Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei looked awful with how he lay sprawled on the ground while facing the sky. Even though he had experienced being toppled before, this time had him being tossed to the ground right in front of people who knew him, which only served to deepen his feeling of embarrassment. This was especially true after Young Master Han mercilessly mocked him for it, which did quite a number on his pride.

However, it was all the more important for him to remain calm and collected at such times. There was a saying: ‘Never let your enemies get a grasp of your mental processes.’ While Young Master Han was not an enemy on paper, if he were to reveal to him his look of embarrassment, it would only serve to please the man, and the ensuing ridicule would only be all the more vicious.

Thus, not only did Gu Fei not reveal any trace of embarrassment at what had happened, he even continued to lie there and meet the gaze of the two men, smiling, “So that’s where you two are.”

“Sorry for accidentally catching sight of you when you’re in such a state of distress,” Young Master Han said.

“Don’t worry about it. If you wanna be in this state as well, I can help you create the opportunity,” Gu Fei retorted.

The two men continued their verbal dispute; fortunately, Brother Assist was far kinder. The Knight came over to help Gu Fei up, but, unexpectedly, the very moment he bent over to help, Young Master Han and Gu Fei yelled, “QUICKLY GET AWAY!”

Brother Assist was startled and subconsciously shrank to one side. When he lifted his head, he saw a greyish figure leap from within the fog and, completely defying the physical laws, suddenly dive right over, targeting Gu Fei, who was still lying on the ground.

“All that pointless entry, what a waste of that quick movement speed!” Gu Fei derided the efficiency of the Shadowmist Assassin as he quickly did a sideroll on the ground. If this BOSS was capable of changing direction mid-air, Gu Fei would just submit to his fate.

Thankfully, the system was not shameless to such a degree. Gu Fei rolled out of the way as the Shadowmist Assassin completed its aerial attack, landing on the ground in a half squat as both its hands gripped the daggers tightly in a forward thrust, merely ten centimeters away from where Young Master Han and Brother Assist stood.

The Shadowmist Assassin paused – a moment that Young Master Han and Brother Assist felt last for a long while. If the Shadowmist Assassin went for an explosive strike toward the two of them, they were certain that neither of them would have any chance of retaliating. All they could do was pray that this Shadowmist Assassin act in accordance to the rules and continue chasing after the target of its aggro, Gu Fei.

Indeed, the Shadowmist Assassin did not let them down. This pause that seemingly lasted for an eternity passed, and it darted away while wielding its daggers to carve out an upward gash, as if it wanted to split Gu Fei in two.

Obviously, Gu Fei did not give it such a chance. Springing upward from a squat, he used the time the BOSS needed to cover the distance for its attack to gain some height in that jump. His hands pressed his sword down to block that attack from the Shadowmist Assassin.

However, the strength behind this attack was overwhelming, so much so that there was no way Gu Fei would be able to absorb all that momentum while in the air. All he could do was to spontaneously execute a Scorpion’s Backflip to leap away. The Shadowmist Assassin continued to give chase, stabbing right out as it rushed to follow. Gu Fei placed his sword precisely right across his chest as metal clanked yet again. He found himself shooting out like a cannonball and disappearing into the fog again. The Shadowmist Assassin once more landed on the ground in a half squat before sprinting over as another sound of weapons clashing came from within the fog dozens of meters away.

Young Master Han and Brother Assist exchanged glances. It seemed that they had grossly underestimated the prowess of this BOSS.

“That BOSS is so scary; I wonder what its name...” Brother Assist muttered. His booklet of information had never had any record of a monster so frightening.

“Gu Fei’s the one who is far scarier; how is he not dead? Does he even have a limit?” Young Master Han finally expressed his shock at Gu Fei’s prowess for once; it was truly beyond his imagination. Young Master Han himself was unable to see the Shadowmist Assassin’s attacks, yet that man was able to accurately block each blow.

In the heavy fog, the abrupt weapon clash sounds rang time to time, sometimes far and sometimes near. Occasionally to the left or to the right. Everybody around could not help but hold their breath. They were unable to watch the battle themselves, but just the sound alone was enough to affect them completely.

This included Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man squad as well, forgetting for a moment that the two that were making those sounds were originally their targets.

They had originally been heading in the direction where Gu Fei had retreated into the mist, even looking forward to Gu Fei being thrown into their range of attack by the Shadowmist Assassin once more.

Unfortunately, the reality proved to be otherwise. They heard the two exchange blows, yet Gu Fei no longer came sailing toward them like before. The clashing sounds they heard from time to time after were all happening in different positions. The seven of them maintained that circular formation of theirs, yet they were entirely unable to keep up with the directional changes of the sound. When the clank of metal was heard far away, all of them got anxious, almost wishing to disperse from their formation and give chase individually. But when the sound occurred near them, they instantly dismissed such a thought. There were even times when they could almost visibly make out the figure of the two men going back and forth with each other.

They were all looking mightily pale at this moment. After witnessing that 900-degree Twin Incineration, the strength of Gu Fei had in their hearts sublimated once more.

“Look at the speed he possesses!” The black and the grey figures continued to fight in that thick fog, flickering by with a movement speed not too different from one another.

Nobody made a sound, as dead silence descended.

Limp Hands, who was stuck amid the seven men, could already feel the mood change in the air. That composed look that this squad showed ever since he first came into contact with them had long disappeared, each now replaced with a look of fear and disbelief. From time to time, they would look to the person beside them, as if they were seeking for some form of consolation from one another.

The seven of them had made the mistake of letting their paranoia overcome them in their panic this time.

While it was true that Gu Fei was able to block the Shadowmist Assassin’s attacks, he simply did not have that quick of a movement speed. He only attained such a speed as a result of the force behind the Shadowmist Assassin’s attack that sent him flying each time, and it was entirely not of his accord. It was too bad that this fog made it impossible for these people to see just how exhausted Gu Fei looked fighting like this. Thus, the occasional flashes of movement they saw were just the figure of the two men whizzing past at high speed, and the sound of their weapons clashing that was constantly changing their position at high speed had left the seven of them in a state of shock.

“What do we do now? Do we advance or retreat?” This was the question that they were pondering on.

At the same time, over on Young Master’s Elite’s side, Sword Demon also asked the same question, “What do we do?”

Young Master Han replied effortlessly, “Let’s just leave the BOSS for Miles to take on a walk. Let’s focus on dealing with Southern Lone Blade, instead!”

Because the Shadowmist Assassin would retreat into the heavy fog from time to time after a few rounds of attack and repeat the process all over again, Gu Fei was able to find the time to read his messages. The moment he saw what Young Master Han had said, he immediately wanted to insta-kill him.

Gu Fei did not have a shred of doubt that he was definitely at a disadvantage facing against the Shadowmist Assassin. He had not found any chance of winning or even a chance to retaliate after all this while. If this continued on, not only would he be killed by the Shadowmist Assassin once he made a mistake, the others would also kill Southern Lone Blade and result in him losing on both fronts! Gu Fei was of course still thinking about earning that payment from killing Southern Lone Blade! This was precisely the quality of perseverance a person should ideally have.

“This...” Sword Demon was a bit hesitant.

“Ha ha, Miles, can you hold on?” Young Master Han asked.

“I’ll hold on to your mother!” Gu Fei finally could not stand this any longer and cursed, instantly feeling quite satisfied. He even felt some of the confidence that he had lost after being constantly targeted by the SMA come back to him.

“Ha ha, don’t be so irascible! Calm down and face your enemy. Hold on for a bit. We’ll come help deal with the BOSS the moment we take care of those guys. Have those two m*th*rf*ck*ng idiots, Royal and Wounds, arrived yet?!” Young Master Han also began cursing as well.

“We’re here!” the two happily messaged out on the mercenary channel.

“Where’s the BOSS?” Royal God Call asked, unable to contain his excitement.

“Haven’t you seen the plan we’ve come up with over here? Let’s deal with Southern Lone Blade’s squad first before taking on that BOSS,” Young Master Han replied.

“LEAVE SOUTHERN LONE BLADE TO ME!” Gu Fei bellowed.

“That will have to depend... on whether you can take down that BOSS and make it over before we kill off Southern Lone Blade. HA HA HA HA!” Young Master Han gloated.

“Despicable!” Gu Fei raged.

They could all hear War Without Wounds’ throaty shout over on the other side of the fog, “Southern Lone Blade, where the f*ck are you?! Come out and present yourself to yours truly!”

“Come out; come out!” Royal God Call helped to add by the side.

“I don’t think I’ve stated the tactics yet, have I?” Young Master Han asked Brother Assist, standing right beside him.

“Seems like everyone’s in high spirits when dealing with a BOSS,” Brother Assist replied.

“Still, it’s good to have those two guys yelling randomly to create a sense of oppression on those guys,” Young Master Han said.

Sure enough, Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man squad was currently pondering on their next course of action. All of them became flustered when they heard the sudden shouts of Royal God Call and War Without Wounds from within the fog.

“Are they all here?”

“Sounds like there are just two.”

“There may be two voices in the fog, but who knows how many there truly are?”

“We definitely can’t head in that direction. There’s sure to be a trap.”

Unknowingly, the thoughts of the seven of them seemed to have inadvertently gone in favor of retreating. At that moment, they were rejecting to leave in the route where War Without Wounds and Royal God Call had been shouting, but they did not know that the two were merely mindlessly shouting.

“Miles, are you able to supply us with Flame Singed Clothes’ current coordinates?” Young Master Han asked.

They got no reply but were able to vaguely hear the muffled sound of weapons clashing from within the fog.

“He’s busy...” Young Master Han muttered, and so he instructed that pair, “Don’t just yell in one spot. Run around; change your position.”

The two acted accordingly, moving to change their position even as they continued to yell at Southern Lone Blade and his squad, shouting things like “I dare you to tell us your coordinates!” “Let’s have a deathmatch!” and every sort of cliché line.

“They are changing their position!” When they heard this happen, the squad all turned to regard Southern Lone Blade.

Southern Lone Blade sighed. It was usually a breeze being the boss of this squad, but he naturally had to assume responsibility when sh*t hit the fan. After spending a short moment to think about the matter, he finally came to a decision. “Let’s disperse.”

Southern Lone Blade clapped his hands on the shoulders of Limp Hands. “Bro, it just so happens that our hated enemies have managed to catch up to us. It seems that we aren’t able to complete today’s mission for you.”

Limp Hands looked instantly disappointed. He perfectly understood that Southern Lone Blade was no longer able to help him complete his mission now that their enemies were at their front door; however, their choice of dispersing instead of facing off against these men made Limp Hands feel that their image as experts was not as big as he had imagined.