The average viewer wasn’t able to catch this subtlety. From what they saw, the two had finally come across each other. Ye Xiu made the first move, while Zhou Zekai nimbly evaded it.

On the other hand, the pro players also knew that Ye Xiu had tried to create an opportunity through careful positioning. However, the only ones who truly understood the subtleties within this interaction were Ye Xiu and Zhou Zekai.

Two shots!

The moment they saw each other, Ye Xiu fired two shots at him before he could even react.

Zhou Zekai didn’t only possess outstanding mechanic prowess. He wouldn’t become arrogant because people were calling him the number one player in Glory, but he wouldn’t be too modest, either. Modesty and arrogance could both lead to errors in judgement.

Zhou Zekai was confident in himself and could notice the discrepancies in a situation.

His opponent had fired two shots before he could react!

This wasn’t a coincidence.

This was the conclusion that Zhou Zekai reached. He didn’t have a bird’s eye view like the pro players spectating the match, so he didn’t know about Lord Grim’s tactical positioning. However, he was able to use his own way to determine that “Ye Xiu had the initiative.”

As a result, Cloud Piercer didn’t stop to counterattack. Without even the slightest bit of hesitation, he dashed right by.

As for Ye Xiu, after firing two shots, he immediately lost his target.

What a guy!

Ye Xiu internally praised him.

Through that single exchange, Zhou Zekai was able to get a clear grasp on the situation. The title of Glory’s number one player wasn’t purely subjective. Zhou Zekai’s mechanical prowess, intuition, awareness, and mentality were outstanding even within the pro scene. Ye Xiu understood this point clearly.

Because it wasn’t as if he was unfamiliar with Zhou Zekai. Starting from Season 5, apart from his year of retirement in Season 9, the two had fought countless times on stage. He understood Zhou Zekai’s capabilities and how hard he was to deal with.

Relying on a single carefully thought out positioning to seize the initiative and win the match? The thought hadn’t crossed Ye Xiu’s mind. However, he was still caught off guard by the outcome. He hadn’t thought that the opportunity he had created would disappear so quickly. All of the plans that he had prepared instantly fell through.

But the experienced Ye Xiu couldn’t be intimidated so easily.

Change directions!

Lord Grim had initially planned on rushing towards Cloud Piercer right after firing those two shots, but with his plans having gone awry, he turned around and quickly moved away to widen his vision. Zhou Zekai’s Cloud Piercer immediately appeared in his sights from a different angle.

Bang bang bang bang!

Sparks flew.

Such dense gunfire couldn’t be produced by Lord Grim’s unspecialized. This sort of burst could have only been done by a Sharpshooter!

Wildfire in his right hand, Shattered Frost in his left.

The gray windbreaker on Cloud Piercer flapped as he moved.

Ye Xiu’s movements had instead given Zhou Zekai the initiative. This scene was eerily similar to the previous scene where Cloud Piercer had stepped into Ye Xiu’s trap.

Zhou Zekai didn’t completely understand Ye Xiu’s tactical positioning, though, so this wasn’t returning a tooth for a tooth. These two top players were simply taking advantage of the terrain.

Ye Xiu had done it through careful observation and precise calculations.

As for Zhou Zekai? Samsara had chosen this map, so how could he not be familiar with it?

Gunfire roared.

Ye Xiu was at gunpoint. That was exactly the situation that Ye Xiu now faced.

Shua. The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella opened. The bullets struck the canvas like a tempest, causing it to shake uncontrollably.

The gunfire was too fierce!

The stadium screen as well as the broadcast picked out data on the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella.

The durability.

The Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had a durability of 23. For a Shield, this was a very low number. Because of how Shields were used, its durability should be much higher than other weapons.

A durability of 23 was the durability of a normal weapon. The umbrella could transform into a Shield, but its durability didn’t change.

How low of a durability was it for a Shield? Using a comparison was best.

Glory’s lowest-level shield, a Level 5 Wooden Shield, had a durability of 20, which wasn’t far from the Myriad Manifestation Umbrella’s.

In the Heavenly Domain, many Knight players had the Level 70 Purple shield, “Drenched Thorn,” which had a durability of 85.

And the strongest shield in Glory, the “Sighing Wall” owned by Tiny Herb’s Knight Angelica, had a durability of 135.

A high-level shield with a durability of 23? There was no shield with a durability lower than that.

The stadium screen had displayed the umbrella’s durability because Cloud Piercer’s fierce assault was causing its durability to rapidly decrease.

22, 21…

The number was decreasing at a visible speed, showing just how powerful Cloud Piercer’s offense was.

“Run!!” Chen Guo shouted anxiously from Happy’s bench. The durability on the umbrella wasn’t just for the shield form, but for the umbrella as a whole. If this continued, its durability would soon drop to 0, and when the durability of an equipment dropped to 0, it would be destroyed and become useless.

20, 19…

After just a few seconds, the durability on the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella had dropped by 4. Facing Cloud Piercer’s burst, the shield appeared frail and weak.

But Lord Grim didn’t run.

During these few seconds, Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim continued to hold up his umbrella shield.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to run, but that there was nowhere to run to!

By widening his vision, Ye Xiu wanted to seize the initiative again, but Zhou Zekai already knew where Lord Grim would likely appear from, and now, Zhou Zekai had the upper hand.

He was just one step faster.

Ye Xiu could only defend against the attacks. There was currently nowhere closeby for Lord Grim to take cover.

As a result, his only choice was to prop up his shield.

For the durability on his shield to be decreasing so rapidly, this sort of dense gunfire couldn’t be avoided through just movement.

There was nowhere to retreat, nowhere to hide, and his umbrella shield wouldn’t be able to last much longer.

Then, his only choice was to push forward and advance under this barrage of bullets!

Charge!

The shield form was considered a Priest weapon, thus, using a Knight’s Charge wasn’t a problem.

Amidst a hail of bullets, Lord Grim charged towards Cloud Piercer.

Zhou Zekai had Cloud Piercer move horizontally in an attempt to find an angle where he could directly shoot Lord Grim behind his umbrella shield.

As Cloud Piercer moved, his guns stayed steady.

In an instant, he had found the angle, and the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella hadn’t moved to adjust to his movements.

Fire!

Bullets flew behind the Myriad Manifestaions Umbrella.

But there was no one there!