Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

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The seven could hardly believe their eyes as they stared at the motionless Gu Fei while they prepared to jump into their boats.

“You guys go ahead!” Southern Lone Blade and Flame Singed Clothes stayed behind to keep the fires burning by the shore. Even though Flame Singed Clothes had died twice, Palatial Balefire was a spell that came from his magic staff, so the damage it dealt was not in the least bit affected, and since his focus on the rate of spell cooldown remained the same, the wall of fire and sea of flames he created became the two spells that helped delay the enemies from advancing on them.

Still, their enemies had naturally made preparations prior to engaging them. It would truly be too much of a joke if they allowed the seven to easily escape. The ranged job classes among them began to wildly unleash their attacks; no matter how powerful Flame Singed Clothes and Southern Lone Blade were, there was simply no way they could deal with this unending wave of attacks coming toward them. How would the two have the time to continue impeding the enemies’ progress if they had to keep dodging and evading all these attacks?

Southern Lone Blade continued to brandish his shield, but he seemed to have come to a sort of decision as he turned to regard Gu Fei expressionlessly before suddenly taking an item out of his dimensional pocket and tossing it over. “This is half. You’ll get the other half once this matter is settled.”

Gu Fei unhurriedly opened the coin pouch and checked it before sending a message on the mercenary channel: “I’ve received half of the payment.”

“Time to act, then!” Young Master Han instructed.

Just as Southern Lone Blade’s six companions wondered about what had just happened, Gu Fei pulled his sword out and pointed its tip outward and caused a fiery glow to descend from the sky.

Many Blue Umbra members got caught in the blast and suffered heavy losses from their deaths, turning those that remained pale from fear. This outcome was not because they were unable to escape from the spell but because, given the advantage that they now held, nobody minded about a spell landing on them. Only when the two parties were well-matched in strength would they fuss over every attack made.

Blue Umbra paid the price for their audacity of underestimating the Mage standing on the sidelines. This should not be blamed on them, though. Who would have guessed that a nondescript and plain Mage would be such a powerhouse? More importantly, when they saw Glue attack the Mage just then, they just assumed that the man was their enemies’ enemy, which by extension meant that he would be friendly. They really did not expect for the Mage to come swinging at them and was capable of dishing out such a devastating damage with his one blow.

“What’s going on?” Forget about Blue Umbra, even the six men with Southern Lone Blade were at a loss on what had just transpired. All they saw was their comrade tossing out something like a coin pouch at the Video Mage, as if they had come to an agreement over something.

“We’ll talk about this later; let’s get out of here first!” he said this through gritted teeth, clearly showing how hard of a struggle it was for him to work with Gu Fei on this.

“Electric Wall!” Gu Fei swung his sword horizontally, creating yet another obstacle next to Flame Singed Clothes’ Palatial Balefire. Flame Singed Clothes had a short cooldown for that skill, so he could now toss out a second one. The moment he saw Gu Fei’s Electric Wall come down, he coordinated his next Palatial Balefire and connected his wall of flames with Gu Fei’s spell.

With two Palatial Balefire and one Electric Wall connected together in a row, a ‘great wall’ was erected, which cordoned off that small beach. Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man squad did not bother with anything else as they used this chance to clamber onboard their boats.

The melee job classes from Blue Umbra tried to find their way around this ‘great wall’. As for the ranged job classes... The seven men were already outside of the Mages’ attack range, while Southern Lone Blade’s shield was easily blocking their Archers’ arrows. On the other side, Gu Fei, who had sprung forward, beginning to wield his sword and slew another bunch of players.

Southern Lone Blade stared intensely at Gu Fei. Both parties had indeed come to an agreement, but given the bad blood between them, he was entirely apprehensive about Gu Fei’s commitment to this job he was tasked with. He had only gambled on this devil’s pact after being driven to a corner like this; he had not expected for Gu Fei to be a man of his words and zealously provide them cover for their escape as best as he could. For example, if he were not deflecting a portion of the arrows currently sailing toward them, it might be difficult for their whole squad to remain unscathed like this.

Blue Umbra’s players had not expected for a third party to disrupt their intricately planned formation. They were all extremely dejected when they saw that their seven targets were about to get on their boats and escape. This was when a whistling arrow came blasting by, striking a player dead center and causing the man to morph into white light.

Reed Arrow of the Willows, the present number one Archer in Linshui City, was shocked. Realizing that another peak expert was nearby, he turned in the direction where the arrow was released and, sure enough, spotted an Archer who was in the middle of fiercely letting loose his arrows at them. Even though it was just one Archer, his shots specifically picked off the job classes with lower HP, whose first shot would significantly lower their HP and the second would kill them outright; his sudden involvement caused the members from Blue Umbra to panic and flustered them momentarily.

Reed Arrow of the Willows was completely blindsided by this. There was no information about Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man squad having such peak experts as helpers, so why would there suddenly be two appearing right now?

By now, some melee job classes had managed to loop around the wall of spells, and were ignoring these changes as they concentrated on hurtling towards Southern Lone Blade’s team and forced Gu Fei to take a big step forward to block their advancement. When they saw that the Mage dared to arrogantly attempt to obstruct them, their frustration caused them all to roar and collectively pounce on him. Gu Fei did not move to dodge and, instead, stepped forward to take them on, gyrating his body as he held his horizontally raised Moonlit Nightfalls in a reverse grip while he turned. When his right arm was turned to its maximum point, he seamlessly swapped it to his left hand and continued its path without pausing.

The efficiency of one Twin Incineration was dramatically increased when it was executed in tandem with his specialized footwork as he turned his body and his technique of swapping the weapon in his hands, allowing him to complete two and a half revolutions. The total area of attack this move covered was at ridiculous 900 degrees, and the speed he demonstrated was even more unbelievable. Anybody watching him from the sidelines would have seen Gu Fei execute this attack in the blink of an eye, leaving a fiery trail that went on for two and a half revolutions, which annihilated many of the players around him.

This one attack not only displayed his high-level kung fu, it also contained a measure of gaming skills. When the sword passed from the right hand to the left hand and vice versa, the player had to quickly set their dominant hand accordingly as well. Only by swapping it over and over each time would Gu Fei be able to continue dealing out that huge damage. That was actually the more troublesome aspect of his move, as he had expended quite a lot of his personal time into practicing it before he managed to reach such a high level of efficacy.

The flames continued to persist even as the low HP players died out, while those that had survived were near death themselves, each looking ashen. Gu Fei was already out of mana at this point, yet nobody dared to get near him even as he stood within the crowd.

Southern Lone Blade and his squad that had already steered their boats out of the shore were left dumbfounded by that scene. This was especially true for Flame Singed Clothes, who saw how one Twin Incineration was executed to the point that went beyond his wildest expectation. He took out his magic staff and attempted a Twin Incineration of his own, yet the ensuing flames extinguished after he completed a 60-degree swipe. An attack range of 900 degrees! That was fifteen times more than anything he could have done; he could feel his whole body going weak.

Gu Fei looked toward the water while holding Moonlit Nightfalls. Seeing that Southern Lone Blade and his crew had already left the shore, he swiftly told the players around him, “What are you all standing around for? Go chase after them!” With that, he steadied his gaze and humbly walked out of the crowd with a nonchalant face, seeming to be no more than a passerby.

“Quickly chase after them!” Blue Umbra’s men shouted as if they were trying to rouse themselves from their stupor. They ignored Gu Fei’s presence and sprinted toward the shore, but because the group had already steered their boats clear, the Mages were unable to hit anyone with their spells while the Archers’ attacks were easily neutralized by Southern Lone Blade’s shield and the two Priests’ Heal. They simply did not have enough firepower to accomplish the deed.

Reed Arrow of the Willows reported this incident to Tanzanite Shade in his exasperation. When he looked up, he spotted another team approaching from the opposite direction and felt glum once more. Had they arrived a moment sooner, the situation might have not reached such a low point like this.

He shifted his gaze on to the main culprit Gu Fei, who had already turned and looked to be taking his leave, and in a moment of anger that seared from his heart, he yelled, “Stop right there!”

Gu Fei stood still and looked over his shoulder with a gaze that beheld cold regard. Reed Arrow of the Willows suddenly felt the hair on his nape stand up. He had no idea where to begin either and looked back at his comrades, who were all staring at him with plenty of resentment. It was as if they were extremely unhappy about him challenging the Mage.

Whatever the case might be, he had already called out to the man. Reed Arrow of the Willows moved to explain himself when he saw that man turn around again and ran away recklessly.

“F*ck!” everybody exclaimed. Running away like that clearly showed his guilty conscience! That man acted so cool before, exterminating two bunches of players with his attacks, yet seeing him flee right now only showed how hesitant he was at striking them.

“F*ck, don’t just run there. Follow them!” Instantly, the bunch of players showed a bit of courage as some raised their weapons to give chase. Reed Arrow of the Willows had also been left speechless by Gu Fei’s action, but he had already received Tanzanite Shade’s instruction. Without losing his cool, he prevented everybody from taking any further risks and directed them back to the task at hand, “Quickly get some boats and pursue Southern Lone Blade!”

Gu Fei looked over his shoulder and saw that the enemies no longer seemed to wish to continue fighting with him, so he composed himself even as he asked over the mercenary channel, “I got the money and the group has left, so what exactly is this plan of yours?”

“Come over to these coordinates,” Young Master Han sent over a series of numbers.

Gu Fei quickly made his way to the given location.

“Bring Royal along,” Young Master Han suddenly reminded.

Gu Fei grabbed Royal God Call, who was still standing by the beach looking stunned, and the two headed toward the given coordinates.

The given coordinates were still by the shore; two little boats were ready and waiting when they arrived at the location. Sword Demon, Young Master Han, Brother Assist, and War Without Wounds were all aboard, as well as two boatmen respectively.

“Quickly get on the boat!” Brother Assist shouted to the two. Both got on one together, and the boatman on board seemed to have already received instructions, since he began to immediately steer the boat off the shore.

“Just what is going on? Where are we going?” Gu Fei had wanted to kill Southern Lone Blade’s team back by the beach but was stopped by Young Master Han’s message about the transaction he had made with Southern Lone Blade. He was told to pick up the payment before Young Master Han filled him in on the details.

Gu Fei had originally taken this task to help Eternal Dominion earn some money, so he naturally would not reject the payment offered. At the same time, he was worried about what he could earn from killing Southern Lone Blade and his crew, but since Young Master Han told him that everything was already arranged, he did not really bother to ask for further clarification.

This was why, Southern Lone Blade received Gu Fei’s aid after he paid the cost for their help.

“We’re chasing after Southern Lone Blade!” Sword Demon answered.

“Eternal Dominion’s still in the city!” he reminded.

“We don’t have the time to wait for him.” Standing by the bow of the watercraft, Young Master Han turned to point toward a certain section of the sea and ordered the two boatmen, “Give chase in that direction.”

“You have that trinket, too?” Gu Fei suddenly spotted the item Young Master Han was holding and was amazed.

“I borrowed it,” Young Master Han informed.

“From Vast Lushness?” he asked.

“Mhm, how did you know it was from her?” Young Master Han asked back.

“I saw her get it with my own eyes,” he gave this answer.

“Is that so?” It was not often Young Master Han’s eyes would twinkle like this. “What quest did she get it from?”