Chapter 391: Part-Time HR
Poison Jab does indeed have a chance to inflict the poison status.
But normally, Pokémon use a stinging or stabbing motion to inject poison. To ensure a higher chance of poisoning, they often try to stab as deep as possible, for as long as possible, and inject as much as possible.
But Specter hadn't done any of that.
He hadn't even stabbed.
He had just straight-up punched him!
A hardcore poison injection, and it had unexpectedly succeeded.
Even Specter himself hadn't expected that.
The commentators were stunned.
"Can Poison Jab really be used like that? Is this some novel interpretation from a professional player?"
To this, Arthur could only do a little bear shrug in his mind.
He hoped no team would actually believe this and try it. He felt that Specter had just gotten lucky, a case of brute force creating a miracle.
But since the poison had successfully landed, he might as well go for a little combo.
"Specter, use Venoshock!"
He had Specter use the finishing move, Venoshock, which deals greatly increased damage to a poisoned enemy!
The one-two combo made the Serperior cry out.
"Serperior, use your tail to lash out with Thrash!"
At this point, the field was still enveloped in Haze. If she continued to use Leaf Storm, the reversed buff would be continuously eroded, and its duration would be very limited. And the Poison-type Gengar also had a resistance to Grass-type moves.
Elara decisively chose to have her Serperior abandon its signature move and instead use the Dark-type Thrash.
This might seem like an adaptive, on-the-fly play, but in reality, the moment Elara gave this command, it signified that her signature tactical system had already collapsed.
Her three-trick pony was no longer effective.
From now on, it was all up to the Pokémon's own freestyle.
And in a freestyle, Serperior was completely dominated by Specter…
Specter wasn't afraid of Serperior twisting its little waist and playing with Thrash. He was only afraid that his opponent would see the situation was bad and just run away.
He was very happy with this.
Come on, let's play!
He moved with agility, continuously sidestepping and dodging, parrying the opponent's tail whips with his short hands, and then seizing the opportunity to grab the snake's tail for a powerful throw. He was having the time of his life.
But poor Serperior was played until it shed tears of emotion.
A few minutes later, the referee raised his flag—
"Serperior is unable to battle!"
Arthur had smoothly won this first round.
From this point on, it was already very difficult for Elara to make a comeback.
Her ace was Serperior, and now, her ace was on its back, completely numb from the beating…
In the subsequent two rounds, she couldn't put up much of a resistance. She was quickly taken out by Arthur with a 3-0 score, contributing to another of his shutouts.
During the post-match handshake, Elara even gave a self-deprecating smile and asked, "I couldn't put any pressure on you at all. Are you guys really not going to reconsider?"
She was, of course, referring to Ivy's earlier recruitment offer.
Other players, when looking for their next team, would always do their best to boast and sell themselves. But with Elara, it was the complete opposite. In both of their meetings, she had always, intentionally or unintentionally, been thinking from their perspective.
It made Arthur not know whether to laugh or cry.
This girl was too sincere. So sincere that he didn't even know how to persuade her.
After thinking for a moment, he gave Elara a very serious answer. "Actually, I think you're a good fit for our team. Your current playstyle is suitable for a rotational role, not a fixed starter. If you come to our team, you'll have a different kind of performance."
This wasn't just politeness; it was his sincere thought.
Although Elara had been completely unable to make a splash against Arthur in this match, that didn't mean her strategy was weak.
The main reason was that he knew she would be the starter, and he had prepared a perfect counter.
If he had faced her without any prior knowledge, a Serperior with fully boosted attack, defense, and special attack would be more than capable of fighting above its weight class and taking down a captain-level opponent!
Not to mention Elara's future growth. Even with her current strength, if she could set an ambush and catch someone off guard, she still had a chance to unexpectedly take out a careless, high-level main player.
The key issue was—she couldn't be a fixed starter.
If this strategy was used in every single match, then as long as the opposing analysis team wasn't completely brain-dead, they would always find a way to counter it.
There are so many Pokémon moves. No single strategy is absolutely unbeatable.
But the Tigris Team clearly didn't have the conditions for this. How could a team on the verge of bankruptcy, whose owner was about to pack up and run at the end of the season, have the money to buy substitutes?
Their team, including their captain, had a total of four main players, just enough to fill three singles spots and a captain's battle role.
Rotation? It didn't exist…
No matter how badly Elara played, the team had to keep sending her out, because they really had no one else…
A player with a relatively one-dimensional, easily countered strategy, if you can't let her rotate and keep her as a surprise, then it's easy for her to be stuck in a rut.
But if she came to Starlight and Frost, she would definitely not face the same situation.
So Arthur really wasn't just talking nonsense.
But for Elara, who was already numb from losing, this simple, truthful statement was like a beam of light illuminating her path forward.
In an instant, a light seemed to shine in her pupils.
Under the focus of all the cameras in the stadium, she suppressed the urge to make any drastic movements. She just took a deep breath and gave a light laugh. In an instant, it was as if the clouds had parted after a storm.
"Then, I'll take that as your sincere thought. Thank you. I'll consider it after the regular season is over."
After speaking, she turned and left, as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
This, in turn, left Arthur a bit clueless.
Did he… just help the little boss complete a recruitment?
Playing professionally and also doing a part-time HR job.
He wondered if he could get a bonus or something when he got back…
He was thinking about all sorts of random things and was walking a bit slowly through the player tunnel.
But when he returned to the lounge, he found that the atmosphere was a bit off.
Ivy was holding her phone, looking at him with a sly smile.
"Contestant Arthur, do you remember what I told you? No playboys on our team. What did you say to Sister Elara just now, after the match?"
"???"
Seeing Arthur still "playing dumb," Ivy decisively showed him her phone.
"She messaged me the moment she got off the stage. She said you gave her spiritual comfort and helped her find her direction again. She's agreed to join our team. Looking at her attitude, she'd probably even be willing to take a pay cut! Tell me! What did you say to her?!"
Arthur sucked in a breath of cold air, completely caught off guard by this development.
He was, after all, a transmigrator from two hundred years ago. He was not familiar with the speed of information in this era and had forgotten about the convenient tool known as a smartphone.
He had been careless…
In a flash of inspiration, Arthur noticed the live broadcast screen in the lounge and immediately said.
"Aaron played that Pokémon a bit early."
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