The Great Thief

That was so quick!

The Warrior’s intuition told him that he was in trouble.

Logically speaking, as a plate armored Berserker, he should have a natural advantage against a Thief. He shouldn’t be so pessimistic, but seeing how ruthless Lu Li was made his heart feel cold. He had mercilessly killed someone who was already disabled.

“Wait!” the warrior called out to Lu Li, “I am a member of Glory Capital. Today, our guild is attempting this quest map on a large scale. You will encounter even more Glory Capital players...”

“So?” Lu Li was a little surprised.

While ordinary players didn’t have the courage to attempt the quest, this didn’t mean that guilds didn’t have the courage either.

They would organize their players into batches in order to take the first 100 award. This was a good way for a guild to accrue some fame—the first three, successful players would be mentioned in an eye-catching World Announcement.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea for you to offend us. There will be a dozen more of us down the road. Why don’t we just get along peacefully?” the Warrior asked, as he tried to persuade Lu Li.

“I guess I could let you go. Three rare materials.”

Lu Li stretched out three fingers and waved them at him.

The Warrior, who was used to showing of his strength, would never have reduced himself to paying a ransom for his own life. He became angry and immediately attacked Lu Li with the intent to kill him.

“You aren’t my enemy. You’ll die really quickly,” Lu Li reminded him.

“You don’t know who will win,” the warrior spat, before clenching his teeth.

“Oh, so you don’t agree then. That’s too bad...”

As Lu Li said this, he disappeared into the shadows.

The Warrior tightened him arms and ordered his Paladin follower to cast Consecration.

Consecration: Instant Cast. 30 second cooldown. Consumes 7% mana. Holy energy is poured into the ground at the caster’s feet, dealing 90 damage to anyone who enters the area for 9 seconds.

The damage wasn’t too high, but it was enough to stop Thieves from coming close. Lu Li didn’t dare to close in on them.

“You’re casting Consecration right away, are you that afraid?”

Hearing Lu Li’s soft tone in this strange, soul-ridden area was terrifying.

Consecration only lasted 9 seconds and would soon be over. The Warrior would then have to wait 30 seconds before casting it again. However, the crucial matter was whether he would have a second opportunity to do so.

“Throw three rare materials on the ground and you’re free to go.”

His voice was a like a devil drilling into the warrior’s mind.

“How are you even going to kill me?”

The warrior secretly rubbed the sweat from the palm of his hands. He didn’t actually have the heart to back up his words.

He definitely wasn’t a rookie - he had entered this map quest and had made it out of the swamp.

It wasn’t because he was scared to fight either. Lu Li’s previous performance was just too insane.

The Thief from before had been showing-off the whole way; his skill-level was about the same as the Warrior’s. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have decided to work together to overcome their shared obstacles.

As for the Paladin, he was unable to display any his strength. Other than scolding Lu Li, he could only scream like a chicken.

“If I kill you, you will lose a bunch of EXP and drop an item. But most importantly, you won’t be able to attempt this quest again for three days.”

Lu Li wasn’t in a rush to attack. Instead, he tried to persuade the Warrior. If this was in a different setting, he would be like a mentor offering life advice.

“My equipment isn’t much worse than yours, and I am a warrior!”

The Warrior had already lost all of his courage, as he attempted to repel Lu Li with his words.

“Your equipment is really good. Are you carrying the Wall Mangler?”

Lu Li glanced at the glowing blue light coming off the Warrior’s equipment. The contempt in his heart caused his lips to twitch; this was such a waste of good equipment.

“What’s your name? I want to lose fairly and clearly.”

The warrior took two steps back and the paladin who was standing behind him followed suit.

“Don’t take me for a fool. I know you’re trying to stall for reinforcements. That’s so cute. The directions on this map are confusing. Even if your companion led the way, there is no way that anyone would find you in such a short time. I’ll give you 10 seconds to think about it. After that, your friends will be collecting your corpse,” Lu Li mercilessly said, as he appeared behind the Warrior in Stealth and cast Sap on him.

The 20 second stun from Sap was more than enough time to kill the Warrior’s follower.

“You despicable person. You said 10 seconds!”

The Warrior had been affected by Sap, but that didn’t stop him from speaking.

“I meant that you would be dead in 10 seconds,” Lu Li’s coldly said, as his daggers fluttered in his hands.

An ordinary follower could only take a few hits; it almost instantly dropped to half health.

“Stop!” the Warrior shouted, “I got it!”

Without a follower, his strength would be greatly reduced. Even if he escaped Lu Li’s clutches now, the rest of the quest would be immensely difficult.

“Don’t mess with me and don’t let the Paladin heal himself.”

Lu Li stopped and removed his Stealth. He stood right in front of the Warrior, waiting for him to drop the materials.

“I don’t have much rare material,” the Warrior said through clenched teeth. He could just cast Charge right now, but he didn’t dare to.

Killing Lu Li wouldn’t do him much good. The most he would gain would be a piece of equipment and some points that he didn’t know the function of. However, if he was killed by Lu Li, he would lose much more than that.

Glory Capital had made a promise to him if he completed the quest: he would receive a promotion within the guild and a number of attractive monetary rewards.

As he was currently a full member, completing the quest might result in him becoming an elite member. If he was lucky and made it into the first 100, becoming a core member might even be a possibility.

“If you don’t have any rare materials, you can drop Strengthening Stones. Don’t just tell me that you have nothing. In that case, I’d rather just earn more points,” Lu Li chuckled. He thought that the warrior would propose a counter-offer to the three rare materials.

The Warrior didn’t dare argue with him, immediately dropping two rare materials and a Strengthening Stone onto the ground. He then quickly asked, “Can I go now?”

It wasn’t like he didn’t know that Lu Li could take the material and still kill him, but he didn’t have a choice.

“Of course. I hope your profession upgrade is a success.”

Lu Li picked up the items and took two steps back to show his goodwill.

“I hope you won’t tell anyone about this.”

If his guild found out that he had dropped rare materials to save himself, he might not remain an ordinary member, let alone become an elite member.

“No one will know,” Lu Li said confidently.