Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

In the end, Monologue under the Moon still had to care for The Black Hand’s image. They were a mercenary group and not a guild. With the guild’s aim to dominate others, it could get away with bullying the weak and helpless. As for a mercenary group’s aim to do business online, it could never prey upon the weak. While a mercenary group could showcase its PvP prowess, it had to maintain a forthright and pristine image; only by doing that could they be well-received by the public and their business continue to grow.

Thousand Miles Drunk seemed to have expected this, so he was very bold at letting this bunch of unruly, low-level children act as bait.

“Please pass a message from me to him as well; tell him: ‘I won’t leave till you arrive’,” Monologue under the Moon grimaced as he said that.

“Okay. Bye-bye!” Ah Fa waved Monologue under the Moon goodbye, and he along with the others mirthfully left. Their teacher was not with them now, so they no longer neatly lined themselves up and became a messy mob once more. Their orderly rows just then had unintentionally drawn the enemies toward them and had caused the opponents to view them as better players than what they really were. Everything was just a ploy.

Monologue under the Moon watched the kids go; his tightened grip on his magic staff almost stripped the lacquer off the wood. His companions could understand what he was feeling right now, and each of them came over to offer their support.

“Don’t give up; it’s not the end yet. The opponent has taken a detour, so perhaps he won’t be able to enter the city so soon. We may still have time to block the city gates,” someone encouraged.

“Oh, you’re right!” Monologue under the Moon reorganized the teams once more and informed the small guild of the current situation. He even specifically emphasized that the enemies had split into two teams, with one group of weak children heading back via the north gate and another group entering the city through another city gate.

Deep down, Monologue under the Moon was feeling bitter that he could not vent his anger on those kids for fear of sullying his mercenary group’s good name, so he could only hope that the players of the small guild would take action and kill those kids upon receiving this information. This was why he had specifically informed them of the bunch of kids’ heading direction.

Unfortunately for him, not all people in this world were as despicable as he was. The small guild’s players did not show any intention to vent their frustration on the kids and merely expressed their remorse over the opposing guild managing to fool them, timidly adding, “Can we do anything to help save this quest?”

F*ck*rs. A bunch of good-for-nothings! Monologue under the Moon ridiculed them inside as he replied genially on the surface, “We’ll try our best!”

The men with him were quickly deployed to all the city gates. He also called for the other members of The Black Hand mercenary group to give them a hand. Unfortunately, it was currently the peak hour of the night to play the game, so most of the members were busy with their respective quests. Those who were available to aid them were already with him, so he did not manage to round up more helpers this time around. Instead, the fact that they had not dealt with Thousand Miles Drunk yet caused quite the stir on the mercenary channel.

“What’s the situation over by the south gate? Anything to report from the east gate? How about you guys at the west gate?” Monologue under the Moon asked each of them in one go.

“Nothing here”, “Negative”, and “No updates here” were the replies of the teams as they made their way over to those gates. The players with faster movement speed had already left for those directions. The low Agility Monologue under the Moon felt quite unsettled inside as he proceeded to one of those locations at a slower pace. Among his over twenty men, he had made sure to send the ones with faster movement speed over to those three routes. But while almost half of the twenty odd men had fast movement speed, no more than three or four players could be sent out to each gate, so Monologue under the Moon dared not conclude that the number was sufficient to fight against Thousand Miles Drunk.

“Everyone, be careful!” Monologue under the Moon warned.

“Relax! Taking him on should be easy with so many of us.”

Players who had not faced Gu Fei could not imagine just how formidable he was and were basing their judgment using their knowledge of MMO for the various job classes in Parallel World. In their minds, Thousand Miles Drunk might have high Spell Damage, but he was still just a Mage. Low mana and slow casting speed... Such characters required a proper team to protect them and were hardly a force to be reckoned with in solo fights!

“He’s really amazing even when in melee, so everyone should be careful,” Monologue under the Moon said this with the slightest twinge of fear in his voice.

“Is that so? We really gotta see what’s up, then!”

Everyone’s nonchalant attitude made Monologue under the Moon even more anxious. Unfortunately, he had no way to properly describe just how skilled Gu Fei was at fighting. He had an ominous premonition of what was about to happen, but he could only give them a few more warnings of: “Be careful.”

“Relax, man!” everyone felt slightly irked by Monologue under the Moon’s constant reminder.

“East gate, we are in position! We don’t see anyone.”

“West gate, we are in position! We don’t see anyone.”

“South gate, we are in position! We don’t see anyone.”

The south gate should be the furthest from Gu Fei, since he would have to go around the city to reach it. As for The Black Hand’s men, they could go straight to the south gate from the north gate by weaving through the city.

With the east and west gates equidistant from the south gate, the three teams managed to get in position in no time. None of them spotted their target along the way, so all they could do was wait.

Two Thieves and two Archers hurriedly made their way over to the west gate. The two Thieves immediately entered Stealth mode once they got to the west gate. One Archer had chosen to be a Sharpshooter and the other had chosen to be a Hunter. A Hunting Trap was placed by the Hunter just outside the city gate.

It was actually better to set the trap on the road itself, but this Hunter’s proficiency with the Hunting Trap was still low, which meant that the Hunting Trap he set would be noticeable to the naked eyes. Only an idiot would actually step on it if he placed it on the paved road past the city gate. By placing it outside the city gate, even if his Hunting Trap could not sufficiently be disguised, he could at least do it manually. The Hunter dug a small hole just outside the gate and placed the Hunting Trap inside it. He then carefully sprinkled some dirt over it to make the trap hard to spot, unless someone was carefully searching for it.

Just as the Hunter finished setting up the trap, the Sharpshooter who was watching the road with Eagle Eye gave him a nudge and yelled to the two Thieves, “That guy over there seems to be our target.”

The Hunter lifted his head up to look and cursed, “F*ck me!”

Some individuals were quickly treading along the foot of Yunduan City’s wall. The man in front was dressed in black mage robe, looking exactly like how the rumors had described Thousand Miles Drunk.

What made the Hunter lost his composure was the fact that he had placed his trap at the center just outside the city gate. Since the target would just make a right turn once he got to the city gate by treading along the foot of the city wall, the chances that the target would step on to his Hunting Trap were virtually non-existent. The Hunter felt discontented that his effort to set up the trap would go to waste, so he tried bargaining with his three companions, “Lure him over to step on the trap?”

Gamers always had this desire to show off their skills, especially those that only they had. In the end, the three men simply replied, “We’ll see how things go.”

“Shall the Thieves engage him first? He happens to be coming straight at you, so you guys can just stab him directly.” Gu Fei was still a distance away, so they took the time to discuss their tactic. It was at this moment that Monologue under the Moon sent out this message: “Thieves, the target may have an item that counters Stealth!”

Although Gu Fei had claimed to possess such equipment, Monologue under the Moon had also witnessed him fail to detect a Thief on Stealth in their earlier skirmish. Monologue under the Moon decided to play it safe by believing Gu Fei’s claim instead of expressing his doubt over it.

Only at this point did the four players realize that they had yet to report about spotting Gu Fei to the group, so they hurriedly mentioned this on the mercenary channel. Since Gu Fei had equipment that countered Stealth, the tactic that they had wanted to employ moments ago would no longer work.

“Guess the trap would be useful, eh?” The Hunter was invigorated once more.

“He’s a Mage; why would he even run to us?” Gu Fei was nearly on them, yet they were still arguing on how to deal with him best!

“You never know! Ah! He’s about to reach us; quickly get into your positions.”

Although they learned that Gu Fei could counter Stealth, the two Thieves still maintained their Stealth. The four men positioned themselves behind the trap as they eyed Gu Fei covetously.

Gu Fei, who was coming over from afar, pretty much guessed that the suspicious men standing over by the west gate must have been sent after him. He sighed to himself at the enemies’ fast reaction. The two students in charge of carrying the Brigand leader had been replaced by two Thieves from the two Warriors before, yet the speed that they advanced forward was not much faster than the Warriors as they had to carry a body. Making the Brigand leader walk on its own would be no good as it would surely be unable to run at all.

As his team got closer, Gu Fei realized that his ambushers were composed of two Archers and two Thieves on Stealth. With their eyes trained on him and the look on the two Archers’ faces, Gu Fei ascertained that they were truly after him.

Gu Fei smiled lightly as he addressed his two students, “Take your time, you two.” With that, he broke into a full sprint toward the four enemy players.

“Look! He’s charging over!” the Hunter exclaimed, saying, “Retreat! Let him step on to my Hunting Trap!” The other three heard his request and took two steps backward. The two Archers arched their bows with nocked arrows and aimed them at Gu Fei; they were ready to fire at any given moment.

The Hunter’s thoughts and emotions were fluctuating as he impatiently waited for Gu Fei to step on to his Hunting Trap.

Two arrows whistled through the air as they were fired off. Instantly, Gu Fei appeared before the four men and the two arrows continued to sail behind him.

“Blink! I’ve totally forgotten about that skill of his!” The Hunter blurted out in exasperation. The two Thieves hastily flanked Gu Fei’s sides to pincer attack him.

“Twin Incineration! Incinerate!” Gu Fei boomed. His nearness to the four men made it somewhat inconvenient to wield his sword normally. This was just a minute problem for someone of Gu Fei’s caliber, though. His sword twirled about as he held it in a reverse grip, placing it obliquely beside his body even as he turned his waist from the right to the left.

A flaming dragon followed Gu Fei’s rotation, creating four beams of white light behind him as it traveled for one hundred eighty degrees. Gu Fei flourished his sword, returned it inside his dimensional pocket, and waved to the two students, “Hurry up! Let’s continue onward!” He then thought to himself, This Rotating Twin Incineration is a pretty good move when the opponents are that close to me....