Chapter 125: My Night Elves Are Unstoppable in the Late Game [Seventeenth Update]

Well, our Boss Huang is truly a man who stops at nothing. A company with official authorization pirating its own products—that is a move without precedent.

On the other side, however, Allen Adham began to feel a sense of unease as he watched Huang He accept the challenge so readily.

"Huang He said he is a loyal fan of Warcraft II, so his skills must be quite high!" Allen grew nervous. He knew that while he was the boss of the company, his own gaming ability was only slightly above that of an average player. He had always hovered around the top 20% on the ladder, but there was still a significant gap between him and professional players.

What if Huang He truly had a gift for gaming and was a master of Warcraft II? Wouldn't he be destined to lose?

Thinking on his feet, Allen smiled and said, "However, since Mr. Huang is so interested in Warcraft III, and my laptop happens to have the beta version installed, why don't we play that instead? This would be the world's very first match of Warcraft III!"

Allen said this with confidence. He had already played over 300 games of Warcraft III, while Huang He had never even seen the unit types, let alone the brand-new game mechanics.

Blizzard had poured a great deal of effort into Warcraft III. Compared to its predecessor, the gameplay, mechanics, and especially the introduction of heroes, completely overturned everything established by Warcraft II.

One could even say that Warcraft III revolutionized the entire real-time strategy genre; it was, without question, an epoch-making masterpiece.

Faced with such a game, any player coming from the era of Warcraft II would have no chance of winning against Allen, who had already played 300 matches. He was sure to win. Allen was that confident.

"Play Warcraft III instead..." Sure enough, hearing it was the third installment, Huang He hesitated for a moment. "This game hasn't been released yet. Is it really okay for me to play it early? Wouldn't it be better to stick with the second one?"

"No problem at all!" Allen grew even more confident. "The game is set to be released in just two or three months, and I trust Mr. Huang will not leak any of the content. Of course, we will need to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

"I see..." Huang He was still hesitant.

"Mr. Huang, you are getting to experience our latest game; what is there to be dissatisfied about? You will be the first outsider in the world to experience Warcraft III," Allen murmured. "How about this: you can play a practice match against the computer to familiarize yourself with the game before we begin the match!"

"Fine!" Huang He eventually relented, nodding with "utmost reluctance."

A smile spread across Allen's face. He signaled for the Vice President to lend his laptop to Huang He for a practice round, while Allen himself didn't sit idle; he opened his own computer and began warming up against the computer as well.

Twenty minutes later, Huang He successfully defeated the easy-level AI, and Allen finished his warm-up. The two began what would go down in WCG history as the very first match of Warcraft III.

First came the selection. Huang He chose the Human race without a second thought. Allen was not surprised, as Huang He had played as the Humans during his practice round.

Allen chose the Night Elves. In truth, the Undead were the best choice against a novice. Against someone who didn't even understand early-game economic development, one only needed to unleash a wave of ghouls to slaughter the peasants, leaving the opponent in despair as their workers were wiped out, forcing them to watch helplessly as the Undead army dismantled their base—a tactic known as the "Ghoul Rush."

But Allen was a kind soul. He felt that bullying a novice—a future business partner, at that—was a bit inhumane.

So, Allen decided to play as the Night Elves. Although they were slightly weaker in the early game, that wouldn't matter against a beginner.

Besides, once the Night Elves reached the late game and produced Chimeras, they were invincible. Allen imagined himself sweeping across the map with a 200-supply army, a prospect that surely felt satisfying.

With this in mind, Allen began to hold back. He didn't even bother to harass his opponent early on; instead, after summoning his hero, he simply took a few archers to clear out neutral creeps.

"He probably doesn't even know how to summon a hero yet!" Allen thought to himself, feeling that bullying such a novice was perhaps a bit too cruel.

Just as Allen was happily slaughtering the Naga, he suddenly heard a gasp from the Vice President, who was hovering behind Huang He's computer. Had he seen something interesting?

Had the novice managed to get his own hero killed while fighting creeps?

As Allen pondered this, a frantic siren suddenly blared through his headset—the sound of his base being under attack!

"What's going on?" Allen was startled. He used his mouse to shift his vision back to his base, and his eyebrows nearly caught fire.

He discovered that a shameless old man with a white beard, accompanied by a level-two Water Elemental and three Dwarven Riflemen, was massacring his Wisps as they gathered wood.

"How can I endure this?" Allen shrieked, clicking his Town Portal scroll to rush back and save his base.

But just as the scroll activated, the opponent picked off one more Wisp and retreated with his troops. Allen calculated the damage: he had lost four wood-gathering Wisps. His face turned green at the loss.

One had to understand that in the early game, losing even one worker was a fatal blow to one's economy, let alone four—especially for the already fragile Night Elves.

Allen was livid. Desperate to get even, he marched his army over to engage Huang He, only to find no trace of his opponent's troops. Allen decided to retaliate by raiding Huang He's base and killing his peasants.

It went smoothly at first. He easily reached the gold mine and was ready to wreak havoc, but the peasants scattered in two different directions. Allen locked onto one group and unleashed a barrage of attacks, taking down two peasants before pushing into the base.

Just as he was feeling triumphant, a squad emerged from the shadows, blocking Allen's retreat.

Leading them were Footmen, followed by a squad of Dwarven Riflemen. Judging by the glow on their muzzles, they had even upgraded their attack power.