Chapter 1393: Eyes Are Blurry
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Everyone held hope for Song Xiao because he never panicked, because he always performed spectacularly during critical moments.
But this time? Ever since Ye Xiu's Lord Grim pierced through his defenses, Song Xiao failed to successfully get them back up. If it was said that he had deliberately left openings in his defense looking for a counterattack, then right now he was purely focused on resisting his opponent's attacks; he was playing on the defensive to survive.
However, even in this sort of situation, players proficient in defense could still find ways to break through the opponent's offense and seize opportunities to turn the tides.
Song Xiao was a calm player and was also exceptional at defense, which was why unlike other players who were overwhelmed by the Unspecialized Blitz during the regular season, people felt like he definitely wouldn't lose like them.
But from the looks of it, they shouldn't hold any such expectations. Song Xiao was being suppressed just like every other player. Receding Tides was in dire straits. As for Song Xiao's current state of mind, no one knew.
"He only has 10% health left," Pan Lin hadn't given up. He hoped to see a sudden reversal at the final moment. But then he looked at Lord Grim's health and despaired.
73%.
Lord Grim still had so much health left. Song Xiao's playoffs opening was starting off unlucky. As soon as he left the door, he met a brick wall.
It's not going to just end like this, is it? Some were muttering in their hearts. In particular, the Team Blue Rain fans had confidence in Song Xiao, because Song Xiao never let them down at the crucial moments.
But... there's a first time for everything. In the end, Song Xiao had his first failed performance when it mattered.
Loss.
70%. Lord Grim's health halted here when Song Xiao's Receding Tides fell.
The stadium applauded to Ye Xiu, of course. Some brave young fellows were even so bold to shout "1v5!"
Song Xiao walked out from the player booth on stage. The broadcast zoomed in on his face, but there didn't really seem to be any particular expression on it.
"Song Xiao's performance today is a bit disappointing!" Pan Lin sighed.
"Or perhaps our expectations for him were too high," Li Yibo said, "Song Xiao's technical skill isn't considered anything outstanding, but rather it's because of his exceptional mental fortitude that he's able to perform beyond his usual skill level during key moments like the playoffs. On the other hand, other players get nervous and might become too cautious, leading to a decrease in their level of play. One side plays worse, while the other side plays better. As a result, it's not hard to understand why Song Xiao always seems to play spectacularly in the playoffs. Unfortunately, his opponent this time was..."
"Saying Ye Xiu gets nervous in a playoffs match sounds more like a joke, doesn't it?" Li Yibo said.
"Yeah," Pan Lin confirmed.
"So Ye Xiu dominating him isn't anything unexpected. If Song Xiao's opponent had been a Happy rookie, perhaps things may have turned out differently," Li Yibo said.
"It looks like Blue Rain didn't expect Ye Xiu to appear first even in the playoffs. Their original idea was probably not to have Song Xiao encounter Ye Xiu," Pan Lin analyzed.
"Yeah, let's see who Blue Rain's second player is," Li Yibo started paying attention to the big screen. The playoffs was set up to always be suspenseful. It wasn't like the regular season's group arena, where the two team's lineup would be listed all at once before the three players went onto the stage. The playoff's five-player group arena was done one at a time. Before it was time, no one besides the player's respective team would know who would be up next.
Lu Hanwen, Blade Master, Flowing Cloud.
Finally, the big screen displayed the name of Team Blue Rain's next player.
"Uh, this..." Li Yibo wanted to say something but then hesitated. Lu Hanwen was still the Alliance's youngest player, but he had already been a part of the main roster for two years, entering All-Stars both years. In his first season at just fourteen years of age, it was because of his mistake that the team lost.
Team Blue Rain's method of training Lu Hanwen was too unrestrained. Nowadays, no team would throw their rookie out onto the battlefield to play around and figure out things for himself. Everyone trained their rookies methodically step by step. Quite a few people expressed their worries for how Team Blue Rain was treating Lu Hanwen.
When rookies first entered the Alliance, they needed time to get used to the intensity and pace of the professional circle. Many talented youths were able to immediately adapt and shine as soon as they stepped onto the stage, with all sorts of awards suddenly being thrown at them.
But what rookies never knew was that what they were facing wasn't the true professional scene. Because they were a newcomer, neither they nor the pro scene was familiar with them. And once they started shining, the pro scene would notice them, and the other opposing teams would make preparations to target them. It was only at this moment would the rookies truly be facing the pro scene; teams would use anything at their disposal for the sake of winning.
Countless rookies crashed into this iron wall, leaving their heads broken and bloody. And this was the so-called Rookie's Block. Many of the current Gods had hit this wall before.
They had broken past it, but numerous talented players disappeared into nothing after hitting this wall. The more massive the blow, the greater the pressure, the more unfavorable it was for the rookie's growth.
In many people's eyes, Blue Rain's Lu Hanwen had fallen into such a predicament. And to no one's surprise, once the teams started familiarizing themselves with him, his performance dwindled. However, Lu Hanwen never fell into low spirits. He continued to work hard. It was as if he had just entered the Alliance. He continued to preserve that endless reserve of energy.
Dwindling performance? A mistake dragging down the rest of the team?
Lu Hanwen had experienced and suffered through them all. However, his enthusiasm never wavered. He was true youth filled with boundless spirit. His heart was filled with sunshine without a single bit of haze.
Blue Rain had used the method most suitable for him. He didn't need to be protected. He could face setbacks and crash to the ground heavily, but he would always quickly climb back up, stumbling until the day he flew.
"Coach Li, what are your thoughts on this matchup?" Pan Lin saw that Li Yibo seemed to want to say something and switched the conversation to him.
"Ye Xiu is experienced. Lu Hanwen is driven. It's going to be an exciting match," Li Yibo smiled.
Pan Lin guessed that this wasn't what Li Yibo had originally wanted to say, but it wouldn't be good to press him on air. He could only continue with a brief introduction of Lu Hanwen's situation as he watched the young player get up from his seat and head to the stage.
"This Lu Hanwen has a big heart!" Pan Lin suddenly said, when he saw Lu Hanwen cross Song Xiao.
"Yes, compared to skill, the heart is much more difficult to train. Lu Hanwen is only a young kid. How rare," Li Yibo said.
"Blue Rain's two players are talking with each other. Is Song Xiao passing on the experience he had just gained from this match?" Pan Lin guessed.
"Blue Rain should have that knowledge way beforehand!" Li Yibo remarked. After all, Blue Rain and Happy had fought against each other twice in the regular season already.
"Perhaps a new discovery?" As Pan Lin said these words, Song Xiao and Lu Hanwen parted. Lu Hanwen went onto the stage, while Song Xiao returned to his seat.
"Is he really hard to fight?" Huang Shaotian asked.
"My eyes went blurry," Song Xiao got to his seat and shut his eyes.
"Blurry?"
"That umbrella changes forms again and again and again non-stop. I really can't bear it," Song Xiao said.
Everyone in Blue Rain looked at each other. When they prepped for this match against Happy, Ye Xiu and his unspecialized were obviously a huge focus, but they hadn't prepared for something like this.
"What is this?" Blue Rain's Spitfire, Zeng Xuan, sighed. Spitfires could be considered as the best at interfering with the opponent's line of sight. Others might not be able to reach the apex and emulate Zhang Jiale's Hundred Blossoms style, but it had become a commonly utilized Spitfire technique.
Ye Xiu's technique was different from theirs though. They simply used visual effects, but Ye Xiu directly made visual attacks! Making someone's eyes go blurry, that was the effect of Flash Bullet!
"What did you say to Lu Hanwen?" Yu Wezhou asked Song Xiao.
"I told him to try to cut in from the side or circle to the back. Try not to fight face to face. Doing so is truly too disgusting. Truly. You guys should try when you have the chance," Song Xiao said.
Yu Wenzhou didn't ask any further and watched as Lu Hanwen went into Blue Rain's player booth. Then, the characters loaded in. Flowing Cloud and Lord Grim entered the map.
Lu Hanwen obviously wasn't the type to go around in circles. Flowing Cloud went directly towards the center. As for Ye Xiu? He once again took a roundabout path, a different route than last time too. Previously, he had Lord Grim go to the left, this time he changed it to the right.
"Playing dirty again!" Huang Shaotian ground his teeth. He was a bit nervous too. He knew of Lu Hanwen's style better than others. Lu Hanwen wasn't good at dealing with dirty play. An ordinary level of dirty wasn't a big deal, but Ye Xiu's dirtiness, on the other hand, was on another level.
"Lu Hanwen is taking the straight path, while Ye Xiu is taking a roundabout route," Pan Lin explained the opening.
"Ye Xiu seems to be taking it at a medium pace! It doesn't seem like he plans on rushing for a position," Li Yibo commented on Lord Grim's movement speed.
"Where is he planning to mount a sneak attack from this time?" Pan Lin said. Ye Xiu's strategic movement wasn't completely dirty. He didn't hide, attack, retreat, harass, retreat, harass, and annoy his opponents to death. Most of the time, he would launch a sneak attack to gain the initiative and then keep fighting face to face. However, this was the group arena. The less health lost the better. Under these circumstances, it wasn't impossible that he would play completely dirty. The Glory Textbook. No one believed that there was no style Ye Xiu could not play.
Would he play dirty?
Everyone stared at Lord Grim's unhurried movement and thought quietly to themselves.
Chapter 1394: Ineffective to Effective
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Lord Grim and Flowing Cloud took their own paths. Neither side was facing each other but from the omniscient view of the spectators, it could be seen that the two characters were closing in on each other, even if there was stuff between them.
Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud moved in a straight line and reached the center of the map first. Seeing that his opponent wasn't within sight, he didn't hesitate and continued charging forward.
"Wow, Lu Hanwen is very decisive!" Pan Lin was pleasantly surprised.
"Oh, this way Ye Xiu won't be able to find a place in the center of the map to mount a sneak attack. Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud has already left!" Li Yibo said.
"Is this the advice Song Xiao gave? It's simple, but effective!" Pan Lin said.
With just these few words, Flowing Cloud had already crossed through the center of the map towards Lord Grim's spawn point.
"But what's Lu Hanwen going to do next? He's not hoping that he'll find Lord Grim at the spawn point, is he?" Pan Lin questioned.
"Lu Hanwen should have a better understanding of this map from the first fight. I'm guessing his plans are based on this understanding. Or perhaps, someone gave him some pointers," Li Yibo said.
"Song Xiao?" Pan Lin looked at Flowing Cloud's movements.
"Song Xiao may have played on this map, but his understanding might not be better than the players off-stage," Li Yibo said.
"Yu Wenzhou!" Pan Lin realized. Why would the off-stage players have an easier time grasping the map? Because they had spectator control, allowing them to get a full view of the map or cut to different perspectives. This control gave them a much more complete picture than what the broadcast could give. Song Xiao had never traversed to Lord Grim's spawn point, however, those off-stage could see the terrain Lord Grim passed through and his spawn point via their spectator view.
Team Blue Rain obviously wasn't very familiar with the map chosen by Team Happy, but a tactics expert like Yu Wenzhou could easily find numerous strategical points from the map in this amount of time. What areas should be avoided, what areas could be utilized, the following Blue Rain players could already start reflecting on how to take advantage of these points. Perhaps Lu Hanwen had been given a suggestion by Yu Wenzhou.
"Let's see what he'll do!" Pan Lin suddenly became excited. But at this moment, Lord Grim suddenly changed directions.
Because he was taking a roundabout route, Lord Grim hadn't reached the center yet. Even so, he suddenly turned left, making his way towards the path to the center.
"This is!" Pan Lin yelled. For a moment, he couldn't figure out Lord Grim's goal. Li Yibo was also thinking about Lord Grim's decision. After awhile, it looked like he was planning on charging out from the right flank to meet with Flowing Cloud.
"No way! Switch to Ye Xiu's perspective!" Li Yibo shouted.
The camera immediately switched views. The scenery was rapidly changing. Lord Grim was moving very fast, traversing through the map with great familiarity. Not far from his position, Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud was following the main central path towards the south.
Slide Kick!
Lord Grim suddenly did a Slide Kick, not as an attack but as a way to move at a low height. He slid across the ground through the gaps of several thick tree branches.
Jumping over the tree branches or circling around them were possible options, but Ye Xiu choosing to use a skill instead wasn't just to look cool.
Lord Grim and Flowing Cloud were very close. Everyone felt like the two would soon be within each other's sights.
But after the Slide Kick, Lord Grim immediately hugged the ground.
The camera reacted quickly this time. With a snap, the perspectives of both players were shown simultaneously on the big screen.
Lord Grim hugged the ground as he moved, while from Lu Hanwen's perspective, there was no one in sight.
He's hidden himself!
Everyone gasped in surprise. Then, they saw Lord Grim roll, without standing up, to behind a shrub.
Nothing abnormal could be seen from Lu Hanwen's perspective, but Ye Xiu's Lord Grim had quietly approached him.
There was no time to reflect on this scene though.
Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud continued to dash forward. From the bush Lord Grim was hiding behind, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Everyone in the stadium could hear it, let alone Ye Xiu.
Just as Flowing Cloud passed by the bush, Lord Grim jumped out.
Lord Grim hopped over the bush instead of leaping through so that he wouldn't be heard.
The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella also jumped out, transforming into a spear.
Dragon Tooth!
A back attack against Flowing Cloud.
Whoosh! Tap!
Two sounds rang out simultatenously.
The sound effect that came with Dragon Tooth could not be eliminated by player control, but when Lord Grim let out the Dragon Tooth, the sound effect coincided with the Flowing Cloud's footstep.
Was it a coincidence?
Or was it skill?
There was no time to analyze it. The two sounds were different, neither was covering up the other. But because of the mix between footstep and skill, Lu Hanwen reacted a beat slow.
Pu!
This sound was incomparably clear. Flowing Cloud's back had been pierced through by Lord Grim's spear.
Dragon Tooth inflicted a Stun. A follow-up combo didn't need to be said. After being struck in the back, Flowing Cloud's health rapidly fell.
"Lord Grim's attack power must have been improved," Li Yibo didn't make this comment for nothing. Even though he couldn't see the exact numbers, he was confident in what he had said.
Pan Lin didn't follow up. Li Yibo had said these words before! Why would you repeat yourself? His equipment are all Level 80. It would be weird if his attack power didn't improve, can't you say anything meaningful?
"Lu Hanwen's on the defensive!" Pan Lin described the state of the fight.
"Who would have thought Ye Xiu would do something like that? Could he have seen through Lu Hanwen's intentions?" Li Yibo said. The two sides had started fighting. There was no way to switch perspectives to analyze Ye Xiu's previous string of movements.
"It's not going to be a one hit to death, is it..." The combo had only just started, and Pan Lin was worried. Although Lu Hanwen had been voted into All-Stars twice, which made it seem like he was better than Song Xiao, in terms of emotional control in a match, how could this young player compare to Song Xiao, the player nicknamed Mister Clutch?
Even Song Xiao had been crushed in a direct confrontation by Ye Xiu, now that Lu Hanwen had been attacked from the back, turning the situation around would probably be even more difficult, no?
In the blink of an eye, 15% of Flowing Cloud's health had been taken away. A back attack increased the damage by a considerable 20%. Assassins had a class advancement skill "Art of Assassination" buff, which buffed that number to 40%. Unfortunately, class advancement and awakening skills could not be attached to a weapon.
"I hope Lu Hanwen can stay calm and search for opportunities to fight back," Pan Lin continued.
Fast!
This was the impression Lu Hanwen got from the fight. From the first Dragon Tooth to now, he had lost 15% of his health. The unspecialized didn't have class proficiency or armor proficiency, so their stats couldn't compare to real class. Plus, their skills were low-level, so their damage wasn't high. That was the objective opinion towards the unspecialized. But Flowing Cloud had just lost 15% of his health in an instant, low damage? Then use speed to make up for it! Lu Hanwen could tell how closely linked the attacks were. He didn't know how an unspecialized could attack so fast. Did his attacks not have start-up and end animations? Was it his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was transforming again again and again?
Lu Hanwen couldn't tell. He was trying his hardest, but Ye Xiu was more experienced. He kept adjusting his position, so Lord Grim was behind him.
It wasn't Vanishing Step, but it was the same reason.
But in this case, he didn't need to be troubled over his eyes blurring.
This energetic and hopeful youth could still find good points in this situation. Even if these good points had no value, it still made him feel gratified.
Now, he needed to find a way to break out of this predicament.
Lu Hanwen didn't panic, although he wasn't that calm either. He had courage though, the courage to try. Failure after failure, he would scratch his head and then try again!
Bang bang bang!
Flowing Cloud was using his sword too, but some of his attacks looked pretty poor from the lens of an expert. It was as if he was panicking without any thought behind his attacks, hoping to luck his way out.
"This sort of recklessness probably isn't going to work on Ye Xiu, is it?" Li Yibo said.
You can do it!
Many people were cheering for Lu Hanwen, especially Blue Rain's fans.
Although it looked like he was just randomly doing things, it wasn't necessarily that there was no thought behind his attacks. Lu Hanwen was at the very least never doing the same thing twice. In other words, what looked brainless wasn't actually brainless. He was testing different methods. He couldn't think of any certain-success methods, so he could only gamble on the probable ones.
If one didn't work, he would try again. If that didn't work, then a different one. Another failure? Again...
Bang bang bang bang...
The "brainless" Lu Hanwen continued to struggle, sword light dancing randomly.
"Good child!" Huang Shaotian praised.
Yu Wenzhou chuckled, but didn't say anything.
The percepting Blue Rain players could see it. Lu Hanwen's attempts might have carried a lot of energy, but none of them succeeded. However, his constant attempts may have failed again and again, but they were taking a toll on Ye Xiu. And this effect, through Lu Hanwen's brave tries, was slowly accumulating and expanding.
Ye Xiu was trying hard to get rid of it, but Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou could see that he wasn't able to completely eliminate it.
Having Lord Grim keep up this insanely fast offense was extremely difficult in itself. It required extraordinary precision. Lu Hanwen's ineffective methods were converging into a whole, transforming into what could be an effective solution.