Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Stop looking down. Just move faster if you’re afraid; this is just a game, after all. It’s really very easy. Come on over quickly!” Oathless Sword encouraged the person currently making his way across the rope, “You’re almost here! Just a meter more!”

Once the man reached the other end, Oathless Sword, who possessed Strength far greater than Gu Fei’s, easily lifted the man up.

“D*mn. You’re so noisy...” The man whom Oathless Sword had helped up was Young Master Han. He absentmindedly dug his ears before joining Gu Fei by the side of the mountain path.

Players began to worm their way across the crevasse one by one. Oathless Sword was being very attentive to all the details, constantly checking the condition of the rope Gu Fei had tied up to see if it had come loose before returning to the ledge to pull up each player who had crossed the bridge. The players behind him slowly accumulated and eventually became quite the hindrance. Oathless Sword shooed these players with his hand, “Continue onward without me!”

Gu Fei was about to join this newly formed team when he saw Young Master Han staying put.

“Aren’t we going with them?”

“I’m staying to watch!” Young Master Han turned his gaze on the rope, “Not one player has fallen after all this time....”

“Ugh... You’re really despicable,” Gu Fei criticized Young Master Han even as he folded his arms and stood by the side to observe the players crossing the bridge as well. Oathless Sword could not admonish the two men who had decided to stay behind just to watch the whole procession since they were not from his guild!

Crossing the single-rope bridge was more perilous than the wooden bridge. However, it was precisely because of this that the players were more cautious as well. It was not hard to do this in a game, so no one fell down into the abyss with everyone being extra careful. After all, it was only War Without Wounds’ wild actions that had led to that unfortunate situation before. As such, while some players had fallen off the wooden bridge due to their negligence, none had fallen down the single-rope bridge thus far, albeit the time these players took to cross the bridge was much slower compared to before.

Many players managed to cross the rope bridge until only the members of Young Master’s Elite were left. Actually, there were also those players who had given up crossing the single-rope bridge and were currently standing by the cliff’s rockface.

The Amethyst Rebirth ladies also paused for quite some time when they got to the rope bridge. This test of courage was tougher than the previous one, so even persuasive words like “It’s only a game” and “You’ll be fine” were not enough to ease their sense of dread. This was not a television series where words of encouragement could easily allow the ladies to overcome their fear, after all.

“It’s really fine, Grape. Just look at how I do it!” Grape, whom Royal God Call was very fond of, was extremely afraid of crossing the single-rope bridge. Incessantly shaking her head, she refused to cross the bridge no matter how hard Royal God Call persuaded her. Finally, he decided to use himself as an example; grabbing on to the rope, he nimbly made his way over to the other side. He did everything he could to show how easy it was to cross the rope bridge, even throwing an encouraging smile to Grape time and time again.

“See? It’s really easy. Come on; it’s your turn now, Grape!” Royal God Call shouted from the other side of the crevasse once he made his way across.

Grape timidly looked around her; the Amethyst Rebirth ladies that were unafraid of heights had long made their way across, and those that remained did not find the least bit of courage in Royal God Call’s display. They looked at one another before deciding that they had far more in common with those players standing by the cliff’s rockface.

Oathless Sword, who was still standing by the edge of the crevasse, asked aloud, “Is there anyone else coming over?!”

The players on the other side looked at one another. Those of Young Master’s Elite who had made it across felt rather stunned when they realized that War Without Wounds had yet to make it to their side. Looking across, they could see him visibly hesitating.

“You better get your g*dd*mn *ss over here! Don’t you dare drag us down!” This was actually the first time their mercenary group leader, Young Master Han, had publicly expressed his anger. He even tossed the unfinished bottle of liquor in his hand toward the cowardly crowd on the other end in his fury. Luckily, no one got struck by it, and the bottle shattered into pieces upon contact to the ground, spilling its content on the mountain path.

“Is there anyone else wishing to cross the bridge?! Please do so immediately!” War Without Wounds looked around him.

“F*CK! You’re the one I’m referring to! Stop acting and get over here already!” Young Master Han took another bottle from his dimensional pocket to toss over, but when he saw that the bottle was still full, he could not bring himself to do so. Quickly unscrewing the cap, he drank as much as he could.

“I... uhm... this...” War Without Wounds stuttered.

“It’s fine, Wounds bro. I even made it across, so why wouldn’t you?” Oathless Sword smiled.

War Without Wounds saw that Oathless Sword was not lying since the latter had the same size as himself. There should be no reason for him to not make it across if the man could! It was not as if War Without Wounds had acrophobia, either; he was mainly worried about his heavy weight, especially after his previous harrowing escape from death at the wooden bridge. Simply put, he did not feel safe doing this.

“Come on over quickly!” Young Master Han bellowed.

“It’s gonna be fine! This bridge is really well-made compared to that wooden bridge from before!” Oathless Sword assured him. He had apparently heard of War Without Wounds’ experience hanging on to the fallen wooden bridge like a dry sausage.

With one man coaxing while another berating, War Without Wounds tightly held the rope and shouted, “I’m coming over now!” With that, he leaped off the edge.

Everyone applauded War Without Wounds’ courage as Royal God Call shouted, “M*th*rf*ck*ng Wounds, you better drop down and die!”

Sadly, his jeering did not work. War Without Wounds carefully shifted himself across the rope bridge. He was quite possibly the most attentive out of everyone there at crossing the bridge, and he slowly but surely advanced forward with measured and precise movement. A solemn expression was carved into his face as if he were a Boss in-game. Everyone was entranced by his attempt. They were thinking of how enjoyable it would be to see War Without Wounds drop down despite him treating the matter with graveness!

No one knew if it was the crowd’s unified thought that had made it happen, but when War Without Wounds was about two thirds of the bridge, everyone heard and saw the rope snapping in two.

“HE DROPPED!” everyone exclaimed in a voice that betrayed their glee over his misfortune.

“M*TH*RF*CK*R...” War Without Wounds’ voice was drowned by the wind, echoing as he fell. Due to the lack of anything exciting happening further down the mountain path, many of the players immediately messaged one another when they heard the snapping sound of the rope reverberate through the ridge, “What happened?”

It was then that a feeble moan was heard from down the crevasse, “Quickly pull me up!”

“F*ck. He’s not fallen into the abyss; he’s actually still hanging there!” Royal God Call exclaimed. He lay prone by the edge of the crevasse and poked his neck out. War Without Wounds was holding on to the rope for dear life.

“Just let go of the rope!” Royal God Call advised.

“You just wait, Royal; I’m gonna hurl you down this crevasse once I get up there!” War Without Wounds raged.

“How arrogant!” Royal God Call pulled out an arrow and was about to nock it, “Quickly call me Grandpa Royal!”

“Alright. Settle down, you two!” Gu Fei pulled Royal God Call to the side as he waved to a few players around him, “Hurry and pull that man up here!”

“Hold on tight, Wounds!” Brother Assist shouted.

Through the combined efforts of a few men, War Without Wounds was hoisted up to solid ground. He lay there looking at the boundless sky above him with a face covered in bruises. His armor got dented from its impact against the crevasse’s rockface.

Young Master Han bestowed Heal on him. “How are you?”

“Fine... I think...” War Without Wounds was breathless, not from exhaustion but from anxiety. His close encounter with death today had taken a toll on him that was not visible to the naked eye.

“Alright. You’ve definitely worked the hardest during this stretch, so I’m sure you’ve earned quite a lot of points!” Young Master Han consoled as he gestured at Sword Demon.

“Yup!” Sword Demon affirmed this. Taking out a little booklet, he diligently recorded: mental reimbursement - 20 points.

War Without Wounds was only able to stand up after quite some time; Royal God Call had the foresight to make himself scarce from him. War Without Wounds seemed to have been enlightened by something as he did not bother to pursue his quarrel with Royal God Call and merely asked, “Will there be any more bridges ahead?”

“It doesn’t seem to be the case,” Oathless Sword smilingly replied, adding, “My brothers ahead have yet to encounter another.”

“Oh!” War Without Wounds answered as he waved his arm, “Alright, everyone! Let’s go!”

There were indeed no more crevasses ahead as the group continued forward. The mercenary groups and Traversing Four Seas did a headcount; quite a lot of players abandoned this expedition due to the bridge crossing. This was especially true for a large number of the female players – a fact that greatly pained many male players.

No more abnormalities cropped up for quite a while; just as they were about to complete their trek through the Oolong Mountain Range, unrest spread from the front of the group. War Without Wounds trembled, “Did we encounter another eroded path?”

“No. We’ve encountered enemies,” Young Master Han replied.

“Tsk! What’s so scary about that?” War Without Wounds’ back straightened when he heard this.

“It’s quite troublesome to engage enemies here! This narrow mountain path makes it impossible for men to get into formation! Many players are feeling helpless due to this fact. Look at all these mercenaries stuck behind; there’s just no way for us to lend a hand here!” Brother Assist explained.

“How are we going to help when we don’t even know what’s going on?” Royal God Call jumped up and down, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening ahead of them.

“What’s the situation?!” everyone asked Young Master Han.

“The monsters that have spawned are blocking the mountain path, so we can’t continue forward,” Young Master Han informed them.

“What’s the monster type?”

“Mountain Bandits.”

“What’s so scary about them?” everyone scoffed.

“There’s a Boss leading them,” Young Master Han answered.

They could feel their hearts tighten at that. According to the game officials, monsters that fought alongside their Boss would have higher combat strength, and they would prioritize the commands of the Boss beyond anything else. Although the Boss’s intelligence and resourcefulness were not greater than players, the Boss’s commands could ignore the threats on the monsters. Hence, the methods players would employ to pull these monsters depended entirely on the Boss; even if a player killed the monsters, the aggro from the remaining monsters might not even be drawn appropriately if they were obeying the the Boss’s commands.

The only flaw to this unquestionable discipline these monsters possessed depended entirely on the quality of the Boss’s intelligence.

“So what’s the situation right now?” they asked Young Master Han.

“Our men have retreated for now and are currently re-organizing themselves for the next assault,” Young Master Han replied.

“Looks like it’s time for us experts to shine!”

“That is precisely why we are currently being called to the frontline!” Young Master Han affirmed.