The King's Avatar

In recent years, Jiang Botao’s placings in the All-Star rankings were quite high. Everyone felt like he was an amazing player, but whenever people were asked to say what specifically was amazing about him, nine times out of ten, they wouldn’t be able to answer back. They had that feeling in their heart, but they didn’t know how to describe it in words.

Even Team Samsara themselves couldn’t seem to find the right words to describe their vice-captain. In the end, his fame seemed to simply be because he was the vice-captain of a championship team.

And now, Ye Xiu had given him high praise: terrifying!

A calm terror!

Chen Guo couldn’t immediately understand what Ye Xiu meant by that. She really wanted to drag Ye Xiu over and explain it more clearly, but right now, Mo Fan’s situation was more concerning.

A calm terror… it wasn’t important that she understood it. What was more important was whether Mo Fan could.

A 27 hit combo!

This was the number on the combo counter. It was extremely eye-catching. Even a close-ranged class would have difficulty pulling off this long of a combo. Spellblades had it somewhat easier to get a high-hit combo since their wave swords counted for several hits, but a 27 hit combo in one breath wasn’t easy at all.

Spellblades were Swordsman, but unlike Blade Masters and Berserkers, their strikes didn’t feel like strikes. For those classes, combos were an important metric to measure a player’s skill. On the other hand, Spellblades were more similar to Mage classes like Elementalists and Witches. Although they could also combo, no one measured an Elementalist’s skill based off how long their combos were. It would almost be forcing the Elementalist into doing something they shouldn’t be doing.

As a result, if these types of Mage classes ever put out long combos, it was mainly a sign that they were crushing a noob. However, this was the Glory championship finals, a battle between the very best players. No matter how new or how much of an underdog Happy was, to reach this step, it was impossible for them to be noobs.

There were no noobs in the finals. Mo Fan may be a rookie, but he was undoubtedly a troublesome opponent. Even so, Jiang Botao was able to get his Spellblade to perform such a long combo against this sort of opponent on the finals stage!

This obviously wasn’t him crushing a noob. It was an unprecedented display of brilliance. When the combo reached 30, the crowd went wild. After Zhou Zekai lost to Ye Xiu, Samsara’s fans seemed to be unable to accept it and became dispirited. But starting from that Nebula Wave Sword, their spirits reignited. With each hit, their spirits rose to new heights. When the combo counter hit 30, a Spellblade performing a 30-hit combo, their blood was boiling!

Cheers, applause, the entire stadium was filled with shouts of Jiang Botao’s name. The silence had finally been broken, and the one who did it was Jiang Botao, Samsara’s vice-captain.

The crowd suddenly started to sing. No one knew who started it, but the person wasn’t able to get the whole crowd going. It didn’t seem like many people knew the song. Even the fans singing it weren’t in unison. It was a mess of noise, and the song lyrics were unclear. Their unfamiliarity with the song leaked in every way it could. Even so, they continued to sing and sing. Suddenly, a powerful and united chant began to reverberate in everyone’s ears as if the entire song had been a build up for this chorus.

When you’re in joy, that’s when he strikes.

When you’re in joy, that’s when he strikes.

…

Those who couldn’t sing, those who didn’t know the lyrics, when this phrase came, the entire stadium seemed to echo with this chant, again and again.

This was the song of Samsara’s vice captain. Even the fans weren’t familiar with it. When they sang it, not many fans knew it. In fact, very very few fans knew it. This was because their team had Zhou Zekai, and all the flashy stuff was done by him. Numerous songs had been composed for Zhou Zekai, but the fans hadn’t forgotten about their vice-captain. Even though he wasn’t a flashy player, just like their song said: when the opponent’s feeling happy, their vice-captain strikes. They would always remember this point clearly.

Like today.

Their Zhou Zekai had unexpectedly lost. The fans didn’t care what exactly their opponents were feeling, but in any case, they believed that their opponents would definitely be in glee seeing Zhou Zekai’s defeat.

The crowd had become depressed a result. But at this moment, their vice-captain stood up, executing a rarely-seen high-hit combo from a Spellblade, awakening the crowd and burning down their opponent’s delight.

Their vice-captain didn’t disappoint them. They had been so downtrodden that they had forgotten to put their hopes onto him, yet he still stood up and gave them the support they needed.

It was because he was always so reliable in these crucial moments that Jiang Botao became so popular. Placing high on the All-Star rankings wasn’t that easy. It showed that he truly had support from a huge number of fans.

“You can do it!”

“You have to win!”

“We are the champions!”

The chant ended, and the cheering began again. Samsara’s home crowd had recovered, and the Happy fans in the away team seats were once again surrounded in enemy territory.

Mo Fan wouldn’t know about any of this. Even if he knew, he probably wouldn’t have any reaction. He definitely wasn’t the “you” in the song, he hadn’t been in joy.

30 hits!

Mo Fan hadn’t been able to escape. He had tried to search for openings, but his opponent would always patch those immediately. Mo Fan could faintly feel something. But even though a 30-hit combo sounded long, in reality, it was only a matter of seconds. He didn’t have time to think carefully about what that feeling was. Suddenly, the attacks stopped.

Spellblade skills were strong, but also had relatively long cooldowns. After this combo, an opening soon appeared because he didn’t have any suitable skills to continue it.

Dodge?

Charge?

These two thoughts flashed through Mo Fan’s mind.

Charge!

Empty Waves was in front of him, four and a half steps away. For a Ninja, this distance was negligible. Running and then re-establishing an offense might not get him this sort of opportunity.

Deception rushed out, forming hand seals.

Ninjutsu – Ground Shrinking Technique!

Four and a half steps became two steps. Deception had closed in onto Empty Waves. However, all he saw was the cold light from Empty Waves’ Divine Chains. It wasn’t magic, but a sharp sword light.

Moonlight Slash!

With a flash of light, Deception was launched into the air. Naturally, the second part of the “Dual Moon Slash” followed, Full Moonlight Slash.

Full Moonlight Slash’s Blow-Away effect pushed Deception away, giving Empty Waves space to swing his sword again.

Wave Wheel Slasher!

The waves of magic locked Deception into place…

That four and a half steps of distance hadn’t been an opportunity, it had been bait. His set-up hadn’t worked on Ye Xiu, but he didn’t lose confidence in himself. Facing Mo Fan, he calmly made these arrangements. His utilization of Mo Fan’s strengths and weaknesses became the core of his set-up. Mo Fan seemed to have stepped into a quagmire. The more he moved, the deeper he fell.

Earth Wave Sword!

Empty Waves slashed again with his sword, sending an Earth Wave Sword at Deception. Peng! Purple smoke suddenly spread out, engulfing Deception and the Earth Wave Sword.

Ninjutsu – Smoke Bomb!

Jiang Botao reacted quickly. His Earth Wave Sword had missed. He couldn’t see where Mo Fan was, and he didn’t know whether Mo Fan would run or attack him. As a result, he had Empty Waves retreat. First, open up some distance between them. Then, he saw a figure dart out from the purple smoke from where the Earth Wave Sword had swept towards.

Shadow Clone Technique?

Deception had been in the air when he threw out the Earth Wave Sword. To dodge the attack, he could have only used a skill.

Ghost Slash!

Jiang Botao had been ready. He swung his Divine Chains, using a Ghost Slash straight towards Deception, sending him flying. But then, one, two, three…

Deception after Deception rushed out from the purple smoke, while the sword light from his Ghost Slash was still moving.

It wasn’t Shadow Clone Technique. It was Shadow Dance!

Jiang Botao couldn’t help but be surprised. He knew that there was an opening before the Earth Wave Sword would arrive when Wave Wheel Slasher ended. If Mo Fan took advantage of the opening well enough, he could dodge it. But Mo Fan had actually been able to use Shadow Dance during this tiny opening.

Ninja hand seals could be considered as a cast time. It was just that the cast time depended on the player’s hand speed. Using Shadow Dance with such a tiny opening was truly brave, yet to actually succeed showed how frightening his hand speed was.

What was more amazing was that… Shadow Dance succeeded, but he didn’t hurry to attack. He first sent out a bait to lure him into attacking. Then, while he was still in the attack’s ending lag, he attacked.

Wasn’t this what he had just been doing to Mo Fan? This punk… a tooth for a tooth so fast?

For a moment, Empty Waves was surrounded by shadow clones. For a Spellblade, it wasn’t easy to deal with attacks from all sides. Empty Waves swung his sword, using normal attacks to parry and block what attacks he could. An opening! He raised his sword, Waltzing Wave Sword!

This Waltzing Wave Sword’s arc was extremely large. As soon as it came out, it started to curve, dispersing the Deception shadow clone to his side. It didn’t stop there, continuing its arc towards the next one!

Jiang Botao’s Waltzing Wave Sword was used adeptly. He had it go around him. After it hit a target, its power would decrease, but it would keep going, hitting target after target.

In an instant, the Waltzing Wave Sword went in a large arc, destroying three of Deception’s shadow clones. A huge hole was created in the encirclement. Empty Wave swung his sword again, a Fire Wave Sword opening a path as he rushed out!

But Mo Fan refused to let him go. He cancelled his Shadow Dance and intercepted Empty Waves, Ninjutsu – Exploding Flame Dragon!

Boom!

Two balls of fire erupted.

The Fire Wave Sword’s burst was extremely strong, sending Deception flying far away. But at the same time, Empty Waves was also hit full force by Deception’s attack.

Exploding Flame Dragon. A Level 75 Ninja skill. Even when matched against the Spellblade’s most powerful wave slash, its damage wouldn’t lose out.