Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Glue, leave this to us. Just keep an eye on Thousand Miles Drunk. Whether he’s really leaving or merely faking it, just report his every movement to us. We’ll make our move immediately once the opportunity rises. The target is Vast Lushness; so don’t get caught up in a fight.” Southern Lone Blade clearly laid out the tactical plan.

“Got it!” During crucial moments, no one would question Southern Lone Blade’s command; that was the quality that a professional and matured team would have.

“Change out your equipment, everyone. Get close but remember to uncover yourselves first.” Southern Lone Blade instructed the others. Both parties did not recognize each other, so keeping their faces covered would put them on guard, instead. The opposing party clearly wanted them to appear, so Southern Lone Blade was not looking to ambush them out of nowhere. Getting in closer to their target was only just so that they would be able to quickly engage with the enemy. At the end of the day, no matter what Gu Fei’s true intention for leaving was, the man would be able to turn back and lend a hand the moment he got a message about the attack. Southern Lone Blade had no wish to allow these five players to stall and give Gu Fei the time and space to make it back.

“In position!”

“In position!”

“In position!”

…

A series of messages filled the party channel, as the five players responsible for this attempt finished getting themselves into position. By dividing themselves based on their job class and experience, they were now in positions that would not draw the other party’s attention while it would allow them to quickly spring their assault.

Southern Lone Blade changed into his most common Warrior cuirass and slowed his pace as he walked on that street, making himself seem like just a normal passerby as he surreptitiously glanced at the others.

The Knight Unrivalled Lucky Star and Priest Paddy Scent Pastures were positioned no more than ten meters away from Vast Lushness like they were waiting for someone. The two men conscientiously looked down the street, not even looking at the five players behind them. Flame Singed Clothes could attack from range, so there was no need for him to be too close. He was currently squatting right in front of a player’s small stall, earnestly haggling with the owner over the price of an item.

“Blackwater… your position,” Southern Lone Blade took a quick look around yet saw no track of the Thief Blackwater.

“I want to try and get a little closer,” Blackwater replied quickly. “I’ll take a risk! Let’s see if any of them have anything that detects Stealth.”

“If you get discovered, take note of the direction you will then retreat in,” Southern Lone Blade said.

“I got it.”

“Try and coordinate it with our speed of approach.”

“Of course.”

Southern Lone Blade continued to maintain his composure as he slowly walked forward. Vast Lushness and the other four were now formed in a circle, taking in everything happening around them with their eyes. Southern Lone Blade, Unrivalled Lucky Star, Paddy Scented Pastures, and Flame Singed Clothes were all in their field of vision, but it was not apparent if they had any intention to attack, so none of the five was overly vigilant to their presence. Nevertheless, now that Southern Lone Blade was slowly heading in the direction of Vast Lushness and the others, more and more of them began to shift their gazes over to the advancing Warrior.

“I’m about to get within 2 meters,” Blackwater somewhat nervously reported over the party channel. From what they knew of Stealth detection equipment or skill, two meters was the danger zone, as most of them would be effective within a 2-meter radius.

“I’m in; there’s no movement!” In the blink of an eye, Blackwater sent this message over to the channel.

“Everything is proceeding as planned. Hopefully, we can end this battle in ten seconds. Glue, Where’s Thousand Miles Drunk?” Southern Lone Blade asked.

“There’s no way he can make it back in 10 seconds,” Glue replied.

“Get ready!” Southern Lone Blade gave the order as his footsteps quickened. Vast Lushness and the others were already staring at Southern Lone Blade, who had swiftly changed out his equipment and pulled out his sword, as they came to the realization that the interlopers they had been waiting for were finally there.

The five of them did not react any slower since they were already prepared for an assault. The arrow that Sakurazaka Moony had nocked all this while was immediately directed toward Southern Lone Blade; meanwhile, Fireball and Blue Ease cast their respective spells at him.

A fiery bombardment crashed from the sky as a sea of flames engulfed the ground. The arrow streaked through the air like a meteor.

Those three attacks looked like it had been coordinated seamless as they were all seemingly unleashed at the same time. Still, their target was a Warrior, and none of them was certain if they could insta-kill Southern Lone Blade with this combined attack alone, so they were already preparing their next wave of attacks.

However, Southern Lone Blade was not about to sit still and take this without a fight. At the same time that the three of them struck, he also buried his head low and activated his Charge in their direction. Trampling through the intense fire beneath his feet, Sakurazaka Moony’s Snipe got blocked by his sword and shield placed before him, while Blue Ease’s Thunderbolt barely brushed past Southern Lone Blade as it struck the ground just behind him.

“All right, you rascal! It’s my turn!” Svelte Dancer darted out, ready to activate her Fleetfoot and circle around Southern Lone Blade when she felt that something was amiss behind her, even as Vast Lushness yelled, “Behind you!” Only a Thief would be able to creep up behind without anyone realizing his or her presence. Most players they could not help being a little flustered when they heard such a prompt, but Svelte Dancer had no such problems because she only needed to guard herself with a single method.

The average player would be afraid of being a victim of a Bludgeon when a Thief made it behind them, or that they would be insta-killed with a Backstab. A Bludgeon would go for the head, while most Backstabs land somewhere on the back; Either attack targeted a different region of the body, so anyone who hesitated when making the choice would end up getting themselves hit in the end. Svelte Dancer never had such apprehension, for she had never been worried about being insta-killed. She would never attempt to avoid the attack if she knew it was a Backstab, so all she needed to do was defend herself from a Bludgeon.

Thus, Svelte Dancer had already formulated the thought to avoid the Bludgeon the moment she sensed that something was off behind her, so she did not even waste half a second and reacted accordingly. As Vast Lushness cried out “Behind you!” Svelte Dancer had twisted her body and was already dropping down to the ground.

Sure enough, Blackwater was holding a club in his hand; with how famous Svelte Dancer had been, they were more than aware just how powerful this lady was, and with the fact that Thousand Miles Drunk could turn back at any moment, they knew they would waste plenty of time if they ended up exchanging blows with Svelte Dancer. Blackwater took a risk and Stealthed himself right up to them, all for the sake of applying his Bludgeon onto Svelte Dancer, allowing them to complete their assignment in the few seconds it took while this woman was in a dazed state.

Blackwater, a man born for larceny, had honed his Bludgeon nearly to the point of perfection. No matter how his targets could dodge or duck their heads, or distance themselves from the blow, Blackwater had confidence that his club would still strike true. But this was the first time Blackwater had seen someone fling their entire being down to the ground so fearlessly like what Svelte Dancer had done. Blackwater was stunned; this action went beyond the scope of what he thought a player could evade, but he was still confident in that club he got in his hand. Even though Svelte Dancer’s head was rather far away, he still strove to chase after the back of her head like what he had planned.

In the end, the club hit no one, as Blackwater suddenly felt a solid blow connect with his calf. He looked down and saw that Svelte Dancer’s two legs had swept his own in the process of her fall.

This attack did not cause too much damage onto Blackwater, but it did rob him of his balance. He could feel his legs leave the ground as his body tipped over, causing the man to directly fall right on top of Svelte Dancer.

No matter how well-honed Blackwater’s Bludgeon was, that train of thought had already left the station at this point. All he saw before him was the beautiful lady lying right under him, smiling with delight as she gazed up at him. Blackwater’s mind momentarily went blank.

What’s going on? Did this babe just intentionally let me take advantage of her?Blackwater had no doubt that the trajectory of his fall would cause him to land on top of Svelte Dancer. Although he was nowhere as dirty as those men from Forever in Flowers, even he could not help but have such a thought at this time.

Ultimately, Blackwater was left crying in the next moment he had that thought, for he saw that Svelte Dancer had her hands held together, and that keen dagger of hers was placed erect right before her chest…

Svelte Dancer did not need skills to insta-kill players; all she needed was a simple stab.

Blackwater’s heart shattered when he thought of this frightening rumor. He now knew he never had the chance to land right on top of the lady in question, as he would already become a flash of white light before he could even reach her.

But it was in that moment, without any further delay, that a single leg came in from the side and stepped onto Svelte Dancer’s dagger, flattening it.

“F*CK!” Svelte Dancer cried out loudly as she lay on the ground. She had seen men who lacked any care or consideration to the fairer sex before, but this was truly an exceptional case, for the man had not simply just turned a blind eye to the beauty before him, he had even stomped down onto her chest. Svelte Dancer was in such dismay that she wanted to vomit blood, but she was just powerless to this foot planted on her. No matter how mighty she was, there was no way her Strength could match up against that of a Berserker, much less the fact that Southern Lone Blade was no ordinary Warrior. Lying on the ground after playing Blackwater like a fool, Svelte Dancer’s clever trick had ended up causing herself to be in the current bind, making her the ultimate fool as a result.

Southern Lone Blade had one foot pressing down on Svelte Dancer as his left hand waved his shield to the left. Bumping Blackwater to a side, the sword in his right followed closely along, but it was slashing right at Vast Lushness.

“RUN! IT’S CYCLONE!” Blue Ease yelled from the side.

Without Svelte Dancer running interference, Southern Lone Blade tanked all their ranged attacks and finally charged into their ranks. The PK veteran Blue Ease had already expected him to use his Cyclone, and it was only natural that he would be targeting Vast Lushness. If Blue Ease knew this, how would Vast Lushness not be able to deduce this as well? However, Svelte Dancer was still pinned under Southern Lone Blade’s foot. Thus, instead of attempting to avoid the attack, Vast Lushness buried her head and came hurtling toward Southern Lone Blade in hopes of dislodging the man and creating a bit of space for Svelte Dancer to escape.

Blue Ease, along with the two other ranged players, had since gotten themselves out of Cyclone’s AoE, but all of them were struck dumb when they saw what Vast Lushness was doing and quickly followed up with their own attacks on to Southern Lone Blade. However, since Svelte Dancer and Vast Lushness were entangled as well, they were unable to unleash any sort of AoE spells. Blue Ease cast his Thunderbolt, Fireball sent forth his Repeating Fireball, and Sakurazaka Moony shot out his arrow. Each of their attacks landed squarely on their target, but Southern Lone Blade had his shield braced to the side to receive them, as he bore the Thunderbolt right on his head.

“Let’s see how long you can hold on!” Blue Ease bellowed as he threw out a Repeating Fireball as well. Unfortunately, before his balls of fire even reached, Southern Lone Blade was already basking in a beam of white light as a string of Blessing symbols appeared above his head; Paddy Scented Pastures and Unrivalled Lucky Star had begun to get to work.

Blackwater was giddy with delight. He felt that his team was holding the upper hand and was just about to take care of those three ranged players when he heard Southern Lone Blade bark at him with a stern glare, “What are you doing?! Quick make a getaway; Thousand Miles Drunk’s about to reach!”

Blackwater was stunned as he quickly glanced at their party channel chat. At the same time that he was about to use his Bludgeon before, a message had indeed come through, which he had not taken notice of. Glue had typed on the channel in caps: “THOUSAND MILES DRUNK HAS DISAPPEARED! YOU GUYS NEED TO ACT QUICKLY!”

A single figure went flying.

Southern Lone Blade was originally making an empty show of strength when he positioned himself to unleash his Cyclone, hoping to scare Vast Lushness to back away several steps, but who would have guessed that the woman would choose to dash toward him instead of retreating? At that point, Southern Lone Blade was no longer courteous and swung his sword horizontally the moment he saw Vast Lushness come close to him.

While that one slash looked no more than the slightest twitch of movement, it could truly considered as a Cyclone. Vast Lushness got slashed by it and was immediately sent flying off like a kite without a string.

Blue Ease and Sakurazaka Moony were extremely concerned about Vast Lushness, so the color in both men’s faces drained when they saw her go flying out like that. However, when they saw Vast Lushness fly out in totality, they only heaved a sigh of relief, relieved that she had not transformed into a flash of white light from that attack. It seemed that Southern Lone Blade’s attack power was not frightening to the point that he could insta-kill her with just that one skill.

The two men rejoiced as they each went running to save her, but just as they took two steps toward her, they saw the empty ground before them suddenly ignite in flames. There was even a halo of fire that appeared in the air above. Flame Singed Clothes, who had been haggling right before a stall, was still holding onto a trinket he just bought while his magic staff was raised chanting out the spell.

“LUSHNESS!” Sakurazaka Moony hurriedly sent an arrow right into Flame Singed Clothes’ face, hoping that it would insta-kill the Mage and cause his spells to become useless despite him not really having much confidence that his attack could achieve this.

Blue Ease, who was standing right beside him had also quickly unleashed a spell of his own, kindling a spark of hope in Sakurazaka Moony’s heart, for there just might be a chance to insta-kill that Mage if both his Snipe and that man’s Thunderbolt struck the target.

However, Flame Singed Clothes was not just any average Mage himself, and the position he was in already provided him with cover, allowing the man to hide behind it when he saw the attacks coming his way. Sakurazaka Moony’s marksmanship was average, and he revealed an agonizing expression when he saw that his shot missed the mark. However, something strange happened there and then. Vast Lushness, who was whizzing straight toward that sea of flames, suddenly slowed down in midair before finally coming to a halt as she floated in mid-air. Flame Singed Clothes’ Descending Wheel of Flames had already crashed into the ground, yet Vast Lushness had not flown right into that flaming inferno. Her buoyancy ended abruptly in that moment, and she came dropping right onto the ground.

Everybody was dumbfounded by what they had just witnessed, uncertain if what happened had been a deliberate act. Even Vast Lushness had no idea about this experience of hers.

“Thank god…” Sakurazaka Moony suddenly heard Blue Ease utter that, and he turned around to look. All he saw was the Mage with a head full of sweat, his face showing signs of great exertion, as he placed that raised staff of his down.

“You did that?” Sakurazaka Moony asked.

“Yeah!” Blue Ease nodded.

“What skill is that?”

“Why should I tell you?” Blue Ease puffed as he eyed Sakurazaka Moony with derision.

“Are the two of you idiots?! What are you quarreling about at this time?!” Svelte Dancer yelled at them from where she was, which was under Southern Lone Blade’s foot. Unrivalled Lucky Star was closest to Vast Lushness at this time, so he strode right over to her. While he might not be an offensive combat class, Unrivalled Lucky Star believed that a Priest that had survived a slash from Southern Lone Blade’s cCyclone would not need no more than a few more basic attacks to die.

“You imbecile, why didn’t you set Vast Lushness somewhere closer to us?!” Sakurazaka Moony criticized Blue Ease even as he sprinted over to help rescue her.

“You know nothing!” Blue Ease blasted. He had already used all his strength to stop Vast Lushness. Telekinetically moving an entire living human was not that simple.

FWOOSH!

A wall of flame suddenly appeared before the two of them, preventing them from advancing. Flame Singed Clothes had appeared from behind the cover and was now using his spells to block the two off.

“F*ck! Quickly kill him!” Sakurazaka Moony was left annoyed by these constant interruptions and could only seek to cooperate with Blue Ease.

“I’m out of mana!” Blue Ease roared.

“F*ck me! You’re so useless,” Sakurazaka Moony felt like crying, though no tears came to him. All he could do was watch that Knight swing his sword toward Vast Lushness, who had only just begun to pick herself up from the ground