Chapter 188: To Win Without Any Confrontation
Translator: Double_L Editor: Hitesh_
"Oh no, this is bad! Bisu, do you think it’s gonna get worse if Flash was dragged into a dogfight?" Kal seemed worried. He had somehow recovered from his sadness after sitting beside Bisu.
Bisu shook his head, "w.a.n.g Tong’s defense is very unique, way different from the ordinary ones that we know of. It feels like some sort of pressure that is asking to be attacked, and my guts are telling me that this is definitely a trap."
"But he’s clearly playing defensive. How’s he gonna attack?"
"Take a look at the movements in w.a.n.g Tong’s base. Reinforcement is always arriving in time no matter which part of his base was attacked. The whole thing that he has built in the very beginning is a trap that would make you become impatient and force you to attack, or trick you to let your guard down while focusing on expanding your troops. Overexpansion of your troops would weaken your current defense and create opportunities for your opponent to attack. w.a.n.g Tong’s extraordinary controlling maneuvers is definitely more than enough to break one apart!" Bisu began to feel an immense pressure from w.a.n.g Tong, yet Kal wasn’t feeling anything. It was not because he was weaker, but because his experience was not as much as Bisu’s.
Somehow, w.a.n.g Tong’s current performance looked even stronger than his previous performance against Bisu!
However, this time, he wasn’t focusing on controlling maneuvers and chose to focus on battle perspectives like Flash. As both players were battling each other to obtain the initiative, w.a.n.g Tong was seen continuously applying an invisible pressure to Flash, forcing him to attack or expand. And Flash knew that he would be dragged along under w.a.n.g Tong’s pace if he were to fall into his opponent’s gimmick. After all, a Battlecraft Combat player like Flash that focused on perspective and timing would never want to be dragged under the opponent’s pace, even if he were forced into a struggling battle. However, Flash seemed to be held back by w.a.n.g Tong’s unusual playing method.
Kal noticed that Bisu seemed disheartened after a while, like he had given up.
"What’s wrong, Bisu?"
Bisu didn’t say a word. Somehow, the ultimate Battlecraft Combat player that he and Flash had always expected to see was finally born! w.a.n.g Tong was definitely the super-fighter that possessed both an impressive perspective as well as outstanding controlling maneuvers.
Bisu and Flash had always been wondering if there was really a person who possessed the skills of the two of them. If that person really existed, he or she would definitely be able to claim the t.i.tle as the true No.1 in Battlecraft Combat.
Yet, this wasn’t something that could be learned easily. Even Bisu was weak in terms of perspective while Flash’s highest APM was only around five hundred twenty. However, Flash was able to become the top player because he was doing better than Bisu in terms of operating maneuvers, and had better performance during multiple engaging battles. Yet, Flash was not the strongest amongst mankind because there were still Ivantians, Martians and Kaedeians that could do better than him. Although Kaedeians were humble, they happened to be extremely talented in Battlecraft Combat as well.
The close-to-perfect player that they had dreamt about just happened to be right in front of their eyes. And to be honest, both Bisu and Flash had never expected someone from Earth Confederation to surpa.s.s the two of them.
However, not a single spectator seemed to be able to understand Bisu’s thoughts. The students of Capth were even complaining about Flash’s indecisive actions. Apparently, they had been hoping that he would take the initiative and beat the c.r.a.p out of w.a.n.g Tong! To them, it was quite wasteful to give up the chance of attacking an easy target. But instead of attacking, Flash was only provoking w.a.n.g Tong since the beginning of the match, which had never happened since his debut.
Nevertheless, Flash was still someone to be feared; he was also known as the "War Machine" because his battle strategies was always able to counter his opponent’s movements, not to mention he was also able to adjust the details in every single existing battle strategy and make it into his own original strategies with completely different effects. Moreover, his attacking timing, choice of battlefield, and army formation were as perfect as the Ivantians. This was why Bisu was no match for him, even though he was better in terms of controlling maneuvers.
Flash was incredibly gifted, and even though his battle strategies didn’t look majestic, they always managed to crush his opponents badly. Thus, people soon began to acknowledge his strength.
Halmond had been keeping quiet since the beginning of the match, Flash was one of his favorite disciples. That kid was unique as he was able to turn every piece of strategy into something else. In the beginning, teachers used to complain about this bad habit of his and his unwillingness to change; his winning rates were low, and he seemed to have a lot of crazy ideas and feelings that wouldn’t work. However, Halmond soon found out that this was actually Flash’s talent and immediately recruited him, turning him into one of Earth Confederation’s best candidates. Flash’s extraordinary sense of timing was definitely a gift from G.o.d; he was definitely a precious rare talent throughout the past decades. Furthermore, Flash was very hardworking. He had been training extremely hard ever since he was recruited by Halmond. People now knew him as the genius and unrivaled Flash, yet no one knew about his hectic past.
However, Halmond soon realized how terrifying w.a.n.g Tong’s talent was. At first, he was amazed by w.a.n.g Tong’s victory against Bisu by demonstrating amazing controlling maneuvers, but this time, he was shocked to find out that w.a.n.g Tong was even able to control the overall pace.
w.a.n.g Tong’s level of strength was totally absurd!
Halmond then looked towards Samantha. He had never thought of underestimating her, yet, she was apparently still being underestimated by him!
Flash also realized that he had finally met his strongest opponent since his debut. Halmond knew that Flash would be able to obtain a groundbreaking confidence if he was able to win, but it would be very difficult.
Flash was on the pa.s.sive side in this match instead of w.a.n.g Tong, and if he were unable to stay focus, he would be toasted for sure.
Meanwhile, Samantha was very proud. She was absolutely convinced by w.a.n.g Tong’s dominance!
w.a.n.g Tong was in his best condition, demonstrating something that was completely different from his Art of the Soaring Heaven. Art of the Soaring Heaven specialized in using offense as its defense and taking control of the attacking pace. Yet, what he was doing now was turning defense into offense, pressuring his opponent with an iron defense. This was definitely a good strategy against strong players like Flash, and at this point, he was still hoping for Flash to take the bait.
Yet, Halmond seemed to notice that w.a.n.g Tong might be talented, but he wasn’t a natural player, as he required stimulation to fire up his engines. Halmond learned about this while watching his previous match with Bisu, and Flash’s level of strength too had triggered his amazing performance at the beginning.
w.a.n.g Tong got the idea for this strategy after watching the footages of Flash’s previous battles. Originally, he was planning to pump up his defense and drag the game into a dogfight since he was quite confident about his Cloning Technique. But as the match progressed, he suddenly realized that he was able to pressurize his opponent with this sort of defensive strategy, and he was given more options because of that, including finis.h.i.+ng the match without a final showdown. However, w.a.n.g Tong chose to play it safe as his opponent was the amazing Flash, and that person’s operating maneuvers were perfect and spot on. Flash had even tried to lure w.a.n.g Tong to attack by creating a few loopholes on purpose. w.a.n.g Tong could’ve attacked if he were his previous self, and the one who would have been doomed would be him if he had responded carelessly.
It seemed like Flash’s battling method and style was kind of artsy.
w.a.n.g Tong was learning Flash’s methods of controlling the situation as he battled, and wanted to combine it into his defensive strategy. Somehow, w.a.n.g Tong felt great and motivated to learn his opponent’s advantage for his own good.
On the other side, Flash seemed to look nervous for the first time, because so far, he had never launched any real attacks against w.a.n.g Tong. w.a.n.g Tong still had a few loopholes in the beginning, but as the match progressed, Flash noticed that w.a.n.g Tong’s strategy was getting better and better. And although he had been trying to counter with a few methods, his methods didn’t work in the end.
At that point, Flash realized that w.a.n.g Tong was as good as him, which also explained why w.a.n.g Tong’s perspective was never disturbed and his strategy was unaffected. Flash could tell that w.a.n.g Tong’s actions were getting more and more proficient.
Flash’s serious expression slowly turned into a gentle grin. He was well aware that things would be different if he were able to win this match. In fact, he had been longing for an opponent like this.
Flash had no intentions to pursue fame and glory, all he wanted was an improvement! Now that the opponent he had been longing for had finally arrived, it was time for him to unleash one hundred percent of his strength.
Both players were gradually closing the gap between each other. For the first time, players were focusing on expanding army instead of technology development.
Only about ten people amongst all spectators were able to tell what was going on. Even Kal had begun to understand this intense battle between two commander-like players! It took Kal quite a while, but he also had eventually noticed that instead of focusing on area controls, both of them had always been focusing on situational controls!
Meanwhile, Best and Carl happened to be the only ones that were able to tell what was going on. Since Best was skilled in operating maneuvers, he could easily smell the pressure within w.a.n.g Tong’s strategy. Clearly, the opponent would fall into w.a.n.g Tong’s trap if he or she were to attack. But if the opponent followed to go defensive, w.a.n.g Tong, who had been doing it first, would obtain the advantage for sure; if his opponent chose to expand, the opponent would also need to constantly look out for any signs of disturbance. Keeping in mind the interfering attacks from someone with an APM of five hundred and above was very tense.
Perhaps, Best knew better that Bisu, as all he saw in w.a.n.g Tong’s strategy was nothing but despair. Suddenly, Best remembered one of the strategies of war, which was to win without any confrontation.