Chapter 1037: Unrescuable
Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

They say that team competitions are ever changing with all sorts of playstyles, but these differences never deviated from a set of standards. In the end, all these changing elements were geared towards creating the eventual situation of many against few, strong against weak.

Seeing the coordinates given by Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, Xiao Shiqin wasn't just anxious anymore, he was shocked.

The distance between them had been drawn out so far, and how did that happen? Xiao Shiqin's three person group had chased the four members of Happy while Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei pursued Ye Xiu.

That's right. This happened through their chase of Happy.

This was the finals of the Challenger League, not ten random players going five on five in the in-game arena. When retreating from being chased, you had to be tactical, too, and not just run around like a headless chicken. If Happy's path of retreat was planned out, then that meant that Excellent Era's split was intentionally caused by Happy. Then, Ye Xiu easily threw Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei off his tail. If he didn't realize something was wrong by now, then Xiao Shiqin's tactical sense would be terrible and he wouldn't deserve to be known as one of the Four Master Tacticians.

"Regroup!" After Xiao Shiqin sent some coordinates in the team chat, he and his two teammates didn't bother with Happy's four anymore and quickly turned to leave. Yet they had just turned when Happy's four person team that had been fleeing clumsily suddenly turned to launch an energetic counterattack, chasing after the three and taking advantage of their situations. Their attacks in pursuit were smooth and well-versed; it was clear that they had practiced specifically for such a situation. Xiao Shiqin's heart fell further.

Yet the three of them hadn't gotten very far before a figure flashed in front of them.

There were only so many characters on the field, so who other than Lord Grim could appear at this time?

As expected!

Xiao Shiqin now knew that his guess was completely correct. They had, once again, fallen into Happy's trap. It seemed like the wave of attacks that they had launched was more than satisfactory, but Happy's scheme didn't end there. They had long since prepared for the next step. After pulling Excellent Era's two groups far apart enough to be out of support range, Ye Xiu would throw his opponents off his tail to regroup with them first, once again turning this into many against few.

After giving their exact coordinates, Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei would also run over as fast as possible. However, before then, Xiao Shiqin's three person group had to deal with an offensive from these five. It might seem like five people was just one more person than four, but the problem was that this time, Ye Xiu was there. The Ye Xiu that was even more of a threat than the rest of Happy put together.

A pincer attack.

"Charge through!" Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher was the first to attack. Shen Jian's Striker, Successive Strike, followed, fists swinging. Zhang Jiaxing's Cleric, Woven Shadow, wasn't idle either, using the skills that Clerics had to harass the character blocking their way.

Ye Xiu was scary, but if he was just blocking the way on his own, he can't block us all, right?

There might be people in pursuit behind them, but Excellent Era's three were still very confident against Ye Xiu's blockade and the three charged forwards together.

As expected, Ye Xiu alone couldn't block all three of them. They were all pro players, not normal players in the online game. Not only did he fail to block them, Lord Grim also received significant damage against the three's charge.

Breakthrough, regroup with Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, then turn back and crush Happy. That's what Xiao Shiqin had planned, but then he looked left and right. Shen Jian's Striker, Successive Strike, had charged through, but where was Zhang Jiaxing's Cleric, Woven Shadow?

Xiao Shiqin hurriedly looked back with Life Extinguisher and immediately felt like crying.

As expected, Ye Xiu didn't have the power to block all three of them, so he hadn't bothered trying. He only wanted to block one of them. Life Extinguisher and Successive Strike had broken through, but Zhang Jiaxing's Woven Shadow had been blocked by Lord Grim. It was totally worth the damage that he had taken.

Dragon Tooth, Sky Strike, Falling Flower Palm.

Turning his view, Xiao Shiqin saw Lord Grim smoothly execute the simple three-hit Battle Mage combo. After Woven Shadow was hit by Falling Flower Palm, he was immediately blown far away. Happy's other four had managed to catch up by then. Soft Mist jumped, spear in hand and used a Circle Swing to catch the airborne Woven Shadow, swinging him in a circle before smashing him to the ground.

On the ground, Qiao Yifan's One Inch Ash had already managed to lay down several ghost boundaries. They were like several large pots, emitting the aroma of the Phantom Ghost's power and awaiting ingredients to complete this dish!

Zhang Jiaxing's Woven Shadow was, without a doubt, the long-awaited ingredients. After being thrown into the pot by Soft Mist's Circle Swing, they immediately began cooking. Little Cold Hand's Sacred Fire came down as the spices, then Dawn Rifle blasted attacks at him. The flames were rising!

Woven Shadow was cooked immediately. In such a situation, Clerics had a very hard time saving themselves. As a magic class, most of his skills had to be casted. Thus, when he was being attacked continuously like this, he couldn't use any of those casts. He could only hope for outside help.

Xiao Shiqin was extremely frustrated with his own carelessness. Though it would be hard with their disadvantage in numbers, but they couldn't just leave their healer to die. Life Extinguisher and Successive Strike simultaneously turned to charge back into the fray, but found their way blocked by Lord Grim again.

Xiao Shiqin didn't have time to deal with Ye Xiu. Life Extinguisher sent all his long-ranged skills towards Woven Shadow, but Happy's team ignored them, fighting through Life Extinguisher's attacks.

As for Shen Jian's Successive Strike, he had to get close to deal damage. Being blocked by Lord Grim, he couldn't charge over to help for now. However, in this exchange, Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher had managed to get closer. However, for him, getting closer was no different than staying away. Most of his attacks didn't require for him to close in. Even if he used them, no one would pay any heed to it. Even if they had to take more damage, they were determined to kill Woven Shadow.

Xiao Shiqin knew very well that this exchange was definitely worth it. It went without saying that he alone wouldn't be able to kill a target when the opponent had a Cleric. Even if he could, it would still be more worth it for their opponents to take out their healer.

Firepower coverage was ignored. Go up to wreck havoc? No matter how bad their opponents were, they still had four people, and Mechanics weren't a class that could charge bodily into an opponent's formation. With Xiao Shiqin's tactical knowledge, he obviously wouldn't do something so mindless.

With a turn of view, Life Extinguisher launched another round of attacks, but this time he focused his firepower on Little Cold Hands, Happy's healer.

As expected of a Master Tactician. In this helpless situation, he decided to surround Wei to save Zhao*. How could Happy just leave their healer to be attacked?

Team Happy really did just ignore their healer being attacked, speeding up their attacks on Woven Shadow. Xiao Shiqin felt like crying. Was Woven Shadow really unrescuable? Kill the opponent's healer as an exchange? The problem was, there were three people surrounding and attacking Woven Shadow who was helpless. As for his side? It was just his Life Extinguisher attacking Little Cold Hands alone. Even though his technique was good enough to make Little Cold Hands helpless, his DPS couldn't compare to the combined DPS of three characters. Plus, he had been late in striking. If his opponents killed Woven Shadow first and then went over to support Little Cold Hands, then wouldn't all his hard work be for nothing?

In these crucial times, Xiao Shiqin was quick and decisive. Life Extinguisher abruptly turned his fire towards Lord Grim.

This action was very confusing to everyone. The commentators, Pan Lin and Li Yibo analyzed this as trying to kill off Lord Grim, exchanging a Cleric for Team Happy's ace.

The two used a very questioning and uncertain tone when saying this. Was Ye Xiu the type that could be killed so easily? Under Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei's combined offense, Ye Xiu had managed to play a graceful game of hide and seek and threw them off his tail. Even when hopelessly outnumbered, he still had very strong self-preservation skills. Trying to take out Lord Grim wasn't even as feasible as trying to take out Little Cold Hands.

Yet, Xiao Shiqin's intentions soon became very clear. Turning his fire on Lord Grim and attacking wildly had given Shen Jian a chance to slip away. Successive Strike charged past Lord Grim, ignoring all else, and towards the enemy's formation.

Xiao Shiqin also took this chance to change focus again, showering Soft Mist and the others. This time, it provided cover for Shen Jian's Striker's charge and Tang Rou and co's encirclement was finally broken open.

Zhang Jiaxing was an experienced pro as well, not a weakling that needed to be constantly protected in the online game. He took the chance to dart out of the opening. Xiao Shiqin was delighted and hurried to provide suppressing fire. Woven Shadow was like a little lamb that had finally found its way home, stumbling and tripping as he shot towards Life Extinguisher.

The two regrouped and immediately turned to flee. They hadn't taken two steps when Xiao Shiqin suddenly realized something was missing. Turning his view to look, he was close to bursting into tears. They might have pulled Zhang Jiaxing's Woven Shadow out, but Shen Jian's Striker, Successive Strike had been trapped in.

The audience was stunned.

This was Xiao Shiqin! Because of him and him alone, an ordinary team like Thunderclap had become a regular visitor of the playoffs. This team had managed to continuously cause trouble for the powerhouses. They could cause a headache for any team.

Yet now they were so careless when playing now. They had lost their Cleric a moment ago. Now that they had picked their Cleric back up, they lost their Striker.

Normal characters weren't as valuable as healers, but they couldn't just leave him there either, right? There was a total headcount of six on each side. Losing one meant losing a portion of their strength. Many team competitions had ended with one team losing one member and then spiralling downhill, unable to hold on.

Xiao Shiqin helplessly had Life Extinguisher turn back and Zhang Jiaxing couldn't ignore this either. He wasn't a helpless rescued princess; he was here to help out on the field.

Rescuing Shen Jian's Striker would be easier than rescuing a healer. After all, Strikers had great offensive capabilities and could easily find an opening with assistance from outside.

With Zhang Jiaxing's Cleric, Woven Shadow, helping out with Sacred Fire and similar skills, Successive Strike finally broke out. Like Woven Shadow before, he hurried towards the warm embrace of his team.

"Careful!!" Xiao Shiqin hurriedly type out that message, but didn't manage to help Shen Jian. Lord Grim suddenly came in from an angle and used a Circle Swing with his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella to impale Successive Strike and, running and swinging him about, threw Successive Strike back into the encirclement.

After going in this massive circle, would the first to die in the team competition still be Successive Strike?

"Keep up his health!!" Xiao Shiqin was like a commander in a dungeon, yelling at the healer to keep his health stable.

Nomyummi
TN: Surrounding Wei to save Zhao comes from an event in the warring states where the army laid siege to Wei to force their troops to retreat from Zhao, thus saving Zhao. - Jouissance

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1038: Emergency Substitution
Translator: Nomyummi  Editor: Nomyummi

Everyone was struck dumb.

In the group arena, Excellent Era had only won one point. This was already inconsistent with the expectations of many people, but what about now? Unexpectedly, Team Happy continuously held the initiative, dominating the whole way, whereas Excellent Era was forced to constantly run for their lives. Just looking at the current situation, just who was the powerhouse here? Who was the grassroots team?

Many in the audience had wanted to see Happy emerge victorious, because it would be an exciting upset. However, seeing the scene before them, it really did seem inconceivable. Yet, this was something they were looking forward to, so obviously it would be something that made them excited. The stadium wasn't only made up of Excellent Era fans; this wasn't Team Excellent Era's home ground.

Only, these audience members, who wanted to see Happy succeed, couldn't really be called Happy's fans. Truthfully, they only wanted to see a major upset. Thus, they wouldn't act like Happy's true fans and recklessly cheer for the team. Since Happy's chances really weren't optimistic, this kind of cheering could easily end with them getting their faces slapped. False fans would obviously be willing to risk this.

Except now, Happy had actually grasped an advantage during the team competition. These spectators, who were only looking for an upset, were also beginning to stir. Those who were more hot-blooded had already started cheering. Gradually, the others followed suit, expressing what they truly wished in their hearts. They too began loudly shouting encouragement. On the flip side, Excellent Era's fans, seeing their team's passive movements, could only sit stupidly.

Originally, they had been prepared to cheer to add to Excellent Era's beautiful performance. Now, with the team acting so passively, it would be more like sending help at the darkest hour.** They weren't mentally prepared for this! Thus, in that instant, the stadium was suddenly filled with loud voices cheering for Happy, drowning out the voices of Excellent Era fans who had been distracted. It seemed like ages before they reacted, desperately raising their voices to cheer for Excellent Era.

Often, cheers from fans in the stadium would be a sort of catalyst for the players on stage. However, Glory was an exception to this, because the players would be completely sealed within their player booths. They weren't able to hear anything going on in the stadium. Although the reasoning behind this was simple, the fans' wishful thinking still caused them to believe that their cheers would somehow transfer strength to their players. At the same time, the pro players didn't do anything to deny this. Even if they couldn't hear any of this support, it wouldn't do them any good to betray their fans good intentions.

At this very moment, the stadium echoed with two equally powerful cheers, yet on stage the situation didn't really change.

"Heal! Heal!"

Truthfully, Xiao Shiqin's directions were a bit redundant. At times like this, it wasn't as if Zhang Jiaxing could still just sit and watch! He had long since controlled his Cleric Woven Shadow to heal Successive Strike. Unfortunately, he was a bit late, because Happy's side also wasn't just sitting back and doing nothing. Besides Wu Chen's Dawn Rifle, Ye Xiu's Lord Grim was also harassing him non-stop. Zhang Jiaxing had already expended the cooldowns of all of his instantaneous skills. While his chanting skills were off cooldown, the problem was he couldn't find any opportunities to use them. He was constantly interrupted, as if he was dancing from excitement.

"Protect! Protect!"

Zhang Jiaxing also yelled out in the chat.

However, this reminder was just like Xiao Shiqin's earlier reminder to heal. How could Xiao Shiqin not know to shield the Cleric? Of course he knew, but he couldn't do anything. This was because they were currently faced with the existence of an uncontrollable factor ... Team Happy had more people.

Yes, more people. This advantage had been personally cultivated by Ye Xiu from the start, until it reached an utterly heartless degree. Zhang Jiaxing's heals weren't enough. Xiao Shiqin's cover fire wasn't enough. And these two definitely weren't any ordinary players! Zhang Jiaxing was the main healer of Excellent Era, a powerhouse team, and Xiao Shiqin was an All-Star! He had just showed off his military might during the group arena, gracefully retreating off stage when he knew he was finished. Except now, when facing against all of Team Happy, these two seemed to be completely stuck.

But even in a situation like this, as long the two persevered, it wouldn't all be for nothing. Every so often one of Woven Shadow's skills would find an opening and heal a little. Furthermore, Shen Jian was still doing his best to struggle and break free. Although everyone was on edge, at least they still had hope. Yet Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing were constantly sending each other warnings in the team channel. The true use of the channel was seen here.

With this kind of shouting, it could be seen that Excellent Era was truly in a dire position. Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei began accelerating without any regard for future consequences. For example, even a Dragon Breaks the Ranks was brought out and used as a movement skill. The broadcast switched to a close-up view of the map, showing the two characters moving at a breakneck pace. The audience could see that the time it would take for these two to reach the battlefield could be measured in seconds.

Missing just one final step?

At this moment, this sentence appeared in everyone's minds.*** If these two Battle Mages reached the battlefield in time, they could definitely reverse the situation. Team Happy's characters were really a bit disappointing; at a crucial moment like this, their damage output was really too low. If these characters could stand shoulder to shoulder with the ones from a powerhouse like Excellent Era, perhaps Shen Jian would have been killed already.

Beautiful tactics. Beautiful execution. But in the end, would they lose it all because of useless characters?

At this moment, the silhouettes of One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form could be seen on the horizon. Looking at Successive Strike's health and doing a few quick calculations, Xiao Shiqin quietly let out the breath he had been holding. At the same time, he felt ashamed. Just a while ago, when he was still in Team Thunderclap, he had lost many matches because of this kind disparity in character strength. Back then, he had often fantasized about having a powerhouse character within his grasp. But now, he finally achieved that dream, and he was instead relying on the brute force of the characters. It looked like Happy's beautiful display would soon be thwarted, but right now Xiao Shiqin felt disgusted. This kind of brute force was what he had admired for so long before. But now that he was truly winning only because of this, he couldn't feel any joy.

Happy's characters ...

As Xiao Shiqin wistfully looked at these characters, he was suddenly startled.

What's going on? How come there were only four characters on Happy's side?

Where's the Cleric? Where was Little Cold Hands?

In his haste to protect Woven Shadow and save Shen Jian's Successive Strike, Xiao Shiqin had neglected such a huge change! Now that he suddenly discovered it, his heartbeat quickened, and his mind quickly mapped out this entire region.

Not good!

Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher suddenly rushed forward like a melee character. This move caused Zhang Jiaxing to jump with fright.

Was this the beginning of a counterattack?

But Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei still hadn't reached the battlefield! And even if they had, as a Mechanic, there was no reason for him to jump to the front lines like this!

In the end, Zhang Jiaxing was also stupefied.

A shadow of a person flew into the attackers' encirclement. Yet this character originally shouldn't have appeared.

Steamed Bun Invasion!

Unexpectedly, it was Steamed Bun Invasion!

"When did he appear?" It wasn't just the harried and preoccupied Xiao Shiqin and Zhang Jiaxing who had failed to notice. Even the spectators, with their omniscient view, had been so focused on the fight that they hadn't paid attention to the fact that Happy had actually switched out a player.

At this moment, there was no time for a replay. Steamed Bun Invasion had suddenly joined joined the fight, immediately using Strangle. However, in a crucial moment like this, Happy had actually managed to complete a character substitution?

Cleric Little Cold Hands had withdrawn. Brawler Steamed Bun Invasion had joined the fight.

Happy no longer had the damage output of four characters. They now had five!

It was only after realizing this that Xiao Shiqin had recklessly charged forward. He knew that against the damage output of five characters, Successive Strike wouldn't be able to last until One Autumn Leaf and Combat Form arrived. He needed to charge in at this moment in order to disrupt the setup.

At this very moment, Happy didn't have a healer either. If they took this opportunity to focus their attacks on one character and managed to take out a lot of health, with the support incoming from Sun Xiang and Qiu Fei, perhaps they would be able to swap again.

Just as Xiao Shiqin made this decision, he saw the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella in Lord Grim hand shake ...

Tears streamed down Xiao Shiqin's face ... In his moment of desperation, he had once again forgotten this unspecialized character. An unspecialized's healing capabilities were still weak, but ... no matter how small a mosquito was, it was still flesh. On a professional stage, even a tiny bit could mean the difference between victory and defeat. With him here to heal the team, Happy could likely sustain until they found the chance to switch their healer back in. After all, this position was quite close to a support zone. It was only after Xiao Shiqin become conscious of their current position, after he mapped out the area in his head just now, that he finally realized Happy's intent. However, his realization had arrived a bit late.

Steamed Bun Invasion had joined the fight, and Team Happy's damage output had immediately increased by a level. Every time Xiao Shiqin's Life Extinguisher rushed over, he was blocked by Lord Grim. His ultimate decision to do everything he could to disrupt the situation had also fallen to pieces.

It wasn't possible for Ye Xiu to kill him in an instant, but blocking him and obstructing his disturbance wasn't a problem.

Boom!

Another round of explosions occurred. Shen Jian's Striker finally fell.

After an unbearably bad performance during the group arena, Shen Jian became the first to fall during the team competition. But from a fair point of view, this time, it wasn't really his fault. Facing this kind of trap, any player would find it hard to cope. It was regretful, but competition was just this cruel sometimes. This kind of situation had happened to him, ending his performance in this match here. He hadn't made any eye-catching plays and was even the first to be killed. As far as those who hadn't bothered to ask about the sequence of events were concerned, this was basically the worst performance of the match.

However, up until now, had anyone really performed poorly during this team competition? No, everyone had worked hard to bring out their individual skills, but in a fight, there would always be a winner and a loser. Shen Jian very much regretted being the first one out. He could definitely be called the most unlucky player tonight. WIth this being the most important match of the season for Excellent Era, his performance was really too terrible. Shen Jian sat paralyzed in his seat, as if he could see himself returning to the time when he had been a substitute player.



Translator's Thoughts
Nomyummi Nomyummi
TL Note: **The first idiom used, 锦上添花, means to add flowers to embroidery, or to decorate something that is already perfect. The second idiom, 雪中送炭, means to send charcoal in snowy weather, or to provide help in a time of great need.

***The phrase mentioned here is actually a chenyu, 功亏一篑. Literally translated, it means that in the process of piling up many hills (usually nine) of dirt, one bucket is missed. Basically it means to almost finish something, but end up missing by just a tiny bit, the last step. --Veriquity