078 Professional Players Are So Easy to Fool!

When facing a professional player, Chenfeng decided it was best to take things seriously. He didn’t feel confident using his unfamiliar shapeshifter alt for this match. While he was skilled with the class and found it useful for quests, he knew it had serious survival drawbacks in the arena. At these lower levels, his clone alt would be easy prey for a rogue’s control skills—killed in an instant. Against a warrior, though, he figured things would be different. Most importantly, this rogue was an elven rogue, lacking the humans’ overpowered self-preservation talents. As long as Chenfeng could lock him down, a burst of attacks would definitely finish him off.

The player’s in-game ID was Lightning, real name Wu Hai; Chenfeng knew roughly what to expect from his fighting style. Earlier, he’d been trying to gauge whether Wu Hai had any top-tier gear, intending to win it off him. Unexpectedly, Wu Hai seemed convinced of his own victory—until Chenfeng switched to his warrior character and Wu Hai’s face darkened, realizing he’d been tricked.

“If you’re too scared to fight, forget it!” Chenfeng did want that ring, but not desperately enough to force the match.

“Bring it on! Who’s afraid of who?” Wu Hai, the elven rogue, gritted his teeth. He’d come this far; there was no backing down now. So what if Chenfeng wielded a pair of Brotherhood Swords? He was confident he wouldn’t lose!

Chenfeng called over Monk and the others to act as witnesses—he didn’t trust that the rogue wouldn’t try to weasel out of the bet if he lost. Monk even brought a few professional player friends to the arena to watch the showdown.

When Cloud Rising heard Wu Hai betting his Ring of Great Stealth against Chenfeng, he thought Wu Hai had fallen for a trick. “How are you going to win? Even if you ambush him and land a ten-second stun, can you burst him down? He’s got Wind of Renewal, Berserker’s Recovery, and heavy armor on top of that. How do you plan to win? He’s holding two epic swords—he just needs to hit Intimidating Shout or Shockwave and you’re toast!”

If Cloud Rising were facing Chenfeng, he’d have a shot, but Wu Hai? He doubted it. Wu Hai understood the implication, but he couldn’t stand being looked down upon. With a hint of annoyance, he said, “It’s a random map. Hard to say. Sure, it’s tough for me to kill him, but it’ll be just as hard for him to kill me.”

Neither had self-preservation or alliance badges to clear control effects, but Wu Hai wasn’t worried—he had the Ring of Great Stealth. Even if he got locked down, he could use the ring’s ability to vanish. Plus, he still had Evasion and Vanish—two powerful tricks. As for finishing Chenfeng off, he had the Dark Blade burst skill. He wasn’t afraid.

Shadowstep would let him get behind Chenfeng instantly; with its 24-second cooldown, he could use it to dodge attacks as well. Wu Hai felt he could handle the fight: even if he couldn’t kill Chenfeng, Chenfeng would have a hard time killing him. He opted for a random map; if they landed in a forest, he’d have a huge advantage.

“Damn you, Chenfeng, how did you end up dueling that sneaky rogue?” Monk arrived with a crowd of witnesses, curious about what scheme Chenfeng was up to.

“He offered me a purple ring—why would I refuse?” Chenfeng posted a screenshot of the ring’s stats, just in case Wu Hai tried to back out.

Monk’s eyes widened at the ring’s attributes. Even if he couldn’t use it, he could always trade it for something else. “Chenfeng, you’ve already got the Magic Ring—how about letting me have this one? For an expert like me, killing a rogue is no problem!”

Wu Hai’s face darkened again at Monk’s words. He felt like throttling this bald thief. Did they really think he was that easy to beat? Did this bald guy not know he was a pro?

“Baldy, this rogue will be easy to kill! Once I win, I’ll take on the dungeon again—maybe I’ll finally clear it today!” Of course, Chenfeng wasn’t about to let Monk have the fight. He wasn’t about to lose such a powerful ring.

Monk frowned in annoyance, sidling up to Wu Hai. “Hey, rogue, take my advice—don’t fight Chenfeng. He’s got two Brotherhood Swords; he can insta-kill you! Even a master like myself could only hope for a draw with him. You must be dreaming if you think you can win! How about I wager a few good pieces of gear for your ring instead? I’ll even give you a handicap!”

Wu Hai hated being underestimated most of all. Who was this bald guy, thinking he could win even if he held back? He only focused on the latter part of Monk’s speech, ignoring the rest.

Seeing Monk’s antics, Chenfeng wondered if he’d chosen his friends poorly—how could someone be so shameless, trying to snatch loot right in front of him? But knowing Monk was always like this, he decided not to bother arguing.

“Chenfeng, honestly, your opponent’s a bit weak…” The blunt-talking Wu Kuang chimed in. In his eyes, the rogue’s gear was nothing special—fighting Chenfeng was basically just handing over his loot.

“There are so many clueless fools these days! Free loot for you!” Even Yin was a little envious, wondering how Chenfeng had managed to secure such a juicy bet.

Wu Hai could take no more. He had no idea who Chenfeng’s friends were—he’d never heard of them. Yet he was a pro, and they didn’t seem to take him seriously at all. Infuriated, he barked, “Let’s get started—random small map!”

He had hoped to rattle Chenfeng with words, but ended up rattled himself. No matter; Wu Hai would prove his worth with skill, showing these amateurs how a pro played.

A random map was generated: Wild Pasture. Not ideal for a rogue. The cows and sheep were all level 25; though not especially dangerous, killing them would waste time.

Stealth!

As soon as Chenfeng arrived, he activated Stealth. Since both players entered stealth, they could see each other’s outlines. For a warrior, being able to see a stealthed rogue meant the rogue had already lost half the fight. Without the initiative, what advantage did a rogue have?

Where was he hiding? Chenfeng knew Wu Hai liked underhanded tricks, so finding him wouldn’t be easy. He circled the pasture twice without spotting Wu Hai.

Clearly, Wu Hai was skilled at hiding. Chenfeng had his own techniques, but as a warrior, he wasn’t about to spend all night sneaking around after a rogue. On his third lap around the sheep pen, he finally spotted Wu Hai hiding among the flock. The sheep were neutral and wouldn’t attack, so hiding there was safe enough.

“How long do you plan to hide? I need to log out for a late meal!” Chenfeng didn’t charge in—the sheep blocked his line of sight. He decided to wait for the rogue to come out.

Shadowstep! Ambush!

As Chenfeng spoke, the rogue struck, appearing behind him and stunning him with Ambush, then launching a flurry of attacks. As a pro, Wu Hai’s timing was impeccable, landing combos with over 85% efficiency. Attacking from behind, he couldn’t be parried or blocked.

Four seconds of stun let Wu Hai get in three skills, but against Chenfeng, the damage wasn’t much—his health dropped by just 10%. Wu Hai was now out of energy. As soon as the stun wore off, Chenfeng hit him with Intimidating Shout, instantly fearing the rogue.

Intimidating Shout the moment the stun ended?

Wu Hai had fought plenty of warriors, but rarely saw such sharp timing with skills. He’d intended to escape, but now he was immediately feared. Luck wasn’t on his side—the shout didn’t miss. Fate was against him.

Great Stealth!

Wu Hai had no choice but to activate the ring’s Great Stealth ability to escape. Chenfeng, not being in stealth himself, couldn’t see him. With one second of invulnerability from Great Stealth, Chenfeng’s Bloodthirst hit nothing. Wu Hai used Sprint to try to get away, but Chenfeng immediately responded with Thunder Stomp, hitting all enemies within eight meters for damage and stunning them for one second. Wu Hai was forced out of stealth.

Chenfeng jumped back two steps, out of the eight-meter range, then used Intercept to close the distance and stun Wu Hai again. He activated God Mode and Berserker’s Fury, then unleashed an Executioner’s Strike.

—1282

—762

With one Executioner’s Strike, he dealt 2,000 damage. The rogue, already low on health, was finished. Wu Hai knew Chenfeng’s burst was powerful, but not this powerful. Because both Thunder Stomp and Intercept caused stuns, diminishing returns kicked in: the original two-second Intercept stun was reduced to 1.2 seconds. Chenfeng followed up with four basic attacks before Wu Hai broke free.

Vanish!

This forced the rogue into stealth; he wouldn’t be revealed even if attacked. Chenfeng thought this was a dumb move—at this point, Wu Hai should’ve used Shadow Dance to land another Ambush or Kidney Shot for control. With Vanish, Wu Hai wanted to use Blind to control Chenfeng, but Blind was difficult to execute under pressure, and he lacked confidence.

Executioner’s Strike!

Chenfeng landed another Executioner’s Strike and Wu Hai went down. The rogue tried to flee, but Chenfeng used Gale Step to chase him. Wu Hai was not a top-tier rogue—panicked, he didn’t even watch his own footprints, letting Chenfeng track him down.

With that final strike, the rogue was finished. If, after Vanish, Wu Hai had used Ambush or Shadow Dance, Chenfeng might not have been able to catch him. But, caught off guard by the sheer force of Executioner’s Strike, Wu Hai didn’t react in time.

“Professional players are so easy to fool!” Chenfeng hadn’t expected to win an epic ring so effortlessly. It was easier than any quest he’d ever done. Against this guy, he hadn’t even needed the Magic Ring—he simply didn’t need it.