Chapter 1539: Beneath the Lava

Underground Tunneling Technique!

The crowd gaped at the sight of Lord Grim emerging from the lava, resembling the Human Torch.

Even though they knew this was only a game, to see someone drill underneath the lava and then emerge slashing out with their whole body on fire was still an awesome sight to see.

Applaud him?

We can’t! This was Ye Xiu, how could we applaud? Tyranny fans forcibly suppressed their impulses. The applause that was originally meant for Han Wenqing when he interrupted Shadow Clone Technique turned into background accompaniment for Ye Xiu’s retaliation in an instant. Tyranny fans were conflicted.

They had to suppress it. Everyone gritted their teeth. It wasn’t like they could boo such a spectacular play. That would be too heartless.

“Go Captain Han!” Tyranny fans could only change the topic like this. They were determined not to show any appreciation to Ye Xiu’s performance!

Even Han Wenqing, who had been ready for a follow up, did not expect Ye Xiu’s retaliation to be so swift and fierce.

Underground Tunnelling Technique, then a blade that went straight for the neck. Blood spurted out, and was instantly turned to steam by the scalding lava.

Desert Dust turned his body sharply and a fist flew out.

Did Ye Xiu want to follow up Underground Tunneling Technique with a Neck Bind Technique? Almost any somewhat-experienced Glory player would make this assessment, let alone Han Wenqing, who had ten years’ experience. Both Han Wenqing’s assessment and the follow-up strike were reflexive; it was precise and fast, and no Ninja could possibly continue their combo after his interrupting strike.

But there was no follow-up to begin with.

Han Wenqing’s reaction was followed immediately by distress.

Underground Tunneling Technique followed by Neck Bind Technique was a common Ninja tactic, but the bastard in front of him wasn’t a Ninja. Underground Tunneling Technique was already an additional skill bound to the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella. He wouldn’t waste another on Neck Bind Technique just for this simple combo.

Han Wenqing’s second assessment was correct. His reflexive strike had missed. Lord Grim did not use a Neck Bind Technique.

Then what is he going to do?

His mind immediately filled with the hundreds of Glory skills that existed. There was no way to make a judgment call.

He’d have to go by his experience and instincts!

Han Wenqing did not wait for Desert Dust to stabilize his stance, and directly sent out a Stomach Kick. Desert Dust raised his leg and then thrust directly backwards.

Oh oh oh oh!

Clap clap clap clap!

Tyranny fans were quick to cheer and applaud. This kick was perfect! The target was behind him and out of sight, yet he still managed to find Lord Grim’s chest so accurately. This was experience, this was awareness.

But they saw a blur straight after.

The Lord Grim that took a Stomach Kick was actually a Shadow Clone. Where was the real one? The real one was directly behind Desert Dust, and the blade that came from the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella was viciously trusted into Desert Dust’s waist.

From the viciousness and deadliness, you could instantly tell this was an Assassin skill.

Flickering Stab!

The skill only had a range of one unit away and didn’t sound as impressive as Teleporting Stab, which could ambush from three units away. But true experts knew that the one-unit distance of Flickering Stab was far more abrupt than the three-unit distance of Teleporting Stab, and was much harder or even almost impossible to guard against.

Once again, the Tyranny fans’ cheering and applause became accompaniment for Lord Grim’s attack. This time they couldn’t even spare the time to feel peeved. Seeing their captain come out at a disadvantage again made them extremely agitated. They really wanted to just whip out their account cards, log into the arena and tear Lord Grim a new one personally!

The blade slid out, bringing along with it beads of blood. But on this glowing red lava, the crimson blood was no longer striking to the eye, and it was visible for a second before it was evaporated into steam.

Back combo!

Ye Xiu would never miss an opportunity like this. Lord Grim continued to strike at Desert Dust’s back.

The lava gurgled and splashed.

The two characters stood in the middle of the field of lava. It seemed unlikely that they would be able to escape. The lava’s damage was not low, and any damage done by attacks on each other was just adding fuel to the fire. Anyone could see that this battle would not last for much longer. One combo was enough to defeat a character when combined with the lava damage. Victory would be decided within several seconds or even sooner.

Han Wenqing was currently at a disadvantage. Would he just lose like this?

Not yet!

Desert Dust suddenly twisted around.

Double Tiger Palm?

Ye Xiu’s experience was incomparably rich. He could tell which skill his opponent was about to use just from the way they squared their shoulders. He quickly had Lord Grim retreat a tiny step.

Bam!

Hit?

Ye Xiu was stunned.

The skill was indeed Double Tiger Palm. But what hit Lord Grim was not a palm, but an elbow!

Compared to the palm, attacking with the elbows would halve the effective attack range. But using the skill while twisting his body would increase the speed at which it was released.

So there was even an effect like this.

Even Ye Xiu was taken aback. He found that Han Wenqing had made many changes, of which there was no shortage of research and reform of the Striker’s battle tactics. However, using Double Tiger Palm like so was never seen before. Ye Xiu wasn’t sure if Han Wenqing was never given the chance, or if under the current life-threatening situation, this creation was forged on the spot from ten years of experience.

One hit to snatch back the initiative. Following the twist of his body, Desert Dust launched his offensive.

Ferocious Tiger Flurry!

Directly following up with a high level skill. Straightforward and valiant.

Would Ferocious Tiger Flurry be enough to finish his opponent, combined with the damage over time from the lava?

No one could make this call in this moment. First, the unfamiliarity with the map meant the exact damage of the lava was unknown. Secondly, Ferocious Tiger Flurry was similar to a Blade Master’s Formless Phantom Blade; they were skills that required continual input to keep unleashing attacks, and the damage would thus depend on both the attacker’s execution and the defender’s reaction. The skill had begun, but the details would decide whether the full damage would be dealt in the end.

Right now, first punch, hit!

Double Tiger Palm comboing into a Ferocious Tiger Flurry. The first punch came from quickly extending the bent elbow. The strike was as natural as it was fast. There was no way to dodge or parry it. Han Wenqing did not decide to follow up with Ferocious Tiger Flurry just because he wanted to look courageous or heroic.

After the second hit, a disturbance could be seen in the lava. Then, a fist followed and hit again. However, the system’s combo count jumped twice. Three hits, four hits!

What? Many people were confused. How was it a four-hit combo?

“The third hit came from under the lava,” Li Yibo was rather quick to notice this time in the broadcast. He realised the third hit was a kick. But because Desert Dust’s body was submerged in the lava, which was not see-through like water, most people missed it.

Five hits!

The combo counter ticked up once again. But this time, there was a collective, regretful sigh from the stadium, because this time, Ye Xiu finally reacted. Lord Grim raised a half-section of the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella, and used an attack to parry the hit.

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Attacking to parry was to defend with an attack. The damage may or may not be fully mitigated, but regardless, it still counted as a hit for the attacker, and was different from directly avoiding the attack.

Directly after, six hits!

This attack was also parried, this time by the other half-section of the Umbrella in Lord Grim’s other hand.

“He’s dual-wielding!” Someone yelled.

Dual-wielding was the counter to parrying. It could also be used very effectively to parry with attacks. In many situations, using a skill to parry while dual-wielding could successfully parry an attack which would otherwise have much higher priority than the skill that was used. However, Han Wenqing’s Desert Dust unleashed Ferocious Tiger Flurry, his attack speed increased explosively. It was absolutely impossible to dual-wield parry the whole skill. At this point, dual-wielding can only hope to keep up with the increased attack speed. Using only a single weapon would be able to parry one strike of Ferocious Tiger Flurry, and then leave the defender open to a second hit.

Despite this, only using the weapon’s dual-wield attribute in combination with normal attacks, how could he hope to completely stop the priority of a level 70 skill?

Every attack looked like it was parried, but in the end the attack still pressed onto his body. The attack damage was only reduced by tiny amounts.

Tiny amounts would still add up when the attacks came continuously. Right now, the major damage over time did not come from the attacks, but rather the lava’s burn damage. Lord Grim had the advantage in health from the initiative he gained earlier. Now, Desert Dust was retaliating, attempting to catch up from the deficit. Ye Xiu doing his best to parry was clearly a method to reduce as much of Desert Dust’s damage output as possible.

Everyone was fixated nervously on the two characters’ health bars. Lord Grim had more health, but it was also decreasing faster. Desert Dust had less health, but was only taking lava damage right now.

If this continued, who would win?

Their health bars were both depleting, and the values were getting closer.

The attacks from Ferocious Tiger Flurry were coming to an end.

They’re even!

The health bars of both sides were the same right now!

The stadium erupted in joy. Tyranny’s fans were excitedly anticipating their victory! The health bars were even, but there was the last and strongest hit of Ferocious Tiger Flurry left! This final strike will put Desert Dust in the lead. Although the lead was tiny, the lava damage would decide who would win, because their health bars were so close to being depleted. As long as Desert Dust avoided taking damage after this final strike, victory would surely be his!

Bang!

The final punch of Ferocious Tiger Flurry sent Lord Grin flying backwards. The distance between the two characters widened, and close combat skills would not have an effect anymore. The lava was about to determine the winner.

A flash of sword light was seen!

Sword Draw!

Lord Grim, who was currently flying backwards, somehow managed to send out a Sword Draw. Desert Dust could not take another hit, and at this moment all the Tyranny fans’ hearts jumped to their throats.

Right at that moment, they saw Desert Dust roll towards the side!

It’s all over!

Tyranny fans cried out in their minds.

In this key moment, how did the captain make such a mistake? Sword Draw’s slash was horizontal, what good would a horizontal roll do? Do you want to hide under the lava? That wouldn’t help either! Ye Xiu was crafty, this Sword Draw had an angle to it and maximized its coverage. Even the lava had been slashed apart.

Eh?

A spark of hope lit up the fans’ hearts. In the lava that was slashed apart by the Sword Draw, a molten rock was visible!

Ching!

The sword light landed on this rock. What about Desert Dust? After the roll, he ended up on the other side of the rock. Han Wenqing knew well in advance that Ye Xiu would rush to attack during the knockback and right after the last strike of Ferocious Tiger Flurry. He had an escape route in mind. Sheltering behind that rock would block any attack from the front.

He won!!

Tyranny’s fans were already cheering victoriously. The two health bars were sliding towards nothingness, and Lord Grim’s was shorter, so it would reach zero first. Even though securing a win by that tiny margin wasn’t meaningful for the group arena, a win was a win. More so, this win was against Ye Xiu, who had never lost an individual round yet. Was there any better feeling?

But just at that moment, Desert Dust’s life suddenly ticked down a chunk during the steady decrease due to the lava.

Glory!

When the large letters declared the end of the match, the last one standing was… Lord Grim?

WHAT!!

The stadium immediately exploded.

How.. how was this possible?

Where did that burst of damage come from? Did lava somehow have burst damage? If so, why would it suddenly happen at this moment in particular? That would be too cruel of a prank, right?

The righteous Tyranny fans all stood up in sync, as if they wanted to charge onto the stage. What the hell was this? There had to be some kind of explanation!!!

What the hell happened? What the hell happened?!

It wasn’t just the Tyranny fans who were confused by this sudden burst of damage. The broadcast team, the referees, the pro players… too many people were baffled.

This kind of situation called for an instant replay. There had to be an explanation for this. Right now, it hadn’t been found, so everything was being played back on the big screen. Even the holographic projection technology gave up the usual display of the winning character’s model. There was no need to draw needless aggro from the crowd – the holograms were also replaying the last moments of the fight.

The stadium was quiet as the grave. Everyone’s eyes were fixated on the replay of that single moment.

Once, twice, three times. The moment was very short, and could only be replayed like so. But where to look?

Some people were watching Lord Grim’s actions. Some were watching Desert Dust. Some were watching the change in the flowing lava. At this moment, the system’s final damage summary was pulled out. The system would not lie; it faithfully recorded every bit of the match from start to finish. These records would paint a picture and put everyone a step closer to the answer.

Lord Grim’s last damage taken: Ferocious Tiger Flurry’s last punch, plus lava damage.

Desert Dust’s last damage taken: lava damage, and… Waltzing Wave Sword?

Spellblade skill, Waltzing Wave Sword.

The silence in the stadium is still deafening. After the system’s damage summary appeared, the replay could finally zoom in to the area of interest.

Under the lava, Waltzing Wave Sword moved soundlessly. Any visible trace of movement was completely obscured by the intense battle of the two characters, which churned the lava furiously.

Waltzing Wave Sword actually happened before the Sword Draw.

Just like Desert Dust’s kick from under the lava during Ferocious Tiger Flurry, Waltzing Wave Sword was unleashed silently from under the lava. By the time the sword flickered, it was already the sword light from Sword Draw.

The Sword Draw was blocked by the rock. But Waltzing Wave Sword’s attack was not in a straight line; it traveled in an arc. It looped around the molten rock and managed to catch Desert Dust.

Turns out it wasn’t some burst damage from the lava. It did come from the player’s own hand, Lord Grim’s attack.

The silence was crushing…

The long silence was finally broken violently.

“Ye Xiu, you’re fucking shameless!!!”

“Ye Xiu go die in a hole!!!”

“Kill him!!!”