Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-268

Chapter 268 - A Bizarre Death

Gu Fei headed to the coordinates Xi Xiaotian had given him as he typed on the mercenary channel: “The last person isn’t at the place you mentioned. I’ll head over to her location now to take care of her!”

“Her? The last person is a woman?!” It could not be denied that all were talented in their own ways. War Without Wounds and Royal God Call were more affected by this detail, so their response came faster than Young Master Han’s.

“Mmm...” Gu Fei replied nonchalantly.

“Is she a babe?” the two quickly asked.

“Yeah…” Gu Fei could not refute this truth!

“Where is she?!” the two demanded in unison.

As Gu Fei reported the coordinates, Royal God Call laughed maniacally, “Hey, Wounds, do you think you can get there faster than me?”

“Stop squabbling and maintain a clean channel, you lot!” Young Master Han irritably ordered. What was the point of maintaining a clean channel now that they had gotten to this stage of the fight, though?

“Are you sure that this person is at the location you have indicated?” Young Master Han asked. Honestly speaking, the difference in her location and the coordinates Young Master Han had given was a slap to this narcissist’s face.　　

“This…” Young Master Han’s question made Gu Fei hesitate. Xi Xiaotian was a swindler, after all! What if this was just an elaborate ruse? Besides, she had told him prior to the match that she was very despicable… There was no way things were as simple as it seemed!

“Sword Demon, you should still head over to the forest I’ve indicated just in case!” Young Master Han could tell that Gu Fei was uncertain.

“Got it!” Sword Demon acknowledged and left.

Young Master Han could no longer continue enjoying his drink while sitting. Tossing the bottle away, he got up and looked at the location Gu Fei had mentioned. Eventually, he glumly said, “Sword Demon, no need to head there. That person is really in the location Miles has mentioned.”

“Eh?”

“The person is really at the coordinates Miles has mentioned,” Young Master Han repeated.

Brother Assist, who was beside Young Master Han, also saw a solitary figure standing at the said location and attested to this.

“Oh. I’ll head over there, then,” Gu Fei declared as he resumed his progress to the location.

“I’m going, as well.” Royal God Call would never miss a chance like this to look at a woman.

“Miles, will you be lenient to this babe?” War Without Wounds asked tentatively.

“Nope,” Gu Fei answered firmly.　　

“Sigh... I won’t head over, then.” War Without Wounds was expecting his answer after witnessing Gu Fei’s previous merciless assault against Amethyst Rebirth. This PvP fanatic certainly did not know of the concept of chivalry toward women.

“You guys go ahead; I’ll update you all if she makes any further movement,” Young Master Han instructed and sat down once more. Fishing out a bottle of liquor, he readied himself to demonstrate his ability to discern coordinates easily. However, the person merely stood at the same location and did not move to leave. Young Master Han felt slightly aggrieved at this, as he could not demonstrate this talent of his.

Gu Fei sprinted over to the given coordinates. Royal God Call, for his part, progressed toward the final member of The Black Hand quite differently. He headed east for a bit before proceeding to the west. He then veered slightly to the north and then to the south. In the end, he moaned on the mercenary channel: “I can’t find the coordinates at all!”

“Ha ha ha ha! You’re an idiot with no sense of direction! To think you wanna take a look at this babe. Get yourself lost in the forest, instead!” It was War Without Wounds’ turn to gloat.

“Young Master, help! Tell me where to go!” Royal God Call implored.

“Forget it. Miles is already there. He’ll probably kill the enemy in two seconds tops. Just stay where you are!” was Young Master Han’s lackadaisical response. Royal God Call’s poor sense of direction was extremely troublesome. While Gu Fei and Sword Demon only needed to hear the coordinates to navigate around, Royal God Call required constant directions, which wasted a lot of his effort and time. Eventually, he just randomly provided him a direction to run in a straight line, leaving the latter to encounter the enemies hiding in the map by chance! Royal God Call had Eagle Eye, anyway, so he was more than capable of discovering the enemies by himself.

Over by the open field at 398, 137, Xi Xiaotian was motionlessly sitting by herself when she saw Gu Fei get near her. Gu Fei stopped when he was three meters away from Xi Xiaotian and stared at her with vigilance.

“You’re here!” Xi Xiaotian cheerfully stood up.

“Yup. You’re the only one left in your team now; do we even need to fight? Just forfeit!” Gu Fei said. Although forfeiting from the match would essentially remove the kill point she presented for the match, Young Master’s Elite would still attain a ‘perfect victory’.

“What? Afraid of fighting me?” Xi Xiaotian taunted as she raised her bandage-wrapped fists, strongly resembling a Fighter. Gu Fei remembered that her job class was an Archer, though!

“Are you sure you want to fight with me? You know I don’t pull my punches!” Gu Fei reminded her. When they had first met each other, Gu Fei had wounded Xi Xiaotian by hitting her with a flying dagger. That was the first and only time Gu Fei had heavily injured someone in Parallel World; his PvP encounters afterward were never that brutal. He did not know if this was due to the players being low level or the equipment being mediocre that made it easy to inflict heavy injury… He even wondered if the game company had judged that such wounds were too realistic and discreetly adjusted the settings....

To be fair, games that depicted such severe injuries were a little overkill. The ultimate theme of most games was combat, so players would often engage in fights to increase their PvP might. For an injury to be so realistically depicted… Was this a game or a form of capital punishment?

“Don’t worry; I have lots of experience getting killed. I’ve seen all sorts of formation by now!” Xi Xiaotian giggled.

“If that’s the case…” Gu Fei pulled out his sword. He was never hesitant to be merciless at anyone; it was just that Xi Xiaotian seemed to always have some sort of scheme in motion whenever they crossed paths.

“Translocation! Blink!” Gu Fei chanted at a volume that only he and the system could register. Most expert Mages had grasped this chanting technique by now. Rumors even had it that Mages in Parallel World could clearly vocalize in hushed tones the lyrics of songs whenever they visited karaoke lounges!

Gu Fei appeared behind Xi Xiaotian in the same moment he disappeared before her. Xi Xiaotian had clearly picked up a thing or two after being hunted often in Parallel World; instinctively realizing the danger that was about to befall her, she quickly sidestepped and gleefully turned around, “Ha ha! You’ve fallen for my trap—”

Xi Xiaotian halted her words at the sight of Gu Fei pointing a sword to the ground. Although her trap indeed got sprung, its jaws were actually clamping tightly on to Gu Fei’s sword.

Gu Fei was all smiles. “The times you got killed must be lower than the times I killed.” After saying this, he unearthed the trap with his sword and pried it off, “The fact that you made it to level 40 goes to show that you’re lying about having ‘lots of experience dying’.”

“He he… You got me.” Xi Xiaotian was still calm.

“Your movement is too slow. I clearly remember you being nimble from before… What changed?” Gu Fei asked.

“You can tell that from the steps I took?!” Xi Xiaotian asked, feeling shocked.

“Of course. I’m an expert fighter, after all,” Gu Fei replied.

“You’re very formidable, indeed. More than what the rumors say,” Xi Xiaotian sighed.

“Thanks for the praise. What exactly are you up to, anyway?” The more Gu Fei thought about this, the more he felt that there was more to this than what met the eye. Xi Xiaotian could not have possibly called him over just to ensnare him with her Hunting Trap, right? Even if Gu Fei had stepped on to the trap, it would have only limited his mobility; anyone trapped would still be able to conduct attacks. Moreover, Gu Fei could have sent an attack or two her way with how slow Xi Xiaotian had dodged his first strike just then.

“He he… Make a guess!” Xi Xiaotian teased.

“Sigh… Forget it. It’s getting quite late, so let’s end this!” Gu Fei lifted his sword and got right up to Xi Xiaotian in one step. She tried dodging his attack once more, but her movement speed was really too slow today. Gu Fei no longer wished to continue playing this guessing game and merely chanted Twin Incineration’s incantation under his breath as he unhesitatingly delivered an oblique cut at her.

White light engulfed his vision.

Gu Fei had never encountered an Archer that could not be insta-killed by his Twin Incineration, and Xi Xiaotian was no exception. Except… Gu Fei felt that the beam of white light was larger than normal. It was almost as if it was including him, as well!

“What is going on here?!” Gu Fei was astounded upon seeing his HP get reduced to zero in an instant. Still basking in the white light, Xi Xiaotian’s right hand mimed holding a gun and she pointed it to Gu Fei before taking aim with one eye closed, “Bang!”

Xi Xiaotian disappeared, dragging the flabbergasted and bewildered Gu Fei with her.

The remaining five players in the PvP arena were shocked to receive the system notification for Gu Fei’s death.

“What sort of demoness is she? She actually managed to commit double-suicide with the Terminator-like Miles!” War Without Wounds exclaimed in disbelief.

“Young Master, did you see what had happened on the mountain?” Sword Demon was equally surprised. With Gu Fei’s ability to decimate even a ten-man group easily, just what sort of person could actually take down Gu Fei alone? Although the woman died as well, this was still an unbelievable feat.

Young Master Han and Brother Assist exchanged looks. The two had actually been chatting and had not been monitoring the fight’s direction. Thus, both of them did not have the slightest idea on what had caused the death of Gu Fei.

“Let’s ask Miles. He knows that woman; maybe he can tell us how he got assassinated…” Brother Assist suggested.

“F*ck!” Young Master Han threw the bottle of liquor in his hand down the mountain. The system began tabulating the match’s result and Gu Fei’s death caused Young Master’s Elite to be unable to achieve ‘perfect victory’. Brother Assist saw Young Master Han’s dissatisfaction over this outcome and hurriedly consoled him, “It’s still fine. The game official clearly said before that ‘perfect victory’ will only affect the experience point and gold coin rewards and won’t affect the special prize in any way.”

Young Master Han appeared to not have heard his words as he looked in the direction where the two people had disappeared and spat, “What nonsense! To actually drop the ball at the most crucial moment!”