Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 89 – The Forgotten Character

“Gather quickly! Faster!” Dusky Cloud bellowed incessantly at everyone beside him. Obviously, their group, which was currently outside the city, had no means to hurry back in time for the upcoming PvP outside the Warrior Encampment.

“We can’t wait any longer!” Sword Demon shouted, “Those with high Agility, return to the city first and support our men by the Warrior Encampment.”

A high-Agility squad composed of Archers and Thieves swiftly made their way toward the city after hearing this. Sword Demon mentally calculated; if the Past Deeds’ thirty-man team from the underground prison did not suffer a casualty when they had rescued their guild members in the Archer Range, there would currently be around sixty to seventy of them attacking the Warrior Encampment. If the reinforcement from several Past Deeds Eradication groups could make it in time there, they would still hold numerical superiority during the fight.

We must make it there in time! Sword Demon resolutely muttered to himself. The distance Past Deeds had to travel from the Archer Range to the Warrior Encampment was quite substantial. Since Past Deeds was at a disadvantage when it came to its number of men, Priests would undoubtedly be crucial to its success. Thus, they would not dare leave their Priests behind in favor of faster movement.

“Priests—f*ck!” Sword Demon realized that he had made a critical mistake: He should not have made the team locking down the Priest Academy’s spawn point retreat so soon. The current Past Deeds’ forces might have been thinking of rescuing their Priests first by heading to the Priest Academy. Even if the thirty-man group Sword Demon had stationed there could not resist the enemies’ bombardment, it would still force the Past Deeds’ players to spend quite some time rescuing their Priests. This would have bought Sword Demon and the gang ample time to get back to the city. But since he had ordered the thirty-man group to leave the Priest Academy earlier, the Past Deeds’ Priests would not have any issue rendezvousing with their main force at the heart of the city.

There’s no use crying over split milk now. Anyway, a team with Priests won’t be able to advance quickly! Sword Demon held on to that shred of hope in his heart.

It was at this point that they received some good news; a friend of Dusky Cloud saw that a Past Deeds’ squad had gathered in the heart of the city. However, this group of players did not go to the Warrior Encampment at four o’clock; instead, they headed northeast.

Northeast was in the one o’clock direction… Mage Academy?

They’re heading there, after all! Sword Demon thought to himself. Mages were the strongest AOE damage dealers when it came to team PvPs. It seemed that Past Deeds had taken a big detour to bolster its team’s strength first.

When Young Master Han heard this piece of news, he actually reacted with astonishment, “Looks like our opponent’s commander isn’t simple!”

“?” Sword Demon just typed this to Young Master Han since he was in a hurry to get back to the city.

“It’s true that it’s faster to attack the Warrior Encampment at four o’clock, which is closer to the Archer Range at nine o’clock. But the Warrior Encampment’s defending group is mostly composed of Mages who can deal high AOE damage. Even with the Archers’ inherent job class advantage over the Mages, they’ll still pay a heavy price for confronting the latter. What’s worse, our killed Mages will revive at the Mage Academy’s spawn point. By the time they carry their assault to the Mage Academy, our groups will have finished assembling there. Since we’re also occupying the Mage Academy, they’ll have no Mages left for the upcoming PvP! With the Past Deeds’ manpower disadvantage and lack of Mages, how will they win the group fight? That’s why I said that their commander isn’t simple. This person’s vision isn’t limited to what’s immediately visible. Occupying the Mage Academy is the key to this guild war!” Young Master Han analyzed, adding, “Half of the Past Deeds’ members have dropped three levels. Even if both sides’ numbers are equal, either side’s strength is now more or less even. Whichever side has more Mages will emerge victorious.”

“So how did our fifty players in the Archer Range get wiped out?” Sword Demon reflexively stopped running for a bit as he asked this question.

“I’m still not sure about that. Just quickly get to the Mage Academy and establish a line of defense! Oh, yeah. He first seized the Archer Range for the purpose of using the Archers to lockdown the Mage Academy… F*ck! To plan each step so thoroughly, just who is this person?!” Young Master Han wondered in amazement, “Vast Lushness? I’ve met her before! While she has a few tricks up her sleeves, she’s definitely not in possession of an amazing foresight.”

“Alright, I’ve reached the Mage Academy,” Sword Demon sighed in relief. The Mage Academy was in the one o’clock direction, so it was not far from the city’s north gate and the Thieves’ Union. Sword Demon’s group and Dusky Cloud’s group actually benefited from the opponents’ unexpected plan, as the Mage Academy was close to the city gate that they were currently rushing toward. With this, both groups would have ample time to join up at the Mage Academy and prepare themselves for the upcoming fight.

“Something feels wrong. He must have a way to break your group’s defense if he’s committing to assaulting the Mage Academy. There must be something we’re not aware of,” Young Master Han, who was at a tavern, anxiously said.

“We don’t have time to consider that now. They’ve arrived,” Sword Demon closed the conversation window. Figures of Past Deeds began to appear on the street from a distance at an unexpectedly fast pace.

“They’re all Archers?!” Sword Demon felt stunned. He and Dusky Cloud shared a look.

Past Deeds’ hurried over with just a thirty-man team. This team’s every member was an Archer.

“Thieves, activate your Stealth and approach them from behind. Archers, ready your Snipe!” Sword Demon spontaneously commanded. The opposing Archers had dropped a few levels, so they no longer had the Snipe skill. The range that Past Deeds’ team could engage in would definitely be lower compared to Sword Demon’s group. The thirty Archers could not pose a threat to them.

“Just what’re they trying to do?!” Sword Demon was at a loss.

“A group of them must be hiding somewhere! Search the vicinity!” Dusky Cloud made a few Thieves check the surroundings.

The Past Deeds’ Archers did not engage Sword Demon’s group directly. After firing a few arrows, they began to employ guerilla tactic. The opposing Archers focused more on running instead of blocking their attacks; they were clearly avoiding the Thieves from getting anywhere near them.

“Are they trying to buy time?” Sword Demon whispered to himself upon seeing the enemies’ action.

Meanwhile, Broken Cloud, one of the ten leaders of the Past Deeds Eradication Army, was not as nervous as Sword Demon, Dusky Cloud, and the gang. He was in charge of holding the fort in the Knights’ Barracks. Knight, which had balanced overall stats, was currently not seen as a job class that could influence a fight’s outcome. Hence, Broken Cloud wholly assumed that their opponents would not attack the Knights’ Barracks.

It was at this moment of contemplation that he heard several approaching footsteps.

The heavy and uneven footsteps came from the alleyway beside the street. Suddenly, a squad of thirty plus players rushed out of the alleyway and unerringly dove straight into the group that Broken Cloud was leading.

There were no spells, no arrows, no invisible Thieves among the attackers.

It was a team purely consisted of Warriors.

As Broken Cloud was feeling astonished at the sight of them, a bright light suddenly emerged from within the Warriors’ mid. It glowed above their heads at first, before spreading in all directions and falling upon everything in sight. The thirty plus players were bathed in this very glow.

The entire opposing team seemed to have received some sort of boost from this glow, as their speed instantly reached a new height.

Broken Cloud had been playing Parallel World for quite a while now, yet he had never seen Warriors attaining such a breakneck speed. The opposing team forcefully endured the arrows and spells that Broken Cloud’s group had unleashed and continued to rush toward them. At this moment, the Knights in the Knights’ Barracks’ spawn point stepped out and applied various blessings to themselves. They then joined the skirmish.

Sword Demon and the gang actually got it wrong. The Past Deeds’ team was not just made up of thirty men. When Past Deeds attacked the Archer Range previously, the members stuck inside that spawn point rushed outside to assist in the ensuing fight. Accurately speaking, Past Deeds had a team of over sixty players.

As the two sides clashed, Broken Cloud’s group shockingly discovered that this team suffused with bright light was not only fast on their feet but also had higher damage output and defense; even their HP was more abundant. Indubitably, that layer of light was a sort of skill that could increase a player’s every stat. The more frightening fact here was that the skill affected a whole party.

Broken Cloud’s group was already a bit weaker compared to these Past Deeds’ players. With the enemies’ overall strength improved further by that unknown skill, they could not last for a long time. White light repeatedly flashed all over the place as the fifty-man group of Past Deeds Eradication Army instantly got wiped out.

Broken Cloud struggled until the very end. And in that final moment before he collapsed, he saw a sword. This sword, which was held aloft, was at the very heart of the glow, shining golden light upon everything.

Who was the one holding this sword? …It was Silver Moon, the Past Deeds’ guild leader.

The Past Deeds’ dignified guild leader had actually become a forgotten character in this whole affair due to Gu Fei capturing and sending him to the underground prison. All forms of communication would be restricted when serving time. Hence, a player could only watch the clock tick and wait inside his or her cell.

Some time ago, Silver Moon finally got through the eight hours of unbearable jail time and could hardly contain himself when he walked out of the underground prison. His exit from the prison, however, was greeted by the sight of his thirty guild mates frantically departing from the location.

Silver Moon promptly stopped them from leaving. Following this, the guild channel that he could access once again stirred frenziedly. This was the exact moment when Sword Demon and the gang had assaulted the Past Deeds’ groups in almost all the city’s spawn points.

Silver Moon did not know what had happened across the span of eight hours that he was imprisoned. After asking the players beside him, he quickly realized that the situation was caused by a premeditated trap. The enemies split up the members of Past Deeds into ten smaller teams to weaken their might.

The ninth team in the underground prison was obviously a target as well. However, they were momentarily ignored since the place was considerably far or the opponent had not enough manpower.

Silver Moon decided on the spot to lead this ninth team away from the underground prison, yet he opted out of assisting any of his comrades. Instead, they sneaked their way out of the city through the north gate.

Afterward, he contacted Vast Lushness, who was on her way to the city from Youye Valley. They quickly arranged the available players into a team that was mainly composed of Warriors and several Priests.

Silver Moon arranged the players like this to better utilize his weapon’s specialty:

[King’s Blade

Additional skill: Activates the battlefield aura ‘The King’s Command’.

Effect: Party members within the area of effect will have all their stats increased by 15%. Consumes 4% of mana every second it remains active.

Skill cool-down time: 10 minutes]

The weapon was a trump card that could greatly help a player attain victory on a battlefield. It was especially useful when it came to team PvPs.