Published at 2nd of August 2019 07:45:09 AM Chapter 1612: 1612
Sky Strike!
Dragon Tooth followed by Sky Strike, a plain and simple Battle Mage combo . Sun Xiang didn't do anything fancy after sealing shut Fang Rui's dirty methods . He used this ordinary but very effective combo to knock Boundless Sea into the air .
Seeing Boundless Sea launched tumbling into the air, Fang Rui's heart turned ice-cold .
Stamina…
He had indeed overlooked this aspect . His playstyle was quite staminheavy, but over his six years of pro play, stamina had never been an issue for him . If you had no mana, you couldn't do anything . If you had no health, you would be dead . If you had no stamina, you just had to wait a bit for it to recover .
It had always been this way .
So it couldn't be said that Fang Rui had been careless . He had never thought that stamina would ever be an issue . However, in today's match, he hadn't been paying attention, while his opponent had . The issue of stamina now limited what he could do .
Sun Xiang…
Fang Rui never had any rivalries with Sun Xiang . In Season 7, Sun Xiang had just been a rookie . In Season 8, he had joined Excellent Era midseason and then was relegated alongside them . In Season 9, he had been in the Challenger League . Sun Xiang had never been a player that Fang Rui had particularly cared about . To Fang Rui, Sun Xiang was just another player competing in the pro scene .
Up until this season . Fang Rui's professional career suddenly took a huge turn, and Sun Xiang brought One Autumn Leaf with him to Samsara . Because of the complicated relationship between Happy, Excellent Era, Ye Xiu, One Autumn Leaf, and so on, Sun Xiang became a rather special existence to Happy .
Apart from him, the rest of Happy had played in the Challenger League . At that time, Su Mucheng had been Happy's enemy as well, but her relationship with Sun Xiang had always been quite unpleasant . Fang Rui quickly got along with the team . As a result, there was no way he would have a good impression of Sun Xiang . What's more, the two had fought 1v1 in the regular season, and at that time, he had lost to Sun Xiang .
Their next encounter was today in the finals . Happy had lost the first game . If they lost the second game, their run would be over .
Fang Rui beat Du Ming, and he knew that his next opponent would be Sun Xiang . He didn't care who his opponent was . He would beat him . Happy still had a player left, but that didn't weaken his resolve . If he won, Happy would go into the team competition with a two point lead . As the away team, this two point lead would be very precious . Fang Rui had performed rather mediocre throughout the playoffs, and he really wanted to be useful to Happy . Starting from the previous round against Du Ming, he had been determined to win Happy this two point lead .
But right now, Sun Xiang was suppressing him, using such an ordinary combo to send Boundless Sea spinning into the air .
What am I doing?
Fang Rui was angry, not at Sun Xiang, but himself .
Stamina had never been a problem for him before, so he had never considered that it could ever be one . Fang Rui was furious at himself for being so careless .
But I haven't lost yet .
He may be out of stamina, but stamina recovered quickly . It didn't matter if he was taking damage . As long as he didn't do anything that required stamina, it would continue to recover .
Fang Rui stared closely at Boundless Sea's stamina bar .
His health was dropping, but he couldn't care about that right now . What he needed was stamina, only stamina!
His stamina was recovering bit by bit . Fang Rui felt like it was recovering at a snail's pace . In the past, he had never felt like he had to wait so long for his stamina to recover .
How much stamina do I need?
Fang Rui was calculating in his mind, when Boundless Sea suddenly dropped down .
He stopped the combo?
Everyone was astonished . One Autumn Leaf's comboing had been perfect . He could have easily continued it . Why did he suddenly stop?
A mistake? The people who thought that felt surprised because it would be a very low-level mistake .
Boundless Sea fell towards the ground . Out of reflex, Fang Rui did a Quick Recover, but just when he was about to act, he stopped himself .
So that's it!
Fang Rui instantly figured out what Sun Xiang's motive was . Sun Xiang had intentionally broke off his combo because he wanted to keep him at zero stamina . Juggling Boundless Sea in the air wouldn't be enough to kill him . During this time, Boundless Sea would recover stamina, which would let Fang Rui respond and counterattack .
As soon as Boundless Sea's stamina recovered just a little bit, Sun Xiang intentionally stopped his combo to give Fang Rui an opening to react and use up what little stamina he had .
Boundless Sea crashed to the ground .
Quick Recover?
Usually, that was the right call, but if Boundless Sea used Quick Recover to get up, One Autumn Leaf would certainly be ready for him . Fang Rui's usual methods required stamina, and he would quickly exhaust what stamina he had left . Once his stamina was gone, he would once again be in a passive state . Then, once his stamina recovered a bit, Sun Xiang would give out another opening, so he would use up his stamina . The cycle would just repeat endlessly until he died .
I can't let that happen . I have to recover enough stamina before I act, even if it means I take more damage!
Bang!
Fang Rui didn't Quick Recover, and Boundless Sea fell straight to the ground .
Sun Xiang immediately grasped Fang Rui's intentions . He couldn't force Fang Rui into action . If Fang Rui insisted on trading his health for stamina, then he could only oblige and deal as much damage to him as possible .
Tyrant's Destruction!
Evil Annihilation swept towards Boundless Sea .
The people who had figured out both side's goals thought that what came next would be a one-sided beatdown . The Happy fans couldn't help bear to watch .
But Evil Annihilation missed . Boundless Sea suddenly rolled, dodging the Tyrant's Destruction .
He was using what little stamina he had left? What is he thinking?
What is he thinking?
The people who thought they understood were now completely puzzled again .
If Fang Rui hadn't noticed Sun Xiang's goal, then he would have Quick Recovered before . If he had noticed, then he shouldn't be using his stamina, instead trading his health for it .
And where was he rolling to? What is he trying to do?
No one understood . Sun Xiang didn't either . He had already been ready to treat Boundless Sea like a wooden stump, a sandbag . He was planning on using everything he had to deal as much damage as possible within a short period of time . But Fang Rui unexpectedly moved . Boundless Sea rolled away to dodge One Autumn Leaf's Tyrant's Destruction .
What's the meaning of this?
Sun Xiang didn't understand either . But since Fang Rui made a move, he should force him to use up his stamina and pull him into a cycle of death .
Then…
Then what?
Sun Xiang suddenly blanked . He discovered a problem . After the Tyrant's Destruction, any other attack he made seemed awkward . It seemed as if no skill he chose would be able to perfectly accomplish his goal .
Sun Xiang figured it out . After seeing the ending lag from One Autumn Leaf using Tyrant's Destruction, the pro players also figured it out .
Fang Rui, that bastard was too dirty!
Everyone thought that his only choice was to trade his health for stamina . Sure, so he pretended like that was his plan . Boundless Sea crashed into the ground like a sandbag . However, this sandbag wasn't an obedient one . Sun Xiang was determined to give this sandbag a fierce beating, but when he attacked, the sandbag suddenly dodged .
When attacking a defenseless sandbag, what mattered was dealing as much damage as possible . There was no need for defense or for combos . But Fang Rui wasn't a defenseless sandbag, which meant that you needed to make adjustments depending on the situation . Attacking Fang Rui and attacking a sandbag were two entirely different things .
Fang Rui had Boundless Sea pretend to be a sandbag . For a second, he displayed his dirtiness . Sun Xiang saw that his target was a sandbag, but in the next instant, his target became a dirty Fang Rui . Attacking Fang Rui required a completely different mindset than attacking a sandbag . Sun Xiang needed to make the switch, but he wasn't ready for it . The fluidness of his offense instantly vanished .
Fang Rui was waiting for this moment, and it was more than enough for him to turn things around . Even if Boundless Sea didn't have enough stamina, what he needed to do next was to use attacks that didn't require stamina .
Spiral Qi Kill!
He had narrowly escaped from a crisis . Recover stamina? That wasn't the goal . Fang Rui only had one goal: to win! Whether he had stamina or not, he needed to win!