Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 762: Chapter 762 – An Exit? A Point of Breakthrough

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Broken Water Arrow was very anxious. He was very uneasy. This was a situation which he was most unwilling to see. He had no idea if Thousand Miles Drunk was dead or alive, and that was as good as all his wishful thinking going up in smoke. Quest? That was contrary to his original intention; If he avoided going forward with the quest, and Thousand Miles Drunk did not appear, what else could he do aside from the quest? Young Master Han had no wasted a moment to press him for action, and that only made Broken Water Arrow severely suspect that the two men had colluded with each other.

“Hmm, quest...” Broken Water Arrow was still unable to come to a decision, so he could only reply, “Then everyone should hurry up and go look!”

“What are we looking for?” Plenty of players asked.

“A slot to put something in! Everyone, tell each other about it!” Broken Water Arrow said.

“You’re still thinking of buying yourself more time?” Young Master Han laughed mirthlessly.

Broken Water Arrow was dumbfounded. This person had completely seen through his plan.

“Is there really such a slot?” Young Master Han asked.

Broken Water Arrow had no choice, “Yes, to the best of my knowledge.

“But is it up to the randomness of the system?” Young Master Han pursued.

Broken Water Arrow was silent once more.

“Let’s go look for it! Young Master Han turned back to speak to Gu Xiaoshang. “Regardless if this slot exists or otherwise, it seems like the test tube would have to be used, so let’s thoroughly scour this place. Forget about the other guilds’ search and rely on your own men.”

Gu Xiaoshang nodded and passed the instructions to her guild. The players from Colored Clouds that had yet to die and those reinforcements that joined afterward all began to busy themselves. There were plenty of players from Carouse as well, but since their guild leader had actually been slain, they were like a dragon without its head. Brave Surge tried to inquire after what was happening on site via his guild channel, and he became very vexed upon learning that Thousand Miles Drunk had disappeared and they were now resuming their efforts with the quest.

“Search!” Brave Surge yelled.

“We’re looking as we speak,” the players replied.

“I’m not telling you guys to search for the quest! Search for Thousand Miles Drunk! FIND HIM!” Brave Surge howled.

“Where are we going to look for him?” They asked.

“You guys are the one there; what are you asking me for?” Brave Surge was evidently in quite a bad mood at that moment.

His guild members no longer said another word and began to randomly search for Gu Fei.

“Where’s Folding Fan Invader?” Brave Surge asked.

“Right here,” Folding Fan Invader popped up right beside Brave Surge.

“F*ck, why are you dead as well?” Brave Surge moaned.

I can’t do anything about that... Folding Fan Invader said this in his heart.

With the player whom he trusted the most there with him as well, Brave Surge had no choice but to find another core member from Carouse that was on site. He carefully relayed some of the important matters that needed attention, before reaching out with a message to Broken Water Arrow, “Old Broken, how do we go about doing the quest you mentioned? That slot you mentioned from before, is it real?

“It’s real,” Broken Water Arrow replied.

“D*mn, now that the people from Colored Clouds are all there, wouldn’t they be able to locate it in a blink of an eye?” Brave Surge was despondent.

“Not so soon,” Broken Water Arrow chuckled. “Get your men to use what time they have to locate Thousand Miles Drunk!”

“Oh, what is so strange about it?” Brave Surge asked.

“I can’t tell you that either,” Broken Water Arrow answered.

“Fine. I’ll hurry them along. Try and drag things out as long as you can,” Brave Surge said.

These two men were hitting it off with each other swimmingly. Thus, the players down in the underground room were split into two sides; there were those from Colored Clouds who were giving it their all searching for the quest, while there were the men from Carouse that were pretending to be doing the same, but were actually looking for traces of Thousand Miles Drunk. As for the men from Traversing Four Seas and The Black Hand Syndicate, there were already too few of them left to partake in any schemes. Oathless Sword would not fight over the quest with Gu Xiaoshang, so when he saw plenty of players from Colored Clouds arriving, he very quickly called for the guild members he had left in the underground room to help them out as well. As for Black Index Finger, he had also been killed in the previous massacre, so he was face to face with Brave Surge at the spawn point, not a word exchanging between the men beyond the tears that fell between them.

The underground room was large, and it had no problem containing two guilds’ worth of players all squeezed together, which totaled up to 2000 players. However, it was evident that the place was more packed than before, and anyone just turning around at any one point would find themselves surrounded by people. There were approximately about 1000 torches among these 2000 players. Parallel World emphasized realism! A 1000 lit torches crackling would generate quite a lot of heat, and as the temperature of the room rapidly rose, the players were soon sweating profusely, and everyone was feeling parched; it was something none of them had experienced in any MMO before. Nevertheless, these players still worked tirelessly in such a setting. Colored Clouds searched every inch of the ground, leaving no stone unturned, while the players from Carouse were still closely examining each and every player around them, looking at their guild emblem, using their Appraisal skill, scrutinizing every Mage even more closely...

There was nowhere for anybody to hide here in this underground room, so if Thousand Miles Drunk was trying to hide himself somewhere, there was no other option aside from trying to pass himself off as one of them.

This was what Broken Water Arrow was thinking, and the players from Carouse had come to the same conclusion as well. But sifting through the crowd in every way, they still did not manage to track anyone down. Broken Water Arrow was feeling hot, wiping off the sweat across his forehead. That was when he lifted his gaze and suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure right up by the tunnel entrance.

“Are you kidding me? He’s up above!” Broken Water Arrow had complete faith in his eyesight and was certain that it was a player. There was no other explanation aside from being Thousand Miles Drunk. When and how did that person make his way over to the top so soon? Broken Water Arrow could not make sense of it, but just the fact that he had definitely spotted a player up there was enough.

Broken Water Arrow quickly contacted the player who was in charge of Carouse at the moment, someone with the IGN Cold Cloud. This person was also a Mage, and the moment he heard what Broken Water Arrow had to say, he immediately informed the entire guild. At that very moment, all the members of Carouse raised their heads and looked toward the entrance in unison.

“Form up!” Cold Cloud ordered the players as he prepared to form a combat squad, having Guardians at the forefront and Priests at the back to support, pushing them onward to the entrance.

“Warriors aren’t able to withstand a Mage’s attack. There’s no point having your shields braced in front of you when going up against spells that could strike from above,” Broken Water Arrow warned.

“I know, that’s why I have sent Archers and Mages right behind them. All the Warriors have to do is provide cover; with how narrow the space over there was, there’s no way that Thousand Miles Drunk would be able to hide from the concerted attack from the Mages and Archers. As long as we continue to press him with such force, we would surely be able to edge him out with over 300 of these ranged players,” Cold Cloud was adamant.

Broken Water Arrow looked and saw that this was also someone who had some experience fighting with Thousand Miles Drunk. To have considered everything so comprehensively, intending to use over 300 players to push on Thousand Miles Drunk, it was obvious that he was already prepared to suffer some losses on his end.

“Make your move then!” Broken Water Arrow nodded. Brave Surge had already finished assigning the teams on his end as well, and it was the same formation that Cold Cloud had gone with. Warriors were in the front, Priests behind providing support, while Mages and Archers brought up the rear. There were steps going down on the left and right after exiting the tunnel, which Cold Cloud and Broken Water Arrow each led a team to pincer from the left and right, slowly climbing their way up.

The team from both sides maintained a measured pace up, beginning to be more vigilant as they neared the tunnel entrance. The Archers amidst these teams had the furthest range, so they were the first to begin their attack. Forget that Thousand Miles Drunk had not even shown himself yet, all of them decided to send their arrows flying first before asking further questions. The team continued to press on until the Mages were slowly able to unleash their AoE spell and Repeating Fireballs as well when they were given the chance to. Doing so was a lot better than what the Archers and their arrows as if Thousand Miles Drunk was hiding right behind the tunnel entrance, the explosion from Repeating Fireball would still deal damage to him.

Young Master Han noted Carouse’s movement and naturally had no way to stop them. All he could do was call Gu Xiaoshang’s attention, “They’ve already found Thousand Miles Drunk.”

“What has that got to do with anything?” Gu Xiaoshang was perplexed. “We’ve already been given the quest, even if they kill Thousand Miles Drunk, we’ll still continue our search, and we will ultimately be able to finish the quest; can he still stop us?”

“It’s not that simple,” Young Master Han shook his head. “That man had given this hint before, and he had yet to change it even till now. I dare say that there’s no way that we can complete the quest just from this clue alone.”

“Then why are we still wasting our time and effort tirelessly searching for it?” Gu Xiaoshang did not understand.

“It’s to try and see if we are able to get anywhere if we were to discover the quest by ourselves,” Young Master Han said.

“Oh.” Gu Xiaoshang nodded. She looked all around, “But it does look like it’s quite difficult.” Colored Clouds had over 1000 players in this place, yet they had not come across even the slightest trace of the quest after all this time.

“So that’s why that guy has been waiting with nothing to fear. Looks like this quest will be really hard to accomplish without any actual clues,” Young Master Han furrowed his brow.

“Search the walls all around this place as well,” Gu Xiaoshang commanded, as a handful of players went running over to climb the walls.

The two were in the midst of their discussion when someone suddenly appeared from behind the central pipes, waving cheekily to the two, “Hi!”

The two turned around to look, and lo and behold, Who else could it be but Thousand Miles Drunk? Gu Xiaoshang pulled out her sword and rushed at him, so Gu Fei swiftly turned his body to the side and performed a sidestep. Several players were also rounding up behind him, all from Colored Clouds, only to end up on the receiving end of that Charge from their own guild leader, giving them quite the scare.

“Don’t panic!” Gu Fei called out. After Gu Xiaoshang had missed her Charge and saw her own guildmates running on over, she quickly canceled her skill and stood still. The players who had been pursuing Gu Fei all came running toward him with the intention to strike, but Young Master Han had already opened his mouth, “Don’t move.”

With that said, he quickly paced forward as Gu Fei took the hint and joined him, returning back to take cover behind the pipes.

This was the only spot in the entire room that could obstruct the players’ vision, and with the two men standing as they did, what they were blocking off was precisely those players from Carouse climbing up the steps. Gu Xiaoshang saw what they were doing and was stunned for a moment before she understood what they were trying to do. Thus, she came jogging over, and while those men who were pursuing Gu Fei showed their confusion and were just about to open their mouth to speak, Gu Xiaoshang had long expected it.

“Don’t say a word!” Gu Xiaoshang shushed them.

“We haven’t even said anything yet...” The men all felt aggrieved.

“We don’t have to attack him,” Young Master Han explained.

“It’s good you understand,” Gu Fei beamed.

“I did not expect you to understand this as well,” Young Master Han said.

But Gu Fei had turned around and was already lecturing the players that had attempted to attack him, “Aren’t you guys just looking to get yourself killed attacking me like this?”

M*TH*RF*CK*R!!! Young Master Han cursed in his heart. They did not share the same line of thought at all.

“How did you get down here?” Gu Xiaoshang was suspicious.

“Teleportation scroll! I’ve got dozens!” Gu Fei wiped his face with his hand. “It’s so hot. Why is it so warm here? There are too many torches around, can’t you guys snuff a few out? Is there really a need to bring so many?”

No one cared to answer him. This was hardly the time for them to be having a conversation about this now.

“Why did you come all the way down here?” Young Master Han asked. For Gu Fei to have lured Broken Water Arrow and Carouse’s men all the way up there while making his way down here and not even use this chance to start another massacre of the players, Young Master Han felt he must have his reasons.

“What information has Old Broken shared with you guys?” Gu Fei asked.

“What exactly is the situation on your end?” Young Master Han turned the question back on him. After all, Gu Fei was not like them. He had followed along the questline to this point through conventional means, and even though the system was shameless, it would most definitely still provide clues. There was no way that they could just leave players to their own devices and randomly guess throughout their quest.

“There must be something strange about this place, but what?” Gu Fei said as he patted the water pipe next to him. “What’s this thing here?”

“Just what exactly are you trying to do? Aren’t you here to do your quest? Dilly dallying like you did, just where exactly is your quest supposed to be?” Young Master Han was irritated.

“Hey, we would have failed if he completes his quest, so what are you hurrying him for?” Gu Xiaoshang helplessly said.

“I don’t know! I made my way here following the clues I was given, only to find myself lost over what I should be doing. What’s this?” Gu Fei patted the pipe again.

“You scamp. You haven’t learned enough about your quest on your end, so you’re trying to pick out more information from us?” Young Master Han spat.

“Haha, you saw through my intentions, eh?” Gu Fei laughed rather sheepishly.

“Of course I did. You’re just a noob, so how would you know anything about questing? Are you trying to fill in the blanks on your own? Have you reached out to all the NPCs you ought to have located? Asked them all the questions you should be asking? Someone must have told you about this place, so you did not ask that NPC what you should be doing, or what is being done here and just came running here by yourself?” Young Master Han asked.

“Yup. Actually, all they did was tell me where the entrance to this place was,” Gu Fei answered.

“And after that?” Young Master Han looked pissed.

“After that, I came here. Didn’t you already guess as much?” Gu Fei said.

“Useless! You’re really garbage!” Young Master Han chided.

“What about you guys? What clue have you got?” Gu Fei asked.

“We’ve got nothing either. All we know is a way in!!” Young Master Han bellowed.

“Raise your voice a little louder, I don’t think Old Broken and the others by the steps heard you,” Gu Fei suggested mockingly.

“Hey hey hey!!” Gu Xiaoshang was coaxing the two men, at the same time finding this situation a little odd. Just what kind of situation is this? They are on opposing sides doing the same competitive quest, why have they gathered together discussing how to advance the quest? Furthermore, why is either side dissatisfied with the lack of clues the other had? If this was truly a competitive quest, should they not be happy if the other side lacked any information?

The players who had come chasing after Gu Fei after seeing him teleport to his location were also standing by the side, completely at a loss, dumbfounded by what they were witnessing. Because Gu Xiaoshang had stopped them from saying a word, they were still the only few people who were aware that Gu Fei had sneaked his way over. All the other players seeing a guild leader speaking with some player would not even suspect that he would actually be Thousand Miles Drunk.

” I thought Old Broken had called all of you over for a quest, so why don’t any of you know anything!” Gu Fei demanded.

“Aren’t you being a bit too naive? Even if we do know something, would we care to share anything with you if you came running over here to ask us about it?” Young Master Han scoffed.

“Tsk, I saw how silly all of you looked searching for something down here. It was obvious none of you had any clue what to look for either, which was why I came over to talk to you guys,” Gu Fei said.

“Old Broken’s merely trying to drag things out. His goal is only to kill you. He doesn’t actually plan to disclose anything about the quest to us,” Gu Xiaoshang revealed.

“Heh, so I gathered. That guy always considered himself to be a very scrupulous individual, so it’s only natural that he’s not going to so casually reveal details regarding the game,” Gu Fei mused.

“That’s why we’re in quite an awkward spot right now. Logically speaking, we should have had you surrounded and slain by now, but if you were to die, Old Broken would have even less of a reason to delegate the quest to us. Wait a minute, if we were to kill you and not mention anything about it, Broken Water Arrow won’t know if you’re dead or alive either! He’ll end up revealing the details about the quest if he can’t be certain of your status, right?” Gu Xiaoshang suddenly had an epiphany.

“Woah, a woman’s heart is truly the most toxic!!” Gu Fei exclaimed, his hand already clutching his sword, “Are you really going to try?”

Young Master Han chuckled bitterly, “There’s no way Old Broken wouldn’t know.”

“Why is that?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

“Because if we were to make our move on him, we would most definitely end up causing quite a huge commotion; even the blind date would be able to sense it,” Young Master Han explained.

“Yes, I’m quite confident about that point,” Gu Fei nodded in agreement.

“Oh, then we’ll talk about it afterward,” Gu Xiaoshang said.

“Just what sort of situation is this anyway?” Gu Fei had no idea if he should be laughing or crying. He was also rather weirded out by the fact that he was coming together with the opposing force to discuss the quest they were competing over.

“Say, since you’re the one who followed the proper questline to get to this point, why don’t you head back to your NPC and find out more since you lack the relevant information right now?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

“I already used the tool I was provided with to get here; there’s no way I can make my way back here once I leave the place,” Gu Fei sighed. That was when he suddenly recalled something, and raised his head quizzically. He stared right at the tunnel entrance that Gu Xiaoshang and the others had popped out from, “How did you guys get here?”

Once this question was asked, all of their expressions changed. This was especially true for someone like Young Master Han, who had very quickly become aware of this fact: Gu Fei had already found a breakthrough to his quest!!

He lacked information right now, but he actually had the means to obtain what he needed. However, the current Gu Fei only had one chance to reach this location, and leaving means there was no way for him to return. But because Broken Water Arrow had led all the other players over through the tunnel from before, it had instead indicated to Gu Fei that there was another way in, and it was apparent that this route was not a path that would make this place accessible just once. There was a very good chance Gu Fei could calmly walk out of this place, inquire after the necessary information and make his way back here swaggering his way through...

“I’ve got business to attend to, time to go!” Gu Fei Blinked and appeared a short distance away. His abrupt materialization startled the players from Colored Clouds that were standing by the side, immediately realizing that Thousand Miles Drunk was launching an attack on them at that moment. Naturally, Gu Fei was not in the least bit courteous, insta-killing these players with a casual lift of his sword, ready to kill his way out now that he had his sights set on a way out. Gu Xiaoshang was about to command her troops to block his path when Young Master Han tugged at her to stop.

“What?” Gu Fei turned around to ask.

“Let him go,” Young Master Han answered.

“Huh?”

“His breakthrough would also be our point of breakthrough as well!” Young Master Han smiled.

Gu Xiaoshang froze for a moment but very quickly understood what Young Master Han meant.

“Let him go,” Young Master Han repeated to Gu Xiaoshang.

“Isn’t that a little bit too indecorous of us?” Gu Xiaoshang had her doubts.

“We’ve already lost any bit of decorum partnering up with Broken Water Arrow to use his information,” Young Master Han was completely unfazed.

In the end, Gu Xiaoshang gave the order to let Gu Fei pass unobstructed, and even though the members of Colored Clouds were uncertain about what to make of this, they nevertheless heeded her order. Gu Fei very quickly made his way over to the steps and was now running for the tunnel.

As for Carouse, they had already arrived by the same tunnel, but they did not find Thousand Miles Drunk anywhere. How would they even know that Gu Fei had teleported away, and was presently making his way up the stairs, searching. It was only until some player from Carouse realized Gu Fei was making his way up the steps did that person exclaim, drawing attention toward him when everyone was still looking for Thousand Miles Drunk.

“Oh, crap!!!!” Broken Water Arrow was slapping his thigh hard when he got this message.

He suddenly realized that his previous assumption about Thousand Miles Drunk might not have been wrong; Indeed, Thousand Miles Drunk had no idea how his quest should proceed when he arrived in that underground room. Had he known that was the case, there would have been no need for them to pay any attention to him; there was no way he would have been able to find his next clue in that place even if he were to work his brain into overdrive. Conversely, if Thousand Miles Drunk were to leave and gather the necessary information he needed, there was no way he would have been able to use that same method of entry twice.

But now, they had actually helped excavate another point of entry for Thousand Miles Drunk, they had truly ended up shooting themselves in the foot in the process of trying to outsmart him.