Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The only good news was that this person’s damage was not particularly frightening despite his accuracy with his shots, so Royal God Call was still well even after taking that arrow.

These experts had truly been in Gu Fei’s company so much that they had developed the habit of only viewing damage that could result in ‘insta-kill’ as frightening. Actually, how could it be so easy for people to insta-kill others in games? Even if Gu Fei did insta-kill plenty of people as of date, he would still need to rely on his double revolution Twin Incineration to deal enough damage to achieve this.

Even though Royal God Call was an Archer with scarce HP, he was still an expert possessing powerful equipment and ranking high on the leaderboard. This was especially true after he had purchased two more top-tier equipment using last night’s 250,000 gold coins. While he might not be an existence that defied logic like Gu Fei or Svelte Dancer, it was completely impossible to insta-kill him at any rate. The assailant this time had actually used his Snipe, but that had only taken off only a quarter of Royal God Call’s total HP.

“His damage isn’t that high; I only lost a quarter of my HP.” He sighed in relief to the others.

“Tsk!” War Without Wounds immediately thought nothing of it; if that Archer’s single shot of Snipe could only take away a quarter of Royal God Call’s HP, there were even fewer reasons for him to worry.

While the members of Young Master’s Elite sighed in relief, the eyes of Southern Lone Blade’s gang nearly fell out of their sockets when they heard it. The eyes of these larcenists were sharp, and they could more or less gauge Royal God Call’s stats through a glance at his equipment. For someone like him to lose a quarter of his HP with a Snipe but comment that the enemy’s damage was not that high…

Although they did get insta-killed a lot by Gu Fei before, the mentality of Southern Lone Blade’s team had yet to be warped to such a degree, so their judgement toward a player’s damage was still within the realm of mortals. To them, Gu Fei was a unique existence, not yet fully accepting him as a normal person like what Sword Demon and the others had done.

“Charge!” Seeing that the enemy was incapable of dealing insane amount of damage, War Without Wounds no longer continued to advance in a serpentine motion and decided to bravely charge forward. There were only three players up on that boulder, while they had more than a dozen of experts on their side; what would people say if they were still afraid in such a situation?

With Gu Fei taking the lead in this charge, while the two Thieves, Sword Demon and Blackwater, had slipped off under the cover of their Stealth, the others maintained their positions as they advanced to the large boulder, mainly concerned over running too far outside the range of their Priests. The average player would be reprimanded for attempting something so pointless like what Gu Fei was doing now – disregarding his party and not coordinating with the others – but this was Gu Fei! Everyone could only be envious of him; what else could they really say?

The team of experts continued to push forward. The two Archers in their team, Glue and Royal God Call, returned fire, pelting that large boulder with their arrows. On the opponents’ side, Broken Water Arrow and that other Archer no longer dared to be as high-handed as before with their projectiles, substantially reducing the amount of shots they were taking.

Ambushing us with just so few men? Everyone could not help but wonder in their heart. They watched as Gu Fei reached the large boulder. These men felt that this skirmish was about to end and they were all just waiting for Gu Fei to Blink and send them on their merry way back to their respective spawn points once he got up onto that large boulder.

Just as they were contemplating this, the charging Gu Fei suddenly darted to the left, and the Moonlit Nightfalls in his hand flicked out a streak of flames to his right. The air to his right blurred as a figure came bolting out, narrowly avoiding Gu Fei’s slash with a sliding step backward. Then, with a flip of his right hand, the Thief produced a short crossbow seemingly out of thin air and let loose an arrow with a twang straight at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei tilted his head to the side and dodged the shot, before attempting to perform a follow-up attack in response. That Thief activated his Fleetfoot as he backed off, already running off at a movement speed far beyond the all-Agility build Gu Fei’s.

“Everyone, be careful. It appears that our enemy has brought more than just these few men this time!” Young Master Han’s gaze turned cold. Fleeting Smile should of course be more than certain as to the strength of their force right now. Attempting to finish off Gu Fei’s party with just two Archers with decent marksmanship was just too naïve. By the looks of things, there must be more to this ambush.

“Take care of your surroundings,” Southern Lone Blade quickly reminded everyone after he saw Gu Fei fend off that sneak-attack from a Stealthed Thief. Flames Singed Clothes waved his magic staff and tossed out a Descending Wheel of Flames – a method often used by teams who lacked any means to counter Stealth. Their left side was now engulfed in a sea of flames, yet no Thief appeared. Flame Singed Clothes followed that up with a Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno to their right, and there was still no one appearing from the assault. Everyone was wondering to themselves when they suddenly saw arrows fly toward them from every direction.

“Crap. It’s a trap!” Southern Lone Blade bellowed as his team swiftly huddled themselves into a tight mass. This same moment, he was extremely worried that those hoodlums from Young Master’s Elite would split off into theirs and fight by themselves, but when he turned over and glanced at where those experts were, he saw that they had actually formed up even faster than them. War Without Wounds, Brother Assist, and Royal God Call were each standing upright, protecting Young Master Han in the center. The four were closing in toward Southern Lone Blade’s team, intent on merging with them to form one unit.

Nothing needed to be said about Southern Lone Blade’s team’s caliber, either, and they absorbed the four into their formation readily, leaving the three Priests and the Mage Flame Singed Clothes protected in the core as War Without Wounds and Southern Lone Blade took to block the direction where the arrow fire was the most concentrated, while the Knights quickly bestowed defense buffs to their crowd of teammates.

At this point, everyone had a grasp of the situation they were in. This level 30 grinding map, called Baishi Forest, they were passing through on their way to Baishi City had quite the history.

Baishi City was so named for its white rocks. It was unknown if all the trees in this city region had been uprooted and transferred to the neighboring city, Linyin, but the fact remained that barely any trees were present in the surrounding area. Any player would call the terrain desolate in a glance, yet it was this wide desolate expanse, where grey boulders of varying sizes formed, that had become a landmark of sort, much like the 9527 outcrop at the Wilderness Camp.

Baishi Forest was a location where greyish white rocks abounded. Ye Xiaowu and the other two Archers were sprawled on one such landmark boulder, with plenty of rocks in different sizes around them. These ambushers were using the surrounding rocks as cover while they waited for Gu Fei and his party to step into their kill-zone before they mounted their ranged assault.

Bait the enemy and ambush – it was a very simple entrapment method. Young Master Han very painfully lectured everyone. “Comrades, look here; this is the harm of flaunting personal heroism.”

“That’s true!” Everyone nodded in agreement. Had Gu Fei not charged out so quickly and recklessly for the kill after being ambushed, the rest of them would not have been in any hurry to give chase and subsequently fall for this trap.

“We should all put ourselves in his shoes; it’s been forever since Miles has slain anyone. He’s most likely lonely,” War Without Wounds mused.

“Where’s Eternal Dominion?” Brother Assist asked. He realized that the man was not in defensive cluster of theirs.

“Isn’t he over there? Look; it’s another wannabe hero.” Young Master Han was shaking his head repeatedly at this point. It was obvious that Eternal Dominion had no considerations for the team too; while they had all gathered together, the Fighter continued to push forward head-first to support Gu Fei. Everybody had reasons to believe that if it were not for Eternal Dominion not having a movement speed that matched Gu Fei’s, he might very well advance on their enemies alongside him.

The reason that they could still while their time away despite being encircled was that, after everyone had been struck by that first volley of arrows, they quickly realized that these attacks were not dealing much damage, despite their ambushers possessing rather ferocious firepower. Upon closer inspection of their surroundings, they noted that those players who had popped out from behind or on top of these scattered rocks and boulders, were not actually Archers despite all of them using bows.

Archers, especially the Sharpshooters, were able to deal significantly more damage with their bows, and the inclusion of the ranged skills that they got for being one and the Archer equipment they had that increased their Bow aptitude meant the difference in damage from the average job class using a bow was incomparable to that of an Archer using the bow. The job classes of these people who had ambushed Young Master Han and everyone else might all hold a mixture of job classes, but all of them were wielding bows, so while they all appeared to be decent marksmen, their damage were not particularly notable because they lacked the job classes to back it.

What made them all surprised, though, was the faces of these players, each looking absolutely weather-beaten. In the end, Royal God Call could not hold back his exclamation. “F*ck me! Why are there so many old fogeys this early in the morning?”

It was reasonable for him to make such an exclamation. After all, even though anyone could play online games, the youths were still the main consumer group that were targeted for their sales. Not many uncles in their thirties or forties were playing this game to begin with. Adding that most people in those age brackets held jobs, they would essentially have to wait until nighttime, once they were done with work, before they could even get online and play such MMOs like Parallel World. Hence, coming across players from this demographic was truly a rare sight this early in the morning, yet these veteran gamers could not help but be astonished that a whole bunch was ambushing them right now.

These men had successfully unleashed their initial fierce volley, but seeing their targets still chatting and laughing as if they were not under attack – with no one even dying from this ambush – these uncles could not help but feel a little dejected. Ye Xiaowu, who was still prone atop the large boulder, sighed. “Without the support of the appropriate job classes, it’s really tough to demonstrate the prowess of the bow and arrow.”

Beside him, the Archer very gloomily added. “There’s no point even if they have the support of job classes. The arrows themselves are just too slow.”

Ye Xiaowu was downcast. “We can’t possible make a gun in this game!”

“If there were really guns in-game, our ambush would be enough to kill off half of those guys in that first salvo, and they would be completely wiped out at this point.” The man continued speaking.

“Even so, that was still a rather fruitful expenditure. If they don’t think of a way to break out of their encirclement, there’s no way for them to last,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Have Old Lightning and Thunder figured out how to play their Mage job class yet?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

The Archer replied expressionlessly. “Those two enigmas… It’s not that they don’t know how to play their job class. Rather, they feel uncomfortable shouting the spell incantation when they cast something.”

“They’ll get used to it after shouting more,” Broken Water Arrow offered.

“Look; that’s Old Lightning right there, yeah?” The Archer pointed in a direction. Broken Water Arrow turned to look and saw someone prone atop a rock. This person was originally firing with his bow and arrow, but because a Mage using a bow would end up dealing miniscule damage, he eventually got fed up with it and stowed his bow in favor of his magic staff. Creeping closer with a few steps, his magic staff was pointed forward as he muttered out the words.

A circle of flames appeared in mid-air, but those experts had abundant game experience under their belts. Right from the get-go, they had comprehended that their enemies were comprised of various job classes, so they all made sure to keep an eye on the Mages possessing ranged firepower. Having registered every move that man made, they took precautions against his eventual actions. The moment that Descending Wheel of Flames appeared, everyone moved in unison to avoid it.

Just as that Mage was preparing to attack anew after the first missed his targets, a Thief appeared behind him, revealing a face that held a sinister smile, and gifted him with a deep stab of his dagger.

For a group that had Young Master Han commanding it, how could they simply bear the brunt of the attack without throwing in a few tricks of their own into the mix?

This group standing out in the open, bearing the ferocious attacks of those middle-aged men, was Young Master Han’s attempt at turning Ye Xiaowu’s trap onto himself. While everyone’s attention and firepower was drawn onto the cluster of players out in the open, Sword Demon and Blackwater Stealthed their way in under orders to turn this situation on its head by sneak-attacking these ambushers, letting them carve out a piece off these interlopers.

Blackwater did not know when he started inexplicably hating the Mage job class, which was why he chose a Mage as his target. After putting an effort to climb up this rock, he quickly plunged his dagger into the prone Mage.

Who would have thought that this Mage would suddenly turn over, with his two legs kicking out to force Blackwater to reveal himself, though? Taken by surprise, Blackwater bent over and dove at the man with his dagger forward and butt facing the sky. There was no way that he could take back this attack now. All he saw was that old fogey’s face chuckling darkly while reaching out his hands to grab a hold of Blackwater’s two arms. With his right leg propped up on Blackwater’s belly, this uncle gave it a forceful kick…

A Mage’s Strength was weak, but they would have no problems executing such a technique. Blackwater was sent soaring to that rock by this seemingly harmless Mage, crashing head-first into the ground as he ate a mouthful of dirt.

F*ck. What’s going on? Did Thousand Miles Drunk possess him? Blackwater was in a state of confusion. He never would have thought that there would be a second Mage out that could take him down so handily in close combat.

“What are you in a daze there for? Come back quickly!” The team called Blackwater back. The Thief was all alone now that he was revealed outside the encirclement, so he naturally became the focus of the enemy’s aggression. Without the level of reaction time and skill that Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion boasted, how would Blackwater have any HP left when all the arrows came flying straight at him?

Nevertheless, Blackwater’s reaction time was not too terrible, so the moment he heard the shout, he came back to his senses and rolled out while activating his Fleetfoot, scrambling his way back over to the team as he made a break for safety. However, the marksmanship that the enemies boasted of was solid; even when faced with such a quick movement speed, the uncles were still able to accurately hit Blackwater with every shot they made. The only thing worth rejoicing was that their damage output was hardly worth a sneeze, so even though Blackwater’s equipment were hardly topnotch, it was at least above average, and with the inclusion of the team heading over to his aid at the same time, the three Priests were able to work together and prevent him from turning into white light instantly.

However, these MMO veterans could tell that they might be unable to ensure the survival of Blackwater even after all this. The damage he had sustained was beyond the healing output of the three Healers put together.

Southern Lone Blade wordlessly turned in that direction and Charged out, with arrows landing on him at once. With a higher defense, and the sword and shield protecting him, he was much more resilient than Blackwater. Meanwhile, Young Master Han also diverted some of his Heals over to Southern Lone Blade, his skill leaving Paddy Scent Pastures and Verdant Timber in awe; this level of control he was demonstrating made it such that letting him heal just one player alone would be too much of a waste. He would need to be given a whole troop of people to be used efficiently.

Southern Lone Blade, who had very quickly reached Blackwater with that Charge, helped provide cover for him before finally getting him back to safety.

“What happened?” they asked.

“I don’t know; it’s as if he detected me the moment I got near him.” Blackwater was a little glum.

“I’m afraid none of these people are easy to deal with.” Young Master Han revealed a rare look of worry as he turned his gaze and point in a direction. “Let’s move over there.”

“Then, what about Miles and Dominion?” everyone asked.

“They can do whatever they want.” Young Master Han shrugged as he sent a message to Sword Demon. “Don’t be in a hurry to strike. These guys are not simple, after all.”

When the Mage attacked, Blackwater got exposed and was subsequently kicked off the rock, requiring aid after. All this happened in an instant. Gu Fei was now dashing forward as he avoided the projectiles sailing through the air, not once noticing what was happening over there. His eyes were only on the huge boulder before him, and in the moment when he was about to cast his Blink and get up, the sky darkened. Following which, a figure came swooping down like an eagle, a single raised leg kicking out at Gu Fei.

“Don’t take that Swallow Dropkick head on!” bellowed Eternal Dominion. He was right behind him and could see it clearly. Gu Fei’s kung fu expertise might be well-tempered, but he never considered how there could be certain things that would affect the confrontation in this game. Take for example the Swallow Dropkick skill; it possessed a unique bonus effect, which was dependent on the height at which the user dropped from that positively correlated to the Verdict of the skill. Furthermore, the damage would see a congruent increase with the attack’s height. In other words, the higher the skill was unleashed from, the more powerful the skill became. Eternal Dominion was afraid that Gu Fei would be caught off-guard by this unique effect. At this very moment, the assailant was plummeting down with his Swallow Dropkick several meters above the boulder, and there was a tremendous attack power behind this kick. As for Gu Fei, although his spell damage was ferocious, a Mage’s spell, which was deemed to be of lower priority by the system’s Verdict, would be completely suppressed. In the off-chance that he was a second slower in insta-killing the assailant, this single Swallow Dropkick would surely stomp Gu Fei to his death.

If not for this skill’s bonus, this attack from above, where his feet were hardly in contact with the ground in the slightest, would be a huge taboo in a fight. With Eternal Dominion and Gu Fei’s discerning eyes when it came to martial arts, they could easily tell that this player was no ordinary gamer from his form, so there was no reason he would not understand this logic. For this person to still opt for this method of attack, clearly showed just how fearless he was.

The moment Gu Fei heard Eternal Dominion’s caution, he did not directly contend with the attack like what he had originally planned. Seeing this man arrogantly relying on the game’s skill like this, Gu Fei was also not to be outdone. He raised his hand, and with a single point of his finger, the man who was executing his Swallow Dropkick was abruptly stunned, for the Gu Fei below him had disappeared from his sight!

“Behind you!” Broken Water Arrow, still up on that large boulder, hurriedly cried out this warning. Gu Fei had actually used his Blink to directly materialize in mid-air.

Broken Water Arrow was already rather quick when he blurted that out, yet it was still not as fast as Gu Fei’s sword, who swung out with a Twin Incineration while in mid-air. On the other hand, this Fighter immediately experienced the disadvantage of not having his feet planted on the ground. When in mid-air, no matter how much muscle someone had in their abdomen and waist, or how fiercely and violently they twisted themselves, there was a limit to the degree and space that they could move, and that made it impossible for this man to dodge Gu Fei’s calculated slash.

That player did not die instantaneously after Gu Fei’s Twin Incineration connected, and the man promptly rolled away once he landed in an effort to get out of Gu Fei’s attack range. The man might have taken such a huge loss just from that single exchange of blows, yet he was neither in the least bit flustered nor astonished, which was an atypical response among gamers. If they were not already dead, most of those who had crossed swords with Gu Fei would often turn green or pale after realizing they had lost such a large chunk of HP from sustaining a single attack from him. However, this man did not react in the least bit from this; it was as if he had not noticed how much his HP dropped with that one cut.

Gu Fei did not hesitate and rushed to where his opponent had rolled toward the instant he landed on the ground. With two Twin Incinerations and a single Blink, the weakness of Gu Fei’s pitiful mana reared its ugly head once more, so this one slash of his was not boosted with any spell. The opponent was not panicking when he saw Gu Fei’s sword come sailing over to him. He twisted his body and staggered a step, but how was he to know that this dodge he had done was well within Gu Fei’s expectations, who proceeded to modify his follow-up move and changed the trajectory of his cut as his blade went slicing at the man?

Finally, that Fighter’s passive expression changed. He had long realized that his opponent’s skill was anything but simple, but he did not find it particularly difficult for him to avoid this slash again. With another twist of his body, he managed to pirouette away from the sword yet again. This time, he was not going to be passive and sent a leg whip over at Gu Fei as he twisted.

The angle of this kick was huge, and it went directly for Gu Fei’s head. The impetus of this kick was as furious and powerful like a lightning bolt, so it could be imagined that the force of it was enough to knock someone out cold if done in real life.

Gu Fei did a diagonal sidestep as he turned his body to the side to avoid that blow; that sword in his hand twisted out for another cut.

If this were in reality, Gu Fei would never do such a counterattack. Since this is a game, I guess I don’t have to be too particular about things, he thought to himself even as he chanted his Twin Incineration spell. Standing somewhere behind him, Eternal Dominion was already left dumbfounded by what he had witnessed. “Whoa. This is a game, alright. To actually use such a move, it’s just too obscene!”

Everyone watched Moonlit Nightfalls carve out a stroke of flames, directly brushing past that man’s crotch, which was now exposed thanks to his raised leg…

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