The King's Avatar

Ye Xiu’s prediction was of course made with reason.

Out of the 24 classes, Launchers were ranked at the bottom in close combat ability. They were never absent in the voting for ”which class is weakest in close combat,” and their votes were never low, at about the same rank as Summoners.

Now that he was being stepped on by Lord Grim, an unspecialized with an immense number of low level skills and an extremely fast rhythm, no one thought Ye Xiu’s words were unreasonable.

”Not necessarily!” But Guo Shao didn’t agree.

Once Punisher was over, Lord Grim had only just moved his foot away when Berk immediately rolled and stood. However, the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had already transformed into a spear, striking forth like a viper.

Clang!

Yet, what everyone heard was the clash of metal on metal. This sound was most commonly heard when parrying.

And, for Launchers, there was only one move they could use in parrying, if nothing unexpected happened.

Swing!

Each of the 24 classes had a knockup skill, which could be learned from the beginning. What Launchers used was this hand cannon swinging skill, Swing. Using this skill, Guo Shao managed to parry Lord Grim’s Dragon Tooth.

Berk had already jumped up, cannon shots flying, aimed downwards and propelling him backwards.

However, Lord Grim truly had too many low level skills. Even if the movement skills he had used before were all still in cooldown, he had other choices.

Berserker skill: Colliding Stab!

Lord Grim dashed forth with his sword. Berk, even with the help of Aerial Cannon, couldn’t match up to the speed of this dashing stab. He was immediately impaled on the blade and a combo followed after.

The unspecialized’s fast paced close combat capabilities wiped the floor with Zhang Jiale and crushed Sun Zheping. Now, the one facing this was a rookie, using a Launcher, who was weak in close combat.

There was no suspense to this anymore.

However...

”Nothing is certain yet!” The rookie Guo Shao still didn’t give up.

”Your spirit is admirable!” Ye Xiu praised, ”If so, then I’ll have to be more careful…”

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella changed forms rapidly, skill after skill pushed onto Berk. Guo Shao was trying to find an opening, but there was none to be found. Every possibility of escape had been completely sealed off.

”How terrifying,” he was still lamenting, his morale seeming to be completely unaffected, but at a time like this, his Berk had already fallen.

Guo Shao didn’t give up, but he didn’t find a single opportunity either…

Walking out of the competitor booths, Guo Shao looked at Ye Xiu on the other side.

”Senior is so strong!” Guo Shao called out loudly, giving a thumbs up.

”Is he crazy, praising his opponent like that?!” He Ming and co were close to jumping up, nervously looking at the audience. As expected, the audience had exploded into commotion. As for Ye Xiu, he just waved and went off stage.

In the individual competition, Happy won with a flawless 3 to 0.

However, Guo Shao, who had just returned to the player bench, didn’t seem at all affected by this gap.

”Let’s all do our best!” Despite just having lost, he was here encouraging his teammates.

”You little!” He Ming’s face was dark. As the captain, he had to say something.

”How could you compliment your opponent like that? Aren’t you boosting their morale? Ruining ours?” He Ming scolded.

”Because he really is strong, so I didn’t really think much of it,” Guo Shao said.

”...” Guo Shao’s forthright reason made He Ming incapable of scolding him further.

”Just don’t do it next time…” he could only reply, deflating.

They lost all three rounds of the individual competition...

He Ming exchanged glances with his two old teammates. If everything had gone according to their original plan, then they would’ve given the first match to Ye Xiu, Wang Ze would strike down Su Mucheng in the second match, and then the third match would be given to Guo Shao, who was rather skilled. If he did well, they might’ve even ended things with a lead of 2 to 1, but now, reality seemed very far from their expectations.

”We’re counting on you for the group arena,” Wang Ze said.

He Ming and Shen Jian were going to be a part of the group arena.

”How come I feel that Happy doesn’t seem affected by the magazine?” Shen Jian gazed towards Happy’s bench. Did they not look at those magazines after getting them?

”Wei Chen, Su Mucheng and Ye Xiu are all experienced and mature players. Being able to adjust their emotions isn’t unexpected from them,” He Ming analyzed, feigning calm. ”In the group arena, Tang Rou will definitely come up. She’ll be affected by it.”

”What if she’s not participating today?” Shen Jian asked.

”Er, then the other younger players would definitely be affected,” He Ming said.

”There’s also that Fang Rui,” Shen Jian reminded him.

”Fang Rui isn’t all that used to the Qi Master yet, so his strength will be reduced,” He Ming assured.

”Yeah…” Shen Jian nodded. In reality, they had gone over these things who knows how many times before the match.

”I’ll be going first, Jia Xing will take the middle and you’ll be our last line of defense,” He Ming announced the lineup at the end. Jia Xing was Miracle’s Battle Mage player, his character was called Prideful Sorcery.

The short break between the individual competition and group arena passed quickly. Under the signal given by the big screen, He Ming stood, bracing himself and walking towards the stage. On Happy’s side, the first player to go up wasn’t Tang Rou who used to always lead the charge, but Fang Rui.

After seeing Fang Rui, He Ming felt a little more pressure. The other was an All-Star level player, after all.

Relax, he’s still getting used to the class switch. Focus yourself, don’t get anxious, you have plenty of chances.

He Ming recited to himself in his heart as he walked onto the stage and into Miracle’s Competition Booth. On the other side, Fang Rui also entered his booth. The projection began to display images of the map that would be used for this match.

Wuchuan Path, a small map with a Wuxia style, was a map that didn’t have many obstacles for the three pro players of Miracle. That was usually how group arena maps were chosen.

The two characters soon spawned at the two ends of Wuchuan Path. In the center of the map, there was a winery with a large flagpole outside the door. A golden character meaning ”alcohol” was stitched into the accompanying red flag, fluttering in the wind, very eye catching. The winery proved its worth of having such a flag, though. The winery had three large courtyards, pridefully taking up the center of the map. In terms of area, it made 90 percent of the map. Desolate muddy earth surrounds the winery, and when the winds blew, the sand and dust kicked up could turn the sky yellow.

With the winery in the center, the two characters would meet directly. The winery became a place that could be used to execute ambushes and sneak attacks. Knowing that his opponent was the Master of Dirty Play, Fang Rui, He Ming instantly felt like the winery was filled with danger. However, Miracle’s three wouldn’t be unfamiliar with a map they chose. And for this map, the focus of it was the structure of the winery. He Ming had his Elementalist, Rullo, approach the winery, but didn’t charge inside. Though the two characters were the same distance apart from the winery, their movement speeds were different. If a Qi Master wanted to take this advantage, they could activate Qi Flowing Cloud and increase their speed, getting into the winery before an Elementalist.

Fang Rui would definitely use the terrain to his advantage. He Ming knew this with certainty. Thus, before he stepped into the winery, he stopped for moment and went over the entire structure of the winery clearly and completely. After making an organized judgement, He Ming’s Elementalist, Rullo, walked into the winery from the side door.

Immediately inside was a massive courtyard with both square and long tables. The were cluttered with many small taverns. However, no NPCs would be in an arena map. A place that should’ve been bustling was devoid of life, giving an eerie feel.

He Ming didn’t stay in the courtyard long, intending to have Rullo go further inside, when he suddenly heard a popping noise.

What was that?

He Ming’s had very precise judgement, and he turned his view to the place the noise came from. All that was there was a wall, so the sound must’ve come from behind that wall.

Was it an accident? Or a trap?

The gears in He Ming’s head turned quickly. Rullo walked over, but didn’t immediately go through to the other side, but stuck close to the wall.

This doorway led to a rather narrow corridor. Thinking of this terrain, He Ming had an idea.

Rullo flashed into the doorway, staff waving and then, with a point, an Ice Wall appeared in the corridor. Only then did He Ming have Rullo dart inside.

”How cautious!” Fang Rui’s taunt appeared in the channel. As expected, Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea was inside the corridor. However, he had been trapped at the other end by the Ice Wall.

”If this is how it’s going to be, you can’t hit me either!” Fang Rui sent a rofl emoji, as if He Ming’s Ice Wall was a really stupid decision.

He Ming remained unruffled by the other’s trash talk. He was glad he was so careful. If not, then he might’ve already been ambushed by Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea.

”If neither of us can hit the other, then I’m leaving!” Fang Rui said as Boundless Sea turned to leave.

How could He Ming let this dirty playing opponent go so easily after catching him? Ice Wall could block movement and attacks, but it couldn’t block an Elementalist’s control over the elements.

Rullo raised a hand and elemental power began to gather in the air, curling up from the ground, eventually gathering in Rullo’s mind. Skill: Absolute Focus. After activation, it would turn the next skill into an instant cast.

After that, he pointed his staff and the level 70 Elementalist ultimate, Heavenly Lightning Earthen Fire, was activated through the Ice Wall. Fang Rui, who was in the middle of his escape, realized something was wrong, and hurriedly had Boundless Sea roll backwards, taking a small amount of damage. When he looked again, the lightning and fire had completely blocked off his escape route. Charging through wasn’t a good idea. Under the player’s control, if a target tried to simply charge through Heavenly Thunder Earthen Lightning, then it wouldn’t just be damage they’d take, but they’d also be rooted, so in the end they still couldn’t go anywhere.

”How shameless! Take this!” Fang Rui sent as Boundless Sea turned and dashed forwards, his palm striking the Ice Wall.

If Ice Wall wasn’t destroyed by an attack, then it would remain for quite a long time, even longer than Heaven Lightning Earthen Fire. However, Fang Rui didn’t want Boundless Sea to stay here and admire the scenery, waiting for time to pass. If he were trapped in this small space and let He Ming chant a few more AoE spells, then he wouldn’t have a chance at dodging.

Fang Rui didn’t mind using this powerful skill to immediately shatter the Ice Wall.