FOG [e-sports]

Chapter 131

The entire tournament management team always paid special attention to World Championship newcomers.

For Free’s three champion genius players, in the year that they first entered the World Championships not only did they win the overall honor as champion but they also broke some records and painted their own special colors on the World Championships with their own excellence.

For example, Whisper, when he entered the World Championships for the first time, he broke the record for the youngest player to become champion. He won three single-round MVPs during the finals that year. He was the youngest champion ever in the World Championships and he became the medic with the most MVP titles. He was hailed by the tournament management team as the player who performed the most magnificently and stunningly in their first World Championship appearance.

For another, Chen Huo, who also won the World Championship during his first year. The tournament management team officially hailed him as the most reckless player. He was always ready to stake everything. Even if he made mistakes, he would never cower in battle. The more chaotic the situation on the field, the better he performed.

For another, Puppy, who also won the World Championship during his first year. He was officially hailed as the most stable player of the year by the tournament management team. He was quite young at the time, but his play was exceptionally calm and mature, not at all impulsive or impatient.

Another example was Shi Luo this year.

Although the World Championship was just halfway through, Evil was recognized by the tournament management team as the most lunatic newcomer.

None of the data analysts in the management team paid any attention to Shi Luo’s grievances with Sacred Sword, nor did they have time to watch Shi Luo’s various post-match interviews. It was only from the data that they got the feeling that this newcomer was too greedy and tyrannical; his hungry predation of MVP titles in the group stage and the fact that he had the longest recorded personal training time before the quarterfinals (all the players’ in-game time was included in the official statistics). They deeply felt the ambition and madness of this newcomer.

The officials only thought that Evil, being a young player from a prestigious e-sports team, was ambitious and proud, eager to prove himself in his first World Championships.

Only a few insiders within the Free Club knew that from the very beginning, Shi Luo hadn’t actually been considering those things.

What Shi Shen wanted was not a beautiful victory for himself. What he wanted was to make his opponent’s loss as embarrassing as it could go.

And Shi Luo’s ability was indeed more than enough to see this ambition to fruition.

Shi Luo pushed and shoved his way through all the way to the quarterfinals. He played beautifully, his performance eye-catching and showy. His three champion teammates around him couldn’t hide his brilliance, as if he was born for the competition.

The countdown for the second round for the quarterfinals best of five started.

Shi Luo stared at the countdown on the map and suddenly said on the team’s voice chat, “You guys think...they’re panicking?”

The other three laughed out loud.

“Believe me.” Chen Huo moved his fingers, “Anyone who encountered our crazy style of play would panic.”

“Yu Sui and I might be lunatics but you two aren’t...You two are mad dogs. Who wouldn’t panic when they see a mad dog about to eat people?” Puppy slowly adjusted his breathing rhythm, “... Actually, by the end of the last game, they’ve already figured out a way to deal with it. The overall strength of their coaching staff is stronger than ours... After all, they were last season’s champion coaching staff. They’ve definitely figured out a way to deal with it but no one knows just how effective it would be against us. We’ll need to counter their every move in this round. Yu Shen... It’s up to you. You better not to make any mistakes commanding this round.”

Yu Sui lowered his eyes and looked at his palm turned red by the heat. He asked quietly, “Are you worried that I might make a mistake?”

Puppy thought about it seriously but he really couldn’t remember when Yu Sui last made a mistake.

They were dazed for half a second and then laughed. The director hurriedly cut the camera over, Shi Luo muttered, “Are you feeling more panicked watching us laugh? Are you? Are you&#k2026;”

The countdown was over.

Free reproduced the opening of the previous game. At the end of the countdown, everyone rushed out at the same time. With the previous game as precedent, the director directly cut the camera to Free’s four frontline players. From the perspective of the giant screen, all of Free’s players were like hungry wolves.

When it came to this kind of mad dog tactic, even half a second was precious. As before, Yu Sui didn’t waste time putting shields up for the two strikers. Shi Luo and Chen immediately began laying down purification dishes as soon as the game started. Sacred Sword learned their lesson from the previous game and were worried that Free would still do the exact same thing. They were on the defensive and wanted to immediately take down Shi Luo and Chen Huo. And so, they too rushed in with four of their players.

For the two strikers, Shi Luo and Chen Huo, putting down purification dishes without any shield meant they were sitting ducks. If Sacred Sword had been competing against any other teams, this situation would have been three against one — Sacred Sword’s two strikers and one sniper against the opponent’s lone sniper. Sacred Sword would have had a great chance of winning.

But Free was not just any ordinary team.

Whisper, Free’s medic, can play both as a medic and as a striker.

All of Free’s players could fight.

“2.5 seconds.” Shi Luo stared intently at countdown bar for laying down purification dishes, “1.5 seconds...”

In order to grab this advantage at the star of the game, Sacred Sword, in a race against time, also decided not to put on any shields. They got in close and fought hand to hand. Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Sui took out his long dagger and stood in front of his team’s strikers, foiling the shot of Sacred Sword’s sniper. With a horizontal kick, he blocked Sacred Sword’s striker’s strike and with a swing of his dagger, slashed at the other striker’s face!

Puppy took aim and greatly wounded the striker Yu Sui had slashed. At the same time, Yu Sui was shot at and left with only a sliver of blood. While reloading, Puppy could not suppress the enemy. Puppy promptly sent out a warning, “If you don’t withdraw now, it’ll be too late.”

Yu Sui said quickly, “Set down another one. I’ll give them my head.”

The strategic decision was made within the fraction of a second. Yu Sui fought three against one. With speedy footwork, he quickly evaded a shot. Before Sacred Sword’s sniper could reload, he hurried behind him and slashed. Sacred Sword’s medic instantly replenished the photon shield. Yu Sui couldn’t tackle everything at once and he couldn’t find a way to take the opponent down with him. So, he simply decided to move back to stand in front of the beaten-to-half-blood Chen Huo again and help him vie for time. One second and then one second more—

In the next second, Yu Sui was hit by both Sacred Sword’s sniper and striker at the same time. He was taken out to resurrect.

However, Shi Luo and Chen Huo have already successfully placed a total of one, two, three, four, five, six purification dishes in the center of the map; enough to make Sacred Sword despair upon seeing it. As the purification dishes whistled, a large portion of the Sacred Sword’s map gradually cleared up. It made it a whole lot easier for Shi Luo and Chen Huo to fight. The map was cleared and Sacred Sword’s frontline players had to retreat. Shi Luo and Chen Huo took advantage of the momentum and took down the other Sacred Sword striker.

The result of the opening battle was one for two. The advantage Free managed to secure was a bit smaller compared to the previous game, but Free still managed to occupy a large portion of the map.

“Don’t wait for me. No shield. Continue on.” Yu Sui was still waiting for resurrection countdown to finish. “What are you standing around for? We don’t need a medic.”

Chen Huo gritted his teeth, “Fine, you bastard...”

The Holy Sword thought that the first head-on fight of the opening stage was over. Sacred Sword’s medic was treating his two teammates behind the bunker. Shi Luo and the residual blood Chen Huo rushed out of the bunker and charged at them again.

Puppy fired blind shots from behind the bunker to provide cover for the two strikers. Shi Luo was ahead during their charge. To make use of every possible second, he already began setting down purification dishes.

Although a huge advantage had been taken from Sacred Sword on this round, they were at least able to take out Yu Sui. They thought they could drag down Free’s offensive rhythm by a little bit. They never even imagined that Shi Luo and Chen Huo would continue to charge at them without any protection. Sacred Sword’s only remaining striker hurriedly fired his gun from out the bunker to fight back. But he was a shot too too too slow and while he was being healed, Shi Luo had madly placed down two purification dishes!

“What kind of game is Free playing?” The commentator has never seen such a fast-paced game and he was flustered. “If they were playing like madmen in the last game, then in this game, they’re just looking to die. It looks like they don’t care if their players take damage. They’ll charge forward even if they die. Shi Luo and Chen Huo took another head. Chen Huo’s gone... Whisper’s resurrected and Evil continues to rush forward. This... he’s still charging ahead?!!!”

Why shouldn’t he charge ahead?

At the moment Yu Sui resurrected, he healed himself up. After he rushed to the bunker where Shi Luo was temporarily taking shelter, he restored Shi Luo to full health. In between, he didn’t even set a shield for Puppy who was at the back row. The moment Shi Luo was back to full blood, he and Shi Luo rushed out of the bunker at the same time. Only Sacred Sword’s medic was still standing in at the frontline of the poisonous boundary. Yu Sui only needed a few seconds to kill the medic. Shi Luo was free to clear the poisonous fog during this time. Figuring out the location of the opposing sniper, Shi Luo informed Puppy and Puppy fired two shots one after the other. Although he couldn’t take the head of the opposing sniper, Sacred Sword’s sniper could not effectively interfere with Shi Luo and Yu Sui during this time.

Yu Sui disposed of the opposing medic and at the same time, Sacred Sword’s striker who died first rushed to the frontline. The striker knew that he couldn’t take on Yu Sui and Shi Luo by himself, so he could only hide behind the bunker and wait for his teammates to resurrect.

Sacred Sword’s sniper who had kept firing before also suddenly stopped. It was like Sacred Sword had given up. The only two people left on the field gave up their map, letting Shi Luo clear it up as he pleased.

Puppy promptly reminded them, “I’ve lost the position of their sniper. I’m not sure where he is.”

Chen Huo, who was waiting to resurrect, frowned. “They’re waiting for all their players to resurrect. They want to compete with us four on four, fair and square.”

Shi Luo sneered, “Who the f*ck would play fair and square with them?!”

“After placing that one, don’t clear up anymore. We’re not greedy.” Yu Sui rushed to the bunker where the Sacred Sword’s striker was located, just like a machine that didn’t know the pain nor fear death, he said, “We will keep fighting as long as there’s a single player on our side.”

Sacred Sword’s striker never expected that there would come a day when he would be confronted head on by a medic.

Sacred Sword’s other striker resurrected and hurried to the frontline. He had just enough time to take down Shi Luo, who had little blood left. After he was chopped to half-blood by Yu Sui, he managed to take away Shi Luo’s head. But before he could catch his breath-Chen Huo had already resurrected! ! !

The blood-soaked Yu Sui walked around and placed a shield on himself. Within the same breath, he also replenished his blood. Without giving himself any time, he and Chen Huo rushed out again while he filled Chen Huo’s health.

Sacred Sword had only one striker without shield and one striker with only a sliver of health, also without a shield.

The result of this two-on-two confrontation was quite obvious.

The commentators couldn’t keep up with Free’s play and has begun to babble utter nonsense. There was no need for the commentators to explain it in detail. From the bird’s eye view, the entire stadium could personally feel Sacred Sword’s profound helplessness.

They couldn’t fight and win. They also couldn’t stop their advance.

Free didn’t even give them any room to breathe.

Even if all of Sacred Sword’s players were top-notch players, they just couldn’t contend head-on against Free in in this kind of high-intensity rhythm. They didn’t want Free to lead them by the nose so they could only look on helplessly as they marched in unchallenged, just like in the previous game when Free took the game in just 17 minutes.

Sacred Sword had their own countermeasures in this game. They wanted meet speed with speed and it was obvious that their firepower tended towards Chen Huo, who easily made mistakes in the heat of battle. However, it didn’t have much of an effect. Yu Sui’s ability to meet an attacked was faster than theirs. If Free had two players serving as beasts of burden during the last round, then this time around, Free had three.

This time, Yu Sui added himself.

Free definitely had more casualties this game than in the previous one but the speed of their offensive didn’t slow down one bit.

In Free’s soundproof room, the noisy clacking of keys came from the three frontline players’ keyboards as they charged forward like crazy.

“Actually, they could take it easy for a bit. This game is relatively more difficult compared to the last one.” The commentator of the Chinese Division was anxious and just wants to win the game steadily. “Once the number of players on the field is equal to or less than the opponent’s, shall we slow down? Our advantage is already big enough, we really don’t have to continue to fight like this. If in case the opposing team wipes us out, it’ll... it’ll still be a bit dangerous.”

In Free’s soundproof room, Yu Sui said quickly, “Shi Luo, come here immediately after you resurrect. You won’t have a shield. I’ll probably already be out by that time. Come up immediately and hold the situation until I resurrect again. This time you’ll be taking them one-to-two. Any problems?”

Shi Luo’s hands merely trembled slightly. He shook his head, “No problem.”

Chen Huo bared his teeth. “So confident?”

The resurrection countdown ended and Shi Luo charged out again, “If I weren’t that confident...If I weren’t that confident could I have been that arrogant before the match?”

He had said that he wouldn’t lose any matches before the World Championship finals. And so, he can’t lose any matches.

For that game, Free beat Sacred Sword in 23 minutes and successfully won the match point.