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Spinning Throw, Aerial Twist!

Two skills in quick succession. Dancing Rain’s health dropped in chunks like an elevator going down. However, the combo counter was only two.

For combos, Grapplers were in an even worse situation than spell-based classes like Elementalists, Witches, Spellblades. This was because of how grab skills worked. Other classes could rely on their experience and instinct to find a way to break out of a combo. But since Grappler grabs could not broken out of, if Grapplers could combo, then there would be no counter play.

Long combos were very difficult to pull off with spell-based classes like Elementalists and Witches. However, long combos were impossible for Grapplers. Let alone against a pro player, Grappler combos were extremely limited even against a motionless sandbag.

As a result, when looking at a Grappler, statistics on combos were completely ignored. Using a DoT attack to increase the combo count wasn’t considered a combo, and chaining together skills couldn’t be done by Grapplers. Grapplers had to rely on reads to perform inescapable combos that the system didn’t count.

Aerial Twist!

Dancing Rain was ruthlessly thrown towards the ground. It was hard not to think of the character as the player. It was as if Su Mucheng had been thrown towards the ground headfirst. Thinking of how Su Mucheng’s beautiful face would look like afterwards, even the Samsara’s fans couldn’t help but sigh.

Lu Boyuan obviously didn’t care. As soon as Chaotic Cloudy Mountain landed on the ground, he rolled and then stood up. As for Dancing Rain? Knockdowns from grabs could not be Quick Recovered. She could only wait until her face slammed into the ground. However, Dancing Rain didn’t immediately stand up. She lay on the ground and turned, aiming her cannon at Chaotic Cloudy Mountain.

Boom!

Light flashed.

Su Mucheng’s response showed her experience against Grapplers. No matter how she got back onto her feet, her opponent would have a way to counter it. She had to attack first or use some other method to disrupt him before he reached her.

Su Mucheng had experience playing against Grapplers, but Lu Boyuan had taken her experience into consideration. Light flashed. A missile shot out, but Chaotic Cloudy Mountain suddenly dropped down.

You think I can’t hit you if you stay flat on the ground? How could Glory have such a huge flaw? Ground sweeping attacks were meant for these situations. Even basic attacks had a ground sweeping effect if they landed. Lying flat on the ground and not getting up wasn’t an invincible buff.

Elbow Drop!

Dancing Rain wasn’t getting up, so Chaotic Cloudy Mountain might as well get down to the ground too. His elbow went straight for Dancing Rain’s throat.

Su Mucheng had been waiting for Lu Boyuan to attack. Dancing Rain rolled to dodge the strike. Suddenly, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain stretched out his arm. Elbow Drop was cancelled, and his hand grabbed onto her. One Hand Grab.

Dancing Rain was suddenly pulled back. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain fell to the ground, but Dancing Rain was dragged back to the ground as well. In one fluid movement, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain rolled and got up. On the other hand, because Dancing Rain was knocked down by the skill, she was slightly slower.

This was the foothold that Grapplers needed to continue their attacks after grabbing an opponent. As for the side that was grabbed, breaking out from this hold was the key to taking back the initiative.

And this was much more difficult for long-ranged classes like Launchers. As a class that was extremely bad at close combat, having a Grappler close in meant that she was already halfway to losing. Su Mucheng needed to bring back victory from defeat.

Roll!

Dancing Rain immediately tried to get up. This wasn’t the smartest choice, but on occasion, choosing the bad option could catch the opponent off guard, making it a good option.

But unfortunately, Lu Boyuan wasn’t caught off guard.

After Chaotic Cloudy Mountain got back onto his feet, he immediately locked onto what choices Dancing Rain could do to get up. Lu Boyuan never overlooked the options that seemed bad and that no good player would choose to do.

Ground Toss!

Chaotic Cloudy Mountain planned on pinning her back to the ground. Just when he was about to grab Dancing Rain’s head, he suddenly heard a loud boom. Fire and smoke flashed from beneath Dancing Rain, immediately sending her to the left. She had used the recoil from her shot to bounce away.

He missed!

He missed his grab. He immediately rushed forward to try again, but the moment Dancing Rain dodged the grab, she aimed her cannon towards him.

Boom boom boom!

Three Anti-Tank Missiles at such a close range. These three missiles aimed towards three different points. It could be seen that she had complete mastery over this low-level skill.

Dodge!

Lu Boyuan had been ready for an attack, but the AoE covered by these three missiles had been outside of his expectations. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain tried to dodge, but he was still hit by one of them in the end. The explosion pushed him back.

He had been wary of her attacks, yet he still hadn’t been able to dodge in time. This time, Su Mucheng had blocked Lu Boyuan through pure technical skill. At this distance, Lu Boyuan wasn’t able to keep up.

With one of the missiles hitting, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain lost the initiative. The distance between the two sides started pulling apart, and a distance of two or three steps was already too far for Chaotic Cloudy Mountain to grab Dancing Rain.

Dancing Rain hadn’t completely gotten back onto her feet, but she was still able to leap back. The distance of two steps became four steps. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain had finally steadied himself and immediately rushed forward. But then, Dancing Rain’s cannon flashed again.

I can’t back down!

If he were ten or twenty steps away, Lu Boyuan might not have forced it. But the two sides were only three or four steps away. Even though he couldn’t grab her at this distance, it was still favorable for him. He couldn’t use Grappler skills, but Launchers were greatly restricted too. Their weakness of a slow firing speed was fully exposed, and there was no threat of combos from them.

Forward!

Lu Boyuan didn’t hesitate. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain dodged. He had his body sway left and right irregularly as he charged forward to meet the attack.

This wasn’t a read. At the same time, Su Mucheng had no way of reading his irregular swaying either.

This was a gamble!

At this distance, it was impossible for Chaotic Cloudy Mountain to react once the artillery shell was fired. Dancing Rain didn’t have time to make any precise calculations either.

One attack!

Everything depended on this one attack.

If this attack hit, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain would be forced back and the distance would widen even farther.

If the attack missed, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain would close the distance, and Dancing Rain would once again be within his grab range.

Would the attack hit?

The entire stadium went silent. Everyone watched as Chaotic Cloudy Mountain swayd left and right as he ran towards Dancing Rain. Dancing Rain aimed steady, yet there was no pull of the rigger. Although she was also retreating, Chaotic Cloudy Mountain moved much faster than her. She would soon be caught, yet she seemed to be waiting. What was she waiting for?

Close! Reach out!

Lu Boyuan hadn’t expected Su Mucheng to not do anything. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain had closed in, his hand reaching towards her. Even if she attacked now, he should still be able to grab her, right?

Probably… right?

Just before he grabbed onto her, her cannon suddenly lit up with a bright blue light.

Not good!

Lu Boyuan realized it, but it was too late.

There was no explosion. It was just a sudden release of energy.

The artillery shell flew out slowly, but it was flashing with blue light, crackling like lightning.

X-1 Extruder!

At the last moment, Su Mucheng had Dancing Rain used X-1 Extruder. It was a rare Launcher skill with CC.

Was this a read? A set-up?

No.

It was another show of technical prowess!

X-1 Extruder gave off light when used that warned the opponent. It also moved rather slowly. If she had used it immediately, even at a distance of three or four steps, Lu Boyuan would have easily dodged it. If it missed, Su Mucheng wouldn’t have a second chance.

Launchers had low attack speed. This attack speed wasn’t referring to how fast the missiles flew, but rather the amount of time it took for them to reload and shoot again. Whether it was a basic attack or a skill, it required reloading. Launchers were slow because of this reloading process. No matter how fast your hands were, it wouldn’t matter. The only way to speed up this reloading process was by wearing equipment that increased attack speed.

Launchers couldn’t combo at such a close distance because of this reason. Once they fired a shot, by the time they fired the next one, the opponent would have already closed in. As a result, there was only one chance.

Su Mucheng let Chaotic Cloudy Mountain get near her. She waited until he was about to grab her before launching an X-1 Extruder.

Attack speed couldn’t be changed through faster inputs. However, the input was what gave the command to use the skill. The faster the command was completed, the earlier the skill would be used.

An X-1 Extruder one step away.

Su Mucheng relied on this daring move to strike Lu Boyuan.

There was nothing Lu Boyuan could do. Chaotic Cloudy Mountain was immediately sucked into the X-1 Extruder and then sent flying away. He could only watch Dancing Rain move farther and farther away. The effects of X-1 Extruder could not be disrupted.