head was hurting. Although Gale Legion was a branch of Glory Capital, they weren’t much weaker than anyone else in the room. He really had no reason to say that they were not qualified.

“Yes, I promise,” Wendelian said decisively.

Jade Flower Lover: …

Dream 13: …

Lucky Southern Persian: …

Everyone else: …

“Sorrowless is a very proud person. There is a no way he would accept the strategy from me. If I say that I will not share it with Glory Capital, then I won’t share it with Glory Capital. If you do not believe in Sorrowless’ pride, then believe in my character. If you don’t think I am sincere, then I will leave,” Wendelian said firmly.

“Wait, I believe you,” Jade Flower Lover hurriedly called after her.

One major guild had already left, and if more started to leave then there was no point left to this temporary alliance.

Several clubs soon started receiving Jade Flower Lover’s information about the third Boss. The strategy was still a bit rough, and needed a bit of work before it could be converted into a formal guide.

However, they also agreed to cooperate with the strategies of the following Bosses.

Everyone would share their information and work with each other.

Jade Flower Lover was indeed talented. He had sacrificed a little bit of self-interest, but had tied everyone together to curb Ruling Sword’s rapid progress in the Instance Dungeon.

At this point, Ruling Sword had begun to slowly understand some of Huhuran’s skills.

From the princess’ model, there were green points that showed that her damage was poisonous.

And this was true, as her most common skill was Toxic Dart.

The princess’ Toxic Dart was similar to the green dragon in the Wild. It could be stacked and couldn’t be dispelled, but high poison resistance could help mitigate its effects. The Toxic Darts dealt Nature damage and could stack up to four times. Each Toxic Dart dealt 700 damage with each tick. With a stack of four, the target would suffer continuous damage of 2800 per tick.

If you couldn’t rescue the target in time, this was a death sentence.

Nature Spit was another skill that was commonly used. It was an area of effect skill that could also be endured if their resistance was high enough.

Dragon Sting was another Nature skill, which put the target into a Deep Sleep. If the skill was dispelled, the target would receive 4000 Nature damage.

In addition to the Toxic Dart, there was also Toxic Dart Flurry.

One of the most terrible things in battle was when Huhuran’s HP fell to 30%. She would unleash a flurry of Toxic Darts at the 15 nearest targets. All of them would take significant Nature damage. If these players didn’t have high resistance or receive significant healing, they would fall instantly. However, outside of these 15 players, no one else would receive any damage.

The first few battles took place in Princess Huhuran’s room, but Lu Li later moved the battlefield outside.

The reason for choosing this new battlefield was firstly because everyone would be in better positions to observe and make changes accordingly. Secondly, there was just more space which meant that they could move and avoid skills more efficiently.

In terms of positioning, this was very important. Apart from the Warriors and Thieves, everyone had to surround the Main Tank. The distance between each player had to be within 15 yards. They stood together in case of emergencies so that the Healers could instantly reach them. The Shamans were all standing in the inside of the circle.

Warriors and Thieves were surrounding Princess Huhuran to deal as much damage as possible.

Before the aggro was pulled, the Thieves would stand aside. Players who were responsible for relaying communications were also hiding as the aggro was being pulled. This was to avoid the first area of effect skill the Boss would cast as it got pulled.

All Warriors wore Natural Resistance equipment, and would also receive the Hunter’s aura and the Shaman’s totem’s buffs in tanking the Natural damage of the Boss. The Main Tank and other tanks would then get ready to take over in the second stage of the Boss. Princess Huhuran’s physical attacks were very powerful in the second stage, so they couldn’t just sacrifice everything for Natural Resistance.

For the other melee players, they were also able to enjoy some resistance from the Hunter’s aura and the Shaman totems.

However, the players couldn’t afford to simply stack Natural Resistance equipment, because their damage output would be greatly affected as well.

After several battles, Lu Li finally worked out how the resistance worked. He asked the ranged players to wear their normal equipment. Cold Chill’s Great Nature Protection Potion would provide everyone with some extra needed resistance.

“This feels almost the same. Unless we do something different, we won’t have enough time today,” Wandering reminded Lu Li.

This was the last day of the week, as the cooldown would refresh tomorrow.

“Let’s get to work then,” Lu Li said as he repositioned everyone and readied the preparations.

After Bearded Zaza used his pets to pull Princess Huhuran, all the players started attacking. This time, Azure Sea Breeze was able to gain the aggro easily when Princess Huhuran went into the second stage.

The battle against Princess Huhuran was divided into two main stages. When herHP was less than 30% or when it had been longer than 15 minutes, the second stage would begin.

The first stage of the battle was quite stable.

If the Hunters did a good job of controlling the Boss’ Berserk, then the Boss’ attacks wouldn’t post any threat to the tanks.

There were three tanks building aggro together. When the Toxic Dart on the Main Tank was stacked for the fourth time, they would swap the aggro onto another tank. Otherwise, it was likely that the tanks would die. The group had already been wiped a few times because of the tanks’ mistakes.

Each healer was assigned a specific target. Each Priest was responsible for the healing of one tank and one Thief. They were also required to help each other when necessary.

Each Shaman was responsible for removing the Dragon Sting effect from the defensive players. The Dragon Sting could deal a lot of damage very quickly, so the Shamans needed to pay close attention. All the Shamans also focused their healing on the Main Tank.

Lu Li brought three Shamans, three Druids and two healer Shamans, along with Sakura Memories.

While Sakura Memories was dealing damage, she also ensured that the stings on the current tank’s body were being removed in time.

The two Druids were each responsible for maintaining the health of the three Tanks, and helping out with general healing. The other Druid was responsible for keeping the Thieves topped up. As for the healers, they needed to conserve as much mana as possible while helping out. They generally needed to have 75% or more mana when entering the second stage. The Shamans and Druids were generally to save their mana regeneration until then.

“If you need them, make sure to take potions. Don’t expect the healers to save you,” Lu Li reminded.

In the first stage, the Boss would focus on a random target. It would inflict a Silence and 750 damage every two seconds. All players who suffered this damage had to rely on themselves to regenerate their HP after it was over. Unless they were continuously being damaged, the healers wouldn’t take care of them.

This damage wasn’t fatal; you just needed to apply some bandages. There was no need to waste March Rain’s mana.