Chapter 221 Top Player (Part 2)

Ye Ci was momentarily sunnted. Fleeting Time?

I actually ran into him in this place? What a rotten luck! thought Ye Ci to herself. She shifted her gaze to the direction of AppreciatingTheScenery corpse, and spotted a silhouette that was sprinting at her.

Ye Ci immediately headed for the opposite direction. Hell, if she allowed Fleeting Time the chance to close in, it would be a great bother. Judging from his trajectory, Ye Ci was not his only target. Fleeting Time was going after the rest of her party as well.

The death of AppretiatingTheScenery was a fatal blow to the party, which relied heavily on their Healer. Panic gripped the hearts of Ye Ci’s teammates when AppreciatingTheScenery was slain.

Ye Ci knew that her teammates were not veterans in PVP battles with their inexperience in dealing with sudden changes in a situation. Of course, Ye Ci’s opinion of the part was rather unjust. Who could keep their calm when their Healer was taken out by Fleeting Time in one go?

“Beauty’s Grave, Returning Winds, I want you two to rush at Fleeting Time. You can’t run around like that when you’re up against a Hunter! Don’t you have even the tiniest amount of common sense?” shouted Ye Ci at her panicking teammates as she had an archery duel with Fleeting Time.

“But he’s Fleeting Time…” it was apparent that Glistening Moonlight did not expect to run into the god-tier player of the Western Continent who was as strong as Gongzi You. Panic gripped her heart, and she was even beginning to give up, “How can we even hope to take him on…”

“So what if he’s Fleeting Time? He’s a Hunter, not a God! Why are you scaring yourself witless?” Ye Ci’s opinion of Glistening Moonlight dropped immediately upon hearing her words. If people are so afraid of challenge, why do they even bother coming to the arena? “Hurry! Get close to him!” shouted Ye Ci at Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds.

“Understood.” Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds were spurred into action by Ye Ci’s cold voice. They were able to quickly regain their composure and began rushing at Fleeting Time.

Fleeting Time was ignorant of Ye Ci’s presence until she made her first kill. He was excited to learn that Gongzi You was in the opposing team. His lethargy was immediately was away by a surge of vigor. In the short period of time Fleeting Time to rush to the basin, Ye Ci was able to take yet another two of his teammates. With Gongzi You nowhere in sight when he reached the basin, Fleeting Time launched his attack on one of her teammates.

Since I’ve received a greeting from Gongzi You, wouldn't it be rude to not respond in kind? thought Fleeting Time. After all, he was a polite gentleman.

One of the main reason Ye Ci was able to take out her four opponents easily was because of Fleeting Time’s negligence. He was not paying attention to the battle as Ye Ci struck. When he attempted to eliminate the remainder of Ye Ci’s teammates, it was no longer a simple task.

He was finally able to slay the pesky Sorceress who was constantly harassing him with spells after dueling for nearly a minute with Gongzi You. The two melee players, however, were quite a headache to Fleeting Time. It was not hard to take on three opponents at once, but it was not an easy task to defeat Gongzi You within the time limit.

Fortunately for Fleeting Time, the Hunter class came with a higher Agility and Speed than the Warrior class, and had superior Balance against the Rogue. Shaking them off would not be too hard of a task for him.

Ye Ci locked on to Fleeting Time, hounding his every move. However, she was quick to realise that Fleeting Time was not suffering from level penalties in his duel against her. This meant that their levels were very close. Fleeting Time might even be at the same level as Ye Ci.

This did not come as a surprise to Ye Ci. After all, she was absent from the game for an entire month. If Fleeting Time was not able to catch up with her in terms of character level, he would never be able to live up to the title of “God among Hunters” given to him in her past life.

Ye Ci’s attacks were ferocious, but Fleeting Time held his own against her. He remained calm as Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds began their approach. All of a sudden, Fleeting Time’s movement stopped apruptly, which was an opening for Ye Ci. However, before the opening could be exploited by Ye Ci, Fleeting Time propelled himself backwards with a sudden movement. None of Ye Ci’s attack connected with Fleeting Time as he soared backwards.

Backwards Leap!

Ye Ci was shocked, Fleeting Time was able to get that skill book!

Backwards Leap with a 25 seconds CD that was very useful in PVP combat. Casting the skill would stop a player’s character mid-movement, and cause the character to leap 20 yards to the back, ignoring all attacks during the process. This skill was a very potent gamechanger for a Hunter.

The ongoing battle between Ye Ci and Fleeting Time was a very suitable example. With the additional 20 yards, Fleeting Time was able to place himself well beyond Ye Ci’s attack range. Ye Ci would have to close the gap between them in order to reacquire her target. This meant that her tempo was disrupted by Fleeting Time, who would be able to seize the opportunity to take on the Warrior and Rogue that were closing in on him.

And that was exactly what he did.

After leaping backwards for 20 yards, Fleeting Time fired off his skills at the approaching Warrior. The Warrior fell lifelessly onto the ground before he could even get within range of Fleeting Time. By that time, Ye Ci had nearly caught up with Fleeting Time. Before she could get within firing distance, however, Fleeting Time summoned Little Five and directed its attacks against Ye Ci.

In the short moment it took for Ye Ci to summon Ol’ Four to battle it out against Little Five, Fleeting Time was able to avoid the Rogue’s attack, and was able to cripple the Rogue with strikes from his dagger and short sword. He then rushed at Ye Ci.

His movements were so fast that Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds could not even react to his attacks. They did not even know how Fleeting Time was able to dodge their attacks, and eliminating them in the process.

Such was the difference between a top-tier player an elite player.

In Fate, a player could be considered as an elite if the player was able master the abilities of his or her character. A top-tier player, however, was one who had totally mastered the movements of his or her entire body in the game, dodging a blow and completing an attack with minimal movements.

When Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds were slain by Fleeting Time, they were hit by a realization: The disparity between them an a top-tier player was like a bottomless pit.

Despite the failure of Beauty’s Grave and Returning Winds to keep up with Fleeting Time, Ye Ci faced no such problem. With the keen vision of an Elf and her mastery of the Hunter class, Ye Ci was able to keep track of Fleeting Time’s movement. She tell that Fleeting Time had mastered the art of feigning his movements as well as stutter stepping that could only be mastered by top-tier players.

Even though Ye Ci had always viewed Fleeting Time as her archenemy, she was have no choice but to admit that he was indeed deserving of the title “God among Hunters”. His growth as a player was way beyond her expectation. In her previous battles against Fleeting Time, he was still not able to completely master such moves. However, he was able to pull them off flawlessly in this battle.

It seems that one month of head start could mean a world of difference.

With all the distractions eliminated from the battle, they could finally face each other in a serious battle.

Ol’ Four and Little Five has been acquainted to each other in multiple occasions. When they finally met again, it was as if they have ran into their nemesis. The two beats immediately engaged each other in combat without orders from Fleeting Time and Ye Ci.

Fleeting Time was not the only one who has grown stronger. After its numerous battles against Ol’ Four, Little Five learnt some new tricks as well. Utilizing its ability to fly, Little Five circled Ol’ Four and employed hit and run tactics, hitting the beast from all directions.

Ol’ Four was no pushover as well. It feigned frustration at Little Five’s harassment, but was able to dodge all of its attack. When Little Five once again dove at Ol’ Four, the beast bit down hard on the annoying little creature.

Unlike the heated battle between Ol’ Four and Little Five…

Fleeting Time and Ye Ci were stood silently at each other’s maximum range, with both of them staring intently at one another. Despite their calm appearance, every single fibre of their body was itching for a fight.

A duel between top-tier players was not as flashy as one might imagine. The victor will usually be decided within one or two moves.

Fleeting Time’s equipment shimmered in a spectacle of faint gold pattern. It was obvious that he was equipped with a high tear PVP gear. His equipment, along with the golden color scheme of Ye Ci’s equipment was a sight to behold in the basin.

A strong gust of wind carried a leaf between the two combatants.

As if on cue, they sprang into action just as the leaf floated past, firing arrows as they drew closer to one another.

They’re too fast.

With his character crippled by Fleeting Time, Returning Winds could only observe the battle between the two top-tier Hunters with eyes wide open. He did not even dare to blink, out of fear that he might miss part of the action. However, the action was still too fast for him. Their movements, their combination of abilities and their attacks were swift and deadly.

Returning Winds had always thought of himself as an expert in PVP and PVE battles. Even if was far from being a top-tier player, he could still be considered as an expert. This was why he was not among the players who idolized godlike players such as Gongzi You and Fleeting Time. He was even sure that his capabilities were almost on par with the so-called “top-tier players”, lacking only in experience. As long as he was willing to push himself harder, he would be able to reach the status of a top-tier player.

However, the battle between Fleeting Time and Gongzi You opened his eyes. He finally realized that he had always been wrong.

A thought emerged in Returning Winds’ mind: hard work might not be the key to be a top-tier player.

Observing a fight between top-tier players in person was an entirely experience from watching a video recording of the fight. The fight happening right before his eyes was able to fill Returning Winds with excitement. Even when he was a Rogue, even when he was playing as a melee character, Returning Winds could tell that there was much to learn from the duel between Fleeting Time and Gongzi You.

An attack that he was sure would connect missed its mark. A maneuver that he expected one of the combatants would make would always turn out to be a feint.

The two combatants were able to read and predict each other move with almost mechanical precision. A mere five minutes might not be enough to decide the victor.

At that moment, winning the match was no longer important to Returning Winds. His lesson from the two top-tier players was his biggest gain.

The wind raged on, along with the battle.

Hiya minna-san! Here's another release of the awesomesauce novel translated by an awesomtacular translator, Jimminx(that's me, by the way)! Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, Brinton, for your donation. It means a lot to me. Literally the first thing I saw this morning. Made my day.

How's everybody doing? I hope life's treating you people well, just like how it's been treating me these few days.

(My first 5* Lancer in FGO! Ahhhhh!!!!! Now I need one SSR Assassin to have a complete set of 5* servants in my support list. Hell yeah bois!)