Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Royal God Call was inflamed that his lack of sense of direction had become the source of ridicule of his most hated rival, Drifting. He continued to squawk about having a deathmatch with the man, but no one naturally bothered to humor him. Gu Fei nodded toward Drifting. “We’re in the middle of something, so we’ll take our leave first.”

Royal God Call was still yelling at Drifting even when Gu Fei let go of the curtain and separated him from the man. “Let’s leave,” Gu Fei said. Unexpectedly, he heard the curtain being parted from behind him. Drifting took the initiative to approach them this time, asking, “Is there a matter you need help with?”

“We don’t need your help! An idiot like you will only make a mess of things!” Royal God Call yelled.

“Are you free?” Gu Fei asked.

“We’re really bored,” Drifting stated, “but we don’t wish to grind in this accursed region, either.”

“You’re probably afraid you can’t find your way home in this heavy fog. Ha ha ha ha ha!” To dare ridicule someone of being cardinally challenged when he was one himself, Royal God Call was truly thick-skinned.

Drifting shot him a look before continuing his conversation with Gu Fei. “We were originally planning to randomly look around for a quest or mission to take on, but we figured you guys are involved in something more interesting.”

“It’s nothing, really. We’re only on the hunt for Southern Lone Blade. Have you seen him?” Gu Fei asked.

“Nope. Is he here, too?” Drifting asked back.

“We’re not sure ourselves, but wherever it is, do hit me up if you see him,” Gu Fei said.

Gu Fei naturally needed no help when it came to slaying others. He just had to know his target’s location, so all the help he needed was in the searching. This was a rather boring request to Drifting, but he could only nod. “Will do.”

Bidding each other goodbye, Drifting returned to that room. Royal God Call grumbled and disgruntledly muttered yet still followed Gu Fei out of the tavern. Who would have guessed that, the moment they stepped out of the establishment, they would bore witness to a scene of PvP?

It was a man against a woman – a Warrior versus a Mage.

The two were astonished by what they were seeing, since the woman was actually that beautiful ice queen they had seen from the third room in the tavern, and the male opponent was actually War Without Wounds!

Both parties clashed.

The lady’s magic staff swiped outward with a blue afterglow, looking as cold as her countenance.

War Without Wounds proudly held his claymore upright with just one hand. He was an expert in every sense of the word, after all.

However, even though the claymore was in his hand, the expert did not make a move to strike.

That was because he was frozen there like the idiot he was.

This was when Gu Fei and Royal God Call realized that what they were actually seeing was the end of the PvP battle.

War Without Wounds was not actually completely frozen, but his actions were extremely sluggish when compared to that lady who was already done with chanting her spell and was now raising her staff to cast it. Death was all that awaited him. While he was agonizing over this fact, he spied Gu Fei and Royal God Call walking out of the tavern, and his frown instantly turned upside down.

“QUICKLY SAVE ME!” The message this expert sent over was quick.

The lady’s Arctic Whirlwind had been unleashed and was on its unerring path toward War Without Wounds. It was already impossible to interrupt the spell at this point. Gu Fei had no choice but to Blink right in front of War Without Wounds and swing out with a Twin Incineration.

The two spells collided, and the Verdict favored the one with a higher damage output, which was Gu Fei in this case, dissipating that Arctic Whirlwind in one smooth stroke.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5...” Royal God Call was counting. The Mage in his bones was already calculating the duration of War Without Wounds’ Frozen state. War Without Wounds finally regained control of his body once he reached number 5.

The lady’s eyes showed the slightest glimmer of surprise when she witnessed Gu Fei suddenly Blink over and dissipate her Arctic Whirlwind in a single move, yet she remained quiet as she coldly regarded the three players before her.

Gu Fei was in an awkward spot. While War Without Wounds could be considered as an apex expert in MMOs, he was not really the arrogant sort. Ever since their first meeting, Gu Fei had pegged him as a calm and collected person. It was only after that incident with Amethyst Rebirth that War Without Wounds finally revealed his real nature to Gu Fei, so if this person had run into any trouble, he believed it was likely due to this nature of his.

Seeing that they were in a foreign city with an unfamiliar lady, Gu Fei surmised that he had probably tried to strike up a conversation with the pretty lady and ended up being harshly rebuffed, resulting in the two fighting with each other like this. He was also certain that it was the lady who had made the first move. War Without Wounds must have said something that had provoked this lady’s anger, so Gu Fei did not feel great springing forth to the rescue of his fellow mercenary like this.

Thus, Gu Fei did not say another word, only turning around to pat War Without Wounds and saying, “Let’s leave!” He figured that the best way to settle this matter was to vaguely sweep this matter under the rug. He did not expect, however, to sense a surge of killing intent from behind him, which caused his heart to tremble. The moment he spun around, he swiftly turned his body sideways and slash out in retaliation.

The sword hit nothing but air, but the enemy was revealed by evading that slash. It was actually another lady who looked a tad younger. This woman pirouetted and circled around to Gu Fei’s back once more, wishing to continue her attack on him.

It was as if Gu Fei had eyes on his back, as his sword had already swung out to block this attack without him turning around. His body followed thereafter to face the enemy, yet all he saw was that lass thrusting out her left hand at him.

Gu Fei had no idea if this move was intentional; all he saw was a hand shooting out toward his head, so he shifted his head to the side to dodge it. In the end, he was greeted with a cloud of green powder that scattered in the air, and in the next instant, he could see nothing but darkness.

Gu Fei had never encountered such an occurrence in all his PKing, so he was slightly flustered by this. Nonetheless, he could still determine where his enemy’s attack would come from based on the sound of movement in the air, so he raised his sword out to block the attack once he determined where it was coming from. The sound of metal on metal reverberated as he deflected the enemy’s dagger strike.

Gu Fei was unable to see anything, so he could not see the look of shock on her face. All he knew was that he was currently blinded and believed he had succumbed to a sort of skill of the enemy. He was definitely at a disadvantage in his current state; while he was able to determine where to block and defend in close combat through the sound in the air, he had actually forgotten which direction the Mage was at, so he was unable to use sound to determine where the Mage’s attack would come from.

Thinking of this, Gu Fei hurried to retreat to the side, intending to let War Without Wounds and Royal God Call fend for themselves for a while. Since this was a skill effect, there would surely be a skill duration to it!

Gu Fei was indeed not too far off from his supposition, for the enemy Mage had unleashed a Descending Wheel of Flames on their heads, and War Without Wounds was also in the process of avoiding it by retreating to the side. However, Gu Fei was as blind as a bat right now, so while his decision to retreat was the right one, he had chosen the wrong direction to dodge to. Everybody saw as he ran directly in one direction, slamming himself right into a wall in no more than two steps.

Royal God Call was dumbfounded. He totally could not tell that Gu Fei was in a current state of blindness, so he merely watched him dash toward the wall, thinking that he was planning to execute some weird technique. In the end, he saw him smack right into the wall without slowing down in the least.

“HA HA HA HA HA!” Clear peals of laughter could be heard from within this heated battle. Considering the cold expression that the enemy Mage had held all this while, Gu Fei would never have guessed that this laughter belonged to that lady. This was when he reckoned that Royal God Call and War Without Wounds could not tell that he was currently blind, so he quickly yelled out to the two, “I can’t see a thing!”

A shrill whistle was heard the moment he finished yelling this, and Gu Fei knew that Royal God Call had acted. However, this move the latter had made actually caused Gu Fei to cry out to himself in dismay. Royal God Call’s damage output with his bow was extremely high, so the sound he created from his attacks was very grand. The arrows he fired off were like the piercing titter of a bird, and while that was normally not too big of a deal, since Gu Fei could currently only depend on his ears, that rascal’s attack actually messed things up for him!

Gu Fei could sense killing intent closing in on him at high speed and identified it as belonging to the lass rushing toward him once again. However, this was the extent that killing intent could aid him. A Thief was a job class that focused on stealth, so the sound of their attacks was already faint. Thanks to Royal God Call’s shots messing things up for Gu Fei, all he could hear now was the whistling sound of the arrows in flight.

He was left with no other choice but to escape. He reached one hand out to feel out the wall in front of him, turning to run off. Having been slaying people for such a long time in Parallel World, this was the first time he was struggling so much; Gu Fei did not know whether he should laugh or cry now that he had become a joke for slamming himself straight into a wall.

Even though Gu Fei was quick, no one was able to run at their top movement speed when they had their eyes shut, much less since the enemy was a Thief. All he wanted was to buy some time, and he believed that War Without Wounds was not yet a dead man, so why would he not help him now?

War Without Wounds was indeed not a dead man. As Gu Fei took several steps, he could hear a sad moaning from behind him, “F*ck me; I got blinded as well.”

The next thing he heard the sound of howling wind stirring, which Gu Fei identified to be the sound made by War Without Wounds when he activated his skill Cyclone. He was absolutely correct, but the skill only served to create more noise, which meant that Gu Fei could no longer hope to play the sound game.

Thus, Gu Fei came to a halt and quickly pivoted. He stooped and lowered his center of gravity, pointing his left shoulder forward as his right hand held his sword slightly behind.

The 17th form of All-directional Night Combat.

Just going by the name alone, this was a form usable when the poor vision at night made it impossible for the user to discern where the enemies were situated. However, it was important to note that this was a form used in situations where there was poor vision, so the user must at least be able to make out the outline of the enemies. Furthermore, if it was a battle in the dark of the night, either party would be equally affected by the limited vision. It would never be like the situation right now, where Gu Fei was totally blind while the enemy still had all her visual faculty.

However, Gu Fei did not have any other solution besides this, so he could only reluctantly make do with it.

When the lass saw Gu Fei take up that pose and giggled. “What are you doing that for?” She came around behind Gu Fei after saying that, which was the usual position a Thief would take up when in combat. Deep in his heart, Gu Fei was actually delighted at this movement she had made. Just as he sensed that the enemy had finished positioning herself and was rushing toward him, he heard Royal God Call cry out, “Miles, behind you!”

The lass stopped and changed her position again when she heard this, leaving Gu Fei incensed as he bellowed on the mercenary channel: “What are you shouting for?! SHUT UP!”

Royal God Call had only warned Gu Fei out of the kindness of his heart; how was he supposed to know that Gu Fei had actually purposely acted as if he were unaware of this? The 17th Form of All-directional Night Combat was, in fact, a very sinister technique. The form would adopt a defensive stance to the front while maintaining an attacking posture behind. During a fight that used the cover of darkness, the enemy would naturally attempt an ambush attack from behind after rounding to the back, unaware that the true direction of the user’s attack would be prepped for the rear, reeling in the enemy in a way that allowed the user to deal severe damage with just one move.

Just when Gu Fei felt that the lass had fallen for his ruse, Royal God Call unexpectedly lent him a hand voluntarily. This made the lass change her position again, as she believed that Gu Fei would turn around in time thanks to Royal God Call’s hint. All Gu Fei could do now was to really turn around, providing the lady with another opportunity to reposition herself behind his back, while he worried about Royal God Call shouting out a warning again. There was actually no need to go through all this trouble against a blinded opponent, but it just so happened that the damage output of the skills a Thief could dish out would significantly increase when executed from behind the enemy. Skills like Backstab were all the more limited and only allowed the user to execute them from behind their opponent.

Here she comes... Gu Fei muttered to himself, even as he felt the rising killing intent from behind.