Chapter 192 - Guardians
"Miles, even you couldn't instkill Silver Moon back then, right?" These mercenaries vividly recalled their adventure in Yueye City, as it was their grandest affair in Parallel World thus far.
Gu Fei nodded his head, "Yup. I couldn't."
"So what do we do to prevent him from unleashing that powerful skill this time?" Royal God Call asked.
Gu Fei glanced at him, "We'll just have to slash him a second time."
Royal God Call had no words for his simplistic answer.
The system's ten-second countdown ended, and the teleportation array began to glow in white light, enveloping all those who stood within and transporting them to their respective PvP arenas. There were only a total of sixteen players participating in the match between Young Master's Elite mercenary group and Silver Moon mercenary group, so the map that they were given was relatively small.
"Let's head toward a vantage point and scope out the situation." Young Master Han employed his usual PvP maneuver.
As they climbed up a small hill near their group's spawn point, they saw a few figures also heading up a hill on the other side of the map.
"How many men are there?" Young Master Han pointed the opposite hill with his liquor bottle to Royal God Call.
Royal God Call placed a hand to his forehead and peered, "Exactly ten men." He then shouted to Sword Demon, "Points, please!"
Gu Fei found this quite strange. He could barely make out the people on the other hill from his position, and his eyesight had been pretty good since young. Was it possible that Royal God Call had better eyesight than him?
Inquiring about the matter, Gu Fei was told that Royal God Call could now use the level 40 passive skill, Eagle Eye, after the latter had advanced to a Sharpshooter. The skill allowed its user to possess eyesight on par with that of an eagle, so it was pretty popular to myopic Archers. Ever since they got Eagle Eye, their myopia became a thing of the past and they could even see objects from afar in-game. These myopic Archers with low self-esteem issues could now stand tall and walk proudly as they gazed on the horizon.
"Royal, keep your eyes on them. Observe their movement for us," Young Master Han said.
Royal God Call voiced his assent as he proudly monitored the enemies from afar.
While waiting for the enemies to make a move, all of them were doing something on their own to ease the boredom. Royal God Call continued to strain his eyes to observe the movement of the enemies until he became teary eyed; Young Master Han opened a new bottle of liquor and threw it on the ground once he chugged it all down; Gu Fei managed to perform up to the fifth set of moves of a swordplay while he waited; War Without Wounds privately chatted up the eighth lady on his friends list; and Sword Demon and Brother Assist were meticulously discussing the things listed in the scoring booklet... Even after all that, the enemies had hardly made any movement atop the opposite hill.
Young Master Han put a hand inside his dimensional pocket to get another bottle of liquor, only to discover that he was out of it. He promptly stood up and cursed, "This sucks!" As everyone turned to look at him, he exclaimed indignantly, "Is this how they actually forced all their past opponents to engage them directly? By turning everyone restless through the long wait?!"
Everyone thought that sentiment made sense. With both sides fighting, surely one group would have to initiate the assault if the other group chose to not make a move.
"If both sides choose not to fight, what will be the system's decision?" Royal God Call asked Brother Assist.
"Overtime will occur, and it will continue on until one side gains a point," Brother Assist replied.
"Most players who participate in the mercenary PvP tournament usually have the guild versus guild tournament to participate into afterward. These guys seem to be taking advantage of that fact to force their previous opponents into attacking them first. Once their opponents realized that they were running late for the next match, they would of course take the initiative to attack, and this would of course lead to a head-on clash in the end," Young Master Han broke down the matter at hand.
"Are you perhaps overthinking things again?" Sword Demon did not even lift his head from the booklet.
"Definitely overthinking," Royal God Call nodded his head, "They have made a move."
"Oh?" All stopped whatever they were doing to gaze once more on that distant hill.
When they saw no movement from the opposite hill, they instead focused their eyes on Royal God Call, who heaved a long sigh, "Looks like they got bored just like us after sitting for so long, so they stretched their bodies for a bit…."
Everyone became quiet for a moment. "Let's just go to them!" These experts had long lost interest on passing the time by doing random stuff and decided to head straight to Silver Moon to conclude this match.
"Charge!" Young Master Han raised his hand.
"Seriously?" Everyone had actually thought that he would calmly weigh the odds and analyze their current situation.
"I'm outta booze," Young Master Han explained. "Let's end this quick so I can go buy some more."
"You drinking addict!" The others exclaimed as they descended the hill and headed to the opposite side of the map. Royal God Call continued to keep an eye on the enemies along the way, but the opposite side still seemed to be doing nothing.
"Stop!" Young Master Han ordered when they were halfway there.
"What?" they asked.
"Miles, Royal, Sword Demon, get close to the enemies. Wounds, Assist, stay with me to bring up the rear," Young Master Han said.
"What do you mean?" They all could not fathom Young Master Han's thoughts, especially Royal God Call who was afraid of being sent on a suicide mission again.
"Once Silver Moon uses his skill, his party's speed will likely increase. If things pan out that way, the three of us with slow movement speed will find it hard to get away," Young Master Han explained.
Thus, the six acted according to Young Master Han's orders. Young Master Han, War Without Wounds, and Brother Assist found somewhere to observe from afar, while Gu Fei, Royal God Call, and Sword Demon proceeded forward to close in on the enemies.
Even when they reached the foot of the hill, the ten men on top of it still remained motionless. Royal God Call suddenly exclaimed, "Eagle Eye is so cool! I can even see the inside of their noses. Can you guys do the same?" Royal God Call boasted to Sword Demon and Gu Fei.
"Shoot an arrow and see how they'll react." The enemies were still not making any movement despite them already entering the Archer Royal God Call's attack range. Royal God Call nocked an arrow and drew his bowstring, readying himself to fire off an arrow.
That was when the ten men finally made a move. They suddenly gathered together and the three Warriors standing in front each took out a large shield that they held before them. The three men hunched their backs, and the entire Silver Moon mercenary group became protected by the shields.
"Those are Guardians…" Sword Demon said.
Guardian was the other job class that a Warrior could advance into, and choosing this route would grant a Warrior high HP and defense. At level 40, a Guardian could learn a new passive skill called Defense Mastery. This skill not only increased the player's HP but also provided extra defense through the Shield Mastery skill.
Shields were also considered as weapons in Parallel World. While the Attack Power they provided was really low, they had the highest defensive properties. And even if the other job classes tried using shields as weapons, they would still have to fulfill the required Shield Aptitude before they could obtain the maximum defense provided by shields. When it came to the ability to fully utilize the prowess of a shield, Guardians from level 40 onward were the only ones capable of doing it through the Aptitude boost provided by their passive Defense Mastery skill.
Royal God Call fired off his arrow at this point, and it pierced through the air with the same force he had always been employing in his attacks. A loud clink was heard when the arrow made contact with the surface of a shield.
The arrow did not even move the shield an inch and just feebly dropped to the ground upon contact.
When Young Master Han saw this scene unfold from a distance, a slight smile formed on his lips, "Guardians… so that's how it is. I have a hunch that they would have a method to prevent Archers from shooting them down from afar, and we have just found out exactly how it is possible! If that's case, we can only send a Mage forward." While Young Master Han was mumbling this, Gu Fei and his two companions were still trying various ways to attack their opponents.
Royal God Call swiftly headed to the other side of the hill to sneak in an attack on the enemies' flank. The ten men seemed to have included this into their estimation, as they immediately adjusted their position in accordance to Royal God Call's movement. No matter how fast his movement speed was, he would never be faster than people turning their bodies around. Royal God Call continued to see the three large shields no matter where he positioned himself, not even seeing a strand of stray hair.
"You're only wasting your time," Young Master Han snorted upon seeing Royal God Call's action.
Royal God Call grew depressed at having wasted his effort. Returning to Gu Fei's side, he patted him on the shoulder, "It's your turn now."
"You're done? Can't you do a volley shot like yesterday?" Gu Fei gestured with his hand and drew a curved line in the air. He and Svelte Dancer had personally experienced being peppered by the Archers volley of arrows during yesterday's match with Traversing Four Seas, and he was certain that Royal God Call had shot out quite a few arrows like that as well.
"Well… None of my current skills can cover that kind of range, so firing an arrow like that is only possible through basic attacks. And I can't do much damage to a Warrior by just firing a regular arrow. Besides, that kind of aerial assault is only effective when there are tons of Archers together like yesterday. Since I'm the only Archer here right now, that method can't be used to deal with them," Royal God Call explained himself.
"Just watch me, then!" Gu Fei took out his sword. Dashing a few steps forward, the three Warriors quickly entered his spell-casting range, "Descending Wheel of Flames! Descend!"
When the enemy Warriors heard Gu Fei's command, they immediately raised the shields over their heads.
Gu Fei and gang were shocked.
"What are they doing?! Shields only have physical defense. There's no way they can block a magic attack!" Sword Demon exclaimed, stunned.
Following Sword Demon's exclamation, Gu Fei's flame wheel ignited in the air and began its descent. The three watched this happen in real time. Just as the spell was about to land on the raised shields, a transparent glimmer shone on the surface of the shields and the flame wheel was easily extinguished. Despite the ten men under the shields remaining still, their expression showed surprise. Evidently, Gu Fei's high Spell Damage had still managed to injure some of them.
"They're not dead? Do their shields have magic defense?" The faraway Young Master Han expressed his surprise.
"That's a new piece of vital information; I'll head over to appraise those shields," Brother Assist was about to make his way over after saying this, but Young Master Han pulled him back, "No, leave that to Sword Demon."
"Equipment that has physical defense as well as magic defense is extremely rare. How frightening that these two traits could actually be found on shields... Shields are the equipment that possesses the highest amount of defense, after all," Brother Assist began his analysis on those shields of their enemies.
"So this is the real reason why there are only ten of them!" Young Master Han realized, "I previously thought that since their tactic relies on direct and frontal assault, wouldn't it be more effective for them to overcome us through numerical superiority by employing all forty members to camp atop that hill and wait for us to arrive? To think that it's actually because of this other trump card that they have. They should have only three of those shields, and they can only cover ten players at most. Archers and Mages won't be able to cause significant damage as long as those three Guardians are around. At this rate, we will surely be forced to engage them in close combat!"
"Well, if Miles and Royal perform their attacks from two different directions at the same time, those three Guardians will probably be forced into choosing just one side to defend against, leaving them defenseless on the other direction." Just as Brother Assist was saying this, Gu Fei and Royal God Call had already proceeded to employ it.
The former let loose a spell while the latter fired off an arrow.
In the end, Royal God Call was left in tears. This was because the enemies had disregarded his arrow and chose to focus solely on defending against Gu Fei's spell. Royal God Call's pride as an expert was trampled on once more.
"No point in competing like this. You'll only leave yourself angry over nothing," Sword Demon consoled him.
Chapter 193 - Improvisation
Gu Fei's Magic Attack Power was terrifyingly high and it could instkill very many people. In fact, any job class with low HP would have no way of surviving his spells. Right now, however, he was facing three Guardians that had allocated most of their points toward Endurance and were holding three shields with high magic defense. Given all these, it was not surprising for Gu Fei to be unable to instkill the three.
As for the other seven players that were also hiding behind the shields, they were essentially unaffected by Gu Fei's spell. This was because the system had merely calculated the damage dealt toward the ones' holding the shields when Descending Wheel of Flames had landed on the enemies.
At this moment, Sword Demon finished appraising the three Guardians holding the shields. "What the..." Sword Demon lost a bit of his calm demeanor and read the traits aloud, "Bulwark of Imprisonment. Absorbs 50% of Physical Damage as well as Spell Damage. Boosts both physical and magic defense by another 30%. Adds 20 points to Endurance. Holy… And they have three of those?!"
"Don't forget; that's just the boost from the shields. If we add in the defense they receive from their other equipment, their defensive ability is basically off the charts! Any kinds of attacks would just be child's play to them!" Royal God Call's face lost its color as he said this. Adding all the equipment the three men had on them, even the strongest skill, Snipe, in Royal God Call's arsenal would barely put a scratch on them.
"I may still be of use… I can probably avoid their shields and attack them from behind by using Backstab and Bludgeon," Sword Demon grimaced. However, the thing was that all ten enemies were closely packed together, and the remaining seven would of course be standing close behind the three Guardians, so how would Sword Demon find the opportunity to actually ambush those Guardians from behind?
"Looks like it's up to me," Gu Fei took a few steps forward and raised his sword, "Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno! Arise!"
Gu Fei had sadly not allocated any points to Spirit or Intelligence, so his spells could not be casted out instantly and needed a brief moment to actually take effect. That brief moment was enough for the opponents to prepare for his upcoming spell attack, as any skilled player could tell where a spell would be casted by just looking at the where a Mage was pointing at. Gu Fei's chanting was also rather loud, not hiding the fact that he was casting a spell at them. It was as if he was trying to see just how his opponents would react.
If I cast a Descending Wheel of Flames, they will definitely raise their shields upward to defend against it. But a spell that emerges from the ground can surely inflict damage on them, right? What else could they do? Lay those shields down and step on them?
Who knew that the enemies would do exactly that? The three Guardians deftly lay their Bulwark of Imprisonment down on the ground and the other seven men hopped on the shields. By the time the flames of Gu Fei's spell finally sprouted from the ground and spread around, the ten men were already comfortably standing on the shields.
"They can even do that?!" Gu Fei was in tears.
"Your spell-casting time is really…" Sword Demon and Royal God Call were at a loss for words. Actually, the opponents' approach would not have worked had they met a different Mage with quick casting time. Dispersing among themselves, making enough room to put the three large shields on the ground, and hopping on to the shields. These methodical steps of theirs needed time, and it was only due to Gu Fei's slow casting time that they could pull all those off before the flames rose from the ground.
"Wait. Let me try casting two spells on them at once," Gu Fei told the two as he fished out an apple to munch on. Casting four high-manconsuming AOE spells was Gu Fei's current limit, and he had already casted three AOE spells ever since this match started.
"No need." Sword Demon said, "Given how easy it is to avoid your spells with your slow casting speed, I'm certain they've only done that to see how high your Spell Damage is."
It was exactly as what Sword Demon had said. A small gap appeared between the two shields just as the three Guardians once more placed their shields before them. Silver Moon emerged from that gap and spoke, "Miles bro, your Spell Damage is indeed terrifying!"
Gu Fei eked out a smile. He was currently eating an apple, so he could not reply to him.
"Are your three other companions not coming over?" Silver Moon's eyes rested on Young Master Han, Brother Assist, and War Without Wounds that were standing at a distance.
Gu Fei was still munching on his apple, so he did not respond to him. This resulted into Royal God Call interjecting, "Is there a need to send our full force just to deal with you guys?"
As Sword Demon and Gu Fei glared at him fiercely, Royal God Call feebly explained, "Those are just words people use to set the stage…."
"Royal, what you just said really resonated with me!" Gu Fei finally finished munching on the apple he had in his hand and said this, "There's indeed no need to send everyone; just me will do."
Sword Demon's fierce glare shifted from Royal God Call to Gu Fei. In his mind, 'Miles' was not someone who would act recklessly or foolishly like this. Just the three Guardians were already hard to handle, and Silver Moon had not even activated his skill yet, so Sword Demon was thinking that they should not be taking this ten-man group too lightly.
Royal God Call was now glaring at Gu Fei as well, with his mouth opening wide agape, "What are you trying to do?"
"Let's move a bit closer to them." Gu Fei was about to step forward when Sword Demon held him back and said, "Are you intending to blink into their formation? That's useless, since you can't instkill them. You won't be able to display your ability no matter how skilled you are if they gang up and squeeze you in!"
It was a realistic problem that arose during PvP due to Parallel World being a full-immersion game. Therefore, having the ability to instkill opponents was a necessity if anyone wished to fight with many in-game. If a person was unable to take lives with his or her every strike, then the opponents would just bear the damage inflicted on them and squeeze him or her in. How could the person fight if he or she could not even extend an arm and or a leg? This was the strategy that Foe-herder had hesitated to use against Gu Fei during their skirmish to prove the latter's identity as the sole male Mage in Amethyst Rebirth.
"Relax. I'm not that dumb," Gu Fei reassuringly patted Sword Demon on his back, "Assist me when the time comes." With that, he walked toward the ten men alone.
A distance away, Young Master Han became stunned when he saw Gu Fei's action, so he asked Brother Assist, "Has that guy gone mad? Is he intending to take them all by himself?"
"I think so," Brother Assist replied, equally shocked.
Silver Moon and his men were also very surprised by Gu Fei's action of going to them by himself, uncertain of what to make of it.
"What now boss? Do we still go according to plan?" someone asked Silver Moon.
"Stick to the original plan," Silver Moon gritted his teeth, "This Mage is scary. The rest will be easy to handle once we eliminate him."
The rest of them nodded their heads as they readied themselves. Gu Fei was closing in on them with his every step. Twenty meters… Fifteen meters… Ten meters… The atmosphere was growing tenser the closer Gu Fei got to the enemies. But then, he suddenly stopped walking forward. The whole scene froze.
"What is he up to?" Silver Moon's men were all quite nervous now.
They might have three pieces of Bulwark of Imprisonment to protect them, but Gu Fei's Spell Damage was still scarily high. Therefore, those who were not holding on to the Bulwark of Imprisonment felt inexorably nervous. The seven men subconsciously pressed themselves closer to the three Guardians.
Gu Fei was not actually doing anything special. He had only stopped advancing forward because he had received a message from Young Master Han: "What do you intend to do?"
"Improvising," Gu Fei answered.
"Even if you die, you hafta take down at least three or five of them," Young Master Han said.
"I'll do my best," Gu Fei answered. With that, he continued his forward advance and the distance between him and the ten men was slowly reduced to just five meters. From his current position, he could clearly see Silver Moon's shameless mug as well as the other men's nervous expression.
The enemies' anxiety reached another height when Gu Fei slowed down his steps. They still could not fathom Gu Fei's intention. As a Mage, wasn't he simply courting death by getting closer to them?
Four meters… Three meters… Gu Fei was still moving closer to them. Silver Moon could not take it any longer. Swiftly taking something out of his dimensional pocket, he swung that item about and commanded, "CHARGE!"
Although the command he had given was 'charge', the men had actually huddled even closer behind the shields, with not even a human figure in sight. As Gu Fei was wondering if this was a variation of the command 'charge', golden light shone from within the clustered men. Silver Moon had activated his skill that boosted his party's stats. Following this, the three Guardians suddenly charged toward Gu Fei with the shields still held before them. There were gaps between the shields, and the Warriors' claymores extended outward from them like lances.
"It's the Charge skill!" Gu Fei instantly realized. With the enemies being hidden from view by the shield wall, he failed to see the men's starting motion for the activation of the skill.
Silver Moon's King's Command was currently in effect, so the speed at which these Warriors were charging at Gu Fei was swifter and fiercer than any charging attack that he had experienced before. Five men were responsible for using Charge on him, and they were charging at him while lining up in a horizontal line, stacking the three great shields closely together with two claymores sticking out between the gap in the shields.
No matter how fast one's speed and reaction time was, it was practically impossible to dodge these charging Warriors in this proximity after they had been buffed by Silver Moon. Gu Fei was currently standing just less than three meters away from the charging men, and even Svelte Dancer on Fleetfoot would not be able to escape this charging attack under such short range. However, there was perhaps only one person in Parallel World that could properly dodge this attack right now, and that was Gu Fei. To be specific, it was the Gu Fei since last night. After all, it was only last night that Gu Fei had obtained the skill for instantaneous movement to a faraway location: Blink.
At the moment that the enemies' claymores and shields were about to slam into him, Gu Fei casted Blink. A swish softly echoed about as he dissolved into nothingness in his standing position. With the boost of speed from both Silver Moon's skill and their Charge, the five men were blindly rushing ahead, unaware that Gu Fei was no longer before them as their sights were blocked by the large shields.
Behind the five charging men, the remaining five - two Knights, one Warrior, one Priest, and Silver Moon himself - were running slightly slower behind. The entire team was currently glowing brightly in the same golden color that was beaming from the King's Blade that was owned by Silver Moon.
These remaining five either did not have the Charge skill or chose to not use it. Merely running after the two Warriors and three Guardians that had stampeded forward, they saw a sudden crack and distortion of the air before them, and in the next instant, Gu Fei had already appeared right before their eyes.
While they were still reeling from this shocking development, Gu Fei already wielded his sword at them, "Twin Incineration! Incinerate!" His black sword shone with purple luster as he slashed at Silver Moon and the two Knights before him with Twin Incineration.
These men's stats were boosted by King's Command, yet they were still no match for Gu Fei's Magic Attack Power. The two Knights were killed off by his one sword strike, and only Silver Moon managed to survive his attack.
Silver Moon was fully equipped with top-grade equipment, so his magic defense was rather high. This was also the case when he was at level 30. Now that he was at level 40, the equipment he had on him was an entire grade better. As for Gu Fei, his proficiency with Twin Incineration had also increased by leaps and bounds since their last confrontation, and he had also learned to mix his swordsmanship with spells. Nonetheless, this increase in Gu Fei's damage output was not as significant as Silver Moon's increase in defense and HP.
Just like in Yueye City, Gu Fei was still unable to instkill Silver Moon right now.