Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
No matter how much support they received on the Internet.
No matter how many neutral Glory fans were beginning to favor Happy.
But in this stadium, the support for Samsara would always be unrivaled. This was their home stadium. Here were their most diehard fans. No matter what, they would never give up on supporting their team.
“Samsara is the champion!” The stadium was filled with such shouts. Perhaps influenced by what had happened yesterday at Culture Square, the Samsara fans in the stadium today very carefully used “Samsara” as the subject of their cheers.
Even though Happy’s fans were unwilling to show weakness, it was indeed difficult to take the upper hand when the other side had this kind of momentum. After going through the trials of this season, Happy’s fan group now had experience of challenging the opponent’s home stadium. As the away team, because of the vast numbers disparity, there was no way to knock over the opponent through sheer sound. In this situation, they had to rely more on chants and banners, creating visual momentum. These, at least, could not be covered no matter what. But there was a big pitfall to this strategy, which was… holding up a large sign would block the view of the row or rows sitting right behind.
This pitfall largely limited the usage of posters and banners. But today, Happy’s fans went ahead with it regardless. In the away team audience section, row after row of signs declared victory, so dense that the section looked like a mountain forest. The section seemed to be entirely banners, no people. Aside from the audience members sitting in the very front, there was practically no row whose line of sight could escape.
Even though the match still hadn’t officially begun, for the Happy fans to prepare their banners to create such a magnificent sight, it could be seen how conscious the fans were of this match. Their sound couldn’t resound in this stadium, but this continuous expanse of banners became the focus of attention in this stadium, and the television broadcast gave them extra screen time.
If they hadn’t prepared beforehand, this kind of thing could never happen spontaneously, no matter how many fans Samsara had. They had no other choice, they could only bring forth even more volume, to fight against Happy’s visual momentum.
Beneath the clashing swords, the two teams completed the pre-match exchange very calmly. After simple handshakes, however, the new height of pre-match excitement arrived.
Because this match would determine to whom the championship belonged, the Alliance arranged for the championship trophy, the symbol of supreme glory, to be revealed before the match. The stadium’s lights extinguished all at once, and before the audience even had time to utter shouts, the spotlights all converged on the podium. At some point, the trophy had already been placed there, but under the absolute concentration of light, in this instant, it seemed like the sun hanging in the sky, flashing with infinite radiance. The players, the audience, everyone’s gazes were captured by this sight.
The spotlights dispersed, the stadium’s normal lighting came back on, and instantly everything was back to normal. But everyone’s gazes continued to linger on that championship trophy, gazes filled with desire and anticipation.
“Fuck, what a cheap gimmick.” Someone among the pro players complained, sounding extremely scornful, but no one answered. In that instant where the championship trophy had been lit up, whether or not they had won the championship before, every single one of them had felt their hearts stir.
This was a gimmick, but it was an extremely effective gimmick. Even for the one who had complained, there’d been some longing in his tone, a refusal to resign. This match, this sort of gimmick, it really provoked a certain sadness in their hearts.
The match was about to begin, but the two teams didn’t immediately return to their player areas. They gathered in front of their respective competitor booths, and everyone looked up toward the giant display screen, waiting for the group arena’s random map selection.
With a sound, the selection began. Images flashed by onscreen for around five seconds, before suddenly coming to a halt. A digital voice clearly announced the name of this map: Inevitable Confrontation.
“The name of this map really fits the occasion!”
No information was released beforehand about the random maps used in the playoffs. Even the broadcast commentators were only learning about the map now, and the commentary of course began from the name.
Championship, finals, an encounter on a narrow road – inevitable confrontation. There was no more description more fitting. And now, the map that had been chosen had this name.
The holographic projection and the stadium display screen began a simple overview of this map’s layout and characteristics.
A narrow valley, a bit twisting, but not complex. On both sides were steep and towering cliffs. As for whether they could be climbed, aside from a Nightwalker carrying a ninjato, it was hard to say. At this time, people would automatically think of Lord Grim’s many changing techniques, but because these cliffs were so high, as soon as they reached the top, they would be too far away to pose any threat at all to those at the bottom. As for whether or not there were any ambush points along the wall, that could not be seen clearly from such a brief introduction.
“It doesn’t look like there’s anything particularly special about this map?” Pan Lin said, after seeing this simple overview. There were definitely many maps in the original selection that had this kind of simple feature, and this map had been specially made for the playoffs. If they’d only designed this valley with a few extra twists and turns, there was really nothing new about this at all.
Just as everyone was wondering the same question, suddenly, there were screams of murder from the holographic projection. Everyone watched as horses and men appeared at both ends of the canyon, and ambushes also appeared on both mountain walls. Soon, the men and horses met at the center of the canyon and began to fight, killing each other ferociously. On the cliffs, the ambushes activated, and all sorts of boulders and wood tumbled down. In a few moments, both armies were completely wiped out.
Everyone was stunned.
What was this?
It surely wasn’t an animation just added to complement the name “inevitable confrontation,” right? This was the finals, they needed to introduce the map information in an orderly way. How could such empty showiness be allowed?
So, this wasn’t some animation created to enhance the atmosphere. This was something that would actually happen on this map.
It wasn’t just about the topography, they were actually introducing interfering events. Regardless of the outcome of this match, this design would inevitably trigger much discussion and controversy afterward. But at the moment, the audience was very curious to see how the players would respond to such a map with events and NPC interference.
Yet right now, there was pitifully little information about this interference. Was the timing of this event completely random, or set for a certain time? Would it only happen once per battle, or multiple? From their attacks, it seemed like the two groups on opposite ends of the canyon and those on the cliff walls formed three separate teams. What would be their attitudes toward the players’ characters?
Too much information that was needed to understand this map was not given before the match, and because of the ingenuity of this design, acquiring information about this map would be much more complicated than simply observing the terrain characteristics. The first and even the second players of both teams would have to do a lot of work in this aspect. So, who would the two teams send up?
Everyone was very curious. But on television, commentators Pan Lin and Li Yibo were very evasive. Although they had some ideas in their minds, they didn’t dare speak easily. They had truly been face-slapped too many times.
“This time, continuing to send out Ye Xiu first is a very appropriate choice for Happy!” Over in the pro player section, they didn’t have anything holding them back, and after discussion, they all agreed on this prediction. Facing such a complex situation, it would be best to send out Ye Xiu, someone who was experienced and had extremely good awareness. While gaining information, he had a very high chance of winning battles in such unpredictable situations.
“As for Samsara…” From Happy, Ye Xiu was the best choice, everyone recognized this in a glance. Not only did it make sense, it could continue the psychological oppression that his win streak had established. On the other hand, Samsara was definitely aware of Happy’s best choice, so their choice of player would, to a certain extent, have to counter it. Who was most appropriate on Samsara’s side?
While everyone was discussing, Samsara’s Jiang Botao reported their first player to the judge. And at the same time, from their roster, Sun Xiang was already walking toward the competitor booth.
