Chapter 67: That can’t be

No matter how big the dam is, a small crack is all it takes to bring it down.

Even though it may only start as a tiny crack, it gradually expands and can eventually swallow the entire dam.

However, no one notices the small crack at first.

It’s only when the situation gets worse, and when signs of trouble start to show, that anyone realizes the crack is there.

That’s why…

If the five members of SY had pressured our team from the beginning, it would have been impossible to win the game.

Even though the opposing team wasn’t playing their main roles, it was the same for our team.

Moreover, aside from Nightmare and myself, the highest-ranked players on our team were only Diamond.

In such a situation, fortunately, the opponents weren’t giving their best.

In fact, it seemed like they weren’t even trying their best but were enjoying the game instead.

It wasn’t just because this was a normal game.

Even a moment ago, when Jarvan hit the cannon minion with his smite, it was evident.

‘I need to take this chance.’

Of course, if I looked at the situation calmly, it wasn’t that good.

The opposing team was SY, the complete lineup.

The world’s best team.

Meanwhile, our team’s rank, except for Nightmare, was at most Diamond.

To put it simply, it felt like the difference between a middle school soccer team and a national team.

The only slight difference was that two former players from the middle school team were now coaching.

-Our team is down!

-Our team is down!

-Our team is down!

Anyway, as if to prove the overwhelming difference, the top and bottom lanes both lost solo kills early on, and the damage was significant.

On the other hand, the crack I created in mid lane was still minimal.

Moreover, the extreme match-up between Raze and Yasuo couldn’t be turned around with just one kill.

However,

The important thing is that the crack had already appeared.

The size of the crack doesn’t matter.

What matters is that it clearly appeared.

‘First, I’ll deal with the enemy jungle.’

I used Raze’s ultimate and moved with Li-Sim towards the enemy red buff.

As expected, Jarvan, who was innocently jungling, couldn’t hide his surprise when he saw Li-Sim and me.

‘His Flag is on cooldown.’

It was then extremely easy.

The Flag is one of Jarvan’s powerful abilities, both an attack and a survival skill.

Since that skill was missing, even if it was Guinea Pig, there was no way Jarvan could escape easily.

‘He’s not using Flash?’

As Li-Sim and I kept attacking, Jarvan’s HP dropped quickly, and eventually, he had no choice but to use Flash.

-Flash!

Of course, I wasn’t about to let Jarvan go so easily.

Raze wasn’t coming to help, so that gave me a good opportunity.

‘Not a bad judgment.’

A short chase ensued.

‘The Flag is about to come back.’

Jarvan’s Flag is one of the most overpowered mobility abilities in the game.

The Flag and the Spear.

Both abilities don’t have a travel mechanic by themselves, but except for certain special CCs like knockbacks or charms, Jarvan’s Flag usually activates.

Naturally, with Raze having binding CC, it’s almost impossible for me to interrupt Jarvan’s Flag.

‘Then…’

I just need to kill him before that.

‘He’s probably planning to cross the wall with his Flag. He won’t make it easily.’

I quickly positioned myself and kept pounding Jarvan, staying close to him.

‘Frustrating, right?’

League of Legends is more generous with body-checking mechanics compared to other AOS games.

Because of this, there’s less likelihood of getting stuck between the map and minions, but slight movement interference can still happen.

Like now.

• Whoosh!

Jarvan’s flag barely reaches the wall and embeds itself beyond, as the spear follows suit.

However, by the time Jarvan reached the other side of the wall, he was already a lifeless corpse.

The EQ combo that followed slammed into Jarvan’s back with a powerful smash.

• Enemy defeated!

‘Good.’

I turned my gaze toward the mid lane.

Fortunately, I had already pushed the mid lane in advance, so the loss wasn’t too significant.

I began heading back to mid lane, but there was no sign of Yasuo backing off.

In fact, he was even actively going for the turret shield.

‘Hmm.’

Is he really going for the turret shield?

Of course, Yasuo’s actions weren’t baseless.

It made sense that he would try to engage, considering the situation.

At the moment, Rainbow’s Sylas appeared, having seized control of the bottom lane.

2v2 situation.

Though Sylas was in a support position, after securing 2 kills and recalling, he was practically a laner now with only a slightly lower level.

‘If Sylas’s chains land, this could become very unfavorable.’

It wasn’t just about being hit by a CC.

Sylas’s E ability combined with Yasuo’s ultimate could cause a deadly synergy.

Yasuo’s ultimate doesn’t just respond to airbone effects.

Without a minion wave, Yasuo becomes an easy target, but with his ultimate, he can swiftly engage, gaining 50% armor penetration and additional passive charge, making it almost impossible to escape.

‘If we focus on Li-Sim, there’s no guarantee that he can dodge the skills.’

Although he had done better than expected, Diamond-level players still couldn’t rely on sharp mechanics alone.

Therefore, I decided to play the bait and pushed forward.

It was obvious that Sylas, with his nimble movements, and Raze, as a tanky champion, would target me.

‘Alright, let’s see what you’ve got.’

From here, it was a pure physical battle.

It would come down to whether I could land my skill shots.

Rainbow’s Sylas aggressively charged toward me.

‘Rainbow will use Flash after a slight delay.’

As predicted, Rainbow quickly closed the distance with Flash and tried to use the EW combo.

However, what Rainbow didn’t expect was that I had read his movements.

‘Let’s move left here.’

The chain missed at point-blank range, and I could sense Rainbow’s surprise in his movements.

His skill shot, which he was so sure of, had failed.

Naturally, Yasuo, who was trying to join the fight through his ultimate, would be a step behind.

Soon, Sylas, having used all his W and E skills, was left vulnerable to our combined attacks.

• Enemy defeated!
• Double kill!

In the blink of an eye, we took down both Sylas and Yasuo.

Meanwhile, the bottom lane turned into a 2v1, with our ADC, Yoon-Gi, freezing the lane and tormenting the enemy ADC.

‘Good.’

The crack I created at the beginning slowly widened.

Eventually, that colossal fortress called SY, which no one had been able to topple, would be reduced to sand.

It’s often said that the top lane is a lonely, isolated lane.

And in that lonely top lane, Li Zhixuan found himself distracted for a moment.

He had just experienced a strange déjà vu from the mid lane skirmish.

‘What was that?’

Despite the position, champions, and everything being different, for some reason, he kept seeing Prisoner in Raze’s movements.

Such confusion was brief.

• You were defeated by the enemy!

“Ah.”

For just a moment, I took my eyes off mid and ended up giving up a solo kill.

The enemy was SY Rainbow.

Along with Mobidic, the ace of the team, he was known as one of the world’s best AD carries.

The price of my careless slip-up was inevitable.

‘…I was stupid.’

Prisoner is dead.

Or, more accurately, no longer in a state to play the game.

There was also evidence to back that up.

‘If I could still play the game, there would have been no reason for me to just disappear.’

That was obvious.

The first-ever 2000-point jungler.

This wasn’t something that could be belittled simply because Prisoner didn’t debut as a pro.

Every pro once had their time as an amateur.

In that sense, Prisoner was one of the amateurs with the greatest potential to rise to the top.

In that situation.

Li Zhixuan didn’t turn to ranked games, but instead played a normal game without much reason.

At first, it was just a mistake.

Second, it was partly resignation.

And lastly, there was no particular reason.

‘Hmm.’

The game continued.

Before long, with the help of Li-Sim and Raze, the enemy’s Jarvan was taken down.

Then, in the ensuing mid-lane skirmish, we scored a massive victory against Rainbow and TheOne.

It all felt like a picture-perfect scenario.

And, strangely, it felt familiar.

Where have I felt this sensation before?

It was as if we had been losing, yet somehow, I felt like we were winning.

And the enemy was none other than SY, who had just defeated GRS to win the recent Red Cup.

“……”

As Raze continued his dominance, Li Zhixuan felt a question that had been buried in his heart slowly creep to the surface.

It couldn’t be.

It shouldn’t be.

It was impossible.

And yet, Li Zhixuan couldn’t stop the words from bubbling up to his throat.

“……Prisoner?”