Chapter 1202: Familiar Rhythm
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
This is?
Wang Ze panicked for a moment, but he quickly calmed down again. Judging from the flight path of this whirling flame, it couldn't hit his position no matter what.
At this moment, a gunshot sounded.
Bang!
After a gunshot, there was the sound of an impact. The spinning flame in the air vibrated, but it wasn't extinguished. It now flew forward at a higher speed, and after this collision, there was a clear change in the flame's trajectory. Originally, it had been unable to reach Kashiben's position, but now, it was enough.
Boom!
There was a sudden roar in the sky. Wang Ze had long figured out what this was, but he hadn't thought that Su Mucheng would have such an outrageous technique.
After being hit by the Thunder Snipe, she instantly predicted Kashiben's position.
And then right after being sniped, while her body still wasn't stable, she was able to immediately launch a Heat-Seeking Missile, and then because this missile wasn't able to fly a far enough distance, she accurately fired another shot to support and extend the range of this missile. There was another important point here: Dancing Rain normally used a hand cannon, which launched powerful cannon shots that were impossible to aim with such precision. This meant that after firing the missile, she must have switched Dancing Rain to use a gun…
How was Su Mucheng this strong?
As her former teammate, Wang Ze thought that he had studied Su Mucheng enough, but he had no idea that Su Mucheng's technique was even more terrifying than he imagined.
The howling Heat-Seeking Missile fell toward him. Although Wang Ze was already frantically controlling Kashisen to dodge, the shockwaves from the mushroom cloud created by the missile's impact had a wide range. Kashisen was unable to avoid the explosion and was sent flying against a wall.
Boom boom boom!
The attacks of Launcher Dancing Rain came flying from the clock tower.
Occupy the high ground, capture the opponent's position, fire from an extremely long distance.
All of this was Su Mucheng's familiar rhythm, and it was a rhythm that Wang Ze had specifically studied, but now, he still fell into it.
Dodge!
Wang Ze desperately controlled his character, entering one of the Clock Tower's dead angles.
It's no use!
Even though it was a dead angle, Su Mucheng used all sorts of methods to send her firepower there. The AoE skills of a Launcher allowed her to somewhat disregard the precision of her attacks, as long as they landed close enough, they could deal a lot of damage and restrict the target.
I can't hide in a dead angle, I have to move and shake her off…
But isn't this the rhythm that every one of Su Mucheng's victims on this map would fall into?
Amidst the roaring cannonfire, Wang Ze hesitated.
What to do?
He had no plan.
He hadn't prepared for any events deviating from the script he had imagined. He had been completely caught off-guard by how Su Mucheng had instantly determined his position from his sneak attack.
For this match, Wang Ze's original plan was to use accurate sneak attacks to snipe Dancing Rain shot after shot. But now, after only one shot, his position was exposed. All he heard were cannon shots, all he saw was fire.
Where could he go?
Wang Ze originally thought he knew this map very well, but now it was all fuzzy in his mind, the various routes all tangling together, preventing him from finding the exit path among them.
But if he just let his character stand here, he could only watch his health bar steadily exploding away.
Wang Ze had Kashisen charge out, but should he continue to figure out a way to hide and dodge, or should he turn and fight directly? Wang Ze still wasn't certain, and he didn't have the time to reason things out. On this map, Su Mucheng's attack rhythm was extremely skilled. Whether Wang Ze ran or counterattacked, she had enough experience and technique to respond.
Ace card?
Did Su Mucheng not have one on this map?
And it was the exact same as Wang Ze's, the most simple: familiarity.
Familiar map, familiar attack rhythm.
Wang Ze's response didn't pose any difficulty for her at all. With all her skill at her fingertips, she bombarded him.
And Wang Ze seemed to have fallen into a battle for survival. He wasn't acting like he was trying to achieve victory, he was just trying to survive under the cannonfire.
The match had already lost its suspense from the moment Wang Ze revealed the position of Kashisen.
Individual competition round 2, Happy won.
"Beautiful!" Chen Guo energetically welcomed Su Mucheng as she came offstage.
"Who knows what the opponent thinking, picking one of your best and most familiar maps, how stupid." The fruits of victory were in hand, and Chen Guo wanted to make it known. As Su Mucheng's super fan, Chen Guo knew which maps she was good at, and she recognized Desolate Town 7. She'd even tried to imitate Su Mucheng's playstyle on this map.
"He's not stupid, it's just that I'm not stupid either," Su Mucheng laughed.
"In any case, we won." Chen Guo was proud.
Wang Ze, coming offstage, was in extremely low spirits. He had prepared thoroughly for this match, he had been confident, but it ended up like this? His strategy was still only on the first step when it received a headache-inducing attack, and he had been attacked from there until the end, blasted upon the ground.
He Ming and Shen Jian knew the hard work Wang Ze had put into preparing for this match. Seeing his disappointment now, they too were upset. But this was competition. Everyone worked hard, but in the end, there was always one side that would fail.
"I was still too overconfident," Wang Ze said with a bitter smile. "I thought I understood the opponent's strength, that I had a trump card that could get me victory. But I never thought that, under circumstances I don't understand, the opponent improved even further…"
"This is why Glory is limitless!" The unfortunate trio lamented, in a heavy atmosphere.
"Captain, I'm going up!" Right then, Miracle's third individual player had already stood up, Miracle's Launcher, Guo Shao.
Yes, Guo Shao, a name that sounded arrogant. Before the arrival of these players from old Excellent Era, he had been the core player of this new team.
An arrogant name, a position as core player, but Guo Shao wasn't that kind of person.
When experienced players joined, he happily gave up his position as core and captain. Passionate, with energy and ideals, Guo Shao was a Glory youth that had longed to play in the professional scene. And now, he had finally raised his sails to set forth on this journey.
"I wonder who my opponent is?" Guo Shao lifted his head to look at the projection screen. He carried this kind of excitement for every match.
The screen quickly displayed the names for the third battle of the individual round.
Happy, Ye Xiu, Lord Grim.
"Excellent!" Guo Shao was even more excited.
He Ming and the others exchanged looks, smiling bitterly.
What an innocent youth, he really has no idea of the terror and cruelty of the pro scene!
"Good luck!" The three still said some encouraging words, but in their hearts they already had no hopes for this match.
"Don't worry, seniors!" Guo Shao gave the three of them a thumbs-up.
"Go, go! You have to win!" Against their true thoughts, the three cheered him on.
Guo Shao went onstage, and on the other end Ye Xiu was already ready.
Log on, enter map.
"This is great, I actually have the chance to fight Senior Ye Xiu!" As soon as the characters finished loading, Guo Shao couldn't wait any longer and began expressing his feelings.
"Then do your best!" Ye Xiu never refused to interact with anyone onstage.
"Don't worry, senior!" Guo Shao shouted.
Offstage, He Ming and the other two facepalmed. Why are you telling the opponent not to worry!
Ye Xiu sent a smiley face emoji, and Lord Grim rushed forward.
The map was Desolate Town 28. In a 1v1, there was some amount of cover, but not many twists and turns, which made it rather suitable for a Launcher. Guo Shao's map choice wasn't out of the ordinary.
Ye Xiu didn't sidestep, he directly charged forth, and quickly saw that the opponent was doing the same.
Boom boom!!!
With the sounds of cannonfire, Guo Shao's Launcher Berk took the lead in attacking. Ye Xiu controlled Lord Grim to dodge, having no way to retaliate.
Guo Shao fired his attacks at the very limit of his attack range. Although Lord Grim could use a Launcher's low-level skills, that didn't mean he had the full long range of a Launcher.
The extremely long attack range of a Launcher was something they got only after switching classes. Their special skill learned when changing class at level 20, "Artillery Mastery," increased the range of all of the attacks and skills of this class, as well as the area they could damage.
"Haha, Senior's class doesn't have the range of a Launcher!" Guo Shao actually had the time to type a message, but Berk's attacks never stopped.
"You want to lock me outside of this range?" Ye Xiu replied.
"Seen through so quickly by senior."
"It's a very obvious plan. But it's not that easy!"
After sending the message, Lord Grim begin to charge forward.
Guo Shao immediately had Berk jump backwards while simultaneously covering a large area with his firepower, stopping Lord Grim from reaching him.
"Hit!" Lord Grim was covered by the large area of firepower, and Guo Shao was excited.
"But I'm closer…" Ye Xiu replied as Lord Grim ducked through the cannonfire. Although he suffered some damage, the distance between the two was pulled closer.
"That's not good." Guo Shao's Berk used Aerial Cannon to increase their distance.
"You can't run!" Under Ye Xiu's controls, Lord Grim used a Slide Kick, dodging the cannon shots coming right at him, and once he got up, he used a Shining Cut. His character sprung forward amidst cold light, and then he followed with a Charge, forcing his way through the Stingers falling from the sky.
Three skills used in an instant, all attacks with high-speed movement. The distance between the two characters was instantly squeezed so that they were almost right next to each other.
"Senior is really tough!" Guo Shao cried, his character changing direction to get away.
Lord Grim suddenly used another skill.
"Ah!" Against his controls, Berk started rushing toward Lord Grim.
"He can even use Taunt!" Guo Shao shouted.
The Taunt status forced the target to charge toward and attack only the taunter. Although it couldn't interrupt an attack, it was a powerful move to disrupt the opponent's rhythm, especially during a team competition when coordination was required.
Right now neither side had a team, so there wasn't that effect, but Guo Shao's Berk in this bit of time had no way to leave with his free will.
Collapsing Mountain!
Lord Grim swung his blades down, Guo Shao saw that he had no way to retreat, so he simply aimed his cannon at Lord Grim.
The cannonball flew out, but Lord Grim's Collapsing Mountain suddenly changed to a Falling Light Blade, and he plunged downward.
After dodging the cannon shot, the Falling Light Blade landed right upon Berk. Guo Shao hurriedly tried to Quick Recover, as the Taunt status finally wore off, but Lord Grim was already right next to him.
Slide Kick!
Guo Shao's reaction was very fast, he actually had Berk use a Sharpshooter's skill Slide Click. Even if he couldn't hit Lord Grim, at least he could slide past and start pulling apart the distance again.
But he hadn't expected Lord Grim to step to the side. Before he started fully sliding, Lord Grim stomped down in place, and at that moment, Berk slide right there.
After Lord Grim stepped on his opponent, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella shifted forms and sent a flurry of shots to his face.
Sharpshooter skill: Punisher.
"You're about to lose!" Ye Xiu said.
Chapter 1203: The Winery on Wuchuan Path
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Ye Xiu's prediction was of course made with reason.
Out of the 24 classes, Launchers were ranked at the bottom in close combat ability. They were never absent in the voting for "which class is weakest in close combat," and their votes were never low, at about the same rank as Summoners.
Now that he was being stepped on by Lord Grim, an unspecialized with an immense number of low level skills and an extremely fast rhythm, no one thought Ye Xiu's words were unreasonable.
"Not necessarily!" But Guo Shao didn't agree.
Once Punisher was over, Lord Grim had only just moved his foot away when Berk immediately rolled and stood. However, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had already transformed into a spear, striking forth like a viper.
Clang!
Yet, what everyone heard was the clash of metal on metal. This sound was most commonly heard when parrying.
And, for Launchers, there was only one move they could use in parrying, if nothing unexpected happened.
Swing!
Each of the 24 classes had a knockup skill, which could be learned from the beginning. What Launchers used was this hand cannon swinging skill, Swing. Using this skill, Guo Shao managed to parry Lord Grim's Dragon Tooth.
Berk had already jumped up, cannon shots flying, aimed downwards and propelling him backwards.
However, Lord Grim truly had too many low level skills. Even if the movement skills he had used before were all still in cooldown, he had other choices.
Berserker skill: Colliding Stab!
Lord Grim dashed forth with his sword. Berk, even with the help of Aerial Cannon, couldn't match up to the speed of this dashing stab. He was immediately impaled on the blade and a combo followed after.
The unspecialized's fast paced close combat capabilities wiped the floor with Zhang Jiale and crushed Sun Zheping. Now, the one facing this was a rookie, using a Launcher, who was weak in close combat.
There was no suspense to this anymore.
However...
"Nothing is certain yet!" The rookie Guo Shao still didn't give up.
"Your spirit is admirable!" Ye Xiu praised, "If so, then I'll have to be more careful…"
The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella changed forms rapidly, skill after skill pushed onto Berk. Guo Shao was trying to find an opening, but there was none to be found. Every possibility of escape had been completely sealed off.
"How terrifying," he was still lamenting, his morale seeming to be completely unaffected, but at a time like this, his Berk had already fallen.
Guo Shao didn't give up, but he didn't find a single opportunity either…
Walking out of the competitor booths, Guo Shao looked at Ye Xiu on the other side.
"Senior is so strong!" Guo Shao called out loudly, giving a thumbs up.
"Is he crazy, praising his opponent like that?!" He Ming and co were close to jumping up, nervously looking at the audience. As expected, the audience had exploded into commotion. As for Ye Xiu, he just waved and went off stage.
In the individual competition, Happy won with a flawless 3 to 0.
However, Guo Shao, who had just returned to the player bench, didn't seem at all affected by this gap.
"Let's all do our best!" Despite just having lost, he was here encouraging his teammates.
"You little!" He Ming's face was dark. As the captain, he had to say something.
"How could you compliment your opponent like that? Aren't you boosting their morale? Ruining ours?" He Ming scolded.
"Because he really is strong, so I didn't really think much of it," Guo Shao said.
"..." Guo Shao's forthright reason made He Ming incapable of scolding him further.
"Just don't do it next time…" he could only reply, deflating.
They lost all three rounds of the individual competition...
He Ming exchanged glances with his two old teammates. If everything had gone according to their original plan, then they would've given the first match to Ye Xiu, Wang Ze would strike down Su Mucheng in the second match, and then the third match would be given to Guo Shao, who was rather skilled. If he did well, they might've even ended things with a lead of 2 to 1, but now, reality seemed very far from their expectations.
"We're counting on you for the group arena," Wang Ze said.
He Ming and Shen Jian were going to be a part of the group arena.
"How come I feel that Happy doesn't seem affected by the magazine?" Shen Jian gazed towards Happy's bench. Did they not look at those magazines after getting them?
"Wei Chen, Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu are all experienced and mature players. Being able to adjust their emotions isn't unexpected from them," He Ming analyzed, feigning calm. "In the group arena, Tang Rou will definitely come up. She'll be affected by it."
"What if she's not participating today?" Shen Jian asked.
"Er, then the other younger players would definitely be affected," He Ming said.
"There's also that Fang Rui," Shen Jian reminded him.
"Fang Rui isn't all that used to the Qi Master yet, so his strength will be reduced," He Ming assured.
"Yeah…" Shen Jian nodded. In reality, they had gone over these things who knows how many times before the match.
"I'll be going first, Jia Xing will take the middle and you'll be our last line of defense," He Ming announced the lineup at the end. Jia Xing was Miracle's Battle Mage player, his character was called Prideful Sorcery.
The short break between the individual competition and group arena passed quickly. Under the signal given by the big screen, He Ming stood, bracing himself and walking towards the stage. On Happy's side, the first player to go up wasn't Tang Rou who used to always lead the charge, but Fang Rui.
After seeing Fang Rui, He Ming felt a little more pressure. The other was an All-Star level player, after all.
Relax, he's still getting used to the class switch. Focus yourself, don't get anxious, you have plenty of chances.
He Ming recited to himself in his heart as he walked onto the stage and into Miracle's Competition Booth. On the other side, Fang Rui also entered his booth. The projection began to display images of the map that would be used for this match.
Wuchuan Path, a small map with a Wuxia style, was a map that didn't have many obstacles for the three pro players of Miracle. That was usually how group arena maps were chosen.
The two characters soon spawned at the two ends of Wuchuan Path. In the center of the map, there was a winery with a large flagpole outside the door. A golden character meaning "alcohol" was stitched into the accompanying red flag, fluttering in the wind, very eye catching. The winery proved its worth of having such a flag, though. The winery had three large courtyards, pridefully taking up the center of the map. In terms of area, it made 90 percent of the map. Desolate muddy earth surrounds the winery, and when the winds blew, the sand and dust kicked up could turn the sky yellow.
With the winery in the center, the two characters would meet directly. The winery became a place that could be used to execute ambushes and sneak attacks. Knowing that his opponent was the Master of Dirty Play, Fang Rui, He Ming instantly felt like the winery was filled with danger. However, Miracle's three wouldn't be unfamiliar with a map they chose. And for this map, the focus of it was the structure of the winery. He Ming had his Elementalist, Rullo, approach the winery, but didn't charge inside. Though the two characters were the same distance apart from the winery, their movement speeds were different. If a Qi Master wanted to take this advantage, they could activate Qi Flowing Cloud and increase their speed, getting into the winery before an Elementalist.
Fang Rui would definitely use the terrain to his advantage. He Ming knew this with certainty. Thus, before he stepped into the winery, he stopped for moment and went over the entire structure of the winery clearly and completely. After making an organized judgement, He Ming's Elementalist, Rullo, walked into the winery from the side door.
Immediately inside was a massive courtyard with both square and long tables. The were cluttered with many small taverns. However, no NPCs would be in an arena map. A place that should've been bustling was devoid of life, giving an eerie feel.
He Ming didn't stay in the courtyard long, intending to have Rullo go further inside, when he suddenly heard a popping noise.
What was that?
He Ming's had very precise judgement, and he turned his view to the place the noise came from. All that was there was a wall, so the sound must've come from behind that wall.
Was it an accident? Or a trap?
The gears in He Ming's head turned quickly. Rullo walked over, but didn't immediately go through to the other side, but stuck close to the wall.
This doorway led to a rather narrow corridor. Thinking of this terrain, He Ming had an idea.
Rullo flashed into the doorway, staff waving and then, with a point, an Ice Wall appeared in the corridor. Only then did He Ming have Rullo dart inside.
"How cautious!" Fang Rui's taunt appeared in the channel. As expected, Fang Rui's Boundless Sea was inside the corridor. However, he had been trapped at the other end by the Ice Wall.
"If this is how it's going to be, you can't hit me either!" Fang Rui sent a rofl emoji, as if He Ming's Ice Wall was a really stupid decision.
He Ming remained unruffled by the other's trash talk. He was glad he was so careful. If not, then he might've already been ambushed by Fang Rui's Boundless Sea.
"If neither of us can hit the other, then I'm leaving!" Fang Rui said as Boundless Sea turned to leave.
How could He Ming let this dirty playing opponent go so easily after catching him? Ice Wall could block movement and attacks, but it couldn't block an Elementalist's control over the elements.
Rullo raised a hand and elemental power began to gather in the air, curling up from the ground, eventually gathering in Rullo's mind. Skill: Absolute Focus. After activation, it would turn the next skill into an instant cast.
After that, he pointed his staff and the level 70 Elementalist ultimate, Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire, was activated through the Ice Wall. Fang Rui, who was in the middle of his escape, realized something was wrong, and hurriedly had Boundless Sea roll backwards, taking a small amount of damage. When he looked again, the lightning and fire had completely blocked off his escape route. Charging through wasn't a good idea. Under the player's control, if a target tried to simply charge through Heavenly Thunder Earthen Lightning, then it wouldn't just be damage they'd take, but they'd also be rooted, so in the end they still couldn't go anywhere.
"How shameless! Take this!" Fang Rui sent as Boundless Sea turned and dashed forwards, his palm striking the Ice Wall.
If Ice Wall wasn't destroyed by an attack, then it would remain for quite a long time, even longer than Heaven Lightning Earthen Fire. However, Fang Rui didn't want Boundless Sea to stay here and admire the scenery, waiting for time to pass. If he were trapped in this small space and let He Ming chant a few more AoE spells, then he wouldn't have a chance at dodging.
Fang Rui didn't mind using this powerful skill to immediately shatter the Ice Wall.