Chapter 83 - Eliminating a threat for the people?
While Gu Fei and Coward’s Savior were discussing about kung fu inside Youye Valley, the players outside were slowly becoming more and more restless. In the end, the players who had come to watch the spectacle or had taken the mission in their hopeless wish to fight with Gu Fei returned to Yueye City one after another.
Currently, only the players of Past Deeds and the group of Dusky Cloud – No Smile’s friend – and his buddies remained.
Dusky Cloud and company continued to put up the farce of grinding levels on the monsters nearby.
“Old Cloud, should we return to the city as well?” one of his buddies suddenly asked.
Not much could be said about Youye Valley’s entrance in terms of serving as a grinding spot. Although the players were able to grind on monsters suitable to their levels in the area, the monsters that could be found were few and far between. It was as if the NPC mobs had only been placed there for ornamental purpose. Obviously, this meant that the valley entrance was not a map designed for players to grind levels.
“No,” Dusky Cloud gazed at the Past Deeds’ guild members, “I feel great just by seeing the bunch of clowns from Past Deeds make a fool of themselves. You guys can head back first. I’ll enjoy this scene for a while longer.”
“Be careful. Vast Lushness might trouble you if she grows frustrated,” someone warned.
“I’m not afraid of her,” Dusky Cloud laughed dryly, “I have No Smile’s dagger with me. If the Past Deeds’ men come over, I can activate Vanish and play a game of hide-and-seek with them.”
“No Smile’s Zephyr’s Whisper? Why do you have it?” someone asked in surprise.
“The fear of death got to No Smile. He didn’t want to lose the dagger, so he mailed it over to me,” Dusky Cloud explained.
“Oh. Have fun playing with that, then. We’re returning to the city first,” his companions said as they left.
Dusky Cloud swished the dagger, continuing to cut the few monsters close-by while keeping an eye on the Past Deeds’ guild members.
“Lushness, should we take our leave, too?” Blue Ease could tell that many of their men had long lost their patience to lie in wait for Gu Fei.
“How long have we been waiting here?” Vast Lushness asked.
“Close to four hours,” Blue Ease looked at the time before glancing at the mission log, “His PK value is now at 9 points from the original 11.”
“Alright, all of you can retreat! Let’s not waste everyone’s time waiting here,” Vast Lushness sighed.
“What about you?” Blue Ease asked.
“I’ll continue waiting for that guy to come out!” Vast Lushness spat.
“That’s not a good idea!” Blue Ease exclaimed, “If even several players together can’t subdue him, you alone won’t be able to do so as well. Let’s just station a Thief on Stealth here to inform us if the Mage finally exits the valley.”
“Stealth is useless. I think he has an item that can detect it,” Vast Lushness said, “I’ll stay behind. I’m already at level 29, anyway. It’s no biggie even if he drops me by another level. You guys can leave first!”
“Want me to stay with you?” Blue Ease suggested.
“Just leave,” Vast Lushness shooed everyone away, “I’ll call you guys if something comes up.”
“We’ll head to a nearby grinding spot, then!” after saying this, he brought his grinding buddies away from the place. As for the other members, they all dispersed into different directions.
Vast Lushness tidied herself up, and then she began brandishing her magic staff around to grind on the monsters nearby. As a Priest with Intelligence- and Spirit-based build, handling the sparse monsters around was not a problem with her Holy Ball that dealt quite a bit of damage and her fast casting speed.
At this very moment, the nearby Dusky Cloud’s heartbeat quickened.
Chance! A rare opportunity like this of the Past Deeds’ lackeys not being around that shrew should not be missed! This arrogant b*tch may think that nobody will dare kill her, but that’s not true anymore. After all, the method of wearing a mask has already abounded in Yueye City.
Everyone knew that the victim would not find out the murderer’s identity as long as the culprit wore a mask. As Dusky Cloud thought of this, he was almost tempted to try it himself. In the end, he gritted his teeth and activated his Stealth.
Given the Priest job class’ slow movement speed, Vast Lushness would have no way of avoiding Dusky Cloud’s swift attack. Even if Vast Lushness stubbornly tried to heal the damage, she would still eventually run out of mana. This was why Priests could not fight with other job classes on their own.
Dusky Cloud, who was on Stealth, edged closer to her. He looked around and saw some players passing by some distance away. He was sure that they were not from Past Deeds. After all, Dusky Cloud had personally seen each member of Past Deeds leave.
This is too great of an opportunity! Dusky Cloud swallowed his saliva as he crept behind Vast Lushness.
Backstab! Dusky Cloud successfully pierced Vast Lushness once with Zephyr’s Whisper.
Vast Lushness was shocked by the sudden pain she felt. But as an experienced Priest, she did not waste time in finding out the culprit’s identity; instead, she swiftly bestowed Heal on herself.
And yet, an unknown Priest’s Heal beat Vast Lushness’ Heal to the punch, as it landed on her body before her own could.
Dusky Cloud was an experienced player as well. Once he saw that Heal landed twice on Vast Lushness, he deduced that someone else had assisted her. Sweeping his gaze around, he saw a player with raised arms among the party of people he had spotted earlier.
It was the exact pose a Priest would make when bestowing Heal.
Dusky Cloud felt furious. Vast Lushness was notorious in Yueye City for her nefarious deeds, and he was actually doing the local players a favor by killing her! It was one thing to not help, but to actually interfere with his action was another! Just who was this irrational person? He suspected that the opponent did not clearly see that the woman he had attacked was Vast Lushness. Otherwise, any self respecting player of Yueye City would be able to determine who was in the right here. Just as he was about to reveal Vast Lushness’ identity to them, an arrow whistled through the air and knocked him off his feet.
“M*th*rf*ck*ng D*CKS!” Dusky Cloud cursed. The damage from that Snipe had almost insta-killed him.
Vast Lushness had turned around by now. With a quick chant, she summoned Holy Ball out. Activating Vanish at the moment would not do much for Dusky Cloud, as Vanish did not equate to attack immunity. Being this close to Vast Lushness meant that her Holy Ball would reach him before he could activate Vanish and move away. Hence, only death awaited Dusky Cloud now.
Just as Dusky Cloud resigned himself to his fate, a healing light unexpectedly enveloped his body. It was the unknown Priest’s handiwork. The unknown Priest’s Heal was on another level compared to Vast Lushness’ Holy Ball, so the damage dealt by the latter’s attack was easily negated by the healing properties of the former’s skill.
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The saved Dusky Cloud, however, felt more surprised than elated by this turn of event. This Priest acted so fast! This new Priest was able to bestow Heal on me before Vast Lushness’ Holy Ball landed on me! Vast Lushness has Intelligence- and Spirit-based build, and yet her attack was easily nullified by this unknown Priest. Did this person actually add all points toward Spirit?
Dusky Cloud received another shock while he was watching the group draw closer. F*ck, here comes the Priest! And it’s yet another female Priest!
When the group was close enough for Dusky Cloud to have a clearer look of the ‘female Priest’, he could not help but to be shocked again, F*ck me! It's just a guy that looks so much like a d*mn woman.
First he saved me, and then he saved the Thief, Vast Lushness was feeling baffled about what had just happened as well. She tried to unleash another attack on the Thief, yet Dusky Cloud had already activated the dagger’s Vanish and disappeared from sight. Vast Lushness did not know where he was now, so she could only stay on her guard while taking note of the group of players approaching her.
There were five of them. She could tell that they were a Thief, Priest, Warrior, Knight, and Archer based on their equipment.
She was sure that they were not a grinding party, as no grinding party would have such a balanced job-class composition. Furthermore, a grinding party would always have a powerful AOE Mage in its ranks.
When the group finally arrived beside her, the Knight pointed toward Youye Valley and asked Vast Lushness in a courteous manner, “Miss, what is this place called?”
“Youye Valley,” Vast Lushness answered.
“It’s here?” The Archer asked suspiciously.
“Are you questioning my ability to determine the correct coordinates?” the Priest asked icily.
This group of men saved me, and then proceeded to save that guy as well. Now that they’re in front of me, they’re not even bringing it up? Vast Lushness could not tell what was going on anymore. Even Dusky Cloud who was on Stealth was at a loss.
However, only one answer could explain their question and their ignorance of their whereabouts: They were not local players.
“Miss, is this a high-level grinding map?” the Knight continued to question Vast Lushness.
Vast Lushness nodded her head, “The monsters in this valley are at level 50.”
The Knight nodded. Four members of the group extended their hands toward the Archer, “Pay up!”
The Archer paled as he took out his money pouch from his dimensional pocket with a trembling hand. He counted out 40 gold coins and divided them into four portions.
These five men were of course the five pros that made up Young Master’s Elite mercenary group. They had made a bet before they set off. In light of Gu Fei’s coordinates not changing despite being hunted, the four had surmised that he was hiding in a high-level grinding map that the regular players dared not enter.
Only Royal God Call presumed that Gu Fei had used the previous method of hiding in a cave to weather the storm. As it turned out....
“No!” Royal God Call suddenly returned all the gold coins inside the pouch although he had already separated it into four equal portions, “We’ve yet to find that man. There’s a chance he’s actually in a cave within the valley.”
“That’s not possible,” Young Master Han firmly rejected his hypothesis, “This regional map uses a similar geographic coordinate system to Yunduan City’s. Given that the numbers in the coordinates displayed are large, the chances of him being in a cave are almost non-existent.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?!” Royal God Call asked indignantly.
“B*llsh*t! If I told you earlier, I wouldn’t be earning 10 gold coins from you right now. Enough talking; just hand over the money already!” Young Master Han impatiently replied.
Royal God Call gazed accusingly at the other three men before him, yet they skillfully avoided his gaze. Obviously, the other three had already known of this fact.
“You’re all scums…” Royal God Call fumed, as he divided the gold coins once more.
Brother Assist patted his back, “Keep practicing! People will treat you as a joke if you call yourself a pro, yet you can’t even read coordinates.”
It was too late for Royal God Call to regret making the bet now.
“So what now? Do we go in or call him out?” War Without Wounds asked.
“Can we go inside?” Sword Demon stared at the entrance to the level 50 grinding map, eager to give it a try. He sincerely wished to be able to do whatever Gu Fei could do, not realizing that his initial thought of being on par with Gu Fei had now been replaced by a chasing-after-my-idol’s-shadow thought.
“He said he’s being chased by hordes of players, right? Why don’t I see anyone around, then?” Brother Assist said as he looked everywhere.
“Am I not a player?!” Vast Lushness was riled up by his crass comment.
Brother Assist laughed at her words but did not say a word. This woman was just a Priest. Was there a Priest who could hunt a player alone?
Vast Lushness had already gleaned clues from the five’s snippets of conversation, “You guys came from Yunduan City to kill that Close Combat Mage, right?”
The five froze up in unison.
“How should we address you, Miss?” Brother Assist asked after a bit.
“My IGN is Vast Lushness,” she replied.
“What are you doing here all by yourself?” Brother Assist asked further.
“I’m waiting for that guy to come out,” Vast Lushness said harshly through gritted teeth. Her intentions were made apparent to everyone who could hear her.
The five exchanged looks.
“Kill?” Royal God Call asked on the mercenary channel.