Fire Bird, Level 75 Elementalist skill. These NPCs only had so-so fighting capabilities. The threat of their attacks were limited. However, the pressure given off Fire Bird wasn’t lacking at all.

A ball of fire floated above the staff. The flames spread its wings and flew out, burning everything in its path.

The distance was too close. Fire Bird had a long cast time, but the attack itself was fast. Zhou Zekai’s screen instantly turned bright red. In an instant, Cloud Piercer was swallowed by the raging flames.

Cloud Piercer wasn’t able to dodge the attack, but that didn’t mean Zhou Zekai couldn’t do anything. Everyone saw him raise his knees just before the flames struck.

The average viewer just thought that Cloud Piercer was trying to dodge the attack, but was hit by the Fire Bird before he could take a second step. However, when the pro players saw Cloud Piercer stand steady inside the flames, they knew that it wasn’t as simple as just taking a step, but rather a Knee Strike.

Knee Strike was a low-level skill limited to close combat. However, even though Sharpshooters tended not to choose to fight at close range, Knee Strike was a very important skill. Launchers, Mechanics, and Spitfires, it was a must-learn skill for the other Gunner classes too.

Because when this skill was used, the user would have a brief moment of Super Armor.

There wasn’t a definite number for how long the Super Armor lasted. Many skills in Glory had hidden effects that wouldn’t be made public. However, Knee Strike was a skill that had been in the game since the start. Its uses had been uncovered long ago by players and pro players.

In particular, for Gunners, this brief Super Armor was extremely useful.

This was because Glory skills didn’t have “shared cooldowns.” In theory, if you were fast enough, you could use ten skills all at once.

Of course, this was just in theory. Although Glory didn’t have “shared cooldowns,” there were other ways the game design limited the available options. For example, character movements could not conflict with each other. Even if there were no “shared cooldowns,” there weren’t many skills that could be used simultaneously.

Knee Strike was a skill that was extremely compatible with other Gunner skills. Lifting the knees wouldn’t conflict with raising the arms to shoot a gun. Knee Strike also had a low cooldown, so it was often used to guarantee that other attacks successfully went off. Many players had blind faith in this technique. They wanted to combine Knee Strike with every attack, and for a while every Gunner was like a one-legged person.

However, this technique wasn’t as easy to use as people originally thought. First, in order to use two skills at the same time, the player needed to have a fast enough hand speed. Second, the Super Armor effect from Knee Strike was very short. Making use of the Super Armor required precise timing and judgement. For most players, using the technique depended on luck. Whether they succeeded or not was like a blind cat trying to find a dead rat.

People failed most of the time, and it was always because too many inputs would mess up what would otherwise be a simple movement. In the end, most people stopped trying to blindly test their luck and went toward more useful things.

Zhou Zekai’s skill naturally didn’t need to be questioned. There was no time for him to dodge, so he used this Knee Strike technique. However, the Super Armor from Knee Strike was very brief, while Fire Bird was a powerful attack. Relying on this brief Super Armor to resist the Fire Bird’s momentum was impossible. Zhou Zekai used it when it would be most effective, the moment the Fire Bird struck.

Flames swept past. Cloud Piercer didn’t move when he raised his knee, but the Super Armor quickly disappeared, while the remaining impact followed through. However, the impact was reduced enough for Cloud Piercer to eliminate by stepping back appropriately.

Most people thought that the NPC’s Fire Bird wasn’t strong enough to send Cloud Piercer flying away, overlooking Zhou Zekai’s perfectly timed Knee Strike.

Really troublesome!

Fang Rui saw everything clearly. He couldn’t help but curse. He had been setting things up for this moment for a long time. Cloud Piercer had established the NPCs’ aggro and was hit by Fire Bird, but Cloud Piercer was still much farther away than Fang Rui had been hoping for. He had hoped that the Fire Bird would directly send Cloud Piercer over to him. The NPCs who were now targeting Cloud Piercer would attack, while he helped from the sidelines. That way, he would be able to take out Cloud Piercer in one go.

But there was still a bit of distance from the perfect scenario that he had envisioned.

Zhou Zekai’s Cloud Piercer wasn’t sent flying. He stumbled back a few steps before steadying himself. His two guns were aimed straight towards Boundless Sea just like before. He wanted to continue his offense.

Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow!

But Boundless Sea moved faster.

This situation wasn’t as perfect as Fang Rui had envisioned, but he had to recognize that this was much more realistic. Zhou Zekai wasn’t so easy to beat. Killing him in one go was just a dream.

Flames still lingered on Cloud Piercer. The flames didn’t deal any damage, but they were like a marker. The Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow soared over.

Dodge!

Cloud Piercer didn’t stop to take a breath after making it past the Fire Bird. From the start, Zhou Zekai was focused on movement. As he dodged the Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow, he began his counterattack.

Bang bang bang!

Gunshots. The counterattack didn’t come any slower than Boundless Sea’s Spirit Reaches to the Rainbow.

Boundless Sea used Slap, sending the Elementalist next to him spinning. The Elementalist became a meat shield to block Cloud Piercer’s attacks.

This wasn’t Zhou Zekai’s target. Cloud Piercer continued to move to the side to get to a different angle. Boundless Sea dodged to the other side.

Dragon Wave!

Qi gathered and formed into a fierce dragon. The qi moved slower than the bullets, and relying on this difference, the qi dragon made its way to Cloud Piercer.

Cloud Piercer immediately dodged to the side. However, Dragon Wave could be controlled. It wasn’t so easy to escape from. Interrupting the skill was crucial.

Cloud Piercer aimed his gun at Boundless Sea, but an NPC suddenly came out from nowhere, putting itself in between Cloud Piercer and Boundless Sea.

Zhou Zekai could only have Cloud Piercer take a few more steps. But the Dragon Wave didn’t chase after Cloud Piercer. Instead, the dragon suddenly went backwards, moving in front of Cloud Piercer, blocking Zhou Zekai’s sight again.

Qi had no color, but when enough of it gathered, the qi was thick enough to create a masking effect.

When Zhou Zekai saw Fang Rui’s movements, he immediately felt that something wasn’t right. Fang Rui was putting in an excessive amount of effort into blocking his vision. Fang Rui was probably providing cover for another NPC.

The NPC that had stuck itself between the two of them suddenly popped into Zhou Zekai’s mind. He still remembered that the NPC had been moving towards him, but what class?

Battle Mage!

Dragon Breaks the Ranks!

The Dragon Wave suddenly moved out of the way, revealing a figure charging forward.

Zhou Zekai reacted fast as lightning, but he was only able to act the moment the Battle Mage attacked. It was because the battlefield was too chaotic. The two couldn’t only pay attention to each other. They needed to also avoid interference from the NPCs. There were all sorts of things moving around all at once from the left, behind, to the right, to the left. Even so, Zhou Zekai shouldn’t have been so distracted as to miss something as conspicuous as a Battle Mage charging straight for him.

Not only had Battle Mage blocking his line of sight, the Battle Mage had borrowed Fang Rui’s Dragon Wave as cover to suddenly appear in front of him.

Zhou Zekai reacted almost instinctively. Cloud Piercer just barely dodged the Dragon Breaks the Ranks. But a Berserker NPC just happened to be there. The Berserker swung its sword. Behind the Berserker was a Warlock casting a curse. Zhou Zekai had been aware of it. But more importantly, there was Fang Rui. The Dragon Wave was on its way back, blocking his last possible path of retreat.

Boom!

Countless attacks landed on Cloud Piercer all at once.