1615 High Ground

"High ground?"

"Obvious!"

The communication going on in Happy's chat was short and concise.

Su Mucheng had asked about the high ground. It was common knowledge that Launchers with the high ground could more easily provide support to the team. The height of the chimny was neither too high nor too low. It was the perfect height for a Launcher. If a Launcher player saw this high ground and didn't have any thoughts about it, then the player wasn't suited to be a Launcher.

But Ye Xiu quickly replied back with an "Obvious".  

The chimney was easy to notice. Samsara knew what Happy's team composition looked like. Samsara had also chosen this map, so how could not know what the chimney meant for Happy. Since they knew, why would they choose this map if it gave their opponent an advantage? It was unlikely. This obvious advantage was more likely to be bait.

"Closer," Fang Rui quickly typed.

He judged that they were closer to the chimney than Samsara was. Happy could take advantage of this fact. If Samsara had left the chimney there as bait, then they must have a method to deal with a Launcher holding the high ground. What was that method?

"Check," Ye Xiu ordered. Happy set out. Their destination was the high ground.

A total of five words had been said, but it was enough for them to get the message across. Even the average viewer could understand Happy's intentions from these five words: the high ground is bait, so don't rush over. Instead, check how Samsara plans on dealing with it and then search for an opening.

The team advanced. Ye Xiu's Lord Grim moved faster than the others, leaving the team behind. He planned on scouting ahead by himself.

Happy had the advantage in distance, and Ye Xiu had left the team to operate on his own. With Ye Xiu's experience, even if he wasn't too familiar with this map, he would likely find the key to this map soon. However, the viewers, who could see everything, saw Ye Xiu's movements and started lighting candles for him.

Because Samsara had also split up to get there as fast as possible. It wasn't just one person either, but three. 

Zhou Zekai, Cloud Piercer.

Sun Xiang, One Autumn Leaf.

Jiang Botao, Empty Waves.

The three characters were in a triangular formation. After setting out from their spawn point, the other two were left behind. Lu Boyuan's Chaotic Cloudy Mountain was left behind to protect Fang Minghua's Cleric, Laughing Song.

Happy didn't rush towards this obvious high point rashly. However, their caution approach was within Samsara's calculations. They had predicted that Happy would send someone to scout ahead, so they sent out their trio as a counter. Was Ye Xiu's Lord Grim going to be killed in one go, just like this?

The broadcast showed a bird's eye view of the map. Four blinking lights were quickly moving towards the chimney.

Ye Xiu was holding nothing back though, using whatever movement skills he had on him. As a result, even though Samsara had left their healer behind to rush over, their speed couldn't compare to Lord Grim's. Samsara had started off farther away too, so Ye Xiu would definitely arrive first. The question was how long he would stay around.

The blinking indicators grew nearer and nearer towards the storeroom with the chimney on top.

Selkie City Warehouse was composed of numerous large, medium, and small storerooms. This storeroom was a small one. It was no more than three meters tall. Even so, it wasn't a height that a character could make in a single jump. However, this height wasn't a problem for Ye Xiu. Rotor Wings and his umbrella's ninjato form could easily overcome three meters. Lord Grim had transformed his Myriad Manifestations Umbrella into its ninjato form. After two jumps, Lord Grim climbed onto the roof of the storeroom. The chimney was already in sight. It looked to be around 15 meters tall. Along with the storeroom's height itself, it was approaching 20 meters. It was indeed a very suitable location for a Launcher.

With a distance and movement speed advantage, it was impossible for Samsara to have arrived there before him. Lord Grim rushed straight for the chimney. Along the way, he looked around to check his surroundings.

Storerooms everywhere. Selkie City Warehouse consisted of storerooms of different sizes and heights. The storeroom to the left of him was a small one, about 7 meters tall. The storeroom to the right was connected to the one he was on, and was 5 meters tall as well.

7 meters on the left, 5 meters on the right. There were numerous places where the enemies could situate themselves to force the Launcher down.

That would have been the case in the past.

After the level cap raise to 75, Launchers had a new skill, Mounted Gun, which Su Mucheng had employed effectively in today's group arena. When this skill was activated, the Launcher wouldn't need to worry about knockback from attacks. During the duration of the skill, she would be able to provide even stronger support for Happy. Of course, it would also be at the sacrifice of her health. Whether or not the exchange was worth it depended on the situation. Ye Xiu didn't think that Samsara's method of dealing with the chimney would be so unreliable. It was true that Zhou Zekai would be the one dealing with this high ground, but banking everything on him would be too naive. Samsara hadn't won two championships through blind trust.

What else could there be?

In the blink of an eye, Lord Grim reached beneath the chimney, which had stairs that could be climbed. Ye Xiu had Lord Grim climb up to the top. When he looked around, he noticed that the view was indeed extremely good. If the two teams fought here and Su Mucheng was positioned on top of the chimney, she would have a very easy time helping the team. It might even be impossible for Zhou Zekai's Sharpshooter to obstruct her.  

If before, Ye Xiu had felt like it depended on the circumstances, then now, after getting an understanding of how effective this high ground was, Ye Xiu felt like having support from up here would improve Happy's chances of winning a fight enormously.

In that case, where was Samsara's confidence coming from? Was there some sort of dead angle, or could it be...

Ye Xiu looked down towards the bottom of the chimney.

The chimney was emitting any smoke, but if there was a way to get it operating, then the Launcher at the top of the chimney probably wouldn't be able to see through the dense smoke.

Was Samsara confident in their control over the high ground because of the chimney itself?

Lord Grim crouched and jumped down into the chimney. A height of 12 meters was enough to induce fall damage. However, Lord Grim's umbrella was still in its ninjato form. After dropping down for a bit, he swung his ninjato to safely land into a pile of garbage. He looked around. Then, his eyes lit up. He struggled out of the garbage and into the storeroom. He had come out from a huge furnace. Scattered all around the storeroom was a bunch of discarded junk. It seemed like this place was for burning trash.

Ye Xiu quickly found power switch. After pulling on it, the furnace began to burn, and the conveyor belt started up, sending trash into the furnace.

As expected.

Ye Xiu was certain now. Because the chimney was still operational, it couldn't be used as a high ground.

"There's smoke!"  

The efficiency of the furnace was astonishing. It had only just been turned on, but the chimney was already letting out smoke. Both teams noticed the smoke.  

"It turns out the chimney can be used," Pan Lin said.

"It's a good thing Ye Xiu found it ahead of time," Li Yibo said.

"The two sides haven't come across each other yet, but it looks like a battle of wits has already begun," Pan Lin said.

"But it looks like Samsara has thought farther ahead!" Li Yibo looked at the info he had and smiled.

"Oh?" Pan Lin asked. 

"Look at the entrance to this storeroom," Li Yibo reminded Pan Lin, while also reminding the audience.

The storeroom entrance. 

The broadcast gave a close up of the entrance. However, only a portion of the audience members could see it. The other portion couldn't rely on the screen to understand the peculiarities behind the entrance. This was because everyone was seated in different locations, so they saw it from different angles. The entrance to the storeroom was facing to the east, so the audience members on the east side saw it clearly, but the audience members on the west were at a loss. Fortunately, the projection technology in the stadium could change depending on the situation. Previously, the projection only showed the area surrounding Lord Grim, but now it extended to the entire storeroom, allowing everyone to see Lord Grim's movements inside the storeroom.

After being able to see the entrance clearly, the audience members quickly caught on to what Li Yibo meant.

This storeroom only had one entrance, facing to the east, which Samsara was coming from. If Lord Grim wanted to leave the storeroom, he only had one exit to choose from. But Samsara's trio was getting closer and closer to this entrance. They could stop Lord Grim from coming out. The smoke coming from the chimney was a signal to them to rush in.

But they didn't see Lord Grim.

After Ye Xiu looked around the storeroom, he had noticed that the entrance was facing east and immediately realized the problem. Thus, he didn't go towards the entrance and instead turned off the furnace.

Then, he tried to go into the furnace, but ended up losing health!

The furnace's temperature was too high, dealing damage to him. Going back the way he came through the chimney wouldn't work. 

There were piles of garbage scattered everywhere around him. Ye Xiu found a random one to hide in, while typing out: "Fight for the high ground!"