The Great Thief

Lu Li pushed his limits even more in the afternoon. Even if he had three guilds form an alliance for this Instance Dungeon, gathering thirty or more Priests together for the fight was impossible. However, he had plenty of opportunities to observe the Boss’ mechanics, so the three teams and eight priests he had should be enough to defeat it.

“Lu Li, your death has only made my sin heavier!”

The commander’s name appearing on the death-board depleted the teams’ morale. Lu Li was surprised; he didn’t think he had gained aggro, nor was his standing position particularly obvious. Now that he was down, his limited field of view made it impossible to control the battlefield. He could only wait in frustration for Hachi Chan to Revive him. Exhausting the resurrection quota was inevitable, since Lu Li was irreplaceable as commander, and was also one of the few players that was capable of using Revive.

Lu Li thought their advances were quite successful; perhaps they could finally clear this Instance Dungeon. Prior to his rebirth, Lu Li read many Instance Dungeon strategy guides and one piece of advice, in particular, had always stuck with him: “Never give up, not even when there’s only one person left standing!”

Unfortunately, his optimism had failed him. The Red Dragon easily wiped out his entire team not long after.

The line that showed up every time a player died –”Your death has only made my sin heavier”– was supposed to be a line full of dread, mercy, and struggle, yet hearing it over and over again only led to dread. The players offered mercy to others, but who was showing mercy to them?

“If you all still have the energy to move, prepare for another attempt. Breezy, get ready. The rest of you, heal up with potions,” Lu Li calmly directed his team, seemingly unfazed by their defeat.

The rest of the team rested in silence. Trapped in a cold and dark dungeon, experiencing an indefinite loop of defeat and death – the whole thing almost had them all forget that it was just a game.

“This is so hard! Why won’t the Boss die?” Hachi Chan cried as she dawdled sluggishly on the ground, unwilling to get up.

“Just the other day, my dad asked what I was doing in this game every day,” Remnant Dream scowled. “I told him I was just raising pets and going into raids. There was nothing challenging about it.”

“Do you two want to tag out?” Lu Li asked. He wasn’t ready to be charged with exploitation of child-workers, nor was he being sarcastic or uncaring when he offered them a break. If even he was exhausted, how would these two little girls be feeling?

“No way, we won’t risk missing out on the First Clear!” the two girls shook their heads. Lu Li couldn’t understand why they were so held up about getting the First Clear. Had Azure Sea Breeze got into their heads, turning them into star-struck idiots?

“Well, let’s get going then. This is our last chance. If we can’t clear the dungeon, we’ll have to back out and let the other teams try,” Lu Li said as he looked at the time. His team already had enough chances of clearing anyway. Perhaps the other teams might have better luck than them.

“I’m definitely gonna go get high after I get out of this game today,” Azure Sea Breeze said. He decided that he had to treat himself after a hard day’s work.

“Get high doing what? Don’t tell me…” Machine Bro smiled impishly.

“You overestimated him, Machin Bro. He just meant he’s going to go karaoke, and you have no idea how hellish it is if you go with him. Terrible singing, and a mic-hog,” Cain’s Left Hand interrupted as he shook his head and shuddered, reliving the last time he ‘got high’ with Azure Sea Breeze.

“Uh- well, I’m actually busy tonight – very busy,” Machine Bro mumbled as he turned pale and ran off immediately.

“Don’t say that my singing’s terrible. You’re the one whose voice keeps cracking,” Azure Sea Breeze retorted.

“My singing may be a little off-key, but when you sing, none of your lines are on-key, at all,” Cain’s Left Hand shot back as he turned pale as well, obviously traumatized by the experience.

“Ugh, I should’ve asked Wandering instead of you to karaoke. He never complains when we go out, and smiles every time he listens to me sing,” Azure Sea Breeze sighed. Weary from how unfriendly those guys were, it was no wonder he was closest with Wandering.

Wandering – he was the guy who could always make you feel good about yourself.

“Alright, whoever makes a obvious mistake during this clear has to go karaoke with Breezy,” Lu Li smirked. The whole team laughed, having briefly forgotten about their fatigue from challenging the Instance Dungeon. Only the ones who had been to karaoke with Breezy remained silent, knowing those guys wouldn’t be laughing so much once they actually did go.

Once again, they attempted the Instance Dungeon.

“Flower, let’s make a bet,” Machine Bro suggested. Machine Bro had to take on one of the more tiresome tasks as a healer, but since he was good at what he did, mustering the energy to talk during battle wasn’t much of a challenge.

“Bet on what?” Lonesome Flower asked, sounding disinterested.

“Whoever goes down first must give a hundred coins to the other,”

“Let’s do it.”

Never one to back down from a challenge, Lonesome Flower accepted the bet immediately. Flower was the strongest damage dealer in the team and was also the Mage who always drew aggro, but that also meant that he was always targeted by the enemies. The bet had him at a significant disadvantage against a priest who was rarely targeted during attacks.

“Breezy, keep your monsters in line – they’re scattering,” Lu Li reminded. “I thought you wanted to go karaoke later tonight. If you go down right now, there’s no karaoke for a month.”

“Goddamn, one month without getting high? I’d rather die.”

Azure Sea Breeze had immediately gotten serious. After a while, he said, “How about it? I’m leading the monsters quite well, right? Why don’t I sing a song right now? Maybe the Boss will be charmed by my singing and let us clear this dungeon.”

“Shut it. From now on, whoever makes idle chit chat about anything unrelated to the dungeon will have 5 guild points taken off them.”

Lu Li was growing weary. Being one of the unfortunate victims who had heard Breezy sing, he would rather die than allow him to sing now.

The damage done to the Boss in Instance Dungeons was rolled-over to the next attempt. This final clear had the Boss begin with 50% health. The first stage had the Red Dragon down to 20%, and so did the second stage. The third stage had it at 10%, yet the difficulty of lowering it any further was a nightmare for the team. Finally, the Boss was at 4% health, but Lu Li wasn’t feeling any more confident than when he first started the clear.

“Snowy, vanish!” Lu Li yelled.

It was too late. Water Fairy was dazed for a second, and when she did Vanish, the Boss turned its head towards her. Everyone in her area was killed in an instant.

“…”

“…”

Water Fairy had gotten too distracted in the battle that she had completely forgotten about the thing that Lu Li had reminded his team hundreds of times – to look out for their Aggro. In the past, it might not have been that big a deal if the rule was broken when battling other Bosses, and Lu Li only had to look out for a couple of players who had a high chance of drawing aggro (such as Lonesome Flower). However, after obtaining the Dragon Slayer’s Roar, close-combat players in the front line such as Water Fairy could easily draw aggro, and this time had the entire team wiped out.

“Oh man, don’t tell me, Water sis gets to go karaoke with me tonight,” Azure Sea Breeze giggled, trying to ease up the team’s dejected mood after being killed once again.

“She’s busy!” Lu Li yelled in frustration.