The Great Thief

Hunters dealt very high DPS and their skills were very loud. Additionally, they were many players that were clearing mobs along the way. This attracted the Sandworms to swarm in and ambush them.

They happened to stumble across the spawn point for Sandworms that Lu Li had avoided at all costs.

"What are their losses?" Lu Li asked while giving orders and explaining the strategy to the 2nd Elite team.

The Sandworms were their biggest ally right now.

Sandworms: "You want to mess with Ruling Sword? Over our dead bodies."

"They haven’t lost too many, but it’s very disgusting." Scarlet New Moon’s face was full of disgust. He had a very strong mental fortitude and wasn’t feeling nauseous at all.

"That’s alright; it’s just the beginning."

Lu Li turned off his chat and concentrated on leading the team.

The most annoying part about the Sandworms was their high defence and HP. They had a thick layer of keratin on their skin which heavily reduced any incoming damage.

Although their attack wasn’t considered very high, they were able to swallow players whole and regurgitate them repeatedly.

Since there were a large number of Sandworms in the area, after being regurgitated by one, players would be immediately swallowed by another.

The players would much rather have been bitten in half for a quick and easy death rather than being played around like a child’s food.

This was enough to cause certain players to go insane. In order to protect the players, the system would automatically log-off those who had an abnormal heart rates or brain waves. When the players logged on again, they would automatically spawn in the graveyard. EXP and equipment were still deducted and lost.

While they didn’t take much damage, they were probably traumatized from the never-ending horror of being swallowed and spit out repeatedly.

Many of them tried escaping by running away, but ended up falling victim to the claws of Wolves or the poison of Lizards.

The desert was an extremely dangerous place because of the huge level gap, especially if you strayed off alone.

When they managed to regroup again, they found out that more than 100 people were missing.

Some had logged off and others respawned in the graveyard, unwilling to respond and participate in the mission anymore. They decided that the reward wasn’t worth being regurgitated multiple times.

The players that ventured into the Fire Rocs’ territory suffered heavy casualties and deaths.

Fire Rocs breathed fire when attacking, setting the yellow sand in the desert ablaze. The Major Guild Alliance had finally figured out why the land here was burnt and black compared to other parts of the desert.

After they narrowly escaped the Fire Rocs’ territory, they had lost more than a thousand players.

They were still quite far away from Lu Li’s location and had already suffered such devastating losses. The commanders were afraid of reporting back to the major guilds.

Commanders were rewarded based on their performance. The more your team achieved, the better the reward.

The best possible outcome was to defeat Ruling Sword without suffering a single casualty. However, the situation could not get any worse for them at this point.

It was tough being in the commanding position, especially because there were even stronger monsters waiting for them.

In maps like Grey Valley and the Barren Lands, the monsters were weaker and less intelligent.s

However, Tanaris was completely different because it was home to powerful monsters such as Sandworms, Fire Rocs and Desert Rattlesnakes.

These monsters caused massive amounts of casualties and dramatically slowed down their speed. The commander had no other choice and was forced to sent scouts to inspect the journey ahead.

They decided to avoid these monsters by continuously altering their routes.

Besides the players from the major guilds, there were a few solo players that were following them and scavenging any dropped equipment to sell for gold.

They thought that they would be safe if they followed them closely. However, many of them also suffered the same fate.

Since these solo players were weaker, they stood no chance against the Sandworms. Many people on the gaming forums were discussing how Ruling Sword had baited the major guilds and caused a bloodbath in the Tanaris deserts.

Ruling Sword needed to take responsibility for this!

Instead of apologising to the public, Lu Li decided to lure out the King Rattlesnake to mess with the Major Guild Alliance.

The King Rattlesnake was difficult to defeat. It resided near a purple Poisonous Snake Flower on a small mountain top.

Scarlet New Moon waited until King Rattlesnake fell asleep and snapped the Poisonous Snake Flower in half. When the Snake King saw the flower, it almost burst into tears.

However, instead of tears, hatred filled its eyes and it appeared in front of the Major Guild Alliance.

They were excited because the King Rattlesnake was by itself and they looked forward to the loot that it would drop when defeated. It was not until they engaged in the fight that they saw its level next to its HP bar – level 50...

As they casted spells, single-digit damage values began floating above the Snake King.

Who knew that a snake so small could be level 50?

This was at an even higher level than the Pirate Captain.

The Snake King puffed up and spit out poisonous gas, infecting everyone in a large radius.

There were 17 or 18 players that died in the poisonous gas, including a Healing Paladin who lasted for less than four seconds. Others died in less than three ticks, taking more than 2500 points of damage.

As the poisonous gas spread, the damage decreased, but it was still very lethal.

"Team three, stay behind. Everyone else run. The ones that die will receive compensation. If you guys don’t want us to be wiped out completely, do as I say," the commander instructed. He had immediately given up on any hope of fighting back.

If Lu Li was here to witness this, he would laugh in response.

"Do you really think a mere team of a hundred players could stop the King Rattlesnake? Don’t be naïve."

The Desert King Rattlesnake was said to be as powerful as the Bronze Dragon. It was very intelligent and could tell which team had the most players.

The King Snake ignored team three and began chasing the large teams of the Major Guild Alliance, spitting out poisonous gas and infecting many players.