Chapter 152

Chapter 152 – Canglan VS Flying Feathers (2)

In order to prepare for the match against Canglan, Su Guangmo had spent a lot of energy. He studied the team configuration and repeatedly watched the team battles before the match. He finally developed a strategy and let his teammates practice it repeatedly. The result of a week’s hard work… Cat God directly chose three arena games and his previous preparations were in vain!

This was like in his student days. He would stay up all night before an exam to study 10 big questions. Then the test paper was seen and the questions weren’t present at all.

It was too big a pit! It made people want to cough up blood on the spot!

The mind of Cat God, how could ordinary humans guess it?

The Flying Feathers members also had complicated expressions on their faces when they saw this. They wanted to climb over and strangle Cat God.

Su Guangmo was cursing Cat God in his heart but as the captain, he must stabilize the situation. Su Guangmo took a deep breath and pretended to be calm. “Three rounds of arena against the Canglan team, there is nothing to be afraid of. We will follow the regular arena arrangements. For the first game, Xiao Dong and Ah Liang will take the lead. Cao Lang and Xiao Lu will be in the middle while Vice-Captain Yu and I will be the guards.”

Among the eight members of the Flying Feathers team, Zhao Xinglin was a thick-skinned paladin. He wasn’t suitable for appearing in the arena. In addition, the human priest Xiao Mu rarely fought in the arena. Of the remaining six people, there were four swordsmen, one assassin and one berserker. They were all combat-oriented classes and the combination of two and two would be enough to cope with the arena.

Today Cat God unexpectedly chose three arena games. It was really difficult for Flying Feathers but Su Guangmo could only steadily play the first game.

***

In the commentators’ room, Yu Bing secretly raised a thumb at Cat God’s intentional trap but spoke calmly on the surface. “Thanks to the changes in the seventh season, the home team can freely choose the mode of the games. Cat God selecting three arena games today is surprising but his choice isn’t wrong. Perhaps he wants to give the newcomers an opportunity to play?”

Kou Hongyi was in favour of this. “Every arena game requires three combinations and there are three games for a total of nine combinations. For example, the Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang combination. If Cat God is willing to give them the opportunity, they can play three consecutive games. This is really a good opportunity for the new people.”

Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang played badly in the last match against the Time team. If it wasn’t for the strong counterattack of the Shu Bai combination then it is likely that the Canglan team would’ve lose the arena game. The majority of audience members understood after this explanation. Perhaps Cat God’s choice was indeed biased towards giving the Zhou Li combination more opportunities.

Tan Shitian watched the live broadcast and said, “I guess that Cat God will send Zhou Hang and Li Xiaojiang as the main force against Flying Feathers.

Cheng Wei heard Kou Hongyis explanation and immediately echoed it. “Cat God obviously has his own plans. The netizens know nothing!”

Tan Shitian helplessly looked at him. “Don’t open an account to argue with them. Your account can be recognized by everyone.”

Cheng Wei was using a side account called Number One Fan, it was simply too obvious.

Many people in the live broadcast site were still laughing at him. [What about Vice-Captain Cheng?] [He was recognized and ran away!] [Great God Cheng, next time you should change to a less recognizable account e.g. Passerby A or Passerby B!]

Cheng Wei thought that this friend’s words were very reasonable and immediately logged out. Then he re-registered a new account called Passerby C.

Tan Shitian suppressed a smile and said, “The match is about to start. Don’t be busy opening a new account and watch.”

“Yes.” Cheng Wei’s eyes focused on the computer screen. Sure enough, Flying Feathers confirmed the mode and the two sides entered the stage of submitting the maps and participants for the first round.

Flying Feathers’ first combination was Dong Le and Lin Shiliang. The former was a newcomer who debuted this season and today was his career debut. The latter was an established member of Flying Feathers’ main force. He followed Su Guangmo since the first season and had a lot of experience. Both of them were terran swordsmen and the combination of ‘one old and one new’ was a relatively safe arrangement.

On the Canglan side, Li Cangyu really did send Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang.

The Zhuo LI combination was well-known thanks to the second division. The distinctive fast and slow combination hadn’t appeared in the league before. This combination worked in principle. As long as the hunter could protect the magician, Li Xiaojiang’s output would be the most stable turret.

However, since both of them were newcomers, they didn’t play very well during matches. They won several times in the second division but lost most of the time. In the first match against Time, it was almost impossible for them to fight back. Many audience members remained in a wait and see state towards the Zhuo Li combination.

Today Li Cangyu let them play against the melee Flying Feathers team. It was obvious that he wanted to hone the two people.

Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang were well aware that Cat God was giving them opportunities. During the week, they had teamed up to practice in the arena. Before going onto the stage, Zhuo Hang squeezed Li Xiaojiang’s hand and whispered, “Xiaojiang, refuel.”

The fact that Su Guangmo and Flying Feathers was the opponent made him slightly nervous but Li Xiaojiang’s hand was very soft and his eyes clear. Not a single bit of tension could be seen, making Zhuo Hang magically calm down.

It wasn’t a big deal if they lost since there was the Shu Bai combination behind them, as well as Cat God, Xiao Han, Old Zhang and Xiao Gu… There were so many teammates. It was enough if he and Li Xiaojiang did well.

Zhuo Hang smiled slightly as he thought this and sat in the contestant seats with Li Xiaojiang.

The first map that Li Cangyu selected was Demon Forest.

This map was no stranger to the audience. After all, it was a typical forest map and was often used by Canglan in the second division. Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang were most familiar with this map.

Li Cangyu’s thinking was very clear. This was the regular season and there was no need for a surprise map. Letting the newcomers hone their level was more important.

The map was selected and the contestants quickly refreshed on the map.

Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang rushed to the middle of the map. Once they arrived at the centre, Zhuo Hang carefully placed a low-level trap that lasted a long time but didn’t consume a lot of blue. The trap was exactly triangular to Li Xiaojiang’s position. If the other person wanted to attack Li Xiaojiang, there was a great possibility that they would step into the trap.

Once the trap was set, Zhuo Hang took a few steps back and stood near Li Xiaojiang.

Not far away, the two terran swordsman were rushing over here. Lin Shiliang with the ID of Big Bard was in front while the newcomer Dong Le with the ID of Half Understand was behind him.

Lin Shiliang’s competition experience was very rich. Once he saw Zhuo Hang, he guessed that there was a trap nearby and stopped. It was Dong Le who accidentally stepped into one of the traps!

Li Xiaojiang had been carefully staring at the computer screen. The moment that the other team entered his field of view, he prepared a skill in the direction of the traps arranged by Zhuo Hang. He could adjust to the left or right the moment he released the skills.

He was betting that the other side would step on one of the traps. In case the traps weren’t stepped on, he would interrupt his casting and run behind a tree.

The result was that the newcomer really stepped on it and was fixed in place.

Li Xiaojiang immediately cast the spell that he had prepared for a long time—Death Mantra, Shadow Winding!

Death Mantra enhanced the effects of black magic while Shadow Winding was the black magician’s continuous damage ability. Thanks to the bonus of Death Mantra, the newcomer would lose 2% of health every 10 seconds.

Dong Le was only frozen for three seconds and could soon get out of the control of the trap. Zhuo Hang immediately used Flying Feather Steps to quickly move to Dong Le’s vicinity, placing further silence traps and death traps.

Since the traps were invisible, Dong Le subconsciously stepped back after the control effect ended only to step into the Silence Trap.

Li Xiaojiang had already prepared a skill. This time it was Shadow Wrath and Hell Flames!

Shadow Wrath was a single target black magic attack skill that caused 10% damage. If the target was in a state of bleeding from the effect of Shadow Winding, it would make the damage over time more effective.

Hell Flames was a group attack skill that took a long time to cast. The special effects were gorgeous as dark flames rose from under the feet, resulting in a group damage of 30%.

Li Xiaojiang used two skills and the effects were superimposed, directly consuming 60% of Dong Le’s health!

This terrible damage made the live audience speechless.

Even the always calm Yu Bing couldn’t help saying, “Li Xiaojiang added all his skill points into attack. He might take a long time to cast a skill but as long as it hits, the damage is terrible. The Flying Feathers’ newcomer is obviously lacking in experience. He stepped into Zhuo Hang’s serial traps and gave Li Xiaojiang an opportunity to keep unleashing spells.”

Li Xiaojiang’s output was fierce but the rarer thing was how he arranged his skills in order. He first used Death Mantra to increase the effect of all black magic attacks, gave the opponent continuous damage. Then he waited for the opponent to step on Zhuo Hang’s traps again and followed up with explosive skills, beating the opponent to less than half blood in one breath.

Looking closely at the big moves he just cast, the angles were also tricky. They covered Dong Le while also taking into account Lin Shiliang’s position. This made Lin Shiliang find ways to avoid the skills and interfered with the opponent’s movements.

Li Xiaojiang was able to have such a cool mindset despite being a newcomer and didn’t panic. Yu Bing couldn’t help feeling a bit of affection for this stuttering shy teenager.

The old player of Flying Feathers, Lin Shiliang reacted very quickly. The moment that Li Xiaojiang opened his big moves, he immediately hide from Hell Flames and used Spirit Lock to set Zhuo Hang in place.

Then he quickly rushed in front of Li Xiaojiang, trying to interrupt Li Xiaojiang’s output. Li Xiaojiang saw him coming over and immediately retreated, entering the forest with many obstacles.

He was very familiar with this map and had practiced it many times with Zhuo Hang. After Zhuo Hang fell asleep, he would go to the computer to open the map and walk it over and over. He didn’t have the highest level in the team but he was definitely the most serious one.

His seriousness achieved results in today’s game. He pretended to be flustered as he moved and Lin Shiliang naturally pursued with all his strength. After chasing around a tree, he suddenly froze. It was a Frost Trap.

Ice crystals rose from his feet, freezing the person in place.

Lin Shiliang, “…”

Damn it, the Canglan team were full of actors!

Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang had learnt their acting skills from Cat God. They had practiced this several times. Zhuo Hang placed a trap behind the tree in advance and Li Xiaojiang fled in that direction, leading the opponent.

Lin Shiliang was fixed in place and Li Xiaojiang immediately emerged from behind a tree, taking advantage of the distance of a remote class to keep attacking Dong Le.

Dong Le used a swordsman’s skill to remove the trap controls and wanted to rush over to Zhuo Hang. The result was that Li Xiaojiang’s black magician directly hit him from the front.

Dark Fear!

This was a group control skill that caused group fear for three seconds. It should be saved in a team battle but the arena was different. Cat God said that in order to create a numbers advantage, he shouldn’t hesitate to open a big move to kill a person. This would create a 2v1 situation that made it easier to win.

Li Xiaojiang didn’t hesitate to open Dark Fear to make Dong Le out of control again!

At the same time, Li Xiaojiang cast Thorns Rising and Dong Le’s blood once again fell.

Zhuo Hang’s fixed body effect ended at this time and he immediately rushed to place a chain trap at Dong Le’s feet. This time he showed his fast hand speed and the speed at which he placed traps was simply dazzling. In the blink of an eye, he placed five traps in front and behind Dong Le before pressing his big move—Trap Blast!

Five serial traps, this was a hunter’s big move. The faster the hand speed, the better the effect.

The explosion of five traps caused Dong Le to directly fall to the ground.

[Great Navigator has killed Half Understand!]

The two of them opened big moves and killed the newcomer of Flying Feathers, forming a 2v1 situation.

Many of their moves were in cooldown and they didn’t have a lot of blue left. Still, it was as Cat God said. When playing 2v1, they could use the advantage of numbers to compete with the remaining opponent. After Li Xiaojiang took care of Dong Le, he immediately ran into the depths of the forest. At the same time, Zhuo Hang used a footwork skill to run with him. Lin Shiliang took a long time to find them.

Once he found them, the cooldown of their big moves were almost over. Zhuo Hang placed a bunch of traps to annoy the opponent while Lin Shiliang stayed in the distance as a stable output. Lin Shiliang relyed on his strong personal ability to hit the two of them but still failed to reverse the situation.

[Snail Crawling Slowly has killed Big Bard!]

Once the prompt appeared, both Canglan players were excited and their eyes were hot.

They won! They killed two people in the first division!

Zhuo Hang endured the urge to hug the small snail around him. He stretched out his hand and said, “Good job Xiaojiang!”

Li Xiaojiang nodded happily. “Yes, you also played very well!”

Zhuo Hang once disliked Li Xiaojiang and thought this slow person would drag his hind legs. Today, he found that Li Xiaojiang was particularly meticulous and he played very calmly. Every step that Li Xiaojiang made was serious and his skills arrangement was reasonable.

Xiaojiang was better than Zhuo Hang’s impulsive self.

If it hadn’t been for Li Xiaojiang’s control and output at the critical moments, it wouldn’t have been possible to kill both opponents.

This was the moment that Zhuo Hang truly appreciated Li Xiaojiang in his heart. He suddenly felt that his small snail was particularly lovely and it was his blessing to have such a serious and hardworking partner!

***

Under the stage, Li Cangyu also smiled when he saw this scene.

Zhuo Hang and Li Xiaojiang’s luck today was excellent. They met the Half Understand rookie of the Flying Feathers team. Dong Le was in a dazed state and allowed the Zhuo Li combination to win, which was helpful in raising their confidence.

The thing that made Li Cangyu truly happy was that these two learnt to protect each other and work with each other. This was what a good combination should look like!