Glory [e-sports] - Chapter 276

Translated by 🎏 Edited by apricot, @babyybluebear

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All the players in Moonlight Wetland were left on edge after First Blood was taken.

They had considered running at the sight of Close; after all, the early stage of the game was to scale and farm up. The Great Demon King had a bonus ability, gold and experience from claiming First Blood – if they didn’t run, wouldn’t they just be left waiting to be devoured!

But their evasiveness instead created openings for Close.

A hundred player free-for-all did allow for alliances to be formed, but there was no system protection in place. It would be hard to determine who remained standing in the end, but if everyone focused their abilities on one person, ten lives would not be enough for the Great Demon King. SZTmdh

Unfortunately, everyone could only think of hiding away, remaining cautious and levelling up.

Lu Feng knew that, so, relying on his superior economy and level, he seized the opportunity to launch an offensive.

Apart from First Blood which was announced in the global channel, other kills were announced in the local channel for those within the same zone. Therefore, even if the players at Moonlight Wetland could not see Close, they could follow him through the endless kills that he was racking up.

That kind of kill count? 7c2Ifv

That amount of EXP and resources?

Fight? As if. They had to swiftly break into the central zone; it was impossible to remain in the Moonlight Wetland anymore!

They weren’t wrong. Close was oppressing the entire Zone A. He had enough ability points to start building a second talent, whereas other players weren’t even through with their first one. Rather than a 1v1, it was actually a 2v1 – and two of Close at that. There was no way they stood a chance.

It wasn’t against the rules, of course; whether it was the Glory Rift or the Sky Island of Light, one had to farm. P4HhAL

All of them had landed upon a level 0 battleground, yet where his opponents were at level 4, Close had already hit level 7. This, in and of itself, reflected a player’s skill.

Picking up items could be passed off as a stroke of luck.

Cleanly seizing First Blood and accumulating power with kills to get to where he was now just went to show that Close’s strength was out of the world!

That he had yet to use the bonus ability conferred by taking First Blood was him ‘going easy’ on the players in the Moonlight Wetland. q5HgXS

Brother Big Mouth couldn’t hold back his praise, gushing in great detail about how exactly Close had done this-and-that to execute this string of kills. He finally concluded that “Close is amazing!”

On the other hand, the glib-tongued Wei Xiao was smiling calmly and unable to hide the delight in his eyes. The reserved act that he was putting on was one that only he could pull off and remain so likeable.

“Chill…” Wei Xiao puffed up. “That’s nothing special for my captain.”

Brother Big Mouth: “…………” REPkjg

The viewers: “…………”

Likeable, my ass. He was clearly baiting a long queue of people for a fight!

Despite passing it off as nothing special, when he finally got the chance to speak, he started deep diving into the minutiae of exactly how Close had managed to gloriously attain this string of ten kills.

His praise was even nicer to the ears than Brother Big Mouth and spoken in even more detail. His talking speed was not too fast, with every word enunciated clearly. Quiet’s slow and detailed analysis was a stark contrast to the visuals of Close’s bloody massacre, yet formed an unexpectedly harmonious picture. 4dmsZQ

However, the sheer size of Moonlight Wetland left Close roaming the map after he had cleared out the players in the surrounding area. The observer could finally give some screen time to the other zones.

Each of the outer zones had at least one fearsome player. While they might not have crushed everyone as badly as Close had, they still made for an action-packed show.

Over in Zone B, Battlesong Plains, was Kim Sung-hyun and Moonlit.

Battlesong Plains could be described as the perfect scene on the Sky Island of Light for a bloodbath.

It was a boundless plain with few obstructions. A shadow could be glimpsed from a hundred yards away; you had no choice but to fight!

New fans from his days with Pro panicked when they saw Kim Sung-hyun spawn there.

It was general knowledge that marksmen were precious treasures. Unprotected marksmen spawning at Battlesong Plains was tantamount to sending a sheep to a tiger’s mouth.

They would barely even realise it before they were dead!

Pro fans had no expectations of Kim Sung-hyun winning the solo tournament. However, dying in the outer zones, especially if it was at the hands of a lower ranked player, would be an indignity for him.

It was only the old fans who followed him from his time at FTW, Proud Flower Kim’s ‘Pollen’ fanclub, that remained cool as cucumbers.

As long as it wasn’t the labyrinth in Shining Gold Temple, this proud flower could still demolish the outer

zone.

Who said that marksmen couldn’t stand firm? Who said that Battlesong Plains wasn’t suited for marksmen?

God Kim was going to make them call him daddy right there and then!

Kim Sung-hyun started out with the Storm Hunter; the elegance of the lithe rain spirit was confusing and disorientating.

His appearance was beautiful and his abilities were alluring; it was a blast from the past. The lone beauty, Proud Flower Kim, appeared in the canyon!

Oh, right. Not the Canyon; they were at the Sky Island of Light now.

There was another person to watch out for at Zone B – RR’s Moonlit. Those from the Chinese competitive circuit naturally paid very close attention to this thorny opponent, but those outside China didn’t.

Coincidentally, Kim Sung-hyun and Moonlit were put on opposite ends of the Battlesong Plains. One bulldozed their way from east to west, while the other killed indiscriminately from west to east. Neither behaved like fragile aces; instead they spilled light and rain across the sky and stacked up thousands of layers of clouds.

Those who were initially worried for the proud flower watched on with gusto, and those who hadn’t paid much attention to Moonlit also turned to look, mesmerised.

The battle at Battlesong Plains, dominated by these two squishy talents, was exhilarating!

There were two other squishy talents in Zone C, Falling Star Lake – Xie He and Eurostar.

However, Falling Star Lake differed from Battlesong Plains in the way that the grumpy pufferfish was going crazy at the bottom of the lake while poor Eurowimp hid himself away.

Falling Star Lake could seriously make someone die of a violent temper. Today’s God Xie was like the proud flower in the opening game. While the latter was previously walloped hard at Shining Gold Temple, God Xie was now cast into Falling Star Lake. His movement speed slowed, abilities delayed, making it more challenging to kill someone – let alone having to rush to the surface of the lake simply to breathe.

The numerous setbacks really made everyone feel sorry for God Xie.

Was there really nowhere better to put him than the bottom of the lake?

One even had to break the surface of the water to breathe; was there no way for this pufferfish to actually breathe underwater?!

On the flip side, Falling Star Lake was advantageous for Eurostar. He innately had a more careful and timid nature, which gave him a knack for underwater exploration. Even if he met Xie He, he could still flee with a Raven Fall. His farming went well, but it remained uncertain whether or not he would be viciously targeted in the central ring and end up giving away his gold and items.

Let’s skip past Zone D to first take a look at Zone E.

In Zone E’s Thousand Needle Forest, Teacher Yuan was also exerting his dominance.

After Close took the first kill, he completed the second kill.

Whilst Close was on a killing spree at Moonlight Wetland, his head count followed closely behind.

If it weren’t for the Great Demon King rampaging across Zone A, Teacher Yuan could also have made history today with his magnificent performance!

North American fans, especially, were all focused on Zone E at first. Their eyes were locked onto Yuan Ze, hoping that Scum Man Yuan could make it from top 8 into top 4 and recover L&P’s honour!

Marshal’s play was outstanding, and the commentators at the North American stadium praised him to high heavens.

The fans were also thinking: “Dang, Marshal is definitely going to win the solo tournament!”

And then someone took a peek at Zone A and immediately went: “Fuck!”

It was one thing for Close to take First Blood, but what on earth was with the way he was flattening the wetland!

The North American broadcast observer configured a split-screen view with Moonlight Wetland on the left and Thousand Needle Forest on the right.

They almost couldn’t catch their breath following both Close and Marshal!

It was as though they were doing a tit for tat. They had not encountered each other yet, but already started their fight to the death.

The fight was so intense in the outer zones that one could scarcely imagine how exciting it would be when they reached the final elimination zone!

As for why Zone D was left for the last, that was because Shining Gold Temple was where the biggest upset had been in this year’s solo tournament.

Any player that was assigned to this zone would have a headache. A labyrinth was no laughing matter. It would refresh after every update, and therefore was easy to screw up no matter how well one knew the map.

Here, twenty players cautiously explored the map. Getting items had become a secondary concern; it would be a victory just making it to the central zone before the halo shrunk!

Little did anyone expect that regardless of how ridiculous the labyrinth was, enemies would always be sure to meet.

The defending champion team’s jungler, God Hai, had just picked up an iron sword when he rounded a corner and chanced upon a Shadow Thief.

After that…

An announcement that shocked the world appeared.

3U.Sleep killed Y1.Hai!

When that came out, countless people were baffled, especially fans of Y1. They were making fun of Xie He at Falling Star Lake just a moment ago, and the next thing they knew, God Hai was dead. Their brains were muddled with confusion.

Intense applause erupted from the Chinese stadium.

3U.Asleep lived up to his name as the best of the next generation. He actually killed the jungler from the defending world champion team, God Hai.

To round it off, FTW was going to emerge on top!

Was there anything wrong with this situation?

Not at all!

Just think about who was the one who had trained Asleep into the jungler he was today? One Lamp Grandmaster!

And who was One Lamp Grandmaster? That was Little Lunatic Wei!

Little Lunatic Wei’s most promising disciple, Brother Sleep, managed to solo kill God Hai and eliminate him from the solo tournament. Didn’t this imply that in the team tournament next week, Wei Xiao could also effortlessly stomp on Hai and send Y1 packing?

Sigh… it was a bit of a stretch, but it was really such a good sign!

For the logic to be so magical, it was apparent that the livestream chat was filled with die-hard fans of the Grandmaster!

An anti-fan sneered, “It’d be funny if God Hai ends up beating Wei Xiao into seclusion in the team tournament.”

Completely triggered, fans snapped back, “Beat into seclusion? The Seclusion CP only beats others into seclusion!”

The observer hurriedly played back Asleep’s highlight.

Brother Sleep started out with the Shadow Thief and was lucky enough to have actually picked up three items and four ability points before running into God Hai.

Therefore, in the split second that he noticed Hai, he immediately launched a Shadow Attack, and after attaining a combo, followed up with eight Light Arcs.

God Hai wasn’t a sitting duck, either. He reacted quickly, interrupting Asleep’s combo whilst making an attack that cleaned out half of the other’s health bar. Unfortunately, the narrow pathways of Shining Gold temple limited his movements. Even if he escaped to the periphery of the Light Arcs, he still wouldn’t be able to keep his life.

In a match to the death, one must advance with courage!

Therefore, the Death Knight swept his longsword. He didn’t retreat and instead advanced, determined to take the Shadow Thief down with him.

Amidst the dazzling effects, the Death Knight who didn’t yield to the myriad of skills fell to the ground.

The Shadow Thief was also struck by a blade that flew over when he touched the ground, killing him instantly!

Asleep killed Hai.

And, before his death, Hai swept away Asleep.

The two that perished together spurred the crowd on, yet also seemed to allude to the ending.

Their screens darkened. Although Asleep’s foray ended in the outer zone, he was met by a round of applause.

It didn’t matter that he was eliminated. Fans would be able to brag about how Brother Sleep had killed the defending champion’s jungler for a whole year!

After twenty minutes, the halo shrank. Players who hadn’t managed to leave the outer zones were eliminated.

The central zone was where competition would burn white hot.

Kim Sung-hyun and Moonlit ran into each other and, without another word, filled the air with clouds and rain.

Xie He finally managed to capture the little wimp that had been hiding all over the place. He engaged with Connecting Clouds, vowing to send Eurostar, who had stolen his gold, back home.

Incidentally, Close who had slain his way out of Moonlight Wetland did not end up crossing paths with Marshal from the neighbouring Thousand Needle Forest.

Lu Feng reaped the life of a player who charged out from Battlesong Plains, whereas Yuan Ze blocked the way of a player who slipped out of Shining Gold Temple.

The observer showed a panoramic view of the central ring as if it were an ancient battlefield. The sky was filled with visual effects accompanied by sound effects that made the blood boil.

Until now, the Team of Gods had yet to meet, but they were already causing a sensation in their respective  outer zones.

Just as they were in reality…

Each fighting in their own domains, vying for the pinnacle!

Finally, the halo shrunk into the final elimination zone. The Sky Island’s Heart gradually descended, and only eight players remained standing on the ultimate arena stage.