1420 The Value of Desperation

Swoksaar was Confused?

It had already happened, yet not a single person had noticed.

Even though the audience had their omniscient view, when zoomed out, it couldn't clearly show every single detail. Everyone basically understood the overall rhythm of Wei Chen's actions, but no one had detected that Windward Formation's dirty trick just now was to hide his cast of Magic Mirror.

The Magic Mirror was controlled by the caster, and could be suspended in the air. 

For a few single-target skills, if the Magic Mirror was precisely positioned, then when reflecting the skill, it could also protect the caster from taking damage. For a wide-range attack like Chaotic Rain, the Magic Mirror couldn't completely protect the caster, but it would still serve the purpose of reflecting the skill's side effects. So, in the end, both Swoksaar and Windward Formation entered the Confused state together.

The careful Yu Wenzhou had actually fallen to another one of Wei Chen's tricks. Everyone was shocked, but they were still wondering about the value of this plot having succeeded.

Under the Chaotic Rain, both Windward Formation and Swoksaar became useless.

But what about Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud?

He wouldn't be affected by a teammate's attack, and the thing that was currently preventing him from moving, the Spike Trap, was a mere low-level Thief skill. He would definitely be the first person to escape from the control of a skill.

But after that, Windward Formation would still be Confused. Wasn't that just asking for a beating? At a time like this, Lu Hanwen would probably hold off on going over to help Huang Shaotian, and instead take advantage of this opportunity to furiously attack Windward Formation.

Wei Chen's response had been outside of everyone's expectations, but that didn't necessarily mean it was a perfect solution.

"He doesn't have any better choice," Li Yibo sighed. "He can only do his best and use whatever ideas he has to tie up Blue Rain's two players.

Pan Lin was silent. This old general was working so hard; who would be heartless enough to criticize his judgement for being this or that?

If he had faster reactions or faster hand speed, perhaps there would be other, better options.

Both Pan Lin and Li Yibo understood this clearly, but the two of them reached an unspoken agreement not to discuss this.

This hypothetical was simply too cruel, especially for an old general. He'd once had these things, only to gradually lose them. The tragedy was that he would never be able to recover them again.

These scars left by the passage of time shouldn't be considered a form of failure.

Wei Chen was already doing the absolute best he could with what he had.

As a Warlock specialist just like Yu Wenzhou, he'd managed to ensnare Yu Wenzhou twice. This was something that no Warlock player had ever accomplished before. Not once since Yu Wenzhou's debut. And now, this old general past his prime had actually managed to do it!

Just based on this, he had the right to stand on this stage.

Just based on this, everyone should understand why Happy sent him onstage.

The smoke quickly dissipated.

Flowing Cloud was still stuck in the trap. Windward Formation and Swoksaar were unable to control their characters properly in their confusion. The three characters still displayed the symptoms of their statuses, as though they were performing a play.

But this play would eventually reach its curtain call.

Just like everyone expected, Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud was the first to escape from his status condition, and he immediately charged toward Windward Formation.

The greatsword Flame Shadow lifted up and then plummeted, tracing a burning scar in the air.

Windward Formation was still moving around chaotically. Compared to Swoksaar, who had just been standing quietly after discovering he was Confused, Windward Formation seemed as laughable as a monkey.

But, no one could laugh.

Even in this condition, was he still trying to pull something off?

Seeing this, many audience members felt choked up. They knew that Wei Chen couldn't do anything, that Windward Formation would be slashed by Flowing Cloud's greatsword. After that, with Yu Wenzhou coming into the picture, if Wei Chen didn't receive any help, then he might meet his end right here.

The old general had only returned to this stage with much difficulty. Was he about to complete his curtain call just like this?

As the greatsword Flame Shadow descended, quite a few people couldn't bear to watch. But at this moment, a pocket suddenly split open in the air, and from the shifting void, a black claw shot outward. Just this one extended claw snagged Flowing Cloud, who was using Collapsing Mountain, in midair.

This was…

Warlock skill: Claw of Darkness!

Everyone was stunned.

Even under Confusion, he was still able to use a skill?

And the first one to react was once again Yu Wenzhou. He suddenly understood why Windward Formation, after suffering the Chaotic Rain, had continued to move around randomly. Because Wei Chen had been constantly trying a set series of inputs, hoping he could activate this skill through sheer luck.

Claw of Darkness…

Yu Wenzhou thought about the inputs necessary for this skill. Indeed, when Confused, this skill had a higher probability than others of being successfully used.

But "higher" was only relative. Yu Wenzhou couldn't do the calculations immediately, but he knew that it was still a very low probability.

Yet even so, Wei Chen hadn't given up. As soon as he was hit by the status, he began tapping out the inputs. If the Confusion disrupted his movements, then he would just start over again. In this short amount of time, no one knew just how many times he had repeated these inputs. Everyone only knew that, in the end, he had succeeded. In this crucial moment, Windward Formation's cast was successful, and he summoned forth the Claw of Darkness.

Claw of Darkness was a powerful grab skill. Even Collapsing Mountain did not out prioritize it. Just like that, Flowing Cloud was snatched in the air by the Claw of Darkness.

When viewers realized that Wei Chen had this kind of determination, to stubbornly pull off this skill even when Confused - they felt tears gathering in their eyes. 

Happy's fans all knew Wei Chen's past. But to be honest, no one felt that this guy had the air of a powerhouse team's captain. In their eyes, this guy was more like a boss of a casual little group in-game.

The two years that Wei Chen had spent in the Alliance were its grassroots days. After that, he'd never let go of the game. To be honest, Wei Chen didn't have much of the air that was associated with any present-day pro player, let alone the sort of distant, lofty air shared by the powerhouse players.

Even though he was an old player that hadn't appeared very often, Happy's fans still loved him very much, exactly because he was so down-to-earth. It was like he had popped up in the game, casually taken down some dungeons dungeon, grabbed some equipment, and then cheerfully ran back to the professional scene to cause some chaos.

And everyone felt that Happy had invited Wei Chen because they wanted someone old in their ranks to help pass on experience and knowledge to the younger members. No one thought that he would make any significant contributions in matches. They felt that his few appearances were Happy's way of paying respect to him. He would play around a bit, and everyone would watch and laugh, and that would be it.

But now, everyone understood.

No matter how old Wei Chen was, no matter how he lacked the air of a pro player, he still had a pro player's heart.

A heart striving for victory. A heart of a champion.

Using his own methods, he proved this point to everyone.

Yu Wenzhou, Lu Hanwen.

Did they really think that two All-Star players could stomp him down so easily?

No!

Up to this point, Windward Formation indeed seemed very pathetic, and he had lost more health than his opponents. Every new moment made people feel that this was it, that he was done for.

But again and again, he stabilized the situation, he remained on the battlefield.

This old guy, how long would it take until he gave in?

Even Blue Rain's players, Blue Rain's fans, couldn't help but feel moved.

So this was their old captain?

So this was the senior they told stories about, their extremely dirty, extremely shameless senior?

Even though he was their opponent now, in the hearts of the Blue Rain players and fans, they quietly felt a burst of pride.

Yes, Wei Chen now represented Happy. But the deepest markings on his skin were those from his time as Blue Rain's first captain, the person who had laid down the foundation for Blue Rain!

Applause.

The entire stadium burst into applause.

From every corner of the stadium, from every corner of everyone's hearts, came forth applause.

Flowing Cloud fell to the side as a result of the Claw of Darkness, and the Confusion on Windward Formation and Swoksaar ended at the same time. And Wei Chen continued his tenacious struggle.

Not good. Something was wrong.

Yu Wenzhou wasn't someone who relied on his intuition. He made all of his judgments based on the opponent's movements and behavior.

Wei Chen was desperately keeping the two of them tied down here, but there was no way that victory would be decided here. What would determine the final victory would still be that 3v3 battle!

3v3. Blue Rain had made such a confident assault, and their confidence had stemmed from the fact that Happy didn't have their healer. They could attack unrestrained, trading blood for blood, until they defeated the opponent with the greatest speed possible. But because he and Lu Hanwen had been delayed all this time, the two of them hadn't been able to enter the battle over there. So, this offensive of theirs became somewhat inefficient.

And over there, Happy had three attackers. In terms of damage output, they had the advantage over Blue Rain. 3v2, blood for blood, Blue Rain was bound to take more damage. Even if they had a healer to support them, because there were only two attackers, the explosiveness of their attacks was underwhelming, which would only drag on the battle longer.

The longer this dragged on, the more health they would lose and need the healer to restore. Then, that turned this into a trade of health for mana, the healer's mana.

If Happy's healer successfully joined the battle at this time, and the two sides entered a prolonged conflict…

Not good. It would be extremely unfavorable toward Blue Rain.

The healer didn't have enough mana, so they needed to fight and end this battle quickly. But Blue Rain wasn't a team that was good at a speedy attack. They were good at defensive counterattacks, waiting for the opponent to move first before striking. For this, the importance of defending the healer was obvious. Happy's goal truly was to target Blue Rain's healer. Trade their own health for the healer's mana, wear down Blue Rain's healer until he was useless, so that Blue Rain had no way of fighting at their usual rhythm.

Target the healer.

From the professional circle to the in-game Arena, the most common strategy in team battles.

It was no surprise at all. And yet, it was always effective.