Chapter 2481: Fierce Battle
Advanced players, especially those fully equipped with items, often find that spatial items and instruments interfere with each other. Whether one can seize the right moment to activate an instrument depends on agility during combat and a quick enough mind to handle an opponent's attacks while selecting the appropriate instrument. Therefore, to improve combat efficiency, if the probability of successfully using an instrument is low, most players will temporarily abandon instruments and instead use items that are less prone to interference.
Thus, from the very start of the battle, the spatial instruments on both sides were virtually useless. Additionally, both sides had defensive trait items, making traits difficult to activate. Close-quarters combat relied solely on items.
The several players surrounding Xu Huo coordinated seamlessly, maintaining a basic formation of three-on-one, with the remaining three providing support from the sidelines. The support players mostly used long-range item attacks. Once an item's usage count was exhausted or its duration expired, they would switch positions with the three engaged in close combat. This way, they could not only replenish their items in time but also save waiting time.
Xu Huo was besieged by three players, leaving him almost no breathing room to switch items. After seizing an opportunity to destroy one of their jamming instruments, he quickly pulled that player into the Mirror World. However, this only delayed the opponent by two or three seconds, as the other two players' items were already upon him!
"Bang! Bang!" Several layers of defense barriers from "A Step Away" were shattered. Several items that had slipped through the cracks all struck the barrier of the "Space Sphere." After having their attack power somewhat weakened, they barely managed to knock Xu Huo back a bit. But at the same time, the two close-combat players swung their items at the barrier. One of the longswords possessed a special ability—upon touching the barrier, the blade gradually melted it, though the process was slow.
Xu Huo retreated, but only managed to move two or three meters. Under the siege of six players, creating distance was nearly impossible. Sensing an attack from behind, he materialized his spiritual power into a high wall, greatly reducing the speed and attack power of the incoming items. Then, using the hand equipped with the "Life Core," he rapidly tapped these items. Not all metal items could have their metal destroyed by the "Life Core," but every little bit helped. The remaining items he grabbed and directly tossed into the luggage compartment.
In that one or two seconds, the items of the other two players were already upon him. Blocked by the defense barrier, one player who had swapped in from the support position used an item to accelerate and thrust a sword toward his abdomen!
Under the effect of "Cat's Triple Life Loan," Xu Huo's body uncontrollably twisted to the side. Although he dodged the sword, his posture was awkward. So when an item flew in from the other side, he used "Inviolable Domain" while simultaneously opening a spiritual gate on the ground.
Unfortunately, the prepared opponents were wearing specialized jamming instruments. As high-frequency sounds drilled into his ears from all directions, his spiritual power became momentarily unstable... This fleeting moment was enough for the several B-rank players to do a lot.
Seeing them all gather around him, Xu Huo used "The Weight of Life" once more. Under the gravity effect, both he and the six players were pinned in place. Seizing the opportunity before the item's effect wore off, he first used "Parallel Lines" to pull away the player wielding the longsword, then opened another spiritual gate.
This time, he succeeded. After teleporting himself three hundred meters away, he manipulated his spiritual power materialization to wildly slash at the six players. However, protected by layers of defense items, none of them were seriously injured. But their goggles were shattered by the materialization. The "Righteous Holy Light" flared up, blinding their vision.
Of course, these people were not to be outdone. They immediately used a large-area silencing item, plunging the surroundings into utter silence.
As players' evolution progresses, their five senses gradually sharpen. Therefore, even those without temporal or spatial evolution can sense fluctuations in time or space power, though the accuracy varies. In high-intensity battles among advanced players, the eyes often cannot keep up, especially when items might suddenly appear from nowhere. At such times, hearing and perception become crucial. But perception varies from person to person and may not accurately and quickly judge the direction and magnitude of an attack. Hearing is more direct and covers a wider range, especially for high-speed moving attack items, which can hardly avoid making sounds. Thus, in combat, once hearing is sealed off, a player's control over the surrounding situation is greatly reduced.
In this situation, the best course of action is to immediately retreat from the silent range. If under a trait attack, one must wait for the effect to pass. But with six players blocking the way, they clearly wouldn't give him that chance.
Of course, Xu Huo didn't need to rely on hearing. Even though the Water Cube Barrier prevented him from using spatial power, it only prevented its use—it didn't mean his evolutionary ability had suddenly vanished. In this state of sealed hearing, his movements were not restricted in the slightest.
After just a minute of this exchange, the six players realized that under the same restrictive conditions, a Mental Evolver had an advantage over them. So they retracted the silencing item, and three of them used items to dispel the effects of the "Righteous Holy Light," surrounding Xu Huo once more.
Thus, the battle returned to square one. Although the six coordinated well, Xu Huo had enough defense items of decent grade and quality, including some that could offset attack power. So even with their repeated attacks, as long as they didn't completely destroy his items or seize the gap between item switches to land a decisive blow, they couldn't do anything to him.
As time passed, they also realized that even though they occasionally used jamming instruments or devices to prevent spiritual power from affecting them, they still couldn't avoid interference. Extremely complex commands wouldn't take effect, but making them suddenly pause during combat or look in irrelevant directions was enough to bring them to the brink of life and death.
By this point, large-scale lethal items had yet to be deployed, clearly indicating that neither side wanted to escalate the matter.
"Fighting like this will never end," Xu Huo said, forcefully flinging away the black blade in front of him. Looking at the player who had been knocked back, he smiled and said, "How about we spice things up a bit?"
At that moment, rain began to fall from the sky. Scattered raindrops appeared in midair, trailing down to the ground in fine threads, extending from his position far into the distance.
The rain fell silently, but as the droplets descended, branches, flowers, and leaves also drifted down.
"This is a spatial item." The six players gathered opposite Xu Huo, all activating defense barriers. The falling raindrops were like sharp blades, indiscriminately attacking everyone.