Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei rushed up with his sword held aloft and closed the distance between the two parties in the blink of an eye. Flame Singed Clothes hurriedly raised his magic staff and was about to start his incantation, but...

“Palatial Balefire, is it? I know,” Gu Fei said this to him.

Flame Singed Clothes was a little dejected. He had only clashed against Gu Fei a handful of times, yet his routine had already been seen through easily. While it was nothing new, he still had to use the spell when the situation called for it.

“Palatial Balefire! Rise!” Flame Singed Clothes yelled. The enemy was already expecting what he was about to cast, anyway, so there was no need to subvocalize it like what he would usually do; yelling it loudly might just help increase the aural impact.

When he finished the incantation, a wall of fire rose. However, Gu Fei was already in front of the spell, and was already pointing his sword at him in the next moment. “Electric Wall!”

Flame Singed Clothes was in tears. It seemed that no one had brought anything fresh to this fight. He took a quick glance backward and saw that Blackwater’s retreat had been cut off by that wall of electricity; the latter was now languidly staring back at him.

“COME AT ME!” Flame Singed Clothes bellowed as he lunged toward Gu Fei. He knew just how powerful the latter was as a Mage. Gu Fei was definitely not an enemy that could be taken down conventionally, so he needed to deal with him through unconventional means. Unconventional means to a Mage would naturally be a melee battle without using spells, so Flame Singed Clothes rushed to Gu Fei while waving his fists, intending to fight with just his bare hands.

Even the author had difficulty finding the words to describe Flame Singed Clothes’ end. Gu Fei was instantly incensed when he saw the man run toward him while wildly swinging his arms like a mad man; how could his punches and kicks be so unruly? Thus, he strode forward and used his usual routines to give Flame Singed Clothes a thorough beating in two or three moves.

Poor Flame Singed Clothes was originally wildly swinging his arms when the fight started, but ended up having both arms in front of his chest to protect his face as best as he could.

Even if taking such a beating would not kill him, it was still very painful. Gu Fei was annoyed by the fight as well, so he casually shoved Flame Singed Clothes as his leg shot out to trip him at the same time. Leaving the man sprawled on the floor, he turned his attention to Blackwater as he ran over. The duration of his Electric Wall was not as long as Flame Singed Clothes’ Palatial Balefire, nor was his spell’s cooldown as short as the latter’s. As such, it was a race against time to take care of the Thief.

Blackwater knew he would not be a match for Gu Fei, so he did not bother to make a desperate attempt at fighting the latter at all; Flame Singed Clothes was still lying on the ground, looking all bleak!

Blackwater demonstrated his agile footwork as he ran about between the small space of Palatial Balefire and Electric Wall, determined not to let Gu Fei get anywhere near him.

Gu Fei’s movement speed was no match for Blackwater’s, and it seemed as if he could do nothing about it, either. All he could do was patiently continue his chase after him.

The running Blackwater suddenly felt exhilarated when he saw how worked up Gu Fei was getting yet having no means by which to catch up. It seems this guy isn’t that scary, after all. If only Glue is here, then maybe we can kite him to death.

Blackwater got excited when he thought of this, wondering if he had somehow stumbled upon a brilliant plan to take care of Gu Fei. It was in that moment, when the Electric Wall had disappeared in a flash, that Blackwater thought he finally found his way out, but… Blackwater turned to look at Flame Singed Clothes. The man was motionlessly lying on the ground, as if he were a corpse. When Blackwater glanced over, the Mage looked him in the eye and gave him a barely imperceptible nod towards the still raging wall of fire.

Do you want me to flee that way? Blackwater was ready to make a run for it now that the Electric Wall was gone; he had been making sure to run near where the spell used to be. Just as he had the opportunity to make a break for it, he discovered that Flame Singed Clothes had been trying to communicate with him through eye-contact. Blackwater did not really get what he meant at first, but he quickly realized that even though Flame Singed Clothes was still down on the ground, the magic staff he was holding was pointing in a certain direction. In that instant, Blackwater understood what the latter intended to do, and his heart leaped with joy as he ran toward the flaming wall.

Gu Fei was still hot on Blackwater’s heels and had no idea that Flame Singed Clothes, who was sprawled on the ground behind him, had already completed his spell incantation.

Palatial Balefire!

Another row of flames surged from behind Gu Fei, and with it came the rambunctious laughter of Blackwater. This was Flame Singed Clothes’ plan: Blackwater would lure Gu Fei over and Flame Singed Clothes would separate himself from the two with another Palatial Balefire, buying enough time for him to get away. Despite Gu Fei being in possession of the spell Blink, it was apparent that the skill was either on cooldown or he did not have enough mana to cast it. Ultimately, would he run around after Blackwater as much as he did if he could use it?

Although Blackwater was now trapped to one side with Gu Fei, the first Palatial Balefire Flame Singed Clothes had placed was about to disappear, so Blackwater would only have to drag the out the chase a little longer, and then he could break free with his superior movement speed. Given how thick the fog permeating Xiawu City, it was far easier to flee than to track anyone here. At this rate, the best-case scenario would allow the two of them to safely get away from Gu Fei and certain death.

“Bet you didn’t think of this huh, rascal?” Blackwater was laughing uproariously and enjoying the smug satisfaction he was feeling as he ran toward the first Palatial Balefire. Flame Singed Clothes had already gotten up from the ground by this time and was snapping his fingers at Blackwater coolly, “Old Black, that wall of fire is gonna disappear in about seven seconds, so ready yourself. I’m taking my leave first!”

“Go on!” Blackwater intentionally yelled out his reply before he teasingly turned to look at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was also looking at him, and he was even wearing the slightest of smile. This was not a smile that should appear on someone who was being made a monkey of, and Blackwater felt a little dazed by this as he heard Gu Fei say, “You’re about to die soon; why are you still so happy?”

“Die?” Blackwater laughed mirthlessly, refusing to take this threat seriously. Everything had been calculated clearly. There was no way Gu Fei would be able to catch up to him before that fire wall disappeared. This person must really be stupid if he was still trying to bluff his way through such an obvious truth.

Blackwater was quietly counting down the seconds. According to his calculations, the flames would extinguish in two seconds after he made it to the wall; he should have no difficulties holding things out since it was just two seconds.

Blackwater turned his head backward as he dashed toward the wall of flames and saw Gu Fei closely chasing after him.

Maintain your distance. Don’t panic; he can’t catch up to you! Feeling a little flustered, Blackwater hurriedly reminded himself of the situation. The next thing he saw was Gu Fei reaching out his left hand toward him – a glaring electric glow clustered in that palm.

What is that thing? This thought popped up in his head as that electric glow shot forth from Gu Fei’s hand; Blackwater abruptly turned around and tried to block it by flurrying his dagger. A Mage’s spell could indeed be crushed by a well-placed physical attack, and even if the spell was not entirely disrupted, the disruption would at least be able to reduce part of the damage, and that would be preferable to taking it head on.

The electric glow shooting out brought about a faint crackling of lightning, which could be heard as Blackwater struck his dagger out with precision at the glowing cluster. He kept his eye on his HP the moment he made contact and saw it drop, though not by much. His defense was successful.

Blackwater felt extremely gratified, but he soon realized that in the instant his attack dissipated that glowing cluster, it created an extremely strong repulsion that knocked Blackwater backward involuntarily. Indeed, he was going backward and had not been knocked off his feet. Blackwater’s feet were still firmly planted on the ground, yet he was sliding backward as though he were wearing roller skates.

“What’s going on?!” Blackwater blurted out, and then he became pale when he suddenly thought of something. He turned his head backward and saw the Palatial Balefire raging on behind him. If he continued to slide backward like this, he would come into direct contact with its flames.

“F*ck! Stop already!” Blackwater yelled. However, no matter how hard he tried, he just continued to slide backward without any signs of slowing down. Gu Fei, who had already stopped giving chase, watched the man before him panic and, whistling ever so softly, explained with a congenial smile, “Palm of Thunder has the Repulsion effect.”

Blackwater gave up. No one could win a fight against the system’s design. Any sort of effort he expended now to try and stop it would simply be futile. Blackwater did not wish to watch himself get pushed into the fire, so he did the only thing he could do: close his eyes.

“Zero!”

Blackwater had finally finished the countdown in his mind. Opening his eyes, he saw that the fog was still prevalent, yet the street was no longer there, as he was now in the large courtyard of the Thieves’ Union.

Back on the street, Blackwater and that Palatial Balefire had completely disappeared together. Gu Fei turned around, walked toward the second wall of fire and gazed across the divide.

Flame Singed Clothes, who was in the middle of fleeing, came to a halt and faced backward to stare at the murky black figure that was standing behind the flames.

“It’s real foggy over there; did you see what happened?” Gu Fei shouted.

Flame Singed Clothes did not say a word.

“Your friend was far too careless; he actually dashed into your wall of fire,” Gu Fei continued.

Flame Singed Clothes did not respond again. He knew that Blackwater was not the type to be so careless, so he was positive Gu Fei had done something to him. But this fact was confirmed because he suddenly received a system prompt informing him that his PK value had increased by 1 point. In that moment, he had a fleeting wish that this PK point was Gu Fei himself but he could unfortunately hear his voice before he even turned his head over.

Flame Singed Clothes wished he could tear Gu Fei into eight pieces right now, but he was well aware that he would end up sprawled on the ground once more, so he gritted his teeth and turned to disappear into the fog.

“He he! Do you think you can escape from me just like that? It’s no use. Now that I am a VIP of the Bounty Assignment Hall, I can easily uncover your whereabouts,” Gu Fei picked out his Bounty License, admired it for a while, and then dashed toward the Bounty Assignment Hall.

1 PK point would automatically erase itself after two hours. Gu Fei believed Flame Singed Clothes would not have a sudden epiphany and turn himself in. Even if he intended to clear this 1 PK point, there would be no way he would be able to reach the hall before the all-Agility Mage Gu Fei could.

Gu Fei soon reached the Bounty Assignment Hall, and he flashed his Bounty License over to the NPC before starting his search through the available bounty targets. Flame Singed Clothes had just earned himself the point not too long ago, so Gu Fei simply flipped to the last page and searched. If his name was not listed, then that proved that the whole lot of them had not registered their accounts here in Xiawu City.

Thankfully, Gu Fei managed to spot Flame Singed Clothes’ name on the second to last page. He made sure that the latter’s job class was Mage first before he picked it up without a moment of hesitation.

Gu Fei quickly announced the coordinates of his bounty target on the mercenary channel.

“What’s that?” everybody asked.

“Flame Singed Clothes’ coordinates,” he answered.

“How did you get that? You’ve already killed him, so what’s the point of giving us his coordinates?” everybody asked.

“Southern Lone Blade is my ultimate target; Flame Singed Clothes is now acting as my eyes,” he explained.

“You managed to make him defect?” Everyone found that to be implausible. Gu Fei’s strong suit was his ability to exert physical harm. Could it be that this man was also an expert when it came to hypnosis?

Thus, Gu Fei educated the lot by introducing them to the Bounty License and telling them how he managed to make Flame Singed Clothes earn himself 1 PK point.

“Southern Lone Blade is really doomed this time around.” All of them sighed.