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This was already Zhou Zekai’s fourth match in the group arena. But even when Cloud Piercer had been trapped by Dancing Rain’s powerful firing line, he had never been in such a passive state before.

He himself had chosen to have Cloud Piercer enter Dancing Rain’s firing line.

He himself had chosen to charge through Su Mucheng’s barrage.

He himself had chosen to put himself in a predicament, demanding that he broke through it.

But not this time!

In this chaotic battlefield, Fang Rui crafted meticulously calculated plans. As soon as he saw an opening, he would utilize every resource that he had to seize it. There was also his dirty playstyle that was impossible to grasp. All those added together finally put a stop to Zhou Zekai. It was the first time in this group arena that Zhou Zekai was completely out of options. He had no way to escape from this predicament. Cloud Piercer was trapped.

From Boundless Sea’s Dragon Wave.

From a Berserker NPC’s Destruction Slash.

From a Warlock NPC’s Grasping Ghosts.

A Spitfire NPC’s unknown grenade.

A Witch NPC’s Acid Rain.

The Battle Mage NPC that had missed the Dragon Breaks the Ranks was turning back around. Countless close-ranged classes were charging over aggressively.

There were no openings. There was no way out. Besides taking this wave of attacks, nothing else could be done. The flames from the Fire Bird had yet to recede. Sparks of fire still floated in the air.

In an instant, the sparks were swallowed into nothingness by the incoming attacks. And although Cloud Piercer could no longer be seen with all the explosions and light everywhere, everyone could see that he still existed from his rapidly falling health.

The NPCs weren’t very strong, but there were a lot of them. With so many attacks gathered together in one area, how could the damage not be terrifying? Whether it had been the match between Ye Xiu and Sun Xiang, or the match where Mo Fan triggered the NPC ambush from above, none of them had taken so many attacks all at once.

Fang Rui had fully taken advantage of the chaos. With one move, he threw Cloud Piercer into the abyss.

But Fang Rui didn’t relax yet.

Many of the NPCs were still throwing attacks at Boundless Sea. As he ran around, he paid close attention to any movements from Zhou Zekai.

This wave of attacks would inflict heavy damage onto Cloud Piercer, but it wouldn’t be enough to kill him. And the NPC attacks wouldn’t be as focused and calculated as a player’s. There would certainly be an opening after the wave was over. Zhou Zekai would definitely want to escape through this opening. Fang Rui needed to find a way to patch up this gap.

Papapapa…

Gunfire.

Sure enough, after the wave of attacks, Zhou Zekai made his move. With a Roundhouse Kick, he swept away the four NPCs closest to him. Several gunshots followed one after the other. Zhou Zekai didn’t hold back, activating “Rapid Firing” to fire off as many shots as possible.

At the same time, Firearm Martial Arts!

With buffs from Rapid Firing and Firearm Martial Arts, Cloud Piercer’s movements became incomparably quick. Then, he went for the hole that he had opened up, and saw Fang Rui’s Boundless Sea.

As expected…

Zhou Zekai wasn’t surprised. He had pretty much grasped Fang Rui’s plans. He knew that his biggest obstacle in escaping this predicament was Fang Rui. It was similar to the previous match against Mo Fan. Deception had drawn the aggro from the NPCs, but the one who made it the most difficult for Mo Fan was Zhou Zekai’s Cloud Piercer.

Spiral Qi Rush!

Boundless Sea took a step forward and pushed with his palms, sending out a wave of qi. The opening that Cloud Piercer had created for himself was instantly patched up with spinning qi.

Cloud Piercer couldn’t continue forward. However, there were no ways out from the rear, left, or right either. The NPCs had them blocked. Where could he run to?

Zhou Zekai was once again helpless this fast?

Many people had this thought, but not Zhou Zekai.

It looked like there was nowhere to run, but Cloud Piercer retreated a third of a step backwards.

Cloud Piercer raised his guns and fired!

Bang!

The gunshot was unusually loud, and the bullet looked to be quite big. Anyone who had a sense of how fast a bullet typically moved would know that this bullet was moving very slowly.

Stun Bullet!

It was a Spitfire low-level skill. However the Stun effect was too useful. It was similar to a Freeze. The Stun would interrupt and lock up the target’s movements and skills.

This was why the skill was loud and slow. It had been intentionally designed to make the attack difficult to land.

Zhou Zekai had only moved back a third of a step to get off this shot. It could be seen that the distance between Cloud Piercer and Boundless Sea was extremely close. No matter how slow the Stun Bullet moved, it would cross that distance in just an instant.

Zhou Zekai had once again pulled off what everyone had thought was impossible. It was almost infuriating to watch.

And because of how easy it was to recognize Stun Bullet, Fang Rui knew how troublesome this attack would be.

If he continued with the Spiral Qi Rush, the Stun Bullet would interrupt it. The interrupt wasn’t so bad, but the stun… Being stunned when facing the attacks of so many NPCs would be a death sentence.

He had to dodge it!

Boundless Sea quickly twisted to the side and lowered himself. Fang Rui did everything he could to dodge the bullet.

But it was useless.

The distance was too close. Zhou Zekai’s aim was too poisonous. Boundless Sea had moved before he was hit, but he wasn’t able to dodge it. The bullet simply didn’t land exactly where he wanted it to land, that’s all.

The skill effect didn’t care about that though. Boundless Sea went rigid. He wouldn’t be able to dodge the NPC skills coming after him.

Zhou Zekai obviously wasn’t going to show him any sympathy. Seizing this opportunity, Cloud Piercer rushed out, but to his surprise, a scythe came swinging at him from where Boundless Sea had turned away from.

Zhou Zekai was startled. He wanted to dodge, but the area covered by the scythe was too large. There was only a third of a step between them. With the NPCs so close, there was no room to run.

Hit! A talisman glowing with the symbol “定” flew out and attached to Cloud Piercer. If a scythe with a talisman effect landed, it could not be dodged.

The “定” symbol… Immobilizing Talisman…

Cloud Piercer was unable to move. At least, compared to Boundless Sea, he could still attack. But for a Gunner, relying on just attacks to push off an incoming enemy was impossible.

Fang Rui wasn’t able to avoid Zhou Zekai’s terrifying precision, but Zhou Zekai wasn’t able to avoid Fang Rui’s follow-up. The stadium screens focused on the two players. Both were smiling bitterly.

The storm of attacks instantly swallowed the two characters. Boundless Sea was stunned, unable to move in any way. Cloud Piercer was only immobilized. He could still attack, and was trying his hardest to fend off against the enemies so he could survive longer.

Crowd control effects wouldn’t last too long, but these short few seconds felt endless to the two of them.

Who would recover first? This became a crucial question.

Zhou Zekai knew that his Stun Bullet should last 4 seconds. Accounting for the stats on Boundless Sea, the stun would be reduced to at least 2-3 seconds.

As for the NPC’s Immobilization Talisman, the effects couldn’t be too strong. In the end, Cloud Piercer should be immobilized for around 3.5 seconds.

Boundless Sea should recover before Cloud Piercer did, but Cloud Piercer wasn’t stunned and could still attack. This would help him defend against Boundless Sea. Zhou Zekai could only hope that there would be no interference from the NPCs during that time. He wasn’t able to move, and he was helpless against many of the incoming attacks. He could only bet on luck.

1 second, 2 seconds…

Zhou Zekai paid close attention to Boundless Sea.

2.5 seconds…

Boundless Sea recovered!

Fang Rui also knew that this was a key moment. He could already see Cloud Piercer aiming at him.

Fang Rui hastily had Boundless Sea curl up. He thanked the NPCs around him. They were being good partners right now, providing him with exceptional cover.

He flipped over his palms and gathered qi. Boundless Sea wanted to strike Cloud Piercer along with the NPCs. Cloud Piercer didn’t have much health left. If he was able to land this sort of attack, it would be his win.

But Fang Rui didn’t realize that there was actually a small opening in the cover provided by the NPCs.

The opening was very small, perhaps enough for a single bullet to go through. But it was an opening that Cloud Piercer could use.

Bang!

A gunshot.

Zhou Zekai saw this small opening. There was no time to hesitate. He immediately aimed and fired.

The bullet pierced through the crowd.

If he was just slightly off, the bullet would hit an NPC, and he wouldn’t be able to interrupt Boundless Sea’s attack.

But his aim was on point.

Pu!

Blood spurt out. A bullet pierced through this tiny opening, interrupting Boundless Sea’s attack. At the same time, it made it so that Boundless Sea wasn’t able to dodge an incoming NPC attack.

Perfect.

Cloud Piercer finally recovered from the Immobilization Talisman. But at this moment, light glowed from underneath his feet. A pillar of light shot towards the sky. Zhou Zekai hastily tried to get away, but he wasn’t able to.

Hexagram Prison!

A Warlock NPC’s attack.

If Zhou Zekai hadn’t been paying attention to Fang Rui, if he hadn’t needed to focus all his attention to attack through that small opening, perhaps he wouldn’t have overlooked such a powerful CC attack and would have instead had Cloud Piercer interrupt the Warlock’s cast.

Sure enough, things going too smoothly against Fang Rui wasn’t a good sign.

As Zhou Zekai thought about this, Cloud Piercer was swallowed by another wave of NPC attacks and was killed.

Group arena, fifth round, Fang Rui won!