Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-297

Chapter 297 - Werewolf, Werewolf, where are you?

Where were the Werewolves?

It was daytime in Parallel World right now. The Werewolf villagers should be standing by the side of the road like all the human villagers to contribute toward the atmosphere of the game. When Gu Fei could not point out any Werewolf villagers to Brother Assist, he just thought that perhaps those he remembered were not ‘on duty’, but now that even June’s Rain was having the same issue, he knew that something was amiss. They searched for three other villagers consecutively but did not find even one of them. Gu Fei searched his memory deeper, and he came to the realization that the number of villagers strolling about the village today seemed to be fewer than when he was here before.

“This way!” Gu Fei led the way, and June’s Rain and Brother Assist followed him closely. They arrived in front of a certain house.

June’s Rain looked down and glanced at her booklet before announcing, “Werewolf Wally!”

Gu Fei nodded his head. Although he did not know the NPC’s name, he was certain that this was the home of that burly Werewolf who had rewarded him his Moonlit Nightfalls. He’s clearly the leader of the Werewolves in this village, Gu Fei thought to himself as he pushed the door open with his hand.

“Ah! You’ve got to knock on the door first! Some NPCs get mad if you’re discourteous. What will we do if they don’t give us a quest?!” June’s Rain got flustered, but she quickly calmed down once she realized that no one was inside the house.

“Show me your little booklet,” Gu Fei said to June’s Rain.

Relying on June’s Rain’s booklet, the three broke into three separate homes where Werewolf villagers were supposed to reside in, yet not one of them could be found.

Brother Assist surveyed the whole room as he brushed his fingertip over the tabletop, “There’s no dust. This means that they have left not too long ago.”

“You’re really smart!” June’s Rain praised Brother Assist, suggesting, “Let’s go ask the village chief!” 　　

“Hey. They are about to head off already; do we really need to inquire about the Werewolves’ whereabouts at this time?” Brother Assist asked.

“Do you think the Werewolves’ disappearance has a connection with Traversing Four Seas’ guild quest?” Gu Fei asked.

“What sort of connection could there be?” Brother Assist asked back before muttering to himself, “It couldn’t possibly be an attack staged by the Werewolves, right? That would just be too ridiculous. Werewolves are level 70 monsters! How many Werewolves are living in this village, anyway?”

June’s Rain started counting the four-page worth of names in her booklet.

“No need to count,” Gu Fei stopped her, saying, “Let’s just go to the village chief and ask him.”

Locating the elderly village chief of Yeguang Village, Gu Fei was shocked to learn that this NPC still recognized him. The village chief even called him ‘Chosen Hero’ when they conversed. Gu Fei originally thought that since his chain quest had been completed, the NPCs in Yeguang Village would treat him just like any other players afterward. He had never expected the special treatment he received to persist even after the quest was completed.

However, it was only Gu Fei who found this to be strange. A person like June’s Rain who would often do quests was very used to such a situation. The NPCs were sure to treat a player differently after completing a quest that could not be repeated. If a player was treated the same like before, then his or her quest had most likely failed, which meant that the player would have to try again….

“Chief Edwin,” Gu Fei courteously greeted the NPC. He then selected a few names from the booklet and asked him where those villagers were.

“Oh. They’ve left the village to hunt since the weather is so good today,” Chief Edwin informed them.

“Hunt? Where to?” Gu Fei pressed on.

“The forest? North of the village? Or perhaps up the mountain? I am not really sure,” Chief Edwin answered.

“Do they often go hunting like this?” Gu Fei continued to probe.

Chief Edwin shook his head.

“See? This is unusual,” Gu Fei said to Brother Assist.

“The ‘north of the village’ happens to be in the same direction that our expedition is heading toward…” Brother Assist’s countenance quickly changed. “We should quickly catch up to them! This is a serious matter; these are level 70 monsters!”

“Send them a message, then!” Gu Fei suggested as he started running off.

The trio left the village chief’s abode and followed the main road leading north. Soon, they caught up to the rest of the troops that had halted their forward advance. Most players in the expedition were clueless about what was happening and were busy discussing with one another the reason why they had stopped moving forward.

The three core members of Traversing Four Seas, Oathless Sword, Youthful Reflection, and Gale Force, immediately went up to the three upon their arrival and addressed Brother Assist, “Brother Assist, you said that there are Werewolves waiting ahead. Just what do you mean by that?”

Brother Assist relayed all the information he had gathered so far to Young Master Han, who then passed it on to Youthful Reflection. Now that this particular information had been said aloud, everyone started discussing the matter animatedly.

“You should ask him!” Brother Assist pushed Gu Fei to the front.

Youthful Reflection openly expressed his distaste toward this. He really disliked dealing with Gu Fei; Gale Force, who was beside him, showed uncertainty on how he should treat Gu Fei. Oathless Sword was the one who spoke in the end, “Miles bro, the Werewolves you speak of… What’s going on with that?”

“A while back, I came to Yeguang Village to do a quest,” Gu Fei began narrating, “In that village, half of the residents are Werewolves masquerading as humans. They live in harmony with the unsuspecting humans and do not wish to reveal their identity as Werewolves. Today, I discovered that not one of these Werewolves is in that village. We inquired around and discovered that they haven’t left for too long. The village chief said that they had left to hunt today – something that they have never done before. The place that these Werewolves headed to hunt is north of the village.”

“North. But that’s where we are heading to!” Oathless Sword exchanged glances with the two men beside him.

“So what you’re saying is that these Werewolves may have gone there to attack us?” Youthful Reflection was the military advisor of Traversing Four Seas, so he still had to talk in the end.

“That’s my guess.” Gu Fei could tell that Youthful Reflection was not really fond of him, and he shared this sentiment with him. He despised Youthful Reflection’s pettiness. You’ve only lost a match in the mercenary PvP tournament. Plenty of people have lost to us, yet you’re the only one being a sore loser about it!

Youthful Reflection scrutinized Yeguang Village, which was behind them. “This village isn’t particularly large; half of the villagers would be no more than a hundred or so Werewolves. Although they are level 70 monsters, we have a thousand-strong army on our side. It shouldn’t be so dangerous if we assign ten men to one Werewolf, right?”

“Depending on numerical superiority may work for other monsters, but it won’t for these Werewolves,” Gu Fei said.

“Oh?” Youthful Reflection eyed him contemptuously.

“Werewolves are really fast when it comes to their speed, and each of them possesses innate regeneration,” Gu Fei supplied.

He did not need to explain further, as all those present were skilled gamers and quickly understood what the two points meant. The Werewolves having fast speed meant that these players’ attacks might not connect and the Werewolves having innate regeneration meant that these players’ attacks would be useless if the damage was not high enough or applied with a consistent frequency.

The Werewolves were indeed a serious problem to consider. Unfortunately, Youthful Reflection had just treated Gu Fei curtly and brusquely, and it would just be plain awkward to suddenly do a one-eighty in his attitude toward Gu Fei. In the end, Oathless Sword once more stepped forward to mediate in the conversation, “Miles bro, what do you suggest we do, then?”

“My suggestion? I have none. I’m just informing you that there are Werewolves ahead. I’ll leave it up to you to deal with them,” Gu Fei replied.

Oathless Sword attempted to laugh this off as he said, “Miles bro, please don’t be bothered by the attitude of this comrade of mine. He is like that with everyone.”

Gu Fei did not know whether to laugh or cry at that. “I’m not bothered by it, and I really don’t have any suggestions for you. I just coincidentally found out about the Werewolves’ disappearance in the village and thought that it might be related to your guild quest. I made it a point to inform you so that you guys can better prepare for any possible fight ahead.”

“That’s it?” Oathless Sword was taken aback.

“What else is there?” Gu Fei shrugged his shoulders.

“Rest up, then, Miles bro. We’ll discuss this matter in detail first,” Oathless Sword said.

“Go on, then!” Gu Fei waved them off, as if he were the boss here instead of Oathless Sword.

And so, all the players from Yunduan City took this moment to rest up. The possibility of a hundred or so Werewolves waiting for them ahead spread through the troops. With the Werewolves’ quick speed and inherent regeneration, even if they were to fight them tooth and nail, the losses they would incur would surely be disastrous. Therefore, they must devise an appropriate battle plan. The Traversing Four Seas’ core members and all the mercenary group leaders headed to a clearing beside the forest to conduct a proper strategy meeting.

Besides the Werewolves issue, a particular rumor was being discussed by the troops. “Did you know that Thousand Miles Drunk originated from Yueye City? He even did quests in Yeguang Village a long time ago!”

“That explains why he’s so ruthless when slaying players. He is from Yueye City, after all!”

“I heard that he was being hunted down in Yueye City yesterday!”

“He must’ve offended some people in Yueye City and could no longer continue living in it, so he had no choice but to flee to another city!”

“That’s most probably the case!”

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The meeting went on for fifteen minutes, yet they could still not come up with a viable solution. Some players who did not have much stakes in this quest could no longer bear it and called out in unison, “Bosses, why don’t we return to the city and discuss this matter there, instead? Let’s just resume our expedition tomorrow once we’ve come up with a plan.”

A certain mercenary leader received inspiration from this, “Actually, there’s a way to perhaps resolve this! Let’s return to the city, and set off once those Werewolves the Mage mentioned before are back in the village. Will that work?”

“Why don’t you just ask us to circle around this path, instead?”

“Who knows where the Werewolves are hiding? Can we really avoid them by circling around them?”

“Exactly. Where are these Werewolves, anyway?”

“Are we perhaps getting paranoid over nothing? Just because those Werewolves happened to head off for a hunt doesn’t necessarily mean that they are out to get us.”

All turned to look at Oathless Sword when they said this.

“This…” Oathless Sword hesitated before addressing Young Master Han, “Mercenary Leader Han! This information about the Werewolves came from your group. Don’t you think you should perhaps go the extra mile and scout out ahead to confirm the Werewolves’ intention as well as their location within the forest?”

Young Master Han’s expression twitched visibly. Scouting out the Werewolves’ location was fine, but trying to find out the Werewolves’ intention… They were a bunch of monsters for goodness sake! There had been no precedence suggesting that players could interact with this sort of NPCs without resorting to violence!

But since Oathless Sword already said so, Young Master Han did not back off. Simply nodding his head, he said, “Deposit, please.”