Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei was only able to approximately sense an incoming attack through killing intent. There was no way for him to confidently judge the distance of the attack, but he no longer cared about this fact and just swiped his sword while pivoting the moment he felt the enemy’s presence behind him.

The sword struck thin air, and he had no idea if he had attacked too early or too late. Nevertheless, he was not flustered by this and just quickly followed it up with another slash. The 17th Form of All-directional Night Combat was supposed to be a technique that allowed the user to continuously attack with a single opening; its focus was to determine the opponent’s position after the first move and to continue raining blows resolutely until the opponent was killed, never giving the opponent a chance to retaliate.

Gu Fei’s first strike had struck air, and the second slash he did after taking a step forward still failed to land. At this point, he had already ascertained that it was not an issue of distance, but rather that his slash was crooked. Should he adjust it to the right or left, then? He was annoyed at this moment. D*mn! In such a crucial moment like this when I need help, that rascal Royal God Call chose to remain silent, instead.

Who would have thought that, as he was wondering if he should strike left or right, he would hear tinkling laughter right before him? It turned out that the lass could not hold back her laughter when she saw Gu Fei blindly slash the air twice.

While he had trouble judging the sound of fists, kicks, or weapons as they traveled through air, he would never make a wrong judgement when it came to something as crisp and clear as a person’s laughter. The third slash he delivered was appropriately adjusted with this new information. The lass was still laughing when the sword appeared right before her eyes, abruptly ending her laughter. She had been literally silenced by the sword, since that slash Gu Fei had done actually swiped past her mouth.

It could not be helped, though, for the mouth was the very place where the sound originated. Gu Fei’s accuracy was just that deadly, and given how dangerous his current predicament had been, he had no reason to put too much thought into things.

This one sword stroke had scared the lass to the point of freezing in place. Gu Fei did not know the effect his move had created and only felt that his blow had connected with something. Retracting his hand, he continued with the fourth, fifth, sixth blow... The 17th Form of All-directional Night Combat began its display in earnest. Even if the lass were not petrified, his relentless attack would completely lock her down and make it difficult for her to defend or evade the blows.

The sword glowed as it flashed with fire and electricity from time to time. Gu Fei was still blinded, so he could not execute each move perfectly. Despite this, executing each move in the 17th Form of All-directional Night Combat was more than enough to kill the lass.

The Mage watched everything unfold anxiously. She wanted to lend a hand, yet Royal God Call was able to harass and disrupt her every attempt with his job class advantage, so she had no choice but to grind her teeth helplessly. Actually, if it were not for the fact that she was a babe, Royal God Call would not have gone easy on her. He could have easily finished her off, given his prowess and the additional suppression inherent to his job class.

Gu Fei suddenly stopped whaling on the Thief just as she was about to die from his attacks. He happened to recover his sight during this time without even going through any transitional phase, and when he saw that the lass’s pale face from fright, he no longer felt like dealing the killing blow and decisively stopped his attack.

Still, Gu Fei had been the recipient of that strange skill once and did not wish to take any chances. Thus, even though he had stopped his attack, his sword remained pointing by her shoulder. “Don’t make any sudden move!”

The lass did not even dare squeak. Gu Fei looked backward and saw that War Without Wounds’ Cyclone had ended and was waving his claymore wildly around him even though nobody was actually attacking him. Over on the other side, Royal God Call and that beautiful ice queen were still entangled in combat. Gu Fei could tell with a quick glance that it was no longer a match between the two and the former was simply toying with the latter. Seeing how elated and carefree Royal God Call looked, Gu Fei could only sigh to himself. It will truly be a waste of your talent if Forever in Flowers doesn’t accept you within their ranks.

“Everyone, stop. Otherwise, I’m just gonna insta-kill her!” Gu Fei finally shouted. Threatening with a human hostage might not be an honorable act in itself, but the current situation had the Thief under his thumb, while Royal God Call had no problem taking down the Mage. Taking a hostage would really just be his way of giving the ladies a way out without having to die.

Sure enough, when the female Mage heard his shout and saw how the lass was at his mercy, a concerned expression flashed across her face, and she immediately stopped her attacks.

Royal God Call beamed as he ran over to Gu Fei’s side. “He he! You’re so despicable to resolve this matter like this!”

Gu Fei ignored him. Seeing that the enemy had stopped attacking, he removed his sword from that lass’s shoulder. “This is nothing but a misunderstanding. There’s no need to kill anyone over it. Let’s just leave this matter as is!”

That lass returned to her senses at this point, and when she saw Gu Fei retract his sword, she activated her Fleetfoot, dashed over to the female Mage’s side, and tugged at her sleeve. “Sis, quickly insta-kill them!”

“Wow, they are sisters. No wonder they look so alike,” Royal God Call happily quipped.

To think he would still be focusing on such things... Gu Fei really wished to give this rascal a slap. Still, that lass doesn’t seem to realize the position she’s in! Thinking of this, he raised his sword and chanted out a Thunderbolt.

A blue flash, and a bolt of lightning came crashing down before the lass. Her face immediately paled, looking exactly as frightened as how she had looked moments ago.

“Don’t you argue with me. Another word out of you and I’ll insta-kill you.” To prevent the lass from provoking another incident, he had no choice but to intimidate her for a bit.

“You’re trying to scare me!” The tone of her voice might have changed, but the words she spoke were still as obstinate.

However, the female Mage was well aware that Gu Fei was not merely intimidating her. To be capable of dispersing her Arctic Whirlwind with one Twin Incineration, this just proved that his damage output was high, and that Thunderbolt spell he had cast could very well insta-kill her sister. In short, his words were no idle threat.

“Xiaozhu, that’s enough.” The female Mage, who had been silent all this while, finally spoke, taking out a bun from her pocket and giving it to the lass.

The Thief did not say another word. She accepted the bun and began munching on it as she glared at Gu Fei from time to time.

“Ha ha, that’s much better!” Gu Fei was not in the least bit courteous. Taking out an apple to eat, he and Royal God Call appreciated the sight of War Without Wounds blindly cleaving away. He was most likely too focused on what he was doing, so he did not realize that the battle had already ended and that they were all just chatting now.

However, after a short while, he regained his vision, and when he saw everyone just standing there, he hurriedly stopped his wild slashing motion. Lightly coughing, he struck a dignified pose like a grand oak as he held a taciturn and stern expression. Gu Fei really wished he could just give him a tight slap as well.

“Are you the Video Mage?” Unexpectedly, the person to break the silence was the icy female Mage, and the first thing she mentioned was recognizing Gu Fei’s identity.

“Yes, that’s me.” Gu Fei nodded.

“Thousand Miles Drunk?” she asked again.

Gu Fei was surprised. He did not expect for this woman to have even uncovered this information. While this was no longer a secret to those players in Yunduan City, it was unsurprising for this information to travel out of the city. It was just that this was the first time a stranger had identified him so thoroughly, which gave him quite the shock.

“Are you Fugitive 27149 from before?” This woman was just full of surprises with every single statement she made. While it was not odd for anyone to link the Video Mage with Thousand Miles Drunk, not many was able to piece his identity with Fugitive 27149.

“Have you done research on me?” He was astonished.

The lady nodded. “I have my eye on you early on.”

He immediately thought of something. “Are you Slyris?”

The lady nodded.

After that first incident, the many instances that Gu Fei had gotten himself often became a hot topic on the forums, so anyone had the intention to link all those matters together in their research, they were likely to come to the conclusion that the player involved in all those incidents was the same person.

“Sorry you had to go through so much hassle for it.” Gu Fei barked out a dry laugh. War Without Wounds and Royal God Call were thoroughly dissatisfied. They felt as if their limelight were being stolen by Gu Fei in front of this babe. Royal God Call was depressed. I’ve used my keen archery skills to suppress her for so long earlier, so why isn’t she sparing me even a single glance?

There was no need to mention War Without Wounds; he got frozen like an idiot before he could wield his seven-foot-long claymore, and it was just difficult for him just to stand there as if nothing had happened. In fact, there was still a secret he had kept within him! When they were clashing earlier, he had graciously used only one hand to hold his sword out to go easy on the lady, but in the end... he only ended up embarrassing himself by giving the lady an unnecessary handicap! He was still sighing in his heart even as his face remained casual about the matter.

“He he he! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” Gu Fei showed great etiquette by extending a very polite greeting to Slyris before turning to address his fellow mercenaries, “Shall we leave, then?”

“Leave? Where to?” the two asked in unison, nonplussed.

“A straightforward meeting isn’t better than a chance encounter. We even got to know each other better after exchanging a few blows, so why don’t we head into the tavern and share a drink or two?” War Without Wounds mused like a poet.

“Oh, yes, that’s more like it. Miles, you’re so ungentlemanly,” Royal God Call derided at Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was speechless.

In the end, it was the lady who had a good eye on the matter. “Oh, since you men are busy with something else, we’ll take our leave now. May we have the good fortune of meeting again! Xiaozhu, let’s go.”

“Busy? What business do we have? No, we’ve got nothing on. Isn’t that right, Miles?” War Without Wounds hurriedly grabbed a hold of Gu Fei’s shoulders, making intense eye-contact with him, even as Royal God Call helped by adding, “That’s right. We’ve got nothing on. Why don’t we all share a round together?”

Slyris gazed at the three men and said, “Actually, if you truly have a business to attend to, it is fine to share it with me. Perhaps, I can even be of help.”

“Is that so? Then, have you seen a player that goes by the name of Southern Lone Blade? If you’ve seen him, do tell us. I’m currently looking to slay that man!” War Without Wounds’ hand continued to hold Gu Fei in place even as he coolly flurried his claymore with his free hand.

“Southern Lone Blade? I just met up with the man in the tavern,” Slyris replied.

“WHAT?!” The three were shocked by this revelation. They had not expected for her to really be of help. By now, it was clear who was pretending and who had a vested interest in the matter, as War Without Wounds remained stun while Gu Fei hastily asked, “Then, where is that man now?”

“I’m not too sure about that,” Slyris answered.

“Are you friends with that guy?” Gu Fei asked.

“Nope.” Slyris’s answer was curt.

“Then, you guys are...” Gu Fei could not think of their possible relationship.

“Just a little business connection. I’m not afraid to admit this to you; I want to know what kind of equipment the Video Mage has on him, so I hired Southern Lone Blade to try and loot your gear.” Slyris maintained her gaze on Gu Fei after saying this. Gu Fei, meanwhile, looked around before facing his fellow mercenaries. “Southern Lone Blade is after my equipment? Why don’t I know this?”

“Yeah, weren’t you the one hunting him all this while?” The two were equally confused.