Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-129

Chapter 129 - Who’s behind that tree?

“Let me do this…” Gu Fei refused to hand over his duty to Royal God Call despite the latter’s top-notch monster luring skill, as Gu Fei could only contribute by casting spells alongside the ladies if Royal God Call took over his task; would that not be boring and lacking thrill?

However, Royal God Call was so eager for a chance to repay Gu Fei that he insisted on being the one to lure monsters. Although Gu Fei kept on saying that he loved luring monsters, Royal God Call merely thought that his words were said out of courtesy.

Meanwhile, Drifting was feeling really nervous that the two were fighting over the right to lure monsters. He had stayed up the whole of last night checking the various level 50 monsters of Yunduan City from one corner to another before finally finding a place where he could calculate Gu Fei’s Spell Damage. Thus, he could not help but feel irate that Royal God Call had come out of nowhere and looked to be about to spoil his plans. “Stop fighting, you two. Just go and lure monsters together.” Drifting came up with to what he thought was an acceptable compromise; his goal of determining Gu Fei’s Spell Damage could be attained as long as the latter was able to lure monsters.

This suggestion would have easily been accepted by Royal God Call had it not come from Drifting’s mouth. As such, Royal God Call pursed his lips and threw him a steely look, “Are you trying to say that I can’t do it alone? Do you think that I don’t know how to play as an Archer?”

“Of course not,” Drifting answered hurriedly. Honest to god, Drifting did not intend to ridicule Royal God Call right now.

Sadly, that was how Royal God Call had taken his suggestion and he angrily shouted at Gu Fei, “Miles, let me do this. I’ll do all the monster luring over here!”

Gu Fei was helpless and could only step down while smiling wryly at Drifting.

Drifting was so annoyed that he nearly vomited blood. He thoroughly regretted having suggested the compromise as he only ended up riling Royal God Call to such a degree of foolhardiness. Even the wisest man could make mistakes occasionally.

Fortunately, there were still plenty of opportunities in the future; he refused to believe that Royal God Call would be able to follow them to grind levels every day. There would surely come a time in the future that he would discover Gu Fei’s Spell Damage. With that thought in mind, Drifting was relieved enough to smile again, “Then, let us begin!”

Grinding at this spot was indeed much easier than yesterday’s location. Even without Gu Fei’s or Drifting’s assistance, the ladies could beat the monsters to near death through their concerted efforts. Sometimes, someone would even luckily deal their highest damage, cleanly insta-killing the lured monsters.

Gu Fei threw some spells for quite a few waves and quickly became bored. I don’t even feel as if it matters if I’m here or not! Furthermore, he found it extremely vexing that he had to eat fruit after every four waves of monsters due to his low mana. The currently bored Gu Fei saw Luo Luo get to his side and warily asked her, “What?”

“Look how stressed out you are just from me getting near you,” Luo Luo smiled as she raised her hand to bestow Heal on to him. Gu Fei extended his hand and pushed her hand down, “Don’t waste that on me. Use it to someone who needs it the most—”

“You’re holding my hand,” Luo Luo interrupted.

Gu Fei smiled as he kept holding her hand. He did not feel the slightest embarrassed that he had purposefully pressed her hand down to stop her from bestowing Heal on him. What was a little physical contact between men and women nowadays? Only those with ill-intention would mind such a superficial action.

Luo Luo’s smile slightly wavered. She was about to say something when Gu Fei suddenly shouted, “Who’s there?!”

“What?” Luo Luo looked at her back and saw no one there.

“There’s someone behind that tree,” Gu Fei said as he pointed to a spot. He then started walking toward the area he had just indicated. With how things were currently, his departure barely affected the grinding of the party.

Luo Luo trailed her eyes to where Gu Fei had pointed and saw a lone tree a few meters away.

“I don’t see anyone,” Luo Luo muttered to herself as she followed him over. She too felt that her participation in the party’s level grinding did not matter much. Originally, fighting monsters ten levels above them should be a dangerous task, such as Will-low needing Luo Luo’s constant Heal to survive the level grinding yesterday. But since the ones pulling the monsters today were gaming experts and had long-range job classes, Luo Luo could only blankly watch them without needing to use her skills. Feeling bored, she decided to tease Gu Fei for a bit but she got stopped by him in the end. It was all because she was ‘bored’.

The others looked on as the two headed toward a tree with Luo Luo following behind Gu Fei. Very quickly, they all retracted their gazes from the two with a knowing smile on their faces and feigned ignorance of what had just occurred.

“Wait for me!” Luo Luo shouted.

Gu Fei stopped walking and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“What if it’s dangerous?” Luo Luo asked back instead.

“That’s precisely why I’m asking you what you’re doing here,” Gu Fei reemphasized his previous question. Danger lurked everywhere in the game, and Yunduan City was no exception. A majority of people in Yunduan City had heard stories of the evil-doers that would ‘farm’ solo players’ equipment, so most players now grinded in parties rather than by themselves in order to ward off these evil men.

“I’m coming with you to heal you!” Luo Luo smiled as she said this.

Gu Fei was helpless and just let her be. He slowed down his pace to match Luo Luo’s as they made their way around the tree. They spotted half the back of a person’s figure prone on the base of the tree. Seeing the person’s figure and shoulder-length hair, it seemed that the person was a she.

Ah. So what I actually saw just then was this person dropping on the ground, Gu Fei muttered to himself as Luo Luo bent over. Tapping the person’s shoulder lightly, she asked, “Hello?” She took a quick look at the person’s face and turned her head to Gu Fei, “This lady’s a beauty. Your eyes sure are quite sharp.”

Gu Fei did not respond to her teasing.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Please wake up!” Luo Luo became anxious when the beauty remained motionless after getting tapped by her. Holding the lady’s shoulders, Luo Luo gave them a few firm shakes.

Gu Fei could clearly see the lady’s features now that her face was turned toward him and he immediately froze.

Vast Lushness. She was the demoness who was responsible for the hardships of countless players in Yueye City in the past. In addition, she was the one that that had forced Will-low and her friends to leave their home city.

When Gu Fei and the rest of Young Master’s Elite mercenary group left Yueye City, the all out war between the behemoth Past Deeds Guild and the allied small guilds had only just begun. He did not even bother to find out how things had turned out in Yueye City ever since his departure. A month had passed since then. Vast Lushness’ sudden appearance here made Gu Fei wonder how the large-scale guild war had turned out.

Vast Lushness finally opened her eyes after experiencing Luo Luo’s violent shaking. Her glazed over eyes slowly regained their awareness as she sat up while looking at them, “You two are….”“Were you… sleeping?” Luo Luo asked in disbelief; she actually mistakenly thought that something serious had befallen the lady.

Vast Lushness nodded her head, “It has been forever since I last logged off. I only wanted to rest for a bit behind this tree, but I accidentally fell asleep instead.”

“What are you doing here?” Luo Luo asked, perplexed.

“I’m looking for Yunduan City. Is this near Yunduan City? Are you Yunduan City’s players? That’s great! I finally met other players,” Vast Lushness happily picked herself up. She was talking to Luo Luo at first, but her gaze instinctively shifted to Gu Fei when she said ‘players’. Her gaze did not shift after that as it stayed on Gu Fei for the longest time.

Black mask, black mage robes, and a purple blade gleaming with dark luster... The image was burned deeply into Vast Lushness’ mind.

However, Gu Fei was not wearing a mask right now. He also kept Moonlit Nightfalls into his dimensional pocket when he realized that it was her. Vast Lushness could not identify him solely from the robe alone; black mage robes were no longer as rare as before, after all.

Gu Fei had yet to make a sound and only Luo Luo spoke to her, “You wish to head to Yunduan City?”

Vast Lushness finally switched her gaze from Gu Fei to Luo Luo as she nodded her head in affirmation, “Yup. I’m from Yueye City, so I don’t know the way. I got lost after crossing the Oolong Mountain Range. I’ve been running around this map for so long, but I’ve yet to meet anyone. I’m only at level 30 so I don’t dare to wander off too far. It’s a good thing that I met you two.”

“Wah! You’re only at level 30…” Luo Luo exclaimed, saying, “This is a level 50 grinding map!”

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t dare to move any further. I have to be careful with every step I take, as dying will send me back to Yueye City since I have yet to log off over at a safe zone in Yunduan City,” Vast Lushness affirmed.

Currently, most players were around level 38 to 40, and those at level 30 were basically new players who had just started playing Parallel World for a few days. Vast Lushness was a veteran player when the game was still in beta. She was already at level 30 last month, yet she was still at level 30 right now; it was obvious which side had won the guild war in Yueye City. For Vast Lushness to not even be able to raise one level this entire month, it seemed that she had quite the tough time.

She was looking the part of someone who had not gone offline for so long as well, as her eyes were bloodshot and her face looked haggard. Luo Luo sympathetically tugged on her hand and said, “We’re grinding our levels over there. You should join us as well. We’ll bring you back to the city together later.”

“Thank you so much,” Vast Lushness nodded her head.

Just as she was about to tag along, a voice suddenly rang out, “Over there!”

The three looked toward the voice’s origin and saw a number of players running down the hill toward them. Vast Lushness’s face visibly paled as she sighed, “They found me.”

“Who are they?” Luo Luo’s inquisitive spirit was piqued.

“They are people of Yueye City who are hunting me… I have many enemies; our guild has been hunted constantly ever since we lost to them. To think that they would find their way here,” Vast Lushness admitted to them.

Luo Luo stared at Gu Fei, clearly wanting him to make a decision. If they were to help Vast Lushness, Gu Fei would have to do the attacking; as a Priest, Luo Luo could not make any form of decision in this situation.

However, Gu Fei remained noncommittal regarding the situation. Answering a cry for justice was a chance he had been waiting for quite a long time, yet reality always seemed to always make fun of people, especially him, for the person Gu Fei currently needed to help was none other than Vast Lushness… This woman was not a good person, even though her current predicament was quite pitiful. That’s right! Where is her husband? Where has that guy called Silver Moon gone off to? Gu Fei was still muttering this to himself when the men from downhill arrived before them. These men wore a shocked expression upon seeing the three.

“It’s you?” one person facing them addressed Luo Luo.

Gu Fei raised his head and looked at the bounty hunters. F*ck, these men are no good either. The one in charge of this lot was the person that that had gone incognito for a while: No Smile.