Chapter 146 - Raiding the Hilltop
Young Master Han, who was currently standing atop the tall tree, felt quite pleased with himself as he watched everyone run like busy little ants all over this PvP arena. The eight teams of Cloud Herder mercenary group each went to the four corners and edges of this square-shaped map. One of the enemy teams reached Young Master's Elite mercenary group's location at the 0, 0 coordinates and stayed there without venturing further.
"Guys, update your coordinates to me," Young Master Han reminded everyone on the mercenary channel. Although he could see far from his vantage point, some parts, such as places behind hills, certain spots within the forests, and areas with uneven landscapes, still remained obscured from Young Master Han's field of view. All of his fellow mercenaries were currently hiding in such places as per his instructions, which resulted into him being unable to determine their exact locations.
After the four reported their current coordinates, Young Master Han's mouth twitched, "Royal, I gotta give credit where credit is due. May I ask, are you still running in a straight line?"
"Of course," Royal God Call replied.
"If you continue running, I guarantee that you won't be able to get out of this forest," Young Master Han sighed.
"Royal, can you actually be this bad? Exactly how did you do your 'Bounty Mission' all this while? Didn't those missions involve finding coordinates as well?" Gu Fei asked.
"Royal's booklet of coordinates can't be used here…" Brother Assist reminded him.
"Oh…" Gu Fei finally made sense of everything. Royal God Call had a booklet containing a large amount of Yunduan City's coordinates. Whenever he needed to head toward certain coordinates, he would check his booklet first; even if he failed to find the exact coordinates in it, he could at least flip to the page with the nearest set of coordinates that had landmarks jotted down beside it. An example landmark was Ray's Bar. Only by relying on these familiar locations could Royal God Call go to the corresponding coordinates.
"Maintain a clear channel! Don't chat here!" Young Master Han chastised the two as he issued the next batch of orders. "Sword Demon, wait for my signal to exit the forest and run to 0, 400! Miles, once Sword Demon departs, leave that back of the hill you're on and head toward the woodland at 366, 365 at your fastest speed. Brother Assist, from the lowland area you're in, there is a series of small knolls up ahead at 426, 375, right? Go there now."
Over by the Cloud Herder mercenary group's side, group leader Foe-herder was also issuing commands while searching the nearby areas for their enemies with a small team. "The people over by a vantage point, have you discovered anything or anyone yet?"
"No."
"How about the other teams?"
"We have arrived at the 7 'clock position; nothing found."
"We are now at the 6 'clock position; nothing found."
The eight teams of Cloud Herder mercenary group, besides the furthest team that that had run in the 1 o'clock direction, managed to reach their designated positions and reported their status back to Foe-herder.
"Everyone, get ready. Once the last team is at the 1 o'clock position, we will begin sweeping the map in a clockwise direction," Foe-herder sent this message.
Unexpectedly, after sending out this command, a message arrived from one of the four scouts situated by a vantage point, "A target located! A target located!"
"Position!"
"Target came from the forest at 11 o'clock. He's currently heading toward the 10 o'clock direction," the scout reported. Any average player could divide the map into various segments of a clock and estimate the direction of movement, but to tell the exact coordinates of each place just from sight alone required talent, just as Young Master Han had previously said.
"Keep your eyes on him and update me of his movements! Team 2 and Team 3, which are nearest to the target, get over there for the kill!" Foe-herder commanded.
The four scouts kept track of Sword Demon once he revealed himself.
Certain blind spots still existed even when they were on a high ground like this, so it was still possible to lose sight of a player if he or she dove into a land depression or hid behind a mound. Due to this fact, the four did not notice it when a lone figure sprinted from behind a hill on the other side of the map and instantly disappeared into a nearby patch of shrubberies.
"Sword Demon, that's enough. Stop where you are." Despite all these players looking no more than ants from Young Master Han's vantage point, he could still distinguish friends from foes: solitary figures were friends, whereas groups were enemies.
"He stopped!" the scout reported.
"Position?" asked someone in one of the two teams that were preparing to intercept Sword Demon.
"Uhm…" The scouts were briefly at a loss on how they should relay Sword Demon's position. If Sword Demon was in motion, they could say the clock direction he was heading to. Since Sword Demon was standing still, the scouts found it hard to describe his location.
"Position?" the team member repeated his question.
"Uhm… Take a turning to the left from where you guys are at. Further ahead, you'll catch sight of him. The other team needs to head slightly to the right."
"Ah, no! Veer a little more to the left! You guys have gone too far to the right!"
"The team on the left, you gotta go to the left some more."
"That team on the left still needs to move a little bit to the left. No! You've gone too far to the left now; move to the right once more!"
"A bit more to the right…."
"Just a bit more to the right…."
"That's too much. A little to the left. Sigh… Your team is on the left too much. Head right—"
The two teams that were receiving these instructions real-time finally had a breakdown at this point and yelled in unison, "Private message!"
"Oh…" The scouts finally realized what was causing the confusion: The four of them were all giving directions to the teams at the same time. Realizing this problem, the four scouts assigned one person to direct each team accordingly. Since Sword Demon had not moved all this while, their attention remained focused on him. When one of the scouts slightly blinked and looked at another direction, he spotted a figure speeding toward them. "ARGH! I've spotted another enemy!" the scout yelled.
"Where?!" Foe-herder quickly asked.
"He's heading straight to us!" the other scouts yelled as well.
"Why are you all flustered, then? There are four of you! Aren't you guys prepared for an ambush?!" Foe-herder rebuked his underlings' lack of composure.
"But he's so fast!" The four scouts exclaimed as they hurriedly prepared themselves to engage the approaching person in combat.
"Fast? How fast can he be?! Can he be faster than your arrows? Let's see how fast he can still be once his Fleetfoot is no longer in effect!" Foe-herder said arrogantly. He had arranged for four Archers to be their group's scouts precisely because they had the ability to attack targets from afar once they spotted one.
The four Archers nocked arrows on Snipe and waited for Gu Fei to enter their attack range to release them. As the target drew closer, his equipment became more discernable to the four and they all gasped in shock, "He - He's not a Thief on Fleetfoot!"
"Then, what is he?"
"He looks like… a Mage…" Gu Fei's Midnight Spirit Robe fluttered as he moved speedily toward these men, betraying his job class almost instantly. Only two job classes would wear robes: Mage and Priest. Since Priest was a non-combat job class, it was impossible for one to rush toward them with tremendous killing intent.
"So why the hell are you four scared of him?! You're all Archers!" Foe-herder cursed these particular underlings' incompetence once more. Not seeing it with his own eyes, he of course could never understand that there was a Mage capable of having such monstrously fast movement speed.
The four scouts' heads were currently filled with questions, so they did not even bother looking at the messages on their mercenary channel. Seeing Gu Fei enter their attack range, one of the four Archers shouted a command and they all simultaneously released their bowstrings. Four arrows streaked through the air like shooting stars.
Gu Fei was brimming with confidence at this point. If his speed was still at level 30, he would obviously not be capable of dodging the four arrows on Snipe that were currently flying toward him. After all, his in-game body did not possess the required movement speed and nimbleness to actively dodge the arrows back then despite him having the ability to see the arrows' trajectory. Right now, he was already at level 39. Although the Archers' execution speed of skills had increased as well, it was still inferior to the increase Gu Fei had had with his nine levels bonus stats all pumped into Agility, as well as his Windchaser's Boots' movement speed buffs. Thus, Gu Fei did not even consider these average players' arrows on Snipe as a threat.
The four scouts on the hilltop thought that the Mage Gu Fei would be easily taken down by their concerted attacks; instead, they saw him effortlessly dodge their four arrows and instantly close in on them.
"WHAT?! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!" the four men exclaimed as their jaws dropped.
"Homing Projectile! Let's quickly use Homing Projectile!" Someone among the four Archers cried out and they scrambled to nock their arrows. Their current strongest skill, Snipe, was still on cool-down time, so they could not fire off arrows on it at the moment.
The need for Archers to be deft at using their bows was a distinct drawback that reared its ugly head right now. If even Gu Fei, the supposed expert in hidden weapons, had to maintain his calmness, these Archers would of course also need to do so. One of the four Archers, who lacked mental fortitude, could not maintain his calmness in the face of Gu Fei's assault and subsequently failed to nock his arrow no matter how hard he tried. Fortunately, the other three Archers possessed sufficient mental fortitude so they were able to initiate their attacks like normal. The twang of the bowstrings resounded as three glowing arrows flew toward Gu Fei.
Since Gu Fei did not even see Snipe's speed as a threat, why would he be bothered by Homing Projectile? The skill's homing ability meant that a target could not dodge it, yet Gu Fei did not even intend to dodge the arrows on Homing Projectile heading his way in the first place. Parrying with his Moonlit Nightfalls, he successfully knocked each of the three arrows off before they could deal any damage on him.
The four scouts were so flabbergasted that their jaws were about to fall off. While they were still in a daze, Gu Fei already arrived before them.
"Twin Incineration! Incinerate!" Gu Fei slashed with his blade. The Archer job class also had inherently low HP. Barely managing to take on Gu Fei's one massive blow, two Archers were instkilled while the remaining two were at a loss on how to deal with Gu Fei.
Gu Fei cared not for the two's confusion and merely sent a few slashes their way. Since they did not have the abilities to evade Gu Fei's strikes and to take him head on, the two Archers decided to flee from their fight with him instead. Gu Fei was way faster than them, however. In just a few steps, he managed to close in on the two once more and dispose of them.
None of the four scouts could make sense of anything even in their deaths: "Is he really a Mage?! I seem to have heard him cast Twin Incineration, but could that mage spell really instkill people? Was I dreaming?"
After getting teleported out of the PvP arena upon their deaths, the four men bewilderedly stood in the plaza. The two teams designated to hunt for Sword Demon were still sending them messages: "Position! Position!"
"Position, your *ss! We are already dead!" the four replied irately.
Foe-herder was extremely nonplussed upon receiving this message from the four scouts. Just how much time had passed since they first reported seeing the target till they got killed? He finally realized that his four scouts were not exaggerating when they said that the target was "so fast".
"Team 4 and Team 5, head toward the vantage point."
"Team 2 and team 3, have you lot located that target yet?"
"Not yet!"
Young Master Han, who was still atop the tree, saw clearly how Gu Fei had stormed that hilltop and caused a series of white lights to flash afterward. Receiving Gu Fei's "done" message immediately after, he happily said, "Very good, Miles. Head back to your previous hiding place. Sword Demon, dart toward 223, 398. Brother Assist, update me of your new coordinates. Royal, are you out of the woods yet?" Troublingly, Young Master Han did not receive a response for that last message.
Chapter 147 - Incomprehensible
"This is it! The crucial moment!" Young Master Han muttered to himself as he adjusted his position atop the tall tree to clearly monitor the Cloud Herder mercenary group's movements. "Miles, head toward 118, 425. Sword Demon, turn toward 211, 301. Brother Assist, move toward 489, 101. Royal, hit me up when you finally exit the forest."
Once more, no response came for that last statement.
Gu Fei, Sword Demon, and Brother Assist were running all over the map, while Royal God Call was busying himself with getting lost inside the forest.
Over by the Cloud Herder mercenary group's side, the group leader Foe-herder personally climbed up the hilltop that his men had once held the vantage point in his desire to see just how fast the Mage was.
Gu Fei's fast speed was indeed very eye-catching with all the players running about like ants in this map. Foe-Herder was quite flabbergasted when he saw this. After all, Gu Fei's abnormally fast speed would only make sense if he were a Thief or an Archer who could attain such speed by wearing a pair of top-grade boots and adding a lot of points toward Agility. As for a Mage… How many points to Agility would it take to achieve such fast speed? A Mage with great Agility but low Intelligence would be useless by then, so how did he kill off four Archers in one go?
Foe-herder quickly contacted the four scouts Gu Fei had eliminated moments ago. "How did you guys die?"
"He cut us down with a sword."
"I doubt that! That guy's a Mage, so why would he cut you all with a sword?" Foe-herder emphasized the word 'cut' as he asked this question.
"We don't know either!" the four had a really aggrieved expression on their faces right now, yet their group leader could naturally not see that through the mercenary channel.
"Did you lot use Appraisal on him?" Foe-herder pressed on.
"No…" None of them managed to appraise Gu Fei, considering that they had barely fired off two rounds of arrows before Gu Fei was already upon them.
Could he be a wolf in sheep's clothing, purposely wearing a robe to make others mistake him for a Mage? As Foe-herder was thinking of this, the four sent this message: "But we did hear him chant 'Twin Incineration' when he attacked us."
"A spell incantation doesn't necessarily have to be uttered by a Mage," Foe-herder said exasperatedly.
"But there was a fiery glow!" The two men who had gotten burned by Gu Fei's spell insisted.
"There is this sort of thing called additional magic attack!" Foe-herder ended the conversation with that statement, convinced that he had wholly figured out the conundrum. That guy is truly crafty; he must be a Thief, Foe-herder thought to himself as he watched Gu Fei sprint away.
Standing high up on the hill, not only could Foe-herder see the general lay of the land, he had also become a highly prominent target. Gu Fei who was currently running on the PvP field had fond memories on that hilltop since it was the place that he had finished off the opposing scouts, and when he casually glance over there again, he spotted Foe-herder that was standing up there.
Gu Fei happily fired off a message on the mercenary channel, "There is someone up that hill again!"
"I saw already…" Young Master Han replied.
"How should I rush over there?" Gu Fei needed Young Master Han's guidance for his assault route as he did not want to accidentally run into three or four teams along the way.
"Don't go there. From here onward, your only job is to run. No need to tangle with the enemies anymore," Young Master Han instructed.
"WHAT?!" Besides Gu Fei, Royal God Call and Brother Assist also exclaimed this when they heard Young Master Han's words.
"Right now, we have 4 kill points while they have 1 kill point. No need for more kills since we are in the lead," Young Master Han explained.
"But I have faith that I can eliminate them all with your instructions!" Gu Fei argued confidently. If it was just this single eight-man team, Gu Fei could definitely wipe it out. In this manner, finishing off Cloud Herder's sixty plus members was doable with him alone.
"No need for that; just run!"
"Why?!" Gu Fei was not resigned to this decision. They evidently had the strength to initiate attacks, so why did they have to act so cowardly?
"That's right! Why do we have to be sneaky when we can fight them?!" Royal God Call was discontented as well. He might have no sense of direction, but he still had his pride as an expert!
"Miles, change your direction to 234, 259; Royal God Call, a team has just entered the forest to search it. Note where you're hiding," Young Master Han actually ignored Royal God Call's and Gu Fei's objection.
"Awesome! I'll take care of them!" Royal God Call declared. Although fighting in this sort of terrain for a geospatially challenged person like himself was hard, Royal God Call would rather struggle than be cowardly like Young Master Han.
"Brother Assist, move to 322, 145," Since Royal God Call was blatantly snubbing his instruction, Young Master Han also deliberately ignored his comment.
"Young Master, why are we dealing with them like this when - when we can kill them?" Brother Assist was not rash like Royal God Call and chose to follow the instruction as he voiced his inner qualms.
"Brother Assist, can you not be so childish like them?" Young Master Han asked instead.
"I just want to know the reason—"
"We don't have time for that now. Sword Demon, turn to 128, 278. Activate Stealth if you meet anyone along the way. Thirty seconds should be enough for you to shake them off," Young Master Han said.
Sword Demon uncomplainingly moved according to Young Master Han's orders.
Over by the Cloud Herder's mercenary channel, a pleasantly surprised cry sounded, "We've found a target in the forest here!"
"Deal with him. Team 1, head over to help," Foe-herder ordered as he instructed the other teams to block off the running two men's path of escape.
Sadly, he did not possess Young Master Han's talent to tell the coordinates from sight alone despite him being ranked seventh on the Warrior experience leaderboard. When he gave directions, they were in the 'clock direction' or 'relative direction' format. Thus, his general instructions made it difficult for his groupmates to complete the encirclement in time, especially since Young Master Han, who had a clear view of everything, made the necessary adjustments at crucial moments.
Moreover, Gu Fei and the rest moved about based on their judgment and would only alter their routes at Young Master Han's advice.
At this moment, the defiant Royal God Call had entered a tedious combat with the two teams inside the forest.
Partaking in a fight inside a forest required him to change his position every shot he made. Royal God Call fully understood this logic and quickly moved away after firing off his first arrow and hearing his enemies shout, "Here! Over here!" However, he very quickly lost his bearings.
Incessant cries of "Here!" and "Over there!" echoed about as Royal God Call, who was hiding behind a tree, peeked his head out with one question in mind, F*ck! Just where the hell was I moments ago?
Steeling himself, he randomly chose a direction and ran out. He intended to locate another target and fire off his second arrow. Yet, he never expected to locate six targets at the same time, each of them shouting, "OVER HERE!" Although Royal God Call could still calmly shoot one more arrow at them, he noticed that his escape path had already been blocked by three of them.
In an instant, spells, arrows, and sneaky stabs came upon Royal God Call who furiously struggled to defend himself. With a Priest among the opposing team, his attacks were useless unless they instkilled his targets. In the end, Royal God Call turned into a beam of white light without managing to take one enemy down.
"F*CK!" the irate Royal God Call bellowed on the mercenary channel. The score was now 4 against 2.
The only ones left in the PvP arena among Young Master's Elite mercenary group were Gu Fei, Brother Assist, Sword Demon, and Young Master Han. Before the rest could express their sorrow for Royal God Call's death, Brother Assist called out, "I bumped into some enemies."
With his slow movement speed and lack of fighting prowess, Brother Assist easily succumbed to his death following an opponent's exclamation of: "There's another target over here!" Young Master's Elite mercenary group consecutively lost two members, bringing the score to 4 against 3.
Brother Assist was in a daze as he got teleported outside of the PvP arena. Royal God Call, who was beside him, was beating the wall in anguish. Coming back to his senses, Brother Assist sent out this message: "We can't keep hiding like this!"
"I did it on purpose," Young Master Han typed this confession.
"What?"
"You meeting the opposing team after getting out of that low ground is because I directed you over to them," Young Master Han explained.
Gu Fei, Royal God Call, and War Without Wounds made a din when they saw his admission.
"You sent me to my death… on purpose?" Brother Assist could not believe what he had just read.
"Just what are you trying to do?" Royal God Call asked in frustration. Actually, he was the most dissatisfied out of all of them as he failed to contribute anything to the PvP match due to his poor sense of direction. When he tried to engage the enemies, he was instead easily taken down by them. How was this outcome befitting an expert like him?
"Don't be very dramatic. If you knew that I also directed you to the forest on purpose, you would be angry as well, right?" Young Master Han asked.
"THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!" Royal God Call indeed became angry.
"Just what is going on?" Gu Fei asked as he stopped running around the map.
"Just keep running like I told you," Young Master Han said to Gu Fei.
Gu Fei mulishly chose to turn back, issuing an order to Young Master Han instead, "I'll get rid of that commanding guy on that hill. We can kill the rest after! Update me the coordinates of the opposing guild's eight teams!"
"Miles, this is why I idolize you! Go! Avenge me and kill them all!" Royal God Call hated that the mercenary channel could not display the resentment he was feeling right now.
Inside the PvP arena, Gu Fei pulled out Moonlit Nightfalls and sprinted back to the small hill before. With his superiorly fast speed that could allow him to escape danger, he was not afraid of encountering the eight teams at the same time.
Meanwhile, Foe-herder saw Gu Fei suddenly change direction and head toward his location atop this hill. "He is coming back here?" With a faint smile on Foe-herder's face, he pulled out his claymore and planted it to the ground. He grandly posed as he regarded Gu Fei with insolence. As the seventh rank Warrior on the experience leaderboard, he did not fear dueling with anyone.
"Oh! There's another one!" As Foe-herder was staring intently at Gu Fei, he saw another figure heading toward him from his peripheral vision. "There's movement by the foot of the hill where I am at. Two players are heading my way fast. Kill them and we will win this PvP match in terms of kill points," Foe-herder issued this order.