1419 Every Means Possible

Yu Wenzhou's hands weren't fast, but his mind was extremely so. In an instant, he analyzed many situations with great clarity.

Like Wei Chen, he couldn't be more familiar with the Warlock class. There wasn't much match data on Windward Formation, so reports on this character weren't incredibly comprehensive, but things like cast speed and cast range could be judged just from one a single match. After that, even if the character improved, these stats would only increase, not decrease.

According to all these known reports, Yu Wenzhou now made an instantaneous judgment: he was too late.

He even went a step further and recognized that this was a playstyle specifically meant to counter himself and Swoksaar. If another Warlock player had been standing here, Wei Chen might not have succeeded this time. But it was him, and it was Swoksaar.

The player's traits, the character's stats, they had all been thoroughly studied. These few moments had been tailored to deal with Yu Wenzhou and Swoksaar. Nothing had been wasted, and just like this, the powerful attack Death's Door was cast.

How would the situation change after nine seconds?

Yu Wenzhou had wondered this question earlier.

Now he knew, they didn't need to wait nine seconds. Right now, with this Death's Door, he was about to fall into a fairly disastrous position.

Far away, Windward Formation now finished casting, and curse energy gathered around his Death's Hand. Behind the flashing light, Yu Wenzhou could see Windward Formation's face.

This was exactly the face in his memories: still young, their first captain, Wei Chen. The Wei Chen of today, already over thirty years old, now had more than a few lines on his face from the passing years.

Yu Wenzhou watched silently, unmoving, looking as though he had given up.

Wei Chen jolted, but he had already finished summoning Death's Door. Tendrils of darkness shot out from within the door, immediately wrapping around Swoksaar, but even now, Yu Wenzhou didn't make any movements.

Correct. None at all.

The darkness caught Swoksaar, dragging him inside the Death's Door, but Swoksaar didn't resist this process at all.

And after that, the attack of Death's Door on Swoksaar ended.

"Fuck!" Wei Chen couldn't help but curse.

This was Yu Wenzhou's calm, his ability to clearly anticipate all that would happen. He understood that his own hand speed wasn't enough to deal with the Death's Door and Wei Chen standing intently next to it. So, he didn't try to circle around, simply allowing this powerful attack to land. He traded 15% of his health to end Wei Chen's offensive.

Yes, it ended.

Wei Chen boasted of how well he understood Yu Wenzhou's style, but he didn't anticipate that this steady player would actually use this kind of sacrificial strategy. None of the follow-up attacks that he'd prepared were fit to deal with this kind of situation. Death's Door was successfully cast, but it ended too quickly, leaving Wei Chen grasping for a next move.

oul Slice!

Wei Chen could only use an instant-cast skill on instinct to try and continue his offensive. But the fact that Death's Door vanished so quickly made his heart feel empty.

Soul Slice, was it?

Yu Wenzhou was watching Windward Formation's movement, and he easily dodged this attack. He knew that Wei Chen was surprised at this moment, because he had purposely created this surprise.

He saw how well Wei Chen understood himself and Swoksaar, so in this kind of situation, any judgment and decision based on his style would definitely be within the opponent's calculations. At a time like this, he had to take a path that he normally wouldn't.

And so, Yu Wenzhou did this. He took an unusual action to instantly break the judgments that Wei Chen had made based on his deep understanding. 

Even the highest-level experts might not have been able to notice this battle of wits.

Only Yu Wenzhou himself could deeply feel the familiarity that Wei Chen had toward himself and Swoksaar. That Death's Door just now had truly forced him into a position where he had no other option.

But even though he managed to do something outside of Wei Chen's predictions, he had still ultimately been unable to escape from this Death's Door, and Swoksaar did take 15% in damage. This Death's Door had pushed him to desperation, even if he'd used a surprising move to swiftly climb out of this desperation.

He'd disrupted Wei Chen's rhythm. But what next?

Looking at this opponent that completely understood him, Yu Wenzhou felt a great pressure upon him.

Flaming Arrow?

Yu Wenzhou saw Windward Formation begin to use this skill.

This was another low-level Warlock skill. Even though it required a cast, for these high-end professional characters, the cast time was practically instantaneous. Windward Formation's staff gave a slight wave, and this Flaming Arrow already formed. Black smoke burned into the shape of an arrow, and with a shake of Windward Formation's staff, the arrow flew forward.

But, wasn't this distance still a bit too far?

It wasn't difficult for Yu Wenzhou to dodge. The range of the magic attacks from Elementalists or Warlocks was always be inferior to the range of a bullet. Magic attacks with only this much range weren't suppressive enough at the pro level. 

But after waving out this skill, Wei Chen didn't pay any more attention to Yu Wenzhou and Swoksaar. Windward Formation suddenly turned, and Death's Hand pointed toward Flowing Cloud.

Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud had already escaped from the Hexagram Prison, and he immediately came charging toward Windward Formation.

He didn't expect that Windward Formation would suddenly turn to face him.

Death's Hand swirled with the light of a curse.

Lu Hanwen frantically controlled his Flowing Cloud to dodge to the side, but that black light flew right toward the direction toward which he had tried to dodge.

But Lu Hanwen was good. Even though he was walking straight into the attack, his reaction speed and control were top-tier. Flowing Cloud ducked to the side once again, and that mass of black light hit only air.

Wei Chen was helpless.

Dealing with this youngster was entirely different from dealing with Yu Wenzhou. Right now, he regretted that Death's Door had already ended, because if Yu Wenzhou had prolonged its duration, then it would have served as a threat toward Lu Hanwen's Flowing Cloud as well.

Yu Wenzhou bold choice had completely disrupted Wei Chen's original plan. 1v2, control Lu Hanwen for nine seconds, and then force Yu Wenzhou to suffer a powerful attack. To be honest, this was already an impressive performance. Most other players, if put in this position, probably would not have been able to play a more beautiful nine seconds.

But he wasn't satisfied.

His original plan wasn't just nine seconds.

"Hanwen, go over there." Seeing that Lu Hanwen had escaped, he immediately sent this message in the chat.

The showdown between the old and new generation of Warlocks, this was a topic that the audience greatly enjoyed seeing, but the players weren't obliged to cooperate. They were playing a match, not putting on a show. Yu Wenzhou directly sending Lu Hanwen away right now certainly wasn't to cooperate with the hot topic. He simply did this because it seemed that Wei Chen's plan had been to stall both of them by himself. Even though Yu Wenzhou still didn't know what his end goal was, but preventing this from happening would at least hinder Happy's plans.

Huang Shaotian's side was relying on their healer to put pressure on Happy, and they needed a powerful attacker. Lu Hanwen fit this responsibility better than Yu Wenzhou. So, he had Lu Hanwen go and help them. His faceoff with Wei Chen was therefore only a typical, logical, strategic decision.

Wei Chen, of course, couldn't accept this.

"Little brat where are you running!" Seeing that Flowing Cloud wanted to escape, Wei Chen refused to give up.

But he could only yell. Yu Wenzhou, of course, was covering Lu Hanwen's retreat. Yu Wenzhou used a Flaming Arrow, returning the skill that Wei Chen had just tried to use against him.

Wei Chen wanted to stop Flowing Cloud from leaving, but he wasn't going to have Windward Formation go and brawl it out! Of course, he would be relying on casting spells. But Swoksaar's Flaming Arrow flew over, preventing Windward Formation from casting.

But Windward Formation actually began to rush forward, and as he dodged this Flaming Arrow, he swung his hand and tossed out an object.

Puff!

Purple smoke filled the air.

After the Shadow Clone Technique, Windward Formation demonstrated yet another low-level Ninja skill - Ninja Tool: Smoke Bomb.

The silhouettes of Windward Formation and Flowing Cloud were swiftly swallowed by the smoke. Lu Hanwen's reaction was intelligent, with swordlight illuminating the smoke. Even as he protected himself, it allowed Flowing Cloud to continue to advance.

Chaotic Rain!

Yu Wenzhou also controlled Swoksaar to begin a high-level cast. He couldn't lock onto Windward Formation's position right now, but if Windward Formation didn't come to stop him and insisted on casting a curse on Flowing Cloud, then he wouldn't have time to jump out of range of a Chaotic Rain.

In the smoke, Flowing Cloud's greatsword swung every which way, seeming invincible.

Puff!

Amidst the fog, drops of blood scattered. Finally, it seemed that Windward Formation was hit. But quickly after, with a "pa" sound, the swordlight stilled. It was still present, but it was no longer moving forward.

This was… Spike Trap?

Even though Yu Wenzhou hadn't seen it, he could make a good guess.

Wei Chen had suffered a slash, but he managed to have Windward Formation use the Thief skill Spike Trap and halt Flowing Cloud's offense.

But by this time, the Chaotic Rain was already pattering down. It didn't look like Windward Formation, who had just suffered a slashing attack, had time to escape from the smoke.

"Wei Chen is really working hard!!" Pan Lin exclaimed, feeling moved and saddened.

Wei Chen wasn't playing a pretty match. He seemed desperate as he did everything possible to contain Flowing Cloud.

Running circles around the boulder. Sent rolling to the side with a slash. And now he barely stole the chance to place this Spike Trap, under the cover of a Smoke Bomb, still hurting from a sword injury.

Wei Chen wasn't fighting an easy battle. Everyone could see how he was struggling to maintain the situation.

In a direct battle against Lu Hanwen, he would almost certainly lose, but by using these endless little tricks, he worked hard to try and stall both Lu Hanwen and Yu Wenzhou here.

But his hard work would come to an end with the fall of this Chaotic Rain.

Flowing Cloud was still stuck, but Yu Wenzhou was already prepared to have Swoksaar come over to maintain control of Windward Formation.

He had Swoksaar to move forward. But then, Swoksaar rolled to the left.

"What is Yu Wenzhou doing?" Everyone was stunned. This roll seemed to be completely pointless. Had he noticed some unrecognized danger? Even the audience, with their omniscient view, hadn't seen anything.

But Yu Wenzhou's reaction was faster and more accurate than the audience members with omniscient view.

Confused?

Yu Wenzhou looked at Swoksaar's status in shock.

A moment later, he already realized what had happened.

Magic Mirror. It was Magic Mirror.

The Warlock skill Magic Mirror reflected all side effects of a magic attack. Amidst the smoke, not only had Windward Formation laid down a Spike Trap for Flowing Cloud, he had also hidden a Magic Mirror, waiting for Swoksaar's Chaotic Rain to fall upon it.