791 Pressure

Evening fell.

With the name Team Happy, room 28529 in the Arena was undoubtedly the most popular room these days. Or perhaps you could say, since the launch of Glory,, there had never been an Arena room that had maintained such popularity over a long period of time.

Tonight was no different. Starting from six o’clock at night, players scrambled to the room. No one sat in the seat for competitors. Everyone ensured that they sat as a spectator.

Would anyone challenge Team Happy tonight?

The spectators guessed. Ever since talk of Team Happy exploded, numerous experts challenged them. During that period of time, there would be plenty of matches to see every night. Some of these experts came to embarrass Team Happy. Others came purely out of curiosity and just wanted to have some fun.

Team Happy had yet to lose. Not even once.

But Team Happy’s line up was certainly strange. The vast majority of matches were won by the Battle Mage, Soft Mist. In the individual competition, she always appeared first. In the group arena, she also always appeared first.

In the eyes of the players, this Soft Mist was terrifyingly skilled. Rumors of Soft Mist being Ye Qiu spread. Many were suspecting that Ye Qiu was controlling this character from behind the screen. These were just guesses from normal players. The pro players paying attention to this commotion could tell that this Battle Mage was different from Ye Qiu’s Battle Mage. Especially Excellent Era. After learning about Lord Grim not being Ye Qiu, they wanted to find some way to prove that Ye Qiu was definitely at Happy. However, from the material gained through the matches played recently, they also felt that Soft Mist wasn’t Ye Qiu.

It was hard to say though. After all, the challengers were merely random in-game level players. For God Ye Qiu, he didn’t need to go all out to crush them. He could fool around and win. From the perspective of people like Chen Yehui, who would think about Ye Qiu from the worst point of view possible, they were convinced that Ye Qiu was deliberately making things confusing.

If Soft Mist wasn’t being played by Ye Qiu, then who else? This was one of the countless questions posed when talking about Team Happy.

At 7 o’clock sharp. Soft Mist appeared and sat a a competitor seat.

As for her opponent? Would there be an opponent today?

The spectators waited anxiously. Less and less opponents were coming. Last night, the first challenger appeared at eight o’clock and then lost without any suspense.

At this point, the players could tell that Team Happy was truly a strong team. It looked like normal players wouldn’t be able to stop them. With their skill level, maybe they could actually make it into the pro scene?

This was also talked about. From the start, everyone thought Team Happy was being too arrogant, but now they started having different thoughts. Most of the spectators wanted to see Team Happy lose, but many were also thinking when they would lose. These two schools of thought sounded similar, but the slight difference between them indicated that quite a few people were starting to lean towards Team Happy’s side.

Team Happy’s marketing campaign had some results. Chen Guo’s risky move paid off.

"It’s time!"

At Club Excellent Era’s game studio, after Tang Rou’s Soft Mist appeared in the room, Chen Yehui immediately called out to everyone. He had been waiting among the spectators long ago. Today’s matches would obviously need to be recorded.

‘Who’s going first?" Chen Yehui asked.

"I’ll go!" Li Rui smiled, rushing to be first.

Chen Yehui nodded his head. He didn’t care who came up first. He didn’t forget to say a few words. "Be careful. This person has stood out the most in the team. I think that might be Ye Qiu playing." Chen Yehui warned solemnly.　

"Ye Qiu?" Li Rui sneered. He wasn’t looking down on Ye Qiu’s skill, but rather Chen Yehui’s eyes.

"She isn’t him." Li Rui remarked bluntly. It didn’t sound like he was opposing Ye Qiu, but completely denying Chen Yehui’s suspicion was not giving him face. 

Chen Yehui was furious in his heart. He started feeling conflicted. He was even slightly hoping that Li Rui would lose to show him his place. He’s just a trainee from the training camp. If he one day became an ace player of a team, was he going to use his nose to talk to him?

Li Rui ignored Chen Yehui’s feelings. He logged onto his character and entered the room in the Arena. Soft Mist standing out the most was something he obviously knew of. He had pursued this topic quite a bit. It was precisely because of this that he was eager to be first. If he could strike her down, he would certainly receive the most attention. Li Rui couldn’t miss such an opportunity.

Demon Fighter.

This was the name of Li Rui’s Battle Mage. He quickly entered the room and appeared in the competitor seat. Soft Mist was across from him.

"Demon Fighter. Is that one of yours?" Chen Yehui received a message from Chen Guo on his alternate.

"Yes." Chen Yehui replied.

Once Chen Guo confirmed it, she said to Tang Rou: "This is the one. Go for it!"

Soft Mist pressed ready. Demon Fighter pressed ready. The match began.

Tang Rou’s aggressiveness didn’t need to be said. Once the countdown ended, Soft Mist rushed towards her opponent. Just like before, Tang Rou often started with Dragon Breaks the Ranks. However, after so many days, the challengers were becoming more and more skilled, so Tang Rou wouldn’t use this kind of unreliable initiation. In fact, against experts, it would certainly put her at a disadvantage.

Soft Mist steadily approached and initiated with Dragon Tooth. Demon Fighter had not moved yet as if he were very calm.

In reality, Li Rui was very nervous.

Yes, nervous. He hadn’t thought that once the match began, he would become nervous.

The outcome of this match was very important. He regarded it as a turning point in his career, so he kept reminding himself that he absolutely could not fail. As a result, when the match came, he became nervous. He had given himself too much pressure. Only victory, no defeat.Very few could endure that kind of pressure.　　

Li Rui felt like he could hear his heart thump. His two legs underneath the table uncontrollably trembled and this trembling was spreading. If it spread to his two hands, it would be over…..

The more he thought about it the more he couldn’t control himself. Li Rui discovered that his two hands had actually started shaking.

How shameful!

Li Rui thought. He looked left and right. Fortunately, the others were focused on their screens, watching the match. None of them saw his two hands shaking, easing some of the pressure off him. The trembling in his two hands seemed to have lessened as well.

But while he was distracted, Soft Mist had closed in on Demon Fighter and stabbed at him with Dragon Tooth. Demon Fighter did not react and was hit.

Dragon Tooth induced a brief stun effect. For Dragon Tooth, the stun was more valuable than the damage it dealt.

How to follow up after the stun was a basic skill for Battle Mages.

Tang Rou used it very well. When she started with Dragon Tooth, she didn’t think it would be so easy to land the hit. She followed with Sky Strike, knocking Demon Fighter into the air. The magic chasers generated by Dragon Tooth and Sky Strike flew at their target and exploded. Soft Mist’s next attacks arrived…...　

Li Rui turned his head back at this moment and saw his character tumbling in the air. Two chasers struck him. Li Rui, who had just eased up a little bit, suddenly became nervous again. His brain seemed to have stopped working all of a sudden. His mind blanked. He forgot what to do in this situation. His left hand hovered over his keyboard and his right hand gripped his mouse. He wanted to move them, but they refused to listen to his instructions. He didn’t know how he could get them to move again.

Sot Mist continued with her combo. Finally, she landed a Falling Flower Palm on Demon Fighter, pushing him away, and fired a Rising Dragon Soars the Sky. Her spear melded with magic, transforming into a dragon. Before Demon Fighter could hit the ground, he was devoured by the dragon. The crowd let out gasps of surprise.

Hitting an airborne target with Rising Dragon Soars the Sky wasn’t as easy as it sounded, even more so when chasing after a target that had been blown away by Falling Flower Palm. The inputs had to be very quick. If not, there wouldn’t be enough time. Soft Mist being able to strike a blown away target with Rising Dragon Soars the Sky was proof of her hand speed. Without a fast enough hand speed, this play would not have worked.

As for Demon Fighter, did anyone care about him? He just stood there and took the Dragon Tooth. After being launched into the air by Sky Strike, everyone focused on Soft Mist’s relentless combo. For normal players, this type of combo seemed perfect and inescapable.

But for Li Rui, that shouldn’t be the case. Unfortunately, his mind blanked out. Everything he had learned instantly disappeared. He was like a spectator, watching as his character was pummeled in the air. After a direct hit from Rising Dragon Soars the Sky, Demon Fighter’s health had gone down by a third.

A single combo for a third of his health. For a pro level fight, it was disgusting. There was no such thing as an inescapable combo. It all depended on whether you could find an opportunity to escape.

When Li Rui had turned his head, no one had been paying attention to him. But now after losing a third of his health in one go, everyone turned their heads.

It was too outrageous.

A trainee from the training camp might not be an official pro player yet, but they were at a pro level. To be comboed in such a way, what was he doing? Was he doing it on purpose?

From their understanding of Li Rui, they all thought of this possibility.