Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 359 - Killing with a Borrowed Knife

Crackling in blinding sparks, Gu Fei sent his Palm of Thunder toward the guard’s waist the moment he finished concentrating on his left hand. Just like any other lighting spells, the sound effect for this one was deafening as it created a shaft of electricity that arced forth. He thought to himself how disappointing it would be if the guard did not fall to the ground, considering how spectacular the visual effects for this spell were.

Obviously, the guard did not collapse to the ground so easily and it even quickly retaliated with a slash of its sword. Gu Fei turned his body to dodge the attack, and at the moment that he was about to counterattack, the guard used a skill. It was this one skill that caused him to feel the futility of challenging the guard, as he would have no way of achieving victory over an NPC with it.

This skill was something he had seen being used by unscrupulous players many times before: Holy Healing.

Silver Moon had used this same skill when Young Master’s Elite group was up against Silver Moon group in the mercenary PvP tournament. It was a level 40 skill that Knights had access to once they advanced their job class into a Holy Knight. It had about the same efficacy as a Priest’s Heal but had a slight dissimilarity.

A Priest’s Heal worked on all job classes indiscriminately. Be it bestowing on other players or themselves, the effect of the spell was entirely the same.

As for a Holy Knight’s Holy Healing, its greatest effect was when used on themselves and next was when it as used on a fellow Holy Knight; using it on other job classes would see a huge reduction in its efficacy. Further testing showed that Holy Healing had zero effect on the two advance job classes of Assassins and Hunters and that using it on Dark Knights or Dark Priests would actually deal damage to them instead.

Holy Healing was the only current skill that had many different effects depending on the type of recipient.

After the guard’s sword hit empty air, it instantly raised its shield and white light came forth from it before dispersing. The pose was somewhat different from how players did it, but any sharp-eyed players could tell that the guard had just unleashed the Heal skill.

How could Gu Fei fight on at this rate?

Against the Werewolves, Gu Fei was still able to use Sacred Flames of Baptism to nullify their regeneration. This guard, meanwhile, had a skill that let it instantly recover its HP.

Could he interrupt the casting?

Gu Fei attacked to see if that would work.

Gu Fei unleashed two successive attacks powered by spells, and when the guard looked as though it was about to cast Heal on itself again, he hurriedly stabbed it with his sword. According to the system rules, Heal was a sustained spell that could be interrupted when the user was attacked during casting. This stab he dealt was quick. In the best case scenario, his attack would interrupt the sword if it managed to connect to the guard.

In the end, the guard raised its shield to block his sword while lifting its weapon high, resulting into a glorious flash of white light that scattered from the blade.

The shield that blocked Gu Fei’s slash was pulled back to its body, as the guard finished basking in the white light with nary a point of HP lost.

“I’m impressed!” Gu Fei flashed the guard a thumbs-up and no longer bothered to fight it, turning tail to flee.

There was really no way to triumph over the NPC when the system was this shameless.

The guard’s Heal appeared to have the powerful effect of a Priest and the speed of a Holy Knight’s Holy Healing. Gu Fei wondered now if he could interrupt the guard’s casting by spitting on its face.

Whatever the case might be, he still managed to garner the respect and admiration of the nearby players with that exchange. Against the tyrannical guards sent by the system, just what sort of god would able to last several rounds against it and retaliate a number of times that the guard would be forced to use its healing skill twice!

As the players were thinking of this, Gu Fei unexpectedly stopped fighting the guard and fled.

The emotions of these players instantly turned sour. They thought that he was a hero, but he was actually just a sloppy worker¹.

Gu Fei bounded away in a trail of dust with that guard closely pursuing him. He actually felt really frustrated at the moment, as he had used up all his mana in that fight without considering a backup plan. Thus, he hatefully griped about the system’s shameless use of the healing skills. Had he known that this would be the result of fighting the guard, he would have at least reserved enough mana to use Blink!

Right now, the distance between the two parties was no more than three meters. The guard would gain a bit on him by a few centimeters with every step, so running was by no means a solution. How he missed the nosiness of the crowd right now. However, a brief glance at those players watching his fight with the guard just then made him realize that no intervention would be originating from them this time just from the way they eyed him disdainfully.

What was more was that he did not know where the nearest log-off point was located in Linshui City. The guard was sure to catch up to him if he continued to run wildly through the streets like this. Turning his focus on a way to extricate him from his current predicament, his last hope appeared in the form of the ‘Bounty Mission’ he had just obtained.

Gu Fei, who was racing against time, was overjoyed when he checked the current target’s coordinates with his Windchaser’s Emblem. The target was actually very close to his location, and he would probably bump into the person at the next intersection.

He bowed his head and madly sprinted forward. A player appeared to the intersection several steps later, his serial number floating above his head. However, this person was not coming toward Gu Fei but was instead turning in the same direction he also happened to be heading.

Realizing this would take some time, Gu Fei looked over his shoulder, saw the danger closing in on him, and decided to take a risk.

He hollered, “Hey, bro! You there in front! Wait up!”

Countless players were ahead, and each of them looked backward when they heard his shout, but none of them saw someone they recognized. However, they easily registered the eye-catching scene of Gu Fei fleeing from the pursuing guard. This was considered a monstrous crime – an offence that most players did not have the guts to commit.

Everyone craned their necks to look, wondering just who Gu Fei was shouting at.

The fact that his target also stopped his steps was enough for Gu Fei to celebrate, but he was afraid that that was not enough to get his attention, so he pointed directly to the man and said, “Wait up, bro! Mission!”

“Me?” The man pointed to himself.

“Yes, you!” Gu Fei nodded his head vigorously.

“You’re not being pursued but is actually on a mission?” Everyone was surprised.

“What sort of mission is this? I’ve never seen it before,” plenty of players muttered.

Some even got near to Gu Fei’s bounty target as they nudged their eyebrows with interest. “Hey, bro. What sort of mission is this?”

“I don’t know, either!” The man was nonplussed.

While this conversation was going, Gu Fei had already made it to the man. This person innocently gazed at him as he asked, “What mission are you talking about?”

Gu Fei felt somewhat reluctant to strike when he saw the look of naivety on his face. However, he easily cleared past this mental block as he announced the answer to the player, “‘Bounty Mission’.” Compared to the other times where he would announce this with laudable temerity, Gu Fei sounded all kinds of detestable right now.

The expression on everyone who heard this changed drastically.

The man was naturally aware that he had PK value on him. The man almost fainted when he heard Gu Fei’s answer, but he was shocked by this man’s act of yelling at him to stop before rushing over to kill him off. He had never met anyone who would do ‘Bounty Mission’ in such a manner.

Gu Fei’s sword had already lashed out by this point.

He was already out of mana at this point. The cost of using Twin Incineration and Palm of Thunder twice was enough to drain him entirely. He could not even cast Thunderbolt or Fireball at this point and all he could do was to unleash basic attacks. To make matters worse, it just so happened that this target Gu Fei had gotten was a Warrior with plenty of HP and was by no means as defenseless as a Priest

Gu Fei whipped his sword out as he took a quick glance behind him. The guard also had his sword raised at the same time... Given how he had no means to insta-kill the Warrior in front of him, this meant that he was now stuck in a one-versus-two fight. This was now a fight that required his fullest concentration.

He reminded himself of this as he continued to lift the sword in his hand before he froze momentarily. He turned his head backward once more. His head turned back and forth between the two....

Two guards? He felt lightheaded for a moment.

He was certain that the guard was behind him. It would definitely attack him pronto if it managed to catch up to him.

However, this one before him... This was definitely still the player who was his bounty target, but this Warrior actually had a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right hand, and was even dressed just like a guard.

Did this player have the strength to dress like this, or was he just cosplaying? Gu Fei had no time to ponder on this because the Warrior had already struck.

Charge! It was the skill that Warriors always used to begin any PvP. However, this Warrior had actually placed his shield before him as he used Charge.

It was not that Gu Fei had never seen Guardians used Charge with their shields held before them, but those Guardians would not often have a sword in their non-dominant hand. Dual-wielding Mastery was a Berserker skill; Guardians did not have access to that skill.

This Warrior had a shield up and a sword hidden behind it, bringing in an attack while defending. There could only be one meaning to this; this player was not an average player but was an expert, instead.

Initially, Gu Fei did not take this person seriously, thinking that the NPC was the one he should guard against.

But the moment this man revealed this attack, Gu Fei knew he would have difficulty evading his attack than the guard’s sword slash.

Whether the sword would poke out from the left and right of the shield would change things immensely, impacting his decision on which direction to dodge.

Uncertain if it was going left or right, he decided not to chance it. He halted his attack and suddenly stooped low and rolled.

No one could fully describe just how fast his roll was. This roll was not just a casual roll but something he had trained and had a certain level of profundity. Only by grasping every aspect of this would anyone be able to roll like how he did in a fast yet dashing way.

The Warrior had naturally not seen such a fluid roll as well.

He only saw the person before him suddenly disappear. Thinking that the Mage had squatted down, he hurriedly pressed his shield lower. However, Gu Fei had already rolled past his feet.

“F*ck me! What sort of shameless fighting style is that?!” This person had plenty of battles that notched his belt, and he had never seen someone do something like this. He could only react instinctively by plunging his sword down toward Gu Fei. The sword was perfectly positioned for a forward thrust, so for him to suddenly plunge it downward like this, it made the attack extremely uncomfortable and awkward.

In the end, before his sword could shoot out, he already received a heavy blow right on to his head.

Following this, dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him. He lifted his head to look and saw the guard with its sword raised. It was not looking at him but at the shameless man by his feet.

“I’m terribly sorry!” He did not know when the shameless man had rolled right under his feet. The Mage leaped to his feet and patted his shoulders when he said this.

He turned around and was about to say something, but he felt a breeze waft through his neck accompanied by a shaft of lightning flash.

He was truly quite indomitable to have survived the guard’s one slash. However, with what little HP he had left, an attack that procced the additional magic attack was all that was needed to send this poor Warrior into prison without even making head or tail of what had just happened.

“Hmm... That might have been a little too despicable.” Gu Fei sighed. Borrowing the guard’s attack to take down this Warrior, Gu Fei patted his Windchaser’s Emblem and disappeared instantly.