Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Everyone watching the spectacle exclaimed, “Whoa! That works, too?”

Gu Fei was not done yet. Pulling out a coil of rope mid-air, he lassoed it forty-five degrees up the tree branches and found purchase in the foliage above. The branch that that had supported his weight thus far fell as Gu Fei decisively abandoned it in favor of swinging forward from the rope. He then nimbly climbed up the rope for a bit. Gu Fei was aware that if he did position himself higher on the rope, he would most likely find himself crashing into the ground once the rope swung back to its lowest point.

All of this was accomplished quickly and smoothly, and the crowd cried out once more, “He even brought a rope?! Is this guy an acrobat or something?!”

Gu Fei was disgruntled when he heard this. Acrobatics? This was kung fu!

Chinese legend spoke of the Eighteen Arms, when in fact that number was entirely arbitrary. With the changing of times and advancement of many dynasties, various versions of these eighteen rose. Nonetheless, when one looked at these eighteen based on their overarching classifications, they were essentially consisted of projectile weapons, long weapons, short weapons, flexible weapons, and no weapons.

Dividing these major classes into subcategories, every iteration or version could be part of the fabled Eighteen Arms. As such, it was impossible to claim mastery over all these eighteen. Besides, Gu Fei had never heard of any martial art practitioner researching and honing strange weapons, such as Wolf Teeth Mace, Twin Hammer, and Meteor Hammer. In Gu Fei’s case, he had not even learned anything about ranged weapons in any form.

The rest needed not be mentioned for now. Still, this particular acrobatic skill with the rope that Gu Fei had demonstrated was truly kung fu. It belonged to the classification of flexible weapons, particularly under the rope subcategory. While an acrobat would surely be able to swing like him and with more finesse, Gu Fei was confident an acrobat could not tie the rope’s end to a tree with just a toss like him. This inherent skill that Gu Fei had just displayed was once more lost to the laymen witnessing it, causing Gu Fei to feel a bout of sadness.

Still, whether it was kung fu or acrobatic, everyone present was rooted to the spot as they witnessed Gu Fei’s amazing performance. It was not just his comrades, too. Even Deep Waters, who was twenty-five meters away from Gu Fei, was thoroughly mesmerized by the entire sequence, only snapping back to reality the moment Gu Fei propelled himself and appeared right before him.

The most important criterion to be a top class Archer was to never let any other player get close to him or her. Despite Deep Waters advancing his job class to a Hunter, this criterion remained. He had no wish to become entangled in melee combat at all, so he turned to seek cover from the tree beside him. As long as he could disengage from this opponent, Deep Waters was confident that he could escape anyone tracking him. It was as the old adage went: ‘Born of this jungle, he is familiar with every aspect of it.’

Unfortunately for him, Gu Fei was not about to let him do this. Raising his finger in the air, Gu Fei quickly chanted, “Electric Wall! Fall!”

Electric Wall instantly formed right before Deep Waters; he would have run directly into its crackling embrace had he reacted a moment slower. By the time he stopped himself and moved to circle around it, Gu Fei had already dashed beside him and mercilessly delivered a slash. Gu Fei followed this up with a leg sweep, which matched the pace of Deep Waters’ footsteps, in an effort to trip the latter.

Unexpectedly, Deep Waters leaped forward in the instant that Gu Fei executed the leg sweep, causing the latter to hit nothing but air. Gu Fei could not control how many people got killed or injured whenever he used kung fu, but it was extremely rare for him to entirely miss his intended target like this. Therefore, he received quite the shock that Deep Waters had actually managed dodge the move that he had considered to be flawless.

Gu Fei did not dare to slow down to think about this now and just hurriedly gave chase to Deep Waters. The movement speed the latter possessed might be better than his, but as long as the distance between them was no more than five meters, Gu Fei was certain he would not miss the second time around, especially once Blink’s cooldown ended.

This plan was just formulated in his mind when he felt the slightest vibration under his feet. Gu Fei’s heart cried out and he quickly took a step backward.

A trap was actually buried in this spot... Gu Fei came to the realization on how Deep Waters had managed to dodge his leg sweep just then. The man did not actually react to his kick but was consciously leaping over to avoid the set trap in this spot, coincidentally allowing him to dodge Gu Fei’s leg sweep.

Gu Fei dodged the moment he triggered the trap, his reaction speed already reaching the peak of what was humanly possible. Gu Fei reckoned that if this trap were in reality, his neat dodging might even cause it to not trigger; after all, a certain amount of strength must be exerted to trigger the trap. Sadly, this game was not bounded by such principles of physics when it came to trap activation. No matter how much pressure or strength was exerted, the trap would get triggered once touched. This trap which Sakurazaka Moony had classified as of higher caliber came to life way fiercer than the normal traps, leaping right out to ensnare its target once triggered.

Fortunately, Gu Fei was already mentally prepared for this after his last encounter with such traps. His sword was already out as he took that hop back, executing this move faster than the last time.

The self-proclaimed number one expert trapper in Parallel World Deep Waters was still fleeing up ahead. Deep Water’s skill with traps was naturally amazing, so when he heard the boing sound of the trap springing behind him, he immediately knew that it had been triggered.

Who else could be chasing him right now but Gu Fei? Deep Waters did not expect that this man would actually get caught so soon. To think Deep Waters was worrying about his previous leap being too obvious to the point of telegraphing his intention to Gu Fei. Despite the man’s nimbleness, his brain was apparently not as quick!

With such a thought in mind, Deep Waters ecstatically turned his head over to look, only to see a very familiar object noisily flying straight toward him. Before Deep Waters could scream, a snapping sound ended the boing sound.

“Wa ha ha ha!” Sakurazaka Moony looked over to watch Gu Fei’s chase as he ran outside the AOE of the cast Descending Wheel of Flames and Blazing Tree of a Thousand Inferno. He was currently closer to the action, so he could see the two’s movement clearly. Sakurazaka Moony seemed as though he would roll on the floor laughing any moment now. Amid his fits of uncontrollable laughter, he pointed his hand to Deep Waters and mocked, “You’re definitely worthy of the title as the number one trap expert! To actually get a d*mn trap clamped on your nose like that... I admit I am no match for that!”

Deep Waters was already in tears, and they were actual tears of anguish that he could not hold back, either.

What made Deep Waters feel more pain, though, was the fact that he could not move at all! The trap was not clamping on his leg but his nose, yet the effect it had still left him immobile. Even he, the number one trap expert, did not know that such a situation could occur, as no one had really thought of trying to do this before!

This must be a BUG! Deep Waters thought in his despair.

Gu Fei was actually rather surprised that such a situation had occurred as well. He did flick the trap stuck to his sword toward Deep Waters’ head, but he did not expect the man to turn around and get his nose caught in the trap like that, much less imagine that it would actually have the same effect as clamping on a foot.

The trap would only fall off after the skill effect ended – this was the system’s inviolable rule. Thus, Deep Waters could only freeze on this position with the trap biting on his nose, looking absolutely comical that any self-respecting experts with a shred of decency would rather commit suicide to spare themselves of the embarrassment. As such, when Gu Fei came up to him with that sinisterly glinting sword, Deep Waters was hoping he would quickly finish him off and end this embarrassment.

Gu Fei did not lash out with his sword when he got near, though; instead, his free hand rummaged inside his dimensional pocket.

Could this man have an even crueler tool?! Deep Water was about to protest when he saw Gu Fei pull out an apple and munch on it as he stood there, asking, “How are you feeling?”

Using Blink at its maximum range, Twin Incineration, and Electric Wall at its maximum cost... That was the very limit of Gu Fei’s mana, and he currently did not have even a drip left in him to cast more spells.

“Hmph!” Deep Waters wanted to harrumph in defiance, yet no sound came out as his nose was currently clamped. In the end, he could only open his mouth to speak, “It’s best if you kill me while you still can, even if doing so is useless. After all, there’s no way any of you can get out of this jungle even if I die. I’ll be back soon. Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!”

Deep Waters’ ptooey was not actually directed at Gu Fei. Since the trap was buried in the ground, plenty of mud and dirt were caught on it. Now that the trap was dangling right above his mouth, these mud and dirt particles got inside his mouth every time he opened it, making it extremely difficult for him to talk.

“He he!” Gu Fei chuckled as he tossed the half-eaten apple away. He put his hand inside his dimensional pocket again and pulled out another coil of rope, saying, “What’s the point of killing you?”

In the next moment, his right arm whirled about – the tip of his sword once more scorched out a V-shaped trail and, following this sequence of actions, two Thieves appeared in thin air and quickly morphed into white lights.

“No need to call your comrades over; Stealth doesn’t work on me,” Gu Fei said.

Deep Waters was perplexed. He knew his ally Thieves were closing in on Gu Fei with Stealth, yet even he did not know when they would strike. He did totally not expect Gu Fei to be cognizant of this better than him and have the ability to dispose the two players with a wave of his arm.

Gu Fei could still perceive some Thieves eyeing him, yet since they were not attempting to get close to him, he merely turned his attention over to Deep Waters as he proceeded to stoop over and tie the rope in hand around Deep Waters’ legs.

“F*CK!” Deep Waters got what Gu Fei was trying to do. While his lower half could not put up a struggle, his upper half was still free to do so. Bending his waist, he moved to stop Gu Fei. However, Gu Fei immediately distanced himself from him once he finished tying Deep Waters up.

Tying Sacred Flames of Baptism on the rope’s other end, Gu Fei tossed it over to the crowd and shouted, “Catch!”

“Got it!” War Without Wounds answered from within the crowd as he deftly caught the weapon.

“Drag him back!” Gu Fei ordered.

“Roger that!” War Without Wounds flexed.

“F*ck your ancestors!” Deep Waters bellowed as the rope around his ankles became taut with that tug of War Without Wounds. With the force exerted on his legs, Deep Waters came crashing to the ground.