Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Memories of his days with Past Deeds resurfaced after Blue Ease’s clash with Dusky Cloud and he recalled the many comrades he had once fought alongside with. Although the guild was widely notorious, with plenty of players badmouthing it on the forums, he had plenty of fun back in those days. In contrast, his days were peaceful here in Baishi City, yet he always felt something lacking.

“Big Blue, are you crying? Why are your eyes all red?” the brothers around him asked.

Why would recalling those days bring tears to his eyes? Blue Ease was never the sentimental type. Furtively wiping his eyes, he felt no wetness whatsoever. He turned to face his brothers and chided, “Cry, my *ss! We’ve been up all night; that’s why they’re red! In fact, everyone’s eyes here are red!”

All of them looked at one another before rubbing their eyes. It was already two hours past their usual log-off time, so it was only natural for them to be exhausted by now. Blue Ease took a trip down memory lane and began sharing about his glorious days in Yueye City to the others. His brothers instantly stopped rubbing their eyes and moved to cover their ears, instead, “F*ck. He’s at it again. You’ve already told us this story hundreds of times.”

“Did I really repeat myself so often?” Blue Ease was disgruntled.

“It’s less than that woman you always mention. You’ve at least repeated stories about that Vast Lushness woman for over a thousand times.”

“Vast Lushness is truly a beast. She may be a woman, but she’s literally the greatest among us Past Deeds’ members in terms of loyalty and strength of character. Back in those days—”

“AHHHHH! It’s a thousand and one times now!” His brothers were distraught.

Blue Ease at least halted his narration after a few sentences. This was because a group of men walked by Blue Ease’s team, and just like them, they all had red eyes. These men were rubbing their eyes as they passed by, looking as if they were fighting off lethargy.

“D*mn. So unlucky. Why haven’t we bumped into that guy yet?” Blue Ease spat to the side of the road.

Dusky Cloud also spotted Blue Ease, instantly showing him his middle finger, “M*th*rf*ck*r. Why aren’t you logging off to sleep yet?”

“None of your g*dd*mn business. I’m not tired yet.” Blue Ease also raised his middle finger in response.

“Give up if you can’t hold on any longer.” Dusky Cloud widened his eyes as he brought his men past Blue Ease’s team.

“Give up? Have I ever given up?” Blue Ease widened his eyes as well, but Dusky Cloud had already walked past him and did not even look backward once. Blue Ease turned to face his brothers, asking, “Have I ever given up?”

“Never!” they answered.

Both parties had done the same thing of getting their men to remain in their respective job classes’ spawn points across Baishi City. Blue Ease and Dusky Cloud were currently checking the situation in all the seven places, so it was inevitable for the two parties to encounter each other on the road.

It was as though Silver Moon had seen through both parties’ intentions. Instead of heading straight to a log-off point after escaping from the central plaza, he had hidden himself somewhere in the city. With the OP party-wide skill of King’s Command and his group of twelve men, it was not particularly difficult for him to make a break for any of the spawn points. However, Silver Moon had already realized the perils of revealing which spawn point he would log off to the enemies. Doing so would allow innumerable players to spawn camp him when he logged back later on.

Silver Moon fully assumed he would be facing each of the over four thousand members of the Ten Guild Alliance, so he did not dare ask for Traversing Four Seas’ assistance. The seven hundred men they had was simply not enough against the full force of the Ten Guild Alliance. If the latter really decided to block his path out, not even Traversing Four Seas would be able to rescue him. Thus, the safest move for Silver Moon was to secretly make his way to the next city. The problem was, although he had learned from Oathless Sword that their expedition’s next destination was Linyin City, Silver Moon did not know how to get there. He had regrettably not met any players in Baishi City who had been there before or knew of the way.

Silver Moon wanted to test his luck by finding his way there on his own, but when he and his men tried to sneak out of the city, they received quite the fright; Dusky Cloud had apparently also thought of this move and had assigned some men to guard the city gates. Silver Moon lamented his hardships, for although the men Dusky Cloud had placed by the city gates were no match for Silver Moon and his gang with King’s Command, those men did not intend to fight with them to death and only planned to inform Dusky Cloud and the rest of the Ten Guild Alliance of their departure so that they could chase after them.

Silver Moon’s twelve-man team was made up of Warriors or Knights and a couple of Priests. Each of them had a frustratingly slow movement speed. As long as the enemies sent out Archers or Thieves, Silver Moon and his men would have no way of losing them on their tail. Their inability to effectively fight back or chase off these faster job classes only highlighted the importance of having a balanced team composition.

Silver Moon was currently in a very awkward position, and he was unable to come up with a way to extricate himself from it. On the other side of the fence, Dusky Cloud and his men were also wrought with anxiety. Silver Moon thought he was fighting against the Ten Guild Alliance’s full force, so he did not dare ask Traversing Four Seas for help, but what he did not know was that Dusky Cloud was actually worried about Traversing Four Seas getting involved in all this. There would surely be plenty of losses in large-scale fights, and Dusky Cloud was unsure if his comrades were willing to sacrifice so much just to hunt down Silver Moon. Moreover, he might be the big boss of the Ten Guild Alliance, but no boss in a MMO had the power to compel each of his or her men to become cannon fodder with just a wave of an arm; the other players were no mindless idiots, after all.

Currently, Dusky Cloud’s thought process was similar to that of a minimalist in that he only hoped to lock Traversing Four Seas in a stalemate. By then, it would depend on whether Traversing Four Seas’ members were willing to sacrifice themselves for Silver Moon or not.

However, Baishi City was about three hours away from Yueye City, and it was currently in the early hours of the morning – the time when the nighttime gamers would log off and the daytime gamers would come online – so the number of players in-game was at its lowest. With how tired his men and fellow brothers were after being online for a whole day, it was rather questionable whether he could muster enough manpower to suppress the one thousand players of Traversing Four Seas. Did Silver Moon ask for Traversing Four Seas’ help yet?

As Dusky Cloud sat in contemplation at a random tavern in Baishi City, the brothers around him were already fast asleep with their heads resting on the table. Fatigue was their scariest enemy at the moment, and everyone decisively took turns napping to fight their inner sleep demons. Dusky Cloud ordered his least favorite liquor to drink to stimulate his nerves, volunteering to keep watch over his brothers. This was a game and not a classroom, after all; what would they do if they were attack while sleeping on the table? Yueye City might not have anyone bold enough to attack the Ten Guild Alliance’s members, but the same could not be said for Baishi City.

Liquor was not something that could perk a person up. Dusky Cloud over-stimulated himself as the alcohol got to him. Grogginess settled in and he quickly nudged the comrade beside him, “F*ck*ng get up; it’s my turn to rest for a while.”

That drowsy player stared at him blearily for a moment before rebuking, “M*th*rf*ck*r! Only f*ck*ng thirty minutes have passed. Didn’t we agree on an hour?”

“Wake me up after thirty minutes, then!” Dusky Cloud said no more and just rested his head on the table. Suddenly, a creaking sound was heard as someone pushed the tavern door open.

Dusky Cloud vigilantly raised his head and received a shock when he saw the person. “It’s you.”

Who else besides Young Master Han would head straight toward a tavern this early in the morning? He glanced over at Dusky Cloud and the other players hunched on the table, asleep. Young Master Han ordered liquor from the NPC bar owner and came over to sit with Dusky Cloud. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We followed Silver Moon the whole night,” Dusky Cloud sighed.

“Did you fail?” Young Master Han asked.

Dusky Cloud nodded his head regretfully. “We had a little situation, and that guy got away.”

“Oh? What happened?” Young Master Han asked after taking a gulp of the liquor that was finally sent over.

Although he disliked Young Master Han, it did not reach the level of animosity he had with Silver Moon. Since he was asking politely, Dusky Cloud summarized the situation for him.

“So what do you plan to do?” Young Master Han asked.

Dusky Cloud told him his plan accordingly.

“You’re prepared to war with Traversing Four Seas, then?” Young Master Han pressed on.

“Only if they don’t back down,” Dusky Cloud replied.

“Oh, they’ll back down; that’s for sure,” Young Master Han remarked.

“Oh?”

“This is precisely why Traversing Four Seas has spent so much money to hire the top mercenary groups in Yunduan City,” Young Master Han explained.

“So that they’ll be able to fight when the time comes?” Dusky Cloud asked.

Young Master Han shook his head, “A thousand-man army... Only your Ten Guild Alliance is capable of beating them, yet you guys just happen to be clashing with them. He he... Traversing Four Seas sure has a pretty terrible luck.”

Dusky Cloud was about to ask what Young Master Han meant when the door once more swung open and someone could be heard saying, “Let’s rest up in this tavern first. We’ll change shifts later, so everyone can take turns to rest up.”

Dusky Cloud swore loudly when he heard the person’s voice, instantly standing up from his seat, “Are you m*th*rf*ck*ng insane, Blue Ease? Why are you always there wherever I go?!”

Blue Ease was also extremely surprised to bump into Dusky Cloud here, immediately retorting, “You g*dd*mn b*st*rd, why are you f*ck*ng everywhere I go?!”

“What did you just say?!” Dusky Cloud slapped the table.

Blue Ease was about to get worked up when Young Master Han turned to face him. Blue Ease instantly froze up, “F*ck me. You... you....”

Although it had been a while, Young Master Han’s face was not something anyone could easily forget. Blue Ease immediately recognized him to be the same person that had tricked him into splitting up his troops back in Yueye City, which provided the Ten Guild Alliance the chance to mount their assault. Were it not for this man, Blue Ease could possibly still be gallivanting about in Yueye City right now!

“KILL THIS MAN!” Blue Ease pointed at Young Master Han with one hand as he pulled out his magic staff with the other. The men following behind him also pulled out their weapons when they heard his command.

Dusky Cloud stood in front of Young Master Han as he stared at them. “What are you guys planning to do?” Despite his dislike of Young Master Han, he was still considered as a friend of his friend. Therefore, Dusky Cloud could not just stand by and watch Blue Ease bully him. Dusky Cloud fearlessly stepped forward as he called his comrades to him. But when he looked back, all he saw were his brothers still sleeping soundly on the table. Infuriated, Dusky Cloud swiftly overturned the table with a kick, “Stop f*ck*ng napping and get up to fight!”

“What – What?! What’s going on?!” These men woke up with a start, wiping off their drool even as they pulled out their weapons. Their eyes began searching around the tavern for their target as they muttered, “Where is he?” All of them spotted Blue Ease, yet none stopped to register him as the enemy.

“What are you guys f*ck*ng looking around for?! He’s right here!” Dusky Cloud pointed at Blue Ease in front of them.

"F*ck!” All of them waved their hands dismissively, saying, “Stop messing around.” Everyone just thought that Dusky Cloud was verbally sparring with Blue Ease again and his words were merely empty threats at him. Why would Dusky Cloud wait until now to act if he really wanted to fight the man in the first place?

“D*mn you!” Dusky Cloud could only watch his men return their heads on the table to resume resting, feeling incensed over his inability to explain the matter at hand.

This was when Young Master Han calmly asked, “What? Aren’t you guys working together to deal with Silver Moon?”