Chapter 1179: A Positioning Expert
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
The individual competition had finished, and Happy had unexpectedly won all three points. This was a surprising result. But after thinking about it carefully, Happy’s three All-Stars had went on stage in the individual competition, so winning all three rounds wasn’t too crazy. But then again, none of players Tyranny sent up for the individual competition were weak either. Lin Jingyan and Zhang Jiale were both top All-Star players.
But Lin Jingyan just ran around in a circle and then flashed before dying, while Zhang Jiale straight up suffered a crushing defeat. It was actually their new rookie Song Qiying who performed well facing the master of playing dirty, Fang Rui. In that match, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if Song Qiying had won in the end.
Not earning a single point was a somewhat disheartening outcome for the Tyranny fans. They could already imagine how the media would talk about Tyranny, especially Lin Jingyan and Zhang Jiale. There would probably be a few irresponsible people that would grab at the opportunity to question if they were too old to play. Those guys would definitely ignore the fact that Ye Xiu, the person who beat Zhang Jiale, was also an old veteran.
After a short break from the individual competition, the group arena was about to begin. Because of Tang Rou’s promise, the group arena was viewed with even more interest. From the ongoing discussion, this promise had attracted even more attention towards Tang Rou, but it had also damaged her image. Even just a casual remark claiming a 1v3 within five rounds was already too arrogant and egotistical, and putting her professional career on the line only made her claim even more irresponsible. Glory wasn’t played alone. Tang Rou also had a team around her. Everyone could see that the team valued her quite a lot, so even many Happy fans could not agree with her reckless promise.
In any case, what’s done was done. In the group arena, Tang Rou would be the first to go up. The other two would be Mo Fan and Steamed Bun.
It was an assembly of rookies. As for Team Tyranny, their first player would be the helper to the Four Heavenly Kings in the team competition, Qin Muyun, and his Sharpshooter Negative Nine Degrees. Their second player would be Bai Yanfei and his Elementalist Rota. Their final player was their one and only captain during Tyranny’s ten years of history, Han Wenqing.
If Tang Rou wanted to 1v3, she would need to be beat these three opponents consecutively.
Many people didn’t know what type of attitude they should be watching this match with.
If she really did complete a 1v3, it would be proof that her arrogance and ego were not unfounded. That would be truly displeasing.
If she failed to complete a 1v3 and left the pro scene, everyone would feel great, but Happy would have lost a dauntless general. Wouldn’t that be bad?
This type of conflict made them feel annoyed at Tang Rou’s rash act.
The match was about to begin. Even though Tyranny’s failure to earn a single point in the individual competition disheartened their fans, they still cheered them on for the group arena. As for Happy? They had a huge lead, but seeing Tang Rou go on stage, the atmosphere of the crowd turned cold. The cheers for her were sparse and soft.
Chen Guo was very worried. She discovered that this event would greatly damage Tang Rou’s image, even if she did succeed with a 1v3. Compared to how the crowd exploded when she completed a 1v2 in the second round, the crowd this time had become ice cold.
“Why did things have to turn out this way…” Chen Guo sighed. If she could go back to that day, she would have done everything she could to stop Tang Rou from going out to the press conference.
The countdown ticked. Five seconds later, the group arena began.
Despite receiving such criticism, Tang Rou’s style hadn’t changed. As soon as the match started, her character decisively charged towards the center.
Shouldn’t we give her some applause? The crowd hesitated. They hesitated the entire time. On the other hand, Tyranny’s fan group became more and more excited as the match progressed until they seized control of Happy’s home stadium.
This time, the unwavering support from Tyranny’s fans didn’t disappoint. Tang Rou, with a 1v3 as her goal, lost in the very first round of the group arena.
The Tyranny fans were overjoyed. They obviously sent down merciless boos towards her. There were even many neutral spectators and a portion of Happy’s fans that booed along with Tyranny’s fans.
Tang Rou came down from the stage amidst the boos and returned to her seat in silence.
“This Qin Muyun needs to be studied carefully,” Ye Xiu said.
“Oh?” Tang Rou looked at him.
“Keep working hard!” Ye Xiu said.
Tang Rou nodded her head.
Next up was Mo Fan. His one round suspension had been lifted; he and his Deception could come onto the stage again.
Happy’s fans suddenly started livening up. Their treatment towards him was the complete opposite of their treatment towards Tang Rou. Tang Rou had originally been Happy’s most popular player outside of Happy’s Gods…
Chen Guo felt uncomfortable. She glanced at Tang Rou and saw her with her head up. Tang Rou’s eyes were staring at the highlight replay of her fight with Qin Muyun. It wasn’t until the scene shifted to the upcoming match did Tang Rou’s gaze return to the stage.
Qin Muyun, who had beat Tang Rou, didn’t have that much health left. His Negative Nine Degrees only had 11% health left, nearly at red blood.
Despite facing such a frail opponent, Mo Fan didn’t rush over. He moved strategically as always. Qin Muyun also moved strategically. As a result, at the center of the map, neither of them directly appeared. They were all hiding, carefully observing their surroundings.
On the screen, the camera views of both players could be seen, letting the audience know which direction the two were looking at.
From Mo Fan’s view, he had already locked onto the location of Qin Muyun’s Negative Nine Degrees. Afterwards, he slowly started moving.
He’s circling to his back…
Much of the crowd felt quite annoyed. The guy only had 11% health left, yet you still feel the need to sneak to his back? Just charge at him, bring him out, chase him, and kill him.
The opinions of the viewers clearly weren’t being sent to Mo Fan’s mind. Even if they were, it would be a question of whether or not he would accept their opinions.
Mo Fan was outstanding at sneaking behind someone. He quickly traversed in a circle towards Negative Nine Degrees’ previous location. Yes, previous. While he was moving, Negative Nine Degrees had already moved, but Mo Fan didn’t know.
It hadn’t been easy for Deception to find his target, but by the time he got there, his target was nowhere to be found.
He had moved according to his predictions. In reality, he wasn’t certain of his opponent’s location either. Not finding his target either meant that his prediction had been wrong or his opponent had moved. Mo Fan didn’t know which one was correct.
Just when he was thinking about what to do next, a sneak attack came from behind Deception.
Qin Muyun had moved away, but he hadn’t gone too far. An important reason for why he picked his new spot was that he could see his previous spot.
His choice wasn’t wasted. While Mo Fan was thinking that he had ran around for nothing, Mo Fan didn’t know that he had already fallen into Qin Muyun’s trap.
Through the scope of his gun, Deception’s head was magnified extremely large!
Snipe! Headshot! Double damage. The powerful impact of the snipe pushed Deception’s body askew. Negative Nine Degrees rushed out and immediately started attacking fiercely. Deception was suddenly enveloped in a rain of bullets. The Sharpshooter’s attacks weren’t as fierce as Launcher’s, and their skills weren’t as handy as Spitfire skills. In reality, most of their skills were simply normal attacks with buffs.
The number of bullets produced from Rapid-Fire, Dual Shot, Scatter-Shot, and other Sharpshooter skills were definitely the champions among other Gunner classes though.
Deception was in a tough spot. This time, Mo Fan didn’t employ his favored strategy of running away and then searching for another opportunity later. Instead, he had Deception directly attempt a counterattack.
However, to counterattack, the first step had to be to break through Negative Nine Degrees’ bullet rain.
Shadow Clone Technique? Smoke Bomb? Substitution Technique?
When an opportunity arrived, Mo Fan used his escape skills. However, to his surprise, he was still unable to escape. Negative Nine Degrees’ attacks were always able to instantly shift to where ever he had just escaped to in pursuit.
“He’s being suppressed that hard?” Fang Rui was astonished. Tyranny’s old generals hadn’t performed well today, but their rookies were giving a frightening show.
“His positioning is extremely good,” Su Mucheng said. She was a Launcher and proficient at a support playstyle like Screen Cannon. With just one glance, she could see the key to Qin Muyun’s complete suppression towards Mo Fan.
Negative Nine Degrees’ position allowed him to cover all of Deception’s options, including the possibilities from Deception’s various Ninja skills. He wasn’t just standing there either. Whenever Deception moved, he would always adjust according to the situation, maintaining his positional advantage.
“He’s a positioning expert!” Ye Xiu concluded.
Positioning experts were especially suitable for playing long-ranged classes. Long-ranged classes had attacks with wider coverage. When melee classes picked spots, what they could attack was only limited to the area immediately surrounding them. When long-ranged classes picked spots, the area that they could cover was on an entirely different level. Very few players were like Ye Xiu, who picked flat maps without any obstructions. In maps with obstructions, long-ranged players with poor positioning skill would find it difficult to bring out their class’s full capabilities.
Qin Muyun was this type of expert though.
After watching Tang Rou’s match and this current one, Ye Xiu could completely confirm it.
“Positioning… Mo Fan is quite good at that too, no?” Chen Guo said.
“Mo Fan is an expert at picking static locations. Qin Muyun is an expert at picking spots while moving. The two are completely different,” Ye Xiu said.
“Then this match…”
“If you can identify the opposing player’s possible movement options, you can make accurate predictions. No matter how great you are at positioning, there will always be dead angles. Thus, after making predictions, the rest is up to reacting to the opposing player. However, Qin Muyun adjusts his position extremely fast. Trying to escape one step at a time isn’t likely. In order to escape, you need to complete it one go. And when you do, you have to be careful that your choice wasn’t read by him or else he’ll just start suppressing you again,” Ye Xiu said.
“From what you’re saying, this guy sounds invincible…” Chen Guo said.
“If you have Mo Fan compete against him in positioning, then yes, he’s practically invincible,” Ye Xiu said.
“Then what should he do?” Chen Guo said.
“Find a way to restrict or interfere with his positioning,” Ye Xiu said.
