The four thieves squinted their eyes at Liu Ye's challenge and didn't hesitate a second. He was only able to gulp down a Mana Potion before the thieves began bombarding him with earth boulders. To their surprise, Liu Ye moved like a fish, escaping every rock with no margin of error.
It wasn't his plan to play dodgeball though but rather to train his new Element. Earth fragments flew everywhere as they smashed all around him and Liu Ye used them back as his own ammunition. He countered the boulders he couldn't dodge and tried to attack on his own while aiming at the thieves. None of them reached the targets but it was only a matter of time.
"It feels almost the same as Water Element…" Liu Ye discovered as his Elemental Mastery grew rapidly. The only difference between the two Elements was a need to punch or kick the rocks to send them flying at the enemy.
Liu Ye already mastered his aim using Ice Projectiles which prompted him to change his tactic. Big boulders wasted a lot of Mana while fist-sized rocks cost him nothing. Knowing both Ice Projectiles and rocks were stackable, it wasn't hard to perform some cool one-shots.
Too bad, he didn't have much time to prepare his plan.
"What are you waiting for? Finish them quickly," Queen Luna called out impatiently, annoying the Red Desert Thieves.
They suddenly stopped attacking and one of them shouted in anger, "We don't have time to play with him! Let's kill him and take all the money!"
The rest immediately nodded and punched the boulders they were about to launch. Instead of sending them flying, their fists pierced inside them and transformed into Earth Gauntlets.
"You want a melee battle?" Liu Ye asked with a smirk while the Water gushed out from his waterskin. "Sure!"
It floated around him in a circle before tens of ice balls flew out from within. Before the thieves even launched their attack, Liu Ye's ammo neared fifty and he didn't stop producing. With his Water Mastery growing, he could control more and more water at the same time.
When he reached ninety-five, he finally stopped, leaving some of his brainpower for ten Ice Claws. They were weak individually but if Liu Ye were to stab all ten into someone's chest, he could deal an easy 825 damage.
"What? Why are you still standing like idiots?! Didn't you want to fight?!" Liu Ye taunted while the Ice Projectiles rotated rapidly around him. Before they could reply, Liu Ye began adding rocks from his surroundings, creating another layer of defense.
Liu Ye could see the hesitation on the Thieves' faces but they couldn't simply run away. Just as Liu Ye dashed head-on, they were also on the move to face him directly. "Fuck him up!"
They ran at Liu Ye while shooting multiple boulders before breaking right through with their gauntlets covering their faces.
-53
-30
-53
Tens of red numbers appeared above their heads as Ice and Earth Projectiles smashed into their bodies but their plan was too obvious. Sacrifice a bit of health to break through and attack Liu Ye four versus one.
Liu Ye looked too casual when he immediately countered their tactic. All his projectiles shot out at three thieves while he focused on a single enemy who shouted the loudest. A single look at their footwork was enough to discover his win condition.
"I'm here!" Liu Ye shouted at the thief's face while his water splashed all over the dry land. When the thief tried to swing with his heavy gauntlet, Liu Ye simply crouched and swiped at his legs.
With mud all around him, it was impossible to keep his balance. Even before he fell, Liu Ye began stabbing forward at his open ribs.
-413!
-413!
-413!
[HP: 1111/2350]
Liu Ye wanted to finish him off in a single combo but his friends were already up his ass. He had no way of dodging so he jumped and took the punch on his stomach.
Thud!
-125
His body was launched to safety while his Red Dragon Armor absorbed a huge chunk of damage.
"Haha! Is that all you got?" Liu Ye laughed as he shamelessly drank a Health Potion. "My grandma can punch harder!"
"Fuck you!" The thieves cursed at him while picking up their companion when Liu Ye stomped, freezing up the ground around them. Not only was it slippery for them to walk but they couldn't even access the Earth.
"Any last words?" Liu Ye provoked and kept gushing out water to freeze even more ground. "I would be more worried about yourself than him."
"Fight us fairly you dirty Waterbender!" The injured thief called out in response as they punched the ground to break the ice but new water instantly filled the hole.
"So funny! A thief wants fairness?" Liu Ye pointed out the irony and finished playing with them. A curtain of water appeared in front of him before a terrifying bombardment rained at the four thieves.
They tried to dodge and block the Ice Bullets with their Earth Gauntlets but their effort was futile. Even when Liu Ye was low on Mana, he just gulped a Mana Potion to refill it until all four died.
[Ding! You killed the Red Desert Thief. You received 8500 Experience, 15 gold, and a bag of gold.]
All four thieves had a bag of gold as the drop and without any surprise, it gave him a random amount of gold. Too bad, none of them had more than fifty gold inside, totaling his loot to 178 gold. He only nodded in approval at such gains as he already had more than eleven thousand on him but normal players would definitely jump in happiness.
"How was it? Satisfied?" Liu Ye questioned as he gazed at Queen Luna who still watched him from afar and finally saw her jump down. She didn't go to him though but instead landed next to the thieves' bodies and burned them with four fireballs.
When they were charred and unrecognizable, she stomped, creating a deep grave for all of them. In a matter of seconds, she cleaned up the whole battlefield, removing any traces of the battle.
"Remember to always clean up after yourself," Queen Luna reminded as she walked back to him. "There should be a thief camp nearby mountains and we don't have time to deal with all of them."
She paused to take a good look at him and added, "As for your skills, I liked how you removed their ability to bend Earth but be careful with that. You never know how many elements your opponent knows. Another issue is time. You waste too much time playing around. If you want my approval then do better."
Liu Ye raised his eyebrows. "Too long? It took only like five minutes."
"That's four minutes too long," Queen Luna replied right away. "If you take so long to kill some petty thieves, how much do you want for stronger monsters? It will take us a week to reach Dragon City at your snail's pace."
Liu Ye was happy with his performance but Queen Luna crushed his ego in no time. Her standards were so high he would have to triple his level to meet her expectations.
"How about you teach me?"
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