Chapter 8 Losing

Lost…

Fang Rui shook his head all the way as he left the stage. He, who was best at being sneaky, was actually defeated by sneakiness. A good swimmer drowns. This was simply a disgrace.

"Damn it, Han Wenqing!"

Back on the player bench, after taking the towel handed over by his teammates, Fang Rui didn't wipe his hands but instead furiously slammed the seat, as if Han Wenqing was sitting there.

"If my opponent were you, I definitely wouldn't have fallen for it," Fang Rui said to Ye Xiu with utmost sincerity.

"No way, you definitely still would have fallen for it," Ye Xiu replied with equal sincerity.

"Absolutely not."

"Absolutely would."

Chen Guo was a little confused listening to them, but after thinking about it slightly, she suddenly understood.

Fang Rui meant that because Han Wenqing was someone who never played dirty, he overlooked it. But if the opponent were Ye Xiu, he definitely wouldn't overlook it, meaning Ye Xiu would play dirty. And Ye Xiu was resolutely denying this point.

"What time is it? How can you two still be fooling around!" Chen Guo put on her bossy attitude to reprimand the two.

"Xiao Tang, go for it, destroy him!" Fang Rui immediately turned around and roared at Tang Rou's back as she walked onto the stage, but in the noise of the scene, his voice couldn't penetrate the distance between Tang Rou and them.

Chen Guo was worried. The advantage that Ye Xiu had risked consumption to seize at the start was now not only completely gone, but they were far behind.

Han Wenqing consecutively defeated two of Happy's members. Fighting Su Mucheng didn't consume him at all, and in the fight against Fang Rui, it took a little longer, but half of it was spent running in circles, and he was in control for the other half. Fang Rui didn't have any effective attacks and only managed to exchange some blows while resisting the opponent's attacks. In the end, Desert Dust still had 59% of his health left. This was even after Han Wenqing had endured some exchanges that he could have avoided with some techniques in order to ensure that his attacks were simple and brutal.

One versus three!

Such shouts were already resounding in Tyranny's home stadium. After defeating two opponents with over half their health remaining, this was a very natural expectation.

On the field.

Han Wenqing, Tang Rou.

Desert Dust, Soft Mist.

Striker, Battle Mage.

Ten years ago, this was the same set of classes that kicked off their years-long rivalry in the Glory Alliance.

Although not teammates, this was a class that Han Wenqing was extremely familiar with. He had too much experience fighting this class. Against Battle Mage players other than Ye Xiu, Han Wenqing's win rate was shockingly high. Except for some extreme situations in the team arena, in a proper one-on-one fair duel, Han Wenqing had never lost.

In the eighth season's All-Star Challenge, Sun Xiang, the new generation who took over One Autumn Leaf, could be considered the highest level of the new generation of Battle Mages. He challenged Han Wenqing, who was past his prime, and the victor was still Han Wenqing.

Now he had to face Tang Rou, this season's best rookie, a professional Battle Mage.

Almost every Battle Mage had Ye Xiu's shadow on them. Even someone as arrogant as Sun Xiang had painstakingly practiced Ye Xiu's Dragon Raises Its Head technique. And Tang Rou had grown up bit by bit at Ye Xiu's side, inevitably the result of Ye Xiu's direct instruction.

But in Tang Rou, Han Wenqing discovered not only Ye Xiu's shadow, but also his own.

This beautiful girl had the same strong desire for attack as him, and like him, she liked to directly destroy everything with violence. Attack, attack, and attack again, never retreat, constantly attack, not afraid of losing any health, as long as I inflict more damage on the opponent.

This was the style of people like them, Han Wenqing knew it very well.

A familiar opponent, a familiar self. Two images that had been fighting for years overlapped on this girl in front of him.

How difficult would such an opponent be to deal with?

Han Wenqing took a deep breath and braced himself.

The match began.

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!

Without hesitation or delay, the instant the match started, Tang Rou quickly controlled Soft Mist to launch an attack. On this small map, for these two players with this style, it was like the starting gun firing at a hundred-meter race.

Who would be faster?

Tang Rou!

Tang Rou's Soft Mist was faster, because Han Wenqing's choice at the start was to avoid.

The attitude and choices that he would never have made in the past had appeared again and again in today's match.

What about this time? Han Wenqing wasn't surprised that the attack was launched in a race against time, because he knew his opponent's style as well as he knew himself. In the past, he would have liked to have a showdown with his opponent in this kind of situation to see who was faster and who was fiercer.

But now, Han Wenqing knew very well that he really couldn't compare with young people in terms of reaction speed and hand speed.

So, he used all the reaction speed and hand speed he could muster to avoid the attack.

Boom…

The charge of Dragon Breaks the Ranks seemed to explode, instantly passing by Desert Dust's side. It didn't hit, but the surging energy of the magical battle aura alone made Desert Dust's figure somewhat unstable. But this was all within Han Wenqing's expectations. Desert Dust actually used this force to spin around and kick towards Soft Mist's back with a cyclone leg.

Bang!

A collision sound rang out.

The instant Dragon Breaks the Ranks missed, Tang Rou had already canceled the skill. Dragon Breaks the Ranks, a big move, was fast to cast and fast to recover, making it an oddity among big moves. Soft Mist turned around and used Sky Strike, hitting the Cyclone Leg that Desert Dust swept over.

The two characters were immediately knocked back, then adjusted and attacked again!

When two players with this style meet, they engage in a fierce head-on battle. However, from the first exchange, it could be seen that the two were relying on different things. Han Wenqing relied more on experience, using his understanding of the Battle Mage class and Tang Rou's style to anticipate the enemy and take the lead. And Tang Rou? She relied on her superb reaction speed and hand speed, often making adjustments after Han Wenqing's Desert Dust attacked first, catching up later without falling behind.

The two fought fiercely, and their health instantly dropped. How could there not be intense damage exchange in a confrontation between two players of this style?

Although Han Wenqing's Desert Dust had slightly less health, there was still one person behind him. And Tang Rou's Soft Mist, although she started with full health, after such an exchange with Han Wenqing where neither side gained an advantage, even if she could exhaust the opponent to death, she would be in a weakened state to face the next opponent.

Therefore, players like Han Wenqing and Tang Rou are not very suitable for team arena matches, especially in the playoffs where there are as many as five people in a group confrontation. Their desire to attack head-on often leads them to exchange blood for blood and life for life. If they can completely suppress their opponents, that's fine, but in today's match, both of them are this style, and fighting head-on, they probably won't be able to kill their opponents with less health.

If they fight like this, Happy will win this round, but the overall team arena result will probably be unfavorable.

"Alas... Xiao Tang..." Even Chen Guo felt that it wouldn't be good to continue fighting like this.

"What? I think she's playing very well!" Ye Xiu said.

"Tyranny still has one person left!" Chen Guo reminded Ye Xiu. This guy wouldn't have miscounted, right?

"If she doesn't fight like this, I'm afraid she won't even see the next one," Ye Xiu said.

"Ah?"

"Do you think Xiao Tang and Han Wenqing have a higher chance of winning by exchanging blows, or by slowing down and comparing experience, awareness, and skills?" Ye Xiu said.

Chen Guo was stunned.

Experience, awareness, skills... comparing these with Han Wenqing?

Chen Guo already had the answer subconsciously.

"With one breath, there is still a chance; if you slow down, it will be even harder to fight," Ye Xiu said.

In a whirlwind rhythm, this duel took less than a minute to produce a result. Tang Rou won, but the loss was indeed not small. Soft Mist still had 50% of her health, exactly half. In the consumption of the head-on fight, neither side had a clear advantage. In the end, it could only be said that it was a draw.

The Tyranny fans felt quite regretful about this result! They hoped that their captain would put on a show of one versus three on the playoff stage and achieve a shocking comeback in the team arena.

But even reaching this point was already very, very good. When Han Wenqing left the stage, there was thunderous applause. In addition, the Tyranny fans also admired Tang Rou, the rookie who dared to fight head-on with their captain. Of course, they would admire her even more if she could change her class. Seeing a Battle Mage instinctively made them feel disgusted.

When it was finally time to decide the winner of the team arena, the name of the fifth player to appear for Tyranny lit up.

Song Qiying, Striker, Long River Sunset.

The new generation of Battle Mages and the new generation of Strikers met face to face on the field. But they didn't completely follow the personalities of their predecessors.

Although Tang Rou's Battle Mage absorbed a lot of Ye Xiu's techniques, her fighting style was actually inclined towards Ye Xiu's arch-enemy.

What about Song Qiying? He is said to be Han Wenqing's successor, but his Striker is following the path of Tyranny's vice-captain, Zhang Xinjie, whose style has always been slightly opposed to Han Wenqing's.

The style is changing, but the theme of the confrontation never changes.

Victory or defeat, only victory or defeat!

At the start, Soft Mist charged forward. She didn't use Dragon Breaks the Ranks, but it was still a running start attack. Soft Mist, with only 50% of her health, needed an advantage on the field even more. And Tang Rou? What she was good at was building advantages with attacks, and with such a simple map, she had no better means or methods other than this.

Song Qiying was very calm. Although his experience was far less than Han Wenqing's, he was very clear about what Tang Rou needed at this time. He calmly avoided the starting attack.

Then, he didn't immediately counterattack his opponent like Han Wenqing did. Such a strong counterattack would soon stick both sides together. Although head-on attack was a very effective way to consume, especially for Song Qiying, who had a health advantage, it wasn't his forte, so he didn't use it.

Perhaps this was Tyranny's true style: not just knowing how to move forward, but stubbornly sticking to themselves.