A second later, a string of exclamation marks flashed into Team Wind Howl's chat.

"!!!!!"

The exclamation marks came from Soul Healer; this was Wind Howl's agreed upon rescue signal.

Wind Howl saw it and turned around, but no one was able to find Soul Healer's whereabouts.

Dirty!

Zhao Yuzhe immediately thought of this word. He hated this word. Even when the team had featured dirtiness as their style, he had never tried to understand it. He only felt thankful that Wind Howl ended up changing styles, discarding the word dirty. However, it hadn't been eliminated thoroughly enough. There were still hints of this word in their team.

For example, Ruan Yongbin had his character hide like a dirty thief. Zhao Yuzhe wanted to help him, but he couldn't find him...

Annoying annoying annoying!

Zhao Yuzhe was irritated at Ruan Yongbin's dirtiness. Their captain Tang Hao, Liu Hao, and Lin Feng weren't able to immediately locate Soul Healer either. Reading an agreed upon rescue signal was easy, but no one had any synergy with Ruan Yongbin's dirty style. They symbolized the new Wind Howl, while Ruan Yongbin was a Cleric player, left over from the old Wind Howl. Nearly all the other old players had been replaced, but who would have thought that the healer, a character with a different role than others, was unexpectedly going off beat from the rest of the team because of the old style. And Happy's Fang Rui had persisted with this old style, so he was able to accurately locate Ruan Yongbin's hiding spot.

Ruan Yongbin had been caught by Fang Rui, so he had sent a rescue signal. However, none of his teammates were able to find him. It looked like a hilariously stupid situation, but it let everyone realize just what kind of team the current Wind Howl was.　　

Outstanding players? Powerful characters?

Wind Howl possessed these, but whenever they encountered anyone strong, they just couldn't win. Why?　　

Now, everyone understood.

Team Wind Howl was still experiencing the hards.h.i.+ps of going through a transformation. However, Wind Howl's deep-rooted style wasn't so easy to get rid of. Just letting go of the master of playing dirty, Fang Rui, and changing their Doubtful Demon to a battle Thief weren't enough to complete this transformation.

Wind Howl wanted to give up on their roots. For a team, this was no different than demolis.h.i.+ng an old building and constructing a new one. Last season, their determination hadn't been too clear. With Fang Rui at the head, the team had someone who played dirty as a part of their main roster, who was displaying the soul of the old team. With the support of the others in the team, Wind Howl had looked quite strong last season.

Then, Wind Howl's new core became Tang Hao. He didn't realize the strength of Fang Rui's supportive play. In contrast, he and Zhao Yuzhe detested this playstyle. He couldn't see the soul of the team and only emphasized his own strength. He wanted his own strength to be magnified a step further, and this dirty style wasn't the support he liked. He was the captain. He was the core. The team revolved around him, and he didn't like this dirty style support. As a result, even the master of playing dirty, Fang Rui, lost his spot on the team.

Fang Rui left, and Team Wind Howl added in a whole bunch of new players. These new players, who revolved around Tang Hao, weren't dirty at all. The rest, who were good at playing around a dirty style as a foundation, had been pushed to the second-string. What waited for them was either to leave like Fang Rui did, or to change their styles to the new one.

Letting go of playing dirty didn't necessarily spell their downfall. Many outstanding powerhouses in the Alliance didn't rely on playing dirty to win. But the problem was that once Wind Howl chose to abandon the style they had been familiar with, did their new playstyle have a clear direction?

An aggressive style centered around Tang Hao?

This seemed to be their plan, but how should they bring this plan into reality? How should the players work together? What responsibilities should each character have? When fighting, how should they coordinate their attacks?

Thinking back to Wind Howl's matches this season, everyone discovered that while Team Wind Howl had gotten rid of the old style, their new style had yet to be realized either. A new and mature tactical system hadn't been formed.

Facing weak teams, they could overwhelm their opponents through superior individual skill. However, when facing strong teams, without a clear tactical system, there were holes everywhere. Wind Howl's individual round results were quite good because their players and characters were strong. However, their team compet.i.tion record was a disaster, all because their style hadn't fully matured yet.

They couldn't find Soul Healer?

Maybe they could blame it on not eliminating the dirty style thoroughly enough. However, it also showcased the mess Team Wind Howl was in. Champions? Right now, no one dared to bring this word up along with Wind Howl. Becoming the champions wasn't as simple as having individually strong characters and players.

Wind Howl was like a fly without a head. They couldn't find Soul Healer's position, but they could still ask in the chat. Ruan Yongbin saw the question and replied back with his coordinates. Rescue had finally arrived. However, Happy had taken advantage of Wind Howl's confusion to attack wildly, smacking Wind Howl into a sorry state. Wind Howl had no idea what they should be doing.

Although, when Zhao Yuzhe, Lin Feng, and Liu Hao, the three who had been 1v3ed by Fang Rui in the group arena, saw Fang Rui's Boundless Sea, their target was very clear. But how dirty was Fang Rui? How could he give them a chance to surround him? Seeing that he was outnumbered, he didn't even try to be brave and scurried off into the marketplace to play cat and mouse with the three.

Fang Rui now had the attention of three of them, how was that okay? Liu Hao quickly noticed the imbalance. However, Zhao Yuzhe was still chasing after him. Liu Hao gave him a reminder and all he received was a "I can handle him alone".

Liu Hao didn't agree with this reply, but he didn't immediately point it out, because he knew Zhao Yuzhe's personality. Saying "just you alone isn't enough" would certainly infuriate him. It would definitely have the opposite effect.

Liu Hao chose to stay silent. He and Lin Feng would provide support in other parts of the battle. Shortly afterwards, Zhao Yuzhe was ambushed by Fang Rui. Happy had even coordinated with Fang Rui and s.h.i.+fted targets. As a result, Zhao Yuzhe was now the one typing "!!!!" The entire team hurried over to rescue him. Liu Hao had predicted this outcome though, so he came to the rescue promptly.

"Good!" Zhao Yuzhe felt very thankful for Liu Hao's prompt rescue. Everyone had also seen Liu Hao save the situation at a key moment.

But...

"It looks like you were ready for it!" Ye Xiu rushed over from the side. Lord Grim used several movement skills in a row to instantly move to Liu Hao's Absent Sun. Such a fast response, such… Ye Xiu had been ready too.

Dancing Rain's artillery barrage, One Inch Ash's ghost boundaries, and even Happy's healer Little Cold Hands appeared in Liu Hao's sight. In an instant, an offensive formation had formed. Their target: Absent Sun.

It was a trap!

Liu Hao didn't hesitate and immediately typed "!!!" He didn't think he could break through the premeditated formation set up by Happy so easily. However, even if his teammates rescued him, what then? Wind Howl had to many openings. Happy just needed to pick one and attack their openings again and again, while Wind Howl ran around rescuing one after the other. Apart from the opening, Wind Howl had never showed the initiative once. 　　

"Fight!!!" Captain Tang Hao shouted. However, was Wind Howl's problem an issue that could be resolved through morale? Their individual players were good, but they weren't overwhelmingly strong to the point where they could just crush everything in their path through superior individual skill alone. What they lacked was teamwork.

Liu Hao's Absent Sun was the first to fall. To the viewers out there though, even in this losing situation, Liu Hao's performance had no lack of highlights. He had saved Wind Howl several times during crucial moments.

"If you could completely focus on the match, how would things have turned out?" But when he fell, Ye Xiu once again lectured him on that annoying old subject.

How am I supposed to focus more? Why are you so annoying, always blabbering? Do you really think that with your trash talk, people will think that I didn't perform well? Hilarious. Even though Wind Howl's going to lose, who could pick out anything wrong with my performance?

With one player dead, Wind Howl went into an even more pa.s.sive state. From start to end, they had never taken the initiative even once. Wind Howl's loyal fans had seen their players march onto the stage in high spirits, but their opponents instantly tore them apart as if they were paper tigers.

If Wind Howl had lost an intense back and forth, even though the fans would still feel sad, they wouldn't feel downhearted. But Wind Howl seemed to have gone into the match full of confidence, yet they had never gained the upper hand from start to finish. The fans weren't able to find even a shred of hope.

The Wind Howl banner once again drooped down. That loyal fan responsible for the banner was reminiscing about the Team Wind Howl with the Criminal Partners. Even though that team hadn't placed as high on the rankings as the current Wind Howl, they had never made the fans lose all hope.

Matches needed to be won, but winning wasn't everything in a compet.i.tion.

Team Wind Howl failed to win a single point nor did they perform well. All they seemed to have was high morale, but when they came onto the stage, they were like balloons and instantly burst apart.

How could this sort of team give us any sort of hope? Wind Howl's fans were suddenly at a loss. A team that currently qualified for the playoffs was unexpectedly making many people feel lost.