Chapter 57: Old Hu's Tactic

At this very moment, Old Hu's HP had been depleted by nearly thirty percent from the attacks of the "Champion Rapier," and the offensive skills were still actively unfolding.

"The Champion Rapier's move looks extremely powerful, but in reality, it hasn't drained all that much health," Ye Lingxue murmured softly, her eyes narrowing slightly. Having a thorough understanding of the Champion Rapier, she knew very well that the skill he was currently displaying was completely brand new, one that had never been revealed in his previous DYTV live broadcasts. It seemed he had deliberately prepared it to deal with this particular PK match, clearly determined to safeguard his reputation.

"His skill is fundamentally designed for sustained damage output, which is how it works," a woman beside her said with a hint of perplexity. "Even though you disfavor watching players on any streaming platforms, you still shouldn't underestimate the skills these people have created since the custom talent skill tree was introduced. This skill also carries additional lingering effects, such as life-draining and mana-reduction. Although the initial output isn't terribly high, over time, the cumulative effect is bound to be quite substantial. What's more, it seems he had to scale back quite a few numerical stats in order to successfully create this skill in the first place."

Judging by the skill design of the "Champion Rapier," its utility seemed better suited for magic-category classes. Therefore, to compensate for the excess numerical values, he had no choice but to preserve as much of his original mobility and inherent advantages as the prerequisite.

By stacking certain pieces of equipment with corresponding attributes, one could amplify the missing aspects of the skill. However, since the Champion Rapier was fundamentally a physical sword-wielding class, the damage calculation of this skill undoubtedly incorporated magic-category damage as well. Ye Lingxue had perceived this, and Ye Yu, watching closely from nearby, had also picked up on it.

Typically in such PvP battles, no one should rely too heavily on elemental resistances, and the Champion Rapier had seized upon this exact weakness to craft a skill specifically tailored for the PvP arena.

As Ye Yu watched the battle unfolding before him, the corners of his lips couldn't help but curl upward into an elusive arc.

"This skill doesn't seem to possess all that much raw output. If Old Hu manages to withstand it, this could very well turn into his opportunity for a comeback," Luo Feng remarked, naturally speaking from his own understanding, though his observations lacked the meticulous depth of Ye Yu's.

"Not necessarily. This skill isn't as simple as it looks," Ye Yu said, shaking his head after a brief silence. "The opponent is likely relying on some five-element attributes to switch and stack damage-amplification buffs. This continuous attack incorporates both fire and earth attributes. As you know, fire combined with earth yields quite potent synergy. Evidently, this skill contains components of stackable buffs; once those buffs reach a certain threshold, the numerical damage output will become astronomical."

Hearing Ye Yu's words, the expressions of the group gradually grew solemn. While everyone was well aware of Old Hu's strength, his opponent was no weakling either. Moreover, as a hired booster in the professional leveling industry, his battle experience went without saying.

"In that case, Old Hu..."

Qu Zheng's expression turned worried, bordering on anxious. Just as he was about to ask, Ye Yu continued, "Our comrade Old Hu should have used a damage-reduction skill, one that possesses such passive attribute amplification built directly into the custom talent skill tree. Then, he timed his escape just before the skill could inflict the negative sluggishness status effect upon him. Otherwise, he would have stood no chance of defeating the Champion Rapier."

On the battlefield, Old Hu broke free directly from the Champion Rapier's continuous attack skill, his figure flashing as he landed in the opposite corner of the map. With that movement, he abruptly triggered the map's hidden trap mechanism. A deafening "snap" echoed sharply, and a ferocious beast gradually materialized behind Old Hu. The creature resembled a tiger in appearance, with razor-sharp fangs reaching thirty centimeters in length, and terrifying claws measuring fifty centimeters long. Catching the glare of the sunlight, these sharp blade-like teeth refracted a blinding, dazzling light.

The beast let out a thunderous roar and lunged straight toward Old Hu, who was the closest target. Up close, the tiger-like beast was considerably larger than a truck. Clearly, if it landed a fatal strike, Old Hu would be driven straight to the brink of death.

Seeing Old Hu's action, the entire audience erupted into a flurry of commotion, assuming that Old Hu had practically sabotaged himself. To trigger such a trap mechanism when the situation was already disadvantageous was undoubtedly accelerating his own demise—it was sheer, absolute foolishness.

The trap mechanism that summoned this fierce beast was designed to force enemies into stepping on it, because the beast's damage values were twice as high as the stats of the players currently fighting on the arena floor. Flustered and panicked, players would fall into an absolute disadvantage whether they were hit by the enemy or the beast.

The beast's target-prioritization system first attacked the person who released it, and afterward shifted to the player who dealt it the highest amount of damage. The beast could also be killed, possessing an HP pool identical to that of the players fighting in the arena.

"Is this Guardian-class player a bit stupid?"

"He's been completely flustered by the Champion Rapier, panicking to this extent—it's honestly hilarious!"

"Indeed, he's acting like a headless chicken, actually triggering a trap mechanism like that himself. If he wanted to lose, he didn't need to be in such a rush, did he?"

By this time, the players in the audience seats were buzzing with discussion, many of their remarks mocking Old Hu's actions as utterly foolish.

However, the expressions of Ye Lingxue and the other two shifted slightly as they gazed at the Guardian-class player's figure on the arena. In fact, Ye Lingxue and Ye Yu, who was watching closely from nearby, simultaneously curved the corners of their mouths into the exact same arc.

It was a rare synchronization in the expressions of the two siblings. Neither Ye Yu nor Ye Lingxue had managed to locate each other's exact position in the crowd, yet their subconscious smiles matched up.

"What on earth is that guy Old Hu playing at?" Qu Zheng asked anxiously.

"Is he giving up on himself? No matter what, he doesn't look like the kind of person who would make such a low-level mistake!" Huang Hong chimed in, filled with deep doubt.

Ye Yu, resting his chin on his hand with a slightly sleepy expression, saw the smile at the corner of his mouth broaden as his eyes gradually grew focused and intensely concentrated. "All I will say is that this map happens to align quite well with Old Hu. It's entirely possible that today we'll witness skills from Old Hu that we've never seen before. Let's not forget, our Old Hu used to be a player who rolled around on the edge of a blade. Compared to that, the arena feels somewhat like children playing house."

The moment the fierce beast materialized, it bolted straight toward Old Hu's location. Simultaneously, the Champion Rapier flashed across the terrain to close the distance, wielding the Excalibur in his hand as long-range sword Qi slashed through the air toward Old Hu's position.

"Don't think that tricking me into attacking the beast will give you a chance to transfer its aggro."

The Champion Rapier had clearly seen through Old Hu's intentions, saying with a cold laugh. For the moment, he didn't seem overly hurried, only occasionally unleashing slashes of sword Qi for attacks.

Ye Yu and his companions naturally heard what the Champion Rapier said on the field. Upon witnessing this, Ye Yu paused for a moment and said coldly, "As expected of a professional booster; such combat experience and caution are quite formidable."

Waiting for the precise moment, just as the fierce beast behind him lunged, Old Hu sidestepped sharply, reversing his grip on his heavy sword to sweep it horizontally. The edge of the greatsword crossed paths directly with the beast's razor-sharp claws, sending a shower of sparks flying from the intense friction.

Leveraging this sidestep to evade, Old Hu leaped directly into the air, executed a 360-degree somersault, and landed smoothly behind the beast. The beast abruptly halted its forward charge and attempted to pivot around, but Old Hu initiated his assault first. With a single forward step, his heavy sword descended in a vertical slash, transforming into a translucent, luminous afterimage that swept past the beast's back and halted right before its eyes—positioning itself precisely between the Champion Rapier and the beast. Utilizing another flash of movement, Old Hu closed the distance to the Champion Rapier.

The Champion Rapier's cautious nerves were stretched to their absolute limit. Upon witnessing this scene, he cursed angrily, "Damn bastard, how dare he try to scheme against me like this!"

Even as he shouted, the Champion Rapier was already retreating at full speed, abandoning the Old Hu who had managed to get close to him. Raising his Excalibur, he targeted the beast instead, unleashing three streams of sword Qi that shot directly toward the creature.

Just as the three golden-flashing sword Qi attacks were about to strike the beast, dense waves of ancient literary script surged beneath the beast's paws, forming a swirling vortex that instantly swallowed its form.

"Why is the Champion Rapier deliberately attacking the beast? It's been chasing him this whole time," Qu Zheng asked Ye Yu, looking more and more bewildered. "Won't the damage the Champion Rapier deals to the beast exceed Old Hu's damage? Doesn't that mean the beast's target will transfer onto the Champion Rapier?"

"This beast isn't that easy to deal with," Ye Yu said thoughtfully, resting his chin in his hand. "I can only say that the Champion Rapier truly lives up to his reputation as a professional booster, and as a somewhat famous streamer in the *Gods' Demise* section. Naturally, he's quite well-versed in these matters. If you don't kill this beast, Old Hu will simply choose to hide behind it. If you don't use sword Qi skills to attack, Old Hu will just slip past the beast, using instantaneous dashes to close the distance between them."

Most skills of sword-wielding classes like the Champion Rapier specialized in long-range sword Qi attacks. In close-quarters combat, they were no match for a Guardian-class player who excelled in both physical strength and defense, especially since an old hand and veteran like Old Hu wasn't someone easily dealt with.

"I see. But if he uses skill attacks, Old Hu can sidestep to dodge them, forcing the Champion Rapier's skill attacks to land on the beast instead. That way, Old Hu and the beast can team up to attack the Champion Rapier."

Listening to Qu Zheng, Ye Yu nodded slightly and said, "Old Hu's Guardian-class agility is no lower than the Champion Rapier's. If it weren't for the Champion Rapier's passive skills specifically boosting his agility, the two of them would be evenly matched in speed. Furthermore, Old Hu's equipment is primarily light-type, which doesn't hinder his agile footwork. It's quite easy for Old Hu to dodge the beast's attacks, and equally easy for an agile swordsman like the Champion Rapier. The drawback, however, is that it exposes a vulnerability: he is forced to use skills to cope with Old Hu closing in. Therefore, having the beast on the field is quite a troublesome headache for the Champion Rapier—dealing with it is bad, but ignoring it is worse. That's why the Champion Rapier intends to eliminate this beast first. Otherwise, once Old Hu and the beast indirectly team up against him on the field, any existing advantage he has will instantly vanish into thin air, plunging him into an absolute disadvantage."

"That strategy is quite profound. I can't believe Old Hu came up with something like that," Huang Hong nodded in praise.

"This is Old Hu's tactical plan. Clearly, the moment he saw this map, this guy had already thought of a countermeasure," Ye Yu said with a smile, though a hint of worry lingered in his eyes. After all, this fierce beast wasn't so easily disposed of; while its health pool was comparable to theirs, its other attributes surpassed theirs, and its AI belonged to the Boss tier—not to be underestimated.

Taking advantage of the brief window while the Champion Rapier was engaged with the beast, Old Hu seized the moment when his opponent was distracted to dash straight toward the Champion Rapier, rapidly closing the gap between them.

Old Hu flashed forward, and the Champion Rapier immediately sensed it, keeping a corner of his eye trained on Old Hu at all times. Yet every single time he momentarily looked away, he found that this fellow had already closed into melee range. It was only by forcefully exploding his internal energy outward that the Champion Rapier managed to blast Old Hu backward.

Seizing the opportunity, the Champion Rapier unleashed two skill attacks directly at the beast. Because the Champion Rapier's skills were predominantly instantaneous-cast, their raw damage output was slightly lacking. Nevertheless, after a few consecutive skills, the beast's health had plummeted to a mere thirty percent.

Hesitating for a fleeting moment, the Champion Rapier actually began to channel his energy, clearly preparing a skill powerful enough to instantly slay the beast with a single blow.

Yet at that exact instant, Old Hu's eyes narrowed slightly. He clearly caught the Champion Rapier's channeling motion and saw that his opponent's gaze was entirely locked onto the beast.

The opportunity...

Has arrived!