Chapter 74 - Consequences of Being a Blabbermouth
Gu Fei was… very wrong.
He realized how foolish he was for belittling his opponents’ IQ levels when a single bellow from the guy watching the Quest Assignment Hub’s entrance had caused countless players to emerge from the four corners of the street like a volcanic eruption.
Gu Fei had let his guard down when he assumed that those guarding the entrance were mere knuckleheads. After all, they were just lying in wait for him where he could clearly see them. If Gu Fei had not seen their foolish action, he might have remained cautious. And before daring to enter the Quest Assignment Hub, he would have probably asked someone to check if there were any Past Deeds’ guild members inside.
The opponents must have been wary of something like this happening, so they had arranged for a few dumb-looking members to stand guard by the entrance. Meanwhile, the real ambush had been secretly prepared. A majority of the players would be less alert upon seeing that such an idiotic approach was used to deal with them. They would even think that everything was under control, and they only had to figure out a way to deal with the situation.
Gu Fei belonged to that category, and that was the first reason why his judgment had gone awry.
The second reason, in which Gu Fei was truly at fault, was how he acted like a blabbermouth when he had already disguised himself. The opposing players might have been suspicious of his getup, but they would not have revealed their ambush with just that. After all, they were unsure if it was really him. If they wrongly confronted Gu Fei and the real culprit was lurking nearby, their ambush would be seen through. The opposing players could only test the water by getting one or two to approach Gu Fei. However, doing that would surely cause Gu Fei to be on guard. That was supposed to be the flaw behind their arrangement.
And yet, Gu Fei had unthinkingly revealed himself to his opponents before they even started to test the water with him. Was there still a need to remain hesitant? The opposing players immediately carried out their ambush, and Gu Fei, the fish, was thoroughly hooked.
The Past Deeds’ guild members were very serious in carrying out their psychological warfare against Gu Fei, yet he had treated everything like a big joke, even disdaining his opponents’ intelligence. This resulted into him suffering a huge loss.
Things did not look good for Gu Fei after he had been surrounded by layers of people. However, not giving up until the last minute was Gu Fei’s way of living as well. Either due to time constraints or Gu Fei being alone, the number of ambushers was not actually that high. Gu Fei found the current situation to be considerably better than when he had been chased by tens of thousands players in Yunduan City.
Gu Fei decided to strike now in order to escape before his opponents’ backups arrived. He pulled out Moonlit Nightfalls from his dimensional pocket.
Due to the restriction of Sword Aptitude, Gu Fei could not utilize the full attack power of his sword. Precise calculation was needed to determine just how high his current damage output. But recalling the sensation he had felt whenever his sword attack connected previously, the current damage that he could deal was probably about half of its maximum damage output. That was slightly lower than the damage dealt by Sacred Flames of Baptism with its additional fire attack. However, Gu Fei needed precisely a weapon that could provide consistent damage like Moonlit Nightfalls right now, as he was in a worrying situation that had him on the receiving end of a group attack. Sacred Flames of Baptism’s inconsistent 30% proc rate might really cost Gu Fei his life if he used it at the moment. Furthermore, if the additional fire damage was excluded in the equation, then its attack power was actually far lower than Moonlit Nightfalls.
Gu Fei jumped down the entrance’s flight of stairs and pointed Moonlit Nightfalls outward.
He was about to attempt one of the unique moves in Gu Family’s Inheritance Arts: Zhao San Mu Si1.
Gu Fei really disliked this move’s name. While naming a kung fu move after a Chinese idiom was elegant, this particular move was not elegant in the slightest.
In truth, the move was a very ancient sword style. The original meaning of the idiom “Zhao San Mu Si” basically described the very move, which meant “to see through the ruse in order to perceive the truth”. And from this, it could be inferred that the move was just a big and flashy trick.
When unleashing the move, the user would have to strike with a sword at his or her numerous opponents swiftly and incessantly. The strikes would be a mixture of feints and real attacks. The feint attacks would be pulled back right before connecting, creating the illusion of an actual attack; meanwhile, the real attacks would be plunged into the targets viciously. A substantial amount of strength would be needed for every pierce made if every attack connected. Considering that the opponents were usually some distance away, it was unrealistic to actually pierce so many of them in an instant. Hence, for this swordplay move, the more feints the user could make, the more opponents he or she could target. Given Gu Fei’s prowess in reality, he could jab at twelve targets with only one real target within a specified time.
With the current restrictions from his limited stat points, Gu Fei figured that he could only pierce six times at most using the move. But if he slightly altered his attacks by not thoroughly piercing a target, he could add two more pierces into the move.
And he did exactly just that. Gu Fei swung Moonlit Nightfalls for eight times and jab at different targets each time, his sword coming alive with every blow. Zhao San Mu Si was a move that could even deceive those who knew real kung fu, so fooling the average players with it was a piece of cake.
In an instant, eight players, who had become Gu Fei’s designated targets, assumed that a sword was about to stab them, causing them to reflexively swing the weapons in their hands to parry it. The surrounding players heard that this person had gotten rid of their leader in just three sword swings, so he was definitely not someone that they should underestimate. What they did not know, however, was that their leader had just been unlucky enough to proc the 30% fire attack in all of Gu Fei’s three swings.
Gu Fei glanced at those receiving his attacks and felt very satisfied with their reactions. As expected of a city where PvP was all the rage, the fighting standard of the players was high indeed. They were astutely blocking his attacks with their weapons. Had this occurred in Yunduan City, half of the noobish players would have probably done something as stupid as stand still to endure Gu Fei’s sword attacks and continue trading blows with him.
The result was gratifying, indeed. Gu Fei had managed to make the eight players retreat with a sword in hand. He matched the combat’s flow and stepped into the opening within the crowd, executing the same move once more.
Gu Fei carried out his assault on six targets this time.
The others would eventually see through Gu Fei’s trickery if he relied on it too much. He no longer dared to underestimate his opponents’ IQ levels, so he hid a real attack among the six sword strikes. As for the target of this attack, it was of course Gu Fei’s favorite prey: the Thief.
The HP of Mages was actually lower than Thieves. However, the ones who would always rush onward to close in on Gu Fei never included Mages. This would leave the Thieves to be the ones with the lowest HP among his melee attackers.
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Five feint attacks later, Gu Fei pointed Moonlit Nightfalls at the Thief.
The Thief raised his dagger nimbly to block the sword. Gu Fei revealed a faint smile as he easily changed the angle of the sword; the blade’s tip brushed past the dagger’s tip and landed on the Thief’s forehead.
The Thief screamed at the top of his lungs. Having something stabbed onto one’s forehead was a horrible feeling, after all.
Gu Fei unleashed the same move for the third time after turning the blade’s tip. Zhao San Mu Si had been unleashed in an anti-clockwise direction just then; it was unleashed in a clockwise direction this time. Gu Fei’s very first strike was a legitimate attack, and its target was once again the poor Thief.
The Thief died on the spot after being attacked twice with Moonlit Nightfalls’ allowed maximum damage. Gu Fei’s PK points would naturally increase by 1 point, but that was something he had expected. Could he cause an impact if all he did was unleash flashy moves that neither harmed nor killed the others? Once these players realized that Gu Fei’s swordplay was lacking in power, they would be bold enough to move forward. If the reinforcement arrived at that time, he would be a goner for sure – unless of course he miraculously turned into Superman or Spider-man.
The impact of Gu Fei’s fighting prowess had already taken shape. However, he should not become lax in inflicting mental distress on to his opponents either. Taking advantage of the retreating group of players, Gu Fei carved a circle onto the ground with the tip of his sword. The sword motion’s resulting gust of wind had lifted the dust off the ground, scattering it in the air in all three hundred and sixty degrees.
“This is MY sword cordon! Anyone who steps inside will only find one outcome… DEATH!” Guess I need to act tough at this crucial moment, Gu Fei thought to himself.
The opposing players were visibly shaken, as they stared at Gu Fei’s sword, not even daring to make the slightest movement. They had seen with their eyes how Gu Fei killed their fellow Thief with just two stabs. While Thieves truly have low HP, this man did not even use a skill on our brother! More importantly, what exactly is his job class? The surrounding players were using Appraisal like crazy, but nothing came up.
Gu Fei was not feeling too good either! His opponents had temporarily stopped their movements as they were shaken by his actions. They now formed a circle around him. With how wide the circle was, Gu Fei was unable to kill his way out of it. The opposing players had yet to react properly, but Gu Fei would be done for once they mobilized their Archers and Mages to carry out aerial assaults from a vantage point.
How can I get out of this encirclement?! Gu Fei eyed the various players currently surrounding him. While nobody among them stepped forward to challenge Gu Fei, they did not show a worried look since they had superiority in numbers. They knew that Gu Fei could not slay everyone, yet nobody wanted to be on the offensive recklessly. If it came down to a scuffle, Gu Fei would recklessly struggle to the bitter end. He would probably take down two players with him if he was going down to their concerted attacks. Nobody wished to become one of those ‘two’, so everyone was hoping for someone to come up with a safer approach.
“Where’re the Archer and Mage?!” someone asked loudly.
Upon hearing this, Gu Fei knew that he could not afford to wait anymore. He decided to use his life to bet for his freedom with no other choices left. He swung Moonlit Nightfalls wildly once more after a loud roar. The real attack of Zhao San Mu Si was pointed toward a Warrior this time.
His current move was a little lacking, as he had run out of time to vary his attacks when the targeted Warrior blocked with his claymore. The two swords clashed, and Gu Fei’s purlicue went numb. The Warrior was all fired up upon seeing that he had managed to block Gu Fei’s attack, so he raised his hand to follow up with a slash.
Gu Fei gritted his teeth and held Moonlit Nightfalls horizontally to block the overhead slash. The impact from blocking the attack had shaken loose the tears in Gu Fei’s lacrimal glands. He felt extremely aggrieved when he experienced such Strength difference despite the opposing Warrior possessing a scrawny physique.
Gu Fei was pushed a few steps backward from the clash, yet his hand did not remain idle. He went along with the strike’s impetus as he retreated, reflexively moving his hand holding a sword backward. There was a name for this move as well: Dao Ying Lai2. It was specifically used to sneak in an attack on the enemy behind.
A player standing behind Gu Fei was of course unable to block such a brilliant move, and Moonlit Nightfalls stabbed right at him. The player got the shock of his life when he saw that only half of his HP remained. Gu Fei turned his body around in accordance. His other hand had unnoticeably become adorned with a Chinese broadsword as well, and he proceeded to perform a downward slash from the head.
The opposing player was so shocked that he was sweating all over. He reached his hand out in the hope of blocking the attack. He actually managed to stop it by grabbing Gu Fei’s arm before it fully descended.
Gu Fei quickly retracted Moonlit Nightfalls in his other hand and posed to cut his opponent once more. Having already experienced the sword’s attack before, the opposing player knew that one more strike from it would mean his death. Panicking and not putting much thought into the matter, he tossed his arms in the air and yelled, “Go to hell!”
Gu Fei sailed outside with a whoosh, yet he actually felt deeply relieved.
This was what he had been waiting for. Level 30 Fighter skill, Seismic Toss.
Gu Fei had believed that the player was a level 30 Fighter, and that he would reflexively use Seismic Toss when in dire straits to save himself. Gu Fei had finally made a correct judgment this time.
He had been successfully tossed out of the encirclement right now! It was time to run!
Chapter Notes:
[1] For those who are interested, the Chinese idiom is 朝三暮四.
[2]Dao Ying Lai (倒影来 in Chinese).