Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“You call the things Miles affect as injustices? Whose action can be called justifiable, then? When it comes to what is fair or unfair, whose view should we consider? Yours?” Sword Demon scoffed.

“Justice and fairness come from the heart. Whether Miles can be considered as game-breaking or otherwise isn’t something any person can decide, but I believe that a majority of the players will recognize just how ridiculous his ability is and will view him as a game-breaker,” the Priest confidently answered.

Sword Demon burst into laughter at that. “That’s just a roundabout way of saying that most people can’t stand others being stronger than them. To put it bluntly, those are people crying sour grapes.”

“It seems that we won’t see eye to eye on this. I’m really disappointed in you,” the Priest said.

“I’m disappointed in you as well. You’re here to convince me into joining you guys, right? Unfortunately, you are not eloquent enough to draw me to your side! How rare it is that even someone who isn’t good with words like me doesn’t falter in this debate,” Sword Demon said.

“Since you know what we’re here for, let me ask you one last time. Are you willing to admit Thousand Miles Drunk’s existence is extremely disruptive to the game balance and join us in suppressing the damage he causes?” the Priest asked.

“Hmph!” Sword Demon laughed mirthlessly. “I completely approve of Miles’ existence and will stand by his side as one of his most staunch supporters.”

“Hmph!” The Priest laughed coldly as well. “The reason you insist on taking his side – isn’t it because you’ve greatly benefited from him? Your two daggers, your Shadowmist Assault, the faction you joined… Which one of these isn’t from Thousand Miles Drunk’s involvement? Honestly, I can help you gain far more practical benefits and in greater numbers. Take for example the nuisance of not being able to abandon your ‘Daily Mission’; I actually know a way to abandon it. Would you like to hear it?”

Sword Demon looked at the smug smile of the Priest and shook his head. “Seriously. I should not be swearing at my age, but I really can’t stand it any longer. You f*ck*ng idiot! Put away your god-complex that casually assumes you know what people are thinking! This will be the last time I’m telling you this; I completely disagree that Miles is an unreasonable existence. In fact, I will go even further and tell you this. My goal is to become that sort of indomitable existence! As for you, I only have two words: inexplicably baffling.”

Sword Demon was about to leave after saying this, but he heard the Priest behind him sigh in regret. “If that’s the case…”

Standing before Sword Demon was Broken Water Arrow with his arm supporting the Six-shot Repeating Crossbow. The man was aiming it at him.

“You’ve gotten plenty of advantages from Thousand Miles Drunk’s insanely powerful performance in this game. In order to protect the balance of this game, we have no choice but to take them back – as is appropriate. Don’t worry; we won’t go overboard. We’re simply taking the Shadowmist Assault skill, your Dual-wielding Mastery, and your faction membership,” the Priest said.

“These things; are they stuff you can take back just by claiming that you will?” Sword Demon asked.

“It’s very simple. As long as you drop below level 40, all those things will disappear…” the Priest said.

“I see.” Sword Demon understood what he meant. The two Assassin skills he had gotten were not accessible if he was reduced back to being just a Thief, and the faction membership seemed to be something only players that had completed their Job Class Advancement could obtain. Losing the necessary levels would naturally mean losing those things automatically. He did not think that this man would actually come up with such an idea.

“I seriously can’t make sense of it.” Sword Demon suddenly spoke up. “Why are you together with such a madman like him?” He admired Broken Water Arrow’s style and how he acted. After eliminating his suspicion of the man, he found the latter to be rather upstanding. Never would he have imagined that someone like Broken Water Arrow would partner up with such a baffling person like that Priest, and by the looks of things, he even took orders from him.

“Just like you, I insist on standing with my friend.” Broken Water Arrow did not say much.

“So that’s how it is. I get it.” Sword Demon nodded. “I must thank you, then.”

“Thank me?” Broken Water Arrow was confused.

“At this rate, it appears that my ‘Daily Mission’ has a chance being completed!” Sword Demon proceeded to make his move by using the strongest skill in his arsenal, Shadowmist Assault. With both his arms crossed, the man came hurtling toward Broken Water Arrow.

The distance between them was such that Broken Water Arrow would have difficulty getting away. However, the man did not move away in a hurry, but opted to squat down as best as he could in the time he had, instead. The Priest behind the two revealed a slight smile.

The biggest weakness to Shadowmist Assault was not the user’s shadow being visible under the sunlight, nor was it the need for distance to build up the necessary momentum to launch an attack. It was the fact that it was an Assassin skill, that meant the user would be using a short dagger as a weapon; they were unable to reach a lower angle in the process of their sprint over.

Of course, Sword Demon immediately realized this problem as well. In the instant that Broken Water Arrow squatted down, Sword Demon thought to dip his shoulder and his hips to lower his center of gravity. Ultimately, he discovered that even stretching to his very limit, Broken Water Arrow would still be outside of his reach from this charge.

Sword Demon would consider the rendering of this move he had the most confidence in useless to be an unforeseen mishap in the fight. Broken Water Arrow’s position was really too low on the ground, looking like a spider sprawled. Despite this posture, the Sharpshooter still managed to lift his arm.

A cold flash.

Considering how close their distance from each other and how Sword Demon did not have Gu Fei’s quick reaction time, getting hit by this shot was a certainty. But Sword Demon was well aware that Broken Water Arrow’s bolts would not be able to deal much damage.

During the other day’s fight, Gu Fei was able to withstand a Snipe straight from Broken Water Arrow, which Coco and the others had deemed to be him monkeying about. In fact, Sword Demon had taken a shot from Broken Water Arrow before and had also received Gu Fei’s private message. The two of them first calculated the maximum damage output Broken Water Arrow could dish out, and proceeded to make a rough estimation just how much damage he could deal with his strongest skill, Snipe.

Gu Fei was not actually acting rashly when he dashed out without dodging or evading. Since the damage Broken Water Arrow could deal was all within his calculation, he knew that he would not die directly from that one shot, which made it the perfect opportunity to close in on Broken Water Arrow.

Gu Fei’s deduction was correct. Right now, Sword Demon was boldly attacking despite Broken Water Arrow aiming his crossbow at him, all because he knew that the latter did not have the Attack Power necessary to insta-kill him. Thus, even if he had to take a hit, the insta-kill that would follow would be from Sword Demon’s Shadowmist Assault.

However, even with all his calculations, never would Sword Demon have anticipated that Broken Water Arrow would still be able to evade his attack.

Even Gu Fei had not managed to see this weakness. This was because he had no idea that the system restricted the movement of the user upon using this skill. Given Gu Fei’s flexibility and reach, he was more than capable of propelling himself into an attack with his arm propped on the ground. Thus, he would never have thought that the skill would actually have such a glaring loophole.

Sword Demon no longer wished to continue his attack after taking that shot, so he shunted to the side and did a 180-degree switchback in one smooth motion to transfer his high-speed Shadowmist Assault on to that unsuspecting Priest, instead.

Sword Demon knew about the weakness his skill had and that Broken Water Arrow had the capability to evade it thanks to his quick reflex and agility, but that did not mean that others would be able to do the same. This was especially the case for a Priest who was not higher than level 36. Sword Demon had used Appraisal while they were having that conversation before and discovered that the Priest was low level and his equipment was average. Even if he were a kung fu practitioner like Gu Fei, the lack of levels and equipment contributing to his stats meant that there would be a limit to his speed. This logic was similar to how Gu Fei would not possess even a shred of lethality without his Moonlit Nightfalls and Midnight Spirit Robe. After all, the support of levels and equipment were still required when playing a game.

Can this person dodge my attack? Sword Demon wondered.

Not likely, it seems! Sword Demon could tell from the look of shock he was showing.

The Priest was indeed very shocked, for he had never expected Sword Demon to be capable of completing a 180-degree turn in that crucial moment while Shadowmist Assault was still active.

He was familiar with how the skill worked and knew it was not explicitly stated that the skill would be interrupted upon changing direction. Thus, as long as the skill remained active and the turn was sufficiently fluid, it was not impossible to execute such a turn without causing the skill to cancel.

It was just that he had never thought that this level 40 Assassin would be capable of executing such a perfect change of direction with this approximately level 60 skill, and it would be so extreme like a 180-degree switchback. With Sword Demon’s current stats, just how did he realize such an accomplished technique?

The Priest did not have time to ponder on this too much, for even though Shadowmist Assault had a weakness, the speed Sword Demon was provided was the real deal. Furthermore, just like what Sword Demon had imagined, the Priest Ye Xiaowu totally did not possess any sort of skill. He was a bonafide frail scholar…

Insta-kill him! Sword Demon had such a thought in his mind. He knew that, with Broken Water Arrow’s presence, nothing good would come out of this. Still, being able to insta-kill this detestable person before he died was a very satisfying trade off to him. It was just a pity that they could not revive in the same spawn point; otherwise, being able to catch a glimpse of his expression would be pretty interesting, too.

Just as Sword Demon was about to deal the killing blow, he saw something flash from behind the Priest.

What is that? This thought had just crossed Sword Demon’s mind when he felt his whole head buzz. Following this, his body felt as if it had been electrocuted and he suddenly unable to move at all.

Bludgeon… Sword Demon was astonished.

It was not uncommon to find himself ambushed by a Bludgeon, but what really caused Sword Demon to be surprised was the fact that someone had caught up to him and struck with this blow to the back of his head while his Shadowmist Assault was still active. Besides Gu Fei’s Blink, Sword Demon truly could not think of anyone else that would be able to attain such a high movement speed.

Perhaps, it’s that thing that flashed by from behind the Priest? Sword Demon wondered to himself. He did not have Gu Fei’s outstanding dynamic vision. Were Gu Fei in Sword Demon’s shoes, he would be able to tell that the high-speed blur moments ago was a Thief performing a Shadowstep from behind him.

“That was close…” Sword Demon heard this man behind him say this. “My palms were sweating; that was so quick.”

“It’s fine if you’re late. It’s nothing much if I drop a level.” Ye Xiaowu chuckled.

With that, Sword Demon felt a shudder of stabbing pain flower from his back, and before he could even turn around to catch a glimpse of his assailant, he was already unceremoniously killed off. Broken Water Arrow’s close-range Snipe might not be enough to insta-kill him, but it could still deal substantial damage. Sword Demon would have no chances of surviving this concerted attack from these two people behind him.

I need to inform Miles of this fast! Sword Demon, who found himself respawning at the Thieves’ Union, did not even spare a second to feel despondent over his drop of level and just quickly pulled up his friends list, only to laugh at himself bitterly in the next moment.

Why would Gu Fei be online at this time?

It’s best if I inform the others first, Sword Demon thought to himself and quickly sent a message over the mercenary channel. “We’ve got a big problem.”

“How big a problem?” Vacuous men like War Without Wounds and Royal God Call were forever quick with their replies but were always flippant with their words.

“I died.” Sword Demon’s reply turned the atmosphere somber.

“What happened?” Once the mercenary leader spoke, no one wished to be mocked and hurried to maintain a clean channel.