Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-193

Chapter 193 - Improvisation

Gu Fei’s Magic Attack Power was terrifyingly high and it could insta-kill many people. In fact, any job class with low HP would have no way of surviving his spells. Right now, however, he was facing three Guardians that had allocated most of their points toward Endurance and were holding three shields with high magic defense. Given all these, it was not surprising for Gu Fei to be unable to insta-kill the three.

As for the other seven players that were also hiding behind the shields, they were essentially unaffected by Gu Fei’s spell. This was because the system had merely calculated the damage dealt toward the ones’ holding the shields when Descending Wheel of Flames had landed on the enemies.

At this moment, Sword Demon finished appraising the three Guardians holding the shields. “What the...” Sword Demon lost a bit of his calm demeanor and read the traits aloud, “Bulwark of Imprisonment. Absorbs 50% of Physical Damage as well as Spell Damage. Boosts both physical and magic defense by another 30%. Adds 20 points to Endurance. Holy… And they have three of those?!”

“Don’t forget; that’s just the boost from the shields. If we add in the defense they receive from their other equipment, their defensive ability is basically off the charts! Any kinds of attacks would just be child’s play to them!” Royal God Call’s face lost its color as he said this. Adding all the equipment the three men had on them, even the strongest skill, Snipe, in Royal God Call’s arsenal would barely put a scratch on them.

“I may still be of use… I can probably avoid their shields and attack them from behind by using Backstab and Bludgeon,” Sword Demon grimaced. However, the thing was that all ten enemies were closely packed together, and the remaining seven would of course be standing close behind the three Guardians, so how would Sword Demon find the opportunity to actually ambush those Guardians from behind?

“Looks like it’s up to me,” Gu Fei took a few steps forward and raised his sword, “Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno! Arise!”

Gu Fei had sadly not allocated any points to Spirit or Intelligence, so his spells could not be casted out instantly and needed a brief moment to actually take effect. That brief moment was enough for the opponents to prepare for his upcoming spell attack, as any skilled player could tell where a spell would be casted by just looking at the where a Mage was pointing at. Gu Fei’s chanting was also rather loud, not hiding the fact that he was casting a spell at them. It was as if he was trying to see just how his opponents would react.

If I cast a Descending Wheel of Flames, they will definitely raise their shields upward to defend against it. But a spell that emerges from the ground can surely inflict damage on them, right? What else could they do? Lay those shields down and step on them?

Who knew that the enemies would do exactly that? The three Guardians deftly lay their Bulwark of Imprisonment down on the ground and the other seven men hopped on the shields. By the time the flames of Gu Fei’s spell finally sprouted from the ground and spread around, the ten men were already comfortably standing on the shields.

“They can even do that?!” Gu Fei was in tears.

“Your spell-casting time is really…” Sword Demon and Royal God Call were at a loss for words. Actually, the opponents’ approach would not have worked had they met a different Mage with quick casting time. Dispersing among themselves, making enough room to put the three large shields on the ground, and hopping on to the shields. These methodical steps of theirs needed time, and it was only due to Gu Fei’s slow casting time that they could pull all those off before the flames rose from the ground.

“Wait. Let me try casting two spells on them at once,” Gu Fei told the two as he fished out an apple to munch on. Casting four high-mana-consuming AOE spells was Gu Fei’s current limit, and he had already cast three AOE spells ever since this match started.

“No need.” Sword Demon said, “Given how easy it is to avoid your spells with your slow casting speed, I’m certain they’ve only done that to see how high your Spell Damage is.”

It was exactly as what Sword Demon had said. A small gap appeared between the two shields just as the three Guardians once more placed their shields before them. Silver Moon emerged from that gap and spoke, “Miles bro, your Spell Damage is indeed terrifying!”

Gu Fei eked out a smile. He was currently eating an apple, so he could not reply to him.

“Are your three other companions not coming over?” Silver Moon’s eyes rested on Young Master Han, Brother Assist, and War Without Wounds that were standing at a distance.

Gu Fei was still munching on his apple, so he did not respond to him. This resulted into Royal God Call interjecting, “Is there a need to send our full force just to deal with you guys?”

As Sword Demon and Gu Fei glared at him fiercely, Royal God Call feebly explained, “Those are just words people use to set the stage….”

“Royal, what you just said really resonated with me!” Gu Fei finally finished munching on the apple he had in his hand and said this, “There’s indeed no need to send everyone; just me will do.”

Sword Demon’s fierce glare shifted from Royal God Call to Gu Fei. In his mind, ‘Miles’ was not someone who would act recklessly or foolishly like this. Just the three Guardians were already hard to handle, and Silver Moon had not even activated his skill yet, so Sword Demon was thinking that they should not be taking this ten-man group too lightly.

Royal God Call was now glaring at Gu Fei as well, with his mouth opening wide agape, “What are you trying to do?”

“Let’s move a bit closer to them.” Gu Fei was about to step forward when Sword Demon held him back and said, “Are you intending to blink into their formation? That’s useless, since you can’t insta-kill them. You won’t be able to display your ability no matter how skilled you are if they gang up and squeeze you in!”

It was a realistic problem that arose during PvP due to Parallel World being a full-immersion game. Therefore, having the ability to insta-kill opponents was a necessity if anyone wished to fight with many in-game. If a person was unable to take lives with his or her every strike, then the opponents would just bear the damage inflicted on them and squeeze him or her in. How could the person fight if he or she could not even extend an arm and or a leg? This was the strategy that Foe-herder had hesitated to use against Gu Fei during their skirmish to prove the latter’s identity as the sole male Mage in Amethyst Rebirth.

“Relax. I’m not that dumb,” Gu Fei reassuringly patted Sword Demon on his back, “Assist me when the time comes.” With that, he walked toward the ten men alone.

A distance away, Young Master Han became stunned when he saw Gu Fei’s action, so he asked Brother Assist, “Has that guy gone mad? Is he intending to take them all by himself?”

“I think so,” Brother Assist replied, equally shocked.

Silver Moon and his men were also very surprised by Gu Fei’s action of going to them by himself, uncertain of what to make of it.

“What now boss? Do we still go according to plan?” someone asked Silver Moon.

“Stick to the original plan,” Silver Moon gritted his teeth, “This Mage is scary. The rest will be easy to handle once we eliminate him.”

The rest of them nodded their heads as they readied themselves. Gu Fei was closing in on them with his every step. Twenty meters… Fifteen meters… Ten meters… The atmosphere was growing tenser the closer Gu Fei got to the enemies. But then, he suddenly stopped walking forward. The whole scene froze.

“What is he up to?” Silver Moon’s men were all quite nervous now.

They might have three pieces of Bulwark of Imprisonment to protect them, but Gu Fei’s Spell Damage was still scarily high. Therefore, those who were not holding on to the Bulwark of Imprisonment felt inexorably nervous. The seven men subconsciously pressed themselves closer to the three Guardians.

Gu Fei was not actually doing anything special. He had only stopped advancing forward because he had received a message from Young Master Han: “What do you intend to do?”

“Improvising,” Gu Fei answered.

“Even if you die, you hafta take down at least three or five of them,” Young Master Han said.

“I’ll do my best,” Gu Fei answered. With that, he continued his forward advance and the distance between him and the ten men was slowly reduced to just five meters. From his current position, he could clearly see Silver Moon’s shameless mug as well as the other men’s nervous expression.

The enemies’ anxiety reached another height when Gu Fei slowed down his steps. They still could not fathom Gu Fei’s intention. As a Mage, wasn’t he simply courting death by getting closer to them?

Four meters… Three meters… Gu Fei was still moving closer to them. Silver Moon could not take it any longer. Swiftly taking something out of his dimensional pocket, he swung that item about and commanded, “CHARGE!”

Although the command he had given was ‘charge’, the men had actually huddled even closer behind the shields, with not even a human figure in sight. As Gu Fei was wondering if this was a variation of the command ‘charge’, golden light shone from within the clustered men. Silver Moon had activated his skill that boosted his party’s stats. Following this, the three Guardians suddenly charged toward Gu Fei with the shields still held before them. There were gaps between the shields, and the Warriors’ claymores extended outward from them like lances.

“It’s the Charge skill!” Gu Fei instantly realized. With the enemies being hidden from view by the shield wall, he failed to see the men’s starting motion for the activation of the skill.

Silver Moon’s King’s Command was currently in effect, so the speed at which these Warriors were charging at Gu Fei was swifter and fiercer than any charging attack that he had experienced before. Five men were responsible for using Charge on him, and they were charging at him while lining up in a horizontal line, stacking the three great shields closely together with two claymores sticking out between the gap in the shields.

No matter how fast one’s speed and reaction time was, it was practically impossible to dodge these charging Warriors in this proximity after they had been buffed by Silver Moon. Gu Fei was currently standing just less than three meters away from the charging men, and even Svelte Dancer on Fleetfoot would not be able to escape this charging attack under such short range. However, there was perhaps only one person in Parallel World that could properly dodge this attack right now, and that was Gu Fei. To be specific, it was the Gu Fei since last night. After all, it was only last night that Gu Fei had obtained the skill for instantaneous movement to a faraway location: Blink.

At the moment that the enemies’ claymores and shields were about to slam into him, Gu Fei casted Blink. A swish softly echoed about as he dissolved into nothingness in his standing position. With the boost of speed from both Silver Moon’s skill and their Charge, the five men were blindly rushing ahead, unaware that Gu Fei was no longer before them as their sights were blocked by the large shields.

Behind the five charging men, the remaining five – two Knights, one Warrior, one Priest, and Silver Moon himself – were running slightly slower behind. The entire team was currently glowing brightly in the same golden color that was beaming from the King’s Blade that was owned by Silver Moon.

These remaining five either did not have the Charge skill or chose to not use it. Merely running after the two Warriors and three Guardians that had stampeded forward, they saw a sudden crack and distortion of the air before them, and in the next instant, Gu Fei had already appeared right before their eyes.

While they were still reeling from this shocking development, Gu Fei already wielded his sword at them, “Twin Incineration! Incinerate!” His black sword shone with purple luster as he slashed at Silver Moon and the two Knights before him with Twin Incineration.

These men’s stats were boosted by King’s Command, yet they were still no match for Gu Fei’s Magic Attack Power. The two Knights were killed off by his one sword strike, and only Silver Moon managed to survive his attack.

Silver Moon was fully equipped with top-grade equipment, so his magic defense was rather high. This was also the case when he was at level 30. Now that he was at level 40, the equipment he had on him was an entire grade better. As for Gu Fei, his proficiency with Twin Incineration had also increased by leaps and bounds since their last confrontation, and he had also learned to mix his swordsmanship with spells. Nonetheless, this increase in Gu Fei’s damage output was not as significant as Silver Moon’s increase in defense and HP.

Just like in Yueye City, Gu Fei was still unable to insta-kill Silver Moon right now.