Chapter 1206: The Thieving Qi Master
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Qi Blade!
One could easily imagine how blurry a cluster of qi without light effects could be when it streaked across the air. One needed to observe the character's movements to predict and dodge this skill, otherwise, it would be difficult to get a grasp of the distance.
However, He Ming failed to notice Boundless Sea's Qi Blade movement, so the cluster of qi arrived before Rullo's face.
It's too late to dodge!
Rullo was struck by this silent Qi Blade and stumbled. Most of the crowd wasn't observant enough to discover the Qi Blade and thought Rullo's shiver was some kind of starting action to cast a spell.
Boundless Sea, still rolling on the ground, leapt up into the air almost around the same time as the attack hit. By the time he pushed both of his palms forward, a portion of the gathered qi had already shot out.
Sky Piercing Strike!
The powerful qi attack billowed the dust on the ground and blasted right into Rullo's head. It wasn't as if He Ming didn't react. He had tried to dodge it, but he was too late. He thought the distance between him and Boundless Sea had been pretty safe, and he felt confident in handling any Qi Master attacks with ease. However, he soon realized his mistake when the Qi Blade was right in front of his face. Even a powerful skill like the Sky Piercing Strike was covering another attack?
What sort of fighting style was this? Was it related to the movement style he used as a Thief?
He Ming was an experienced pro player; even though he didn't have a complete understanding of what Fang Rui was doing, he was able to find the key idea. All of this rooted from the movement style of a Thief.
This particular movement method not only allowed the Thief to plant their traps quicker, but also to conceal them better. Otherwise, any idiot would be able to figure out that a Thief was planting a trap when they suddenly bobbed down from running to dig up a hole. What use was a trap if its location was known?
Fang Rui's Boundless Sea was using this exact same movement method. Even though he had no traps to plant, he achieved the effect that Thieves wanted: his attack was like a trap; it would stay hidden until it suddenly popped up.
This was Fang Rui's strength.
The former Number One Thief, Fang Rui, had impeccable control over this sort of rhythm.
He was now applying this to the Qi Master. Despite having only used two skills, he felt that they were effortless.
Stupid! Why didn't I think of this earlier?
Among all the long ranged attacks, were there any attacks that were as easy to conceal as the Qi Master's qi attacks? They had no sound and the visual effects weren't flashy. This was just like a moving trap. The Qi Master was truly dirty! Such secretive methods were too satisfying!
After being enlightened and changing his perspective, Fang Rui interpreted the honorable and righteous Qi Master class in this dirty way. No Qi Master through the course of Glory had interpreted their class in such a way.
After the Sky Piercing Strike, Boundless Sea followed it up with a leap backwards. However, this leap was towards Rullo's direction.
"What is he doing?" Rullo nearly flipped over from the blast of Sky Piercing Strike. After he finally straightened up again with difficulty, He Ming saw Boundless Sea jump backwards towards him. Is that his back?
Whenever Boundless Sea landed, he squatted, and it seemed like Boundless Sea's hand was hitting the ground?
Shit!
His camera shook. Although He Ming didn't do anything, Rullo was tossed into the air.
Seismic Throw! Fang Rui had hid it with his back, why was he so dirty!
The target within Seismic Throw's range wouldn't simply bounce around like one would in a trampoline. Qi was involved in this quake, so all the targets within range would be overturned.
When Rullo fell, He Ming immediately performed a Quick Recover. After landing on the ground, Boundless Sea rolled. As he turned around and got up, he pushed both of his hands out. The Qi Drill rushed towards Rullo, who was still getting up.
I can only Teleport!
He Ming's mind was clear and knew that only this skill could help him avoid this attack. He immediately cast it, but he was still too slow. The spiralling qi drilled through Rullo, whose body spun with it. With a boom, he was pinned to the wall behind him. Fang Rui finally took revenge for the Fire Bird that had blasted him against the wall.
This guy!
He Ming was getting a little nervous. Fang Rui's fighting style suddenly changed from the style that he had observed for the previous eight rounds. It was rather common to take the advantage to attack while transitioning between rolls and jumps. However, no one was as thorough as Fang Rui when it came to using all of these postures just to hide his attacks.
When he finally noticed the Qi Blade, it was already in front of him.
When he noticed the Sky Piercing Strike, a portion of the qi had already come out.
When Fang Rui launched Seismic Throw, Fang Rui's back was facing him to conceal his attack.
As for Qi Drill, the concealing jumps for the Seismic Throw also became a method to close up the distance for this skill. Furthermore, he could complete the inputs for the skill while rolling, so he could launch it when he got up. Even if the Elementalist had Teleport, he couldn't use it because he couldn't make his move in time.
How were these attacks of a Qi Master? These were literally traps a Thief would set down one after another for the opponent. The only difference was that the traps weren't waiting for the opponent to trigger it because the current "traps" were more proactive.
Boundless Sea was moving around once again. Those rolls and jumps of a Thief made him seem like a hound as he leapt towards Rullo.
Ice Walls!
He Ming immediately controlled Rullo, who just fell from the wall, to launch this skill among the remaining skills he had left with the ice element. He needed this to block the opponent because he… needed time to think!
He Ming had never seen this Qi Master's fighting style before, so he couldn't interpret and counter it immediately. He needed more time to observe and analyze Fang Rui's attacking methods.
The Ice Walls cut off Boundless Sea, who couldn't attack Rullo directly. Take a detour? Then this would only turn into a childish game where two people surrounded a table and ran in circles.
Last time, the person who was in panic was him, but this time, it was the opponent, right?
Don't panic, I still have the advantage.
He Ming looked at both of the characters' health and recovered his confidence. In terms of health, he still had the advantage.
But what should I do next?
Boundless Sea was nearly done smashing his Ice Walls into pieces, but He Ming didn't have his character do anything.
"You can't run." Fang Rui sent a smirking emoji. The Ice Wall shattered at this instant, but Rullo also happened to have disappeared.
"I predicted this much!" Boundless Sea continued to jump backwards. His back became the defense to concentrate his Qi once again. However, without waiting for him to turn around, a bolt of lightning shot through his back.
Boundless Sea, who was still jumping backwards, froze in midair and fell.
The audiences were stupefied.
Frankly speaking, they didn't really understand what was going on this fight.
That was because normal players who watched from the bird's eye view without enough skills weren't able to experience what sort of effect Fang Rui's changed style had made. For them, He Ming should be able to dodge all of these attacks, but he was still hit.
This was like Vanishing Step, dead angle strategy, or false combos. Only players who were placed in the situation would know the difficulties that they were facing.
He Ming was like this right now.
However, this was soon followed by raising the Ice Walls, Boundless Sea charging ahead, and Rullo moving with Teleport. Boundless Sea then held up his back and sent himself towards Rullo's direction without bothering to look back.
Was he looking for death?
Everyone thought in such manner.
Boundless Sea was indeed struck down by Rullo's spells.
"Sigh, it seems that I've committed a lowly mistake…" Fang Rui turned around. He was so deeply absorbed in figuring out ways he could secretively launch his attacks that he forgot that since he was sneaking around, he needed to ensure that he wasn't attacked by the opponent.
His backward jumps this time was too careless and predictable.
The audience thought Fang Rui was seeking death, but at that instant, He Ming was very nervous. Although he had Rullo immediately launch a Piercing Lightning, he truly feared that Boundless Sea had been hiding another skill, so before Piercing Lightning was released, that skill would have struck him first.
However, that didn't happen!
The Piercing Lightning shot Boundless Sea down, and He Ming's heart was at peace. He started to make use of this opportunity at once. Spells were set up on a grand scale, and Boundless Sea was stuck in it once again.
"Die!"
As he watched Boundless Sea's decreasing health, He Ming felt some sort of urge he never had before. It was as if he would lose if he failed to finish off his opponent in this wave of attacks. Even if his character's health was still that much ahead, but the thick sense of danger still enveloped around him tightly.
Glory!
The two large letters finally popped up onto the screen. He Ming felt as if he was released from great burden. No matter what happened, he still managed to take this round with a decent outcome. Rullo still had over half of his health.
Fang Rui, who lost, left the stage, but he wasn't dispirited. Although he lost, he saw a miraculous future ahead. If this weren't a formal match, he would definitely continue to shamelessly squat at the computer for another round with the opponent. He wanted to quickly confirm whether this future was possible.
After seeing Fang Rui's face flushed with pride, his teammates saved their thoughts of comforting him.
"It seems that you've discovered something?" Ye Xiu asked. The others weren't surprised at Fang Rui's attitude despite his loss since they had listened to Ye Xiu's interpretation of Fang Rui's sudden adjustment in middle of the match.
"Yup, do you think it has any future?" Fang Rui humbly consulted him. The person before him was the master of all classes. He was proficient in both the Qi Master ad Thief, so he should be able to give out pertinent suggestions.
"Seems pretty good, you just have to avoid those sort of disgusting mistakes," Ye Xiu said.
"That was only an accident." Fang Rui took that matter as an exception. At the time, he was so deeply enthralled by his new discovery that he allowed such a careless mistake to occur. Such mistakes wouldn't occur again, so after receiving Ye Xiu's approval, Fang Rui became even more excited.
"I really want to investigate it now, who's the next one? Quickly finish the match! I'm in a hurry." Fang Rui yelled.
Mo Fan stood up, but didn't show any show any reaction towards Fang Rui's shouts. He only walked quietly towards the stage.
"Walk faster!" Fang Rui yelled at his back.
Mo Fan's figure distinctly froze, but then, in a very awkward manner, he actually started to walk faster…