The King's Avatar

The players sent up for the team competition walked onto the stage.

Happy - Ye Xiu, Su Mucheng, Tang Rou, Wei Chen, Fang Rui.

Misty Rain - Chu Yunxiu, Li Hua, Shu Kexin, Shu Keyi, Feng Xiangming, Bai Qi.

Misty Rain's lineup for the team competition was rather unusual. Their team composition consisted of an Elementalist, Ninja, two Sharpshooters, and a Cleric.

Over the course of Glory history, all sorts of systematic analysis and experimentation had been done. In the early days, there had even been five Blade Master team comps, but these types of team comps quickly faded away. According to the current Glory meta, a team composition should have at least a melee class, a long-ranged class, and a healer with two other classes to build on this base.

But in Misty Rain's team comp, their melee classes weren't pure melee. Whether it was Taijutsu Sharpshooters or a both long and close ranged Ninja, none of these classes were true melee classes, yet this unconventional team composition was Misty Rain's main force. Their tactics revolved around this team comp.

According to past data, Misty Rain's team comp didn't seem to be reliable. Facing strong teams, their team had yet to win a single match. They had even lost their home game against Team 301, a team considered weaker than them.

even those who won, never expressed their disapproval of Misty Rain's innovative tactics. The one with the most persuasiveness was Team Tyranny's Master Tactician, Zhang Xinjie. In their 6-4 match against Misty Rain, Tyranny had lost their points in the individual competition and group arena, but in the post-match press conference, Zhang Xinjie focused more on Misty Rain's performance in the team competition.

"Very flexible with lots of variations."

This was Zhang Xinjie's evaluation of Misty Rain's team comp and playstyle. It was very simple, only six words, but was just how Zhang Xinjie spoke. Everyone knew that Zhang Xinjie would never talk about anything without reason. He might not say that something was nine, but if he said it, then it was definitely nine, and not eight or ten.

As a result, Misty Rain's team comp and playstyle led to quite a bit of discussion.　

Tactics were never secrets because you had to use them on stage for everyone to see. Thus, many tactics were common among everyone. The difference between strong teams and weak teams was an issue of a team's execution.

The analysis and discussion towards Misty Rain's tactics leaned towards the positive side, which meant their rather poor win record was because of their execution. After all, this was the first season Misty Rain started running this playstyle. They needed time to practice and familiarize themselves with it.

Every opponent each round was a sharpening stone for Misty Rain. However, no team was willing to become their stepping stone. Happy wasn't willing either.

Happy had carefully discussed and analyzed Misty Rain's playstyle in their prepwork. In the end, they arranged this team lineup to counter it. Wei Chen would be appearing for his first time in the team competition in Round 12. His Warlock was undoubtedly a crucial part to Happy's strategy.

Wei Chen, who was sitting in the player booth, wasn't calm. The stadium and the seats, none of these were the same as when he had played competitively back then. Even though he was an experienced old general, in reality, he was new to the modern Glory competition. The seat under his butt felt uncomfortable and the sealed player booth felt stuffy.

A cigarette would be great… Wei Chen thought to himself, but when he looked around the interior of the player booth, he could clearly see a sign prohibiting smoking. Fuck, this senior won't smoke, but just dangling a cigarette in my mouth is fine, right? Wei Chen felt indignant. He felt out a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

The five second countdown passed, and the two teams loaded into the map.

The map was Mud River Peninsula and was split into four sections, linked together by a narrow piece of land. The separation between these four sections could be crossed; they were just a collection of small or large swamps. The center of the map also had a circular swamp. Characters could go into the swamps and not receive damage, but their movement speed would be slowed by 70%. This map was clearly a restrictive map. Apart from the swamps, there were lots of trees that could be used for protection. Happy had clearly chosen this map to restrict Misty Rain's long-ranged classes.

Happy loaded into the northwest corner of the peninsula, while Misty Rain loaded into the southeast corner.

Wei Chen sucked in a deep breath and had Windward Formation set out according to the strategy the team had prepared.

Team Happy's five players split up into three groups as they moved forward. Tang Rou, Su Mucheng, and An Wenyi went straight ahead, while Ye Xiu and Wei Chen circled around from the left and right.

The middle group moved more slowly to match the pace of the two circling from the left and right. The three groups were constantly updating each other with their positions as they advanced.

The team competition maps were much larger than the 1v1 maps, but that didn't mean the two sides would take a long time to find each other. The middle group were gradually starting to see the circular swamps in the central region appearing within their sight, but they were intentionally slowing their pace, so since they had yet to see Misty Rain, they knew that Misty Rain took a roundabout path.

The middle group informed Ye Xiu and Wei Chen, the two on their left and right.

"I know, they're on my side…" Wei Chen had been just about to notify them!

Windward Formation was hiding in a shrub on the side. Misty Rain's five characters hadn't scattered and were concentrated in one place, preparing to traverse through the swamps to directly cut across to the southwest region. If they moved along the swamp line, they would get to the rear of Happy.

Too bad they've been found by this senior.

Wei Chen peeped at them, while delightedly plotting what he should do next. If Happy had been together, then ambushing them while Misty Rain was traversing through the swamps would be the most optimal choice, but since he was alone...

Wei Chen hesitated.

Even though his Windward Formation had an abnormally long range, that was only relative to his class. Misty Rain had two Sharpshooters, whose natural attack ranges were above Mages. Even with Windward Formation's increased cast range from his weapon Death's Hand, he had no advantage over these two Sharpshooters.　　

"Misty Rain is forcefully traversing through the swamps. Do you guys think I should attack or not…" Unsure of what to do, Wei Chen asked for the opinion of his teammates.

"They have two Sharpshooters. You won't be able to suppress them!" Ye Xiu replied.

"Stealthily place a Death's Door to their side?" Wei Chen said.

"Windy Rain's spells will instantly blow it up," Ye Xiu said.

Stealthily placing a Death's Door was a concept that only existed among the normal players. Death's Door made a huge disturbance when cast and required the caster to control it. Pro players could easily deduce the enemy Warlock's position.

"Then what do I do?"

"We'll prepare an ambush at the Half Moon Rock in the 9 o'clock position, while you go back on your original path and cut to their rear," Ye Xiu replied.　

"They're probably… about a minute away from the Half Moon Rock, assuming that they directly move in that direction," Wei Chen calculated from Misty Rain's movement speed.

"Good, that's enough time. Are you fine?" Ye Xiu said.

"No problems here," Wei Chen replied.

"Don't appear in front of them too early," Ye Xiu said.　

"Hahaha, hilarious," Wei Chen replied. He didn't hurry to move his Windward Formation into position. He continued to crouch inside the bush, watching as Misty Rain's five players moved through the swamp towards the southwest corner.

"They've passed through." After Wei Chen sent the message, Windward Formation finally left the brush.

Half Moon Rock.

Situated at the link between the northwest and southwest region, Tang Rou's Soft Mist leaned on the outer edge of the rock with her spear propped up. In just one step, she could launch an attack on any passing characters. Su Mucheng's Dancing Rain leaped to a spot three-quarters of the way up the Half Moon Rock. In one jump, she would be able to reach the top of the rock, letting her suppress the enemies with her firepower from the high ground. An Wenyi's Little Cold Hands didn't need to find an attacking position. He just moved into a position between the two characters to support them.

"In position."

"In position."

"In position."

The three players each confirmed that they had reached their chosen positions.

Would they succeed in ambushing Misty Rain?

The suspense was unfolding before them. The live crowd and the viewers watching the broadcast waited for the moment to happen.

After Team Misty Rain crossed through the swamp, their movement speed returned to normal, and they quickly advanced forward. Soon, the Half Moon Rock was within their sights. Wei Chen's Windward Formation reached this area one step ahead of them. He once again found an ambush spot in a shrub by the road and observed Team Misty Rain's movements.

"They've arrived."

"They've slowed down. They're probably wary of the Half Moon Rock."

"They've changed direction. They're not heading towards Half Moon Rock."

"Fuck, they're coming my way."

"Then you're the bait! Go lure them into our ambush!" Ye Xiu made a firm decision.　

"How evil." Wei Chen cursed, but he also approved of this decision. Windward Formation suddenly scurried out of the bush.

Bang!

Lower Your Head, None Dare Attack!　　

Having changed from male to female characters through a backdoor, the Shu sisters immediately fired at Windward Formation.

Windward Formation rolled and crawled frantically, moving in a beautiful S path.　　

Bang!

An incomparably powerful sounding gunshot sounded.

Lower Your Head directly mounted Thunder Snipe and fired a heavy shot amidst None Dare Attack's rain of bullets.　

Windward Formation wasn't able to avoid the snipe. Blood spurted from his wound. Both person and blood tumbled forward.　　

"How fierce…" Wei Chen didn't forget to give a remark when he was hit.

"Keep up the good work," Ye Xiu encouraged him.

"Where the fuck are you?" Wei Chen asked. Ye Xiu wasn't among the ones who confirmed they were in position.　　

"I'm ready to help you at any moment," Ye Xiu said.

Wei Chen turned around to look. Misty Rain had started speeding up, looking as if they wouldn't rest until he died. The two Sharpshooters shot a hail of bullets, putting Wei Chen's reactions to the test. Windward Formation was instantly hit by several bullets.

Fuck, if this was ten years ago...

Wei Chen's reaction speed and mechanical skill weren't able to keep up. He suddenly realized that he might not be able to complete his mission as bait.

"Help!" Wei Chen immediately called for help.

Dancing Rain leaped onto the top of Half Moon Rock, propped up her heavy cannon, and started firing!