Chapter 158 - Arctic Whirlwind
The mighty Svelte Dancer could finally flaunt her magnificence again. Actually, Svelte Dancer was mightier than Gu Fei when it came to melee as he could deal monstrous damage to the enemies with his Twin Incineration for four times at most due to his low amount of amount of mana. Although Moonlit Nightfalls' physical damage was also also frighteningly high, Gu Fei could only tap a limited amount of it due to his character's insufficient Sword Aptitude. In short, Gu Fei was someone who could start off strongly but would become irrelevant after a few moves.
Svelte Dancer was different. Her normal attacks could instkill low HP job classes, so Gu Fei seriously suspected that her dagger was a higher level weapon as well. She must be geared with top-grade equipment that boosted Dagger Aptitude, as the dagger's sheen that made her hand nearly indistinguishable was far denser than his Moonlit Nightfalls' purplish luster.
Right now, Gu Fei was watching Svelte Dancer's performance while eating a banana. She had already used Fleetfoot during her failed attempt to assault Young Master Han moments ago, so she was currently unable to display her trademark fighting style due to the skill's cool-down time. Nevertheless, her normal running speed was already enough to make others break out in cold sweats.
No one could keep up with Svelte Dancer's speed. In fact, many of them could only catch sight of her when she was already before their eyes or positioned behind them.
This was no longer a matter of equipment or stats but rather the players' inherent reaction time. Those who had inherently slow reaction time would not be able to follow or match the fast players' movement even if they had the best equipment.
Svelte Dancer's forward maneuver instantly took down three players. Gu Fei's banana was almost eaten up and he was now only waiting for his mana to fully get replenished.
The members of Carouse currently facing Svelte Dancer felt helpless against her indomitable strength and fast speed, so they decided to pounce on the pile of top-grade equipment littering the ground instead.
The choices that they had been presented before were either 'to kill the target after picking up the items' or 'to pick up the items before killing the target'. Currently, the options became 'picking up the items before they got killed' or 'getting killed without being able to pick up any items'.
Since the options had become clear cut for them, they all naturally chose the first option: 'To pick up the items before they got killed.' Considering that the item rewards for this guild versus guild tournament were entirely up to chance, they decided to abandon their lives to Svelte Dancer's vicious attacks in exchange for the top-class 'rewards' littering the ground. A Chinese Odyssey1 had already taught them the lesson that ''what followed after a missed opportunity would only be disappointment and regret'.
Svelte Dancer became rattled when she saw the enemy players' outrageous action of picking up her items. She had previously tossed out these items due to her circumstance and not because she considered them as trash. It would naturally be best for Svelte Dancer if nobody picked them up, yet this bunch of men actually ignored the fight just to shamelessly obtain her top-grade items. "YOU PEOPLE DARE TO PICK MY ITEMS UP?!" Svelte Dancer yelled angrily.
"Quickly pick 'em up!" Her shout only made everyone become more frantic at picking up the items, though. The remaining few who were still clueless about the value of her items were jolted by her shout as well and chose to prioritize picking up her items over their own life-and-death matters.
Svelte Dancer felt like crying, yet no tears would come out. After all, she had no way of saving all her equipment no matter how fast she was! Just as Svelte Dancer was about to save what few items she could, a bellow came from behind her, "STEP ASIDE, LADY!"
"What?" Svelte Dancer asked as she turned her head around. Heat suddenly began to build up from beneath her feet. "F*ck!" Svelte Dancer, who had plenty of combat experience just like Gu Fei, quickly dove to the side as a raging inferno sprouted from the ground.
"Couldn't you chant a little louder?!" Svelte Dancer exclaimed indignantly at Gu Fei. Had it not been for her swift speed, that Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno spell would have engulfed her alongside the others. Knowing very well how terrifying Gu Fei's Spell Damage was, Svelte Dancer was even uncertain if she could survive his attack.
"If I chanted any bit louder, the opponents would hear it!" Gu Fei muttered under his breath.
Her dropped items now lay undisturbed on the ground as the players who had tried to grab them were reduced by Gu Fei into ashes, making her feel a lot better.
"Go get rid of that guy!" Gu Fei pointed to Young Master Han who was standing in a distance.
The Priest Young Master Han was supposed to provide steady support in this PvP, yet his knowledge of the two players' insane instkilling capabilities had him observing the fight at a safe distance. What use was a Priest when facing such monsters, anyway?
"What's the rush? Let me pick up my items first." With that, Svelte Dancer prioritized picking up her dropped items over slaying Young Master Han.
"You're like the richest player in this game, so why are you getting so flustered over these trinkets? Just buy them all again!" Gu Fei reasoned.
Svelte Dancer threw him a sidelong glance, "I'm rich, not stupid. Why would I toss money away?!"
"If you're not stupid, why did you toss them in the first place?"
"Because you told me to toss them!"
You tossed these items just because I told you to do so, and you dare say that you are not stupid? was what Gu Fei said to himself. Seeing that Svelte Dancer had truly prioritized picking up her items, he could only dash toward Young Master Han himself.
Young Master Han had long fled the scene. Gu Fei wanted Svelte Dancer to chase after him not because he was lenient toward a person he knew but because he currently had no means of killing Young Master Han.
Gu Fei's mana recovery after eating his banana was not completed yet. When he casted Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno to help Svelte Dancer recover her items, his action depleted as well as disrupted the recovery of his mana. Even if he caught up to Young Master Han, Gu Fei could currently only deal physical attacks that had no way of instkilling anyone at him. Considering Young Master Han's prowess as a Priest, Gu Fei could not take him down without instkilling him.
Just as he had thought, Gu Fei caught up to Young Master Han yet his every stab was met by the latter's Heal. Young Master Han smiled brightly at Gu Fei, "You can't kill me like this."
"I'll grind your HP to zero; let's see how much mana you've got," Gu Fei smiled back as he continued to stab Young Master Han with his sword.
"I have plenty of mana," Young Master Han said as he bestowed Heal on himself once more.
"There will be a time when that runs out!" Gu Fei remarked as he stabbed forward once more.
"My reinforcement will have arrived by then," Young Master Han said matter-of-factly as he bestowed Heal on himself yet again.
"I better hurry, then," Gu Fei said nonchalantly as he thrusted his sword forward yet again.
The two chatted and fought like this. Svelte Dancer ran over after she had picked up all her items and was stunned by the scene before her.
"Ah! Seems like MY reinforcement has arrived first!" Gu Fei said in elation.
"Better watch your steps this time, beautiful!" Young Master Han did not seem to fear her arrival at all.
"Ah?!" Svelte Dancer asked as she continued to stand there dumbly.
"What are you freezing up for? Quickly kill him off!" Gu Fei thundered.
"But you guys know each other!" Svelte Dancer reasoned. With Young Master Han's unforgettable visage, she easily remembered meeting him at Ray's Bar. Thus, she knew very well that he and Gu Fei were in the same mercenary group.
Gu Fei did not know whether to laugh or cry at her remark, "Missy, we're in a PvP match right now. JUST HURRY UP!"
"You sure are a vicious one!" Svelte Dancer sharply exhaled as she rushed forward.
Just as she was about to reach Young Master Han, a sudden whirlwind rose from the ground and spun toward her. The usually fearless Svelte Dancer had a rapid change of expression as she dodged backward. The whirlwind seemed to have eyes of its own as it chased after her. Although the whirlwind's speed did not match Svelte Dancer's, she still could not easily make her way around it to reach Young Master Han.
Gu Fei gawked as Young Master Han smilingly explained to him, "You haven't seen this before, right? That's the Water Mage's level 40 skill, Arctic Whirlwind. It is the ultimate headache for players like her that depend on speed. Besides dealing damage to whomever caught inside the whirlwind, it has the additional effect of reducing a character's speed, weakening the source of strength for someone like her."
Young Master Han looked at a certain distance as he talked. Gu Fei followed his gaze and saw a blue-robed Mage wielding a liquid blue magic stave to and fro like a cheerleader.
"That's Brave Surge," Young Master Han introduced to Gu Fei, adding, "He's our guild leader. Currently ranked ninth on the Mage leaderboard. He chose to be a Water Mage for his level 40 Job Class Advancement."
"Your guild leader!" Gu Fei muttered, immediately abandoning Young Master Han for Brave Surge. Capturing the ringleader to defeat the bandits! Even if eliminating the guild leader did not have the effect of beheading the hydra's head, it would at least raise his and Amethyst Rebirth's morale. Although boosting the morale would not increase his fighting prowess, it would still make him feel good about himself. He could even boast to others that: "Taking the head of the guild leader of seven hundred men is as easy as taking an item out of my dimensional pocket." Fighting with Brave Surge also meant that he would no longer have to badger Svelte Dancer and could let her finally deal with Young Master Han, killing two birds with one stone.
Gu Fei thought of all these as he dashed toward his target. Seeing Gu Fei's speed, Brave Surge dared not underestimate him and promptly pointed his magic staff to Gu Fei as he finished an incantation.
Gu Fei could feel heat building up from beneath his feet... He was well aware that Carouse's guild leader had just casted a Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno spell. Time was needed from the end of the incantation until the activation of the spell - the area that Gu Fei's spells were lacking.
Just as he hurried to escape Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno's AOE, he noticed Brave Surge chanting words with a wave of his magic stave again. Gu Fei's mind quickly raced. Halting his forward sprint, he retreated from where he had intended to go. With a deafening boom, the area Gu Fei had planned to head just then was set aglow by Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno sprouting from beneath the earth and Descending Wheel of Flames rolling down the sky.
That was close! Gu Fei thought to himself. Casting the Descending Wheel of Flames spell fortunately required the spell-caster to verbally chant the incantation, allowing him to realize what was about to happen. Had he continued his forward sprint, he might have been able to dodge the raging inferno but he would have surely run straight into the flame wheel.
Brave Surge had taken into account Gu Fei's movement speed and placed these two spells accordingly. Fortunately, Gu Fei had reacted in time.
"Bravo. Not even falling for this move," Young Master Han applauded from behind him.
With Svelte Dancer no longer being held back by Arctic Whirlwind, she got right up to Young Master Han's side and stabbed him with her dagger.
"You two! It's dangerous to be near me," Young Master Han smilingly warned.
The two were momentarily stunned by his warning. They then felt the ground beneath them heating up as flashes appeared above their heads. Who knew how many Mages had chanted Descending Wheel of Flames and Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno to fill the space where Gu Fei, Svelte Dancer, and Young Master Han stood on as well as blot out the very sky above the trio's heads.
"There's no way that you two can escape this no matter how fast you are!" Young Master Han showed them a slight smile, saying, "My tactics will even sacrifice myself when the need calls for it."
Gu Fei did not even bother to flee and just helplessly addressed Svelte Dancer, "Hey. All things considered, you're still the richest player in the game. Do you have any magical artifact that's similar to a Pandora's Chest2?"
Chapter 159 - The Remaining Five
"Pandora's Chest? Don't you mean Pandora's Box1?" Svelte Dancer still had the mind to correct Gu Fei at such a critical moment.
"See you at the teleportation array!" Young Master Han cheerfully waved at Gu Fei.
"See you there…" As Gu Fei helplessly nodded his head to Young Master Han, Svelte Dancer suddenly shouted, "Got it!"
"Got what?" Gu Fei asked.
The flame wheels in the sky had already formed up and the raging infernos on the ground had become hotter. There was no time to explain, so Svelte Dancer pounced directly onto Gu Fei and landed on his back.
"What are you doing?!" Gu Fei struggled to take her weight in.
Svelte Dancer had taken out an item from her dimensional pocket mid-flight that caused the wind to stir. Gu Fei did not clearly see what it was, only that it glowed white as it began to quickly envelop them.
"A portable teleportation array?! What the f*ck!" Young Master Han was indeed an experienced gamer as he was able to recognize the item for what it was with a glance. A teleportation array did not differentiate between its users and would affect all who entered its boundary. With Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer now inside the teleportation array, Young Master Han would naturally have to suffer the spell bombardment alone. He could of course not accept such a development and immediately darted over, trying to enter the teleportation array as well.
"Oh, you don't have to be so polite. There is really no need to send us off!" Gu Fei smilingly said as he lifted his leg and kicked Young Master Han away.
Young Master Han was truly no match for Gu Fei when it came to hand-to-hand combat, so he was unable to dodge the latter's kick and was forcibly sent backpedaling for quite a few steps. Regaining his balance and looking over, Young Master Han saw Gu Fei waving him off as the latter's figure became a blur.
"What a vicious move! Truly a cruel man!" Svelte Dancer muttered under her breath as white light whisked the two of them away.
At that same moment, the countless Descending Wheel of Flames dropped from the sky and numerous Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno spread on the ground, swallowing Young Master Han whole as he uttered a muffled, "F*ck!"
Teleportation was an instantaneous act for the system, so Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer had already found themselves in another place even before Young Master Han died. "Where are we?" Gu Fei asked as he took in the surrounding flora and fauna.
"We are still somewhere in the PvP arena. This Teleportation Scroll doesn't have a fixed pair of coordinates set on it so it randomly teleports players when used," Svelte Dancer replied.
"Teleportation Scroll…" Gu Fei mumbled. When he showed the members of Young Master's Elite his Windchaser's Emblem, they were very surprised to find out that Parallel World had items for teleportation. And yet, Svelte Dancer here already had a Teleportation Scroll on her. Pay-to-win players were indeed a different breed altogether.
Svelte Dancer saw their coordinates and exclaimed, "Ah! We're quite far from where we were."
"There's no hurry," Gu Fei laughed. He pulled out his friends list and sent Young Master Han a message, "You dead?" Young Master Han was a skilled Priest, so he might have been able to grasp the timing between the spells and timely bestow Heal on himself to survive the bombardment.
However, today was apparently not Young Master Han's lucky day. His guildmates' perfect coordination of their attacks left him no chance to save himself and he was instantly teleported to the plaza outside the Main Hall of Guilds! Grinding his teeth, Young Master Han spat, "This is why I hate pay-to-win players the most! They always have something weird that can destroy tactics...."
"Mhm-mhm. I'll help you stare at her with contempt," Gu Fei replied, not bothering with Young Master Han any longer as he learned from the system messages the terrible situation of Amethyst Rebirth.
While Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer had been dealing with Young Master Han and the lot, the rest of the ladies had also been clashing with the enemy forces. The system messages that Gu Fei had just seen were announcing the deaths of the players from both sides.
By the time Gu Fei looked at these system announcements, Amethyst Rebirth had been left with seven players while Carouse had only lost twenty-nine members if Svelte Dancer and Gu Fei's kills were included as well. That was not even 5% of the members Carouse had in this match.
The time it took Gu Fei to glance through these messages, Amethyst Rebirth had lost yet another two members, leaving them with only five players in the PvP arena. Since they were on the same team, he could see these survivors' names. Besides Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer, the remaining three players on Amethyst Rebirth's side were July, Lie Lie, and Will-low.
"Xiaowu, Miles, Will-low, where are you guys?" July asked on the guild channel. It seemed that Lie Lie was with July since she did not mention her.
"Miles and I used a Teleportation Scroll to escape the enemies' bombardment," Svelte Dancer answered.
"I'm at the nearby woodland. No one has found me yet," Will-low answered.
"Lie Lie and I managed to escape the encirclement under Luo Luo's protection," July sighed.
"It's a pity Sis Luo Luo did not manage to escape," Lie Lie sounded hurt.
"So what do we do now?" Will-low asked.
"Luo Luo just messaged us to ask for your guidance, Miles. Something about you having the experience to deal with the current situation?" July asked this in a suspicious tone.
Only Luo Luo and Will-low in Amethyst Rebirth knew that Gu Fei was a member of Young Master's Elite. Although Svelte Dancer had barged into their mercenary group meeting, she still did not know that they were the Young Master's Elite. Luo Luo was naturally referring to Gu Fei's experience participating in the PvP match between Young Master's Elite and Cloud Herder.
"Fighting many with few. I do have a bit of experience in that," Gu Fei nodded his head.
"I see. So what do you suggest we do?" July asked.
"Uhm. Let me think for a bit!" Gu Fei replied as he sent Young Master Han a message, "Hey. We are now left with five members. Is there any method for us to defeat your guild?" Gu Fei looked to him, the online gaming strategist, for external aid.
The answer Young Master Han provided was: "Scram!"
"Come on... Don't be like that, man! I've already heavily chastised Svelte Dancer for her shameless actions," Gu Fei cajoled.
"Uhhh… To be honest, beating over six hundred players with just five players is indeed a challenge," Young Master Han admitted.
"That's right!" Gu Fei thought that Young Master Han's interest had been piqued, so he quickly agreed with his observation.
"I sure wanna give it a try!"
"Try it! I'll listen to your commands!" Gu Fei was glad that he was interested.
"But there's just no way!"
"Why?" Gu Fei could not understand his next words.
"Because I've already helped Carouse set up the best method to deal with you five! Since the methods I come up with are usually perfect, I can't even find a loophole to exploit myself. Sigh… I truly can't help you at all!" Young Master Han sent him this message.
"I really wanna beat you up right now!" Gu Fei gritted his teeth angrily.
"That will have to wait till you get out, or you can just head somewhere with many Carouse's men and kill yourself. That's also pretty fast. Shall I help to get their coordinates for you?"
"Just you wait!" Gu Fei indignantly roared.
"He he he…." was Young Master Han's next reply.
"Coward!" Gu Fei sent someone else a message.
"Don't call me that. Call me Coward's Savior!" Coward's Savior admonished.
"Are you busy right now? Do you know where Ray's Bar is? If not, just ask around and you will know how to get there. When you reach there, go to the second curtain door in the back rooms and you should see a guy that looks like a woman. Go beat him up for me," Gu Fei instructed.
"What for?"
"I'm giving you a chance to experience actual combat! Don't kill him and just give him a good thrashing using kung fu. Remember to cover your face."
"Cover my face? Why?"
"Don't ask too many questions. I'll tell you about it later. Quickly get this done!"
"Got it!" Coward's Savior went out to execute his order.
Gu Fei closed the conversation window with a relieved sigh and turned around to find Svelte Dancer staring at him, "What?"
"What are you doing?! Everyone's waiting for you to explain your strategy on the channel!" Svelte Dancer replied.
"I can't think of any!" Gu Fei said on the guild channel. "A deviant helped them set up a strategy to specifically deal with us. Winning this guild match will be very difficult for us!" Although Young Master Han was unlikeable in many ways, Gu Fei actually looked highly upon his ability to come up with brilliant battle strategies. Had it not been for Svelte Dancer's item earlier, they would have been taken down by Young Master Han's previous stratagem.
"What strategy?" July asked.
"I don't know yet," Gu Fei replied.
"So how do you know that it's very difficult?" Lie Lie asked.
"Because that strategist is a really depraved person. Naturally, the plans he comes up with are equally twisted," Gu Fei patiently explained.
"Who is this 'he'?" The ladies' gossiping nature was aroused.
"He's a deviant," was Gu Fei's only answer. Calling Young Master Han a deviant was one thing, revealing his identity to the ladies was another thing. Gu Fei did not intend to slander Young Master Han's reputation.
"Tsk…" all the ladies replied this, evidently feeling dissatisfied with his answer. Svelte Dancer even harrumphed directly at Gu Fei to show him her dissatisfaction.
"Whatever the case might be, we are now behind with a score of 29 against 46. If we want to win, we should at least catch up in terms of kill points, right?" Will-low was indeed a fan of Brother Assist. Her keen sense toward data came into play at this crucial moment.
"That's right!" Svelte Dancer agreed, saying, "Hide yourself well, girls. Leave this matter to me and Miles." Svelte Dancer's suggestion was normal. Despite July, Will-low, and Lie Lie's levels being high in Amethyst Rebirth, they were still subpar compared to Carouse's players.
"Let's go!" Svelte Dancer declared to Gu Fei.
"Don't be so hasty," Gu Fei said to her.
"What now?"
"Wait till I finish eating my banana."
"Why do you have to eat this soon? You're always eating a banana during the key moments. How annoying!" Svelte Dancer expressed her dissatisfaction with him once more.
"You're right. It's getting pretty dull to eat that all the time," Gu Fei sighed, adding, "Guess I'll eat an apple this time."
Svelte Dancer was left speechless by his answer that showed his misinterpretation of her complaint.