Chapter 1267: Season 7’s Two Rookies
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
No matter how little an unspecialized healed, health was health. Letting Lord Grim continue healing non-stop would still recover a good amount of health. As a result, if the two sides just stared at each other, Team B would hold the advantage because they were more than willing to just wait and let Lord Grim slowly heal them. But Team A? There had to be a breaking point.
However, the first to attack was still Team B. It seemed like Team B wasn't planning on drawing support from Lord Grim's healing capabilities to gain the upper hand. They only stopped because their rhythm had taken a pause. With neither side possessing a dedicated healer, the two teams strived to deal the most damage in as short of a time as possible, so when they didn't hold back their usage of skills. They wouldn't try to maintain a constant cycle of skills like in a prolonged battle. After experiencing this intense wave of attacks, the skill cooldowns on both sides became somewhat imbalanced. What seemed to be a break was, in reality, time for their skills to come off cooldown.
At this moment, the unspecialized Lord Grim, this annoying existence, once again stood out.
In terms of DPS, Lord Grim might be the weakest among everyone. His equipment wasn't great, and his skills were all low-level skills. However, the issue of an imbalanced skill cycle didn't matter for him. The vast majority of low-level skills had short cooldowns, and he had so many of them too. He didn't need to care about waiting for skills to come off cooldown.
While the others were waiting for their cooldowns, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim was as lively as ever. He healed Team B, while also sending a few attacks towards Team A. He was awfully busy.
Team A all felt annoyed, especially Sun Xiang. His One Autumn Leaf currently had the lowest amount of health on the field. Previously, if Lord Grim and Dancing Rain had a higher DPS, or if Huang Shaotian's Troubling Rain hadn't rescued him in time, he might have already fallen. His team didn't have a healer either. Since his character didn't have any special equipment, the automatic health recovery could be ignored. Thus, One Autumn Leaf's health remained critically low.
As a result, Ye Xiu's harassment was mainly focused on him. Whenever Ye Xiu fired a few shots or pretended like he was going to charge in for the kill, Sun Xiang always tensed up.
It might seem like his character was still on the field, but from a certain perspective, he could be considered as dead. Anyone could see that Team B could easily end him with a single wave of attacks. If it was that obvious to even the viewers, then the competitors would obviously try to exploit it. One Autumn Leaf used to be Team A's front-line attackers, but now he had been shifted to the team's rear. Team B just had to have someone like Lord Grim, who could spam skills endlessly to harass One Autumn Leaf.
This was simply forcing Team A to hurry and act! It would obviously be advantageous for Team B to stall, no?
No one could understand. On the broadcast, Pan Lin and Li Yibo were even more reserved and cautious. They didn't dare make any hasty conclusions.
Team A couldn't just keep bleeding. Even if One Autumn Leaf was nearly dead, he could still be used. If they let Ye Xiu's Lord Grim keep harassing him, the entire team would be dragged down trying to protect One Autumn Leaf. They might as well try and attack. In any case, Team A and Team B were in similar situations. Team B's skill cooldowns hadn't completely refreshed yet either, so it wasn't like Team B was any stronger than them right now.
Team A was just about to pick the impossibly annoying Lord Grim as their target, when Team B suddenly launched their attack.
Team B was clearly forcing Team A to hurry and act, but by the time Team A was ready to move, Team B was one step ahead of them. This this this… are they just playing around?
The viewers felt like this sort of playing was a bit ridiculous, but they didn't know the destruction that Team B had done to Team A's rhythm. Huang Shaotian's assassination on Desert Smoke had succeeded, leading to the two teams separating to readjust themselves. Team B received Lord Grim's better than nothing heals, but Team A? They received Lord Grim's annoying harassment. Unable to wait any longer to fully carry out their goals, Team A was forced to fight again. However, it was Team B who took the initiative and attacked first.
Even though this brief fight wasn't as intense as before, it was still filled with countless details. At first glance, these details couldn't be seen, but soon the effects surged forth onto the field.
Sun Xiang couldn't play as boldly as before, so One Autumn Leaf's original role in Team A was lost. In the end, Sun Xiang's role fell to Tang Hao, the rookie in the same generation, a God whose sudden rise sharply differed from Sun Xiang's slow ascent.
When Sun Xiang joined the Alliance, he was a talented rookie who had received much attention. He had obtained numerous opportunities in Team Conquering Clouds, allowing his talent to shine. Afterwards, he joined the powerhouse Team Excellent Era and directly inherited the Battle God One Autumn Leaf after Ye Xiu's retirement. As if loved by the heavens, he didn't even hit a Rookie's Block. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing for him. But then, Team Excellent Era encountered a shocking setback and was relegated, the greatest miracle in all of Glory history. It was even more miraculous than Happy beating them in the Challenger League.
Sun Xiang had started high but left low. Fortunately, he wasn't dispirited by the setback. Excellent Era disbanded and Samsara, the champions, threw him an olive branch. From this point, Sun Xiang was also a very lucky person. When Sun Xiang came to Samsara, he seemed to have matured a lot after his setback at Excellent Era. The Zhou Zekai and Sun Xiang duo became the most terrifying offensive force in the Alliance.
As for Tang Hao? His journey was the opposite of Sun Xiang's.
His first season in the Alliance was no different from ordinary rookies. He experienced all of the bitterness and hardship felt by rookies, surviving his first rookie year. Then, their captain Zhang Jiale unexpectedly retired, and the team suddenly turned into a fly without a head. All of a sudden, the other rookie of the same generation, Zou Yuan, was pushed onto the stage and directly inherited the number one character, Hundred Blossom's core, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms.
Zou Yuan's fate was worthy of being envied, but no one would have thought that the one to stand out from Hundred Blossoms wasn't Zou Yuan, but Tang Hao.
Th junior succeeds the senior!
This was the declaration that Tang Hao had made in that year's All-Star Weekend. It was also the true feelings in his heart. He didn't have the same luck or opportunities as Sun Xiang or Zou Yuan. Everything he obtained came from his own hard work, fist by fist.
For the junior to succeed the senior, the number one Brawler, Lin Jingyan, wasn't the only one he had to surpass. That season, Team Hundred Blossoms still had their core character, Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, but who was their true core? It was Tang Hao and his Brawler Delilo, a character who had just been a substitute character in the team.
Tang Hao was proud because everything he had accomplished was worthy of being proud of. No one had doted on him, and the team hadn't provided him any resources or support, yet despite these circumstances, Tang Hao pushed his way from an unremarkable rookie to the team's core on his own. And today, he was the leader of Team Wind Howl, the number 8 most popular All-Star.
Was Tang Hao satisfied?
Of course not?
He wanted to become the MVP in the Alliance. He wanted the championship cup that everyone yearned for. Everyone standing on this stage were all potential obstacles to this goal. All of them were targets to succeed.
But just a moment ago, he had unexpectedly been crushed by Wang Jiexi's Vaccaria in an instant.
He had truly been unable to defend against Vaccaria's attacks. The so-called Magician was actually this freakish? Just a while back, from the data he had looked at, Tang Hao felt that it was a pity Wang Jiexi no longer played with this style. When Wind Howl fought against Tiny Herb, he had even provoked Wang Jiexi when they met in the group arena.
Wang Jiexi obviously ignored him. Tang Hao gradually pushed this playstyle of the past to the back of his mind. Who would have thought that in this widely-watched All-Stars stage, Wang Jiexi would suddenly use it and with a sharpened blade too. Or to be more precise, it wasn't a blade but a broom… a broom didn't sound as scary as a blade though.
Shock, humiliation,a shred of fear, and… excitement caused him to tremble.
The junior succeeds the senior!
Tang Hao's gaze locked onto Wang Jiexi's Vaccaria. He was ready to payback the humiliation he received many folds. Magician? He had been caught off guard last time, but this time, he could definitely do it.
Come!
Tang Hao was waiting impatiently for Team B to attack. The only person in his line of sight was Vaccaria.
Vaccaria sat on his broom. Vaccaria floated in the air. Vaccaria flew at an extremely low altitude. Vaccaria was coming!
What? He's not coming at me?
"Where do you think you're going!" Tang Hao shouted and immediately had Demon Subduer move forward to intercept him.
"And where do you think you're going?" A voice rung in his ears like a clap of thunder.
That sound is too close. An enemy?
Of course it was an enemy.
Lord Grim suddenly charged towards Demon Subduer, but he was actually ignored. Demon Subduer continued to move in a different direction.
"Young people these days are too arrogant!" Ye Xiu said. Lord Grim attacked madly.
Shit!
Tang Hao messed up again. His mind had been completely preoccupied with Vaccaria and that strange Magician playstyle. He had tunneled so hard on Vaccaria that he hadn't even noticed Lord Grim calling out to him.
By the time he regained his senses, he was already up in the air. Lord Grim's skills battered him endlessly. He… was crushed again.
Tang Hao collapsed at the first blow. The players on both teams were all astonished, but since an opportunity had appeared in front of them, Team B wasn't going to let it pass.
Team A's offense had been led by Tang Hao, but Tang Hao was instantly blown away. The implications were too obvious.
Dragon Breaks the Ranks!
But at this moment, One Autumn Leaf, with his critically low health, charged forward bravely towards Lord Grim.
He wasn't of much use anymore. He couldn't fight too fiercely. Perhaps waiting for an one-shot opening like Huang Shaotian had done wasn't a bad choice. But right now, Tang Hao was being beaten up. Huang Shaotian and Zhou Zekai were being suppressed. The two had no choice but to go out and rescue Tang Hao like tinkermen, but before they could act, Sun Xiang made up his mind and acted first.
He couldn't do much right now. If he could sacrifice himself to save Tang Hao, that would be a worthy trade.