Chapter 1645: One Autumn Leaf’s Strongest State
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The event NPCs were interference, but at the same time they could be used. If used well, this could be an extremely intelligent match.
In the past, Sun Xiang had thought that he was all-powerful, that there was nothing he couldn’t do in Glory. But now, he could admit that these games involving lots of calculations weren’t his strong point. So, he didn’t bother with thinking about whether these things could be any use to him. If it’s interference, then wipe it away!
Shattering the Lands tossed the nearby NPCs into the air. Offstage, the players from the two teams were seizing the chance to observe. Without clas.h.i.+ng with the NPCs like this, it would be very difficult to judge how strong they were. Aside from that, how would these NPCs react to someone taking the initiative to attack them? Before this, the two armies seemed to have mostly ignored the presence of Lord Grim and One Autumn Leaf. While the two of them had been climbing the mountain wall, the NPCs hadn’t specifically directed any attacks toward the two of them.
But right now, after being directly attacked like this, if the NPCs still had no reaction, then this event’s design would be fairly boring. Glory, this cla.s.sic game, would never have that kind of meaningless design, whether in-game or on a compet.i.tive map.
Indeed, after being attacked by Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf, the two teams of NPCs no longer ignored them. Both sides suddenly had a clear attack target: One Autumn Leaf.
Cannon shots, magic spells…
One Autumn Leaf had already cleared the area immediately surrounding him, so the first attacks that arrived were all long-range. Aside from those that caused damage, there were also a few curses with controlling effects. The cla.s.s composition of these NPCs was quite well-rounded.
But Sun Xiang had predicted this possibility. When the attacks reached him, the end animation of Shattering the Lands had completed. One Autumn Leaf darted forward like an arrow, leaving many attacks behind him. At the same time, he swung his arm again, tossing forth a Tyrant’s Destruction toward the NPCs falling from the air like dumplings.
A streak of dark light. The many NPCs tumbling in front of One Autumn Leaf were swept aside by the Tyrant’s Destruction. Each of them flew backward toward the mountain wall, where Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim was still cheerfully watching the show!
Sun Xiang didn’t forget who his opponent was, he didn’t forget the goal of this battle! While sweeping away this disruption, he was already beginning to attack Ye Xiu.
Sun Xiang had turned the NPCs into human cannonb.a.l.l.s, but the blowback of the Tyrant’s Destruction wasn’t very strong. These human cannonb.a.l.l.s didn’t fly very quickly, and could be blocked by any casual attack. Even using a grab skill to throw these cannonb.a.l.l.s back at One Autumn Leaf would be a very simple thing to do. But Ye Xiu chose to dodge. Lord Grim jumped down from his original position, once again displaying the capabilities of the ninjato. Lord Grim climbed along the cliff face, carefully avoiding all of the NPCs that Sun Xiang sent toward him.
“What is this guy doing?”
The pro players couldn’t quite understand. Sun Xiang was already suffering attacks from the NPCs that he’d been hara.s.sing. This was a perfect chance to add oil to the fire and grab victory. But Ye Xiu still stayed out of it, looking like his only plan was to watch the show. The watching pro players were confused.
And then, when those NPCs sent flying by the Shattering the Lands finally crashed back down against the ground, another wave of long-range attacks came toward him, and close-range fighters rushed toward him as well. Seeing the movements of the NPCs, the pro players suddenly understood.
“This guy is too sneaky!” everyone exclaimed.
Ye Xiu could have begun his offensive now, but he chose not to, solely because he didn’t want to draw the aggro of the NPCs. Right now, the NPCs were already moving against One Autumn Leaf. If Lord Grim attacked One Autumn Leaf at a time like this, it would be very easy for Sun Xiang to direct his attack onto an NPC.
And so, he chose to avoid it all. He had no conflict with any of the NPCs, nor did he give Sun Xiang the chance to create such conflict.
This sort of sensitivity to the aggro of NPCs was really something that could only be trained after spending large amounts of time in-game. The high and mighty pro players clearly weren’t sensitive enough to this, to the extent that not a single one of them had immediately recognized Ye Xiu’s intention.
The battle continued.
But it had already become a struggle between Sun Xiang and the NPCs. Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim perched upon the wall unscathed as he watched the battle, and then it became time for his trash talk.
“Right, right.”
“Left, left.”
“Above.”
“Nice reactions!”
“14 o’clock direction.”
“That’s just 2 o’clock!”
“Haha tricked you.”
“Hm you didn’t believe it?”
Messages flashed nonstop in the channel. Looking down from above, Ye Xiu gave pointers on the chaotic battle between Sun Xiang and the NPCs. The Samsara fans felt tightness in their chest. Most of them felt that this battle wouldn’t turn out well for Sun Xiang. However, the pro players didn’t have such a simple view of the problem. They quickly noticed that even though Sun Xiang was amidst all this chaos, One Autumn Leaf wasn’t suffering very serious injuries, and was in fact getting braver and braver as he fought.
“The NPCs aren’t very strong!” the pro players said.
This was the reason why their opinion was different from that of ordinary gamers. Because their skill levels were different, their worldviews were different. Surrounded by so many NPCs, ordinary gamers would think that this was a death sentence. But for a pro player, this was a still a situation that they could deal with.
There was another point, too. The NPCs didn’t forget about their own battle just because of the interference of Sun Xiang. Right now, they were still attacking each other as well, and Sun Xiang was very cleverly able to take advantage of this.
That silhouette amidst the chaotic battle became clearer and clearer. Around him swirled all sorts of magic energy.
Neutral Chasers, Light Chasers, Dark Chasers, Fire Chasers, Ice Chasers…
Five types of Chasers, five colors. Right now, One Autumn Leaf was adding them up without interruption. Aside from this, there was a gold aura surrounding him, so bright that it practically outshone the light of those five types of chasers.
Battle Spirit!
The Awakening skill of the Battle Mage, a status activated after enough combos. After the Level 75 upgrade, it could reach eight stages. It was a cla.s.sic skill that was loved by countless players in-game.
And right now, the blinding golden light that flashed around One Autumn Leaf was that of the eighth stage. It had been extremely rare to see in this professional season, especially in a 1v1. Eighth stage battle spirit required a 150-hit combo.
Such a steep requirement, there was practically no chance of it appearing in an individual battle. An opponent that you could hit a 150-hit combo on was basically a wooden dummy. By that point, activating Battle Spirit would basically be pointless.
Because of this, many pro Battle Mage players wouldn’t add many points to this skill. Awakening skills were all extremely strong, and costed a significant amount of skill points.
But who was One Autumn Leaf? This was the character named the Battle G.o.d, the number one character in Glory, his Battle Spirit had definitely been leveled up to the max. Before, Ye Xiu had used this character. After Sun Xiang received it, with his kind of personality, he believed that he could do anything that Ye Xiu could, so he didn’t adjust the points on Battle Spirit. The Level 75 update came around, adding another rank to the skill, going from a max seven stages to eight.
The Sun Xiang that arrived at Samsara was already beginning to reevaluate himself. Still, he didn’t erase the points on the Battle Spirit skill. This kind of skill, relying on technique to increase battle power, he felt that it suited his style very well. It was very difficult to reach that high of a rank in a solo battle, but there was still a chance in a team round. It would still be difficult, but Ye Xiu had done it back in the day!
Even though many people believed that Battle Spirit wasn’t practical on the professional stage, in the hearts of the Battle Mage players, this was still a glory that belonged to them. To ignite the brilliant fire of the highest rank Battle Spirit on stage, this was something that every Battle Mage player had dreamed of, even though most would only put a few points into the skill in the end.
And Sun Xiang, he dared turn this dream into reality, he wanted to light up with the flaming golden light of Battle Spirit.
And today, he accomplished it.
Even though it had been convenient with the setup of this map, if he hadn’t had this kind of goal from the beginning, perhaps today’s One Autumn Leaf would only have a second or third rank Battle Spirit. He wouldn’t be aflame with such a glorious battle aura.
“This time, Ye Xiu played around for too long, huh?” the various pro players exclaimed.
The NPCs’ battle ability wasn’t anything incredible, they hadn’t completely controlled Sun Xiang. One Autumn Leaf paid a bit of price in health, but he managed to ignite the strongest state of the Battle Mage. If this continued, these NPCs wouldn’t be any obstacle at all, and Ye Xiu would have to face a One Autumn Leaf that had reached an incredible level of power. This was something that even he, as One Autumn Leaf’s creator, had never witnessed before.