Chapter 683: Crushed
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: GravityTales
Usually, in the Glory compet.i.tive scene, before the tournament ended, no one dared to speculate who would win. However, all of this changed when Zhou Zekai appeared during the playoffs. He left a deep impression that he was unbeatable.
Everything stemmed from his incredible performance in his matches. Zhou Zekai didn’t speak much out of stage, but he was someone who could speak with his actions.
Team Blue Rain’s original plan was to be on the defensive by sending out Yu Feng, they but didn"t expect Yu Feng to be matched up with such a strong opponent. Although Yu Feng was an All Star level player, no one favored him at the moment.
Silence fell upon the stadium. The fans, who were cheering hard for their home team, suddenly stopped after seeing the matchups between the two teams. It was as if the whole place had become a funeral service.
“Coach Li? Coach Li?!” The commentator called out continuously to his partner Li Yibo, but he couldn’t get any response out from him. Li Yibo seemed to have lost his soul, when he saw the team line up.
To resume the pause in their commentating, the commentator called the absent-minded Li Yibo back to the conversation.
“Ah? Oh….” Li Yibo finally snapped out of his daze and hastily responded.
“This team line up, how interesting…” Li Yibo continued.
With the battle commencing soon, Li Yibo immediately began to a.n.a.lyze it: “Team Samsara has surprisingly come out with an extremely formidable arrangement. Zhou Zekai and Jing Botao are the two best players in Team Samsara without a doubt. Following behind them is Lu Boyuan. He can’t be considered as someone on their level, but his performance in the first round of the finals was very outstanding. So naturally he would be the third player to come out in this compet.i.tion.”
“Does this mean that Team Samsara is determined to finish off Team Blue Rain in this individual compet.i.tion?” the commentator asked.
Li Yibo laughed and displayed his usual confidence: “Ha ha… I have to admit that I ignored a huge advantage in this sort of arrangement.”
“Oh?”
“This arrangement, aside from attacking, can also be used for defending. With this arrangement, it is very likely that Team Samsara will win at least two rounds in this individual compet.i.tion. With their current points, if Team Samsara can obtain the points for the following two battles, they would be in a situation, where they cannot lose. Even if Team Blue Rain managed to win the remaining compet.i.tions, their points would be tied 9.5 to 9.5 and there would be a need to fight another round to decide the winner. If we look at things from this perspective, their decision to go all out in this individual compet.i.tion is an extremely strategic move!” Li Yibo explained.
“Your a.n.a.lysis is truly insightful!” The commentator praised. In the meantime, the first
Zhou Zekai VS Yu Feng.
Cloud Piercer VS Brilliant Edge.
Anxiety seeped into everyone’s hearts. Team Blue Rain’s safe guard had been thwarted by Team Samsara’s powerful line-up. Was this really a coincidence?
Taking advantage of the fact that both sides had yet to fight, Li Yibo quickly squeezed in a few more comments, “By placing Yu Feng in the first battle, Team Blue Rain was probably thinking of reducing the pressure on him. If he were placed in the third round and Team Blue Rain lost the first two battles, the pressure would be very great because his round would be the deciding round. As such, putting him in the first or second round is a fairly good choice. However, I think that this has exposed an important piece of information.”
“What is it?” The commentator asked.
“Team Blue Rain is putting hopes on Yu Feng to win the first battle. If he wins, he would have completed his mission and the following two contestants can relax. If that happens, they might even have a better chance at winning the match, provided that one of their other player wins their round, to avoid the possibility of a tie. So in my eyes, putting Yu Feng first is Team Blue Rain wanting to win two rounds of the individual compet.i.tion. They don’t want to decide the win through a tie-breaker.” Li Yibo said.
“I see…” The commentator replied, “In any case, they’ve hit a brick wall. Now then, everyone. Let"s focus on the match. Brilliant Edge is now closing in on Cloud Piercer and is within Cloud Piercer’s attack range. Will Zhou Zekai start attacking?”
“Oh, he didn’t. Both sides are still approaching each other as if they were both melee cla.s.ses. Of course, Brilliant Edge is a Berserker, so close combat would be his main form of attacking, but Cloud Piercer isn"t… He could have started attacking when he was 10 units away, but instead he’s closing in on his target.”
“Ah, the attacks have started! Fellow friends, now marks the start of the second match of the Season 8 Glory Pro Alliance Finals. The first round of the individual compet.i.tion is between Zhou Zekai of Team Samsara versus Yu Feng of Team Blue Rain! The characters on the battlefield are Cloud Piercer and Brilliant Edge! Someone has finally made their first attack, but the attack wasn’t made by Cloud Piercer, who has the long range advantage, but Brilliant Edge! Even though Berserkers mainly use close-ranged attacks, those who are familiar with this cla.s.s would know that they have several mid-range skills too. That"s right, Sword Draw! It"s a shared skill before the level 20 Swordsman job advancement!”
“Zhou Zekai didn"t retreat. Instead, he used a Slide Kick. Cloud Piercer slid underneath Brilliant Edge and immediately counter attacked!”
“Head-on attack! To think Cloud Piercer would fight a Berserker in close combat…”
“Punisher… evaded… whirl kick, knee attack… hit! Wow, beautiful!! Cloud Piercer’s sequence of attacks was so quick! Yu Feng reacted fast, but in the end, he wasn’t able to dodge the chain of attacks….”
“Gatling Gun…”
“Wow, everyone look! Zhou Zekai is using Knee Attack and Gatling Gun to produce his own version of BBQ. Ha ha, the shared skill BBQ has a chance at being a grab and deals moderate damage too, so it’s a must-have skill for all gunners. Many players might even skill it up to a high level. However, those who are familiar with Cloud Piercer knows that he has only put in one point into the skill because Zhou Zekai only desires the grab chance. As for the damage or other effects, he can use Gatling Gun to produce the same effect!”
“Grenade! Oh, Mechanical Seeker was also thrown out! All of them are low leveled skills. Low leveled shared skill have short cool downs, so they are very important for continuing combos.”
“
“Wow, Random Firing!!”
“Brilliant Edge in midair is being attacked by Cloud Piercer’s Random Firing… He can"t land because of his incredible execution of Delivery Gun… all of his attacks. .h.i.t!!”
“Thunder Snipe! Headshot! Double damage!! While Brilliant Edge was tumbling in the air due to Random Firing, he managed to hit a headshot, dealing double damage. Zhou Zekai! This is Zhou Zekai and the Great Gunner, Cloud Piercer!!”
The commentator chattered excitedly as the battle continued. On the other hand, Li Yibo was depressed. At first, he had been preparing to explain the reason and purpose for why Zhou Zekai didn’t start the battle from a long-range, but the battle moved too fast for him to make a comment. Even so, the commentator was able to follow along smoothly as if he were reading a textbook.
In terms of speaking speed, the commentator was definitely faster than him.
The purpose of the guest was to use his professional insight and a.n.a.lytical skill to a.n.a.lyse the actions of the players, helping the audience understand the meaning behind their actions. Unfortunately, this time, the battle moved too fast and the commentator’s rapid talking didn’t give him any time to make a comment. When the attack on Yu Feng’s Brilliant Edge finished, he was still waiting to talk about the initial exchange….…
Good, he got the chance to speak out now. But would there be any meaning in explaining the previous attack now? How many people would still remember that?
Fine. None of that mattered now. He needed to show that he existed though. As soon as the commentator stopped to take a brief respite, he immediately followed up with his a.n.a.lysis:
“Under normal circ.u.mstances, Gunners will try to keep their distance and kite the enemy until they found a chance to follow up with some burst damage, But Zhou Zekai did the opposite. He started the fight by closing in on his opponent. Everyone saw what happened afterwards. He started a burst of attacks! A Sharpshooter winning in this sort of situation will certainly affect Yu Feng’s mentality. Sharpshooters have long-ranged attacks. Once Yu Feng’s Berserker was closed in on and lost the exchange, in order to escape, he would need to run very far. Everyone, look at how Yu Feng’s Berserker has pulled quite some distance away from Cloud Piercer, yet Cloud Piercer can still deal damage to him. There’s nothing he can do. That’s how far a Sharpshooter can shoot.”
“For Zhou Zekai to play like this, is he that confident in his ability to win? Even though Sharpshooters have close combat skills, they still can’t compare to an actual melee cla.s.s, right?” The commentator voiced out his doubt.
“Of course.”Li Yibo nodded his head, feeling accomplished for having able to finish his explanation.
“Alright! After both sides exchanged attacks, Yu Feng"s Brilliant Edge attempted to approach Cloud Piercer again, but…… this time, Zhou Zekai changed his mind. Instead of fighting with Yu Feng’s Brilliant Edge in close combat, he starts to use his range advantage to attack Brilliant Edge…..”
“Yu Feng might be in trouble this time…” Coach Li sighed.
He finally guessed correctly this time. In the first round of the individual compet.i.tion, Yu Feng was completely crushed by Zhou Zekai.