1154 Group Arena Decider

Applause! The instant Blossoming Chaos fell, there was no hesitation or shock. The crowd had been waiting for this moment. A rookie beating an All-Star? The crowd shouldn't be never expecting this sort of outcome, but this match was different. When Yu Feng retreated, Tang Rou pressed hard, beating up Blossoming Chaos into a sorry state. At that moment, the confidence in their hearts blazed. They started looking forward to what should have been impossible and readied themselves to cheer and applaud when it happened.

It truly did happen. Tang Rou beat Yu Feng. Soft Mist's spear pierced through Blossoming Chaos, taking away the last shred of his life.

Glory!

The symbol of victory flashed onto across the screen. The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers and applause. The rather unfortunate part was that this was the group arena. The winner needed to stay in the player booth and get ready for her next opponent. She couldn't come out and receive their her applause. The crowd didn't care about that though. Even if the main character wasn't there, the rest of Team Happy were there, no? Victory belonged to the individual and the team. This was Tang Rou's victory, but it was also a victory for Team Happy's.

When Yu Feng came out from the stageplayer booth, he looked calm, but his heart wasn't calm at all.  

An All-Star beaten by a rookie? This might become the headlines of the news. And he served as the contrast to the news, the target to be ridiculed.  

Yu Feng was unwilling!

If they played again, he was confident that he could beat Tang Rou. Unfortunately, there were no ifs in competition.  

Yu Feng walked down from the stage dimly and returned to his side's player bench. His teammates didn't know how to console him. Yu Feng was the spiritual pillar of the team. It was always him who comforteding everyone else. However, he had now encountered such a defeat. What should they say?

Yu Feng didn't wait for everyone to console him. After sitting down for a bit, he regained his calm. He knew that he could not panic right now. If he did, the entire team would slack because of the loss of their backbone.

He had lost, but his loss didn't represent Team Hundred Blossom's loss. There was still another player left for Team Hundred Blossoms.

"Xiaoping." Yu Feng called out.

Zhu Xiaoping was Team Hundred Blossom's third player for the group arena. He had joined the league in Season 6. After a year on the bench, he was promoted to the main roster in Season 7. He played a Summoner, a class that had never appeared before in All-Stars before.

With the captain calling for him, Zhu Xiaoping immediately went over. In terms of seniority in the team, Zhu Xiaoping had been ion the team longer than Yu Feng. However, he respected the newly transferred captain, and he had the quite the opinion ofn their former captain, Zhang Jiale.

Zhu Xiaoping had officially appeared on the competitive stage in Season 7, the year Team Hundred Blossoms made it to the finals. Even though they ended up losing to Team Tiny Herb, second place was still a great achievement. The team's morale rose, and many of them clenched their fists, ready to work even harder next year.

Zhu Xiaoping was among them. However, in the next season, Zhang Jiale suddenly announced his retirement, turning Team Hundred Blossoms into a complete mess. Their successor to Dazzling Hundred Blossoms, Zou Yuan, paced back and forth helplessly. Their astonishing new talent, Tang Hao, was unable to carry to the team because he was not the core. In the end, Team Hundred Blossoms failed to make it to even the playoffs. Everything had started with Zhang Jiale's sudden retirement. Zhu Xiaoping had originally been a youth filled with hope that season. Of course he would hold a grudge against Zhang Jiale.

It could be said that Zhu Xiaoping was a firm Zhang Jiale opposer. When Zhang Jiale announced his return, he had been hoping that Zhang Jiale would not return. Tyranny? Zhu Xiaoping sneered. In his eyes, he saw Zhang Jiale as a selfish person. The new Yu Feng seemed to be very responsible though. He took his duties very seriously. Even if their record wasn't that good when he had first arrived, he never felt disheartened or pushed the blame onto anyone else. Zhu Xiaoping appreciated this very much, so he had always firmly supported Yu Feng.  

"Captain." Zhu Xiaoping walked over.

"Be careful. This Tang Rou is better than we had expected. She's a model competitive player." Yu Feng said.

'But she only has half her health left." Zhu Xiapoing said. 

"She used her ½ health to take out my ⅘ health." Yu Feng said. He was implying that if she could take out ⅘ of his health with ½ her health, she could take out all of yours with what she had left. Of course, there was no need to say that out loud. Zhu Xiaoping understood what he meant.

"Got it. I'll be careful." Zhu Xiaoping wasn't displeased. Whether it was Yu Feng's professionalism or his skill, he held a high opinion of Yu Feng.

"Good luck." Yu Feng said.

"Thanks." Zhu Xiaoping nodded his head. Under the hopeful gazes of his teammates, he walked onto towards the stage.

Team Hundred Blossoms versus Team Happy, the group arena deciding match began. A half-health Soft Mist versus Zhu Xiaoping's full-health Summoner, Wind Carving.

Both were Mages. Neither of them hesitated when the match started.. They headed straight for the center and came across each other not long afterwards. At By this time, Zhu Xiaoping had already summoned several beasts.

Because of the limited number of skill points, Summoners could not level all of their summons to max. Which skills to level depended on each player's preferences. As a result, there were countless combinations with almost a new school of thought being created every so often. However, despite the numerous variations, they could not depart from the core design. Every new school of thought weren't solely based on a player's preferences, but also for logical reasons. 

Usually, there were one or two summons that as acted as the core and the other choices were constructed around this core. From this, it could be seen that summons were usually chosen to construct a team, so it was very complicated. A part of why there were no top Summoners in the league was because of the class. Whether it was tactics or play, this class was difficult to use. But for a new player, this class had its easy parts. When killing mobs, they just had to summon a bunch of monsters and then just sit there safely behind their summons while sipping tea. It sounded very simple.

A class that was easy to pick up, but difficult to master was quite popular. Zhu Xiaoping was had been one of these people. He liked this class and had studied this class hard. He hoped that one day he could lead his own summoned army to take the throne in Glory. He had worked hard for that day to come, every practice, every match….

Seeing Soft Mist charge at him, Zhu Xiaoping immediately had Wind Carving arrange his summons into a formation.

Zhu Xiaoping's Summoner style had been popular for a long time. It was the undying Undead Knight style. As the name implied, this style had an Undead Knight as the core. Undead Knights had high defense, high physical attack, and high health. Its huge body gave the user a sense of safety. Zhu Xiaoping's Undead Knight Style had built upon the foundations of the style along with his own individual addition to it. This addition was the usage of an Spirit Cat. Zhu Xiaoping was a pro player. His playstyle would naturally be imitated by others. As a result, the Undead Knight and Spirit Cat style was considered as the most optimal way of using the Undead Knight. All sorts of guides had appeared on the web.

However, pro players weren't pro players because they were always imitated, but because they were incapable of being surpassed.

The Spirit Cat Knight style wasn't just dependent on the Spirit Cat and Undead Knight. It also depended on the player's skill in controlling his or her summons.

At this moment, in front of Zhu Xiaoping were a large, dark armored Undead Knight and a slender snow-white cat as protection for the Summoner.

Come!

Zhu Xiaoping watched Soft Mist's movements carefully and had his Undead Knight fight her. His Undead Knight held a shield in one hand an extremely long spear in the other. He raised the spear and stabbed towards Soft Mist.

The staff in his hands waved again and again. Summon after summon appeared before him. The Spirit Cat Knight style was centered around the usage of these two summons. That didn't mean the Summoner diwouldn't have summon anything else. There were many summons that supported and attacked.

For example, Demon World Flowers!

This plant came from another world and practically no Summoners would want to give up on this summon. Even though it could not move, it was extremely powerful within its attack range. It could release poisonous pollen, use its roots to attack from underground, bind the target with its vines, and its flower petals could devour the target.

Demon World Flowers were never the core of a Summoner playstyle, but if there was a poll, the vast majority of people would consider the Demon World Flowers as the most annoying summon to deal with. As long as it was summoned brought out and the Summoner stood nearby, it would bring about a whole lot of trouble. Trying to wait out the Demon World Flowers' duration was impossible. All summons could stay on the field forever as long as they did not receive damage. The only saving grace was that only one flower could be summoned at a time.

Whenever Demon World Flowers were summoned, anyone would have to carefully consider whether to step into that area, especially when there were other summons rampaging there.  

However, Soft Mist didn't seem to notice this formation. Her footsteps didn't stop or slow down as she charged straight towards him.

"Sure enough, compared to our research on her, she's even more…" Zhu Xiaoping had trouble finding the right words to describe Tang Rou's actions. He was in the middle of his summoned legion, safely ordering his summons to surround Soft Mist.

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!!

Soft Mist released her skill.

"How impatient!" Zhu Xiaoping sighed. His Undead Knight went forward with his shield to block it.

No class dared to clash with Dragon Breaks the Ranks directly, but the Undead Knight had no fear. Perhaps because it was only a summoned creature that could be born again in a new world and could be replaced with a new Undead Knight soon afterwards...