Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

When Oathless Sword appeared back in the encampment, he was both astonished and fuming. Just from the fact that Young Master Han had helped him counted down the final five seconds was already enough evidence for him to believe that Young Master Han must have had a hand in what just happened. Oathless Sword did a quick check of himself, his equipment, skills, level, experience and everything else. Nothing. He did not seem to have lost anything from everything he could check. But what about his Traversing Four Seas? Oathless Sword quickly opened his guild tab and looked through the level of his guild, the prestige, number of members… Similarly, nothing changed from all the visible data.

I must have lost contribution score… Oathless Sword thought to himself. The contribution score for the City Wars! The amount they had accumulated had never been shown all this time, so he was certain this death must have deduced the contribution score he earned.

“Why?” Oathless Sword had sent this message to Gu Xiaoshang. He was disgruntled and feeling very aggrieved.

“That was to help you,” Gu Xiaoshang replied.

“Help me?” Oathless Sword was now confused.

“At the end of the day, you didn’t die by Thousand Miles Drunk’s hands, did you?” Gu Xiaoshang answered.

“Ah….” Oathless Sword was astonished. There were no penalties for dying, so players ending their own lives had become the newest method to teleport. Oathless Sword was not afraid of death, but he was afraid that his death might result in quest failure for this event. Now that he had not died by Thousand Miles Drunk’s hands, what was there for him to be afraid of?

“So that’s how it is… Oh yeah, why have I not thought of it myself!?” Oathless Sword’s frown was turned upside down as he sent that message to Gu Xiaoshang.

“But, how was that done?” Oathless Sword still had trouble understanding how he had suddenly died in that last moment.

“I’m not too certain either,” Gu Xiaoshang was also confused, so she curiously turned to ask Young Master Han about it.

Young Master Han let Gu Xiaoshang take a look at his magic staff, “Phantasmic Lifeforce. Instantly fills the target’s HP to full. But all that HP is just an illusion, so the HP that was healed back would be deducted after 30 seconds, so…”

“Now I get it,” Gu Xiaoshang finally understood, but that skill was still just a skill. The fact that Young Master Han was able to accurately cast this in the moment of pause in between Gu Fei’s rotating Twin Incineration. The control required for such precision was not something everyone would possess.

Even as he was explaining everything to Gu Xiaoshang, Young Master Han was still giving out orders over the party channel. Sometimes, what he ordered left the men from Colored Clouds feeling perplexed, but after several such instances, everyone began to see the effect of his orders.

Gu Fei and Sword Demon were currently in quite the state; they want to make a break for the east, but there would suddenly be a sea of flames raging to welcome the two men. They then thought to head west, and a thick cloud of arrows came flying over. Even if they managed to avoid it all, the speed by which the two advanced would be severely reduced, which meant they would very well be enveloped in that firestorm behind them. Helpless, the two men turned to the north, only to find two rows of Guardians formed, with a row of Mages right between, forming a neat row of Great Wall. This sort of formation meant neither Sword Demon’s Shadowmist Assault or Gu Fei’s rotating Twin Incineration would be able to insta-kill and make a breakthrough.

By the time they turned around, they discovered that the area covered by the Mages’ spells had already increased, and the ensuing firestorm created even looked like it had the intensity to level mountains and dry up oceans…

“This combination of job classes would be the most appropriate method to deal with those two,” Young Master Han chuckled as he spoke to Gu Xiaoshang.

Gu Xiaoshang had started picking out the players for this operation beginning from the elites in her guild. Young Master Han did not say a word at the start and only reorganized the teams afterward. The squads in front of them mainly consisted of Mages, Sharpshooters, Guardians, and Light Priests, while the Thieves were completely relegated to reconnaissance duties. The moment the battle began, Young Master Han did not give these other job classes any further instructions. Berserkers would often be used as the vanguards during this sort of attack, but Young Master Han had actually thrown them all the way to the back. Meanwhile, the Knights were in an even worse state, as Young Master Han’s command for them was just “do as you please”.

Hearing such an order was a miserable reminder that essentially meant nothing these players did mattered in the current situation. As for the Fighters… There were not even that many players to begin with, with even fewer experts among their ranks, and none of them had even heard a word of command from Young Master Han this entire time.

These job classes that did not receive any useful orders naturally struggled with plenty of emotions, but their guild leader Xiaoshang was also a Berserker too, and she was currently standing right beside Young Master Han doing nothing as well, so what more could they say? They were all the more helpless especially given how Gu Fei and Sword Demon both had already been successfully restrained.

“What do we do?” Sword Demon asked Gu Fei. A pair of hands would have trouble fighting against two opponents, and a hero would have trouble taking on many; this saying finally rang true here on this occasion. Gu Fei and Sword Demon could see these players’ triumphant show of force right in front of their eyes, but neither were able to do anything about it since the two men did not have the chance to charge right up in their faces. Others might not have any idea what was the distance Gu Fei’s Blink afforded, but how could Young Master Han not be aware of the fact? Everything was already calculated and accounted for, including how much HP both had. Young Master Han knew everything that he needed to know and Sword Demon was completely convinced that no matter which direction they tried to attack, there was no doubt the enemy would possess the ability to kill them off in just a wave of attack.

“Teleportation scroll!” Gu Fei shouted to Sword Demon. He had already used up all the scrolls he had on hand, but Sword Demon should still have some on him.

“I’ve already got it in my hand. Is there really no chance here?” Sword Demon was no longer holding onto his daggers and had been clutching onto a scroll for quite some time now, but they were being attacked continuously. Teleportation scroll needed a few seconds before it could activate, and dying right before they could be teleported away would really be too much of a waste.

“Give me one, and we’ll split up!” Gu Fei hollered.

Sword Demon tossed one scroll to Gu Fei, and the two men suddenly broke off and ran in opposite directions.

“Team 1, XXX,XXX.”

“Team 2, XXX,XXX.”

“Team A, XXX,XXX.”

“Team B, XXX,XXX.”

“Team 3 and 4, 4 o’clock; Team 5, 7 o’clock; Team C, 9 o’clock; The other teams, turn in a counterclockwise direction.”

Young Master Han was not in the least bit flustered as he casually gave out his commands. Gu Fei and Sword Demon had both ran in separate directions, and that split up the enemy’s firepower. However, the encirclement they were in held strong, and not one of the expected attacks were out of place.

“Someone’s around,” whispered a player beside Young Master Han.

“I’ve already instructed you to finish off anyone who comes over. What are you telling me about this for!?”

“I’ll go!” Gu Xiaoshang was a little bored as well. After the man informed her which direction the interloper was coming from, she Charged right out and immediately transited into a Cyclone. Everyone saw as Yan Xiaozhu’s figure suddenly popped out as she dodged the attack, leaping to the side in her panic. Young Master Han glanced over and laughed, “Little girl, it isn’t that easy to just casually succeed in ambushing someone!”

Gu Xiaoshang stopped her Cyclone and continued her attack on Yan Xiaozhu, while those Thieves, Berserkers, Knights, and Fighters, all of whom have been relegated as extras to this operation, had languished in their loneliness and boredom for too long. These people all swarmed right over to Yan Xiaozhu, giving the lady a taste of something she had never experienced before. She immediately gave up on the thought of fighting as she turned tail to run.

“Don’t bother with the rabble,” Young Master Han saw that people were looking to give chase, so he casually intoned this to those men.

“You’re the rabble!” Yan Xiaozhu came to a stop and shouted this out as she pranced about.

Young Master Han did not even bother to look at her as he chuckled with disdain, “Are you thinking of luring some men away? Fine, I’ll send off some guys for you to play around with!” With that, he waved his arm, “Hustle up some randoms to keep her busy.”

Even ignoring if this order from Young Master Han was relevant, the tone in which he had given this order really made everyone feel disgruntled. Even those people who had originally planning to have a go at the female Thief for interfering did not want to be relegated to the role of just being ‘some randoms to play around with’ when they heard him say that. The moment Young Master Han saw everyone came to a halt just as he wanted, he helplessly shrugged at Yan Xiaozhu, “See, nobody wants to play with you.”

Yan Xiaozhu was crying as she sent a message to Slyris, “Sis, there’s nothing we can do, that guy’s too cunning.”

Slyris was feeling rather powerless as well. Her movement speed could not be compared with Gu Fei, so she arrived much later in the fight than him. Seeing there were so many players to fight against, she had the heart to fight though she lacked the strength to succeed. That was why she had thought to ask Yan Xiaozhu lure away a portion of these people, so she can use that opportunity to throw out some AoE spells of her own and help Sword Demon and Gu Fei escape from the encirclement first. Unfortunately, she had not expected Young Master Han to actually see through this little plan of hers. The Berserkers and all the other job classes that he had positioned were of course not for show, and what they served to do was precisely to safeguard against outside interferences. How could Yan Xiaozhu lure them all away so easily?

All we can do is clash head on… Slyris gritted her teeth as she thought this, hoping to be able to lend a hand after confirming the direction Gu Fei and Sword Demon would be charging toward. It was at that moment when a sharp and urgent sound of a flying arrow was heard. The more expert Sharpshooters could feel their soul leave their body when they heard the sound, for they knew that the attack power in this one shot would be extremely potent.

Young Master Han had already staggered and nearly fell to the ground. He knew he was in trouble when he heard that sound of the arrow. Even though he had thought of it, he lacked the sort of reaction time that Gu Fei possessed, so he was still a bit slow in dodging the attack. The arrow managed to dig into his shoulder, and the force of impact the projectile contained demonstrated just how disruptive it was, nearly causing Young Master Han to fall over as a result.

“Provide cover!” Gu Xiaoshang immediately called out for men to provide cover as she searched to identify the direction where the arrow originated from.

However, the sound of that arrow was something every member in Young Master’s Elites was more than familiar with, as Young Master Han instantly began cursing as he pulled the arrow out, “Royal God Call, you b*st*rd!!”

“I’ll have it out with you, Young Master Han!” A Sharpshooter came bolting right in with his high movement speed, sending another arrow with a lift of his hands. A Warrior stepped forward to block this shot, only for the arrow to actually pass through his body and continued its flight right past to find Young Master Han standing behind him.

Young Master Han had already cast a Heal onto himself. Even though Priests were unable to put up a fight, they were able to sustain through a lot of damage, especially a Priest with the level of skill that Young Master Han possessed. As long as he had enough spells at the ready, there was basically no way he would die, just like how Gu Fei would boldly claim to be able to vanquish a thousand foes as long as he had the mana.

Royal God Call continued to fire his arrows, and he did not just concentrate on Young Master Han alone. He fired shots at any target that came within his sights, shooting even as he shouted at the trapped Sword Demon and Gu Fei, “MILES, I’M COMING TO SAVE YOU GUYS!”

“Just… Just what is going on here?” Gu Xiaoshang was confused. She recognized the expert Royal God Call as well and was all the more aware that he was a member of Traversing Four Seas. Even if Gu Fei and Sword Demon were his friends, now that they were engaged with the City War event, was Young Master Han not also seriously going up against those two himself? Just what was Royal God Call up to here?

“It’s a personal grudge,” Young Master Han angrily answered, his face was black with anger. This could be considered as his just desserts; were it not for the fact that he kicked Royal God Call out of their mercenary group earlier, there was no reason for him to create such a mess to the point that he would interfere with other people’s plans in such a fashion. In fact, Royal God Call might instead be gloating over the suffering that Gu Fei and Sword Demon were both currently experiencing!

Royal God Call’s expertise was evidently much higher than Yan Xiaozhu, and given how he was able to attack from range, the man represented a much greater threat than the Thief with his harassment. A good number of people had no choice but to turn around and take precautions against him.

However, Young Master Han was not really afraid now that there was an additional Royal God Call to the mix. Brandishing his magic staff to point to the 12 o’clock position, he began to send out a series of commands, and all the players who had been idling outside the encirclement of their targets were finally mobilized.

“Ice Chamber of the Nine Dragons!!!” Slyris finally made her move, and when an unfamiliar player like her showed themselves, none of the players in the crowd would have been on guard against her appearance. Thus, when she jumped out and cast her spell, many bluish-white beams shone forth and traveled along the row of Guardians that were blocking off Gu Fei. The crinkling sound of ice being rapidly formed could be heard. To everyone’s surprise, this spell had actually turned out to be an AoE spell, and a small area of players instantly found themselves Frozen, their movements slowed to the point it was no different from being stationary.

Gu Fei had also spotted the opportunity and wanted to dash in. However, Young Master Han immediately mustered the Mages and bombarded out an exclusion zone with the spells, making it impossible for Gu Fei to ford the flames. Turning around, he tried to move into an empty spot, but a hail of arrows ended up skewering the land. He proceeded to avoid the arrows, but the spells came back once more… He and Sword Demon were actually exhausted running for their lives from attack after attack; They did not say a word about what was happening to them, but neither could really continue doing this for much longer, and both men were barely holding on with just that sliver of HP. When Slyris acted, while she had not been able to directly save Gu Fei and Sword Demon, it nevertheless caused the enemy to adjust their offensive and allowed the two to keep that bit of HP they had, though they were still in dire straits.

Before Slyris could even find the chance to continue her attack, there was already a pack of Assassins rushing toward her position. Slyris threw out a single Arctic Whirlwind, but that would only temporarily stall the enemy’s attack. The numerical superiority of their assailants held proved to be Gu Fei and his allies’ fatal weakness.

Everything they had done seemed to be to no avail at this point, that was when a commotion suddenly broke out from within the Mage squad that had encircled Gu Fei and Sword Demon. A good number of Mages’ spell bombardments got interrupted, so they turned around behind to see what happened. Gu Fei and Sword Demon did not miss capitalizing on this chance, both men heading toward the safe area that appeared thanks to the interrupted spells as they arched their necks and tried to find out what actually happened over there.

“Drunk bro!!!”

Gu Fei saw someone waving at him, whose voice sounded very familiar. He took several more steps forward and finally saw that it was Fireball and his fellow comrades from Forever in Flowers, all of them wildly taking shots at the Mages without showing any signs of mercy. Even though most of them were Hunters, arrows were still ultimately the bane of any Mage, so even though none of them would die from being skewered by these shots, the threat they represented meant there was no way for the spellcasters to properly chant their spells.

Sword Demon unleashed his Shadowmist Assault, while Gu Fei did his rotating Twin Incineration. The two men left an empty path behind them as they pass, tearing two huge openings right through the Mage squad, successfully making their escape from the death trap they had been in as a result.

They need to quickly find the chance to eat some bread! The two men voraciously devoured their food after they dashed out, hastily replenishing their HP as soon as they were safe. Gu Fei almost never had such an experience before, but his mana could not be neglected as well, so he had his bread in his left hand and an apple in his right. He was munching with great gusto while asking the bunch of skeevy men, “Why are all of you here?”

“I called them over!!” This time, Royal God Call had also circled around and joined them, with a whole nest of pursuers right behind him. The people from Forever in Flowers were all flustered; those who set traps set traps, and those who arched their bows did just that. Fireball’s fighting spirit was soaring, “You all m*th*rf*ck*rs better be quick! Gu Xiaoshang standing right there. She’s known to be Yunduan City’s most queen-like chick, we don’t often get a chance to meet someone like her.”

“All of you lechers!!” Sakurazaka Moony had actually sighed, sounding all righteous, which really left Gu Fei speechless.

“Here they come, brace for the attack!” Royal God Call came sprinting over even as he called out to the lechers. This time, their expressions all looked to be rather solemn, because they know that this battle would be hard fought.

“There’s no need for all that,” Gu Fei threw away the bread he was holding when he saw how each of them was busy setting their traps before repositioning themselves with their bow.

“Mana!” Gu Fei snapped his fingers at Vast Lushness.

Vast Lushness rolled her eyes, “Mana your *ss! Have you forgotten my magic staff got sold off?”

“Oh, sorry about that. I’ve cleanly forgotten about it,” Gu Fei was embarrassed.

“Then I’ll just go right on ahead!” Gu Fei took a look at the amount of mana he had recovered and saw that there would not be any problems casting three Twin Incinerations. Holding his Moonlit Nightfalls in a reverse grip, he ran headlong into the enemy.

“How indomitable! When will I be able to do that!?” Royal God Call was envious to death. Ever since he began playing as an Archer, being chased by a buttload of monsters was a common occurrence for him, but he never once dared to run straight into a bunch of monsters like that.

“If I am that indomitable, there would surely be a bevy of beauties that would flock to me my whole life, dalliance day and night,” Fireball commented.

The pursuers that had just been chasing after Royal God Call this entire time now had their roles reversed. It was now Gu Fei who was running after them with his sword at the ready. The pursuers barely managed to react to what happened, when Gu Fei was already in front of them. He had managed to close the distance without even needing to cast a Blink, thus saving him the mana so he could slay a round of men instead!

A twist of his Twin Incineration and the vanguards were all cut down to nothing.

Gu Fei ducked to the left and evaded to his right, waiting for his spell cooldown to end. Once that was done, he boldly jumped right into the densest concentration of players and rotated his body again. It was another Twin Incineration, and yet another circle of players was wiped out.

The pursuers would be far too foolish if they had not realized how severe things had turned out. They did not need someone giving them orders, as everyone hurried to retreat and avoid the flaming edge of Gu Fei’s sword, waiting for further instructions from Young Master Han.

But where was Young Master Han? The man was currently busy vomiting blood! The plan he had set up and tactics he employed was particularly formulated to only consider those involved. But now that there were unexpected interferences from Royal God Call as well as Forever in Flowers, all these became external disruptions that had been beyond his calculations. No matter how meticulously Young Master Han had planned this operation, there was no way such events that would violate the natural progression of matters would be put into consideration. Royal God Call’s intervention was manageable, for it was something Young Master Han had provoked with his own hands, but it was perhaps just a little too unprincipled on Forever in Flowers’ part to lend a hand here as well, right?

Had Young Master Han known that there would be a guild that would stand on Gu Fei’s side, Young Master Han would surely have brought more people for this operation. Colored Clouds was a thousand-man guild, after all. Crushing Forever in Flowers would be more than an easy task, but did he not already expect for something like this to happen in advance? Young Master Han had also seen how external players like Slyris and Yan Xiaozhu whom he had no idea were here appear too, and he never thought they would choose to stand with the city defenders like Gu Fei and Sword Demon as well.

“Let’s disperse first,” Young Master Han helplessly concluded.

“I’ve already called more men over,” Gu Xiaoshang answered.

“It’s useless. They can just retreat any time they wish. Did you not see they were all Agility-based job classes? The moment we hold the advantage, they would turn around and flee. There’s no way we can successfully surround them,” Young Master Han explained.

“Just what are those guys trying to achieve here anyway?” Gu Xiaoshang sighed. She was completely at a loss as well.

When those men from Colored Cloud retreated, their intention of leaving was made apparent, yet Gu Fei did not let them go and he continued to give chase. Young Master Han was angered, “Don’t you dare go overboard!”

“I’m already disembarking. I’m out of mana,” Gu Fei final Twin Incineration killed off a final ring of soldiers. He had already pulled out a banana and was peeling it as he turned back around. Several Archers and Mages were feeling dissatisfied with this, and they lifted their hands to give their own send off to Gu Fei. Their target quickened his pace, and not a single one of their attacks found their target, who now easily made his escape.

Royal God Call laughed loudly as he shouted out to Young Master Han, “Young Master Han, you’re still far too green to play with yours truly!!!”

“Wow!” Gu Fei gazed at him. “You’re just asking for retribution when you make such a brag.”

“Who cares about him? I’ll worry about that later after I properly enjoy my triumph here. Hahahahaha!” Royal God Call was pleased with himself.