Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-226

Chapter 226 - Where is the trap?

Inside Ray’s Bar, the two teams drank liquor rather amiably. Gu Fei kept the equipment Svelte Dancer had lent him as Brave Surge busily made his calculations.

If the item truly had 73% magic resistance, then it would almost be like having a cheat. Normally, he would have to hit Gu Fei with Descending Wheel of Flames thrice to kill the latter off. If Gu Fei wore the coat, it would take eleven of those spells to finish him off… That was a really high requirement.

Although Water Flower mercenary group was under Carouse Guild, the strength of the guild and mercenary group was not really the same. This was mainly because of the member limitation each type of organization had. While Carouse Guild could create a spell bombardment consisting of over one hundred Mages, Water Flower mercenary group with its eighty members could not. Creating an all-Mage mercenary group was not probable as defeating a team that did not have a balanced job class distribution was as easy as pie. With such a condition, Water Flower would have a hard time employing a Mage formation.

Water Flower was already on the weaker side, but with Gu Fei bringing an item with 73% magic resistance, the group’s Mages would be nothing more than match sticks for him.

How on Earth are we going to fight him? Looks like I have to come up with a whole new plan! Brave Surge started to ponder on the matter for a while.

Not much time was left until the match’s start. All were constantly checking the time, wanting their involvement in this awkward drinking session to end. When someone mumbled, “It’s almost time,” the rest of them hurriedly voiced their assent and quickly stood up from their seats. Everyone said to either side, “See you on the map.” With tacit understanding, Young Master’s Elite left the bar via the left door while Water Flower exited the establishment through the right door. Both sides also took different routes to head over to the teleportation array.

The pre-PvP meeting that had turned into a quiet drinking session due to Brave Surge’s sudden appearance had to be conducted on the road, instead. Since Young Master Han was a member of Carouse Guild, he provided the information about their opponents for today’s match given that the members of Water Flower mercenary group were made up of the elites of Carouse.

All, except for Sword Demon, gawked at Young Master Han when he recited with ease the details of all the eighty members of Water Flower. Most of them zoned him out near the end, yet they were all impressed at Young Master Han’s nearly eidetic memory. Even Brother Assist had to refer to his information booklet when giving out information.

“That’s eighty people!” The six of them arrived by the teleportation array when they said this. Actually, Royal God Call was still counting with his fingers the number of players Young Master Han had mentioned as they entered the ‘changing room’, “Is that all eighty of them?”

“Yup!” Brother Assist nodded his head. Having ample knowledgeable of statistics and data collection, he could not help but exclaim, “It’s such a waste for you to not do information gathering!”

“Any field that doesn’t have me suffers a loss,” Young Master Han said.

Everyone was no longer in the mood to praise him upon hearing his bragging.

“Since you have a good understanding of the entire Water Flower, does that mean that you are certain of our victory for this match?” Brother Assist asked.

“It’s somewhat useful, but that’s hardly relevant,” Young Master Han replied, saying, “I just enjoy seeing you guys look on me with admiration as I speak!”

“Get lost!” Everyone immediately glared at him contemptuously, making sure to put as much hate in their eyes.

With not much time left until the match’s start, seventy-two players of Water Flower hurriedly entered the ‘changing room’. It seemed that the remaining eight members had something on and would not be participating in the match. In no time at all, the ten-second countdown ended and both sides were transported into the real PvP arena, officially beginning the semifinals of the mercenary PvP tournament.

“Where’s the high ground?!” They all limbered up and impatiently asked this of Young Master Han.

Young Master Han snorted, “Many people thought they could see through me, yet they were sorely mistaken.”

“Fine! We’re all mistaken! Stop playing mind games with us and just tell us of your plan! Otherwise, I’m just gonna go and face them head on.” Gu Fei could no longer stand his cryptic words.

“Follow me!” Young Master Han headed forward. The five men exchanged looks before following Young Master Han. Brother Assist once more tried to find some confidence from Sword Demon, yet he did not get his wish this time, as Sword Demon’s current expression showed a hint of doubt. “Sword Demon…” Brother Assist’s voice trembled as he called out.

Sword Demon offered without prompting, “There was this one time that someone had guessed his intention, so he intentionally changed the original plan to something else. After that—”

“Did you lose?” Brother Assist anxiously interrupted.

“No. We won. But our losses were greater than what we would have incurred had we stuck to the original plan. Even the guy who had figured out his plan was among the casualties,” Sword Demon answered.

“Wow. He is really vicious!” Gu Fei, who was eavesdropping on Brother Assist and Sword Demon’s conversation, could not help but exclaim this.

“Is he going to send us all to our death?” Royal God Call asked with trepidation.

“He can’t do that if everyone’s at fault! Didn’t everyone shout at him just now?” Brother Assist asked.

“I didn’t shout,” Sword Demon replied.

“I, too,” Gu Fei seconded.

“You’re lying! I was right beside you, so I clearly heard your shout,” Royal God Call exposed Gu Fei.

“Calm down, young man. While you only have the possibility of Young Master sending you to your death, I can guarantee that you will die if you insist on claiming I shouted at him just now,” Gu Fei threatened.

“I’m not gonna live either way, anyway; each of you is more fiendish than the last.” Royal God Call was in tears.

The five did not say anything more when Young Master Han brought them inside a forest. After a short distance, Young Master Han stopped and turned around. The sunlight filtering through the leaves of the surrounding trees illuminated his face. His expression looked even more sinister under that mottled light, giving the five men goosebumps.

“Alright. Climb up!” Young Master Han suddenly ordered.

“Up where?” the five men asked cautiously.

“Up the tree,” Young Master Han slapped the tree beside him.

“Oh. Just up the tree…” The five men sighed in relief before hurriedly asking, “Why are we going up the tree?”

“It’s a tactic!” Young Master Han answered.

“Tactic?” The five expressed their skepticism as they were wary of being tormented by Young Master Han.

Young Master Han decided to set himself as an example and had Sword Demon give him a boost to climb up the tree first. Once he climbed high enough, he looked around for a bit before calling the others to join him. “Miles and Royal, you two climb up first.”

The two were stunned. Honestly speaking, they had been the most vocal in ordering Young Master Han to head to a high ground. Royal God Call was a teenager, so naturally he did not care about the volume of his voice when speaking. As for Gu Fei, being a teacher had made him used to raising his voice to get the attention of an entire class, so he somewhat failed to realize how loud he was. Is this truly a trap to take revenge on us? the two thought to themselves.

“I can’t climb up the tree!” Royal God Call immediately tried to escape.

“I’ll help you up!” War Without Wounds was naturally glad to see Royal God Call suffer, so he quickly grabbed a hold of the escaping Royal God Call.

“Wounds, you *ssh*le! Go eat sh*t!” Royal God Call cursed.

War Without Wounds was not bothered by his cursing and merely found a low hanging branch to toss Royal God Call over. Royal God Call attempted to jump down from the low hanging branch, yet War Without Wounds sadistically positioned the tip of his sword toward Royal God Call. Royal God Call quickly grabbed on to the tree trunk once he realized what would happen to him if he fell.

“Over there. Head over there,” Young Master Han directed Royal God Call to a certain section of the tree.

Royal God Call carefully moved atop the tree, occasionally checking for an opportunity to drop to the ground. Unfortunately for him, War Without Wounds was keeping an eye on him from below. Gu Fei joined War Without Wounds in staring at him, even sending him a message, “Just check it out. Don’t worry; I'll save you if there’s danger.” Royal God Call felt helpless in this situation. He could only cry bitter tears inside for having acquired such a vile bunch of friends.

With Young Master Han’s direction, Royal God Call climbed higher and higher up the tree. He no longer had any intention of ‘accidentally’ taking a misstep and falling to the ground with how high he was up the tree. Instead, he began to gingerly test the sturdiness of the tree branches. He would not put it past Young Master Han to do something like make him stand on a tree branch that could not hold his weight.

Truly, deciphering Young Master Han’s thoughts was a difficult affair. As Royal God Call safely got to his designated spot, his inbox immediately burst into activity. “So how is it? Is there anything unusual up there?” Gu Fei and the rest inquired. They used me as a guinea pig! Royal God Call was angry at everyone’s inquiry.

“Miles, you should hurry up, too. Get over to that position right there,” Young Master Han instructed as he pointed toward another location atop the tree. He then called out to the other three men, “Everyone, come on up. Randomly find a place to hide.”

War Without Wounds had the highest Strength among them, so he officially became the helper of everyone to climb up the tree. Lifting Brother Assist and Sword Demon up the tree, he then turned his gaze over to Gu Fei.

“No need,” Gu Fei refused his aid. Pointing his finger to a certain tree branch, he said, “Translocation! Blink!” With a swish, Gu Fei was already standing on that spot.

“I know you don’t need my help; I want you to give me a boost!” War Without Wounds fumed.

Gu Fei glanced at his burly frame before neutrally asking, “Is that even possible?”

Indeed, getting War Without Wounds up the tree was problematic. Only after a few of them worked together did they manage to pull him up the tree.

Gu Fei sighed repeatedly once he saw War Without Wounds’ clumsy posture on a tree branch, “I think it’s best if you don’t join us up here!” He then proceeded to lift Sword Demon up the tree as he continued to teleport himself from branch to branch.

“Good. Train your Blink skill a bit more. You’ll be using it shortly,” Young Master Han said.

“Okay. What now? What do we do next?” Brother Assist asked. Besides War Without Wounds, everyone else was already in position.

“We’re waiting for Brave Surge to find us,” Young Master Han replied with a slight smile.

“What if he can’t find us?”

“Of course, he will. If Foe-herder could find us, why couldn’t he?”

“Then, what do we do after that?” This was what everyone was really concerned about.

“This entire forest is a trap prepared for them.”

“Oh!” Everyone sighed in relief. It turned out that Young Master Han at least had the decency to exclude them from this trap for Brave Surge and his men.