Poke Flow

"Hero hears the cry and rushes to save, risking life to show true chivalry! One Autumn Leaf uses his own life to protect the healer, leaving a glimmer of hope for Excellent Era!" Pan Lin was almost in tears.

Li Yibo didn't have a good impression of Excellent Era, so Ye Qiu's act of sacrificing himself to save the healer didn't stir any emotions in him. However, he was still quite surprised, "I really didn't expect that Dragon Breaks the Ranks could be used to knock one's teammate into the air!"

"After all, Glory has an extremely realistic physics engine. Although teammates can't harm each other, physical collisions and skill effects are still present," Pan Lin explained.

Li Yibo nodded, "Using Dragon Breaks the Ranks to help a teammate position is indeed innovative. However, although One Autumn Leaf protected the healer, he died himself, leaving Excellent Era with one less player than Tyranny. Excellent Era's situation doesn't look good now."

...

Han Wenqing looked at One Autumn Leaf's corpse on the ground, unsure whether he felt sorrow or joy. Although he won against Ye Qiu this time, it wasn't through a fair one-on-one fight but by outnumbering him. This victory wasn't particularly honourable, but a win is a win...

"Liu Hao was right; in professional competitions, the result is much more important than the process!" Han Wenqing murmured, "Only the victor is justified..."

"Captain, One Autumn Leaf is dead. What should we do next?" Zhou Guangyi asked. He was an obedient team member. With Tyranny's first-in-command, Zhang Xinjie, dead, he would only act upon Han Wenqing's orders.

"Kill the priest quickly. Before Liu Hao arrives, if we kill the priest, victory is ours," Han Wenqing said calmly.

"Yes!" ×3

Cold Seasons darted forward, the dagger in his hand flashing silver as he aimed for Woven Shadow's neck. Dancing Rain wanted to defend but was hindered by the heavy cannon, making the gunner's movement speed insufficient to counterattack in time...

Zhang Jialing's heart was in his throat as he watched the dagger approach his chest. Just then, a golden light flashed, striking Cold Seasons accurately and sending him crashing into a nearby stone pillar with tremendous force.

"Shining Wave Slash!" Pan Lin shouted excitedly, "Total Darkness arrived just in time!"

Total Darkness charged in with his sword, the golden waves on the blade still rippling with a menacing aura, like a demon god's descent.

Total Darkness' attacks didn't stop there.

Fiery Wave Slash and Evil Light Slash followed in quick succession, both hitting Zhou Guangyi's Cold Seasons; Cold Seasons, already low on health, couldn't withstand the three consecutive wave explosions and died on the spot.

Wang Chixuan was furious seeing this despicable sneak attack. Negative Nine Degrees raised his gun and fired, the revolver spitting flames as bullets shot toward Total Darkness.

Liu Hao, unhurried, flicked his mouse, performing a smooth S-shaped slash that deflected all the bullets like flowing water.

"How is that possible?" Wang Chixuan's eyes widened. Blocking one or two bullets was fine, but deflecting seven or eight at once was too outrageous!

Su Mucheng was equally shocked, "Liu Hao, can you really predict Negative Nine Degrees' bullet trajectories?"

"Yes, it's not some secret. I can see them as red trajectories on the screen. Impressive, right? Aren't you in awe?" Liu Hao said smugly.

Seeing Liu Hao's smug look, Su Mucheng pouted, "Hmph, just boasting. I don't believe it."

At that moment, Guo Yang and Zheng Chengfeng arrived at the battlefield, making it a four-on-four situation. Liu Hao, losing interest in chatting with Su Mucheng, scanned everyone and sternly said, "From now on, follow my commands. Understood?"

Zhang Jialing, a neutral party, didn't dare oppose Liu Hao. Who was Liu Hao? He was the vice-captain of Excellent Era, especially promoted by the boss, the boss's favourite. Even Ye Qiu was outmanoeuvred by this vice-captain. Quickly, he said, "Of course, Brother Hao. Just tell me what to do."

Guo Yang, rushing in, also quickly pledged allegiance, "I'll listen to Brother Hao."

Liu Hao nodded in satisfaction and looked at Su Mucheng.

Su Mucheng, unhappy with Liu Hao's authoritative demeanour, thought, "First, you bullied Ye Qiu. Now, you want to take over his command, and you expect me to listen to you? No way!" She instinctively looked at Ye Qiu, whose hat was pulled low, but his calm eyes were still visible.

Ye Qiu couldn't speak, but she understood his meaning. As long as they could win the match, nothing else mattered.

Su Mucheng sighed and stayed silent, though Liu Hao understood her reluctance to submit to his leadership fully. At most, she wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for him.

"Next, we'll use the poke flow strategy," Liu Hao said softly.

"Poke flow?" Su Mucheng was puzzled, not knowing what the poke strategy was.

Guo Yang and Zhang Jialing were equally confused, "Brother Hao, what is poke flow?"

Liu Hao realised that without a World Championship, some specific terms were unfamiliar to everyone. Patiently, he explained, "It's a kiting strategy. Poke is a term for long-range harassment in esports. Academically, it means using long-range skills to continually harass and chip away at the enemy's health from a safe distance, giving us a health advantage before the team fight starts."

Su Mucheng and the others finally understood. With a gunner, a magic swordsman, and a qi master—professions suited for long-range or mid-range combat—poke flow seemed perfectly fitting.

As they spoke, Desert Dust and Mountain Split charged in.

Zhang Jialing gasped in shock, his voice stuttering, "D-D-Desert Dust and Mountain Split are charging in!"

Su Mucheng quickly aimed her cannon, ready to blast Desert Dust, but Liu Hao stopped her, "Just keep Rota(Elemantalist) from casting his skills. I'll handle Desert Dust!"

Though Su Mucheng resisted Liu Hao's command, in this crucial moment, she chose to follow his lead, turning her cannon towards Rotter for a shot.

As Desert Dust rushed in, Liu Hao calmly unleashed a Frost Wave Sword, the icy blue waves forming a fan-shaped attack...

Han Wenqing instinctively rolled and kicked, trying to dodge, but it was useless!

"Frost Wave Sword predicted Desert Smoke's movements again. My god! Liu Hao's predictions are terrifying!" Pan Lin's voice began to grow hoarse.

Li Yibo was equally astonished, "According to the latest statistics, Total Darkness's skill hit rate tonight is an astounding 92%. Moreover, most magic swordsman skills are mid-range attacks, yet his accuracy is 12% higher than One Autumn Leaf, a melee fighter!"

Unbelievable records! Could Reincarnation's Jiang Botao achieve such data? Absolutely not. Even Jiang Botao's skill hit rate was only 68%.

Seeing Desert Dust frozen like an ice sculpture, Zheng Chengfeng immediately abandoned his attack, raising his shield to protect Desert Dust from Qi Master's Qi bullets.

Total Darkness stood at the front line, dodging and parrying Negative Nine Degrees' shots while restricting Desert Dust's movements. Excellent Era kept retreating, healing up with Woven Shadow's help, executing a textbook poke flow strategy.

(End of Chapter)

So, guys, I have a thing to break to you. Recently, you might have noticed that I have gotten quite irregular at posting translations, right? So, basically, my laptop gave out recently, and it doesn't work anymore. I used to do all my work on it, and it was pretty smooth for me. Now, I have to do stuff on my phone, and it has gotten pretty troublesome at this point. Doing my work on the phone is a lot more time-consuming and inefficient. I do not like to act like a victim or ask for people's help, but honestly, my Patreon is my only source of income as of now, so I request all my dear readers to help me generate some funds in my Patreon so I can buy a decent laptop asap and get to work soon enough. I was doing three projects at a time on a daily basis recently, but I can't even do one rn; that's how stressful it has become for me. So I will be grateful if you guys will help me. My goal is to stack up 300 USD asap. I hope you will help me with that, my dear readers!

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