Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“It’s no Mage weapon. Something that has physical and magic damage should theoretically be reserved for Knights to use, especially a Dark Knight,” Ye Xiaowu replied.

Reserved for Knights, especially a Dark Knight… These words caused Silver Moon’s heart to beat. There was no doubt that he was a Knight, and now that he was not even at level 40, he would be given another chance to choose his Job Class Advancement when he reached level 40 again. If he went with being a Dark Knight and got a hold of Thousand Miles Drunk’s Moonlit Nightfalls, just what sort of frightening power could he wield with his job class matching the weapon?

As Silver Moon let his imagination run wild on his end, No Smile did the same too, but since he was a Thief, his thoughts naturally went toward Svelte Dancer’s dagger, Dancing Dervish, instead. He did not know Svelte Dancer, but he had heard plenty of rumors about the woman, who was widely regarded as having the three key elements of looks, money, and damage. It turned out that it was thanks to that dagger of hers; thus, if he managed to get a hold of it for himself…

The two swallowed their saliva audibly, which caused Ye Xiaowu to regard them strangely. Realizing that they had let slip their façade, they quickly calmed themselves down.

“Where’s the person whom you said is going to deal with Thousand Miles Drunk?” Ye Xiaowu asked Silver Moon.

Silver Moon look around, acting as if he was looking for someone. “I don’t know! Maybe, those guys have already been killed by Thousand Miles Drunk.”

Ye Xiaowu knitted his brows. No Smile was far more straightforward and sent Silver Moon a private message. “Hey. Just what are you up to?” Ever since they had teleported to Baishi City, No Smile began to feel that Silver Moon was acting all the more unnatural.

“D*mm*t. It’s hard to explain everything right now. I’ll fill you in next time,” Silver Moon replied.

“What do we do now?” Silver Moon’s eyes darted over to Ye Xiaowu.

“Wait and see, I guess!” Ye Xiaowu did not say much as well. If No Smile was able to see how unnatural Silver Moon was, he of course could do the same, too. The man had done his best to convince them to come over and deal with Thousand Miles Drunk, yet seeing the situation that they were now in, and adding the unwillingness Silver Moon was showing, these factors made it all the more difficult for Ye Xiaowu to guess what Silver Moon was planning. He knew that he would be unable to get a straight answer from Silver Moon if he asked him about it too, so he went with the option of waiting and seeing. At the end of the day, they were just a group of players that banded together for the sole purpose of using one another to better go up against Gu Fei. And given Silver Moon’s character, Ye Xiaowu simply had no wish to become any sort of friend of his.

Gu Fei and his group of six, who had just finished their final stroll, chose a rather spacious clearing to wait for the enemies to show up. Aside from Gu Fei, the rest of them were already rather annoyed by all this.

“Do those cowards even dare to show up?” Blue Ease asked. He felt that with how he had brought out all his comrades back then, it was enough to intimidate that bunch of ruffians, which caused them to completely give up on attacking Vast Lushness.

“If they intend to rob her, there’s no way that they’ll give up so easily,” Gu Fei said.

“You sound as if you’ve got a really good grasp of this sort of thing.” Blue Ease gave Gu Fei the side-eye. While he no longer treated Gu Fei as a nemesis, he was not about to treat him like a comrade so quickly, either.

“I’ve had quite a few run-ins with these sorts of people.” Gu Fei nodded.

“Oh. What do you think is the reason they have yet to make their move, then?” Blue Ease deliberately wanted to make a joke out of Gu Fei.

“It’s been so long, so if they are looking for us, there’s really no reason for them not to locate us.” Gu Fei furrowed his brows thoughtfully. “That means that they should already be watching us from somewhere out there.”

The others immediately looked all around them, immediately suspicious of anyone who met their gazes.

“Not making their move even after so long, I do believe that there’s only one reason: They are waiting,” Gu Fei continued.

“Waiting for?” Blue Ease pressed.

“Waiting for her to be alone… It seems that they’ve decided not to clash with us and are now waiting for Vast Lushness to be left alone before attacking,” Gu Fei answered.

“They aren’t weak,” Vast Lushness said. “The six enemies form a standard job-class team, and they are all skillful with practiced coordination. We held the advantage with our headcount the last time, but we were still no match for them. It would’ve been terrible had Blue Ease not made it in time.”

“After that, the number superiority we held increased, yet that six-man team was still able to fully retreat. It’s really impressive.” Sakurazaka Moony quickly interjected into the conversation. The fact that his men were no match for the robbers and had to be saved by Blue Ease made Sakurazaka Moony feel rather embarrassed, so he made sure to point out this particular part of the fight, first, to prove just how powerful their enemies were this time, and, second, to point out that Blue Ease and his men were not up to par, either; Despite his group’s numbers, they were unable to hold those six men and would be in an equally terrible plight if they did not have so many players.

“F*ck! Didn’t you see it?! That Mage unleashed a spell that sealed off the entire street, and two of my men that went chasing after them ended up dead. Would they’ve gotten away if it had not been for that skill?” Blue Ease could tell what Sakurazaka Moony was insinuating.

“Tsk. In other words, your tactical positioning just wasn’t good enough. Why didn’t you block off their path of retreat beforehand?” Sakurazaka Moony taunted.

“F*ck, how would I know which way they would be retreating toward?!” Blue Ease retorted.

“Which is why I say, it’s just not good enough.” Sakurazka Moony had no idea what he was being gleeful for.

“All right. Stop your quarreling.” Gu Fei saw that Blue Ease was about to yell and quickly interrupted him. “That spell the other Mage used to seal off the entire street, what sort of spell was it?”

“It’s a wall of flames,” Sakurazka Moony described.

“There were two.” Blue Ease had a clearer view of it.

“Actually, it’s a sea of flames,” Sakurazka Moony bickered.

“F*ck, you twerp!” Blue Ease could not stand it any longer and raised his hand to unleash a Thunderbolt right onto Sakurazka Moony. As a Lightning Mage himself, Gu Fei was of course familiar with the incantation, so his arm quickly shot out to stop him.

“I know who they are.” This statement from Gu Fei was enough to divert everyone’s attention over to him.

“Who?” Sure enough, even Sakurazka Moony and Blue Ease instantly set aside their squabble as they turned to ask.

“Southern Lone Blade,” Gu Fei replied.

The rest were momentarily stunned, for this was a name that needed no introduction.

“How do you know that?” Blue Ease asked.

“That wall of fire is a spell called Palatial Balefire, and it’s a signature move from the Mage who’s a member of Southern Lone Blade’s party, Flame Singed Clothes. We’ve crossed paths plenty of times, so I’ve seen him use it many times, too. Those guys are all professional larcenists, but from what I understand, they will only do business after receiving a commission, so I wonder who has eyes on your equipment.” Gu Fei pondered.

“My staff?” Ever since Vast Lushness had fought her way to Yunduan City, she had been a largely average player in terms of her gear. Aside from the Utopian Magic Staff she had gotten a long time ago, she did not really own anything that would be worth hiring a professional larcenist to loot.

“Let’s worry about all that later!” Gu Fei said. “If they are the ones doing the deed, I think I have an idea why they have yet to show their faces.”

“Why?” It was Blue Ease asking him again.

“Because of me,” Gu Fei said.

“What do you mean?”

“Hmm. How should I put it…” The moment Gu Fei began contemplating if he should be a little modest with his words, Vast Lushness and the others already knew what he meant. Back when they were all in Linyin City, they had all helped Gu Fei track down the location of Southern Lone Blade and his team. Afterward, Gu Fei continued to hunt down Southern Lone Blade’s party, while Vast Lushness and the others remained in Linyin City for a time to go about their own business. That was when Fireball, bearing a buttload of PK points, spent dozens of hours at the beachside taverns in Linshui City, which drew a bout of ridicules from his mercenary group.

“They probably don’t dare to attack because you’re around.” Vast Lushness laughed.

“Drunk bro, you’re seriously too d*mn OP!” Fireball idolized every inch of Gu Fei.

“If it’s them, nothing we did before mattered, since they will only act after they see me leave,” Gu Fei said.

“Then, what’re you dawdling about for? Quickly leave.” Svelte Dancer shooed Gu Fei.

“They aren’t easy to deal with.” Gu Fei had a serious expression about him. The members of Young Master’s Elite often discussed about these men, and their general evaluation of them was admirably positive. To get that level of recognition from that bunch of first-rate experts only showed how outstanding Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man team was.

“What are you hesitating for? If you can take them on, why can’t I? Quickly get lost,” Svelte Dancer said again.

“All right. Be careful…” Gu Fei could only agree and turn to leave.

——————————–

“Thousand Miles Drunk’s left!” Almost at the same time, Southern Lone Blade and Ye Xiaowu spread out this good news among their respective parties.

“Follow him!” The same command was given at the same time by the two parties. The difference was that Southern Lone Blade had only sent Glue to do this task, while Ye Xiaowu had all three of them go in the direction that Gu Fei had departed in.

“We can’t be careless. That guy might be leaving intentionally to draw us out to attack,” Southern Lone Blade said.

“How did he know that we’ve been watching him all this while?” Flame Singed Clothes asked.

“It’s possible if he has identified us,” Southern Lone Blade replied.

“And how would he know that?”

“You used your Palatial Balefire before we retreated last time. If anyone mentions it, Thousand Miles Drunk will immediately realize it’s us,” Southern Lone Blade explained.

“In other words, if he knows it’s us, Thousand Miles Drunk will surely be able to guess how we do things, and he knows that we’ll be avoiding him, so his departure now can be his attempt at making us show ourselves. If that’s the case, he might be faking it, and he might come back any time. Or perhaps, he’s thinking that the other five players left are enough to take on the six of us,” Southern Lone Blade analyzed.

“Just the five of them?” Blackwater and the others might not be back at level 40, but they still treated this to be like a joke.

“Vast Lushness is a Dark Priest, so her Heals are weak. The specialty of Dark Priests is yet to be seen, so it’s simply a handicapped job class. The Archer’s a Hunter; what use will traps be in a combat in a city? that’s yet another handicap. Then there’s no need to mention that little Mage; he’s nothing special. And that other Mage that came to interfere, who looked to be a person of caliber, but that was simply because he had too many players with him back then. Now that he’s all alone, there’s no way that he is as strong as Thousand Miles Drunk. Lastly, that female Thief…” The Priest Paddy Scent Pastures began to give a rundown of every opponent they would be facing in the remaining five.

“That female Thief came along with Thousand Miles Drunk,” Glue said.

“A female Thief all dressed in red…” Southern Lone Blade’s thoughts drifted to Parallel World’s most famous female Thief.

“Could she be Svelte Dancer?” Flame Singed Clothes announced the correct answer.

“Hmph. That Thousand Miles Drunk may have underestimated us a little too much. If we’re so indecisive when facing off with any random expert, how in the world can we continue to subsist on our job at that rate?” Southern Lone Blade said thusly. But the fact remained that he was still slightly hesitant to take on Svelte Dancer, for he also knew that his fellow comrades had taken quite a blow from Gu Fei that their confidence was already on the brink of collapse. Now that they had once more run into Thousand Miles Drunk in their assignment this time, it was truly akin to adding fuel to the fire.

They had no choice but to avoid Gu Fei because everyone was clear that they were no match for him. However, when pitted against someone like Svelte Dancer, an enemy that they had yet to fight against, choosing to still avoid her would eventually make avoidance a habit for them. At the point, the confidence of his team would be really difficult to resurge once more.