Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 243 - Seriously Too Close

Nightmare of Death was a Thief, so by activating his Fleetfoot, he was able to nimbly disappear from the wall corner. Still, he was no match for Gu Fei’s all-Agility build and movement speed that was further boosted by Windchaser’s Boots. Gu Fei kept his fixed eyes on Nightmare of Death’s back as he swiftly pursued the latter.

Nightmare of Death was very cunning and extremely crafty. Fleetfoot was not Stealth, and it had a limited duration, yet he managed to maintain his distance from Gu Fei through with this skill. But given Gu Fei’s equipment and faster movement speed than Nightmare of Death’s, it was only a matter of time before he caught up to the latter.

Logically speaking, Stealth could better hide a hunted from a hunter. The skill was practically useless against Gu Fei, though, based on their intel on him. What Thieves like Nightmare of Death did not know was that everything would be fine as long as they buried their heads in the ground like an ostrich and avoided looking at Gu Fei after activating Stealth....

Nightmare of Death was naturally not privy of such a solution, so when he saw Gu Fei ignoring everyone and solely chasing after him at a breakneck speed, he could only bemoan his fate inside.

Gu Fei closely followed Nightmare of Death from behind, aware that he would eventually catch up to the latter. Still, he kept in mind the possibility of Nightmare of Death using Stealth to hide among the mob of Werewolves.

What Gu Fei was unaware of was that Stealth could not be used near the Werewolves, as according to Nightmare of Death and his gang’s study of this village layout and the Werewolves’ programmed behavior, this sort of non-humanoid monsters possessed highly sensitive noses and keen ears just like real wolves. Although their other senses were not as powerful as their eyes’ ability to perceive, the Werewolves were still able to detect anyone attempting to get close to them from several meters away. If this lot of Thieves used Stealth, the Werewolves would surely pounce on them when they got near the Werewolves, which was exactly what the other Thief in Nightmare of Death’s team had forcefully done.

As such, Nightmare of Death did not dare to get near the Werewolves and decided to avoid monsters and evade Gu Fei altogether as best as he could. The death penalty for dying to monsters and players would equally result into the loss of level and even equipment.

Nightmare of Death was at his wits’ end right now, so he quickly sent his comrades a message asking for their help. His brothers, who had scattered at the sight of Gu Fei beginning a massacre, quickly gathered in one place once they knew that he was solely chasing after Nightmare of Death. Naturally, they intended to counterattack even if Nightmare of Death did not prompt them to do so.

Although these players still held numerical superiority, they were not brave enough to surround Gu Fei. Nonetheless, they had learned a few things from that previous incident.

At a certain clearing in Suoyun Village, the players each chose a position with a viable escape route. They planned to use ranged attacks on Gu Fei, but if those failed, they would unhesitatingly flee for their lives. This way, Gu Fei would be forced to settle on chasing after only one of them.

Their arrangement was done very quickly. After discussing their plan thoroughly, they informed Nightmare of Death of the place’s coordinates and of how he should enter it. The Hunter did not give up on ensnaring Gu Fei using his Hunting Trap, and he set a trap at the probable path Gu Fei would take on his way to the place before informing Nightmare of Death of its location to prevent him from accidentally stepping on the trap, instead.

Nightmare of Death sprinted over to his brothers’ given coordinates as he mentally calculated the distance he would need to cover and the time required over his running speed. His heart slightly calmed when he realized that his Fleetfoot would sufficiently bring him over to the location.

However, Nightmare of Death soon discovered that he would be unable to take the shortest route toward the place if he was to take into account the Werewolves’ aggro range and avoided it accordingly. If he took a detour, his Fleetfoot’s duration would end before he could reach the destination. This was something beyond his control, so Nightmare of Death could only curse the heavens as he literally raced against time and focused on searching the Werewolves’ positions for somewhere he could possibly shave the time off.

Eventually, Nightmare of Death only had to run out of the alleyway he was currently in and he would arrive at the location. His Fleetfoot already ended, but since victory was within grasp, Nightmare of Death gutturally roared like a Werewolf and put his all into this final sprint, passing an imaginary finish line with a small leap. This step he took to exit the alleyway allowed him to safely pass the trap that lay beneath the surface of the earth.

Nightmare of Death landed and looked around, yet he could not find where his brothers were hiding. He knew that this was only because his brothers had hidden themselves very well to increase their odds of successfully ambushing the enemy, so he acted his part and pretended to run forward anxiously.

Here he comes! Nightmare of Death’s hidden companions muttered to themselves when they saw him exit the alley. Ready... As long as someone burst out next from that alleyway, they would all unleash their attacks.

The Hunter fervently hoped that Gu Fei would step on to his trap, so that he could properly show off his capability. Otherwise, his brothers would certainly use this to ridicule him.

“ATTACK!”

Someone darted out of the alleyway at an unbelievable speed and everyone unleashed all sorts of attacks on him – the Mage casted an AOE spell, the Archer shot an arrow on Snipe, and the Warrior and Thief even flung their spare weapons to deal maximum damage in that instant. These players prepared themselves for the possibility of their first wave of attacks to fail at killing off Gu Fei, so a second wave of attacks was swiftly executed by them after....

“Ah!” A familiar-sounding scream was heard, but it did not come from the alley entrance. All looked at the scream’s origin and gawked.

The scream came from Nightmare of Death, and standing before him with a sword pointed at him was Gu Fei.

“How was this possible?!” all wondered as they gazed back at the alley entrance.

The Mage’s spell burned something fiercely, and the others’ attacks hit something as well, yet what they had hit was a bunch of Werewolves that was currently crowding the alley entrance.

“JUST WHAT IS GOING ON?!” everyone exclaimed in unison.

It was at this point that the system’s wickedness was thoroughly displayed. Even the fighting expert Gu Fei would be unable to instantly deduce where all the attacks had come from with so many of them being unleashed at once, yet the system did so instantly. It did not even go through the process of searching for the attackers and merely sicced the Werewolves on their respective assailants – the ones shot by arrows ran straight toward the hiding Archer; the ones struck by the thrown weapons bounded toward the hiding places of the Warrior and Thief; the ones affected by an AOE spell hurtled themselves toward the petrified Mage who had it the worst as his attack inflicted the most damage on the monsters, filling him with endless despair that sapped him of the will to flee; and since a Werewolf got ensnared by the Hunting Trap while being fired at by an Archer, it did not let the Hunter off.

The Hunter’s Hunting Trap was only at level 40, so the level 70 Werewolf merely trampled on it when the trap got triggered. Still, the system counted that as a form of attack and unleashed a deadly consequence on the poor player.

Even Gu Fei was a little taken aback by such a scene.

He did not know that Nightmare of Death had set up an ambush for him while fleeing. His Blink’s cool-down time had long ended, but since Nightmare of Death had been more than five meters away from him, he had saved it for when Nightmare of Death’s Fleetfoot would end. In that way, he could bridge the five-meter gap between them and catch him by surprise with his Blink once more.

When Nightmare of Death had darted out of the alleyway and into the clearing, his Fleetfoot had already ended, so the distance between him and Gu Fei had subsequently shrunk. Moreover, he had intentionally slowed down his pace to lure Gu Fei into their ambush upon exiting the alleyway. This had given Gu Fei a chance to teleport himself right next to him. As for the mob of Werewolves... Gu Fei had not intentionally pulled them. He might be an OP fighter, yet his gaming knowledge was rudimentary at best. Something like the Werewolves’ aggro range was only known to the experienced gamer Nightmare of Death and ilk. Gu Fei, for his part, was absolutely clueless about it.

If the Werewolves had been dumbly standing around in place, Gu Fei could have appropriately given them a wide berth, but since they had been moving about to patrol the village aimlessly, while Nightmare of Death had deftly eluded their aggro range, Gu Fei, meanwhile, had clumsily lured a load of them over.

These Werewolves possessed slightly faster movement speed than Gu Fei. While Gu Fei slowly closed in on Nightmare of Death, the Werewolves behind slowly gained ground on him as well. He had resolved to kill Nightmare of Death and had not even thought of giving up the chase even when he had spotted the Werewolves hot on his heels. Since he knew how to handle the Werewolves, Gu Fei was unafraid of them catching up to him. Instead, he had focused his energy on catching up to Nightmare of Death. When the opportunity to finally use Blink came, he unhesitatingly did so, increasing his distance to the Werewolves as a corollary.

And yet, the scene currently unfolding before Gu Fei made him reflect on his action. He had been far too careless! Were it not for the fact that he had coincidentally used Blink before exiting the alleyway, he would be unable to survive all these people’s attacks with his speed.

Could he even dodge such an ambush? Gu Fei dared not think of it any longer; he would just cross the bridge when he got there.

Still, that was a really close shave! Gu Fei might be reflecting on his carelessness internally, yet he still could not help but laugh at the scene unfolding before him.

The Werewolves were not as set on targeting Gu Fei as he was on Nightmare of Death, so when he exited their aggro range, plenty of them readily gave up chasing after him, while Gu Fei continued his hunt for Nightmare of Death. No more new Werewolves appeared in that rundown alleyway, and those still trailing after Gu Fei already showed signs of giving up their pursuit as well. This bunch of helpers in the clearing actually unintentionally gained the Werewolves’ aggro for themselves and became the monsters’ newest targets. Instantly, the small clearing turned into a crime scene for these Werewolves.

Even the players whom Gu Fei had not guessed the hiding places of emerged following the Werewolves’ crazed hunt for them. The whole place echoed the surrounding players’ resentful cries. The poor Mage, who got surrounded by a whole pack of Werewolves, steeled his heart and killed himself off with his spell... With how these Werewolves tore and bit their targets, these players even suspected if they would still be in one piece when they respawned.

Since the rest of the gang did not have the capability to escape the Werewolves, none of them was able to escape a tragic end. Although the Thief managed to escape with Fleetfoot, since he had been focusing on the monsters behind him, he gained the aggro of the many Werewolves along the way, and when his Fleetfoot’s duration ended....

Before long, the people that Nightmare of Death had brought with him to Suoyun Village were killed off by the Werewolves, and only Gu Fei and Nightmare of Death escaped the massacre since they were outside of the Werewolves’ aggro range.

Nightmare of Death no longer had any schemes left in him and waited for Gu Fei to do his deed. Contrary to expectation, Gu Fei sighed and said, “Forget it. I’ll let you off this one time!” As Nightmare of Death stared at him with dumbfounded eyes, Gu Fei continued, “Go and join your brothers!” With that, Gu Fei forcefully kicked Nightmare of Death into the arms of a Werewolf....