Chapter 160 - A Twisted Stratagem
Gu Fei finished an apple to recover his mana fully before joining Svelte Dancer on the mission to make their comeback from a score of 29 against 46.
There were currently six hundred seventy-six players of Carouse in this PvP arena. None of them was weak by any standard and was handpicked from the many great players that had offered their services to the guild.
Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer's expressions were somber, and their footsteps were heavy. To face against six hundred seventy-six players with just the two of them… They were both experts, so it was a given that they possessed at least a basic level of judgement to choose the right course of action. If they were able to clash head on with these six hundred seventy-six players of equal expertise and still be evenly matched, the game designers would really have to gather in the city to perform a mass seppuku ritual.
They could only hope to find a few stragglers of Carouse and take their heads. Naturally, Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer's concept of a few stragglers was more than just a few and would consider a group of players as such provided that it was made up of less than ten individuals.
Wandering blindly in hopes of an opportune meeting with a few enemies was obviously a bad idea given the map's huge size, so the two decided to head toward a vantage point and look around first. If the two did not find any viable targets, they would move to another vantage point and repeat the process.
This was how they proceeded toward the center of the map without encountering even the shadows of Carouse's players. July and the other two ladies were also left untouched as none of Carouse's members could be seen around at all.
"Just what is going on?" Svelte Dancer asked Gu Fei as they climbed up the fourth mountain since they had started their search. "Could they be hiding from us despite having numerical superiority?"
The side that holds numerical superiority is hiding from the side that lacks the numbers? Gu Fei mulled over this idea as he vaguely thought of something. That was when Svelte Dancer who had reached the summit first yelled out, "Hurry up and take a look at this!"
Reaching the peak of the mountain, Gu Fei looked toward the direction that Svelte Dancer's hand was pointing at and inhaled sharply.
A small plateau not too far from the mountain that they were on was filled with men. The wriggling crowd of men looked like a huge swarm of locust piled up from the slope to the peak of that highland....
"Ugh… It's so disgusting!" Svelte Dancer wrinkled her brows and covered her mouth, as if she wanted to vomit from the mere sight of them.
So this is the stratagem that Young Master Han came up with? Trying to make us die from sheer revulsion, maybe? Gu Fei could feel beads of cold sweat trickling down his back and quickly sent Coward's Savior another message: "Use more strength when you punch him."
"Just what are they doing?" Svelte Dancer calmed herself by placing a hand on her chest.
Gu Fei observed the wriggling mass of players for a while and noticed that they seemed to be moving up the plateau. It was obvious that every Carouse's member was here based on the wriggling mob's volume. They had essentially collected their manpower on that hill, occupying the high ground while disdainfully looking at the terrain below. Just how would the Amethyst Rebirth's five members be able to earn any kill points from such a formation?
Gu Fei now fully understood the reasoning behind Young Master Han's stratagem. This strategy he had in placed was a cautious overestimation of Svelte Dancer and Gu Fei's destructive force by making six hundred seventy-six players adopt a defensive position against the two of them.
Although others would disdain Carouse's move, Gu Fei had to admit that countering such a strategy was impossible from where they currently stood.
"So shameless!" Gu Fei irately remarked. He opened his friends list once more and contacted Coward's Savior. He typed out one line of instruction this time: "Just kill him." At the very last second, however, he refrained from sending out this message. It was best not to be too hasty as grinding levels was not easy.
"This… What now!" Svelte Dancer could also tell the severity of the situation with a few quick glances. The only possible method for the two of them to fight these six hundred seventy-six enemies was to employ sneak attacks, yet Carouse's players had positioned themselves atop the mesa which afforded them a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of the surroundings. The enemies would surely notice their movement no matter which direction Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer chose to mount their attacks.
Carouse's Archers and Mages numbered into the hundreds respectively. With so many long-range players, Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer would still be unable to get close to the enemies even if they combined their speed. The difference of kill points would be really difficult to recover at this rate.
Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer sat cross-legged on the ground and began to discuss possible tactics, not minding if they exposed their position to the hundreds of enemies in the mesa opposite them. Nonetheless, Carouse continued to hold a defensive position without taking notice of their presence.
Their Plan A of focusing on a few stragglers had already failed. Carouse apparently planned to camp out by that mesa until the match timer ended and did not plan to initiate any form of attacks against Amethyst Rebirth.
They proceeded with their Plan B next. Svelte Dancer rushed down the mountain, stood just a step outside of the enemies' attack range, and bellowed: "If you're a man, come down and fight a deathmatch with me!" Following this, she goaded the enemies for three times by repeatedly saying, "I dare you all to kill me right here, right now!" The players of Carouse eventually shouted back in unison: "Lassie, why don't you just sing and dance for us?!" Thus, it was Svelte Dancer who had ended up falling for the enemies' provocation. She would have tried to rush up that hill had Gu Fei not timely intervened by forcefully dragging her back to safety.
As the two headed back to the mountaintop, Svelte Dancer furiously asked, "Do they want me to strip and dance for them before they make a move?"
Gu Fei looked her in the eye and simply replied, "No use. You'll only give them a visual treat. Moving their eyes is the most that they will do."
Plan C. Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer silently stayed on the mountain as did the six hundred seventy-six men by the plateau. Quite some time later, two pretty female Fighters and one skinny female Thief arrived from the east mound and unhesitatingly walked around the foot of the plateau. Atop the mesa, Carouse's six hundred seventy-six players silently looked on at the three ladies. Completing their trip around the mesa, the three ladies then waved at them, "Friends atop this plateau, how are you doing?"
The mesa suddenly came alive as countless players hollered back, "Hello, beautiful ladies!" Despite their enthusiastic response, the players' formation did not change a bit.
Having gingerly walked their way around the mesa, the three ladies sighed as they headed toward the mountain where their two guildmates were situated.
Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer shook their heads. Carouse truly intended to stick to their shameless plan until the very end, even letting July, Will-low, and Lie Lie, whom they could easily crush, walk by. The opponents were indeed very composed.
The five sat on that mountain with varying degrees of glumness.
"Forget it! Let's just consider ourselves lucky for even reaching this stage of the guild versus guild tournament," July consoled her fellow guildmates with this. As the guild leader, she had a very clear idea about their strength and their win over the Forever in Flowers Guild was already puzzling enough. The whole scene inside that forest before had left many of the ladies in dangerous predicaments, yet their opponents merely let them off. They could chalk it up to the opponents' carelessness as well as their luck once or twice, but for it to repeatedly happen until all the opponents had been wiped out, the ladies could tell that those of Forever in Flowers were going easy on them.
Facing against Carouse today, they attempted to emulate how Young Master's Elite had managed to achieve a victory with a lesser team. But Amethyst Rebirth was already falling behind in terms of kill points, and it was their superior opponents that that had actually chosen to take a defensive stance and to wait until the time ran out. It was very likely done to prevent the indomitable Gu Fei and mighty Svelte Dancer from doing any further damage. "This match would end long ago if they were not staying in that plateau," July sighed.
"Those trashy people," Svelte Dancer cursed as she pointed to the throng of men by the opposite mesa, saying, "To actually use such a method despite having so many men on their side. Truly despicable and shameless!"
Gu Fei did not follow suit and curse at their opponents. Instead, he chose to ask Will-low what she had observed when they made the trip around the foot of the mesa.
"Besides the outer layer being made up of Archers, the majority of the combatants there are Mages," Will-low reported, elaborating, "They seem capable of engaging in long range fight in that three-hundred-sixty-degree area. From the number of Mages, they should be able to unleash a spell bombardment of up to a radius of thirty meters. As for the Archers, I reckon they have an additional range of thirty meters from that spell bombardment area, but only if they are using basic attacks. Depending on the skills used, Snipe will let them reach further while Homing Projectile will only let them fire off arrows at a closer range!"
Gu Fei nodded his head. Carouse's guild leader was a Mage. This must have directly influenced the guild composition such that the prevailing job class in it was Mage. This could also be seen from the spell cordon that they had previously used to zone Gu Fei as well as the ten-meter radius spell bombardment that they had performed to eliminate Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer.
"Hmm… If I can complete my spell incantation but I die before I am able to use the spell, will the spell continue to initiate the attack?" Gu Fei suddenly asked a very amateurish question.
"It won't," Will-low answered, explaining, "The officials designed this game so that magic attacks are not physical manifestations. After a spell is chanted, it will still be affected by a Mage's Magic Attack Power. If the spell-caster dies, the ensuing Spell Damage will disappear as well. Still, additional effects, like the burning effect of Twin Incineration, will persist."
"Oh…."
"So have you already come up with something?" Svelte Dancer asked as she patted Gu Fei's shoulder.
"I've got an idea!" Gu Fei said as he looked at the four ladies.
"What is it?" they asked.
When Gu Fei explained his plan to the ladies, they looked stunned, "Will that work?"
"Let's calculate it!" Gu Fei grabbed a small branch lying on the ground and asked the ladies a few relevant data and numbers. Doing the math, he sighed, "It looks about right. Let's risk it!"
The ladies nodded their heads in agreement and began to prepare themselves. Waving his hand, Gu Fei said, "Let's go!"
Plan D was now underfoot.
The five made their way down the mountain and circled the foot of the mesa, gingerly avoiding what they calculated as the attack range of Carouse's players while beginning to shout and make a ruckus. Carouse seemed to have gotten used to their taunting and did not even bother to fire back words. All this while, their Archers and Mages calmly waited.
Making their way around, the five slowly but surely neared the range of the Archers' Snipe. Carouse had only lined their outermost layer with Archers - a formation style that many large-scale PvPs would commonly employ.
Archers faced plenty of limitations in an all-out PvP consisted of the various job classes. Their attacks required an uninhibited path and sight of the targets, and these conditions might not be met when Archers were caught in the midst of a PvP among players. People even tried a battle formation that would provide Archers a direct attack path and clear view of the enemies, but it was quickly proven to be ineffectual. Such a formation just restricted the Archers' attack range to what was in front of them, and the opponents only had to run diagonally to avoid getting hit by them. If the Archers followed after the targets running diagonally toward them from their peripheral views and adjust their bows' direction accordingly, they would only end up aiming at their comrades' butts.
Before finding a better solution to this, all resolved to just directly throw their Archers to the forefront and call it a day.
Anyway, Carouse's known trump card was not its Archers but the disciplined and well-coordinated spell bombardment of its Mages instead. This was why they could afford to position their Archers at the very front. And for Gu Fei and the rest's Plan D to succeed, this was actually one of the safeguards that they needed.
Chapter 161 - Aerial Attacking
If these Archers' placement was arranged just like in the movie 'Hero'1, they would undoubtedly be able to shoot down even Superman. However, Carouse only had one hundred Archers and their placement was done in a haphazard manner. Evidently, their formation could not hold a candle to the one depicted in that movie.
This was good news to Amethyst Rebirth's five remaining players. If these Archers were properly set up in the outer layer of Carouse's defensive formation, July, Lie Lie, and Will-low would never be able to break through their ranks with their speed. At present, as long as Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer were able to draw most of the Archers' firepower on themselves, the three ladies would have a good chance of succeeding of breaking through the Archers' defensive line.
That was actually the first step of the 'Plan D' that they had in mind, so they would have zero chance of proceeding to the next step of it if they suffered any losses at this stage. Thus, they needed to find a more reliable method to penetrate the Archers' ranks.
"Look. It's at that side," Will-low inclined her head as she said this to her four guildmates.
Carouse's players stratagem was for them to maintain their formation on a high ground in order to have a three-hundred-sixty-degree view of their surroundings, but the emphasis for this stratagem was not actually on how high the formation could be placed, but it was instead on how 'clear' their line of sight was without being obstructed or blocked by the uneven terrains. Even if they managed to find themselves the highest ground possible, it would not be useful if the location was filled with uneven terrains or trees that could block their line of sight, as the enemies could easily use those as cover to sneak up on their high-ground formation.
It was precisely because this plateau had fulfilled Carouse's strategic requirements that they had chosen to maintain their three-hundred-sixty degree formation over here. Unfortunately, nothing perfect existed in the world, as Will-low had just pointed out an uneven terrain wracked with depressions and protrusions near where the Carouse's men had positioned themselves.
It was nothing compared to the cover that players could get within a forest of trees as the view range was still broad and unobstructed, but such a place could provide plenty of cover that would limit the Archers' prowess ever so slightly.
The five showed a calm and somewhat lackadaisical expression on their faces as they headed over there nonchalantly.
"The remaining enemies are now gathered over by that slope", "Shall we rush in and wipe them out completely?", and "We can win if we take them out immediately right now" were the gist of the conversations on Carouse's guild channel right now. In fact, most of Carouse's players felt mystified by the stratagem that they had employed against just five players.
"No…" Brave Surge resolutely refused, explaining, "That Mage's Magic Attack Power is very high. Just his one AOE spell can potentially turn the tide of this match. Going in the offensive here will just give him the chance to capitalize on it. There's Svelte Dancer to worry about, too. With her fast movement speed and this huge PvP arena, it will nearly be impossible for us to surround her, especially if she still has a Teleportation Scroll that will enable her to instantly change her position at any given time. Don't be tempted to make a move on the five as it may very likely provide them something to exploit against us. Take special note of that Mage; as long as he is unable to use any spells, he won't be able to turn this around on us."
With the guild leader's firm words, the members no longer dared to make any suggestions and merely continued to closely watch the five players' movement. Whichever part of the defensive formation the five headed, the Carouse's players assigned to that portion would be on guard against their every action.
"Ah! They are nearing zone S!" someone reported on the guild channel. Zone S was the one area in the plateau that Will-low had indicated as having depressions and protrusions.
"I know," Brave Surge answered, hinting that the other's report was unnecessary as he himself was keeping an eye on the five.
Zone S was the suitable location if the enemies were planning to make a desperate final assault. Brave Surge believed that Amethyst Rebirth would also arrive at this same conclusion, so he had chosen to personally supervise this part of the formation. Just as he had suspected, the five really indeed chose this location to mount their assault.
"They're all moving together …" The five of Amethyst Rebirth were now easy targets for long-range attacks, yet Brave Surge insisted that everyone should remain on the current high ground. Besides Young Master Han's warning about the strength of the Mage, Brave Surge was largely cautious of how his opponents were capable of teleporting away to escape their near death situation as they had shown earlier.
Teleportation was a foreign concept to most players in Parallel World. Would the player become invulnerable when under the teleportation's effect? Was it possible to still attack while teleporting? If a Mage finished chanting his or her spell and teleported away, would the spell still be in effect? With the many questions surrounding its usage, Brave Surge could not help but be on guard toward it. They would rather be mocked for how they had won than become a laughingstock like Cloud Herder mercenary group.
After entering zone S, the five immediately dashed into the Archer's attack range as they strove to hide behind the available covers simultaneously. The firing Archers all missed their targets and helplessly shook their heads toward their guild leader, hoping for any instructions on how they should proceed.
"Just fire off arrows randomly to hamper their advance!" Brave Surge commanded. It was indeed difficult for the Archers to fully utilize their advantage in this part of the plateau, so expecting too much from them would only make things hard for everyone.
Thus, the Archers indiscriminately fired off their arrows despite those basically being useless due to the cover that the terrain provided. The five opposing players managed to find cover as they advanced onward, almost instantly turning into moles as they used the terrain as best as they could. A figure could sometimes be seen flashing out of a mound or half a head could be seen peeking out from inside a depression. This part of the plateau gave the Carouse's players this grating impression that the current PvP match had turned into a game of whack-mole, and that they were each currently trying to whack the lurking moles while holding a mallet.
And so, the Archers as well as everyone powerlessly watched these five figures dart forward fifty or sixty meters before gathering behind a mound together.
The Carouse's members were utterly distressed! If only these 'moles' would move just two more steps from that mound, they would enter the range of the spell bombardment of the Mages. Since the Mages would be casting AOE spells, they did not even have to worry about locking on the targets properly like Archers in order for their attacks to connect.
Seeing that only about thirty meters were separating them from their five enemies, those from Carouse could not stop their hearts from thumping wildly. Ever since they had a clear view of their five opponents just now, they had been raring to rush forward and blast those five to their deaths, yet no one dared to make a move in the end since their guild leader did not give them the go-signal.
"How long has it been since they hid behind that mound?" Brave Surge suddenly asked someone beside him.
The person felt very surprised by the sudden question, but he looked at the time and tried his best to give an accurate response, "It has been eleven seconds…"
His question had revealed how nervous Brave Surge was inside. Seeing that the five had not made any movement, his heart thumped very fast as he felt that each second was passing by very slowly.
"Guild leader, should we—" Many of Carouse's men were getting impatient. Discovering that their guild leader was also feeling jittery, someone promptly tried to suggest assaulting the enemies.
"No! Remain as we are to adapt to the potential changes2," Brave Surge interrupted. Although he was feeling equally as anxious as his men, he firmly stood his ground on the matter. Some men's judgment would be moved by their emotions, while others would attempt to control their emotions and not allow them to interfere with occurrences. Brave Surge was the latter, making him a suitable commander.
Just as he ordered his men to continue holding their horses, a change happened. A figure started popping out from behind the mound and running in the open!
"Quickly fire off an arrow!" Brave Surge hurriedly commanded after seeing that this enemy did not enter a cover once it appeared.
All the Archers were waiting for such a chance for the longest time and eagerly released a rain of arrows on this target. However, this target's speed was truly too fast and it caused most of the Archers to miss their mark. A few arrows managed to track the target since some of the Archers had fired them off under Homing Projectile, yet whether the arrows could actually hit their mark or not with the person's speed was another question.
In that moment when the Archers unleashed their attacks, three other figures also stood up from behind the mound. Before the Archers could fire off their second volley of arrows, one of the three players had grabbed a hold of the person's waist on the left and tossed the player out with a jerk of both arms before doing the same thing to the person on the right. By the time the second wave of arrows flew out, those two players had already sailed through the air. Hence, the arrows only found a target on that one upright figure on the mound.
"Excellent throwing skill!" one of the two complimented as they sailed through the air, yet July had already turned into a white light under the barrage of arrows when they looked back to the mound.
"Hit those two with spells!" The Carouse's Mages watched in a daze as the two players sailed through the air, momentarily forgetting that the two had already entered their area of spell bombardment. Brave Surge's loud command managed to drag them back to their senses and they began to chant their spells. Who would have guessed that a figure would suddenly appear from within the casting Mages' ranks next? Coming in with bare fists, this person did not kill anyone but simply shoved and jostled the Mages chanting Descending Wheel of Flames all about.
A Mage could not move or suffer an attack while chanting a spell as either happening could interrupt his or her spell-casting. So not only did those Mages fail to chant their spells, they accidentally jostled the others beside them as well, causing the others to stagger a few steps and also break off their incantations.
Although the melee job classes quickly came to deal with the Thief that had suddenly appeared, the originally perfect weave of spells began to show obvious gaps in the coordinated spell bombardment. Gu Fei and Lie Lie, whom July had previously tossed, met mid-air. As Lie Lie stretched her arms out to grab Gu Fei, she took a quick glance at their surroundings and used Seismic Toss like what July had done a while ago to toss him further the spell bombardment area that had the least overcast of flame wheels. Lie Lie landed on the ground by herself and was instantly swallowed by the the raging infernos scorching the land, turning into a beam of white light.
"Miles, good luck!" Will-low shouted. She was currently stuck behind enemy lines and subsequently surrounded by the opposing guild's melee job classes. Evidently, she would not be able to hold on for long.
Gu Fei had no complaints as the ladies had done their parts to ensure the success of their strategy. He got through the spell bombardment and sailed toward the Carouse's formation. Against an enemy coming in from the air, the opposing players were at a loss on how to deal with him.
Mid-air, Gu Fei threw off the outer coat covering Midnight Spirit Robe using his two arms and fished out his sword, causing the coat to flutter back in place. Roaring deeply, he intended to flourish his sword as soon as he alighted on the ground, yet he ended up crashing into the ground instead.
Dust and dirt scattered about... and Gu Fei was of course feeling ashamed with himself. He had actually forgotten that since he was hurtled via Seismic Toss over here, the system would require him to fall flat on the ground. All his labor while mid-air to land upright was for naught.
However, a loss was not necessarily a bad thing. Gu Fei's very embarrassing fall had actually managed to lure many Carouse's members into encircling him.
Gu Fei rolled on the ground without getting up and used his sword to demonstrate his prone saber style on the enemies. He had not forgotten to cast Twin Incineration while flourishing his sword, trying his best to inflict damage on the highest possible number of enemies around him.
"Six!" Gu Fei felt immensely gratified. This was the highest record of instkill he had gotten from combining his kung fu with Twin Incineration thus far; he could hardly believe that he would attain such a feat in dire straits.
After getting the system prompt that six fellow guildmates had been killed off by that one slash, the eyelids of Carouse's players twitched and someone yelled out: "Don't be rash! Quickly disperse and get the Archers here!"
However, Gu Fei was already chanting: "Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno! Arise!"
"INTERRUPT IT! QUICKLY INTERRUPT IT!" Brave Surge frantically bellowed to the guild members nearest Gu Fei.
Gu Fei only had to chant one spell, so no matter how fast Brave Surge could issue his command, it was not possible for the Carouse's players to carry out his command in time. A raging inferno had already sprouted from below.