Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei was still immobilized, so all he could do was keep his brain working overtime, coming up with ideas back to back. A thought suddenly came to him, which led him to shout to one of the soldiers, “remove this trap from me!”

With the teeth of the Trap still snared on his foot, Gu Fei could not reach down and release himself from it. This was a game, after all, and players needed the required skill in order to disarm a Trap. Gu Fei saw how capable the four soldiers were, so he wanted to see if they were able to do something like disarming traps as well.

The soldier heeded the command and squatted down, tugging hard at the Trap that was stuck on Gu Fei’s leg. However, it ended up disappointing Gu Fei this time. The soldier tried to pry the trap open, only to end up dragging Gu Fei half a meter forward instead, and the clamp was still snared tightly onto Gu Fei’s leg. It was evident that the soldier did not have any means of disarming the trap, but because Gu Fei had given it the order, it had to obey the command, and it continued to yank at his leg! The NPC simply did not consider if it could even accomplish said command.

Gu Fei quickly cried out, “Alright, enough already! Go back to what you were doing!”

However, it seemed like this order was too casual, and the soldier was unable to understand the command. It continued to drag Gu Fei another half meter forward before Gu Fei could blurt out a more concise command. “Stop, carry on fighting!”

The soldier stood up and returned to cleaving the Mages without sparing another glance at Gu Fei.

The players from Carouse were all reeling from the chaos. Even though Young Master Han was calling for everybody to steady their nerves and trying to manage the situation, someone like him who barely spent any time interacting with the people in his guild hardly had any sort of prestige in their eyes. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world, so how could he suddenly get everyone to listen to his every word and obey his plan to the letter in a guild activity like this? Brave Surge had faith in his capabilities, which was why he had been assigned such an important role for this quest. Everybody probably would have listened to Young Master Han’s fairly logical suggestions had this been any other uneventful day, but now that everything was in such disarray, the fact that Young Master Han lacked prestige worked against him. As nobody had any sort of expectations from him, nobody cared to even care to listen to him.

Even Brave Surge, someone who was convinced of Young Master Han’s brilliance when it came to his schemes and his skills as a Priest, had not passed the full command of this quest to him, given how they were not actually very well acquainted with each other. Instead, it was the Warrior who had previously spoke up and Charged ahead who had been the real leader of this operation. The Warrior’s name was Slow Creek, and while his equipment was nothing too eye-catching, he was actually an old war buddy of Brave Surge’ whom he had brought up in Carouse. He could be considered as one of the core members of the guild, possessing decent skills and awareness. His lackluster equipment was entirely due to his subpar luck in Parallel World thus far.

As long as they had someone present to take charge, there was no way that everything would descend into such disarray, but what made this all the more regretful was the fact that Slow Creek was no longer around. The veteran Sword Demon had already identified the Warrior as the leader in a single glance, and knowing just how important it was to sever the head of leadership, he gifted a single Shadowmist Assault to Slow Creek the moment combat broke out, sending him right back to a spawn point before he could even take command of the situation.

Slow Creek was not the only person who had climbed out from the cavity. There were also a handful of men with him, including Young master Han, as well as a good number of Stealthed Thieves lying in wait. The whole lot of them were in a mess, with some of them intent on heading down to deal with the four Warriors massacring their guildmates, while others wanted to capture Sword Demon. But given how much experience he had over these other players, never once did he stop, keeping himself on the move even as he circled around the site. After completing a few laps in this fashion, Sword Demon searched for another target to attack and enthusiastically bounded toward Young Master Han.

Gu Fei was still unable to move, stuck inside the cavity, but he could see everything happening clearly. The moment he saw Sword Demon finish off Slow Creek and go after Young Master Han soon after, he could not help but exclaim, “Sword Demon, you’re really taking this seriously!!”

No one was listening to what Young Master Han was saying for the moment, but if this chaotic and disorganized fight were to continue, a voice that had always been giving out orders would very well be heard by everyone eventually, and people would begin to act accordingly. This was what Young Master Han was considering, which was why he had kept giving out directions despite no one adhering to what he said, his voice continued to project throughout the battlefield without stopping. He gave order after order unceasingly to all the players that were caught in the mess. The veteran Sword Demon could, of course, determine this eventuality as well, so after he took down Slow Creek, he immediately began to make his move toward Young Master Han, not even thinking of going easy against him.

But Young Master Han had merely laughed in the face of his attempt, seemingly unperturbed, “The biggest factor that would result in your defeat would be your failure in finishing me off immediately.”

“It’s not too late yet!” Sword Demon was indubitably taking this seriously, not even flashing a bit of a smile as his dagger went straight for the kill. Even though Young Master Han was not using a combat job class, his reaction was quick enough that he actually managed to evade that one stab. His hand reached into his dimensional pocket and pulled out a longsword, even managing to cut Sword Demon in the process.

Gu Fei was extremely astonished when he saw this, losing his voice as he croaked, “You’ve been secretly learning my kung fu!”

Young Master Han merely threw a glance back at him, “What is there to learn? I can do it after a glimpse or two!”

The thing that Gu Fei could not stand the most was people who showed disdain toward kung fu, but the Trap that kept him snared had left him utterly annoyed. Sword Demon and Young Master Han were actually trading blows on their end, and after watching this for a good moment, Gu Fei could not hold back his laughter, “What is that? You were only pretending!”

Gu Fei had actually been agonizing over this quite badly just now. Could Young Master Han have really casually learned the kung fu I had spent years of my life perfecting just after watching me use it during my PK exploits? That would be far too unfair. But after seeing the few moves that Young Master Han made, he quickly realized that it was nothing more than an empty display that lacked any depth; All the Priest did was imitate the moves that Gu Fei had used before, imitating a few sequences of the actions at best. Once Young Master Han heard that Gu Fei had seen through his ruse, he could only sardonically reply, “Obviously.”

But if even an actual kung fu practitioner like Gu Fei was tricked by this, how could Sword Demon have not been hoodwinked as well? Furthermore, with how well Sword Demon knew what Young Master Han was capable of, mentally speaking, there was really no telling what the man had not picked up a thing or two after seeing Gu Fei fight with his kung fu after all this time. As a result, Sword Demon had been exceptionally cautious fighting his fellow mercenary. Gu Fei had been able to tell that Young Master Han was merely play-acting in those few moves, but how could Sword Demon have the ability to do the same when he was too busy just being careful!? It was only after Gu Fei shouting out his assessment of Young Master Han’s faux moves did he realize that none of the moves the Priest had done held any nuances of their own.

But it was already too late for Sword Demon to react accordingly, as there was a whole bunch of players hot on his heels! Sword Demon was no Gu Fei, a whole lot of players from Carouse had managed to catch up to him while everything happened, and none of them were the average rabble either. Sword Demon was simply no match against all of them at once, so he could only abandon this opportunity to kill Young Master Han and continue keeping his distance away from the pursuing mob.

“You go there, and you go there. The Mages will bombard that area and the two of you will Stealth yourselves!” Once these men chasing after Sword Demon were right in front of him, Young Master Han took the chance to throw out orders at them despite not knowing any of their names. It made things a little troublesome, but this fact hardly bothered him as he called them all out one by one and gave them their instructions.

This group of men were already lost without any command and were no more than just chasing after a soccer ball without any strategy or tactic in mind. Now that they were suddenly given clear instructions while they were mindlessly chasing after the ball, it was as if somebody had lit a fire in their hearts This was exactly what Young Master Han had been waiting for, and what Sword Demon had been worried about: The players who were in a state of confusion began to accept Young Master Han as their commander. Furthermore, while everything was happening here, there was also a need to mention what had happened with the command of Carouse. Some of these players from Carouse had already informed Brave Surge of what happened here, and the guild channel was abuzz with messages after messages. Brave Surge had wanted to look for Slow Creek to get a better understanding of the situation, only to receive his “I got killed” response.

With the leader dead, would my men not be like a dragon with no head? As a guild leader himself, Brave Surge knew just how severe the situation would be, and he was very certain as to the capability of Young Master Han himself. Just as he was about to give the order to make Young Master Han the leader in his absence, new information came through that the ambushers were Thousand Miles Drunk and Sword Demon! This caused Brave Surge to hesitate about making the call.

That was the moment when Young Master Han ended up messaging him, “We’re gonna lose this if you don’t give an order.” Young Master Han was not so much of a fool that he would wait for these people to accept him, so he sought for the quickest way to get these people to listen to him. Of course, that meant he needed the guild leader Brave Surge to officially endorse him.

There was no need for much explanation when speaking between people who understood the nuances involved, and Brave Surge knew exactly what Young Master Han was referring to when he sent the message over. Nevertheless, Brave Surge conscientiously asked his close confidants about the situation over there, and only bit the bullet and directed the people over the guild channel to “follow Young Master Han’s command” after he found out that Young Master Han was not holding back against their two interlopers.

By this time, those men who had been chasing Sword Demon outside the cavity had already spontaneously accepted Young Master Han’s orders. Those inside the cavity were still lost about what they should be doing, but once Brave Surge had given his endorsement, the hope in their hearts was ignited once more, though some players dispiritedly asked, “Who’s Young Master Han again?”

“The Light Priest, the one that looks very.... Unique...” Brave Surge was very concerned about this quest, so he wanted to find the quickest way to describe Young Master Han by how he looked. However, he quickly remembered that Young Master Han would be able to read what he sent across the guild channel as well. He figured it would be poor form on his part to call him either a man that looked like a woman or to call him a very manly looking woman. Thankfully, Brave Surge had managed to change the rest of his sentence in time despite being flustered.

Now that Young Master Han was officially placed in charge of the operation, the first thing he thought of doing was finishing off Gu Fei. He turned around and was just about to begin deploying manpower against Gu Fei, but he ended up seeing Gu Fei happily do a somersault in the air, as he flicked the Trap off with a single cut of his sword, excitedly declaring, “DONE!!”

“Mages, retreat toward the outside of the cavity. Archers, keep firing your Homing Projectiles at Thousand Miles Drunk. Warriors, escort the retreat while the Priests concentrate on keeping the Warriors topped up. No need to pay attention to the Mages. Everyone will head in the 4 o’clock direction and move...” Young Master Han had thrown out a series of orders, and they were all targeted to deal with Gu Fei.

Meanwhile, things were a lot simpler for Gu Fei. He pointed his finger right at Young Master Han, and simply said the one word, “Attack!”

The Cyclone from the NPC soldiers was not limitless, so they had all already stopped spinning by this time. Once the players from Carouse came back to their senses, it just so happened that they received their orders and they were about to grit their teeth and mount a counter-attack. It was clear where their aggression was targeted toward, none of them had Gu Fei in their eyes at all, and were instead all focused on the four soldiers. As a result, when Gu Fei threw the Trap off himself, he no longer needed the soldiers to take care of him, so he simply decided to send the four right over to attack Young Master Han.

No matter how smart Young Master Han was, there was no way that he would have been able to guess where the four soldiers came from. He had always found the entire matter a little strange when he saw how they had listened to Gu Fei’s every command without a moment’s hesitation. It was at this point when a player suddenly yelled incredulously, “They are NPCs!!!”

Somebody had realized something was amiss and had used his Appraisal skill against the soldiers to better analyze the situation. The Appraisal exposed the four Warriors for the NPCs that they were. Young Master Han was also jolted by the revelation. Truthfully, He had not expected that there would actually be such a circumstance.

The four soldiers possess a movement speed that Warriors should not possess, and they very quickly made a beeline straight toward Young Master Han. Now that he had a very clear assessment of the situation, he immediately gave the following order, “Arctic Whirlwind!” He had already turned around to reposition himself even as he yelled that out, as he had no intention of standing where he was and dying like that.

The players from Carouse inside the cavity had adhered to the instructions that Young Master Han had given moments ago, and as they adjusted their formation accordingly, the Archers continued to harass Gu Fei with their arrows. Gu Fei had been immobile for the longest time, so he was already moving nimbly amid the rain of arrows, and because he had already eaten an apple to replenish his mana back to full while he had been unable to move, all Gu Fei did was give a hale shout of “Here I come”. He was not paying any attention to Young Master Han but went in the direction of wherever there were more people for him to slay.

“Two rows of Arctic Whirlwind, stop him! Carpet the area in a sea of flames. Warriors, protect the Mages by standing in front of them. Retreat en masse, and do your best to maintain a distance of six meters. Make him expend his mana!” Young Master Han’s orders were rapidly given. Of course, there was no way that he would yell everything out and let Gu Fei know what was about to happen this time. While that series of orders rapidly appeared on the channel, Gu Fei was still busy swatting away all the Homing Projectiles that were flying toward him, even as a row of Arctic Whirlwind came spinning in his direction. Just as Young Master Han had predicted, Gu Fei did not choose to avoid the spells at all, simply casting out a single Twin Incineration, depending on the System Verdict to emerge victorious through his overwhelming spell damage. That one spell of his swept away the row of Arctic Whirlwind, and just as he was about to charge further in, he did not expect that there would actually be another row of Arctic Whirlwind appear from behind, lying in wait.

Gu Fei quickly backed away several steps. His Blink happened to have finished its cooldown, so he gracefully waved his hand and Blinked past the obstacle, only to find himself caught in a far-reaching stretch of flames.

“Yet another of your tricks again...” Gu Fei was in tears, throwing a hateful glare at Young Master Han. This step after step of setup he had to wade through was completely done for him to walk right into it. It could not be helped, that guy was far too familiar with my fighting habits.

Looking at the opposing formation before him, Gu Fei could already tell these Warriors had come prepared for the clash. If his Twin Incineration was not able to twist and fully deal out double damage, there was no way that he would be able to insta-kill these top Warriors. And because of Young Master Han’s in-depth understanding of Gu Fei, these Warriors were positioned in a very particular way. Gu Fei’s rotating Twin Incineration could be executed so smoothly mainly because the opponents he faced cooperated so well with him. Whenever he rushed into the fray, his enemies would usually surround him immediately, covering the full 360 degrees, which only made it perfect for him to kill the most amount of players in the most straightforward manner. But currently, Young Master Han evidently had no intention of letting him pull this off. Thus, Gu Fei decided against wasting any of his mana, and instead of continuing his headlong dash forward, he hurriedly shunted to the left as a result.

Gu Fei had also eaten some bread to recover his HP when he took the time to consume a fruit to replenish his mana just now. When he stepped into that AoE attack after getting past the Arctic Whirlwind, Gu Fei had made a split-second decision to escape that very instance he rematerialized from his Blink. This reaction of his was far quicker than his four soldiers when they began their Charge forward before, but he still lost quite a bit of HP as a result of his misstep.

“Archers, continue to harass the target. Thieves, use your Stealth and approach him from various angles and directions so as to distract him. Keep your distance and make sure to take note and sequence your approach rather than pounce at him all at once. Scatter your formation and surround him. Ensure he is in the center of the AoE spells bombardment by the end of it. Do not take into consideration if you’ll end up hurting your comrades.” Young Master Han continued to readjust everyone’s position. Gu Fei had instantly realized the enemy’s intention of surrounding him in their evenly spaced formation, and he also saw how his four soldiers had been inundated by a Mage’s Arctic Whirlwind, reducing their movement speed drastically. This allowed Young Master Han to continue directing Gu Fei’s eradication as he arranged the rest of the manpower to attack the four Soldiers. It could not be helped; Carouse had sufficient numbers on their side here. Over by the other end of this battle, it was like Sword Demon was kiting his pursuers. He was running ahead of everyone, even as a crowd of players followed closely behind. These people who continued to chase after him possessed decent movement speeds themselves, so Sword Demon hardly had the chance of shaking off his tail.

The four soldiers fought in the style that the system was known for, seeking to obtain victory without paying any mind to their losses, which usually meant extensive expenditure on both sides. None of the soldiers cared to defend against any of the players’ attacks, especially now that they were in the midst of executing Gu Fei’s command to attack Young Master Han. The four of them were actually mindlessly charging right toward Young Master Han. They had all been damaged by the Arctic Whirlwind, and their movement speeds were reduced, persisting on making progress toward their target despite how slow they were moving. There was even a Hunter who had deviously placed a Trap in one of their paths, snaring a soldier as it was making its way for Young Master Han. Yet despite having been rendered immobile, it still continued to struggle to make its way toward Young Master Han.

The sinister Young Master Han had completely seen through the brainlessness aspect of these soldiers and lured them using himself as the bait as they kept getting waylaid by the other players’ attacks. Gu Fei could already tell just how foolish his simple order to attack Young Master Han had been when he saw this scene. The four soldiers did not look like they could withstand this concentrated assault any much longer, and it was apparent that none of these NPCs knew how to quit and still continued to chase after Young Master Han, risking their lives in the process! This inflexibility that the soldiers demonstrated still left Gu Fei baffled and sad. This was perseverance! The very perseverance that he understood best.

It was around this time when the soldier that had been snared by the Hunter’s Trap finally succumbed to the players, its sword still firmly pointed in the direction of Young Master Han before it fell. What made this all the more tragic, was how the soldier would not turn into a beam of white light when it died, and its corpse collapsed on that wild plains that they were on. Players went over to where it was lying on the ground, with some that actually squatted down to search that soldier’s body.

Gu Fei was enraged, suddenly ignoring the enemies that he was in the midst of as he went dashing right toward Young Master Han and the others, just like those soldiers before.

Gu Fei ignored all the Archers that were still harassing him with their arrows, as well as the Thieves that were trying to keep him distracted. Gu Fei was acting as if his aggro was all concentrated toward that one goal as well. He witnessed the Hunter sneak off somewhere further ahead to set up another trap where Young Master Han had repositioned himself this time, which meant that one of the three remaining soldiers still giving chase would end up ensnared as they stayed on their path toward their target.

“Fight, fight freely!!!” Gu Fei shouted toward the soldiers, even as he waved his Moonlit Nightfalls out. “Thunderbolt, strike!”

A single bolt of lightning came crashing down onto the Hunter, but that player was unexpectedly sturdy, and actually managed to survive the single spell. Gu Fei was angered, and he randomly picked out a white tier dagger and used it as a throwing knife, hitting that Hunter square on his head. He was still alive! Young Master Han had already thrown a Heal onto that person and was now eyeing Gu Fei with open derision.

Gu Fei had no desire to bother with the man, striding right to where the three soldiers were as he bellowed out a single Twin Incineration and arrived right next to the three NPCs, killing off a handful of players in the process.

“Heal!” Gu Fei shouted at the soldiers even as he engaged with the players. He saw as the three soldiers took out their bandages and began dressing themselves, heaving a sigh of relief that they possess some means of healing their lost HP.

Young Master Han once more gave a light chuckle. The next order he gave was not secretly done over the mercenary channel, but was delivered verbally with a casual wave of his hand, “Bombard them together.”

The Mages were all lined up in a row, and all of them waved their magic staves as they began their incantation. The HP of Gu Fei and the three soldiers were not at 100%, and there was no doubt that the spells from Carouse’s Mage would be perfectly coordinated; the AoE coverage for this bombardment would surely be huge. Young Master Han had already personally witnessed this earlier in the guild V.S. guild competition a long time ago. This time around, even if he managed to escape it, the three soldiers would probably be in a terrible state.

Just as Gu Fei was feeling remorseful about how things turned out, he spotted Sword Demon streaking in unerringly from the side like a locomotive, the two daggers in his hands lifted with deft ease: Shadowmist Assault!