Chapter Eighty-Six: The Art of Concealed Troops

At center lane, Windview’s Night Raven and Mulan charged in with ferocious momentum.
On Lin Hao’s side, however, the lineup led by the river spirit was not the least bit intimidated; even after their form had just been battered down, they still dared to counterattack.

The second team fight began.

Meanwhile, Lin Hao silently pushed the bottom lane forward.

By then, his minion wave had already reached the enemy second turret.

Lin Hao moved to the junction where the enemy’s bottom second turret met the wall at the edge of the battlefield.

The armored general pressed himself tightly against the wall.

Then Lin Hao made a very strange move.

He slid the wheel for his ultimate.

Only when the crosshair in the indicator aligned perfectly perpendicular to the wall at the edge of the map did he press the skill.

What was he doing?

The audience was watching with rapt attention when they suddenly noticed something odd: although the general raised his arm and shouted, and the soldiers were supposedly returning from all directions—

there were no soldiers at all!

Around the general, not a single soldier stood beside him.

What was going on?

Many viewers thought they had seen wrong at first glance, but when they looked again, they still saw only the lone general standing at the enemy tower.

And around the ultimate button, a circular timer was counting down!

That meant the ultimate was indeed active!

“Where are the general’s soldiers?”

“They defected.”

“They deserted.”

“They’re drawing pay while absent.”

“Did the ultimate get trapped and vanish?”

“Is this a ghost legion?”

Lin Hao did not need to look at the barrage to know that there would be a flood of question marks again.

“Everyone must be wondering whether I really used my ultimate, and why my soldiers disappeared.”

At that moment, the enemy Mulan, left with only half her health, came through the gap between the high ground tower and the second turret.

Night Raven was moving in from behind, from the entrance between the blue buff area and the second turret.

And Angela, freshly revived, was almost on the same line as Mulan.

They all saw the one man quietly standing there, basic-attacking the turret.

If it were the general and his legion attacking the tower, especially if they were not in defensive formation, they would have to be far more careful and keep their distance, because that legion could lunge in with the first skill at any moment, launch them into the air, and unleash a full combo that might even delete those already low on health.

But now there was only one man!

As for whether the general still had an ultimate in reserve—

so what?

Even if he had activated it, there was a duration to it. They could just back off when the time came.

Angela and Mulan both thought this, and in their carelessness they drifted too close, their positions overlapping.

In their eyes, Lin Hao was nothing more than a lamb awaiting slaughter, a piece of prey: Angela and Mulan in front, Night Raven sealing off the rear. There was nowhere to run!

And yet—

“The true hunter often appears in the form of prey.”

Lin Hao flicked his finger, and the general suddenly burst forth, lunging with his first skill!

Bang!

The end of that first skill just happened to slam into both Angela and Mulan!

At the same time, the general’s four soldiers somehow emerged from nowhere, appearing instantly around him!

What the heck?

That shove, together with the four soldiers that had suddenly materialized, left Mulan and Angela completely stunned.

Before they could react, Lin Hao did not follow with a basic attack. Instead, he swiftly changed form, used the second skill to shove again, then followed with the first skill to adjust his direction. In an instant, the rage meter beneath the general’s health bar was completely filled!

Ha!

The general thrust out that unstoppable spear strike!

With just one blow, Mulan was left with only a thread of health!

Angela’s health bar was also cut in half!

Mulan finally regained control and hurriedly tried to kite backward, while Angela, in a panic, activated her second and first skills, then followed with her ultimate!

At point-blank range, Angela’s burst damage landed fully!

As everyone knows, when Angela’s skill combo is fully unleashed, even the tank line in the entire King’s Gorge cannot claim they can survive it unscathed!

But now, with such a brutal build, the general not only tanked Angela’s damage head-on, his health did not fall by much at all. And after unleashing that first spear strike, his second thrust only needed less than half a second of charge before he swung again!

Lin Hao’s timing here was perfect.

He was not predicting the enemy’s skills—he was predicting the charge state of his own rage!

Under Angela’s intense, concentrated burst, the general’s rage bar beneath his health instantly maxed out as well!

Another fully charged spear strike!

This one was just as overwhelming. Mulan had no time to escape and became another soul claimed by the spear.

As for Angela, the shield granted by her ultimate was shattered, her health dropped again, and now she was left with only about a third.

Seeing the tide turn against her, Angela flashed backward to flee!

But at that moment, the slowing effect of the black blade had already quietly taken hold.

Lin Hao had not been standing still and basic-attacking either. While charging, he had also been moving forward at a measured pace.

Night Raven had dutifully sealed the rear to no purpose; only now did he arrive at the scene, planting himself there in a hurry.

He tried to finish off the general, who had been reduced to one-third health by Angela’s burst, and put him down on the spot!

But Lin Hao’s timing was impeccable. He continued predicting the recovery of his own rage and thrust out a third spear strike!

Ha!

Angela failed to escape and fell as well!

Only Night Raven remained. After that strike, Lin Hao hurriedly controlled the general’s first skill to turn again, this time facing Night Raven head-on!

Windview kept following up with damage, but Lin Hao always made sure to receive the burst while maintaining his frontal charging stance.

And at some point, the general had already quietly backed up against the wall separating the second turret and the blue zone near the two wolves.

The classic side-by-side-with-the-wall formation appeared once again!

The two exchanged damage. Combined with the huge healing effect triggered by the general’s spear thrusts, after several seconds of trading, the general’s health had hardly dropped at all, while Night Raven’s health plummeted relentlessly!

This tactic was also one of the skills the system had given him for Grandmaster-level general play.

Windview sighed.

At this point, his teammates were either dead or crippled, and the opening burst still had not managed to kill the general instantly.

Now that the general had pressed himself against the wall, killing him would not be so easy. If the thrust landed cleanly, the one who might die first could very well be me.

With that thought, Windview could only helplessly choose to retreat toward the high ground tower and stop fighting Lin Hao head-on.

Lin Hao chased after Night Raven’s retreating form and thrust once more, then kept that defensive stance as he withdrew.

He could not be sure whether Night Raven was pretending to disengage just to turn around and launch a killing blow with his ultimate.

“Using the general’s hidden-soldier technique, he alone takes on three, kills two, and then leaves with ease! That is the general!”

Seeing that he had nearly escaped, Night Raven no longer gave chase. Lin Hao finally let out a breath and began boasting to the viewers in his stream.

And at that moment, his livestream had erupted with excitement.