The cheers were thunderous.No matter how low Soft Mist"s health may be, she wasn"t dead. This sort of lead felt unstable. No matter how dire Boundless Sea"s circ.u.mstances may be, if he wasn"t dead, circ.u.mstances could always change.
But now, they could finally be at ease.
Boundless Sea was dead. His name had turned gray. He had already left the match. Tyranny had won a one point lead.
In terms of overall points, it seemed to be even. However, a one point lead in the team compet.i.tion also meant a numbers advantage. The point wasn"t the most significant part. This lead would tip the balance of the team compet.i.tion.
Tyranny"s stadium resounded with an ocean of cheers. Even the Li Yibo began livening up and started shouting rapidly...
Happy"s side was silent.
Facing Tyranny, they had never felt like they had the upper hand. And now, their team was down a member, a key member like Fang Rui too.
The Happy fans sitting in the away team seats fell silent. The people sitting at Happy"s bench like Chen Guo were silent as well.
The match would stop for no one though.
Boundless Sea was killed. Ye Xiu"s Lord Grim had climbed up to the top of the canyon wall and began coordinating a pincer attack with Su Mucheng again. This time, Tyranny no longer dodged as cautiously as before, instead pushing forward swiftly and resolutely. Fortunately, Tang Rou and Luo Ji had received Ye Xiu"s message and retreated beforehand. However, from the looks of it, Happy was in disarray, and the attacks from Lord Grim and Dancing Rain didn"t seem to pose much of a threat to Tyranny. Their attacks didn"t seem as focused as before. It looked as if the two were just casually throwing out a few attacks here and there.
"Don"t panic. We"ll take our time," Ye Xiu"s comforting words were plain and simple. For the Happy fans watching, not only did it not put their hearts at ease, it made them feel as if Ye Xiu"s confidence and fighting spirit were waning.
But soon, message after message jumped out in the chat.
These weren"t words of comfort or encouragement, but instructions.
The match wasn"t over yet!
Ye Xiu gave out clear orders, showing his belief in his team.
Fang Rui could also see these messages, but he no longer had the ability to carry them out anymore.
What was I able to do?
Fang Rui couldn"t help but ask himself.
He had come to Team Happy as an All-Star player and held the highest salary in the team. Even if he wasn"t the main pillar, he could still be considered a core member of the team.
This was how the public saw him as, and Fang Rui believed it as well. Happy"s team compet.i.tion lineup always included himself, Su Mucheng, and Ye Xiu, the three All-Stars as the core. Their positions in the team compet.i.tion were unshakeable.
And how had he performed?
His cla.s.s change was indeed a big uncertain factor, but many of his high points this season had been a result of his cla.s.s change catching his opponents off guard.
The cla.s.s change wasn"t an excuse. Fang Rui was very clear on this point because the more he played the Qi Master, the better he got. He didn"t feel like the cla.s.s was hindering him in any way.
Was this the best he could do?
In the playoffs, Happy had fought against Blue Rain and now, Tyranny. Although he was a core member of Happy, he had never been the deciding factor in their wins. Wei Chen and Luo Ji, the two players with the fewest appearances on stage, had been more important in the playoffs. The few times that they had appeared, they had contributed significantly to their wins.
And himself?
In the group arena, Tyranny had pulled back the lead through him. If not for that, Happy might have been able to go into the team compet.i.tion with a two point lead.
In the team compet.i.tion, he had unexpectedly been the first to be killed. His teammates had set things up well for him, but what was he able to do with it? A Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow, and then? Fang Rui felt too ashamed to think of everything else that came afterwards. Even at the end, Ye Xiu had done his best to give him an opportunity to escape, and the outcome? Tyranny had caught him.
An unfavorable position? A numbers disadvantage?
Fang Rui didn"t want this sort of excuse. In Wei Chen"s game against Blue Rain and Luo Ji"s game against Tyranny, they had made decisive plays, pulling Happy back from a disadvantageous situation.
Yet he wasn"t able to do so!
Fang Rui felt ashamed. At the same time, he also kept watching the unfinished match attentively.
We have to win! I still want to play, play well...
Fang Rui mumbled to himself as he watched his teammates on the stage.
Back on the battlefield, Happy had regrouped under Ye Xiu"s orders. They clearly didn"t want to continue fighting with Tyranny here. They wanted to reset the battle and fight in a different place. During this gradual process, Happy"s players began to regain their calm. Even Ye Xiu had felt distressed over the loss of Fang Rui. He wasn"t nearly as calm as he appeared. The others were even more so. Luo Ji"s palms were covered in sweat. Although this was his second time in a playoffs match, this was his first time in a deciding game. The pressure for this match was different than before. And now, Luo Ji had become the biggest deciding factor for Happy"s win. Under this enormous pressure, he nearly fell behind twice while retreating with Tang Rou"s Soft Mist because he wasn"t able to keep up his movement pacing.
However, Ye Xiu"s step-by-step instructions that followed help Luo Ji calm down.
I can"t make a mistake! I definitely can"t.
Luo Ji was different from Fang Rui, who was unhappy with not being the deciding factor for their win. Luo Ji didn"t dare have any such hopes. Don"t make a mistake. That was all he wanted. It was his bottom line, and he felt that it could be done if he tried his hardest.
Luo Ji carried out Ye Xiu"s orders meticulously. Through this focused attention on these orders, Happy was able to recoup their morale.
Tyranny didn"t like for things to be this calm. They had wanted to strike when the iron was hot and chase after them, but they weren"t able to reach Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng above them. They hadn"t even seen the other members on Happy yet. Since it was a random map, everyone only had a rough understanding of the map. There was no way to get a grasp of the details before the team compet.i.tion. The area that Tyranny was heading into was unknown territory. They had no way of predicting what Happy would do next.
They could only see that Happy had given up on this canyon region. Ahead was the exit to the canyon. The canyon walls sloped downwards until it was flat at the exit. Outside, to the left, was the sp.a.w.n point at the left end of the map. To the right was the path to the Seven Color Springs at the center of the map. The two sides knew about these paths through the brief introduction to the map.
Left? Right? Or continue forward?
Tyranny didn"t make any decisions yet. When they reached the canyon exit, they needed to check for ambushes.