Genius Chapter 163: Who to Kill?

Chapter 163: Who to Kill?

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

ScarletFruit was momentarily unsure how to respond to this question. At that moment, he could only stay at the highest point and had two options: either jump down to find his teammates or stay up high and wait for them to come closer.

“Stay put, ClearWind, move into Fruit’s protection circle,” Su Mo said, glancing at the nearest pillar and quickly spotting the animal images on the sconce, gaining a rough understanding of the zodiac layout in the main hall.

“The coordinate origin is the same as your initial guess,” Yu Zhen said, observing the situation in the main hall from above. “Any clues?”

Su Mo replied, “A little. If I’m not mistaken, the next high point might change.”

[Tactics?]

[Honestly, I can’t think of any tactics given the distance.]

“In a way, it’s likely that Momo predicted the location of the highest point bricks and had the cleric stay there for protection,” SkilfulEmptyHand deduced. “Look, ClearWind is heading to find ScarletFruit. The Advertising team might be planning to use the cleric as the core for output.”

CloudTraveller looked at the positions of the summoner and mage and observed that, beneath the calm surface, their skills were constantly testing each other. “It mainly depends on long-range control from both sides.”

The shifting glazed bricks could divide the battlefield, and the consensus in 3v3 matches was to target the healer first.

Physical swordsmen were melee fighters, and to be effective, they needed to get close to their opponents. Clerics, being agile, could easily avoid attacks in such a setting. The only variables were the mage and the summoner.

Midnight Bell said, “Gu poison is tricky, and in this kind of scene, the summoner’s vision switching is not as smooth as the mage’s… And from the current situation, Momo has been avoiding.”

[Huh? Aren’t they still discussing tactics?]

[Am I missing something? I can barely keep up with the rising and falling bricks; they’re actually jumping around on them.]

[They’ve clearly become more cautious with their skills, targeting only the brick surfaces and avoiding the brick columns.]

The brick surfaces didn’t cause counterattacks, but the brick columns did.

After the first round of matches, the players had fully adjusted their strategies.

SkilfulEmptyHand asked, “So is the Advertising team now in the lead?”

CloudTraveller responded, “No, they’re both holding each other back.”

The mage’s gu poison was a delayed control skill, and it could have unexpected results at crucial moments.

The summoner’s summoned creatures were spread out across the map, making it possible to execute a different kind of positional battle on this map. With fast vision switching, the summoner could even achieve full-field control.

Both players on the field were highly skilled in control, and the key focus of this match was actually on them.

“Wow, this mage is keeping such a close watch on me,” ClearWind said as he jumped over a brick and finally entered ScarletFruit’s healing range. At the same time, he was surrounded by the ready-to-act physical swordsman Air and the distant support from cleric Durian Milk Tea… It was clear that the Xiaoyao team had put their breakthrough point on him.

Watermelon said, “The mage’s control is really nasty. After planting the gu poison on you, it can even delay activation. Be careful with the control; the mage has some skills that can manually detonate the gu poison.”

“It’s fine, ClearWind is within my circle; my summons will protect you,” ScarletFruit responded. “I can definitely keep you safe. It’ll be a bit challenging for them to focus on killing you.”

Cantaloupe reminded, “Physical swordsmen have strong burst damage. It’s very possible they’ll use a burst to take you out with a ban on healing.”

“I’m avoiding them,” ClearWind said, jumping behind a pillar. “How should we handle this? Should we just drag it out until time’s up?”

“Act as a decoy,” Yu Zhen said, his gaze fixed on the summoner, also noting the layout of the summoned creatures. “They won’t be able to kill you.”

In the arena, the summoner moved through the undulating glass bricks.

Su Mo glanced at the position of the mage, using his observations to determine the opponent’s event range.

ScarletFruit, situated at the highest point, was secure, but down below, the three members of the Xiaoyao team were contending with the other team. The physical swordsman posed little threat, but the biggest issue was with mage HaiTang.

This mage was one of the most troublesome he had encountered—agile and perceptive, always looking for opportunities.

In the first round of the match, the Xiaoyao team had likely summarized the sequence of the glazed bricks’ rise and fall. It might not be entirely accurate, but there were certain fixed heights for some bricks. The opponent did not sit idly by but instead found the most advantageous positions in the chaos to deliver their attacks.

Cleric Durian Milk Tea’s positioning was excellent. At a mid-level position, her rising and falling spots were protected by the surrounding glazed bricks, making it very risky for long-range ambushes. Therefore, in this round, the Xiaoyao team’s event range was centered around cleric Durian Milk Tea. The cleric’s reach extended, indirectly increasing the mage’s control range.

The Xiaoyao team was indeed cautious, and the opponent’s command was highly skilled. Furthermore, the opponents encountered were extremely challenging.

In such a chaotic situation, the opponents with a strong overall perspective were the most difficult to handle.

Mage HaiTang was precisely that kind of player. Her intuition was terrifyingly sharp, always managing to place control skills at the intervals when ClearWind moved. She made full use of the cooldowns for her control skills, using only short cooldown abilities… like a very patient hunter, tirelessly searching for the prey’s weaknesses.

In the 3v3 lineup, she was the core controlling the entire situation.

Su Mo felt an excitement that wasn’t just the rendered emotion of observing the match from a god’s perspective but rather the eagerness to compete with the opponent, the feeling of meeting a worthy adversary.

That called for even more patience.

They wanted to kill ClearWind, but it wasn’t so simple.

Within the Xiaoyao team, HaiTang felt the challenge for the first time. “What’s up with the opponent’s physical swordsman?”

“I heard he switched from slow sword to fast sword; he’s a popular livestreamer and his skills are pretty good.”

“He’s a fast sword type, so his movement speed is a bit quicker.”

“He even made it onto the System for forging divine weapons yesterday…”

BrokenOracle narrowed his eyes and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“…He’s very agile, and also somewhat tanky.” HaiTang couldn’t understand this part. Fast swords were supposed to be more fragile compared to slow swords… but ClearWindIsHere, despite being a fast sword user, seemed unusually sturdy, giving the impression of a heavy sword rather than a fast sword.

Besides that, he was also incredibly agile, as if he had experienced countless life-and-death situations. Rather than focusing on damage output, he seemed more intent on surviving. How could a physical swordsman prioritize survival over damage output? For DPS, output should obviously be more important than survival.

BrokenOracle said, “From what I know, his output is above average in Momo’s team; he is indeed a fast sword. As for why he feels so tanky, it’s likely related to his own output techniques.”

Physical swordsman Air remarked, “This kind of output technique is unheard of.”

Who would intentionally give up high-output methods?

Yet, amidst this stalemate, ClearWindIsHere managed to survive despite being surrounded by three parties. Several times, physical swordsmen and mages seized the opportunity to kill him, but he somehow managed to escape with a sliver of health, and was healed up by cleric ScarletFruit.

[Wow, was ClearWind this impressive before?]

[I’m a loyal fan of ClearWind, and I think I know a bit about the reason…]

[Fans above, share some details.]

[Windy’s tankiness might be related to ScarletFruit.]

This was perhaps a little-known part of the past. Before ScarletFruit’s healing output had accumulated significantly, their fixed team often faced a lack of healing. Moreover, the summoner’s bear did not last continuously, so before ZenSlasher joined the team, ClearWind, as the only melee fighter, frequently took the boss’s ultimate skill. Later, to balance survival and damage output, his build became quite chaotic.

Firstly, to increase his mobility for better escape, he chose a fast sword. Secondly, to improve defense, he sacrificed some damage output and wore two pieces of defensive gear. He even equipped his crafted weapon with defensive attributes.

SkilfulEmptyHand called out, “The 3-minute mark is almost up; we’re about to enter the 1-minute phase.”

Not long after his voice ended, the glazed bricks in the arena immediately returned to their original state. At this moment, mage HaiTang wanted to increase the distance and maintain a new formation, but unexpectedly, a summoned beast immediately charged at her as the bricks returned to their original state!

Their three-person formation had quickly come together, and their positions were very close due to the initial control.

Without the cover of the glazed bricks, their positions became extremely precarious. The opposing summoner seized the moment of this change. The charging Thunder Lion immediately released a group control skill that caused sluggishness. Cleric Durian Milk Tea instinctively cast a group dispel to protect her teammates, only to find that attacks came from behind.

Unbeknownst to them, two more summoned beasts had been positioned not far behind… as if they had been lying in wait for the glazed bricks to return to their original state.

The two summoned beasts were Zephyr Hawk and Green Dragon.

Zephyr Hawk applied a slowing effect, while Green Dragon inflicted continuous damage. Green Dragon, while sometimes considered lackluster, had its uses. It was a continuous damage summon linked to movement speed, meaning the faster the opponent’s movement, the lower the damage it could inflict. Thus, it was usually effective in dungeons against clustered minor enemies, dealing considerable damage.

But now, in the arena, it combined with Zephyr Hawk to produce extraordinary results.

The summoner initially used Thunder Lion for a feint, deliberately slowing down by 2 seconds to give the opposing cleric time to react, tricking the cleric’s dispel. Then, the two previously hidden summoned beasts executed a surprise attack… the slowing effect combined with Green Dragon’s continuous damage resulted in considerable harm.

The cleric’s healing depended on the summoned creatures, which affected its timeliness. The attack reduced everyone’s health by half.

Mage HaiTang, with the lowest health, was nearly on the brink of death. ClearWind, waiting for an opportunity, turned to counterattack, but the opponent quickly used a dispel and fled. The excellent cleric’s group heal restored HaiTang’s health, and the opportunity vanished in an instant.

“Ah! So close,” ClearWind said regretfully. “But we tricked the cleric into using two skills; we can look for another chance.”

ScarletFruit remarked, “Sister is healing too much.”

“Their cleric has retreated. ScarletFruit, be careful; the physical swordsman is charging at you,” Yu Zhen reminded.

ScarletFruit, skilled at escaping, knew that the teammates wouldn’t die immediately and ran away without hesitation.

[Wow, that summoner’s move just scared me.]

[He even managed to time the summons’ cooldown. Did Momo really count the cleric’s skills too?]

[Yes, it’s the public cooldown. That move was too strong; first, using Thunder Lion to trick the dispel, making the cleric’s public cooldown longer to delay healing time…]

The damage from Thunder Lion was high, while Green Dragon’s damage required coordination to achieve its full effect.

The summoner first tricked them into using their public cooldown, putting them in a dilemma. With healing support in the back, they were inclined to wait for healing rather than use their precious dispel, and the summoner took advantage of this hesitation to set up a clever ambush.

“I didn’t anticipate the position of that summoner’s pet,” BrokenOracle said with a frown. “He’s very smart. During the rise and fall of the glass bricks, his summon never stopped moving and continued to assist ClearWind in avoiding skills… I didn’t expect he had a backup plan.”

Hai Tang was still shaken. “Is there a high chance to kill the summoner first?”

“Not really,” BrokenOracle replied. “Don’t forget, he still has his skills.”

After death in the arena, revival could be performed through a healer or cleric, but combat revivals had a cooldown limit. Generally, the first priority was to kill the healer to prevent any chance of revival. Even if the healer revived the dead DPS, facing a situation of zero health and mana, the revived DPS would be the first target for elimination.

The main goal in killing the healer was to eliminate all future threats.

But they didn’t dare to gamble, especially not on a summoner who still had all his survival skills.

Hai Tang felt the situation was tricky, a trickiness of being constantly targeted, unable to discern their objectives from the opponent’s chaotic positioning, and continually being manipulated by the summoner. She had faced many professions before, including summoners like FireworksAndLanterns, but none had presented such unpredictable torment.

It was as if the entire Glazed Palace’s main hall was the summoner’s domain.

He single-handedly used his summons to establish control over the battlefield.

A minute passed quickly, and neither side had managed to secure a kill.

The new glass brick movements began, and Su Mo reported the coordinates. Suddenly, he corrected himself, saying, “The brick surface order is wrong; don’t go to the coordinates.”

ScarletFruit halted immediately, scanned the area, and found a position close to his teammates.

The potential starting points were in the four corners of the main hall. Su Mo had seen the changes in three of the corners, and as he had predicted, the starting point had shifted.

Yu Zhen, from a higher vantage point, quickly identified the new starting point. “It’s the third point.”

However, it was too late. On the elevated bricks stood two people: one was the advertising team’s ScarletFruit14, and the other was the XiaoYao team’s physical swordsman.

ScarletFruit had randomly chosen a new position, which turned out to be an elevated spot. “Damn, I’m up here again.”

Apple was puzzled by the situation. “Out of 144 possible positions, eight are elevated. What luck is that?”

Watermelon was silent for a moment. “Sometimes, luck is hard to predict.”

Cantaloupe was feeling a bit of a headache as he was also calculating the coordinates. “Why has the starting point changed again? It makes the mechanism even harder to guess.”

“No, the mechanism has become quite clear,” Su Mo said with a smile. “It’s the timing.”

He assisted ClearWind in avoiding skills while explaining, “It mainly depends on the direction of the snake’s sconce. The starting point within that general direction is the coordinate we need to find.”

Su Mo first noticed the time. The change in time was peculiar, and the movement of the starting point seemed to be clockwise, but the intervals for the clockwise movement were very off. He concluded that the starting point was related to time, but to a specific time variation.

In the arena, the only changes with a sequence were the 12 weight-bearing pillar lanterns.

Thus, he thought the change in the starting point might be related to the animals. By deducing based on the movement of individual animals, and using the time intervals for the movement of the starting point, he could determine the problem was with the snake. He couldn’t immediately guess the coordinates but needed to rely on Watermelon’s four previous starting point changes and the current two changes to pinpoint it to the snake.

Dividing the entire Glazed Palace into four sections by a cross, the positions of the 12 pillars were evenly distributed among these sections. Therefore, the starting point for the coordinates was the position within the section where the snake was located.

Thanks to the cross-sectional changes, the starting point coordinates shifted, which saved him a lot of effort.

But why was it definitely the snake among the 12 animals, and not any other animal?

Su Mo had another guess, but it lacked supporting evidence at the moment.

However, that was enough; at least this round was entirely dependent on the snake for determining the starting point.

The other members of the Advertising team were puzzled, wondering why it was the snake. But the arena was changing rapidly, and Momo didn’t have time to explain in detail. Instead, Su Mo said, “To break the opponent, we need to take out the physical swordsman and the cleric first.”

While the mage was indeed the core controller, the golden duo played a crucial support role.

Without taking them out, they would never be able to rely on control to kill the mage.

Cantaloupe said, “Boss, the big sister and the big brother aren’t that easy to take down.”

ScarletFruit complained, “Why does it suddenly become ‘big sister’?”

“They have a Daoist partner skill, which is a damage-sharing skill,” Watermelon, who was very familiar with this, explained. “It seems that the one with more health actively takes on some of the damage for the one with less health. They not only have good teamwork but also have this skill for emergencies.”

Apple commented, “Indeed, the physical swordsman big brother’s ‘rescue wife from a thousand miles’ isn’t just a name.”

ClearWind added, “Yes, our physical swordsmen are very devoted. We’d rather die ourselves than let our wife die.”

“Who said I was going to kill the cleric?”

Su Mo focused on the target, the physical swordsman on the high platform. “We’re going to kill the physical swordsman.”