1276 The Greatest Margin in History

Fang Rui's trash talk was brazenly thrown into the public chat, but his character Boundless Sea? After completing this combo of attacks and discovering that Liu Hao had adjusted fairly quickly, he didn't continue with the opportunity and instantly tried to retreat.

"Don't run!" Liu Hao very heroically yelled this in the chat to show that he hadn't been beaten senseless by Fang Rui. As soon as his Spellblade Absent Sun stood steady on the ground, he sent out an Earthquake Sword. Unfortunately, Boundless Sea had already rolled away, hiding himself behind a giant boulder over there.

The opponent was the master of playing dirty, so of course Liu Hao didn't dare have Absent Sun directly chase him. His character moved horizontally first, pulling enough of a distance between them before charging towards that direction.

As expected, Boundless Sea was indeed gathering qi behind that boulder, but when he saw that Liu Hao was prepared, he could only helplessly give up the attack.

"So careful! Scared?" Fang Rui said in the chat.

"If you're a man then stop running!" Liu Hao shouted.

"Can't. I'm very scared of you." Fang Rui's reply seemed quite refreshing, but anyone could tell that this was a joke. Words that might otherwise be welcoming to hear sounded mocking from him. And Fang Rui's actions followed his words; as he spoke, he had Boundless Sea move away. He clearly had no intentions of fighting Liu Hao directly.

But even though he ran away, he didn't run too far away. He continued to circle around the boulder, as though prepared to go around and around with Liu Hao.

This sort of technique was a bit cheap, but coming from a dirty player, everyone thought it was very reasonable. Liu Hao was sorely tempted to use a Wave Formation to cover that whole area, but he also feared that while he was casting, Boundless Sea would suddenly jump out and ambush him. After deliberating for a while, Absent Sun came forward, but he didn't chase. He only crept a bit closer to the rock, checking his left and the right, his hand on his short sword, ready to act at a moment's notice. Liu Hao was prepared to sit here and wait for his target. Whether Fang Rui continued to circle around clockwise, or suddenly reverse and go counterclockwise, he would just wait here.

But he waited and waited, and there was no trace of Boundless Sea. Fang Rui's trash talk popped up in the match channel yet again. "Huh, what's going on, how come you're not chasing me? Didn't you tell me not to run?"

Liu Hao felt like spitting blood. This guy, did he just leave after circling around the boulder? And now, had he already circled around behind him?

Liu Hao was just about to turn around in a hurry, but in that instant, he was suddenly alert. He had been carefully watching his left and the right. He felt that in this short span of time, there was no way that Fang Rui could have controlled Boundless Sea to circle behind him without his noticing.

He almost fooled me!

Liu Hao huffed a breath. But he couldn't guess Fang Rui's plans right now. Was he trying to use his words to paralyze him, and actually taking a very long path to circle around him? Or was he still hiding behind that boulder, prepared to launch an attack on him?

Liu Hao couldn't wait around like this forever. He had Absent Sun move back away from the boulder, using the same strategy as before to pull apart the distance, and then, use this increased field of view to check behind the boulder.

He immediately saw that indeed, Boundless Sea was hiding right behind the boulder, his hands cupped before him, gathering qi again, waiting to sneak attack!

This bastard!

Liu Hao was furious. This was an exact repeat of what had just happened before! Good thing he stayed calm, otherwise who knew what could have happened.

Fang Rui? His same strategy was once again broken by the opponent. He simply tossed a "Huh, you found me again" into the chat, and then twisted and continue to circle clockwise around the boulder.

Liu Hao was about to go crazy. Who the fuck designed this map! Throwing this stupid goddamned rock right here! It gives opportunities to these kinds of guys, and the quality of matches goes way down!

Of course Liu Hao thought this way, but the live audience was swimming in a sea of amusement. Perhaps this match wasn't thrilling or intense to draw people in, but they burst into laughter watching this teasing situation.

And now, Fang Rui was doing the same thing for the third time. How would Liu Hao respond!

Absent Sun raised his short sword and began to cast. Electric Wave Formation!

Fang Rui's Boundless Sea had circled around behind the boulder, meaning that he, too, could only guess at Liu Hao's actions. Only in the final instant of a Wave Formation cast was there any sound, and this time, Liu Hao bet that the opponent wouldn't anticipate this.

His bet was correct!

Fang Rui's Boundless Sea didn't reveal himself. The accumulated electricity on Absent Sun's sword ultimately condensed into spheres on the surface of the boulder before him.

By the time the zapping sounds were audible, the electric sphere were already formed. With a flash, they were released, flowing all around. If there was a target, they would automatically lock on; if not, they would wander about freely. Liu Hao was, after all, a Spellblade who had entered the All-Stars. Even if he didn't see the target, from the flow of electricity he could draw many conclusions.

No target!

Liu Hao was shocked. This meant that Boundless Sea wasn't in range for the Wave Formation, then his position now, it must be…

Liu Hao's mind quickly outlined the range of Electric Wave Formation. His gaze settled on the scenery in front of him, and Absent Sun rushed forward.

His view widened as he pulled away, and indeed there was no sign of Boundless Sea, but there…

Behind the boulder, there was a crack just large enough to fit one person, looking like a collection of shadows. Liu Hao's pupil contracted. As an expert Spellblade, he was very clear on the quirks of all the Spellblade's skills. If there was such a crack in range of an Electric Wave Formation, there was a high chance that a character could hide there and avoid damage.

Liu Hao wasn't entirely unfamiliar with this map, but did this boulder really hide such a detail? Liu Hao wasn't sure. But now, he saw this, and immediately guessed that Boundless Sea must be right there.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

This time, he hadn't made any preparations or calculated out any space before having Absent Sun charge forward to check behind the boulder. Seeing that crack, in the time it took for his brain to click-click-click and flash through these thoughts, Fang Rui's Boundless Sea had already attacked.

Liu Hao had guessed correctly. Boundless Sea was right there.

Landmine Quake!

Only Fang Rui's hands exposed themselves from the crack, and by the time they were exposed they'd already slapped against the ground. Qi spread along the earth, and Absent Sun had no time to dodge and was sent flying into the air. Boundless Sea no longer played dirty, shooting out like an arrow, his body like wind, carrying qi and slamming into Absent Sun's body.

Another combo of powerful attacks.

Absent Sun's health slid downwards, and the Happy fans in the crowd whooshed alive with applause.

"1v3!" they continued to scream, and Wind Howl's fans had already shut their mouths. The vice-captain in whom they'd trusted and believed didn't seem to stand much of a chance against this dirty-playing Fang Rui. This was entirely like the first and second battles, with Fang Rui firmly in control of the battle rhythm. If this continued, it wouldn't even be a question of victory, it would be… this time, by how large of a margin would Fang Rui win this 1v3?

Up until now, Boundless Sea hadn't even lost any health yet in this third battle, while Absent Sun's health had plummeted. Boundless Sea's 83% health was now in the lead. And completing a 1v3 also often involved the problem of running out of mana, but it seemed that Boundless Sea was fine on that end as well. Fang Rui's attacks were simply too efficient. When he attacked, his attacks were always effective, so his mana usage was very efficient. He had plenty of mana left to finish this battle.

But for the audience, all they cared about was victory, they couldn't care about such details right now. Those in the live crowd, those watching online, they watched as Fang Rui went back and forth with his harassment, ultimately grinding Liu Hao's Absent Sun to death. Liu Hao did display some of the skill befitting an All-Star, taking away 15% of Boundless Sea's health, a better performance than the previous two Wind Howl players, but that was all.

1v3 completed, 32% health lost. This was the final answer Fang Rui gave. The stadium hollered and cheered, not resting even as Fang Rui came down offstage and returned to his seat in Happy's player area. 

1v3. Happy's Tang Rou had once wanted to do this, and failed, but now, her teammate Fang Rui accomplished it. Many of the reporters at the stadium were so excited they couldn't even sit still. They could hardly wait for the match to finish, they wanted desperately to interview right there. But of course they knew that this was impossible, so most reporters calmed down, flipping through their data and making preparations for the interviews post-match. In the midst of this, Chang Xian of Esports Home, after looking through every single 1v3 in ten years of group arena matches, he finally confirmed that Fang Rui had set a new record.

The record for the greatest margin in a 1v3 victory.

32% health lost. This result beat out the previous record set by Wang Jiexi in Season 4, 52% health lost, by a solid 20%.

It had to be emphasized was that Fang Rui was the first to appear in the group arena. With 32% health, he defeated three opponents at 100% health.

And Wang Jiexi at the time had been third in the group arena, the anchor. Even though the total reversal had been more exciting, no matter what, he was inferior both in terms of how much health he knocked away and in terms of how much he had remaining.

Fang Rui's record here was solid gold. It would be very, very difficult to surpass.

And the method he used to set this record was also worth remembering. He hadn't used an overwhelming advantage to slaughter the opponents all the way until the end. These three battles had all taken some time, they'd been played rather slowly. Fang Rui played dirty to create an abnormal efficiency. This sort of attack efficiency wasn't something that could be replicated by those hard-hitting players. When they directly collided with their opponents, there was inevitably some exchange, and the health that they ultimately sacrificed wouldn't be so low.

Playing dirty, the style that had received so many cold gazes, finally entered the history books with this record.

History's greatest margin of victory for a 1v3, was created by playing dirty!

This was Fang Rui's victory, and a victory for the dirty playstyle he'd persisted in using even after changing classes to Qi Master.