Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei could only feel helpless at this moment. Indeed, Young Master Han had sent all his reply over the mercenary channel, and that was as good as informing Gu Fei of their plan of action. Even if he was unwilling, there was no way he would just stand by and idly watch as both parties clash and end up requiring his aid to turn the tide, right? As a result, this was yet another instance when Young Master Han had boldly made a conjecture based on Gu Fei’s personality.

Besides War Without Wounds, no one else asked further questions as they hurried over to the Priest Academy’s entrance. Everyone was deeply aware that they might be spotted by Ye Xiaowu and the two other Priests inside the Priest Academy if they stood too close to the entrance, so right before they got too near, each of them dispersed and settled into a position and blended in, pretending to be part of the crowd. With so many people coming and going, this was rather easily achieved.

They did not have to wait too long. Even though the second group had spent quite a bit of time fighting Gu Fei and Gu Xian, the actual skirmish itself only but a brief exchange, which was why both groups appeared to arrive one after another. It was just that the speed of that second group could not match the first five men, which was why they lagged behind so much. This was especially true after they received Broken Water Arrow’s warning about the despicable ambush the enemies had sprung on their comrades. As such, the second group became far more cautious, and not only did they change the original path they intended to take, they were all the more on guard as they proceeded onward, too. Given the degree of their vocational expertise, there was really no one who could get near them if they harbored ill-intent. As a result, their journey to the Priest Academy was uneventful, and they could now see the entrance to the building just right ahead; in fact, they could even make out Ye Xiaowu, Xiaochen, and Old Wu standing by the door.

Young Master Han’s lot had also spotted them, and each of them held their breath as they waited for the enemies to get near enough for them to attack. At the same time, they were looking at their surroundings, wondering when Gu Fei would appear. This was when the enemy group came to a halt and began taking note of their surroundings as well.

Sniper God checked both his left and right, as well as up and down the street that they were on.

The troop of men stopped dead in their tracks, quietly waiting for their comrade to be done scanning their surroundings. Surveying the area, Sniper God happened to catch a glimpse of a figure slinking behind the safety of a wall.

“Over there!” Sniper God gestured over in secret, and a Thief in their group quickly went in Stealth and made his way to where he had indicated.

The whole lot of them suddenly stopped and became suspicious; they were all slightly looking over to a certain direction in unison. In an instant, something clicked in Young Master Han’s mind, and he quickly sent a message to Royal God Call. “Quick, reposition yourself; they’ve discovered you.”

“I know!” Royal God Call was no fool. When he shrank behind that wall corner after taking a peek, he had already caught Sniper God’s eyes glancing over. The man no doubt lived up to his name as a marksman, as the spot he had surveyed was precisely where Royal God Call had previously Sniped Ye Xiaowu from. Meanwhile, that man was looking all around him, and everywhere his gaze landed was no doubt the optimal positions for an Archer in this game to unleash a Snipe, including where Royal God Call had been hiding. He knew deep down that he had been discovered when he saw Sniper God’s eyes sweep past. Did the group come to a stop solely because they had nothing better to do than attempt to locate where the killer was positioned? Royal God Call was not so naïve as to believe that. The moment he saw that something was off, he quickly turned to evade the enemies as best as he could. By the time Young Master Han messaged him the warning, he had already left his original position.

When the Stealthed Thief made it over to the location Sniper God had indicated, the man found no traces of Royal God Call and regretfully informed Sniper God of this. Helpless, Sniper God knew that the other party had noticed his covert actions; everyone stopping so abruptly was probably too obvious a tell-tale sign, after all. Still, there was nothing he could do about it. Since their enemies were capable of executing such a perfect ambush, he could tell that there were bound to be eyes monitoring their every move; thus, even if they continued acting none the wiser as they made their way down this street, he feared that these people would still catch on to what he was doing even if he stayed behind to investigate on his own.

Especially since he was an Archer, he possessed all the more impressive strength compared to his comrades. It’s very likely that our enemies will keep me heavily monitored… His thought on this even contained the slight hint of conceit.

The group could only head onward to meet up with Ye Xiaowu and the other Priests by the Priest Academy entrance, despite knowing the danger mounted with every step they took closer to the spawn point. This was a path they must take, and the chance of there being an ambush here was 100%. Young Master Han’s lot knew this, and the ex-soldiers knew this, too.

This was particularly true after Broken Water Arrow learned about Young Master Han’s surround tactics; Sniper God’s group adjusted accordingly, so they were now rushing along while maintaining a good distance from one another. They were but ten men, yet they fully occupied the space of an entire coordinate point. With such a loose formation and how both parties shared the same number of players present on either side, there was no way for these veteran gamers to surround all the enemies in one go like before. It was as if these ex-soldiers had not thought of how Warriors and Fighters were direct counters to that shameless encirclement, but this scattered formation they had adopted were equally effective at negating the surround.

“He he he! To think they’d do this!” Young Master Han sighed approvingly.

“Let’s focus our attack and take them down one by one!” War Without Wounds could not help but make another suggestion.

“Take your head! Look at how loosely spaced they are. They pretty much covered the entire street into their area of vigilance. Ha ha!” Young Master Han inexplicably laughed as he made the comment.

“What are you laughing for?” War Without Wounds was dispirited.

“Because I realize that you’ll be the first to be discovered by them and ironically be subjected to their focused attack, instead. You should quickly reposition yourself if you know what’s good for you. Stop pretending to be a vendor there!” Young Master Han warned.

Having learned this pretend-vendor method from Southern Lone Blade’s group before, War Without Wounds had been employing it by setting up a stall along the street. He lifted his eyes and looked over. Sure enough, he spotted someone from Sniper God’s group walking along the line of stalls set-up by the street. Once this man stepped right before him, should he really just rely on his very average mug and hope that they would be unable to recognize him?

War Without Wounds did not hold such hope, because he believed himself to possess an extraordinary and domineering presence – such that anyone would remember him at a glance. There was no way people would pass by and not recognize his exemplary temparament he exuded and identify him as a result. Thus, without missing a beat, he packed up his stall and backed away.

“Southern Lone Blade, the three of you ought to be careful as well.” Young Master Han continued to remind the others. He knew every position each of them had assumed like the back of his hand. Southern Lone Blade, Flame Singed Clothes, and Paddy Scent Pastures were truly bold like the morning sun to dare pose as pedestrians now; they seemed to be hoping to directly pass by Sniper God’s group while they were in the scattered formation. Young Master Han could see that the three men had already covered their faces, but there was no guarantee that would be enough to prevent them from being recognized. Who knew if these ex-soldiers had some unique technique which let them accurately identify people?

In the end, before Southern Lone Blade’s bold gambit could even be put to the test, a black figure appeared from the roof of a building right by the street. Sailing through the air, this person’s mage robe fluttered in the wind; the tip of his sword was pointed right at that ex-soldier walking along the row of stalls. War Without Wounds was pleasantly surprised. Miles’ arrival is too timely; there’s no need for me to move now, right?

This ex-soldier reacted quite nimbly. Seeing the sun got partially obscured, he realized that someone was performing a sneak-attack on him from above. This middle-aged man lifted his head as he took a step back, only to end up feeling a growing numbness travel across his body. A strong repelling force was exerted on him, and he felt his body involuntarily fly forward. Lifted off his feet, he could still feel someone add a sharp slash to his back. With that, he saw his HP drop until it was emptied out, and this poor ex-soldier was sent back to a spawn point before he could turn his head around.

“It’s Blink again!” These ex-soldiers had plenty of grievances toward this surreal spell. Can’t you be a little more normal jumping down from the rooftop for this sneak-attack? Why must you deliberately cast Blink in the middle of your fall, instantly materializing behind your target such that no one can even avoid it? The process of everything described sounded simpler on paper, yet the Blink in the middle of this jump, the position he would land in, executing his Palm of Thunder, and following up with a slash of his sword; every step in the sequence was perfectly executed. Blink was a surreal ability, but it had already been successfully incorporated into Gu Fei’s kung fu by now.

“It’s a PK!” The players on the street instantly descended into chaos at the sight of someone being killed with a single slash. When they saw that it was a Mage who had killed the player, these players scrambled away to avoid the scene more vigorously. That job class had quite a few AoE spells under its belt; there was simply no way they could argue if they were to become collateral damage and ended up wrongfully losing their lives as a result.

While there were players who were passionate about PK, or those that were just keen to enjoy the ensuing spectacle, there were a good portion of players that hated this sort of trouble happening on the street. An attack in Parallel World would result in friendly fire indiscriminately even if they were from the same party, guild, or mercenary group. Such PK would be fine if it happened out in the wild as there was a vast space for the parties involved to mess around in. However, with how players were always walking around in a city, such PK would often unknowingly implicate innocent bystanders. Attacks like a Mage’s AoE spells, a Warrior’s Cyclone and Charge, or even an Archer’s arrows, made city PKs the most unwelcome interruption for most players. This was especially true for locations with plenty of players; the sudden occurrence of a bit of PK was a huge annoyance to many players.

A spawn point like the one in the Priest Academy was one such location. There were plenty of people moving to and fro, as well as the many merchants and vendors’ stalls situated in the affected streets, yet it was also a place where PKs would often occur. Being hunted down by others meant that one would head to the spawn point, right? Even people who killed their targets elsewhere and hoped to repeat the deed would have to make their way over. This was why there were plenty of PKs in such areas, and it often end up in a large-scale PvP.

Furthermore, Mages, Warriors and Archers were the three main job classes that were the least welcome in such places. The skills from these three job classes affected everything indiscriminately, especially the Mage and Archer. The skills and attacks from these two job classes unleashed were like splashing water. If the intended target managed to avoid the attack, someone else would end up falling victim to it, and that would be a great injustice, indeed.

Thus, when someone saw that it was a Mage PK-ing, a shout rang out, and the scene immediately descended into chaos, where players packed up their stalls and some ran away in every direction, all in an effort to get as far away as possible from the place. This was just the culture in this city. Just like how the tavern was a place for gossip and a crowd would immediately form to spectate a fight when it broke out, a skirmish near a spawn point would result in everyone expressing their annoyance as they ran helter-skelter. Those intending to spectate ran as well, all of them hurrying to the spawn point. With it being a designated safe zone and providing a view of the ensuing fight, it was just perfect.

These ex-soldiers had just begun their big journey on this path of PK, so they were completely clueless as to all this, and seeing the crowd suddenly turn chaotic like this made them have the impulse to evacuate all the players carefully in a neat and orderly fashion. Ye Xiaowu, Old Wu, and Xiaochen were all standing at the entryway of the Priest Academy and witnessed the place become immediately packed with countless players ready to spectate. Since players could not have physical contact in a safe zone, it obviously meant that they could not jostle with one another. Even though the three men belonged to job classes with inherently low Strength, none of them ended up being squeezed out by the crowd. These onlookers were all very envious of the three Priests. “You guys sure move fast, bro! Getting yourselves such a fine spot.”

“Squat down! People in front ought to squat down; don’t you guys know the rules?!” The more knowledgeable onlookers behind shouted this out when they saw that the three men were completely indifferent to what was happening around them. The three turned around in their puzzlement and confirmed that they were indeed the recipients of these cries. They saw the others in the same row as them squat down, with some even sitting cross-legged on the ground, while others pulled out snacks from their dimensional pockets, eating as they happily chatted and laughed with the strangers next to them. It was always easier for players of the nosier nature to start conversations with each other.

Even though Ye Xiaowu was a lead game designer, he did not have a good understanding of the lives and mentalities of the players in Parallel World. He would have been quite interested by this scene before him had this been any other day, yet he was in no such mood when considering the situation before him. Hearing the complaints and reproachful words from the players behind them sound again because the view was obstructed by their heads, these three Priests had no choice but to comply and squat down as well. Xiaochen showed great adaptability to his environment, pulling out a bag of melon seeds from his dimensional pouch and lifting it to the other two beside him.

“Where did you buy this?” Old Wu curiously asked.

“I saw someone selling this on the street this afternoon, and it’s really cheap, so I bought some out of sheer curiosity,” Xiaochen replied.

Xiaowu grabbed a few and cracked them between his teeth, shaking his head soon after. “It’s no good.” The cook within him shone forth, showing how particular he was with his food.

“Melon seeds by Old Wangpi at Peddler’s Street 2 is the best,” someone beside them opined. There was nothing the almighty nosey players had no knowledge of.

—

Gu Fei, Sniper God’s group, plus Young Master Han and the others were under the rush of the players scattering from the PK, so how would they have a chance to act? However, each of them kept a close eye on their respective targets, the weapon in their hands at the ready, simply waiting for all these players to disperse before initiating their attacks on one another. Gu Fei was very crafty as well. When he saw that the fight had not yet started at this time, he quickly ran over to the root of a nearby wall and began munching on a fruit to replenish his mana.

Once the chaos settled, the entire street was cleared out. Neither parties could hide any longer as the entire street was devoid of people. Everyone could even see the breeze stir the dirt off the ground.

“Royal, can you locate the Priest Academy?” Young Master Han messaged this question.

“No problem!” Royal God Call confidently answered.

Young Master Han knew that this was a lost cause when he heard this answer. Royal God Call should already have been there had he not have any problems doing so; why else would he still be on that street trying to get a sense of his bearings?!

“Hey, you guys; didn’t I say that I don’t need any help?” Finally arriving in front of Young Master Han’s lot, he greeted them in the process.

Southern Lone Blade and the others could only smile without giving an answer, while Young Master Han would of course heartlessly comment, “Who’s here to help you? We’re here to return the favor for that ambush they sprang on us this morning.”

“What are you wasting time yakking on for? Let’s begin!” Sniper God yelled out as all the ex-soldiers pulled out their crossbows, instantly sending a messy cluster of bolts right at these interlopers. Those bystanders watching this exchange at the spawn point felt that them getting themselves to the spawn point was truly too worthwhile! Were these men intentionally causing trouble? For all of those players to be using crossbows no matter their respective job classes, would there not have been casualties to this skirmish had they not gotten to safety and moved out of the way for this fight?

Sniper God’s group only had him as an Archer, and the damage the others could dish out was simply negligible. Young Master Han lifted his magic staff and gave a mirthless laugh. “How impudent! Do you guys really think that you can win if you pit yourselves against us like this with just those skills alone? Bro, don’t you know what sustain mean?”

Sniper God nearly found himself on the verge of vomiting blood when his eyes swept over, and he happened to see the three men sitting in the front row of the nearby spawn point, crunching on melon seeds.

Meanwhile, because Young Master Han’s speech was loud enough, the three men heard it, too, and what he said pretty much slapped out of their stupor! This battle was fought right beside them! How could they simply remain seated and be spectators when they should be coming forward to demonstrate their prowess?! This was especially true since, without the three of them, the entire ex-soldier squad would not have a Priest to provide support.

The three men could not really be blamed for this, though.

Old Wu and Xiaochen were not proper combatants in their squad. Old Wu was the resident cook in their canteen, so he could not possibly be asked to carry his pot and follow the troops along when they were off on combat missions, right? Xiaochen was the same. Besides the more collectively large-scale operations or exercises and occasionally tagging along with the squad for some emergency care or more specialized missions, there was no need for a medic to follow them so closely; simple bandaging and general aid could be managed by Sniper God and the squad themselves. As a result, neither of them showed any intention of stepping forward and working together with their team in battle.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiaowu was already petrified after dying four times, and all he was focused on was for his comrades to rescue him, so he momentarily did not register that he should be stepping out and provide assistance in this instance. Looking at Sniper God and the others now, the man was still caught up with his thoughts. Hmm… Just a few more meters and I’ll be rescued! It was as if he were trapped in the spawn point, and he could not get out if no one came to free him…

Only after Young Master Han had shouted that out did the three men finally come to their senses, pulling out their staves in a hurry as they dashed out of the spawn point to come to their comrades’ aid.

When the three Priests darted out like this, the several steps they took naturally created a buzz among those around them. However, these onlookers were more staunchly affixed to their roll as spectators than those from the tavern. Besides, the battle had just started, so none of them were emotionally invested and developed any sort of bias to either side. But in the few steps Ye Xiaowu and the two Priests dashed forward, two Thieves appeared behind them, and none of the onlookers made a sound to this.

By the time Sniper God and the others yelled out their warning, it was already too late. The Thieves that appeared behind them were naturally Blackwater and Sword Demon; the former did not dare to trail after Sniper God and his group, so he hastily took a different route to make it here. As a Thief, he possessed a movement speed well beyond some of their enemies, so he was able to get into position earlier despite taking the longer route. Alongside Sword Demon, the two remained Stealthed right outside the Priest Academy, and the moment those three Priest crossed the transom, the two came forward and delivered a Backstab to their targets. They have already grasped the stratagem necessary to take on these ex-soldiers: shamelessness.

The two Priests on the receiving end of the Backstabs instantly reacted, turning around as they began to engage in close combat. Sword Demon and Blackwater were no longer bothered by this. One of the Priests threw a punch right at his assailant’s nose bridge, while another sent a chop in the other assailant’s neck. The two Thieves shrugged off these attacks as they continued to stab their targets.

Both these Priests tried avoiding these incoming attacks, but the two Thieves’ style of fighting disregarded their own lives and simply violated any sort of common sense. Even if the average person were to use this style in real life, it would only be done when they were backed into a corner and had no other choice, channeling the intention of perishing together. No one would recklessly maintain this level of abandon from start to finish like these players could in a game. The two Priests kept on dodging, but there was no way that they could perfectly avoid every stab coming their way, and the number of stabs they took slowly accumulated, so the ending was soon apparent for all! During this entire process, Ye Xiaowu wanted to Heal the two men, yet just as he raised his magic staff, before he could even chant the full spell incantation, an arrow came whistling out for him, and he was abruptly sent back to the spawn point.

There was no way he could cast any spell while inside the spawn point. Furthermore, Ye Xiaowu’s respawn had already sent him back into the huge crowd of onlookers. There was no way he could even see what was happening outside, and just as anxiety wracked him, he discovered his companions Old Wu and Xiaochen appearing on his left and right.

Young Master Han cast a sidelong glance and saw that those three Priests had been sent into the Priest Academy. He faced forward and chuckled. “Do you get the underlying nuance from what I did? This clash actually isn’t a clash of tactics or techniques, but sustenance! Do you know how the Battle of Guandu 1 was lost? Sorry about that, but your supply of victuals has been broken.”

Footnotes:

A decisive battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao near the end of the Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guandu

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