Chapter 1721: Indistinguishable Shadow Steps
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Brick!
Steamed Bun Invasion acted. So brash, so splitting, in this sort of calm equilibrium, this kind of attack was like someone harshly slapping a desk in the middle of a silent cla.s.sroom.
Samsara’s three had been waiting for Steamed Bun Invasion to do something dumb. They had purposely built this situation because they believed that Steamed Bun couldn’t keep up with the tempo.
But Steamed Bun’s steady performance caught them off-guard. They didn’t have the spectator view, so they didn’t know how it was happening. Ye Xiu simultaneously controlling his own Lord Grim and giving instructions to Steamed Bun, and Steamed Bun completely understanding and completing them, something like that had to be witnessed to be believed. Even experts like Zhou Zekai, Jiang Botao, and Sun Xiang couldn’t think of this possibility.
The Samsara players offstage were all very anxious. These sort of unknown situations would always catch them off-guard. They wiped the sweat from their foreheads for their three teammates onstage. Right now, they were like all of the Samsara fans. After seeing Samsara get the advantage time and again, and then Happy catch up time and again, there was no way they could feel unshakable confidence. They had a deep feeling of danger.
Steamed Bun Invasion finally acted.
This was the change that Samsara’s three players had originally antic.i.p.ated. Although they were surprised that Steamed Bun could keep up with the rhythm at first, when Steamed Bun suddenly broke the rhythm, they weren’t in any panic.
The skill and experience of these three pro players were, of course, much higher than those of ordinary people. A single surprise wouldn’t throw them into confusion.
The Brick flew out.
They’d seen Steamed Bun Invasion beginning his attack in the forward direction, but this Brick was ultimately thrown horizontally, towards the character to the side of him, One Autumn Leaf.
One Autumn Leaf was going neither forward nor backward, he was just hanging around him. Because of this, Steamed Bun had been annoyed at him for a while now.
This Brick provoked shouts in the crowd.
But although this kind of trick was a bit like bullying, with the reaction speed and technique of a pro player, even if the trick worked, there was still plenty of time to recover and react to it.
One Autumn Leaf twisted slightly, letting the Brick go past him. Sun Xiang was carefully watching Steamed Bun Invasion’s movements. The guy was finally starting to act randomly. This was the opening they’d been waiting for.
The Brick missed, but Steamed Bun didn’t give up. A Sand Toss came toward One Autumn Leaf.
A needle was hidden in the sand!
Sun Xiang was paying close attention to Steamed Bun Invasion’s movements. Of course, he noticed the little trick in this Sand Toss. Steamed Bun had added a skill like Poison Needle or Paralysis Needle within the sand. Because of the nature of Sand Toss as a skill, under most conditions, people would simply control their character to turn their head to avoid being Blinded, while taking the small amount of damage. And so, some Brawlers would take the opportunity to hide another attack in the sand.
But if the trick was spotted, then of course it would lose its effectiveness. One Autumn Leaf dodged the two combined skills.
What next?
To be honest, many people were quite curious as to what kind of offensive Steamed Bun would pull off. Sun Xiang calmly waited for the next change.
Next, Steamed Bun ignored him.
On one hand, Steamed Bun had found him annoying to look at, so when he had the time, he threw some attacks at him. On the other hand, Steamed Bun followed Ye Xiu’s instructions very closely. Ye Xiu said to focus Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves, so Steamed Bun definitely wouldn’t change the main offense just like that.
Powerful Knee Strike!
The next attack didn’t go toward One Autumn Leaf again, but instead toward Empty Waves. Steamed Bun suddenly flew in that direction with his attack.
An opening!
Sun Xiang’s eyes lit up. Steamed Bun Invasion had hastily used an attack that didn’t fit in the battle tempo, instantly messing up the rhythm. Suddenly, there was a distance between him and Lord Grim. The distance wasn’t large, but in this delicate balance, this small distance was a huge rift.
One Autumn Leaf finally stopped keeping himself open to two possibilities. In this moment, Sun Xiang focused, and attacked! Having been waiting for an opportunity on the sidelines for so long, most of his skills were off cooldown.
One Autumn Leaf attacked, Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike!
The black Evil Annihilation darted out, leaving countless afterimages. Under One Autumn Leaf’s swift charge, it thrust toward that opening that Steamed Bun Invasion had left after his Powerful Knee Strike.
Sun Xiang’s goal was clear: to cut the connection between Ye Xiu and Steamed Bun. Samsara’s plan was also clear. In this moment, it wasn’t just Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf who launched the attack. Zhou Zekai’s Cloud Piercer also suddenly adjusted the gunfire he was exchanging with Dancing Rain to point in this direction, coordinating with One Autumn Leaf to disrupt Happy’s connections in one go. Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves began to attack Steamed Bun Invasion, because the Brawler was the next target they wanted to kill.
It was just this tiny detail, the distance between two characters creating an opening. But in such a high-level confrontation, it became a situation that would decide life or death. Ordinary gamers didn’t even know what had led Sun Xiang to act, what had led Samsara to change their tempo. They didn’t even know what opportunity Samsara had seized.
Experts knew.
Not only did experts know this, they also knew that this opportunity wasn’t necessarily as beautiful as Samsara thought it was.
Because Happy was in control of this opportunity.
Steamed Bun suddenly changing rhythm was an opening for Samsara, but it was one for Happy as well. Since Happy controlled the timing, Happy had a small lead in seizing this opening.
Beat the opponent at their own game…
Those old veterans who had fought against Ye Xiu for many years all exchanged glances, exchanging this one thought.
This was Ye Xiu’s speciality.
When the opponent thought that they had control of the situation, in reality, Ye Xiu was always a half-step ahead, or one step, or even more.
Today, this lead was very small. It couldn’t even be considered a half-step. But, this was still a valuable lead.
The opportunity that Samsara had been waiting for was what Happy had been waiting for as well.
But Ye Xiu was the one controlling when this opportunity occurred.
The lead came from this point. And this tiny lead, how could Ye Xiu not use it well?
Lord Grim was already moving.
Shadow Steps!
The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella s.h.i.+fted to the form of a sword in his hand. With a flicker, afterimages fanned out. But before they were even done doing so, the umbrella was already changing forms again, although it was still a type of sword.
Triple Slash.
Another weapon skill appeared.
Lord Grim’s afterimages swung their swords and moved, instantly criss-crossing each other, vivid and colorful. The audience felt their sight going blurred.
Real body, fake body?
Let’s put this question aside for now!
Everyone suddenly realized that they hadn’t even been able to count clearly how many afterimages Lord Grim had created with his Shadow Steps. He’d used Triple Slash while his afterimages were still appearing, but through the high-speed movement of the Triple Slash, the sword light and the afterimages all intersected, and everyone could only tell that there were countless Lord Grims swaying before their eyes.
“Five? Six? d.a.m.n!” Even top Blade Master Huang Shaotian was cursing. Even he didn’t dare confirm. This was too much of a blow to his pride.
They couldn’t even confirm the number, how could they confirm the target? Let alone whether the target was real or fake?
The three Samsara players were also completely unsure, but the arrow was drawn on the bowstring, there was no going back. The situation created by the slight opening was this. There was no more time to consider, and definitely no time to try a different strategy. After one step, after many steps, they could only clench their teeth and continue.
Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike!
Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf continued along his original path. His goal was to separate Steamed Bun Invasion and Lord Grim. Right now, there were countless Lord Grims in front of him, and Sun Xiang’s eyes were going blurry as well. Real body? Fake body? He didn’t have time to worry about that. Who cares how many clones you have, who cares how many are real or fake, I’ll attack them all!
The black Evil Annihilation didn’t hold back, harshly piercing toward Lord Grim.
But the afterimages of a Blade Master’s Shadow Steps and the clones of a Ninja’s Shadow Clone Technique were different.
Shadow clones were physical bodies, with health. Hit by One Autumn Leaf’s roaring Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike like this, there was a possibility that they would instantly be cleared off the battlefield. But Shadow Steps created illusions that didn’t have any health to them. When Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike pierced through, it was as though they were going through empty air.
This was undoubtedly a false body, but right now, Ye Xiu didn’t care that the opponent could use this method to distinguish real and fake. Because in just the blink of an eye, the afterimages could cross, and the one that had just been determined to be fake would be swapped to who knows what new position.
Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike pierced countless targets, but Lord Grim was still using Triple Slash.
One slash, two slash, three slash…
With his numerous afterimages from Shadow Steps, Lord Grim actually travelled through the Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike just like that, as though the Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike were also nothing more than an illusion.
It didn’t stop him, so it didn’t separate him and Steamed Bun.
The opening that Samsara had spotted ultimately went to Happy. It became an opening for Happy to attack.
One Autumn Leaf’s Hundred Dragon Meteor Strike missed completely.
Cloud Piercer’s fired bullets all hit air.
Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves stopped running away, and began to attack Steamed Bun Invasion. Steamed Bun Invasion arrived in front of him, but close behind was Lord Grim. The final slash of Triple Slash arrived right in front of him. The countless images of Lord Grim criss-crossed for the last time, as dazzling and dizzying as ever.
Which was real?
Jiang Botao couldn’t distinguish them, and that meant that he had no idea which strike he had to dodge.
Empty Waves was already using a wave slash, but it was aimed toward Steamed Bun Invasion. But in just the blink of an eye, Happy’s attacker had become Lord Grim.
Hit!
The final slash of Triple Slash hit, and this. .h.i.t immediately allowed Jiang Botao to tell which image was real. Empty Waves’ Divine Chain spun and slashed toward this real body, but heavy firepower was already blasting down from the sky – Dancing Rain’s powerful attack had arrived.
“Steamed Bun, follow!” Ye Xiu shouted in the chat.
Steamed Bun Invasion had been the one attacking initially, but the attack that hit Empty Waves first was Lord Grim’s. Steamed Bun Invasion, in order to dodge that wave slash, had rolled to the side, but right now, after Ye Xiu’s summon, he was instantly darting back.
3v1 focus fire. Although Cloud Piercer and One Autumn Leaf were already chasing toward the backs of Lord Grim and Steamed Bun, Happy didn’t retreat.
s.n.a.t.c.h the kill, fight for blood. At a time like this, they were competing in sheer DPS.
Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf swiftly charged forward, slamming down a Draconic Crusher.
This skill had high priority and knockdown. Its interruption of rhythm couldn’t be ignored, and so the two Happy players hurriedly dodged.
But, in fact, the midair One Autumn Leaf didn’t wait for the attack to be executed. Instead, he vanished.
Teleportation?
No matter how unconventional Steamed Bun was, he still had the judgment he was supposed to. He and Ye Xiu immediately moved again as they searched for One Autumn Leaf.
But a flash appeared before Su Mucheng’s eyes.
One Autumn Leaf, that silhouette with which she was incomparably familiar, had flashed in front of her Dancing Rain, blazing with murderous intent.