Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

The movers and shakers of each mercenary group from Luori City had already received the following message: The target has appeared outside the Prison, but the combat power of the enemy there is extraordinary, immediate assistance required!

Many of them could not help but think, The Prison... Could the final location for the enemy’s quest be the Prison? Now that they have made it there and are no more than one or two steps from the entrance, what is the point of sending help?

This was especially true for the mercenary leader named Foeless; he had just managed to make it over to the North Gate, but he was utterly disappointed when he received the message. Forget the fact that he had not managed to gain anything from this mission, just the fact that he had personally lost a whole level had already made him the most aggrieved out of all the leaders in the coalition.

“Hi, Foeless!” He suddenly heard someone call out his name happily.

Foeless raised his head to see who this person was, and immediately turned to leave. But that man had already sped over to block his path.

“Eternal Dominion, what are you trying to do!?” Foeless felt very angry, but he knew he could not afford to antagonize the man before him.

“So, any news? Where are they?” Eternal Dominion asked.

“How would I know!?” Foeless lied.

“Tell me the truth!” Eternal Dominion earnestly pressed him.

“I don’t know, either, why don’t you go find out for yourself!?” Foeless blurted out.

“Our manpower isn’t anywhere near what you guys have! Come on now, share with me what info you have,” Eternal Dominion prodded him.

Foeless helplessly looked around for help, but all the other men of the coalition that he had arrived at the North Gate with avoided his gaze. Who in Luori City did not know who Eternal Dominion was? Everybody was busy hiding from this man, so why would any of them willingly step out and paint a target on themselves for him?

Foeless felt all the more miserable when he saw the immoral display from these men and no longer had the wish to hide the truth for these “friends”, so he said, “He’s over by the Prison and they are about to finish it, so what’s the point of going over?”

“Is a man in black robes over there?” Eternal Dominion asked.

Foeless froze. The descriptions of the enemy had indeed mentioned such a person, and now that the two sides had already clashed, the ferocity of this person was confirmed, given how the most recent update mentioned he had already slain five players, with one being an expert from some local guild.

“There is indeed such a person!” Foeless nodded.

“Let’s go, then!” Eternal Dominion raised his hand and led the band of brothers he had brought along with him.

Foeless instantly had the urge to watch the ensuing battle, so he decided to follow along. Plenty of those men from the coalition were currently castigating him for his action, which served only to anger him even more! These men did not lend a hand and pretended to be clueless when it was time for them to stand up against Eternal Dominion. When he had acquiesced, these men suddenly grew backbones and found their integrity once more; it was just too hateful!

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Outside the Prison...

The five men from the mercenary group coalition had tried their best to appear to be no more than pedestrians, but had still managed to draw the enemy’s attention. Just as Gu Fei and the others were hesitating over what to do with them, the five men seized the opportunity to attempt an ambush.

The orders from above mentioned the high possibility that the final destination for these people was the Prison, so they had to risk it all and stall for time. The five men figured those men watching the East Gate would still take some time to arrive, so they could only grit their teeth and engage head on.

But Gu Fei was already prepared for this possibility and reacted so quickly that the moment these five men had the thought to act, it was actually Gu Fei that struck first. These five could barely make sense of what happened when Gu Fei suddenly bolted right in front of them and let them taste his fearsome Twin Incineration, disintegrating them in a flash of ash and light.

Those men from the East Gate were already making their way over, numbering somewhere between twenty and thirty men.

“What do we do?” Oathless Sword panicked.

“It’s just a handful of men, what are you so flustered for?” Gu Fei chided him.

“That’s right, we are all experts of the highest caliber, this is nothing at all, I’m sure you guys can fend them off,” Deep Waters said, even as he languidly stepped aside, giving them space to do battle, and showing his clear intention to watch the ensuing show even as he fired off a message to his remaining underlings. Even though these men were immobile after triggering those traps, their hands were ready for any sudden changes.

“How much longer before that trap of his falls off?” Gu Fei asked Deep Waters.

Deep Waters abruptly turned to one of his men, “Hey, you there. How much longer for that trap to fall off?”

That man turned his head and continued to pass on the message, “Hey, how much longer until the trap falls off?”

The next person stifled his laughter, turned around and was about to pass on the message, but Svelte Dancer had appeared right in front of him and instead finished him off with a swift jab.

“Anyone else?” Svelte Dancer asked, as the wise guy vanished.

The rest of the Hunters lowered their heads. Even Deep Waters had no words as his mouth gaped.

Vicious as Svelte Dancer’s method was, it was also rather effective. Figuring Deep Waters would no longer dare to make a joke out of things, Gu Fei asked once more, “How much longer?”

Deep Waters was extremely despondent right now. After all, he was one of five renowned expert in Parallel World, yet he was actually being suppressed so thoroughly by these people before him!

“There’s still thirty seconds left!” Deep Waters sighed. He had already taken note of the time the moment Todd stepped onto the trap. In Sakurazaka Moony’s words, this was a quality any passable Hunter should at possess.

“Since it’s just for a short while, just head into the Prison the moment the trap ends!” Gu Fei patted Oathless Sword.

Oathless Sword nodded. Gu Fei stood by the street entrance brazenly. There were only twenty or thirty men coming their way, Gu Fei was not merely stalling for time facing them like this, he would be actively killing them as best as he could. But because he did not wish to get his PK Value to 30, he could not act too unrestrained.

By the time the twenty-odd men made it to the East Gate, thirty seconds had already passed. Todd’s leg was free once more as Oathless Sword delightedly made his way towards the Prison entrance.

Gu Fei, Svelte Dancer, and everyone else were now all eyeing those men charging right towards them. Deep Waters figured that this would be his final chance and he quickly signaled his men with just eye contact; the Hunters all received the message tacitly and raised all their bows at Oathless Sword.

Todd was following Oathless Sword, so if they were to kill off the man assigned to lead him in, Todd would simply stay still where he was. Deep Waters deeply regretted only realizing this crucial point at this stage, otherwise he would have directed all their attacks at the person in charge of leading the NPC had he followed this line of thinking; perhaps these people would not have even made it into Linyin City.

Arrows flew out in unison.

Whether they had any chance to kill Todd after killing off Oathless Sword was uncertain, but Deep Waters did not care to put too much thought into this. It was better to just take things one step at a time now!

But who would have expected that at same time the Hunters raised their bows to fire, Oathless Sword had already Charged out, hurtling towards one of the Hunters in their midst!

This Charge of his allowed him to evade quite a few of the arrows coming towards him, even as he managed to bury his sword in one of these men. The man was currently immobile thanks to the trap he had stepped on before, so there was no way for him to fly out upon contact, either. Oathless Sword brutally slashed, and killed that man off. The other Hunters had only managed to nock their second arrows, yet none of them had anticipated Oathless Sword to Charge out once more, and once again finished off another Hunter in a similar fashion.

In that instance, everybody thought the Berserker Oathless Sword looked a little awe-inspiring as he stood there with his two Claymores in hand. Oathless Sword glanced at Deep Waters resolutely and said, “I’m not just some scrub. Did you really think you could kill me off just like that?”

Deep Waters was really dejected, but he could not deny that he had indeed ignored this point. He thought Oathless Sword was nothing, but the average noob in his eyes, someone that he could kill with a snap of his fingers, and had absolutely forgotten the fact that this man was a leader of a large guild, whose equipment and skill was naturally comparable to his own. Just the example of the two consecutive Charges demonstrated this fact, as it was something unique that an average Warrior would not have been able to pull off.

Just as he had no idea what he should say, he suddenly sensed a glow above his head and he looked up only to find a circle of flames forming brilliantly above. Deep Waters instantly realized that Gu Fei had also attacked the moment he saw the sudden move they made at Oathless Sword.

“Quick, dodge!” Deep Waters tugged on Coco and darted away from the Descending Wheel of a Thousand Infernos. He looked at some of his comrades, where Svelte Dancer had activated her Fleetfoot and dashed in, a red-hot blur that left behind a string of white lights as she flitted from Hunter to Hunter. He had already lost all the Hunters he had brought along for this operation, leaving just him and Coco still alive... for now!

Vast Lushness could only shrug as she made an expression of “See, I told you so” to Gu Fei. That was when Deep Waters realized that they had not dropped their guard against him at all. This chance to fish in troubled waters he thought he had, had merely called in what was due.

Now that Gu Fei had chased Deep Waters away with his Descending Wheel of Flames, he immediately joined Svelte Dancer right in the fray, slaughtering his way into the twenty-some man formation coming for them. With Vast Lushness behind supporting them from time to time, even a force ten times the size of the current party would be no match for them.

Oathless Sword brought Todd through the Prison entrance at this time. He felt plenty of emotions intermingling within him the moment he reached out to push the door open.

The door gave way as the familiar sight of two NPC guards stood within. Whenever Oathless Sword brought Todd to the Prisons for safekeeping in the various cities, it was always these two NPCs that admitted him. But this time, in addition to the two guards, there was an NPC present that looked like a captain, who nodded towards Oathless Sword when they took in Todd. A series of system prompts rang out in Oathless Sword’s ears almost instantaneously, pushing him to the brink of tears in his excitement.

Those players that had not failed the quest due to death were all awarded experience and gold.

Aside from that, Traversing Four Seas instantly rose to a level 6 guild. Just this boon alone made Oathless Sword lightheaded.

Raising a guild’s level was extremely difficult. There had not been a level 6 guild yet anywhere in Parallel World, and the disparity in strength between each level was like Heaven and Earth.

A Level 1 guild had a maximum capacity of 50 members, a Level 2 150, Level 3 300, Level 4 500, and Level 5 topped out at 750 people. The growth in numbers each step of the way grew incrementally.

And what of Level 6? Oathless Sword hurriedly pulled out his guild tab and looked. The limit was now at 1050! Traversing Four Seas had its capacity increased by a whole 300 members, equivalent to all the members in a Level 3 guild!

The moment Oathless Sword saw the reward he had earned, his peacock feathers preened and unveiled themselves. The first message he sent was not to any of his comrades in the guild, but it was instead to the guild leader of Carouse, Brave Surge.

“Surge! My guild just rose to level 6, I’m sharing you this wondrous news with you the first chance I had, hahahahahahahahahahaha!” Oathless Sword stood by the guild entrance as he laughed and gloated uncontrollably.

Brave Surge naturally started cursing down the streets when he received this message. Back in Luori City, colorful expletives were also being exchanged, and in far greater quantity. They had all received the system prompt of mission failure at the same time.

Cheers and celebration naturally erupted from the members from Traversing Four Seas that had also received the system prompt of their quest completion.

The most pitiful bunch was naturally the party that was still engaged with Gu Fei and the two ladies on the street leading to the Prison. None of them were actually mercenaries that had picked up the limitless competitive mission, so of course none of them received the system prompt regarding the mission’s failure.

At this moment, these men had been unfortunately been forgotten with no one to keep them in the loop, so they continued to lose their lives in the fight and became PK points for Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer, instead.