Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Everyone had a long day…” While Sword Demon was hesitating, Deep Waters and Broken Water Arrow started warmly expressing solicitudes to their comrades as the two men stood side by side. Unfortunately, the members of this team did not reply with platitudes, like “Everything is worth it when done in the service for the guild”, which made their original statement to seem somewhat less than perfect.

But Broken Water Arrow’s positioning is simply too perfect! It was so perfect that Sword Demon was moved by it. The man had positioned himself at such a distance that he would feel guilty not to utilize his Shadowmist Assault.

Speaking of guilt, Sword Demon was also inflicted with guilt now that he had to do the deed in front of Deep Waters!

Still, since this was a choice he had made, he would bear the consequences of the ensuing fall out. From the moment he had made such a decision, he had already opted to ignore what Deep Waters would think. Therefore, it was not particularly important whether he was present or otherwise at the moment, right?

Besides, if he were to consider the purpose of the action he was about to take, doing it right in front of Deep Waters would make it all the more effective, as this would clearly show to Broken Water Arrow his determination to this matter. Even if Deep Waters misunderstands me, I will still make sure that your schemes don’t succeed!

It’s time to act! Sword Demon steeled his resolve after these few seconds of thought.

Shadowmist Assault!

The moment the skill was activated, it was as if there was an explosion of air as a figure darted forward. The unique glow of Lasting Sentence, Dying Breath left a captivating sight as it streaked through the air, accompanied by him bursting forth at a high speed.

“Who’s there?!” the crowd involuntarily yelled out as Sword Demon was two meters away from Broken Water Arrow.

Disappear!

The figure abruptly disappeared, leaving everyone in a state of confusion. Was it an illusion? Could they have all imagined that someone was racing right toward them?

None of their thoughts could keep up with what was happening, as in the next second when that figure disappeared, Broken Water Arrow suddenly came hurtling out, and that figure appeared before them once more.

“Sword Demon!” Deep Waters gritted his teeth when their eyes met.

“Guild leader!” The people who were quite a distance away anxiously shouted this when they saw that Broken Water Arrow had been struck and Deep Waters was just an arm’s reach away from this interloper.

Sword Demon found his clear answer when he saw the look of shock, anxiety, and concern from these people. He was all the more convinced that he had made the right choice. While he did share a friendship with Deep Waters, a guild would play host to even more friendships to Deep Waters, and there was no way he would let Broken Water Arrow ruin that for everyone.

This final knot in his heart got untangled, yet Sword Demon was unable to reveal a victorious smile, for he knew that the attack he had just launched failed.

Broken Water Arrow’s reaction time was shockingly quick. Having judged that he was the target of Sword Demon’s attack, the man instantly acted to block and evade the attack the instant Sword Demon appeared. Even though Broken Water Arrow was sent flying by the strike, Sword Demon was positive he had been unable to apply maximum damage. Being sent flying out like that could have been a method to mitigate the ensuing impact of the blow.

With the current attack power I possess, perhaps I don’t need to apply my maximum damage just to insta-kill Broken Water Arrow… Sword Demon held such hopes since his target was a low HP Archer.

However, even after the man was sent flying out into the underbrush like that, the familiar white light of death did not appear.

It was such a pity, yet there was nothing he could do about it. Sword Demon knew he would be unable to take on Broken Water Arrow directly if his ambush failed as it was apparent that the man’s dexterity was much scarier than what he had expected.

Nevertheless, Sword Demon was not disheartened by this outcome. If he failed this time around, he could always try again… While many thoughts surfaced after he struck Broken Water Arrow, there was not even a single second of delay in his actions.

To be killed after a failed attempt? Sword Demon had no wish for such a ‘heroic’ assassination tale to happen to him. He had every intention of preserving his own level to better pounce upon Broken Water Arrow a second time, a third time…

Activating his Fleetfoot, Sword Demon turned around and ran off along the escape route he had already planned out prior. However, shortly after taking a few steps in the planned direction, he heard a crisp sound.

Sword Demon’s heart tightened, as he felt a similar tightening sensation with his foot.

It’s a trap! Yet this was a route he had carefully scouted. Sword Demon was certain that there had not been a single trap laid along this path.

Sword Demon turned around and saw that Deep Waters’ bow was still pointed at where he was standing, an expressionless look on his face.

It’s his Snare Shot… Sword Demon sighed to himself, well aware that Deep Waters possessed such a skill. Sure enough, it was a bad idea to go ahead with his plan with that man present. The latter’s presence became an unforeseen variable. The corners of Sword Demon’s mouth curved into a grimace. Now that Deep Waters’ Snare Shot had seamlessly connected to his foot, he had no choice but to bear the consequence heroically. He watched, immobile, as the enemy Archers nocked arrows to their bows and released them in a flurry toward him.

The only regret Sword Demon had when he closed his eyes was that it would be much harder for him to kill Broken Water Arrow next time after losing a level.

He heard the whistling of arrows on flight, yet Sword Demon did not feel the twinge of pain that came with being shot, nor did he receive the system notification informing him of his death. He gingerly opened his eyes and saw a black figure standing right before him. It was a familiar, indomitable, and impressive figure!

“Wearing too much really gets in the way of movement!” This man was complaining as he pulled out an arrow stuck on his shoulder.

“But at least some good came out of it.” His left hand shook loose the camouflage windbreaker covering his mage robe, and a bunch of arrows steadily dropped to the ground.

Everybody was dumbfounded at this sight. This man actually made use of that piece of clothing to roll up all the arrows the Archers fired off. No matter when or where Gu Fei ended up in, the level of dexterity he demonstrated would always leave people’s thoughts in disarray.

“I’m not in the best of mood right now!” Tossing that camouflage clothing away, Gu Fei pulled out his sword and flourished it. Moonlit Nightfall’s tip brushed over the ground and sent the dried leaves and detritus flying, carving out a beautiful circle in a single swipe.

“This is my sword cordon; step in it and die.”

Once upon a time, Gu Fei had similarly made such an arrogant declaration. His purpose then was to intimidate the others to have an easier time escaping. This time, however, he was being serious. He did not care if it was Deep Waters that stepped through; he would treat any player that crossed it as an enemy without exemptions.

“F*ck! Who are you trying to bluff?!” someone immediately rebuked.

A single lightning struck from the sky, and that man disappeared.

“This isn’t a bluff; this is strength.” Gu Fei’s sword was still pointing at the location where the speaker had been standing moments ago.

The bows these players held trembled. Would an arrow we fire off be considered as stepping through that sword cordon? Everyone subconsciously wondered about this question. Naturally, wrestling over semantics like this would be meaningless, for that man that had put on a brave front before did not even get anywhere near the cordon, yet he was still insta-killed with impunity.

No one dared to make any hasty movements. They all turned to look at Deep Waters.

“Do you still think you guys can escape? Do you know how many of us are here in this jungle?” Deep Waters knew it was time for him to speak up.

“Do you know how many players I can kill before you guys can finish me off?” Gu Fei went tit for tat.

Silence.

“As a guild leader, you need to think about the safety of your comrades,” Gu Fei reasoned.

The moment he heard the word ‘comrades’, Deep Waters suddenly recalled Broken Water Arrow being sent flying moments ago. The man quickly turned over in the said direction.

“Don’t bother looking for that man. He’s already back at the spawn point. He positioned himself far too perfectly; I could not resist contributing a slash to him,” Gu Fei said as he turned to glance at Sword Demon. “You won’t blame me for interrupting your quest, right?”

“Nope. I can always try again.” Sword Demon smiled.

“That’s true.” Gu Fei nodded, turning to face their opponents again. “Guild Leader Deep Waters, the two of us are leaving now. Stop us if you dare! Just remember to remind them to only confront me if they don’t fear death, so that they won’t end up blaming you for getting killed.”

Gu Fei and Sword Demon turned to leave without saying further after this.

“Guild leader!” The other players could not stand this sight. In a moment of impulse, each of them was haloed with a sense of fearlessness toward death.

Deep Waters shook his head. “This isn’t the best time for this. Decimating a thousand soldiers at the expense of eight hundred of our own – we can’t bear such a monumental loss at the moment. Don’t forget that we’ve been devoting all our efforts to the upcoming City War; we’ll talk about such trouble at a later date.”

“Okay…” they answered.

“Inform everyone else not to provoke them. A single team is no match for the two men,” Deep Waters said.

“Roger that!” The men present had witnessed the indomitability of the two men; Sword Demon’s sudden strike and Gu Fei’s insane prowess along with that insta-killing Thunderbolt that came with a single raise of his arm were not things any average player could achieve. Indeed, there was no way they would be able to finish those two men off even if a team of ten or more players from Deep Freeze cooperated.

Thus, the two of them strode off under the stares of Deep Freeze’s members crouching and hiding in the dark recesses of the jungle.

“Why are you here?” Sword Demon asked.

“I came looking for you, bro!” Gu Fei answered.

“There’s no need to persuade me—” Sword Demon easily guessed what Gu Fei was here to do.

“Not that; we came up with a new plan.” Gu Fei gave him a brief rundown of what was discussed.

“Oh…” Sword Demon was naturally more than happy to also unmask Broken Water Arrow, so there was no reason for him to reject such a plan.

“But who’s going to do it? Brother Assist?” Sword Demon asked. The choice of the candidate would be the key to the success or failure of such a plan. Neither of them could do it as they had already come face to face with Broken Water Arrow. There was no telling if they would get find out even with their faces covered, and the risk was far too great. Aside from them, the only ones that they could trust were the other three players from Young Master’s Elite. However, War Without Wounds and Royal God Call were far too untrustworthy for this task; their personalities were far too unsuitable for this sort of work that demanded surgical precision. That left Brother Assist as the only man up for the task.

“No. We’ve got a professional…” Gu Fei ruefully expressed. “Do you remember that lady that stole your dagger a long time ago?”

Despite that incident being almost 500 chapters ago, Sword Demon could still remember every detail vividly. It left him an indelible impression as that was the moment his trust in Gu Fei began to form.

“That woman? How did she get herself involved?” Sword Demon was perplexed, for Xi Xiaotian was a total stranger to him.

“I bumped into her on the street. Later, when Coco came to reach out to me, she overheard Coco and I discussing this issue and eventually came up with this solution. Strange, huh? However, we have no idea where to look for that skill scroll, Memory Blackbox; Brother Assist is off to find out more,” Gu Fei said.

“Oh…”

The two men had made it back to Linyin City in the time that they conversed.

“All right. Go look for the ladies and see how the plan is coming along!” Gu Fei waved to Sword Demon.

“Where are you going?” Sword Demon asked. It was apparent from Gu Fei’s action that he was parting ways with him.

“I’m logging off, bro. I’ve already spent a long time searching for you in Linyin City. Look at the time already! I’ve still got work tomorrow!” Gu Fei waved goodbye at him before he turned to leave. Sword Demon was left staring at that familiar, indomitable, and impressive figure walk further away, before disappearing when he rounded a corner at the end of the street.