728 Really Troublesome

Shadow Steps. Eight shadows!

In the finals, Huang Shaotian used seven shadows and that was more than enough to make the crowd go wild. In the entire alliance, the only Blade Master who could use more than seven shadows, was Team Tiny Herb’s Blade Master, Liu Xiaobie, but even though Liu Xiaobie could reach the required hand speed, his control over the shadows wasn’t too good. He could never find the balance between his hand speed and control over the shadows. It was a huge problem that prevented him from improving even further. If he tried to create more shadows, the other side would instantly be able to distinguish between the real and the fake, rendering the skill meaningless.

Lu Yuwen could reach eight shadows. Just this number alone was enough to scare everyone foolish, because this was the highest number of Shadow Steps that anyone had ever accomplished in Glory. No one had ever achieved eight complete shadows.

Ye Xiu was also surprised for a moment, but after looking at it more carefully, he could tell that, although Lu Yuwen could produce eight shadows, his control wasn’t very good, similar to Liu Xiaobie. Of those eight shadows, Ye Xiu could identify four of them as fake with a single glance. Compared to Huang Shaotian’s seven perfect shadows, Lu Yuwen’s eight shadows were far from being as effective.

However, this was from the perspective of an experienced expert like Ye Xiu. Let alone normal players, even pro players that weren’t familiar with Shadow Steps would be frightened by Lu Yuwen’s eight shadows. More importantly, Lu Yuwen was still young. His high-pitched childish voice proved this loud and clear. How old was he? 13? 14? After a few years of practice, once he trained his control, he might just be able to produce eight perfect shadows.

Although this level of Shadow Steps might make the others cry out in fear, for Ye Xiu, it was far from being anything noteworthy. Ye Xiu could instantly see through four of the eight shadows. It would have been more effective for Lu Yuwen to produce five perfect shadows!

Ye Xiu’s Enlightened Lord stepped to the side. The onlookers watched as he crashed into a shadow. If that was a real one, wouldn’t he just be killing himself?

Ye Xiu ignored everyone’s bewilderment. He had naturally devised a plan already. While Enlightened Lord stepped to the side, the cross in his hands lit up. Cleric skills would come out whenever the cross flashed with light. Clerics were mainly healers, but Clerics had better offensive capabilities than Paladins. They had a few attacking moves that could be used.

Hypnosis, Sacred Fire, and Holy Commandment LIght.

Three skills were activated consecutively.

Hypnosis inflicted Sleep on the target.

Sacred Fire was a 5 second DoT and a 3 second silence.

Holy Commandment Light immersed the target in light, causing the target to take 30% more damage from all attacks. The total duration being six seconds.

These three skills were naturally used on the four indistinguishable shadows. The shadows of Shadow Steps were virtual images. Anything tangible would pierce through one on contact. However, Enlightened Lord’s equipment wasn’t very good, meaning his stats were on the lower side. All three skills required cast time. Without any casting speed buffs from his equipment, using all three skills before Flowing Cloud reached him wasn’t possible. Fortunately, Ye Xiu wasn’t alone. He had brought Little Cold Hands with him.

Little Cold Hands had good perception. Distinguishing between real and fake was his forte. He couldn’t compare to Ye Xiu though and instantly see through four shadows, but during the time it took Ye Xiu’s Enlightened Lord to step sideways, Little Cold Hands identified three as fake. He was still lacking in comparison to Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu could instantly see through four, while Little Cold Hands only saw through three after some time.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what to do though. Little Cold Hand immediately raised his cross and began casting spells. However, he took more time than Ye Xiu to find the fake shadows. His control over his character wasn’t as good as Ye Xiu either. By the time he was about to do something, he was only able to cast a single spell. Little Cold Hands also had better equipment than Enlightened Lord. Although he might not be able to move his hands as quickly, his character casted spells faster. In the end, Little Cold Hands cast a Sacred Fire, while Ye Xiu’s Enlightened Lord cast a Hypnosis and a Holy Commandment Light.

Lu Yuwen had been too rushed, which meant that retreating was more difficult. After the enemy skills arrived, he wasn’t able to switch out of the shadow in time. The enemies targeted their skills at troublesome locations. Ye Xiu didn’t need to be said. As for Little Cold Hands, this was another one of his strengths.

Of the three shadows, Hypnosis passed right through one of the shadows. Another shadow wasn’t set on fire after stepping on Sacred Fire. The third one began to glow brightly under Holy Commandment Light.

That one was without a doubt the real body. Little Cold Hands hastily retreated, but he was still nicked by the enemy sword. Ye Xiu’s Enlightened Lord crashed into one of the shadow under the cries of the surrounding onlookers. When Holy Commandment Light glowed around Flowing Cloud’s real body, Flowing Cloud was still able to cut Little Cold Hands, but by the time his sword reached Enlightened Lord, it was too late. Lu Yuwen’s intentions of directly killing Enlightened Lord had been seen through. There were even players jumping out to protect Enlightened Lord now.

Holy Commandment Light was a persistent effect spell. The light produced by the spell still covered his body from head to toe. There might be real or fake shadows in Shadow Steps, but the fake shadows wouldn’t just disappear. Thus, when facing Shadow Steps, if the shadows criss crossed with each other and switched places, the opponent might lose track. This was the true value behind using Shadow Steps. The real body might have been identified, but as long as you weren’t caught, you could rely on other methods toget out of a tough spot.

This was exactly what Lu Yuwen did. His eight shadows suddenly gathered together and then scattered. He thought he would be able to cause the enemies to lose track of his real body, but when he looked at his screen, light surrounded his body. Ye Xiu had accounted for Lu Yuwen trying to confuse them.

"To think you could even see through that. You really are amazing!!" Lu Yuwen exclaimed. He wasn’t dispirited though. Shadow Steps may have been seen through, but he still didn’t cancel the skill. The eight shadows still charged towards Enlightened Lord.

Two Knights protected him. With Holy Commandment Light as a guide, the two Knights knew very well which shadow was the real one. One of the Knights charged forward. Flowing Cloud stepped to the side and that Knight ran right past him like a train. The second Knight learned from the other Knight’s mistake. He didn’t leave his spot and attack. Then, he heard Ye Xiu shout: "Provoke!"

The Knight wasn’t going to ignore God Ye Qiu’s instruction. He used Provoke, and Flowing Clouds immediately headed towards him. Lu Yuwen saw the Knight lift his hands and predicted that he would be Provoked. The eight shadows suddenly gathered together, providing cover for him. The Knight swiped his mouse back and forth, but the other shadows were making it too difficult for him to click on the real one!

Provoke didn’t have any special requirements. The user just had to click on the target and it would hit 100% of the time, but against a pro level player, this sort of disgusting problem came up: he couldn’t click on the target. In Glory, whether it was attacks or skills, the player had to point at the desired target and click to activate the skill. It wasn’t like other games, where the game did the aiming for you and all you had to do was press the right key.

Glory was widely known for its complex game mechanics. Every attack required the player to control the character. As a result, just clicking on a target to use the skill might not be easy as it sounded. Using the other fake shadows to block the real one from being clicked on was one way. Moving around like a fly also made it difficult for the opponent to predict his movements. An experienced player could figure out when you were about to use your skill based on your movements. If you knew when the opponent would click, if you moved at the same time, wouldn’t you cause the opponent to miss? If the opponent missed, the skill would go on cooldown. In this case, the Knight’s Provoke would miss.

The Knight was facing a bunch of shadows. Provoke being used on a fake shadow was no different from it being used on thin air.

At this moment, he heard God Ye Qiu remind him: "Roar!"

Right, Roar!

The Knight hastily clicked randomly to release Provoke. Even if he canceled it, it would go on cooldown, so it didn’t matter either way. When he clicked, it missed Flowing Cloud’s real body, but the Knight quickly followed up with a Roar.

This skill was even easier. As long as the target was in range, it would hit. Tricks couldn’t be used to dodge it. The instant the Knight roared, Flowing Cloud immediately turned around and his sword headed for the Knight instead.

But Knights specialized in defense. Even more so, he had many Clerics healing him. Of course he wouldn’t be afraid of a single strike. He lifted his shield and blocked it.

The moment the sword struck the Knight, a heal was also cast on the Knight. After the attack, Flowing Cloud removed the taunt on himself. When he turned around, Enlightened Lord had already retreated a good distance away.

"You really are troublesome!" Lu Yuwen pulled himself together and got ready to chase, but before he could even move two steps, another Roar came. That Knight was a self-made genius. He didn’t need Ye Xiu to remind him. He activated Knight’s Spirit and all his skills went off cooldown. He used a Sacrificial Roar. The range was even larger. Flowing Cloud had no way of avoiding it and could only run back to attack. That Knight was waiting for the attack though.

The other players looked at the scene. Isn’t he under our control now? Should we go over and kill him? But Ye Xiu directly reminded everyone: "Ignore him. We need to hurry." Enlightened Lord was already prepared to cast Heal on that Knight.