Chapter 1049: Worries of Being at Low Health
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Being underestimated was the tactic that Xiao Shiqin was most familiar with when he had led Thunderclap. However, if even Xu Bin knew what Xiao Shiqin was good at, it meant that it wasn't a secret. This was Xiao Shiqin's tactical style.
To put it simply, it could be described with nine words: show weakness to the enemies, entice them to relax.
The theory was simple, but actually employing it wasn't easy, especially when everyone knew that was what you were good at. Whenever anyone faced Xiao Shiqin's team, they couldn't help but remind themselves to focus and not be careless.
However, emotions weren't always dictated by the mind. The tides constantly shifted in a match and after overcoming numerous difficulties, it was hard not to be excited when one had the upper hand. These were the places where Xiao Shiqin placed his traps. He used ample preparations to contend against a moment of lapse from the enemy due to excitement. He would bait the other side into becoming negligent.
In reality, Excellent Era hadn't prepared to do this in this match. There was something that Excellent Era had that was different than Thunderclap. They had stronger characters and better players.
2v4. Excellent Era was definitely in a disadvantageous situation, but with Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, perhaps they had the ability to make a comeback?
Xiao Shiqin was gambling on the ability of these two. He had done his best to pave a path for them. In terms of numbers, Excellent Era was losing, but in Xiao Shiqin's final moments, he had traded his health away to deal massive damage to his opponents. Although he had been killed, he had greatly reduced Steamed Bun Invasion's and One Inch Ash's health.
Lord Grim had even less health than those two. With Little Cold Hands not there yet, it was hard to say what the outcome of the match would be!
While Tiny Herb's group analyzed the situation, Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei didn't waste a second and immediately attacked.
Shattering the Land!
Qiu Fei's Combat Form opened with a high-level skill. The AoE attack was used to break the ghost boundaries. You don't want to leave your ghost boundaries? Then eat this move. Let's trade.
Happy's three characters were at low health. Steamed Bun Invasion and One Inch Ash had lost a lot of health because of Life Extinguisher. Sure enough, they didn't dare stay within the ghost boundaries and eat the high-level skill. The three characters avoided Shattering the Lands. One Autumn Leaf rushed forward, targeting Lord Grim.
Ye Xiu didn't fight him. He dodged the attack and Aerial Fired away. Steamed Bun Invasion ran over from the side with a brick in his hand, preparing to smash it into One Autumn Leaf's head. Qiu Fei saw this and rushed over. Before Steamed Bun Invasion could throw his brick, a spear flashed in front of him, forcing him to jump out of the away of it.
Qiu Fei reacted swiftly. His spear nipped at Steamed Bun. A Dragon Tooth and then a Falling Flower Palm. Steamed Bun wasn't able to dodge it and was hit!
Before Steamed Bun Invasion could be sent flying away, he was blocked off by One Autumn Leaf. Sun Xiang actually ignored Lord Grim and switched to Steamed Bun Invasion.
Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash ran over hastily to rescue Steamed Bun, but Phantom Demons were good at controlling the field, not support. If he had to rescue a horse from a river, his class felt somewhat lacking. Laying down ghost boundaries could only restrict the enemies. It couldn't stop the enemies from attacking. Happy's characters didn't have much health left. Just restricting the enemies wouldn't be enough.
Steamed Bun and Qiao Yifan weren't able to stop the two Battle Mage's assault. Ye Xiu's Lord Grim was forced to turn back, attacking from long-range to close-range. Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei dodged, while continuing to attack Steamed Bun Invasion and One Inch Ash. When Lord Grim joined the fight, Combat Form suddenly turned around and thrust his spear fiercely with a Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart.
Sun Xiang remained focused and continued to attack Steamed Bun Invasion. One Inch Ash's attacks? Take them! One Autumn Leaf was the strongest character on this battlefield. He was also in the best condition. A ghostblade's attack could be completely ignored as long as it wasn't an Ice Boundary type of CC.
The Excellent Era duo clearly held the initiative, but had Xiao Shiqin's underestimate-us tactic been effective? It was hard to say because the emotional changes were subtle. Hoping the other side would completely underestimate them and stop concentrating on the match obviously wasn't realistic.
However, the value of Xiao Shiqin's final struggle could be seen. Facing One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form, Ye Xiu had the most pressure on him. His Lord Grim had the lowest health, but he had to face the dangers and help Steamed Bun and Qiao Yifan.
As for Happy's Cleric?
Happy needed their Cleric too urgently. The spectators could see that Little Cold Hands was almost there. Just a bit more and he could start healing.
But at this moment, Combat Form left the battle and headed towards Little Cold Hands. Ye Xiu, Steamed Bun, and Qiao Yifan had been left to Sun Xiang alone to fight.
It was a 1v3 by a Battle Mage. Tang Rou had done this previously.
But the difference was that Tang Rou had been the one initiated on. She baited the enemies to attack and then struggled to survive. Sun Xiang's situation was different. He faced Happy's three characters alone. He wasn't defending. He was attacking.
Kill!
It was a 1v3, but One Autumn Leaf put on an aggressive posture.
Everyone was shocked, but no one doubted Sun Xiang's actions.
He could back up his actions.
He was a top God in the Alliance. He held the strongest character in this battle. He might have three opponents, but they were at low health. If they just stood there like sandbags, One Autumn Leaf could kill them in an instant. He could probably kill the three of them faster than Combat Form could kill Little Cold Hands.
The three weren't sandbags though. However, they were feeling somewhat helpless against Sun Xiang's attacks.
They couldn't just eat these attacks. If they truly traded blow for blow with One Autumn Leaf, they might be the ones to fall, not One Autumn Leaf.
Clerics were the saving grace when a character was at low health. However, their saving grace was being blocked by Qiu Fei. When An Wenyi saw Combat Form charging towards his Little Cold Hands, he turned directions and ran. He didn't have confidence in healing his allies while fending off a pro player simultaneously.
Ye Xiu, Qiao Yifan, and Steamed Bun needed to fight with Sun Xiang, while figuring out a way to receive Little Cold Hands. Even though they held the numbers advantage, they were still in a difficult position.
"Happy should have received their healer sooner. They were a bit careless." Li Yibo remarked.
"It's probably because Sun Xiang's and Qiu Fei's turnaround had been too quick. As soon as Life Extinguisher died, they arrived and started attacking. Happy didn't have any time to receive their healer." Pan Lin said.
"The problem is that Happy never showed any intentions of doing so. Ye Xiu's Lord Grim had originally been Aerial Firing away to escape from the battle, but he chose to come back." Li Yibo said.
"But if he didn't come back and left One Inch Ash and Steamed Bun Invasion to fight with the Excellent Era Battle Mage duo, by the time he received the Cleric, those two might already be dead. Those two had very little health left." Pan Lin said.
"Xiao Shiqin's final struggle like a fish in a net really dealt a huge blow to Happy." Li Yibo said.
Pan Lin and Li Yibo talked back and forth during this intense battle until they ended up speechless. After discussing with each other, Happy's difficult position at that time was instantly made clear. Although Xiao Shiqin was no longer there, the final exchange before his death had truly given Happy a big blow. If he had tried to survive for as long as possible, he wouldn't have dealt as much damage. Even if Excellent Era had three players right now, Happy wouldn't be in as bad of a situation.
Right now, Sun Xiang was holding off three Happy players. Why? Because their health was low. With low health, they could not employ any forceful methods. Split up and run? That would result in one of their players dying. And then? One Autumn Leaf had four Neutral Chasers hovering around him. All of them had been formed by Sun Xiang intentionally. He was saving them specifically for that situation. He also had Dragon Breaks the Ranks, which was no longer on cooldown. He could use it any time to chase after a target.
Being amply prepared, Sun Xiang was even hoping that Happy would make such a move. That would give them an opportunity to turn the tides. He was confident that he could finish off two players before they reached their healer. Afterwards, it would be a 2v2. Once that happened, the healer wouldn't be as threatening, especially one at that skill level.
The Happy fans cheering for their victory were instantly stunned. On the other hand, the eyes of a few of the Excellent Era fans suddenly brightened. When they saw the current situation and then listened to the two commentators, they finally realized what Xiao Shiqin had done.
"Let's go, Excellent Era!!" The Excellent Era fans suddenly exploded into cheers. The final moments of the match were approaching. Their players were fighting, so they couldn't relax. Even if the players on stage couldn't hear them, they also needed to strive for victory alongside their players.
An Wenyi had Little Cold Hands run away from Combat Form. Seeing the opponent wasn't letting go of him, he hastily switched out his equipment. He had originally thought that he would be healing after getting there, so he had switched to his healing equipment. He hadn't expected that Happy's four players would be suppressed by Excellent Era's two players. As he ran, he searched for opportunities to get closer to the battle. It would be helpful if he could cast a few instant heals. Happy's three characters needed healing too urgently.
However, Qiu Fei wasn't going to let him do as he pleased. Combat Form clung onto Little Cold Hands, blocking the way over to the battle. Little Cold Hands could only turn around. There weren't any opportunities to heal. The only thing that he would meet would be Combat Form's painful attacks. In this situation, he could only run farther and farther away.
It hadn't been easy to get a healer advantage, yet because of this, the healer wouldn't be able to join the battle?
Happy's supporters felt unreconciled. They hoped that Happy had some way out.
At this moment, an opening suddenly appeared in the 1v3 location. Lord Grim had just been fighting One Autumn Leaf, when he suddenly turned around and flipped his two hands.
"Cloud Grasping Fist!!"
Who knew how many people shouted at this moment. Lord Grim used Cloud Grasping Fist again, the move that had won them two miracles this match.
Was a third miracle going to appear?
No!
One Autumn Leaf's Evil Annihilation flew over. One Inch Ash and Steamed Bun Invasion tried to block it, but One Autumn Leaf suddenly switched moves. The spear suddenly slanted upwards into a Sky Strike.
The two were caught off guard by the Sky Strike and were knocked into the air. As Evil Annihilation fell, it switched directions and shot towards Lord Grim as if no one had ever tried to intercept it.
However, this slight delay allowed Lord Grim's Cloud Grasping First to come out and grab Combat Form. However, Lord Grim couldn't continue because One Autumn Leaf's attack had arrived. If he continued, he could hold onto Combat Form longer, but it would be quickly interrupted. What's worse, if the attack hit, Sun Xiang could very well combo him to his death.
Ye Xiu had no choice but to cancel his skill and retreat. Those with hopes for Cloud Grasping Fist were disappointed. Then, the two in the air let out attacks. Not waiting to land, Steamed Bun Invasion raised his left hand and threw with his right hand. A Brick concealed inside a Sand Toss was thrown out.
This trick didn't escape Sun Xiang's eyes. He was very focused right now. He quickly deduced the trajectory of the brick before turning his head to avoid Sand Toss's effect. But during that instant, Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash immediately started casting. Frost started to form from the tip of his sword, Ice Boundary!
Ice Boundary was the most effective CC skill against One Autumn Leaf. Qiao Yifan hadn't usd it because he couldn't find an opportunity to. Sun Xiang was clearly wary of a Phantom Demon's threat and took him very seriously.
But because of the Cloud Grasping Fist mix-up, Qiao Yifan was finally able to find an opening. This opening might not mean a guaranteed hit, but it was worth a try.
Before he could finish casting, One Autumn Leaf turned his head back. Sun Xiang's actions were extremely precise. He only dodged the Sand Toss at the last moment. After turning his head, he had more than enough time to interrupt One Inch Ash's chant. But at the same time, Lord Grim strode over, using his body to block Sun Xiang's line of sight.
This block alone won enough time for One Inch Ash. When One Autumn Leaf pulled away to get a better view, he saw One Inch Ash's taichi drop down as ice spun around its tip.
Dragon Breaks the Rank!
Sun Xiang activated a high-level skill. A dragon rushed towards One Inch Ash.
The Ice Boundary fell, but One Autumn Leaf was able to escape from its range using the high-level skill. One Inch Ash wasn't sent flying from the attack. One Autumn Leaf pressed down on his Evil Annihilation, holding One Inch Ash still. Sun Xiang was clear that his suppression over the three Happy players had ended. He at least needed to kill off one opponent though.
However, he hadn't expected Lord Grim to suddenly appear beside him.
His appearance was too sudden. Dragon Breaks the Ranks had little ending lag, but Sun Xiang was unable to react in time. Lord Grim grabbed One Autumn Leaf and then threw him into One Inch Ash's Ice Boundary.
It was just a Toss.