Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The four guild leaders were glum. Courtney was right in front of them, and the four had each sent players who were the best at fishing out a quest on the NPC, trying all sorts of ways to get something out of it, but to no avail. They had no idea where Thousand Miles Drunk ended up no matter the case, and Foe-herder was the first among the four guild leaders to consider murdering Courtney, hoping to try and see if forcefully slaying the NPC would cause it to drop some sort of clue that could be used.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Brave Surge shook his head. “IT is now an irrelevant NPC. Would you usually go around killing the NPCs in the city just because you can’t find any quest? I’m sure you know what would happen if you randomly attack these civilian NPCs, right?”

Randomly attacking civilian NPCs would result in the merciless retaliation of the system’s city guards, even if it was just an accident. In this regard, the system would evidently side with their own and not care for any reason. As long as someone were to strike an NPC, the system would not even spare a moment’s regard for the players.

“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. I simply do not believe that if we were to attack it right now, there would still be guards who would pop up and rescue it,” Foe-herder said.

“I simply wanted to remind you that attacking an NPC for no reason will incur severe penalties. While such extraordinary times might not result in guards appearing in retaliation, maybe the system will deduct your City War contribution scores instead?” Brave Surge asked.

Foe-herder was momentarily stunned, before abruptly laughing, “If it will really reduce my guild’s contribution scores, there would be even less reason for you to stop me, right?”

It was now Brave Surge’s turn to be stunned. Out of the kindness of his own heart, Brave Surge had mentioned this fact to Foe-herder without any bit of malice, and was merely dissecting his own view that killing Courtney would not be a good idea. However, it was evident that his day to day character was nothing particularly inspiring. At such a crucial moment, Foe-herder had assumed that he was being snide and devious instead.

“Letting you lose your contribution score isn’t too bad, but it would be best if you end up dying two more times. I won’t stop you if you want to kill it!” Brave Surge could not be bothered any longer as well, so he decided to forgo the argument altogether.

“And the two of you?” Foe-herder turned to regard Oathless Sword and Black Index Finger.

Both men were still mulling over their options, when they suddenly received news from their guild channel, “Guild leader, there’s someone who wishes to seek all of you.”

“Who is it?” The four men asked.

“I have no idea, but he claims he knows where Thousand Miles Drunk and the rest are going!”

“Oh?” The four of them were all surprised. They quickly asked for the location and began heading over in that direction together, their actions all in complete unison with each other as they ran.

The four guild leaders were deathly afraid of being Honor-killed, so they no longer let players get near them easily. The players that were with them helped them make preparations, completely forbidding any stranger to get anywhere near them. Now that a person bearing such tempting news had appeared, the four did not dare to tarry any longer. They continued to make their way over to meet with the newcomer, heading right over to meet up while they rallied their men to guard them.

The person that they were meeting appeared in front of the four. Oathless Sword was the first to get a good look at him, and immediately found it strange, “You seem familiar. Why do I vaguely recall seeing you before?”

This person sighed.

“How do you know where Thousand Miles Drunk would be?” Brave Surge asked.

“Because I know what the quest’s follow up will be.”

What a familiar line! The four were shocked as Oathless Sword instantly recalled, “It’s you! Aren’t you that guy who was together with Fleeting Smile?”

The other three guild leaders let out an audible “oh”, and they were also reminded that Fleeting Smile had not been alone, but had brought along a companion with him.

“D*mm*t, trying to fool us time and again, do you take us for imbeciles?!?” Foe-herder was enraged, and his sword immediately came cleaving over.

Broken Water Arrow spun himself and let the sword pass, his arm swiftly lifting up with his short crossbow in hand, already pointed at Foe-herder’s temple. He did not attack, and even if he did, the little damage that he could inflict was nothing to a Warrior. However, this one move that he made had clearly shown that he possessed a high level of PK expertise, and not attacking showed that he had no ill intentions.

“You guys are really mistaken,” Broken Water Arrow said feebly.

The four guild leaders did not say a word in response.

Broken Water Arrow stowed his crossbow away even as he continued, “Right now, none of you have any clue where Thousand Miles Drunk is, and there’s no way for you to sabotage his quest progression either. Why would you still suspect me of being a spy sent by Thousand Miles Drunk, intentionally trying to mislead you as to where to go? Are you guys even headed anywhere right now?”

Foe-herder was deep in reverse psychology at this time, so he chuckled darkly, “Hearing that, I am even more confident that I should make my move on the NPC.”

When the other three heard this, all of them very quickly added one and one together. Perhaps it was because the NPC was still a vital part of the plot and Thousand Miles Drunk was worried that they would kill it, so he had specifically sent this person to confound them all. Hearing what Foe-herder had said, they really almost got fooled by this newcomer!

“Fleeting Smile happened to tell me to inform you all that no matter what you do, do not bother Courtney anymore. Otherwise, you will witness an Enraged BOSS that you would have absolutely no means of beating,” Broken Water Arrow added.

“Hahaha, then I really do want to witness this for myself,” Foe-herder laughed raucously, immediately gathering his men through his guild channel. They had all seen the combat strength that Courtney possessed, and while it was very powerful, they could still confidently defeat it with the strength that a thousand-man guild had. After all, it no longer had the unrestrained Threat generation that it was previously endowed with when following Thousand Miles Drunk.

“That works out perfectly. You dying would surely convince the other three guild leaders as to the validity of my words,” Broken Water Arrow said.

The three were originally ready to join in the fun, but hearing what Broken Water Arrow had just said, they felt that it was not exactly a bad idea to continue observing the situation either. Foe-herder laughed mirthlessly. Naturally, he had his own idea as well. He had merely wanted to come forward and attack so as to test the NPC out. If it was truly as invincible as this person claimed, he could simply just scatter and abandon the fight if things take a turn for the worse. How much could he lose in the end?

“Team 1, take up the 12 o’clock angle, team 2 on the 1 o’clock angle, team 3 on the 3 o’clock angle, team 4 on the 4 o’clock angle, team 5 on the 5 o’clock angle, team 6 on the 6 o’clock angle, team 7 on the 8 o’clock angle, team 8 on the 9 o’clock angle, team 9 on the 10 o’clock angle, and team 10 on the 11 o’clock angle; Everyone, move to your positions, now!” Foe-herder was giving out orders in the guild channel. Cloud Herder guild had formed up into ten teams, and all of them prepared for the assault. Ultimately, Courtney was not that sort of specialized Wild BOSS, so it would not take the initiative to attack any of the players, making it more like a passive monster.

“ATTACK!” Foe-herder gave the command and Warriors from all ten directions surged forward to surround the passive NPC that would not initiate combat, which was a huge advantage for the players in the formation.

Five holding onto swords, and five shields braced. These ten warriors seemed to have gathered on Courtney almost all at once.

They attacked. They got insta-killed.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. There was absolutely no hesitation. In that very second the ten players launched their attacks, they were all killed.

And that was not all. After the white light from these ten players flashed, Courtney’s arrows were seen flying out through the light unerringly.

Ten arrows. Another ten players died.

The players were all shell shocked. To be able to shoot through players, Parallel World had dubbed this as ‘Attack Penetration’. It was an often seen trait with the bows and crossbows that Archers wielded, and they would usually have a proc chance to them. Most of the time, there would be a significant decrease in damage the second time such attacks penetrated past to the second target.

All ten arrows from Courtney penetrated. Did none of the damage each arrow dealt decrease? No one had any idea about this. None of them had any idea just how much damage it was capable of doing in the first place, and the only thing that they could say for certain was that every arrow it fired resulted in an insta-kill. It was the same for the Endurance-focused Guardians as well; all were insta-killed in the face of Courtney’s attacks.

There was no doubt that its attack this time was much more indomitable than before. None of the players that swarmed it dared to make a move. There was simply no way that any player out there could handle insta-kill levels of damage. Were they supposed to sacrifice themselves and dogpile her? If they were able to spawn back in location, perhaps it would have been worth a shot, but out here in Yunjiao Lakeside…

Although none of these players had the courage to move, Courtney did not stop there, arching its bow once more to fire off its scatter shot. This time, the players could clearly see that there were not just ten arrows, and the attack was not in a fan, but a full circle; Courtney had spun and released them in a 360-degree circumference.

The arrows were swift, and the players were completely unable to evade them. Anyone who was struck immediately met their end. After the attack penetrated past the first round of victims, killing yet another circle of players after.

The arrows were still being fired, and Courtney’s expression was one of utter fury. It showed grim resolve and melancholy; it would no longer allow anyone to ruin her protection of Angus.

The looks on Oathless Sword and the other two guild leaders changed. Their thoughts of jumping in the fight had all but disappeared, and they were all yelling orders down to their fellow guildmates to retreat. Courtney’s arrows were fatal; there was never such a thing as damage immunity in Parallel World, and any innocent bystanders that were collaterally killed could attest to this fact.

Foe-herder was the one who wanted to flee the most. Forget what formation, healing, or cover. None of this mattered at this point in time, and only a single word matter: Flee.

Everyone and anyone who could flee counted.

The babylegged players would forever be the ones facing tragedy.

Courtney did not give chance, merely staying at the same spot as it continued to fire arrows. However, not only was its attack power high, and could fire plenty of shots, even its range was extremely far. Players had no idea how far they needed to run before it would stop its rain of arrows, so all they could do was run like their lives depended on it.

By the time Courtney finally stopped, there was basically no one within a 100-meter radius around her.

Excluding Cloud Herder guild, even players from the three other large guilds had incurred a few accidental casualties in the process of their escape.

So what about Cloud Herder guild? Those who could escape were practically Thieves and Archers. Courtney’s attack was in 360 degrees, 20 arrows at once, insta-killing 2 players per arrow; ten attacks would mean 400 players. These players from Cloud Herder guild were running as hard as they could, and in the end, only 274 of them survived. Even Foe-herder himself was among those that died. When Courtney’s arrows were sent flying, he was no different from a level one noob that had walked out of the Academy, instantly finding himself turning into a white light. The record of large scale deaths in a guild was made that day by Cloud Herder guild.

Foe-herders’ intestines had already turned green with regret by this time. He only had 2 more chances of death, and the fact that he loved taking the lead during battle meant that this was the first time ever that he was not right there at the frontlines of the battle.

He had retreated back from the teams, prepared to command his men while composed while he had been very calmly backing away at the same time if Courtney being invincible were to come true.

How was he supposed to know that Courtney would be so insane to such a degree? Foe-herder was crying as tears streamed down his cheeks.

The three guild leaders exchanged glances with each other.

“Could this really have been a misunderstanding?” Brave Surge asked.

“Fleeting Smile… Is he now in the 17th district?” Oathless Sword asked.

“Yes. There’s no way for him to contact any one of you now,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Why don’t you first tell us what we should be doing?” Black Index Fingers asked.

“Head to the forest up in the north! Thousand Miles Drunk and the others will need to get there and obtain some necessary items,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Then what are we waiting for? Quick, go chase after them!” The four large guild leaders each gave their orders to their respective guildmates.

“But with their movement speed, it would be very difficult to catch up to the ladies if they had been ahead by just a single move.

“So what do we do?”

“We can only head to the next step of their quest before they do,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Oh? And where would there be?” The three guild leaders asked.

“Follow me,” Broken Water Arrow led the way. The three men watched where he was going, and very glumly commented, “We’re still going to be by Yunjiao Lake?”

Broken Water Arrow nodded.

The three sighed. They had originally thought that Yunjiao Lake was a great place for them to set up an ambush, but by the looks of how everything panned out now, it was also equally beneficial for Thousand Miles Drunk.

“Come on, we haven’t got much time!” Broken Water Arrow called out.

“Let’s go,” The three guild leaders brought men along.

“What’s the situation right now? Wait for me…” Foe-herder painfully sent his message out.

“Brother Foe-herder, you’re just left with just one last chance… I think it’s best if you just spend your time in the safety of the encampment!” The three guild leaders each consoled.

“Don’t you guys dare abandon me!” Foe-herder very indignantly lamented.

“What are you saying? We’re only having your safety in mind!” The three gasped.

It would have been better leaving that unsaid; saying it only caused Foe-herder to be terrified once more. Just one last chance… What if the three of them really took this chance to stab me in the back? He was currently stuck in between a rock and hard place; just what should I do?

———————————————-

Over by the north end of Yunjiao Lake, Xi Xiaotian, Svelte Dancer and Royal God Call had very quickly circled around the lake and reached their location. The forest here did not seem to be very large, and Courtney mentioned that the magical tools were placed where she lived. Everyone believed that lady would not be living in a tree hollow, so there should also be a little cottage of sorts in this forest, and that was a much easier landmark to locate.

Entering the forest, Xi Xiaotian suggested that they split up and search, and Svelte Dancer nodded and began heading to the right. Royal God Call looked calm and collected on the outside and took to the left. With such beauties in front of him, Royal God Call decided that he would rather become lost here than expose his shortcomings to them.

“Where are you running off to? Follow me!” In the end, it was Xi Xiaotian who had leashed him back with her.

Royal God Call had innocently thought that nobody knew about his little problem; it was truly a deluded fantasy.

Royal God Call, having now lost all face, followed Xi Xiaotian. Sure enough, it did not take long for them to stumble upon a small cottage in the forest. Royal God Call delightedly wanted to barge in, but suddenly came to a stop right before he reached the door. He quickly withdrew back to Xi Xiaotian’s side and whispered, “I heard movement inside.”

“What sort of movement?” Xi Xiaotian was presently sending Svelte Dancer their coordinates.

“There seems to be somebody inside,” Royal God Call said.

“No way…” Xi Xiaotian was surprised.

Royal God Call circled around the cottage once; it was truly a very small structure, and there were no windows visible on any of the walls, though there was an open skylight on the roof of the cottage.

“Could a fight break out?” Royal God Call wondered. This was the reason why he did not dare to step into the place.

“Wait for Svelty to arrive,” Xi Xiaotian said.

The forest was not too huge, and Svelte Dancer had not run too far either, so it did not take her too long to run over and meet them. She did not seem to care when she heard that there could be someone inside the cottage, stepping forward bravely, “Look at how afraid you people are. I’ll go in and take a look.”

“Svelty, don’t,” Xi Xiaotian quickly blocked her way. “The enemy has people who are completely familiar with the quest, so perhaps they had already anticipated this step that we are now taking, and sent their men over to set up a trap for us,” Xi Xiaotian explained even as she vigilantly observed their surroundings.

Royal God Call felt what she said made a lot of sense, so he nocked an arrow, aiming his bow readily at random angles.

“Miles you jerk, come on over already,” Svelte Dancer messaged Gu Fei.

They heard the cottage door squeak as it swung open.

Without even thinking, Royal God Call released that arrow he had ready.

“D*mn!” A figure darted from the door, and this person sounded awfully familiar.

In the next moment, they saw Gu Fei angrily stalking over, staring at Royal God Call, “What are you doing?”

The three of them were dumbfounded, and it was Royal God Call who curiously exclaimed, “How did you get here before us?”

“Oh, turn out the destination of the teleportation scroll is closer to this location,” Gu Fei shrugged.

It was now their turn to be angry instead.

“Why didn’t you give us a teleportation scroll for us to use!?” Svelte Dancer was infuriated, despite the fact that she had not thought about this idea herself in the first place.

“Oh, didn’t you want to swim over here? I thought you were fond of it,” Gu Fei said in bemusement.

“I’ll show fondness to your sister!” Svelte Dancer cursed.

“Have you found the tool yet?” Xi Xiaotian simply asked the important question without bothering to quarrel.

“I got it,” Gu Fei took it and showed it to the three. They were scrolls; magical tools were apparently forever magic scrolls.

“What magic scrolls are these?” The three asked.

“Magical Air Bubble. The item description states that the user would physically manifest a sphere of magical enchantment around them,” Gu Fei said.

“What does that mean?”

“You guys are asking me about this?” Gu Fei found it odd. He was still waiting for them to explain this to him!

“Do you have just the one?” They asked Gu Fei.

“There were three in total,” Gu Fei said as he produced two more from his dimensional pocket.

“I want one,” Svelte Dancer pounced for one. Gu Fei dodged very quickly and kicked her into the cottage in a timely fashion.

“Should we play it safe and head back to Courtney and ask how we should use it?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

Gu Fei nodded, “Let’s go ask, better than blindly wasting it ourselves anyway.”

“But the people from the four large guilds are still around,” Royal God Call reminded.

“Let’s sneak our way back and take a look first,” Gu Fei said as he sidestepped to avoid Svelte Dancer’s attack as she came lunging out from the cottage.

“In light of our safety, we should use the teleportation scroll again. They should not have any idea about the route we take from there,” Xi Xiaotian suggested.

Gu Fei nodded, pulled out a teleportation scroll, and all four of them disappeared and materialized back at the same spot again, heading off in the direction where Courtney was holding vigil at.

—————————————–

After investigating the distant terrain from up the hill and spotted nothing strange around Courtney, nobody would have thought that in the range of a hundred-meter around the NPC, it had managed to claim over 800 players’ lives mere moments ago. The four of them did not see any kind of movement around, so they quickly made their way to approach Courtney.

Gu Fei broached the subject immediately, pulling out the Magical Air Bubble magic scroll to ask Courtney how they were supposed to use the item.

Courtney was very straightforward about it as well, taking the scroll in Gu Fei’s hand and demonstrated it on Gu Fei’s forehead. Everyone saw as it unfurled the item, and countless bubbles rapidly formed, a concentration of bubbles that surrounded Gu Fei’s head. With that mass of bubbles around his head, Gu Fei looked very confused, while the other three found this sight to be so comical that they were almost rolling on the floor laughing.

“That’s how it works! The Magical Air Bubble would be wrapped around your head like so, allowing you to breathe with the air trapped inside. A single scroll could last you approximately 15 minutes,” Courtney said.

At the moment, the thick layer of small bubbles around were constantly melding together, and in no time created a huge air bubble around his entire head. Gu Fei could clearly see through the bubble, but with such a huge air bubble around his head, it made him look all the more hilarious to the people around him, and the other three were almost about to die from laughter by this point.

“If I were to use two at once, would the effect be doubled?” Xi Xiaotian had not forgotten to ask this appropriate question in between her peals of laughter.

“Of course you can,” Courtney nodded.

“15 minutes. I wonder if that is enough to accomplish what we are required to do underwater. Should we just send one person down, just in case? Two scrolls would at least provide 30 minutes of air,” Xi Xiaotian said.

“Had I known it would be so easy, we would not have needed to ask her and waste one scroll like this,” Gu Fei found it heartwrenching.

“Walking to the location of the quest, would that air bubble of yours still be up?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Gu Fei said.

“That’s a real pity,” Xi Xiaotian expressed her regret.

“Hey, are the two of you done laughing?” Gu Fei glared at the other two.

Amidst the reeds near Courtney, there were yet again some players from the major guilds, and they swiftly made the report to their guild leaders, “Thousand Miles Drunk has appeared, and has interacted with Courtney!”

“D*mm*t!!” The three guild leaders who had listened to Broken Water Arrow’s arrangement of a comprehensive ambush were all infuriated, all of them staring daggers at Broken Water Arrow.