Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After some slight adjustments, they entered the second game.
In the second match, Xiao Bei had chosen his favorite champion—Vayne, the Night Hunter.
Every ADC player in LOL had a soft spot for Vayne in their hearts. Luocheng’s Vayne loved to dance on the razor’s edge; Shallow Dream’s Vayne was sharp and tranquil; what would Xiao Bei, the strongest Vayne in the national server’s style be then?
Asmodai immediately picked Caitlyn, which was an obvious counter pick to face off Xiao Bei’s Vayne.
Luocheng had chosen Thresh. This champion was now one of his polished heroes, and his win ratio using Thresh was about to surpass that of Blitzcrank.
Wu Sen took Zyra after that, which was a rather standard pick.
After the opening wards had been placed, Asmodai realized that Team Skycrown’s Jax was at the top lane and signaled Luocheng. “They may have switched lanes.”
Luocheng bore the same opinion, so he purposely sneaked to the top lane and placed another ward there.
As expected, Zhou Yan had started the game at the red buff zone. Vayne and Zyra were there to help him secure the buff.
Xiao Bei and Wu Sen were baffled when they found Luocheng and Asmodai at the top lane just like them.
Ultimately, a Thresh-Caitlyn tag team was definitely the stronger team during the laning phase, making it difficult for Vayne to develop properly now as their plan to switch lanes had been seen through.
***
In this match, Asmodai had used Caitlyn to show them all why he was considered one of the top ADCs in this country, and Xiao Bei didn’t stand a chance under his ruthlessness.
Six minutes in, Caitlyn was already leading by more than twenty creeps without much help from Thresh. Most of the time, Vayne couldn’t even get near to gain experience, let alone CS.
Luocheng had witnessed how Shallow Dream played Caitlyn before. Her Caitlyn was more unpredictable, sometimes she was tranquil like dead water, but sometimes, it was as if she might strike anytime like a bolt of lightning. You would always be a step slower when you tried to initiate an attack on her.
Asmodai’s Caitlyn was a little different. He would utilize every single opportunity to crush the enemy, playing more aggressively and leaving no breathing room for his opponent.
In terms of Caitlyn, Luocheng couldn’t tell who had mastered the champion better, be it Asmodai or Shallow Dream.
In this match, Wu Sen and Xiao Bei were completely shadowed by Asmodai’s outstanding play, Xiao Bei already having died twice at the early stage.
Xiao Bei was forced to call upon Zhou Yan’s assistance in the face of Asmodai’s supremacy, but the huge advantage built had rendered Zhou Yan’s gank largely ineffective. Whenever they thought they had Asmodai cornered, Luocheng would bail his teammate out through his stellar use of the Dark Passage.
Luocheng and Asmodai played even more in sync in this second round.
Lin Dong and Zhou Yan had tried several times to gank the top lane, regretfully, none of the attempts had turned out positive. As a result, not only was Xiao Bei’s farm continuously stalled, but the mid and bottom lanes had its outer turret demolished by Team SHU as well.
Luocheng and Asmodai’s objective in this game was clear. They pressured Xiao Bei and Wu Sen relentlessly so that Team Skycrown’s Mid and Jungler had to rally to the top lane more frequently. They made use of their outstanding skill and finesse to draw the enemies’ grudge onto them and survived every gank coming their way. This created a lot of space for their teammates to destroy the other two lanes, which snowballed into a vast economic advantage.
“Asmodai is absurdly strong. Despite the constant pressings and ganks by four enemies, Asmodai’s CS is still way above Vayne’s!” Jian Feng exclaimed after he saw Asmodai’s farm.
No matter how Lin Dong and Zhou Yan had tried to pin down Asmodai and Luocheng, Asmodai was still able to retain a consistent CS rate. They did not lose a single tower, had not been killed, were not afraid of 2v3 situations, and always looked to be the more dominant side in a 2v2 situation.
In this second match, Asmodai had finally exhibited his convincing skills as a top-notch professional ADC in this country. He was like a duck to water when aided by such a masterful SP like Luocheng. A 3 to 4 person gank was never going to stop Asmodai at his best.
***
After switching lanes, Jinbei had gone solo at the bottom lane, and with some help from Xiao Jia, Jinbei was able to maintain a healthy development and did not flop like the last match.
He pushed up the lane steadily after seeing his opponent, Riven, had gone back to replenish her supply. He planned to grind down the inner tower using this opening.
The minions had reached the tower and Riven was still nowhere to be seen. Jinbei had no fear of Riven now, thus, he moved forward bravely to attack the tower.
But Riven still did not surface even after the inner tower’s HP had been halved, and Jinbei suddenly realized the possible reason and hurriedly signaled the two top lane players to retreat.
‘Sh*t! Riven is probably at the top lane!’
“Riven is missing! Be careful!” Jinbei shouted to his teammates.
Luocheng and Asmodai were still fighting hard to defend the top lane turret with low HP levels. They both frowned when they heard Jinbei’s warning.
‘Da Luo’s Riven is hidden behind the wall, we are surrounded!’
Brand was not at the mid lane and Elise had disappeared from the map for quite a while. They did not have any vision at the moment, completely surrounded by total darkness at the top lane’s outer turret.
Even though they saw no sign of the enemy, Asmodai and Luocheng could sense the imminent danger!
They were cornered and had no way to escape.
‘How hated are we to have five of them coming at us?’
Luocheng’s face darkened. He knew Team Skycrown was hiding in the shadows and they were waiting patiently for the minions to enter the tower. They would mercilessly claim their heads and the tower, and then march all the way to the high ground.
Asmodai’s situation was not looking too good as well. Teaming up with Luocheng, they were destined to become the opponent’s primary targets. They could hold back three enemies, maybe even survive four, but taking on the entire team? Even Asmodai, despite his sky-high confidence, didn’t think they could escape a five-man siege unscathed with just the two of them.
The minion wave would be reaching soon and they had no place to run and would die either way. Their teammates had realized the ambush too late and wouldn’t be able to come to their rescue in time. Moreover, they wouldn’t be of any help even if they were here, for Team Skycrown had taken a more strategic positioning.
Asmodai glanced at Luocheng asking him silently for an escape plan. Both of them did not have Flash at the moment.
Luocheng appeared to be a little enraged…
It was hard to blame him, anyone would be infuriated if they were being treated this way by their old comrades.
***
Da Luo smirked in the dark, the Runic Blade in Riven’s hand was eager to taste blood.
The reason why Riven had not charged yet was to wait for the minions and his teammates to be in place. As Elise and Zyra had cut off the retreat route, now, they were only waiting for Brand to press in from the lane.
‘Okay, it’s time to take action!’
Da Luo already had his finger on the D key. He was going to Flash inside the tower at the very next second to secure the two swift kills.
Schwaff!
All of a sudden, a scythe appeared abruptly and hooked Riven accurately.
Da Luo was stunned, never expecting Luocheng to find his hideout when there was no vision available.
But the successful hook changed nothing, Asmodai and Luocheng were still being sieged by team Skycrown—Two approaching from the front, two from the back, and Da Luo from behind the wall!
At the next moment, Thresh let loose a ghastly cry and turned into a phantom, his ghostly figure sliding through the wall along the chain of his scythe and landed right in front of Riven.
The smile on Da Luo’s face immediately froze. He instantly grasped what Luocheng was up to and shouted to his teammates, “Do not siege the tower, come to me.! They’re trying to escape through here!”
Just as he finished yelling, Thresh threw his Soul Lantern backward and passaged Caitlyn safely out from the death trap. Fray was then cast and Riven was pushed backward by it.
Luocheng was insanely quick, first using Thresh’s ulti to delay the pursuers from the back, and then casting Exhaust on Riven to slow her down before she could react in time.
For his part, Asmodai also made no delay, commanding Caitlyn to recoil further with her E-90 Caliber Net and hastily dashing away through the route above the Baron’s pit.
Riven tried to catch up to Caitlyn with her Flash despite the Exhaust debuff, however, his effort was neutralized by the shield placed on Caitlyn by Yang Ying’s Morgana.
“Damn! Mission abort! Fall back, fall back!” Da Luo bellowed as he clumsily evaded Morgana’s binding and retreated quickly.
Lin Dong, Wu Sen, Xiao Bei, and Zhou Yan were rushing to Lin Dong by that time, only to realize that Luocheng and Asmodai had reunited with their teammates.
Looking at the turret with a tiny bit of HP left, the five members of Team Skycrown peered at each other, not knowing what to say.
They had messed up the sure kill. Apart from feeling resigned for missing a golden opportunity, the five members of Team Skycrown were more amazed by how Luocheng had orchestrated the escape.
A lot of people only knew how to use Thresh’s Death Sentence during an attack, as this champion often used it to bring along a teammate after a successful hook to speed up the kill.
Who would have thought that this skill could also be used to flee? Not only did he masterfully escape the surrounded tower, but he had also saved Caitlyn from a checkmate situation.
They had been Luocheng’s teammates in the past, but even to this day, they were still often baffled by their ex-captain’s wit and grit in the face of danger. He was as capable as ever in achieving the impossible!
***
The atmosphere inside the club room had long boiled over!
It was an eye-popping display of skill. Normal people would have given up resisting and yet, Luocheng had found the lifeline and safely escaped what initially seemed to be an unavoidable gank.
He first passed through the wall by tethering on Riven without any vision; then passaged his team’s ADC into safety; followed by Exhaust on Riven; and finally, his ulti to delay the pursuer. These series of actions were carried out flawlessly by him within such a short span of time.
This SP was simply breathtaking!
Luocheng’s in-game performance as an SP prior to this was nothing extraordinary. He was merely complementing Asmodai’s moves.
But after the previous scene, the people inside the room finally understood why this person had been able to reach the pinnacle of MOBA. His mind did not perceive things like how a normal person was wired to. How could he think of such a mind-blowing method when he was confronted by five players?
Asmodai couldn’t help but give Luocheng a big thumbs up too. This wonderful escape was more thrilling than obtaining a Penta Kill!
Right now, Asmodai’s eyes shone with a greater flare! Fighting Hawk had demonstrated his poise to him, now, it was time for him to return the favor.
‘There are five of them? Be my guest! With such a powerful SP by my side, I am going to fight them all!’
Asmodai did not focus on running, instead, he began to open fire frantically at Riven, utilizing Caitlyn’s range and the high ground advantage. He was clearly going for retaliation even though there were four of them!
