CH 5

July 17, 2021 by ryuxenji

Even though the netizens weren't sure whether the account which had posted was or wasn't actually Ash Wing, Shen Huai's forum account still gained over 100,000 fans overnight. It was clear to see how much everyone was looking forward to the new play-style of the assassin.

At 8 o'clock that night, there was over 2,000,000 people online in the live-stream channel at the same time. Shen Huai actually experienced some lag when he logged into the channel.

As soon as he entered, the fans who had been patiently waiting all day instantly started gifting him flowers in passionate welcome.

[ Omg! Omg! Omg! God Wing is actually here! I'm not dreaming! The one who replied to my post last night was really God Wing! ]

[ Lurking all day and all night on my iPad was worth it! God Ash Wing, if your live-stream is only 3.5 minutes again this time, I'll mail razor blades to you! ]

Reading the messages from the crowd, Shen Huai felt faintly comforted.

The very first character he had built in "City of Despair" had been an assassin, and it was also his favourite character class. Even though the nerfs applied by the developers were almost inhumane, when Shen Huai saw how many people were still staunch believers of the assassin class, his fighting spirit flared.

He typed out a message.

―― The points distribution for assassins yesterday might not be suitable for everyone. I've perfected the strategy today.

As soon as the words were out, the live-stream channel chat exploded. Strings of [ Hurry, hurry, hurry! ] and [ God Ash Wing, dear mother of assassins ] filled the screen.

Shen Huai openly showed how he distributed his skill and talent points for his assassin on the live-stream, even pausing for a few seconds at key points for everyone to save screenshots. After that, he opened the text document he had prepared in advance, which outlined the ideas and theory behind this points distribution strategy.

Because the core of this play-style was Blood-Blessed Blades ― a rather basic passive skill of this branch of assassin, which could be triggered by any skill as long as the assassin managed to complete the combo within the given time frame ― Shen Huai gave up on the ultimate skill Reaper's Dance in order to equip a minor-special move under the ninjitsu skill tree, Arcane Shadow Clone.

―― This style of play is more flexible, and there is more room for error.

Shen Huai started a training match for a practical demo.

The Arcane Shadow Clone under the ninjitsu arts still inherits the combo-bonus class attribute of assassins. When the skill is first activated, the player would receive a free clone, and if the player managed to combo within the following minute, they would receive another clone. The clones would inherit the original character's attack power and could mimic the player's movements, but the damage they dealt would only be equivalent to that of a basic attack.

Shen Huai created two clones, and the dull AI of the training mode instantly lost track of the real player, casting all its skills onto the clone closest to it.

A row of 666s rolled across the screen. With the addition of shadow clones, there was indeed significantly more room for error now, which made the strategy much friendlier for the average player and their slow hands.

[ This playstyle seems much easier than yesterday's! 2 clones and the true body, let's see which of the 3 he hits! Hahaha! ]

[ I feel like I see hope! It's been so long! My ninja assassin! ]

Although an assassin specialising in ninja arts possessed the glamorous skill of shadow clones, the other basic skills under that branch were not very good. Even back during the versions when assassins reigned supreme, everyone would at most only place skill points onto Stealth under the ninjitsu skill tree. Very few had chosen to equip the special skills.

When Shen Huai was done with the demo, he started a 1v1 Arena match. His equipment was still the attack speed and movement speed enhancing type he preferred. Of these two attributes, one would allow him to execute more combos at high speed, while the other would help him pull off complex movements and positionings.

Unlike yesterday, Shen Huai was actually matched up against another assassin this time.

At present, the overall chances of meeting an assassin in the Arena were much lower than that of meeting any other class, let alone in high-ranking matches.

Shen Huai silently took note of the other's ID. <Tyrant God>.

In contrast to Shen Huai's calmness, the netizens on the channel reacted explosively.

[ OMG, it's Ares! ]

[ 6666 Epic duel! Ash Wing vs Ares! ]

[ This is an alt of Ares......? ]

Shen Huai figured it out after a moment. This assassin called "Tyrant God" was the ace player of the pro team BattleGod, Xiao Zhang.

The IDs of all the players in BattleGod were associated with gods and deities. From the captain downwards, in sequence, was <Aphrodite>, <Ares>, <Charon>, <Aeolus>, and so on. That's right, the captain of BattleGod was female.

Xiao Zhang's pro ID was <Ares>, and his primary character class was qigong master. He was even renowned as the number one qigong master in the national server, and he also ranked highly in the world qigong master rankings. However, the team rules of BattleGod were very strict. Official players were not allowed to live-stream with their primary character class during informal live-streams unrelated to the official BattleGod live-streams. That was probably why Xiao Zhang was playing with this alt assassin account in a non-professional region.

Since the opponent was quite a strong professional player, Shen Huai instinctively became more serious.

He did not leap up onto the arena platform directly, diving into the water instead to skirt around the edges of the platform till he was behind one of the pillars.

[ All ][ Tyrant God ]: Booster?

Clearly, the other recognised his ID and thought that a booster was playing for him.

Shen Huai did not reply, because just as he saw this line of text, a dark-clothed assassin burst forth from the shadows, the sharp dagger in his hand shining with a green light as it stabbed fiercely towards Shen Huai's character's back.

Lethal Poison! Reap! Bloody Lotus!

Ares' attacks were swift, striking with 3 skills in an instant. The damage bonus from attacking from behind dropped Shen Huai's character's HP by 10% in the blink of an eye.

This was the most common play-style of the poison assassin, but the speed at which Ares had combo-ed was not at all common.

Shen Huai had also been the one to develop the poison-style assassin, so he was naturally familiar with all of the moves and combos. This branch of assassin would deal extra poison damage with its normal attacks and class skills, and this damage was considered magical damage. The special effect of combo-ing would be the continuation of the poison. A successful 4-hit combo would also inflict Bleed on the enemy, and this status effect could be stacked.

Once inflicted with Bleed, Shen Huai would no longer be able to use Stealth, because he would instantly be thrust back into visibility as soon as he received damage from Bleed.

Thus, the 4th hit was crucial.

As Ares moved to begin the 4th attack, Shen Huai decisively spun around and stunned the enemy assassin in place with a Soul Steal.

Soul Steal was an assassin skill, the sole crowd control skill under the skill branch of Blood-Blessed Blades. The conditions to trigger it were extremely strict ― it could only be used when the opponent's HP percentage was higher than your own.

Shen Huai immediately launched into Shadow Mark - Assassination - Blood Blade - Pierce - Dark Razor!

The base stun effect only lasts for 1 second, but Shen Huai had managed to chain 5 skills together and trigger a full combo under Shadow Mark ― his average hand speed of a keystroke every 0.2 seconds had already exceeded that of most professional players!

The 4-hit combo after Shadow Mark successfully triggered Invisibility. In a showdown between assassins, the side who successfully hides first would gain the upper hand!

However, Shen Huai had not allocated any talent points to boost his attack damage, and the combo effect under Shadow Mark only granted invisibility but no additional attack effects. Thus, the combo only knocked off 10% of the opponent's HP.

Ares did not panic. The invisibility granted by the Shadow Mark combo would only last for 10 seconds, so Shen Huai was sure to reappear within these 10 seconds. However, unbeknownst to him, Shen Huai's HP percentage was still lower than his even now!

Though the two of them had respectively eliminated 10% of the other's HP, Shen Huai's HP was always lower as Blood-Blessed Blades would chip away at his HP every time he used a skill.

So long as his HP was lower, he could continue to use Soul Steal!

The netizens in the live-stream channel finally realised the depth of this new play-style, and they were all filled with admiration for Ash Wing.

Still, Ares was a professional player after all, not to mention the ace of BattleGod. His battle intuition was extremely keen — he picked up on this as soon as Shen Huai revealed himself again, and he quickly let loose his special, Poison Blade Dance!

Poison Blade Dance could paralyse the enemy, leaving them unable to move or use any skills. The effect was similar to stun and would last even longer!

The blades coated in poison shone with a faint green light. Numerous daggers shot towards Shen Huai, and Ares took the chance to unleash a combo triggering Bleed, stacking three layers of Bleed on Shen Huai!

This combo knocked off 40% of Shen Huai's HP. Once he could move again, Shen Huai could only activate Sprint and run away. He always maxed out his character's agility stat, and his equipment also helped boost movement speed, so he was much faster than Ares once they started running.

However, Ares was also very clever. He knew he could not outrun Shen Huai, so he continuously threw poisoned shurikens at Shen Huai from a distance. Although a poison assassin's Shuriken skill would not be very well-developed, it was still enough to ensure that Shen Huai was constantly under the Bleed status effect.

Poison damage stacked with Bleed was extremely fearsome. Shen Huai's HP was dropping at a rate visible to the naked eye. Moreover, his HP would also be drained whenever he used a skill, so his HP plummeted like a bungee drop, nosediving till only 10% was left.

Shen Huai had been keeping a close eye on the damage he was receiving. When his HP hit 8%, he evaded the final few shurikens from Ares and activated Stealth!

The fans who had been panicking in the live-stream channel finally came to their senses. The core of Ash Wing's current strategy needed the player's HP to be below 10% anyway! He had been losing so much HP under the assault of Ares' shurikens not because he could not evade them, but because he never meant to evade them to begin with!

Before his computer, Shen Huai's expression was very calm, as if everything was within his expectations. He controlled <Ash Wing> to circle around to the back of Ares, a finger already resting on the shortcut key for Soul Steal.

His chosen talent would extend the duration of his crowd control skills when his HP was low, so this Soul Steal kept Ares stunned for a full 2 seconds. Shen Huai did not pursue the steady route this time. Instead of Shadow Mark, he used Reaper's Mark, ensuring that the following 4-hit combo would result in a critical hit!

This was the moment when this strategy is at its most destructive. The 300% damage boost along with the critical hit from Reaper's Mark reduced Ares' HP to critical levels.

After he regained control, Ares was just about to counterattack when the assassin before him suddenly produced two clones. As the three enemy assassins attacked him, the true self of his opponent continued to create new clones!

Arcane Shadow Clone —  as long as the player could continue to combo, clones would continue to be produced. This was a contest of hand speed.

Three, four, five!

During the earlier demo, Shen Huai had slowed down for the sake of the fans, only summoning two clones. No one had expected that he could actually produce 5 clones when he was serious!

The six assassins swarmed Ares, a crowd of figures dense enough to leave one dizzy. Once his skill CD ended, Shen Huai instantly unleashed the stun CC-skill with his real self, then followed that up with Reaper's Mark - Assassination - Blood Blade - Pierce, and finally used his minor-special, Wild Blade Dance!

The dual-wielding assassin moved gracefully, dozens of slashes from his blades weaving light and shadows in an intricate and beautiful dance. Yet the blades were cold, and the dance was deadly.

The HP-Critical Ares was killed instantly by this series of attacks. His character collapsed on the platform without having released a single skill in the second half of the match.

The live-stream channel was silent for a full 10 seconds. And then, all of the fans unanimously placed their fingers on the number 6 key and excitedly tapped out a row of numbers.

The live-stream audience had grown to 5 million viewers as the match progressed, and by this point, that number had gone up to 6 million and was now pushing towards 7 million. And Ash Wing had only been streaming for less than half an hour!

Originally, the audience had just come to learn the new assassin play-style and points distribution developed by Ash Wing, and perhaps watch an Arena match along the way. No one could have expected to see a legendary match-up between Ash Wing and Ares, nor could they have imagined that they would bear witness to the moment when Ash Wing would stand victorious on the stage!

Truly and deservedly, the godfather of assassins!