Chapter 34

The two mages standing on the competition ground had not moved yet, but their handiwork was already astonishing.

Such a sharp confrontation had stirred up the audience's emotions, and the strange atmosphere from before was completely swept away.

On the competition ground, Zhang Taihao and Mo Xie finally took action.

The skills of the Mad Mage were all high-powered, and every spell cast forced Mo Xie to dodge.

But Mo Xie was no pushover either. During the gaps in Zhang Taihao's skill usage, he would also use his skills to counterattack Zhang Taihao.

Mo Xie's skills like Hellfire were area-of-effect skills, and in a strict sense, such skills required high control.

Although area-of-effect skills seemed to lower the precision requirements for players, the Hellfire and Fire Wall skills of the Fire Mage targeted the ground itself, not the opponent. Therefore, a strong player like Zhang Taihao could easily dodge Mo Xie's moves just by positioning.

Originally, the Fire Mage could use these skills in conjunction with Fireball, Bursting Flame, and Flame Blade to attack and restrict Zhang Taihao's movement. However, in the back-and-forth attacks, Mo Xie had already realized that if he dared to do so, Zhang Taihao's sharp counterattacks would definitely make it a losing proposition.

This did not mean that the Fire Mage was helpless against the Mad Mage.

At the moment Zhang Taihao used a skill, the Fire Mage suddenly accelerated and cast a Bursting Flame on the ground, propelling himself forward!

"Explosive Displacement!"

A few days ago, Zhang Taihao's use of Explosive Displacement had already shocked many people. Now, Mo Xie also used this Explosive Displacement technique, causing everyone to marvel. When did this terrifying technique become so common?

The splash damage from his own skill was very low, so although the Bursting Flame looked scary, it didn't actually cost much health.

Therefore, the difficulty of Explosive Displacement lay entirely in the timing and angle of the skill. If the Bursting Flame was cast too late, the character would be immobilized upon landing. If it was cast too early, the character would be in a hard stun from being launched too high.

However, when Mo Xie successfully appeared behind Zhang Taihao, everyone knew it was a godlike completion of Explosive Displacement!

"Repelling Fire Ring!"

Zhang Taihao immediately used this non-active displacement skill to push the opponent away.

At the same time, Mo Xie also used the Repelling Fire Ring skill, and when the two Repelling Fire Rings collided, Mo Xie's skill successfully canceled out Zhang Taihao's!

When a player's level was higher than their opponent's, their non-active displacement skills could be overridden. Zhang Taihao's level was actually lower than Mo Xie's!

Mo Xie's Repelling Fire Ring successfully hit Zhang Taihao.

However, at this moment, Zhang Taihao was directly knocked back, not immobilized as Mo Xie had expected!

After stabilizing himself, Zhang Taihao cast three Fireballs at Mo Xie, forcing him to dodge and disrupting his combat rhythm.

"Zhang Taihao, you're really amazing. You actually judged that your skill was broken and, in an instant, activated the self-destruct option, taking ten times the damage to break my combo."

Looking at Zhang Taihao's health, Mo Xie knew what had just happened.

"The damage from Repelling Fire Ring itself is not high. Even ten times the damage is within my tolerance."

Zhang Taihao responded verbally, but his hands did not stop. It would be impolite not to retaliate. At this moment, Zhang Taihao launched an active attack.

The battle between these two mages was filled with fiery passion from the start. Zhang Taihao's instant judgment had left everyone speechless.

"Repelling Fire Ring has a total duration of 0.5 seconds from the moment it is cast. During the match, when the two Repelling Fire Rings collided, the Repelling Fire Ring was only 0.2 seconds away from Zhang Taihao. He actually opened the system menu in that 0.2 seconds, checked the self-destruct option, and adjusted his position at the last moment..."

Xu Tianyun had already opened the detailed battle report, which recorded everything that happened in that instant.

"This Mo Xie is also very impressive. Look, the perfection of the Explosive Displacement is close to 100%, a godlike completion. Just in terms of this technique, Mo Xie and Zhang Taihao are evenly matched." Zhou Xian was a bit regretful for giving this opportunity to Zhang Taihao. Although Zhou Xian was not very passionate about competition, the intense clash between Mo Xie and Zhang Taihao had ignited his fighting spirit.

Xu Tianyun leaned in front of Zhou Xian and asked, "Old Zhou, what would you do if you faced this Mo Xie?"

"Hmm, the strategy of a Taoist is different from a Mage. If it were me, I don't think Infinite Step or the three major displacement skills would be very effective against Mo Xie. I would use my 'Chaotic Step' technique."

"Isn't the development of Chaotic Step still incomplete?"

Not only incomplete, Zhou Xian had been so busy recently that he had forgotten all about techniques.

While the two were chatting, the situation on the battlefield had changed dramatically again.

Zhang Taihao began to use Lightning Bolt and other small skills to counter Mo Xie.

Unlike Ice Spike and Fireball, Lightning Bolt could only be dodged, not canceled. Moreover, if the skill points for Lightning Bolt were high enough, it could potentially paralyze the opponent.

But how would Mo Xie let Zhang Taihao succeed?

At this moment, Mo Xie immediately used Hellfire and Fire Wall to restrict Zhang Taihao's movement.

Then, Mo Xie cast three Fireballs.

Faced with this, Zhang Taihao immediately cast three Fireballs to cancel out the attack.

Just then, Mo Xie cast a Flame Blade toward Zhang Taihao!

Flame Blade was a ranged attack similar to a small Fireball, and players often jokingly called it "Big Fireball."

However, this "Big Fireball" was not as easy to cancel.

Faced with Mo Xie's Flame Blade, Zhang Taihao immediately moved to dodge.

But at this moment, Mo Xie used Explosive Displacement again, and this time, he moved to the same position as Zhang Taihao!

"Trouble!"

Zhou Xian immediately realized that Zhang Taihao had fallen into the opponent's trap.

The surrounding Fire Walls and Flame Blade were all lures to make Zhang Taihao move toward Mo Xie's position, which was near the wall. With Mo Xie blocking the outside, Zhang Taihao would have no chance to escape using the same trick again!

"If Mo Xie uses Repelling Fire Ring now, Zhang Taihao will have no way to avoid it!"

As Zhou Xian thought, Mo Xie immediately used Repelling Fire Ring. At the same time, Zhang Taihao used a Wind and Fire Wheel!

Wind and Fire Wheel is a close-range skill for mages. When used, it creates a swirling vortex of wind and fire around the mage, dealing damage to all nearby enemies. This is a protective strategy for mages against warriors, but the skill is not easy to use because it requires close combat, which mages are not good at. Therefore, not many players have studied this skill.

After using this skill, Zhang Taihao immediately cast a Bursting Flame behind him!

At the same time, Zhang Taihao was hit by Mo Xie's Repelling Fire Ring and forced to retreat.

But at this moment, the audience was shocked to see that the place Zhang Taihao was forced to retreat to was exactly where he had cast the Bursting Flame. The Bursting Flame had just exploded, and Zhang Taihao was instantly propelled forward!

"Such terrifying prediction!"

In that instant, all the competitive experts watching the match realized what Zhang Taihao had done.

In that split second, Zhang Taihao had predicted where the Repelling Fire Ring would push him, then used Bursting Flame and precisely timed its explosion. When the Repelling Fire Ring hit him, he instantly activated the self-destruct option again, performing an Explosive Displacement while in a stun state!

What was even more shocking was what came next.

—The direction of this Explosive Displacement was not to escape, but directly toward Mo Xie!

In that instant, Zhang Taihao collided with Mo Xie! After getting close, Zhang Taihao's Wind and Fire Wheel began to deal massive damage to Mo Xie!

"So that's why he used Wind and Fire Wheel earlier!" Zhang Taihao's previous actions were now clear!

Mo Xie's face changed drastically as he rapidly retreated. Zhang Taihao quickly recovered from the stun and immediately cast a Fire Wall behind Mo Xie, restricting his movement. Then, Zhang Taihao charged at Mo Xie and activated the Ice Storm skill.

"Trouble!" Mo Xie realized he had been tricked, but it was too late.

At this moment, Zhang Taihao immediately used Repelling Fire Ring, causing Mo Xie to be forced to retreat, followed by a Flash of Light!

Earlier, Mo Xie had already taken a Wind and Fire Wheel, and his health was already low. After taking the Ice and Fire combo, Mo Xie's health was completely drained.

The intense battle that had just been raging came to an abrupt end...

And the victor was... Zhang Taihao!