Chapter 823: Backup Ploy
The players in the arena often were unable to understand the overall situation of the match. They had to rely on their own experience and judgement to grasp the bigger picture.
That was what Wu Chen was trying to accomplish. Upon realizing that Team Happy had guided the control of the situation from their hands, he immediately thought to get back their healer; they wouldn’t be as reckless anymore.
Team Everlasting’s biggest flaw at the moment was not having a healer. They understood that, and of course Happy would too. They could tell what classes were on the field by the attacks that flew towards them. So they might have predicted that Everlasting would try to switch a character out for their healer and use that to their advantage.
So, after telling He An to switch out with their healer, his Dawn Gunner sped towards where He An’s Go Forth had been headed.
When He An reported that he had been attacked, Wu Chen’s guess was confirmed, so he told the others to go and support. If their opponent had planned to use the fact that they would switch their healer in, they would mount a full offense, one that He An couldn’t be able to cope with alone. If only he went to help, then it wasn’t certain to work, so he decided to have their team regroup and switch in a healer after beating the enemy back.
Wu Chen’s plans were clear.
But when he saw He An take the initiative to call for backup, he knew instantly that the problem might be worse than he had expected.
He understood He An pretty well. That guy thought highly of himself, feeling that he had the talent, but not been given the opportunity. Then he was uncovered by Everlasting and proved his ability, becoming more and more smug. With his personality, he wouldn’t lower himself to ask for help unless he was really helpless.
"How many?" Wu Chen hastily asked.
"5"
He An didn’t even have the time for punctuation.
When Wu Chen received his message, he was stunned. The entire opposing team had gone after He An; that was way beyond Wu Chen’s expectations.
They were attacking the enemy from all sides so they weren’t clueless about their positions. In the span of a few moments, all five of them managed to charge over, but he was making judgements based on his own awareness and experience. How could the situation be so unbelievable?
Their opponents had been prepared!
Wu Chen obtained this conclusion with his experience.
The advantageous situation they had managed to create from being besieged was far more complex than Wu Chen had thought.
It was no coincidence that He An’s Go Forth was the closest to the support zone. This was something the opponent had planned as they turned their passive situation into an initiative. Their offense was aimed at that exact direction. This had been planned from the very start. Team Everlasting had fallen for their ploy by telling He An’s Go Forth, who was closest to the support zone, to switch out for the Cleric.
As soon as Go Forth rushed towards the support zone, Team Happy could swiftly position themselves to stop him. That was how things came to this point.
"Hold on!"
Wu Chen could only give He An this sentence of encouragement. Other than that, he could only get everyone to go towards the support zone as quickly as possible.
Luckily, Team Everlasting didn’t positions themselves too far from each other during the siege. Backup wouldn’t arrive too late for anyone.
He An managed to endure until his teammates appeared.
"Steady now, don’t be too hasty in attacking. We need to find a chance to switch our Cleric in." Wu Chen was the third to arrive. The two who had arrived first were already fighting alongside Go Forth, tangling with Happy. Three versus five, the situation could only be called dismal. As soon as Wu Chen’s Dawn Gunner arrived, he sent out a few shots with a boom and instantly brought the three out of a terrible situation. The four characters reunited and immediately counterattacked. All their classes had AoE skills, so they held the advantage when fighting in teams. The four attacked together, and their attacks swept over the map, knocking back the five from Team Happy for the moment.
"Nice one!"
When he had been fighting alone, He An had been a mess. Nevermind counterattacking, he had been beaten without being able to even plant his own two feet! Now that his teammates were here, his opponents weren’t able to beat them down with such ease anymore. He An’s morale surged, quickly erupting with a chain of attacks.
Ice, Fire, Light!
Three waves of attacks swept out one after the other. This was the Spellblade’s famous technique, "Three Pulsing Waves".
The public chat channel was instantly filled with cheers for their ace by Team Everlasting’s true fans. Even the spectating faceslappers felt excitement surging with this impressive Three Pulsing Waves. Some couldn’t hold it in any longer, mockingly calling for Happy to surrender as the technique swept out.
It was true that He An had been a mess before, but that was in a five versus one situation. No matter who it was in such a situation, the outcome would be the same! Now, four of Team Everlasting’s members made a tide turning counterattack. What was this? This was the difference in ability! With just four people, they could beat back all five of you! Just wait until their last member arrives; how will you deal with it then?
Since the team command chat channels were made public to the audience, the audience could get the gist of the situation even if they didn’t understand what was happening. Though Happy seemed to have a plan, it now seemed like they were completely unsuccessful! Why? Because Team Everlasting was stronger. Being an ex-pro team, they had more cohesive teamwork and tactics.
The four fought side by side, attack after attack, and not long after, the fifth member of Team Everlasting arrived as well. Everlasting’s true fans and the spectating faceslappers were all at a high, believing that this face-off was going to make their decisive victory. So the encouragements and mockery flew from them. It seemed like they could already start celebrating their victory.
But as for the players on the field?
Wu Chen’s unease had yet to disperse. Maybe it was because he had always been a part of a weaker team and was used to defeat that developed an acute sense of danger in Wu Chen. The situation at hand started to seem fishy to him once more.
"Don’t just focus on attacking, break through and get the Cleric out!" He An exclaimed in the channel. Wu Chen nodded upon seeing it.
Was that it? Wu Chen thought to himself, in this face off, they may have gotten the upper hand, but if they didn’t have a healer, then there was less room to make mistakes. A single opening could cause damage that they couldn’t afford to take. Go Forth didn’t have much health left. In a chaotic battle like this, he might get taken out by a wave of attacks. It was better to get their Cleric here pronto.
"Ch-charge through them!" He An wanted revenge for the mess that he had been put through before. Without a healer, the offense of five AoE DPSers were imposing and ferocious. Any opponent would have a hard time dealing with this with their healer unless they had the ability to instantly upset this offense. Otherwise, everyone’s health would be falling simultaneously with the attacks from five AoE characters. A single healer would have a hard time keeping up. Even if they were skilled enough, the cost was high, so it would be very inefficient.
Under Team Everlasting’s bombardment, Team Happy retreated step by step and reached the support zone first after a little while.
It was at this moment that Wu Chen’s fluctuating sense of danger erupted with a warning. He suddenly realized what the problem was.
"Disperse!" Wu Chen’s abrupt command had both the audience and his own teammates puzzled. Two of them even asked at the same time, "Why?"
"It’s a backup ploy! Quick, go!" Wu Chen yelled.
Backup ploy?
Everyone who had a good grasp of knowledge of Glory only had to hear this noun and look at the situation to realize what was happening. A real backup ploy couldn’t be launched under the current circumstances, but if Team Everlasting didn’t retreat and continued to exchange blows with Team Happy, then that would equal to helping Happy achieve a backup ploy.
With even some of the audience understanding, Team Everlasting wouldn’t be so oblivious, even if they didn’t have much experience.
"Retreat, retreat, retreat, quick!" He An started to yell in their chat as well.
But it seemed like Team Happy had heard it, since Lord Grim suddenly typed a sentence into the public chat: "It’s a little too late to retreat now, isn’t it?"
"Come on, let this senior open a door for you!"
Another sentence followed Lord Grim’s. It was Windward Formation, Team Happy’s sixth player who had been called over through the support zone. Team Happy’s Cleric, Cold Hands, was switched out.
This was a backup ploy.
Using the support zone, the healer and sixth player would switch frequently. Once a rhythm was established, they could increase their firepower without sacrificing healing, like there were six people fighting at once.
But since this scheme needed them to be within a support zone, there was a limit to how it could be used. If one side stood in the support zone and their opponents never approached, then there was no point. So in most maps, a backup ploy’s effects were greatly limited. Only in a few maps where the support zone was placed in a special position, could you corner your opponent and use the backup ploy to crush them.
The current map, Flame Flagged Springs, didn’t have this feature. If Team Everlasting had thought of this before, there wouldn’t have been any harm in just letting Happy retreat, but since they wanted to get their Cleric on the field so badly, they were even more impatient to get to the support zone than Team Happy and forgot the existence of such a ploy. By the time they remembered, Team Happy had already gotten the terrain advantage. They, on the other hand, had been too excited, had charged too fiercely, and were going to pay for it when they retreated.
As Windward Formation spoke, he had already raised his staff. Wisps of dark energy swirled around him. Seeing this, Wu Chen was shocked, hastily making his Dawn Gunner run and shouting, "It’s Death’s Door, interrupt it!"
A Laser Rifle blasted out from the muzzle of Dawn Gunner’s gun, but Lord Grim, who was at Windward Formation’s side, stepped over and opened up the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella.
Laser Rifle had a knock back effect, but these effects would be reduced in the face of a shield. Seeing that the opponent had a shield covering them, Wu Chen quickly turned Dawn Gunner’s gun towards the sky, preparing to release a Stinger, but at that moment, there was a flash and the Laser Rifle he shot came streaking back...