Chapter 815: The Careful He An
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Electric Wave Formation!
The skill activated silently and by the time Tang Rou noticed, the Electric Wave Formation’s ball of lightning had already formed. The area within 15 units of it was filled with sparks. When the skill was activated, Soft Mist was electrocuted once. It was unavoidable. Tang Rou hastily had her character step out of range. With only a fifth of her health left, she didn’t dare delay. Soft Mist attempted to charge out of the Electric Wave Formation through the shortest route.
But who knew that this was exactly what He An wanted. From where Go Forth was settled, he could see half of Soft Mist’s figure, but this was more than enough. The second Formation was sent out, but this time it was an Ice Wave Formation. The two Formations overlapped, trapping Soft Mist within them.
Seeing this, Tang Rou realized that her opponent had been prepared for this and could see Soft Mist’s movements. No matter how she tried to escape, she would probably be incapable of shaking him off. Making a decision, she jumped up resolutely and dived for the water next to the veranda.
Tang Rou displayed her usual brave decisiveness. By jumping into the water, she immediately saw Go Forth, who had settled under the veranda. Without a moment’s hesitation, she charged forth with a Dragon Breaks the Ranks.
The flow of water split into two around Soft Mist. In the water, the charge speed of Dragon Breaks the Ranks was greatly reduced, but the drag force from the water affected everything. Even though attacks were slowed, dodging was also slowed. He An was prepared for this as well. With a swing of Aqua Lightning lightsaber, a strike of Chilling Sword Pulse was sent out. Shards of ice shot off from the blade, as if dispersed by the flow of the water, but anyone who understood the settings in Glory would know that water did have some effect on the power of skills, especially for fire, which was at a major disadvantage in water. On the other hand, ice type damage wasn’t just unaffected by the water, but was actually strengthened by it. This Chilling Sword Pulse looked like it had been scattered by the water, but actually it’s range had been silently expanded.
It didn’t look like much, but it’s power was immense!
The reinforced Chilling Sword Pulse met the charging Soft Mist and swept over her.
A hit!
Soft Mist’s movement speed was slowed even further by Chilling Sword Pulse. He An’s Go Forth had already left his original position, already preparing a new attack to unleash on the approaching Soft Mist.
Of course, Tang Rou knew that the situation wasn’t looking good for her, but didn’t cancel Dragon Breaks the Ranks. With the distance between her and Go Forth, there weren’t any attack that she could hit. If she stopped now, she still had to close in on Go Forth. That wasn’t as efficient as if she just used this Dragon Breaks the Ranks as a way to increase her movement speed.
Tang Rou’s choice was obviously made out of having no other choice. She was at a major disadvantage, and He An had this situation entirely under his own control. If it wasn’t for having another two opponents to face later on, He An would have just charged forwards to go head to head with Soft Mist and diminish what remaining health she possessed. Here, He An chose a safer method, deciding not to face Soft Mist head on, keeping his distance and slowly dragging it out.
This was the worst kind of style for Tang Rou. Soft Mist only had a fifth of her health starting out in this round, and then she had been ambushed too. She was already at red blood, how could she afford to drag this out? On the other hand, if they went head to head, she might not win, but she could at least take out some of her opponent’s life.
Unfortunately, He An was very cunning, not giving her such a chance. Slowly chipping away at Soft Mist’s health in the water, he used the Spellblade’s slight advantage in attack range to chip her to death.
"Heheh, that’s wasn’t so bad!" After he won, He An turned to joke with the other members of Team Everlasting. The continuous losses had reduced Team Everlasting’s morale to ice. And for this victory, no matter how he went to describe it, he had only won against an opponent with one fifth of her health left. There wasn’t enough meaning to it. That’s why He An had to appear as if it took him nothing to do. The more it seemed like an easy victory, the better it would boost morale.
It was unfortunate that after defeating this opponent who only had a fifth of her health, Happy still had two players who hadn’t gone up yet. Being at such a disadvantage, Team Everlasting couldn’t avoid feeling uneasy.
The Challenger’s League was far too cruel. It was possible that a single loss here could cut this year short for Team Everlasting. Who could relax with He An’s reassurance when thinking of this?
This was all He An could accomplish for now. He needed a real and valuable victory to bring hope back to his teammates.
The second round of the group arena started shortly. Team Happy’s second player was the Launcher Chasing Haze.
No matter who it was, He An didn’t dare to let down his guard. As soon as the countdown three, two, one, was over, his Go Forth turned and dived into the water once more.
Launchers had an absolute attack range advantage. When facing head to head, the Launcher always attacked first. By the time you got into attacking range, you would have already received quite some damage. If your charge wasn’t successful, the damage you took would be more than just a little.
If this was an individual competition, He An wouldn’t be afraid of charging forward, but they were fighting the group competition right now. After Chasing Haze, there was still another opponent that he had to fight. So, like last time with Soft Mist, he decided to use a careful method.
How could He An guess that his opponent was actually much more nervous than he was.
In the first three seconds of the match, Chen Guo was close to entering a space where she couldn’t even tell where her fingers where. Her mind was entirely blank. There were things moving in front of her eyes, but her brain seemed unable to receive these signals sent by her eyes.
Chen Guo was completely unprepared.
Ye Xiu actually pushed her into the line-up; he had never discussed this with her beforehand.
And to think that Chen Guo was unhappy that Ye Xiu saw her as a stopgap for the number of members in their team. Now that she was sent to the battlefield as an official player, Chen Guo realized she would rather be a stopgap. The pressure of being in the arena far overwhelmed her expectations. Thinking of what the results of this match could mean for them made Chen Guo terrified.
In her mind, she couldn’t possibly win. The opponent was a pro player, the character was the ace of a pro team! As for her? Even with the Heavenly Domain challenge she had help from Tang Rou to pass. From this angle, she wasn’t even as good as Concealed Light! Concealed Light had at least completed the Heavenly Domain Challenge on his own!
Nervous, she was so nervous. From the beginning of the match, she hadn’t had a moment of calm. When she came back to herself, she realized the match had started and her opponent was nowhere to be seen. This made her even more nervous.
"Ah! When did the match start, where’d he go?" Chen Guo yelped in surprise like she would when playing the typical in-game arena matches.
Everyone looked at her with serious expressions, but no one answered.
Chen Guo snapped back to reality. This was a competition; it might be online and there might be no one watching them, but this was a real Alliance organized competition.
Chen Guo tried to calm herself down. She couldn’t see the opponent, but of course he couldn’t be outside of the map. He must’ve gone underwater again. This was how this guy dealt with Tang Rou in the last round. The memory was fresh in her mind, and she even thought scornfully about the opponent’s dirty tricks. However He An couldn’t hear her, so all she did was make Qiao Yifan feel awkward. He An’s plan in the last round was rather akin to how he had won his individual match.
Chen Guo didn’t get the chance to make anymore scornful comments, seeing how the character for the second round was just revealed to be her Chasing Haze.
"Surprise!"
Seeing the smile on Ye Xiu’s face, Chen Guo was frustrated. Was this really the time to joke around? Letting her into the arena, was that really a responsible thing to do?
But before she could yell, Ye Xiu’s smile disappeared, saying to her, "Good luck! Even if you lose, it’s ok; you have me at your back!"
"You…" Chen Guo was still quite displeased, but she couldn’t say anything. The line-up couldn’t be changed, after all. She rushed to take up the position. Yet as soon as it started, she was besieged by her nerves. Even telling herself that Ye Xiu was there to hold fort didn’t work.
Now, Chen Guo had finally gotten into her competitive mood. It was just that He An’s Go Forth had dived into the water, leaving her helpless. With her skill, she didn’t dare jump into the water to fight him. She could only wander the veranda, occasionally firing a few shots into the water, hoping to find a hint of Go Forth.
He An still didn’t let Go Forth close in and found an appropriate position to hide and watch Chasing Haze’s movements on the veranda.
He An still hadn’t figured out the depth of Happy’s skill, so he planned to observe the opponent before making any moves. He would be able to figure out his opponent’s vague skill level from seeing what moves his opponent made.
Yet as Chen Guo started to shoot at the water, it seemed like a fair choice to make, but Chen Guo’s blasts were completely chaotic. Like in the second individual match, Team Everlasting’s Sharpshooter attempted to force Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash from the water, but his attacks had a method to it. He had made estimations on One Inch Ash’s position, range and distance, but for Chen Guo? It was just wherever Chasing Haze walked, she would blast, no calculations, no judgements...
Is she pretending to be dumb to bait me?
He An was very much on guard; even when seeing Chen Guo’s clumsy technique, he didn’t make a move.
He observed for a while longer, until Chasing Haze had walked more or less on top of his Go Forth. She still fired a shot to the left, a shot to the right and moved on. He An finally confirmed that this person wasn’t playing dumb, she was actually dumb!
So, after Chasing Haze walked by, He An attacked at once. Multiple Wave Formations were thrown out and Chasing Haze looked wildly around before finally finding Go Forth’s position, but her lack of technique had already been witnessed by He An; he wasn’t afraid at all to have Go Forth jump out of the water to exchange blows with Chasing Haze.
The situation was extremely one-sided. When Chasing Haze fell, He An’s Go Forth had only lost a sliver of his life. That meant he had managed to get to the deciding match in near perfect shape.
The audience was bubbling with excitement, and so were Team Everlasting’s players.