Chapter 78 Zhang Xinjie... Individual Competition?

When everyone saw Zhang Xinjie actually walk into the competitor's seat, they could only completely accept the fact. But what about the host? He still hadn't come back to his senses. He was still staring blankly, completely forgetting to introduce Team B's competitor. Announcing this person's name in the individual competition lineup was really… so strange, even stranger than Yang Cong using his All or Nothing.

"Team B's third individual competition competitor is… Zhang Xinjie?" The host finally introduced, but the last name still had a rising intonation. He still couldn't believe it.

The entire stadium was silent for a long time before erupting in an uproar. A player in the Tyranny die-hard fan section was in complete shock, his mouth agape in an "o" shape, before finally closing it after a long while. His mood was different from the other players' shock. The moment he saw Zhang Xinjie appear, his mind buzzed, and he remembered the winter before last, in Glory's tenth server, when the guy controlling Lord Grim said to him outside the Frost Forest dungeon, a super low-level dungeon, "We don't need a priest."

And now, on the All-Star stage, on the stage shining with Glory's brightest starlight, that sentence immediately echoed in his ears again, rolling back and forth incessantly: "We don't need a priest, we don't need a priest, we don't need a priest, we don't need a priest…"

Last time he was told "We don't need a priest"; his priest was called Ye Weiyang.

And this time, the one being told "We don't need a priest" was Zhang Xinjie; the priest was called Immovable Rock, the top healer in all of Glory.

Ye Weiyang suddenly felt like he had no regrets in this life. Even Vice-Captain Zhang was told "We don't need a priest" on the All-Star stage, so what the heck was he still hung up about?

The characters loaded, and the priest Immovable Rock had already appeared on the arena stage. Across from him was Ghost Swordsman Ghostblade, who still had half his health.

When a priest really PKs, it's just using their powerful healing abilities to stay alive, and then using their few attack skills to slowly wear down the opponent.

In the Glory online game, there was no shortage of priests who used this method to PK. However, in online games, player skill and equipment levels varied greatly. For example, if Zhang Xinjie went to the online game to play in the arena, no one would want his priest's combat power.

However, if skill and equipment levels were similar, a priest was ultimately not a bloody combat class. This could be seen from the God Domain's challenge missions. Priests and Guardian Angels had significant differences from other classes in one segment, clearly showing that Glory's game settings themselves did not position these two classes as strong offensive classes. Those who desperately allocated skill points to offensive skills were definitely non-mainstream, at least not recognized in the professional scene. Of the 24 teams, every team had a healing class, and none of them were this non-mainstream.

Zhang Xinjie's Immovable Rock was even less so. This meticulous player never took gambles.

How would this match be played? The uproar hadn't ended yet, but many people were already curious.

As for the television broadcast, it was silent at this moment. Li Yibo was extremely depressed! He had predicted the two teams' lineups based on the difference of whether or not they had a healer. Who would have thought that Team B wouldn't use their healer and insisted on putting them in the individual competition? This season, he had been completely stimulated into a state of madness where he was only happy when his predictions were wrong.

Commentator Pan Lin was also speechless for a long time until the two characters on the field began to move. Only then did he let out a voice that sounded like it had been wrung out: "Let's take a look at this match, to calculate Void's Wu Yuce, against… Zhang Xinjie…"

The characters met, and the battle began.

Those who were fantasizing that Zhang Xinjie had some kind of special killing technique soon had their hopes dashed. Zhang Xinjie's priest one-on-one was just the same small tricks that were popular in the online game: positioning to maintain distance, occasionally healing himself, and using sparse attack skills to wear down the opponent.

Many high-end priests in the online game could annoy many people to death this way. Could Zhang Xinjie do it?

The audience was initially filled with high enthusiasm and high expectations, but gradually, everyone's mood cooled down. Because in terms of content, this match was unprecedentedly dull, more boring than any match in the All-Star Weekend, or even any match in the past half-season.

Everyone had only one thought at this moment: if Glory matches were really like this, then this league should be cancelled as soon as possible.

Fortunately, it wasn't…

Watching Zhang Xinjie control Immovable Rock, mechanically repeating those actions, occasionally having his rhythm disrupted by Wu Yuce, but stubbornly finding his way back, and then repeating the above process again.

The novelty was gone; the curiosity was gone.

Players who were more knowledgeable in the online game had seen this scene before. It was just that Zhang Xinjie's operation was more precise, and his opponent Wu Yuce's offensive was more fierce.

A priest's performance on the offensive side was really only a few options. Even Zhang Xinjie couldn't come up with any changes. It was just the most common approach in the online game, and then he executed it with his more advanced skills and operation. Facing a powerful opponent, the result was… this match looked like it would drag on endlessly.

1 minute…

2 minutes…

5 minutes…

10 minutes…

Zhang Xinjie was still operating meticulously, consuming away. Ghostblade had 52% health at the start, and now 11% had been consumed, leaving 41%. And this took a full ten minutes.

In ten minutes, Immovable Rock's health also decreased. The priest's fighting style couldn't be too unrestrained or too casual. If he carelessly ran out of mana, he would still be a fish on a chopping board. But under Wu Yuce's strong attacks, Zhang Xinjie didn't recklessly heal himself to full health. He had a fixed rhythm to maintain the balance of the situation. In 10 minutes, Immovable Rock's health consumed 20%…

So everyone took another look, and Ghostblade's 25% health lost 11%, which was also about 20% consumption, right? These two guys had actually fought out such a delicate balance, so delicate that the outcome needed to be fought to the very end to be determined?

So… at their current rate of attrition, wouldn't that mean… another four ten-minute periods?

Those who realized this turned pale. The organizers and the television broadcast were even more anxious. Was this one-on-one going to last an hour? This was way over the time budget. Would they even have time for the team competition afterwards?

Those here were anxious, those there were anxious, but the two on the field didn't seem anxious at all.

Zhang Xinjie's operation was still so methodical, and Wu Yuce? He was originally a very persistent person who wouldn't easily compromise or give up, or else there wouldn't be the current Void duo.

These two had actually dug in like this. But their victory or defeat would have to wait several more tens of minutes, and this kind of dull, repetitive performance was really hard to watch.

What to do?

The audience first experienced a wave of people going to the bathroom, then the smoking area was overcrowded, and then the sounds from all directions became increasingly noisy. Everyone was chatting, and the entire stadium was shining like the starry sky, as countless people began playing on their phones.

With the team competition as the grand finale, the audience was reluctant to leave, but they really couldn't watch this match any longer.

"We can't let them keep dragging this out!" The organizers finally made a decision. And so the decision quickly reached the field. The referee, in the guise of the system, intervened in the match, and then announced that the individual competition was a draw, and there would be no additional match. It was a tie! If they had an additional match to determine the winner, then according to the rules, both team captains would slightly replenish their health and then face off again, wouldn't that just be these two guys facing off again? Absolutely not.

The referee unreasonably and forcefully stopped the match. The audience on-site was slightly stunned, and then, they erupted in thunderous applause. Not for Zhang Xinjie, and certainly not for Wu Yuce. This applause was dedicated to the referee, who had a weak presence in Glory matches. At this moment, he was the most lovable person in the eyes of all the viewers.

Wu Yuce and Zhang Xinjie could only accept this reality. When the two of them came out of the player seats, the audience sent up some applause with mixed emotions, at least, for their seriousness, for their persistence, and even more for their calm acceptance of the match being forcibly declared a draw.

The boring and tedious part was over. Next, it was the highest point of the past three days. And this time, Team B also didn't have a healer. Without a doubt, both sides would engage in a fierce head-on attack. Looking at the players left on both sides for the team competition, they had completely gathered the most outstanding attackers in the league.

"Coach Li, can you analyze and compare the strengths of the two teams for us?" Pan Lin said.

"Both teams are the top players in the league. It wouldn't be a surprise if either side won. But neither team has a healer. This is an unprecedented situation. Today's team competition will be the most outstanding head-on attack battle in all of Glory. These two teams have gathered the most outstanding attackers in Glory!" Li Yibo said.

"You're right," Pan Lin responded, and the two chatted until the team competition players from both sides finally gathered and entered the field.

Team A's starting lineup was Zhou Zekai, Sun Xiang, Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, and Tang Hao, with Xiao Shiqin as the sixth player.

Team B's starting lineup was Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, Han Wenqing, Chu Yunxiu, and Wang Jiexi, with Yu Feng as the sixth player.

Both sides were making final preparations before the battle. Team A had two tactical masters, Yu Wenzhou and Xiao Shiqin. Many people felt uncomfortable with how Xiao Shiqin had dealt with Yu Wenzhou in the previous league, but now looking at the direct communication between the two, there didn't seem to be any obstacles. The two were constantly discussing, their eyes occasionally sweeping towards Team B. The camera captured several close-ups and then turned to Team B. It could basically be seen that the subject of their discussion was Ye Xiu in Team B.

Team B's Ye Xiu looked relaxed at this time. As a tactical master himself, he seemed to be giving instructions to the whole team, but he just said something to Han Wenqing next to him.

"When the battle starts, try to stay away from me. I'm afraid my attacks will unintentionally land on you," Ye Xiu said to Han Wenqing very seriously.