The King's Avatar Chapter 1032-1033Chapter 1032: Attempted Exchange

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

The current situation made Xiao Shiqin feel somewhat embarrassed. Besides Xiao Shiqin, even his teammates might not notice this small detail.

Although Team Excellent Era’s captain was Sun Xiang, the commanding position had been transferred to him when he joined the team as vice captain. At this moment Xiao Shiqin suddenly became silent. In a situation like this, which required the team to choose, they had come to a sudden halt, almost as if a fire had been extinguished.

Xiao Shiqin immediately recovered his senses. Coming to a stop like this could be fatal on stage. He needed to quickly adjust himself instead of getting distracted, so he could grasp their current situation. After Xiao Shiqin understood that Ye Xiu was trying to do what he had been doing the entire time throughout his career, his train of thought became incomparably smooth.

Simply put, Ye Xiu was Ye Xiu, Xiao Shiqin was Xiao Shiqin. Even if they were doing the same thing, they weren’t the same people. Ye Xiu was someone Xiao Shiqin had studied, but this didn’t mean that he completely grasped Ye Xiu’s patterns. After thinking about things from Ye Xiu’s perspective, Xiao Shiqin was suddenly at a loss.

From Ye Xiu, he had learned tactics to fight the strong with the weak, and for the most part, it involved deducing many things from what he already knew. During Ye Xiu’s entire time at Excellent Era, the team hadn’t been anywhere near as weak as Thunderclap was. At most they would be disadvantaged during a match, yet they never fought with the mentality of a weak team facing a stronger team. Even during the season when Excellent Era had been in danger of being relegated, no one had thought that they were a weak team. Excellent Era’s relegation had been considered something of a miracle.

Even taking Happy’s current position into consideration, Xiao Shiqin still couldn’t determine what Happy’s intentions were. At the very least, if he were the one playing the Happy card, he wouldn’t have brought it to this kind of situation.

Should they keep chasing, or should they stop?

To be honest, in the current situation, Excellent Era really didn’t need to be so vigorous in taking the initiative. Because they had won the group arena, they were currently in the lead. They could simply sit and wait for Happy to come knocking at their door.

But the problem was, they were Excellent Era. They were the team that held the clear advantage in this competition. The dignity of a powerhouse prevented them from acting in such a passive manner. This was why Excellent Era’s actions in the past had always been proactive and aggressive. They vigorously searched for Team Happy’s position, wanting to quickly decide victory or defeat, as if they were the ones falling behind.

Except now, they had a target right in front of them, yet they couldn’t reach it.

Split up?

Xiao Shiqin shook his head. If they really divided their troops so that one group was fast enough to catch up, they might actually fall into Happy’s trap.

“This way.”

Xiao Shiqin once again sent this message in the public chat. Afterwards, he directed his character to lead Team Excellent Era in the opposite direction.

He gave up on chasing after Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle, instead charging in the direction of Ye Xiu and his Lord Grim’s fake shot. However, his message in the public chat was intended to cause confusion. This way … which way was this way?

Xiao Shiqin obviously didn’t want Happy to easily deduce his intentions. However, this time, when Wu Chen fired a projectile, he didn’t immediately leave. Xiao Shiqin’s message of “this way” hadn’t done anything to sway him. He waited for a short period of time, but he didn’t discover any traces of Team Excellent Era. In Team Happy’s chat, Wu Chen reported this occurrence. A moment later, Ye Xiu replied with his coordinates.

The members of the audience, who paid close attention, could see that these coordinates pointed to the place where Lord Grim had pretended to fire his shot. This was also in the direction that Team Excellent Era was currently headed.

Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle decisively altered his course, also heading towards this location.

From their omniscient view, the audience could see the whole situation very clearly. Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle increased his speed, gradually pressing closer to Team Excellent Era from behind. Yet, Team Happy’s other four members moved in a wide arc, seeming to want to circle their way behind Dawn Rifle.

Everyone anxiously watched the scene unfold. Finally, Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle caught up to Team Excellent Era. All five members of the team were currently within his field of view.

However, at the same time, he was also discovered by Excellent Era. Even if they had clearly been focused on getting to their destination, how could an experienced pro team like Excellent Era forget to keep track of their surroundings while moving?

“Behind!” Zhang Jiaxing called out, discovering Dawn Rifle during one of his routine sweeps.

No one rushed to look back. In a flash, the other four members had already created a protective encirclement around Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric. The entire team turned around as one.

Immediately afterwards, artillery fire rained down …

Excellent Era’s five members easily dodged, but they had no way of returning fire. At this distance, only Launcher’s had the range to fight back. Tean Excellent Era’s current team composition consisted of two Battle Mages, a Striker, a Mechanic, and a Cleric.

Mechanic Life Extinguisher was without a doubt their number one long range attacker. However, compared to Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle, his range was insufficient. After releasing his first attack, Dawn Rifle had already begun charging up a second attack, then a third …

Everyone was struck dumb. Dawn Rifle seemed inclined to challenge Excellent Era’s entire team alone. Was this really Team Happy’s secret weapon?

Team Excellent Era obviously wouldn’t sit passively or be thrown into disorder by Wu Chen’s long-ranged attacks. The team rapidly flew towards Wu Chen, quickly closing the distance.

However, Wu Chen wasn’t greedy at all. As soon as he saw Team Excellent Era charging towards him, he immediately retreated. He moved even faster than he had previously, even utilizing Aerial Fire.

Team Excellent Era could only watch helplessly. Dawn Rifle’s movement speed was indeed above their team’s. This had already been previously confirmed.

However, as soon as they stopped, Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle once again happily rained skills down onto them.

Was this … kiting?

Once again, everyone stared blankly. Wu Chen, a completely unknown player, was actually single-handedly kiting Excellent Era?

In reality, this kind of max range offensive couldn’t effectively hurt Excellent Era’s players because their characters were simply too strong. However, this kind of endless harassment made them unable to just sit still and let it happen.

In fact, the reason the team’s speed was slower than Dawn Rifle was because they were being held back by the slowest member.** If we were only considering each individuals, any member of Excellent Era outside of Zhang Jiaxing’s Cleric could surpass Dawn Rifle in terms of speed.

Leave the Cleric behind and kill Dawn Rifle first?

Just as Xiao Shiqin had this thought, his entire body suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

If they really did this, they would be abandoning their Cleric. Wouldn’t this be just the opportunity Team Happy was looking for? Even if Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle was caught and killed this way, to trade his life for Excellent Era’s Cleric would definitely be worth it.

So treacherous, so despicable!

Was the initial wild goose chase a ploy to make Excellent Era drop their guard?

So they could quickly pick off our Cleric?

Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher looked around, sweeping the surrounding terrain. As a Master Tactician, he had an experienced eye, quickly locating a location extremely suited to this kind of sneak attack.

“Go!” This time, the order was only sent in the team chat. Team Excellent Era suddenly changed directions, charging towards the optimal attack location that Xiao Shiqin had calculated.

Translator’s Thoughts Nomyummi

** TL Note: 木桶理論 literally means that a barrel’s capacity is limited by the length of the shortest plank. In economics, this is known as Liebig’s law of the minimum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum#Liebig’s_barrel). It essentially states that maximum potential is limited by the resource is scarecest, instead of by the sum of all resources. The concept itself is pretty straightforward, although it can be applied to a lot of situations outside of economics, as seen here. — Veriquity

Chapter 1033: Heading for Tiger-Borne Mountains

Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi

Xiao Shiqin gave the signal to attack and the team immediately obeyed. One Autumn Leaf, who had been at the back of their formation, charged to the front and dashed in the direction Xiao Shiqin had pointed out to them along with Qiu Fei’s Combat Form.

Now knowing that all that was behind them was a far off Dawn Rifle, there was no need for Excellent Era to be so cautious about their backs. The two Battle Mages advanced together, swiftly arriving at the place Xiao Shiqin had pointed out to them.

A miss!

They had missed again.

The place Xiao Shiqin had predicted would be the best spot for Happy to ambush them was devoid of people.

“Could it be that Ye Xiu had predicted I would realize this and didn’t choose this position on purpose?” Xiao Shiqin unavoidably began to do another mental multiple choice with himself.

That’s how Team Excellent Era was sent into uncertainty once more. Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle courageously moved forward a few steps and fired wildly at them. Though it wasn’t any serious threat, Excellent Era’s players still had to dodge it, so it still caused them trouble, no?

Xiao Shiqin might have been considering their strategy, he also managed to react swiftly. In the current Team Excellent Era, the one who could get Dawn Rifle in range first was Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher.

Who would’ve thought that Wu Chen’s Dawn Rifle would immediately and resolutely go into a full retreat the moment he began to act.

Xiao Shiqin felt helpless.

For this player, he had only done research on him just in case. Although Wu Chen had barely appeared in the Challenger League, he had still fought in the pro league prior to that, so Xiao Shiqin had found some resources. Dawn Rifle was a player with a good grasp of the foundations, but no other particularly striking abilities. Xiao Shiqin hadn’t gone in-depth with how they should deal with him.

Yet now, it was this player that was causing them the most trouble.

He didn’t need or want to do anything fantastic, he just wanted to complete his mission without mistakes. Wu Chen carefully maneuvered his Dawn Rifle. He was clear on his own skill level. Against Excellent Era, he didn’t have the ability to deal any significant damage to them, but he could still accomplish this sort of harassment.

This was because this wasn’t a task with any true difficulty. Other pro players probably wouldn’t be willing to accept such a simple task, but not Wu Chen. He knew he was a player with no talent to shoulder such important tasks. This sort of simple task was a chance for him to do what he could, and he took it very seriously.

It was easy to imagine the result of him taking a simple task so seriously.

Excellent Era really had gotten frustrated with Wu Chen’s harassment.

The entire team wouldn’t be able to catch up to him, so they could only split up if they wanted to hit him.

Xiao Shiqin had realized Ye Xiu’s intentions, but… he had no choice but to comply.

This was because he wasn’t in command of Thunderclap anymore, where he could lower his position. He was in command of Excellent Era, the strongest team, the only team to ever erect a dynasty. Even being relegated couldn’t kill the pride this team had. They thought of themselves as that team that had created a dynasty, and their fans saw them as a powerhouse team that was second to none. Being relegated was nothing more than an accident.

A team like this couldn’t perform as if they were disadvantaged. When relegated, they were even more sensitive, and even more repulsed by such an idea. They would let Dawn Rifle buzz around them like a fly. Xiao Shiqin thought it wouldn’t matter in the larger scheme; everyone just had to dodge a little more.

However, because they were Team Excellent Era, their fans and the audience wouldn’t accept it if they couldn’t even deal with a bother like this. Excellent Era couldn’t just win. They had to crush their opponents and win with conviction.

They had to attack…

Team Excellent Era adjusted their direction, chasing after Dawn Rifle. Except, this time, they didn’t move as a unit. Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher and Qiu Fei’s Combat Form brought out their fastest movement speed. They swiftly began to close in on Dawn Rifle while, behind them, Sun Xiang’s One Autumn Leaf and Shen Jian’s Striker stuck close to and protected their Cleric, Woven Shadow.

Xiao Shiqin actually felt very insecure. He knew that the situation Ye Xiu had been waiting for had appeared. Team Happy definitely would’ve made arrangements for such a situation. However, he couldn’t do anything about it. He had finally been given a clear experience of how a powerhouse had to act even when they knew they shouldn’t. Throughout the Challenger League, they could still steamroll their opponents like that, but this time, they were facing an enemy that worried them.

Seeing Life Extinguisher and Combat Form in pursuit so suddenly, Dawn Rifle fled without a care for harassing them any more.

“Slow down,” Xiao Shiqin typed into the channel, directing this mostly towards Qiu Fei.

If they went at full speed, they would be able to catch up to Dawn Rifle faster, but they would also widen the distance between them and the other three. Knowing that Happy would capitalize on this, Xiao Shiqin would naturally do the best he could to weaken what advantage they could gain. He wouldn’t use his all to chase after Dawn Rifle, but just choose a speed that could catch up to Dawn Rifle. This way, they wouldn’t draw away from One Autumn Leaf and the other two so quickly.

Xiao Shiqin hoped that Happy would strike sooner than later, yet Happy didn’t act.

The audience could clearly see that Happy’s Lord Grim and co were following Dawn Rifle a small ways away and were prepared to coordinate. However, when Dawn Rifle began to retreat, the four darted away from their positions and got into positions for an ambush. Yet, not long after, the four began to move again, leaving their original positions.

Now that the arrangements of each team were crystal clear, the commentators Li Yibo and Pan Lin could finally begin to commentate confidently.

“Happy wants to use the harassment from Dawn Rifle to force Excellent Era to split their forces,” Pan Lin said.

“Yes… In reality, Dawn Rifle can’t do very much to harass them, at least not to the point of forcing them. However, it seems like Excellent Era is very confident in their ability to deal with this,” Li Yibo added.

“Uh… It doesn’t seem like Life Extinguisher and Combat Form are running in pursuit at full speed?” Pan Lin questioned.

“Yeah… they’re trying to preserve the team formation as much as possible. They don’t want to split up too much. It seems like Xiao Shiqin has a clear understanding of Happy’s strategy,” Li Yibo said.

“So that’s why Happy hasn’t struck yet. Their offensive formation has yet again been shifted,” Pan Lin noted.

“Why isn’t Team Excellent Era being more resolute? If they use One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form to lead the charge and have Xiao Shiqin’s Life Extinguisher in the middle with his long-range capabilities, they can split the team into three parts and better deal with the situation.” That was when Li Yibo voiced an uncertainty and it really did seem like a more secure arrangement than Xiao Shiqin’s.

This, naturally, wasn’t a question Pan Lin could answer. The audience, too, could only be puzzled, feeling that Li Yibo was very correct. Why didn’t a Master Tactician like Xiao Shiqin choose a better strategy?

Yet, it was Chen Guo on Team Happy’s bench, the Chen Guo that usually worried over not being able to understand anything that was going on in the match grinned smugly at the commentary.

“For the team competition against Excellent Era, this is our breakthrough point!”

When Ye Xiu had said this in Team Happy’s strategy meeting and pointed at Xiao Shiqin’s name on their strategy board, Chen Guo had found it extremely strange. Even though she wasn’t very skilled, she was also relentlessly thinking of a method on how to beat Excellent Era. When fighting stronger opponents, you had to find your opponent’s weak point. This was something Chen Guo understood. However, she had never imagined that Xiao Shiqin would be Excellent Era’s weak point.

“Why?” Though Chen Guo wouldn’t take part in the matches, she was still the first person to question this out of curiosity.

Because Xiao Shiqin still hadn’t synced up with Excellent Era’s rhythm yet.

This was the answer Chen Guo had received.

Xiao Shiqin’s background had influenced a lot of his tactical style and playstyle. For a powerhouse like Excellent Era, Xiao Shiqin’s tactical style held them back. His detailed, calculated and nitpicking style wasn’t noble enough for Team Excellent Era.

That was something that Xiao Shiqin had been acutely aware of since joining Excellent Era.

He had made adjustments and the two sides synced up cheerfully. Unfortunately, they had never met an opponent that could truly test them, because for Excellent Era, the Challenger League was too low a level. Any sort of adjustment would seem seamless at this sort of level.

Only strong opponents would be true tests of their success.

Happy might not be a powerful opponent, but they were the only true test Excellent Era had been pitted up against since their relegation.

Any dissonance that existed between Xiao Shiqin and Excellent Era would be tested for here. If there was a problem, they would have to resolve it on the field. If they couldn’t resolve it well, more problems might become apparent.

Happy’s tactics were so simple that they seemed almost childish. However, they had managed to accurately strike at the disharmony between Xiao Shiqin and Excellent Era.

Xiao Shiqin, with his original style, wouldn’t have bothered about this sort of childish harassment. However, after taking on Excellent Era, he had to find a way to deal with it.

Knowing that a mountain hid tigers, yet heading for those tiger-borne mountains anyways. This wasn’t Xiao Shiqin’s preferred style at all, but he had to deal with these problems in such a way. He could only face this with care, but the arrangements he made weren’t nearly as proactive and daring as Li Yibo’s ideas.

This was because Xiao Shiqin still subconsciously displayed the style he as most comfortable with in uncertain situations.

He didn’t want Excellent Era to seem cautious and nervous like a mid to low tier team.

Thus, he had used a different method to avoid executing his original cautious method…

Team Excellent Era, having split into two, continued to pursue Dawn Rifle, but Dawn Rifle was running for his life and Happy’s other members were retreating for their lives. Xiao Shiqin might’ve suppressed his speed, but Happy drew out the duration. In the end, the two groups still managed to pull apart to a distance that Xiao Shiqin was reluctant to have.

Even Pan Lin couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment for Excellent Era, “If they had known sooner, Life Extinguisher and Combat Form might as well have sped up. That way, they would at least be able to attack Dawn Rifle a couple times.”

“Isn’t Excellent Era being a little too cautious? They’re so much stronger than Happy, after all. They can totally afford to be a little more headstrong,” Li Yibo commented. This time, he really hadn’t gotten anything wrong. Xiao Shiqin, struggling to make a decision, had reverted to what he was most comfortable with.

Team Excellent Era was forced to exercise excessive caution under this style.