Chapter 990: Remaining Mana
The King's Avatar
Translator: Nomyummi Editor: Nomyummi
Ye Xiu and the others were all joking around off stage, while Qiao Yifan, on stage, was completely unaffected by his opponentâs taunting. Jade Dynastyâs Zheng Shengchao had no idea as to where One Inch Ash was or where he was heading, but the audience could clearly see how One Inch Ash was darting in and out of the alleyways with familiarity.
This sort of playstyle was usually very unpopular, but because of Qiao Yifanâs brilliant performance last match, the audienceâs tolerance for Qiao Yifanâs playstyle had obviously become very high. Even the commentator was praising Qiao Yifanâs patience, saying that it was rare that someone kept such a cool head when they were in the lead by a full player in the group arena.
"Ok, Qiao Yifanâs One Inch Ash has once again managed to sneak behind Severed Yearning once again. Will he manage to grasp an opportunity this time?" The commentator kept his eyes on the match.
"Heâs approached, but this position doesnât seem very appropriate for a Ghostbladeâs ambush. Letâs see what Qiao Yifan will do!"
"Oh, heâs laid down a Ghost Boundary."
"Itâs a Flame Boundary. Seems like Qiao Yifan also knows that this environment isnât too great for Ghost Boundaries, so heâs aiming to deal damage."
"Jade Dynastyâs player noticed, turned around, Collapsing Mountain!!! He has a very fast reaction speed. It looks like Zheng Shengchao was waiting for One Inch Ash to strike."
"Qiao Yifan has backed away. Seems like he felt that this opportunity wasnât a very good one. However, itâs obvious that Zheng Shengchao isnât willing to let Qiao Yifan go so easily this time, and heâs pursuing. Exchanges like this have happened several times already and Qiao Yifan has continuously managed to slip away, utilizing his familiarity with the map. However, this time... It seems like Zheng Shangchao has gained a better understanding of the map during the match. He refuses to be shaken off."
"Huh...? This place..." The commentator made a questioning sound before he started to become excited. The broadcast very cooperatively flashed to the area the commentator had noticed. The audience looked over, and immediately understood the commentatorâs excitement. This area had a very similar terrain to where Qiao Yifan killed his last opponent.
A brilliant performance was about to follow! The audience perked up, and some even began applauding. As for Team Happyâs supporters, they had already begun to cheer and yell with excitement.
Jade Dynastyâs members were extremely anxious at this moment. It didnât feel good to be spectating this at all. They could only watch as their teammate fell into the opponentâs trap, but were helpless to do anything about it. Half of Jade Dynastyâs players had even stood up, but their boss, Xiao Jie, was still sitting, unmoving, though his own anxiety was evident. His gaze even revealed a hint of rage, clearly unhappy at how his players were continuously falling for their opponentâs tricks.
Under the eyes of the people, Zheng Chaosheng didnât fail their expectations. His Severed Yearning took that final step.
A Ghost Boundary practically matched the timing for this step, coming down on Severed Yearningâs head. Qiao Yifan had perfectly timed the skill, beginning to cast it beforehand, and just finishing the cast with this step.
Zheng Shengchao was shocked, but didnât panic. He wanted nothing more than for Qiao Yifan to stop and face him head on! With a Colliding Stab, Severed Yearning charged at One Inch Ash. One Inch Ash whirled around in a dodge, bounding to switch of positions with Severed Yearning.
After the Colliding Stab, Severed Yearning spun around and Zheng Shengchao only noticed the terrain of his environment then. His heart missed a beat, feeling dread rising. However, he was already trapped in a Ghost Boundary and One Inch Ash swung the Taichi in his hand, Ghost Boundaries came down one after another. The audience yelled and cheered, abandoning all pretense, while Jade Dynastyâs players all felt like crying.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Zheng Shengchao struggled, wanting to break out of the encirclement of Ghost Boundaries, yet was met with failure after failure.
Compared to the Ghostblade of last round, Berserkers were a lot better at breaking through, but didnât have nearly as high of a resistance to the effects of Ghost Boundaries. Falling into a CC chain like this was much more troublesome for Zheng Shengchao than for the last matchâs Ghostblade player. Severed Yearningâs life dropped constantly, the audience applauded thunderously, Jade Dynastyâs players sat silently and boss Xiao Jieâs expression made him look like he was ready to eat someone.
"Qiao Yifan has done it yet again, an amazing performance. However, this sort of playstyle consumes a lot of mana, so it seems that this time he wonât be able to wipe out his opponent. Thatâs perfectly fine though; being able to expend all your mana in the group arena means youâve truly done everything you can. Qiao Yifan has reached this limit wonderfully. If Happy wins the group arena, then Qiao Yifan wouldâve made the greatest contribution!" The commentator kept praising Qiao Yifanâs performance, noticing, at the same time, that One Inch Ashâs mana might not be enough and therefore wouldnât be able to keep up this playstyle of layering Ghost Boundaries in excess.
"Ah! So close...." A split second after the commentator finished analyzing the situation, he gave a cry from a sudden change on the field. Meanwhile, the audience suddenly gave a loud collective sigh at the same time.
"Severed Yearning almost charged out of One Inch Ashâs encirclement. Though Jade Dynastyâs player fell into a trap, it seems like he hasnât given up yet, seeking opportunities whenever he can." The commentator, having almost focused completely on One Inch Ash, finally decided to spare a few thoughts for Zheng Shengchao.
"Uh... Qiao Yifanâs control seems to be too spread out this time!" Seeing the twoâs exchange on the field, the commentator suddenly came up with this comment.
Compared to the complete control of the match, Zheng Shengchaoâs Severed Yearning could still find some opportunity to try and break away from the control. Though he hadnât succeeded, he wasnât losing as badly as One Inch Ashâs previous opponent.
"I feel like... Qiao Yifan might be thinking too much. Seems like heâs controlling his rhythm on purpose to not completely deplete his mana so quickly. However, this leaves room for his opponent to struggle. Actually, in a situation where he has such an advantage, why doesnât Qiao Yifan just use up the rest of his mana to maximize his damage? I doubt anyone would be disappointed in him if he eventually lost the match," the commentator said with some confusion and disappointment.
Just as his words fell, the two on the field began their first ever head on exchange. Zheng Shengchao might not have been able to break through, but was able to deal a lot of damage to One Inch Ash.
"Qiao Yifan wonât be wiped out before even depleting his mana, right? That would be such a shame... Qiao Yifan... he demands too much of himself..." Seeing how Zheng Shengchao gained the upper hand in this exchange, the commentator began to worry.
"Again! It seems like Zheng Shengchao is very confident in himself."
"Dark Boundary! This Dark Boundary was very timely, otherwise he might really be able to hold on against this barrage. I hope Qiao Yifan can take advantage of this opportunity and regain control over the situation..."
Yet Qiao Yifan didnât accomplish what the commentator was hoping for, continuing to stubbornly keep his slow rhythm and not depleting his mana to set Ghost Boundaries like in the previous match.
"If itâs just like this... I feel like there would be no need for this trap. I think Zheng Shengchao would be more than willing to just fight Qiao Yifan head-on, right?" The more he spoke, the more the commentator felt disappointed in Qiao Yifanâs actions this round.
"Zheng Shengchao is getting more and more confident as he fights, his status is at its peak." Slowly, the commentatorâs attention began to shift to Jade Dynastyâs player.
"Blood Sword, Destruction Slash, brilliant! Soul-Devouring Crimson Grip, missed, what a shame. If that grab hit, it would have changed the situation completely. Zheng Shengchaoâs Severed Yearning might not have broken through, but he has gained the upperhand now, unleashing his own barrage of attacks. Qiao Yifan is struggling to endure. Under a situation where he originally held the upper hand, Qiao Yifan didnât utilize his Ghost Boundaries to their fullest, so One Inch Ash lost a lot of health as well, with only ten percent remaining. Now, what he is about to face is an even fiercer offense from his opponent because Blood Awakening has now been activated..."
"Wait, itâs been activated..." The commentator suddenly realized something was wrong upon coming to this. He was dumbstruck for a long while and it wasnât until the two on the field engaged with one another that he noticed the health of each character falling and suddenly realized: Severed Yearningâs Blood Awakening had already been activated because his health had already fallen by more than 50 percent, and this all happened without any fanfare. All he had noticed was Qiao Yifanâs hardship in taking these attacks, but he hadnât noticed how Qiao Yifanâs One Inch Ash had been quietly chipping away at his opponentâs health all of this time.
Thatâs right. This wave of damage wasnât nearly as elegant and consistent as the last match. However, if he was as liberal with his mana and consumed it like he did in the last match, how much damage would he be able to do with the little mana he had left?
Yet now, using the head-on exchanges, One Inch Ash mightâve lost a lot of health, but he had also drained Severed Yearningâs health by quite a bit, but how much mana had One Inch Ash used during this fight?
Ten percent!
He had only used ten percent, ten percent of his mana to take over fifty percent of his opponentâs health. This was a shocking result, and One Inch Ash had taken a lot of damage to achieve it. Though he still had almost twenty percent of his mana left now, he only had ten percent of his health. He mightâve been able to save some mana, but did he have enough health to use it?
Just as these doubts arose in the commentator, he suddenly understood.
"Itâs coming!!!"
Thus, all the people watching the broadcast heard the commentator abruptly say these words.
What was coming? Just as the audience was lost in their confusion, One Inch Ash suddenly sped up the pace, Ghost Boundaries flashed continuously all over the field. This extravagant scene had One Inch Ashâs mana plummeting, yet at the same time it quickly depleted Severed Yearningâs health as well.
"Itâs enough! Qiao Yifanâs remaining mana is enough to wipe out Severed Yearning. Severed Yearning is a Berserker, so he doesnât have the same resistance to Ghost Boundaries that the Ghostblade from last match had, so Ghost Boundaries deal significantly more damage to him. Qiao Yifanâs remaining mana will be enough to take him out." The commentator quickly shared his findings then, but he had forgotten that the previous analysis was all in his head. Suddenly announcing this made the audience extremely confused.
However, the current situation on the field became the best annotation for the commentatorâs words. One Inch Ash completely took back control as he sped up without warning. Severed Yearning, who had seemingly taken control of the field for a while, was immediately drowned in Ghost Boundaries. He couldnât orientate himself or find a way out. His health depleted rapidly. His blood may have awakened, but there was no place to utilize it. He was securely locked in One Inch Ashâs Ghost Boundaries.
Finally, One Inch Ashâs mana was no more, and with the last powerful skill that consumed it, Severed Yearningâs life was gone, too.
Qiao Yifan had successfully taken out his second opponent.