The King's Avatar

Wind Howl’s captain Tang Hao expressed displeasure at the conflict between Fang Rui and Zhao Yuzhe. His eyes stopped at Fang Rui. It was plain as day who he favored.

No one uttered a word. Team Wind Howl seemed to only be just three people.

Zhao Yuzhe continued to glare at Fang Rui with unwillingness. Tang Hao didn’t show any resentment towards Zhao Yuzhe, but he wasn’t looking at him in a good way either. As for Fang Rui? He was still playing the game.

His Doubtful Demon suddenly rushed out.

What? Is he regretting it now? Zhao Yuzhe, who was also in the game, noticed Doubtful Demon’s movements. He could see that he was chasing after Happy.

”Isn’t it too late to start chasing?” Zhao Yuzhe was puzzled.

Fang Rui’s Doubtful Demon suddenly stopped chasing. He just stood there, looking around for something.

Zhao Yuzhe couldn’t bear it anymore. He had his Beautiful Light move over there as well. The other two players followed.　　

Fang Rui was looking at the passageway that Happy had left through. Zhao Yuzhe had solid fundamentals too. After all, he had accumulated quite a bit of tactical experience throughout his career of two years. When he looked at this passageway, he realized how the entrance could be utilized. At this instant, he noticed: Fang Rui was right.

Happy indeed had made preparations. It would be very easy for Happy to ambush them at this entrance.

”So what?” Zhao Yuzhe refused to admit his mistake, ”With their health, so what if they ambush us?”

”In important playoff matches in season two, season four, season five, and season seven, several teams encountered situations like this and lost as a result.” Fang Rui said.

”...” Zhao Yuzhe stared blankly. He didn’t know about these precedents. For a moment, he couldn’t think of which matches Fang Rui was talking about.

”Do you think you’re safe because the opponents don’t have much health left? Throw away such naive thoughts! Glory isn’t as sweet as you think it is.” Fang Rui said　　

”I…” Zhao Yuzhe was at a loss for words. Fang Rui didn’t say anything more to him. He glanced at captain Tang Hao, ”We’ll continue.”

”Okay.” Tang Hao nodded his head. He had heard the conversation between the two. Right now, it was very clear who had been in the right and who had been in the wrong.

The four players continued onwards. The other players in the team let out a sigh of relief. Only Liu Hao looked pensive.

The others only saw it as different answers for a question. But Liu Hao saw it as a conflict in ideologies between two players.

Fang Rui’s style of playing dirty didn’t synergize well with Tang Hao’s and Zhao Yuzhe’s style of play. And those two were the pillars of Wind Howl’s new generation. After Demon Subduer switched hands from Lin Jingyan to Tang Hao, Fang Rui’s playstyle became more and more lost in this type of team. As Tang Hao’s playstyle matured and as their other main talent Zhao Yuzhe grew, Fang Rui’s playing environment became increasingly difficult. At the same time, his existence itself made Tang Hao and Zhao Yuzhe very uncomfortable.

Wind Howl’s style hadn’t changed completely enough! With Tang Hao as the core, the set of strategies employed during Lin Jingyan’s generation might no longer be suitable.

Wind Howl still had its struggles!

In the game, Happy’s five players quickly retreated. After confirming that there were no pursuers, they stopped to rest. They drank potions and ate food to recover their mana and health. After all, this was the game and not the competitive stage.

Though it wasn’t the competitive stage, the dangers hadn’t passed. When were there ever these sorts of large chaotic fights on the competitive stage?

Happy stopped at a place to recover. It wasn’t just a random place. Ye Xiu saw that it was a wide open space, where they couldn’t be ambushed. After starting to recover, he requested that no one use food that made a lot of noise so as not to let any sound leak.

The five characters sat together on the ground and recovered silently. The tense environment constructed by Ye Xiu made everyone turn and look at their surroundings from time to time.　

Happy’s cautiousness wasn’t for naught. Amidst the silence, they could hear the sounds of footsteps coming from the passageway.　

That wasn’t the direction Wind Howl would be coming from. Which team was this?

Tyranny and Happy had run in the opposite directions. It was too early to meet up. Thus, it should one of the other two guilds. Was it Royal Style or Misty Rain?

”Withdraw for now.” Ye Xiu typed in the chat.

The five characters stood up. To hide the sounds of their footsteps, they either crouched or rolled and quickly found a hiding spot. Ye Xiu had found these spots as soon as Happy had gotten here.

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Ye Xiu told the others to retreat back, while his Lord Grim was positioned slightly more forward.

The five characters finally revealed themselves.

It was Team Misty Rain!

Windy Rain, Something to Hide, Dark Forest, None Dare Attack, Lower Your Head.

Misty Rain’s character choices were as bold as Happy’s. They also didn’t bring a healer. What’s more, their team had three Sharpshooters. Along with Windy Rain, that made four long-ranged attackers with Dark Forest as a Ninja.

”Get ready to fight.” Ye Xiu called out to the other four.

Their positions were hidden. It wasn’t possible for Misty Rain to directly see them. What followed depended on what Team Misty Rain did. If they decided to investigate this side, Happy had to attack first to catch them off guard.

However, Misty Rain didn’t seem to have any intentions of searching this area. Their team quickly passed by this point and moved ahead.

Happy’s five players slowly went out of hiding.

”Follow them.” Ye Xiu said, ”It’d be best if they clashed with Wind Howl.”

Just when Ye Xiu sadi this, sounds of gunfire could be heard ahead.

”How aggressive! They really are pro teams! They’ve already encountered each other!” Ye Xiu praised.

Team Wind Howl didn’t chase after Happy as soon as possible, but in the end, they still headed in this direction. After all, Happy was moving about in this direction. They hadn’t given up and obviously wanted to get all the shards too, but then they encountered Misty Rain.

Wind Howl knew that Happy was ahead, so they had advanced very cautiously. When they heard footsteps, Fang Rui thought that Happy had finished recovering and had come back to kill them. This situation was within his expectations. He quickly set up traps and arranged a formation.

When the first trap was triggered, a battle soon ensued. Fang Rui looked at the enemies and suddenly felt like crying.　

If it wasn’t Happy, it was okay. But it just had to be Misty Rain. Misty Rain just had to have so many long-ranged characters too, reducing the threat of his traps. Long-ranged attackers didn’t need to stick close to them to attack. If they didn’t enter the trap zone, how could his traps be of any use?

Today’s been such an unlucky day!

Fang Rui was gloomy. Wind Howl had once again been thrown into disarray. This time, under his arrangements, Zhao Yuzhe felt like he could finally breathe.

Chu Yunxiu and her Windy Rain!

Zhao Yuzhe really wanted to fight her. He hoped that he could crush her to prove that he was the number one Elementalist. Even though it was just the game right now, these thoughts were deeply rooted in him. As soon as he saw Windy Rain, his emotions became fervent. He started to think about how he should contend with Windy Rain.　　

”Retreat!”

But then his spirits were once again dampened. Again by Fang Rui.

As soon as the situation looked slightly unfavorable, they would immediately retreat. If the enemy advances, we retreat. If the enemy retreats, we harass. These were the guidelines on how to play dirty. Fang Rui was commanding the team, so he naturally made decisions depending on his own habits.

But this made Fang Rui very very unhappy. Extremely unhappy.

”Retreat again? When are we going to fight? Didn’t we already set up traps?” Zhao Yuzhe shouted. Even though he could see that these traps would mostly fail because Misty Rain consisted of mostly long-ranged attackers, he had to say it to slap Fang Rui’s face.

”The traps are no good. Retreat for now.” Fang Rui’s style of playing dirty didn’t have the same sort of pride as Zhao Yuzhe’s playstyle. He simply admitted that his traps were ineffective.

F*ck, communicating with this type of person is impossible!　　

Zhao Yuzhe felt very bitter. The ideologies that the two sides had for Glory were completely different. But seeing how the other two team members had followed Fang Rui’s orders and started retreating, Zhao Yuzhe didn’t dare challenge Misty Rain alone. He could only retreat as well.

But Misty Rain refused to let them go. The three Sharpshooters shot at them as they chased closely behind.

The sounds of gunfire provided a good cover for Happy. They didn’t need to hide their footsteps to avoid the notice of the others, making their tailing very easy.

Soon, Wind Howl retreated back to where Happy had found the shard after killing the female ghost. When they saw the walls collapsed over there, they wanted to cry.

Another team was coming in this direction, Royal Style!

The poor Wind Howl was suddenly surrounded like a dumpling. No matter how crafty Fang Rui was, it would very difficult for the entire team to escape. Both escape routes were sealed!

Their only choice was to fight!

”You don’t fight when we should fight and fight when we shouldn’t fight!” Zhao Yuzhe shouted in discontent.　　

Indeed, compared to the previous five players from Misty Rain or the nearly dead Happy, their situation was even more disastrous right now.

However, fighting in an tricky situation was one of the strengths of someone who played dirty.

Team Royal Style was led by Tian Sen’s Exorcist, Peaceful Hermit. Starting last season, he had spent much effort in the game in an attempt to help Royal Style grow. Unfortunately, the effects weren’t good. Royal Style once again failed to enter the playoffs. As for he and his Peaceful Hermit, his ranking in All Stars dropped again to 21st place. If he dropped another three places, he wouldn’t make it into All Stars.

To get chosen into All Stars was an honor for many players and characters. However, Peaceful Hermit was a God-level character that had been equally as famous as One Autumn Leaf and Desert Dust back in the early days! And now, Peaceful Hermit was actually struggling to make it into All Stars? Tian Sen felt that they were incapable of making it into playoffs.

There has to be change!

Tian Sen muttered to himself again and again. This summer, this break, he threw himself into the game even more fervently.