Chapter 277: Just as Easy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Just when Mei Chao Fung thought that he had shaken off Zhang Yang and moved to Wei Yan Er, a sudden figure appeared in front of him, blocking out his unfocused vision. It was Zhang Yang himself. He too had moved and blocked Mei Chao Fung from trying to change his target. If he still persisted on moving forward, he will clash into Zhang Yang.
Mei Chao Fung clearly understood the difference in power between him and Zhang Yang. One simple glance at Zhang Yang’s HP would tell all about the immense gap between the two of them. He had only around 18,000 HP while Zhang Yang had over 29,000 HP! The gap was ridiculous! If the two of them did crash into each other, the person who would be knocked back would be Mei Chao Fung!
He did not want to fight him, it would be a stupid decision. He sidestepped swiftly and tried to maneuver around Zhang Yang. But every single time he tried to move, Zhang Yang would be there to block his path. A step to the right, Zhang Yang was there. A step to the left, there he was again! Zhang Yang was behaving just like an annoying mirror!
A pro!
If Mei Chao Fung solely relied on his skills, he would not be able to out-maneuver Zhang Yang. He had to use his active skills!
"Tch!" Mei Chao Fung clicked his tongue. He lifted his battle axe and swung it hard at Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang strafed aside swiftly and avoided the attack. At the same time, he swung his axe up. Mei Chao Fung’s movement were as agile as Zhang Yang. He traced Zhang Yang’s movement and swiftly took a step back--the sword sliced the air in front of him.
From the perspective from professional players, avoiding a normal attack would be as easy as stepping away from a speeding bicycle rider, since normal attacks were easily telegraphed. When two professional tanks fought each other, both of them would left in an extremely awkward situation. Normal attacks would simply miss again and again. Both of their Rage gauges were slowly dropping down at 2 points a second. How long would it take for them to finally realize that their action were like watering the sand in the Saharan Desert?
This was why tank class players would not simply rush into a fight. Just when it took an eternity to attack the enemy, the warrior class player could easily be healed back to full health with a simple click of {Berserker’s Heal}. The cycle would then start over and loop endlessly.
F*ck it!
{Blood Rage}!
Mei Chao Fung decided to go all out. At that moment, he had completely forgotten about the competition. He only wanted to go all out with this Zhan Yu!
{Thunder Strike}!
‘-0!’
He stomped the floor and slowed Zhang Yang down. Even though he may not receive any damage at all, he was slowed. That was the main point of the skill in PvP! Those with higher movement speeds would definitely have the higher ground in battle!
With a quick slip and slide, Mei Chao Fung made his way to Zhang Yang’s back. He lifted his axe to slash Zhang Yang’s back! If an attack landed on a tank character’s back, the effect of the shield will be muted.
However, just as he thought he could land a perfect slash, Zhang Yang had already spun around, with a big grin on his face!
{Block}!
+30 Rage!
{Horizontal Sweep}!
‘-2,402!’
Mei Chao Fung was stunned. As if he had just witnessed a miracle, both of his eyes almost popped out of their sockets! Once a player was hit with a slow effect, the turning speed was also reduced. To keep up with his speed, Zhang Yang must have predicted his movement and destination before moving around! This level of observation and decision making would require a monstrous level of athletic skill and insight to pull off! No amount of equipment or skill would be able to help you with that! It was all in the blood of the player!
"Hehe. Ha ha! HAHAHAHAHA! Good one! As expected from China’s number 1 tank! You have not let me down! Alright! Come on! Come at me, bro!" roared Mei Chao Fung.
Zhang Yang’s grin morphed into a satisfied smile. Mei Chao Fung had acknowledged his strength and to respect that, Zhang Yang decided to show him his all-out skill!
{Thunder Strike}!
It was Zhang Yang turn to slow down Mei Chao Fung. Once his movement speed was reduced by 50%, he then proceeded to display a performance, cultivated from all five years of his gaming experience! His movement and attack were so quick and elaborate that Mei Chao Fung could not even catch his after image! In the front? In the back? The only place Zhang Yang could not be at was below him! The rest of the time, he was everywhere!
"Am I seeing things? I haven’t even started drinking. So what am I looking at?! Player Zhan Yu is displaying some insane footwork while attacking Player Mei Chao Fung! Oh my lord! I have never seen anything like it! I would never even dream of such a thing being possible if I’m not witnessing it myself! This is something no one could even imagine! My word…I believe that this is an art! A dance! What a spectacular view. I truly believe that PvP will never be the same again! Take a look at that movement! I mean, no one could have known that PvP could involve something like that!"
The commentators were busy commenting as if they were two ESPN newscasters, busy praising a football star’s goal kick.
Yet, it was not weird that the commentators were shocked. Their mouths and voices were working. Unlike the audience who were watching the match. Almost all of them had their jaws touching the floor!
Back in the stage, Mei Chao Fung wanted to find a chance to stun Zhang Yang with {Blast Wave} to regain the upper hand, however, just as he wanted to activate the skill, Zhang Yang was all around him. {Blast Wave} effective area of attack was only a small conical shape area in front of the caster. How could he land a clean hit when Mei Chao Fung could not even catch his freaking shadow!
Relying on {Destructive Smash} and {Horizontal Sweep’s} destructive damage, Mei Chao Fung was reduced down to only 20% HP after 20 seconds! Mei Chao Fung swiftly activated {Berserker’s Heal} to prevent Zhang Yang from using {Killing Cleave}. However, carrying the debuff of {Destructive Smash}, {Berserker’s Heal} had only healed him by 4,640 HP. Mei Chao Fung immediately took action and activated {Shield Wall}, struggling to survive. That being said, the skill had only provided him with a 10 second window.
Full Rage {Killing Cleave}!
‘-5,240!’
*crack*
Mei Chao Fung fell down to the ground and heard the system notification ringing in his ears.
‘Congratulations to Lone Desert Smoke Team 1 for obtaining two consecutive victory! You are now the champion of Group F!’
Just then, he realized that he was the last surviving member of his own battle team. With a calm heart, he accepted his fate. However, when he turned his head to survey the battleground, he heart sank when he noticed that Zhang Yang’s entire team was still standing. All four female players were still standing and chilling as if the battle was nothing to be worried about.
Even though the power gap between Zhang Yang and him was large, but it could not have been at the point where his own team could not even kill a person from Zhang Yang’s team! It was impossible! That left him with only one explanation, Zhang Yang had been protecting his team mate with {Shield Wall}, {Sacrifice}, and other protecting skill, while fighting Mei Chao Fung at the same time! Just how strong was this man is?! While spinning around Mei Chao Fung like a hurricane, Zhang Yang could still find the time to protect his team mate on the other side of the battle field!? Was the gap between Zhang Yang and him, that huge?
Negative thoughts started to flood his mind as his self-esteem started to plummet.
"Don’t feel bad, crazy f*ck. Our opponent was Lone Desert Smoke’s main attacking team! There is nothing to be ashamed in losing to them! Besides, we can still fight as long as we win in the losing division! It’s not the end of the world!" The guild master of Angel Wings, Angels Are Demons consoled him.
Without much rest time, the losing team battles started off. After the battle with Lone Desert Smoke, Angel Wings next opponent was Emperor’s Return. Sadly, unlike Lone Desert Smoke Team 2, Emperor’s Return lost and was eliminated from the competition.
24th of December, the last two groups had went up the stage to fight for the Top 16th position. In the end, Group G was led by Mugen and Breaking Dawn, and group H was led by Brilliant Star and Sky High.
The Top 16 battle outline were as follows:
First half:
Crimson Rage vs Storm Riders
Radiance vs Rolling Rocks
Imperial Sky vs Lone Desert Smoke Team 2
Blue Sea vs Sunset Amber.
Second half:
Genesis vs Angel Wings.
Lone Desert Smoke Team 1 vs The Glory.
Breaking Down vs Sky High.
Brilliant Star vs Mugen.
On the 25th of December, the first half of the battle took place at 7.30pm. Crimson Rage performed exemplary feats against Storm Riders and won the battle with a straight 2:0 victory.
8pm, the match between Radiance and Rolling Rock was held. The guild Radiance was able to perform on an entirely different level and overwhelmed their opponents with the score 2:0, eliminating them from the competition and being the second group to enter the top 8.
8.30pm, Zhang Yang and his team 2 members came to watch the match between Lone Desert Smoke Team 2 and Imperial Sky. The main problem they were facing in the match was the fact that Imperial Sky had already understood that Lost Dream was the main driving force of Team 2. One Sword Stroke was smart. He had cornered Lost Dream and kept him occupied. His team then killed the other members with relative ease.
2:0!
Lone Desert Smoke Team 2 faced an indiscriminate loss!
9pm, Blue Sea vs Sunset Amber! This battle was the first time a losing team had managed to stand out and won the battle. After three excruciating fights, Sunset Amber won the battle with a 2:1 score. So far, both teams in D group had been eliminated from the competition.
As the last battle of the night ended, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. Back at his own room, Zhang Yang saw Fatty Han sulking. He could not ignore the fat f*ck and patted his shoulder. "Chill Fat*ss. Hey! At least you get to be in the top 16! There’s still the 40,000 dollars reward!"
Fatty Han turned to Zhang Yang and back to the floor. He sighed loudly. "At first, I could not accept defeat. My DPS was high…How could I lose?! However, after these few days, I realized something. Especially after losing to Imperial Sky, I realized that PvP is not just about having the higher damage. PvP requires a strong sense of control, skill, insight and maneuverability! And I have none of those! I better go back to the secondary raiding party and be a pro there instead! I don’t want to have my self-esteem go any lower!"
Zhang Yang gasped sarcastically. "Dayum bro! You finally admitted that you’re just a sucky noob! How rare it is for you to admit that!"
"F*ck! Come on bro! I’m already heartbroken here! How can you call yourself my bro if you keep on attacking me like that!"
"Hahaha! Alright, how about this? I’ll leave this room to you alone. I think this hotel would have those kind of service that could satisfy that one particular desire of yours?" Zhang Yang winked.
Fatty Han turned his head over to Zhang Yang. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk…I don’t ask for much. Just have Liu Shi Shi to come here and I’ll handle the rest!’
"…"
Dream Technology was rather generous, even after losing, the organizers did not force the losing teams out of the hotel. They had allowed them to stay until the end of the entire competition, complete with the expenses.
On the side note, Zhang Yang’s mystical footwork had cause a major stir up in the social media and the gaming world. Players had started to conduct their research, tracing Zhang Yang steps through the recorded video and trying to imitate him! Players had dubbed Zhang Yang footwork as the Butterfly Steps, because of Zhang Yang’s wide area of movement which resembled the wings of a butterfly. Without a doubt, the Butterfly Step had proved to be too advanced for the current stage of the game. Not only were the general players tirelessly trying to learn the steps, even the professional players in the current competition could not stop thinking about it. However, since time was not as luxurious for them, they could not have learnt about it.
The night of 26th of December, the second half of the battle had eight teams being reminded to fight for their chance to be in the last remaining four teams to move on to the next stage of the competition.
7.30pm, the first battle between Genesis vs Angel Wings started.
A landslide victory was expected, based on forecasts and analysis.
Genesis was a popular team and was one of the team that had high odds of entering the finals. Their prowess was well proven. However, things had taken a different turn. Even though Angel Wings had only managed to enter the top 16 battle team, their capability was nothing to be taken note off. However, they had still managed to perform beyond expectations and managed to win the match with a 2:1 score, successfully eliminating Genesis from the competition!