Su Mucheng's brilliant technical display led to a successful strike against Troubling Rain, whose body hung suspended in the air due to the explosion from the Anti-Tank Missiles. The recoil from these Anti-Tank Missiles also shifted the tumbling Dancing Rain to the side. Even so, she wasn't going to let this opportunity go.
Boom!
Another missile flew into the air. Dancing Rain was still spinning, making it look like she had thrown it out. Even if it was a throw, it was an accurate one.
The distance between the two players was too close. Troubling Rain had yet to escape from the Anti-Tank Missile's hitstun before the new attack struck.
Ka!
The sound of metal cracking could be heard alongside the explosion.
Armor-Piercing Missile!
The skill dealt damage and reduced the target's defense. The sound of metal cracking indicated that Troubling Rain's light armor had been damaged, and his defense would temporarily be lowered.
At max rank, Armor-Piercing Missile's effect lasted 8 seconds and reduced the target's physical defense by 30%.
30% was a considerable reduction. Launchers didn't have many attacks with special effects, and this skill was one that allowed them to deal more damage.
The skill usually marked the beginning of a fierce assault. But Su Mucheng's Dancing Rain was still spinning in the air!
Both the Anti-Tank Missiles and the Armor-Piercing Missile had been released consecutively in a short time frame. Could Dancing Rain keep up the assault given her situation?
She could!
A bright pillar of light descended from the air just as people were beginning to show doubt.
Not only did she attack, she used a powerful high-level skill, Satellite Beam!
Everyone was shocked, especially the viewers who played Launchers. They knew just how unbelievable it was. Satellite Beam was a skill that was difficult to control and aim accurately. If she landed the Satellite Beam in her current state, then that would be even more astonishing than the previous Anti-Tank Missile and Armor-Piercing Missile.
But she missed!
Huang Shaotian deserved his reputation. He wasn't able to dodge the previous Armor-Piercing Missile because it had simply come too fast, but this Satellite Beam had a rather long start-up time. Although the previous attack had increased the hitstun duration, it was just a tiny bit too short.
Huang Shaotian grasped that small opening!
Lunge!
It was a low-level skill. The damage was low and the movement it enabled was very short. But this sudden lunge was just enough to let Troubling Rain dodge the first part of the Satellite Beam. After that, he traversed through the smaller beams that split off.
Downwind Sword Slash!
Sword light flew out from Troubling Rain on his third step. A streak of blue crossed through the heaven and earth, but it was too hard to see what it was exactly because it was soon covered in dark red.
Hit!
The airborne Dancing Rain had nowhere to run to. The recoil from her previous attacks had reduced much of her spinning, and her position in the air wasn't too clear. From a certain perspective, this Downwind Sword Slash removed Dancing Rain's knock-up status effect, sending her flying towards a tree. Although Su Mucheng hastily had Dancing Rain shoot twice, it wasn't able to stop the momentum from Troubling Rain's attack.
The tides of battle instantly shifted again.
No one had expected this Blade Master and Launcher battle to turn out this way.
According to common knowledge, when Blade Masters and Launchers fought, the Launcher ran while the Blade Master gave chase. If the Blade Master caught the Launcher, the Blade Master won. If not, the Launcher won.
Right now, the Blade Master and Launcher were fighting an even battle at such close range. To be able to make such an abnormal situation happen, Su Mucheng was undoubtedly deserving of praise.
Fighting at close range was extremely unfavorable for Launchers, but through impeccable timing, Su Mucheng was able to use this close range to send out attacks that were harder to dodge.
These successive attacks worried Blue Rain's fans.
They were unexpectedly worried for Huang Shaotian in close combat against a Launcher. When they thought about it again, they found it hard to believe.
Dancing Rain had finally been hit flying by Troubling Rain, giving everyone a little bit of room to relax.
In reality, the previous exchange had been very quick. From beginning to end, it had taken less than ten seconds. But those ten seconds were so filled with content that it would take more than ten minutes to digest.
The match continued.
Sending Dancing Rain flying was just a start. Troubling Rain quickly gave chase.
Shadow Steps!
This time, Huang Shaotian used Shadow Steps to prevent Su Mucheng from tricking him. No matter how familiar Blue Rain's players were with this map, there was no way they could have anticipated that Su Mucheng would place a signal in that little hole. What's more, the terrain would undergo changes from the previous battles in the group arena. Who knew if that hole had come with the map or if it had been created.
All sorts of tricks could be employed in this map. As for Su Mucheng... Huang Shaotian admitted that he had taken it too easy at the start probably because his opponent had been a Launcher. He couldn't help it. That isn't right! Huang Shaotian scolded himself. He had known Su Mucheng for quite some time. He knew how crafty she could be.
Shadow Steps!
In order to get close to her, Huang Shaotian had used seven shadows to surround Dancing Rain. This time, he wasn't careless. He blocked off every retreat path. Su Mucheng would most likely send out attacks as she fell to use Aerial Cannon to adjust her positioning.
Boom!
As he expected, Dancing Rain sent out attacks. With seven shadows, Su Mucheng didn't know which one was real. She could only use these attacks to help push her Dancing Rain away.
These movements had been within Huang Shaotian's predictions and he quickly reacted.
Sword Draw!
Whether the shadow was real or fake, all seven sent out sword slashes towards Dancing Rain.
Which one was real? Which one was fake?
Su Mucheng had no way of telling. Even if she could, she wasn't like a bird who could fly nimbly through the air and dodge the attack.
As a result, Su Mucheng abandoned her defense and had Dancing Rain take out a Gatling Gun.
Ta ta ta ta ta...
A string of bullets rapidly fired, practically the moment Dancing Rain was hit.
Su Mucheng immediately deduced where the real body was. As Dancing Rain flew back, she aimed her gun and fired towards the real Troubling Rain before the drops of blood even hit the ground.
Pu pu pu pu pu...
Several bullets struck Troubling Rain. With Gatling Gun's firing speed and this distance, it wasn't possible for him to dodge. As Dancing Rain flew back, the bullets were focused on Troubling Rain. The burst of bullets made Troubling Rain look like a ragdoll. It was true that Gatling Gun was a low-leveled skill, but it still did considerable damage when all of the bullets landed.
Everyone was awestruck, including Team Happy and Chen Guo.
She had already forgotten to cheer and become excited. She was completely shocked.
Aggressive!
Su Mucheng fought extremely aggressively.
She didn't know which shadow was real, so she used herself as a testing stone and then made an aggressive counterattack, making both sides suffer from the exchange.
She had been trying to run the entire time, but running away wasn't a choice she made because she was sacred. Throughout this entire match, she seemed to have no fear of engaging in close combat, and she didn't act like a typical Launcher who decisively chose to run as soon as the opponent got near.
In close combat, she tried every way she could think of to display a Launcher's power. She didn't yield an inch as she attacked her opponent.
Her aggressiveness had caught Huang Shaotian off guard.
He had never met a Launcher like this before.
He had never seen Su Mucheng play like this before either.
Despite his shock, Huang Shaotian maintained his composure.
Troubling Rain had lost another 9%, but this time, Huang Shaotian didn't lose the trade. Meteor Form, Downwind Sword Slash, Sword Draw, these three fast skills had taken out 11% of Dancing Rain's health.
But overall?
Troubling Rain only had 48% health left, while Dancing Rain still had 89%.
There was a 41% health disparity and Su Mucheng was playing abnormally aggressive. Huang Shaotian didn't dare act blindly.
With less health, he didn't dare make too many trades, but Su Mucheng's aggressive playing was showing that she intended on doing so.
In the previous group arena round, he didn't want to trade to conserve as much health as possible for Happy's fifth player, but Tang Rou forcefully made trades to make him lose health.
Right now, Su Mucheng was utilizing this point to make things difficult for Huang Shaotian.
Last time, he didn't want to make trades so he could keep himself healthy.
This time, he didn't want to make trades so he could keep himself alive.
48% health wasn't just Troubling Rain's life, but Team Blue Rain's last life in the group arena.
Huang Shaotian no longer gave chase. Troubling Rain turned and disappeared into the fog. He had given up on chasing after her relentlessly and decided to be more tactical. He wanted to ambush her, which meant the first thing he needed to do was to go into hiding.