Chapter 1415: One Step, One Blade, One Kill
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Huang Shaotian, without a doubt, was the busiest person on the field right now.
Ye Xiu and Fang Rui’s combined offensive wasn’t something that anyone in the entire Glory scene could deal with without struggle, and Huang Shaotian also had to guard against possible attacks from other characters.
Happy’s Ghostblade One Inch Ash hadn’t made any moves since unleas.h.i.+ng that Ice Boundary. However, this just made things more scary. With Huang Shaotian on guard, if he struck once more, then Huang Shaotian would definitely be able to lock onto his position and deal with him. However, if he refused to strike, then he could be anywhere. No matter where Huang Shaotian had his character go, he had to carefully be on guard for a ghost boundary.
There was also Wei Chen’s Windward Formation.
Where were they? Huang Shaotian had no idea. A message sent into the chat wouldn’t reveal anything about a character’s position. Warlocks were talented at CCing. In the current situation, if Troubling Rain was. .h.i.t by a Warlock’s CC, then he would certainly be wiped out. Thus, these characters that weren’t in sight were also the ones that Huang Shaotian had to watch out for the most.
Two in hot pursuit, two hidden away, and they didn’t even know if the fifth character was a Launcher or a Cleric. It seemed like Happy was set on making sure Huang Shaotian failed in his reconnaissance on them, patiently stalling with him.
Twenty percent of Troubling Rain’s health had already been chipped away. Against the team of Ye Xiu and Fang Rui, no one in the Alliance could deal with them without taking any damage. Huang Shaotian ran even as he fought, but he didn’t find any sign of Happy’s three other members. Instead, he gained a far better understanding of the surrounding terrain.
Playing hide and seek with me, huh?
Huang Shaotian was certain that Happy’s other members were around here, just hidden. These ambushers would only s.h.i.+ne when the rest of Blue Rain arrived. Huang Shaotian purposefully exposed an opening under the Ye Xiu and Fang Rui’s joint a.s.sault, taking a huge risk to try and tempt the other three into acting. However, Happy’s members managed to resist this temptation.
There was no point in continuing like this! If his attention slipped even just for a moment, he might be wiped out by these two. To stall them, Huang Shaotian had broken through the limits of his focus and was already beginning to feel himself on the verge of slipping. No one had infinite focus. Having to deal with a joint a.s.sault from two All-Star players while also keeping an eye out for attacks from hidden a.s.sailants… the fact that Troubling Rain was still alive, was already pus.h.i.+ng past the limits of Huang Shaotian’s ability!
Unfortunately, even now, Huang Shaotian still hadn’t managed to figure out anything. He was being overwhelmed, and Happy was too well prepared.
It seemed like they wouldn’t be able to use Happy’s tactics against them anymore. It was quite a shame. However, if he tried to lure them to where Blue Rain was waiting, would they fall for it? Just these two were extremely sharp players!
Huang Shaotian kept his eyes locked on the two characters in front of him. If this continued, he would be wiped out. He had maintained a defensive stance, struggling even as he made it seem like he was trying to run. Putting on airs like this wouldn’t get him any information about how decisively these two had locked onto him. However, if he really tried to run now, would he succeed?
Huang Shaotian had been feeling rather exhausted, but now excitement once again burned within him.
He enjoyed finding those infinitesimal opportunities in the most dangerous of situations and then personally expanding on such a possibility. That sort of rush was the best kind of rush.
Then…
Formless Phantom Blade!
Troubling Rain’s wrist flicked, suddenly activating a powerful skill.
Stalling, testing, reconnaissance, but at the same time, Huang Shaotian was also making preparations. He was creating the illusion of having no way to fight back, hiding the opportunities he had in order to secure an escape route for himself. Yet, he was up against two old opponents who were very familiar with his style. It wouldn’t be easy to keep his intentions hidden from both of them at once.
Then, could he do it?
It was time for him to see.
Huang Shaotian was practically vibrating with his excitement, you could even say that this was exactly what he had been eagerly antic.i.p.ating, the moment where he would break through the barrier the two had created and successfully escape.
Sword light flashed.
And this powerful skill was, in fact, activated while Troubling Rain was sprinting forwards.
This was like shooting a target while on the move, and it made the mechanics and control of the blade even more complex. Ye Xiu and Fang Rui were both experienced veterans; they wouldn’t retreat in fear of the power of a high leveled skill. They would look for openings, waiting for an opportunity to strike. So no matter how challenging the situation, their mechanics wouldn’t waver.
Wavering meant defeat.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoos.h.!.+
Arc after arc of elegant sword light flashed through the air, crisscrossing and descending upon Lord Grim and Boundless Sea.
One step and how many blades?
Many were focused on this.
Executing Formless Phantom Blade while on the move wasn’t a technique unique to Huang Shaotian, and the way people judged skill with this technique was by how many blades per step.
Some people could execute three blades per step, some four and a few five, or somewhere between these numbers.
In reality, a higher number didn’t necessarily mean more skilled, because this wasn’t a compet.i.tion of hand speed, but efficiency. The ideal effect of a mobile Formless Phantom Blade was one step, one kill.
That’s right.
One step, one kill, that was the true goal of this technique. The executed number of blades per step was just a way to accomplish that. If a single blade could complete this kill, then that would be the best. The less blades used, the more blades there were to continue the next step, the next kill.
One Step, One Blade, One Kill.
That was the highest realm one could reach for this technique.
Then with one of Troubling Rain’s steps, how many blades did he need to accomplish one kill? That was what everyone was focused on.
Six blades!
Troubling Rain had executed six blades on the first step! His hand speed was admirable, but using six blades wasn’t all what impressive.
It wasn’t impressive, but it was understandable.
He was fighting one against two, and against Ye Xiu and Fang Rui as well. In reality, being able to accomplish this one kill was already impressive enough.
One kill naturally didn’t mean a one-hit-KO. It simply meant to strike and successfully deal damage to an opponent with this step, or force them back. Either would count as a kill.
There was no way Ye Xiu and Fang Rui would so easily sustain damage in a two on one. Lord Grim and Boundless Sea both chose to retreat, but it was a feigned retreat!
These two tricky b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
Huang Shaotian saw through it immediately, so when everyone had thought Troubling Rain was executing six blades in this one step, he added another two.
One step, eight blades!
This record was rather appaling. Formless Phantom Blade was usually ten blades max for each execution of the skill, and now Troubling Rain had already executed eight blades. How could this even count as the One Step, One Blade, One Kill technique? He was just standing there and spamming DPS!
Normal players wouldn’t understand the importance of these two blades. Ye Xiu and Fang Rui were both purposefully exposing openings, trying to bait him. Yet it was with these two blades that Huang Shaotian managed to cover up his openings and fully complete his one step, eight blades.
Continue!
Troubling Rain advanced again!
One step out and two more blades after the previous two.
One step, two blades, one kill!
That step was truly impressive. Though it was two blades, there was no point nitpicking at that. Huang Shaotian was against two opponents after all! Maybe for others one step, one blade was enough, but he needed two blades. It was far too unfair to ask him to fight off two opponents with one blade.
After one step came another.
After two blades, came another two.
Twelve blades!
Many people were keeping careful count.
Currently, for Formless Phantom Blade, Liu Xiaobie held the record at fifteen blades. Normal pros could usually reach thirteen blades, which meant that after the twelve blades should come the finis.h.i.+ng blow. However, Huang Shaotian’s situation wouldn’t give him the opportunity to execute this finis.h.i.+ng blow.
The last blade was the strongest, but after this blade, there was a long ending lag, too long for him. Huang Shaotian wasn’t in a good position right now, so he didn’t dare do something with such a long ending lag. This final blade of Formless Phantom Blade was something he couldn’t afford to execute in his One Step, One Blade, One Kill. So that would mean that the path Troubling Rain had cut out for himself with each blade ended here. However, it didn’t seem like the two characters he was facing had retreated enough!
So, it wasn’t finished yet!
One step, two blades, one kill!
Fourteen blades!
It was only one blade away from Liu Xiaobie’s record of fifteen, but this was during movement, during One Step, One Blade, One Kill. It needed sharper judgement and more mechanics, yet Huang Shaotian had completed fourteen blades under these circ.u.mstances.
Even though it was Happy’s stadium and Happy’s fans, they couldn’t help but admire Huang Shaotian. Getting half his health smashed by a tree wasn’t enough to erase the fact that he was still a top G.o.d!
Break through!
With Formless Phantom Blade’s One Step, One Blade, One Kill technique, Huang Shaotian had managed to break through Ye Xiu and Fang Rui’s hara.s.sment. Since he didn’t execute the finis.h.i.+ng blade, there wasn’t an ending lag. Troubling Rain’s Ice Rain swung, about to execute a Triple Slash and escape, yet that was when a message popped up in the global chat.
“You guys are worthless! You got shook off like that?”
Windward Formation, Wei Chen!
Was he going to strike?
Huang Shaotian’s heart thudded. Wei Chen’s message was timed too well; it was clear that he had been attentively watching the situation over here. That meant that Windward Formation’s attack was probably already on its way over by now, right? This Triple Slash might just be slas.h.i.+ng right into their trap!
Huang Shaotian made this immediate judgement when the message appeared and this Triple Slash’s path was forcibly turned away from the perfect arc he had planned out, swerving and making a Z shape.
Woos.h.!.+
A dark purple light flashed by out of nowhere, curling around the air – the head of the light merging with the tail – and then vanis.h.i.+ng.
Huang Shaotian’s heart pounded from the close call. That was the Warlock’s Binding Curse. If it wasn’t for his quick reaction, Troubling Rain would’ve been tied up by that.
“What do you mean? We purposefully gave you a shot at him, y’know?” In the chat, Fang Rui replied to Wei Chen.
“Look at what wonderful people we are, giving you a chance to show off in front of your disciple. Where’s your grat.i.tude?” Ye Xiu added.
“Fine, thank you, you dumba.s.ses,” Wei Chen retorted.
The audience watched on, dumbstruck. Happy’s in-team atmosphere… was quite something.