The Great Thief

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

There were a number of bottles and cans filled with a liquid that could help them overcome the Diseased Wolf’s sense of smell. It didn’t smell too bad, but no one was keen to spray it on themselves. Eventually, they decided to put it on, but only after they saw the Wolves.

There were also antidotes for rabies. If you consumed them, you could get rid of the debuff, but the cost was rather expensive.

Ashlam Valorfist’s business abilities were as good as his fighting abilities. He knew that Lu Li had to buy the items, so he took a hard-line stance on the prices. Lu Li wouldn’t have had to spend this much money if he prepared earlier, but now he had no choice but to pay.

Now that they had these items, they were able to complete the quest.

As for whether this would result in a profit or a loss remained to be seen, but they had made all the preparations they needed.

The Ruins of Andorhal – Lu Li was no stranger to this place. He had read about it in many documents.

It was a small town in the middle of Lordaeron and was once the main location for the Kingdom’s wheat production. In the third war, Arthas saved the town from the threat of the undead, but when he became a minion of the Scourge, he destroyed it.

Uther the Lightbringer was then killed by Arthas here.

As the young Paladin’s mentor, Uther had repeatedly discouraged Arthes from his manic behaviour and wanted him to return to the holy path of the Paladin. However, for the young Arthas, nothing was more important than revenge. Arthas led in his own dogmatic way, and followed Dreadlord Mal’Ganis to the snow-covered Northern Continent.

It was there that he finally got his wish, as he recklessly pulled out the magic sword Frostmourne…

Arthas had completely deviated from the path of the Paladin, which focused on self-defence. He drew on the dark strength of the sword, and first killed his father, King Terenas, then killed three of his Paladin colleagues. In the end, Uther was also killed in Andorhal by his beloved apprentice.

Arthas took away King Terenas’ Casket that was being protected by Uther, and used it to complete the Lich ritual with Kel’Thuzad at Sunwell.

A team under Ashlam Valorfirst had encountered some of members of the Cult of the Damned. Some of them were killed, but the rest escaped.

They seemed to be looking for something called a Holy Light Shard.

Lu Li was in a hurry, and didn’t expect that there would be traces of a Holy Light Shard there. It was a very useful and uncommon Rare Material and was generally used for Forging the most powerful Paladin or Priest equipment.

He did not doubt Ashlam Valorfist’s words. Everyone knew that Uther the Lightbringer was killed here. He was a powerful Paladin, and when he died, the light energy from his body would condense into a Holy Light Shard.

“If you can bring back a Holy Light Shard, you can have all these items for free,” Ashlam Valorfist said generously.

“You can rest assured that if I find the Holy Light Shard, I will bring it back to you,” Lu Li responded with equal generosity but in fact, his heart was filled with disdain. Why would anyone want to exchange these items for a Rare Material like the Holy Light Shard? Only a fool who didn’t know the value of the Holy Light Shard would do such a thing.

However, Ashlam Valorfist apparently did not detect Lu Li’s true intentions, and finally gave him a few more bottles that could cure the plague.

Of course, these potions couldn’t truly cure the plague. The plague of the Undead had always been an uncurable issue in Azeroth, and even the most experienced potion master was helpless against it. This ‘cure’ was only effective against someone who had just been infected. Even then, there was only a chance that they would be cured.

Since Lu Li was as stingy as always, he unceremoniously put all these potions into his own bag.

Then, the five people that had come out of the Ice-sealed Mountain Stronghold then vanished back into the area of the spreading plague.

The once fertile land had now lost any trace of birds and beasts. The lush vegetation had long since vanished from the now scorched yellow sand. The Scourge not only affected the people who lived in Azeroth, but also affected the land itself. No one knew whether this land would ever recover.

“We need to find some monsters to test their strength. Although we know that the monsters affected by the plague have been strengthened, we don’t know by how much,” Lu Li said. He didn’t rush just yet to take everyone into the depths of the land.

The first things they saw were some ordinary Undead.

In the Plaguelands, these Undead skeletons could be seen everywhere. Some of them were still

mostly intact, while the others had been significantly damaged after wandering through the Wild mountainous area.

These skeletons were quite incomplete, and they were also quite small. They were probably children that had been infected. When the Scourge arrived, these children probably didn’t even know what was happening; their lives had not yet even begun.

Lu Li took out a long-ranged weapon and shot an arrow at one of them.

The skeleton that was lacking one arm started walking over towards him. It was moving at a moderate pace, but the others seemed indifferent. It seemed that the detection range and intelligence of these beings was relatively low.

“Let me try,” Water Fairy called out before swiping her dagger across its neck.

Clang!

She had successfully hit the target and even managed to apply a stun, but the damage was

horrible.

“I could only deal a few hundred points of damage,” Water Fairy said with a frown, “And these monsters have at least ten thousand HP. If I can only deal 400 damage, it means they are stronger than an average level 60 Elite monster.”

After he had been learned this information, Lu Li’s heart grew cold.

It was no wonder that people described the monsters in the Plaguelands in such strong language. These monsters were supposed to just be fodder, but they already possessed such fighting strength.

Lu Li was very fortunate to have brought Innocent Child as a healer. As long as the monsters didn’t kill everyone, and the healer kept healing, then the difficulty wouldn’t be too much of a problem. They just had to make sure that they didn’t provoke any monsters they couldn’t take on.

With the four Thieves together, even a monster with ten thousand HP couldn’t survive for long. The little skeleton soon died and dropped a piece of junk, which Lu Li thought was a waste of space.

Obviously, the Plaguelands were currently harder to clear. The monsters had gotten stronger, but the items they dropped didn’t really improve. The next few monsters verified this hypothesis. The monsters weren’t overpowered, but they were definitely stronger.

“The monsters are a little difficult. It would be better if we could avoid fighting them. I will scout ahead with Stealth. Everyone else, just keep up.”

Lu Li had Enhanced Stealth, so he was the best scout.

Whenever they ran into a monster, they would hide. It took them an hour to cover a distance that could normally be covered in 12 minutes.

“Wait, stop,” Lu Li halted. After a while, a thin dog-like creature ran out from an abandoned building. This creature was like a bag of bones and had red eyes which stood out from the Ruins of Andorhal, an area that was quite foggy.

“How did you know?” Cain’s Left Hand asked in shock.

He was also a Thief, and Lu Li was only slight ahead of him. How was it that Lu Li could notice the Diseased Wolf in the corner, but he was completely oblivious?

“The fog moves, and there is a sound if you listen carefully,” Lu Li explained.

“Wow…” Cain’s Left Hand was stunned.

“Diseased Wolves are a pet of the Cult of the Damned. If we’ve found them, it must mean that the Cult of the Damned are nearby. Let’s spray the potion on our bodies so that the wolves won’t find us. We’ll decide what to do next once we see the Cult of the Damned believers. Hopefully, they are in the middle of performing their ritual.”