Chapter 22: Chapter 21 - Welcoming the New System (Part 2)
The match between Blue Rain and Samsara has now reached the final stage. The current point is 5:2, in favor of Blue Rain. The last match will be the deciding match between the two. The result could go 10:2 or 7:5 depending on who wins.
The players from each team entered the player booth. Six of each, preparing for the last battle. The winner will emerge as champion.
[Announcer Yan: Both teams is now ready. It's time for the map to be chosen…]
As the announcer said this, the big screen shows 7 different maps.
[Announcer Yan: And we have 'The Floating Valley', 'Sigriomont', 'Forest of Ash', 'Valley of Death', 'Infernal Sanctum', 'Frozen Palace', and 'Mirror Plane'! Of all these maps, Mirror Plane had made its appearance for the second time tonight!]
[Chu YunXiu: En. But Mirror Plane for a team match is not ideal for both teams. So I'm guessing one of them will ban the map. According to the coin toss earlier, Samsara has the first pick to ban two maps?]
Just as Chu YunXiu said this, two maps from the big screen turned dark, meaning that they were banned from being chosen.
[Xiao Shiqin: Samsara decisively banned Infernal Sanctum and Sigriomont which is a map that is most advantageous for Blue Rain's warlock. It seems that they wanted Blue Rain to waste their ban choice on Mirror Plane!]
"Damn it! They didn't use their ban choice on Mirror Plane!" one of the Blue Rain players cursed. The rest of Blue Rain players who were also in the player booth were feeling distressed.
Hou Siying turned to face the player to his right who seemed to be in deep thought. "Captain, your choice? There are less than twenty seconds left now," he reminded the player.
"Siying, if Mirror Plane were chosen, how confident are you in delaying two players?" the captain of Blue Rain asked.
Hou Siying's eyes widened when he heard what his captain was saying. "Captain… are we not banning Mirror Plane?"
"Frozen palace and Forest of Ash… both maps are advantageous to their team as a whole. If we use one to ban Mirror Plane, then they will have 33% chance of having advantage over us. Rather than risking it, I might as well let us both sink," the captain replied as he then banned the two maps he mentioned.
When the audience saw the ban choices, they erupt into discussions. They could not comprehend why Mirror Plane was not banned.
[Xiao Shiqin: It is actually not hard to understand Blue Rain's thought. The win rate of Samsara team on the two maps they banned is over 70%. It is a great risks to allow it within the choices. Although Mirror Plane is not suitable for team match, it doesn't mean that it is not usable. In fact, it will become a wild card for both teams.]
[Announcer Yan: So, are you saying that if Mirror Plane is chosen, then the outcome will be even more unpredictable?]
[Xiao Shiqin: If Mirror Plane is chosen, we will see an all-out brawl between the two teams. The key will lay on Hou Siying's gameplay. If I am right, Blue Rain will deploy Box-2 tactic.]
[Announcer Yan: I see. But Miss Chu, earlier you said that one of them will ban Mirror Plane. Who did you think to be the one banning it?]
[Chu Yunxiu: I thought that Samsara will ban Mirror Plane. Did not expect them to ban Sigriomont instead. Maybe they are not confident on that map, or maybe as you said, they wanted Blue Rain to waste their choice on Mirror Plane so at least one of the two maps that they have a high win rate on will stay. Unfortunately, Blue Rain decided to gamble instead.]
[Announcer Yan: I do think it would be interesting if we can see a match in Mirror Plane for once as a final match!]
From his tone, it can be said that Announcer Yan was just saying it for fun. While they were talking, the system's randomizer has started and the maps continued to change. In the end, it is unknown whether it is fortunate or unfortunate for both teams but the final map for the team battle ends up being the Mirror Plane that was being talked about.
Audience: …
Samsara Players: …
Blue Rain Players: …
Announcer Yan who was only saying for fun: I feel like my mouth has just been upgraded into a crow's mouth...
In the player booth for Blue Rain, one particular player suddenly felt heavy pressure. Hou Siying stared at his monitor before he took a deep breath. "Are we going for Box-2 tactic as you planned?"
"Yes. 2 minutes… as long as you can hold them off for two minutes," the captain answered before he gave Hou Siying a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I'm counting on you. It's also the best time to let everyone know that Hou Siying's Sword Saint is no less worse than our predecessor," he added.
Not long after, the referee in the booth for each team finally told them to plug their cards in so that they can start the match.
[Announcer Yan: Both players have now spawned in the map. Let's bring the audience into the game now!]
As the announcer said this, several screens now showed different parts of the map. Glory Alliance Supreme Arena has seven screens in total, with one in the middle being the biggest. The screens were controlled by the announcer so that the audience won't miss any juicy action.
Both teams spawned at the opposite end of the map but even so, they could still distinctively make out the silhouette of each other's avatar.
[Announcer Yan: Oh? Blue Rain is missing Swoksaar! Is this one of their tactic? Let's have Mr. Xiao explain to us what Blue Rain is planning.]
[Xiao Shiqin: Hahaha, Mr. Yan sure can joke. No matter how good I am, there is no way I can know what a player's thought really is. But I can guess what they are planning to let Swoksaar end everything in one fell swoop.]
As they were talking, the players from both team is now approaching each other. Their steps were slow, and they are extremely alert for any quick changes in the flow.
Players from Samsara was feeling nervous. After all, they all expected Swoksaar to be present. In fact, their plan had been to quickly kill Swoksaar while Troubling Rain is too busy dealing with two players. That way, the battle would shift to their advantage.
Unfortunately, now that Swoksaar is missing, the team is feeling somewhat lost.
"Be careful. They are surely planning on something," the captain of Samsara reminded his team.
Both teams are now just a step away from their ranged attacker's attack range. The audience has their hands clenched in anticipation. As if everyone have a tacit understanding, everyone is quiet to the point of deathly silence. Even the commentator couldn't say anything since nothing had happened yet.
Then, the first to make a move was Blue Rain's Qi Master, Receding Tide with his skill, Cloud Grasping Fist. The grab skill was aimed at Samsara's Blade Master, Moon-Luring Frost. At this range, Cloud Grasping Fist shouldn't have reached Moon-Luring Frost so Samsara was taken by surprise.
Fortunately, they reacted quickly. Just as Moon-Luring Frost was pulled forward, the rest of Samsara's close-ranged player also followed through, leaving their cleric and sharpshooter behind.
[Announcer Yan: Unexpectedly, the first to attack is the Qi Master from Blue Rain! But at that distance, the skill shouldn't have reached their opponent so there can only be one explanation… the Qi Master's silver weapon has the increased skill range stats!]
[Xiao Shiqin: Yes. We can see here that as soon as Samsara's Blade Master was pulled, the rest of their close-ranged class went in with him. It was as if they are doing it on reflex which means, the two left behind is unguarded.]
Just as Xiao Shiqin had said, Blue Rain's Troubling Rain rushed through the front line and begin to engage the backlines. Samsara's Grappler, who is slightly behind, tried to join their Sharpshooter and Cleric, wanting to make it a 3v1 but unfortunately, Blue Rain's Paladin used the Knight's low-level skill, Provoke.
For three seconds, he can only attack the Paladin, making the Grappler feeling aggrieved. In these three seconds, Troubling Rain was able to push the backlines further behind by simply targeting the cleric. As the cleric was pushed back, the sharpshooter naturally followed. After all, they can't let their cleric die that easily or else, the match will turn into a 5v4 for a while until their substitute arrive. By then, another of their teammates might have fallen already.
The grappler still tried to join the backlines but now, the summoners's pet is now blocking his way and for him to join the two left behind, he needed to deal with the pets.
Troubling Rain contained two players while the rest of Blue Rain players are dealing with the remaining of Samsara team. As the battle continues, Troubling Rain's health can be seen to be chipped off bit by bit while his two opponent still has quite a bit of health left. Especially with the cleric healed themselves.
Hou Siying's expression was grim as he focused on his monitor. "Captain, I am at my limit," Hou Siying informed the person beside him. "If I don't go all out now, your plan might end up backfiring."
"En. I think that is far enough. Let's start with plan 2."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lin_XiaoLong
Lin_XiaoLong I apologize for going MIA for more than a week! Something actually came up which needed my immediate attention. I haven't been writing much lately because of it. But now that it is dealt with, I can resume this project!
On another note, because in the wiki there are still few skills missing for some classes, I'm thinking of making a set for it but I'm not sure if that is actually a good idea.
Also, the contest ended and as promised, since I managed to win with all of your support, I'll continue this fanfic. The only problem is, I won't be able to do daily updates as I did during the contest so, like any other of my project, I can only do a 1 chapter/week update. The big question is, on what day would you prefer the update to be?
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