Chapter 1034: 1v2
Chapter 1034: 1v2
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Xiao Shiqin and Qiu Fei accelerated in pursuit of Dawn Rifle, but they weren't thorough enough.. In the end,, they still pulled a certain amount of distance away from Sun Xiang's group. Even worse, not only were they not getting closer to Dawn Rifle, the two saw signs of the other Happy members.
Not good!!
When Xiao Shiqin saw the other members of Happy in that direction, his heart skipped a beat. He thought Happy would disengage and then regroup to ambush their Cleric, but judging from their current position, it was obvious that they didn't have such intentions. Their true targets were the players pursuing Dawn Rifle.
"Stop!"
After realising that they had fallen into a trap, Xiao Shiqin subconsciously made adjustments, gesturing to Qiu Fei to stop his pursuit. He then spun his view to look at the distance between them and the three characters behind him.
"Retreat!" The distance caused Xiao Shiqin to feel a lack of security, so he had Life Extinguisher retreat.
Qiu Fei's Combat Form visibly hesitated for a moment, but obeyed the order nonetheless.
However, the members of Happy had already appeared. How could they let them escape so easily? Dawn Rifle stopped retreating while the other silhouettes quickly grew clearer. They carried out a fan formation and moved to encircle Life Extinguisher and Combat Form.
This was indeed a trap!
Xiao Shiqin felt fortunate for being able to react quickly, so he could retreat in time. The loss shouldn't be too great, right?
The loss was indeed insignificant. Even though Happy pressed them fiercely, the other three members of Excellent Era weren't so far behind that they couldn't be seen. Reinforcements arrived in the blink of an eye. Happy only advanced on them, attacking only for a moment, and then retreated before the members of Excellent Era finished grouping up.
Xiao Shiqin let out a long sigh of relief. He was pretty satisfied with his response towards the situation. However, it was unknown if the commentators, viewers, and other pro players understood his reasoning... Everyone apart from him felt that his choice of action meant an opportunity wasted.
"Why did he retreat?" Pan Lin was very puzzled.
"Excellent Era is fighting very hesitantly! Since they've already given chase, why did they choose to retreat? Even though Excellent Era had been outnumbered, from the strengths of their pro players and characters, they shouldn't need to escape. Reinforcements would have arrived if they held out a bit longer, so Happy wouldn't have attacked too rashly. By retreating, Happy could attack fiercely without needing to heed the consequences! Excellent Era is currently retreating very quickly. They have no continuity in their attacks at all!" Li Yibo spoke.
"Excellent Era's performance is quite abnormal today." Pan Lin said.
"Is it because the group arena didn't meet their expectations? Or is it because they've never met a troublesome opponent like Happy in the Challenger League? No matter what the reason may be, Excellent Era shouldn't fight with such a lack of confidence..." Li Yibo only mentioned the problem, but was still thinking about the specific reason. Even though he roughly knew what it was, what was it specifically?
"Xiao Shiqin... is treating Excellent Era like Thunderclap." In the end, it was a pro player from Tiny Herb who discovered the exact problem.
"He lacked comprehensive and high-level practice this season, so he wasn't able to judge thoroughly enough. In stressful situations, he subconsciously responds with the play style he used to lead Team Thunderclap." Xu Bin said.
Xu Bin had the right to talk about Xiao Shiqin. This is because his former team, 301 Degrees, was a mid-tier one along with Xiao Shiqin's Thunderclap. The two were direct rivals, so they always fought to the death with each other in order to vie for the spot in the finals. Their matches would greatly impact their final rankings, so they always had to thoroughly investigate each other.
"Yes. He is now leading Team Excellent Era! With fierce players like Sun Xiang, there's no need for him to fight like that. I'd say, if he let Sun Xiang's One Autumn Leaf rush to the front, he might have been able to neutralize Happy's ambush." Liu Xiaobie said.
Whatever was said could only remain as words; the match didn't progress like they thought. At this time, Xiao Shiqin started to realize that something was wrong. This was thanks to their Cleric, Zhang Jiaxing, one of the three members who had caught up to him.
"Aren't we fighting a bit too passively? I think we can be more proactive." Zhang Jiaxing expressed his opinion. There was only one shot caller, but other players had the right to give advice and speak their thoughts. Among Excellent Era's roster, Zhang Jiaxing was the only player who had been a core member of the team the entire time. Coincidently, the Cleric was a character who needed to be able to observe the general situation, so he could acutely discover what was off today.
Xiao Shiqin woke up with these words. He immediately became aware that he mistook Excellent Era for Thunderclap when he was commanding. In fact, he had been reminding himself to change his character for the entire season. However, he was still unable to take on his new role with familiarity during crucial moments in the match. The tactical habits he had developed from Thunderclap were still deeply rooted in him. He needed time and matches to erase it. Although he had ample time this year, he didn't have enough matches. The level of the opponents in the Challenger League weren't adequate enough.
"You're right, we need to be more proactive!" Xiao Shiqin was not the type to save his face when the problem was found. Saving face was mostly found in powerhouses, so players from medium to small teams wouldn't have this shortcoming even for an All Star.
Xiao Shiqin immediately made adjustments after noticing the problem. Excellent Era's ace, One Autumn Leaf, finally pushed towards the peak of the formation. Combat Form and One Autumn Leaf immediately accelerated in pursuit, while Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher acted as a support in the middle. Shen Jian's Striker took the responsibility of protecting the team's Cleric.
"Yes, it seems like Excellent Era has finally discovered the problem and is quickly making adjustments." Li Yibo spoke happily. It was not because he felt happy for Excellent Era, but because their adjustments followed the format he thought was best before. He was able to show his skills as a commentator through the comments today, so Li Yibo was rather pleased with himself.
Sun Xiang's One Autumn Leaf and Qiu Fei's Combat Form no longer held any reservations. They attacked with full power while moving swiftly. Soon, the retreating characters of Team Happy appeared in the two's field of view.
Lord Grim!
The one they were able to catch up to was coincidentally Ye Xiu, who had defeated Qiu Fei and Sun Xiang in the group arena. They were able to meet in the team competition again.
Dragon Breaks the Ranks!
Dragon Breaks the Ranks!
The two Battle Mages of Excellent Era, One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form, suddenly used this high-level move. The two characters raced out in sync. Yet after dashing out, they immediately pulled a distance between them. It wasn't a coincidence. This was obviously a combination that the Battle Mage duo were trained to do. The opponent they teamed up in challenging was the person, who had brought Battle Mages to the pinnacle.
Boom boom boom!
Lord Grim swept the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella, and three artillery shells were sent towards the two challengers from the umbrella's tip.
This attack couldn't stop Dragon Breaks the Rank's momentum at all, but Lord Grim was able to fly a great distance backwards using Anti-Tank Missiles' recoil. He then swung the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella up over his head his head and a Rotor Wing twirled above his head as he flew up into the sky. The moment his feet left the ground, Sun Xiang's One Autumn Leaf arrived. When he saw Lord Grim flying up, he readjusted Evil Annihilation's trajectory, but he was too late. One Autumn Leaf speedily swept across, but hit nothing. Combat Form, who was a step slower, naturally ended up in a similar situation. However, the two Dragon Breaks the Ranks still came out from below, causing him to sway to and fro due to the strong winds from the attacks. The force from their attacks could clearly be seen.
While rocking in midair, Lord Grim retracted the Rotor Wing and unsheathed his tachi. He tilted his body in mid air and used a Sword Draw towards the two, who had just used a high-level skill.
Dragon Breaks the Ranks could be quickly cancelled with no ending lag, and Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei's reactions were very quick. One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form jumped to the left and right respectively. ,dodging the sword slash from Sword Draw.
Falling Light Blade!
Lord Grim used this skill afterwards, aiming for the space between the two characters. The skill had a small attack range, but it was just enough to reach the two.
But because it was only just enough to reach them, One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form only had to take a step back in order to escape from the attack range. Two spears glinted as they crossed at an angle towards Lord Grim.
Slide Kick!
Lord Grim didn't pause after Falling Light Blade and slipped away with a Slide Kick. By matching skills across different classes, he used the most prominent feature of an unspecialized. When Excellent Era learned they were going against Ye Xiu's unspecialized, they trained specifically for him. The players in Team Excellent Era were all familiar with what skills an unspecialized could use. This was done by interpreting the unspecialized as the 25th class.
Even though they were familiar with the possible skills available to an unspecialized, Excellent Era, the team who was most familiar with Ye Xiu, was unable to predict how Ye Xiu would use the skills. When Ye Xiu was in the team, he focused his efforts on Battle Mages. However, this was only 1/24 of his battle capabilities when applying their prior knowledge to his unspecialized. By changing his class, Excellent Era's familiarity towards Ye Xiu became extremely limited.
A Slide Kick after Falling Light Blade?
Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei's reactions were relatively quick, but still a beat too slow. The spears the two characters held weren't able to catch Lord Grim.
After Lord Grim dashed away with the Slide Kick, he threw a grenade behind him. One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form leapt aside once again, and the explosion's flames flashed between the two characters. One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form turned around to chase him, but a purple fog rose up after they took two steps. They happened to step onto a Poison Gas Trap. The two were completely unaware when Lord Grim had planted this trap.
The stadium bubbled with excitement. Everyone thought Ye Xiu's Lord Grim would immediately find a chance to break away and leave, but from what they were seeing, this guy was carrying out a 1v2!
The audience had an omniscient view, so they also knew that the other members of Happy were pushing towards Excellent Era to ambush their Cleric.
Translator's Thoughts
Nomyummi Nomyummi
There'll be two more chapters tonight