Chapter 1267: Season 7’s Two Rookies
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
No matter how little an unspecialized healed, health was health. Letting Lord Grim continue healing non-stop would still recover a good amount of health. As a result, if the two sides just stared at each other, Team B would hold the advantage because they were more than willing to just wait and let Lord Grim slowly heal them. But Team A? There had to be a breaking point.
However, the first to attack was still Team B. It seemed like Team B wasn't planning on drawing support from Lord Grim's healing capabilities to gain the upper hand. They only stopped because their rhythm had taken a pause. With neither side possessing a dedicated healer, the two teams strived to deal the most damage in as short of a time as possible, so when they didn't hold back their usage of skills. They wouldn't try to maintain a constant cycle of skills like in a prolonged battle. After experiencing this intense wave of attacks, the skill cooldowns on both sides became somewhat imbalanced. What seemed to be a break was, in reality, time for their skills to come off cooldown.
At this moment, the unspecialized Lord Grim, this annoying existence, once again stood out.
In terms of DPS, Lord Grim might be the weakest among everyone. His equipment wasn't great, and his skills were all low-level skills. However, the issue of an imbalanced skill cycle didn't matter for him. The vast majority of low-level skills had short cooldowns, and he had so many of them too. He didn't need to care about waiting for skills to come off cooldown.
While the others were waiting for their cooldowns, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim was as lively as ever. He healed Team B, while also sending a few attacks towards Team A. He was awfully busy.
Team A all felt annoyed, especially Sun Xiang. His One Autumn Leaf currently had the lowest amount of health on the field. Previously, if Lord Grim and Dancing Rain had a higher DPS, or if Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain hadn't rescued him in time, he might have already fallen. His team didn't have a healer either. Since his character didn't have any special equipment, the automatic health recovery could be ignored. Thus, One Autumn Leaf's health remained critically low.
As a result, Ye Xiu's harassment was mainly focused on him. Whenever Ye Xiu fired a few shots or pretended like he was going to charge in for the kill, Sun Xiang always tensed up.
It might seem like his character was still on the field, but from a certain perspective, he could be considered as dead. Anyone could see that Team B could easily end him with a single wave of attacks. If it was that obvious to even the viewers, then the competitors would obviously try to exploit it. One Autumn Leaf used to be Team A's front-line attackers, but now he had been shifted to the team's rear. Team B just had to have someone like Lord Grim, who could spam skills endlessly to harass One Autumn Leaf.
This was simply forcing Team A to hurry and act! It would obviously be advantageous for Team B to stall, no?
No one could understand. On the broadcast, Pan Lin and Li Yibo were even more reserved and cautious. They didn't dare make any hasty conclusions.
Team A couldn't just keep bleeding. Even if One Autumn Leaf was nearly dead, he could still be used. If they let Ye Xiu's Lord Grim keep harassing him, the entire team would be dragged down trying to protect One Autumn Leaf. They might as well try and attack. In any case, Team A and Team B were in similar situations. Team B's skill cooldowns hadn't completely refreshed yet either, so it wasn't like Team B was any stronger than them right now.
Team A was just about to pick the impossibly annoying Lord Grim as their target, when Team B suddenly launched their attack.
Team B was clearly forcing Team A to hurry and act, but by the time Team A was ready to move, Team B was one step ahead of them. This this this… are they just playing around?
The viewers felt like this sort of playing was a bit ridiculous, but they didn't know the destruction that Team B had done to Team A's rhythm. Huang Shaotian's assassination on Desert Smoke had succeeded, leading to the two teams separating to readjust themselves. Team B received Lord Grim's better than nothing heals, but Team A? They received Lord Grim's annoying harassment. Unable to wait any longer to fully carry out their goals, Team A was forced to fight again. However, it was Team B who took the initiative and attacked first.
Even though this brief fight wasn't as intense as before, it was still filled with countless details. At first glance, these details couldn't be seen, but soon the effects surged forth onto the field.
Sun Xiang couldn't play as boldly as before, so One Autumn Leaf's original role in Team A was lost. In the end, Sun Xiang's role fell to Tang Hao, the rookie in the same generation, a God whose sudden rise sharply differed from Sun Xiang's slow ascent.
When Sun Xiang joined the Alliance, he was a talented rookie who had received much attention. He had obtained numerous opportunities in Team Conquering Clouds, allowing his talent to shine. Afterwards, he joined the powerhouse Team Excellent Era and directly inherited the Battle God One Autumn Leaf after Ye Xiu's retirement. As if loved by the heavens, he didn't even hit a Rookie's Block. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing for him. But then, Team Excellent Era encountered a shocking setback and was relegated, the greatest miracle in all of Glory history. It was even more miraculous than Happy beating them in the Challenger League.
Sun Xiang had started high but left low. Fortunately, he wasn't dispirited by the setback. Excellent Era disbanded and Samsara, the champions, threw him an olive branch. From this point, Sun Xiang was also a very lucky person. When Sun Xiang came to Samsara, he seemed to have matured a lot after his setback at Excellent Era. The Zhou Zekai and Sun Xiang duo became the most terrifying offensive force in the Alliance.
As for Tang Hao? His journey was the opposite of Sun Xiang's.
His first season in the Alliance was no different from ordinary rookies. He experienced all of the bitterness and hardship felt by rookies, surviving his first rookie year. Then, their captain Zhang Jiale unexpectedly retired, and the team suddenly turned into a fly without a head. All of a sudden, the other rookie of the same generation, Zou Yuan, was pushed onto the stage and directly inherited the number one character, Hundred Blossom's core, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms.
Zou Yuan's fate was worthy of being envied, but no one would have thought that the one to stand out from Hundred Blossoms wasn't Zou Yuan, but Tang Hao.
Th junior succeeds the senior!
This was the declaration that Tang Hao had made in that year's All-Star Weekend. It was also the true feelings in his heart. He didn't have the same luck or opportunities as Sun Xiang or Zou Yuan. Everything he obtained came from his own hard work, fist by fist.
For the junior to succeed the senior, the number one Brawler, Lin Jingyan, wasn't the only one he had to surpass. That season, Team Hundred Blossoms still had their core character, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, but who was their true core? It was Tang Hao and his Brawler Delilo, a character who had just been a substitute character in the team.
Tang Hao was proud because everything he had accomplished was worthy of being proud of. No one had doted on him, and the team hadn't provided him any resources or support, yet despite these circumstances, Tang Hao pushed his way from an unremarkable rookie to the team's core on his own. And today, he was the leader of Team Wind Howl, the number 8 most popular All-Star.
Was Tang Hao satisfied?
Of course not?
He wanted to become the MVP in the Alliance. He wanted the championship cup that everyone yearned for. Everyone standing on this stage were all potential obstacles to this goal. All of them were targets to succeed.
But just a moment ago, he had unexpectedly been crushed by Wang Jiexi's Vaccaria in an instant.
He had truly been unable to defend against Vaccaria's attacks. The so-called Magician was actually this freakish? Just a while back, from the data he had looked at, Tang Hao felt that it was a pity Wang Jiexi no longer played with this style. When Wind Howl fought against Tiny Herb, he had even provoked Wang Jiexi when they met in the group arena.
Wang Jiexi obviously ignored him. Tang Hao gradually pushed this playstyle of the past to the back of his mind. Who would have thought that in this widely-watched All-Stars stage, Wang Jiexi would suddenly use it and with a sharpened blade too. Or to be more precise, it wasn't a blade but a broom… a broom didn't sound as scary as a blade though.
Shock, humiliation,a shred of fear, and… excitement caused him to tremble.
The junior succeeds the senior!
Tang Hao's gaze locked onto Wang Jiexi's Vaccaria. He was ready to payback the humiliation he received many folds. Magician? He had been caught off guard last time, but this time, he could definitely do it.
Come!
Tang Hao was waiting impatiently for Team B to attack. The only person in his line of sight was Vaccaria.
Vaccaria sat on his broom. Vaccaria floated in the air. Vaccaria flew at an extremely low altitude. Vaccaria was coming!
What? He's not coming at me?
"Where do you think you're going!" Tang Hao shouted and immediately had Demon Subduer move forward to intercept him.
"And where do you think you're going?" A voice rung in his ears like a clap of thunder.
That sound is too close. An enemy?
Of course it was an enemy.
Lord Grim suddenly charged towards Demon Subduer, but he was actually ignored. Demon Subduer continued to move in a different direction.
"Young people these days are too arrogant!" Ye Xiu said. Lord Grim attacked madly.
Shit!
Tang Hao messed up again. His mind had been completely preoccupied with Vaccaria and that strange Magician playstyle. He had tunneled so hard on Vaccaria that he hadn't even noticed Lord Grim calling out to him.
By the time he regained his senses, he was already up in the air. Lord Grim's skills battered him endlessly. He… was crushed again.
Tang Hao collapsed at the first blow. The players on both teams were all astonished, but since an opportunity had appeared in front of them, Team B wasn't going to let it pass.
Team A's offense had been led by Tang Hao, but Tang Hao was instantly blown away. The implications were too obvious.
Dragon Breaks the Ranks!
But at this moment, One Autumn Leaf, with his critically low health, charged forward bravely towards Lord Grim.
He wasn't of much use anymore. He couldn't fight too fiercely. Perhaps waiting for an one-shot opening like Huang Shaotian had done wasn't a bad choice. But right now, Tang Hao was being beaten up. Huang Shaotian and Zhou Zekai were being suppressed. The two had no choice but to go out and rescue Tang Hao like tinkermen, but before they could act, Sun Xiang made up his mind and acted first.
He couldn't do much right now. If he could sacrifice himself to save Tang Hao, that would be a worthy trade.
Chapter 1268: This Isn’t What You’re Good At
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
One Autumn Leaf, the character personally raised by Ye Xiu and brought into the Alliance, the character that became Excellent Era's foundation and earned the title of "Battle God"... This character suddenly and viciously cut into Ye Xiu's field of view.
Dragon Breaks the Ranks, what a familiar skill, how long has it been since I've last used it?
For the briefest of moments, Ye Xiu couldn't avoid feeling a pang of melancholy, but it was only for a moment. Right afterwards, Lord Grim dodged Dragon Breaks the Ranks, and didn't hesitate at all before attacking the character he was the most familiar with. How many times had he encountered One Autumn Leaf as an enemy after leaving Excellent Era? Ye Xiu couldn't be bothered to keep track anymore.
When Sun Xiang controlled One Autumn Leaf to charge at Lord Grim, he had hardened his heart to die while doing so. He believed that in order to swiftly deal with him, his opponent would definitely let go of Tang Hao's Demon Subduer, if only for a moment.
When Lord Grim's attacks arrived, he did his best to parry the strikes, hoping to use the opportunity to create more space. But after this valiant effort, what he met was not just the assault of Lord Grim, but instead the attacks of anyone who was in range from Team B, none of whom missed this opportunity. Dancing Rain, Windy Rain, and Vaccaria all attacked him.
Was it worth it?
Sun Xiang thought to himself, One Autumn Leaf only had so much health left. A few casual attacks would be able to finish him off, was there a need for such exaggerated fanfare? Especially Wang Jiexi, who had turned around and changed his movement just to charge at him, were they trying to KS each other or something?
Dancing Rain and Windy Rain's attacks were both long-ranged, and Sun Xiang had no way of retaliating against the two. But Vaccaria had surprisingly charged towards him, so Sun Xiang had One Autumn Leaf welcome him instead.
But Vaccaria's body suddenly dipped down and changed directions, flying towards One Autumn Leaf at a low altitude. This situation!
Sun Xiang hurriedly changed his camera angle, and saw that Vaccaria, who had just brushed past him, was actually charging towards Demon Subduer.
This guy switched targets… way too fast, right?
As he stared agape, One Autumn Leaf had already received a fatal blow, becoming the third character to fall in this team competition.
As a result, in terms of numbers, Team A was finally at a clear disadvantage. With the situation being a 3v4, and none of Team B's 4 characters being in great danger of dying, the advantage in numbers became very obvious.
To make matters worse, Sun Xiang letting One Autumn Leaf make a valiant last stand was in order to give Tang Hao an opportunity to seize the initiative, but it seemed as if the results were very debatable.
Tang Hao had really been beaten dizzy.
After facing Wang Jiexi's fierce barrage of attacks, all he could think of was the Magician's playstyle. Right afterwards, Ye Xiu's unspecialized, Lord Grim had charged up and focused another flurry of attacks on him. In order to save him, Sun Xiang sacrificed the life of One Autumn Leaf, resetting the battlefield, but as soon as that happened, the unspecialized Lord Grim was swapped out for the Magician again.
With these two opponents irregularly swapping in and out in front of him, Tang Hao felt a head-splitting migraine coming on.
Was this a 1v1?
No, in Tang Hao's eyes, this already felt like a 1v2, for the two opponents would change in the blink of an eye. At one moment, it was the unspecialized, at another moment, it was the Magician. One of them was so fast that it was dazzling, while the other had unimaginable variations in his playstyle.
Who are these people?
Tang Hao, the junior who had succeeded the senior, suddenly felt completely perplexed.
Once again, faced against Wang Jiexi's Vaccaria, Tang Hao played very poorly. Originally, he had been psychologically prepared to go up against the Magician once more, but this preparation had been shattered beforehand by Ye Xiu's Lord Grim.
"This fellow is already a mess," Huang Shaotian said to Zhou Zekai.
"Yeah..." Zhou Zekai indicated his agreement.
Tang Hao may have been somewhat helpless against Wang Jiexi's Magician playstyle, but after being beaten by it once, he shouldn't have been beaten so soundly the second time. If the Magician playstyle was so tyrannical that it could oppress God-level players, would Wang Jiexi still need to change his playstyle? He could just single-handedly slaughter his way to a championship title. Evidently, by relying on these bursts of attacks, Ye Xiu and Wang Jiexi both explosively fought Tang Hao one after the other, and eventually shattered his fighting spirit.
"Should we still save him?" Huang Shaotian asked.
"..." His question only earned Zhou Zekai's silence.
Huang Shaotian suddenly had a headache. What could he do? At the end of the day, the guy next to him just had to be this taciturn person. In terms of communication through words, it seemed as if they could only go this far!
"Let's go take down Ye Xiu!" Huang Shaotian shouted, as Troubling Rain's sword swept towards Lord Grim. He was already too lazy to waste time on Tang Hao's predicament, that would just be too passive. Their team was already at a clear disadvantage, and if they were to be lead by the nose by Team A the whole time, they would just be whittled down one-by-one till the end. At this time, they could only respond by taking daring risks and erupting with full force against the enemy.
Troubling Rain's sword was flourished, but even faster was Cloud Piercer's bullets. It seemed as if by the time his sword flashed, the sound of Cloud Piercer's bullet had also rung out.
The character that the bullet flew towards was indeed Lord Grim.
"Good kid, you thought the exact same thing as me! Let's kill him!" Huang Shaotian shouted.
"..." Unfortunately, Zhou Zekai had never wanted to have any verbal communication with his team, but the coordination of his skills was always outstanding. Troubling Rain effortlessly dashed over to Lord Grim's side. Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu attempted to intercept him, but Zhou Zekai had Cloud Piercer's bullets arrive at the most appropriate place at the most appropriate time, causing their attacks to have no effect on Huang Shaotian.
"I really couldn't tell that you were such an expert in providing covering fire as well!" Huang Shaotian loudly praised before shouting, "Old Ye, watch my sword!"
Sword light flashed downwards, carrying a cold killing intent.
His relationship with Ye Xiu was quite good, but that was only off-stage, what about during matches? He would definitely try to kill Ye Xiu as fast as possible, with no other emotions involved. He was already irritated by Ye Xiu showing off in the individual competition, but it was uncertain whether he could take revenge by winning this team competition. The situation on Tang Hao's side was already hopeless, and Zhou Zekai… he had already successfully covered Huang Shaotian from the attacks of three characters, showing off his abilities to the maximum, could anything more be expected of him? He only hoped that the kid would be able to completely follow the tempo of his attacks next!
In the midst of a rain of bullets, a sword light shone through!
Zhou Zekai coordinated with Huang Shaotian, focusing their attacks on Lord Grim. Wang Jiexi was dealing with Tang Hao, and even though Tang Hao's condition wasn't good, in a 1v1, it was unlikely that he'd be beaten down in a matter of seconds or minutes. Even as he cut a sorry figure, Tang Hao still retained a last trace of clear-headedness, helping him continue to fight back.
Aside from them, there was Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu left. The two of them were long-ranged attackers, and when cooperating with Ye Xiu, it was a 3v2 scenario. Originally, the two of them had assisted Ye Xiu in counterattacking Troubling Rain, but now, Zhou Zekai's Cloud Piercer had severely restricted them. The majority of the attacks were aimed at Lord Grim, but once in a while, some attacks would be directed towards the two of them, causing a great amount of trouble for them each time. If it wasn't interrupting their attacks, it was disturbing their coordination. Between the two of them, Chu Yunxiu had a harder time. Most of her spells had a cast time, and under Cloud Piercer's unpredictable harassment, there was surprisingly not a single big spell that could be casted, causing her to be helplessly suppressed.
"This guy is truly terrifying..." Chu Yunxiu said to Su Mucheng.
"Yeah..." Su Mucheng had no way of disagreeing. Zhou Zekai's mechanical skills had already surpassed that of most other players.
"Not bad not bad, very well done hahaha, this is the tempo of victory!" Huang Shaotian shouted as he hacked away with his sword.
If this continued, victory or defeat would be hard to determine. If these two could be as fast as Wang Jiexi, first getting rid of Lord Grim, then turning their fire towards Vaccaria, what would the situation be like? Everyone was currently considering this possibility.
"The tempo of victory?" At this moment, Ye Xiu laughed and said, "How come I can't see it at all?"
The Myraid Manifestations Umbrella shook and a Sky Strike flew out!
Huang Shaotian didn't back down, and Troubling Rain simply used a Falling Phoenix Slash to knock down the Sky Strike.
Lord Grim's body conveniently crouched down, and when Falling Phoenix Strike's power had been expended, he straightened up and sent out a Knee Attack.
Troubling Rain had already taken a step back, and his sword flashed as he executed Headwind Strike.
Under Huang Shaotian's control, this Headwind Strike's sword arc had extended half a body unit, creating a dense cluster of sword energy.
At this moment, Zhou Zekai suddenly made a sound. "Ah!"
"What did you say "ah" for?" Huang Shaotian was very excited, surprisingly, this person actually still knew how to speak.
"Uh..." Zhou Zekai hesitated and couldn't say what he wanted to, but the Myraid Manifestations Umbrella in Lord Grim's hand had already opened up, completely blocking all the sword arcs from Headwind Strike. Once the attack was blocked, the umbrella was folded back, but it didn't fold inwards. Instead, it folded outwards, directly turning into a spear before striking out.
Hit!
The distance between them was too narrow, and this Dragon Tooth was just too fast, leaving Huang Shaotian with no opportunity to dodge.
Dragon Tooth had a stun effect, so after being hit by Dragon Tooth, the next few combo hits would be unavoidable. Zhou Zekai frantically intensified his attacks to suppress Lord Grim, but at this moment, Chu Yunxiu's Windy Rain had finished the cast for a high-level spell, and together with Dancing Rain's attacks, they blotted out the sky as they attacked Troubling Rain.
Zhou Zekai managed to stop Lord Grim's attack, but he had absolutely no way of controlling the other two on the field. He wasn't Nezha, the god with three heads and six arms.
Huang Shaotian immediately figured out that when Zhou Zekai said "ah", it was possible that he had already noticed a problem, and the problem was, in all likelihood, Huang Shaotian's problem, but... he was completely unaware of the situation.
"Grasping the tempo of attacks is still something that I do best, Huang Shao!" A voice filled with laughter travelled over as a violent sword light slammed down. Within the swordsman classes, only the Berserker could possess such a reckless momentum.
Hundred Blossom's Yu Feng, Berserker Blooming Chaos, entered the field.
On the other side, the click clack sounds of machinery rang out. Xiao Shiqin's Mechanic, Life Extinguisher had also finally reached the battlefield.
At the same time, Huang Shaotian finally realized the subtle meaning in Yu Feng's words, because back in Blue Rain, the person who was the arrowhead of the formation and who lead the team's tempo was Yu Feng. And Huang Shaotian, the true core of Blue Rain, instead drifted away from the formation, waiting to seize an opportunity.
To put it another way, Huang Shaotian's speciality was seizing opportunities and coordinating with others, and not having other people follow his attacking tempo. In this way, he was very different from most other core players.
So just now, it was clear that there was a slight error in his judgement. When he attacked, it could be that his timing was slightly off, or his positioning was slightly off, but in short, it interfered with Zhou Zekai, messing up their perfect attacking tempo. As a result, Huang Shaotian was immediately counterattacked by Ye Xiu, and shortly after, Zhou Zekai's suppression over the two ranged players had been broken.
"This... really something that I'm not good at. It's a shame that you're also my opponent now." Huang Shaotian said to Yu Feng.
Chapter 1269: Personal Grudge
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
"Haha, and you have the face to celebrate about your tempo!" That was when Ye Xiu cut in.
Huang Shaotian was enraged, immediately remembering how when he had cheered "this is the tempo of victory", that guy had spoken up with a seemly random "can't tell". It was clear that Ye Xiu understood Huang Shaotian's playstyle and predicted that his and Zhou Zekai's partnership would eventually go wrong, so he didn't rush things. In the end, Huang Shaotian had messed up the tempo practically the moment after he yelled about the tempo of victory. Even Zhou Zekai had voiced a "huh?" in response to him. It was obvious how much his judgement had failed him.
What tempo of victory? This was the tempo of slapping himself in the face!
"Everyone stop moving! It's time to settle a personal grudge, 1v1 me!!!" Huang Shaotian suddenly roared.
Everyone was stunned. The characters turned their view, like they were looking around at each other.
Then, Dancing Rain unhitched her cannon from her shoulder, Windy Rain lowered his raised staff, and Cloud Piercer sheathed his revolves back in the holsters inside his trench coat. Yu Feng, who had finally arrived, looked around for a while before stabbing his sword into the ground. Even the others in Team B had stopped. He was Huang Shaotian's old teammate too, so he had to give him face.
This time, it was the audience that had their eyes wide in shock.
What the hell was this?
This was the team competition! But everyone really did stop and let these two duel each other. This, this… they were so… not serious! This All-Stars competition was the most unorthodox ever; a Cleric had gone to the group arena, now they were having a one on one duel in the team competition… What… What kind of team competition was this?
But… it really was interesting!
Silence enveloped the stadium for a moment before excitement erupted through the crowd. This All-Stars Competition was really something. So what if it wasn't strict and serious? There were ten of those each week, and sometimes, people just wanted to see such an unorthodox match!
All the characters had stopped over here. As for the other side, Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher had just arrived and originally wanted to go and help Tang Hao. After looking at what was happening here, he wasn't sure what to do anymore.
"What about them? Are we going to let them duel one on one as well?" Xiao Shiqin asked. Wang Jiexi and Tang Hao were still entangled in a fierce battle!
No one paid him any attention. The other characters over here had formed a circle around Lord Grim and Troubling Rain, turning into spectators.
Xiao Shiqin looked around in shock before his Life Extinguisher eventually ran over to stand in the circle with his Mechanical Box.
"You sure this is what you want? After you die, your team will be down two people," Ye Xiu warned the other.
"Bah! You're the one that's gonna die," Huang Shaotian replied.
"What? With the tempo that you're going at?" Ye Xiu struck.
"Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off!" It hit Huang Shaotian's weak point.
"Fine!" Ye Xiu had Lord Grim take a step forwards.
Huang Shaotian took a deep breath, sending a kill emoji as Troubling Rain hiked up Ice Rain, preparing to turn and charge forwards
"Wait!" Ye Xiu suddenly yelled.
"What?!" Huang Shaotian raged. He had just hyped himself up just now.
"Referee, can you hear me, referee?" Ye Xiu called out.
After a moment of silence, a system message popped up in the global channel. "What?"
The audience burst into laughter. This was a system message! They couldn't believe that the referee would send a system message filled with such emotion. How interesting.
"Can I request that the voice function be turned off temporarily?" Ye Xiu asked.
"Go die!" Huang Shaotian yelled, He didn't show any more mercy. Troubling Rain whipped forth sword-light, starting with a Sword Draw.
Ye Xiu didn't back down, using a Slide Kick to slide under the sword-light before launching an offensive.
However, Troubling Rain had already jumped up with a Falling Light Blade, stabbing down towards the sliding Lord Grim.
Lord Grim was reclined, yet the Myriad Manifestations had already changed to spear form, stabbing up at Troubling Rain with Dragon Tooth. Spears were longer than swords. No matter how you looked at it, it was Troubling Rain who would be hit first.
However, Huang Shaotian was truly worthy of being called a top expert. Faced with this situation, he sent his sword straight at the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, the two attacks becoming a parry.
Clang!
The two Silver weapons clashed and Troubling Rain landed behind from there, sword-light flickering once more with an Immortal Guides the Way.
This skill was a knockback attack, but Lord Grim was lying flat on the ground. He obviously couldn't be knocked into the ground, so under these circumstances, knockbacks would cause a small stun. Ye Xiu knew this and Lord Grim rolled to the side. Immortals Guide the Way's sword-light slashed down, sending chunks of earth flying. Lord Grim rolled to a stand, a grenade already thrown. Troubling Rain raised his returning sword-light and with a boom, the grenade exploded into light and fire between them.
Everyone watched them anxiously, not wanting to miss even a moment. Neither of them had much health left. Just once chance would be enough for either of them to claim victory. A pro player's offensive didn't just end with one attack. When one skill hit, there would be many more follow-ups to maximize damage. Currently, the two played extremely cautiously, knowing that a single hit could mean the end.
The smoke from the grenade hadn't even dispersed when Lord Grim snatched the initiative to attack. Shadow Cloak streaked out of the smoke like a ghost, but Huang Shaotian was well acquainted with Ye Xiu's antics. Naturally, he would move to counter it. The instant the Grenade exploded, he was already jumping back to make Troubling Rain dodge.
The Shadow Cloak hit thin air and Huang Shaotian couldn't help but feel triumphant for a moment. He was about to speak, when the earth beneath his feet loosened.
Underground Tunneling Technique!
Lord Grim suddenly leaped out from the earth, causing many to cry out in surprise.
Huang Shaotian's amazing reaction speed was clearly reflected by this event. This strike was not at all within his expectations. But through his fast reaction speed and immense hand speed, Troubling Rain still managed a backwards jump to dodge, and even send out a slash with his sword as well. Unfortunately, activating a skill in such a short time was impossible, so this was only a normal attack. Lord Grim jumped up with the Underground Tunneling Technique, knocking the slash aside. His other hand swung up, sending a strike at Troubling Rain's face.
Sand Toss!
The blind this skill dealt was very annoying. Huang Shaotian hurriedly turned his character's head part way, but he knew that the other would try to grasp this chance while he was looking away. His sword was already slashing down, activating Triple Slash and sending his character into motion.
The Sand Toss didn't manage to blind Troubling Rain, and Triple Slash didn't move him too far. Huang Shaotian's Triple Slash was a two step movement in a small area. Under the flickering of the sword-light, Troubling Rain used it to arrive behind Lord Grim with the first two slashes and then sent out the final slash.
Lord Grim didn't bother to turn. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella already on his shoulder. With a whoosh, the umbrella was opened and the slash landed on the shield.
However, shields wouldn't completely block the damage. With the slash colliding with the shield, Huang Shaotian felt that he had gotten a small advantage.
Was he going to go on the offensive?
That was the thought that suddenly surfaced in Huang Shaotian's mind. Lord Grim didn't have as much health as him. After all, he had been subject to Zhou Zekai and Huang Shaotian's combined offensive before, almost entirely relying on his shield to reduce damage. If he had been fiercer and had managed to bring his DPS high enough, then he and Zhou Zekai might have been able to kill him.
Just as the thought flashed by, still in the ending lag of Triple Slash, Lord Grim jumped back without even putting the umbrella away.
"You're such a crafty bastard!" Huang Shaotian cursed. With that jump, the umbrella shield was practically on top of him. Troubling Rain didn't have any space to move anymore! He had to be careful of the unspecialized quick offensive after the umbrella was closed.
Wait, something's wrong!
How come...
Huang Shaotian suddenly realized, shocked, that his Troubling Rain… was Dizzy!
What the bloody hell? Huang Shaotian abrupted came to a conclusion.
"Shield Attack, huh…" Someone in the circle of spectators said. Everyone turned to look; it was Vaccaria.
"How come you've come over?" As Xiao Shiqin asked his, he turned Life Extinguisher's view.
"I'm done with the battle," Wang Jiexi replied.
As expected, over there, Tang Hao's Demon Subduer had vanished, clearly having been killed.
As for the duel over here? The outcome was set. Huang Shaotian had only trashtalk left, his words filled with rage and dissatisfaction.
Jumping backwards with an umbrella hitched on his shoulder, was he trying to take up Troubling Rain's room to attack? Of course it wasn't that nice. This was a fucking Shield Attack, a Knight's Shield Attack that would apply a Dizzy effect!
Huang Shaotian hadn't realized at first because, one, Shield Attack wasn't a low level skill, and two, with that thing open, he had thought of it as an umbrella. He knew it had the effects of a shield, but he hadn't taken it as a proper shield. In addition, it was a backwards jump after settling the umbrella on his shoulder. Who could have expected Shield Attack to be hidden in there?
After making Troubling Rain dizzy, Lord Grim steadily poised himself to strike before giving Troubling Rain a beating. Without much health left, Troubling Rain finally fell amidst Huang Shaotian's cursing.
Now, Team A only had two people left, Zhou Zekai and Xiao Shiqin, who had only arrived and done nothing but spectated.
As for Team B? They weren't that healthy, but all five were still alive. There was little suspense to the results of the match now. After Wang Jiexi had dealt with Tang Hao, Wang Jiexi had chosen a position to spectate that Xiao Shiqin understood immediately. Wang Jiexi was in a position where he could immediately coordinate with Ye Xiu and form a pincer attack on his Mechanic.
"So, that's it then?" Xiao Shiqin looked around, saying.
"What on earth did we even come here for?" Yu Feng asked Xiao Shiqin. They had arrived, then watched the two duel and then… there wasn't any more to it.
"What about you two duel too?" The others suggested teasingly.
"Nah!" Xiao Shiqin clearly had little interest.
"Yeah, let's not." Yu Feng didn't seem willing either.
"Then let's finish this!" Wang Jiexi said as Vaccaria swung his broom towards Life Extinguisher. Xiao Shiqin responded instinctively, immediately dodging and counterattacking. Then it was a two on five and after a short battle, Team B won without pressure.
Both the audience at the venue and those watching the broadcast were still thinking back to the All-Stars Competition after it ended. The final two on five wasn't interesting, but before that, there was so much to see.
The TV broadcast team was left in a rather awkward position though. In the end, the Team Competition, the climax of the All-Stars Competition, had lasted not even five minutes.
"Only five minutes?" The audience, who only noticed this afterhand, were amazed. These five minutes had really been filled with too much content!