The King's Avatar

January 10 finally arrived. Neither Misty Rain nor Wind Howl made any transfers before this day. Wind Howl’s original team travelled to City H one day ahead of time to warm up and get used to the set-up. Wind Howl’s vice-captain Liu Hao received a good welcome from City H. It could be seen that the Excellent Era fans were still supportive of this former Excellent Era player. In the pre-match interview, Liu Hao expressed his deepest condolences towards Excellent Era’s disbandment and wished New Excellent Era good luck. He also talked about New Excellent Era’s current situation in the Challenger League very precisely and clearly, immediately touching the feelings of many Excellent Era fans.

As for the upcoming match, Liu Hao didn’t talk too much about it. Wind Howl’s captain, Tang Hao, didn’t accept the pre-match interview. After the All-Stars Weekend, there were rumors that Tang Hao was feeling down because of his performance at All-Stars. These rumors were rather surprising. Who would have thought that this God would actually care so much about All-Stars? 　　

”Our captain? His condition is great. He didn’t accept the interview because he wants to fully focus on this match. Wind Howl has performed well in our previous two matches. We want this momentum to continue! Happy’s performance this season has already told us that they aren’t a weak team, so we also need to prepare for them seriously,” Liu Hao said about Tang Hao.

Wind Howl’s Liu Hao and Guo Yang originated from City H, but they didn’t have too much to do with Happy. When Happy beat Excellent Era in the Challenger League, the two of them had already left Excellent Era.　　

However, Wind Howl and Happy were only 5 points apart on the rankings. After this match, the placings might change. Fang Rui, a former Wind Howl player, was another focus point in this match. Many people wanted to see Fang Rui take revenge. After all, his departure from Wind Howl had been quite sad. Everyone saw that Wind Howl had let go of Fang Rui to construct a new team.

Tonight, Happy’s home ground, the Xiaoshan Stadium, was a full-house. Happy’s outstanding record had conquered more and more City H Glory players. Just by looking at the number of seats filled, you wouldn’t be able to tell that Happy was a new team in the Alliance. Skill was what mattered in competition. This logic wasn’t wrong.

The match was about to begin. First up was the individual competition. Happy’s home crowd immediately roared with all their strength, ”SEVENTEEN!”

17!

If Ye Xiu won this individual round, his win streak would be at 17. He had always been the first to go up in the individual competition, so before the lineup even came out, Happy’s fans were already cheering.

Happy’s fans didn’t shout for nothing. Ye Xiu stood up from his seat and waved his hands towards the crowd. Amidst the energetic cheers and applause, he went onto the stage.

Ye Xiu had always been a symbol in this city’s Glory community. After his return, his overwhelming record-breaking win streak and the unmasking of his mysteriousness amassed countless fans. The majority of these fans were on the older side. Among them, quite a few had already left the Glory scene, but Ye Xiu’s return aroused their former passion and nostalgia for the game. In the Glory game, many old accounts that hadn’t logged in for a long time started playing again.

Ye Xiu was the symbol of that generation. That generation’s players couldn’t feel the same passion from chasing the new Gods like Zhou Zekai, Sun Xiang, and Tang Hao. But now, their passion had been reignited on the stage.

Ye Xiu walked onto the stage. Who would Team Wind Howl send out as their first player?

The current consensus by numerous analysts was that Ye Xiu’s fixed ordering in the individual competition was a way to gain the upper hand in the morale battle.

Ye Xiu always appeared first. He never hid. Then, how could the opponents respond?

Send out a strong player to fight? If that player lost, the team’s morale would take a hit. If the team sent out a weak player, it would be like Tian Ji’s horse race, but breaking the team’s momentum right at the start of the match might not achieve such ideal effects.

As a result, Happy’s move was difficult to deal with. We’re going to put our strongest player up first and we’ll wait for you to beat him. Do you dare? Ye Xiu’s win streak seemed to be taunting them.　　

A weak team wouldn’t dare to take up this challenge and usually just threw away this round. But some teams really would try to fight this morale battle. After all, if they really could beat Ye Xiu, it would be a huge blow to Happy’s morale and a huge boost to their own team’s morale. Happy’s move was a double-edged sword. However, Ye Xiu was confident in waving this double-edged sword around. In the past 16 rounds, he had only injured and never been injured.

What will Wind Howl do?

This ambitions of this team were very high. The ambitions of this team’s captain were very high. The ambitions of this team’s rookies were very high. It was unlikely for them to throw away the first match. Who would they send up? Their captain Tang Hao? Would they send their core player to fight Ye Xiu and give up on the group arena? Speaking of which, no team had made this arrangement yet. Would Wind Howl do it?

Some looked towards Wind Howl’s seats. Some stared at the screen. On Wind Howl’s lineup display, the name of their first player slowly flipped into view.

Tang Hao!

They really sent out Tang Hao. Sure enough, Wind Howl was the first to take the gamble*, directly bringing out their captain and core player to fight against Ye Xiu.

Wind Howl’s loyal fans, who came all this way to support their team, cheered for their team’s aggressiveness and pride. However, their shouts were quickly drowned out by the boos and laughs by the home crowd.

If we aren’t remembering wrong, didn’t your captain Tang Hao just get destroyed by our captain at All-Stars?

Happy’s fans had the lung power. Even though All-Stars was just a showmatch, who cared? Just find an example and spout it as the truth.

What could Wind Howl do? Explain patiently that All-Stars didn’t count? Perhaps that might work in a forum, but in this stadium’s atmosphere, words alone didn’t hold enough power. They could only feign ignorance. However, Happy’s taunts were quite painful to listen to.

The one in the most pain would be Tang Hao, though. At All-Stars, even though the public didn’t care, he definitely did care. Now, because of the taunts from Happy, he cared even more. His two fists were clenched tightly. These two hands had helped him win everything, taking down all those voices he didn’t want to hear. This time, he had decided to use this two hands again, to silence the Happy fans.

”Victory will be Wind Howl’s!”

As soon as the match began, Tang Hao immediately declared that he would win, and Demon Subduer rushed straight towards the center. At All-Stars, no one had moved strategically, so Tang Hao didn’t either. What’s more, when Ye Xiu chose 1v1 stages, he never picked anything complicated. His maps were always the simple and direct.

The two characters met decisively at the center of the map. Lord Grim had a longer range. His Myriad Manifestations Umbrella’s gun form turned into a Gatling Gun and sprayed a rain of bullets. Tang Hao didn’t retreat. Demon Subduer tore right through the bullet rain. It was just a Gatling Gun; it wasn’t enough to hold him back.

Gatling Gun finished firing in the blink of an eye, and Demon Subduer had forcibly pulled the distance closer. Lord Grim still had plenty of skills though. His character retreated, while firing Anti-Tank Missiles. Three missiles formed a triangle, shooting out from the gun in parallel like a fan.

However, these still couldn’t stop Demon Subduer’s rush. Demon Subduer weaved between two missiles precisely and swiftly. This little technique was nothing in front of top Gods.

And at this moment, Lord Grim had finally entered Demon Subduer’s attack range. Demon Subduer raised his hands and threw a handful of sand. You could take the hit, but you had to turn your gaze away from it. However, Lord Grim had an umbrella in his hands. With a whoosh, it opened and blocked the sand.

This response was within Tang Hao’s expectations. The purpose of a direct Sand Toss was for that instant where the opponent’s sight was no longer on him. Whether it was turning around or blocking with a shield, the outcome was the same. Demon Subduer threw the Paralysis Needle he had prepared. If the needle hit a target, it would paralyze the target. Brawlers were filled with these dirty little tricks.

Paralysis Needle was thrown practically the instant Lord Grim’s umbrella opened. Tang Hao was banking on Ye Xiu closing his umbrella after blocking the Sand Toss. In that case, the Paralysis Needle couldn’t be dodged and it would strike Lord Grim.

But after the Sand Toss was blocked, Lord Grim didn’t retract his umbrella. His umbrella stayed wide open. The precisely timed Paralysis Needle stabbed the umbrella canopy and fell down without even making a sound.

Tang Hao was gloomy. Seeing that the umbrella wasn’t going to be closed any time soon, he might as well use it as a cover. Demon Subduer rushed forward, holding a Brick in his hands. The Brick would be thrown as soon as he reached him.

Lord Grim didn’t retract his umbrella, but he rushed forward as well.

Charge! A Knight skill. The shield was a Knight equipment, and it didn’t stop this skill from being used. Using Charge with a shield would carry the same momentum, but it lacked the damage. Tang Hao didn’t dare disregard it. A Shield Charge dealt no damage, but shields had Shield Attack. At All-Stars, Ye Xiu had used this trick and even Huang Shaotian fell for it. Tang Hao remembered that scene and didn’t dare borrow the shield as a cover anymore. He hastily shifted diagonally and pulled the distance between them a bit. He raised his arms and threw a Brick.

But in this instant, Tang Hao clearly saw that the Lord Grim behind the umbrella was looking towards the side, staring right at him.

My opponent knows!

By the time Tang Hao realized this, the Brick had already been thrown by Demon Subduer. Then, he saw Lord Grim draw his sword from the umbrella handle with a Sword Draw. A sword light flashed out in front of him. Dodge? Demon Subduer had just stepped towards him. Which way should he dodge?

Forward? Backwards? Left? Right?

The sword light covered all of his options!

Hit!

Demon Subduer’s blood sprayed into the air.