Chapter Ch75 - Provincial Compet.i.tion – Elemental Dancer End
translator: xiin
editor: kara
Female commentator: “Bring it! Let me boast about my G.o.d’s brilliant mind, insight, intricate planning, and fine judgement!!”
Male commentator: “You, you, you, you… you’re nothing but an insignificant person who has achieved minor success. Let me tell you, with Geng Chen’s strength as one of the top 50 in the national rankings, the next match won’t be so easy.”
He wanted to ask the director to switch the camera and show a shot of Geng Chen when he made this statement.
But, he hadn’t expected that the director would shake his head at him and raise an information board that said: Geng Chen felt too much pressure from the previous match and applied for a half-time break of ten minutes.
The two commentators: “……”
Oh! This, this, this… thinking about how Geng Chen, a national-level contestant who had lost and come back to partic.i.p.ate in the provincial compet.i.tion, had encountered Odin, who had been confirmed as a G.o.d, even before they came out of the group matches…it made people suddenly feel quite distressed for her.
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The half-time break lasted for 15 minutes due to Geng Chen’s request.
The two commentators were left with extra time to say a little more: “I didn’t think that there would be such a wonderful compet.i.tion during the second round of the group matches. I dare say that both players are really at the national level.”
“Geng Chen is more of a veteran, but she was rather unfortunate last year and encountered Jiuzhou in the top 32. This year, she fell back into the provincial compet.i.tion and met Lord Four in the group matches…”
“The situation for elemental mages is not optimistic this year. It’s reasonable to say that Geng Chen’s plays in the previous match were already specifically prepared in advance for use against Odin. You can see that in terms of movement, she had prepared Eye of the Storm, and for defense, she had the Ice Shield. For control, she had prepared the shackles, and the lightning, and even Echo––these are all skills that target a.s.sa.s.sins, but she unexpectedly still lost.”
“On the other hand, if you look at contestant Odin, it’s hard to tell if he targeted her specifically or not. This contestant almost never uses the system skills. I suspect that he didn’t bring any system skills at all as he uses techniques every time…”
“––Wait a minute! It’s a little scary now that you say that. How many techniques does he have to have hidden away in order for him to do this? As far as I know, there’s only one contestant, Vantico, in the top 100 across the nation who dares to use all techniques with no skills…”
“That’s not it. Look! For movement, Odin has flash; for defense… well, I haven’t seen him defend on the field so let’s not mention it for now. For control, he used the throat slice, and I’ve never seen another a.s.sa.s.sin who can use it with 100% accuracy. For ambushes, he has stealth and shadow jump––do you feel that his shadow jump and stealth are skills or techniques?”
“It’s a bit wasteful to train up this kind of instant skill into a technique. It’s also very difficult, and training it for a few years will only be able to shorten the cooldown time a little bit, hm…”
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Fifteen minutes wasn’t actually a long time. Most of the audience felt like the second round had started just as they were settling in to idly pa.s.s time.
When the two contestants returned to the stage, it was clear to everyone from Geng Chen’s expression that she wasn’t in a good state.
However, this was quite understandable. After all, she had fallen all the way from the National Championships to the provincial compet.i.tion. If she lost this match, she would have to enter the loser group of the provincial compet.i.tion. For a top player, who was once ranked 35th nationwide, not only was this an unbearable major failure, but it also gave her a huge amount of psychological pressure in the next match.
Geng Chen’s personal trainer gave her some extra encouragement before she came back onto the stage.
Geng Chen nodded her head sharply, then walked up to meet Odin.
She saw that Odin seemed distracted, his indifferent eyes not even looking at her as he observed something else.
Geng Chen took deep breaths to adjust her mentality.
It may be difficult for others to imagine, but the larger part of the pressure she felt hadn’t come from the compet.i.tion and ranking but rather from the a.s.sa.s.sin in front of her right now.
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Second match’s randomized map: Black Iron King’s Court.
Although this was an indoor map, the s.p.a.ce was still very large. It was basically a huge room with ceilings up to six meters high. It was neatly lined with load-bearing columns, and the lighting was installed on the pillars. There were no decorations in the room other than a throne at one end.
Even though there was lighting, as a whole, this map was quite dim.
Female commentator: “Why is the style of this map so dark? Is there any difference between this and the area between the cliffs in the previous map?”
The male commentator shared his opinion, “Of course, there’s a difference! This map is large and doesn’t have many things in it. It’s still a relatively equal playing field for these two melee players. Geng Chen still has more advantages on even terrain. In any case, elemental dancers have a natural restraint against a.s.sa.s.sins.”
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At the start of the game, Geng Chen and Odin stood face-to-face in front of the throne.
The shadows of the two people were lengthened by the dim lights, making this scene appear very medieval.
The thirty-second countdown soon ended.
Everyone watched as the two contestants made extremely different moves––
Geng Chen immediately started with Eye of the Storm, quickly lifting off and choosing to stay away from Odin!
As for Odin, he didn’t even go invisible or hide. He started off with a ‘flash’ and even pulled out his own daggers during the ‘flash’!
Male commentator: “A frontal attack! Why is Odin fighting so fiercely in this match!?”
Of course, his fierceness was due to certainty.
Tyron had never been an impulsive person. When he suddenly appeared careless, it just went to show that he had already obtained all the conditions he needed to win.
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In the next moment, the two commentators were caught by surprise.
This was because Geng Chen’s actions were abnormal. She didn’t act like she had in the last match where she immediately counterattacked but instead chose to quickly leave the close-combat range!
Female commentator: “Wait a minute! Did contestant Odin set up another trap?”
Male commentator: “That’s not right––Geng Chen misjudged! Odin was simply planning to go up and fight!”
The master a.s.sa.s.sin took advantage of the column. At first, his figure seemed to be as light as a small bird, but when he was ready to attack, his speed suddenly burst to the limits, going from a bird to a flash of electric light!
Female commentator: “Flash! Straight into the storm!”
This scene was really familiar. Everyone believed that Geng Chen would take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to use her famous combo and trap the a.s.sa.s.sin with ice shackles.
However, Geng Chen didn’t do so!
Her retaliation move was a gust of wind––the damage this skill caused was very small, but the chanting time was very short and wasn’t likely to be interrupted while she was within the storm.
Odin took advantage of this gust of wind to directly leave Geng Chen’s storm. After that, he didn’t hesitate at all as he once again used the column for leverage and continued to ‘flash’ in for the kill!
This trend was the complete opposite of the last game, and it was a world of difference!
The female commentator looked completely confused, “What’s going on? Why is Geng Chen so anxious to allow Odin to leave the storm while Odin cuts in again and again while playing so aggressively?”
The male commentator frowned and said, “Geng Chen has lost confidence in her own judgement! She has even lost faith in her melee tactics…”
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Tyron was fearless in the middle of the storm. After using ‘flash’ to get to Geng Chen’s side, he immediately launched a double-bladed attack!
As for Geng Chen, who had the support of the wind, she had a chance to use her ankle and wrist rings like last time in order to resist the sharp blades––
But, she didn’t do so.
She used a 1.5 second spell to create a shield for herself and then switched to a traditional ranged attack instead!
The male commentator yelled, “Another mistake! The effectiveness of using a shield at this time is very low! Odin’s damage output is also very powerful––”
He was still speaking when they all heard a shrill cry ring out loud.
––It was the cry of Song of Triumph!
This was because Song of Triumph’s movement speed had reached the limit once again. It cut through the wind, the shield, and everything around Geng Chen! Even a clear opening was cut out amidst the blue whirlwind!
Spell interruption! Critical attack!
To everyone, it looked like Song of Triumph had attacked three times almost simultaneously.
In the fourth second after the start of the match, Geng Chen’s health had already dropped to 70%!
The male commentator sucked in a cold breath of air, “Too cruel, too fierce. Odin is determined to swallow up Geng Chen, and Geng Chen has already lost her normal judgement ability…”
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It was not an accident that Geng Chen had lost her normal judgement.
During the first match, Tyron had set-up two events: The first time, Geng Chen had believed that she could resist his close-combat attacks only to discover that it had been done intentionally in order to capture her with a steel wire. The second time, Geng Chen had believed that she had a greater advantage in a narrow s.p.a.ce only to find that it had been a misguided belief. She had then been killed directly by the ‘continuous flash’!
No matter how excellent a contestant was, they wouldn’t be able to keep their peak state of calm and rational judgement under the master a.s.sa.s.sin’s deliberate means.
Real a.s.sa.s.sins had three killing moves: In the first second, they would ambush and violently attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate. After the first second, if their ambush failed, they would use their strength for frontal combat. In addition to strength, they would use psychological traps that were the most likely to make it easier to kill their target.
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Geng Chen had experience from thousands of confrontations against other opponents, but she had never been targeted, given psychological cues, and played with like she was dancing in the palm of someone’s hand like this before.
In the first ten seconds of the second match, she had already made two mistakes––and this fact was causing her to panic!
It was to the point where, when Tyron once again landed on the column and used it as a leverage point, crossing his two blades, Geng Chen reacted very quickly and exploded all of the wind pressure she could command!
It was because she’d seen this pose of Tyron’s before––it signaled the start of his ‘continuous flash’! She had to nip this chance of ‘continuous flash’ in the bud completely, or she would die in flashes of light just like she had in the previous match.
However, her heart suddenly went cold in the next second.
The male commentator yelled, “Odin put on a fake act! Geng Chen’s misjudgment this time is too fatal! It would’ve been better if she’d responded even a little slower!”
And then, it was due to her quick response and release of wind pressure that she broke the two columns closest to her, causing the storm around her to slow.
On the other hand, the figure of the master a.s.sa.s.sin across from her had just disappeared.
At the same time he used the positioning for flash, a short syllable issued from his mouth––
Shadow jump!
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At this moment, a look of consternation had just appeared on Geng Chen’s face.
Tyron’s figure appeared behind her, the two blades reflecting a cold and bright light––
Windmill combo! A seventeen-hit combo that also included a spell interruption!
The moment he landed, he once again borrowed power from a reverse flip and flashed up into the air!
And then, the Song of Triumph cried out again as it sent Geng Chen straight into critical health.
Even before Geng Chen could turn around, he’d executed two ‘continuous flashes’!
He took the ice shackles that Geng Chen casted directly and even managed to send out another spell interruption while moving in a slowed state.
After that, he completely ignored Geng Chen’s next spell, his two blades penetrating her chest at the same time.
––Geng Chen’s spell was interrupted again in the last fraction of a second.
Tyron was still covered with white frost when he jumped to the ground from the air, wiping the white frost that coated his two blades off on his lapel before finally putting his daggers back into their sheathes.
His movements were as smooth as floating clouds and flowing water. This all took place as the white light that represented Geng Chen dissipated into the air!
System verdict: Match ended. Contestant Odin wins, score 2:0.
20.02 seconds from the start of the match.