Chapter 33. Fighting side by side, never apart. ...
The pause lasted less than five minutes. The referee quickly announced via voice chat that the opposing team's request had been rejected and the game would continue.
The two commentators finally stopped their rambling and breathed a sigh of relief: "The game continues. It seems the Angels team has provided a reasonable explanation to the referee. Let's see what they're planning this time... Oh, the Hunter's first item is a level 1 armor!"
In the voice channel, You Xin calmly announced: "I've equipped my armor, and I've brought the stone with me. Everyone, try to maintain your health and not lose too much health."
The most unique feature of the jungle map compared to other maps is that there are no buildings that can form indoor spaces. Therefore, most of the time, both sides need to move the respawn point placement according to the opponent's position, otherwise they are very likely to be attacked in less than ten minutes.
However, moving the respawn point too many times also carries corresponding risks. After all, if a character is killed during the move, the dropped stones can easily be destroyed by the enemy.
Nan Zhiyi manipulated the bard, leaping through the bushes.
The jungle map has a strong three-dimensional effect. When encountering the other side, if the other side is in a tree and your side is on the ground, it is easy to be attacked from a higher position.
Jumping directly from one tree to another is obviously safer and faster.
There's only one problem—it requires players to have very precise control.
The distance between each tree is different, and if you make even the slightest mistake while running at high speed, there is a possibility of slipping off a tree and getting injured.
As for the particularly tall trees in the central area... sometimes, in professional competitions, spectators will witness players accidentally fall to their deaths.
[Angel's parkour skills are pretty high, running so fast. The bard's mark might actually be something he typed himself.]
From a first-person perspective, my skills aren't as good as his (I'm ranked 241st in the ladder).
[...Do you think he always plays dirty tricks in his videos, and how he always manages to escape when he's surrounded and chased by the other side?]
At the start of the game, neither side made any aggressive moves, peacefully looting their own resources on the map.
The bard received a lot of gold coins and began to upgrade his equipment and buy various damage-boosting items.
On the other side, in addition to upgrading his armor, the elven hunter also purchased auxiliary equipment with frost effects. Enemies hit by his shortbow will suffer a speed reduction debuff.
"It seems Angel Team has a solid foundation. They do indeed have a Bard carry and Hunter support lineup," the commentator said slowly. "It's just a bit strange... not a bit strange, but too strange."
"Both sides are playing quite steadily right now, and there haven't been any kills in the few skirmishes. This is definitely more advantageous for a late-game class like the Necromancer that needs to farm. Let's see how Angel's Will chooses in the first neutral resource fight around the ten-minute mark."
The first wave of neutral resources will spawn at the [Elf Altar] after ten minutes.
This is a small clearing in the dense forest. Once here, a ground battle is inevitable for both sides.
The biggest taboo in resource raids is losing points before the raid even starts.
However, at nine and a half minutes, the scene that many people didn't want to see still happened—
The Elf Hunter got separated from his teammates while checking vision and was surrounded by the other three enemy players besides the main carry.
"Oh no, the Hunter's position is in danger, he's been surrounded," the commentator said worriedly. "If he loses a point before the team fight, we definitely won't be able to contest the altar."
Narrator 2: "It's not just that the altar is lost... Yux is now carrying a stone!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then looked closely: next to Yux's avatar was a bright blue icon, indicating that the Resurrection Stone was on him at that moment.
If he dies here now, the Blue Team's stone will be destroyed by the opposing team. At that point, the chances of a comeback will become extremely slim.
Three against one, an Elf Hunter with armor and frost damage, ID yux, carrying a Resurrection Stone.
The three members of the Little Bell Team were irresistibly drawn to the hunter. Tangyuan, in particular, charged ahead, frantically chasing after the elf hunter.
The elven hunter did not choose to flee immediately, but instead climbed a little further up—he climbed directly to the very top of the jungle map, the canopy layer.
Meanwhile, the remaining three members of Angel's team quickly took up advantageous positions near the altar.
"Why aren't his teammates going to support the hunter? They've started attacking the altar guardian... They're taking it down so fast, they're about to take it down!" the commentator exclaimed. "The necromancer can't compete with them at all right now, it seems he's not planning to call any of his teammates back... They've taken it down! The bard's harp even hit the undead from a super long distance! We're doomed!!"
As the commentator shouted, the bard, holding his harp, casually cast a control-inducing spell on the necromancer.
Although the bard's damage was still negligible even with magic items, the remaining two rushed in, and the necromancer immediately fell to the ground.
Nan Zhiyi unceremoniously picked up the fallen item from his corpse: "I'll take it, I can use this."
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"...How can Yux's hunter run so fast?!"
You Xin controlled the elven hunter, nimbly leaping and dodging among the treetops while turning around and shooting frost arrows with a slowing effect at the three people behind him.
He could turn around and shoot at a moving target while moving, yet he made very few mistakes.
The other two were somewhat cumbersome meat shields, and Tangyuan charged ahead alone, taking the most hits. Now, with seven or eight short arrows stuck in his body, he looked like a running hedgehog.
The three of them took turns stopping and starting, and soon they were so disgusted that they couldn't stand it anymore.
But one person can never outrun three.
Soon, the elven hunter was surrounded. This time, he could no longer escape upwards.
"Although they paid the price of the altar and the undead, if they can kill the hunter and destroy the Resurrection Stone, then Little Bell's side will definitely gain more," the commentator analyzed.
At that moment, the Little Bell team's voice channel announced: "He's about to jump!"
"Won't you die if you jump from that high?"
"He's going to jump into the swamp! There's a swamp below!"
The words had barely left his mouth when the elven hunter leaped into the air—
The other three followed suit and jumped down!
"Crack!" The sound effect of a character falling into a swamp.
The three members of the Little Bell Team emerged from the swamp: "Where is he? Grab him!"
However, apart from the three of them, there wasn't a single person in the swamp.
At this moment, the commentator, who was watching from God's perspective, was stunned: "Holy crap... growth potion!"
"Yux bought a bottle of growth potion!"
"After he jumped down, he was in mid-air! He opened the shop and bought it! The person on the other side didn't seem to see clearly. After buying it, he threw it directly onto the vines under the tree canopy... The vines grew, and he grabbed the vines and went back to the tree trunk!"
"That hand speed is just too... too incredible." The commentator swallowed back the swear word that was about to come out halfway through his sentence, "The Hunters have already restarted, and the three members of the Little Bell team are still stuck in the swamp..."
The second commentator remarked detachedly, "This guy was just being used as a dog."
Having realized the truth, the Little Bell Team's voice channel fell into a deathly silence.
On the other side, Nan Zhiyi had already burst out laughing.
He repeatedly praised, "Well done! Absolutely perfect! How are you so amazing?"
Xiaoyu saw the whole thing from her perspective and was so shocked she was speechless.
As Yux's former teammate, Song Meng was the calmest of the three: "I feel like I've seen this kind of scene many times before."
You Xin maneuvered his character to leap through the bushes and quickly returned to the bard's side.
He accepted the gold coins the bard gave him, and scoffed, "They seem to really think I'd be stupid enough to bring a stone to explore the area."
[...The correct way to use the support Elf Hunter]
Even if he's playing support, the ID "yux" is still way too much here.
[The opposing team is really infuriating; they chased the support so much that the whole team went crazy.]
[The opposing team's vice player, before Yux was out of the news, he was always stirring up trouble for Yux and getting attention from negative comments. A while ago, Yux showed up and played in the All-Star game, and he suddenly started stirring up trouble for Angel Yi again, trying to accuse others of cheating. But the so-called evidence he produced was just a few chat screenshots.]
So it was him! No wonder he hates me so much, he's so despicable.
In the ten-minute mark, Angels emerged victorious. On the economy panel, they were already leading by 3,000 gold.
Of those 3,000 gold, 2,500 was from the Bard's lead over the Necromancer. The economic disadvantage made it extremely difficult for the Necromancer to play, especially since he was the team's only carry. Although Tangyuan also played damage dealers, their skill levels were simply not on the same level. Therefore, the Little Bell team had to sacrifice the development of the other players to support their carry.
As they continued to raise the Bard, the Little Bell team realized that they were no match for this damage-dealing Bard.
The bard's equipment was too good, and his skill combos were too smooth. The necromancer was originally chosen to counter the single-target damage dealer, the Elf Hunter, but unexpectedly, the opponent used a swaying move to place the bard in the same position as him.
The bard's music damage is an area-of-effect attack. The undead summoned by the necromancer are like leeks in his hands, being completely wiped out by the music as soon as they take shape—and giving the opponent a few small gold coins for free, counted by the number of undead killed.
Later, it almost turned into the bard single-handedly overwhelming all four of them with his firepower—the bard would jump and unleash skills from the bushes, while the entire Little Bell team would dodge like they were doing a tap dance on the ground, but they would still get hit by the enemy, while they couldn't even touch the hem of the enemy's clothes.
[How can Angel's piano playing be so accurate? It's all based on prediction.]
Does not turning it off mean it's on? Does not turning it off mean it's on?
[This can't be sprayed anymore, it's really open now.]
[No exaggeration, even the most active support bards these days don't play with this much flair, right? It's been a long time since I've seen such a smooth bard performance.]
[Active service? You might as well just say Wind's full name]
[A ghost story: Angel hadn't played a single Bard in ranked games in the 15 days leading up to the Italian tournament. His dominance wasn't due to superior mechanics or proficiency with the class, but rather because he completely predicted where his opponents were going to jump.]
The first game ended predictably at 25 minutes, with Angels wiping out the opposing team, destroying their Resurrection Stone, and ending the game.
"Brother You, Brother Yi, you guys played so well!" In the voice chat, Xiaoyu seemed to jump up from his seat in excitement, followed by a creaking sound from a chair. "I knew we could win! Evil, evil can't defeat justice!!"
【？？？】
However, where did this immature kid come from?
[The streamer must have dug him out of some obscure corner; he plays quite well.]
Nan Zhiyi: "…………"
Before he could even utter a word of celebration, a wave of intense embarrassment washed over him.
He kindly reminded her, "Little Fish, we're all live streaming right now."
"Huh?" Xiaoyu was taken aback. "Live stream... what's wrong?"
"..." Nan Zhiyi closed her eyes and sighed, "It's nothing."
[The beating was well done, but the way you spoke was a bit too blunt.]
The streamer's face clearly said: "I really want to kneel down and beg him to stop."
"I'm getting better and better at lying down now," Song Meng remarked in the chat. "Just throw a couple of attacks, add some damage, and I win easily."
Nan Zhiyi: "Everyone, turn off your microphones. I'm going to talk about the arrangements for the next game."
There was a 15-minute break between the two games. During the break, the two commentators, online guests, and viewers voted to award the MVP of the game to the player who had a novel idea, an effective build, and successfully held off the opposing Elf Hunter in a 1v3 situation.
"The MVP award is rightfully yours." After seeing the result, You Xin said, "This is the approach you provided."
Nan Zhiyi didn't care at all. If he cared about the MVP, he wouldn't have played support for so many years: "As long as we can win, I'm willing to give the MVP to the other side."
-
The map for the second game was randomly selected from the four remaining maps besides the jungle map. This time, the [Ruins] map was chosen.
The Ruins map has the most complex road conditions of all the maps. Although it is called Ruins, its actual structure is more like a "maze" - various collapsed buildings are scattered all over the map, and you can easily turn into a dead end if you are not careful.
If you are chased into a corner by the enemy and the enemy happens to be a class with good range, then you can only enjoy the enemy's enthusiastic attention to your backside while climbing the wall.
"Alright viewers, let's get back to the match. We're now in the draft phase of the second game," the commentator said. "After the short break, both teams should have made some adjustments—I wonder if Angels will continue their carry/support swap strategy in this game's picks?"
In the second game, Nan Zhiyi's team still only targeted Xiaolingdang in the ban phase, while Xiaolingdang's team banned one carry and one support.
The two sides switched sides, and the Little Bell team took the lead by picking the Alchemist, a hero with strong early-game offensive capabilities and suitable for a fast-paced lineup, while the South Zhiyi team picked the High Priest.
"Priestess..." the commentator said thoughtfully. "In my memory, Yux rarely chooses this class, and when he does, he doesn't seem to have had any particularly outstanding performances."
"We can't use Priestess as support this game, can we? I feel like that's reserved for Angel."
The commentator guessed correctly. High Priest is indeed Nan Zhiyi's career choice.
"...I'm only slightly better at playing C." Nan Zhiyi said with a headache in the voice chat, "I have a feeling that if I get it today, no one will let me have it again. Then I'll really have to rely on fancy tricks to the end."
Song Meng laughed and said, "So confident? You can get the priest into the ban position."
“He plays the priest better than I do,” You Xin, who had been silent until now, suddenly said.
Song Meng enthusiastically exclaimed, "Wow! That's amazing! I thought Xiao Yi would be better at elements."
Nan Zhiyi was a little embarrassed: "...Don't listen to his nonsense."
Elemental mages are agile and can switch between four forms: wind, water, fire, and earth. They have strong self-preservation abilities and can be used in both main and secondary DPS roles, making them a popular choice for many support players when filling in the gaps.
The High Priest, on the other hand, is an absolute squishy character—he also has two forms, [Light] and [Dark]. The former's skills have a burning effect, while the latter's skills have a built-in slowing effect.
Compared to other professions, the most distinctive feature of the High Priest is his "long arms".
In other words, this is a profession that relies heavily on foresight.
While the High Priest's skills seem simple, high in damage, and require little skill—just needing teammates to protect him—in actual combat, many unfamiliar players find themselves completely ineffective on the map.
After a frantic minute of fighting, I noticed the opponent's health bar was still full.
You Xin remained noncommittal: "We'll see in a bit."
You'll know once you see it!
I can't take it anymore, someone's started again.
[In all those post-match voice messages from CG, I've never seen you praise your teammates, but now that you've left the team, you're so eager to please a streamer. If you had treated your teammates even better, would things have turned out like this with the team?]
[Being isolated means you have a problem; the victim-blaming argument is back.]
[I said, is it possible that he doesn't praise his teammates because there's simply nothing about them worth praising?]
Next, Angel's team picked all three heroes around the High Priest, including the Catman, Swordsman, and Half-Dragon, who were responsible for close protection, supplementing damage, and tanking damage in the front line, respectively.
After the BP phase ended, the High Priest was in Nan Zhiyi's hands.
"Looking at it this way, the two sides have completely switched their game strategies in this game," the commentator remarked. "The Little Bell team has chosen a more flexible lineup, while Angel's Will... Angel's Will team has chosen a three-protect-one lineup."
"Yux got the Little Cat Man this game, so he shouldn't be carrying recklessly anymore, right?"
As the commentators said, once the game started, the catman finished the basic opening and then obediently attached himself to the high priest, and his equipment was also the traditional catman build in the game.
It seems he's determined to play a decent supporting role in this game.
Angels' team didn't have a smooth start to this game. At five minutes, the Half-Dragon was killed while protecting his teammates' retreat. At seven minutes, the Swordsman was killed due to poor positioning. In the central resource team fight at fifteen minutes, they suffered a 2-for-3 exchange.
The cat-man jumped off the high priest, holding the other side back and buying the high priest space to escape. In the end, only Nan Zhiyi managed to escape successfully.
The high priest stood atop the broken walls and ruins.
From afar, Nan Zhiyi saw an emoticon light up above the elemental mage's head on the other side of Tangyuan.
It's a gesture that looks like a thumbs-up.
The commentator naturally noticed as well: "Ah... this, the elementalist lit up an emoticon after the team fight, looks like he's quite... mischievous."
[So this is how they start to act?]
[This streamer is always like this, a very polite streamer. It's already considered tame to only use one emoticon after ten minutes of gameplay; normally they're just typing away.]
[You don't take the High Priest seriously? Two layers of marks in ten minutes? Are you kidding me?]
Although the resources were taken by the opposing team, the High Priest had already secured two kills, and his economy was not lagging behind that of the Alchemist.
On the priest's scepter, two layers of seals were shining brightly.
When this sign reaches level five, the High Priest's damage output will be fully realized.
The imagination is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.
On the ever-changing battlefield, accidents can happen in an instant—at the 26th minute, the half-dragon made a mistake when transferring the resurrection point, and the handover with the cat people who came to make contact failed, and the resurrection point fell into the hands of the Little Bell Team.
The red team's resurrection stone has been destroyed.
As the announcement came over the loudspeaker, everyone in the blue team's voice chat cheered, "Nice!"
"Take it down!"
At the same time, everyone on the red team felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.
Xiaoyu's voice was already trembling with tears: "I'm sorry, Brother Yi, it was me, I was just too nervous..."
Nan Zhiyi was still able to smile at this moment: "It's okay, as long as no one drops any more. We still have a chance to fight, so let's calm down first."
He carefully calculated in his mind: in four minutes, the spacetime battlefield in the center of the map would open, at which time they would have to fight a desperate battle against the enemy.
The Little Bell team most likely won't carry their respawn point with them. However, the map will shrink after thirty minutes, and the respawn point's hidden location will definitely be within the visible range.
There is only one way to turn the tide: kill all the opponents, and then find and destroy their respawn point before they respawn.
“When the battle begins, the enemy will definitely try to kill more of our people,” Nan Zhiyi said slowly. “After all, we’ve lost our resurrection point… Xiaoyu, Mengge. I need you guys… to be my bait.”
"Can you trust me?" he asked.
"able!"
I believe you.
Both of them gave an affirmative answer.
Thirty minutes later, a dazzling light burst forth in the center of the map.
The battlefield has begun.
The Time-Space Battlefield is the ruins of an ancient battlefield, guarded by a boss known as the Lord of the End.
The boss deals high damage and appears as a giant general clad in armor. He frequently slams his giant fist into the ground and is very difficult to kill. While both sides fight for the relics, they must also be careful not to get hit by the general's fists.
"The Little Bell team has grouped up and entered the Time-Space Battlefield, securing advantageous terrain." Even the commentator's voice was filled with tension. "The Angel Team is also closing in; their formation is a bit loose. The Red Team's respawn point has been destroyed. If anyone else falls at this point, the match might be over... Wait, what?! The Half-Dragon has charged right up to the General's feet! The General is now drawn to him!"
The general dragged his heavy steps. After being attacked, he instinctively walked towards his attacker.
In addition, the disconnect of the half-dragons also attracted the attention of the Little Bell team.
"Hit him! Hit him!" Tangyuan shouted in the voice chat, "Take down the points!"
The four members of the Little Bell Team immediately changed formation and moved to flank the half-dragon.
As a hybrid of dragons, the half-dragon was tough and resilient, but in just a few seconds, his health had dropped to half.
At this moment, the high priest led the cat-people up the city wall.
Three, two, one.
"What is the priest waiting for? He's waiting for—"
Jump!
The general's fist came crashing down from the sky.
The priest seized that fleeting moment and leaped from the city wall onto the general's arm!
at the same time.
[XiaoYu, the Half-Dragon], has been banished from the world.
The little fish collapsed.
Now he could only take his hands off the keyboard and weakly say into the voice chat, "Keep going, Xiao Yi..."
As he spoke, holy light descended from the high priest's scepter, but it was aimed at the alchemist's back.
"Huh? Why did Angel's Will miss that shot—"
The commentary abruptly stopped. Because in the game, the alchemist, as if possessed, leaped precisely to the very spot where the holy light would strike!
"Oh no, the alchemist is dodging the general's punch!" the commentator shouted. "How did he jump right into the holy light?!"
From a top-down perspective, the aiming line of the High Priest's skill can be seen, but for players in the game, the holy light suddenly flashes before their eyes.
With a "boom," the holy light of the five layers of magic seals struck the alchemist's head squarely, even though he only had three-quarters of his health left.
The alchemist was reduced to a sliver of health.
"Don't add any more damage!" Nan Zhiyi commanded as she retreated from the general. "Watch the elements! Watch the elements!"
The moment he landed, the high priest lost a quarter of his health, but the cat-like creature clinging to him quickly restored his health to full.
With a wave of the scepter, Tangyuan felt a sudden flash of light before his eyes. He instinctively retreated, never expecting that the holy light would strike him squarely on the head!
The elemental mage's health instantly dropped to a sliver.
"Fuck him!" Tangyuan cursed. "How the hell did he hit me? This, fuck, this—"
He almost blurted out "like he's cheating," but then suddenly remembered that this wasn't a ranked match but a game, and he swallowed the words back, his face turning bright red on camera.
While the High Priest was fighting, the enemy tank was taking damage until it was almost dead, and the support was also brought close by the swordsman. The two sides exchanged three-quarters and a quarter of their health.
"Alright, now!"
The swordsman suddenly turned and charged towards the alchemist who was healing.
The cat-man jumped off the high priest.
He transformed back into human form and shielded the high priest from harm coming from all directions.
[Swordsman] Meng has defeated [Alchemist] Bell!
[Swordsman] Meng's soul has been banished from the world.
[The soul of Yux, the cat-man, has been banished from the world.]
[High Priestess] AngelYi has defeated [Elemental Mage] TangYuan!
[High Priestess] AngelYi has defeated [Knight] Next!
[High Priestess] AngelYi has killed [Blacksmith] 1657!
Nan Zhiyi's hands were steady, so steady that it was as if he hadn't been in that critical moment. All his actions were as natural as flowing water: Holy Light finished off the low-health elemental mage, he switched to dark form to slow down the knight, ensuring that he couldn't charge at him in time, and then he finished off the blacksmith who had been brought to low health by the swordsman. In total, he dodged five skills thrown by the opponent, plus a general's fist.
The only one who couldn't dodge was shielded by the cat-man before he died.
The entire situation is laid out before us.
There wasn't a single unnecessary turn, not a single misstep in skill.
Three for four. After the bloody battle, only the priest remained on the temporal battlefield.
But he did not take the battlefield relics he had worked so hard to acquire.
The high priest turned and left. He leaped and climbed the city wall as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, heading in one direction, as if he already had a very clear destination in his mind.
"No way... Could it be..." The commentator's heart was in his throat, "Could it be that he... knows...?"
The high priest walked toward a collapsed city wall.
He went around to the back of the wall and bent down.
He picked up the four stones from the ground and destroyed them one by one.
At this moment, there are two and a half seconds left before the first alchemist who died is resurrected.
—The match is over. Two to zero.
"I... find it hard to express my feelings in words right now." After a long silence, accompanied by the image of the red team's victory, the commentator finally spoke.
"Right now, I only have one question on my mind," another commentator said, his voice broken and hesitant, as if he were desperately trying to hold something back. "I believe many viewers share this question right now..."
"How did the angel manage to find the resurrection point on the other side in just twenty seconds?"
"No... damn it, how did they figure that out?" He finally couldn't hold back and blurted out the curse that would get him penalized. "This is the most outrageous and dramatic match I've ever seen this year!"
"This opening match was absolutely fantastic!!"
"Regardless—congratulations to Angel Team for defeating their opponent 2-0 and securing their first victory in this Star Cup!!!"
There were no deafening cheers during the online match. Nan Zhiyi took off her headphones and leaned back in her chair, feeling a little exhausted.
His heart was still pounding, and even though he always tried to be modest, he knew he had just accomplished an incredible feat and turned the tide of the battle.
In the voice channel, Xiaoyu was excitedly shouting; young people are just so energetic… Song Meng was also speaking loudly, but Nan Zhiyi didn’t hear a word… Right now, he just wanted to share his joy with that one person.
Nan Zhiyi didn't turn off the live stream or turn on the comments. He left his seat, went out of the room, and walked downstairs.
As Nan Zhiyi turned the corner, she was slightly taken aback—You Xin was standing quietly in front of the stairs on the first floor, as if he had known all along that she would appear here.
Seeing him come down, You Xin opened his arms to him.
He paused for a moment, then quickly went downstairs. When he stepped onto flat ground, he lost his balance and almost bumped into the other person's arms.
As soon as Nan Zhiyi regained his footing, You Xin stepped forward and hugged him.
“You did it,” he said.
Nan Zhiyi didn't know what to say: "Mm!"
The familiar force and body temperature came through his clothes, and he suddenly remembered the past. In the crowded training room of the youth training base, after every victory, You Xin would stand up from his seat and the first thing he would do was to hug him.
This victory celebration gesture had long been an unspoken agreement between the two, to the point that at this moment, he had a subtle illusion—an illusion that they had been in sync and fighting side by side all these years, never having been apart.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Xiao You and Xiao Yi made a dashing opening match!
I can keep posting again, yay! [Cat emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com