Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Thousand Miles Drunk’s over here!” Someone suddenly yelled. Everyone turned their head round, yet all they saw was a streak of flames and that player had already been insta-killed by Thousand Miles Drunk. The torch in that player’s hand had been instantly extinguished as well, and darkness promptly swallowed Thousand Miles Drunk.

Everyone quickly hurried over but were of course unable to find any trace of Gu Fei at all. They cursed, when they heard someone else yell out “D*MN!” Everyone turned, and this time saw the bright light that came with a player’s death, while Thousand Miles Drunk’s figure was still nowhere to be seen.

“Crap, that guy is singling out the players bearing torches,” Broken Water Arrow discovered the underlying denominator. But this one revelation caused all the players that were holding the torches to panic; the item would lose its effect the moment it was stowed away into their dimensional pockets, and holding onto it would only cause them to turn into clear targets for Thousand Miles Drunk. As such, these players who were originally fighting over who got to hold the torches became extremely modest, courteously passing the torch over to others. The most shameless was Oathless Sword; he had originally snatched a torch by force from a player for himself before going down the steps, but now that the situation had changed, he immediately called for an underling beside him, “North, come on over, take this torch and investigate over there.”

The man called North was not a fool. He did not take the torch, but very calmly said to Oathless Sword, “Guild leader, just extinguish it…”

This time, Oathless Sword listened to the suggestion made by the man, and immediately put out the torch that he was holding in his hand.

The other players simply did not have the courage like their guild leader, throwing their torches around like a game of hot potato. In the blink of an eye, two players got slain and the glow within the space that they were all occupying became a lot dimmer.

“Everyone, don’t panic! Let’s gather all those who are still holding onto torches,” Broken Water Arrow shouted.

These people very quickly zoomed to the center and huddled up. They were all concentrated right beside the apparatus in the center, which at least gave them something to cover their backs with so they only needed to guard against Thousand Miles Drunk coming for them from three sides.

“Say, it’s really big here!” A player exclaimed. With the small team that was the first to arrive and the army of babylegged players that joined after, there were almost close to 200 players present, yet they were all able to occupy the space without needing to squeeze at all. Everyone had plenty of room for their limbs to move about freely, and given the amount of light all their torches were giving off, it really made it seem like the place was really huge.

“Old Broken, don’t you think it’s time we hurry up and finish the quest? The present situation we’re in isn’t beneficial for us,” It was unknown when Young Master Han had drifted over to Broken Water Arrow’s side and asked him this one question, which startled Broken Water Arrow quite unexpectedly.

“Hmm, this is also the first time I’m here, so I’ll have to search the place as well! It’s too dark,” Broken Water Arrow said, ignoring Young Master Han as he quickly took command of the fight, “Mages! Throw AoE spells around to light the place up!”

The Mages adhered to the order and each began tossing out spells all around them. Some used large AoE spells, while others stuck to using small Fireballs. The AoE spells were able to light up a large area with each cast, while the Fireballs made a straight path of illumination as it floated by.

Under the light from the flames, everyone spotted Thousand Miles Drunk’s figure once more. He was enveloped in the darkness, a blurry figure that was barely visible. His hand seemed to be raised toward them…

“OH CRAP!!” Broken Water Arrow’s reaction was the quickest, but by the time he exclaimed, everyone could already feel the ground beneath their feet grow hot, and that there was too much light being given off from above their heads.

“F*ck!” The vilest swears that these players could think of were being uttered, and if all these words that described the depths of their resentment were to come true, Gu Fei’s immediate family and any trace of lineage before and beyond would have all been eliminated at that moment.

Descending Wheel of Flames and Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno; Gu Fei had cast these two spells in secret on everyone. The players scattered in every direction, some managing to escape while others failing to get far. Some survived the ensuing assault, and there were of course those who got insta-killed…

“Hey, hurry up and locate the quest. We’re at a huge disadvantage in our current state!” Young Master Han had appeared beside Broken Water Arrow from out of nowhere once more.

Broken Water Arrow was stunned. Is this guy watching my every move? He might have already deduced my objective… If it is him, there is no way that he has no solution to our predicament, but if he were to intentionally keep mum about it, that must mean he intends to use our present situation to force me to hand over the quest to Colored Clouds. Broken Water Arrow’s thoughts were running wildly in his mind even as he gazed at the slightly shrouded Young Master Han, feeling great distaste deep down. Has the choice of doing the quest been surrendered over to this man once again?

“Get into your combat teams. Every team will hold a single torch. Maintain your distance from each other,” At this time, the various guild leaders had personally stepped up to the plate and given the orders to their men respectively. They were not going to let all their players form up into a crowd like the last time again.

“What will the size of the teams be?” Someone asked.

This question should not have been asked; in most situations, a combat team would consist of seven players as the base, one of each job class. From there, the appropriate combat power would be added to the team as required. Teams that would see themselves with over 10 players would not surpass 15 in terms of their number. However, the current battle they were in had stumped all the guild leaders. This was because their opponent was Thousand Miles Drunk, and was a small team of about 10 men even considered a team in his eyes? That man could not possibly take down ten or more men in one go, right?

“20 players in a team!” The first to come to a decision was Oathless Sword. He felt that teams of 20 players should be able to hold out until the rest of his reinforcements arrived. Thus, the other guild leaders assigned their men accordingly as well, and the nearly 200 players present were very quickly formed into ten separate teams, with each of them holding at least a single torch between them. In the end, before the ten teams could even be positioned, the two fire spells once more appeared over a team’s head and under their feet, and the players fled like cowed dogs and headless chickens, with some dying and others who managed to escape. But nobody had any idea where Gu Fei had struck from this time.

“This isn’t working! The torches can only shine in an area that is about 30 meters wide, and Thousand Miles Drunk isn’t getting into melee range this time, maintaining his distance away from the city assaulters as he cast his spells from afar. Our torches have essentially become a painted target for his attacks,” Oathless Sword very quickly discussed this with the other guild leaders.

“Should we extinguish our torches?” Black Index Finger suggested in passing.

“Wouldn’t he still be the one holding the advantage in this situation? In the darkness, we are still unable to tell where he would be, but he would have no problems since he’s just all alone; anyone he ends up killing would be fine by him,” Oathless Sword said.

“Could we restrict his motion if we keep our spells on him?” Gu Xiaoshang turned to look at Brave Surge since he was considered the expert in this regard.

“That’s not possible,” Brave Surge shook his head. “Firstly, we don’t have enough Mages to achieve any sort of comprehensive coverage, and secondly, given how we have absolutely no idea about our enemy’s movement, there’s no point in randomly tossing out spells against him.”

“It’ll at least keep a larger area illuminated, so just go along with this first!” Oathless Sword nodded. It was not known if he truly believed in this idea or if he was merely supporting Gu Xiaoshang’s idea unconditionally. In any case, once the order was passed down, all the Mages instantly began the hard work of casting their spells all around them unceasingly. Even that bit of light that came from Priests throwing their Sacred Balls and Archers firing their Homing Projectiles with its bare glow were now acting like flares, being sent forth in all directions.

“Over here!” With all these bodies of light being unleashed, they were sure to find Thousand Miles Drunk’s figure.

“He’s gone…” But the lights barely lasted for long, so Thousand Miles Drunk disappeared into the darkness once more.

The only benefit of everything they had done was the fact that Thousand Miles Drunk had not been able to launch another attack during this period of time. However, how long could such a method last? Their mana would all eventually run out, and the four guild leaders had already begun to set out to arrange rotations for the players, so as to ensure that their man-made illumination would not end.

“Isn’t it time for us to quickly finish up the quest? Unless you want us to keep using our mana here…” Young Master Han was not speaking to just Broken Water Arrow, but everyone in the crowd.

Many players quickly came to their senses, having forgotten what they were up to in the first place after being teased by Thousand Miles Drunk. Everyone turned to Wing, the man from Colored Clouds who had the quest, “Go and finish it up!”

Wing stared at Broken Water Arrow, “Where do I go to find the quest?” He was really honest and quite believed what Broken Water Arrow had said.

Broken Water Arrow had already taken note of the position which Ye Xiaowu had described to him. It was just that deep down, he was still contemplating over the matter, and Brave Surge did not miss this chance to send another message to Broken Water Arrow, “Our men are about to arrive, and eliminating Thousand Miles Drunk then would hardly be a problem. When talking about Carouses’ Mage formation, I’m certain it would be enough to cover all the space completely.”

Disregarding how much falsehoods were in what Brave Surge had said, Broken Water Arrow at least believed that man did not have any intention of letting any other guilds snatch the quest away. Both sides had essentially staked their bets on how the situation would unfold, and Broken Water Arrow was more willing to stake his lot with Brave Surge’s side. That would not require him to reveal any information regarding the quest. There was perhaps also another reason, and it was that he had been very dissatisfied with what Young Master Han had been doing every step of the way.

“Okay!” Broken Water Arrow nodded his head at this time and spoke up. “The quest works like this. This is Yunduan City’s water conservancy and treatment hub. Everybody knows that we’re in a world that has magic and there are plenty of Mages, Priests, and Alchemists living in Yunduan City. All these professionals, be it in their daily living or work, would create a lot of wastewater that normal people could not possibly imagine. The wastewater would most definitely be harmful to people’s lives if left untreated, and it cannot be discharged with ordinary domestic wastewater. As a result, it has its own special distribution channel. ”

“And this right here,” Broken Water Arrow patted the pipes behind him. “This is actually the magical purification apparatus that will convert all that wastewater into potable water, and this is the place where the various wastewater from Yunduan City would all be circulated to for purification purposes. And what we now have to do is to sabotage this apparatus, stop it’s purification and distribution function. This will result in a large amount of the wastewater accumulating until it causes a backflow to Yunduan City. After that, the city guards of Yunduan City will suffer from all sorts of negative magical statuses when all that wastewater gets diffused within the city. The city assaulters could then swoop in and capitalize on this opportunity and decide the City War event!”

Everyone was dumbfounded as they heard everything. It was after a good moment when Oathless Sword said, “Are you telling us the plotline for the quest?”

“This is what you all should all know at least. Completing this quest would not be simply a one time effort. Everyone will still have to hurry and do battle since the negative magical statuses affecting the NPCs would merely be temporary. There’s no way the city defenders would just let the wastewater backflow issue remain unresolved, right?” Broken Water Arrow said.

“But what you said seems to be a little excessive. We don’t have any time now for you to waste telling us the story behind all this. Just tell us what we have to do now!” Oathless Sword was impatient.

Broken Water Arrow turned around and said to Wing, “Take out the item you need to use.”

Wing heard what he said and quickly pulled out the item. Everyone looked and saw that it was no different from the item before as it was another test tube, except this was two sizes bigger than the last one. Wing waited for Broken Water Arrow to point him to where he needed to insert the test tube, only for Broken Water Arrow to suddenly spin around, “Everyone, come over and take a look. It’ll need a slot that is about that big in size… Everyone, help look for it!”

“Screw you! Don’t you know where it is?” The crowd vomited blood.

Broken Water Arrow helplessly shrugged, “You guys should know about the randomness of the quests here in Parallel World, right?”

Everyone heard and were also left speechless. All they could do was curse at the shamelessness of the system. But by this time, the hungry wolf Thousand Miles Drunk was waiting to prey upon them from the sidelines. The players were all gathered together, not daring to venture out too far off. All they could do was pray and offer joss sticks that what they were looking for was somewhere in the midst of all those pipes behind them… But speaking of which, the bunch of pipes did look like they were just water pipes, so the item would most likely be inserted somewhere else, right? Everybody’s heart was thumping hard against their chests as they searched every nook and cranny over by the pipes, with some even getting on all fours down on the ground.

Brave Surge had not said a word, his eyes sweeping over to glance at Broken Water Arrow’s expression. Seeing that the man was already doing as he pleased, he did not bother asking any further questions himself. As a Mage, he continued to return his attention to his noble task of providing light for everyone.

“Nothing here!”

“Not here either!”

“Absolutely nothing!”

The answers from the players searching everywhere were the same: Nothing. Their hearts were all chilled. Consequently, would they not have to widen their search perimeters? What about Thousand Miles Drunk? Where was he?

Now that the Mages were illuminating the place in rotational shifts, their area of illumination shrunk once more. Thousand Miles Drunk’s figure would sometimes be spotted, sometimes shrouded in the darkness. The only thing that they could be certain of was that the man was still around, and he was being very calm. Like a wolf with its eyes set on its prey, Gu Fei was not in the least bit hurried, loitering in the vicinity as he patiently waited for a chance before he could pounce in and continue to rip and tear…

“The way I see it, shall we maintain our current formation and move as a whole?” Oathless Sword suggested.

“Yes, let’s do just that!” everyone nodded in agreement. And so, this mob of players was like a mobile lighthouse as it began to move. Every time they changed their location, they would have players sprawling on the ground searching for the slot for the test tube. Someone asked Broken Water Arrow if it could be in the ground, and Broken Water Arrow once more emphasized on the randomness of the quest found in Parallel World, so everyone could only swear as they continued to comb the ground.

“Why isn’t there any movement from Thousand Miles Drunk? Even in our current situation, if he is willing, there would not be any lack of opportunity for him to strike. So why is it that he had not even made a single attempt? What is he waiting for?” After quite a long time, Broken Water Arrow suddenly felt that Thousand Miles Drunk’s action was worth pondering over. Just what exactly was he up to?

Wait a minute! Broken Water Arrow suddenly realized a problem. Thousand Miles Drunk is here for his quest, but everyone only seems to be guarding against just him the whole time. Nobody is even taking the initiative to provoke or stop him. Given such a situation, why would he not just focus on making progress with his own quest? What’s the reason behind him butting heads with the city assaulters? Could it be that this guy has not completed every aspect of the plot of his quest, which was why he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing here?

Just what information did he lack after following the quest line thus far? This was not a question that Broken Water Arrow could answer, and he would need Ye Xiaowu to analyze it in detail to find out. However, he did not have any way of contacting Ye Xiaowu at the moment as it was apparent that the system considered the water conservancy and treatment hub to be part of the City War battlefield given how crucial a location it was to both sides, which meant that there was no way for them to get in touch with players like Ye Xiaowu, who was stuck in the 15th district.

“That is why I’m saying, could that person be watching us from the shadows, when he is actually observing how we would proceed with the quest? Maybe he’s hoping to pick up clues in the process of our quest progression so that he could be made aware of what he needs to do for his own quest?” Because Broken Water Arrow lacked Ye Xiaowu’s informational support, he could only analyze the situation on his own, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt it made sense. There’s no doubt that the guy is lacking the information he needs to continue his quest! 

He was mulling over this when a commotion suddenly started somewhere beside him. All he heard was players shout “Thousand Miles Drunk” and Broken Water Arrow turned his head over. Thousand Miles Drunk was less than 3 meters away from him, he was not even the target for this assault. Thousand Miles Drunk had Blinked to appear right beside a Warrior who was holding onto a torch and cast his rotating Twin Incineration, Palm of Thunder as well as a Thunderbolt. Consecutively throwing out these spells without breaking a sweat, and that Warrior was promptly slain right on the spot. By the time the other players around reacted and wanted to surround Thousand Miles Drunk, he had already cast an Electric Wall to block them before turning tail to run back into the gloomy darkness.

“That guy…” Broken Water Arrow realized that he was mistaken, and it had been a glaringly huge mistake to boot. Thousand Miles Drunk’s goal was ultimately to do battle! He had made his goal to be eliminating all the city assaulters here. While the players were organizing themselves and lighting the place up with their spells, Thousand Miles Drunk could only engage in some light harassment with his two AoE spells layered over each other, unable to insta-kill anybody, and it was evident how dissatisfied he was about it.

That was why Gu Fei had been waiting. He was not merely looking for the opportunity to just create a bit of a disturbance with his AoE spells. He was after the chance to insta-kill his enemies, and his goal was very clear; the first players that he would be targeting were the players bearing the torches. He wanted the darkness to completely permeate this place so he could proceed to eliminate each and every player here with him.

This guy… has he forgotten that he’s here on a quest? Broken Water Arrow has discovered his forehead was now drenched in cold sweat. He had never been so anxious even when he was participating in actual combat on a real battlefield in the real world back in the day. This pressure is too great. The opposition I’m facing now is a complete lunatic; Is he fighting for the sake of battle itself?

“It looks like he is planning to kill off everyone who’s holding onto a torch!” All the players had also begun to realize what Thousand Miles Drunk was intending to do by now, and they were quickly making the necessary adjustments as quickly as they could. Broken Water Arrow felt that they were in a terrible situation, so he made the first move to message Brave Surge, “How much longer before your men arrive? Do you guys have enough torches?”

“Don’t worry about it!” Brave Surge replied with much confidence. The only thing he was hesitating about was if he would still be alive to see his guild mates arrive.

“He’s making his move again!” After a minute had passed, Thousand Miles Drunk had once more mounted another assault, accompanied by a streak of lightning. This time, he started combat with a Thunderbolt, and his target was still another player who was holding onto a torch.

“Pocket formation!” Oathless Sword bellowed. This was a common formation that players would use in group battles when surrounding monsters, and there was barely any need for coordination, since even players who do not know each other would instantly know what was expected of them. But who would have expected for Gu Fei’s figure to flash and disappear with his Blink, causing the pocket created to be empty?

“Where’s that guy?” Someone nervously asked.

“Behind you…” The other players who could see this player all wanted to cry, but no tears would come to them. Twin Incineration, Palm of Thunder, and the man was dead… The rest of the players wanted to pursue Gu Fei, but that was when they felt the ground below their feet get hotter as a reddish glow emitted from above their heads. Thousand Miles Drunk had already had his two AoE spells prepared, ready to cover his retreat.

Using the weakness that came with his slow casting time, he now used it like it was a trap with a delayed timer. And as for the Thunderbolt he first threw out, that was simply bait to draw everyone’s attention as his target for the attack was not even the same person whom he had struck with his Thunderbolt at the start. He had perfectly considered the position of the player he ended up killing as well.

“If this were to go on… We’ll all end up dying by his hand, sooner or later!!” The players exchanged horrified looks with each other.