1260 Forced Draw

Zhang Xinjie… playing in the group arena?

When everyone saw that Zhang Xinjie actually walked into the player booth, they had to accept this reality. But the live host? Even now, he still hadn't pulled himself together. He was still just staring blankly, completely forgetting to introduce Team B's player. To announce this person's name for the group arena, he… really wasn't used to it. It was even more unbelievable than Yang Cong's usage of Life-Risking Strike.

"Team B's third player in the group arena is… Zhang Xinjie?" Finally, the host made the announcement, but he still said it with a question mark. He still couldn't quite believe this.

Dead silence in the crowd, and then an explosion of noise. One player sitting in the diehard Tyranny fan section was staring in complete and utter shock, his mouth in the shape of an O, which only closed after a long while. His mood was slightly different from the shock of those around him. The instant he saw Zhang Xinjie come onstage, something whirred in his mind, and he thought of that winter two years ago, in Glory's tenth server. Just outside of the extremely low-level Frost Forest dungeon, that guy who controlled Lord Grim had said to this player: we don't need a Cleric.

And now, on the All-Star stage, the stage upon which the brightest stars of Glory shone, this phrase suddenly echoed in his ear again, floating back and forth nonstop: don't need a Cleric, don't need a Cleric, don't need a Cleric, don't need a Cleric…

Last time, the one who was "don't need a Cleric'd" was him. His Cleric was called Endless Night.

And this time, the one who was "don't need a Cleric'd" was Zhang Xinjie, the Cleric called Immovable Rock, the top healer in all of Glory.

Endless Night suddenly felt that he had no regrets in his life. On this All-Star stage, even Vice-captain Zhang was "don't need a Cleric'd." What the hell was he still bothered about?

His characted loaded in. Cleric Immovable Rock appeared on the group arena map, facing the half-health Ghostblade Carved Ghost.

If a Cleric really wanted to PK, they would have to rely on their powerful healing ability to maintain their health, and then use their few attacking methods to wear away the opponent.

In the Glory game, there was no shortage of Clerics who used this kind of method to PK. But in-game, both player skill and equipment quality was inferior. If Zhang Xinjie ran to the game to play in the Arena, no one would underestimate the battle ability of his Cleric.

However, if player skill and equipment quality were at the same level, a Cleric most certainly was not a bloody hurricane attacking class. This point could be seen from the Heavenly Domain challenge. Clerics and Paladins were very different from the other classes. It was clear that the Glory game had not designed these two classes to be powerful attackers. Those who stacked their points on the skill tree toward attacks were far from mainstream and hadn't earned any recognition in the pro circle. 24 teams, every team had a healer class, none of which was that kind of deviant.

Zhang Xinjie's Immovable Rock was even less so. This sort of strict player would never waver from the path.

How would this match be fought? The ruckus still hadn't died down, but many people were already wondering.

As for the televised broadcast, it was very quiet. Li Yibo was really depressed! His earlier predictions of the team lineups had been based on the difference of healer against no healer, but who would have thought, Team B had a healer but didn't use it, instead throwing him onto the group arena. This season, he had been truly attacked so much that he was in the perpetual mad state of "can't feel happy without being face-slapped."

Commentator Pan Lin was also silent for a long time. It wasn't until the characters onstage started moving that he said in a strained voice, "Let's watch this match, with Void's Wu Yuce, against… Zhang Xinjie…"

The characters met, and began fighting.

Those who dreamed that Zhang Xinjie had some sort of ultimate sure-kill method were quickly disappointed. Zhang Xinjie's 1v1 Cleric just used the same little tricks that were popular in the game. Change position to maintain distance, recover health during breaks, sparse attacks to wear away the opponent.

Many high-end Clerics in-game could enrage many people to death. Could Zhang Xinjie do it?

The crowd originally had a lot of excitement and anticipation, but gradually, all of it faded away. Because judging from the content of this match, this was truly dull to an unprecedented extent, duller than any other match of previous All-Star Weekends, duller than any match in any season of the League.

Everyone suddenly had a single thought: If Glory battles were all like this, then they should just shut down the League as early as possible.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case…

They watched as Zhang Xinjie controlled Immovable Rock, recovered his health like a robot, occasionally had his rhythm torn by Wu Yuce, but then tenaciously got it back, and then repeated the above process.

The refreshing feeling was gone. The interest was gone.

The players who had more in-game experience had all seen this situation before. It was just that Zhang Xinjie's controls were more precise, and Wu Yuce's attacks were more ferocious.

In terms of attacks, the Cleric really only had so many options. Even Zhang Xinjie couldn't make many changes. He just followed the most common thought processes seen in-game, and then displayed them with a higher level of skill and technique. Faced against a more powerful opponent, the result was… this match looked like it was going to drag on endlessly.

One minute…

Two minutes…

Five minutes…

Ten minutes…

Zhang Xinjie was still very methodically controlling, wearing away. At the start of the match, Carved Ghost had 52% health remaining. Now, 11% had been whittled away, leaving 41%. And that had taken a full ten minutes.

During these ten minutes, Immovable Rock's health had also dropped. This Cleric battle style couldn't be too careless or wasteful. If he used up all his mana, then he would just be fish meat on a plate. But even under Wu Yuce's powerful offensive, Zhang Xinjie didn't ignore everything to fill up his health. He had a set rhythm to maintain the balance of the situation. After ten minutes, Immovable Rock's health had dropped 20%...

And so everyone took another look. Carved Ghost had lost 11% after starting at 52%, wasn't that also a twenty percent decrease? These two guys, they were actually playing at such a precise balance? They were actually going to have to play all the way until the end to determine victory?

To do so… Judging from their current speed, wouldn't that require… forty more minutes?

Those that realized this point instantly paled. The organizers and the television broadcasters were even more panicked. This 1v1 was going to last an hour? That was much too far above the estimated time duration. Were they even going to play the team competition afterward?

Here they panicked, there they panicked, but the two people onstage weren't panicked.

Zhang Xinjie's controls were as methodical as ever. Wu Yuce? He was always a very persistent and persevering person, someone who never gave up easily. Otherwise, the current Void Ghost Duo wouldn't exist.

These two people were actually giving it their all. But it would be many dozen minutes before victory was determined, and with just these repetitive actions. It was truly difficult for anyone to continue watching.

What to do?

A wave of people went to the background, and then the smoking area became overcrowded, and then ambient noise became louder and louder as people started chatting. Lights flashed all over the the crowd like stars in the sky, as a result of countless people starting to play with their phones.

With the team competition finale, the audience couldn't bear to leave, but they honestly could not continue to watch this match.

"We can't let them drag on until the end!" The organizers finally made this decision, which was quickly sent to the stage. The judge entered the match through the system and forcibly declared the group arena a draw. There would be no extra time, it was just a draw! If they added extra time, then by the rules that meant that both sides would have a bit of health added and then face off. Wouldn't that just result in a confrontation between these two guys again? That absolutely could not happen.

The judge stopped the game very arbitrarily. After a pause, the live audience exploded with a surge of applause. Not to Zhang Xinjie, nor to Wu Yuce. This applause was sent to the one with an extremely weak presence in Glory matches, the judge. In this moment, he was the most lovable person in the audience's eyes.

Wu Yuce and Zhang Xinjie could only accept this reality. When the two players stepped out of the player booths, the crowd, with mixed feelings, sent applause to them as well. They could at least respect their seriousness, their perseverance, and their calm acceptance of the forced draw of the match.

After this boring period passed, it was now time for the highest point of this three-day event. And this time, Team B didn't have a healer either. Without a doubt, the two sides would be attacking each other ferociously. Looking at the players left to the team round, they were all the top attackers in the entire Alliance brought together now.

"Coach Li, could you analyze and compare the strengths of the two teams for us?" Pan Lin said.

"The two teams are both composed of the very best of the best. It wouldn't be unexpected for either side to win. However, this is a never-before-seen situation where neither side has a healer. Today's team competition will be the highest-level aggressive match in the entirety of Glory. These two teams have gathered the most powerful attackers in Glory!" Coach Li said.

"You're correct," Pan Lin agreed. The two continued to talk until the team competition finally gathered together onstage.

From Team A were Zhou Zekai, Sun Xiang, Huang Shaotian, Yu Wenzhou, and Tang Hao, with Xiao Shiqin as the sixth player.

From Team B were Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, Han Wenqing, Chu Yunxiu, and Wang Jiexi, with Yu Feng as the sixth player.

The two teams were making their final preparations before the map. Team A had the two Master Tacticians Yu Wenzhou and Xiao Shiqin. Earlier, many people were uncomfortable with how Xiao Shiqin had dealt with Yu Wenzhou, but looking at their direct interactions now, there didn't seem to be any difficulties. The two were discussing nonstop, occasionally shooting glances at Team B. After several close-ups, the camera switched to Team B, and it could be seen that the two of them were likely discussing Team B's player Ye Xiu.

Team B's player Ye Xiu seemed very relaxed. This other Master Tactician didn't seem like he was making any arrangements for his team as a whole. He only said a sentence to Han Wenqing, standing beside him.

"When the battle begins, try to stay away from me. I fear that my attacks will automatically be drawn to your body," Ye Xiu said to Han Wenqing, very seriously.