837 Having the Upper Hand

Was it close enough?

Team Everlasting’s Warlock player was more nervous than anyone right now, because according to their research, One Inch Ash was a very cunning person. He had successfully managed to close in on his opponent’s side, but could it be trap?

Leopold didn’t continue to close in or start to cast. Team Everlasting’s Warlock wanted to observe a little more, but Red Flower Pavilion didn’t give much cover. One Inch Ash turned suddenly and Leopold had nowhere to hide, becoming fully exposed in the other’ range of vision.

The spectating members of Team Everlasting all let out sighs of regret. They could clearly see, from their omniscient view, that One Inch Ash hadn’t been laying a trap and Leopold had really stumbled on a great opportunity to take the upper hand. However, he was overly cautious, so he missed it.

Upon turning his body, One Inch Ash immediately noticed Leopold was at his flank and hurriedly started to move away. Directly charging at a ranged character wasn’t a good idea, especially ones like Warlocks that had powerful control skills.

His chance was gone. Seeing One Inch Ash’s hurried retreat, Everlasting’s Warlock knew he had missed his chance at grabbing the initiative and was very frustrated. But, he had to be cautious! He then recalled the important points that were repeated brought up on the tactical notes for One Inch Ash. So, he started to wonder again, was this retreat the next step in some scheme?

So, not only did Team Everlasting’s Warlock not pursue him immediately, he even changed direction and took a longer route to close in on One Inch Ash.

The spectating members of Everlasting exchanged looks. They could tell that Leopold was being a little too cautious this round. With this attitude, he would become overly suspicious of his opponent’s actions.

After a while of cautious movement from both sides, their paths crossed once more.

Under the dancing petals of the Red Flower Pavilion, the two characters, both in control of the powers of darkness, noticed that they had somehow come into such proximity with a single turn of the head.

This competition had already been going on for eight whole minutes….

The audience was exhausted to the point where they didn’t even have the energy to cheer any longer. Team Everlasting’s Warlock was being extremely cautious, but Qiao Yifan was the same. However, Qiao Yifan’s caution was reasonable. It was better to be close when against a dangerous class like the Warlock. It could be seen from the delight Wei Chen had towards Death’s Hand, which had a cast range bonus of +4, that the increase in this range meant a lot to a Warlock.

Under this background, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t come across each other before. It was just that they both didn’t think it was a good opportunity and retreated.

So, they had traversed the terrain through their own paths for a whole eight minutes. This meeting was coincidental. For the audience, it was even kind of funny, like two people backing up to look for each other, only to back into each other.

Of course, what actually happened wasn’t so absurd. But they were surprised to notice the other, and at such a close distance too.

A chance!

A trap!

That was what each of the players immediately thought.

At such proximity, Qiao Yifan definitely had the advantage.

His cautious movements were simply to find a chance to close in on the other. Now that it had happened out of coincidence, why would he wait instead of taking this chance?

As for Team Everlasting’s Warlock, he had no idea that Qiao Yifan was just as surprised as he was. As soon as he saw that the situation gave the other the upper hand, he immediately believed he had fallen for the other’s trap.

Was his eight minutes of careful circling useless?

The Warlock couldn’t help but freak out a little. He didn’t even know when he had started singing the other’s tune.

One Inch Ash was already charging over.

Moonlight Slash!

A graceful arc of light sped out in a 216 degrees curve. The dark Phantom Power was already heading straight at Leopold.

Although Team Everlasting’s Warlock was anxious, his hands didn’t slow, hurriedly sidestepping the attack. A Full Moonlight Slash after the Moonlight Slash was a combination both Sword Demons and Phantom Demons were familiar with using. The current One Inch Ash was no exception, apart from how the 360 degrees attack came out at an angle instead of parallel to the ground like with normal players.

This was using one’s mechanics to change the angle of the attack. This execution had its own fan-given name, "Slanted Moonlight Slash."

The name was just a nickname made up by players. The damage and other effects of the skill had no change. However, with this slant, the angle of attack would be changed. Leopold may have dodged Moonlight Slash, but he was struck full by the Full Moonlight Slash.

Full Moonlight Slash also had a blow away effect. Leopold was blasted back as the attack landed. On the other side, One Inch Ash raised his sword towards the sky and a purple light flashed. The sky above the sword tip seemed to rip open, and continuous thudding sounds rang out. Several tombstones of varying lengths and heights had fallen from the heavens in this Ghostblade skill: Death’s Tombstone.

This skill was purely a damage dealing skill, but if you were hit by these tombstones, you would be briefly stunned. This was something all attacks did.

The current Leopold was still soaring through the air. How could he possibly dodge the falling tombstones? He was quickly smashed to the ground by a falling tombstone. In the current situation, Death’s Tombstones’ situation control was greater than its damage. After the tombstone that knocked Leopold to the ground, more were still falling. This skill would continue for a while. The knocked down Leopold couldn’t dodge out of range.

Then came a performance of setting Boundaries. He kept chanting, so by the time Death’s Tombstones had ended, One Inch Ash had sent out two Ghost Boundaries already.

Ice Boundary, which did the best in limiting movement, was obviously set. The other boundary was a Plague Boundary, which reduced the defense of the victims inside it.

Leopold was first slowed by the shards of ice that clung to him from the Ice Boundary. Then, the Plague Boundary reduced his defense. Characters that were affected by Plague Boundary took on a hunched over and frail look, struggling to move out of the boundary. It was then that the third Ghost Boundary fell.

Sword Boundary!

Something that enhanced the strength and intelligence of characters on one’s own side.

Strength and Intelligence were two stats that directly influenced damage output. With his opponent slowed and their defense weakened, while his own character had a boost in Strength and Intelligence, it was the perfect time to strike for a Ghostblade.

Without hesitation, One Inch Ash’s blade fell towards Leopold.

Leopold had no chance of fighting back with the Ghost Boundaries. Even if they weren’t there, the level 55 One Inch Ash had once made things very difficult for the level 70 Windward Formation. Warlocks really weren’t good at close combat.

The power of the Phantom Ghost swirled around the blade that continuously flashed and hacked away at Leopold’s life. The three Boundaries disappeared one after the other, but new Boundaries were already there to take their place. When the Ice Boundary disappeared, a Flame Boundary was set. When the Plague Boundary vanished, an Ash Boundary appeared.

The Ash Boundary was a very interesting Ghost Boundary. A character under the effects of an Ash Boundary would have the weight of all the objects on them increased in proportion to the level of the Ash Boundary. A full levelled Ash Boundary could double the weight on a character.

As the weight a character had to carry increased, the direct effects included reducing a character’s jumping power and movement speed. The effects on attack speed wasn’t very important to normal players, but at a pro level, not paying attention to these changes and effects could result in losing the match.

Team Everlasting’s Warlock didn’t have the time to calculate this. Having been closed in on by One Inch Ash, he was struggling with or without the Ghost Boundaries. In the first eight minutes, both had been cautiously moving about. They would even part after seeing each other. Yet, this wave of attacks had brought Leopold’s health down, all the way to half in a minute. As for One Inch Ash? Leopold didn’t have the chance to counter. He had just won a flawless victory against Soft Mist, yet now it seemed he was going to be flawlessly beaten by One Inch Ash.

Team Everlasting’s Warlock was definitely displeased. They had managed to make it 3 versus 2, but having the opponent so easily close this gap wasn’t something they could accept. Thinking of this, he suddenly realized something.

That’s right! This was a group arena. Though it was a one on one match, there was an element of teamwork to it, too. He could lose this match, but he had to try his best to create an advantage for his teammates first.

Victory didn’t require the first match to be won, but definitely required the first player to do their best.

Maybe he should’ve been a little more brave in the beginning?

Team Everlasting’s Warlock was a little frustrated. With a three versus two advantage, there had been no need for him to play it so safe! If he had taken the initiative, then maybe the situation would be different.

There might still be a chance, if he tried his best now.

Team Everlasting’s Warlock suddenly calmed, while Qiao Yifan’s performance was, naturally, not to the point where he could mount an offense completely without openings. Soon, Team Everlasting’s Warlock managed to grasp the moment between two attacks. He rolled to dodge the strike and immediately began to cast.

Before, he probably would’ve thought his proximity was too risky, but now his attitude had changed. He had to deal as much damage as possible to give his remaining teammates the best advantage.

Soul Slice!

After that instant cast skill, Curse Arrows were fired without any charging.

Soul Strike, Decaying Curse, Control Curse...

Offensive and control skills were cast by Leopold indiscriminately. Team Everlasting’s Warlock immediately found that feeling he had in the last match, getting better and smoother as he attacked. Having taken that small opening, he instantly counterattacked.