Chapter 516: Interception
Translator: Halcyon Translations Editor: Halcyon Translations
Lu Li entered the map as soon as Fat Monkey died, but it took him time to reach the scene of battle.
The other substitute player of Majin Temple, who was a Mage, also entered the map.
Of course, Majin Temple never lacked Mage players; their best players were mostly Mages too.
These people played the class, not the game.
After Lu Li entered the match, his first action was to cast Sprint. His movement speed was already much faster than an average player, and with his Sprint, he ran even faster.
When this effect expired, he transformed into a panther, which was almost just as fast, and ran along the main road.
The audience saw a Thief transform into a panther and run faster than a Druid.
Many people already knew that Lu Li was capable of this, but seeing it with your own eyes was another thing. At least they hadn’t wasted their ticket money this time.
Of course, there were always people who would be envious of his ability.
They thought that Lu Li was cheating and that this was a bug that affected the game’s balance. His panther transformation had to be removed.
Some people reported him in protest and rage against his extra ability.
However, none of this affected Lu Li.
Fat Monkey had taken around 40 seconds to reach the midpoint of the map at the start of the match, but Lu Li only took around 20 seconds.
When he arrived at the scene, he didn’t rush to join his team members. Instead, he hid in a bush nearby.
Since the map was still new, it was only natural that there would be monsters in the bushes. However, there were plenty teams who had competed here, so most of the areas had been explored.
The majority of players agreed that entering the bushes wasn’t a good idea.
There were no benefits in defeating these monsters, but if you couldn’t kill them, they would cause you trouble.
Level 35 elites were strong enough to threaten a player’s life, especially when the two teams were fighting. Imagine having a few elite monsters chasing after you while fighting other players.
Lu Li ran along the bush at full speed, even faster than before.
He estimated the distance, imagining the layout of the map in his head. He shot past the enemy’s second turret —the first turret had been destroyed by Fat Monkey. Unforgettable Maple and his team was waiting for their substitute here.
Their substitute – a Mage – was running towards them from base.
If you exclude their Flash spell, Mages were actually quite slow in terms of movement speed. They mainly invested their attribute points into Intelligence, so they were much slower than Thieves, who invested in Agility.
Since there wasn’t a battle on the frontline, and their team had the advantage under the turret, the substitute Mage didn’t hurry. He walked slowly and took his time to communicate and understand the battle situation.
The battle had been a disaster indeed – Fat Monkey was impatient and dragged everyone into fighting much sooner than expected.
The result was that both sides lost one player each. Fat Monkey was a stronger player than the Hunter and this resulted in an advantage for Majin Temple.
As for the turret, no one really cared about it.
If you had common sense, you wouldn’t fight under your opponent’s turret.
A light movement behind his head startled the substitute Mage out of his daydream.
Anyone who could enter the competition wasn’t a weak player. The Mage immediately realized that it was a Cheap Shot skill from a Thief. Unfortunately, his reaction couldn’t keep up with his thoughts, and he was immediately tossed into the darkness.
Lu Li slightly regained his breath.
It was hard work for him to run all the way from base to intercept the substitute of the opposing team.
Although he was out of breath, his actions weren’t lethargic. After Cheap Shot, he used a Backstab and successfully applied an Armor Penetration effect on the Mage. He was attacking a stationary target, so it was natural that he had a higher level of skill completion.
However, the opponent wasn’t a newbie either. When Lu Li was about to follow up with more attacks, he found that the Mage had used the refrigerator skill (Ice Barrier).
Fortunately, he stopped himself in time and saved his Ultimate.
Of course, Mages couldn’t attack anyone while in their refrigerator-state.
Lu Li took a few steps back to exit battle mode and went into Stealth as he waited around the Mage.
The substitute Mage couldn’t make up his mind – he couldn’t decide if he should break the ice and fight with the Thief, or stay refrigerated and wait for his reinforcements.
In the end, he decided that he should wait it out and fight.
Waiting for ten seconds would ruin the element of surprise and would make him an easy target for crowd-control. The Mage cancelled his refrigerator-state at eight seconds, flashing an eight-yard distance away.
Before he left, he even managed to cast a Frost Nova.
Lu Li was frozen on the spot, but he didn’t plan on dodging in the first place. After he was snared, he activated the special effect on his shoes.
This special effect was a weakened version of Shadow Step.
Lu Li instantly appeared behind the Mage, his dagger shining with a cold glimmer as he stabbed it into the Mage’s head. He didn’t have a lot of time, so he needed to end things fast.
After another successful Cheap Shot, the Mage was stunned on the spot.
His opponent’s reaction time was too fast.
There were a limited number of Thief players who could instantly appear behind their opponents – Water Fairy, Lu Li, Blood Dagger, Wood Fearing...
Their opponent right now was Ruling Sword, so this definitely had to be Lu Li.
Damn it, Lu Li. Weren’t you absent for the past few matches?
Why do you have to participate now? Why did you have to pretend to be a newbie and sit on the substitute seat?
After he realized the identity of his opponent, the Mage felt depressed. However, as a competitor, he had a strong mentality. He activated the special effect from his badge, turned around and casted a Cone of Cold.
The Cone of Cold wasn’t a freeze skill; it only applied speed reduction.
Even such a humble wish didn’t come true for the Mage. Lu Li followed each of his steps tightly and the Cone of Cold missed.
The Mage was controlled again as Lu Li’s Kidney Strike stunned him for a total of six seconds.
There weren’t many other options left – what else could the Mage do to get rid of this demon?
"Hurry, don’t worry about the team formation. Thief, hurry and go save him!" Unforgettable Maple yelled as he raced towards them.
The Mage had already notified his team members when he used the refrigerator skill, but it took time for reinforcements to arrive. Lu Li had used this time gap wisely.
Lu Li!
Unforgettable Maple was fairly upset.
Since their entrance into the top 16, he felt like Majin Temple had been doing well. They even defeated the team from Star Union, a top 10 team.
How good would their run be if it wasn’t for Ruling Sword? The first time, he had overestimated them and Fat Monkey had messed up everyone’s pace.
This time, he had immediately sent Fat Monkey out of the match ground, but just as he was feeling proud of his achievements, he suddenly heard news that Lu Li had entered the battleground.