Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The Warrior behind Silver Moon activated Charge and promptly hurtled himself toward Gu Fei. Having been on guard for such a move, Gu Fei evaded it with a sidestep, but the Warrior did what War Without Wounds had done back then: cancel Charge and replace it with Cyclone. While it was the same sequence of actions, this Warrior’s execution of it could not even compare to War Without Wounds’.

Still, his execution of the move was not slow. Thanks to Silver Moon’s buffing, the Warrior’s Attack Power was fearsomely high. Unfortunately, he lacked the tempo, so his transition from Charge to Cyclone was not as seamless as War Without Wounds’.

It was this break in tempo that provided Gu Fei an exploitable opportunity. With a flourish of his sword, he directly blocked the opponent’s claymore mid-swing. And using the momentum that Cyclone’s motion had provided, Gu Fei hopped off the ground with a tap of his foot and swiftly glided away from the Warrior.

The man’s claymore in his non-dominant hand barely brushed past the very corners of Gu Fei’s robe, signifying the latter’s successful evasion of the Cyclone attack.

Meanwhile, the skill duration of Charge had ended for the five men who had been rushing at Gu Fei’s original position. Turning around, they were greeted by the chaotic scene that Gu Fei had created, and Silver Moon hurriedly ordered the confused lot back to attack Gu Fei anew. The sword-wielding Mage chuckled to himself as he ran straight toward the five men.

The three Guardians equipped with powerful shields were very confident of their defensive capabilities, and when they saw Gu Fei running toward them, they fearlessly confronted him by firmly holding their shields before them.

Gu Fei knew that clashing headlong with the three Guardians equipped with high defensive shields was just suicide, so he abruptly took a lateral step, intending to go to the enemies’ rear. This move of his was quite similar to Royal God Call’s action at the start of the PvP. Truly, looping around another person was always slower than pivoting from one spot; Gu Fei tried to run in an arc to get behind them, yet he kept finding himself facing the three shields instead.

A delighted smile spread across the three Guardians’ lips as they noticed how Gu Fei had repeatedly failed to get behind them. This time, they were the ones who ran toward him. But Gu Fei merely smiled back at them, his finger pointing forward as he whispered an incantation.

At the same time, Silver Moon hollered to the three Guardians, “Watch your backs!”

A swish could be heard when Gu Fei finished his whispering, and he disappeared and reappeared just behind the three Guardians. Without even hesitating, he turned his body around and lashed out his sword, yelling, “Twin Incineration! Incinerate!”

Clink! Gu Fei’s sword glanced across a shield; Silver Moon’s warning had been timely. It showed the tacit understanding he had with his men, as the three men did not question his order and merely turned around. One of the Guardians managed to properly position his shield before Gu Fei had blinked himself into existence again, causing his sword to clash right into the shield.

“So it truly is Blink...” Silver Moon mumbled to himself.

Gu Fei marveled at the enemies’ fast reaction. He was just about to follow up his slash with another when he saw a huge shield ramming toward him from the left. Gu Fei sidestepped to the right, yet this move caused him to collide with something solid. Looking at it, he saw yet another large shield. And before he knew it, a third shield had slammed right into him from the front. Gu Fei scrambled to retreat, but a painful cry escaped his lips in the next second when two shields slammed into him from his left and right, effectively trapping him in the middle. “Didn’t see this coming...” Gu Fei did not know whether to laugh or cry at this turn of event. He struggled to free himself from the shields’ grip, yet the Guardians’ Strength was simply beyond his.

“Get him!” Silver Moon ordered in elation.

The order was unnecessary, though, as the remaining three Warriors had already sprinted ahead, lifting their swords high while trying to get close enough to strike at Gu Fei who was being restrained by the three Guardians. But just then, an arrow had struck the back of one of the three Guardians.

It was an arrow fired off by Royal God Call, of course. Sword Demon and him had been watching everything from a distance all this while. After Gu Fei had successfully messed up the enemies’ formation, they had been looking for a chance to mount their own assault. Royal God Call already had his bow and arrow at the ready, and seeing the scene unfold before him, he immediately fired off an arrow on Snipe at one of the three Guardians’ exposed back.

A shield’s defense stat was far superior to any other equipment, so of course the developers would put some kind of limitation on it. Take a normal equipment like defensive headgear for example; the defensive properties of a headgear would be added to the overall defense stat of a player, and even if that player was hit in some other body parts, like maybe the legs or arms, the damage they received would still be the same. A shield was different: An attack had to make contact with it first before the shield’s defensive properties could be triggered. Essentially, the great defensive boost from a shield meant nothing if an attack did not land on it.

Royal God Call’s arrow stabbed into one of the Guardians’ exposed back, and since the arrow did not hit his shield, the inflicted damage was of course calculated based on just his regular defense stat. The Snipe of an Archer like Royal God Call that possessed a high Physical Damage should not be underestimated. This was even more so since Royal God Call had followed up his Snipe with Double Shot and Power Shot. Given all this, the Guardian’s demise for exposing his back to Royal God Call was only a matter of time.

The Priest and the Warrior who were standing by earlier hurriedly made their way over once they saw that Guardian being hit by an arrow, but the second waves of arrows from Royal God Call was still the fastest to reach that Guardian.

Right now, only two Guardians were clamping down on Gu Fei. There was still the third Guardian, yet he was just motionlessly standing there. The man whom Royal God Call had struck with four arrows saw his HP deplete fast. His other comrades could not seem to make it over in time to provide him assistance, so he hollered to the third Guardian near him, “Why are you just standing there?! I’m dying! Block the arrows for me!”

However, the third Guardian merely stood there without moving, an expression of anguish contorting his face.

“He can’t do that for you at the moment...” A faint voice was heard from behind the third Guardian, and Sword Demon faded into view in the next moment. He casually returned the baton into his pocket and took out a dagger that sinisterly emitted a bluish light.

While Royal God Call had been looking for a chance to shoot arrows, Sword Demon had activated his Stealth and entered the PvP field itself earlier. The enemies made a fatal mistake when they focused their attention solely on Gu Fei.

With the third Guardian under a Dizzy state and his other teammates still a distance away, the particular Guardian who had been wounded by numerous arrows realized that he would be dead soon if he kept on standing there to restrain Gu Fei with his shield. Thus, he decisively released Gu Fei and used his Bulwark of Imprisonment to protect himself.

“His HP is low; quickly finish him off!” Sword Demon shouted as he darted to the left. Now that Gu Fei was free again, he wordlessly matched Sword Demon’s action and darted to the right. The poor Guardian did not know whether to block the left or the right. Judging that Gu Fei’s Spell Damage was more frightening, he promptly faced his shield toward Gu Fei.

Sword Demon mercilessly used Backstab on the man, as Gu Fei casted Twin Incineration despite the shield in place.

While this dying Guardian was anxiously trying to choose which side to defend against, the long-forgotten Sharpshooter Royal God Call in the distance shot off an arrow filled with indignation. Gu Fei’s monstrously high Spell Damage had actually caused the opponents to ignore the others as potential threats. In actuality, Sword Demon and Royal God Call were also top experts. Compared to the players with the same job classes as them, the damage that the two could dish out was still unusually strong, despite it not being as OP as Gu Fei’s.

Ignoring the two men’s existence was simply too fatal. Facing a three-pronged attack, the wounded Guardian was unable to hold on to his dear life. White light flashed as the Guardian was teleported out of the PvP arena along with his shield.

At this moment, the remaining members of Silver Moon mercenary group who had moved to assist the Guardians finally arrived by their side. Gu Fei and Sword Demon unhesitatingly sprinted off upon the arrival of their enemies’ reinforcement.

Sword Demon ran because he did not have the ability to take on multiple opponents by himself, while Gu Fei ran because he had depleted his mana in that last bout.

The enemy Warriors and the Priest could simply not match Gu Fei and Sword Demon’s running speed, so the two managed to safely withdraw themselves from the opposing group’s formation and arrived by Royal God Call’s side.

Young Master Han, who had been observing the whole affair from afar, smiled, “Not bad. Looks like we have secured victory for today’s match.”

Silver Moon, on the other hand, had a bitter expression on his face. Saying that they were at a disadvantage with how everything had panned out was not an exaggeration. Gu Fei, who unexpectedly possessed Blink, had successfully killed off two of their Knights earlier. Even the three Guardians were unable to trap him for long, which resulted into them losing one of those three as well.

Young Master’s Elite was now ahead in terms of kill points, essentially fulfilling the conditions for Grand Kiting – a strategy that Silver Moon’s team was extremely wary of. This was because his team did not have anyone who could match Gu Fei’s, Royal God Call’s, or Sword Demon’s speed. Even Young Master Han, War Without Wounds, and Brother Assist would likely have the same movement speed as Silver Moon’s mercenaries, and it would be hard to target those three since they were even further away. Even if Silver Moon had King’s Blade to increase his men’s stats, the duration that he could channel this skill was too short; losing 4% of his mana for every second, this meant that he could only keep it up for twenty-five seconds. They absolutely had no way of catching up to the three speedsters within that limited timeframe.

At a distance, Gu Fei was eating fruit to recover his mana and was cheerfully appreciating the look of consternation on the remaining enemy troops’ faces with Sword Demon and Royal God Call. “What now, boss?” Upon seeing that the three of Gu Fei, Sword Demon, and Royal God Call had no intention of continuing to fight with them any longer, these men finally realized how grave their situation was and sought the advice of their leader, Silver Moon.

Silver Moon looked all around him in confusion. Gu Fei’s group was fast, so chasing after them was not even feasible. He gestured for his men to make their way toward the other three opponents. But before they could even take more than three steps, those three immediately ran off.

“Sigh...” Even this last flicker of hope was extinguished. Silver Moon did not know what to do, knowing that his opponents would try to drag the time out like this. Although the map was small, Silver Moon lacked enough men to surround the targets and assert pressure all over the map. The only way to kill their opponents was to chase after them, but....