Chapter 336 - 314: Occupying the Death Bell Tower
"What? Brother Fei’s beheading squad lost control? How did this happen?" As expected, this was Ma Yinglong and Bu Feiyan’s first reaction.
Da Fei silently sighed and had to continue making excuses: "There is no gain without loss, strength always comes with a price. Anyway, I can’t control that squad now, everyone just be careful."
When it comes to his core secrets, Da Fei would definitely not reveal a single word, and that’s how all the experts act, isn’t it? If it were not for the fact that he’d seen his teammates preparing to fight together against outsiders, Da Fei wouldn’t even bother to notify them.
"Who else knows about this?" Their second reaction was somewhat unexpected to Da Fei.
Da Fei said in surprise: "A friend..."
Ma Yinglong urgently said: "Brother Fei, make sure your friend keeps it a secret quickly. Once it gets out and foreign players know about it, you’ll be in danger!"
Bu Feiyan also quickly replied: "Where are your coordinates? We’ll see if we can figure out a way to come to your aid!"
Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched, damn! There’s even such consideration! I was really careless! Although it’s unlikely that Fleeting Blossom would deliberately mess with me, what if she can’t hold her breath and complains to her friends, and then it spreads... wouldn’t that screw everything up?
Da Fei immediately messaged Harem Beauty to keep her mouth shut, and then... wait! This incident reminded me, the world is full of dangers! How close am I to you all? My reputation has been completely tarnished, why should I still expect care from bigwigs in large guilds? In the end, it’s just because I’m useful! My primary value was to start with a bang to scare the enemies, attract hatred, and act as a target!
Now that I’ve lost the beheading squad, what value is left? Only the lucky Divine Artifact and a final desperate fight to the death with the enemy! If I revealed my coordinates and you guys sold me out behind my back, wouldn’t I be unjustly killed fighting against the whole world? Anyway, one must always be wary of others.
Da Fei smiled faintly: "No need to bother, there are no China Region players within hundreds of coordinates around me. Anyway, I’m just an amateur player who has already killed two, and that’s enough for me. The rest is just about guerrilla warfare. You guys stick to your plans and don’t worry about me, I still have the Divine Artifact up my sleeve."
Bu Feiyan chuckled: "Then Brother Fei, take care of yourself. If you run into players from our guild, you can always ask for help."
"Definitely!"
Da Fei sighed helplessly again. The world is dangerous, right? This is exactly why I don’t like being with other players. Otherwise, where would all these troubles come from? And that Fleeting Blossom wouldn’t sell my coordinates, would she?
Of course, what Da Fei didn’t realize was that Ma Yinglong and Bu Feiyan were relieved at this point! To be honest, the strength that Da Fei had shown was even frightening to them! If he continued to be so awesome, how could they cope with that? His loss of control indicates that Da Fei has weaknesses! For professional players, it’s not about how awesome you are, it’s about whether you have weaknesses.
No matter what, the professional guilds have never placed their hopes of victory on an amateur player. Da Fei’s early intimidation of foreign players had already bought a lot of time for the China Region’s professional players to regroup. Anyway, Da Fei can cool off for now. The only variable is to see who gets hindered more by Da Fei’s annoying squad. It would be best if they were eliminated by foreign professional players to save us the trouble. For professional players, uncontrollable factors are the most annoying.
......
At this moment, Fleeting Blossom’s troops endured the barrage from Da Fei’s uncontrollable Flying Army as they made a tactical retreat from the tower. Fleeting Blossom’s heart was bleeding with anger and her teeth itched with hate!
Initially, they were supposed to reach the bell tower and then make a detour to retreat. But now, Da Fei’s "rebel" forces had directly occupied the tower! From the high position in the tower, Da Fei’s forces had the advantage of range and power. They could shoot at Fleeting Blossom, but Fleeting Blossom’s forces couldn’t shoot back at them! This was definitely computer-level operation! The squad had truly lost control!
Speaking of computer-level operations, Fleeting Blossom remembered the painful scene of the Spanish player they had just encircled. That Spanish player was definitely professional, and their operations were definitely computer-level. Earlier, when she counter-attacked, she had the upper hand, but still suffered heavy casualties and couldn’t take him down! And her own Longbowman... where the hell were they stuck in the alleyways, unable to join the battle! This is infuriating!
Legend has it, what would happen if 10 archers from an ordinary player faced off against 10 archers from a professional player? The result would be 10 to 0! Fleeting Blossom didn’t believe it before, but she does now, after having witnessed the legendary Extreme Step Shooting in the alley fight.
What is Extreme Step Shooting? Also known as Phantom Step, it means that the archer takes a step forward just enough to hit the opponent, and one step back to be out of the opponent’s range, while also avoiding being hit. This is precise operation achieved within the small time difference between drawing and aiming the bow.
And this maneuver is just the basics because the damage dealt by Extreme Shooting of archers is very minor, so it’s also essential to master focused fire in stride, ensuring that your troops can inflict casualties on the enemy as soon as they engage. In professional gamers’ battles, merely injuring troops is meaningless. Timely withdrawal of wounded soldiers from the front line is the most fundamental skill, and it’s much simpler than striding. After mastering the basic stride and targeted shooting, one must continue training to increase the number of troops they can control.
Of course, even this isn’t enough. Top professional players also take into account the influence of terrain and wind direction in an instant, reaching a state comparable to human computers, which is beyond normal human capability.
So when casual gamers arrogantly think that since everyone has archers, who’s afraid of whom, and just push their troops forward, in that instant they enter firing range, they only see the enemy troops waver like phantoms, followed by a barrage of misses, while their own side suffers casualties in a row. This is the origin of Phantom Step.
In short, the title of "professional gamer" isn’t claimed without reason. They undergo monotonous and arduous training that’s unimaginable to ordinary players, requiring not just effort but talent too. Those who get overwhelmed with more troops and blink to find their soldiers dead, should honestly stick to casual gaming; they simply lack the talent. That’s why professional gamers can create miracles with a minimal number of troops that ordinary players can’t even fathom.
At this point, Fleeting Blossom was like a crumbling mountain, her confidence severely battered. Spanish professional gamers aren’t considered top-notch in the world, so what if she were up against the legendary Korean masters known as human computers?
It looks like I’ve been too naive. I thought that as long as I secured a strategic and economic advantage, I could steamroll with sheer numbers. But it seems someone mighty once said, without effective execution, the best strategies and tactics amount to nothing. It’s not as if there hasn’t been an incident where thousands of Persian troops were trampled by 300 Spartans. I just got "Spartan-ed" myself!
Forget it, I’m not cut out for this. Better to stick as an ordinary Gold Coin gamer, earning money is fine, no need to deliberately compete for rankings anymore.
The defeated troops fled and finally made it out of the tower’s shooting range. Without other tall buildings around, if Brother Fei’s out-of-control troops continued pursuing, Fleeting Blossom’s troops could stand a chance. But fortunately, the out-of-control troops didn’t waste their energy on a futile chase, not pursuing when they saw no advantage. Thankfully, that Spanish gamer seemed scared enough by Brother Fei not to give chase; otherwise, I would have been done for.
Fleeting Blossom did a headcount of her troops – from a grand entrance of 2,500 soldiers, she had lost 320! About 100 were killed by the Spanish gamer, while she killed less than 20 of his. The remaining 200+ were killed by Brother Fei’s high-level troops occupying the Bell Tower.
The more Little Fang thought about it, the more indignant she became. Could it be that Brother Fei did it on purpose? There are so many positions nearby he didn’t call me for, why insist on this Bell Tower! But it had to be said, this Bell Tower indeed stood out like a crane among chickens in this cluster of buildings. If I were him, perhaps I would have subconsciously noticed here too?
Just then—Dang!!! A deep bell tolled from the top of the tower, resounding through the battlefield!
—Battlefield information: China Region player "Brother Fei" has occupied the Death Bell Tower, obtaining a competition reward of 10,000 Gold Coins and the rights to recruit Stone-statue Gargoyle Watchers. Other players can contest for the Death Bell Tower to obtain the occupation rights for Stone-statue Gargoyle Watchers!
Instantly, all the gamers on the Ancient City Ruins battlefield turned their heads towards the Tower where the bell sounded, causing a stir in the command centers behind the scenes!
Only then did Fleeting Blossom realize, the Bell Tower was a troop recruitment structure on the battlefield, no wonder it was so eye-catching! This Brother Fei is quite formidable, isn’t he? Just not sure what level the Stone-statue Gargoyle Watchers are? Are they only for the competition, or are they also awarded to the player after the competition?
Amidst her surprise, Little Li next to her shouted, "Brother Fei has spoken, he said for you to hurry to the designated rendezvous point, he won’t wait for you!"
Pfft! Acting all high and mighty! Originally, Fleeting Blossom teamed up with Brother Fei before the match, hoping for a strong alliance to stir up some trouble and fish for some ranking bonuses and fame. But with the current terrain, having witnessed the power of professional players, and considering the alliance situation in other regions, Fleeting Blossom is feeling a bit disheartened. If she encounters a foreign opponent on her way to regroup, she’s certain to be doomed.
So, better not to. After all, I’m still the number one Female Lord in the China Region. It would be beneath my feminine dignity to be looked down upon by such a ruffian like Brother Fei, and it would be detrimental to my future social interactions if it got out. I’d rather take my own chances.
At that moment, the Spanish gamer’s troops finally mobilized, aiming for the Tower!
Fleeting Blossom firmly decided, "Honey, reply to Brother Fei and thank him for his help. Now I’d like to return the favor by helping him guard the tower!"
Little Li exclaimed in surprise, "Are you serious? Weren’t you just lamenting your losses? What will you defend with? How will you help?"
Fleeting Blossom laughed, "If I’m not wrong, Brother Fei’s troop’s AI program is designed to attack the weak, so as long as I keep all my troops fortified inside the rooms, he probably won’t attack if he sees no advantage in doing so. Anyway, I’m no longer that interested in the competition, let’s just make this a personal connection."
(Yesterday was the first week back to work after the new year, and I started with inspections. I’m exhausted and got writer’s block, sorry everyone) (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to go to qidian.com to vote for it, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)