Ding ding!

Empty Waves knocked aside the two spear shadows.

Double Stab as a counterattack. Jiang Botao wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He had been ready for this sort of attack.

While using “Guard”, Jiang Botao had Empty Waves step back. Sure enough, after the Double Stab, Soft Mist stabbed again.

With Tang Rou’s skill, stabbing four times during her jump wouldn’t be a problem for her. Since she had started with Double Stab, there would definitely be another two following.

After Empty Waves stepped back, Jiang Botao had more room to maneuver. Seeing that the stab was just a normal attack, he had Empty Waves swing his sword and parry the strike.

Soft Mist landed on the ground.

She didn’t follow with a Dragon Tooth after the normal attack. Tang Rou had seen Empty Waves block her attacks in succession, letting her know that anything further would likely be blocked as well.

Falling Flower Palm!

As soon as she landed on the ground, she launched a new attack. Falling Flower Palm could be charged, and could also be used while sliding on the ground. The distance between Empty Waves and Soft Mist was perfect for a slide.

Empty Waves retreated again, taking another step back. Tang Rou’s follow-up had been within his calculations as well.

Boom!

The magic shockwave from Falling Flower Palm hit nothing but air. Empty Waves was very very close to Soft Mist, but he was still just a bit too far.

Empty Waves swung his sword.

The distance was too close. Although Wave Slashes were instant-cast spells, its start-up was slower than close-ranged skills. As a result, Jiang Botao chose to use a normal attack instead.

Normal attacks dealt little damage and had weak priority, but if they landed, they would still hinder the opponent’s movements. Tang Rou couldn’t completely ignore the attack. Soft Mist swayed to the right, dodging the slash. At the same time, she thrust her spear.

Tyrant’s Destruction?

Jiang Botao saw Soft Mist sway to the right and immediately thought of this skill. After moving to the right, whether it was her posture or her angle of attack, both were perfect for a Tyrant’s Destruction.

Sure enough, Dancing Fire Flowing Flames tore through the air, Tyrant’s Destruction!

Empty Waves jumped back to dodge the Tyrant’s Destruction. This time, the distance between them was enough for a Wave Slash.

Divine Chains slashed out.

Ice Wave Slash!

Ice crystals formed wherever the blade passed through, sweeping across the ground.

Empty Waves had attacked, but Soft Mist was in a good position after the Tyrant’s Destruction, giving her enough time to react.

Dodge! Attack!

Empty Waves’ offense was quickly put to a stop, and in the blink of an eye, Tang Rou held the initiative again.

The Samsara fans let out sighs of regret. The way things were going worried them.

However, through glances with each other, the pro players had a different opinion.

It was true that Tang Rou held the initiative, but that was from an attack and defense perspective. In terms of the flow of the match, then that might not be the case. Tang Rou was on the offensive, but it mainly because Jiang Botao was letting her.

It had only been a few exchanges since Tang Rou’s opening with Dragon Breaks the Ranks. If Jiang Botao had wanted to seize the initiative, there were at least two opportunities for him to do so.

However, Jiang Botao had only counterattacked after dodging Dragon Breaks the Ranks and Tyrant’s Destruction. The other two times he could have counterattacked, he hadn’t.

Was it because Jiang Botao hadn’t noticed these two other opportunities?

It didn’t seem like it because neither of those two opportunities had been hard to see. Most of the normal players had noticed them.

In that case, why did Jiang Botao choose to give up on these opportunities? The pro players didn’t understand at first, but after seeing Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves try to counterattack after dodging the Tyrant’s Destruction, they had a rough idea of Jiang Botao’s strategy.

He wanted to make things simple. He didn’t want anything too complicated.

Just take those two opportunities that he gave up on. If he had succeeded, he would have been the one on the offensive, but if he had failed?

For those two opportunities, Tang Rou had too many options available to her. There was no way for him to take them all into consideration.

As for the two opportunities that he did take, he had completely read what Tang Rou would do and easily dealt with whatever she responded with.

This was Jiang Botao’s general strategy for this match.

Make things simple, so his opponent only had a few choices, and then take control.

Only a few exchanges had happened. Jiang Botao had spent most of his efforts on thinking. The Ice Wave Slash had missed, and when Tang Rou’s Soft Mist started her offense again, Jiang Botao’s Empty Waves retreated.

Dragon Tooth or Circle Swing? Or maybe even Draconic Crusher.

Jiang Botao thought of Tang Rou’s possible choices.

Dragon Tooth!

The more that he saw Tang Rou stay within his predictions, the calmer Jiang Botao became. He wasn’t at all worried like the fans outside were.

Dragon Tooth missed!

Okay, next is Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart.

Sure enough, Furious Dragon Strikes the Heart.

Miss again!

Dragon Rises from the Sea? Or Cloud Whirling Windstorm?

Oh, Dragon Rises from the Sea.

Dodge!

Soft Mist attacked several times, and each time, Empty Waves retreated.

The fight looked completely one-sided. The moment a potential counterattack from Empty Waves appeared, Soft Mist instantly crushed any chances of it happening.

But even the ordinary viewers had started to notice that even though it looked like Jiang Botao was losing, the one who should be worried probably wasn’t Jiang Botao. Tang Rou had been on the offensive for quite a while now, yet Jiang Botao’s defense looked to be unbreakable. It was as if didn’t see any of her attacks as a threat. Soft Mist had attacked for so long, but had only taken out 7% of Empty Waves’ health. She was still very far from wiping away the lead that he held!

It’s about time for him to counterattack.

The pro players who understood Jiang Botao’s plans took another step ahead of the normal viewers. Jiang Botao was playing this fight very intelligently. He understood clearly that Tang Rou wasn’t an opponent he could deal with through brute force. Facing her fierce offense, no one could be completely confident. Tang Rou was playing incredible today as well. Even the slightest slip-up, and she would punish you heavily for it.

As a result, Jiang Botao was using defense as his offense. From the start, he had been guiding Tang Rou’s attacks. All of her attacks had been within Jiang Botao’s predictions. Not only did it make it easy for him to defend, it was a mental test for Tang Rou as well. Having completely seen through her, Jiang Botao knew when exactly his counterattack would be most destructive.

It was about time.

The pro players all thought the same. Through Jiang Botao’s control, Tang Rou’s mix-ups were becoming less and less varied. At this point, her attack pattern was practically linear. What attack she would do next was something everyone could shout at.

Falling Flower Palm?

Everyone guessed.

Boom! Soft Mist used Falling Flower Palm.

Draconic Crusher?

Sure enough, Dancing Fire Flowing Flames pressed down, Draconic Crusher.

He can counterattack whenever. Everyone thought. His opponent could be read like a book. Making a counterattack was no different than children’s play, no? Right now, it was just a matter of when the counterattack would be the most harmful to Tang Rou.

Dragon Tooth!

The crowd shouted out Soft Mist’s next attack, which Empty Waves dodged.

Counterattack!

Quite a few people shouted inwardly. They felt like a counterattack now would be quite good.

But Jiang Botao didn’t seem to be satisfied with it. Empty Waves rolled backwards, dodging the following Circle Swing.

How greedy!

Everyone thought to themselves. He wasn’t even going to take that? Was Jiang Botao really going to wait until an opportunity where he could kill her in one combo?

Circle Swing was dodged. Dancing Fire Flowing Flames leapt into the air, Sky Strike.

Empty Waves leapt back, while also putting up his Divine Chains in front of him just in case.

The weapons clashed. A Light Chaser formed behind Soft Mist and short directly towards Empty Waves.

The distance was too close. The Chaser was too fast. This time, Jiang Botao couldn’t dodge the attack, and was hit with a face full of sparks.

“Hahahaha!” The pro players laughed out loud.

“Jiang Botao is being too careful!” Someone said.

“If he hadn’t put up his sword, there wouldn’t have been a Chaser. He just gave her a free hit.”

“Yeah, and it’s a Light element one. It’ll increase her attack speed.”

Some of the pro players remarked in this way, but some of the others had a change in expression at this moment.

Had the parry been unnecessary?

The stadium screen coincidentally showed a replay of this scene to show the Light Chaser hitting Empty Waves again, but the pro players were more interested in how the Chaser was formed.

Sky Strike…

The distance… the parry wasn’t necessary!

Everyone thought to themselves. The Dancing Fire Flowing Flames quietly inched forward a bit as it arced upwards.

Quite a few people blinked their eyes, confirming that they hadn’t misjudged.

Yes… Dancing Fire Flowing Flames had inched forward. This Sky Strike wasn’t the same. Tang Rou had intentionally left some room for her to change things up a bit.

Because when facing a Battle Mage, it was best to avoid parrying or blocking the five low-level Battle Mage skills. If the skills hit, Chasers would be formed. Blocking and parrying were considered as hits.

Tang Rou had used this common knowledge to her advantage. She had intentionally made it so that it didn’t seem like her attack needed to be parried, but just as the attack was made, she suddenly changed the trajectory…

It wasn’t as simple as it sounded. It required very precise inputs to make these sudden changes.

The Light Chaser hit, and Soft Mist continued to attack. Even though Empty Waves was able to dodge her attacks, he was clearly having a harder time than before.

Still not counterattacking?

Someone was still thinking.

But a portion of people were now thinking: could he still counterattack?

The mix-up from the Sky Strike hadn’t been accidental, but was this the only time she had made this mix-up?

Whether it was the broadcast or the live stadium replay, none of them would rewind too far back. The pro players had only noticed the problem with this Sky Strike. They had no way to go back right now and check if she had done it before too.

Could it be that… Jiang Botao had not counterattacked, not because he was waiting for the right moment, but because he was actually being suppressed?

This… from when did this start?