Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Gu Fei did not simply focus his attention on Monologue under the Moon, and he would occasionally turn to give the two Knights a cut or two. Thus, although three men were surrounding the lone Gu Fei, they were the ones that had their hands full trying to block his attacks, giving birth to possibly the world’s most lackluster attempt at encirclement.

Monologue under the Moon was feeling quite frustrated, but Black Index Finger and company, who were rushing up the mountain, were actually feeling far worse than him.

Although they had managed to climb two thirds of the mountain by expending quite the effort, the slow movement speed of the Warrior Black Index Finger still made them bristle with anger and feel fearful. The fear they felt did not originate from the two speedsters Sword Demon and Royal God Call that were hot on their heels, however; rather, it was from the sight of the steadily increasing kill points of the opposing team that mirrored their ascent to the mountain.

The Black Hand had six enemies for this match, and five were just right behind them. This meant that the enemy responsible for all the kill points was the one that they could not see at the moment.

Black Index Finger was just confused at the start, but when Young Master’s Elite earned 6 kill points at once, he found himself stopping in his tracks. Thinking about it now, it seemed that he was getting out of the frying pan and into the fire by climbing up this mountain. Black Index Finger could not explain why he had such a thought, so he sent Monologue under the Moon this message when the opponent earned another kill point: “How many men do you have left up there?” Based on the number of members he had left, Black Index Finger could tell that many men had died on the mountain peak, yet he simply could not wrap his head around this fact.

“Five!” Monologue under the Moon was currently in a tight spot; no matter how hard he tried to evade Gu Fei’s attacks, he could not seem to avoid them at all. At the moment, he decided to take all the blows coming at him and prioritized replying to Black Index Finger, instead.

“How did that happen?!” Black Index Finger asked, petrified. To be able to defeat fifteen players... Black Index Finger did not doubt that the five remaining players on the mountain peak would be slain by the time he got there himself. Would he not just be sending himself to his death by going up there at this rate?

He sighed audibly at thought of this. It was then that a cry came from someone beside him. When Black Index Finger and his men halted their steps, Royal God Call took that chance to unerringly fire off an arrow at one of them. “What now, Boss Black?” this person asked anxiously. Black Index Finger and company knew that they were currently caught between a rock and a hard place, and they needed to firmly decide on their next step fast. In the meantime, they moved left and right to evade the arrows continuously coming from behind them, making them look like people happily dancing to a tuneless song.

Black Index Finger looked afar and saw that his other teams were currently rushing over to them. Unfortunately, his reinforcements were in no way faster than the five men who were closing in on them with every passing second. As Black Index Finger hesitated over on what to do, Monologue under the Moon sent him another message: “Where are you, Boss Black? Are there men coming over to help us?”

Monologue under the Moon was very vexed right now. He did not call for back-up just then when his men got reduced to twelve because he thought that they could still eliminate Gu Fei once the latter ran out of mana with his fourth spell, but he soon entered this precarious situation, so he had no choice but to ask for reinforcement now, not knowing that Black Index Finger and company were on their way to them.

“I’m halfway up there,” Black Index Finger replied.

“Please hurry up, then! He’s now out of mana!” Monologue under the Moon exclaimed.

Black Index Finger slightly trembled when he heard this and he hastily urged the two men beside him, “Let’s hurry up the mountain!”

“Why?” one of the two asked.

“The enemy Mage up there is out of mana,” Black Index Finger hurriedly answered. The plan he came up with on the spot was for them to head up the mountain and take down the Mage. The three of them would then form an eight-man team with the five men on the mountaintop and defend themselves against the assault of the five enemies currently chasing after them. Their goal was to stall for time until reinforcements arrived. In that way, even if the eight of them died from making the last stand, they would at least be able to entrap the final five men of Young Master’s Elite atop the mountain when the reinforcements arrived, such that they would have no way to escape death. In this way, The Black Hand would achieve victory in this match!

Gu Fei’s damage output was now low with his mana depleted, and the men he was facing happened to have two Priests among them. Moreover, the two Knights switched to buffing themselves with Blessing of Health when they realized that there was no point in using Blessing of Strength if they could not land an attack on him. One of the Knights had apparently advanced into a Holy Knight as he had a healing skill in his arsenal. All of them eventually wised up, opting to spread out and take turns healing Monologue under the Moon of the damage dealt on him by Gu Fei.

This went on for quite a while and the men soon realized that they were actually not in such dire straits as they had previously assumed. The Attack Power of the mana-depleted Gu Fei was feeble. If Sacred Flames of Baptism’s additional fire attack did not proc, his strikes could directly be ignored, and if the trait did proc, its infrequency could not fluster the person in charge of healing. Since three men were taking turns healing Monologue under the Moon, they could even consume fruit to replenish their expended mana in between, essentially bringing this fight into a stalemate.

Only Monologue under the Moon actually had it hard, as he had unofficially become the dummy for Gu Fei’s attacks, decorating his body with cuts, bruises, and even burns! Besides the glum Monologue under the Moon who was taking the brunt of Gu Fei’s assault, his teammates were now feeling quite relaxed and would probably sit back and gladly watch Gu Fei’s futile performance if they were permitted to do so.

Naturally, Gu Fei was aware of how futile his every action right now was! Back when the three men were surrounding him, he would deliver cuts to his left and right, causing the two Priests to get flustered and to toss Heal haphazardly. Gu Fei was hoping to deplete the Priests’ mana this way so that he could slay them one by one. Unfortunately, his opponents were quick-witted enough to see through this plan at their moment of crisis. There was literally no sense in him continuing this fight at this rate.

With that thought in mind, Gu Fei decisively stopped his attacks and returned the Chinese broadsword to his dimensional pocket. As the five men eyed him suspiciously, Gu Fei shrugged his shoulders, “Since I can’t kill you lot, why bother fighting?”

“What are you up to now?!” Monologue under the Moon nervously asked. In his mind, Gu Fei was utterly diabolical and someone who was always up to some tricks.

“Can’t you guys tell that we’ve reached a stalemate? It’s a waste of time to continue on at this rate,” Gu Fei answered before sending Young Master Han this message: “It’s no good. I failed your challenge. I ran out of mana and there are still five of them left. With three Priests and a Holy Knight, there’s no way I can slay them.”

“Hold on; we’re almost there,” was Young Master Han’s reply.

“Really?” Gu Fei walked toward the mountain edge while ignoring The Black Hand’s players around him as if they were air. Honestly speaking, fighting against the two non-combat job classes was boring for Gu Fei. “Your comrades are about to arrive.” The first people Gu Fei spotted as he stood by the mountain edge were of course Black Index Finger and company. Close to them were Royal God Call and Sword Demon, while Young Master Han, War Without Wounds, and Brother Assist trailed behind them all. Further away were the four teams of The Black Hand mercenary group that were coming toward the mountain from separate directions.

Gu Fei standing precariously by the mountain edge was such a tempting sight that one of the Knights could not help but stealthily approach him. When the Knight’s companions realized his intention, silence fell on the mountain peak.

“Sword Demon and Royal, you two run a little faster! Catch up to them!” Gu Fei waved to them animatedly. His fellow mercenaries naturally did not notice his action. As for the Knight, he hurriedly closed the gap between him and Gu Fei at this moment. He was about to push Gu Fei over the edge when the latter turned around.

The Knight’s arms were already outstretched forward. Seeing that Gu Fei had chosen to turn around at this exact moment, the Knight threw caution to the wind and proceeded with his plan to push Gu Fei over the edge.

Gu Fei turning around was no coincidence, though. Quickly turning his body sideways, Gu Fei grabbed one of the Knight’s arms and pulled the latter to the trajectory of his push. Speaking of which, the Knight only tried pushing Gu Fei slightly to tip him over. He was not gutsy enough to sacrifice himself just to push Gu Fei off the mountain edge, so his arms merely shot forward ever slightly. Hence, Gu Fei’s attempt at amplifying the Knight’s forward momentum by pulling him forward was not enough to topple the latter over the edge.

Gu Fei was not about to let this opportunity slip by, though. With his arm pulling the Knight forward, Gu Fei tried to trip the latter using his leg. Few moves that focused on tripping an opponent existed in kung fu. Gu Fei did his best to trip the Knight, but his Strength was just insufficient to accomplish the task. In any case, he still managed to force the Knight to the ground. Since the Knight did not trip or fall, Gu Fei could not even label his attempt as anything but ‘forced’.

The two’s scuffle was naturally witnessed by the people climbing up the mountain, and these people wondered what sort of epic fight was occurring to necessitate the pair into bringing it near the edge.

The four men on the mountain, meanwhile, took inspiration from the two’s struggle; Monologue under the Moon quickly urged the other three, “He’s got no mana right now, which means his damage output can practically be ignored. Let’s go toss him down now!”

Gu Fei felt stunned when he heard this. Indeed, such a despicable way of fighting was possible in this VRMMO. This often happened when one side held numerical superiority in a fight; the side with more men would tank the enemies’ attacks as they tried to grab a hold of the enemies. Back then, Cloud Herder’s men had tried doing exactly this when they had crowded around Gu Fei outside a spawn point.

This sort of fighting maneuver was ultimately seen by many players as barbaric and despicable, and they wished not to be associated with it. This opinion only became popular among the skilled players the more they progressed into the game.

Even a rabbit would bite a human when flustered, though! Monologue under the Moon and the remaining men of The Black Hand were bullied by Gu Fei to the point of them discarding their image as they resolutely strode toward him.

Gu Fei was honestly afraid of what these men had set their minds to do. They even ignored the slash he had sent their way and just continued to surround him. With his Mage character’s meager Strength, Gu Fei simply had no way to fend them off despite his superb fighting skill in reality. What he needed to do now was avoid them at all cost!

Thus, Gu Fei bitterly ran away from the four men, dodging and weaving through them as they tried to grab a hold of him.

“Whew! Luckily, I have faster movement speed than them.” Gu Fei wiped non-existent sweat off his forehead, thinking, If Drifting were the one to run out of mana right now, he would certainly be unable to escape these men!