Chapter 1250: Rookies’ Partnership
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The players who frequented the All-Stars list would not make a big deal out of the matches here, but most rookies did not share this sentiment. This was especially true for many first-year rookies. They had very few opportunities to get on stage, and all had a thirst to prove themselves. The All-Star matches received plenty of attention, and the rookies could face strong opponents, which made it quite a good opportunity to show off their skills. It didn't really matter if the matches were not played very seriously. Anyone would brag if they defeated the Battle God, the Great Gunner or the Sword Saint.
For this reason, the rookies were quite enthusiastic for the All-Stars Weekend. Enthusiasm translated to diligence. If they came on stage and faced a God, they would deep down be hoping to win, regardless of how courteous they appeared to be. Right now, Zeng Xinran and Song Qiying were about to play in a two on one. Even though Song Qiying felt apprehensive since it was against the rules, his mind was still focused on winning as soon as the match began. Two on one meant employing tactics for a two on one; Song Qiying did not entertain the thought of deliberately creating a one on one scenario in this situation. Thus, as soon as they entered battle, he actively communicated with his partner. The two weren't too familiar with each other, and it was probably a bad idea to rely on pure observation and skill to reach a tacit understanding. Therefore, Song Qiying hoped to communicate a basic battle plan first.
A battle plan that involved two characters of the same class.
Technically, they were not the same sub-class. They only shared some low-level skills, but approaching the current problem from this angle was undoubtedly the quickest way for them to find common ground. Song Qiying's judgement here was quite spot-on.
Same class duo tactics?
Zeng Xinran was also a reasonably diligent rookie. When he heard Song Qiying mention this, he immediately thought of some same-class duos in strong teams. The double-act of a same class duo could be said to be the most prevalent type of cooperative play in the pro scene. His Brawler and Song Qiying's Striker could qualify for a bit of a double-act as well.
Except...
Song Qiying was admittedly apprehensive about a two on one at first, but still managed to focus when the match started. But Zeng Xinran had other plans. What he wanted the most was just to defeat Ye Xiu, displaying his own talent in the process. A two on one? He didn't really think that far. When he heard Song Qiying's suggestion for cooperating, he didn't dismiss it entirely, but did he put too much thought into it either.
"Yeah… I guess as a Striker and a Brawler we could…"
"It can wait! The opponent is already closing in!" Zeng Xinran interrupted Song Qiying, and had his Brawler Delillo rush forward to meet Lord Grim.
"Don't be too hasty!" Song Qiying called out quickly. He had quite a few ideas for a Striker and Brawler duo. Don't forget that his team Tyranny currently had the same duo, made up of the most experienced Striker and Brawler in Glory history! But right now, it didn't seem like his partner was patient enough or very interested in cooperating…
"I'll test the waters. Follow up appropriately!" Zeng Xinran didn't refuse Song Qiying entirely; he was well aware of his own limits. Defeating God Ye Xiu, who had a sixteen win-streak in the individual competition? Of course Zeng Xinran had this desire, but he didn't dare have that much confidence in himself. But at least within the partnership between him and Song Qiying, he was happy to give himself the main role. It didn't matter that right now, Song Qiying was slightly more reputable than him. Since they were both rookies, Zeng Xinran had some confidence that he could steal the spotlight from Song Qiying.
"How do you plan to test the waters?" Song Qiying asked, while quickly following close behind with his character River Sunset. The two rookies could keep communicating because the voice channels were open. The All-Stars matches were slightly more lax on the rules and had never forbidden voice chat. However, with the recent lively debate about voice chat in the Pro League, the arrangement at the All-Stars matches also doubled as a trial of sorts.
"We'll look for an opportunity," Zeng Xinran answered.
"At least have some semblance of a plan!" Song Qiying was alarmed by how casual Zeng Xinran was being.
"Okay, I'll go first, you follow up." Zeng Xinran revealed his plan.
"..." Song Qiying was looking for something to say but became lost for words.
"Dodge!" Zeng Xinran suddenly shouted.
Boom!
Lord Grim's raised his Myriad Manifestation Umbrella. It blazed with gunfire and attacked the rookie duo from afar.
"He has a significant range advantage over us, I'm sure he won't let us get close too easily. We need to flank him," Song Qiying called out.
"What's your plan then?" Zeng Xinran said, while having Delillo continuously roll. Lord Grim unleashed a never-ending stream of skills from gunner, mage or whatever classes; his selection criterion simply being that the attack range was enough to reach the enemy. Even though Zeng Xinran's brawler had some mid-range skills, he was still forcibly zoned out.
"Split up and flank!" Song Qiying said.
"Fuck, and here I thought you had some master plan!" Zeng Xinran said.
"Flanking isn't just charging from two different directions! We need to watch the opponent's attack rhythm and skill rotations, and find the optimal angle of approach," Song Qiying explained.
"Blah blah blah, just tell me which angle!" Zeng Xinran yelled.
"I'll take the left. You go right," Song Qiying said.
"Could you be any more vague?" Zeng Xinran said.
"Split up first, we'll look for opportunities," Song Qiying called out.
"Isn't that what I said in the first place?" Zeng Xinran muttered. The two rookies' characters, Striker River Sunset and Brawler Delillo, took the left and right respectively, and began to close their distance.
"Spread further! Further! Okay, line it up!" Song Qiying called, while observing Lord Grim and dodging his attacks. The two characters ran up and managed to form a straight line with Lord Grim in the middle.
"Sweet, that reduced his damage output by a lot. Cover me while I try to get into attack range!" Zeng Xinran yelled.
"How am I meant to cover you?" Song Qiying felt gloomy. Strikers had the shortest effective attack range out of all 24 classes in Glory. Since when did this class provide cover fire?
"Be forceful and charge, attract as much of his attention as you can!" Zeng Xinran said
"That's nice of you, letting me be the cannon fodder," Song Qiying complained, but still had River Sunset charge forward. He believed that Zeng Xinran's suggestion was still the best way forward.
Reinforced Iron Bones!
River Sunset quickly activated this skill which gave Super Armor and increased defence, then followed up with Cloud Body and charged in forcibly.
As expected after seeing such a forceful charge, Lord Grim focused more of his attacks in the direction of River Sunset. He also started retreating to widen the distance between the two.
"Good job!" Zeng Xinran praised; he felt the pressure towards his own side lessen noticeably. Delillo seized the opportunity and charged forward madly.
Should I focus on my left or right?
Ye Xiu seemed to have been put in an awkward spot. Song Qiying's River Sunset seemingly aimed to draw his attention, but the threat of his every step was very real. If Lord Grim toned down his attacks towards River Sunset, Song Qiying would waltz right up to Lord Grim without hesitation. Strikers would not be able to demonstrate full potential in battle unless they were really up close.
What will he do?
Song Qiying carefully watched Lord Grim's every move.
"Don't forget to maintain the angle!" Song Qiying yelled. He noticed that after Lord Grim retreated perpendicularly to their two characters, the angle between them was shrinking. This would allow Lord Grim to switch fire more freely; they definitely shouldn't make this so easy for Lord Grim.
"You maintain it!" Zeng Xinran answered firmly.
Song Qiying was speechless. Although keeping the angle by one person was achievable, it was more flexible if both contributed! Zeng Xinran really wanted to be the primary attacker no matter what!
There was no time to argue in the midst of battle. Song Qiying felt helpless and could only do all the dirty work that the other guy didn't want a part of. He moved sideways to maintain the Lord Grim sandwich, while trying his best to close the distance and exert some pressure.
Lord Grim concentrated even more gunfire towards River Sunset.
"Chance!" Song Qiying called out.
"You don't say!" Under Zeng Xinran's control, Delillo sent out a Powerful Knee Strike. It wasn't aimed at dealing damage but rather to close the distance, and Delillo managed to forcibly propel himself into attack range.
"Here I come!" Zeng Xinran shouted loudly.
"Don't rush in!" Song Qiying saw this and shouted in return, but Delillo already used the Powerful Knee Strike. It was too late to cancel the skill; in any case, it wasn't like Zeng Xinran would care about anything Song Qiying said in this situation.
This is bad!
A flank attack didn't seem complicated, but it actually required balance and precision between the two partners. Delillo's advance was too hasty and brought about an imbalance; this was especially disadvantageous for Song Qiying's Striker, as they needed to be up close and personal before they could attack at all. This gave a very good chance for the opponent to launch a fierce counter-attack.
Song Qiying analyzed this correctly, but he knew he had no way to stop Zeng Xinran. He could only have River Sunset charge forward recklessly, but...
"Behind you!" Song Qiying shouted. Lord Grim used Shadow Clone Technique and teleported behind Delillo. Zeng Xinran threw a brick towards Lord Grim; he was so excited he got within attack range that he thought he was invincible. After hearing Song Qiying's warning, he realized something was wrong; but it was far too late to react. A spurt of blood bloomed out from Delillo's neck. Ye Xiu mercilessly had Lord Grim use Cut-Throat.
Exactly! This imbalance!
Delillo rushed in too quickly and disrupted the coordination with River Sunset. From the current distance, River Sunset could not throw out any attacks. Zeng Xinran was currently one on one against Ye Xiu, and after being ambushed from behind, lost all initiative. Song Qiying could only watch from afar. He had no way to intervene so he urged River Sunset to quickly close the distance.
But... would Ye Xiu have Lord Grim wait for River Sunset to arrive?
Of course not.
A Falling Flower Pam sent Delillo crashing into River Sunset. Lord Grim took this opportunity to retreat and increase the distance, once again starting to kite the two characters.
Chapter 1251: Do as Promised
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
As expected...
The situation did not stray from Song Qiying's expectations. Ever since Zeng Xinran took a risk in using Powerful Knee Strike to break the stability of the situation, Song Qiying had been expecting such a circumstance. Ye Xiu had given Delillo a beating, taking advantage of the fact that Song Qiying's Striker would still need a while to arrive, and had then beat a hasty retreat.
Zeng Xinran was flushed with anger and embarrassment. Even though he might've been facing a God, getting tricked so easily by a Shadow Clone was unacceptable. He had gotten too excited; calm down! Zeng Xinran took a deep breath.
Zeng Xinran immediately calmed down, but his partner, Song Qiying, who was always telling him to not rush, seemed to lose control. River Sunset charged recklessly at Lord Grim.
"Hey, slow down!" This time, it was Zeng Xinran who warned Song Qiying.
Song Qiying didn't know if he should cry or laugh. These things depended on the situation! Speeding up or slowing down, that was all about the appropriate pacing at the time. There was no such thing as always going slow and steady or fast and hard. His Striker had gotten this rare chance to close in on Lord Grim, one he hadn't had yet in this match. If he slowed down now, then wasn't that letting this opportunity escape? How could he slow down now? On the contrary, you should pull yourself together and go on the offensive. Your Brawler is still in attack range!
It was just unfortunate that Zeng Xinran was calming himself down. He calmly watched Lord Grim run away, calmly watched River Sunset charge, and calmly told Song Qiying to calm down.
"This is an opportunity!!" Song Qiying really didn't know what to say anymore. It wasn't like he could give this guy a lecture on how, precisely, to act in such a situation.
God! He was a pro player. Why was his Glory IQ so low? Wasn't his ability to read the situation just a little too low?
At Song Qiying's shout, Zeng Xinran finally reacted. This really wasn't a time to stop attacking! River Sunset had gotten this golden opportunity to finally close in. This was the closest they had gotten to Lord Grim. Why did he… stop?
Delillo hurriedly readjusted himself. Though he was now behind River Sunset, he had quite a few mid-ranged attacks. A brick was already flying out with deadly precision, but Ye Xiu wasn't dead. Lord Grim turned his body, dodging.
Soaring Tiger!
Song Qiying was glad that Zeng Xinran finally cleared his head. This attack was a little late, but it finally arrived, at least. As Lord Grim moved to dodge, River Sunset flew forwards with Soaring Tiger. This level 60 ultimate activated swiftly. River Sunset shot forwards feet first towards Lord Grim, arriving in front of the other in the blink of an eye.
This was an ultimate, an ultimate which Lord Grim's low leveled skills would have trouble facing off against. This attack came suddenly, furiously, right as Lord Grim moved to dodge the Brick. Song Qiying's timing was extremely precise.
It was just unfortunate that this skill was, in the end, a little too late. Zeng Xinran's self-calming had cost them the opportune moment. Their attempt at making up for it wasn't good enough. Lord Grim finished dodging the Brick and then sidestepped again, avoiding the Soaring Tiger, too.
However, River Sunset had finally come in front of Lord Grim. Yet this wasn't an alleyway with only two ways to run. If you spun 360 degrees, which way wasn't forwards? Lord Grim swerved away from River Sunset's direction and continued to run.
Still want to run?
River Sunset's Soaring Tiger hadn't ended, but he had finally managed to close in on Lord Grim. Lord Grim was finally within attack range, and how could Song Qiying let Lord Grim pull away again?
Fling!
River Sunset reached out towards Lord Grim with both his hands. Lord Grim hurriedly jumped backwards and River Sunset missed. However, he then bent his elbow, stepping forwards, fist flung out.
Straight Punch!
The punch following the Fling was headed towards Lord Grim's chest, but...
Sword Draw!
Lord Grim didn't dodge, but unsheathed his sword and countered.
Which was faster, Sword Draw or Straight Punch? No one could see clearly. All they knew was that River Sunset's fist hit Lord Grim's chest while a splash of blood was flicked into the air as the blade swept past.
River Sunset stumbled backwards. Sword Draw's momentum wasn't completely negligible. But Lord Grim? His sword had already been retracted and the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella was set in front of his chest. Utilizing the momentum from the Straight Punch, Lord Grim would be able to fly back a significant distance if he followed with an Aerial Cannon. Did Song Qiying miscalculate? Should he not have used Straight Punch?
No, that wasn't so.
If it was one versus one, then his choice of attack would simply be pushing away a target he had worked hard to close in on. However, this wasn't a one on one. Lord Grim, having pushed away, wanted to use this chance to run, but Zeng Xinran's Delillo had already arrived. He wasn't so stupid that he didn't know what he should do. Delillo had rushed forwards to block Lord Grim's escape route. His hands stretched out, throwing a Fling out at Lord Grim.
Falling Light Blade.
Ye Xiu suddenly activate this skill, forcing Lord Grim, who was still airborne, to turn. Delillo hit air, hurrying to follow up with another attack. Yet, Lord Grim had already turned around and knocked Delillo into bending over with a Knee Strike.
This was a Brawler skill, yet it was now used on the Brawler Delillo. Zeng Xinran was angered, but he wasn't given a chance to counterattack. After the Knee Strike, Lord Grim used Fling and picked him up, tossing him at River Sunset.
Zeng Xinran seemed like he had been bullied again, but his task was complete. He had successfully hindered Lord Grim, who had planned on fleeing with Aerial Cannon. River Sunset was already charging forth, dodging the tossed over Delillo and swinging his fists.
Ferocious Tiger Flurry!
Shockingly, Song Qiying activated this powerful skill. River Sunset punched and kicked, leaving afterimages in his wake, fiercely charging towards Lord Grim
But that was when the figure in his line of sight blurred and Lord Grim somehow vanished.
What?
Song Qiying was shocked. In the next moment, River Sunset's waist had been grabbed. He was raised up then thrown backwards, smashed onto the ground upside down. Ferocious Tiger Flurry's powerful strikes were immediately brought to as halt.
Song Qiying was befuddled. How did Lord Grim suddenly get behind him?
Shadow Clone Technique? There was no clone though!
Teleportation? It didn't seem like it. Lord Grim had blurred away as if he had used some sort of movement technique to get behind. However, there wasn't a single skill in any of the 24 classes that would let a character immediately get behind another character!
Yes, there was no such skill, which was why Lord Grim had actually used two skills in that moment.
Charge, Shining Cut.
These two low level skills, a Knight skill and an Assassin skill, were often used as movement skills despite being offensive skills. However, many people only realized this when the screen showed a slow motion playback.
This was because it had all happened too fast. These two skills had been used by Ye Xiu to move Lord Grim, but he had only moved two steps.
One step to River Sunset's side, then another behind.
Using two skills to achieve this movement in such a small area… What precise mechanics, what swift hand speed!
The entire audience was stunned, even the pro player stands were filled with shocked faces.
How high had his APM gone in that moment?
Many people had wandered to this thought. However, the screen didn't show the calculations for this burst of speed like it usually would. Could it be that he was so fast that the system couldn't process it anymore?
Even more shocked faces appeared. As for Lord Grim's retreat, no one cared about that anymore. Everyone still had their heads raised towards the screen, watching the continuous replay of Lord Grim completing the two steps with Charge and Shining Cut.
This was practically supernatural...
The entire venue sunk into silence. Even the Tyranny fans, who never liked Ye Xiu, were unable to offer any boos in that moment.
"What is this?" Discussion soon erupted amongst the pro players from Rookies to Gods, everyone was exchanging opinions.
"In reality, it's just a Z-Shake," Blue Rain's Huang Shaotian said.
"Just?" Yu Wenzhou smiled.
Huang Shaotian stopped speaking.
Of course he couldn't use "just". Managing to execute these two skills in two steps. If it was him...
"Don't forget, it isn't just unleashing the two skills and moving his character for him." Yu Wenzhou seemed to know that Huang Shaotian was comparing this to himself and reminded him. "There's also the mechanics required to switch the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella's form."
Yes, one was a Knight's Charge, Priest class; one was an Assassin's Shining Cut, Nightwalker class. If the weapon wasn't switched, there was no way to execute the two skills.
Huang Shaotian's complexion went a little off. Could he do it? He suddenly didn't feel like pursuing such an answer.
"Z-Shake, hm…" Tiny Herb's Wang Jiexi had also figured out the foundation of this technique.
"In the end, he really does still use the crudest style!" Wang Jiexi exclaimed. The Tiny Herb members around him were all looking at each other.
Z-Shake, a basic movement technique, but in such a space, using these two skills to accomplish it was… This was skill beyond supernatural talent.
The pro players were all wondering in their hearts if they could accomplish this or not.
As for the match?
Who would pursue the results of a match that not many people cared about in the first place? What everyone was interested in was if Ye Xiu would do any more shocking maneuvers.
The only ones who would care about the results were probably just those Tyranny fans who hated Ye Xiu. They hoped that Ye Xiu, who had said he'd fight one on two, would lose the match and lose face.
In the end, it really was as they had hoped for. Song Qiying and Zeng Xinran really did end up winning in this two on one.
Booing sounded, but it was very weak. This was because many people could tell that Ye Xiu was clearly not giving it his all in the latter half of the match. This allowed Song Qiying and Zeng Xinran to grasp the advantage and claim victory.
Yes, they had gasped the advantage later. That meant, in the first half, Ye Xiu had the advantage despite fighting one against two.
If he continued that way, then what would be the result? Everyone knew, including Song Qiying and Zeng Xinran.
This kind of victory was nothing to be proud of.
"Senior really did go easy on us." Song Qiying pointed this out directly, seeming to have a problem with it.
"Pro players should always do as promised. I said I'd throw the match, so I had to!" Ye Xiu said.