Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Before Youthful Reflection could even recover, half of the men from Black and White, Life or Death Federation went chasing after Gu Fei and Sword Demon, even as the other half completely surrounded Youthful Reflection. All of them obviously knew that he was someone from Traversing Four Seas, hailing from the biggest guild in Yunduan City. But now that they were so openly being bullied by one of theirs, as a gamer, there was definitely no reason for any of them not to put up a fight in such circumstances.

There was no penalty for death during this event, so Youthful Reflection was not worried for himself, but the relationship between his guild and Black and White, Life or Death Federation. Now that such an incident had occurred, there was no doubt that Black and White, Life or Death Federation would regard them with hatred.

“Brothers… Please hear me explain, I’ve been m*th*rf*ck*ng fooled as well!!!” Youthful Reflection yelled this hoarsely, but it was not any faster than everybody’s sword, and the second half of what he had to say only came out when he reappeared in the spawn point.

“Oathless Sword, I will never m*th*rf*ck*ng let Traversing Four Seas off!!!” At around the same time, Oathless Sword had suddenly received this message. Just like how many people knew him but he might not know the other party, there were plenty of people who had added his name on their friends’ list. But that did not mean that Oathless Sword had reciprocated and added the other person in his friends’ list. Thus, while he might have trouble sending messages to people, he had no problem receiving them from others. Oathless Sword was still clueless as to what just happened, so he could only try and play it off, “What’s the matter bro, what do you mean by that?”

“Who’s your m*th*rf*ck*ng bro? Just you wait! This isn’t over yet!” White and Black had been in a very ugly mood recently, and he had just been tricked by someone at this juncture. Everybody knew that there was no penalty for death during this event, but he was not focused merely on the material as a youth of this new generation. There was a need for spiritual sustenance as well, and White and Black’s spirit had been severely damaged after this incident. He had clearly lost any sense of reason, starting off the conversation straight by reprimanding Oathless Sword.

There was no language filter in Parallel World, so White and Black swore like a sailor as he unloaded his substantive vocabulary. Oathless Sword was soon piqued by this exposition of curses as well, for he still had no idea what triggered this! Just as he was about to rebuke the man severely, Youthful Reflection’s message finally made it to him. This matter had plenty of cause and effect that needed to be explained properly, so it made perfect sense for Youthful Reflection to take quite some time to dictate a proper message.

Oathless Sword reacted rather nimbly to this new information, immediately copying what Youthful Reflection sent word for word and forwarded it to White and Black. In the end, White and Black coldly replied, “You’re just trying to hoodwink me!”

Oathless Sword had accumulated quite a bit of anger having endured the scoldings all this while! Even though this conversation was entirely done through messages and he had no sight of the man himself, he could also imagine the cold and deliberately ambiguous countenance White and Black would show when he said that, resulting in Oathless Sword to momentarily explode, “Hoodwink your *ss, do you think yours truly is afraid of you? It’s up to you to believe me or otherwise! We’ll gladly take you up if you wish to look for trouble!”

“Fine! Just you wait!!” White and Black replied spitefully. He had been trying to figure out just how he would get his revenge ever since he revived, and he happened to have thought up of some outlandish ideas on his end, so he immediately gave the order across his guild channel.

“Hunt? Why on earth are you guys hunting that pair for? Those two men were no more than tools used for the assassination, and Traversing Four Seas is the real m*th*f*ck*ng puppeteer pulling the strings from behind the scene. G*dd*mm*t, he had specifically tried to double-cross us.” White and Black was completely mistaken about their intention as to the reason they had made contact and after. Everyone in the guild listened to their guild leader thundering on even as they thought to themselves: What reason would they have to double-cross us? Just so they could kill you? That does not seem to be the case! Everybody shared this sentiment, but nobody dared to voice this opinion out loud.

“How did it go?” Youthful Reflection was still waiting for Oathless Sword to update him with the result of his attempt at conciliation. Oathless Sword was seething to the point he was close to having a fit, “How else could it go? I got OT-ed!!!”

“What do you mean OT-ed?” Youthful Reflection was nonplussed.

“White and Black’s aggro had shifted over to my head now!!!” Oathless Sword fumed.

To think Oathless Sword that would still use MMO-lingo at this instance, even Youthful Reflection was about to breakdown, “He didn’t believe you? What do we do now?”

“I’m not afraid of him!” Oathless Sword said.

“But the timing for this… ” Youthful Reflection sighed heavily. There was indeed nothing to be afraid of when Traversing Four Seas end up angering any guild, but now that they were in the middle of the City War event, large guilds were all trying to find ways to recruit people under their banner. Yet Traversing Four Seas had actually made themselves some new enemies, contrary to anyone’s expectations. Youthful Reflection figured it was best for him to not say anything further about this; he was the one who had caused this fracas in the first place. And at most, Oathless Sword had done a bad job cleaning up after his mess, what more could he really say?

—

On the flip side of this incident, both Gu Fei and Sword Demon had essentially managed to escape unscathed. Given how much faster the two men were in terms of their movement speed, and their ability to jump into the ongoing battlefield without drawing attention to themselves. Neither of them had much trouble getting away, now that White and Black’s aggro had shifted off their heads. The men from Black and White, Life or Death Federation had already turned back halfway while chasing them, which left them both quite baffled. Indeed, Gu Fei had exploited Youthful Reflection this time round, but he never would have thought that this scheme of his would actually result in such a fallout between the two parties. He had merely used Youthful Reflection to orchestrate this opportunity for them when he first discovered that the man knew where White and Black would be.

“Why aren’t they chasing us?” Gu Fei was confused when he saw their pursuers suddenly turn around and leave.

Sword Demon shrugged.

“Is your quest completed?” Gu Fei asked.

Sword Demon nodded his head, before saying, “Actually, it might have been better if we used them to assault that entrenched position that Carouse has taken up for your quest before I killed him off. After all, my quest did not have a time limit.”

Gu Fei studied Sword Demon for a moment before sighing, “It’s really quick for man to become corrupt!”

Sword Demon was utterly remorseful when he heard him say this. How did I start picking up such a despicable line of thinking after going with the flow?

“How much time do you have left for your quest?” Sword Demon did not wish to dwell on this further and decided to change the subject.

“21 minutes,” Gu Fei answered.

“What’s your plan now?”

“We’re close by anyway, let’s go take a look. I’ll try and complete it if an opportunity arises, otherwise, I’ll just die and head back to pick up another quest!” Gu Fei casually replied.

“Let’s go then!”

“You’re coming too? You’ve already gotten your kill, wouldn’t dying once more cause your quest to fail as well?” Gu Fei said.

The noob inside Gu Fei reared its head once more, as Sword Demon explained weakly, “If I’ve killed the target, that means my quest is completed. How could I fail it any further?”

“Oh, so that’s how it works. Well, let’s hurry!”

The two men and three soldiers nonchalantly continued toward Carouse’s entrenched cavity like nothing had happened. Black and White, Life or Death Federation’s attempt had been canceled halfway along, yet Pike N’ Roses had coincidentally arrived at this time. The guild leader Black Rose was no fool either, and everyone taking part in this clandestine operation had removed their guild emblems and kept their faces covered, dressing up like bandits. Seeing that the coordinates that Oathless Sword had provided was right ahead, Black Rose waved his arm and ordered his men to spread out their formation.

“There’s someone over there, guild leader!” someone reported.

“I know, I’m not blind,” Black Rose replied gruffly.

A Priest was seated on the edge of that entrenched cavity, currently savoring the bottle of liquor he was holding in hand. However, the man did not seem to be particularly bothered when he saw the pack of bandits in front of him.

“I’ll kill him!” an Archer said as he readied his bow.

“There’s no need for that. Let’s rush them all at once, snuff them all out once and for all!” Everybody had differing styles. Black Rose loved the feeling of doing battle with an overwhelming number of combatants charging right into the battlefield, so he made sure to create such an atmosphere whenever he was taking charge of the offense. This was the sort of spiritual sustenance he was pursuing!

“CHARGE!!!!” When the players from Pikes N’ Roses saw that someone had already spotted their approach, none of them were looking o set up their own ambush any longer as they bellowed their warcry loud, storming toward the enemy as their morale surged. Their guild leader Black Rose was heading this charge without any hesitation, setting himself as an example to boost the morale of everyone was such an awesome feeling for him. However, there were plenty of others in the guilds who felt shackled deep down, for having a baby-legged Warrior like him in front meant the rest had to match their speed accordingly, and that was far too frustrating.

The Priest from Carouse continued to act as if he saw nothing, staying seated where he was until Black Rose was just several meters away when he suddenly threw that bottle of liquor in his hand high up in the air.

Everybody involuntarily raised their heads to look and saw the beautiful incandescent flame flash above them.

The sound of shattering glass could be heard as the bottle broke when it dropped onto the ground.

The flames that were infused with mana began to grow and burn at that moment. The men from Pikes N” Roses were already diving for cover as tears streaked down their faces; some wanted to hurry and rush forward a few more steps, while others came to a halt and backed away. Then there were those who ran to either side, but not many truly managed to escape the ensuing sea of flames that engulfed the land.

The red glow from the flames shone brightly against the white light that ensued, a sight that would sometimes be seen during a large-scale battle like this one. Black Rose was the guild leader, so his equipment was a little better than most. Even though he did not manage to leap out of the conflagration, he still managed to stubbornly survive through it all. However, when he turned around to regard his comrades behind him, he saw that the flame ambush had actually killed off half his men!

“Brothers! TO THE DEATH!!” Now that everything had gotten to this stage, there was no point in retreating any longer. Black Rose continued to rally his troops, and those people who were still alive echoed this cry and strove forward. With a single Charge, Black Rose came smashing right into the Priest.

A metallic clank rang.

The Priest did not even bother to dodge the body hurtling toward him, and everyone watched as Black Rose suddenly come to a stop mid-Charge. Black Rose looked down when this happened, and saw the maw of a trap clamped down on his foot. The man was instantly in tears.

“This method is truly tried and tested,” Young Master Han nodded. He turned around and went down the cavity, a single-arm raised as he waved his hand dismissively in a backward motion, “Kill him!”

Countless players suddenly came rushing out from the cavity, and they were all players with a melee job class, pouncing right on the trapped Black Rose. Thankfully, Black Rose was a seasoned guild leader, and his men would habitually have him as their core during battles. In response, the players on his flanks quickly came dashing over to protect Black Rose, even as the clash between both parties escalated the fight.

“Pikes N’ Roses won’t do. They are no match,” Sword Demon messaged Gu Fei after he made his way around the site while maintaining his Stealth.

“We’ve still got seven minutes left… Even if I charge in with unlimited mana, I sincerely doubt I can cleanly finish them all off,” Gu Fei sighed.

“I have an idea?” Sword Demon said.

“Oh?”

“The team of Mages that Carouse possess would always gather as a group together, so if you suddenly Blink into their midst, there’s no guarantee that you won’t be discovered. There’s a tent inside the cavity, I do believe your quest target should be there. Go in and make contact first, see if there’s any way you can progress things,” Sword Demon said.

“Hmmm… I can give that a try,” Gu Fei nodded. As for how he would get in position so he could use his Blink, he had already thought of what he could do as well! Gu Fei covered his face and circled round to the back of the fight, and slipped right into the midst of the battlefield without anyone being any the wiser.

Without a guild emblem and his face covered, Gu Fei shared the same look for people from Pike N’ Roses! Nobody even suspected a thing, and all the players with their faces covered treated Gu Fei as a fellow comrade-in-arms. Gu Fei advanced forward as he kept hearing people shouting for assistance in his direction. Gu Fei did not have his trademark Moonlit Nightfalls on him, as he would be far too conspicuous if people saw a Mage wielding a sword. Gu Fei was just waving the magic staff in his hands and running about throwing spells like a normal Mage, even as he kept advancing forward.

Of course, most people would actually cast their spells in earnest, when Gu Fei merely actually point his spell in the direction, as he moved his lips to fake chanting the spell. There were already plenty of spells being tossed all around the battlefield, so no one was about to notice him not actually casting a spell if they did not care to pay close attention to his every action.

Gu Fei focused on avoiding the attacks coming from Carouse as he slowly and surely made his way forward. Carouse was concentrating on holding the boundary of the cavity in defense, and because many of their men were already engaged in close combat ahead, most of their Mages did not engage in the fight using their AoE spells. However, Young Master Han was truly conniving! He intentionally commanded the melee players to lure and gather the enemy together, getting most of Carouse’s men to suddenly depart and leaving behind just a handful of players as cannon fodder before they the Mages bombarded everyone in unison, eliminating both friend or foe in that specific area…

Pikes N’ Roses had not taken any precautions against such an underhanded manner of fighting, so by the time they realized what was happening, a good half of their men were already wiped out. This was basically nothing more than a failed assault by now, simply waiting for Carouse to mount a counterattack to strongly repel them.

It was under such circumstances that Gu Fei found himself finally making it to the edge of the cavity. When he peered down to take a look, it was indeed where all their Mages had gathered, exactly as what Sword Demon had surmised. Meanwhile, Young Master Han was positioned somewhere slightly lower from the edge, not doing anything at all besides keeping his eye on the battlefield in front of him as he commanded the men under him to dance to his orders. He was diligently devoting his attention to the command now, not even doing his job of being a Priest.

When Sword Demon had suggested this idea to Gu Fei, he had naturally calculated the distance, and Gu Fei soon found a few pretty good spot for him to rematerialize in just a few glances. The man quietly crept his way over to an appropriate distance and proceeded to chant the Blink spell.

When Gu Fei reappeared, he was already standing at the tail end of the Carouse’s Mage formation. He quickly took note of his surroundings and saw that no one noticed that someone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This was already the very back of the Mage formation, and while there were other players standing guard behind him, these men were facing in the other direction. Evidently, none of them would realize that another player had appeared behind them.

Since no one around had realized what had happened, what Gu Fei had to do next was a lot more convenient. Gu Fei raised his magic staff and began moving around in the bunch of Mages, yet nobody got suspicious of his actions. The simple tent was in the center, protected by all the Mages, and Gu Fei slowly edged his way over until he got to its entrance. Cautiously looking to his left and right, raising his magic staff as he mimicked what all the other Mages were doing under Young Master Han’s command before he finally found the opportunity to infiltrate the tent, unseen.

If there were any players inside, Gu Fei would have to kill them outright. Fortunately, nobody had thought somebody could make it so deep into this entrenched territory without being detected. The only person inside the tent was hunched over the table, busy. There was no reason that this person would not be Guillermo, as he was the only one in this tent. But is this person a civil engineer? No matter how Gu Fei looked, he felt like this person looked no different from a miner…

“Hey, I’m here to rescue you,” Gu Fei did not waste his breath and immediately use the relevant terms for the quest. At the same time, he took a look at what this person had been busy over on the table, and he saw plenty of charts, shapes, and numbers. Gu Fei did not understand what was being drawn, but Guillermo had already raised its head to regard him by now, grimacing, “It’s too late.”

“What do you mean too late? We’ve still got three minutes left!” Gu Fei looked at the quest log and saw there was still three minutes before the timer ended.

“Can you escort me back to the city in three minutes?” Guillermo asked.

“Must I send you back to the city?” Gu Fei asked.

“At the very least, we need to leave this place, away from the battlefield,” Guillermo said.

“Can you use a Teleportation scroll?” Gu Fei asked.

Guillermo did not answer. If an NPC refuses to reply to a question, that usually meant the player’s line of thinking was too off the mark, and it was unable to give an answer since it was off-based for the NPC, otherwise it would always give a response when laying things out.

“Should we give it a try?” Gu Fei was not someone who would feel pained using items, as he took the scroll out hoping to see if it would work. That was when he thought if this teleport goes through, and Guillermo isn’t able to use it but I can, everything we’ve done thus far would’ve been for naught.

“I can’t escape any longer, but I have information here that you need to return with,” Guillermo suddenly stuffed a letter into Gu Fei’s hands.

“This situation is so inauthentic! You can’t escape all because of the time limit that the system had placed. Otherwise, we would still have a chance. Perhaps we could have made our way out if we disguised you as a Mage,” Gu Fei complained.

Guillermo was silent once more. It was evident Gu Fei’s line of thinking drifted too far off once more.

“So does that mean I’ve failed my quest?” Gu Fei could only think inside the box.

“You won’t fail as long as you succeed in sending this information,” Guillermo answered.

“Where to?”

“Whoever sent you to get me.”

Gu Fei was helpless. There was no point in reasoning with NPCs. Gu Fei took a look at his quest log once more and saw that the content had already changed. Originally, it stated he had to save the NPC, but it had now changed to what Guillermo asked him to do. Gu Fei had no idea if this was really designed to be part of the quest progression, or if it was because he lacked the time to accomplish the quest, which resulted in the conditions to change. Going by the original time limit, there was still about a minute to go. Gu Fei was in no rush to leave, so he wanted to see what would happen to Guillermo if he were to wait for a minute longer.

But who would have thought that another figure would appear at this time, as someone entered the tent.

Gu Fei obviously had to stand in a corner after entering the tent so that the players outside would not see him. This meant that Gu Fei had no idea that someone else was closing in, and this newcomer had immediately turned his head around when he spied there was someone else inside the tent in the corner of his eyes. There was no reason that Gu Fei would give this man the chance to call out to his fellow guildmates, so he darted over and finished the man off cleanly with his Twin Incineration. He no longer dared to stay and wait for the final minute to tick past any longer. It would be truly troublesome for Gu Fei to escape if this person were to send a message and inform the guild that there was someone inside the tent the moment he got killed. Gu Fei could not die this time round; he was still on his quest right now, and it had a follow-up. Would he be able to pick up the quest again if he were to die and fail the quest as a result? Just sneaking his way in to meet Guillermo had been difficult enough as it stood; this was not some open market that allowed people to enter whenever they wished.

Gu Fei had used his Blink to get in the moment he passed by the tent’s entrance, and sure enough, the moment when he struck out at that other player from that angle he had been hiding, the crowd outside from Carouse stirred. A good number of them turned and gathered over by the tent. Gu Fei saw that this was a good opportunity, he slowly crept out and gotten himself a lead from everyone before he abruptly broke off into a sprint.

“Done, get out!!” Gu Fei dodged his pursuers even as he sent a message to Sword Demon. He had already sent the three soldiers back, and all they did this time round was coordinate with him to act out their fight. They were hardly used in actual combat.

“How did it go?” Sword Demon asked about the situation.

“I can’t rescue the target, but that NPC gave me a letter asking me to deliver it back. I have no idea if this was how the quest is supposed to go, or perhaps its a change as a result of me running out of time,” Gu Fei said.

“You’re allowed to continue the quest? Could it be a chain quest?” Sword Demon asked.

“Have you gone crazy thinking about chain quests? Most quests would surely have a bit of follow up…” Gu Fei said.

“That’s true,” Sword Demon admitted.

What either of these men had no idea of was that Carouse was currently in a state of extreme breakdown. Their guild leader Brave Surge had spat out a series of eighteen “f*cks” when he received the news! When the player who had picked up the quest was a minute away from completing the said quest, he had gone into the tent to find the NPC and hand the quest in, only to discover that there was someone else hiding in the tent who managed to kill him in a sneak attack. The system had actually announced that he had failed the quest with this one death in the end…