Chapter 979: The Greatest Weakness
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Happy's playstyle surprised even the coach, Zhang Yiwei, let alone the Mysterious Fantasy players on stage. They dared to fight openly like this without even bringing a healer? What kind of arrogance and confidence was this?
However, when they saw characters Another Summer of Sleep and Soft Mist push their Knight towards their Paladin, Zhang Yiwei reacted at once. Happy still had a strategic target; their first target was still the healer. This was a very traditional, standard, and unsurprising fighting style. However, by spreading out, scattering Mysterious Fantasy's formation, and then switching targets, the thought process behind their tactics were much more elaborate and ambiguous. In comparison, the way that Team Mysterious Fantasy's characters started to cut in by throwing three skills at Soft Mist was straightforward, rough, and crude.
Happy's fighting style was rich in variation, so when their true intentions were revealed, it was very likely that it was already too late for the opponent to stop them. This match was exactly like that. Mysterious Fantasy's Knight served as Happy's tactical cover. After pushing him for some distance, Another Summer of Sleep and Soft Mist immediately ditched him. They rushed towards the Paladin, who was not far from the Knight, in unison.
Mysterious Fantasy's Paladin had been actively healing the entire team. The Knight became his main target, after being pincered between two people. However, the two characters that had been pincer-attacking the Knight in the previous second had now turned the points of their weapons towards him.
The Paladin obviously wouldn't stand still to fight back and resist head-on. However, when he turned around, Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash had managed to sneak behind him. He didn't know when that had happened. An Ice Boundary was cast and it trapped the Paladin within it. Smaller boundaries were connected by larger boundaries. While the Paladin was suppressed, Another Summer of Sleep and Soft Mist arrived and started their wave of attacks.
The Paladin had nowhere to go, so he could only use his skills head-on. First, he used a Holy Shield Technique to protect him from the front, then a Life Activation to immediately recover some of his health. This was followed by Angel's Might, which put the Paladin at the center as a ray of light stretched out in 360 degrees, so it not only delivered damage to targets within the lit area, but it would also create a strong knockback effect, which allowed him to be immune to knock downs.
Neither Sun Zheping nor Tang Rou's classes had no way of negating Angel's Might's knockback effect, but both of them did their best. Although Angel's Might had a knock back effect, but as an interrupt skill, it would only be effective towards skills that required the user to be immobile while casting. In comparison to other interrupt skills, it was fairly inferior when compared to the types of grabs.
Another Summer of Sleep wasn't able to stop himself from sliding back. He carried his Greatsword on his back, and his surroundings turned red. The Greatsword boiled like blood, as it continued to swell and get bigger. When his sword was drawn down, the blood erupted and cloud of bloody mist immediately spread out. This was the big, Level 70 skill of the Berserker: Crimson Storm.
As for Soft Mist, her spear transformed into a dragon when she swung it. Although she was retreating, her transformed spear's magical battle aura surged ahead. Its blast managed to strike the Paladin.
Although Angel's Might managed to force Another Summer of Sleep and Soft Mist back, it couldn't avoid either of the two's big moves. The summoned Holy Shield Technique couldn't resist the two skills at all. The shield was blasted to bits, and the erupting, boiling red color of the magical battle aura completely swallowed up the poor Paladin in an instant.
After Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash was finished with his support as a Phantom Demon, he didn't stand around and do nothing. He attacked with his katana to help dish out damage.
"Too fierce. Happy's response is truly fierce. We need to remember that they didn't bring a healer. When faced with the Paladin's Angel's Might, they continued to deal damage despite having to bear the damage taken." The broadcast commentator exclaimed unstoppingly.
"This Mysterious Fantasy player is in danger. He's in between Happy's pincer attacks, so he can only pray for his teammates to arrive quickly to save him. Now, where are his teammates?"
The broadcast screen switched to the other members of Mysterious Fantasy. The Knight had been heavily targeted by Another Summer of Sleep and Soft Mist, but now it was his turn to proactively intercept the two. The Qi Master, who had been blasted away, was now rushing forward. Since he had mid-ranged attacks, he punched out a Sky Piercing Strike towards Soft Mist and Another Summer of Sleep.
However, with a flicker, Another Summer of Sleep circled around to Soft Mist's front. He used his body to take on Qi Master's Sky Piercing Strike. Soft Mist wasn't interrupted by the attack, so she continued to attack the Paladin furiously.
The Paladin's Angel's Might wasn't able to turn the tides. After giving himself two instant and strong heals , he used Firm Will to boost his defence. He then spun his view around in an attempt to see if any of his teammates could quickly come to his rescue.
Unfortunately, before he could wait for his teammate's attacks to arrive, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim and Wei Chen's Windward Formation had found some openings to throw some skills his way. The Paladin could only rely on his class' powerful defense to stay alive. Finally, the Knight from his team rushed to his side and activated Holy Punishment. Tang Rou's Soft Mist had to avoid it. The moment she moved aside, Sun Zheping appeared with his greatsword and parried the Holy Punishment head on.
"Using an attack to parry Holy Punishment!!!" The broadcast commentator uttered in disbelief. Luckily, the audience could only hear his voice, and not see his face. Holy Punishment's attacking rhythm was controlled by the controller, so it didn't have a set rhythm. In addition, its damage could layer on top of another and increase. The commentator didn't know whether using an attack to parry such a skill was courageous or insane.
The clanging of weapons between the two characters rang incessantly. Mysterious Fantasy's Knight couldn't really believe what was happening. Someone actually dared to use pure technical skill to take on Holy Punishment. Was he... being looked down on?
Even a clay person had a bit of temper*. Such an abnormal scene was happening to him. His self-esteem took a lot of damage. He started to focus on Holy Punishment while disregarding everything else. All in all, it was difficult to hold back Holy Punishment with just technical skill in the first place. After Sun Zheping's Another Summer of Sleep had parried for a bit, he couldn't keep it up after the opponent increased his speed. Normal attacks couldn't parry Holy Punishment, so he had to counter it with skills. However, all skills would have a cooldown time, so while Holy Punishment wouldn't have this problem, Another Summer of Sleep eventually used up all of his skills. When he could only use normal attacks to counter it, Mysterious Fantasy's Knight felt really at ease, and attacked again and again. The numerous consecutive attacks pushed Another Summer of Sleep to the point that Another Summer of Sleep couldn't hold on any longer.
"You idiot! Watch where you are going!!!" However, the Knight's oppressive attacks towards Sun Zheping angered Zhang Yiwei to the point that he cursed out loud. The Knight furiously pursued Another Summer of Sleep with attacks, and gave up the chance to protect the Paladin, who was left there by himself. What other possibilities were there, for an exposed healer, except to get beaten up?
The broadcast followed the Knight's crazy Holy Punishment, but the position he had left was even more exciting. Soft Mist's battle spear turned and stabbed fiercely towards the Paladin. Although Mysterious Fantasy's Qi Master picked out a chance to do something, it wasn't a class that specialized in fighting at close distances. The advantage in mid-range attacks and support couldn't save the Paladin. In Mysterious Fantasy, the one that had the best chance in saving the healer was the Knight, but this guy had been led away by Sun Zheping's forceful response.
When the broadcast switched back to this scene, the commentator suddenly came to realise the truth. Amid the courageousness in Sun Zheping's attacks, there was also a devious trick!
The Knight player only managed to realize what happened after the Holy Punishment had finished. He hurriedly tried to turn back to save the healer, but how could Sun Zheping let him off the hook so easily? He pursued the Knight with a chain of wild slashes. All the advantages he gained from the Holy Punishment was taken away after a few attacks. They had a healer with them, so theoretically, exchanging blood shouldn't be a disadvantage. However, the problem was that they were about to lose their healer.
Lord Grim and Windward Formation on the other side exchanged positions. Under the coverage of Lord Grim, Windward Formation managed to summon Death's Door.
Players who wanted to step ahead had to consider again. Being captured by Death's Door couldn't be countered by mere controls. At least, low-ranked pro players in the league like the ones in Mysterious Fantasy didn't have this confidence. The crucial issue of saving the healer was changed into breaking Death's Door. Since Death's Door's caster was under the coverage of Lord Grim, members of Mysterious Fantasy all switched their firepower that way.
Zhang Yiwei once again sighed. He couldn't even curse. It could clearly be seen just how little hope he had left. Happy was leading his team by the nose. The disparity between the two teams in terms of tactics already put in Zhang Yiwei in despair. In his heart, he faintly felt like even if Happy hadn't come out with something unexpected leading to his plans being ruined, even if his tactical arrangement had been in place, the other side had Ye Xiu leading Team Happy, while he himself was off stage unable to do anything. Team Mysterious Fantasy would have fallen either way.
He continued to look for holes in Team Happy. Sometimes it was because the healing wasn't enough. Sometimes it was because Steamed Bun was a novice. However, Team Mysterious Fantasy's biggest weakness had been grasped by the other side.
Coach…...
For Team Mysterious Fantasy, their wins were because of the coach; their losses were also because of the coach. Because of the difficulty in coordinating with the team, the effectiveness in coaching was limited. Mid-match, the coach's plans might fail. It was also possible that unexpected things could lead to changes in the situation. In a normal team, the team captain would make immediately adjustments. However, Team Mysterious Fantasy depended on their coach. Their tactics would immediately crash down. Their defeat was simply logical.
Zhang Yiwei, who had been uneasy and nervous the entire time, calmed down at this moment. He already knew what the results would be. No matter if the outcome was good or bad, it at least gave him a peace of mind. Team Mysterious Fantasy's journey stopped here.
Zhang Yiwei was upset. If he hadn't overthought things, if they had won one more point than Team Trader, if they had maintained a qualifying spot the entire time. Unfortunately, it was all too late. Team Mysterious Fantasy would be eliminated.