The King's Avatar

If not for the colossus Excellent Era, Team Everlasting would have been the peak existence of the Challenger League this season. Meeting them in the second round was definitely not a blessing. However, very few pitied Happy. Instead, an enormous wave of ridicule crashed onto them. The original faceslapping group spread the news, telling their friends to witness their downfall. This time, Happy would definitely lose.

Chen Guo checked the forums everyday, so she saw these discussions. She didn’t tell it to the team though, afraid that it would affect their emotions. Everyone was working hard to familiarize themselves with their new set of equipment. They didn’t have time to be distracted.

That day passed quickly. On Friday night, room 117 in the Glory Arena’s Challenger League area was packed with players. The vast majority of the players, who followed Happy’s journey, saw Happy as the villains. At this moment, they were all supporters of Team Everlasting, which left Team Everlasting’s actual fans somewhat confused.

Everything in the Challenger League was audited automatically by the system. The special area for the Challenger League had its own custom settings for this purpose. 8:00 PM marked the official start of the matches. Before 7:55 PM, both sides needed to finish flipping their coin to determine who was the home team and who was the away team. The home team would also need to choose a map. The two teams would also be required to arrange the order of their team’s lineup. When the time came, the Challenger League would automatically select the chosen teammates and place them onstage. Before that happened, the two teams would not know each other’s lineup. It was the same as in the Pro League.

At 8:00PM, the second round of the Challenger League between Team Happy and Team Everlasting officially began. The first match was Team Everlasting’s home game. As a former pro team, they wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like forgetting to choose a map before the time limit ended.

When the time came, the first two competitors for the individual competition were automatically selected into the competitor’s seat.

For Team Everlasting, their team’s Launcher appeared: Dawn Rifle.

The Launcher wasn’t Team Everlasting’s core, but he was the character used by the team’s captain.

When He An paid a visit that day, He An had come with another visitor. Ye Xiu felt like this visitor seemed familiar, but he couldn’t remember who he was. After some investigation, he figured it out.

Wu Chen. He had been the vice-captain of Team Everlasting during the team’s three years in the Alliance. The character that he used was this Launcher, Dawn Rifle.

In season seven, he was demoted along with the rest of the team. What happened afterwards might only be known by his fans. After all, Wu Chen wasn’t anyone famous.

From the looks of it, Wu Chen had stayed on Team Everlasting and had now become the team’s captain. Usually, the team captain would not be switched when the original team captain was still there. If Wu Chen was promoted to captain, it was likely that Team Everlasting’s original captain, core player, and the owner of the Spellblade Quentinkin, Yu Hongliang was no longer with the team.

The team captain was not always the best player on the team, but rather the most reliable player. Now Wu Chen was undoubtedly Team Everlasting’s most trusted player. By placing him in the first match of the individual competition, Team Everlasting expressed that they wanted to gain the upperhand with a show of strength.

For Team Happy, Steamed Bun was up first. The first person to fight would be under a lot of pressure. Even a strong-willed and determined player would feel this pressure. Someone with a personality like Tang Rou may actually become worse the more they thought about doing better. In comparison, a nutjob like Steamed Bun couldn’t be more suited to this position.

Pressure? Did that word even exist in Steamed Bun’s dictionary?

When the characters stepped onto the stage, the chosen map was announced: Riverside Veranda. The match would begin as soon as the two players pressed start. If any of them didn’t press start, the match would automatically begin after five minutes.

”This map...” Ye Xiu mumbled after seeing this map.

”What’s important to know about it?” Chen Guo hastily asked.

”Steamed Bun.” Ye Xiu called out.

”Here.” Steamed Bun, who was currently warming up by stretching, replied.

”Be careful not to fall into the water.” Ye Xiu said.

”Understood.” Steamed Bun nodded his head.

Riverside Veranda was a partly water map. The gap between pro players and normal players was even more pronounced in an aquatic battle. This was because players could simply avoid this kind of situation and choose not to fight in the water, but if pro players acted in the same way, their opponent might utilize that to their advantage.

Truthfully, pro players did not like to fight in the water either, but they had no choice but to practice doing so. Team Everlasting choosing this map was clearly to bully this grassroots team. However, it wasn’t very thorough. A partly water map meaning there was still a portion on land. This type of map required more on-the-moment adaptation.

The match started. The characters were loaded into the stage. Once the countdown ended, the two characters were on opposite corners of the map as usual, except between these two characters was a winding corridor on top of the water.

Steamed Bun couldn’t care about all that. As soon as the match began, his character rushed forward. Wu Chen seemed very calm, moving neither quickly nor slowly.

The individual competition maps wouldn’t be too large. It wasn’t necessary and it was pointless. The two characters neared each other. Steamed Bun Invasion looked ferocious. He held his new Orange weapon, Poison Marsh Point. The poisonous gleam looked horrifying. It was clearly a weapon that increased poison damage. That sharpness looked as if it could tear an opponent to pieces.

Wu Chen still remained calm. While moving, he closely watched his approaching opponent, calculating the distance between them and planning his opening move. The Launcher’s advantage was in having the longest range of any class. As a result, Launchers usually made the first move, especially when facing melee classes. There was almost no possibility of a counterattack. If a melee character could attack back, then the opponent was already too close. That would be very disadvantageous. The hunter might end up becoming the hunted.

Brawlers had a few mid-ranged attacks, but the majority of the skills leaned towards melee attacks. Wu Chen decided not to give his opponent any opportunity to approach him. When he was at about the right distance, he would start attacking.

The distance between them grew closer and closer. His mouse was already targeting Steamed Bun Invasion. For gunners, their mouse would be the direction in which their bullets flew towards.

”That’s about right!” Wu Chen checked the distance. Right when he was about to attack, he suddenly saw Steamed Bun Invasion stop.

With this sudden halt, the attack that Wu Chen had been about to make was now useless. Wu Chen was also astonished.

What sharp eyes!

Wu Chen didn’t think this player from a grassroots team would have such perception. He actually noticed that I was about to attack?

However, he had already readied his gun. He might as well attack. Wu Chen was just about to attack, when he suddenly saw Steamed Bun turn around and run.

As a result, the distance between the two sides became farther and farther away…...

”What is he up to?” Wu Chen was puzzled.

Even if his opponent saw through his intentions, there was no need to run away. If he was running because he saw that he was going to attack, this match might as well not be played. Launchers had longer range. Wouldn’t he get hit first because of a range disadvantage? The opponent of a Launcher should be figuring out how to get closer, not farther away from the Launcher.

If the other side wasn’t going to come, then he would have to go himself.

Wu Chen thought to himself. He continued to move forward, closing the distance between him and Steamed Bun Invasion. At the same time, he didn’t relax his guard towards Steamed Bun Invasion, but the other guy just kept on going round and round. Wu Chen couldn’t guess his opponent’s intent. However, the distance between the two sides was closing. Wu Chen finally made the first attack of the match.

Three Anti-Tank Missiles flew over. While shooting, he swiped his mouse horizontally, so the three missiles lined up, restricting Steamed Bun Invasion’s next movements.

Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t try to dodge. He swung his arms and a brick flew out towards those missiles.

Bang.

The brick exploded into pieces, but so did the missiles. This type of weird interaction wasn’t rare in the game.

As a pro player, Wu Chen wouldn’t just attack once. He already had plans for his follow-ups and sent a barrage of attacks towards Steamed Bun. After Steamed Bun smacked down those missiles with his brick, he didn’t do anything flashy anymore. Facing the opponent’s bombardment, he scurried around like a housefly.

Wu Chen was a bit confused. His opponent didn’t look like he planned on fighting back! Was his bombardment really so fierce that he was completely overwhelming him?

However, as the team captain, this thought only briefly crossed his mind. If he didn’t even have a clear understanding of his own strength, how could he be the most reliable on the team?

It wasn’t that he was strong, but the other side was too weak. That Steamed Bun Invasion couldn’t even get through this level of firepower….. He didn’t seem as impressive as before!

Could it be... the previous Steamed Bun Invasion was actually Ye Qiu playing and this is the real one? But that shouldn’t be the case. If that had been a trick, it wouldn’t make sense for Ye Qiu to be so upright facing a difficult opponent like Team Everlasting.

Wu Chen was doubtful, but he didn’t dare to relax for a second. As he continued to attack, he continued to watch Steamed Bun Invasion’s movements. Wu Chen suddenly understood, but at that moment, he became confused again.

Because he discovered that the reason that Steamed Bun Invasion had been passive and never rushed towards him was because he couldn’t figure out his way around the corridor!

What’s going on?

Wu Chen was truly puzzled. This corridor was a bit confusing to navigate through, but it wasn’t so complicated that you could get lost. It wasn’t designed to be a maze. Moreover, if you’re lost, you can just jump in the water and then swim to your destination!

”It’s all your fault...” Chen Guo glared at Ye Xiu, ”You told him not to go into the water.”　　

”It’s over. D*mn...” Ye Xiu felt sorry too.