Chapter 172 Coordination is Key

The veteran pros who were used to attending the All-Star Weekend didn't take the events here too seriously, but the rookies mostly didn't. Especially for many first-year rookies, who might have pitifully few chances to play in the league, they all had a strong desire to show themselves. The All-Star arena had high visibility and high-level opponents, truly a good opportunity to perform. Even if the victory was a bit watered down, defeating Fighting God, Gun King, and Sword Saint was something to be proud of, no matter what.

For reasons like these, the rookies were quite enthusiastic about the All-Star Weekend event. Enthusiasm led to dedication. Once on the field, facing the pros, no matter how humble they seemed, they still wanted to win in their hearts. Zhou Xinyou and Song Qiying were now facing a two-on-one situation. Although Song Qiying was conflicted because it was against the rules, he immediately began to earnestly fight for victory once the match started. Two-on-one meant using two-on-one tactics; that was the reasonable thing to do. Song Qiying had no intention of deliberately creating a one-on-one duel in this situation. So as soon as the match began, he actively communicated with his partner. The two weren't very familiar with each other; relying on awareness and technique to achieve synergy probably wouldn't be good, so Song Qiying hoped to communicate a point of coordination in their playstyle first.

Coordination between players of the same class.

Theoretically, the two characters weren't the same class, sharing only a few low-level skills, but starting from this aspect was undoubtedly the fastest way to find common ground. Song Qiying's initial approach was quite correct.

Same-class playstyle?

Zeng Xinyan was also a very dedicated rookie. Hearing Song Qiying mention this, he immediately thought of the same-class coordination playstyles of several strong teams. The duet of the same skills could be said to be the most common form of same-class coordination. His Rogue and Song Qiying's Grappler could also play a bit of a duet.

But...

While Song Qiying was naturally averse to two-on-one on the field, he quickly entered the role after it was a done deal, seriously thinking about the two-on-one approach. But what about Zeng Xinyan? He was still a bit out of the loop. He was thinking more about defeating Ye Xiu and showing himself. A two-on-one performance style? He hadn't thought that much about it. Hearing Song Qiying mention it at this time, he instinctively considered it, not strongly resisting, but not putting much effort into it either.

"Well...for Grappler and Rogue, we can also..."

"Let's talk about it later! The opponent is already coming up!" Zeng Xinyan interrupted Song Qiying, and the Rogue Deli Luo faced Jun Moxiao, who had already appeared.

"Don't rush!" Song Qiying quickly called out. Song Qiying actually had many ideas for the coordination of Grappler and Rogue. Don't forget that the current Tyranny team has a combination of Grappler and Rogue, and they are the most experienced Grappler and Rogue players in the alliance, but now...the partner beside him doesn't seem to be very interested in patient coordination!

"I'll try probing, cover me!" Zeng Xinyan didn't completely reject Song Qiying. Obviously, he was still very clear about his own capabilities. Defeat the pro who had a 16-round winning streak in solo matches, Ye Xiu the Great God? Zeng Xinyan had this expectation, but he didn't dare to have too much confidence. However, in the combination with Song Qiying, he was very happy to place himself in the leading role. Even if Song Qiying's reputation seemed to be greater than his now, Zeng Xinyan suddenly had more confidence in competing with a fellow rookie for position.

"How are you going to probe?" Song Qiying quickly controlled his Long River Sunset to chase after him and ask. The two rookies communicated constantly in this match, thanks to the opening of the voice channel. The All-Star arena was more casual, and there had been arrangements in the past that didn't prohibit voice communication. However, the discussion about voice communication has been lively recently, and the arrangement in the All-Star arena may be a kind of trial.

"Play it by ear," Zeng Xinyan replied.

"You should at least have some ideas!" Zeng Xinyan's casualness frightened Song Qiying.

"Well, I'll go first, you cover," Zeng Xinyan said his plan.

"..." Song Qiying was speechless for a moment, and was about to say something.

"Dodge!" Zeng Xinyan shouted.

Boom!

Jun Moxiao, holding the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella horizontally, flashed fire, launching a long-range attack on the two.

"He has a full distance advantage relative to us, I'm afraid it won't be so easy for us to get close, we need to find a way to flank him," Song Qiying called out.

"What way, you tell me." Zeng Xinyan's Deli Luo rolled continuously. Jun Moxiao's attacks never stopped from the beginning, any skills of the Gunner, Mage, or any class that could reach were being used. Zeng Xinyan's Rogue also had some mid-range attack methods, but he was forced to stay out of range.

"Let's flank from two sides!" Song Qiying said.

"Damn, I thought you had some brilliant idea!" Zeng Xinyan said.

"Flanking isn't just rushing up from two directions! You have to pay attention to the opponent's attack habits and skill operations, and find the most suitable entry angle," Song Qiying defended.

"So much nonsense, you might as well say where the entry angle is!" Zeng Xinyan shouted.

"I'll go left, you go right," Song Qiying said.

"You might as well be more general!" Zeng Xinyan said.

"Separate first, and then improvise," Song Qiying shouted.

"Isn't this the same as what I said at the beginning?" Zeng Xinyan muttered. The two rookies' characters, the Grappler Long River Sunset and the Rogue Deli Luo, did separate left and right, approaching from both directions.

"Pull away, pull away, pull away a little more! Align!" Song Qiying shouted, observing and dodging Jun Moxiao's attacks at the same time. The two characters quickly aligned, forming a straight line with Jun Moxiao.

"Good, the firepower has weakened a lot, cover me to get into attack range!" Zeng Xinyan shouted.

"What am I going to use to cover you!" Song Qiying was annoyed. He was a Grappler, the class with the shortest attack distance among the 24 classes. Cover? This was a situation that rarely happened to this class.

"Charge harder, attract more of his attention," Zeng Xinyan said.

"You want me to be cannon fodder, you're really nice." Song Qiying complained, but Long River Sunset really took action, because Zeng Xinyan's idea, in his opinion, was a relatively reasonable decision.

Steel Tendons and Iron Bones! (a Grappler skill that increases defense and grants super armor)

Long River Sunset quickly activated this high-defense, super-armor skill, then opened Cloud Body, flashing and forcibly heading forward.

Sure enough, seeing Long River Sunset start such a strong raid, Jun Moxiao's attacks towards this side immediately became denser, and he began to retreat diagonally, trying to continue to widen the distance.

"Good job!" Zeng Xinyan clearly felt that the pressure on his side had been greatly reduced. With a praise, Deli Luo seized the opportunity and rushed up madly.

Defend left, or defend right?

Ye Xiu seemed to be in a dilemma. Long River Sunset's move of attracting attention was very real with every step. If Jun Moxiao's attack suppression relaxed on him even slightly, Song Qiying would not hesitate to let Long River Sunset charge straight in. Grapplers needed absolute close combat, otherwise their combat power couldn't be expressed at all.

What would he do?

Song Qiying stared intently at Jun Moxiao's every move.

"Pay attention to maintaining the angle!" Song Qiying shouted. He noticed that Jun Moxiao was cutting back vertically, which was equal to reducing the angle of their pincer attack. Switching fire would become more free, and this was absolutely something they couldn't let him do.

"You maintain it!" Zeng Xinyan answered decisively.

Song Qiying was speechless. It was possible to maintain this posture if one person specialized in it. But compared to that, it would be more flexible if both of them maintained this posture! This Zeng Xinyan was determined to be the main attacker!

In the battle, there was really no time for arguing. Song Qiying helplessly had to shoulder all the dirty work that others didn't want to do. While moving laterally to continue maintaining the three-point line, he tried to get closer to put pressure on Jun Moxiao.

Jun Moxiao's attacks on Long River Sunset became denser.

"Opportunity!" Song Qiying shouted.

"You don't need to tell me!" Zeng Xinyan's Deli Luo, with a powerful knee strike, not for attack, but as a movement skill, powerfully advanced into attack range.

"I'm coming!" Zeng Xinyan shouted.

"Don't be too hasty!!" Seeing this, Song Qiying quickly shouted, but Deli Luo had already powerfully struck out with the knee, and couldn't hold back, not to mention that Zeng Xinyan didn't take Song Qiying's words too seriously at all.

This was wrong!

Two-way pincers seemed simple, but they were actually a very delicate form of coordinated combat, especially since Song Qiying's character was a Grappler, a class that must be in zero-distance close combat to have practical attack power. Deli Luo's too-fast breakthrough would lead to the tearing of the balance, and there was a high probability that they would be strongly counterattacked.

Song Qiying, who clearly judged all this, knew that it was completely impossible to stop Zeng Xinyan. He could only make his Long River Sunset rush forward desperately, but...

"Behind!!" Song Qiying shouted. Jun Moxiao used a Shadow Avatar Technique, his real body flashing behind Deli Luo. Zeng Xinyan was still ignorantly invincible, his hand reaching for a brick, very excited that he had finally entered attack range, and was about to throw it at Jun Moxiao. Hearing Song Qiying's shout, he realized that something was wrong, but it was too late. A spray of blood spurted out from Deli Luo's neck. Ye Xiu mercilessly gave him a Throat-Slitting with Jun Moxiao.

Yes! It was this kind of tearing!

Deli Luo's too-fast breakthrough cut off the connection with Long River Sunset. At this distance, Long River Sunset couldn't use any attack methods. Zeng Xinyan was facing Ye Xiu one-on-one, and he was ambushed from behind right from the start. He could only be passively beaten. Song Qiying could only watch helplessly, unable to intervene at all, and all he could do was let his Long River Sunset move over faster.

But...would Ye Xiu let Jun Moxiao stay and wait for Long River Sunset to come over?

Of course not.