The King's Avatar

Death's Door disappeared, having quickly fulfilled its destiny. Amidst the light of the disappearing Death's Door, looking as if it intended to devour everything, the one who fell was Lord Grim.

Ye Xiu had copied what Yu Wenzhou had done, but when everyone thought on it, they couldn't understand how this had happened.

This was because the situation Happy was facing was different from what Yu Wenzhou had been met with.

When Yu Wenzhou was up against the Death's Door, there was only one target in range, his Swoksaar. So, when Swoksaar collided with the Death's Door, the Death's Door ended.

But now, it wasn't just Lord Grim within reach of this Death's Door. There was also Boundless Sea and Steamed Bun Invasion. You could even say that the intended target of this attack was Boundless Sea and Steamed Bun Invasion.

Under these circumstances, there was no reason for Death's Door to disappear after catching only one of its targets.

"What's going on?" Pan Lin questioned, recovering from his shock.

"How strange," Li Yibo tagged on, not having any intentions to try and explain this. He couldn't figure it out either.

Never mind those two, even Yu Wenzhou, a god-level Warlock player, was puzzled at the disappearance of the Death's Door. In fact, due to his familiarity with the skill, it was even weirder for him.

How did this Death's Door disappear? Was there some unknown characteristic of Death's Door that all these players didn't know of?

In this moment Yu Wenzhou suddenly thought of their senior, their old captain, Wei Chen, now a member of Happy.

Wei Chen was definitely one of the very first amongst Warlock players, or even players in general. He had persisted for ten years, an amazing achievement. After all, Wei Chen hadn't been a pro player for large majority of those years, just a normal player. It was perfectly normal for a normal player to get tired of a class and switch. It was truly rare for a normal player to remain playing the same class for ten years. At that point is was true love.

For their old captain Wei Chen, it really was true love for the Warlock.

So, perhaps, this unknown characteristic of Death's Door was something he discovered. As for Ye Xiu, he was just using Wei Chen's discovery and taking advantage of the bug to end the Death's Door early against the skill's design.

No… it wasn't against the skill's design. They had probably used a detail of the design that no one else knew about.

What was it?

Though Yu Wenzhou was curious, there wasn't any point in agonizing over it now. Today's match had given him all too many questions. Yu Wenzhou still hadn't figured out how Ye Xiu had managed to pinpoint so accurately where to set the shadow trap.

However, he didn't hesitate due to this confusion. If Death's Door didn't accomplish his aims, then he'll just use another.

Shadow Flames!

An ember of dark purple flames leaped out from Curse of Destruction.

Yu Wenzhou didn't use anymore large scale spells like Death's Door. After all, it was unfair to expect Lu Hanwen to cover him all by himself. Thankfully, Zheng Xuan passed by and helped out a bit, but now, Huang Shaotian and Zheng Xuan were both far away, having gone around the flanks. They couldn't help out over here anymore. Swoksaar's casting had to sync with the rhythm Flowing Clouds was setting.

Shadow Flames was successfully cast, the dark purple flames flickering.

When this skill hit, then the target would take damage over time. Each tick of damage would interrupt casting. Thus, this ball of flame was thrown at Boundless Sea. No matter how dirty Fang Rui played his Qi Master, he couldn't escape the fact that many of the Qi Master's skills required casting.

If Boundless Sea let it hit, then his attacks would be restricted. If he dodged, then he would give Xu Jingxi an opening and chance. A healer under siege was restricted to just waiting to be saved, he was using his own methods to struggle, trying to find an opportunity.

Now, an opportunity had come!

Fang Rui was unwilling to be CC'ed by Shadow Flame and immediately had Boundless Sea dodge.

Yu Wenzhou's choice of target was very clear and thought out. He had a clear view of the situation. Making Fang Rui dodge would be able to give an opening. Thus, Shadow Flame flew out, Boundless Sea dodged, and Xu Jingxi immediately understood, his heavily armored Paladin taking one step this way.

One step, just one step.

As Soul Speaker managed this step, his back suddenly tensed before his body was thrown into the air.

Circle Swing!

Lord Grim, who had fallen in the explosion of Death's Door, had stood up again and returned to crush the hope that Blue Rain just saw.

Crash!

Soul Speaker was slammed into the ground.

"Where do you think you're running, brat!" Steamed Bun yelled into the chat. His tone, demeanor… it was like he didn't know he was a rookie.

"I would've been fine even without your help," Fang Rui suddenly said.

"Huh?" Steamed Bun replied.

"Not you, Steamed Bun," Ye Xiu typed a reply as fast as he could. Though he knew that Fang Rui was talking to him, but if they let Steamed Bun misunderstand, then things would go downhill very fast.

"We're counting on you, Steamed Bun," Fang Rui also broke out into cold sweat, hurriedly pitching in and making sure that Steamed Bun was focused and happy.

"You can count on me!" Steamed Bun was delighted, and Steamed Bun Invasion quickly pinned Soul Speaker and gave him a beating. Tyrannical Chain Punch was sent out like some sort of low level skill, very wastefully unleashed onto Soul Speaker.

Ye Xiu and Fang Rui's hearts calmed. Let him be as wasteful as he wants; it's better than going completely out of it.

"It's all up to you!" Ye Xiu once again made sure Steamed Bun focused, but his words had a second meaning. Fang Rui understood, knowing that Ye Xiu was actually talking to him. As for Steamed Bun, the other cheerfully gave an acknowledging reply. Fang Rui didn't dare tell him the truth of the matter.

Lord Grim was originally in the windy zone, but now he charged out with a tailwind.

Lord Grim didn't go after Troubling Rain on the right or Bullet Rain on the left, instead charging directly at Swoksaar. Swoksaar, who only had Flowing Clouds protecting him.

Charge, Shining Cut!

Two skills, one change of direction, Swoksaar's skill was dodged, but Flowing Clouds' greatsword Flame Shadow was already crashing towards Lord Grim's head.

Collapsing Mountain!

Without Huang Shaotian there to cover him, Lu Hanwen's Collapsing Mountain wasn't executed so wildly, instead more reserved, in a way that gave him the ability to advance and attack or retreat and switch as he needed...

However, there was no switching so quickly!

Lu Hanwen could only keep up with Lord Grim with his view! Just as the Collapsing Mountain was about to hit, Lord Grim turned once again.

Colliding Stab!

With another movement skill, Lord Grim brushed right past the Collapsing Mountain. Lu Hanwen wanted to change the direction of his slash, but he couldn't make it in time. He had never felt encumbered by Flame Shadow's slow speed. Though he was just a young teen, Lu Hanwen liked this sturdy weight. Every strike, every hit had him feel content and satisfied.

But now?

When this strike hit the ground heavily, his heart felt exceptionally empty. Seeing Lord Grim's Colliding Stab dart under his Collapsing Mountain and striking true at Swoksaar, the captain he had been protecting, Lu Hanwen, for the first time, thought to himself: if only this sword was a little bit faster.

He was wavering.

This determined, optimistic and hardworking young man, was helpless in this crucial moment, and finally began to doubt his choice of wielding his greatsword...

"Where's your mind wandering off to, huh? Focus focus focus..."

That was when Blue Rain's team chat was suddenly flooded with these words.

Huang Shaotian was the only one who spoke or typed like that.

But… focus?

The audience was thinking to themselves, there wasn't anyone not focusing. In their eyes, Blue Rain's players were all very focused and doing their best. Although Lu Hanwen failed to stop Lord Grim and Yu Wenzhou failed to avoid the attack, they were definitely paying attention. They were focused and doing their best.

"Who's not focused?" Pan Lin was also asking.

Thus, Li Yibo's attention wavered as he realized he couldn't answer. It was happening again. Whenever the match was at its most intense, there would be more he didn't understand...

Lu Hanwen's face burned.

Everyone else was confused, but he was more than clear on the fact that it was him Huang Shaotian was telling to pay attention.

It wasn't saying that he failed to stop Lord Grim because he wasn't paying attention, but after he failed, there was a moment of hesitation, a moment where he wavered and doubted.

It was just an instant, but Huang Shaotian saw, saw right through him...

Lu Hanwen was ashamed of himself.

Protect captain's Swoksaar. In the past, that was always Huang Shaotian's responsibility. Thus, Blue Rain used a strategy where Swoksaar was bait and Huang Shaotian executed a sneak attack to deal a crippling blow. This time, taking into consideration that it might be harder to move around in these windy zones, the job of protecting the captain was passed to him.

And what did he do?

After failing to block his opponent's assault, he had began to waver. And this instant had Huang Shaotian taking notice. This might be because he never wavered. He made mistakes, and failed to protect Swoksaar sometimes, but Huang Shaotian had never, ever wavered. His tendency to ramble had been pointed out again and again over these years, but when had he ever hesitated and decided to change? Okay, that wasn't the best example, but Lu Hanwen felt Huang Shaotian's determination through the other noticing his own wavering.

There was no wavering, you can't waver!

Take your choice with you to the end!

Haaa!

The greatsword switched directions, cutting through the wind with a sound like Lu Hanwen's inner roar. Flowing Clouds slashed at Lord Grim, determined!

Boom boom boom boom!

Canonfire blocked his way. Dancing Rain had begun to support Lord Grim from afar. Lu Hanwen's rescue mission had suffered a setback, but now he had readjusted his state of mind. Lu Hanwen never lacked courage. What he lacked was the calm that their captain Yu Wenzhou conducted himself with, the cold determination Huang Shaotian displayed.

And right now, he didn't rush into things and use up all his energy. He carefully surveyed the the situation, contemplative. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

Happy's healer, Little Cold Hands, was really close!