Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Who’s going to do the deed if you two happen to find Silver Moon together?” Young Master Han gazed at the two leaders.

“What nonsense. Of course, it’s gonna be me. I spent three hours traveling all the way from Yueye City for this; it’s only right for me to get him,” Dusky Cloud replied.

“So you do know this isn’t Yueye City. Silver Moon will be for us to kill if you know what’s good for you!” Blue Ease threatened.

“Ha ha ha ha! I honestly don’t want to tell you this, but Silver Moon doesn’t only have those twelve men with him! This brother here included,” Dusky Cloud heavily patted Young Master Han’s shoulder. “There are over a thousand players here from Yunduan City with him. May I ask just how many men you have under your command?”

“How many men I’ve got is none of your business!” Although Blue Ease said this, his heart actually beat with trepidation. He had been keeping an eye on Silver Moon ever since his arrival to Baishi City, so he had also come to know that Silver Moon was not by himself. Furthermore, he definitely did not have as many as the four thousand men Dusky Cloud had under his Ten Guild Alliance’s banner. The men he fielded last night were essentially the most he could muster. Losing that opportunity last night, he knew how impossible it would be for them to continue hunting Silver Moon with his leftover manpower.

However, players of Yueye City would rather lose their lives than lose face, so they were not about to back down from a verbal war. Blue Ease, being a past resident of that city, continued to bicker with Dusky Cloud. The comrades of Blue East finally could not stand this and found themselves a seat each, saying, “Big Blue, you do your thing. We’ll take a nap first!” With that, they made themselves comfortable on their seats and rested their heads on the table.

“F*ck! What are you guys sleeping for?! Get up and fight with me!” Blue Ease walked over to drag them to their feet.

“Stop squabbling already. I’m beat. Finish up your argument quickly and head to sleep once you’re done!” His comrades were clearly of the same mind with Dusky Cloud’s men, firmly believing that these two were merely verbally sparring with each other.

“F*ck!” Dusky Cloud and Blue Ease cursed out loud at the same time.

“You two should really stop fighting here,” Young Master Han began.

“F*ck! Who do you think you are?!” Blue Ease clearly viewed Young Master Han as an enemy, lashing out at him when the latter attempted to mediate.

Blue Ease had plenty of reasons to hate him, so Young Master Han was not particularly angered by his outburst, plainly stating, “What I mean to say is that you guys should go out and duel it out! I have an excellent suggestion here, so if neither of you can find it within yourselves to work together, I can only offer it to one party.”

Dusky Cloud burst into laughter without a second thought. “Brother Han, is there even a need to discuss the outcome? Of course, I’d be victorious. I won’t fight with that kid any longer. He’s now a boss himself; I think it’s best to leave him some face in front of his boys! Quickly tell me your ingenious plan!”

What he said was rather objective. Dusky Cloud was a Thief, while Blue Ease was a Mage; the latter would often have trouble dealing with the former in a duel. Blue Ease was not about to back down, though. Scornfully tossing Dusky Cloud a glance, he said, “What? Scared of facing me in a duel?”

Dusky Cloud turned over and looked him in the eye, “Kid, since you’re turning down my attempt to give you face, does this mean you want me to take you down a peg?”

“You don’t know yet who will take down whom!”

“Don’t be stubborn; I’m showing you pity here by helping you conserve a bit of your level. You can still have what’s left of Silver Moon after we’ve had our fun with him.”

“I’ll bet you’re the one who’s trying to conserve level here. Are you starting to value yourself more after being the boss for so long? You’re not gonna become the next Silver Moon and abandon your guild when sh*t hits the fan, are you?”

“YOU M*TH*RF*CK*R, GO TO HELL!” Dusky Cloud looked as though he had heard the world’s biggest insult – his bloodshot eyes from staying up all night looked as though they would start bleeding at any given moment. Pulling out his dagger while activating Fleetfoot, he pounced on Blue Ease.

Words were just words, but when it came to fighting, players from Yueye City were not the least bit vague about their intentions. The Mage Blue Ease riling up the Thief Dusky Cloud was not just out of obstinacy; Blue Ease was actually slightly confident that he could win the fight. Seeing Dusky Cloud come straight at him, his empty hand shot out as he muttered something under his breath.

With a loud crackle, Dusky Cloud was thrown toward a table and crashed into the ground. While he was in a daze, Blue Ease seized this chance to lift his magic staff. Chanting another incantation, a bolt of lightning pealed from the roof right onto Dusky Cloud’s head. This was indeed the very first skill a Lightning Mage learned: Thunderbolt. Blue Ease had actually gone down the lesser traveled path just like Gu Fei, choosing the Lightning Affinity option that most Mages ignored.

However, his Thunderbolt was nowhere near as powerful as Gu Fei’s, so that one strike did not injure Dusky Cloud much, allowing the latter to scramble back to his feet in no time at all.

That fall interrupted Dusky Cloud’s Fleetfoot, though, and caused the skill to go on cooldown, making him suffer a significant drop in speed. Blue Ease utilized the tavern’s indoor layout; circling around the tables and chairs, he waited for his skill’s cooldown to finish so he could strike Dusky Cloud with another Thunderbolt. The speed of Fireball and Repeating Fireball was incomparable with Thunderbolt, making it impossible for anyone to avoid it.

Dusky Cloud was angered! He chased after Blue Ease around the table; although he had the advantage when it came to Agility, he had no way of utilizing his top speed in this cramped space. His whole body would be momentarily paralyzed every time that Thunderbolt struck him. This was no way to continue the fight!

Dusky Cloud no longer mindlessly pursued Blue Ease and began kicking the stools and toppling the tables over to clear out space for him to give chase and prevent Blue Ease from evading him further.

It was still in the wee hours, so hardly anyone else, besides their respective groups and Young Master Han, was in the tavern. Blue Ease ran about freely while Dusky Cloud followed closely behind, bearing each spell and persevering through every Thunderbolt.

“B*st*rd, your magic defense isn’t weak. To think you’re still so spirited after taking so many hits,” Blue Ease continued to circle around the place as he said this. He had already struck Dusky Cloud four times.

“Don’t worry; it’s enough for me to catch up to you. You’re gonna regret not growing an extra pair of legs after this!” Dusky Cloud was very confident of himself.

The sound of fighting filled the tavern, making it seem very lively. Young Master Han was rather entertained watching this. Quite a few men from both parties were woken up from their slumber by the two’s din. They drowsily looked at the scene before them. But when they saw what was going on, all of them got up to their feet and took out their weapons, “F*ck! They’re really fighting!”

Some of them even commented with great dissatisfaction, “You should’ve just fought earlier; why must you start things now? I’m exhausted.”

“That’s right!” Quite a few others expressed their agreement while yawning.

The underlings from both sides eyed one another, yet they hesitated over starting a fight. Young Master Han, meanwhile, brought his bottle of liquor and glass over to a corner, giving the two leaders a wide berth.

Everyone had a similar experience before; at this point where they needed sleep the most, any activity around them would fail to pique their interest, especially when that nice nap they were having was suddenly interrupted. Right now, they only wished to wrap things up here so that they could go back to sleeping.

There was only one way to resolve the matter at hand as quickly possible. Both groups acted at the same time, with Blue Ease’s men surging forward to hold back Blue Ease and Dusky Cloud’s comrades restraining Dusky Cloud. “Stop fighting already. What’s there to fight about? Conserve your energy and sleep, instead!”

Both parties dragged their bosses back to their seats.

“Let me go!” Dusky Cloud growled, declaring, “I’m gonna kill him!”

“Kill me? How much HP have you got left? I’ll electrocute you to death!” Blue Ease raised his hand to cast Thunderbolt, yet his men covered his mouth to prevent him from saying another word.

Dusky Cloud was treated like this on his end as well, with his men forcibly restraining him to the bench. “Go to sleep! Stop this f*ck*ng nonsense already! Save it for fighting with Silver Moon, instead.”

It was an odd sight to witness players from Yueye City actually preventing people from fighting instead of joining in the fight. To think that all it took for this to happen was these men’s urgent need of sleep. If the desire for sleep was not so huge, why else would humans spend over one third of their time on this particular pastime?

They managed to restrain Dusky Cloud, but in fear of him running amok again, two Warriors held each of his arms by the side and forcefully used them as pillows as they got back to sleeping.

Dusky Cloud did not know how to react to this. Trying his best to get away, he said in frustration, “Let me go, d*mn it!” The two Warriors merely snored. “M*th*rf*ck*rs, I won’t go up and kill him, alright?!”

They slowly released his arms and Dusky Cloud stared at Blue Ease across him. Blue Ease had also promised his men that he would not be rash, so they let him go. Both men glared at each other for a while before eyeing their men with contempt.

“F*ck*ng hell, you’re all a bunch of useless idiots!” Dusky Cloud swore.

“Sleep some more, then; I hope you guys die in your sleep!” Blue Ease chided.

By this time, Young Master Han once more drifted over with a glass in hand. “Gentlemen, since this fight has ended in a stalemate, why don’t you resolve this simply with a game of rock-paper-scissors?”

“Hmph. Do you dare?” Dusky Cloud taunted.

“Are you a f*ck*ng moron? Why would I not dare?!” Blue Ease stood up in agitation, but his men alertly held him back. “Let go; didn’t you hear what he said?! It’s just rock-paper-scissors,” he admonished before they let him go. The two men walked right to the center of the tavern and looked at each other with disdain.

“You coward, don’t you dare show your hand late just because your Agility is lower than mine!” Dusky Cloud taunted.

“You better not use my slow hand speed as an excuse to deny me my win,” Blue Ease taunted back.

“F*ck y*u! How would I win with you showing your hand late?” Dusky Cloud asked.

“You moron; I’m a Mage! How would my hand even be faster than yours? You should be the one slowing down to match my speed. Don’t go calling me a cheater now,” Blue Ease chided.

“Tell me just how fast your hand could go, then!” Dusky Cloud was incensed.

“Gentlemen, please.” Young Master Han could not stand these two’s bickering any longer. “How about this; let’s not use our hands this way. Each of you will write it out on a paper, and I shall be the judge of things, alright?”

“Let’s go with that, then!” The two each took out a piece of paper each and carefully handed their final product to Young Master Han. Young Master Han did not pause and promptly displayed both papers for them to see.

“HA HA HA HA HA!” Dusky Cloud was beyond elated. “See my scissors? Watch it snip off your cowardly tail!” Dusky Cloud had written ‘scissors’, while Blue Ease had written ‘paper’, immediately deciding the victor for their match.

Blue Ease was just unlucky here, so he did not say another word. Holding his anger within, he quietly went back to his seat.

“Alright, Brother Han, tell me about this plan of yours!” Dusky Cloud was in a great mood, so he was addressing Young Master Han rather warmly, even as he continued to provokingly gaze at Blue Ease with derision.