Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-697

Chapter 697 – Each more Sinister than the Other

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

They were all currently out in the wilderness, a good distance away from Yunduan City. There was no reason for any player from the City Wars to wander out here, so in order to locate this site, it must surely be related to a quest. Furthermore, it just so happened that there was an NPC down in the cavity, and everyone’s quests could very well be pointing toward the same thing. Because Parallel World had competitive quests that were designed to pit two parties against one another, Skygazing under the Tree already knew they were probably enemies when Gu Fei appeared. However, the system might be inflexible, but the same could not be said for humans. While the system sought to divide the players and set each other as enemies, as human beings, it was still possible for them to sit down and have a good discussion to see if there was any way for both parties to come to an acceptable resolution for both sides. It was with such an idea that Skygazing Under the Tree had personally approached Gu Fei this time.

“Yes, I wonder what is the content of Brother Miles’ quest here? Because… Ahem. Everybody knows, haha, that the system has already designated us to be on opposing sides, so we might end up clashing over this quest here. What I mean to say is that everyone should talk things through and look for a peaceful solution. There’s no need to pull out weapons here!” Skygazing Under the Tree beseeched.

“But I’ve already pulled mine out,” Gu Fei sighed. “Are the 8 men hiding in those trees over there your men?”

“Indeed, they are ours. Heh, not to worry Brother Miles. I’ve also been made aware of your presence through the 8 men, otherwise, we would not have spent this whole time waiting for you to arrive. We are keenly cognizant of the strength Brother Miles possesses, and none of us dare to fight over anything with you. However, we only hope that we are able to get to a situation that allows us to achieve our quest completion without influencing yours,” Skygazing Under the Tree said.

Gu Fei did not view Five Nights in a favorable light, but it would be far too inappropriate to direct his anger toward the man to influence his emotions toward other workshops. After all, this was a livelihood to these people, and not everyone would be as conniving and calculative as Five Nights had been. Skygazing Under the Tree’s words sounded rather humble, and at the end of the day, everyone here was actually here playing a game. Forget how rich or poor, if they were a noob or skilled, if they were holding a position as a guild leader or guild member, everyone was essentially equals in Parallel World. For this person to have such an attitude, even Gu Fei felt sympathy for him, so he quickly answered, “Don’t say that. Tell me what your quest is, and we can all come together and see what we can do about it.”

“Oh. For Brother Miles to make the effort to come all the way out here, could you be looking for the NPC Guillermo?” Skygazing Under the Tree gingerly asked.

“That’s right.”

“And your quest is to…”

“It’s to look for him, so he might tell me some things,” Gu Fei answered.

“Oh..” Skygazing Under the Tree sighed in relief. “If it’s just talking to the NPC. I believe our quest might not clash after all. Come on then, Brother Miles. If you would please…”

There were plenty of well-equipped players that had gathered in the cavity, and it looked like their intention was to exact strong measures of force the moment civility failed. If negotiations fell apart, these people would not simply give up so easily either. Naturally, Gu Fei did not find their attitude to be anything strange, smiling even as he followed Skygazing Under the Tree and headed down deeper into the cavity.

“What’s your quest?” Gu Fei asked.

“I won’t lie to you, Brother Miles. Our quest stated that Guillermo is the key to successfully assaulting the city, so I’ve gotten everyone in my guild to come over in service of this, though we’ve still yet to make sense of anything at this time,” Skygazing Under the Tree looked a little despondent as he explained this.

“Quests in this game are just like that. The hints are just so vague,” Gu Fei expressed his understanding.

“Actually, we can all just slowly decipher things if it was all just a riddle from the system. But the problem now is the other players from other guilds out there that are also assaulting the city! Every guild is looking for ways to earn more contribution score, and the fight for quests is truly an open struggle between guilds that beheld underlying strife and schemes. When others see that they are unable to get a hold of a quest, they would rather others not succeed, so they would secretly sabotage others. It’s utterly despicable.” Skygazing Under the Tree complained.

Indeed, Gu Fei did not look too kindly upon to such actions, nodding at Skygazing Under the Tree, “Then you better be careful. Men from Carouse might be upon you guys.”

“Ca—Carouse? The level 6 guild? F*ck me. Just how unreasonable would it be if they were to do this sort of thing?” Skygazing Under the Tree looked like he was about to cry.

Gu Fei sighed audibly, not knowing what he should say in response. This was the reality… the cruel reality they live in.

“Well, Brother Miles. You better finish up with your quest then. Let’s not have you stuck here with us when that time comes,” Skygazing Under the Tree quickened his pace, but Gu Fei suddenly came to a halt. There were men in front of him, behind him, on his left and on his right. As Skygazing Under the Tree accompanied him down the cavity, his men had all made way for them to pass, but was there really a need for them to do so? That was when Gu Fei suddenly realized that something was amiss, and when he took a closer look at the situation he was in, he felt a strong sense of awry. The players had let them pass by in too uniformly. In a way, they are letting him pass, but to put it into other words, they were just opening a gap for him, drawing him deeper into their encirclement.

I got careless!! Gu Fei cried out in his heart. Sure enough, there was movement among the crowd of players. The players in the inner circle were all Guardians, and all of them had pulled out their shields. Meanwhile, Skygazing Under the Tree saw that Gu Fei was not moving, so he turned his head around, still showing his bright smile, “Brother Miles, why aren’t you moving?”

“What do you mean by all this?” Gu Fei was very calm, pointing to all the players around them that were very obviously surrounding them.

“I’m really sorry Brother Miles. If you want to find something to blame, blame the system for having introduced such a design like Competitive Quests. From what I know, such quests are considered the main event of Parallel World, and the initial purpose of such a design was to prevent players from getting a perfect solution that would satisfy both parties to begin with. It was eat or be eaten, and there’s no such thing as a third possibility of completing the quest. That is why I am very sorry, there’s no way I would allow you to have the chance to interact with Guillermo.” Skygazing Under the Tree elaborated with verbosity, the expression his face was no longer that of obsequious humbleness, but that of a villain who had succeeded in his plans.

“So I can’t see the NPC just because you won’t let me do so?” Gu Fei spoke in a measured tone even as his heart was already bursting with rage. This Skygazing Under the Tree is basically even more despicable than Five Nights, are all workshops out there so blackhearted? Deep Water’s deep abhorrence toward workshops did not seemed illogical any longer! Since you’ve got no intention of letting me meet Guillermo, I will purposely meet him right in front of your eyes no matter what it takes! Gu Fei was also fired up this time, and he had more or less gotten a good understanding of the formation that surrounded him. These Guardians were not looking to charge him, and the circle they had spaced out was to allow the Mages to directly bombard him. Death was the only option left for Gu Fei since there was nowhere else for him to hide.

However, have you fools not heard that I’ve got the Blink spell in my arsenal? Gu Fei thought of this and suddenly came dashing toward the cordon. Skygazing Under the Tree was inside the circle, and the man was not in the least bit flustered when he saw Gu Fei running right toward him. He even chuckled softly, “It’s worth it if I’m able to exchange my life to kill Brother Miles. But I feel sorry for Brother Miles. I’ve heard that during this City Wars event, the moment a player dies, the quest they have on them will disappear. I am comforted in knowing that I would lose you as a potential competitor.”

Gu Fei immediately smiled back at him, “Killing me won’t be so easy.”

Gu Fei was now right in front of Skygazing Under the Tree, yet he did not make his move. Suddenly reaching his hand out to point to the other side, Gu Fei cast his Blink and he suddenly reappeared outside the encirclement, with Guillermo’s tent a short distance right in front of him. His plan was to trigger the conversation with the NPC and understand what was the next stage of the quest. It would be more than perfect if that would cause Disembodied Spirits under the Tree’s quest to fail as a result; he could even slay as many of them as he could once he was done! This was exactly what Gu Fei had laid out in his mind, and he soon stepped into the tent after getting out of the encirclement. He opened his mouth and was about to initiate a conversation with Guillermo, but how would he have expected that the moment he stepped into the tent, he would not see any trace of Guillermo anywhere.

“What’s going on here? Where’s the NPC?” Gu Fei was surprised by this turn of events, turning around to look out of the tent. Men had already come rushing over, and he knew the tent was already surrounded even if he used his knee to do the thinking.

This was a deliberate trap! That guy already knew that Guillermo isn’t in this tent, and intentionally sold this lie to me, causing me to Blink and make a break for this tent. But now, I have really been caught in his trap, and my Blink is on cooldown, meaning there’s no way for me to escape with Blink if I were to end up in an encirclement again.

At this moment, Gu Fei finally realized that the enemy’s plan had been far more intricate than he had first assumed. He soon heard a clattering sound, and it was like the unveiling of a magic trick, as the tent suddenly got pulled away. Gu Fei was standing there all exposed to everyone, with the Guardians positioned all around holding their shields at the ready. He could see the back row of Mages raise their magic staves and unfortunately, Gu Fei did not have his Blink ready this time.

“Take it easy, Brother Miles. I won’t be seeing you off.”

Gu Fei heard Skygazing Under the Tree shout this even as the enemy Mages finished chanting their spells and fire immediately flashed into existence. Gu Fei had absolutely no intention of standing there and blankly embrace death. No matter the situation, he had to at least give it a shot. Darting forward, Gu Fei charged forth and ran headfirst into the row of Guardians.

The Guardians roared out a battle cry, demonstrating their staunch determination to hold Gu Fei within the circle, even at the expense of their own lives. However, Gu Fei had no intention of dying with them at all. Stepping right to the front of a Guardian, he sent a kick right toward the shield that was held aloft by the player in front of him.

Well done, how firm and stable. Gu Fei praised the man in his heart, as he used both his hands to thrust Moonlit Nightfalls with all his might right onto the Guardian’s shoulder.

“I’ll take this!” The Guardian felt that this bit of damage would not matter, and had instead straightened his back all the more. Thus, Gu Fei exerted strength to both his arms as support, and he directed strength to both his legs. That sword thrust deepened by a few inches, and Gu Fei actually used this to send himself in an upward motion that propelled him up to the sky.

The Guardian was rooted to his spot, stunned. He did not react in time as the raised leg from Gu Fei had already stepped onto his head as Gu Fei’s other leg swung onward and went past his head.

“What the f*ck!?” Everyone was dumbfounded. The flames from the Mages’ spells had finally blazed in full force by this time. But Gu Fei had actually escaped the encirclement by stepping onto that Guardian’s head. While everyone was still in shock, Gu Fei was actually in tears. He did not have enough Strength! It was not just his arms that lacked the strength, but even his legs were not strong enough for him to draw support from the ground. Like how Eternal Dominion was able to step onto the wall and make his way up to the roof, Gu Fei had originally wanted to the same, but he could not continue any longer after making it up halfway. And this was all because he did not have the Strength to accomplish such a move in Parallel World. If Eternal Dominion was in Gu Fei’s shoes, he would have easily cleared the head of the Guardian with just a single step onto the shield. There would not have been a need for him to do what Gu Fei had just done, cruelly thrusting his sword into that person’s shoulders so he could borrow support.

Furthermore, the upward motion to get over the Guardian was not enough to get him out of danger, so Gu Fei had no choice but to step on other people’s heads as he ran out of the encirclement. This would then be a test of Gu Feo’s balance, which was something he was very well versed at. Adding to the fact he had a fairly superior movement speed for him to accomplish this, all he could hear were yelps and shouts from the players beneath his feet as he ran over them. There were those who reached their hands up hoping to grab a hold of Gu Fei’s leg, but all they caught was empty grasps of air. Gu Fei was too quick!

As the person who had set up the encirclement, there was no need for Skygazing Under the Tree to be a part of its formation personally. He had been standing outside of the encirclement at this time, leisurely waiting for the message that reported Gu Fei’s death, but he was now unexpectedly seeing Gu Fei running out of it by stepping on people’s heads.

Just how should this be explained? Is this a skill? Skygazing Under the Tree was also confused for a good while, watching as Gu Fei cooly ran on top everyone’s head. It looked like they had all transformed into stepping stones for Gu Fei, none of them doing anything in response to this debacle. In his anger, Skygazing Under the Tree cried out, “Just what are all of you doing? Quickly disperse!”

Everyone heard his prompt and immediately scattered. Gu Fei used this opportunity to randomly stomp on a few more heads, and when he saw how uncoordinated everybody was, he knew that there was no way he could continue stepping on them like this. Thus, he leaped in a direction, twisting his body in a pirouette the moment he landed on the ground. Flames streaked through two complete rotations as white light appeared all around him.

Gu Fei had heard Skygazing Under the Tree call out his order just now, but he had been focused on treading through the sea of heads, so he was unable to pinpoint his location within the crowd. Now that everything was in a state of chaos, he had difficulty determining where Skygazing Under the Tree could be at the moment, so he could only let that man go as he began his sprint out of the cavity.

Basically, nobody went about to stop him now that Gu Fei was on the run. Those looking to intercept him soon found themselves insta-killed by his Twin Incineration when they tried to mob him with numbers, while he simply feinted with his footwork when there were only a few of them trying to stop him. These men only saw Gu Fei’s figure blur as he circled around them with relative ease. As for those hot on his heels, eliminating those who did not have the movement speed to chase after Gu Fei, all that was left were the Thieves and Archers, and there were not even that many around since most of the enemy’s Thieves had been tasked with staying in Stealth outside the cavity as scouts! Gu Fei climbed up the side of the cavity in such a fashion, and there was no way that Gu Fei would not notice those men who actually attempted to come over and ambush him while Stealthed. A slash from his sword was all it took to insta-kill them until only one remained. This last person merely stood there petrified as Gu Fei rounded past him, before sending a swift kick onto his back to send him tumbling down.

Flux Bead was still prone in the copse of trees. He watched everything transpire as Gu Fei and the other man were chatting peacefully before Gu Fei was invited down into the cavity with great accord. Flux Bead simply could not make sense of what happened, but he did not dare to go near and take a look either. Just as he was pondering about this mysterious exchange, he suddenly spotted Gu Fei running up, swiping his sword out to insta-kill four Assassins, kicking down another before he continued to sprint out of the area.

What in the world is going on here? Flux Bead was still wondering to himself when he saw Gu Fei run quite a distance away from the cavity. Soon, many heads appeared from the cavity, and a whole horde of men came chasing after Gu Fei.

“The gap is just too great!!” Flux Bead exclaimed. He could feel his legs go a little soft just from seeing the situation Thousand Miles Drunk was in. Truly, that man was no ordinary human being.

Should I go and inform those friends of his to help out? Flux Bead watched as Gu Fei set off such a huge wave of pursuers all by himself, and he could not help but view him in a favorable light. Is this what it’s like to be at the highest realm of standing solo against insurmountable odds? Even though Gu Fei was on the run right now, this was still a game; There was no way a single person could take on so many people at once. Flux Bead was well aware of this logic deep down, which was why he had equipped an emblem that provided him with a skill like Accelerate, so he was able to flee if he ever ended up provoking a bloody storm.

During this time, Gu Fei had already made it into the trees, and Flux Bead was still staring at him blankly. Naturally, Gu Fei knew of his presence as he immediately shouted the moment he entered the copse of trees, “What are you still lying down there for? Are you courting death?”

“Ah? Oh!” The moment Flux Bead saw the group of men surging over, he finally came to his senses, got up quickly and followed Gu Fei as they sought to escape.

When talking about movement speed, there was hardly any variance between Flux Bead and Gu Fei. The two of them were soon running side by side as Flux Bead asked, “What’s going on?”

“I got tricked,” Gu Fei answered.

“Who tricked who?” Flux Bead asked.

Gu Fei glanced over at Flux Bead meaningfully. Just what does this rascal mean by that question? Do I look like someone who would enjoy tricking others?

The two continued in this fashion for a bit. Flux Bead turned around to look before coming to a stop, “They’re no longer chasing us.”

“Is that so?” Gu Fei turned around to take a look. Sure enough, there was no one pursuing them any longer, which prompted Gu Fei to ask Flux Bead, “When is your guild coming?”

“Soon… They were gathering their manpower before making their way over, which is why they are a bit slow,” what Flux Bead meant was that Carouse had made sure to arrange their team compositions were in order before setting off so that they could be ready to engage the enemy at any moment. Because there were all sorts of job classes, Warriors and Priests would end up hampering their overall speed, and that meant they were making their way over here slowly.

“Oh, then I’ll have to hurry!” Gu Fei said.

“Hurry for what?”

“I won’t be able to search for who I’m looking for by the time your guild arrives.” Gu Fei explained.

“What do you mean?”

Flux Bead was still stumped, but Gu Fei had already finished replenishing his mana and had now set off once more.

“Where are you going?” Flux Bead was confused.

“To look for them,” Gu Fei simply answered.

“You… What are you gonna do?”

“Slay them.”

Flux Bead’s mouth hung agape for quite some time as Gu Fei had already walked off into the distance. “Cool!” That was the only word Flux Bead ended up spitting out as he quickly followed right on Gu Fei’s trail.

Gu Fei did not say another word as he went dashing right out of the trees. There were still Assassins near the cavity, but they were not taking the initiative to locate Gu Fei. Instead, it was the other way around. As long as any of them glanced at Gu Fei, Gu Fei would immediately be able to sense them. A cut to his left and a slash on the right; one by one, the Assassins were revealed by his attacks. Running about, moving as they go, the Assassins gave chase as they ended up clustering together. That was when Gu Fei suddenly turned around and insta-killed them all with a single Twin Incineration. Tears were flowing freely down Flux Bead’s face. I s this still called PK? This was completely what people do when farming monsters…

After taking down ten Assassins with that one attack, Gu Fei stood by the cavity and saw that there were still plenty of players in a huge mess in it. “Here I come!” Gu Fei yelled loudly. His sword danced with the wind as he went charging down; Flux Bead had followed the man and was now by the edge of the cavity as well. When he saw the nest of men crowded down below, hesitation filled his heart. He wanted to go dashing in as well, but would he still be able to make it back up after doing so?

Flux Bead was feeling much sorrow when pain blossomed on his waist. He quickly moved away and repositioned himself as he caught sight of two Assassins appearing right behind him. Flux Bead was enraged, “Do yours truly look like someone you can bully!?” and he immediately pulled out his dagger to fight 1v2.

These two Assassins were not even killed off by the time Flux Bead suddenly saw a black figure flash by. Gu Fei had returned, and he yelled over to him, “What are you playing around for, are you courting death!?” With that, the Mage began running off.

Flux Bead crooked his neck and saw players hot on Gu Fei’s heels once more. It was another wave of players giving chase as a group of men came running out of the cavity. Flux Bead did not dare to slow down, tapping his emblem as he activated Accelerate and sprinted away, instantly leaving Gu Fei in his dust.

“F*ck, that’s really quick! You’ve got potential, kid!” Gu Fei shouted from behind.

Flux Bead was not even in the least bit calm now. He was really deathly afraid that he would end up drowning in the surge of enemy behind him if he was any slower. So by the time he turned his head back to look, he discovered that Gu Fei had actually beaten off several Homing projectiles behind him as he ran, and Flux Bead was utterly impressed by what he saw.

Entering the copse of trees once more, the enemy gave up chasing, and Gu Fei was eating fruits again.

“Bro, how are you so powerful!?” Flux Bead had the sudden impulse to ask to be his apprentice.

“It’s bonafide kung fu!” Gu Fei casually tossed a banana peel away, and it landed squarely on a cluster of tree branches, looking like a yellow hat.

“Let’s go!” Gu Fei had finished replenishing his mana and was ready to set forth again.

“You… Are you really intending to kill them all?” Flux Bead asked.

“As many as I can. I really hope your guild take their sweet time coming,” Gu Fei quipped.