The Great Thief

"Keep it up everyone; we’re going into the third stage. Let’s finish it in one go."

They had previously reached the third stage, but they had never done it this quickly.

Balnazzar was a very difficult Boss. If they didn’t enter the third stage in 30 minutes, it would start casting a perpetual Earthquake. Even the Painful Touch skill that the Boss would now use couldn’t compare. Lu Li didn’t know if any other guild had encountered this Boss yet, but he definitely knew that they were unaware of how powerful Painful Touch was.

"Wandering, damage reduction!" Lu Li cried out.

"Why?" Wandering questioned, but still cast it the moment he heard Lu Li’s instruction.

At the precise moment the damage reduction took effect, a dark green light hit his body as he suddenly took 2000-3000 damage.

If he hadn’t cast his damage reduction skills, he would have been lucky to stay alive.

"This is Painful Touch. March Rain, heal him quickly – there will be more damage coming soon," Lu Li explained quickly.

There were many players who died here, and not for the reason they expected. Painful Touch caused a lot of damage initially, but over the next 15 seconds, it would deal a further four to five ticks. Each tick dealt about a thousand damage.

March Rain quickly refilled his HP.

"Don’t try to mess with the magic that is left behind by Painful Touch," Lu Li reminded March Rain.

Once the 15 seconds of damage was over, Balnazzar would immediately find another target to cast his spell on. If he decided to target a Cloth-armored player, even activating their damage reduction skills wouldn’t save them.

When Wandering’s 15 seconds were up, Balnazzar chose his next target. This time, Lu Li didn’t say anything because it was him.

He chose not to use his Ring’s special effect – King of the Jungle: Instant Cast, summon a natural shield that absorbs all damage for the user from one attack. One-hour cooldown.

Although this would definitely prevent him from being harmed and would even render him immune from the delayed damage ticks, he had to consider the next target, just in case it was March Rain...

March Rain had changed her equipment, which meant that her damage reduction effects were now significantly reduced.

Fortunately, Lu Li’s equipment was good enough that he wasn’t instantly killed.

March Rain then healed him to the best of her ability and he barely survived the following ticks of damage.

The third Painful Touch was aimed at Sesame Rice Ball. After Lu Li issued the order, he quickly cast his damage reduction skills, then downed a rare healing potion because he didn’t feel confident in his chances of survival.

Alchemists occasionally acquired some by-products while they were creating their potions.

This particular by-product had a very powerful special effect, but it could only be used by the person who created it.

The moment he drank the potion, his maximum HP increased by 30% and his HP regeneration increased by 20 per second for ten seconds.

Of course, after making tens of thousands of potions, he had only received three special potions with similar effects. All three bottles were different, and this was the best bottle given the circumstances.

With his bolstered HP bar, Sesame Rice Ball easily survived the attack. As for the subsequent damage, there was no need to worry as March Rain could always regenerate his HP.

The fourth target was Remnant Dream. Despite her luck, the poor hunter could do nothing to escape her fate.

This outcome was inevitable. There were few Plate Armored players that could survive Balnazzar’s Painful Touch, but the little Hunter used Chain Mail, which provided lower Defense. Not to mention, she was five levels lower than the Boss.

"Memories, is Bloodthirst ready?" Lu Li asked loudly.

They had to resolve this battle quickly. If they lingered in the third phase for too long, more players would die and eventually, they wouldn’t have enough manpower to kill the Boss. Balnazzar had a Vampirism Aura that passively converted some of the damage he dealt into HP.

Lu Li resurrected Remnant Dream so that she could continue to fight with her pets. Having another player meant another damage source, not to mention that her many pets could match the damage output of Lu Li and Lonesome Flower.

"Lighty, looks like you’re next. Hold on," Lu Li said in relief.

Moonlight had Plate Armor and was wearing exquisite equipment. Being a PVP player, he highly prioritized survivability when choosing equipment. Even if Lu Li didn’t give an instruction, he would still be safe.

Speaking of which, they had actually been quite lucky so far.

They had entered third stage without losing a single member and several players had managed to survive the Boss’ Painful Touch. It was only Remnant Dream who had unfortunately died once.

As the Boss’ HP dipped below 40%, Lu Li almost cheered – the Painful Touch phase was now over.

After Balnazzar’s HP dropped below 40%, the most common skill it would use was Mind Control. This would possess a player and force them to attack the others or heal the Boss.

The Xin Xin Mercenary Group was most afraid of this trick. Whether it was Lu Li, Moonlight, Sakura Memories or March Rain, they were all star players, which would make things very difficult if they were Mind Controlled.

However, it wasn’t as though they had never encountered a Boss with a similar skill. It turned out that the strategy for overcoming this was simple enough.

Sakura Memories had just been afflicted by Mind Control. Lu Li appeared behind her before casting Premeditation and Cheap Shot to Stun her for four seconds. He then stacked a Shadowstrike on top with a Skill Completion of less than 5%, which gave him five combo points. When the initial Stun was about to expire, he immediately casted a Kidney Shot. This meant that Sakura Memories had no choice but to sit still for the entire duration of the Mind Control.

Mind Control last for ten seconds, but Lu Li could mitigate this with ease.

The battle continued for another 30 minutes. It was now that the issue of mana became an important restricting factor in their progress.

"Everyone come closer! I have an item that can give mana to everyone!" Hachi Chan called out just as Lu Li was thinking about how he could maximize the duration of the battle.

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