699 Chapter 699 - Playing to the Death (1/2)
Brave Surge and his men all knew about the special setting for the duration of the City Wars event, where if a player was participating in a quest and died before it was completed, they would automatically fail the quest. Now that they had obliterated everybody inside the cavity with a round of spell bombardment, Brave Surge believed that their quest would have been disrupted as a result and was at least a little satisfied with this resolution.
”Go. Look for the NPC.” This time, Brave Surge sent a comrade that he could depend on down into the cavity. Brave Surge had no desire to search a place twice, and he had already secretly made the decision that no matter the task from here onward, as long as it was any sort of vital quest, he would ensure that it was one of his dependable comrades that follow through on its progress.
When his dependable comrade went down into the cavity, he had also searched through all the tents inside and out once over. Finally, he came out and reported, ”There's no NPC here!”
”How is that possible?” Brave Surge was skeptical. He had personally came over to set up the defense for the quest before, and he had met the NPC Guillermo as well. How could it be nowhere to be found now? Could it have been insta-killed? Impossible; Brave Surge could not have been that careless. He had been looking down from the edge of the cavity just now, and he had specifically made sure that Guillermo was not among the bunch of players below before he obliterated them all. There was no way the NPC could be insta-killed if it was inside the tent, so how could it have died?
”Look around for clues,” Brave Surge took several men down to personally search the area, turning each tent inside out carefully, even going so far as to flip the tables and chairs to see if they were hiding any sort of secret passageway, but nothing turned up.
”Did the NPC die?” Someone asked.
”It would respawn even if it died, right?”
”Maybe it's something unique to City Wars? After all, the NPC guards that were posted around our camps had not respawned after we killed them,” another chimed in.
”Was those guys' quest to kill the NPC?” Everyone began to guess.
Some hypothesized it died, while there were naturally those who guessed that it had run off. In any case, everyone discussed the matter until Brave Surge finally remembered about Flux Bead and began calling for him in the guild channel. Flux Bead had just made the decision to not tell them about what he discovered and was sulking about it, so he simply replied he had no idea. Brave Surge was not really in the mood to think too much about this random guild member, so he did not bother to show much concern and began trying to figure out what happened with his inner circle.
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Over with Folding Fan Invader, the 100 strong division of Archers and Thieves that he was in charge of were all job classes that possessed fast movement speed. A good number of them were even faster than Gu Fei, and with how they were able to shoot and give chase on the go, they were effectively able to hamper Gu Fei's movement greatly. However, Gu Fei persisted his whole way through, before he finally made it into the small copse of trees. Looking all around, he had no idea if the despicable men from Forever in Flowers were still hiding in that area. He turned around and saw his pursuers getting closer and closer, so he hastily continued his way through the trees without thinking twice.
”Drunk bro, be careful. There's a Trap in front of you,” a voice suddenly called out from one of the bushes on the side. Gu Fei reacted swiftly and somersaulted over the trap the moment he heard the cry.
”Cool!” That same voice praised. However, Folding Fan Invader had just stepped into the treeline and that cry had caught his attention almost immediately.
”There's an ambush here,” Folding Fan Invader called for everyone to halt their advance.
”Ambush? Who would actually be helping him out?” Someone expressed his doubts openly.
”Have you not heard the news? Those guys from Forever In Flowers had come and lent him a hand during his skirmish with Traversing Four Seas and Colored Clouds,” Folding Fan Invader glared at the person who had said that. These updates had already been announced over the guild channel, so anyone who had no idea about this must surely have not been paying any attention to the channel, despite the guild requesting its members to closely follow the information that was posted over the channel during the City Wars event.
That person looked embarrassed, no longer saying anything else as he laughed it off with a sheepish chuckle.
”Forever In Flowers is filled with Hunters. Everyone should beware of Traps,” Folding Fan Invader reminded.
”Tsk. What's so scary about those abhorrent boys? It's just stepping on a Trap, how can they kill me?” If the standard of players was rated across a scale, there was no doubt that the players from such large guilds would be highly rated, while a small guild like Forever in Flowers with a poor image and reprehensible qualities would be entirely disregarded. Such a sentiment was already expressed by quite a few people present as they showed their utter contempt toward the opponents they were facing this time.
”It's best to be careful,” Folding Fan Invader was honestly not afraid of Forever in Flowers either, but as the leader of this operation, he obviously could not be so casual about things, and decided it was better to err on the side of caution. ”Thirty. Guzzler; the two of you will lead 20 men each to our left and right to surround this copse from the outside.”
”Just 20 men? Would that be enough?” Thirty's full IGN was Beyond Thirty Miles. He felt very pressured when he heard Folding Fan Invader instruct him to bring 20 men to intercept Gu Fei. There were plenty of players who were convinced of Gu Fei's prowess, and there were those who had their doubts. Beyond Thirty Miles was considered to be one of the former.
”If you die, so be it. Remember to inform us where he is going,” Folding Fan Invader said.
”You're being far too inhumane!” Beyond Thirty Miles' tears were flowing freely as he counted out 20 men and departed. These people were all influenced by Beyond Thirty Miles' emotional state, so all of them were looking particularly morose, each consoling themselves using the fact that they would not lose their levels if they died.
”F*ck, what's so scary about this? It's not like we are milksops. Thousand Miles Drunk better not let me bump into me,” Among the twenty men that Guzzler was assigned to lead, there was one such player who doubted the capabilities of Gu Fei.
Beyond Thirty Miles turned around and glance at this person before laughing, ”Weren't you someone Gu Fei had stepped on earlier? What are you blustering on about?”
”M*th*rf*ck*r, I'll show him what's what!” That person bellowed as his ears turned red.
”Let's go!” Guzzler waved his troops off as he left with his group of twenty men.
”Everyone, keep your eyes peeled, and watch out for any Traps,” Folding Fan Invader reminded everyone again as he continued onward with the remaining 60 men and begin his search of the area.
Gu Fei stepped over a Trap, and the next thing he knew, a player from Forever in Flowers had pulled him to the side by a bush. Gu Fei took a look and saw that this bush was a man-made disguise that they had pulled together, though it looked very natural. He could not help but sigh at this sight. Truly, people with talent and skill could be found in all sorts of circles.
”Drunk bro,” as Thousand Miles Drunk's number one fan, Fireball had already made his way over from where he had been hiding out the moment he heard Gu Fei was back.
”Did you get anyone?” Gu Fei casually greeted him, feeling very repugnant upon uttering it out loud. Sure enough, the environment played a part in influencing people. Hanging out with these people here, even Gu Fei had involuntarily began to trend toward their line of thinking.
”Nope,” Fireball shook his head and continued to ask Gu Fei, ”any goods?”
”What?” This time, Gu Fei was clueless as to what he was referring to.
”Are there any ladies?” Fireball had no choice but to translate it for him.
”I don't know,” Gu Fei was nettled, so Fireball crooked his head out and asked the person beside him. The man's head was buried in the bush, while his eyes furtively scanned the place. He was very annoyed by Fireball's disturbance, ”Don't distract me. I'm currently looking!”
”G*dd*mm*t, let me have a look,” Fireball justled.
”Stop jostling. Go back to where you were.”
”F*ck*ng hell, you're trying to hoard it all to yourself. Quick, let me see.”
”No!”
”Are you courting death?”
”Just scram already.”
”Drunk bro, kill him!” Fireball proposed.
”I'll kill the both of you,” Gu Fei was exasperated. The two men bickered, and it soon escalated to a physical altercation. This was the small guild that would never amount to much in Carouse's eyes. They had been lying in wait here, yet this small disagreement had actually exposed their presence. Carouse had been conscientiously advancing deeper into the copse of trees and they had all noticed the commotion in that direction. Everyone exchanged looks with each other because the bush was shaking very vigorously.
”Is that some sort of trap?” Someone wondered.
The moment these words were spoken, Fireball came falling out of the bush with a thud, as the other man had shoved him out of the cover.
”You dare push me!” Fireball was enraged, waving his hand to cast a spell.
”F*ck me, you're really attacking me,” A shove would hardly kill anyone, but using the skills and spells that the game provided definitely beheld the possibility of killing someone. That rascal from Forever in Flowers quickly ducked away from the spell and instantly pounced on Fireball. The two kids began tussling with each other and tumbled away from the bush.