The King's Avatar

Amidst the silence, someone from the crowd started clapping, which quickly spread until applause erupted around the entire stadium.

Happy didn’t have that many fans. There were even quite a few people who didn’t like them. However, even people who had well-defined likes and dislikes appreciated brilliant performances. Everyone had seen Qiao Yifan’s prowess in this fight on the jumbotron in front of them. Such a convincing performance truly deserved such wild applause.

They now had a completely different view of that rash and initial sneak attack. It was without question to lure the opponent into his trap. Its purpose was to draw Anxious Ghost into the necessary position.

”Friends, I don’t think you guys have forgotten about the sneak attack from the corner. Let’s take a look at it again.” When the commentator reviewed the match, he impatiently had the stream cut to that moment.　　

The clip had already been prepared. However, the fight never stopped, continuing all the way until Anxious Ghost was killed. As a result, there had been no time to show the replay. It could finally be played now. Everyone watched the scene again from Anxious Ghost’s perspective.

When Anxious Ghost chased after One Inch Ash to this little alleyway, One Inch Ash had already disappeared. However, at the corner of the street, a shadow extended on the ground. Anxious Ghost noticed it and immediately ran towards it. Before he reached the corner, he moved in an arc, putting distance between the two before rushing forward to attack One Inch Ash, who had been lying in wait.

The twilight from the setting sun shone down, making things seem real, yet unreal at the same time. From Anxious Ghost’s point of view, only One Inch Ash could be seen. The swordlight had been completely hidden by the setting sun. Anxious Ghost wasn’t able to see the attack coming. Then, he was thrown into a corner until his defeat.

”So it was like that...” the commentator gasped in admiration, ”Happy’s player cleverly positioned himself so that the sunlight directly shone on him and covered his attack. Everyone paid attention. One Inch Ash jumped when he let loose a Moonlight Slash. This jump put this swordlight in a position, where the sunlight would also conceal it. Everything had been planned accordingly. Happy had a clear strategy going into this battle. I’m sure everyone knows that even though the maps used in these matches are temporary, once the League started, all of the maps were available for download and use. The maps used in every match are announced beforehand so that the teams can prepare ahead of time. From the looks of it, Happy has put a lot of work in this area. What about Jade Dynasty? The player was also a Ghostblade. Even though he’s a hybrid Phantom Sword Demon, he could have taken advantage of the map too, yet he didn’t notice this point.”

”That victory was beautiful. Let’s all remember this player’s name. Qiao Yifan! He truly should come out and accept our applause. Unfortunately, this is a group arena. He still needs to continue playing, but worry not. There’s still a long road ahead of him. I believe that this player certainly has a bright future ahead of him. Speaking of which, Qiao Yifan was originally from Team Tiny Herb. For some reason, he never appeared on stage with them and left after being there for a season. Seeing Qiao Yifan’s performance today, I wonder if Team Tiny Herb is going to regret their decision.”

Amid the commentator’s praise and the crowd’s applause, Team Jade Dynasty’s defeated player came down from the stage. The praise and applause was for Qiao Yifan. For him, it only made it that much harder to bear. He walked very slowly as if he didn’t want to go back to the player bench. Their boss, Xiao Jie, was sitting down with a dark face. Seeing his player coming down slowly, he snorted coldly and ignored him. He called over Team Jade Dynasty’s third player.

”Be more mindful. The opponent has a strong grasp of the maps. Be careful and don’t make the same mistakes. And...” Xiao Jie instructed impatiently.

”I understand.” The third player was Zheng Shengchao, a Berserker. His character Severed Yearning. After being given sincere advice from Xiao Jie, he headed towards the stage.

The third round began. The current situation was very unfavorable towards Jade Dynasty. One Inch Ash had consumed lots of mana, but he had only lost 20% of his health in the previous round. Happy had nearly a one person lead over Jade Dynasty. Even with a disadvantage, Xiao Jie was sat quite upright. He didn’t smile as he turned his head over and talked to Ye Xiu.

The match began. Due to Qiao Yifan’s outstanding performance in the previous round, the commentator couldn’t help but reveal a bit of bias towards him. At the start, he talked about what Qiao Yifan might do since he wasn’t at full health and he didn’t have much mana left. After his concern for Qiao Yifan, he introduced Jade Dynasty’s player, Zheng Shengchao.

It was somewhat awkward for Berserkers to play in group arenas because of their signature skill Blood Awakening, creating the unique health-trading playstyle. Because of how trading health changed the pace of the match, it made things too difficult for Berserkers. In a 1v1, they could easily make this decision, but in a group arena, if they traded away their health cleanly, how were they going to take down more than one opponent? Although Berserkers became stronger the lower their health, they weren’t so strong that they could just instantly kill an opponent. Directly trade away 90% of their health at the start? That wasn’t how trading worked. When they traded their health, they would lower their opponent’s health to around the same range. If a Berserker’s health was low, but the opponent’s health was high, don’t think that was the Berserker trading away his health. Ninety nine percent of the time it was just the Berserker getting destroyed…..

Their class’s feature made it challenging for them to participate in the group arena, especially when the opposing side held the lead.

Xiao Jie sincerely instructed his team’s Berserker, but his expression was still grave and stern. He clearly knew what a predicament they were in.

They knew. Qiao Yifan knew even better. It could be seen that from his previous performance, Qiao Yifan had made ample preparations beforehand. He had taken it very seriously and played very carefully. He had even taken note of the sunlight at the corner of the street and utilized it to his advantage. How could he not have been prepared for his current situation?

Zheng Shengchao didn’t hurry and search for One Inch Ash. Qiao Yifan also didn’t go on the defensive to protect his lead. The two cautiously and patiently looked for opportunities.

Xiao Jie couldn’t help but feel somewhat fretful upon seeing this scene.　

He had figured that the other side would be more proactive and bold because of his lead. Certain decisions that might not be considered under normal circumstances might be made as a result. After all, he had a health lead as a backup! Thus, he had instructed Zheng Shengchao to take advantage of the other side’s mentality.

But from the looks of it, the other side didn’t have that sort of mentality. Xiao Jie couldn’t help but feel doubtful. In the previous round, Qiao Yifan had taken the initiative and lured his opponent into a trap, but in this round, he had actually become more careful. Let alone boldy attempting it when there was a thirty percent chance, the current Qiao Yifan turned a blind eye to even a fifty sixty percent chance. He was looking for an even more certain opportunity.

Xiao Jie’s prediction was completely wrong. He couldn’t help but feel unhappy. On stage, Zheng Shengchao had long since noticed this point. After some more careful probing, he decided to abandon Xiao Jie’s advice. The other side wasn’t falling for it.

Unable to bait the opponent, Zheng Shengchao could only search for an opportunity to forcefully break through to the opponent, but Qiao Yifan refused to face him directly. Qiao Yifan weaved in and out of the alleys as if it was his own home.

Zheng Shengchao was puzzled. It was a new map for both sides. How come the other side was so familiar with it? How could he know this map like back of his hand?

Zheng Shengchao, who had been chasing him the entire time, was starting to become impatient. Every time he reached a corner, he lifted his head to see where the sun was. He had to think about whether that place might have traps set, a dead end, or if it could be completely sealed off by ghost boundaries. Because of all the thinking he needed to do, he often lost his target, making him feel even more annoyed.

”Are you planning on running around until you recover all of your mana?” Zheng Shengchao couldn’t bear it anymore and spoke to the other side through the all chat. Glory characters had basic health and mana recovery, but it was very very slow in real combat. If not, wouldn’t the matches go on forever? Zheng Shengchao knew the other side didn’t have that goal in mind. These words were purely to provoke him.

At Happy’s benches, Ye Xiu actually went over to ask Chen Guo: ”Did Yifan bring recovery equipment into the game?”

”Do you think everyone thinks like you do?’ Chen Guo felt hopeless.

Ye Xiu had done this before, but it had actually been a very bold move. Bringing two sets of equipment increased the character’s weight significantly. Fighting would feel different. It was hard to say if bringing an extra set of equipment was actually helpful or harmful, so the switching-equipment playstyle only lasted a short while before becoming nonexistent. It was considered okay to bring one or two extra pieces of equipment, but the end result of carrying two full sets of equipment might just be dragging the character to their own death.

Even Ye Xiu only dared to do so against Team Everlasting. If he had to compete against similar-level experts, he would need to carefully ponder over it.

”I feel like with Yifan’s skill level, bringing an extras set is still quite reasonable!” Wei Chen gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. His words meant that Qiao Yifan had the ability to toy around with Jade Dynasty’s player.

”Do you really think Yifan’s as shameless and unscrupulous as you guys?” Chen Guo was about to go crazy.

”I think it’s just because Yifan’s rather cautious.” Ye Xiu said.

”Yeah yeah, he’s probably overestimating these Jade Dynasty players.” Wei Chen said.

”We also figured that Jade Dynasty was hiding their strength.” Ye Xiu said.

”Yes, that’s right. If it wasn’t for that, he would definitely have brought another set of equipment.” Wei Chen said.

”Yeah, he definitely would have.” Ye Xiu nodded his head.　　

”Get out of here! You two, f*ck off!!” Chen Guo yelled.