Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 345 - This is really the end

“Do you know who’s after you?” Deep Waters asked Young Master Han.

Young Master Han nodded his head. “It should be them.”

“Them? How many are we talking about here?” Deep Waters asked.

“I’m not too sure. Anyway, there are surely more of them than just the two of us,” Young Master Han said.

Deep Waters poked his head out from behind the tree and looked around. “Currently, there don’t seem to be any other players in the jungle.”

“Let’s leave and walk around for a bit.” The two men said this same line as they came out from behind their respective trees. They were only at the edge of the jungle, so they quickly found themselves back in Linyin City after walking a short distance. Quite a few players were gathered ahead, and they were currently pointing toward the jungle. The two of them immediately hid behind a tree on the left and right. Deep Waters asked, “Are they the ones after you?”

Young Master Han cautiously craned his neck to get a good look at those people and nodded. “Yup.”

When Young Master Han saw the man standing at the forefront of the group beyond the jungle, he immediately identified him as the leader of the remnants of the eradicated Past Deeds Guild in Baishi City: the Mage Blue Ease.

Blue Ease was not privy to Young Master Han’s plan after losing to Dusky Cloud in a game of rock-paper-scissors yesterday in Baishi City, but he was not the least bit bothered by missing out on it, as he did not care for Young Master Han’s help. Back then, he was only clashing with Dusky Cloud as usual, and his decision on whether to pursue Silver Moon or not was unaffected by the outcome of the child’s game.

Simply put, he had no intention of giving up the chase at all.

The hatred of these former members of Past Deeds for Silver Moon eclipsed that which Dusky Cloud and his comrades had. It was in such an intense atmosphere that a swarm of men had rallied to participate in this hunt for their ex-guild leader. After inquiring the next stop of those players from Yunduan City, they made sure to arrive at Linyin City before the expedition in hopes of seizing a good chance to ambush Silver Moon within the city. With how difficult it was to locate Silver Moon, these men secretly decided that no matter which corner of this world Silver Moon fled to, they would give chase just so they could ruthlessly finish him off.

Unfortunately, Silver Moon had already been sent back to Baishi City halfway through their journey toward Linyin City. Neither Blue Ease nor his men were cognizant of this as they continued to wait like fools in Linyin City. Naturally, they also had no idea that Traversing Four Seas and Deep Waters’ guild were poised to clash in a competitive quest. When they finally spotted the players from Yunduan City, Oathless Sword and everyone else were in the middle of fleeing from that street fight and escorting Prisoner Todd to the prison for night’s safekeeping.

While they did not know what had happened, Blue Ease and his men were happy and sad when the originally thousand-man army got reduced to their current number. They were happy because fewer players meant they would be easier to contend with, but they were sad because they were uncertain if Silver Moon was among those players who had perished.

In the end, before they could begin their investigation, news came from Baishi City. Those few men who had stayed behind in Baishi City had spotted Silver Moon being surrounded by Dusky Cloud’s men brought when they were about to log off in the Knights’ Barracks.

Evidently, this revelation had left them all dispirited now that this trip had turned out to be for naught. Some logged off, others prepared to return to Baishi City, while a handful of them visited a local tavern for a short session. It was this last group that had coincidentally spotted Deep Waters and the five members of Young Master’s Elite.

Most men from Past Deeds were not familiar with the men of Young Master’s Elite, but several of them would still be able to recognize Young Master Han, given his outstanding appearance.

Blue Ease got excited when he learned of this just as he was preparing to leave for Baishi City. This trip would be a total waste if he could kill Young Master Han just once. At the very least, it would be an enjoyable endeavor. Young Master Han was, after all, among those responsible for the collapse of Past Deeds, so his hatred for the man was deep-seated as well!

As former residents of Yueye City, they were adept at PvPing, so they did not waste much time in getting everything prepared. Setting up an ambush team by the Priest Academy, the players in the tavern continued to keep a close eye on their new target’s movement.

When Young Master’s Elite departed from the tavern, the players stalking Young Master Han were pleasantly surprised to see him separate from the others. Unfortunately, they did not have too many players following Young Master Han just then. They wanted to ascertain that Young Master Han was truly isolated from the rest before acting. It would not be a stretch for Yunduan City’s players to come to Young Master Han’s aid just as they were staging an ambush to the Priest with a handful of men.

Thus, these men tailed Young Master Han as he got further and further away from his friends. But before they could strike, Young Master Han suddenly took a turning from the street and congregated with another group of players.

Instead of the other experts from Young Master’s Elite, Young Master Han met up with the other leaders from Yunduan City... Just a quick Appraisal was all they needed to realize that this lot of players was strong as well, once more causing Blue Ease and his men to shelf their plan to ambush him.

Blue Ease’s men could only watch this group of players chat all the way until they reached the Bounty Assignment Hall. This was when another opportunity presented itself. Young Master Han once more separated from the group and stayed with just one friend. Soon, the two said their goodbyes to each other as well.

The ex-members of Past Deeds no longer wished to miss out on this chance.

They had previously stalled their ambush in hopes of the other members of Young Master’s Elite getting further away from Young Master Han, but the man had met up with another group by the time they moved to strike. In order to not repeat such a scenario, the Thieves went in Stealth and moved in toward their target.

In the end, Deep Waters detected their movement and allowed Young Master Han to escape into the jungle with him. These former Past Deeds members figured they could still salvage the situation since they were only up against two players, so the five Thieves present went into the jungle to give chase, yet they were all eliminated one after another by Deep Waters. By the time Blue Ease and the others made it to the place, not one of their comrade Thieves remained, so they were now clueless on where Young Master Han had escaped to.

“Big Blue, shall we go in and take a look again?” a comrade asked.

Blue Ease was a little hesitant. Quite some time had passed since they struck at Young Master Han. If the man had called for reinforcement, they would have surely arrived by now. He did not have many men with him at the moment, so they would absolutely be helpless if they were to clash with Yunduan City’s largest guild like this.

“Let’s just go all out; what’s there to be afraid of?” the hot-blooded way of Yueye City reared its head once more.

Blue Ease gritted his teeth for a while. Just as he was about to order his comrades to charge in, he suddenly received a message. He stood there in a daze for a moment when he read through it. All the doubts, the hesitation, and even the rage disappeared as a look of beatific surprise overcame him.

“Let’s go!” Blue Ease turned and waved his arm.

“What?” Everyone was nonplussed.

“Vast Lushness is also here; someone spotted her!” Blue Ease happily exclaimed.

“Ah!” The former Past Deeds members were thrilled when they heard this.

“Wow! The legendary Vast Lushness.” Some of the players present were new acquaintances Blue Ease had picked up from Baishi City. They were no strangers to this IGN since Blue Ease and the other former Past Deeds’ members were full of praises for this honorable woman.

“Let’s go!” The group quickly departed. Meeting a friend far outstripped that of killing an enemy to them.

“Eh. They’ve all left.” Deep Waters and Young Master Han were still hiding in the jungle and were too far to hear what those men had said. The two had taken turns peeking out from behind their cover to observe the enemies’ movement. It happened to be Deep Waters’ turn to check, so he was the one who had discovered their enemies’ departure.

“All of them?” Young Master Han was stunned as well. This action was entirely unlike the behavior of players who had once lived in Yueye City. These men were not the sort to easily give up whenever they targeted someone – unless the thousand-man army of Yunduan City was standing before them. This was definitely not the case right now, though. The absence of the army itself would be reason enough for them to try and eliminate him.

“They’ve really left.” Deep Waters boldly stepped out from behind the tree. If the enemies were still around, this act alone would expose Deep Waters and Young Master Han’s hiding place.

Not one sound or movement could be detected.

“Their departure’s a little strange.” Young Master Han could not make sense of this.

“Perhaps, they have something on?” Deep Waters suggested.

“What could be more important than killing me?” Young Master Han flipped the question back at Deep Waters.

Deep Waters gritted his teeth. Was there even a limit to this man’s narcissism? Not everything was about him.

The two men did not let their guard down completely as they warily exited the jungle. They only believed that the enemies had truly left when nothing untoward happened to them even after making their way out.

“Did any of your enemies put a huge bounty on your head?” Deep Waters asked Young Master Han when he suddenly heard voices. Just as he was about to tell Young Master Han to hide, the owners of those voices came around the corner. Deep Waters relaxed when he realized that these men were the mercenaries of Young Master’s Elite.

“Doesn’t that person we just passed by seem like a member of the eradicated Past Deeds?” Royal God Call was asking.

“Seems like it. I feel as though I’ve seen him in Yueye City before.” Brother Assist nodded.

“Heh... You guys came a little too late. Everything’s fine now.” Deep Waters waved to them. He figured Young Master Han must have called these men to rescue him from their predicament moments ago.

“Where’s Sword Demon? Why isn’t he here?” Deep Waters asked them as he neared the three men.

They looked at Deep Waters a little strangely before looking over to Young Master Han.

“I didn’t call him,” Young Master Han answered his question, instead.

“Why?” Deep Waters asked.

“Actually, these three aren’t here to save me. They’re here for you,” Young Master Han explained.

“Me? What for?” Deep Waters asked.

“You’ve got a PK value of 5 points, right?” Young Master Han smiled warmly.

“What the—you’re despicable!” Deep Waters finally realized what was going on, cursing as he quickly attempted to dive back into the jungle again. He knew that these people before him were apex experts and was positive that he would be in quite the pickle if he did not make it into the jungle and properly leverage on his greatest advantage with that terrain.

“Sorry, Deep Waters bro!” War Without Wounds inhaled a deep breath as he used Charge at him. Brother Assist also moved to his flank, as Royal God Call, who had the fastest movement, ran straight towards the tree line, hoping to block Deep Waters from making it into the jungle. Even Young Master Han did not stand by idly as he tossed two liquor bottles straight at Deep Waters.

Suddenly, Deep Waters changed direction and lunged toward War Without Wounds. War Without Wounds was entirely unprepared for his move and his claymore struck Deep Waters by the waist. Seeing the Hunter fly outward, he immediately cried out, “Oh, no!”

The Charge that connected with Deep Waters sent him sliding out fast. There was only one thought in his mind as he sailed through the air: Please don’t send me to a Dizzy state.

The Dizzy state did not get triggered. Deep Waters delightedly scrambled to his feet, hoping to dive right in the depths of the jungle, when a red figure appeared before him from behind a tree. Deep Waters was no longer a stranger to this figure.

“You’re really finished this time.” Svelte Dancer tittered as she lifted her hand and her dagger surged out, taking out Deep Waters before he could fully straighten his back.

“I’ll go visit you!” Young Master Han quickly sent Deep Waters this message right before he disappeared. The system did not reject it. “Yup. He’s sure to see it!” Young Master Han nodded his head.