Just as the Assassin was about to die, he suddenly activated “Stealth” and disappeared from the arena.
But to the Qi Master, it seemed like he was just running for his life.
[Everyone] [Qi Master Rank Up Steady]: Bro, the Assassin is really done for. Don’t listen to those online noobs talking about Assassin faith. If you can’t rank up, what’s the point of faith?
The Assassin believers in the live stream: …
Bro, you probably don’t realize you’re being live-streamed when you say this, do you? Tonight, you might get roasted by the online Assassin believers, you know?
Shen Huai didn’t respond. The invisible Assassin quickly approached the Qi Master, starting with a stun, followed by “Shadow Mark – Assassinate – Blood Blade – Heart Piercer – Dark Sword.”
The combo effect under Shadow Mark is invisibility. When the Qi Master’s stun wore off, Shen Huai’s Assassin triggered the third combo, and the character vanished into thin air. This combo took away 40% of the Qi Master’s health!
The Qi Master wasn’t in a hurry. He assumed an attack stance on the spot. He still had 45% health left, and even if he took another combo, he might not die. Meanwhile, the Assassin’s health was below 10%. One more Qi Cannon would surely kill him.
The Qi Master timed it right and blindly used a move—Qi Shock.
Qi Shock would cause the ground within a 3-meter radius around the Qi Master to crack. Although the range was small, it was enough for an Assassin who needed to get close.
Shen Huai was immediately revealed by the cracked ground. Seeing his health at only 10%, the Qi Master quickly fired a Qi Cannon.
The fans in the live stream were on edge, but they saw Cang Yu’s Assassin perform a backflip at almost point-blank range, not only dodging the Qi Cannon but also moving behind the Qi Master to use “Soul Capture”!
Soul Capture can stun the enemy, but only when the opponent’s health percentage is higher than the user’s.
Shen Huai’s health was only 10%, making this a guaranteed stun, and attacking from behind gave extra damage!
Death Mark – Assassinate – Blood Blade – Scythe Blade – Dance of Death!
The ultimate move after a three-hit combo perfectly triggered a critical effect, and the Qi Master, who still had 45% health, was instantly killed, while Cang Yu’s Assassin still had 10% health!
The people in the live stream couldn’t understand what had just happened.
[Can someone tell me what happened? When did my Assassin’s burst damage get so high? Did the S5 season adjust it?]
[It’s Bloodthirsty Double Blades. The lower your health, the higher the damage. But why didn’t Cang Yu die from a Qi Shock when he only had 10% health??]
[Am I the only one who noticed Cang Yu’s health recovery… He had only 7% health before going invisible, but after breaking invisibility, he had 10%! Aren’t you not allowed to use potions in the arena? Bug?]
While everyone was discussing, a familiar ID flashed across the screen.
V Guan He: [It’s Holy Blessing.]
Talent: Holy Blessing: When your health is below 10%, recover 1% health per second.
This skill is a must-have for tanky warriors, as they have many damage-absorbing shields and survival skills. Offensive classes don’t touch it because, for squishy classes, 1% or 10% health makes no difference; one skill can take them out.
[Right! Holy Blessing! But what’s the point of this talent? Even with 10% health, you can’t survive a skill, right?]
[Wait… Wasn’t that ID just now Guan Captain!]
Everyone looked, and sure enough! The ID that just sent the message was indeed the captain of the Xiaolang Team, Guan He!
Captain Guan came to watch the live stream? Everyone started sending bullet comments to greet Guan He.
V Zhou Ning: [Cang Yu’s talents also include Desperate Counterattack and Redemption. Desperate Counterattack extends stun duration when health is below 10%, and Redemption grants immunity to a fatal hit.]
Whoa, isn’t that the vice-captain of the Fengyue Team?
But with his explanation, everyone immediately understood the core of Cang Yu’s talent build.
In the professional skills, he chose “Bloodthirsty Double Blades,” relying on low health to deal high damage, while in talents, he picked all survival talents, using Holy Blessing’s below 10% auto-heal and Redemption’s block of a fatal hit to keep his health at 10%, perfectly maximizing Bloodthirsty Double Blades’ damage!
Realizing this, everyone couldn’t help but flood the screen with 666.
Keeping one’s health at 10%, constantly facing the risk of being one-shot, and counterattacking from the brink requires extremely precise positioning and prediction of enemy skills. Only someone with a deep understanding of the Assassin like Cang Yu could pull this off!
Thinking back to Cang Yu’s pre-match statement, “Of course, Assassins can still fight, just raised the lower limit,” everyone felt a sense of despair.
This wasn’t just raising the lower limit; it was god-level play! They couldn’t learn it at all!
V Zhang Jiayan: 6666666! PS: Vice-captain Zhou, where’s Captain Song?
V Zhou Ning: He’s launching rocket launchers.
V Song Xueyang sent 100 rocket launchers.
Only then did everyone realize that many professional players’ IDs had unknowingly mixed into the audience, and even some well-known platform streamers had come to give gifts.
[Speaker] [V Zhang Jiayan]: Cang Yu, join the WG Team! Next year’s championship will definitely be WG’s!
Everyone: … Captain Yan, you’re at it again! You do this every year. How many times do you have to be rejected before you give up!
[Captain Zhang, don’t waste your efforts. Cang Yu has never gone pro all these years… Surely, WG isn’t the only team trying to poach him!]
V Guan He: Right
[Why doesn’t Cang Yu go pro? I want to see the male god’s face! I want to lick the male god’s looks!]
[Cang Yu doesn’t even have a fixed streaming schedule… How could he go pro? But if he did, I could watch his plays live! Suddenly so excited!]
[I admit Cang Yu is amazing, but Assassins are just like that. How many Assassins do you see in professional matches? Which Assassin doesn’t get beaten badly when they appear? Cang Yu streaming for fun is fine, but if he goes pro, I’m afraid your dreams will shatter.]
[Speaker] [V Zhang Jiayan]: Cang Yu, join the WG Team! Next year’s championship will definitely be WG’s!
Shen Huai looked at the messages in the live stream. No one expected that he was seriously considering which team to join. It’s December now, and until the end of the month is the transfer period for “City of Despair.” He must make a decision during this time.
As he was thinking, a private message popped up at the bottom of the screen.
[Friend] [Naming Alts Isn’t Hard]: Beep beep!
The fans in the live stream also noticed this ID because Cang Yu had noted it as: Booster.
[Is this the booster god that Yu Shen said we can’t hire?]
[God! Cang Yu, whatever you’re paying, I’ll pay ten times more!]
Seeing this ID, Shen Huai immediately typed on the public screen, “Today’s stream is temporarily over,” and then exited the live stream.
The viewers, seeing the sudden black screen: ???
After waiting 3 months and 7 days for Cang Yu’s stream, it ended after just one solo arena match? Does it have to be so short?
The fans, left wanting more, angrily spammed the chat, while players inspired by the arena match were already changing their skill talents and heading into the arena. The data enthusiasts climbed onto forums to discuss the viability of the survival-style Assassin.
Shen Huai was unaware of all this. He opened the chat with “Naming Alts Isn’t Hard” and replied.
—Song Captain.
The owner of this alt and his booster was none other than the captain of the Fengyue Team, Song Xueyang.
Shen Huai and Song Xueyang had known each other in the game for a few years. You could say that Shen Huai’s large following on the streaming platform was thanks to Song Xueyang’s recommendation on Weibo.
[Friend] [Naming Alts Isn’t Hard]: 2v2?
Shen Huai sent back a single word, “Okay.”
Song Xueyang was the first professional player he met. When they first met, Shen Huai was just an unknown player, streaming simply to record his gameplay. At that time, Song Xueyang had just become the captain of the Fengyue Team and was a rookie.
By chance, Song Xueyang stumbled into his stream and became his first fan.
Now, Shen Huai was an Assassin master with three million followers. Due to work, he rarely logged in, but every time he did, Song Xueyang would always invite him to play the duo arena.
This time was no exception. There weren’t many players in the Divine Might rank, so 2V2 matches took a long time to queue. Shen Huai and Song Xueyang hadn’t talked in a while, so they started chatting.
“I watched this year’s finals. Your rolling snipe was amazing. It’s a pity you didn’t get the trophy.”
Song Xueyang’s profession was actually a Gunner, specializing in the Sniper branch. His impressive rolling snipe in this year’s national finals was included in the professional league’s top 10 highlights, making him the top-ranked Gunner.
Although it was a domestic ranking, as the only physical ranged DPS in the game, the Gunner profession was full of experts. Being the top in the country meant he wasn’t far off globally. Unfortunately, the Fengyue Team stopped at the top four, neither winning a trophy nor securing a spot in the global tournament.
Song Xueyang quickly replied, “It’s not a pity. The skill gap was too big. Getting fourth place was already pretty good.”
Shen Huai sighed. Song Xueyang was a typical case of strong personal skills but leading a weak team. Before he became captain, the Fengyue Team couldn’t even secure a top-eight spot. Getting fourth place this year surprised everyone.
“Will there be any changes in the team next year?” Shen Huai asked tactfully, genuinely hoping Song Xueyang would have strong teammates.
“Of course, check Weibo.”
Even if Shen Huai checked Weibo, he rarely saw news from the esports scene, but hearing Song Xueyang say this, he deliberately looked it up. He didn’t expect that after this year’s competition, the Fengyue Team had two retirements and one transfer!
Retirement sounded nice, but Shen Huai immediately saw it as being fired. Otherwise, these two weren’t old enough to retire, and it just so happened they were among the weaker players in the team.
Before Shen Huai could think more, the system successfully matched them with opponents.
Unlike the fixed arena for 1V1, the 2V2 map is randomly drawn from the game’s map library, with weather and time affecting the skills in the game.
This time, they got a desert map with wind and flame weather.
Wind attribute increases the distance of all mobility skills and the duration of speed skills, which is beneficial for Shen Huai’s Assassin. Flame attribute boosts fire attacks and weakens ice magic, and Song Xueyang’s alt was an Ice Mage.
Shen Huai went invisible to scout ahead. Their opponents were a Gunner and a Mage. The good news was they were both squishy classes; the bad news was both had fire damage skills.
Song Xueyang’s Mage ran into them head-on. The two couldn’t see the invisible Assassin and thought the enemy Ice Mage was alone, so they focused their fire.
Song Xueyang remained calm, using Ice Shackles to lock down the Mage and the area attack “Frostfall” to slow the Gunner. Fire Mages have a long-range speed skill that normal slows can’t stop, while the Gunner’s mobility skills are short, so constant slowing can handle them.
Even when surrounded, Song Xueyang could accurately assess the situation immediately.
The Mage, breaking free from control, decisively activated Flame Traverse, speeding forward and damaging all enemies in his path. With the map’s wind attribute boost, the Mage’s speed was incredibly fast, almost catching up to the short-legged Ice Mage, when suddenly an ice wall rose, blocking his path.
By now, he had distanced himself from his teammate. Song Xueyang had created a perfect opportunity for Shen Huai to attack. He broke invisibility, his blade flashing coldly, executing the highest burst combo with precision!
The Mage only realized there was an invisible Assassin nearby when it was too late to escape.
The moment Shen Huai broke invisibility, Song Xueyang seamlessly used the ultimate move Icebound World to immobilize, followed by the ultimate Blizzard. The Ice Mage’s double ultimate combo was practically unbeatable on the battlefield; once unleashed, it was a massacre. The Gunner, arriving just in time, unfortunately entered the attack range and was instantly reduced to low health by the two moves.
Shen Huai’s blades danced, decisively taking both kills, and the screen flashed with two golden words—Victory!
Playing 2V2 with Song Xueyang was incredibly easy. He not only always created opportunities for Shen Huai but could also predict his intentions. Like just now, if it were anyone else as a teammate, Shen Huai would have to mark the attack target, but because it was Song Xueyang, he didn’t need to waste that time.
Shen Huai sent a thumbs-up, “Next year, you’ll definitely get the trophy.”
The reply came quickly, “If you join Fengyue, I can win the championship.”