1209 Who’s Under Pressure

In the group arena, two of Happy's people were down, and Miracle's second player still had a little under a third of his health left. This was a relatively common situation in a group arena. This around 30% health lead wasn't enough to let Miracle relax or have confidence in their victory. They all couldn't help but look at Happy's players, observing their movements.

Happy's third player, Tang Rou, had already stood up. She turned back to place on her seat the copy of Esports Time that the Miracle players had harassed them to take.

Starting from the first player Wei Chen, all the way to Mo Fan, Happy had already sent out five players. What effect did the Esports Time have on their spirits? To be honest, if they hadn't seen Tang Rou putting the magazine down just now, Miracle almost forgot about this whole thing. From those five players, they really hadn't seen any effect at all…

Was it that Fang Rui and Mo Fan's unusual performances today were provoked by the Esports Time? That possibility would really be a slap in their face.

But no matter what, the next player from Happy was the one at the center of the whole controversy, Tang Rou. There was no way she was entirely unaffected by this? The attacks from Ruan Cheng's article in Esports Time were extremely aggressive.

"There's no way a rookie can take that kind of pressure," He Ming said.

"But… she seems very calm," Shen Jian said.

"She wouldn't be so nervous that she can't even walk?" As He Ming spoke, he followed Tang Rou with his eyes as she entered the competitor booth.

The group arena continued, same map, the characters loaded and entered.

"Don't wander around inside, let's just meet outside. We're in a hurry." Tang Rou actually first sent a message in the chat.

"What's that all about? What 'in a hurry'? Tang Rou never has the habit of chatting during a match, does she?" He Ming said with some confusion, only to hear a rattling crash from Happy's player area. Everyone immediately looked over, and saw Fang Rui fallen upon the ground, covered in dust with a depressed expression.

"This this… this is just too mean, this…" Fang Rui was saying. Miracle couldn't hear clearly, but Happy's players were all laughing. Tang Rou's "in a hurry" was of course a very pointed comment. No one thought that she would actually tease Fang Rui in such a way! Fang Rui felt overwhelming pressure, these guys were all "in a hurry" to deliberately push the responsibility of loss onto him!

While Happy was all joyful, Miracle became even more stunned.

What was going on?

A 30% health lead wasn't considered much, but it couldn't be completely ignored? Happy was clearly in a bad situation right now, but they really seemed to be quite happy, this… did they have some ace up their sleeve? In a hurry? In a hurry for what?

Miracle's members exchanged looks, no one understood what this was about. Meanwhile, the two Battle Mages onstage had almost arrived at the center of the map.

Tang Rou sent an invitation for a direct fight, but her opponent Jia Xing ignored her. In a situation where a player had the health advantage, they generally wouldn't go to fight the opponent directly, they would prefer to play some tricks, and Jia Xing followed this normal thought process as well.

Tang Rou's Soft Mist, like Deception last round, first took a circle around the winery. Upon failing to discover Prideful Mage, she had no choice but to enter the winery.

A large courtyard with three entrances and exits. Jia Xing was relatively active, not waiting in one place. The two wandered around, and before long they met. Tang Rou's Soft Mist rushed forward without any hesitation, but Jia Xing's Prideful Mage decisively retreated, swiftly finding a shadowy position he had passed earlier from which he could launch an ambush.

One step, two steps, three steps…

Jia Xing silently counted the rhythm of Soft Mist's approach, his eyes focused on the spot where Soft Mist would appear.

Boom!

A thunderous sound. The walls of the winery courtyard weren't particularly sturdy. If even a Qi Master's qi could break it, how could it pose any difficulty for the powerful magic aura of a Battle Mage?

Soft Mist directly blasted a large hole in the wall, and from her pose, it was clear that she wanted to cut off the path and intercept Prideful Mage. A lucky hit, for as soon as she came through, she saw Prideful Mage holding his spear, staring intently at the other opening and sneakily hiding.

Happy had so many experts at playing dirty, skilled at waiting, ambushing, and laying traps. Tang Rou, growing up in this sort of team environment, of course, understood these tactics. Seeing Prideful Mage's position, she immediately guessed his intentions.

But would Tang Rou care that much? We meet, so let's fight!

Soft Mist, Dragon Breaks the Ranks, charged toward Prideful Mage.

At this point, Jia Xing had seen Soft Mist breaking through the wall, turning, and rushing toward him without hesitation. He immediately controlled Prideful Mage to dodge. If this little shadowy corner were hit by that Dragon Breaks the Ranks, it would likely collapse.

Tang Rou's rhythm was of course very fast, Soft Mist's spear twisted and chased Prideful Mage, continuing to batter him. Jia Xing wanted to avoid the spear, but he couldn't find the space and could only harden his skin and meet her attacks.

The two Battle Mages were immediately tangled together. Confrontations between players of the same class were both monotonous and fierce, but this time, Jia Xing didn't have the chance to feel any boredom, he only felt the ferocity. Because this was too familiar, he needed to make more calculations. He didn't even have to time to think about too many problems, as Soft Mist attacked too rapidly, too ferociously, he had no chance to plan anything. He could only input controls nonstop, almost unconsciously, all the way until his Prideful Mage fell.

He lost?

Jia Xing finally regained his wits. The battle just now seemed like an empty fog, as though his brain completely stopped turning, and only his hands kept working.

And now, he had already fallen. The word "GLORY" would not be sent to his screen.

Jia Xing walked out of the player both. How long had this battle taken? He felt lost. He only had one feeling: fast, very fast, extremely fast.

How did it turn out like this? Shouldn't she be…

Only now did Jia Xing think about how stress-ridden Tang Rou should be. Her performance should have been subpar. But he hadn't felt that at all; Tang Rou's attack rhythm was still as determined as ever.

Jia Xing didn't feel it, and the Miracle members offstage didn't see it either.

The unfortunate trio exchanged looks. If even Tang Rou hadn't been affected by this whole affair, then there was no point in mentioning any of the other players in Happy. The situation they had been relying on to win this match didn't exist at all?

"No matter what, let's get these two points first!" He Ming said.

Shen Jian nodded. He was Miracle's third player for the group arena, the anchor of the team.

"Be careful." He Ming added, unable to relax.

"Yeah…" Shen Jian nodded. He couldn't relax either, and so he didn't have the confidence to say any bold words to settle their hearts. Seeing Jia Xing's dazed expression as he came offstage, Shen Jian's heart started beating more rapidly.

"How was it?" Shen Jian told himself that the opponent was a rookie, that there was nothing to panic about, and at the same time, he tried to get some report from Jia Xing.

Jia Xing, who had been beaten so pathetically that his mind was empty, of course had nothing to talk about. His face showed only an expression of loss, and Shen Jian could only carry his various emotions of suspicion and alarm as he went onstage.

The battle began.

The blank-minded Jia Xing had still made some contribution, knocking away 10% of Soft Mist's health. With that sort of direct fighting earlier, it was inevitable that both sides take some damage.

And so Miracle's advantage in the group arena, starting from the 50% that He Ming had, was now whittled down to only 10%.

10%...

Staring at this advantage, Shen Jian didn't have much confident. His Striker walked forward, but his heart was jumping. He wasn't a rookie. He had experience in professional battles, but to put all of the pressure of the group arena on him, Shen Jian discovered that he wasn't as strong as he thought he was.

The opponent is a rookie. The opponent has already lost 10% health. The opponent is suffering the heavy pressure of public opinion. None of these reasons were enough to boost Shen Jian's confidence.

A core player was a position, but it was also a responsibility. Every pro player anticipated having this kind of position, but not everyone could take on this kind of responsibility. Sometimes, it was because they didn't have enough ability, such as in old Excellent Era, Shen Jian never had enough ability to become the core player. And now, in Miracle, as an experienced player born in Excellent Era, Shen Jian became a core player for this team alongside He Ming and Wang Ze. but now, with the weight of the group arena upon his shoulders, Shen Jian found that he couldn't calm down. His main thoughts were not about how to achieve victory, but… what if he lost?

His mental state was a mess, but it wasn't so bad that it affected his basic movement ability. Shen Jian's Striker Lethe quickly arrived at the winery at the center of the map. He didn't directly find Tang Rou to battle. After tumbling into the winery courtyard, he found a place to crouch and wait.

"What is he doing?" Offstage, He Ming was scowling.

Playing dirty? That wasn't Shen Jian's strong point! Before the match, he had never expressed wanting to use such a playstyle.

He Ming was stunned, Wang Ze didn't understand either. These two teammates had no way of knowing the jittery feelings Shen Jian was experiencing onstage, they could only exchange glances. 

In the match, Shen Jian sent a message in the chat. "Where are you? Come out and let's decide this!"

Confuse the enemy, hide your true intentions, this was what Shen Jian was thinking. But for those in this field, this sort of dirty playing was really a bit out of place?

"124, 131" Clean and direct, Tang Rou sent out the coordinates of Soft Mist's position, not dirty at all.

Then, what would Shen Jian do?

The viewers looked over, only to see Shen Jian's Striker Lethe sneak out of his corner, looking like he was really about to run over to the position Tang Rou indicated.

If that was the case… then what was the point in crouching at the beginning?

Those who had some understanding were all confused by Shen Jian's actions.

"What's this guy playing at?" Fang Rui asked, mouth agape. After all, this was one of Ye Xiu's former teammates!

"He's probably… playing dirty?" Ye Xiu said.

"Are you trying to insult me?" Fang Rui was unhappy. Dirty playing wasn't this low-level! He refused to recognize this as dirty play.