Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-738-30041322

Chapter 738: Chapter 738 – Split up and Attack

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

“Relax!” With Gu Fei on the left and Svelte Dancer on the right, both players patted Sword Demon on his back. When the man looked at the pair, and then turned to look at the other two that formed this five man guerilla strike team, he immediately thought about how this team did not need any sort of commander as the five of them were mavericks that had their own ideas. Royal God Call would listen to a commander, but taking command of the twerp was too tiring. Just how much time and effort would the commander have to waste just to keep Royal God Call updated as to how he should be positioning himself at every moment? Sword Demon did not wish to worry about this either, and Royal God Call was ultimately an expert who knew how to take care of himself, so he decided to just let the Archer have free rein over his own actions!

When the five heard the report from the spy, they continued their way forward. The men from Colored Clouds had not left the Priest Academy and were still stationed there.

“That person is too careful,” Gu Fei sighed. “He was severely apprehensive of me hunting him down. Does he intend to just camp out in the Priest Academy forever?”

“I don’t think so?” Sword Demon said. “He most likely should have seen through the conditions that came with our last-minute recruitment and recognized that we would be lacking in the Priest job class department. That is why he’s holding out in the Priest Academy, likely to be sending out small teams to ambush our players. I’m afraid his goal would also be targeting our Priests this time.”

“Call everyone to protect our Priests as best as they can,” Gu Fei said.

“Hahaha, noob, is there a need for you to say that? Priests are always being protected,” Svelte Dancer mocked Gu Fei’s lack of gaming common sense.

“That’s good then,” Gu Fei was unperturbed by it.

“We’re about to reach the Academy… Will this be an operation where we’re all split up, or do we have some sort of plan here?” Sword Demon was ultimately hoping that everyone could coordinate with each other a little.

“Why don’t we hide somewhere near them and then intentionally make some noise so as to draw them out to investigate? But because they won’t be sending over too many people at once, we can use that opportunity to kill off some,” Royal God Call excitedly suggested this plan he had thought up.

The other four did not say a word, seemingly considering the validity of the plan. It did not take long for Sword Demon to turn his head to the other three, “So are we splitting up or coming up with some sort of plan?”

“Screw you…”

“Royal God Call’s solution is a little childish, but there’s merit to his idea about luring the enemy away,” Xi Xiaotian offered.

“Xi Xiaotian, you’re such a good person,” Royal God Call was so moved that his tears were falling freely.

“She’s a good person?” Gu Fei snorted.

“What do you mean?” Sword Demon was being very serious, ignoring the attitude from the two.

“Yes, I think we should do some probing attacks first to at least get an idea just how they would respond to the various attacks and plan accordingly,” Xi Xiaotian explained.

Sword Demon nodded, “You’re right. Then everyone is free to act as they see fit. Let’s each attempt a round of attacks in a safe manner, what are everyone’s thoughts on this?”

“I was waiting for you to say that,” Gu Fei agreed as he set off toward the enemy.

“Wait for me!” Svelte Dancer followed closely behind him.

Royal God Call was looking all around. Yunduan City might be his city of origin, so he was at least able to know his way around by using the buildings around as landmarks. He was able to swiftly identify a spot that afforded him a decent ranged position.

“Big sis Xiaotian, come with me!” Royal God Call solicited her attention warmly. Xi Xiaotian shared the same job class as him, and it was a rather good spot for two people to be attacking from. As such, she followed Royal God Call over, and in no time at all, turned into a dead end…

“Are we hiding here?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

Royal God Call really wished that he could just drill his way from the cracks in the wall. With a beauty with him, how could he have made a mistake yet again!? When did this extra alley appear in this d*mn*d place?! Royal God Call slapped his thigh exaggeratedly, “D*mn this. This City Wars event must have renewed the city layout, most likely to confuse the villains attacking the city.”

“Is that so? Then where should we be heading toward?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“Over here…” It was a dead end, so there was only one way out. Even Royal God Call would be able to confidently take the lead during such times.

————————————————–

While the pair of Archers were getting lost in the alleys, Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer had already flagrantly dashed right up to a street near the Academy. Taking a look around, they spotted a crowd of players from Colored Clouds outside the entrance of the Priest Academy standing uniformly, ready for attacks that could come from any direction. The moment the two showed their faces, before they could even shout out any opening remarks, the enemy had already spotted them. The arrows and spells from the Archers and Mages respectively were the quickest to be unleashed, forcing the two to abruptly shrink back into the street to avoid the incoming attacks.

“It’s quite heavily guarded!” Gu Fei exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Svelte Dancer said as she disappeared right in front of Gu Fei’s eyes.

“Hey!” Gu Fei called out for her.

“Go and draw their attention,” a voice sounded in the space of air where Svelte Dancer was standing.

“What about Sword Demon?” Gu Fei asked.

“I agree with Svelte Dancer’s suggestion,” Sword Demon had messaged Gu Fei. He was also nothing but air at this time.

Gu Fei had no choice. He could not go into Stealth, and he was not able to secretly sneak in closer to the enemy like the two Thieves, so all he could do was become the cannon fodder and draw the enemy fire away. With a loud battle cry, Gu Fei went dashing out of the street as spells and arrows were rudely sent his way. He was ducking and weaving like mad, looking like he was trying to rush straight forward. Young Master Han was sitting right in the core of this formation, giving out a single order that caused the troops to split right in the middle, now forming a U-shaped winged formation. These players took the initiative to welcome Gu Fei, looking to encircle him from both flanks.

Gu Fei could tell that he was in trouble when he saw how they were looking to envelop him within their formation. With a shameless commander like Young Master Han at the helm, he would not put it past him to get these men to blow their own comrades up with him inside the encirclement, making it almost impossible for him to escape even if he could Blink the short distance, so Gu Fei had no choice but to retreat instead. Of course, Young Master Han was not foolish enough to send his mobile strike team out to hunt Gu Fei. The moment he saw that Gu Fei was beating a retreat, he immediately got the men from Colored Clouds to pull back. Consequently, when Gu Fei saw that the enemy was no longer giving chase, he was immediately in high spirits, turning back to harass again as Young Master Han did the same. Both sides continued doing this back and forth for a few rounds, until Young Master Han shouted, “What’s the meaning of this? Can you do something meaningful?”

“Who says I’m not doing anything meaningful now?” Gu Fei shouted back.

“Our spell bombardment covers the entire line. Do you really think your Stealthed players could even get near?” Young Master Han called out.

“Oh?” Gu Fei had not paid much attention as the enemy’s firepower was really fierce. Gu Fei had to focus on ensuring that he did not fall prey to the enemy in the process, so he barely cared about anything else around him.

That was when a message flashed. Gu Fei did not wish to make the mistake that he had made before, so he quickly pulled open to read it despite how busy he was. It was a message from Sword Demon, “He’s right.”

Gu Fei looked all around, but he did not see any signs of Sword Demon, most likely hiding in some corner! Thus, he had no choice but to nod toward Young Master Han, “You’re vicious!” With that final statement, Gu Fei turned back around and slipped away. Just as he was about to hail Sword Demon and Svelte Dancer, he suddenly saw two figures hurtle out from the battlefield in front of him, a black and red blur.

When Colored Clouds saw that Gu Fei had backed away, several men had subconsciously stopped their assault. Even though the cordon of spells still remained, the firepower was no longer as fierce. Sword Demon and Svelte Dancer both literally went charging over. The opposing players yelped as they came over to surround the pair. Sword Demon lowered his head and dashed forward, stabbing out with his Shadowmist Assault as he killed off two incoming players. Svelte Dancer had instantly disappeared after crossing the spell cordon, and none of the Mages even hesitated as they chucked out their AoE spells at the spot they saw her disappeared. In the end, their spells exploded, but nobody was revealed. Everyone was beside themselves with astonishment, but Young Master Han already knew what skill Svelte Dancer had used as he immediately shouted out, “Ignore that. Continue to bombard with your spells.”

But none of them could even see the target, nor did they have any direction. All the Mages were in a state of disarray, uncertain if Svelte Dancer had died or not. A player capable of countering Stealth had already put his life on the line and went charging forward. Just as he was about to locate their missing target, it turned out that the player who stepped up ended up becoming a very obvious target for Svelte Dancer. Before he could even counter her Stealth, this player already felt a stab burrow into his waist.

“Over here!” The person yelled, but he saw nobody when he twisted his head over. The others were all the more clueless, uncertain if they should continue to attack. If they were to continue this skirmish, they would have no idea of knowing if Svelte Dancer had died or not, but there would be no doubt that their comrade will be dying for sure. Everyone was unable to make this decision, and they turned back in unison to seek guidance from their commander. Young Master Han already knew that there was no need for this; Svelte Dancer was already in melee range with that player, so how many stabs would it take to kill a weak and low HP Thief like him? That person was already as good as dead, which was why Young Master Han gave a very inhumane order, “Attack!”

Before everyone’s attack even arrived, that Thief had already been vanquished by Svelte Dancer’s hands. As such, all of them had even less of a psychological barrier, letting loose their bombardment of spells. At the end of the day, Svelte Dancer was not invulnerable; There was still a set amount of HP that she possessed, so even though she had every intention of fleeing after revealing herself, she was still not that quick enough by just that bit, ultimately being blasted into smithereens by the fiery assault from the Mages.

Over the other end, Sword Demon had managed to finish enemies even more cleanly than Svelte Dancer’s attempt, and he was of course all the more composed about his escape. Nevertheless, a buttload of arrows and spells still came chasing after him. Sword Demon had learned some real combat techniques from Gu Fei, and he had managed to see a bit of results as far as his reaction times went. Even as he was running away from the enemy, he was still trying to come up with a solution to avoid the attacks that were right behind him. Gu Fei was watching this scene from the street entrance a short distance away, nodding his head repeatedly with approval. Sword Demon was showing quite a bit of improvement already; at the very least, he was no longer just dully attempting to avoid and evade the attacks, and he was no longer just taking the attack like most players. Whether be it his conditioned reflexes or if it was just a mess of him scrambling about, it was evident that Sword Demon was at least following a line of thought or rhythm in his mind as he avoided the attacks. Even though he was still far from Gu Fei’s standards, there was no doubt that he had gotten the right idea at the very least, mentality wise.

Of course, Gu Fei did not just watch while everything was happening, dashing out from behind this corner of the wall in a timely manner to lend a hand. His blade gleamed as he flurried it into a blur, blocking as many of the attacks that he could block. Sword Demon did not have the time to express his gratitude to Gu Fei either, quickly using this opportunity to duck in behind the street corner for cover. The Homing Projectiles were capable of following around this corner, but none of them made it to their target with Gu Fei around to dispatch them.

“Svelte Dancer died,” Sword Demon first expressed his sentimentality for his fallen comrade.

“I’ll send my condolences,” Gu Fei said.

“Are you really sending her your condolences?” Sword Demon was suspicious. The two of them had always been engaged in brinkmanship with each other, would either ever really show something as caring as condolences when something like this happens?

“Of course,” Gu Fei answered without any hesitation. He immediately sent a message out to Svelte Dancer, “How many more times can you die?”

“B*st*rd, yours truly is busy!” Svelte Dancer spat.

“What are you busy with?” Gu Fei asked.

“Did you not see that yours truly had killed a Thief just now?” Svelte Dancer said.

Gu Fei was stunned. Upon realizing that Svelte Dancer was busy hunting down a player, he swiftly criticized her, “Then why do you have the time to reply to my message!? Focus on your task at hand!”

Svelte Dancer did not reply any longer.

“Coincidentally, she’s currently killing the Thief she killed before. I do believe that she won’t have any problems doing it 25 times,” Gu Fei said to Sword Demon.

“It’s not coincidental. I’ve already discussed the matter with her. The two of us were worried that we won’t be able to return if we charge out like that, that’s why we had made sure to bring back two Thieves back to the spawn point to play,” Sword Demon explained.

“Doesn’t that mean that she’s playing around with those two by herself right now?” Gu Fei was jealous to death.

“I wonder if she’s okay,” Sword Demon was a little worried.

“She’s fine,” Gu Fei answered rather confidently.

“How do you know?”

“She was just chatting with me moments ago! I don’t think she’s feeling taxed at all,” Gu Fei answered.

While the two continued their conversation, the whistling sound of an arrow pierced the air.

“Royal has made his move!” The two poked their heads out as Gu Fei looked at the time. “Why is he so late on the attack?”

“He probably got lost?” Sword Demon suggested.

“Most definitely,” Gu Fei nodded.

———————————————-

A single arrow came flying to the Priest Academy from a three storey building nearby. Royal God Call loved the sensation of firing a Snipe from an elevated vantage point. Time and time again, he would immediately search for such a position whenever such an opportunity presented itself. He would take in the sight before him, calmly nock his arrows one after another, shooting all around in every direction.

However, when going against other level 40 players, a single Snipe from Royal God Call was just not enough to insta-kill anymore. After the shot struck a player, that person merely cried out in pain that one time and immediately began to search in the direction that the arrow was fired from while a Priest rapidly topped up his HP. This one arrow was hardly considered a threat.

Royal God Call was prepared to fire another arrow, but he had forgotten that the enemy had the extremely directionally gifted Young Master Han with them. From that one shot, it was already enough for the man to determine the direction where it came from. How could Royal God Call not be revealed when Young Master Han swept his gaze over in that one moment, holding the spyglass in hand? He had already taken the spyglass off Gu Xiaoshang’s hands when he left the city just now.

“Over there!” Young Master Han stretched his hand out and pointed, and the Archers from Colored Clouds all began to draw their bows. Royal God Call’s damage was stronger than the average Archer, but he did not have any special equipment that affected his range. Just like any other Archer, if he was able to hit the enemy, the enemy would likewise be able to return fire, so it was to nobody’s surprise that arrows rained down upon that three storey building.

Royal God Call was utterly depressed. He had only fired that one arrow at the enemy, yet they had managed to use that but of information and determined where he was, retaliating with heavy suppression. He had originally wanted to demonstrate his skills in front of a beautiful lady, but now he was reduced to shrinking back into cover, not even daring to poke his head out into the open as he was concerned with Xi Xiaotian, who was also hunkering down for cover beside him.

“Their firepower is ferocious, be careful not to reveal your head,” Royal God Call reminded.

“Got it,” Xi Xiaotian smiled.

“Here I come!” Gu Fei had leaped out to cause trouble again, thinking that if the Archers were harrying Royal God Call, it meant that the pressure on his side would be slightly alleviated. In the end, his appearance only made Royal God Call even more dejected. Because Gu Fei was out in the open again, all the firepower was immediately diverted back onto him. Nobody was in the least bit concerned with the Archer taking potshots from that 3 storey building far away; let him continue firing his shot! Since Royal God Call was unable to insta-kill anyone, they could just pretend that he did not exist.

When Royal God Call suddenly discovered that the enemy had stopped firing, he peeked from behind his cover and sneaked a glance, only to discover that the enemy had immediately ignored him now that Gu Fei had appeared out in the street again. This sort of disdain truly made a self-proclaimed expert like Royal God Call feel very humiliated, Even though he was already used to being humbled in front of Gu Fei, in front of a pretty lady, he had to put up a show of his backbone in the very least. Royal God Call glared with anger and gritted his teeth. Were it not have been the system’s restriction here, he would find it in him to draw the bowstrings of all three bows right now.

With one leg propped up on the short parapet that cordoned the roof he was on, Royal God Call adopted a heroic pose and menacingly released an arrow.

Ignore me, ignore me, ignore me, will you!! Royal God Call was spitefully repeating in his mind, channeling his resentment into each and every arrow as he fired them. Xi Xiaotian was also next to him lending a hand, working hard side by side with him. But with just the two of them working together, against a whole troop of Priests acting as backup support, the pair was still unable to deal any effective damage. Aside from the Priests in charge of the Healing, there was no one else who was concerned with who or where their arrows ended up hitting.

Royal God Call was feeling annoyed when he suddenly heard a voice from behind him, “Eh, there’s already someone here?”

Royal God Call turned back in a hurry and was astonished to find that someone else who had climbed up from behind. It was Drifting.

“D*mm*t, what are you here for? Get down!!!” Royal God Call was not even firing his arrows by now, and had come forward to kick Drifting off. Drifting had already preemptively huddled over, “Aren’t we all here to harass their formation?”

“We are, but what has that got to do with you anyway? I heard you died already and got sent back to your city. Why did you make your way back here so brazenly? Do you not care about your face?” Royal God Call said.

Drifting completely ignored Royal God Call’s nagging, because the beauty of Xi Xiaotian had left him stupefied when she turned around.

“Hello, my name is Drifting,” Drifting stepped forward to greet the lady.

“Xi Xiaotian,” Xi Xiaotian went to shake his hand when he offered it to her.

Royal God Call was infuriated. Forget about coming over to steal his sniping spot, to actually dare to come and get his slimy hands on a lady he was with, it was truly upsetting. Just as he was about to say something, Drifting’s gaze had already shifted over to the spot where Xi Xiaotian had moved away from and had very regretfully sighed when he looked down to the street below, “I think this spot is a little too far for me!”

“That’s right, that’s why you should hurry up and scram!” Royal God Call blurted.

“I was only passing by to begin with, but this is truly a very decent spot. Did you have a lot of trouble finding this place?” Drifting asked.

“What nonsense, yours truly had spotted it in a single glance,” Royal God Call boasted.

“You may have spotted it straight away, but did you find it?” Drifting asked.

“SCRAM!!” Royal God Call yelled.

Drifting chuckled as he waved goodbye to Xi Xiaotian. He walked forward and was about to climb down when he suddenly turned his head back over. Sure enough, Royal God Call had his bow trained on his back, causing Drifting to laugh bitterly, “What are you doing? Are you going to ‘accidentally’ let your hand slip?”

“Why do you care if my hand slip?” Royal God Call retorted.

“Look over there!” Drifting suddenly pointed. Royal God Call turned around to take a look, but he saw nothing. However, he heard the sound of something heavy landing on the ground behind him at that time. When he turned his head back to look, Drifting was already gone. The man had actually jumped down directly off the roof of the three storey building.

“Seriously? Do you think you can run away just like that?” Royal God Call dashed right up to the edge and was thinking of continuing to take aim at Drifting’s back from the roof. He suddenly felt suddenly sensed something was amiss, and he turned around to find Xi Xiaotian staring right at him!

It’s not gonna look good if I do this… Under the watchful gaze of a babe, Royal God Call’s sanity very quickly recovered as he finally gave up on this one opportunity to claim that his hand slipped.

As a Mage, Drifting was well aware that his range was nothing compared to Royal God Call’s, and so he would of course have to choose a location somewhere nearer to the enemy. Following that, he watched Gu Fei dancing to his left and right as he took on the enemy formation for a while, making his fellow Mage Drifting feel as if it was a really embarrassing display. A Mage was supposed to be refined and elegant. A wave of their sleeves and they would be capable to reap the lives across a huge area at once. There was absolutely no need for them to dirty themselves with mud or sand. Pk-ing till he was profusely sweating like what Gu Fei was currently doing was truly a disgrace to the Mage’s good name!

Drifting could not stand watching it any longer, finally sending a message out to Gu Fei, “Hey, can you be a little bit more normal as a Mage?! Can’t you unleash your ranged spells at this time as well?”

“Oh? You’re back?”

“Yes I’m back. I’m currently admiring your little dance.”

“Oh? Where are you?” Gu Fei was looking all around.

“I’m somewhere diagonally to your left and above you. There’s no need to search for me, you won’t be able to see me from there. I say, this is a rather decent position here, why aren’t you utilizing it properly? Even though you can’t hide too many people, with you and me, as well as Slyris, why aren’t we utilizing this place better considering how many elite Mages have gathered here?” Drifting began.

“That’s a great idea!” Gu Fei commended.

“Go and call a few of your Mages over. Afterward, we’ll set-up our troops here in the Mage’s Academy. Prepare for an assault!” Drifting said.