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The two teams of players had already neatly filed onto the stage.

The team competition was like an opera. It was a life or death situation. Who won and who lost would decide the fate of both teams. Living meant heaven, while dying meant another year of hell. Yet for Excellent Era, this would be an even deeper hell. Spending two years a row stewing in the Challenger League? Even Excellent Era would be embarrassed to call themselves a powerhouse if that happened. Sun Xiang, Xiao Shiqin, they were both All-Star players and top players in the Alliance. Both of them had sacrificed a year because they had been looking towards Excellent Era’s future, but if the future was another year in the Challenger League, it was hard to say if either of them would be patient.

We have to win!

This kind of conviction wasn’t something Tao Xuan needed to remind them of. They would certainly have it themselves. The future was what they were all looking towards, yet it was also something that they had to grasp and create for themselves.

What about Happy then? They had no way of sustaining for a year. As far as the outside world had been concerned, every step they advanced to signified their limit, but now, they had reached the final stage of the Challenger League. This was already something very unexpected. Defeating Excellent Era? In the eyes of many, this was something entirely unconceivable. Even those who wanted this to happen didn’t think it could.

The disparity in strength was too great.

Many people knew this very well. Even Happy themselves were well aware.

But the fact that no one knew the final result was what made competitions interesting. No one would dare to say who won with one hundred percent certainty. If the results could be determined just by looking at who was stronger on paper, why would there still need to be a fight?

Victory. It would always need to be fought for and earned. It was never about comparison.

The total number of players on both sides was twelve. At this moment, they had all entered their individual player booths. The map for the team competition slowly materialized on stage. The screen displayed the current loading bars of the twelve characters. Introductions were being made for each of the characters.

Wu Chen had never appeared during the offline tournament, so naturally his character had had little exposure. Now, after he suddenly appeared in the lineup, the spectators were suddenly brimming with curiosity about his character. Raising their heads with difficulty to look at Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle, everyone was greatly disappointed.

Dawn Rifle had originally been an important member of Team Everlasting. However, every piece of valuable equipment on him had been peddled away after Team Everlasting was dissolved. Yet, while Happy had been in the process of strengthening their characters’ equipment, they hadn’t focused on creating any pieces of Silver Equipment suited for the Launcher class, so they could only choose from the selection of level 75 Orange equipment.

Ultimately, Wu Chen managed to pull together a full set of level 75 Orange equipment for Dawn Rifle. In-game, this kind of character would be considered almost unmatched. However, on the professional stage, especially in the face of a powerhouse team like Excellent Era, a full set of Orange equipment, whose characteristics could be determined with a glance, really wasn’t enough. Looking at this character, Wu Chen really didn’t seem like Happy’s secret weapon for defeating Excellent Era.

After both teams’ characters had finished loading, the final troop arrangement was finally revealed.

On Team Excellent Era’s side, the reserve player was Wang Ze.

On Team Happy’s side, the reserve player was Steamed Bun.

Wu Chen was actually part of the starting lineup?

The audience once again erupted in murmurs. After seeing Wu Chen’s character, everyone had been more willing to believe that he had come onstage because Happy didn’t have any other choice. Thus, when the audience saw that he would be one of the starting players instead, they were once again surprised.

At this moment, the system’s countdown ended. The team competition had officially begun.

Map: Ancient Maple Path.

As the designated map for the most important match of the Challenger League, Ancient Maple Path was another very comprehensive one. However, this time, the battlefield had been moved from the city to the countryside. A long, secluded ancient road ran from one side of the map to the other. Both sides of the road were lined with maple trees, the scarlet leaves rustling with the wind. Naturally, this was where the name of the map originated. However, a map couldn’t be made up of just a single road. On both sides of the map, behind the trees, there were hills, rivers, mud holes, and scattered stones. Whether or not all of these things should be together in one place wasn’t important for a competition map. What was important was giving the map a more diverse feel, especially for this kind of designated map. It definitely couldn’t cater to any one playstyle, because this would give an unfair advantage to a team that was well suited to that style. It would be like giving one team the advantage of a home game map!

Match: start.

The characters from both teams spawned at opposite ends of the ancient road. These spawn points were also the designated support zones. Outside of these, there were also four other support zones distributed evenly on both sides of the map.

As soon as Team Excellent Era’s five characters spawned, they began skillfully advancing, showing their familiarity with the map.

Qiu Fei’s Combat Form was at the head of the group, with Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher following behind at a varying distance. Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric, Woven Shadow, followed behind, under the protection of these two characters. Woven Shadow was also quite a famous character within the Alliance. As a powerhouse, Excellent Era obviously wouldn’t have any weak links.

After his awful performance in the group arena, Shen Jian didn’t dare to make any more mistakes. His Striker character acted as a bodyguard for Woven Shadow, not daring to take a single step out of line.

Behind all of the others was Team Excellent Era’s ace, One Autumn Leaf. It seemed that the generalissimo was well accustomed to bringing up the rear.

It seemed like a chaotic formation, but in reality every person’s position was calculated. Traveling along the ancient road, Excellent Era constantly maintained this formation. Only Xiao Shiqin’s character appeared flexible.

In contrast, Happy’s side didn’t have any of Excellent Era’s discipline or tacit understanding. Nevertheless, their movements were still well coordinated. All of the characters neatly walked towards the left, evidently not planning on engaging with Excellent Era’s forces head-on.

”How will the two sides perform?” At this time, Pan Lin clearly couldn’t wait. From before the contest began until the official start of the match, he had already asked this question four times.

”Happy has elected to take a more tactical approach, which isn’t unexpected. The two sides clearly differ greatly in strength, so they will have to employ flexible tactics if they want to win.” Li Yibo said.

”But Excellent Era also has a Master Tactician, and furthermore he appears to be performing at his peak today. Will Happy’s tactics be of any use?” Pan Lin wondered.

”Let’s take a look at Happy’s formation first!” Li Yibo pointed out.

Happy’s five players all took a detour along the left side of the ancient road. Their sense of direction was very clear. It was obvious that they had come up with this strategy after carefully researching the map. However, Team Excellent Era’s footsteps had already come to a stop. Those who studied the map had a clear understanding of where their opponents would enter their field of view if they had gone straight down the road. At this moment, Excellent Era had already reached this spot. Since they hadn’t seen anyone from the opposing team, they obviously knew that Happy wouldn’t be facing them in a direct confrontation.

This point obviously wasn’t a surprise to Excellent Era. The team immediately changed directions, heading towards one side of the road. Seeing this, Pan Lin immediately grew excited, because the direction that Excellent Era had chosen led straight towards Happy! At this rate, the two sides would meet in the northwest part of the map.

The broadcast also cut to display an image of the map, revealing the intricacies of the terrain. Since battle had yet to break out, they had time to let everyone familiarize themselves with the map first!

At this moment, the spectators present became even more nervous. On the projection, both sides’ characters were currently tiny dots, hurrying towards their destinations. Excellent Era’s five characters still maintained their previous formation, whereas Happy’s five people still seemed disorderly. As the gap between the two sides closed, the projection also zoomed in. The terrain and the characters also became more and more focused.

Soon!

Just as this thought crossed everyone’s minds, a gunshot rang out. From Happy’s side, the one who had caused everyone’s surprise, Wu Chen, fired the first shot of the battle.

Dawn Rifle’s projectile flew out, but it didn’t seem to have any sort of purpose. It randomly exploded somewhere on the ground. It appeared as if this shot had been some sort of misclick.

.\

Except, Team Excellent Era clearly made immediate adjustments. The distance between the two sides had already reached the point at which artillery fire could he heard.

”Their sense of direction is very clear!” Pan Lin, seeing Excellent Era’s adjustments, shouted. Just from hearing this noise, Excellent Era had made adjustments and now charged very clearly in Team Happy’s direction.

”Is Happy planning on setting up an ambush?” Li Yibo, seeing Happy’s action, didn’t dare come to a hasty conclusion. In a 5v5 match, the power of an ambush wasn’t as powerful as many expected it to be. It was mainly used to grasp an opportunity by catching the opponents off guard, but in a match in which the gap in strength was wide, it only gave initiative. It wasn’t enough to win a competition in one fell swoop. Excellent Era definitely had the strength to control the aftermath and take back the initiative.

”It seems .... that this isn’t the case ...” Pan Lin said.

Happy’s characters didn’t spread out and conceal themselves, instead choosing to immediately retreat. Ultimately, they managed to put some distances between themselves and Excellent Era, but the earlier noise meant that the opposing team was very clear that they had been here just recently. As they got closer to the area, they began to guard against Happy’s ambush. In the audience’s eyes, their extremely careful movements were almost laughable. Excellent Era’s fans only hated the fact that they had no way of warning their team that the opponents had already run away.

Excellent Era quickly realized that their opponents had indeed left. Once again, the team’s formation was adjusted, widening in order to search a larger area. However, at this moment, another explosion rang out. Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle had once again unexpectedly fired.

Excellent Era once again followed the source of the noise, yet once again Happy turned and retreated, disappearing into thin air. Excellent Era’s formation once again tightened to guard against an ambush, making the spectators look at one another in dismay.

If all they wanted was to use this method to wear down Excellent Era’s spirit, weren’t Happy’s so-called tactics too childish? This kind of annoyance, as long as you ignored it, what kind of damage could it do?

As a result, when Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle fired out a third shot, Excellent Era’s team still appeared patient, chasing the noise once more. However, Team Happy finally decided to switch things up. The team split into two, with Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle suddenly running off on his own.