Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Full speed ahead. We’re heading to Yunjiao Lakeside. We need to stop Thousand Miles Drunk’s quest at all costs!!!!” This message from their respective guild leaders boomed across the guild channels of all four large guilds. Regarding Ye Xiaowu having played them for fools, only the upper echelon core members were aware of it. The four guild leaders found this to be utterly embarrassing, so they simply did not bother explaining themselves. The players from all the four guilds had been digging about in Yunjiao Quarry when they suddenly received the change in order to head back to Yunjiao Lakeside and stop Thousand Miles Drunk. They were all very confused, vaguely recalling how their guild leaders had said how they would rush over to Yunjiao Quarry and stop at nothing to prevent Thousand Miles Drunk’s quest from advancing not too long ago.

“Just what is going on?” It was inevitable for some players to have such queries.

“There will be a debrief after we’re done. Hurry up!” That was essentially the response that these people got.

The players from all the four large guilds surged out from Yunjiao Quarry, all of them on the march toward Yunjiao Lakeside. Back in Yunjiao Lakeside, at the same moment when Angus’ eyes were closed, the sun slowly set, and the beautiful scenery was gone. Courtney once more gave Angus a long and deep embrace. But in the next moment, like it had made a firm resolve, Courtney placed Angus to one side and turned around and begin to dig out a ditch.

“Come help,” Gu Fei called on the other three players with him.

The four players and the NPC worked together and very quickly finished digging the ditch. Courtney picked up Angus’ corpse and jumped into the ditch, gently setting it down within.

“It’s not gonna bury itself along with it, right?” Royal God Call whispered.

“No,” Gu Fei said. “It would be a little cramped for two.”

The two ladies glared at the two men. This time, Courtney was no longer reluctant to leave Angus’ side while inside that ditch, jumping out after placing the corpse to rest down below. Still keeping its eyes trained, it finally started to scatter some dirt into the ditch.

“Uh, are we helping it or not?” Royal God Call asked.

“What are you asking me for!?” Gu Fei exclaimed, before turning over to Courtney. “Do you need help?”

Courtney shook its head, so Gu Fei shrugged helplessly, and the four of them stood by and watched Angus’ corpse get covered by the dirt bit by bit.

“None of those four guild leaders are anywhere nearby. Could they all have been tricked to leave?” Gu Fei quietly asked Xi Xiaotian.

“We may have tricked them away for now, but I believe they would be back here very soon. Do you really think that they won’t leave anyone behind out here, and that we’ve managed to fool all of them to just abandon this place altogether, right?” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Our location is just too prominent,” Gu Fei looked to his left and right. This spot that allowed them to take in the beautiful landscape in front of them was similarly a place where anyone near Yunjiao Lake could see it. It was particularly eye-catching.

“It can’t be helped. It’s the NPC who chose this spot,” Xi Xiaotian sighed.

“Then they might be making their way back very soon. Can’t that woman hurry up,” Gu Fei was anxious.

“There’s movement in the reeds,” Royal God Call suddenly blurted.

“You saw something?” Gu Fei was delighted.

“Yup!” Royal God Call nodded.

“What’s the coordinates!?” Gu Fei asked.

Royal God Call glowered back at him with a piercing stare.

“Just give me a rough estimation,” Gu Fei said.

That was when Royal God Call had a brainwave, and he fired an arrow out to pinpoint the location. Gu Fei lifted his sword and was about to dash off after it when Xi Xiaotian called out, “There’s of course going to be people in the reeds, so how do you know they’re going to be someone from the four large guilds?”

Gu Fei froze mid-step when he heard her words. Hiding inside these reeds was not unique to the players from the four large guilds; lovers would also enjoy secreting themselves among the tall reeds here around Yunjiao Lakeside, so perhaps Royal God Call had only seen the movement made by a pair of lovebirds?

“I saw someone move,” Royal God Call truthfully related what he saw. “If that had been a normal player, there’s no need for them to be so sneaky?” There would be players who would get up from within the reeds, but people would be openly holding hands when they leave. There was no need for them to creep about and keep themselves hidden.”

“What you see isn’t the problem, the problem is that we’ve no way of determining their identity when we get there ourselves,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Scaring them a bit would be fine too,” Gu Fei’s weapon was still raised.

“Are you getting restless because you can’t get to slay anyone?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“It’s going to take a while before it’s done burying!” Gu Fei said.

“I feel like we can help now,” Xi Xiaotian turned around and glanced over at Courtney, but discovered that after the dirt had completely covered Angus, its hands were starting to move faster, no longer as hesitant and deliberate like before.

“Let me try,” Gu Fei stepped forward and began scattering a handful of dirt.

Courtney did not respond to it, so the four of them quickly came forward and got busy. Soon, dirt filled the ditch and a shallow grave was made. Royal God Call was wondering if they would still have to make a tombstone when Courtney softly placed its necklace on top of the grave and took several steps back, her gaze lingering over it.

The four did not dare to disturb this scene, so they could only wait.

They waited until Courtney spoke up, “Thank you, all of you.”

Gu Fei gave a long sigh. He reckoned the storyline of Courtney and Angus’ love story had pretty much drawn to a close, so what’s happening next should be the plot regarding the other relevant matters, and that would be what he needed to carry on his current quest!

“You’re welcome,” Gu Fei had already given a lot of thought to how they would be continuing the quest, and he had already prepared a segway to stir the conversation, “How did Angus mutate like that? Just what exactly went wrong with the Yunjiao Lake Water Storage and Drainage project? Why did you think he was already dead?”

“I don’t know,” Courtney shook its head. This answer essentially left the four players thunderstruck when they heard it.

“However...” Courtney suddenly continued.

“I love ‘howevers’!” Royal God Call was so moved at this moment that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

“Shut up, you” Gu Fei forbade him to make a noise as he listened to Courtney continue.

“Teacher’s the one who had told me about Angus’ death. He said that there had been a bit of accident during the Water Storage and Drainage project, and Angus had died underwater. That was why I became a ranger, in hopes that I could forever accompany him. That worked out very well now, knowing that Angus will forever lay here,” Courtney pointed to the grave. It had already been disheartened after all these years, and only a flicker of hope ignited when it heard Gu Fei mention how “Angus isn’t dead”. Even though Courtney was unable to see Angus alive in the end, it was nothing compared to thinking Angus’ corpse had sunk to the bottom of the lake. Courtney was actually somewhat content, now that it had been able to hug Angus’ corpse and accompany him in such close proximity like this.

“But why did Angus turn into that? If it was not for this, he would not have needed to die at all! Don’t you want to find out what really caused Angus’ death?” Gu Fei asked. Upon further consideration, it was very obvious that Angus’ corpse had been attacked to death, but ever since Courtney discovered its corpse, it had never once asked how it died, who did the deed, and by its expression, it was evident it had no intention of asking at all.

“What’s the point of knowing? What I want is to be able to be together with Angus. Even though he’s already dead now, I will still stay by his side and protect him to the very end,” Courtney said.

“I failed...” Gu Fei was helpless and could only admit to the facts. “Fine, actually, we need to investigate what had caused Angus’ death. Do you have any clues you could provide to us?”

Courtney shook its head.

Xi Xiaotian interrupted at this time, “You can’t ask the NPC this way. Seeing how introspective it sounds, perhaps the clue here is something that happened to her, but it would not remember it to be a clue like that.”

Gu Fei pondered over this for a while. “That log cabin by the lakeside. Is that place yours?”

“No. That is Teacher Guillermo’s,” Courtney answered.

“Oh? When did he begin living there? Tell me more about him,” Gu Fei quickly asked.

“This is after Guillermo broke the news about Angus’ death to me. After I left Teacher and went over to Yunjiao Lakeside to be a ranger, he would often stroll around Yunjiao Lakeside as well, and we happened to bump into each other like that. Afterward, he told me that he liked the quiet ambiance and scenery of the place, so he built that log cabin, often using it to do some research when he’s over here. He would also come to ask me for help from time to time as well,” Courtney explained.

“What sort of research is it?”Gu Fei asked.

“The teacher said that the Water Storage and Drainage project was not perfect, so he needed to research and examine it so he could optimize it further.”

“That’s right. In the notes you’ve exchanged with Angus, you once mentioned that the project was somewhat unsafe. What is it?” Gu Fei asked.

“I once, unintentionally, saw Teacher quarrel with someone because of the project, and I had never seen him so angry before! I only heard him profess that the project was absolutely impossible, but the project still carried on, so I found it to be a little strange.”

“Angus had previously mentioned that they were definitely using magic to solve some of the issues that cropped up with the project. Do you know why?”

“I don’t know,” Courtney answered.

Gu Fei turned to regard the other three, “Have you guys thought of any questions?”

“You’ve been here for so long, have you ever thought of searching for Angus’ corpse in the bottom of the lake?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

Courtney nodded, “Teacher told me not to give it a shot, but I had secretly done it by myself before. However, there seemed to be some sort of magical enchantment that sealed the project’s entrance, so I had no way of getting past it.”

“How did you dive underwater?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“During the course of the project, there were some special magical tools that we used to dive underwater. Angus had stolen some and gave it to me,” Courtney explained.

“Can we borrow them from you?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“Of course you can,” Courtney nodded. “I’ve left the tools by the forest in the north of the lake, where I live. You guys are free to retrieve it yourselves!”

“See that!” Xi Xiaotian ridiculed Gu Fei. “If you don’t pay attention to what an NPC wants, there’s no way you would be able to think of what it wants to do, and would therefore be unable to find the clue by following its line of thinking.”

“Diving tools? Are you telling me that we’ll have to use those to go into that underwater opening and check out the project site?” Gu Fei said.

“Of course. As for what you asked, let’s discuss it in detail as we make our way over there!” Xi Xiaotian said her piece and the four of them departed together. Svelte Dancer turned her head around and saw Courtney was just quietly sitting beside Angus’ grave.

“Enemy sighted right ahead!” Royal God Call suddenly pointed out to a hill as all of them lifted their heads to look. The men from the four large guilds were finally here. Of course, it was not everyone in their guilds. Even though their opponent was Thousand Miles Drunk, the thought of the quest causing the city assault to fail the moment their enemy managed to complete it had directed the four guild leaders to find the courage and form up a vanguard team that comprised of players with plenty of movement speed. Sprinting all the way over, they had all finally arrived at Yunjiao Lakeside before everyone else.

Gu Fei lifted his sword and flourished it with eager anticipation, but Xi Xiaotian had actually pulled him back, “Avoid fighting if we can help it! What if something were to happen to you? How much of a waste would it be if you end up failing your quest as a result?”

Gu Fei thought what she said made sense, so he decided to place emphasis on the bigger picture and the four of them chose to flee. There was no better location to hide in the region of Yunduan City than Yunjiao Lakeside. The four of them dove into the cover of the tall reeds, crawling in a way that made it impossible for anyone from outside to see.

“Head north,” Gu Fei said.

“We would be northbound if we swim right across from here,” Svelte Dancer was experienced.

“I have no problems with that,” Xi Xiaotian said.

When Royal God Call thought about the scene of the two beauties soaking wet with their deadly curves, his nosebleed almost came out as he giddily nodded his head.

“I don’t know how to swim,” Gu Fei confessed.

The three were stunned.

“What? Is it so bizarre to not know how to swim?” Gu Fei was disgruntled.

“How about this, the three of you will swim on over, while I’ll block here. It was Swindler Tian who was speaking with Courtney then anyway, so I believe you should be able to continue the quest line. You guys can go ahead and retrieve the tools,” Gu Fei said.

“Hmm? Are you thinking of staying back so you can slay people in the end?” Xi Xiaotian said.

“The terrain is very favorable,” Gu Fei smiled.

“Then we’re leaving now,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Go on,” Gu Fei pushed the tree away and abruptly jumped out from the reeds. He waved his arms and tossed out an AoE spell, yelling, “I’m about to start killing people; leave if you are not involved!”

This spell and the subsequent declaration he made frightened many players. All of them poked their heads out to observe their surroundings. Royal God Call turned back to look, and he could not help but sigh, “They are all paired up one man to one woman. How rare it is to behold such a scene!”

The players who were alerted had no idea what was happening. Those close to Gu Fei had noticed him to be the source of all the shouting, so they quickly asked, “Bro, what’s all this about?”

“You better leave soon. A PK fight is about to break out, look,” Gu Fei pointed to the vanguards that the four large guilds had sent in advance, all of them bounding down the hill ahead at breakneck speeds.

“Why are they PK-ing again!?” The players who were active in Yunjiao Lakeside had already experienced this plenty of times, and it was not that strange a sight for them to behold any longer. Thus, all of them began to very cooperatively leave the place. Xi Xiaotian turned around and saw everyone running in every direction, “We don’t have to swim anymore. We should capitalize on this chaos and run off along with them.”

Even though they would be going in a straight line if they swam, there was no way they could demonstrate the same movement speed as when they are on land, so even though circling around the lake would be a longer distance than swimming, they would actually be much quicker.

“Hey, use this chance to leave!” Svelte Dancer shouted at Gu Fei.

“You guys go ahead. I’ll cover your retreat,” Gu Fei shouted back.

“Violent Fei clearly wants to stay behind and PK,” Xi Xiaotian berated.

“The quest is going to fail if you die!” Svelte Dancer hollered.

“Relax, even if you die, I doubt I’ll meet the same fate!” Gu Fei beat his chest, bursting with confidence. Utilizing his Tang Style kungfu before, he had discovered that the terrain here in Yunjiao Lakeside was yet another location he was able to take on the masses just by himself. The only thing he was afraid of would be if the enemy’s Mages teaming up to bombard him together, but that hardly mattered when the enemy’s Mages were not here yet, right?

The three followed the scattered lovers and evacuated from the area. Quite a few had noticed Royal God Call being flanked by a beauty on each side and gave him a look of envy. Royal God Call instantly caught the looks that he was given and perfectly understood what they were alluding to. He was delighted with himself, appearing completely unfazed by it.

The vanguard came charging in like the blast of a gale. Gu Fei stood amidst the tall reeds, worried that the enemy might not know where he was. Seeing that they were about to draw in close, he bent low, and was now submerged among the vegetation.

However, these members of the four large guilds had plenty of combat experience by this time, and none of them acted rashly. Knowing that Thousand Miles Drunk could have either hid or fled, yet opted to make such a big scene disappearing. It was highly suspect. Everyone quickly reported back to their respective guild leaders, seeking their instructions.

“Is this another misdirection ploy?” The four guild leaders had just fallen victim to the same trick, and were particularly vigilant. “Where are those with him?”

“No clue.”

“D*mm*t, why didn’t you keep a closer eye on them!?”

“The moment the PK was about to break out, all the little lovers around began running out en masse. Everything was in a mess, and that made it really difficult to keep track of them!” The vanguards were all very helpless on this front.

“In such a scenario, why did Thousand Miles Drunk not take this opportunity to run away?” The four guild leaders were having quite the headache. None of them could guess Gu Fei’s intentions.

“Is he trying to distract us, or does he have some sort of ulterior motive that requires him to hang back?”

There were also core members from each of the four guilds among these vanguards, such as Youthful Reflection from Traversing Four Seas, and Folding Fan Invader from Carouse. Presently, both men were gathered together with the others, having a deep discussion about the possible intentions behind Thousand Miles Drunk’s actions. These hundreds of Agility-focused players had stopped before entering the reeds, all of them with their eyes peeled for movement from the tall reeds, not daring to make any rash moves.

The three person team that was among the pairs of lovers fleeing had already gotten away. Looking back, they saw how the enemy did not dare to advance on Gu Fei, all of them blankly stopping right beyond the reeds.

“What are those fools doing?” Royal God Call wondered out loud.

“They’ve had enough of being made a fool of, so it looks like they are unable to make sense of what we are doing,” Xi Xiaotian chuckled.

“Let’s forget about them. Let’s hurry up and get the quest items. Magical tools used for diving, I wonder what it is?” Svelte Dancer was eager to find out.

“The biggest problem with diving is the difficulty of breathing, right? So I believe it should be something we can use that would allow us to breathe freely underwater!” Xi Xiaotian guessed.

“That sounds pretty fun,” Svelte Dancer commented.

“Let’s make haste,” The three were no longer concerned with Gu Fei and sprinted off to their destination.

Gu Fei was squatting among the reeds, all alone. He had been waiting for the longest time, yet he saw no one coming over. The four large guilds had previously been completely taken advantage of when they tried to converge on Gu Fei while he was hiding among the reeds, so none of them were interested in playing with him any longer. They had all come to the same decision: They were all just waiting for their Mages to come and bombard the entire area. As the vanguards all had nothing to do at the moment, they were merely taking random potshots into the reeds as they kept their distance.

Gu Fei was left without a choice, and could only stand up to reveal his position, “Why aren’t any of you coming in?”

All he heard was the sharp whistle as a torrent of arrows sent his way in response.

Gu Fei quickly crouched for safety, Blinking away to reposition himself. He looked back and saw another wave of arrows that homed in like hornets back at the position he just evacuated from.

Nobody was willing to brave the reeds, and Gu Fei could not play on like this. Helpless, he begrudgingly took out a teleportation scroll.

A bask of white light appeared. An idiot among these vanguards cheered thunderously, “Thousand Miles Drunk has been slain!”

“I’ll slay your sister! Did anyone even attack that spot there?” Someone immediately chastised him.

“What’s going on?” The guild leaders from the four large guilds were still a bundle of nerves right now!

“He ran away using a teleportation scroll,” Someone reported.

“That’s trouble!!!” The four guild leaders were all dumbfounded. Now that they had completely lost any trace of their enemy once more, nobody had any idea where to go regarding their quest.

“It’s all that son of a gun’s fault!!” Oathless Sword was of course referring to Ye Xiaowu.

“That’s right! That jerk!” The others concurred.

—

Ye Xiaowu was all alone squatting in the 17th district.

He had been repeatedly targeted. As a defenseless little Priest, tricking the four guild leaders from the large guilds, why would they let him get away so easily? Before they sent him back to the nearest encampment, they had already informed the various guilds waiting. Thus, the moment Ye Xiaowu appeared in the spawn point, he had instantly become the target of a furious beating.

In no time, all 25 lives were used up, and Ye Xiaowu had essentially been removed from the event before he could even explain the situation to the four guild leaders.

Ye Xiaowu knew what Thousand Miles Drunk and the others would be doing next, but he simply did not have the power to stop them.

The four guild leaders had the power to prevent Thousand Miles Drunk and the others from completing the quest, yet they had no idea just what their next step would be.

And that was what led up to the impending tragedy.