The cheers of the audience and fans roared like thunder. Ren Yuanhao disdainfully glanced at the big screen, unable to help but sigh that in this highly anticipated match, the outcome was already decided.
The host began the final commentary with a torrent of words: "In this match, Ye Lan is still using her main character, 'Annihilation', a Meizhe with the most control skills. Zhao Ritian has chosen the recently popular Duan Hen Dao, 'Mountain Hegemon.' The former possesses fear-inducing control skills, eliminating enemies with a gentle touch of flowers and moon, or the strumming of a zither. The latter boasts explosive output and mobility comparable to, if not exceeding, the Meizhe. Which is stronger, which is weaker, will soon be revealed!"
"Shameless! He actually used Dad's profession, Duan Hen Dao! Not only is the output explosive, but his mobility is even better than a Meizhe's."
"What's more terrifying is that Duan Hen Dao's divine skill can instantly restore his health from 20% to full, effectively giving him two lives against one. It's just too unfair."
"But have you forgotten how terrifying the Goddess's operations are? You didn't watch the match this morning. The Goddess clearly could have controlled the entire field with area-of-effect skills, but instead, like a butterfly flitting through flowers, she used single-target control skills to incapacitate everyone in less than 1.5 seconds. Her execution was so skillful it made my scalp tingle."
Before the battle even began, the audience and fans were in an uproar. Meanwhile, in a private room at the Da Bai Sha Internet Cafe, the two combatants were ready.
The retro wall clock outside the internet cafe chimed its hourly gong. On the large screen, the game interface for *Qian Nv Online* had already loaded.
"Both sides prepare, combat, begin!"
Before the host's words had even finished, both players were teleported to the arena, and the sounds of various buffs instantly filled the air.
In *Qian Nv Online*'s one-on-one arena duels, the combat time is 10 minutes. If neither player is KO'd by the end, victory is determined by remaining health.
However, in the world of *Qian Nv Online*, the probability of a KO is extremely high.
Everyone's hearts beat in sync with the countdown on the screen. When the words "Match Start" appeared in stark red, the crowd held their breath, and the square, filled with thousands of people, fell into utter silence.
Ye Lan, controlling Annihilation, did not rush to attack. Instead, she adopted a strategy of circling from above to evade sight. On the other side, since Duan Hen Dao required close-range triple hits to deal damage, Zhao Ritian, confident in his two lives and Ye Lan's fighting style, charged straight to the center of the arena, preparing to pounce on Ye Lan.
This tactic by Ye Lan was unprecedented. She habitually feinted from the bottom-left corner, so Zhao Ritian was caught off guard and a little shocked!
But as he was still in shock, Ye Lan unleashed a sleep spell, incapacitating his spirit beast, and then, with an incredibly exaggerated hand speed, cast invisibility. By the time Zhao Ritian sensed something and lunged forward, Ye Lan had already left her original position.
"Good! After controlling Zhao Ritian's spirit beast, its 'Bright Eyes' skill is nullified. Without 'Bright Eyes,' Zhao Ritian can't see Ye Lan under her invisibility buff."
"That might not be the case!"
Before the words had finished, Zhao Ritian somersaulted several times, deviating from the usual script and unleashing his ultimate skill. An attack covering nearly half the screen instantly forced the hidden Ye Lan out of her invisibility, and her health plummeted by 15%!
"Damn, this Zhao Ritian is too ruthless!"
"I think using his ultimate skill so early might be detrimental to the rest of the fight."
In just three turns, Zhao Ritian had used his ultimate skill, which was not his usual approach.
Meanwhile, before Zhao Ritian could celebrate, he sensed something was amiss. After being hit by the ultimate skill, Ye Lan had not retreated but moved closer. Just as his ultimate skill finished casting, he found himself within Ye Lan's attack range!
"Drunk Flower Shadow!"
Zhao Ritian's concern immediately became a reality. Although he had already activated his backward jump and teleport skill, he was still a fraction of a second slower than Ye Lan. A stun skill instantly immobilized him!
Ye Lan's blade flashed, seamlessly linking her control skills with the highly exaggerated Wufeng to successfully defeat Zhao Ritian's spirit beast. With practiced ease, she slowly chipped away at his health!
"It's over, it's over! My Goddess has caught him in her infinite control loop again. Prepare to collect his corpse!"
"Not necessarily. The number of player professionals who can master infinite control is probably within single digits. It's hard to say if there won't be network glitches. Besides, Zhao Ritian's buff includes 'Potian Riyue' for the second life. During that time, he has three seconds of immunity to low-level single-target skills. Three seconds. If the control is good, the chance of a comeback is huge."
Some high-level players analyzed the situation with great insight. Just then, Zhao Ritian's health dropped critically low, indeed triggering the effect of Potian Riyue!
He knew very well that he had no chance of killing Ye Lan within these three seconds. Instantly, he unleashed a 'Pair of Shadows,' creating illusory clones. He then performed another back-roll and retreated out of Ye Lan's attack range.
"This is going to be difficult. The 'Pair of Shadows' skill is extremely deceptive. The faster the player's hand speed, the more they can confuse the opponent. If the judgment is wrong, and Zhao Ritian lands a set of three consecutive knock-up, semi-control, semi-output combo skills, his health might not be safe."
"What's even more critical is that Potian Riyue's cooldown is only one minute. This means if the clones aren't deciphered within these tens of seconds, and Zhao Ritian reactivates Potian Riyue, even our Queen might be in danger."
As everyone worried for their Queen, Ye Lan unleashed her ultimate skill—Sihaijing (a mass silence spell). However, Zhao Ritian seemed to have anticipated Ye Lan's threat with this skill. With a series of exquisite aerial flips and flashes, he dodged her ultimate skill in an unpredictable manner!
"Holy crap, what kind of operation is this Zhao Ritian pulling off!"
"Does he have a foresight eye?"
Indeed, anyone who knew Ye Lan praised her unpredictable movement. Yet, her most boasted-about movement was precisely deciphered by Zhao Ritian!
"It's over, it's over!"
Ye Lan, having used her ultimate skill, felt two black shadows charging from two directions. She immediately cast a small-area confusion spell to prepare her defense. Unexpectedly, one figure stopped abruptly midway through its charge. Only after Ye Lan's confusion spell dissipated did the real body unleash a triple slash knock-up!
However, what was even more bizarre was Ye Lan's hand speed. In fact, as she cast the confusion spell, she had already anticipated that Zhao Ritian's true body would interrupt the skill with an 'under-body' tactic that was impossible for ordinary players!
The semi-control skill knock-up and the stun skill were unleashed almost simultaneously. At this moment, everyone felt their hearts stop!
Undoubtedly, whoever could gain an advantage of a few milliseconds in a duel could sway the outcome of the battle!
But in the ensuing silence, Ye Lan's Annihilation was suddenly knocked airborne, its health instantly dropping to 20%. At this point, the battle was nearing its end, and Zhao Ritian, possessing Potian Riyue, had gained absolute superiority.
Within five seconds, Annihilation indeed fell first, and Zhao Ritian, as if favored by the heavens, won the match.