Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Under Xiao Shiqin's careful commands, Thunderclap's players didn't leave a trace. Xiao Shiqin and two of his teammates, Fang Xuecai and Zhang Qi, were left behind.
Fang Xuecai was an Assassin. He had joined Thunderclap a year after Xiao Shiqin and was a good friend of his, who had played alongside Xiao Shiqin for many years. Zhang Qi was a rookie that had become a pro player only last year. Xiao Shiqin had already left by the time he joined. This rookie hadn't been very accepting of Xiao Shiqin's choice to leave, but all he felt from the other team members was their heartfelt respect for Xiao Shiqin. Once, he inadvertently said something a bit disrespectful and had been admonished by Dai Yanqi, who had acted as if she were his senior, despite only joining the team one year earlier than him. The expression of the other team members were very unfriendly as well.
Zhang Qi felt gloomy. He was just a rookie though. How could he complain? He could only silently endure it. When he heard the news of Team Excellent Era losing, Zhang Qi rejoiced at his misfortune. But then, Xiao Shiqin unexpectedly returned to Team Thunderclap. This made Zhang Qi somewhat spiteful of him. The other team members cheerfully accepted Xiao Shiqin's return though, making Zhang Qi feel even more disappointed in his team.
No backbone.
The players and the team didn't have any backbone.
This was the feeling in Zhang Qi's heart, but he didn't dare criticize anyone. When he saw how Xiao Shiqin's return was treated so well, his heart only became more unbalanced.
Soon afterwards, Xiao Shiqin immediately assumed the position of captain. Then, he called for everyone to go into the game and fight bosses for materials.
Is this something a pro player should be doing?
Zhang Qi looked around. No one in the team seemed to object. He didn't dare break away from the entire team, so he could only go into the game with the team. Now, he was following behind this no-backbone Xiao Shiqin. They were hiding in a bush for who knew what reason.
"They're here!" Fang Xuecai suddenly whispered.
"Got it." Xiao Shiqin replied.
Zhang Qi shifted his camera and saw a bunch of Guild Happy characters majestically enter the woodlands on this hillside.
Zhang Qi turned his head and looked at Xiao Shiqin, who wasn't sitting far away from him. Not only did he look vigilant, he even seemed nervous.
Really? We're just playing in the game. Zhang Qi thought rather disdainfully.
"Zhang Qi, when you turn your camera, be gentler." At this moment, Xiao Shiqin's voice suddenly came in from his headphones.
"Ah?" Zhang Qi stared blankly.
"They'll notice the rustling of the bush." Xiao Shiqin said.
"Oh." Zhang Qi replied. As for his real thoughts: hmph, coward.
Zhang Qi didn't treat Xiao Shiqin's warning seriously. He didn't think that this caution was necessary. After Happy's people arrived, they rapidly dispersed.
"Take note of each team's whereabouts." Xiao Shiqin assigned this role to three players. Zhang Qi checked the direction that he was responsible for.
"Gently, gently!" Xiao Shiqin reminded again.
Annoying!!
Zhang Qi nearly blurted it out, but he was able to stop himself. But under this urge, not only did he not turn gently, he turned even more roughly. Since he had already finished turning, it was too late for Xiao Shiqin to say anything more. Xiao Shiqin furrowed his brow, but didn't say anything in the end.
Zhang Qi was bored to death as he watched that direction attentively. Guild Happy had two teams coming this way. After coming to a certain distance from them, the two teams split up. One team continued straight at them, while the other team moved diagonally to the left.
What's there to look at?
Zhang Qi was distracted. Suddenly, he heard Xiao Shiqin shout: "Not good! Run!"
Then, he saw Xiao Shiqin and Fang Xuecai run out from the bushes at the same time. Their movements were extremely fast.
Zhang Qi hadn't been very focused. He didn't respect Xiao Shiqin's orders either. Whenever an order came out, he would always complain in his mind first before doing anything. That was practically a habit now. Now that an order required his immediate action, how could he not be slower than the others?
A Satellite Beam descended from the skies, directly hitting this bush. Xiao Shiqin and Fang Xuecai had promptly escaped to dodge it, but Zhang Qi was hit because of that slight hesitation.
"F*ck!" Zhang Qi cursed as his character started wobbling away. But then the Satellite Beam split into eight smaller pillars. He had taken the Satellite Beam straight to the face and now he was about to be hit twice.
Where's the attack coming from?
Zhang Qi was too busy to figure out the answer to that question. Escaping was more urgent. He saw a gap between two pillars and rushed towards it.
"Slow down!" Xiao Shiqin shouted.
Only you would slow down!
At a critical moment, Zhang Qi complained even faster. He completely ignored Xiao Shiqin's warning to slow down. His character continued to sprint. Suddenly, he saw that gap flash and one of the pillars split into two, filling up the gap. His character just happened to be caught by it.
Zhang Qi turned pale with fright, but his character was already in a stunned state from this attack. Light pillar after light pillar smashed into his character. Eight? No, there were clearly twelve of them. The Satellite Beam pillars that initially hit him weren't two, but three! Two of them had been overlapping, making it difficult for Zhang Qi to distinguish between the two.
But Xiao Shiqin had warned him to slow down. Could he have seen through it?
Zhang Qi felt somewhat ashamed. Let alone anything else, just being hit by every single light pillar from Satellite Beam was shameful enough.
Right when that pillar of light finished sweeping the area, he saw a Battle Mage with a Guild Happy tag charge towards him.
Do these guys think I'm that easy to bully?
I'm not an ordinary player!
Zhang Qi angrily welcomed his opponent, swinging his sword with a Destruction Slash. He was planning on giving this Battle Mage, who didn't know how high the heavens were, a lesson. But when his sword flashed, that Battle Mage didn't slow down and nimbly dodged it. The Battle Mage's spear thrust towards him at the same time. Zhang Qi's Destruction Slash wasn't completed yet. However, that Battle Mage's Dragon Tooth had already arrived.
Zhang Qi was once again alarmed. It was too late to cancel his skill. Dragon Tooth hit, and he was put into a stunned state. The other side used a Sky Strike to knock him into the air and then went behind him, sending him flying away with a Falling Flower Palm.
Bang!
Zhang Qi's Berserker tumbled in the air. At the very last moment before he was sent flying away from his original location, he saw Xiao Shiqin and Fang Xuecai rush over to try save him. That Battle Mage welcomed them fearlessly.
Zhang Qi's Berserker fell to the ground. He didn't forget to Quick Recover at least as his character got up. However, he soon discovered that he was trapped. A whole bunch of characters surrounded him.
"I..."
Zhang Qi was only able to utter a single word when the enemy weapons fell, unleashing all sorts of skills. The wave of focused attacks instantly killed him.
I'm a pro player!
Zhang Qi had wanted to yell that out, but he was instantly killed before he could say anything.
What just happened?
Zhang Qi had trouble regaining his composure. Everything had happened too quickly. A few seconds ago, he had been waiting in a bush, throwing insults at Xiao Shiqin in his head. A few seconds later, he was a corpse lying on the streets.
Are you joking? He had never died so quickly even on the pro stage!
Zhang Qi was stunned.
The ghost world was deathly silent. Everything on the battlefield had nothing to do with him. But Zhang Qi could hear sound --- Xiao Shiqin's voice.
He was giving orders.
He and Fang Xuecai were crossing swords with the other side.
Zhang Qi turned his head to look over. Xiao Shiqin looked focused and also nervous.
What's there to be nervous about? Those were his thoughts a few seconds ago. Now, the not-nervous him was already dead.
Zhang Qi prepared to revive. Suddenly, a notification flashed: Cleric Haruir has cast Resurrection on you. Do you want to revive or not?
Zhang Qi immediately clicked yes. His character stood up and then pounced forward.
"What are you doing!!" Zhang Jiaxing's voice came from the practice room.
Zhang Qi was at a complete loss. He discovered that all of his teammates were looking at him as if he were an idiot.
"Wait until the right opportunity to revive..." Zhang Jiaxing mumbled to himself. He was a newcomer, after all. For Thunderclap, he was even newer than Zhang Qi. If this were Excellent Era, he wouldn't let this matter go with just a word or two. A healer's status in the team was quite high.
Zhang Qi finally woke up. He actually chose to revive while trapped in the enemy ranks. This decision was extremely stupid. Trying to deny it would be stupid.
"Sorry, my bad." Zhang Qi said.
"Zhang Qi, pay attention to orders." Fang Xuecai followed up.
"Okay….." Zhang Qi replied dumbly.
If he had had listened to orders, would things have turned out differently? Zhang Qi couldn't help but glance at Xiao Shiqin. He was the same as ever, focused but also nervous.
"Team one, don't advance. Retreat five coordinates."
"Team four, take the place of team three."
"Team five, hold on. Support will be arriving soon. Team six's healers, support team five."
Thunderclap's support hurried over, clashing with Happy. Xiao Shiqin didn't plan on deciding the winner here though. He noted their goal: to kill the boss, not to win versus any other guild. Fighting Happy was out of helplessness. However, he soon realized that Happy's offensive wasn't that fierce. It seemed like they were also clear-headed. They also knew that this battle was pointless.
The leaders of the two sides had a mutual understanding. With neither side suffering too heavy casualties, the troops on both sides started to retreat. Not long afterwards, the battle stopped.
Amidst Happy's troops, a Battle Mage walked out with a spear on his shoulders: "You're working hard!"
Xiao Shiqin saw that it was the Battle Mage that sent Zhang Qi's Berserker flying.
"So it was you." Xiao Shiqin said.
"Who'd you think it was?" Ye Xiu said.
"Who else could it have been?" Xiao Shiqin said. Apart from Ye Xiu, there was only Tang Rou.
"If it were her, she wouldn't have been so low-profile." Ye Xiu smiled.
Xiao Shiqin suddenly thought of Tang Rou's Dragon Breaks the Ranks. For her Battle Mage, the image of that skill gave the deepest impression. Where was she hiding now though? The previous battle hadn't been too intense. Xiao Shiqin hadn't found Happy's other players yet. As a result, he could only instruct his troops: "When we fight again in a bit, pay attention to that Battle Mage. Kill him in one wave!"
At the same time, in Happy's troops: "When we fight again in a bit, pay attention to that Mechanic. Kill him in one wave!"
"The boss is here!" At this time, the two sides received the news.
"FIGHT!!" The two leaders gave the order.
Thunderclap immediately focused on that Battle Mage!
Happy immediately focused on that Mechanic!
Chapter 1086: Focus FireTranslator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Dragon Swordsman, the level 75 wild boss of Dragon Highlands, was their target today.
By now the eight level 75 wild bosses had been completely figured out by the players. Out of the eight, there were six that were each experts of single class type. The other two were amalgamations of three different class types. Figuring out the class of a boss wasn't just to make the battle easier, but also to understand the rewards that the boss could drop. The drops from the boss would naturally coincide more with the class of the boss.
Dragon Swordsman was one of the six class type experts. His class type was obviously the Swordsman class, if his name was anything to go by.
There would be events that signalled Dragon Swordsman's respawn, and the guilds that noticed these events would naturally prepare to welcome the boss beforehand. That was what Thunderclap had planned, and also what Happy had planned. It was just unfortunate that they bumped into each other. They exchanged blows, but tried their best to preserve their strength. It hadn't been a minute since the Dragon Swordsman had spawned.
"Attack!"
The two teams simultaneously received the order, but no one charged towards Dragon Swordsman.
All of Thunderclap's players focused on Ye Xiu's Battle Mage without any hesitation. All of Happy's players focused on Xiao Shiqin's Mechanic without hesitation.
Having hundreds of people focus on one target was just in theory. In reality, the DPS methods of healers were limited, the melee classes needed to switch places as they attacked, which had a method to it because they couldn't all attack the same target all at once, and ranged attacks needed space: Gunners needed a path for their bullets while Mages needed a good angle to cast spells from.
The two teams had only just received the order to focus fire and hadn't had the time to arrange a formation for attacking and positioning. This wave of attacks was rather hapdash.
Perhaps it was enough against normal players, but Ye Xiu and Xiao Shiqin were both at the top of the Glory scene, and the top of the top at that.
Battle Mage, Mechanic, the two figures weaved in and out of the attacks, parrying the strikes from melee classes, and dodging the blasts from ranged classes. When they did receive damage, it was only the smallest loss possible at the time.
Both sides were stunned.
The offensive launched by the other side made them feel like they were looking in a mirror. They all turned their views and saw two characters running around desperately.
"One Wave Rush!" Even their yells were exactly the same. The two sides had come across each other, but the battle between them hadn't erupted yet. Both sides were focused on accomplishing their orders and had sort of switched places. After all, Happy's players were in a position where it was easier to hit Ye Xiu's Battle Mage while Thunderclap was in a position closer to Xiao Shiqin's Mechanic.
In that moment, people from the two guilds had mixed together and it was hard to tell who was friend and who was foe. From the overall situation, it looked more like Ye Xiu and Xiao Shiqin were on the same side.
How merciless!
A focused attack like this wasn't easy to deal with, even for a God like Ye Xiu. While parrying, his Battle Mage managed to throw in a few Neutral Chasers and rely on these Chasers to increase movement speed. Ye Xiu's Battle Mage sprinted across the field, quickly looking around, spotting a massive tree root lying across the ground. He charge wildly towards it and jumped over the root, immediately crouching and finding cover against the ranged firepower.
In almost the exact same moment, he saw a Mechanic using accelerator, practically rolling on the ground as he swerved over from the other side of the tree root.
The two characters looked at each other.
"Hahaha…."
The two couldn't help but laugh.
"I'll draw their attention, you all go and steal the boss!"
The team chat of the two guilds once again flashed with the same message at the same time.
Then, Xiao Shiqin's Mechanic flicked his hand and threw a Grenade, while sneakily setting up a Mechanical Seeker. Ye Xiu was even more vicious. His Battle Mage directly activated Dragon Breaks the Ranks and charged at Xiao Shiqin. Grenade? Mechanical Seeker? These skills couldn't stop the momentum of Dragon Breaks the Ranks. Xiao Shiqin quickly jumped back thrice, barely dodging the attack, but Ye Xiu had already completed his attack. Low-leveled skills like Dragon Tooth and Sky Strike flew out. Mechanics did have some close combat ability, but it was nothing compared to Battle Mages.
Ye Xiu naturally didn't want to drag this out either. He hadn't forgotten that Thunderclap's army had their eyes set on him. When Xiao Shiqin swerved around the tree roots from the other side, he had already been prepared to keep fleeing. But, then he saw that the army that had been hunting him down had switched targets.
Ye Xiu was stunned. At the same time, Xiao Shiqin also realised that Happy, who were hunting him down before, had gone elsewhere.
In that moment, next to the tree root, the leaders of both sides stood there alone.
Caw caw!
A crow landed on the tree roots, shuffling its feet for a moment before flying away after losing interest.
"Ha…" Xioa Shiqin said, "They all left…."
"Why aren't you leaving yet?" Ye Xiu asked.
"I want to leave." Xiao Shiqin said. This wasn't a courtesy. The current distance between them meant that Battle Mages had the advantage. Leaving gave Xiao Shiqin the advantage. Pulling away meant that the Mechanic could gain the upper hand.
"Then I'll escort you." Ye Xiu didn't say anymore, striking out.
This time Xiao Shiqin didn't fight for his life, especially the last knockback attack. He just stood there and took it.
With the Mechanic sent flying, Ye Xiu understood what Xiao Shiqin wanted, not bothering to pursue. Instead, he immediately ran towards his own team. Xiao Shiqin did the same. When his Mechanic quick recovered, he immediately got his feet and headed towards Guild Thunderclap.
"What's the situation?" Ye Xiu quickly returned to his team, asking for the current battle situation.
"It's very lively." Wu Chen said. In reality, he was the leader when it came to Happy in the online game. Of course, with Ye Xiu here to help, he would naturally give up command. Any club guild would do the same.
Ye Xiu looked around. As expected, it was very lively.
With Dragon Swordsman's spawn method having warnings, it gave the players plenty of time to prepare. Usually, by the time he spawned, several guilds would have already arrived. It wasn't like other bosses that would usually have been snuck away by one guild and the others who arrived later would chase after it.
Right now, the teams from Blue Rain, Tiny Herb, and Hundred Blossoms had arrived, and their scouts said that Void's people were on their way.
There were only eight level 75 wild bosses in total, and their class characteristics were exceptionally obvious. Each guild would naturally place importance on them in accordance to their own needs.
Dragon Swordsman was a part of the Swordsman class. There was no need to explain Team Blue Rain and their two Blade Masters. Team Tiny Herb had Liu Xiaobie's Blade Master, while Team Hundred Blossoms had Yu Feng's Berserker. As for the rapidly approaching Team Void, the Ghostblade Duo were clearly of the Swordsman class as well!
It wasn't very feasible that one team would have all 24 classes, but having all 6 class types was rather common. However, characters would have different levels of importance within their team. Of the four guilds, Blue Rain, Hundred Blossoms, and Void had Swordsmen as their core classes. As for Tiny Herb, their Swordsman was just a level of importance below that. Then there was Happy who had Qiao Yifan's Ghostblade and Ye Xiu's unspecialized. In comparison, Thunderclap seemed more like a bystander. The Blade Master in their team was Zhang Qi's character, and this rookie hadn't even become a core player yet!
The teams of the guilds had all gathered and Dragon Swordsman seemed like the huge bonfire on Bonfire Night. Currently, no one had gone up to him yet. They were all looking at one another and waiting for the right time to break the stalemate.
"Quick, you go up and light a fire first," Ye Xiu messaged Xiao Shiqin on QQ.
"You first," Xiao Shiqin replied.
"Hurry up! What are you waiting for?!" Ye Xiu and then went and messaged Huang Shaotian.
"Holy f*ck where are you!?" Huang Shaotian immediately replied back. He didn't use many words, but used a bunch of emojis instead, almost 30 of them.
"God Jiexi, hurry up. You guys look like a team of janitors. Hurry up and come out and sweep." Ye Xiu then went to bother Tiny Herb's Wang Jiexi.
"There's plenty of time." Wang Jiexi was very calm. Tiny Herb did have quite a few Witches, and they were all holding brooms. Janitors? Wang Jiexi looked around. Come on...
"Comrade Li Xuan, don't blame me for not reminding you. Ghosts Boundaries have to be set early. If you throw down a bunch now, you'll definitely come out on top." Ye Xiu then sent a message to Void's Li Xuan.
"Are you trying to fool ghosts*?" Li Xuan replied.
"I'm not joking."
"But we're not even there yet…"
"Really? Then you don't need to come. It's already finished, seriously. Tiny Herb's janitors are already sweeping up the remains," Ye Xiu said.
"Hahahaha…." Li Xuan sent back.
There was also Hundred Blossoms. Ye Xiu glanced over his QQ friend list, but didn't immediately see anyone. He wasn't very close to Hundred Blossom's Yu Feng.
"Has anyone else not arrived yet!?" Ye Xiu yelled.
"Old Ye, where are you come out come out I hear your voice!" Blade Master stepped out of the crowd on Blue Rain's side, swinging around his sword and showing off.
"It's Huang Shaotian, quick, don't hesitate! Kill him!!" Ye Xiu yelled.
Boom boom boom!!
The guilds really didn't hesitate. They were all throwing attacks at Huang Shaotian's Blade Master, and most of them were ranged attacks. For a moment, it looked like Blue Rain was having a fireworks party.
"Ye Xiu, fuck you! I'm going to kill you!" Huang Shaotian ran around, desperately dodging the attacks. Blue Rain's entire team had to back away as well. All the attacks were focused on Huang Shaotian's Blade Master, but they weren't that accurate, especially not the AoE ones. Amongst these, Tiny Herb's members were the most outrageous. All the witches threw a bunch of Lava Flasks over, covering the ground with lava like a volcanic eruption.
"Shot with Sorrow is Ye Xiu, don't hesitate, focus your fire on that Battle Mage!" That was when yelling erupted from Thunderclap's formation, and it seemed like it wasn't just one person.
"Don't fall for it everyone, I have eight computers and I'm logged onto eight alts. If I die I'll just switch alts, so killing me is a waste of time. Don't fall for the enemy's lies*!" Ye Xiu yelled back.
"Enemy's lies, my ass! We're all enemies, anyways!" Huang Shaotian, having been focus fired, somehow hadn't died and had hidden into some corner, but refused to give up the chance to speak.
In Happy's training room, everyone was glancing at each other. What eight computers? Whenever you open your mouth, all you say is bullshit and you manage to shit it out so fluently too.
"Peace Breaker is Xiao Shiqin, don't hesitate everyone. Focus that Mechanic!" Happy yelled in revenge.
"Don't fall for it everyone, I have ten computers and I'm logged onto ten alts!" Xiao Shiqin yelled back.
"Hahahaha, Xiao Shiqin are you trying to fool Void's Ghostblade Duo*? Your Thunderclap doesn't have enough extra computers for you!" Ye Xiu laughed.
The pro players that had visited Thunderclap before thought for a moment. That was right, Thunderclap's training room didn't have so many free computers, so let's hurry and focus him!
In that moment, there were some attacking Ye Xiu, some attacking Xiao Shiqin, and some continuing to attack Huang Shaotian. Under this situation, pro players were a target.
Translator's Thoughts NomyummiTN: 哄鬼 “Fooling Ghosts” means to lie or speak nonsense. Fooling Void’s Ghostblade Duo is a pun on that because Ghostblades are known as ghosts.
*The enemy’s lies is a phrase 挑拔离间 “Provoke and sow discord”, meaning to spread false rumors in order to drive a wedge between people on the same side. -Jouissance
Chapter end
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