Chapter 1315: Terror and Despair
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Team Wind Howl, after failing to complete a transfer during the winter transfer window that would solve their problems, entered the second half of the season.
Even though they had sustained repeated losses against strong teams in the first half of the season, Wind Howl was still firmly strong against the mid and low-tier teams. This allowed people to maintain a thread of faith in them.
But now, Team Miracle.
Even if this team did better than expected, that only meant that they had a certain amount of strength. With a score of 102 points halfway through the season in 12th place, they couldn"t really be called strong. This was the typical score of a mid-tier team.
But now, Wind Howl had lost to this mid-tier team.
This was tantamount to tearing away their last piece of clothing. Could Wind Howl get results? That question mark was becoming bigger and bigger. In the post-match press conference, Wind Howl"s Captain Tang Hao was furious, severely reprimanding his team for not working hard enough.
But could Wind Howl"s problems really be solved just with hard work?
Things weren"t that simple! Hard work couldn"t solve everything in Glory. Aside from hard work, you have to have the correct method, and today"s Wind Howl lacked not hard work, nor the determination to pursue victory, but rather the method for obtaining victory, especially in the team compet.i.tion.
Originally, Wind Howl"s key to victory was their dirty playing. Now, they had thrown away this key, but they hadn"t found a new key that could continue to open locks. All the locksmiths were struggling away, but no matter how they tried, they just couldn"t unlock that door to victory.
"Come on, work hard, get your spirits up, we can"t lose!" These sort of morale-boosting sentiments couldn"t solve the problem at the core.
What should Wind Howl do?
In this week"s edition of the Esports Weekly, Wind Howl actually became the subject of the headline. After everyone finished discussing how weak An Wenyi was and how strong Bai Shu was, Wind Howl"s strength as a team became the new topic everyone cared about.
Wind Howl themselves were suffering nonstop the protests of their fans. Wind Howl urgently needed a match where they could prove their strength. And so, their chance arrived in Round 25, with their home game against Samsara.
Was it a bit too extreme… aiming for them as a proof of strength?
Wind Howl"s players felt the urge to eat their account cards.
"This is our best chance." Their captain Tang Hao, however, appeared fearless before them.
"What could prove our strength better than defeating Samsara?" said Tang Hao.
"Get your spirits up everyone, use this battle to show everyone who we Wind Howl really are." In the prep room before the match, Tang Hao mobilized his teammates.
But Wind Howl"s players were truly somewhat numb to these sort of words by now.
Onstage, individual compet.i.tion, three battles, loss loss loss.
The stadium resounded with boos. This was only the individual compet.i.tion, and they were already getting wrecked?
Tang Hao"s face turned livid. But what else could he do? He didn"t know anymore…
Soon enough, the group arena ended. Now, not only were there boos, members of the crowd were already leaving the stadium early. They didn"t even want to watch the important team compet.i.tion anymore, and used their early departure as their strongest form of protest against the team.
After the individual compet.i.tion was over, Wind Howl was 0-5.
Following that match with Happy, would they be swept 0-10 again this match? That time, at least, was Happy"s home game. But this time, they were being swept by the away team. It was truly a slap to the face.
After the team compet.i.tion, the cheers and shouts for Samsara were already louder than those for Wind Howl. What made Wind Howl lose even more face was that some of the cheers for Samsara were actually from Wind Howl"s fangroup. What kind of disappointment and anger was this? The team compet.i.tion finally began…
Meanwhile, on another battlefield…
"Again…" The audience members were dumbfounded as they watched Radiant"s healer, 2 minutes and 34 seconds in the team round, slain by one knife of 301"s a.s.sa.s.sin Scene Killer.
Life-Risking Strike!
Even more fearsome was that this time, Scene Killer didn"t die right after using Life-Risking Strike. He was actually protected by Bai Shu"s Knight Tide. After that, 301"s healer, the Paladin 007 piled on a series of healing skills, instantly pulling Scene Killer"s health back…
An a.s.sa.s.sin that had successfully used Life-Risking Strike to kill the target, actually didn"t die?
Everyone was stunned. This was absolutely the first time this had ever happened in Glory history.
This Team 301 Degrees, to what extent would they perfect this a.s.sa.s.sination style?
Radiant"s strength couldn"t match 301"s. After losing their healer, the rest of the team fell like a mountain toppled over, and the match was quickly decided. 301 earned a large victory this round, full points with a 10-0.
Shortly after, the match between Wind Howl and Samsara was also decided. Samsara lived up to expectations and defeated Wind Howl, sweeping them in a 10-0.
301 and Wind Howl had only had a difference of 8 points between them, and with this, they instantly swapped positions on the leaderboard. Would Wind Howl be able to remain in the top 8? That would be determined by the final result of another team"s match.
Hundred Blossoms faced Lightly this round.
This confrontation caused Wind Howl to fall into despair.
In the end, Hundred Blossoms defeated Lightly 8-2, rising to seventh place. 301 rose one place to eighth, finally entering the playoff zone. All of this had arrived terrifyingly quickly. At the halfway mark of the season, Round 19, 301 still only had 98 points, but after six rounds, they had already risen to 150 points. 52 points in six rounds, that was an average of 8.7 points per match, far surpa.s.sing the number one team Samsara"s match average of 8.3 points.
In Round 19, 301 defeated Happy in the team round because Yang Cong used Life-Risking Strike to take out Happy"s Little Cold Hands. But they had really gotten strong starting from Round 20. The arrival of the player Bai Shu truly gave 301 something that that Alliance had never seen before, a strategic playstyle revolving around the a.s.sa.s.sin"s Life-Risking Strike. Bai Shu had integrated into the team very quickly, making it obvious that he was a player with an extremely high Glory IQ. And the new system that he brought hadn"t even reached its full potential yet. 301 was still testing things out, still getting used to everything. But even so, they had already earned a terrifying point-scoring rate. Once this strategy was perfected, what kind of fearsome and deadly power would it have?
Now, people were realizing that Bai Shu"s arrival didn"t just bring an unknown expert, but an unknown strategy, ultimately raising an unknown team.
"What a headache!" everyone complained. But at this moment, some people didn"t even have the time to complain about this.
"What a headache, how long are we planning to play for?" Ye Xiu said.
"You guys already lost long ago, if not for your disgustingly dirty hide-and-seek this match would already be over! Is there a point is there a point? Just come out and 1v1 me! A good and honest match to decide victory, do you dare, huh, do you dare?" Huang Shaotian raged.
Just as all the various matches were ending, Blue Rain"s home game against Happy had already lasted over forty minutes. Right now, Blue Rain had lost one player, and the five others were all on the field. Happy, meanwhile, only had two players left. But even in this situation, Happy"s two players still didn"t GG, nor did they come out to end this faster. They were actually very patiently dealing with Blue Rain.
"What b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" Seeing this scene, a number of elite guild members felt their hearts sour.
Once upon a time, in the Heavenly Domain, they sent out large armies, only for them to be cruelly teased by these two guys! Seeing how even Blue Rain was now dragged around by them for so long, everyone suddenly felt a bit gratified.
Lord Grim, Deception.
These were the two players still alive from Happy. Without a doubt, Happy didn"t have any chance of victory against Blue Rain, who still had an intact roster. But these two people still refused to give up, ducking and hiding all over, dragging out what should have been a 31-minute match over the current 42-minute mark.
"Before the last moment, the match isn"t considered over," Ye Xiu lectured Huang Shaotian very seriously. "1v1? Is that a battle method that belongs in the team compet.i.tion?"
"You... What kind of method is your hide-and-seek then?" Huang Shaotian used a powerful self-control to turn his swearing into ellipses.
"This is training, do you understand? The playoffs give points by number of players remaining. We Happy are already adjusting to the rhythm of the playoffs. Are you convinced now?"
"Convinced you...." The powerful self-control was once again exercised. "You two, you"re still trying to earn some player points?"
"Not necessarily! If you"re skilled, then come and 1v2 us!" Ye Xiu called.
"Alright! I"ll fight you two by myself!" Huang Shaotian said.
"Everyone else, back off by a hundred body-lengths," said Ye Xiu.
"They"ve backed off, backed off."
"That fast?" Ye Xiu was doubtful.
"Backing off right now."
"Alright, let me take a look."
Blue Rain"s players were instantly on full alert. Between the five of them, they had a 360-degree view of their surroundings. Even the slightest silhouette wouldn"t escape their notice.
"You didn"t back off! Liars!" Ye Xiu said angrily.
"You didn"t even look! You"re the liar!" Huang Shaotian was also furious. They hadn"t seen anyone poking their head up to look. This guy wasn"t even over here.
"I guessed!" Ye Xiu said.
"You sneak!" Huang Shaotian shouted.
"Stop wasting time, come find us already, this match is already so long, aren"t you all annoyed?" Ye Xiu called.
Everyone felt tears streaming down their faces. You"re the ones at fault here!
"Not too far off. They should be in this area." In Blue Rain"s team chat, Yu Wenzhou had already made this judgment.
"Split up. Shaotian and I will take the channel on the left. Song Xiao, you and Zheng Xuan take the right, around that large boulder." Yu Wenzhou continued to lay out plans.
"Huh? What about me?" The Paladin player Xu Jingxi was confused. His name hadn"t been listed in the split.
"Mm, left and right are both ambushes. You just walk directly forward, serve as the bait," said Yu Wenzhou.
"Too cruel…" Xu Jingxi felt like crying.