Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 725: Chapter 725 – I’ve got what you’ve got too

Foe-herder was slain. He was saddened by it, but because there were no losses incurred for dying during the City Wars event, Foe-herder was not really too conflicted about dying this one time even though he was a precious guild leader. Reviving back in the spawn point, he was all the more calm and composed, continuing to understand the situation over there through the guild channel as he sought to understand the situation with the various assistance in place. Just as he was about to leave the encampment, he heard the loud prompt from the system. He had been heavily penalized for 20 minutes before he could rejoin the war effort.

Foe-herder was utterly astonished. The players completely understood this penalty rule in practice by now, and dying five times, ten times, fifteen times and twenty times were the various points where a player would experience an increasing penalty of five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes and twenty minutes respectively that prevented players from rejoining the war effort immediately. Ultimately, the twenty fifth time would see the player be forcefully removed from the event entirely.

All the players began to take note of their own death counters especially after the last stipulation was uncovered, and those who had fought very recklessly from the start began to regret their actions. This situation made the players come to the realization: Life should be precious no matter the circumstances, even when it seemed like there were no repercussions for dying.

Naturally, Foe-herder had also taken stock of his death counter, and after the 25 death stipulation was discovered, he recalled his own battle history and based off the single penalty he faced every five deaths, Foe-herder easily determining that he only had died a total of eight times at that point. As a guild leader in charge of a large guild, such a result was rather exceptional. Of course, this was related to the fact that Foe-herder was a Warrior who enjoyed engaging in combat right up on the frontlines. After he began cherishing his life though, Foe-herder had never died another time again, and was still hanging on the record of eight deaths presently. However, he had received a 20 minutes penalty at this very moment, which naturally meant that he had already died 20 times since there was no reason for the system to cause trouble unnecessarily.

Foe-herder anxiously checked the system message record, believing that the system would surely have mentioned something more considering the surprising turn of events.

And that was how he discovered that his death message had indeed been different. Normally when a player died, the system would make a system statement: [You have died], But the recent death he just experienced also had an additional sentence that was added to it: [You have succumbed to an Honor kill].

Honor kill... It was yet another new term that appeared for this City Wars event. Foe-herder had no idea what it meant, but he knew that this 20 minutes lock-out that he was experiencing must be due to this so-called Honor kill, and his single death counted for twelve times.

Is it twelve? Foe-herder felt it was more appropriate to think it was at least twelve. By the system’s stipulation regarding dying during the City Wars event, the system seemed to be quite in love with the number five, so it would not really be too huge a leap of logic to think that an honor kill would be worth fifteen counts of death, not twelve. If that was the case, his death count was now up to twenty three, which made sense why he was now stuck in this 20 minutes lock-out. But what made it worse was the fact that it meant that he only had two lives left.

Foe-herder was wrestled with his deep sorrow, inexplicably thinking about the game Contra, recalling about the cheat code up up down down left right left right B A. He truly wished he could give himself thirty more lives...

“Honor kill? What’s that about?” The assassins were still kept in the dark, still treating what happened as a mission completed, not even thinking that what they picked up could have any additional capability to it. Hearing Xi Xiaotian bring forth this new information, they began to suspect that Foe-herder’s death was a lot more tragic than what they had initially believed.

“I don’t know the fine details regarding this. All I know is that Foe-herder is now being punished, unable to rejoin the war effort for 20 minutes,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“20 minutes, doesn’t that mean he had already died over twenty times?” Brother Assist was shocked.

“That’s right. He’s a guild leader, even one from a level 6 large guild. How could he have died so many times? That is why I believe there’s more than meets the eye with this honor kill feature,” Xi Xiaotian elaborated.

“Where did you hear this from?” Sword Demon asked.

“Foe-herder is not exactly a very careful person, and he had no intention of keeping this matter under wraps. He announced it in his guild channel the moment he made the discovery, so word very quickly spread,” Xi Xiaotian explained.

Sword Demon knew what she meant. In a guild, especially a large guild like Cloud Herder, there was simply no telling how many enemy or random spies were hidden among their ranks, especially when there were things like alt accounts and ‘smurfs’ in the MMOs of old, which were prevalent and bound to be found everywhere. But since Parallel World did not allow anyone to have such things as alt accounts, Sword Demon felt that such a situation should occur a lot less, though it was bound to still exist in one form or another. As for understanding how other guild leaders would be doing this, Sword Demon was still in the formulation stage when it came to executing something similar now that he had become a guild leader as well.

“Ah-ha, I found it!” Fireball exclaimed, as he excitedly announced to everyone, “[You have completed an Honor kill]. It was me! I did it!” Fireball had been searching through his message logs for the system message, and sure enough, he managed to find this unique line.

“But we still have no idea what this means. Is this 20 minutes lock-out a direct penalty meted out from being Honor killed, or if an Honor kill would be considered as a set amount of kills for this event, instantly pushing his death counter straight up to the threshold above twenty something?” Brother Assist lived up to his name as the lord of analysis. Foe-herder had never considered the possibility that it could be a one off penalty of a 20 minutes lock-out. The moment he received the system prompt, Foe-herder had panicked and thought he had died over twenty times, and he was nearing his final limit.

“Should we grab another mission for Foe-herder and test things out?” Gu Fei had very cruelly made such a suggestion.

“We’ve no idea if we can pick the quest up again,” Sword Demon mentioned.

Gu Fei immediately announced over the guild channel, “Are there any of you ladies near the Hall of Guild Creations? Head on over and take a look to see if you are able to grab the mission to assassinate Foe-herder.”

“Hey! Do you think the ladies in Amethyst Rebirth are here to help you run your errands?” Seated nearby, leader July voiced her opinion in person. Since Gu Fei became the guild leader of Amethyst Rebirth, he had suddenly become a very active participant in the channel, ordering the ladies to do this and that on his behalf.

“If it’s convenient for them, of course...” Gu Fei quickly added.

July rolled her eyes and could only voice out across the guild channel, “Help find out if any of you are passing by, ignore him otherwise if it’s not along the way.”

Gu Fei chuckled bitterly. Women, they want to nitpick even the small things.

They had also called the ladies of Amethyst Rebirth to join them in this meeting in Ray’s Bar, but because they were not the ones who had completed the mission, quite a few of them were lazy to make their way over. That was why July, who was essentially still their guild leader, had come over in their stead to network, but a large amount of the ladies are still drifting about outside, winning the chance to help run Gu Fei’s errand this time.

July might have said that there was no need to be bothered with the request if they were not passing by the building, but the ladies were kind-hearted by nature, and they treated it as ‘passing by’ even if it was 200 meters away. One of them swung by the Hall of Guild Creations and sent a reply, “Foe-herder’s name is no longer listed on the leaderboard.”

“As I suspected,” Brother Assist slapped the table.

“Brother Assist, there’s no need to be so excited. What did you realize?” Gu Fei asked.

“I believe this means that the Honor kill feature has the added effect of increasing Foe-herder’s death count by a set amount. Think about it, to be able to go beyond 20 times in one kill, such a mission, if it was repeatable, that would mean that Foe-herder would be eliminated from this event after being successfully targeted twice, which is why the system had limited it to a once-off mission. If it was simply a penalty that keeps the player stranded in the encampment for 20 minutes, then that would not really matter, and we would be allowed to keep targeting him for assassination!” Brother Assist gave his analysis.

“That makes a lot of sense,” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Is there any new information coming from Cloud Herder?” Sword Demon asked Xi Xiaotian. He discovered that this lady has her own information channels, so perhaps they originate from the interactions and relationships that she forged with her very extraordinary clique.

“Nothing else as of yet,” Xi Xiaotian answered.

“Let’s go slay him!” Gu Fei stood up.

“I really admire Mile’s verve to fondly face difficulties head on!” Brother Assist first praised him before completely ignoring his suggestion, pitching Sword Demon his proposal right after, “This assassination mission is something that pays out quite well. Why don’t we choose a few of the lower ranked guilds, so the ensuing confrontation would be a lot more effortless? Let’s earn some contribution score from them before revisiting this matter further.”

“The problem is that a majority of us here already have a mission for a guild leader from one of the large guilds,” Sword Demon was morose.

“I don’t have it!” Fireball raised his hand as he had completed his mission.

“That’s right! Those who had picked up the mission for Foe-herder should be able to pick another guild leader from a small guild, so let’s clear them out one by one. Guild leaders are on another level, and these missions for their heads should earn us plenty of points. I doubt we currently stand any chance of claiming the encampments as of now,” Brother Assist said.

“Yes!” Sword Demon nodded. He felt that Brother Assist’s evaluation to be very reasonable, so he immediately turned to ask, “Who are those that picked up the mission for Foe-herder?”

“Me,” Royal God Call stood up.

“Me too,” Brother Assist smiled. When he saw how everyone looked at him very meaningfully, he made a poor attempt at coming up with an excuse as he explained, “But I definitely did not make such a suggestion because I can accomplish a mission now, haha.”

Ignoring if he had borne such selfish intentions or otherwise, the fact remained that the suggestion he gave was indeed something more achievable for them. Sword Demon nodded his head as he continued, “I had also picked up the mission for Foe-herder the last time. Xi Xiaotian, Cirrus and Will-low can also pick up another target. Oh yes, Brother Assist. Where is your cousin?” Sword Demon realized he had overlooked someone.

“Her mother called her for dinner, so she went offline first,” Brother Assist said.

That meaningful gaze from the crowd returned again, and Brother Assist protested once more, “It’s the truth!”

“Ahem. Then those I’ve named will go grab another mission first, specifically the names from the bottom, and we’ll work our way up the list in this fashion,” Sword Demon said.

“Yes, go on, we’ll go clear out the mission that these people have on hand,” Gu Fei was giving out orders as well! In the end, Svelte Dancer was the only one who responded positively while the others stared at him incredulously. How could their targets be so easily cleared!? One was for Brave Surge, while another was for Black Index Finger. They were all guild leaders that belonged to large guilds, and given what just happened to Foe-herder, even a fool could predict that the protection that these guild leaders would definitely increase by now.

“Who’s coming with me!?” Gu Fei passionately encourages everyone.

“Me!” Obviously, the only one who answered his call to arms was Svelte Dancer. Fireball, who was someone who supported Gu Fei to the extreme, was presently following Sword Demon to pick up a new mission, while the others quietly sipped their drinks and chatted as they calmly pretended to ignore him.

“How about you guys?” Gu Fei looked toward Southern Lone Blade and gang.

“If the boss gives the word, we won’t complain even if we have to climb a mountain of blades, enter a frying oil pan or boiling soup,” Flame Singed Clothes instantly expressed this when he was called.

“You’re all willing participants, are you?” Gu Fei asked.

“Uh, quite reluctant...” The seven were honest.

“You guys can go to hell...” Gu Fei was helpless, He was not someone who could not read the room, and it was evident that no one present supported his decision. Only someone that was as empty-headed and arrogant like Svelte Dancer would sincerely support such a suggestion. As for himself, Gu Fei felt it was because he had the capability to succeed which was why he suggested it in the first place.

“Let’s wait for Sword Demon and the others to return, and mobilize as a group!” Slyris and the others voiced their opinions.

“Fine!” Gu Fei had no choice, turning around to ask in Amethyst Rebirth’s channel, “Anyone interested in slaying people? I’ll carry you!”

“Why don’t you just go die?” Even someone as nice as July could not stand him any longer.

While the city defenders were calmly drinking their liquor, the city assaulters were feeling great vexation once more. Foe-herder had gotten Honor-killed, and when the news of the 20 minutes penalty was made known, the first to get anxious was Black Index Finger. He had not stepped out of the encampment just yet, and he immediately tried to leave the moment he received this information. In the end, he found out that he was fine and secretly congratulated himself for his own good fortune. But everyone once more got acquainted with the danger that Thousand Miles Drunk represented, and Carouse was the first guild to deliver the all-important speech, pointing out that “No one would experience a good life as long as Thousand Miles Drunk is alive”. Traversing Four Seas was the first to express their support toward this plan, and even Colored Clouds were on their side. When it came to any operation to eliminate Thousand Miles Drunk, everyone would most actively participate.

So Carouse seized onto this opportunity and announced their intentions once more, publicly making it known that they had successfully hunted Thousand Miles Drunk earlier in the afternoon today. In the beginning, people were skeptical about it, but after Brave Surge made the method he used to accomplish this feat known, everyone became silent. G*dd*mm*t, you guys are even more shameless than Thousand Miles Drunk, how could he not die as a result?

The large guilds came together afterward and announced a name list of opponents for this City War: Thousand Miles Drunk was right on top, followed by Sword Demon, Royal God Call, Brother Assist, Southern Lone Blade and his gang, Xi Xiaotian, and Cirrus. A whole bunch of famous and unknown IGNs were exposed, causing everyone to exclaim in awe as to the quality of the enemy experts, each of them conveying a huge amount of pressure to go up against.

The large guilds once more called for every guild out there to abandon their past grievances and work together, to first focus on eliminating the snakes in the grass before everything else. However, this attempt was just the latest in the umpteenth times that Yunduan City had tried to form an alliance, and there was simply a lack of credibility throughout all the guilds to make it happen as everyone else opted to sit this round out and watched from the sidelines. Even though the large guilds were very determined to make things work out this time around and were dead set on pulling off a proper collaboration this time as an example, dissension ended up occurring even as the first meeting between these guild leaders from the large guild convened. This was all because Foe-herder had not personally participated in the meeting, but had sent his vice guild leader as a representative for their guild instead. The vice guild leader had tactfully expressed that Foe-herder was having difficulties showing his face, and Gu Xiaoshang, who had been rather hopeful of achieving cooperation this time, became the first to erupt. What did he even mean by having difficulties showing his face? Was it not simply just because he was afraid that the other large guilds might know about his limited lives left for this event, and use this opportunity to backstab him? They had already gotten to this point, yet the man still lacked trust in the others. This time, Gu Xiaoshang had completely given up on this bunch of guild leaders when she saw that they were still on guard against one another.

If Foe-herder did not dare to show himself, what of the others? Did any of them really have the intention of using the chance present here to backstab Foe-herder? Gu Xiaoshang swept her eyes around and realized the eyes from each of these men betrayed their ulterior motives, and it utterly disgusted her. She really regretted it. She regretted that she had previously made the decision to not join these people the last time, yet she had relented and gave them all another chance. In the end, she came and got disgusted instead. She really wanted to slap herself.

“Don’t be in such a rush, Xiaoshang! We should try and understand guild leader Herder’s mentality here; he might not be afraid of us taking the opportunity to backstab him, but he has to be worried about Thousand Miles Drunk and his men as well!” Oathless Sword quickly tried to smooth things over. Foe-herder’s vice guild leader was currently dumbfounded as he got yelled at by Gu Xiaoshang, so the moment he heard Oathless Sword’s explanation, he quickly seized the chance and went along with it, “That’s right! Guild leader Gu, you being overly suspicious. Foe-herder did not mean any of that at all!” While the vice guild leader had verbally uttered those words, his heart was actually seizing as she had really hit the nail on the head as to the reason why Foe-herder had sent him over as a replacement instead.

Brave Surge found Gu Xiaoshang’s repeated outburst of irritation disdainful. In his eyes, Gu Xiaoshang was being far too naive, and he, of course, saw no reason to placate Gu Xiaoshang like what Oathless Sword was doing. No longer able to hold himself back, Brave Surge spoke, “Guild leader Gu, I wonder if you’ve heard of this saying before: There’s no such thing as everlasting friendship, only everlasting benefits. Naturally, you would not like to hear such a statement being made, but the truth hurts. We have always been competing and fighting with each other our entire online lives here, so taking precautions against each other as well as the occasional scheme here and there, these are also considered to be a part of the entertainment we get from gaming for us. You may resent us for not trusting one another enough, but that’s exactly how we should be. We are competitors and any cooperation would only be temporary. Because our collaboration this time is to eliminate Thousand Miles Drunk, of course, there’s a limit to the amount of trust we have between each other. Besides, are we really very close? Just what reasons do you have to trust me? I don’t think Foe-herder did anything wrong opting not to show up; one should not ever let their guard down! But he still sent Sorrowful Everwood over for the meeting, right? He is still cooperating, so guild leader Gu should not begrudge us too much...”

Gu Xiaoshang was quiet for a good time before finally sighing, “What you said makes sense, but I still don’t like it, and none of my guild members like it either. Excuse me, but I’ll be taking my leave now...”

Gu Xiao walked away once more, and Oathless Sword did not try to stop her either. Everything that could be said had already been said, and if Gu Xiaoshang could not see eye to eye with it, then there was nothing that they could do to persuade her to stay. Brave Surge shook his head and sighed as well, before looking at the three remaining representatives, “All of us have to perform well this time. At the very least, we need to kill off Thousand Miles Drunk several times over. I’m sure none of you wish to be seen as the laughingstock again and again, do you?”

“Enough talk. Does anyone have a plan?” Black Index Finger asked.

“Wait a minute. I’ve made a huge discovery!” Oathless Sword suddenly cried out.

“What’s the situation?”

“Back in the encampment, the Field Marshall NPC is offering a mission out of the blue! Guys, take a guess what is it about?” Oathless Sword asked.

“Assassinate Thousand Miles Drunk?” Everyone regarded Oathless Sword with a bit of contempt as the question was he was posing was hardly challenging.

“Something like that. But the content of the mission is related to Thousand Miles Drunk and the others. Heck, just send your men over and take a look. Do none of you have men in an encampment?” Oathless Sword said.

The three men representing their respective guilds naturally sent men to investigate and received the news soon after. Just like the leaderboard filled with the top 100 villainous guilds rebels found inside the Hall of Guild Creation, a list for the top lackey guilds of the tyrannic city lord now appeared next to the Field Marshall inside the encampment. There were only two guilds listed: Amethyst Rebirth and Extremely Heaven Defying.

“Thousand Miles Drunk has become the guild leader of Amethyst Rebirth?” Even though everyone knew that Thousand Miles Drunk was attached to the guild Amethyst Rebirth, for him to actually become the guild leader now...

“Extremely Heaven Defying, is that a new guild that they had established? Royal God Call and the others should probably all be in that guild. And the guild leader is Sword Demon! How very arrogant of him; his previous guild was called Heaven Defying, and now it’s called Extremely Heaven Defying. Screw that!”

“Inside the city, there must surely be a place that similarly issues such missions, and we are all the target for such missions. Foe-herder being Honor killed must surely be because they had completed such a mission like the one in front of us,” Oathless Sword said.

“Well that’s not surprising, but why haven’t I been Honor-killed then?” Black Index Finger asked.

“Maybe players can’t take more than one of such missions at any given time?” Everyone made a guess.

“Let’s not trip ourselves up over these things first. Let’s get everyone in our guilds to pick up this mission first; An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We would have successfully accomplished our goal if we are able to remove them all from the City Wars event in one fell stroke!” Several of them felt as if they now see the light of day.