Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Voice chat was initiated through the club’s YY account. The account was intended to enable the communication between club members as well as the opponents for today.
After adding Lin Dong and the others into the channel, Xiao Bei’s voice was immediately heard. “Luocheng, are we good to go?”
“Boss, we are ready. The only thing left is to put your little friends on the chopping board,” Da Luo said.
Yang Ying, Xiao Jia, and Jinbei’s faces darkened.
‘F*ck! Luocheng was indeed treating us as sparring dummies. If Asmodai did not expose him earlier on, we would have been trashed, knowing nothing about the newly formed team.
“Hey boys, the speakers are on over here. Behave.” Luocheng could feel the burning glares on his back and shushed those from the other end.
“Oh… My bad,” Da Luo immediately apologized.
Team Skycrown had only trained through public ranked games thus far, and this was the first time they would play against a proper team. Lin Dong and the others couldn’t help but feel excited.
“Let’s begin. Add my account,” Luocheng said.
After creating a private custom game, Luocheng pulled in the players from both teams into the room.
A lot of teams had now consensually stayed in the Ionia server, and conveniently, both teams had accounts on this server.
On the left, the players’ IDs were standardized and initialized by SHU—the abbreviation of Shanghai University.
On the right, the IDs were all messed up, having yet to include “Skycrown” in it.
Normally, a team would become a laughing stock in the competition when the names of the members were not aligned.
“We still haven’t gotten the rename card, hehe,” Lin Dong laughed sheepishly and explained.
Both teams were in position and began to rearrange their Runes and Masteries.
Xiao Jia, Yang Ying, and Jinbei were using their own accounts so they didn’t need to change much. They had regained their confidence slightly after seeing the inconsistent IDs.
“Please crush their bottom lane, otherwise, we are not going to be able to hold,” Yang Ying pled.
Asmodai was the ADC of the strongest team in this country. He alone could basically destroy the bottom lane, furthermore, he was now aided by Luocheng, a fantastic Support player. On paper, this line-up at the bottom lane was close to invincible within the country.
Asmodai was a bit more serious after entering the game, wanting to give his best since his partner was none other than the famous Fighting Hawk.
“It’s not going to be that simple.” Asmodai shook his head.
“Why? Wu Sen and Xiao Bei… They are not previous members of Team Wings, right?” Zheng Xia asked.
“Wu Sen was Team Galaxy’s Support and alternative ADC. He is an LPL-level player. I have met him several times before and seldom gained an advantage against him,” Asmodai explained.
The other four players of Team Skycrown might be well-known pub players in LOL but Wu Sen was an established professional player. He had sufficient experience in LPL and his current worth and fame were definitely the highest in the team. After all, the strength of a team could also be measured by its members’ mileage in professional competitions.
Nobody cared about Team Wings’s past, their reformation had to start from scratch.
***
The game had now entered the champion selection phase and it was being projected onto the white screen. Others sat on their seats and were eager to watch the game that was going to be carried by two brilliant gamers, Asmodai and Luocheng.
SHU had chosen a conventional formation that focused on the late game.
Team Skycrown’s selection, on the other hand, was a little unorthodox. It was hard to tell their overall strategy based on the non-ordinary choice of champions.
Nevertheless, from a professional perspective, Team Skycrown did not pick their champions based on randomness. Team Skycrown’s line-up would dominate earlier, smaller-scale team fights. Any careless mistake might cost SHU the game before they could develop and manifest their advantages in the late game.
***
For the bottom lane, Asmodai had picked Twitch, the Plague Rat, while as the Support, Luocheng had selected Alistar, which was getting more unpopular as the days rolled by.
Alistar was picked in a competition only to counter specific champions such as Kennen, Fiddlestick, and Karthus, which would usually barge directly into the crowd during a team fight.
Da Luo had picked none other than Kennen. Considering his bizarre playstyle, team SHU would be in great trouble if Kennen charged into a fight like a suicide bomber, hence, Luocheng had specifically selected Alistar as his Support to neutralize Da Luo’s Kennen.
Xiao Bei and Wu Sen had picked the combination of Leona and Graves.
Luocheng selected Alistar after Wu Sen had picked Leona. Other than being anti-Kennen, Leona was another champion that Alistar was not afraid of, rather, he even preferred to compete against her.
Both the Twitch-Alistar and Leona-Graves combo were aggressive picks for the bottom lane, and any clashes would definitely result in death. The team selections told enough of their fighting spirit and determination in chasing the win for their first clash.
***
Asmodai moved Twitch to the lane. He could feel his blood circulate faster than usual, the excitement within was a result of the adrenaline rush that made his fingers move with more dexterity than usual.
Normally, he needed a brief warm-up to have such an excellent touch, but today, he was in tip-top condition right from the start.
Luocheng must be the reason why. When you were sitting beside a great player that you have dreamed to surpass one day, your hidden potential would be fully stimulated.
***
While Asmodai was hyped, Xiao Bei and Wu Sen were equally pumped and nervous.
Xiao Bei had been looking up to Luocheng since the first day he had come into contact with the E-Sports world, and the admiration was rooted deep within his heart.
He had been astonished watching the last fight between Luocheng and Shallow Dream, and he yearned for such an intense battle one day in the future.
And today, he had gotten his chance. This was the first time he had faced the person he deeply admired as an opponent, and he was enthused and at the same time, worried that his nervousness might affect his performance.
He had trained hard for a very long time and had received lucrative invitations from numerous teams along the way, but despite the constant recognition, Luocheng remained to be the only person Xiao Bei wished to get acknowledgment from. A simple compliment from Luocheng would boost his confidence by several folds.
No matter what, he wished to do his best in this important match.
Xiao Bei wanted to let Luocheng understand that it was okay to struggle with real life. He was going to carry his regret and work even harder to conquer the world stage in his place.
For far too long, he had hidden in the shadows and fought for other’s glory. Very few people knew about his Challenger title in the Korean and American servers.
Although today was just a friendly match against a modest university team, this was still a day worth remembering. Competing with Asmodai and Luocheng marked the first step into the LOL pro scene that Xiao Bei took with his own feet.
He was not going to let Luocheng down.
***
The ADCs from both teams had steady CS counts and there weren’t any apparent CS mistakes. They even managed to effectively disrupt the opponent’s champions during the interval.
Supports from both teams were using great positioning skills to tempt the opponents, so much so that it looked like a combat between two Tai Chi masters. It may look passive from the outside, but any slip up would instantly lead to a relentless attack from the other side.
Every time a Jungler would walk nearby, the advantageous team would use that opportunity to lure the opponent. Better still, they would pretend that reinforcement was coming and forced the opponent to retreat.
Skirmishes erupted every now and then, and the damage burst from the ADC and Support of both teams were equally baffling. Yet, there was no kill thus far as four players at the bottom lane often survived with a last-ditch magnificent maneuver.
***
Yet another clash ended abruptly without any deaths and Luocheng’s Alistar was left with only 50 HP.
Leona had also retreated with her Flash and strolled around the brush.
Twitch and Graves both had roughly 100 HP left and they backed off simultaneously, using the minion line as cover.
“What an extreme and brutal exchange!” Qin Ting exclaimed.
All four players had showcased an unbelievable precision over the HP count. Several times when the audience had thought they were going to witness the First Blood, the players had managed to disperse with minimal HP. The game had the spectators sitting on the edge of their seats.
Boom!
All of a sudden, Xiao Bei’s Graves fired an Explosive Shell toward the empty air.
‘A miss?’
As the onlookers looked on, puzzled, a yellow shield unexpectedly revealed the position where the Explosive Shell had just landed.
Inside the shield, a rat-like figure gradually emerged, venomous arrows shot out from his hand toward the dying Graves.
Graves also summoned his Barrier and returned fire. Suddenly, Twitch and Graves were seen attacking each other frantically at the bottom lane.
“Argh~~~~”
Asmodai’s Twitch moaned and fell to the ground after suffering several gunshots.
Similarly, Graves’ remaining HP was emptied by Twitch’s venom after his Barrier had disappeared, and he too, crumbled one second later.
It was an equivalent swap of ADCs!
The fight had broken out without any warning. The viewers initially thought that both sides had retreated after the deadly fight and would CS peacefully, but unexpectedly, both dying ADCs had suddenly erupted into a fight and swapped lives as a result!
“The opponent’s ADC is rather good, he’s managed to fight Asmodai’s Twitch evenly,” Jian Feng said.
“That’s right. He had no vision just now but still decisively used his Q-skill. He predicted Twitch’s action solely based on his instinct, what an insightful player!”
Only LPL-level players could have matched Asmodai’s skill. The audience was certain about Asmodai and Luocheng’s dominance before the game had begun. To their surprise, the two Bot players of Team Skycrown could match Luocheng and Asmodai in every aspect—Be it the fundamental skills, CS precision, hand speed, and reflex.
Asmodai stared at the gray screen and hesitated about his next item purchase.
Looking over at Luocheng, he asked, “Where did you dig this ADC from?”
“He is known as Xiao Bei. He has always followed Team Wings in the past. His DOTA skills sucked but he was great at LOL. He is famous in the Korean server and has gained the Challenger title over there.”
“I thought Swan, Gull, and Crane, would be the tougher opponents in this team, but it turns out you guys have found such a talented ADC. His insight was excellent and his decision making was courageous. He saw through my disguise and pretended otherwise. I almost fumbled,” Asmodai said.
Asmodai had used the brush to camouflage his intent. Common people would not be able to react in time, and he reckoned he could claim the kill without the opponent noticing, but in the end, he had been attacked first. Luckily he had managed to open his Barrier in time, otherwise, he would have gone for wool but come back shorn.
‘Luckily he is an elite player, otherwise, my first-time team-up with Hawk would be meaningless!’
