Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

Black Index Finger had died a wrongful death. Very wrongful.

What his guild had done was very similar to what Cloud Herder did, having also dispersed to do their own things after the auction ended. In the end, it was just him and a group of men, but their numbers were significantly less than what Foe-herder had. The Black Hand Syndicate was considered a newcomer guild, eagerly hoping to surpass all the established guilds of old as they developed rapidly, and they had not spared any expense and effort toward the City Wars event this time.

Of course, Black Index Finger was not like Foe-herder; he had not kept questing voluntary, and had sent out all the people he could send. Even he did not stay idle, bringing his men along to act as mobile reinforcement, heading over to help wherever there was a need for assistance. It just so happened that he had been bringing along a troop of men when they suddenly bumped into another group of players who came rushing toward them aggressively.

Black Index Finger and his men realized that something was amiss and were just about to brace for the assault, when they soon realized there were two separate parties in front of him; a female Thief was recklessly sprinting ahead, while a group was trailing behind, firing arrows, slinging spells, hastily running headlong after their quarry as they attacked.

This is a hunt! The players from The Black Hand Syndicate could all see this clearly.

When talking about being hunted, this was something that happened every day in games. But during the City Wars event, every guild was temporarily focused on participating in the City War, so even if there was animosity and hostilities between parties, all the differences were put aside in the interim. Anyone who would be caught up in pursuing such grievances would most likely be the players belonging to the neutral third party that were not part of any guild.

Since it was such a commonplace occurrence, there should not have been any need to make a big deal out of it, but the problem was that while it was normal for players to be hunting others, it was rare to find people hunting down a single lady. None of these men from The Black Hand Syndicate had ever witnessed such a scene to this day, and each of them could feel their heart itch right now. To an expert, if they do not have the chance to flaunt their skills from time to time, there would really be no point in being an expert. Meanwhile, saving a damsel in distress had always been a scenario in which experts enjoyed intervening, and each of them was raring to jump in at the moment, only to hear their guild leader Black Index Finger cough heavily.

Everyone felt rather despondent, but their guild leader had already dropped a hint, and everyone had to give him face. Thus, they watched as Black Index Finger broke off from the group and stepped forward, looking all hero-like. However, when he thought that people would be more sympathetic to the lady in this scenario, he still had no idea which party was in the right or wrong; helping the wrong side might end up damaging his great reputation as a wise and brilliant guild leader. It was with such a thought in mind that Black Index Finger intercepted that lady, who was urgently fleeing from the pack of players behind her, and shouted to her, “Miss, is something the matter?”

If the lady is the problem, I’ve already intercepted her path of advancement; if the people behind her are the problem, there’s no need for her to run anymore with me protecting her, Black Index Finger thought to himself, at the same time hoping that the latter would be true.

“It’s a robbery!” When the veiled female Thief said those three words, everyone instantly became extremely happy and immediately chose to believe her. Conversely, why would anyone not bear hatred toward the robbers? Everyone reacted accordingly to this, quickly shifting their focus toward those people hunting down the lady. Black Index Finger did not need to say a word, merely waving his hand coolly, “Go.”

The robbers had also instantly realized something was wrong and they did not dawdle, turning around to flee. Everyone from The Black Hand Syndicate gave chase, whether they possessed a high movement speed or otherwise. Meanwhile, Black Index Finger was composed and unflappable, moving himself right over to stand in front of the lady to express his concern, “Are you alright, miss?”

“I am fine. And yourself?” That lady asked.

“Me? What could happen to me? Hahaha!” Black Index Finger was laughing when that lady in front of him abruptly disappeared. Before he could even react to this, he suddenly felt a stab in his waist. Black Index Finger saw his HP drop a certain amount and felt his soul flee from him. He urgently turned around, but saw no one behind him.

This time he was all the more at a loss for what to do, but he found himself enduring another stab in the next moment.

“Priest!!” Black Index Finger quickly shouted. But the assailant had struck twice consecutively, yet had not revealed himself or herself. The guild members were all concentrating their attention toward the Thieves, so aside from Black Index Finger himself, no one else was even aware that he was currently under attack. When Black Index Finger yelled for a Priest, there was one who immediately yelled back in affirmation “here”, but the person had not even realized that his guild leader was shouting for him to faster Heal him.

“HEAL—” Black Index Finger had only said that one word when a third stab connected, and that was how he unwillingly submitted to his death. The players from The Black Hand Syndicate suddenly saw their guild leader transform into a white light, yet there was simply nobody around him at all. All of them had the fright of their lives, but that was when the figure of the lady suddenly appeared from thin air, turning around to run off without saying another word. The whole lot of them finally realized what just happened as they cried loudly, “D*mm*t, we’ve been tricked!”

It was already too late to do anything about this, and that lady’s movement speed was superb beyond belief, disappearing from their sight in a blink of an eye. Meanwhile, those supposed robbers all seemed to be skilled when it came to evading pursuit. They did not simply depend on their movement speed to get away from The Black Hand Syndicate, but they also utilized the terrain, crowds and were soon able to escape scot-free, and it was instead those men from the guild that had inexplicably lost two of their men in the process.

“We got him!” Svelte Dancer announced loudly over the guild channel as a wave of cheers rang out response, though only their guild leader Sword Demon remained silent. Sword Demon was, of course, aware of the method that they had used to accomplish their assassination, and he did not really approve of it deep down. However, the rest of the members of the guild felt that they were caught in the midst of the City War at the moment, and it was as the saying went: All is fair in the game of war; they believed morality did not matter regarding what strategy they ended up deploying. Also, given how the person who came up with the idea was the indomitable lady Svelte Dancer herself, she did not even care to ask if her guild leader had any qualms about it and had requested the larcenists Southern Lone Blade and his gang to help coordinate with her on the plan. Instead, it was Southern Lone Blade and his men who gave Sword Demon face, waiting for their guild leader to give the final word on the matter. In the end, Sword Demon did not think it was good to oppose the idea, so he hesitantly allowed them to make the attempt.

Indubitably, the plan was a success, and the script and star of this operation were all from Svelte Dancer. She could not be any more delighted with herself, immediately inquiring about all the other teams and their progress after she had reported the good news. In the end, when she found out that the ambush over by the sawmill had failed, and Gu Fei was still there dragging his feet, she obviously wanted to send a message over to Gu Fei to congratulate him.

Gu Fei began shouting for Foe-herder the moment he received this message of felicitations. Foe-herder was stunned, now that he realized that he was actually Thousand Miles Drunk’s target. However, he did not seem to recognize Foe-herder, and that fact made the latter feel both disappointed and elated. Unfortunately, when Gu Fei shouted out for Foe-herder, several players from Cloud Herder subconsciously turned to look at where their guild leader was, and that utterly betrayed his position to Thousand Miles Drunk with so many eyes on him. Before Foe-herder could even react in time, Gu Fei Blinked and was no more than 3 meters away from him. Foe-herder was startled and wanted to flee, but his baby legs simply could not outrun Gu Fei.

Gu Fei found it strange that the enemy adopted such a spaced defense, completely not considering that the enemy had only just realized his goal was to rush their guild leader. Foe-herder wanted to put some distance between them, but he saw that everyone in the guild was currently staring at him with such a piercing stare. As the guild leader, it was fine if he lost his life, but he must ensure his image was properly maintained. Gritting his teeth, Foe-herder suddenly turned around and lifted his sword to execute a Cyclone. He looked all around his surroundings as he spun, realizing that a big cluster of Priests had already gathered and was now providing him with assistance. He was immediately reassured, refusing to believe that Thousand Miles Drunk would be able to do anything in the face of so many Priests administering their Heals on him.

With that thought in mind, Foe-herder’s courage abruptly doubled. His Cyclone caught no one in its whirling wake, so he immediately canceled it and Charged at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei turned his body sideways and let the Warrior pass, his sword already following up with a slash of its own without missing a beat. Having clashed with Warriors so many times, this move that Gu Fei used to deal with Charging players had already been honed till mastery, the precision demonstrated by this cut exquisite. Furthermore, he had even added an additional action when he performed the move, his two hands lifted high to let his Midnight Spirit Robes billow in the resultant whip of movement…

With his robes opened wide, all the Priests were in tears. They were all positioned behind their guild leader and were prepared to provide their most earnest support, but when Gu Fei made his robes unfurl as he did, their line of sight was broken, and in Parallel World, that meant that they were unable to cast any spells since they could no longer keep eye contact on their target.

Foe-herder was completely unaware of what just transpired. All he felt was the brush of cold steel running across his neck, and with it, a pain like it had sliced skin as well as an intense burning sensation. He saw his HP dip, but he thought that with that bunch of comrades behind backing him up, he firmly believed his HP would be topped up in no time.

Foe-herder rapidly turned around, and that was when he discovered that there was actually nothing behind him; He could not see his comrades, and the only thing that greeted him was Gu Fei’s open chest and outstretched arms that spread his robes out, and there was something limp amassed on top of his head, making Thousand Miles Drunk no longer look like a Mage, but a wizard of sorts.

Foe-herder simply could not understand what Gu Fei was trying to achieve by imitating the stance of a Garuda spreading its wings. He saw a flash of lightning congeal and concentrate on Gu Fei’s left hand, and was immediately about to unleash his next attack, yet the Heals that he had been waiting expectantly for never came. Where are the Priests? Where have they gone!? Foe-herder was thinking this when he realized that Gu Fei’s billowing robes had blocked all his Priests.

CRAP! Foe-herder had not thought there would be such a shameless trick, but Gu Fei’s Palm of Thunder had already struck him, and the Mage’s robe fluttered limp at this time as the Priests that had been repositioning themselves scrambled to wave their magic staves to save their guild leader. They had only managed to aim their target when they saw Gu Fei’s Palm of Thunder slap right into Foe-herder’s forehead.

The repulsion effect from his Palm of Thunder was triggered, and bothFoe-herder’s legs scraped the ground as he was pushed back forcefully from the blow, causing the Priests who were looking to help momentarily fail to get a lock on Foe-herder’s figure. Fireball’s magic staff appeared from among the grass, yelling “Tag me in, drunk bro”, as he cast both a Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno and a Descending Wheel of Flames instantaneously and lit a path of flames for Foe-herder to wade through.

Fireball was still a level 40 player at the very least, so while his damage output could not be considered insane, it was still not something that Foe-herder could just shrug off. But after taking a Twin Incineration and a Palm of Thunder from Gu Fei, Foe-herder was pushed through the sea of flames that Fireball had created and still managed to stay alive after. Foe-herder was the most certain about how much HP he had left, so he was not too flustered at this time. His speed was gradually reducing, letting him know that the skill was about to come to an end, but it was at that time when he spotted looks of extreme astonishment from his nearby comrades, with some even already yelling out, “Guild leader, quick, stop!”

Foe-herder would have stopped earlier if he could, but the repulsion effect from Gu Fei’s Palm of Thunder had not dissipated completely, so Foe-herder essentially had no say on stopping. Turning his head around, he saw that he was headed in the trajectory where a web of electricity was erected. He barely had the time to curse when he found himself stuck onto it, convulsing involuntarily as the electricity coursed through him.

Fireball was afraid that Foe-herder would die if he convulsed another time or two, so he no longer cared to keep himself hidden, barreling out of the grass as he threw lightning and fire at his target, dumping out whatever spell he had in his arsenal right onto Foe-herder so that he could get the kill; if he’s still remained standing after, I’ll just rush forward and execute a Twin Incineration just like what I learned from Drunk bro! Fireball was running as he thought of this, but that was when he witnessed Foe-herder finally turn into a flash of white light. Fireball quickly took a look at his own quest and saw that it depicted it was complete. He cheered, but he soon saw the players from Cloud Herder come enveloping him in every direction, so Fireball quickly waved his hands and shouted, “Drunk bro, tag out, tag out!!’

“Don’t let them get away!!” Someone bellowed. However, Gu Fei only turned his head around to face the incoming attackers and mused strangely, “Who said we’re getting away?”

With that, Gu Fei darted right to where Fireball was currently standing, unleashing a 720 degrees Twin Incineration, cutting out a circle of men. Fireball was not standing idly by either, tossing out whatever spell he could muster as he kept in close proximity to Gu Fei, and he ended up killing those who managed to survive Gu Fei’s attack with a sliver of HP, killing these players en masse.

That was when the members of Cloud Herder came to a realization: Get away? Who said he was going to run? While he might have targeted and eliminated their guild leader first, it was evident that he now intended to kill everyone else after accomplishing his goal.

Without Foe-herder, these bunch of malingering players simply had no one that could pick up the mantle and take command of the situation. Each of them fought their own battles individually, each being abused by Gu Fei to the point that they were no longer humanely treated. Even Fireball had followed right behind Gu Fei slavishly, throwing out a Thunderbolt to the left and a Fireball to the right; he had a wonderful time fighting, feeling all the more pleased with himself; hanging around Drunk bro was truly the right move to make. Sadly, out of these 200~300 players from Cloud Herder, why is there not a single pretty chick anywhere?

There were of course ladies in Cloud Herder, but Gu Fei targeted men and women indiscriminately, killing anyone who deserved to die with a single attack, while those who survived would find themselves becoming a recipient of a follow-up blow to die as well. Fireball, had kept his eyes peeled for the ladies that died, but did not find any of them to be outstanding, so he was not exactly anguished over it. It seemed as if most of the ladies in Cloud Herder were of poor quality, uncomparable with those from Amethyst Rebirth.

“Run! Hurry up and run!” By now, the men from Cloud Herder hardly dared to call out to Gu Fei to not let him get away, and they had all turned around to flee themselves. Meanwhile, the players from Cloud Herder that came to their initial call for help had already returned in dribs and drabs to provide what little support they could. Gu Fei did not care if they were newcomers or otherwise, and now that he had already achieved the perfect balance between his mana regeneration and his attacks, it was only a matter of time before all the players he ended up fighting with would end up dead.

In the end, Cloud Herder only managed to avoid this endless hunt by scattering across in every direction. Gu Fei did not have the ability to split himself, so when a hundred men ran in a hundred directions, Gu Fei would have to expend plenty of effort to give chase, so by the time he had managed to hunt down 18 players, he could not find anyone else anywhere around him any longer. Meanwhile, Fireball had also wanted to attack all these people while they were down and out. But even though these men from Cloud Herder were fleeing, they were still well aware of what their enemy was capable of. The moment they saw that this person who had been rolling on the ground was also madly chanting his spells recklessly, someone got angry and decided to vent his frustrations by turning around to retaliate. Fireball was no match against this player in a 1v1, but it was a good thing that Gu Fei managed to get there in time to tag into the fight, saving Fireball from becoming the hunted.

“Are they all gone?” Gu Fei was reluctant to let this fight end.

Fireball had swiftly announced the good news of their success to the guild, “Report, with Drunk bro’s assistance, Fireball has successfully completed his mission.”

Jeers erupted in the guild channel. Nobody believed that Fireball was taking the lead of their assault while Gu Fei played support in their ambush.

“The men from the various large guilds seem to be congregating over here, so everyone should take care,” Southern Lone Blade’s gang had successfully slipped away from The Black Hand Syndicate’s pursuit and were now hiding amidst the player crowds observing. They had noticed that the men from The Black Hand Syndicate had very quickly gathered already.

“What’s there to be afraid of!? We’ll go grab another mission and come back out again!” Svelte Dancer had become addicted.

Meanwhile, the two large guilds that had been the target of assassinations had very quickly exchanged messages regarding what had happened between the guilds. By this point, if Young Master Han had not realized what was going, he would not be Young Master Han any longer. He instantly went on the mercenary channel and commented, “That wasn’t too poorly executed!” Because Young Master Han was currently a neutral third party, it was as if the mercenary group that he had established became neutral grounds, allowing all the different forces in the event to freely communicate with each other, as long as they disregarded the players who were inside the city.

“Heh,” Sword Demon gave an honest chuckle when he saw Young Master Han’s message.

“There was a trap prepared in the sawmill, am I right?” Young Master Han asked.

“Of course,” Sword Demon admitted.

“Inside the lumber piles?” Young Master Han probed.

“That’s right,” Sword Demon said.

“If Gu Xiaoshang had climbed up to the top of the pile to attempt to grab the quest, she would have fallen down into the lumber pile, and that would be your chance to finish her off,” Young Master Han continued to deduce.

“Indeed,” Sword Demon said.

“But if she did not get up there, it would be like what just happened,” Young Master Han said.

“Yup.”

“Who was the one lying in wait within that pile of lumber?” Young Master Han asked.

“That was me,” Sword Demon replied.

“But because Gu Xiaoshang did not get up there, so you ended up using a teleportation scroll to leave?”

“Correct again.”

“And you’ve already completely hypothesized that I would be able to deduce the whole situation?” Young Master Han asked.

“We’ve all been friends for such a long time already…” Sword Demon drawled.

“But I’ve never once pit myself against you,” Young Master Han continued.

“It’s the same for me,” Sword Demon said.

“It’s not over yet though!”

“Best of luck.”

——————————————–

The various titans of the city defender’s forces had disguised themselves like civilians and simply gathered inside the city once more. The city was an undoubtedly secure location and everyone was celebrating. While their first fight as a guild was not flawlessly executed, the outcome they had achieved was still considered satisfactory, a very decent start. Even Sword Demon no longer had qualms regarding the method used to assassinate Black Index Finger.

Players on the side of the city defenders had a much better treatment than the players assaulting the city since they would at least have access to the system-operated taverns and other such businesses. However, players should take care of one another, so Gu Fei sent a message out. Ray immediately hurried to open his bar the moment he heard this, really surprised that he would still be able to run his business during the City Wars event.

“Hey, not bad, ya twerp! You’ve actually managed to get yourself into a Faction,” Svelte Dancer pinched Ray’s cheeks. She was not actually very familiar with Ray, but the fact that Ray had paid real world money to open a tavern for his entertainment, players speculated for a time if Ray was also some amazing pay-to-win player. Svelte Dancer believed this to be the case, which was why she treated Ray like a fellow compatriot.

Ray did not mind being pinched by a beauty like Svelte Dancer, stepping into his place of business so as to serve everyone the new liquor that he had brewed by himself. However, it was unfortunate that a good portion of the players present were the ladies from Amethyst Rebirth, and none of them drank alcohol. Similarly, there were not many players who were hard drinkers in Extremely Heaven Defying, so everyone merely courteously praised Ray’s new concoction when he served it up to the group, no one really giving him genuine critique that came from their heart. The feeling that Ray felt was akin to the desolation he felt that came with the difficulties of finding a bosom confidant, and he found himself inexplicably longing for that certain someone to come back.

“Oh, is everyone gathered here?” Two more players entered Ray’s Bar, and they were Xi Xiaotian and Cirrus. The two of them had taken a huge detour after leaving the sawmill, only managing to blend their way into the city not too long ago, so they arrived quite a bit behind the others.

“Do you know what sort of penalty did Cloud Herder receive?” Xi Xiaotian had not taken the detour for naught, and had managed to learn of this particular information on her way back. Speaking of which, Svelte Dancer and the others had not executed a perfect assassination, because the mission that Svelte Dancer was not for Black Index Finger’s head, and she should have coordinated her final attack like what Gu Fei and Fireball had done, letting someone else who was holding the relevant mission to take the killing blow. However, in a situation where they had a distinct manpower disadvantage, her team did not have the ability to take the initiative and engage with the enemy like what Gu Fei did. Since they could not find the opportunity to slay Black Index Finger with someone who had the relevant mission, they decided to simply kill him directly with the opportunity they got.

That is why Foe-herder was the only target that was considered as a mission kill out of the two.