Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Deep Waters wondered if it was Gu Fei who had stepped on the trap, but he did not expect to hear a series of traps triggering consecutively. Deep Waters’ line of sight was obstructed from seeing just what was going on, so he quickly adjusted his steps to increase his field of vision until, finally, the scene behind a large tree appeared before Deep Waters’ eyes…

His jaw instantly dropped at what he saw. Meanwhile, all around the jungle, more and more members from Deep Freeze poked their heads over and stood rooted to where they were as they shared the same expression with Deep Waters. Their eyes bulged in disbelief, and their mouths hung agape.

Right before their eyes, Gu Fei was dancing crazily within the trap formation that Deep Freeze was practicing setting up in preparation for the upcoming City War, which they hoped to dominate and come out on top of.

The series of snaps that came from the traps was actually all due to Gu Fei’s feet. Every step he took, he would trigger the traps, yet even as each of them sprang forth at high speed, looking to ensnare the Mage, they were no match for Gu Fei’s lightning-fast reflexes with his sword tip held right below his waist. Every time a trap sprang out, his foot would promptly leap away, and before it could bite into his ankle, his sword tip would make contact with the trap’s jaws, instead.

Clank… Clank…

The first clank was the trap triggering, whereas the other clank was when Gu Fei struck it down.

Deep Waters really had no words to describe what he was witnessing now, and this scene had dredged up a bad memory. The first time they had crossed paths with Gu Fei and heard the traps behind them triggering, he had hurried to look in his excitement, thinking that Gu Fei had been ensnared by the trap laid out. In the end, when he turned around, what he saw was Gu Fei swatting away a trap, which then flew right to his nose…

Meanwhile, Gu Fei’s performance right now was far more preposterous than what he had shown the last time, for the man was currently facing against Deep Freeze’s trap formation. This was, after all, not the steps right outside Luori City’s prison, where the traps were laid out bare. In the jungle, these traps here were all properly concealed beneath the detritus, so there was no way that Gu Fei would be able to detect the position of these traps prior to triggering them. From the moment he gingerly triggered that first trap, it was like a chain of traps had been set off at once. In order to avoid the first trap, he would then come into contact with the second, and evading the second meant that he would step on the third…

Deep Waters and the others watched the scene with dumbfounded eyes, even as Gu Fei incessantly bemoaned his fate throughout this entire ordeal, where getting a foothold in all this became a luxury he could not afford. Gu Fei did not dare to slip up, his hands full just from dealing with these traps. He could barely take note of where Broken Water Arrow had escaped to, and after consecutively triggering all these traps like this, by the time he finally found his first opportunity to firmly plant a foot to the ground, the entire area was quiet, and not a single contraption broke through the ground snapping.

Gu Fei heaved a long sigh of relief but did not drop his guard. Maintaining that stance with him standing on one foot, Gu Fei would first have to probe out another spot free of traps before he could rest the other leg down.

The members from Deep Freeze that were crowding around, watching this display, all shared the same ashen expression. Seeing that Gu Fei was no longer triggering any trap on his end, everyone exchanged glances with one another.

“Se-Seventeen… Seventeen of them…” someone reported with a stutter.

These men knew what the number meant; Gu Fei had stepped on 17 traps but had come out of all that unscathed! Seventeen traps had all been struck down by that single sword of his. Recalling the entire sequence, watching Gu Fei step onto that first trap up to this point seemed like a dream. Everyone realized that they could not exactly recall how Gu Fei had achieved this, because everything had happened so fast that they were still able to hear the double clanks rattle in their heads even now.

The first clank was the sound of the trap being sprung.

The second clank was the trap being struck down.

All of a sudden, everyone in this crowd of Hunters felt that the future for their job class was impossibly bleak. In such a situation, where seventeen consecutive traps failed to even snare a single target, what sort of future could they speak of about their job class?

Everyone was rooted to the spot, looking dazed. Even the trees around them were more emotive than they were; rustling leaves could be heard as a breeze swept by.

Gu Fei did not seem to realize the devastating psychological shadow he had created in these onlookers’ hearts after that ludicrous feat and just maintained that flamingo posture of his as he used his sword to poke at the ground below, searching for a safe bit of land to put his other foot down.

The rustling of the leaves suddenly became louder, yet the breeze did not suddenly become stronger. Everyone quickly connected the dots in their minds as they turned to face the direction of the sound.

Broken Water Arrow! The man dashed out from the jungle in a hurry and came hurtling toward Gu Fei, who was currently caught within the trap formation.

“Old Broken!” A cry came from within the crowd, as if these men viewed Broken Water Arrow as their final life-saving miracle grass. They hoped that someone could prove to them that there was a future in the art of trapping, and that it was capable of defeating any manner of indomitability. Everyone seemed to have collectively forgotten that Broken Water Arrow was not a Hunter that only played with traps.

“You’re still here!” Gu Fei was moved. He initially thought that the reason Broken Water Arrow had lured him to this place full of traps was to use the formation to aid his escape. He had not expected the man to be secretly watching him from the sidelines as he searched for an opportunity to strike. Broken Water Arrow turned out be someone who had far more backbone than what Gu Fei had given him credit for.

Broken Water Arrow did not reply to him. Quietly dashing toward Gu Fei with murderous intent, he, too, stepped foot into the trap formation that Gu Fei was currently stuck in, but the difference was on how the man remained safe and unhindered with every step he took.

“Old Broken is too cool!” everyone yelled. They might be obeying their guild leader’s instruction not to interfere with the duel, but it was fine to show favoritism for one of the parties involved, right? In this fight unfolding before their eyes, these players from Deep Freeze all stood on the side of Broken Water Arrow no matter what sort of perspective they adopted. Actually, if it were not for the fact that their guild leader, Deep Waters, was watching this fight from the sidelines as well, some of these players would probably have difficulties holding themselves back any longer. Would it not be fine for them to secretly shoot off a shot or two since they were not allowed to aid Broken Water Arrow openly? After all, this was the strong suit of a Hunter.

Broken Water Arrow came hurtling over aggressively, yet Gu Fei remained in that same posture with a single foot on the ground, unable to prod out a spot for him to put his other foot down, which was precisely the opportunity that Broken Water Arrow had been hoping to seize.

“Twin Incineration! Incinerate!” Gu Fei did not dare to wildly move his lower body, so he had no choice but to defend himself with aggression; his sword brandished against the incoming Hunter as he stabbed his Twin Incineration right at Broken Water Arrow.

Not in the least bit flustered, Broken Water Arrow saw the attacking coming right at him and turned his body did a side hop. Gu Fei would usually never end his attack with a single move, but all he could do was curse ‘m*th*rf*ck*r’ when he saw Broken Water Arrow dodge his attack. The position he had hopped to made it so that it would be impossible for Gu Fei to follow-up his attack at the man as there was no space for him to shift his position properly. The man had made the right conjecture that Gu Fei did not dare to move too much in his current state.

Having evaded that attacked, Broken Water Arrow saw no reason to leave things as it was and continued his advance toward his target. When Gu Fei saw the man going straight at him, he reckoned that since Broken Water Arrow had given up on using that beloved crossbow of his as a pistol, the Sharpshooter must have decided to close in and engage him in close combat instead.

Gu Fei would normally welcome such an attempt with open arms, but this was a seriously difficult challenge for him right now.

Even though some movies out there often depicted experts capable of fighting off others without having to move, it would often be a situation where an expert martial artist would be toying with noobs. Gu Fei would naturally be able to do the same with any random player, but the opponent he was now facing was not just a random player. Broken Water Arrow lifted his hand up to Gu Fei, going straight for his throat in that one charge. It was a particularly vicious move, for if this were a proper fight in real life, it would entirely be possible for Broken Water Arrow to snap his neck with this one move.

Gu Fei did not dare to be careless. He tilted to the side and avoided that move, while he used the suspended leg, which had yet to touch the ground, to send a kick right at Broken Water Arrow’s head.

Broken Water Arrow hunched his back to avoid it, even as he swept his leg down to Gu Fei’s lone leg, which was supporting the full weight of the latter’s body.

Ultimately, Gu Fei’s kick was faster. Suddenly changing the direction of the kick, it brushed past his opponent’s head as his leg moved to stomp down on it the moment Broken Water Arrow hunched over. Putting strength into that blow, Broken Water Arrow nearly ended up sprawled on the ground in that stomp, allowing Gu Fei to use his head as a foothold to get his other leg lifted off the ground and avoid that sweeping leg from Broken Water Arrow. Gu Fei was now in the air.

“Translocation! Blink!” Gu Fei pointed to the sky and chanted while in the air, materializing high above the ground in the next moment. Gu Fei used both his hands to grab a hold of the tree branch hanging just above, swinging his entire body and flipped himself upright on it.

“Sorry about that; I had no choice,” Gu Fei gestured toward Broken Water Arrow, expressing his helplessness in his disrespectful action of using the man’s head as a foothold.

Broken Water Arrow was even more depressed when he heard this; it felt as if the exchange of moves from before had all been a trap! It was apparent that, in Gu Fei’s situation moments ago, the biggest weakness he held was that flamingo stance of his, but having already deduced that Broken Water Arrow would strive to sweep that leg holding him up, Gu Fei took advantage of that to casually use Broken Water Arrow’s head as a support. With that one step he took, adding the distance his single Blink could cover, Gu Fei successfully escaped the trap formation in an instant.

No matter how indomitable Broken Water Arrow was, there was no way he could fly up the tree, so he quickly pulled out his crossbow and fired a shot at the Mage, thinking that Gu Fei might not be as nimble as he was on the ground up there. In the end, Gu Fei demonstrated his firm foundation in his lower body kung fu by maintaining his balance even while he hopped on the tree branch. A left spin, a right twirl, but Broken Water Arrow had yet to land a single shot on Gu Fei even after emptying out all six bolts in his crossbow. He quickly pulled out the cartridge and attempted to reload the crossbow bolts into it again, time and again looking up at Gu Fei who was still on that tree. He watched Gu Fei pull out an apple and crunch into it, which was the latter’s way of replenishing his ammunition.

Mana replenishment was ultimately still slower, and Gu Fei did not even have the time to wait until his mana was filled up. In the time it took for him to take two bites out of that fruit, Broken Water Arrow had fitted the six bolts into the magazine cartridge and had it aimed at Gu Fei once more.

Gu Fei helplessly shrugged toward the man. “What’s the point? You can’t hit me, anyway. Do we really have to keep doing this till you run out of bolts?”

Broken Water Arrow gritted his teeth and had to admit to the truth in that statement, but what else could he do aside from shooting him?

“If you wanna play with your crossbow at the end of the day, what’s the point of rushing at me in the first place?” Gu Fei asked.

Broken Water Arrow did not answer him. Honestly, he obviously did not intend to charge over in that fashion, either. Still, how was he to know that Gu Fei would be so preposterous to the point where he would not be ensnared even after triggering 17 traps consecutively? Gu Fei was previously maintaining his posture not daring to make any sudden movement, which was no different from getting himself ensnared, but that would only be what appeared to be case to people who knew nothing about the formation, like Gu Fei. Broken Water Arrow, who was completely familiar with the trap formation, knew very well that after Gu Fei managed to consecutively trigger the 17 traps, he was actually out of the formation already, and all it would take was two random but bold steps from Gu Fei to realize this.

Broken Water Arrow sprinted over precisely in hopes of forcing Gu Fei to retreat before the latter came to realize that fact. After all, engaging in close combat would make it much easier for Broken Water Arrow to control the movement his opponent would make, but who would have guessed that Gu Fei would use his head to get himself up the tree safely? Life was truly unbearable.