For a Summoner without mana, no one would blame Li Yuan for surrendering. But Li Yuan still had Eight Notes run around left and right. He had no way of resisting, but he dodged around to drag the fight.
Dragging the battle would tire out Fang Rui a bit more. This seemed to be the name of the game for this round's group arena. However, Li Yuan had trouble dragging the fight out, and the effects were poor too. Even so, he didn't give up until the end. He didn't give up until Boundless Sea took away the last drop of life from Eight Notes.
Li Yuan went down from the stage.
The entire stadium roared with applause in praise of his outstanding performance last round and his perseverance this round.
Trying to drag the fight without any mana seemed like he was just haggling over pennies, lacking the air of a powerhouse. However, in this group arena, neither side was giving in, so no one was bothered by Li Yuan's methods.
"Good job." Li Yuan received praise from his teammates, but he himself looked dispirited. He was very unhappy with his match against Fang Rui.
Next, Team Blue Rain's fourth player went up: Lu Hanwen, Flowing Cloud.
The crowd went into an uproar. If Lu Hanwen was fourth, then Team Blue Rain's final fifth player was most likely Huang Shaotian. Placing the ace player as the anchor was a very conservative arrangement for this competitive format. By universal agreement, winning the group arena was only meaningful if you won by more than two points. As a result, teams usually placed their ace player as their fourth member to end the group arena then and there.
But despite this being Blue Rain's home game, they had Huang Shaotian as their last player. Was such a conservative arrangement an indicator of their lack of confidence?
Whispers spread throughout the stadium. Blue Rain's unusual arrangement made their fans feel uneasy.
Pan Lin and Li Yibo discussed this issue quite a bit. In the end, Li Yibo summarized it by stating a reality: "Given the circumstances, Blue Rain is temporarily on the backfoot."
Blue Rain was on their fourth player, yet Happy was on their third. What's more, Fang Rui had only lost 26% of his health last round against Li Yuan. He still had 74% health left and nearly full mana. It was hard to say who would win this next round. If Fang Rui won, Happy would have an overwhelming advantage.
Who will win?
Everyone in the stadium wondered as they watched Lu Hanwen go onto the stage.
He was still a young teen who hadn't fully grown, yet his footsteps were firm. Step by step, he walked onto the stage.
The sixth round of the group arena began.
"Little demon, where do you want to meet?" Words immediately popped up into the chat as soon as the match started. Fang Rui spoke as if he was a villain in a drama.
"The center!" Lu Hanwen replied.
"Okay. You'd better not go back on your word!" Fang Rui said.
The boos were ear-deafening. Quite a few Blue Rain fans started throwing curses at Fang Rui. Last round, Fang Rui had went back on his words, yet now he was telling the other side not to go back on his words. How could they not be infuriated?
On Team Happy's side, Chen Guo felt like she couldn't lift her head. It was true that she was happy about winning, but she was far from agreeing with the phrase, the end justifies the means. When she looked at Wei Chen, she saw him react with a big grin at Fang Rui's shameless display.
"Senior, I don't think you're in a position to warn me." Lu Hanwen said what everyone wanted to say to Fang Rui.
"Haha, do you want to guess if I'm going to go or not?" Fang Rui said.
Shameless! Everyone cursed.
"Senior, I don't know if you're going to go, but I definitely will be," Lu Hanwen replied.
"Little Lu, what a good kid!!" The crowd cheered. They didn't know who would win this round, but at least in terms of morals, Lu Hanwen had already won a hundred fold.
Sure enough, Lu Hanwen went straight along the central path like he said he would.
"What an honest kid!" Wei Chen sighed.
"What, you disapprove?" Chen Guo said.
"I don't disapprove. As long as you win, then I don't care," Wei Chen replied dully.
As for Fang Rui? He lived up to expectations. After telling his opponent to meet in the center, Fang Rui went back on his word and took the roundabout route to the right.
A short moment later...
"Senior, I'm here." Flowing Cloud raised his greatsword and stood at the very center of the map.
"Okay, I'm almost there," Fang Rui replied. Boundless Sea continued along the path to the right.
"I'm guessing that senior won't be showing up from the front!" Lu Hanwen said.
"Smart."
"Then from where?"
"Keep guessing!" Fang Rui said.
"The left or the right!" Lu Hanwen said.
"I could come from the back!" Fang Rui said.
"Right!" Lu Hanwen seemed to have been enlightened.
"So you've got to be careful." Fang Rui said. His Boundless Sea was already positioned by Flowing Cloud's right side. If he wanted to ambush Lu Hanwen, he needed to find a good hiding spot first. He couldn't use the dense fog as cover. If he did, while it was true that the other side wouldn't be able to see him, he wouldn't be able to see the other side either.
Like a thief, Boundless Sea rolled around forest.
"I wonder if Zhao Yang's watching this match," Pan Lin suddenly said.
"Haha," Li Yibo laughed. He immediately understood Pan Lin's joke. He wanted to know what Zhao Yang was feeling, seeing his Boundless Sea become a dirty Qi Master rolling around in the dirt.
Fang Rui finally found a position. Boundless Sea let out a peek from behind a tree. After checking his surroundings, he immediately went back into hiding.
He could see Flowing Cloud. The other side was just standing there as if he were waiting for him. Was Lu Hanwen planning on reacting to his moves instead of taking the initiative? Because of the visibility issue, the distance between the two sides was closer to each other, and there might not be enough space to react.
While Fang Rui was pondering over how he should mount his sneak attack, a message suddenly popped up in the chat: "Senior, I see you."
"Oh?" Fang Rui laughed. How could someone as experienced as Fang Rui be tricked by these words. He simply laughed inwardly at his opponent's naivety.
"Yeah, I've got good eyesight," Lu Hanwen said.
"Really? Ah, how terrible! You're going to rush over and attack, so I'd better run!" Fang Rui chatted, while thinking how he should open the fight. However, the crowd outside had started growing excited.
Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud was quietly moving ahead straight for Boundless Sea's hiding spot.
"He really saw him!" Everyone was astonished.
"Put on a replay from Lu Hanwen's perspective." The broadcast immediately displayed a replay. Lu Hanwen had constantly been checking his surroundings, looking left and right.
"Slow it down." No one noticed anything, so the call to slow it down was made.
1/2 speed.
1/4 speed.
1/8 speed.
Everyone finally saw it. It was just an instant, but Fang Rui's Boundless Sea could be seen taking a peek from behind a tree.
Even under 1/8 speed, it had just been an instant. Fang Rui had moved extremely fast. He had only exposed his head for a short moment.
A normal player might not have caught it, but Lu Hanwen had.
I've got good eyesight. That wasn't a joke!
Lu Hanwen wasn't as naive as Fang Rui had thought. As he continued chatting with Fang Rui, Flowing Cloud closed in quietly, step by step.
"That idiot!" Wei Chen cursed, obviously referring to Fang Rui.
"That kid really has incredible eyes." A replay of the moment was displayed on the big screen. The broadcast even put a red indicator on Fang Rui's Boundless Sea to make it easier for people to see. When Ye Xiu saw the replay, he had been astonished by Lu Hanwen too.
Fang Rui still had no idea. However, he had finally thought of how he should start his offense. Before doing so, he needed to confirm his opponent's position.
Boundless Sea quickly peeked his head out.
Sword light!
All Fang Rui could see was sword light. Right when his head peeked out, sword light had cut his way. Fang Rui hastily moved his mouse back, and Boundless Sea retracted his head. The sword light flew past the tree.
"How fast!!" Pan Lin cried out. As for whether he was talking about Flowing Cloud's attack or Boundless Sea's head, no one knew. Both were correct though.
"It's a pity he's using a greatsword," Li Yibo noted.
Greatswords were far slower than lightsabers and tachis. The attack speed limited how fast a player could attack. Pro players could rely on their hand speed to attack faster than normal players, but when the hand speeds were equal, a greatsword would certainly lose out to a lightsaber or tachi.
Flowing Cloud's Sword Draw had missed by just a hair. If he had used a tachi or a lightsaber, it would not have missed.
After almost being hit, how could Fang Rui not realize the situation. He completely abandoned his previous plan to ambush Lu Hanwen. Boundless Sea had peeked his head out from the right side. After pulling back his head, he didn't hesitate and prepared to attack from the left.
But then...
A heavy wind blew by. Flowing Cloud's greatsword once again swept over.
Boundless Sea could only go back into hiding behind the tree. Fang Rui finally understood that the little demon truly had demonic reaction speed and eyes. Those traits were being put to full use in this terrain.
It became even more clear why Blue Rain had chosen this map.