Chapter 354 – China VS USA (a.s.sa.s.sination)
The two resurrection points of the Eight-Trigram Array map were in the middle of the labyrinth. The three dead players of the US team chose the red resurrection point according to Winfrey's instructions.
At this time, the remaining berserker was surrounded by the Chinese team's five players.
Chu Yan had used Desperate Cage at the critical moment to control the berserker. Once the Lou Zhang brothers and Yu Pingsheng worked together to kill Winfrey, they turned towards the berserker.
At this time, the surrounding five blocks started to rotate clockwise again. The people in the water attribute area were moved to the fire attribute area and everyone received a 'bleeding' negative state in addition to 'deceleration.'
The berserker might have thick skin but she couldn't withstand the ma.s.sive blood loss that came with the map. In addition, Lou Wushuang, Zhang Shaohui and Yu Pingsheng had terrible attack power. Within 10 seconds, the berserker Madison helplessly fell to the ground.
The Chinese team directly won two heads to ensure the home court advantage. The US players in the five elements section were returned to the resurrection point and the Chinese audience let out excited tears.
Captain Lou's style was so straightforward and neat!
However, the Chinese team was facing another problem at this time. Everyone in the fire attribute area were affected by the 'bleeding' state and five layers quickly stacked up.
Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue's formation transmission happened to be on cooldown. They could go to the wood attribute area to purify the bleeding states but at that time, everyone would only have a hint of blood left.
Lou Wushuang calmly made a decision. "Directly die and choose the blue resurrection point!"
The group gave up the struggle and stayed where they were, collectively dying in the fire attribute area before resurrecting in the maze.
They were likely to encounter the attack of the US team if they slowly ran back to the resurrection point and it would be easy to be counter-killed by the US team in a residual blood state. Rather than giving heads to the other side, it was better to suicide using the map.
Deaths caused by the map negative states weren't counted in the number of kills. Lou Wushuang used this rule to have everyone suicide and return to the resurrection point. This was much faster!
The audience saw that when the five members of the US resurrected and gathered, the five Chinese players also gathered at the resurrection point.
Both sides were full of blood and the initial early two heads were gained by China.
The American team's paladin was lost in the maze for a long time and finally met up with his teammates. Winfrey helplessly asked him, "Do you remember the route?"
The paladin Barrett was as big as a cow. "This maze is too complicated and I only just figured out the route. Do we want to go out or go in?"
The eight trigram array part of the maze had five exits that corresponded to the surrounding five coloured area. The coloured areas weren't static and rotated clockwise every 30 seconds. If they went outside the maze, they couldn't determine which coloured area they would go into. It would be troublesome if they ran into the red bleeding area.
Winfrey a.n.a.lyzed the current situation and ordered, "Go to the middle of the maze. They must also be in the maze!"
The news that the five Chinese people had been killed had appeared in the middle of the screen. Winfrey judged that they were killed by the map's bleeding effect. The Chinese team wasn't stupid enough to be pitted by their own trap so this was obviously intentional. They collectively died and gathered at the resurrection point.
“Everybody stay close together. The paladin will go ahead and the berserker will be at the end. Be careful not to let the formation be broken!" Winfrey had her two defensive teammates open the road while protecting the middle outputs and healer.
The five members of the US team marched cautiously through the maze. At this point, the audience saw an image and started crying. The Lou Zhang brothers were invisibly trailing them.
After Lou Wushuang and Zhang Shaohui resurrected, they took a shortcut to the red resurrection point chosen by the US team. They saw the five people walking forward and weren't in a hurry. Lou Wushuang gave the 'follow' signal. Zhang Shaohui understood and hid behind the US team with his brother.
This way, Yu Pingsheng, Chy Yan and Zhu Qingyue knew the position of the US team thanks to the coordinates of their teammates on the mini-map. The trio quickly moved through the maze towards Lou Wushuang.
Lou Wushuang stared carefully at the maze route and suddenly ordered, "Be ready at the front fork. Captain Chu, open the transmission!"
He judged from the coordinates of the mini-map that the trio had entered the vicinity and they fork in front of them was very narrow. If the five members of the US team wanted to pa.s.s, they had to go through it one by one.
The paladin pa.s.sed through first, followed by the healer, the archer and the black magician. As the berserker in the rear was about to squeeze through the narrow intersection, Lou Wushuang suddenly broke out and hit Pain Blade!
The berserker was dizzy and Zhang Shaohui followed up with subsequent damage. The two people released their hand speed at the same time to cut the berserker's blood to less than 30%.
Winfrey saw her teammate had encountered a sneak attack and rushed back to add blood. She had just walked forward when the waiting Chu Yan cast the psychic skill, Time and s.p.a.ce Illusion!
The large transmission array moved Winfrey and the paladin Barrett directly to the other side of the fork!
The scene in front of her quickly changed and Winfrey was forcibly moved. She struggled to find her way back to the paladin and as a result, she saw news of the berserker's death on the screen…
The a.s.sa.s.sination ability of Lou Zhang was really first-cla.s.s. Even a thick-skinned berserker couldn't last for 15 seconds under the blades of the two brothers.
The Chinese team got three heads.
Winfrey was anxious at this time. If the Chinese team equalized the score to 2:2 and they entered the deciding game, the US team's advantage from the first two games would be gone!
"First kill the other side's berserker and then the psychic!" Winfrey calmly ordered. She and the paladin finally returned through the maze and joined the archer and black magician.
The paladin used Fighting Howl to pull Yu Pingsheng to him and the black magician closely followed with Fear Fea. The archer let out a series of skills to beat Yu Pingsheng's blood to 50% in one breath.
At this time, the waiting Zhu Qingyue suddenly read the formation Desperate Cage!
A transparent cage surrounded Yu Pingsheng, neutralizing all attacks aimed towards him.
The psychic's Desperate Cage was very flexible. If applied to the enemy, it would keep the enemy locked in place and unable to move. If applied to a teammate, the teammate wouldn't be able to move but the cage would act as a s.h.i.+eld to protect the teammate. This skill was no worse than the paladin's s.h.i.+eld!
The US team's plan to kill Yu Pingsheng instantly was ruined and Winfrey changed targets. "Kill the psychic!"
The paladin Barrett pulled Zhu Qingyue to the front and Xiao Zhu was attacked by the other side, falling to the ground in the blink of an eye.
The domestic audience immediately commented: [Xiao Zhu, don't cry!] [By saving the front row, the crybaby is a good aid!] [Touch the small crybaby's head!]
Zhu Qingyue wouldn't cry like he did in the past. He had grown into an excellent auxiliary and protected Yu Pingsheng at the crucial moment in consideration of the Chinese team's front line.
If Yu Pingsheng died, the rest of the Chinese team had weak defense and it was easy for the other paladin to control them. Zhu Qingyue saving Yu Pingsheng provided an excellent output environment for the Lou Zhang brothers.
At this time, the Lou Zhang brothers also turned the fork.
Chu Yan opened the psychic's array to control the archer and black magician while the Lou Zhang brothers broke out and attacked the weak archer. Meanwhile, Yu Pingsheng used Cut Through Thorns to interrupt Winfrey's healing.
The American team's archer quickly lost blood and the Lou Zhang brother's fierce offensive frightened Winfrey.
She took advantage of the gap between Yu Pingsheng's skills to open the instant skill Holy Light Surge to raise her teammate's blood while using Purification to remove their status.
The awakened black magician and archer joined together to kill Chu Yan and he died in the blink of an eye!
However, the existence of Yu Pingsheng was a great deal of trouble to the US. He carried the huge axe close to the healer and smashed a huge pit in the ground, causing Winfrey to have a headache.
There was a burly paladin in front of him and Yu Pingsheng didn't have the slightest bit of timidity. He directly rushed into the front row of the US team!
Winfrey's healing was broken and the Lou Zhang brothers quickly killed the archer.
Yu Pingsheng was slowly grinded to death by the negative states of the other side's black magician but Winfrey found that she had lost track of the Chinese team's Lou Zhang brothers.
In this wave of fighting, the US team harvested three heads and the Chinese team got two. On the surface, the US team recovered some of the gap but Winfrey was depressed.
The Lou Zhang brothers were evidently good at retreating. The moment Yu Pingsheng died, they entered Combat Stealth and hid. The US team had a paladin and a healer and it wasn't good to drag on the fight. Lou Wushuang's play was very calm.
At present, the head ratio was 5:3 and the Chinese team still had an advantage. The key depended on the next wave of team combat.
Lou Wushuang ordered, "Resurrect at the red point!"
He suddenly changed the choice of resurrection points. The American team's berserker and archer had resurrected at the red point and were just moving forward when the three Chinese players resurrected behind them.
The two US players were suddenly surrounded!
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Chapter 355 – China VS USA (Thrilling Moment)
The choice of resurrection point would generally be the same. In particular, the maze meant the US team was familiar with the red point route and Winfrey wouldn't change to the strange blue point.
Lou Wushuang grasped her psychology and changed the Chinese team's resurrection point.
In this way, Chu Yan, Zhu Qingyue and Yu Pingsheng resurrected in the same place as the US team's archer and berserker.
The support speed of the US team naturally wasn't as fast as the Chinese team. The Lou Zhang combination quickly arrived at the red point while Winfrey and her teammates moved in a circle through the maze.
Yu Pingsheng started with Mountain Chop to isolte the other berserker and then followed with World Without Justice and Cut Through Thorns to smash the archer.
The archer used Flying Feather Steps to try and escape. The elf's fast movement really allowed him to escape a certain distance. Unfortunately, he just turned the corner when he met the incoming Lou Wushuang and Zhang Shaohui.
There were strong enemies in front and pursuers in the rear. The archer of the US team couldn't run anywhere.
Lou Wushuang decisively used Fatal Blow to take away his head.
Winfrey saw the kill prompt on the screen and immediately stopped. She noticed that Lou Wushuang was playing with a time difference. Thanks to the advantage of being more familiar with the home map, the Chinese team could move in front of the US team and the US team reversing the game was almost impossible.
She thought this and made a bold decision. "Resurrect at the blue point and go to the outside!"
Rus.h.i.+ng to support her teammates was meaningless because Lou Wushuang and Zhang Shaohui were close enough to the resurrection point to restore their blood and blue. The US team's archer had died and their output wasn't enough. 4v5 was simply giving heads to them.
Transferring positions was also helpless.
However, her choice left the berserker surrounded by enemies.
The newly resurrected berserker was attacked by the five Chinese players and soon fell, causing the heads ratio to become 7:3!
In order to recover from such a gap, the US team had to win two group battles!
Winfrey firmly grasped her mouse, almost crus.h.i.+ng it.
Once they gathered at the blue resurrection point, she took everyone to the surrounding colourful area.
After such a long battle, she figured out the meaning of the status areas. Gold and brown were attack and defense bonuses, green was purification while blue and red were deceleration and bleeding.
As long as she cleverly used the map, there was a chance of turning over the situation.
Winfrey took a deep breath and spoke quickly on the voice channel, "The paladin will pull all of them into the red area with a group pull skill. The berserker is responsible for interrupting the psychic's array. Once the bleeding effect overlaps, the archer and black magician will take advantage of their residual blood and use the group attack skills to harvest heads!"
This approach was indeed worth a try. People killed by the map environment didn't count in the number of heads. After all, it was the game that killed the players. This didn't mean she couldn't take advantage of the map environment.
She would use the map environment to force the Chinese players into residual blood and then the US team would open the group attacks to take away the heads, giving them a chance of five kills!
***
Winfrey's idea was really beautiful. She took her teammates to the five elements area, gaining the gold attack buff and the brown defense buff before patiently waiting in the wood area.
The Chinese team didn't find them in the maze and reacted by chasing them outside.
The moment the Chinese team emerged, the paladin Barrett used the large group pull skill, Knight's Roar!
The golden lightly directly pulled Yu Pingsheng, Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue into the fire attribute area and the berserker Madison used the skill Cut Through Thorns to interrupt Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue's transmission.
The fire attribute's negative state stacked up rapidly. In the blink of an eye, Yu, Chu and Zhu gained five layers of bleeding. The two US players were also affected by the bleeding but Winfrey stood next to them and ensured their blood remained above 50%. Meanwhile, the Chinese team didn't have a healer and would be damaged by the blood loss.
Winfrey just regretted that the paladin's group pull didn't get all five Chinese players. The Lou Zhang combination were still missing, causing her to feel fear.
At this moment, Zhang Shaohui suddenly appeared!
He appeared behind Winfrey and used Pain Blade to make her dizzy. Lou Wushuang was affected by the bleeding but he used Chain Strangulation to hit the other side's paladin and berserker!
The US team's archer was very far from here and at almost the same time, he used the big move Death Arrow Rain!
The residual blood Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue were killed in seconds. Yu Pingsheng's skin was thicker and was left with 10% blood left. Before he died, he used Cut Through Thorns to hit the other paladin and berserker to residual blood.
Winfrey was distraught but as long as she cast a healing array, her two teammates wouldn't die.
The problem was that Zhang Shaohui's close presence kept interrupting her skills over and over again!
Now the fire attribute area because Lou Wushuang's unmatched stage.
He waved the cold dagger in his hand and used Back Stab, Fatal Blow, Chain Strangulation, Soul Stab, Death Strangulation…
His hand speed was extremely fast and he dealt extremely high damage.
He was also affected by the bleeding and his blood was falling non-stop, but he relied on the blood-sucking effect of his attacks to save his life. He took advantage of the time the healer was controlled to cripple the paladin and berserker!
At this time, the black magician in the distance used h.e.l.l Flames to kill the b.l.o.o.d.y Yu Pingsheng while Lou Wushuang only had 5% blood left. The black magician used Soul Curse to remove Lou Wushuang's head.
Winfrey was relieved and was ready to open a big move to return blood to her teammates when Zhang Shaohui suddenly leapt and used Chain Strangulation to kill the residual blood paladin and berserker. Then he used Combat Stealth to disappear!
Winfrey, "…"
In the end, she failed to save her teammates' lives.
This wave of group combat was carried out according to her vision but the result completely deviated from her expectations.
The US team ambushed the Chinese team in the red fire attribute area and used the negative effect of the map to harvest a wave of heads. The surprising thing was that the Lou Zhang brothers rushed into the fire area to kill two people from the US!
Lou Wushuang had five layers of bleeding but he relied on his hand speed to suck back blood to maintain his life. He forced the thick-skinned paladin and berserker to a barely living state and…
This terrible explosive force was worthy of being the best a.s.sa.s.sin of China!
His cooperation with his brother Zhang Shaohui was also quite tacit. Zhang Shaohui first interrupted the healer and the moment his brother died, he moved to successfully kill the two residual blood players.
After the fierce group battle, the US team killed four Chinese players and the ratio turned to 9:7.
Winfrey looked at the number of heads on the screen and suddenly got a bad feeling.
Lou Wushuang's mathematics was obviously very good. Killing the two US players created a good gap. The Chinese team had gained nine heads and could win if they got one more!
Lou Wushuang chose the blue resurrection point while the US team's paladin and berserker also chose the blue resurrection point.
Winfrey wanted to cry. Had this man studied psychology? Why could he guess what she was thinking every time? Last time they met at the red resurrection point and this time they met at the blue point?
The two resurrected US players wanted to rip apart their keyboard. It was 2v4 at the resurrection point and the result was obvious.
The paladin and berserker might be thick-skinned but they couldn't last long in front of the four Chinese players. The paladin opened Steel Battle Soul and Iron Will to free them of control and created a 10 seconds rebound s.h.i.+eld but they couldn't last until their teammates arrived.
The maze was too big to get to the resurrection point in 10 seconds.
The moment the 10 seconds s.h.i.+eld ended, Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue used the Strangulation formation!
This round formation rose like a rotating blade and caused wide range damage.
Yu Pingsheng closely followed with Splitting Bone Chop and Storm Strike at the other berserker.
Lou Wushuang aimed at the berserker's back and used Pain Blade and Death Strangulation.
The berserker Madison helplessly fell to the ground and the Chinese team took the lead in gaining 10 heads.
—Winner!
The word popped up on the big screen and the audience wanted to cry. The depression of losing two games was replaced with the excitement and joy of winning two games in a row. The great G.o.ds of the national team really didn't let the audience down!
Lou Wushuang's expression was still cold but Zhang Shaohui suddenly got up and hugged him tightly.
"Brother, we won! We won!" Zhang Shaohui's voice was slightly choked up while Chu Yan and Zhu Qingyue glanced at each other with slightly sour noses.
Yes, they won! They stabilized the crucial fourth game.
Lou Wushuang gently patted his brother's shoulder and calmly told him, "You played very well."
In the last wave of group combat, Lou Wushuang had taken a great risk. If Zhang Shaohui couldn't control the healer then the Chinese team might've been the ones to lose.
It turned out that his younger brother was excellent at a critical moment.
The moment Lou Wushuang died, Zhang Shaohui teleported and killed the two US players. Lou Wushuang couldn't help slightly smiling.
The seemingly cool Lou Wushuang sometimes made risky tactical arrangements when playing but Zhang Shaohui supported his decision every time. It was due to his younger brother's unconditional support that the Ghost Spirits team could reach today's state.
In the fourth game, the map factors naturally had the largest impact. However, the US team's ability to interpret the map wasn't weak. Winfrey had clearly gained the knack of the Eight-Trigram Array map and cleverly used it for a counterattack…
In the end, the Chinese team still won the game.
They relied on Lou Wushuang's calm mind, decisive command and everyone's trust and understanding of each other.
They steadied the situation and took the fourth game.
In a situation where the US team won the first two games, the Chinese team actually took two games in a row and adjusted the score to 2:2.
The faces of the reporters who mocked the Chinese team were swollen and the cheering American audience members had ugly expressions.
In the rest area, Li Cangyu finally smiled as he glanced over at Ling Xuefeng. "It was a good risk."
Ling Xuefeng gently patted his shoulder. "We finally won."
Everyone's hearts were in their throats but the final result let them put down their worries.
Lou Wushuang really didn't let everyone down.
It was dangerous but they got through the daunting experience without mishap.
The Chinese team tried their best to win two games and finally reached the last battle of the World Compet.i.tion's finals!
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