Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The fog on the outskirts of Xiawu City seemed to be far thicker than what was found within it, reducing vision by yet another step and making it only possible for players to clearly discern others within 25 meters from themselves. Anything beyond that 25 meters would just be a blur, and everything after 30 meters would just be the impregnable fog.

This weather condition meant that what had happened to Limp Hands had a high possibility of occurring, as players would have to at least be within 25 meters of a monster to confirm whether it was just a regular one or a BOSS. Plenty of players would think of a BOSS as just a normal monster if they saw it beyond 25 meters, and this was precisely why the location of this BOSS Limp Hands had come across was not a secret. Due to the heavy fog serving as cover, other players were inadvertently unable to get within 25 meters of distance of it.

Limp Hands, who had the BOSS’s coordinates, was currently taking the lead as he revealed every detail of said BOSS to Southern Lone Blade and his crew.

Shadowmist Assassin Andrew Su. From the name alone, anybody could tell that its job class was the Thief’s Job Class Advancement of Assassin. Limp Hands had looked for information about this BOSS, with the official information statement mentioning that it was a BOSS that got lost and was now trapped in the thick fog of Xiawu City, making this Shadowmist Assassin to be a BOSS unique to the region.

The official information did not reveal anything about its strength, level, or skills, and even though Limp Hands had stumbled on it and even fought against it, he was still uncertain as to its true strength.

“It simply circled around behind me and killed me with a stab,” Limp Hands said with great remorse. This was a common mistake that noobs made, becoming at a loss in their excitement when they came across a BOSS. Audaciously attempting to challenge it alone would naturally result in such a tragic outcome.

Southern Lone Blade heard this and nodded his head silently, before finally saying, “A BOSS that could attack you from behind before you could react means this BOSS possesses an extremely fast movement speed.”

“That’s right; that’s right!” Limp Hands nodded his head vigorously, admiring Southern Lone Blade endlessly.

“You’re a Warrior, too, to say the very least, so its damage output must be significant for it to kill you with one stab. However, attacking from behind like that can very well be a skill that is similar to Backstab, and the Assassin job class will see a further increase to their damage from Backstab and have a chance of ignoring defense. Even though the enemy is a NPC, it will still have to respect the job class design; Furthermore, the system very likely gave this BOSS high skill proficiency. The potential direct damage it can deal may not be that scary just based off this attack from behind insta-killing you,” Southern Lone Blade continued to give a thorough analysis of the matter, as Limp Hands unabatingly submitted to his words.

There was another thought that came to Southern Lone Blade, which he did not say aloud. Since it’s an Assassin, there’s a higher chance of the skills and equipment that drop from it to be related to the job class. Could it be that even the heavens are helping us and are about to gift us something that counters Stealth?

Limp Hands began to have more and more faith toward Southern Lone Blade’s seven-man squad while the seven men had other thoughts in mind, not revealing the slightest hint of them as they continued to forge ahead.

However, due to Limp Hands’ movement speed dragging down their speed as a whole, some members of Young Master’s Elite were already able to gain ground on them. Gu Fei and Sword Demon were much faster than the rest and had already encountered one another. They were well aware that Southern Lone Blade and the others would be not too far ahead and would likely be visible if they hurried along.

Royal God Call also possessed fast movement speed, but unfortunately he simply did not dare to venture ahead by himself. All he could do was slowly follow behind War Without Wounds, building up frustration and resentment within him that he had nowhere to vent.

As for Young Master Han, he was actually the closest to the north gate from the tavern he had parked himself in, so he was not too far behind the rest even though he had slow movement speed. Brother Assist hurried from the spawn point after logging on, so the two were now traveling together after he caught sight of Young Master Han.

“Should I just attack?” Gu Fei was already raring to take them on since he was currently the closest to the seven man-squad, wishing he could immediately begin the bloodshed.

“F*ck, you’re not allowed to. If you attack right now, won’t that mean that we have all hurried over for nothing?” Royal God Call and War Without Wounds voiced their vehement opposition to this. It was not because they were worried that Gu Fei might not have the ability to clean the targets up, but rather that they were too confident in his strength that they were convinced he would be able to slay all seven enemies once he attacked, which meant that they had hastily traveled all this way for naught. This sort of thinking was rather contrarian, since they were not worried for the safety of their comrade but was, in fact, entirely unconcerned.

Gu Fei had no choice. “You guys hurry up, then!”

“D*mm*t. If it weren’t for this wastrel Wounds moving so slowly, I would already reach the destination,” Royal God Call raged.

“Any more b*llsh*t out of you and I’ll just abandon you!” War Without Wounds was angered as well.

Royal God Call did not dare to say another word. If War Without Wounds truly abandoned him in this heavy fog, he would probably become the lost Sharpshooter that had become trapped in the thick fog of Xiawu City.

“Don’t be in a hurry to attack. Find out what these guys are really doing first,” Young Master Han spoke up, providing a much better reasoning than what Royal God Call and War Without Wounds had raised.

“Just who is that guy together with them?” Brother Assist was sure of his calculations that the seven-man squad was currently traveling with an eighth player.

“We’ll expose ourselves if we get any closer,” Gu Fei reasoned.

Sword Demon agreed with this assessment because they could already hear the squad chatting just right ahead. Southern Lone Blade and his crew were more conscious of keeping a low profile, but Limp Hands was the exact opposite, talking and laughing in a carefree manner. Gu Fei did not even have to depend on Flame Singed Clothes’ coordinates any longer; he was certain he would not go wrong just following that man’s voice.

This reminded Gu Fei and Sword Demon not to converse leisurely, for they were already within earshot of the other party. Even though the two of them were walking side by side, they were communicating with each other through messages. Finally, several hazy figures appeared before them due to Southern Lone Blade and the lot suddenly coming into a halt. Gu Fei and Sword Demon swiftly came to a stop as well, even as they backed away a few more steps to hide themselves in the heavy fog.

In the next moment, they heard that voice that had been talking all the way here announce, “It should be around here.”

“Everyone, be careful.” Gu Fei and Sword Demon could hear Southern Lone Blade’s voice. The seven did not disperse and, instead, formed a circle with their backs to one another, with that Limp Hands person standing in the middle. On the one hand they were doing this to prevent Shadowmist Assassin Andrew Su from sneak-attacking them from behind, on the other hand they were doing this to put Limp Hands’ mind at ease by protecting him from within.

“They appear to be searching for something. It could very well be a BOSS!” Sword Demon sent out this message across the mercenary channel. He was a MMO veteran, after all, so he was quicker than Gu Fei to draw this conclusion.

“BOSS!” everyone exclaimed. They might be a group of top class experts, yet they were not even in the least bit able to keep their calm like Southern Lone Blade and his crew when they heard the word ‘BOSS’.

“CAN’T YOU GO ANY F*CK*NG FASTER!” Royal God Call scolded War Without Wounds.

“F*ck*ng lousy, slow a*s Warrior; what sort of movement speed is this?!” War Without Wounds was currently showing the full extent of his scorn at his beloved job class for the sake of this BOSS.

“Take care; they might suddenly rush over and discover us,” Gu Fei messaged Sword Demon.

“I know,” Sword Demon replied.

When Gu Fei turned around, Sword Demon was already nowhere to be seen.

M*th*rf*ck*r... Gu Fei could not help but cuss to himself. Sword Demon had already activated his Stealth, but Gu Fei was now having a bit of trouble himself, as nobody could see each other in this heavy fog. Gu Fei could not sense any killing intent in this sort of setting, and Flame Singed Clothes’ minutely coordinates update would not be enough during such a time when every second counted.

Say something. Say anything. Don’t you have plenty to say? he kept urging in his mind, puzzled why Limp Hands would suddenly stay quiet at this time.

Limp Hands would obviously stay quiet. Why would he dare to disrupt everybody’s concentration, given the tense situation they were in? Enfolded within their circle, he did not even dare to exhale too loudly as he nervously looked all around.

Just as Gu Fei was at a loss on what to do, Sword Demon sent him this message: “Head over to this set of coordinates.”

This was when Gu Fei realized Sword Demon had actually boldly left the cover of the heavy fog and was now directly observing their movements. Since he was able to see their every movement, it only made sense for him to be able to give him the necessary directions.

Gu Fei glanced at the coordinates he was given and moved accordingly as per instructed, as a vague sense of impatience nipped at his heart. He had no love toward the BOSS, and all he wished now was to directly charge at the seven men and happily slay them where they stood. However, sometimes, it was important to be considerate of others’ feelings. Gu Fei knew that these MMO fanatics would consider killing a BOSS to be far more important than eliminating a hated enemy, since a BOSS would have a far better chance of dropping good loot than players.

“They must be looking for a BOSS!” Now that Sword Demon was directly watching their every move, he was even more certain of the conclusion he had arrived at earlier. This statement only served to stoke the anxiety in both War Without Wounds and Royal God Call, while the latter wished he could just whip the former like a horse to make him move faster.

Young Master Han and Brother Assist were far more composed in comparison, even as they continued to hurry at a measured pace. Brother Assist flipped through his information booklet for any information regarding the BOSSES in Xiawu City and discovered that the information he had collected for this region was pathetically sparse, all thanks to the heavy fog that was a permanent fixture to the area.

Sword Demon continued to observe the squad’s movement as he looked around anxiously. He was eager to find out where the BOSS could be as well.

Over there!

Sword Demon suddenly spotted a dark shadow flit by in the corner of his eyes, and he abruptly turned his head over, but it had already disappeared. Southern Lone Blade and the rest were covering a 360-degree of vision, so there was even less reason for them to miss this flash of movement.

“OVER THERE!” The three players that had their eyes fixed in that direction yelled out in unison.

The seven men maintained their formation as they moved over, the scenery changing as the fog slowly unveiled in tandem, but that shadow that they had spotted was already gone.

“Pay more attention,” Southern Lone Blade said, and the six men nodded. They did not seem to be in the least bit anxious and just calmly watched their surroundings. Sword Demon had to give credit where it was due. Just from their disposition alone, the squad was definitely a real team of experts.

“Hey. While you guys are spouting all this rubbish, I’d like to remind you that you’ve not given us an update on your last coordinates for quite some time now,” Young Master Han remarked on the mercenary channel.

“Oh!” Sword Demon hurriedly reported his coordinates, accordingly. It was now his task to do this, since he had a clear line of sight of their target.

“Brother Assist and I have arrived,” Young Master Han answered.

“F*ck me; even Young Master reached the place. Go to hell, you!” Royal God Call chastised War Without Wounds once more.

“He was nearer.” War Without Wounds was really helpless.

“What’s the sitrep?” Young Master Han asked.

“Southern Lone Blade and the rest are walking around this set of coordinates. A shadow of someone with really high movement speed flashed by just now. That should be the BOSS,” Sword Demon said.

“So, we can more or less conclude that a BOSS is here?” Young Master Han asked.

“Yup!” Sword Demon nodded. For anything to have such high movement speed, it should either be a BOSS or a GM.

“That’s good enough, then. Miles, attack!” Young Master Han said.

How truly despicable! Gu Fei sighed. Kill all the witnesses now that we’ve figured out the location of the BOSS before turning our attention to the BOSS and hunting it at our leisure, how can this man be so villainous?

Gu Fei thought of this but was not really burdened by it. He had been waiting for a long time to act. Swinging his Moonlit Nightfalls, he got ready to dash out. Suddenly, he felt a light breeze from behind him, and the extremely nimble and responsive him instantly turned round and spotted a grey figure standing right behind him. Without even thinking, Gu Fei met that grey figure with his sword, which he firmly gripped in his outstretched arms. A huge force connected with his blade, and he was abruptly sent flying.