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They say that team competitions are ever changing with all sorts of playstyles, but these differences never deviated from a set of standards. In the end, all these changing elements were geared towards creating the eventual situation of many against few, strong against weak.

Seeing the coordinates given by Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, Xiao Shiqin wasn’t just anxious anymore, he was shocked.

The distance between them had been drawn out so far, and how did that happen? Xiao Shiqin’s three person group had chased the four members of Happy while Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei pursued Ye Xiu.

That’s right. This happened through their chase of Happy.

This was the finals of the Challenger League, not ten random players going five on five in the in-game arena. When retreating from being chased, you had to be tactical, too, and not just run around like a headless chicken. If Happy’s path of retreat was planned out, then that meant that Excellent Era’s split was intentionally caused by Happy. Then, Ye Xiu easily threw Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei off his tail. If he didn’t realize something was wrong by now, then Xiao Shiqin’s tactical sense would be terrible and he wouldn’t deserve to be known as one of the Four Master Tacticians.

”Regroup!” After Xiao Shiqin sent some coordinates in the team chat, he and his two teammates didn’t bother with Happy’s four anymore and quickly turned to leave. Yet they had just turned when Happy’s four person team that had been fleeing clumsily suddenly turned to launch an energetic counterattack, chasing after the three and taking advantage of their situations. Their attacks in pursuit were smooth and well-versed; it was clear that they had practiced specifically for such a situation. Xiao Shiqin’s heart fell further.

Yet the three of them hadn’t gotten very far before a figure flashed in front of them.

There were only so many characters on the field, so who other than Lord Grim could appear at this time?

As expected!

Xiao Shiqin now knew that his guess was completely correct. They had, once again, fallen into Happy’s trap. It seemed like the wave of attacks that they had launched was more than satisfactory, but Happy’s scheme didn’t end there. They had long since prepared for the next step. After pulling Excellent Era’s two groups far apart enough to be out of support range, Ye Xiu would throw his opponents off his tail to regroup with them first, once again turning this into many against few.

After giving their exact coordinates, Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei would also run over as fast as possible. However, before then, Xiao Shiqin’s three person group had to deal with an offensive from these five. It might seem like five people was just one more person than four, but the problem was that this time, Ye Xiu was there. The Ye Xiu that was even more of a threat than the rest of Happy put together.

A pincer attack.

”Charge through!” Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher was the first to attack. Shen Jian’s Striker, Successive Strike, followed, fists swinging. Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric, Woven Shadow, wasn’t idle either, using the skills that Clerics had to harass the character blocking their way.

Ye Xiu was scary, but if he was just blocking the way on his own, he can’t block us all, right?

There might be people in pursuit behind them, but Excellent Era’s three were still very confident against Ye Xiu’s blockade and the three charged forwards together.

As expected, Ye Xiu alone couldn’t block all three of them. They were all pro players, not normal players in the online game. Not only did he fail to block them, Lord Grim also received significant damage against the three’s charge.

Breakthrough, regroup with Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, then turn back and crush Happy. That’s what Xiao Shiqin had planned, but then he looked left and right. Shen Jian’s Striker, Successive Strike, had charged through, but where was Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric, Woven Shadow?

Xiao Shiqin hurriedly looked back with Life Extinguisher and immediately felt like crying.

As expected, Ye Xiu didn’t have the power to block all three of them, so he hadn’t bothered trying. He only wanted to block one of them. Life Extinguisher and Successive Strike had broken through, but Zhang Jiaxing’s Woven Shadow had been blocked by Lord Grim. It was totally worth the damage that he had taken.

Dragon Tooth, Sky Strike, Falling Flower Palm.

Turning his view, Xiao Shiqin saw Lord Grim smoothly execute the simple three-hit Battle Mage combo. After Woven Shadow was hit by Falling Flower Palm, he was immediately blown far away. Happy’s other four had managed to catch up by then. Soft Mist jumped, spear in hand and used a Circle Swing to catch the airborne Woven Shadow, swinging him in a circle before smashing him to the ground.

On the ground, Qiao Yifan’s One Inch Ash had already managed to lay down several ghost boundaries. They were like several large pots, emitting the aroma of the Phantom Ghost’s power and awaiting ingredients to complete this dish!

Zhang Jiaxing’s Woven Shadow was, without a doubt, the long-awaited ingredients. After being thrown into the pot by Soft Mist’s Circle Swing, they immediately began cooking. Little Cold Hand’s Sacred Fire came down as the spices, then Dawn Rifle blasted attacks at him. The flames were rising!

Woven Shadow was cooked immediately. In such a situation, Clerics had a very hard time saving themselves. As a magic class, most of his skills had to be casted. Thus, when he was being attacked continuously like this, he couldn’t use any of those casts. He could only hope for outside help.

Xiao Shiqin was extremely frustrated with his own carelessness. Though it would be hard with their disadvantage in numbers, but they couldn’t just leave their healer to die. Life Extinguisher and Successive Strike simultaneously turned to charge back into the fray, but found their way blocked by Lord Grim again.

Xiao Shiqin didn’t have time to deal with Ye Xiu. Life Extinguisher sent all his long-ranged skills towards Woven Shadow, but Happy’s team ignored them, fighting through Life Extinguisher’s attacks.

As for Shen Jian’s Successive Strike, he had to get close to deal damage. Being blocked by Lord Grim, he couldn’t charge over to help for now. However, in this exchange, Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher had managed to get closer. However, for him, getting closer was no different than staying away. Most of his attacks didn’t require for him to close in. Even if he used them, no one would pay any heed to it. Even if they had to take more damage, they were determined to kill Woven Shadow.

Xiao Shiqin knew very well that this exchange was definitely worth it. It went without saying that he alone wouldn’t be able to kill a target when the opponent had a Cleric. Even if he could, it would still be more worth it for their opponents to take out their healer.

Firepower coverage was ignored. Go up to wreck havoc? No matter how bad their opponents were, they still had four people, and Mechanics weren’t a class that could charge bodily into an opponent’s formation. With Xiao Shiqin’s tactical knowledge, he obviously wouldn’t do something so mindless.

With a turn of view, Life Extinguisher launched another round of attacks, but this time he focused his firepower on Little Cold Hands, Happy’s healer.

As expected of a Master Tactician. In this helpless situation, he decided to surround Wei to save Zhao*. How could Happy just leave their healer to be attacked?

Team Happy really did just ignore their healer being attacked, speeding up their attacks on Woven Shadow. Xiao Shiqin felt like crying. Was Woven Shadow really unrescuable? Kill the opponent’s healer as an exchange? The problem was, there were three people surrounding and attacking Woven Shadow who was helpless. As for his side? It was just his Life Extinguisher attacking Little Cold Hands alone. Even though his technique was good enough to make Little Cold Hands helpless, his DPS couldn’t compare to the combined DPS of three characters. Plus, he had been late in striking. If his opponents killed Woven Shadow first and then went over to support Little Cold Hands, then wouldn’t all his hard work be for nothing?

In these crucial times, Xiao Shiqin was quick and decisive. Life Extinguisher abruptly turned his fire towards Lord Grim.

This action was very confusing to everyone. The commentators, Pan Lin and Li Yibo analyzed this as trying to kill off Lord Grim, exchanging a Cleric for Team Happy’s ace.

The two used a very questioning and uncertain tone when saying this. Was Ye Xiu the type that could be killed so easily? Under Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei’s combined offense, Ye Xiu had managed to play a graceful game of hide and seek and threw them off his tail. Even when hopelessly outnumbered, he still had very strong self-preservation skills. Trying to take out Lord Grim wasn’t even as feasible as trying to take out Little Cold Hands.

Yet, Xiao Shiqin’s intentions soon became very clear. Turning his fire on Lord Grim and attacking wildly had given Shen Jian a chance to slip away. Successive Strike charged past Lord Grim, ignoring all else, and towards the enemy’s formation.

Xiao Shiqin also took this chance to change focus again, showering Soft Mist and the others. This time, it provided cover for Shen Jian’s Striker’s charge and Tang Rou and co’s encirclement was finally broken open.

Zhang Jiaxing was an experienced pro as well, not a weakling that needed to be constantly protected in the online game. He took the chance to dart out of the opening. Xiao Shiqin was delighted and hurried to provide suppressing fire. Woven Shadow was like a little lamb that had finally found its way home, stumbling and tripping as he shot towards Life Extinguisher.

The two regrouped and immediately turned to flee. They hadn’t taken two steps when Xiao Shiqin suddenly realized something was missing. Turning his view to look, he was close to bursting into tears. They might have pulled Zhang Jiaxing’s Woven Shadow out, but Shen Jian’s Striker, Successive Strike had been trapped in.

The audience was stunned.

This was Xiao Shiqin! Because of him and him alone, an ordinary team like Thunderclap had become a regular visitor of the playoffs. This team had managed to continuously cause trouble for the powerhouses. They could cause a headache for any team.

Yet now they were so careless when playing now. They had lost their Cleric a moment ago. Now that they had picked their Cleric back up, they lost their Striker.

Normal characters weren’t as valuable as healers, but they couldn’t just leave him there either, right? There was a total headcount of six on each side. Losing one meant losing a portion of their strength. Many team competitions had ended with one team losing one member and then spiralling downhill, unable to hold on.

Xiao Shiqin helplessly had Life Extinguisher turn back and Zhang Jiaxing couldn’t ignore this either. He wasn’t a helpless rescued princess; he was here to help out on the field.

Rescuing Shen Jian’s Striker would be easier than rescuing a healer. After all, Strikers had great offensive capabilities and could easily find an opening with assistance from outside.

With Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric, Woven Shadow, helping out with Sacred Fire and similar skills, Successive Strike finally broke out. Like Woven Shadow before, he hurried towards the warm embrace of his team.

”Careful!!” Xiao Shiqin hurriedly type out that message, but didn’t manage to help Shen Jian. Lord Grim suddenly came in from an angle and used a Circle Swing with his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella to impale Successive Strike and, running and swinging him about, threw Successive Strike back into the encirclement.

After going in this massive circle, would the first to die in the team competition still be Successive Strike?

”Keep up his health!!” Xiao Shiqin was like a commander in a dungeon, yelling at the healer to keep his health stable.

Translator’s Thoughts

Nomyummi Nomyummi

TN: Surrounding Wei to save Zhao comes from an event in the warring states where the army laid siege to Wei to force their troops to retreat from Zhao, thus saving Zhao. - Jouissance