“Yan, aren’t you going on stage yet?”
Tian Jiu tilted her head, asking Yan with a hint of curiosity.
“Well, it’s about time I made my appearance.”
Yan stretched, limbering up his body, and glanced at the situation displayed on the five arenas on the large screen.
An Dong, Qing Bai, and Lian each still occupied an arena, and Yan certainly didn’t want to fight against people he knew.
Thus, only a 40-yard arena and an 80-yard arena remained for Yan to choose from.
‘Heh, they even left the 80-yard map, which is most suitable for a Spearman, for me. Not bad at all,’ Yan thought with a wry smile.
“Don’t bully others too much, now.”
Alice reminded him with a light chuckle.
“How could I possibly…”
Yan broke out in a sweat, pulling out his scoreboard, just about to select his teleport onto the arena.
It was at this moment that Yan’s peripheral vision caught sight of a familiar figure.
Xiao stood amidst the crowd not far away, offering Yan a slight smile as he held up his scoreboard.
‘I have a bad feeling about this…’
Yan’s back bristled, and blue light pulsed around him as he was instantly teleported to the 80-yard arena.
****
“Oh, not again…”
The previous occupant of this arena, a Greatsword user, exclaimed wearily upon seeing Yan leap onto the stage.
“One after another, I knew I shouldn’t have jumped in so early…”
He had already defeated three challengers before Yan; Yan was the fourth.
It seemed this fellow hadn’t realized how many matches he’d have to win if he jumped into an arena right from the start, so he had gotten onto the stage too early and was now suffering greatly from the continuous challenges.
“Pfft.”
Realizing this, Yan couldn’t help but chuckle, turning his gaze to the Greatsword Player before him.
“I’ll teach you a trick for now: when defending an arena and you still have energy, try to stall. If you can last the full ten minutes, you win, and it also reduces the number of challengers. After all, the event only lasts two hours, so if everyone stalls for ten minutes, at most only twelve people can fight.”
“Oh! Right! There’s that tactic!”
The Greatsword Player suddenly slapped his palm, speaking with a newfound understanding.
“Well, I suppose you probably won’t get to use this method.”
Yan said, taking the long spear from his back and executing a light spear flourish.
His right hand then gripped the spear shaft tightly, the cold glint of the spearhead aimed at the Greatsword Player forty yards away.
“Hahaha! Brother, you’re quite confident, but I wonder if it’s all just for show.”
The Greatsword Player laughed heartily, dragging his greatsword by his side, his brow furrowed as he looked at Yan.
“We’ll know if we try.”
Yan smiled faintly, launching the first attack.
“Rainbow Thrust!”
Wielding his long spear, Yan activated [Rainbow Thrust] towards his opponent, instantly closing a thirty-yard gap.
“Stab!”
Upon landing, Yan immediately interrupted his skill, canceling the skill’s recovery animation, and, extending his arm, he twisted his body and thrust the long spear forward.
“Sword Shield!”
Facing Yan’s overly fierce offensive, the Greatsword Player panicked slightly, hastily bringing his greatsword before him and activating the blocking skill, [Sword Shield].
[Sword Shield]: Grants immunity to crowd control skills from the front direction and reduces damage taken from the front by 20% for 2 seconds.
Unfortunately, this strike was merely a feint from Yan, a spear technique called “Stab,” a free attack with only basic attack damage.
“Piercing Flash!”
Before “Stab” could even connect with the Greatsword Player’s raised greatsword, Yan directly activated [Piercing Flash], teleporting behind the Greatsword Player. Immediately, the Greatsword Player’s unprotected back appeared in Yan’s vision.
“Oh no!”
The Greatsword Player cried out in alarm, but his [Sword Shield] lasted two seconds, and during that time, he could do nothing but move.
‘If this guy were another class, it might not have been so easy to win, but unfortunately, he’s a Greatsword Player,’ Yan thought helplessly, activating [Collapse Spear] to knock the Greatsword Player into the air, then chaining into a [Consecutive Stab] combo.
In the old server, Yan was one of the top Greatsword Players; he was among the few most familiar with the Greatsword class in this game.
The simplest way to deal with a Greatsword Player was to wait for them to release [Sword Shield], then reposition behind them to unleash a combo, which was exactly what Yan had planned to do.
However, he hadn’t expected his first “feint” to trick his opponent into using [Sword Shield] so quickly. He had initially intended to land a few more free attacks to further feign.
But his opponent was so easily startled, immediately deploying [Sword Shield], a very useful but also very flawed skill.
“Brother, during PK, try not to use [Sword Shield] if you can avoid it. Otherwise, with a two-second stun, anyone can chain a combo on you.”
Yan said this to him while simultaneously releasing [Wind Spear Wheel] to knock the Greatsword Player back, then casting [Consecutive Stab] again to chain damage.
“The biggest weakness of Greatsword Players in PK is their long stun duration, so once you miss a skill, you might as well declare defeat.”
He used [Lift Spear] to send the Greatsword Player flying high, then followed up with the second-tier skill [Thunderous Spear] to supplement the damage.
“I’ll teach you a move: in close-range PK, first use [Earthquake] to attack the ground. Enemies within twenty yards are immediately knocked airborne, then you just send them off with a full skill combo.”
Yan smiled, sweeping his long spear horizontally to lightly knock the Greatsword Player back, then immediately took a step forward, closing in on him.
“Go back and practice more.”
Yan said with a good-natured smile.
“Dragon Fang!”
The long spear in Yan’s hand spun upwards, knocking the enemy into the air while Yan himself repositioned twenty yards backward. This was a third-tier Spearman skill, offering crowd control, displacement, and decent damage, even if it meant knocking the enemy forward while moving himself backward.
Still, it was an essential skill for showing off combos.
Having repositioned twenty yards from the Greatsword Player, Yan swiftly turned, presenting his back to the airborne Greatsword Player.
“Over-the-Shoulder Spear!”
Yan leaped up abruptly, and the spearhead, which had been pointing directly forward, suddenly swept horizontally towards his left rear. Simultaneously, his right hand, gripping the spear shaft tightly, pushed the shaft forward with that momentum. His body shifted back to the Greatsword Player’s side, and the cold glint of the spearhead plunged into the Greatsword Player’s body.
Indeed, this game also featured the skill [Over-the-Shoulder Spear], a third-tier, high-damage skill, but it included a twenty-yard displacement, allowing Yan to quickly combo back to his opponent’s side after [Dragon Fang].
“Collapse Spear!”
Yan once again unleashed [Collapse Spear], which had finished its cooldown, knocking the Greatsword Player airborne again.
“Backstep.”
He once again distanced himself from the Greatsword Player, standing twenty yards away and brandishing his long spear.
“Spear Wheel Blade!”
This was one of the few ranged skills available to a Spearman; a white, circular light blade streaked towards the Greatsword Player.
Having launched the light blade, Yan quickly changed his hand movements, releasing the next skill before the light blade could even hit his opponent.
“Rainbow Thrust!”
Wielding his long spear, Yan instantly flashed before the Greatsword Player, thrusting the spear violently into his body. Almost simultaneously, the [Spear Wheel Blade] he had just released passed through Yan’s body and struck the Greatsword Player.
If there was any meaning to this back-and-forth skill displacement, Yan would surely declare with righteous indignation…
‘It looks cool, obviously.’
The Greatsword Player, pierced by the spearhead, gradually dissolved into points of light and vanished. Only then did Yan realize he had already defeated him.
“Winner: Yan”
“Even equipped with a [Weakening Spear], he couldn’t withstand my entire combo? I still had a few skills left…”
Yan sighed, thinking this to himself.
If the Greatsword Player knew what he was thinking, he would surely spit blood. This Greatsword Player had a considerable amount of health; if even he couldn’t endure it, probably few people could withstand that entire combo right now.
“Well, let’s wait for the next player.”
Yan performed a spear flourish, resting the long spear behind him, and stood silently, awaiting the next challenger to enter.
“Oh, so you can see what’s happening on other arenas even from here.”
Yan looked at the four screens above the arena and happened to catch a scene of Qing Bai defeating a challenger.
“Qing Bai actually won again, huh? She’s quite formidable.”
Coincidentally, Qing Bai’s gaze also fell upon the screen showing Yan in the sky above her arena. Their eyes met.
Yan smiled slightly, waving a greeting to her.
“Hmph.”
Although he couldn’t hear her voice from there, Yan could still imagine that adorable muffled grunt, as Qing Bai haughtily turned her face away, refusing to look at him.
‘Oh well, never mind.’
Yan smiled helplessly, then looked at the other arenas.
“Hmm, An Dong and Lian are still on winning streaks, too. Everyone’s pretty strong.”
Just then, a flash of blue light appeared forty yards in front of Yan.
“A new challenger, then.”
Yan performed a spear flourish, took down his long spear, and stared at the blue light.
“I hope it’s not a particularly troublesome opponent…”
Yan prayed as the blue light gradually faded, revealing a familiar figure.
“Hi, Yan, we meet again.”
Xiao stood there, giving Yan a mischievous smile.
“Hey, hey, it looks like you’re intentionally coming for me, doesn’t it…”
Yan frowned helplessly, muttering his complaints.
“Why did you choose my arena, huh? Doesn’t your conscience hurt when you attack someone you know?”
“Didn’t I say? I’ve been really looking forward to our duel, Yan.”
Xiao smiled sweetly, drawing the twin swords from her back.
“Let’s have a good spar, shall we, Yan?”
“Do I have the right to refuse…”
Yan gripped his long spear reluctantly.
“No.”
Xiao laughed, her pure white twin swords taking up a stance.
“Godspeed!”
“Godspeed!”