Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Under the walls of Yunduan City, after several probing attempts by the large guilds, the situation that they had very anxiously been looking forward to had finally happened: the NPC guards that were defending the city saw a sharp decline in their stats!

These city guards were originally dignified and imposing, each capable of taking on a whole team of players by itself. But all of a sudden, be it in its attack, defense, endurance or speed, the city guards found themselves to suddenly become significantly weaker, so much to the extent that it was extremely obvious that something had happened. The players almost did not need to go up and try their hands on them, as they could just see with their own two eyes the change in the NPCs.

“We did it!” The various large guild’s channels were flooded with such messages.

“It’s the final battle, everyone, attack!” the various guilds had bellowed out their final directive, and there was essentially no need for any sort of battle strategy or the ilk anymore. With all the city guards seeing an 80% decrease in their stats overall, these NPCs had essentially turned from dragons into worms in front of the players. They even had trouble going one on one against a normal player, so what sort of tactics or strategy was even necessary? The various large guilds who were in the know merely focused on positioning, spreading their manpower out across all four city gates, determined to cast a wide net and engage in a free-for-all, snatching whatever contribution scores that they could get their hands on.

Of course, they were not the only ones who became aware that the city guards had suddenly become weaker. It was merely that the other players were unaware of what had caused the change, but having discovered their enemies were now weaker, the formation that they had adopted to keep up their attack by rotating in and out of the fight suddenly stopped. This was because no one was dying any longer; as long as these players were not being foolish or careless noobs as they took on the city guards that were now 80% weaker; there was no way the players could die.

More and more players gathered as everyone realized that this was a good opportunity for them to vie for contribution points. They did not really care as to why this happened but were instead all calling their friends and allies to join in as well. From the encampments all the way to just under the city walls, players swarmed in such numbers that they were like a surging tide of human bodies gushing out to descend upon the city. Such a scene had only occurred when the event first started, back when everyone still had no idea just how strong the city defenders were. The players back then were very full of themselves as they pounced upon the guards, and the retaliation they suffered was swift and brutal.

But this time, the dreams of these players came true; they were able to lunge at the enemy with such arrogance that it was the system that ended up meeting catastrophe. The only thing that could still be considered a threat were the trebuchets up on the wall, but the players were already used to dealing with their attacks so all of them had the ability to cope accordingly.

“How exhilarating! How did this happen?” After discovering that they barely needed to put in any effort to do battle at the moment, several players began to wonder just what exactly caused this phenomenon.

Those people who were not in the know would forever be unable to guess everything that had happened, while those in the know were not about to care to explain it to others either. All they valued was to be able to compete against each other for the contribution scores.

——————————————

In a location quite a distance away from the battlefield by Yunduan City, Broken Water Arrow was standing under a tree, watching the massacre unfold in front of his eyes, while he could feel a surge of mixed emotions swirling inside him with every passing moment.

Broken Water Arrow suddenly heard the sound of footsteps moving towards him, causing him to turn around expectantly to see Ye Xiaowu walking up toward him.

The man was not containing his expression like Broken Water Arrow, merely taking in the view ahead as he sighed, “we ended up going with this route after all.”

Broken Water Arrow sighed as well, but the two were sighing for different reasons regarding this outcome.

Ye Xiaowu was perhaps sighing because he had abandoned that vaunted scrupulousness he was so proud of, but Broken Water Arrow? He was not a game employee, so he actually did not have any opinions on this matter. What he was feeling disgruntled about was how Young Master Han had forced his hand every step of the way. In his mind, what he had been doing was not stopping Thousand Miles Drunk, but it was as if he had been thoroughly used by Young Master Han.

“At least we’ve succeeded in stopping Thousand Miles Drunk,” Ye Xiaowu was the sort that knew better to prod on topics best left unmentioned, and he could not help but smile when he thought of this point.

Broken Water Arrow did not share his sentiment, and all he did was gaze out toward the faraway lake.

All of sudden, he felt the ground beneath his feet shudder as if the land was experiencing tremors.

No, to be precise, it was not tremors, but more of a shockwave. As if there was some overwhelming force that was shaking the very ground he stood on, traveling throughout the land that reached the players’ soles.

“What’s going on? Broken Water Arrow was looking down at his feet in astonishment.

Ye Xiaowu was doing the same except his expression did not merely show astonishment, but bewilderment as well.

“That is impossible!!!” Ye Xiaowu yelled.

A thunderous sound rang, completely drowning out Ye Xiaowu’s shout. In the distance, a very distinct water column that looked somewhat like a silvery dragon shot right up to the clouds. Even Ye Xiaowu and Broken Water Arrow could hear the deafening sound of gushing water clearly, despite how far they were from the source.

Right after, in other directions and angles, a second and a third silvery water column appeared, one after another as they rose to the sky.

Ye Xiaowu shit his eyes… There was no need for him to look on further for him to know that there would be a fourth, fifth…

“How did this happen?” Ye Xiaowu was nonplussed.

“How DID this happen? Did you not say…” Broken Water Arrow was confused as well, but he originally had plenty of areas that he was uncertain of, which was why he asked this question right now. According to what Ye Xiaowu had told him, a competitive quest should only allow a single victor, but the current situation appeared as if both parties had completed their quest.

“Did the quest get… Amended??” Ye Xiaowu was ashen-faced. According to his understanding, there was simply no way for such a situation to occur, yet the truth was right there before his eyes. As a result, the only possibility was that the circumstances pertaining to the quest had already changed from what he understood of it, and the City Wars event had been modified after he left his position. Furthermore, Ye Xiaowu was left in the dark as to this new rule that had been introduced.

Thus it could be imagined that with every game maintenance, every update, they would all bring about a change that he would not completely be aware of. “What I have is truly nothing more than ‘knowledge’. How quickly it becomes obsolete!” Ye Xiaowu chuckled bitterly in a self-deprecating tone.

“What do we do now? Have Thousand Miles Drunk and the others won as well?” Broken Water Arrow did not know much, but he was clear as to how decisive this quest was. Once the city assaulters were done, they would still be required to clear out the city guards and only after finishing this task could they be considered as having successfully conquered the city. Meanwhile, the city defenders would directly achieve victory, and the reason was rather ironic: The city defenders who had the absolute disadvantage, in terms of their completion rate, would actually be in the lead over the city assaulters because the former had actually dismantled two encampments that belonged to the city assaulters. This was a very critical point.

“Let’s see if there would be a sixth and seventh water column,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“Wouldn’t that be worse?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

“No. That would actually be our only hope,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“How so?”

“It’s the same amount of water flowing, and one would be split five ways and the other, seven,” Ye Xiaowu explained. “If it goes seven ways, each of the water spouts would not be enough to utterly wipe out the encampments. The outcome of the quest would be similar to that of the city assaulters’ forces, meaning the city defenders would still have some remnant task that they would have to do. But if it were to flow five ways…”

Before Ye Xiaowu even finished, Broken Water Arrow already understood what he meant. The answer was the same as what Ye Xiaowu had said before: Directly achieve victory. Because the water would be evenly split five ways, each of the resulting water columns would be enough to ruin an encampment.

Would there be a sixth and seventh water column? Ye Xiaowu was actually very nervous. It just so happened that the position that he and Broken Water Arrow were currently at did not allow them to have the two abandoned encampments in their line of sight.

“Let’s head over and take a look,” Ye Xiaowu beckoned Broken Water Arrow to follow as the two departed.

Even though both encampments had been dismantled and subsequently abandoned, the system would still provide the relevant information of the two positions. If it was a meticulous person doing the quest, he or she would most likely perform the task accordingly!

However, was Thousand Miles Drunk a meticulous player when doing quests? Ye Xiaowu’s face was still downcast.

This extremely surprising development had naturally drawn all the players’ attention and when they heard that explosive roar from the water dragon like columns, all of them had turned their heads over to look.

The water dragon-like columns were very intricately beautiful, and while everyone was shocked by the sight and singing praises of them, no one had thought to wonder what their appearance meant. They had already shoved their way to just under the city walls by now and were just watching from a distance. Not many players were able to determine that these water columns had appeared over their encampments, and even if they could, none of them had thought it to be a disaster.

“How pretty! Just what is going on?” A majority of the players were all saying something similar to this when they first saw the columns.

“All the city guards are impaired, and these geysers have all been unleashed. Just what is going on? Is the system celebrating our win?” Some players were all smiling as they uttered this.

There were of course still players who were warier of the change, such as Brave Surge.

He had no idea what those water columns were, so even as he sent some of his men to go check it out, he attempted to ask someone who would know about it: Broken Water Arrow.

Broken Water Arrow responded, and the answer left Brave Surge feeling quite the chill in his heart, because Broken Water Arrow told him, “Thousand Miles Drunk has completed his quest.”

“How is that possible?” Brave Surge asked when he finally came back to his senses. “Did we not already complete the quest on our side?”

“Yes, but it did not seem to impact Thousand Miles Drunk’s completion of his quest. When it came to how the quest was set up, it appears the game company has made some unexpected tweaks,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“You guys did not expect this? I’ll screw your grandfather!!!” Brave Surge was infuriated. “So what are we going to deal with those five columns?” Broken Water Arrow asked. His men were spread across the four gates, so he had a very clear sense of the present situation.

“Hmm? Just five, not seven?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

“G*dd*mm*t, five is already enough, why would we want seven!!” Brave Surge was still raging.

“Having seven would have been a good thing… If you see five, that means you’ve lost,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“I…” Brave Surge wanted to kill Broken Water Arrow, but decided not to upon careful thinking. Compared to being envious of Colored Clouds successfully completing their quest, what he could not stand even more was for his guild to turn up empty-handed during this City Wars event. Brave Surge quickly sent this message to several guild leaders, and the first one to reply was actually Oathless Sword, scoffing at him, “What sort of scheme are you up to now, Surge? At this juncture, we’re better off just trying our best to gain some more contribution scores!”

“Oathless Sword, you buffoon! Take a good look at the position of those columns appearing. It just so happened to be the five encampments that we still hold. What do you think will happen if your encampments were to become submerged?”

“How could the encampment become flooded? It’s not like we’re in a basin. Do you even have any common sense?” Oathless Sword was still calmly mocking him.

Brave Surge was stunned. That’s right, the encampments aren’t in a basin. No matter how ferocious those water columns are, all they can do is splash water down on everything. Can it soak the people to death like that?

“No matter the case, it’s best if we head on over and take a look first!” Brave Surge reasoned.

“You’re just trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain. We’ve already gotten to this point, let us all just fight for the contribution scores in accordance with our ability. You’re not carrying yourself with confidence and ease, not in the least bit being classy, I say…”

Brave Surge did not bother to read on, directly dragging Oathless Sword right into his blacklist as he made the decision to cut all ties with the b*st*rd.

Fortunately, there were not many people like Oathless Sword. At least within the five large guilds, Gu Xiaoshang, Black Index Finger as well as Foe-herder all attached importance to this, and some of the other guild leaders he contacted also asked each other to find out more about this.

“The water columns do look fearsome, but it’s really hard to tell if they truly pose any sort of threat to the encampments…” Young Master Han was looking through his spyglass, looking to his left and right, watching as the encampments looked as if they were subjected to some heavy downpour, the delicate places appearing to be absolutely incapable of surviving this bout of rain.

Nevertheless, the guild leaders saw fit to pay quite the attention to it. They ultimately sent some of their players over to have a look, while Brave Surge was still messaging Broken Water Arrow, asking about what sort of damage such a situation could result in.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiaowu had completely lost any sort of energy in him after confirming that there were indeed only five water dragons that spouted.

“It’s already too late. There’s no point to know what this would result in…” Ye Xiaowu muttered to himself, not at all answering the question that Broken Water Arrow asked.

“Or perhaps the amended quest means we are also able to turn things around? Why are we giving up?” Broken Water Arrow asked.

“Do we have any chance to turn the tide?”

“We won’t know until we try!!” Broken Water Arrow said.

Ye Xiaowu was slightly invigorated, “You’re right. Here’s the situation, the encampments…” Just as he was about to explain to Broken Water Arrow just how the encampments would be destroyed, he heard another tremendous roar sound out and the water column closest to the two suddenly blossomed like a flower. The water column was no longer just a single vertical geyser that broke the clouds but was actually splashing out in all directions.

“Why is it so soon??” Ye Xiaowu was surprised, which showed how the knowledge he had was a little outdated already.

Roar!!!!

Consecutive roars could be heard all over.

Every water column was now blossoming in the same manner as described before, and the players watched this change occur in real time, not really concentrating much in the war they were fighting as they began to discuss the phenomenon unfolding in front of them.

“The encampments would not be destroyed by being washed away! It is when the water is spread across the entire area, causing the soil to erode and subsequently resulting in the area within the affected region to undergo rapid subsidence!!” Ye Xiaowu quickly regurgitated what he knew so Broken Water Arrow could relay this same information to the various guild leaders. Witnessing such a scene, Ye Xiaowu had no means to solve the issue and it was time to require everyone to work together in unison right now.

“Where is this water coming from?” After finally proving just how terrifying their present predicament was, the guild leaders of the city assaulters no longer dared to simply send some men to ‘take a look’, pulling out plenty of their manpower to begin making their way out toward the nearest encampments.

Where is the water coming from?

Yunjiao Lake, of course!

Currently, the players who were by Yunjiao Lake whispering sweet nothings with each other could all hear a strange sound somewhere around them. All of them appeared from among the tall vegetation and stared dumbfoundedly at the always calm and tranquil Yunjiao Lake. There was a huge whirlpool that had come to be in the middle of the lake and it was already churning the entire lake. There was even a hurricane that was forming above the vortex, caused by the turbulent waters.

The sound of wind whipping and water churning had disrupted the peace that usually permeated Yunjiao Lakeside, and the suction force coming from both the hurricane and the whirlpool vortex slowly expanded beyond the confines of the lake, spilling over to the lakeside. The banks of the lake were already filled with players all around watching this spectacle, who slowly began to feel their own bodies becoming more and more restricted. All of their expressions changed as they turned around and fought with one another to flee from the place, leaving the entire Yunjiao Lakeside to be in a state of chaotic turmoil. The only person calm in the face of everything happening was Courtney, still standing guard beside Angus’ grave. It did not even spare a single glance over to the changes seen in the lake.

“The ground that the encampments will be on will undergo rapid subsidence? What do you mean by that?” The guild leaders whom Broken Water Arrow had contacted were all rather confused when they replied. “Just how did this happen?”

“I don’t know either. We can only depend on everyone thinking of possible solutions to stop this,” Broken Water Arrow said.

“Subsidence, Does anyone know how to prevent that from happening?” The guild leaders had all sent this message out to their respective guilds, hoping that there would be someone who could provide their expertise on this matter.

They still had some people of talent, and all of them gave out their own suggestions after hearing about the details. Brave Surge swept his gaze over, so angry that he exploded, “Forget about rescuing what g*dd*mn*d casualties. Why even type out such useless information to share? What I’m asking the whole lot of you is to brainstorm ways to stop this disaster, yet what you’ve given me is a passage of words regarding how to prevent subsidence and what to do after it happens…”

“But boss, that’s all I know…” that underling expressed, aggrieved.

“We need to investigate what had caused the subsidence to occur. Wouldn’t everything be solved if we were to solve the source of the problem?”

“The source of the problem is Thousand Miles Drunk. You can go find him!” Brave Surge was not in the mood.

Everyone became silent as none of them could think of a solution.

“If that is the case, why don’t we speed up our assault on the city and race against time with the city defenders and find out who’s going to come out on top?” Someone else suddenly cried.

The eyes of these guild leaders all glinted. It was indeed not a bad solution. Rather than standing back and doing nothing, they would at least still be able to fight for survival this way.

“Everybody, turn back around. Our destination is Yunduan City. Kill everything and everyone standing in your way!!!” all the guild leaders turned around and at this critical moment, all of them became decisive and did not waste too much time making sense of the issue at hand. They had all decided to do what they were more confident in to determine the outcome of this push.

“Fools!!” Ye Xiaowu was utterly disconsolate when he got word of their decision. The water columns had already begun blossoming in such a short time after spouting. The rate of their progress was much faster than what he had first expected, so it was impossible for them to race against this eventuality!

“How would we know without even trying? Besides, there’s really no other solution,” Broken Water Arrow said and was suddenly quickening his pace as he ran for the battlefield outside the city. At this moment, he wished to lend his strength and help them finish this matter to the very end until it was hopeless.

The players fighting under the city were battling till their eyes were red, no longer hung up over massacring the city guards’ ranks. After forging a point of breakthrough, the players began to give it their all and head toward the insides of the city.

“What’s the victory condition?” The system had not actually provided the information for this, but they now had someone who essentially had an encyclopedic database.

“Eliminating all seven job classes’ spawn point!” Broken Water Arrow answered.

The various guild leaders no longer dawdled, swiftly organizing their men to be sent off to the seven major locations. There were still quite a good number of city guards beneath the city walls, but the players did not have the thought to slaughter them till none were left behind. Spawn points! The only targets in their minds were the seven major job class’s spawn points.

“How are our encampments?” the various guild leaders had left their own scouts behind to keep watch.

“It’s still the same. There do not seem to be any major changes.”

“Push on, everyone!!”

“Report! We’ve met with resistance up ahead! We’ve encountered a brawl up ahead! It’s with the players!”

“Do any of them suffer from reduced stats?”

“It doesn’t seem to be so!”

“Then trounce them all, what’s there to be afraid of? How many of them are there?”

Sure enough, be it Amethyst Rebirth or Extremely Heaven Defying, they were defeated at all four gates. As a large number of players had gathered to charge into the city, their presence was already very minute in juxtaposition, so much so that their resistance hardly even registered. Even if these players from Gu Fei and Sword Demon’s guilds were capable of taking down a few of the enemy, they soon found themselves swallowed entirely by the sea of players that swarmed in.

“ATTACK!!!! Attack everyone you see inside the city. Ignore the city guards outside!!” Every single one of the guild leaders was yelling. The time for them all to share the same goal had come, and their victory depended on this one step.

“Report, the subsidence has begun!!”

“What?”

“One of the encampment has already begun to sink,” The players could all see with their own eyes that in places near where the water columns had appeared, a part of the ground had already begun to turn to mud, soften and abruptly collapse, sinking under the weight.

Meanwhile, the system had also broadcasted very inspiring news: The Priests’ Academy had already been destroyed after suffering the attack from the city assaulters.

Another piece of land collapsed, and a countless number of soldiers fell with it!

The Fighters’ Dojo had been dismantled!

This went on, the bad messages mixing with the good. All of their hearts were suspended in mid air.

Just which side was quicker?