Central Square, some people also noticed the confrontation displayed on a certain water screen: “Come see! Yu Weize is facing off against Grave!”
As the words fell, the crowd that had originally gathered around other water screens suddenly surged over.
Undoubtedly, from the start of the event until now, there hadn’t been a moment’s respite on the underwater continent. However, due to the vastness of the map, encounters weren’t easily come by. Many people eagerly anticipated witnessing direct clashes between those top-tier experts.
Let the battle begin!
From this God-like perspective, it was indeed the combination of Grave and Dry Bones from the Rattlesnake Guild who initiated the attack. However, only the involved parties knew that although there was no preemptive charge, Jiang Shi and Han Yuze had actually made preparations in advance.
Grave saw the elven character standing next to Han Yuze from afar. Since Rune Masters were usually scarce, he instinctively assumed the opponent specialized in the Shaman profession.
It was only at the moment of reaching the extreme range that he realized, observing a rune field rising from the ground, “They also have a Rune Master!”
“A Rune Master? He’s unlucky running into you then, isn’t he?” Dry Bones specialized as a firearms expert from the Mechanical City. Utilizing a spray of bullets in close proximity, he created a spellcasting environment for Grave, swiftly dodging the wave of miniature machines advancing. He decisively said, “Prioritize creating a favorable geographical environment. Let’s see if we can take down that Light Elf first.”
Both players were from the Rattlesnake Guild, and Dry Bones had crossed paths with Jiang Shi and Han Yuze before. Knowing they wouldn’t easily gain an advantage, leveraging their current partnership advantage, they naturally directed their focus towards Yu Weize’s teammate.
In a competitive arena, this wouldn’t be a wise choice. However, the Light Elf on the other side seemed to be an unknown average player. As long as they could find an opportunity to eliminate them in one go, handling Fish in the Pond afterwards would undoubtedly be much easier.
“Average player.” Jiang Shi glanced at Dry Bones’ positioning and instantly understood, unable to resist a smile, “Looks like they’re targeting me.”
Han Yuze replied, “Whoever targets you, I’ll take them down first.”
Jiang Shi gestured towards the side, “There, it’s him.”
It sounded much like reporting an issue.
In just a short moment, Dry Bones had adjusted several shooting angles. However, he quickly realized that the opponent’s speed in setting up the rune field was far faster than he had imagined.
Both being ranged attackers, the rune fields nearly blocked his movements at the absolute limit. Despite consisting of common negative effects like slowing down and continuous bleeding, they caused severe disruption to his tactics.
Several surefire explosive shots that he had in hand missed their mark.
Dry Bones furrowed his brow, “This Rune Master…”
Grave added, “He’s got something.”
As a top-tier Rune Master player, Grave could see the opponent’s considerable strength just from the speed of placing the rune field. Impressed, he became even more serious.
Since the start, Grave hadn’t stopped his actions.
His own rune field spread out layer by layer in the surrounding area, different rune formations overlapping and intertwining. At times, it became difficult to discern which belonged to friendly forces and which were the enemy’s, causing a complete visual confusion.
From the god-like view in front of the Central Square water screen, the initially empty battlefield was now entirely covered in densely packed rune fields.
Someone couldn’t help but gasp.
Grave, the widely known top Rune Master expert, had repeatedly showcased his extreme speed in setting up formations in countless past matches for the audience.
Yet, at this moment, it was evident that the opponent and the Rune Master from Yu Weize’s team were no less competent than Grave!
Both sides appeared evenly matched, arranging large swaths of runes at an almost equal speed, completing the placement of the entire rune field in tandem.
Within this densely packed field, the four figures swiftly maneuvered. Each person was almost entirely covered with various DEBUFFs, yet it had no impact on the intensity of the confrontation.
“The Rune Master from God Yu’s team… seems quite impressive.”
Someone sighed in admiration, prompting a nearby person to return to reality, hesitantly saying, “Is it just my imagination? I feel like Grave’s speed in setting up formations seems a bit slow?”
A player rubbed their eyes trying to see the situation on the field but got lost in the sea of rune fields, giving up in frustration, “Really? Looks about the same to me.”
“It’s true!”
The player who first proposed this idea now spoke with conviction, “They’re almost two fields ahead already!”
At the same time, Grave, covering for the partner from behind the scenes, spoke more seriously, “Be careful; that Rune Master is placing fields faster than me.”
Having just utilized firepower to suppress and push back Han Yuze’s wave of mechanical soldiers, Dry Bones agilely sidestepped as a rune field suddenly rose from the ground beneath his feet, narrowly avoiding it.
Seeing his dwindling health points amidst the consumption process, he couldn’t help but feel uncertain, “Apart from speed, have you noticed anything strange about the opponent’s rune field?”
“Noticed it; his field’s range is wider than mine. It should be an effect from the equipped items.” Grave felt a bit frustrated. As a top Rune Master player, suddenly discovering being outdone in skills was one thing, but even the special effect items Yu Weize brought with them from joining the Seven Silver Coins, supposedly just an ordinary guild, were overwhelming him. It was undoubtedly a blow to his pride.
Not only was his skill inferior, but even the hardware wasn’t in his league.
While sighing internally, Grave swiftly adjusted his mood and tactically suggested, “The Rune Master’s background might not be so simple. Let’s hold off on them for now and fight normally. I’ll see if I can find an opportunity to distract Yu Weize later, and you save up for a strong burst when it happens.”
“Understood.” Dry Bones, floating, used his gun to push back a wave of mechanical spiders encroaching from the sides, somersaulting through the gaps between several rune fields, quickly closing the distance with Yu Weize. He unleashed a frenzied barrage directly at them.
This swift and decisive shift of focus was impressive, but Han Yuze was never one to take a loss lying down.
While his health points dropped slightly, knowing he couldn’t evade, he unleashed a few mechanical units, activating a vulnerability effect. Despite distancing himself again from Dry Bones, he detonated the units, causing a substantial loss of health for his opponent.
“Yu Weize operates at such extreme levels.” Dry Bones thought he had retreated decisively but unexpectedly faced a counterattack. Without hesitation, he moved towards Grave’s direction.
In this dimension map where no blood or magic potions could be used, they could only rely on the Light Elf’s secondary profession’s minor healing spell.
In this normal situation where both sides have about half of their health, adjusting status should be the most appropriate choice. However, unexpectedly, when Dry Bones retreated, the mechanic who had just been targeted by him came forward instead.
“Is he actually planning to fight it out? For some reason, when such a thought came to mind, Dry Bones felt his heart skip a beat. He continued to dodge the annoying rune field interference with his superb positioning skills. As soon as he saw that he had entered the range of Grave’s healing skill, he was about to let out a sigh of relief, but then he saw a new rune field rise up in front of him, right in front of Han Yuze’s position.
Did you make a mistake? Dry Bones asked, looking at the obviously incomprehensible field location.
In response, Grave spoke with an extremely subtle tone: “The effect of this field…”
At this time, Dry Bones naturally also noticed that Han Yuze’s health was continuously recovering in the field area. He also looked somewhat unwell: “This is, a recovery field?!”
The Rattlesnake Guild had recently acquired formulas for two types of runestones, which weren’t a secret for internal professional players. They had been training and refining their cooperation during regular training sessions. However, in order to take their opponents by surprise in the next World Cup season, the use of these outside the training grounds was strictly prohibited.
The effects of these two runestones are indeed exceptional. After trying them out, Grave became enamored and has been eager to know whose hands the formulas came from. However, no matter how much he inquired, whether from Rattlesnake’s Malediction or the Guild Elder, they always responded with, “Cannot be revealed.”
However, things seemed different now. By a twist of fate, had he accidentally encountered the actual person behind it all?
Following a continuous wave of enhancements, the health points of the damage dealers on both sides directly diverged.
Under Grave’s stunned gaze, he finally remembered to look back at the Rune Master. As his eyes scanned to where they were standing, his heart suddenly lurched, “Don’t come back, counter-attack!”
At the exact moment the words fell, he set up a stun field right in front of Dry Bones at the extreme range. Even if it was for a brief moment, he attempted to create a few seconds of an output environment for his partner.
However, unexpectedly, another rune field almost overlapped with this stun field’s location.
Precisely, it trapped both Han Yuze and Dry Bones within it.
At the moment of contact, the two figures flickered and disappeared from the scene altogether.
Grave had lost count of how many times his heart had skipped a beat, but there was nothing he could do.
As he looked toward the side, the two vanished figures reappeared together within that densely layered rune field.
What initially seemed to be an arbitrary arrangement of fields now appeared like a tightly woven wall, completely surrounding the two who had been teleported into the space using rune teleportation.
Obviously, it had been a pre-set dead-end from the start.
Dry Bones had already displayed lightning-fast reflexes, instantly activating an explosive mode to forcibly swap out Han Yuze. However, the latter didn’t give him any chance for close combat, cheerfully using the mechanical detonation’s recoil to create distance. With a group of little mechanical helpers, he swiftly depleted Dry Bones’ health points before he could recover.
On the other side, Grave, who had initially chosen to retreat, hadn’t even turned around when he saw the Light Elf manipulating the cross standing behind him. The Elf gently weighed the runestone in his hand and said, “Meeting is fate, don’t be in such a hurry to leave.”
Grave: “…”
Pausing for a moment, he asked, “Were both runestone formulas from our guild sold by you?”
Jiang Shi politely smiled, “Yes, it was me.”
Garve: “…Who are you exactly?”
Jiang Shi blinked strangely, “Isn’t my in-game ID right here?”
Grave: “…”
Once Han Yuze dealt with Dry Bones in the damage dealing position and returned, Grave had no choice but to be eliminated without any resistance.
After the kill was completed, the points were transferred, and the two who were originally at the bottom of the rankings directly ascended to the top 50.
Jiang Shi picked up the rare materials scattered on the ground, and his eyes gleamed slightly, “This is much more profitable than snatching Wilderness BOSS.”
“If those two heard your words just now, they’d probably rage-quit on the spot,” Han Yuze teased in a seemingly righteous manner, then chuckled, “But you’re right; it’s indeed profitable.”
There was a moment of silence in front of the Central Square’s water screen.
Only after watching the two on screen leave with their earnings did someone hesitantly speak up, “What was that about the rune fields just now?”
Once this was said, others seemed to snap back to reality and began discussing.
“That was teleportation? Is there such a runestone? I’ve never seen one!”
“Regardless of whether it was a teleportation or not, just the Rune Master’s maneuvers, why did it seem like Grave was suppressed the entire time?!”
“Materials Main Acoount, this ID… I thought it was just a random passerby that Yu Weize picked up.”
“A passerby? Have you ever seen such an impressive passerby?”
“It feels like every move was directly arranging the output space for God Yu, which is too incredible!”
“Have we had such an awesome Rune Master before? Or did someone change their name?”
“There aren’t many people playing as Rune Masters nowadays. All the top players are on the leaderboard. Check if someone changed their name!”
“Ah, this… it can’t be someone’s alternate account, right?”
“Even an alternate account wouldn’t overpower Grave! After all, he’s the current top-ranked Rune Master. Which gaming god could create an alternate account and directly overthrow the top position?”
In the end, the more they guessed, the more they lacked an answer, leaving everyone looking at each other in bewilderment.
So, who exactly is this Rune Master partnering with Yu Weize?!