“Don’t be full of yourself! The match is not set.” Song Qian ended the call with an ugly expression. He looked at the screen where the game started and unwittingly tightened his grip. ‘Y-God, you must do your best!’
[Y-God, how should we do this?] asked Love Letter.
[I’ll optimize. You guys decide among yourself and just ignore me,] Ye Lingchen stated calmly. After purchasing his items, he then went to the bottom lane. [1]
In the opposing lane were Drow Ranger and Jakiro. These two were absolutely trollish existences on the lane. Both were ranged heroes with orb effect. Drow Ranger’s Frost Arrows could reduce speed while Jakiro’s Liquid Fire could reduce attack speed and cause damage over time.
Anti-Mage was a melee hero. Faced with these two, he can only be suppressed, thus making it difficult to even get last hits.
Ye Lingchen did not panic. He held out under pressure and walked up to acquire some last hits, trading his HP for gold.
Jakiro had both crowd control and high burst in the early stages. Paired with Drow Ranger’s speed reduction, there were a few times Ye Lingchen almost died trying to get a last hit on the creeps. However, using his Blink ability, he could always execute some extreme escaping. The sight of it sent chills down the viewer’s spine.
However, Ye Lingchen had sufficient recovery items and Coold had even passed her recovery items to him, which allowed him to hold out.
For five minutes, Ye Lingchen kept up his last hit, managing to put in 24 last hits, bringing his gold count up to 1100.
Everyone was filled with curiosity as they watched Ye Lingchen maneuver Anti-Mage to the side lane shop.
[As expected of Y-God. He managed to maintain his cash flow under such pressure. Amazing!]
[Why does Anti-Mage feel so much more agile in Y-God’s hands? If it were me, I would’ve died a long time ago.]
[Didn’t you notice that Y-God’s blink is always at cunning angles? An average person would be hard-pressed to find him.]
[I wonder what items would Y-God purchase. What build should Anti-Mage go for?]
…
The first item Ye Lingchen bought was a Ring of Health, giving him a five HP regeneration boost.
‘Is he playing tanky?’
Everyone had their guesses but finally shook their heads. Someone had tried playing tanky before, but it was ineffective. That build could not even kill anyone due to the lack of damage. It was very stupid.
Ignoring the lively comments, Ye Lingchen continued to farm creeps.
With the Ring of Health, Ye Lingchen’s sustainability increased drastically. Faced with the opponent’s wearing down, he only needed to avoid the occasional confrontation in order to bring his HP back to a healthy level.
At the seven-minute mark, First Blood was drawn. 09’s Lion was killed by the opponent’s Slayer.
[Eesh! Y-God, I’m sorry,] 09 apologized.
[It’s ok. Keep your cool,] Ye Lingchen replied calmly.
As time passed, the opponents started showing their strength. Drow Ranger had an aura that greatly boosted all ranged heroes with high attack power. Because of that, the opponent’s attacks were strong. Add to that their skills, Ye Lingchen’s side was unconsciously being pushed into an extremely unfavorable situation. Any minor mistakes would lead to death.
Ye Lingchen did not engage in the fight, nor did he try to kill anyone. Instead, he focused on farming.
Furthermore, he was occupying his own lane, thus holding absolute control over the lane.
That skillful lane control surprised the viewers.
However, Coold and company were facing off five opponents with four heroes. They were at a complete disadvantage and were painfully suppressed.
All the viewers grew anxious as they all focused on Ye Lingchen. The tension from the game had affected them in real life.
[Y-God, their top lane is empty. They might be coming after you!] Wu’er stated.
Just when she barely finished her sentence, Jakiro sneakily peeked its head out from the darkness and breathed fire at Anti-Mage!
Right at the moment it appeared, Ye Lingchen blinked and teleported right into the forest.
The next instant, Slayer, Drow Ranger, Earthshaker, and Ancient Apparition all made their appearance.
Earthshaker used Fissure, aiming directly into the forest. Ancient Apparition immediately used his ult to expand their sight as Slayer prepared her skills. However, Anti-Mage’s Blink’s cooldown was complete, hence he teleported away once more.
They were obviously prepared for this; the five of them were standing in different directions, so no matter which direction Anti-Mage blinked, they would be able to catch up easily.
The target of Ye Lingchen’s Blink was Earthshaker, right on his face!
He did not escape but instead started attacking Earthshaker.
Earthshaker’s Fissure was still under cooldown and could only activate his second skill. However, the stun duration was limited.
It actually took a full four hits from Ye Lingchen!
After that, the other four quickly followed up and Ancient Apparition got ready to trap Anti-Mage in ice. However, Ye Lingchen once again blinked away!
Moreover, he naturally took a step back and avoided Jakiro’s Ice Path.
A blatant escape.
The five of them were still giving chase from behind, but they were once more met with another of Ye Lingchen’s Blink. It was impossible for them to catch up.
This time, not only did they fail to get Anti-Mage, the five of them acting together wasted a good two minutes of their time. That was a great loss!
Ye Lingchen laughed and explained as he maneuvered Anti-Mage, [Why did I teleport to Earthshaker? That’s because within the five of them, Drow Ranger has silence and Slayer has crowd control. Only Earthshaker, after using Fissure, is of the least threat to me. Furthermore, I attacked him four times just to burn his mana!]
[Each of my attacks would reduce his mana by 60 points. Four hits would be 240 points. Earthshaker didn’t have much mana to begin with. With this, he would have no mana to use the second Fissure!]
[My blink was most afraid of extra long-ranged crowd controls. Once Earthshaker ran out of mana for the second Fissure, then the others would pose no threat to me as I Blink away!]
[F*ck! 666666…]
[Although it may seem like a nervous mess, in actuality, it’s as steady as an old dog. Are you some sort of director?!]
[I would’ve long panicked in such a situation, but Y-God managed to analyze and find an escape. Amazing!]
[This is the worst gank in the history of the Death Quintet right? Hahaha, I’m dying from laughter! Y-God, you’re amazing!]
[Motherf*cker. I’m just watching a game, yet it feels like I’m watching some great movie. This is blowing my mind!]
“Tch!”
The Death Quintet frowned at the same time with an ugly expression on their faces. Their grand gank was toyed with by Y-God. That was a taint in their gaming career.
However, that was due to their lack of understanding for Anti-Mage that led to them underestimating its abilities.
[Anti-Mage can only escape with his Blink. No need to worry. Just speed things up and destroy them. We just need to win!] said the leader of the group.
The other four members nodded their heads.
By then, they were at the 12-minute mark. Anti-Mage had finally obtained his first major item, Battle Fury!
Everyone had an epiphany. ‘So that Ring of Health was meant for Battle Fury!’
Battle Fury had a special effect, and that was a 35 percent cleave damage effect.
[Alright, watch and learn. Getting Battle Fury would be Anti-Mage’s first qualitative change. As the saying goes, “a melee combatant without Battle Fury should go home and plant sweet potatoes”. Next, watch carefully…]
—
[1] In raw it was written as top lane, but as the story progressed, the lane that Ye Lingchen secured was the bottom lane. In retrospect, we changed this to keep the flow of the story. Another point to note that the author has always been looking at it from the Sentinel’s perspective, so in this case, the safe lane would be the bottom lane as well.
