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Due to an embarrassing reason, the first individual match concluded with an undignified loss for Steamed Bun. During the match, he wasn’t able to close in on his opponent, and lost without landing a single hit. This result immediately ignited the passions of the spectors. They had been waiting for this day for a long time.

As this passion was expressed, the fans of Everlasting were completely stunned.

Their team leader won beautifully in this first match, and at a time like this, the fans were all cheering for him! And then these people started spamming, but their words were all directed at the opposing side. All sorts of mockery, sarcasm and insults filled up the chat channel. With that imposing manner, a passerby would probably think that Team Everlasting had a major bone to pick with Happy! Unless it was towards an archenemy, fans rarely banded together to attack the opposing side when their side had the advantage. Most fans had reason and composure, and were good sports.

For these spectators who focused their anger on Happy, it wasn’t that they had no composure or manners, it was just that they had been holding in their anger for too long.

”Those noobs from Happy, did you see that? That’s a real pro team, real pro players! Hahahaha!”

”Getting KO’ed like that, you sure have some skill!”

”Yah understand how terrifying pro players are now?”

The reason for Steamed Bun’s loss was quite embarrassing, but for normal players, it wasn’t unheard of. With just the skill they had, normal players couldn’t tell Steamed Bun Invasion merely got lost. A Launchers style was to use firepower to prevent an opponent from getting close. Wu Chen had a solid foundation, and he was very much familiar with these routines and techniques for offense. In the average player’s view, Steamed Bun seemed to be helpless against his assault, but they wouldn’t realize that in reality, Steamed Bun himself met with some problems.

”Wow, pro teams really are strong,” Steamed Bun said with some frustration as he took off his headphones, ”Picking such a complicated map. They really are strong.”

”Mmh,” Ye Xiu didn’t say anything more. Choosing to go through the veranda in Riverside Veranda did make the map a little hard to wrap your head around. Steamed Bun didn’t know the way and with Wu Chen’s firepower oppressing him, it was natural that he was unable to perform at his peak. Going into the water wasn’t necessarily a critical point. Steamed Bun wasn’t very familiar with aquatic battles either, so he might have just gotten cornered in the water by Wu Chen. It was Team Everlasting that chose this map, after all.

Everyone came over to comfort Steamed Bun, who was a little bummed out by his loss. Even Mo Fan opened his mouth, seeming to have something to say, but in the end he didn’t speak.

The second individual match started shortly. Team Happy sent out Qiao Yifan and his One Inch Ash. For Team Everlasting, it was a sharpshooter who took the stage, character name Shoot Here.

This sharpshooter wasn’t one of the six characters for Everlasting’s team battles. However, healers like Clerics rarely appeared in individual or group competitions, so there had to be more than just six core members in one team who would fight in the individual or group competition. This was how the Number Seven Ace Backup came into existence.

That was the role that Shoot Here played.

The match started, with Everlasting still choosing Riverside Veranda for the map, and the opponent already began moving towards One Inch Ash, seeming much more eager than Wu Chen in the first match.

Though the spectators didn’t know what had gone wrong with Steamed Bun, but Wu Chen had realized. After relaying this to his teammates, they were all struck dumb.

Although this wasn’t a pro match, if it was a team that wished to enter the Pro League, then their attitude towards the Challenger’s League would probably be even more serious than the Pro League itself. In the Pro League, losing a match wouldn’t have too much of an effect on the final score, but in the Challenger’s League, one mistake could mean another year lost for the team.

Under these circumstances, they actually sent up a newbie who didn’t even know the map. Was this disdain, or did they just have no one else to send?

Speaking of, the reason Everlasting chose this map was just so they could get an advantage on how inexperienced their opponents were, compared to them, but getting lost was a bit overkill. The map gave them an advantage they hadn’t expected, which gave them these new thoughts.

The player who was sent up in the second match didn’t want to waste his time with this strange team, so he actively charged forth, but Qiao Yifan was very decisive as well. One Inch Ash turned and jumped into the water with a splash.

Riverside Veranda’s water wasn’t very deep, but after the spindrift from One Inch Ash’s jump dissolved, the water was calm without a ripple.

This… either meant that One Inch Ash wasn’t moving, or if he was, then it could only mean one thing: he was a professional!

Unless he were a pro player, it was rare that a player could master how to move under the water without causing fluctuations in the water’s surface under such circumstances. Learning how to sneak underwater was something only pro players would learn how to do!

One Inch Ash was Qiao Yifan

It was likely that only Team Excellent Era knew this information due to the coincidence that occurred at the time when Tao Xuan had come over to Team Happy with Sun Xiang and Xiao Shiqin. Apart from them, not even Qiao Yifan’s original Team Tiny Herb knew where he had gone after his contract expired.

If not even Team Tiny Herb knew, then how on earth could Team Everlasting know that their opponents had a member from a champion team? Though he was an inconsequential member of the team, Qiao Yifan had been under their strict training all this time. He changed his class, but a technique like playing underwater wasn’t affected by a change in class. With Qiao Yifan’s diligence, his execution of this skill was flawless.

The current One Inch Ash was slowly walking underwater, preparing to close in on his target silently.

Seeing how his opponent knew how to sneak around underwater, the player from Everlasting knew that this wasn’t a weak enemy and didn’t dare to make decisions lightly. He slowed to a stop, carefully watching the area where Qiao Yifan had disappeared into.

There were no ripples on the water’s surface, but the water in this map was quite shallow. If a character was walking along the bottom, they couldn’t hide their silhouette.

But, if you wanted to find their silhouette, you couldn’t do it at this angle from a distance. Everlasting’s player carefully watched the water as he moved his character, Shoot Here, towards it. His impatience had long since evaporated, so he was walking rather slowly.

As he was watching the water for any movement, he was also taking note of how much time had passed. A character couldn’t stay under the surface infinitely, they had to come up for air too. However, on this map and for such a professional player, he probably wouldn’t be seen even when coming up for air. Under the Veranda, there was plenty of space for a character to come up without being found out.

As expected, Team Everlasting’s player knew that time was up, but he didn’t see One Inch Ash coming out of the water.

Where was this guy hiding?

Team Everlasting’s player became a little impatient. This map was meant to give him the advantage, but now it was being used against him, putting him in a passive position. This turning of the tides caught him off guard.

Should he go into the water, too?

It wasn’t as if he didn’t think of this before, but he wasn’t very good at aquatic battles either. He wasn’t a pro player who had truly experienced pro matches, but a person who joined after Everlasting had been eliminated and most of their players walked out. People like him naturally lacked confidence in this area. Seeing how familiar One Inch Ash seemed to be when sneaking around underwater, he didn’t dare go down himself.

Let’s try it out first!

Team Everlasting’s player thought for a moment before deciding to probe for his opponent. Shoot Here raised his guns and started shooting randomly at the water in front of him.

Normal attacks didn’t cost mana, so he could be unrestrained with how he shot. The calm of the water’s surface was broken, and foam erupted all over the place, spraying the veranda with water.

But this wasn’t a scene Team Everlasting’s player would pay attention to. His eyes never left the areas he was shooting at. If he hit, or was dodged, there was be visible movement.

There!

Among the ripples the bullets made, Team Everlasting’s player found an abnormal surge. He unhesitantly unloaded all his skills in that direction while swiftly approaching. He needed an angle where he could clearly see the opponent’s figure in order to further his advantage. Sharpshooters had an advantage in range. Cornering a target in the water was much easier than on land.

Shoot Here’s movements were light and easy, traversing the veranda with familiarity. He had finally locked onto his opponent. His attacks didn’t seem to give his opponent too much trouble, but being able to lock onto the approximate whereabouts of his opponent, he believed, he would soon be able to see them.

Pop!

Suddenly, with a quiet noise Shoot Here’s movements stopped involuntarily. A ray of blue-white light flashed. Everlasting’s player realized something and turned his view in shock. He immediately saw the Ice Soul that had been refracted from under the water, and continued to refract with the movement of the water.

Ice Boundary!

It was the Ghostblade’s Ice Boundary that had been placed in the water, but it could reach all across the veranda. Team Everlasting’s player was so focused on his target that he hadn’t thought he would walk into such a trap.

Ice Boundary’s damage and control effects had only just begun. Everlasting’s player could see the light shining off the sword in the hands of an underwater figure.

Sword Soul, Plague Soul, Blood Soul...

Ghost Souls were called out one after another, who knew how many Ghost Boundaries were stacked there? Shoot Here’s body had been possessed by so many Ghost Souls that he had become an encyclopedia of negative status effects.

The water surface suddenly split open, and One Inch Ash leaped out. The Blade of Calamity in his hand shone with a dark purple light, encircled by blade qi made from Ghost Souls, and struck out towards Shoot Here.

One Hit One Kill!