Chapter 1604: Extraordinary Du Ming
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Moon Luring Frost’s head suddenly poked out from behind the stalagmite.
Boom!
Cannonfire immediately shot towards him. It was certainly unfortunate timing for Moon Luring Frost. He had come out just when Dancing Rain was aimed towards him. When Su Mucheng saw him, she immediately pulled the trigger.
The artillery sh.e.l.ls were aimed at the edges of the stalagmite instead of directly towards Moon Luring Frost. Su Mucheng had taken into account that Du Ming’s Moon Luring Frost would be able to take cover in time. As a result, she went for the splash damage instead, while simultaneously having Dancing Rain circle around to get to a different angle.
However, Moon Luring Frost didn’t take cover. He came out of hiding completely.
The artillery sh.e.l.l exploded, and the shockwave spread out, but Moon Luring Frost was unaffected.
How?
Dancing Rain was startled. Moon Luring Frost suddenly rushed out. Behind him were one, two, three, four, five Moon Luring Frosts followed behind in quick succession.
Shadow Steps!
Du Ming had used Shadow Steps. The Moon Luring Frost that had been unaffected by the first shot was evidently a fake shadow.
The shadows created from Shadow Steps were different from Ninja shadow clones. Shadow Steps produced afterimages, which couldn’t be damaged. As long as the skill wasn’t interrupted, these afterimages could not be destroyed. To interrupt the skill, you needed to hit the true body. Du Ming was able to produce six shadows. He had the ability to produce more, but not to this level of perfection. Su Mucheng had already eliminated one of the possibilities with her first shot, but which one among the other five was the real one? Su Mucheng couldn’t distinguish between them from observation alone.
In that case, she could only test them out one by one using attacks.
Gatling Gun!
Dancing Rain lifted up a Gatling Gun and swept across. The bullets flew towards the five untested Moon Luring Frosts. However, the five Moon Luring Frosts weren’t just standing there like sitting ducks. Under Du Ming’s control, all of them went in different directions to hide and dodge the incoming attacks. The audience suddenly realized that when Du Ming chose to hide behind this specific stalagmite, his objective hadn’t simply been because he could no longer move covertly after reaching it. When the shadows from Shadow Steps scattered, the arrangement of the surrounding stalagmites was perfect for their escape. To dodge the Gatling Gun, the five shadows went straight for the closest stalagmite.
This didn’t seem to be an impromptu decision. It seemed more like something he had practiced. Du Ming had clearly studied this map on his own in order to coordinate his Shadow Step with the surrounding terrain.
Su Mucheng realized that the situation wasn’t good. With the shadows scattered, she didn’t know which one to target. She didn’t know which one posed the most threat to her. The terrain was perfect for Du Ming right now.
Retreat first.
Su Mucheng had Dancing Rain retreat. However, Du Ming didn’t stop to rest after disrupting Su Mucheng’s offense. The shadows immediately rushed out again, coming towards her from different directions.
Which one was real?
Let alone Su Mucheng, even the viewers didn’t know. Which one was the real threat?
Five shadows, five swords flas.h.i.+ng with a dangerous light. Su Mucheng discovered that she had no safe way to escape. Under Du Ming’s meticulously practiced pursuit, from the scattered shadows back to a combined a.s.sault, all of her retreat paths were blocked.
Her only choice was to figure out which one was real and attack it, or run away and leave it up to luck.
Her chances were quite high. There was only one real one. All the others were fake and wouldn’t actually deal any damage to her. If she chose one to rush towards, there was a high probability that she would run into a fake one.
But pro Blade Masters wouldn’t just watch quietly as the opponent ran recklessly towards one of the shadows. They would adjust what their shadows did depending on their opponent’s movements. The shadow that you run towards might try to avoid you, but that didn’t mean it was necessarily the fake one. The shadow charging towards you filled with killing intent might not be the real one.
Experienced Blade Masters would control their shadows to make it very difficult to tell which one was real or fake. Choosing which one to go towards wasn’t as simple as a gambling on chance. It would also test the opponent’s courage and resolve.
Which one will she choose?
Du Ming stared intently at Dancing Rain. He was certain that Su Mucheng would end up choosing one of the shadows to move towards, but no matter which one she chose, Du Ming had a way to make Dancing Rain take damage. He was confident because he had practiced this Shadow Step formation numerous times. The distance between any two shadows seemed random, but in reality, the distance had been carefully studied so that it was optimal. And then, through practice, he was able to set up this formation in a short amount of time.
Come!
Choose one! Let’s end this fight.
Du Ming was waiting. Finally, Dancing Rain moved. However, she didn’t seem to move towards any of the shadows. She moved towards the center of their combined attacks.
What is she thinking?
Du Ming stared blankly at her. Dancing Rain lifted her arm, pointing her cannon into the air as if she were giving out a signal.
Satellite Beam!
Du Ming immediately recognized what skill she planned on using. Had she somehow figured out which one was real?
Impossible! Du Ming had even watched his own recordings when he practiced this five Shadow Step a.s.sault. He didn’t remember which one was the real body, and he couldn’t figure out which one was the real body either. Du Ming’s execution of this tactic had reached perfection.
There was no way she knew. She was probably bluffing, baiting me into making a mistake!
Du Ming concluded. His control over his Shadow Steps was unaffected. The shadows grew closer and closer. Boom! The Satellite Beam descended, unexpectedly with Dancing Rain in the middle. The smaller pillars of light spinning around the main pillar, swept through the surroundings.
Since I can’t get you to make a mistake, then I’ll just attack all five!
Six pillars of light spread outwards. The five shadows were too close. Two of them were immediately swallowed by two of the pillars. These two shadows weren’t affected by the attack, fakes.
Three more!
Su Mucheng was just about to check them, when a sword light flashed in front of her. A blue light tore through the Satellite Beam.
Meteor Form!
The sword light was like a meteor, weaving between two smaller light pillars, straight into the main light pillar. A streak of red blood splashed into the air.
Then, Curving Wind Form!
The blood suddenly curved back in the opposite direction, bringing Dancing Rain along with it.
Colliding Stab!
After two Level 75 Blade Master skills, Du Ming followed with a low-level Berserker skill. However, this skill was the key to breaking open this situation.
Moon Luring Frost’s weapon, Lingering Ice, pressed against Dancing Rain’s stomach. When a Blade Master used Colliding Stab, the attack wouldn’t have as fearsome of a knockback. But it was enough to carry along the opponent outwards. Moon Luring Frost escaped from the Satellite Beam’s range, dragging Dancing Rain along with him.
The stadium erupted with thunderous applause!
Du Ming had made a brilliant play. The AoE from the Launcher’s Satellite Beam seemed to be nonexistent to him. Such precise movements and attacks deserved the applause.
“Look, this is the power of love!!” Fang Minghua slapped his leg, laughing at Du Ming.
The other Samsara players nodded their heads and applauded. Whether it was the power of love or not, Du Ming had made a beautiful play. It was an exceptional display of skill that could definitely woo any girl. Thinking of this, several Samsara players glanced towards Happy’s seats, at Tang Rou. But what they saw was Tang Rou watching the match intently. She seemed to have an expression of worry on her face. It didn’t look like she had been enchanted at all by Du Ming’s incredible play.
It’s not enough, Du Ming! A bit more!
Du Ming’s teammates cheered him on.
Du Ming continued to perform, but he wasn’t thinking about all that. Beating the opponent in front of him was everything right now. He had to focus on this goal. Tang Rou? She might be one source of motivation, but she wouldn’t be on his mind right now.
He only had one thing on his mind: beat his opponent.
Sword light flashed.
With the Colliding Stab landing, he had closed the distance between himself and Dancing Rain. Moon Luring Frost immediately started his a.s.sault, using the blossoming blood to perform a brightly-colored dance.
Beautiful!
The crowd applauded again.
He had dragged Dancing Rain out of the Satellite Beam beautifully, and his follow-up had been beautiful as well. Su Mucheng wasn’t going to just have Dancing Rain stand there like a dead tree. She kept searching for a chance to escape, but the interweaving sword light locked her in place. She would occasionally find an opportunity to attack from close-range, but these attacks never created any substantial opportunities for her. She didn’t give up, but even when Dancing Rain fell, no opportunity had come.
One combo to death!
Even though Dancing Rain only had 59% health to begin with, killing her in one combo was an incredible performance from Du Ming. His Moon Luring Frost had only lost 12% of his health. Du Ming had closed the 59% lead by 47%. There was only a difference in 12% health between the two sides.
Du Ming didn’t get too pleased with himself over this point. The instant Dancing Rain was killed, he immediately waved away Su Mucheng from his mind.
Next! Du Ming was already thinking. There was a bit of a gap in his thoughts right afterwards: if I win the next one, then I can meet with Tang Rou.
And his next opponent was Fang Rui and his Boundless Sea.