Chapter 1546: Consolidating an Advantage
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Unyielding. There was no way to be more unyielding than this.
Not moving an inch, her cannon lined up perfectly. Su Mucheng welcomed Dazzling Hundred Blossoms head on.
Whoos.h.!.+
Hurricane Cannon flew out accompanied by high-pitched whistling. When Dazzling Hundred Blossoms fired his second round of attacks after reloading, his shots were all caught in the Hurricane Cannon and were blown off-course.
Zheng Jiale was astonished. He did not expect Su Mucheng to attack so forcefully.
Last round, there were tricks upon tricks. This round, she couldn’t be more direct if she tried. Su Mucheng had become a player who could make an unwavering decision based on the current situation. She’s freed herself of the shackles of excessive cooperation with Ye Xiu, and no longer had the slight cluelessness she used to have when Ye Xiu wasn’t present.
Dodge!
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, who was charging forward, had to dodge sideways. But how could Hurricane Cannon’s power be so easily escaped? Dazzling Hundred Blossoms managed to avoid being hit directly, but was still caught in the twisting, cannonball-like hurricane. His body immediately staggered from the force.
Boom!
Cannonfire still rang out. Su Mucheng was clearly not going to give Zhang Jiale any time to catch his breath. Explosion after explosion followed. However, Zhang Jiale was also not one to be so easily stopped. Even though Dazzling Hundred Blossoms was shaken by the Hurricane Cannon, he still managed to control his character accurately while staggering.
Flash Bullet!
A Flash Bullet flew out, followed closely by a gunshot. Zheng Jiale did not wait for the Flash Bullet to hit the ground, and directly shot and blew it up mid-air.
Blinding light instantly flashed out. At this moment, even the spectators were dazzled by the bright flash. The broadcast cut quickly to Su Mucheng’s first-person perspective. Everyone also hastily looked at the big screen, curious as to whether Su Mucheng was affected by this Flash Bullet.
She was somewhat, but not completely.
It seemed that Su Mucheng had immediately turned away when she noticed the Flash Bullet, but Zhang Jiale had been too quick in triggering the explosion. As a result, Dancing Rain was unable to avert her gaze entirely. In the end, even though she wasn’t completely blinded, there was definitely some haziness in her view of the surroundings. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, who was actively moving around, currently seemed like a hazy blur.
Another grenade was thrown.
What grenade was it?
Su Mucheng could only see a mosaic of pixels flying towards her, and had no chance to differentiate the type of grenade.
So she just completely ignored it, and simply continued to attack.
Under the effects of Mounted Gun, a character had no way to move from their position. Of course, the opponent also had no way to disrupt Dancing Rain’s position. Therefore, Su Mucheng might as well not care which attack was coming at her, and just use attacks in response to Zhang Jiale.
Mutual attacks.
An extremely crude exchange of attacks.
On this side, Su Mucheng had completely abandoned attempting to dodge any attacks. What about Zhang Jiale’s side? Dazzling Hundred Blossoms’s movement was not restricted like Su Mucheng’s was by Mounted Gun, but he had already advanced this far, and Su Mucheng was tanking all his attacks. In this situation, choosing to retreat would only be wasting his own health, while also surrendering the distance he’s worked so hard to gain.
Attack for attack, blood for blood. At this time, there was no alternative. Su Mucheng had forced Zhang Jiale to have an exchange like this.
A Launcher using Mounted Gun clearly had heavier fire-power. Zhang Jiale did not let go of his advantage of free movement. If he simply stood still and traded with Mounted Gun, it wouldn’t be any different from suicide.
This battle turned into a slugfest where neither combatant was willing to back down. But the outcome would really be decided by Zhang Jiale’s ability to dodge attacks. For Dancing Rain who was using Mounted Gun, dodging was out of the question.
Bang bang bang!
Boom boom boom!
Endless gunshots, cannonfire and explosions resounded.
In the end, Su Mucheng lost.
This result could not be considered unexpected since Dancing Rain began the round with a health disadvantage. However, the difference was only 29%. It wasn’t an overwhelming one. This kind of disadvantage could be wiped out with one successful combo.
But Su Mucheng decided not to do this. She resolutely exchanged health after meeting her opponent, which was disadvantageous for the side with lower health.
She did lose this round, but didn’t actually lose in the overall picture.
Zhang Jiale’s Dazzling Hundred Blossoms only had 21% of his life remaining.
71% to 79%. Su Mucheng came out slightly ahead. But in terms of the group arena, Happy was way ahead, and if they kept trading like this, they would be the victors in the group arena.
Su Mucheng managed to set a trap and deal with Lin Jingyan, and furthered the lead that Ye Xiu established against Tyranny. It would be hard for most people to miss out on an opportunity to further their lead when they already had an advantage. More kills meant more points. However, every new player in the group arena meant a potential reversal, especially for Tyranny who was richly experienced and strong-willed. It wasn’t that easy to shake them up.
Thus, when battling Zhang Jiale, Su Mucheng did not greedily look to further the their lead. Instead, she simply traded evenly.
A very wise strategy, and a very wise decision.
There didn’t seem to be a big change in the difference in health. But as the number of players went down, if the health difference stayed the same, the lead would actually widen.
Happy still had three players on full health. Tyranny had two plus a one-fifth health Dazzling Hundred Blossoms.
Who would Happy send out next?
Su Mucheng left the stage, bu everyone was fixated on the players’ area. The suspense for the next player was too much.
Mo Fan!
Mo Fan stood up on Happy’s side.
As expected!
Everyone felt this way. Mo Fan had already become a staple player on Happy’s group arena roster. His playstyle was also very suitable for the group arena.
“Good luck!” Su Mucheng smiled to Mo Fan as they met halfway from the stage.
“Mm.” Mo Fan nodded. Even a simple word from him had a very determined air to it.
Very soon, the fifth battle began. Mo Fan, who had full health, did not choose to charge forward at the start of the battle, and instead skirted around the edge of the map. The stadium instantly filled with boos. Mo Fan’s opponent Zhang Jiale only had 21% of his health remaining. In this situation, not fighting head-on would definitely be looked down upon by Tyranny fans.
But Mo Fan would never care about this. He would use the style he was familiar with, no matter the situation. However, there really weren’t many hiding spots on this map. After Zhang Jiale’s Dazzling Hundred Blossoms reached the middle of the map without finding anyone, he moved diagonally. It wasn’t long before he spotted Deception, moving on the other side of the lava.
“This kind of flank really isn’t very productive!” Pan Lin commented in the broadcast.
“Yes… due to the map being divided by the lava, there are very few options for movement routes. There are only so many in any general direction. Add on the fact that the areas are quite open and visible, flanking really wouldn’t achieve much.” Li Yibo said.
“But Mo Fan still insists on doing so,” Pan Lin said.
“Yep. He persists.” Li Yibo nodded his head.
Pan Lin was speechless. He meant for Li Yibo to further explain Mo Fan’s intentions. Turns out, he just confirmed the “Mo Fan still persists”. Why is he persisting? It’s your job to explain it!
Pan Lin cursed inwardly. But he also knew that Li Yibo must be uncertain and hesitant, and so didn’t speak up.
Deception was already exposed and within Dazzling Hundred Blossoms’s line of sight. He still didn’t approach and continued to circle around. Zhang Jiale also did not pursue directly, and had Dazzling Hundred Blossoms also circle around to intercept.
When Li Yibo saw Zhang Jiale’s reaction, he suddenly got an idea.
“Mo Fan probably wants to fight at the limestones.” Li Yibo said.
The limestones was where Su Mucheng and Lin Jingyan fought. Over there, the stacks of limestone was the only place on the map where there was a bit of cover in some spots. Mo Fan’s intentions were the same as Lin Jingyan’s. It was just that Lin Jingyan took advantage of the rules and forced his opponent over to the limestones, yet Mo Fan couldn’t care less and charged over by himself. What if Zhang Jiale just decided to ignore him?
This “what if” could be forgotten, because Zhang Jiale did not ignore him. Dazzling Hundred Blossoms and Deception were still far away from each other, but they were both running towards the same direction. The broadcast displayed a small bird’s-eye view of the battle, indicating Zhang Jiale’s intentions: Dazzling Hundred Blossoms would intercept him.
Fight head-on? Everyone was speculating.
A head-on fight would certainly be disadvantageous for Zhang Jiale, whose character had only 21% of his life left. But what about Mo Fan? That guy always snuck about and used ambushes, but in many people’s eyes, he was more than skilled enough to fight head-on. The ones who did not understand Mo Fan’s character all felt that his so-called “fireworks style” was superfluous. Why couldn’t you just continue your explosive attacks? Why would you hit and and run and come back for another hit? There’s a limit to how prudent you can be!
But disdain was disdain; in the end, Mo Fan’s style still caused people headaches. He grinded his opponents down by using his patience and repeatedly attacking and backing off. He sat tight when there was no good opportunity. Right now, Tyranny was behind and was anxious for a comeback. Meeting this type of opponent was incredibly suffocating.
“Ye Xiu is so obnoxious. Sending out this kind of guy in this kind of situation!” Tyranny’s hate of Ye Xiu was deeply rooted and immovable within their hearts. Even at this time and place, they first turned their aggro onto Ye Xiu, who wasn’t even on stage.
The two characters drew closer and closer. There was no doubt that Dazzling Hundred Blossoms would be able to intercept Deception. Of course, Mo Fan could see that the opponent was blocking his way. He continued to control Deception to charge forward. Was he attempting to charge through the interception, or to decide the outcome of the match right here?