Chapter 1152: Rules
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Fang Rui left the stage, and as he walked back to Happy's player area he waved and greeted the crowd. The last bit against Yu Feng was the most interesting part of Fang Rui's performance, but it was high-level in terms of technical content. Without the commentary, the live crowd had trouble understanding it, so they would need to go back to fully appreciate it.
But no matter what, to defeat one of the Hundred Blossom's players and then take down a fifth of the health of the captain and core player, Fang Rui had performed admirably. As the home crowd, of course they had to show their support with their applause.
In Happy's player area, Mo Fan silently stood up, and without saying anything to his teammates, he headed down toward the stage. Fang Rui was still interacting with the crowd, and all of their attention was on him, so not many noticed Mo Fan. It seemed that Fang Rui didn't notice him either, but when they passed each other, he simply said to him, rather abruptly, "Play well."
Mo Fan paused in his step and turned his head back to look, but Fang Rui didn't stop, nor did he look at him. He was striking poses for the crowd to take pictures of him!
Mo Fan continued to quietly walk onstage and entered the player booth.
The third battle of the group round: Happy's Mo Fan, playing Deception, versus Hundred Blossoms's Yu Feng, playing Blossoming Chaos.
One was a rookie, one was an All-Star level God. On paper, there was an extremely clear disparity in this match-up.
This battle was like the first battle of the individual competition, but now the situation was reversed. This time, it was Happy's player stepping onstage for the first time, against a first-string God in the professional circle. Mo Fan hadn't appeared in the opening round.
Learning from what had happened in the individual competition, the judge was somewhat anxious and made a special visit to check on the status of this Happy rookie. But all he found was that this player's face was as still as water.
Poor thing, he was so nervous that his facial expression was frozen stiff. The judge sighed in his heart.
"No need to be nervous, just treat this as a normal game," the judge said to him warmly. He sympathized greatly with rookies.
But the rookie only glanced at him. Without saying anything, he entered the player booth with that frozen expression.
He didn't hear me speak? But that's not right, he looked at me. He did hear me speak? Then what kind of reaction was that? The judge was at a loss. But this wasn't his responsibility, it was just his own good intentions. Doing this was enough, so he didn't pay any more attention, and went back to the judging area to check the confirmation status of both competitors. That rookie wouldn't be like the last one, would he? Entering the player booth and then not doing anything?
But the judge saw that both competitors had confirmed they were ready. The rookie's actions were decisive!
The judge checked the time and it was about time, so he allowed the new battle to begin.
The map was the same as before.
But Mo Fan was new to the professional scene. Even if he often played in the in-game Arena, he hadn't professionally analyzed these maps like most pro players did. And Yu Feng, on the other hand, had already demonstrated in the previous battle that he was no stranger to this map. No matter which way you looked at it, the victory in this round seemed like it was already determined.
Even the applause from the crowd was rather subdued, as though not wanting to give the rookie too much pressure. There were no shouts of "you must win" or anything like that.
The two characters entered the map. Yu Feng's Blossoming Chaos directly charged toward the center, while Mo Fan's Deception began moving along a roundabout path.
The four Nightwalker subclasses very rarely battled head-on, so Yu Feng was unsurprised when he arrived at the center of the map without seeing Deception.
He really was quite familiar with this map. He didn't even have to look around to determine the positions from which the opponent might launch a sneak attack.
Yu Feng stared at these positions. At this time, Mo Fan's Deception had already arrived, and was hiding at one of these positions, staring at Yu Feng's Blossoming Chaos.
Neither side moved. The battle was at a standstill.
For Glory competitions, whether or not to introduce a time limit had always been a source of controversy.
With a time limit, playstyles would become more utilitarian, and the battles would become more uninteresting and ugly to watch. But without a time limit, there would be patient stalemates that made the battle suffocatingly dreary, especially for the broadcast. These tactics wasted time with nothing happening, and it drove them crazy.
Right now, for example...
Neither Yu Feng nor Mo Fan took the initiative to attack. They were both waiting for the other to expose an opening they could exploit.
This sort of tense, anticipatory atmosphere sounded like it carried a lot of feeling, but when watching, it looked like a frozen image.
The players were testing each other's patience, but they were also testing the patience of the crowd. If everyone had enough patience, would this scene just drag on forever?
Part of the reason why this situation could come about was because of how Glory maps were designed. The maps they used for battles were extremely vast, increasing the number of options available in battle and increasing this sort of hiding and testing patience.
How to solve this? People had pondered this for several seasons now, but no satisfactory solution had been reached. But they had to solve this problem, otherwise it could really happen that neither side attacked and instead just stared at each other for an hour.
In the end, the Alliance gave the power to the judge. If such a situation came up in battle, they could make a ruling.
Yu Feng was of course familiar with all of the rules of competition. He didn't move.
Mo Fan was now a pro player, and of course he understood the rules, but he had never experienced the rules. He didn't move either.
Thus, soon there was an announcement in the battle system.
It was from the judge. After this long standoff, the judge declared that Mo Fan would be given a yellow card for wasting time in battle.
Even though Yu Feng hadn't moved either, he had directly approached and was out in the open, while Mo Fan's intent while hiding was obvious. In these conditions, the one who would be given a warning was Mo Fan; he was the one expected to take the initiative. Yu Feng was clear on this point, so he wasn't worried. He patiently waited until Mo Fan was forced by the judge to make a move.
One yellow card was considered a warning. Two yellow cards would become a red card. In football, a red card meant that the player was dismissed from the game. In Glory matches, in an individual match, if a player got a red card and was expelled, victory was given by the judge to the opponent.
Mo Fan had read the competition rules, and now, he finally experienced the rules.
After the yellow card, if he continued to maintain this situation, the second yellow card would come much sooner, and he would quickly get a red card.
So Yu Feng knew, after this Mo Fan must move. He focused all of his attention on his surroundings.
As expected, Mo Fan moved.
Deception left the place he was hiding, and quietly walked, switching to another position. And then, he hid himself again.
He continued not to move.
The judge was instantly furious!
At first, he had cared about this rookie, but this rookie was trying to play this sort of clever trickery with him. Switching to a different position to hide, you think that that's enough to consider yourself as taking the initiative?
Seeing that Deception appeared to have no intent of attacking, the judge sent another announcement in the system.
Second yellow card, changed to red card, Deception is disqualified!
The crowd was in an uproar.
Mo Fan was shocked.
What? Was this not allowed?
The system declared Yu Feng's victory. Even Yu Feng himself was surprised.
What was this rookie from Happy doing? He got a yellow card and still didn't move, was he looking for that red card? Yu Feng had no way of knowing that Mo Fan did move, but his movement made the judge feel that this player was mocking him. The rules were not made so you could find loopholes in them like this!
With the red card, Mo Fan was declared the loser, and players that earned a red card were banned from the next round of matches. Depending on the situation, there could be even more severe suspension penalties.
The live crowd was speechless. They had no idea how to express their current feelings toward all of this. After all, this was a rookie playing onstage for the first time, booing him seemed a little harsh! But being red carded like this was equivalent to giving the opponent a perfect victory, this this this… it really made people upset.
Under the conflicted eyes of the crowd, Mo Fan left the stage and headed back to the player area.
Happy's players wanted to cry. This was all an issue of miscommunication! But the problem was, it was truly too difficult to communicate with this kid. They let him figure things out on his own, and it resulted in this sour outcome.
Mo Fan returned to the player bench and returned to his seat. The others shot conflicted looks at each other, but no one went up to say anything.
And Mo Fan? His face was finally no longer so expressionless and now revealed some hesitation. After some internal struggle, he finally opened his mouth with uncertainty. "What… should I have done?"
He only said this one sentence. Even the point of his speaking wasn't clear.
"I'll teach you," Su Mucheng said, smiling. She stood from where she was sitting in the front row and went back to the corner next to where Mo Fan was.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
But Chen Guo was still in low spirits. They'd gotten off to a good start in the group competition, but now with Mo Fan's red card, they were suddenly in a bad situation.
Happy's third competitor in the group round was Tang Rou. Facing this difficult situation, she was actually quite excited. But she was also now very clear about her own skill level.
"I'll give it a shot!" These were the words Tang Rou left as she headed to the stage.
It was unlike her normal confidence, but for a rookie facing the All-Star God Yu Feng at four-fifths health and then another player at full health, being able to say "I'll give it a shot" already demonstrated remarkable courage.
Tang Rou went onstage to the sound of enthusiastic applause. She was currently extremely popular, and not just among Happy fans. Throughout the entire Glory circle, many people were paying attention to this pretty female competitor. Of course, it was wrong to judge a book by its cover, but one had to admit that physical appearance was often the basis of first impressions. Being attractive was always advantageous.
Another rookie, but after being played by Mo Fan, the judge was feeling much less sympathetic toward rookies. He didn't say much to Tang Rou, and after confirming that she entered the battle, he quickly declared the battle to begin.
In the previous round, one scene of silence was swapped for another, and then victory was decided by a red card.
This round, 23 seconds after it began, the two opponents met in the center and began to fight.
Chapter 1153: Can’t Back Down Even A Single Step
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
No set up. No probing. The two characters met in the center, made a move, and started fighting. The battle instantly reached a high point.
Everyone in the crowd was caught off guard. No one had expected the fight to be so intense as soon as the two clashed. For a moment, they even forgot to cheer and applaud.
Berserker, Battle Mage. Two extremely offense-oriented classes.
Greatsword. Spear. These two heavy weapons had sky-high physical attack.
But at this moment, under the two players' high-paced playing, Blossoming Chaos's Burial Blossoms and Soft Mist's Dancing Fire Flowing Flame had turned into two gleams of light. The fast flashing collisions between the two weapons made it difficult for many to completely identify what skill each of them were using.
Yu Feng was an All-Star and a top player. He ought to be performing at a high-level. However, Tang Rou was able to defend against this high-level playing. To the crowd, she was a bigger highlight.
She's worthy of being a Battle Mage coached by Ye Xiu!
The countless viewers watching this match all thought this. Even though there was no official statement that Tang Rou was Ye Xiu's student, she had been discovered by Ye Xiu and a Battle Mage that had grown beside him. Whatever the case, it was impossible to say that Ye Xiu was not involved.
In fact, this was exactly the case.
As long as Tang Rou needed it, Ye Xiu had passed on everything he knew about Battle Mages to Tang Rou. After that, he helped Tang Rou establish her own style.
Tang Rou was a rookie. A rookie who had no fear. In the end, her playing was so fierce and violent that many people had trouble believing that such a beautiful girl could have such a ferocious Battle Mage.
Ye Xiu's Battle Mage had also been very fierce. If not, he wouldn't have been called the Battle God. However, his fierceness differed from Tang Rou's. His fierceness couldn't be replicated by Tang Rou because for Ye Xiu, apart from being a Battle Mage, he was a master proficient with all classes. His fierceness had been built upon this solid foundation. His techniques might seem very ordinary, but in real combat, these same techniques were difficult to defend against because the opponent would discover that no matter how he or she responded to it, everything would be within Ye Xiu's grasp. One attack until the end, bringing about the title Battle God.
It could be said that it was because Ye Xiu had chosen a Battle Mage to be his main, so One Autumn Leaf became the Battle God. But if he had chosen a different class, the title Battle God might have belonged to a different character.
Through her own style, Tang Rou attracted everyone's attention because her opponent was Yu Feng, an All-Star level top player. A rookie could fight on par with a top player. How could there be anything else but praise for her?
But were the two really evenly-matched?
The fast pace made it difficult for the viewers to clearly see the situation, but right now, Yu Feng was feeling fearful. He realized that he was being suppressed.
Countless playstyles had emerged from this Berserker class. From the Number One Berserker player, Sun Zheping, to the many players now. Even among these playstyles, Yu Feng was an anomaly. His Berserker was also very aggressive, but it wasn't as simple or crude as the traditional Berserker. Within his wildness lay exceptional precision. It could be said that Yu Feng's Berserker had founded a new style. Although it had yet to become mainstream, he was most definitely the Number One Berserker right now.
At the moment, Tang Rou and he were clashing with brute force to determine victory. In reality, this wasn't what Yu Feng excelled at. However, Tang Rou was a rookie. And he was Team Hundred Blossom's captain and core, an All-Star level top player. Yu Feng could not accept cowering against a rookie in a direct confrontation. After all, he was not someone who played dirty.
As a result, he decided to confront this rookie directly. However, after clashing with her, he discovered that this rookie's fierceness surpassed his expectations. If he truly continued to fight like this, he really might just lose out of carelessness.
I need to find back my rhythm.
Yu Feng instantly grasped the crux of the problem.
In order to protect his image and Team Hundred Blossom's morale, he had decided to fight at Tang Rou's pace and beat her. But after fighting her, he realized that beating her in this way wasn't so easy. He needed to drag the match back into his pace to win. No matter what, if he truly lost, it would be the biggest blow to his image and the team's morale.
Once he made his decision, Yu Feng immediately went from fighting for the initiative to going on the defense.
When Dragon Tooth came at him, Yu Feng didn't have Blossoming Chaos dodge and counterattack. Instead, he attacked the Dragon Tooth to parry it.
To his surprise, Dragon Tooth abruptly stopped and then stabbed twice into a Double Stab. The change had been too rapid, and the spear had been too close. Yu Feng wasn't able to parry it with an attack and hastily switched to using the skill, Guard.
Clang! Clang!
Two clangs rang in quick succession. The Double Stab had been blocked. Blossoming Chaos slid backwards. Yu Feng also jumped back too. He wanted to pull apart the distance and slow down the pace.
He had retreated quite fast, but Soft Mist pressed forward even faster. It was almost as if she had been charging forward before even confirming that Dragon Tooth and Double Stab had connected.
Phantom Dragon Teeth!
Another skill followed. Soft Mist flicked her wrist, and her spear transformed into numerous Dragon Teeth.
How many?
Yu Feng's eyes widened...
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
Eight after-images?
Phantom Dragon Teeth was similar to the Blade Master's Shadow Steps. It relied on player input to create and maintain these after-images. The higher the number, the faster the hand speed and precision required.
Eight Phantom Dragon Teeth?
A rookie could actually reach such a level?
Let alone trying to parry Phantom Dragon Teeth, using Guard wouldn't work either. Yu Feng didn't want to trade his health away to attack because right now, he was trying to get back his rhythm. Therefore, his only choice was to continue retreating.
These eight after-images let out eight distinct streams of air, making it even more difficult to distinguish between the real and fake ones. Yu Feng could only dodge these eight after-images as if all of them were real. He even couldn't use his normal movements to evade them. He raised Burial Blossoms in the air and Blossoming Chaos dashed back, utilizing the Blade Master's Triple Slash.
Triple Slash wasn't a common low-level skill that could be learned by all Swordsmen. The only reason Blossoming Chaos could use it was because his Burial Blossoms had a bonus skill up for Triple Slash. From this, it could be seen that Yu Feng truly was different from an ordinary Berserker. In his skill choices, he favored this Blade Master movement skill to give his attacks more life.
Through this skill, Blossoming Chaos instantly completed his movement and all eight Dragon Teeth after-images missed. Yu Feng was wondering whether he should complete this Triple Slash and attack back, but he hadn't expected Tang Rou to immediately raise her spear after Phantom Dragon Teeth and unleash a Dragon Breaks the Ranks to chase after Blossoming Chaos.
Yu Feng turned pale with fright. He hastily slashed again to turn away, but this time, the distance was too close. With Dragon Breaks the Rank's speed and power, even if it didn't fully connect, it still sent Blossoming Chaos into a tumble.
Yu Feng immediately Quick Recovered. Blossoming Chaos rolled and stood up. Then, he heard a crash from above the air. He looked up and saw Soft Mist. This time, she had used a skill while airborne. The bloom of magic from Dragon Rises from the Sea locked onto Blossoming Chaos.
Hit!
This time, Yu Feng wasn't able to dodge it. The Dragon Rises from the Sea landed on Blossoming Chaos's head. Tang Rou didn't wait for Soft Mist to land and followed with a Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart. To the naked eye, that magic force pierced straight through. Blossoming Chaos was sent flying back. Soft Mist chased after him. The chasers produced from Dragon Tooth and Sky Strike battered against Blossoming Chaos. The entire stadium was dumbfounded.
The spectators saw Tang Rou heroically clash with a top player levels higher than her and were already very satisfied. People would always be more lenient towards rookies. How the match played out was more important than the outcome. Even if Tang Rou lost to Yu Feng, no one would say anything about it. It was just like how Mo Fan left the stage with two yellow cards turning into a red. That wasn't how someone should lose, but the crowd stopped themselves from throwing out ridicule.
But right now, even someone who didn't understand Glory could tell which side had the upper hand.
Tang Rou was going to beat Yu Feng?
After a moment of shock, the venue erupted into astonished roars. Even if Happy won in the end, there wouldn't be such a commotion. It wasn't only to drive the team's morale. The crowd had been infected by Happy's battle strength. They wouldn't look down on their determination and future.
On the other hand, Team Hundred Blossom's players stared stupidly at this scene. Their captain was being suppressed by a rookie?
Yes, it was true.
Yu Feng was both stunned and furious. He hadn't expected this rookie to be so explosive. He had retreated to try get back the pace of the match. He hadn't thought that this would be like a dam breaking. The opponent's offensive crashed towards him. Yu Feng was a mess, a complete mess.
The pace had originally been one that he didn't like. He could still play with it thought. Even if he was being slightly suppressed, who won or who lost wasn't certain. But as soon as he stepped back, the opposing side stepped forward a hundred steps. Establish his own rhythm? Yu Feng didn't get the chance before his opponent overwhelmed him to the point that he couldn't even breathe.
I'm going to lose!
In this instant, this thought leaped into Yu Feng's mind. How could a pro player not have a clear recognition of how the match was playing out?
But even if he knew, what could he do? Yu Feng did his best to defend. He was no longer looking for the rhythm that he preferred. Right now, he needed to keep up with his opponent's tempo and stabilize the situation!
But… I can't keep up!
Yu Feng discovered that Tang Rou was even faster and fiercer than the start of the battle. And this had been brought about because he had stepped back…
In front of this opponent, you can't back down even a single step!
In the end, along with this understanding, Blossoming Chaos fell.
Chapter end
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