Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Then we haven’t got much time. I’m also very nervous; what if they had suspected what you were doing and directly laid an ambush where you teleported from? I’ll end up dying without even batting an eyelid.” Gu Fei was also very good when it comes to learning from his lesson; when he got online today he was met with one such situation, and he was completely taken off guard by it.

However, Xi Xiaotian actually looked at him, “Since you claim there’s already someone who is very familiar with the in-game quests and storylines, I’m positive that the enemy would be aware of your final destination.”

Gu Fei froze for a moment, “You’re right, I’ll need to be careful.”

With that, he checked the greatsword that he had tied to his back, something Gu Fei had randomly gotten a drop off from the monsters around while Svelte Dancer was away. He was going to use it as a prop to weigh him down as a counter to natural buoyancy.

“I’m off,” Gu Fei hurriedly unfurling the scroll that Svelte Dancer had handed him and disappeared in a flash of white light.

——————————————–

On the surface of Yunjiao lake, the players from the three large guilds that knew how to swim had all dived down. After Svelte Dancer had popped over and teleported away soon after, the three guild leaders took this as if they had failed once more, but Broken Water Arrow had very confidently told them that Svelte Dancer’s actions appeared to seem like she was simply doing reconnaissance. Had Gu Fei and the others been trying to do the quest, what they ended up doing would hardly be anything that simple.

As for the reason for her needing to scout, none of them could make sense of it, and nobody would have guessed that it was for a simple reason like Thousand Miles Drunk not knowing how to swim.

“So what do we do now?” The three guild leaders had personally stayed on the scene so they could supervise the operation.

“After seeing that we have made preparations when they came to scout us out, perhaps they would now look for other methods. Considering from a perspective of battle convenience, there’s no doubt that it would be more appropriate for them to engage in an amphibious assault, so I think Thousand Miles Drunk might opt to make a strong blitz from the banks—” Broken Water Arrow analyzed, but before he could even finish that thought, everyone saw a white light appear above the surface of the lake, followed by the splash of water. Gu Fei had teleported over and sunk into the water.

This was like a slap to the figurative face of Broken Water Arrow’s analysis. His cheeks flushed a deep hue of red, and he no longer said another word. With a wave of his hand, the swimmers that he had handpicked beforehand followed him to plunge into the water, their bows at the ready and releasing their projectiles at their target.

“Aim for his head!” That was the instruction Broken Water Arrow had given to these players.

However, Gu Fei was still unwilling to use his Magical Air Bubble scrolls! He wanted to try and hold his breath, only activating the scroll when he could not hold it any longer so that he could save a bit of time.

Countless arrows and bolts came flying, and even though their speed was greatly slowed while slicing through water like that, the same reduction in speed was also present for the human body thanks to the water resistance. By comparison, there was hardly any advantage to speak of either way, but for someone like Gu Fei who was clueless when it came to swimming, his movement underwater was all the more clumsy. This was completely different from fighting with other players on land; his moves sought to channel strength from the ground, so now that he was floating in water, there was no way that he could find any purchase stepping on water.

Fortunately, Gu Fei had that greatsword strapped to his back, so he was sinking at a fairly rapid pace that was beyond what the players had expected. Adding to the fact that they were all aiming for his head, each and every shot that was gliding his way very neatly missed him as a result. It was only Broken Water Arrow who did some quick maths assessing Gu Fei’s speed of descent and he was able to change his firing angle after his first two bolts missed. Gu Fei was not simply idling by while all this happened, of course. Placing his Moonlit Nightfalls before him, he slowly whirled it twice and actually managed to block off two shots, though it was unfortunate that the fifth bolt scored a hit. Both men’s attack tempos were affected by the changes now that they were underwater, and Gu Fei momentarily found himself unable to adapt to the new rhythm.

In the time of this one exchange, Gu Fei had already sunk to the bottom of the lake, and the murky black opening with the now broken water enchantment was right in front of his eyes. Gu Fei rushed to Blink in, but when he opened his mouth to utter the incantation, he ended up swallowing a whole mouthful of lake water.

How careless of me… Gu Fei was ashamed that he had forgotten such an important matter the moment things got tense. As such, he could no longer be frugal any longer, pulling out a Magical Air Bubble scroll and used it on his own head. The air bubbles instantly gathered and surrounded Gu Fei’s head. He tested it by taking a breath, and it seemed like there was already no obstruction to his breathing by now. Elated, he took note of the time while he opened his mouth and cast his Blink.

There was not any bit of restriction to the spell while underwater, and Gu Fei immediately materialized to the opening. But that was when he heard the sound of a metallic clank. Looking down, Gu Fei became very depressed that he instantly wanted to blast out a litany of curses; a mess of Traps had actually been dumped right in front of the underwater opening.

Gu Fei heard the sound of moving water coming from behind him, and when he turned around to look, he saw several Thieves brandishing their daggers as they zipped right over toward him. All of them were moving very nimble, like they were not in the least affected by the water resistance like everyone else.

By now, Broken Water Arrow had also pulled out a single test tube and gently tossed it out, instantly releasing an oil slick that promptly got adsorped onto Broken Water Arrow’s body, and his movement instantly became just as agile as those Thieves, swimming right over to where Gu Fei was.

Heh, you have magical scrolls, but we have magical elixirs. Magical Fish Oil increases the movement underwater by 100%, basically making it no different from moving on land. Broken Water Arrow found it quite regretful that he could not explain this to Gu Fei. At the moment, he sent a gesture to the handful of Thieves as they headed toward their target, reminding them that the key target that they needed to focus their attack on was Gu Fei’s head. As for those Archers from before, there was no need for any of them to use something like the Magical Fish Oil Elixir. Even though their movement would become quicker with its application, that did not remotely mean the arrows that they shot out with would become fast as well, since their arrows would not become affected by the oil.

When so many players saw Thousand Miles Drunk standing right by the opening and not moving an inch, they could barely disguise their pleasure. Besides, they were all able to move normally thanks to the elixir, and any sort of reaction from Thousand Miles Drunk would always be 50% slower than theirs. The chance they were now given was truly a godsend.

The group of men torpedoed straight toward Gu Fei. This time, all of them held the belief that they needed to succeed and eliminate Thousand Miles Drunk or at least burst the bubble that surrounded his head, even at the cost of sacrificing themselves.

It was big! It was really huge! How could they not succeed in attacking such a huge target? The players who had already found themselves right in front of Thousand Miles Drunk reached their hands out, and the air bubble was well within arm’s reach.

All of a sudden, countless arcing bolts of electricity wove themselves from the bed of the lake, and even the lake water seemed to tremble slightly under such a powerful attack. Electricity sparked, but it did not seem to be so bright while in the water, though the wall doubtlessly prevented players from reaching Gu Fei. Electric Wall; Gu Fei had cast an Electric Wall in that very instant when things looked dire.

These players all knew the situation had taken a turn for the worse, but they were unable to stop themselves… Even stopping such a frenzied dash on land was no easy feat, not to mention while they were underwater. All of them struggled to brake, yet one by one, without fail, came hurtling right into the Electric Wall.

The electricity coursed violently engulfing them all along with the flowing undercurrent. Several of them were convulsing involuntarily, unable to even open their mouths to cry out in agony either. Opening their mouths meant they would find them swiftly filling with lakewater.

But there was still one player: Broken Water Arrow. He had not swum toward Gu Fei in the same trajectory as those Thieves, and so he did not end up smashing into the Electric Wall, and was now continuing to cut in for Gu Fei through an oblique path. However, Gu Fei was standing just inside the opening at this time, and the Electric Wall that he erected acted as a barrier, leaving only just a narrow slit for Broken Water Arrow to get close to Gu Fei, making it essentially making it impossible for Broken Water Arrow to attack.

However, Broken Water Arrow’s target was not just Gu Fei himself, but the air bubble over his head. This air bubble lacked any sort of defense, so Broken Water Arrow lifted his short crossbow and was about to release the five consecutive bolts through the gap.

Gu Fei smiled when he saw Broken Water Arrow, and suddenly bent over backward.

Broken Water Arrow was in tears. Gu Fei bending over as he did actually ended up hiding his Air Bubble into the opening, and as such, Broken Water Arrow no longer had any angle to pierce the bubble through the gap. Anywhere that could possibly get an angle on Gu Fei was promptly covered by the Electric Wall.

Broken Water Arrow was at a loss over what to do as well. All he could do was randomly shoot at the gap, praying that it might deflect off the wall or something, bursting Gu Fei’s air bubble upon contact.

Unfortunately, Broken Water Arrow did not have any such luck, and to make matters worse, he was very quickly about to run out of breath himself since he did not have an air bubble of his own, and his HP would begin to drop. Broken Water Arrow was swimming up to the surface, though he had not given up launching his bolts right at that gap. Meanwhile, those who had been stuck on the Electric Wall were facing a similar crisis after the Electric Wall disappeared. But when they saw how Gu Fei was just right in front of them, some of these players who channeled the spirit of torpedos decided to just let their HP to continue dropping as they used this borrowed time to hurry forward and attempt to kill off Gu Fei.

“Electric Wall!!” Gu Fei yelled.

These Thieves heard him say it very clearly and all of them had the fright of their lives. Just as they were about to swim forward, they quickly backed away to evade instead. In the end, when they turned around to look, they saw that Gu Fei had only been bluffing, and there was no Electric Wall in sight. Just this double back had resulted in quite a few of the players to end up drowning, and the remaining players no longer dared to dawdle as they quickly went hurtling for Gu Fei at their top speed. However, the trap that snared Gu Fei had already ended by this time, and he was quickly headed for the opening.

This underwater opening should have originally been dark, but not only did this Magical Air Bubble scroll provide Gu Fei with the ability to breathe underwater, it had also the ability to illuminate, so the entire bubble acted like a large lightbulb, exuding an incandescent glow that lit up the cavern, while giving Gu Fei eyes that were like lightbulbs. The players behind him were rushing for him, and Gu Fei was also striving to make his way forward.

“The bubble!” Several men reckoned that they no longer had the time to attempt to take Gu Fei’s life so their only goal at this point was to burst the air bubble. They knew the effects the bubble had, and they obviously knew how important it was for this quest.

“Break!!” Someone suddenly heaved the dagger that he was holding in his hand. His movement was not slow in the least, but the dagger suffered from the same fate as the arrows the Archers had shot out, utterly unaffected by their so called Magical Fish Oil, so it was just drifting in the water at a slower pace. However, their target was within easy reach, so there was no reason that it would miss.

They heard the sound of water rushing in the next moment, and Gu Fei, who had been within easy reach in front of them, had disappeared. That huge bubble that surrounded his head continued to give off the glow 6 meters away.

Blink. Right at the critical moment, Gu Fei’s Blink cooldown had finally ended.

These men all had a mental breakdown then and there. Their HP were all in the red by this time, and they no longer had the time to chase the 6 meters, much less the time to swim back to the surface and get a lungful of air. They were all going to die in the cavern underwater together.

Flashes of white light broke forth in the water as all of them saw their HP drop to zero and die one by one. Gu Fei turned around to watch this sight and heaved a sigh of relief. It was really close. Had any of those men caught up, he might have been able to handle one or two, but with so many after him all at once, if they were to just wave freely at him, even a deity would find it difficult to fend them all off.

“Everything went successfully. I’ll be continuing ahead,” Gu Fei reported his safety back to the three.

————————————————–

Back on the surface, Broken Water Arrow’s head had poked out and he inhaled a breath full of air. A very small and mawkishly decorated boat with the word ‘LOVE’ written on its side, and an arrow piercing a heart drawn by its side came drifting over. The owner of this boat was of course Oathless Sword, and the moment he saw Broken Water Arrow pop up, he waved very enthusiastically at him, “Old Broken, how’s the situation?”

“You’re too late,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“D*mm*t, no one knew how to row a boat. How troublesome,” Oathless Sword realized that he needed to teach himself how to row a boat, otherwise, needing a boatsman to tag along when he ended up rowing the boat with Gu Xiaoshang in future would really get in the way and ruin the mood.

“How’s the situation?” Oathless Sword was lost in his thoughts for a bit before he returned back to the topic at hand.

“Not good,” Broken Water Arrow furrowed his brow.

“What is it?” Oathless Sword was anxious as well.

At the moment, the names of those players who drowned each reported: They had failed to complete their task. Thousand Miles Drunk had managed to get away with that Air Bubble of his still intact.

“Argh!!” Broken Water Arrow slapped the surface of the water forcefully, creating a splash that went everywhere.

“What are we going to do now?” Oathless Sword asked even as he gestured for the boatsman to paddle over and get Broken Water Arrow onto their boat.

The boatsman was evidently not too practiced with such a maneuver, and almost accidentally rammed Broken Water Arrow to death quite a few times, before the Archer gave up and quietly swam back to the bank on his own.

“What’s going on?” Both Brave Surge and Black Index Finger had approached him the moment he got onto land. Oathless Sword was currently cursing to high heavens on his end, swearing at the boatman for taking such a long time just to get them back to the bank, spending all that time just spinning on the spot.

“We failed to stop him,” Broken Water Arrow very remorsefully turned back to look at the bottom of the lake. Breathing was the most important aspect of underwater battles, and it just so happened that Thousand Miles Drunk had the absolute advantage to that end, resulting in him easily escaping this time.

“So what do we do now? Did you guys not say that if he completed this quest, the city assaulters’ side would be doomed?” The two guild leaders were very worried.

“That’s right.”

“So what do we do, quick tell us already!” The two guild leaders pleaded.

“I… don’t have any ideas,” Broken Water Arrow grimaced.

Brave Surge and Black Index Finger were both stunned. Was this it? A single man had very easily gotten past the lake and hid in the underwater opening. Did that mean the over 800 guilds from Yunduan City would now have to announce their defeat for this City Wars event? Was everything just a little bit too simple? Both guild leaders refused to believe this was real.

Oathless Sword’s love boat had finally reached the banks. He hurried over to join Broken Water Arrow and the others only after he gave the boatman a good dressing down again. He saw the expression that both Brave Surge and Black Index Finger displayed, their ashen faces clearly showed the situation was far from good. He quickly asked, “What happened?”

“We’ve failed…” Brave Surge said these words through his dried mouth.

“What?” Oathless Sword was shocked. He turned around to look at Broken Water Arrow, “How did this happen?”

Broken Water Arrow had no words.

“Is there no way for us to salvage this?” Oathless Sword pressed.

“There is one way…” Broken Water Arrow suddenly said.

“D*mn, then what are you wasting time for, not telling us about it,” Brave Surge and Black Index Finger’s both originally looked like they were about to drown themselves in the lake suddenly leaped to their feet the moment they heard what Broken Water Arrow said.

“Our final resort is to achieve quest completion before Thousand Miles Drunk could do so,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“What do you mean by that?” The three guild leaders were utterly lost.

“As this is a competitive quest, the content of this quest is actually similar, except for the final result. If your side were to complete it, the city assaulters would be given a very favorable advantage. If it was Thousand Miles Drunk who completes it, then the city defenders shall emerge victorious for this City Wars event,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Wait a minute. Why is it that we would only gain a favorable advantage if we were to accomplish the quest, while he would immediately get the win if he completed it?” Brave Surge asked.

“Because the city assaulter’s forces have already lost two encampments,” Broken Water Arrow explained.

The three men were surprised.

“Hold up a minute. Do you mean to tell us that the moment this quest is completed, our five encampments would all be invaded at the same time, causing us to lose the event? Is that what you’re telling us?”

“That’s correct,” Broken Water Arrow nodded.

“Just what sort of quest is this? Furthermore, how are we able to complete the quest before Thousand Miles Drunk does if he’s the one doing the last step?” The three asked.

“We can directly jump to the final phase of the quest,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“We can do that?” All three men were astonished.

“Of course.”

“But isn’t that a little too casual? To directly be able to hijack this last phase, simply letting others do all the work, that’s—”

“Do you guys want to hear me explain everything, or do you want to hurry up and snatch this quest away?” Broken Water Arrow interrupted. “Let’s leave the explanation for this situation aside for now as we have a very important issue at hand right now: Given the current circumstances of the city assault, the guild which completes the quest will most definitely obtain the most contribution score for their part in assaulting the city… So, which one of you is going to step up?”

When the three guild leaders heard that this was the crucial conundrum, each of them exchanged glances with one another. This was the result that any of them had always been chasing after in this City Wars event, and now the opportunity to do so was placed right before their eyes. Naturally, all of them hoped that they would be the one who completed the quest, but just how could they shrug off the other two guilds from competing? Through combat? That’s impossible, and the game was completely unrealistic, allowing players to revive after dying. If they were to continue fighting over the issue like this, no one would end up with anything. The only way for them to resolve this issue was through amicable peaceful means.

“What I mean is for you three to draw lots. Each of you shall rely on sheer luck, how about it? The two guild leaders who end up losing, I hope you would not build up resentment because of the result, not to mention intentionally undermining the quest…” Broken Water Arrow began.

“So, what do the two of you think?” Oathless Sword asked the other two.

“We’ll settle it just like this then!” Brave Surge and Black Index Finger both sucked in a deep breath and agreed.

“Very good,” Broken Water Arrow nodded. Casually pulling out a stalk of reed, he broke it into three uneven pieces; with one being significantly longer than the other two. He placed them into his own hand before getting the other three’s attention, “The quest will belong to the guild leader who manages to get the long piece instead of the two short ones.”

“Okay,” The three men nodded.

Broken Water Arrow took the three into his palm as the three guild leaders stepped forward and retrieved a piece.

“Hahahahaha!” Oathless Sword laughed uproariously and it was already self-evident who won.

Brave Surge and Black Index Finger once more showed the expression of wanting to drown themselves in the lake behind them.

“Old Broken, quick bring us to our quest. Surge and Blackie, are you going to help me with this as well? Even though it is my Traversing Four Seas who managed to win the straw poll, if there are any benefits I can split with you two, I’ll most definitely not swallow it all for myself,” Oathless Sword patted his chest magnanimously.

Brave Surge and Black Index Finger both had a look of disgust like they had just swallowed a mouthful of flies, yet they still nodded their heads with much difficulty.

“Okay, guild leader Oathless. Call the fastest player from your guild and head over to Yunduan Quarry with me. Do you have teleportation scrolls? Let’s save time, so let’s use what we can if you’ve got it with you! The rest of you shall head on over to this set of coordinates,” Broken Water Arrow said.

The three large guilds from Yunduan City were not so poor to the point they did not own a single teleportation scroll. But plenty of their men were nowhere near them. And the three guild leaders had to ask around, so it was a good thing that they had managed to collect three scrolls.

“Is that enough?” Oathless Sword asked.

“Okay,” Broken Water Arrow nodded. Meanwhile, Oathless Sword had sent out his most trusted men by this time, and it was of course the one who was one of the core members whom he trusted the most: Youthful Reflection.

“Let’s go. You guys should seize the opportunity to do what you have to do as well.” Broken Water Arrow and Youthful Reflection each set off and went running in the general direction for the Quarry. At the same time, Oathless Sword and the other guild leaders led their men toward the set of coordinates that Broken Water Arrow had instructed them to about.

—————————————–

Over by Yunduan City Quarry, the place was already bustling with activity at the moment.

“Search this area! There must most certainly be something very important around here. All of you must find it for me; be sure to carefully comb through the place!!!” Foe-herder bellowed across his own guild channel.