Chapter 69: That can’t be (3)

Liu Zhinxian shook his head.

While everyone else was enjoying themselves, he felt like he was the only one serious.

It was because he couldn’t stop worrying about the enemy mid-laner.

“Enough.”

Liu Zhinxian refocused on the game.

• Our team has slain the Wind Dragon!

Currently, our team had three stacks of dragons.

Although it wasn’t the most powerful dragon, like the Ocean Dragon Soul, it was still a very good soul compared to others.

“Now, what will they do?”

The enemy had two options.

Either give us the dragon soul.

Or fight.

Either way, it would be a tough choice for them.

Time passed and farming continued.

30 seconds before the dragon appeared, Kamahl, who had been pushing the top lane to the second tower, used his teleport to join the mid lane.

When the enemy used their teleport, Yun Gi, who didn’t have a teleport, also decided not to awkwardly go top and headed straight to the dragon.

“A fight?”

If that’s the case, then let’s fight.

The vision in the dragon jungle had already been secured by our team.

The situation was absolutely favorable for our side.

“Maybe it would’ve been better if they just gave us the dragon… Let’s see.”

Even though the situation was favorable, our team didn’t want to drag out the fight.

The top lane inhibitor tower had already been pushed.

• Whoa!

The moment the dragon appeared.

“Huh?”

As if they had been waiting for it, the enemy Ryze began to act strangely in the mid lane.

They used their ultimate.

“Ultimate? Where to?”

The Baron would not respawn for more than a minute.

In other words, Ryze’s ultimate was not going to Baron.

“So then what’s left?”

Just the top inhibitor tower.

“Are they trying to trade the dragon soul for the top inhibitor?”

It didn’t seem like a very good trade, but given the current situation of the enemy team, it wasn’t a bad choice. After all, League of Legends isn’t about taking dragons; it’s about destroying towers and the Nexus.

“Did they intentionally show themselves in mid?”

If we knew that Ryze and Kamahl were heading top with their ultimates, we would have sent the appropriate number of people. But since the enemy gathered in the bottom, our team focused all their efforts on the dragon.

Because of that, it seemed difficult to defend the inhibitor.

“…Wait a minute.”

Then, something unexpected happened.

Ryze, who was supposed to head to top, didn’t use his ultimate.

Only Kamahl used it.

“Look at this?”

If both Ryze and Kamahl had used their ultimates to go top, they would have definitely taken down the inhibitor tower.

But since Kamahl went alone, and Ryze stayed mid…

“They’re trying to end the game.”

Our team quickly noticed this and gave the order.

“Hey, someone go back to base. They’re trying to end the game.”

“You go.”

“Ah, seriously.”

“I’m the jungler, I can’t go.”

“Someone go!”

“Then you go.”

…Of course, no one followed.

Normally, the roles would have been assigned neatly, but because the positions were mixed and some discord arose during the game, the plan wasn’t executed properly.

In fact, the process itself had become a form of play for our teammates.

“I’ll go.”

In the end, Liu Zhinxian, the support, had to return to base.

Even though Liu Zhinxian’s Sylas wouldn’t be able to stop the fully grown Kamahl, he could buy some time.

3, 2, 1…

Whoosh!

Just before Liu Zhinxian returned, a sound wave suddenly interrupted his recall.

“Was that a ward?”

After securing vision around the dragon, the decision to pull back to base had turned into a mistake.

• Wind Dragon slain!
• Wind Dragon Soul acquired!

At least we got the dragon soul.

The real problem was starting now.

Kamahl, who had reached the top, quickly destroyed the inhibitor tower and started attacking the inhibitor.

“They’re trying to stop us from going back.”

Just a moment ago, the team had been laughing, throwing and receiving jokes, but now their voices were tense.

The enemy’s goal was clear.

To stop us from returning to base.

And to end the game.

Unfortunately, we had no teleportation available.

Yasuo had taken Ignite from the start, and Yun Gi’s was on cooldown.

• Red team’s inhibitor has been destroyed!

Of course, our team didn’t panic.

The name of the world’s best team, SY, wasn’t earned by luck.

Even though the sudden time pressure came from an enemy surprise attack, we calmly did what we had to do.

“Zinkus, engage.”

Using both Flash and the flag toss, Guinea Pig’s Jarvan immediately locked down Zinkus and Nami with his ultimate.

In that moment.

• Smack!

Li Zhixuan, who had been chasing, landed a hit on Jarvan.

Before they knew it, a huge shield appeared around the enemy’s slow-moving champions.

“Uh-oh.”

“Don’t use the ultimate. I’ll handle it.”

Of course, even with the shield, the fact that Zinkus and Nami were trapped didn’t change.

They were excellent targets for Yun Gi.

• Flash!

The moment Yun Gi’s ultimate illuminated the area, Zinkus and Nami both used their flashes.

“Too bad.”

If Yun Gi’s ultimate had connected, we could have burst down Zinkus and Nami with Yasuo’s ultimate, but for now, we were satisfied with removing their escape abilities.

In an instant, two enemy flashes were used.

Zinkus and Nami, the slow-moving champions, had used their flashes, so the upcoming team fight was as predictable as a flame.

“I’m going to go back to base.”

In that situation, Jarvan pulled back and started his recall.

The sand timer had already started, so once he had the chance, he needed to return to base.

At that moment.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Ryze’s hand waved as he descended from the mid lane.

Jarvan disappeared.

“Why is Ryze’s damage like this?”

“Who told him to deal damage?”

Usually, Jarvan prefers tank builds over damage builds in team games, but this was a normal game, not a team game.

Of course, Guinea Pig chose a heavy armor penetration build, and because of that, his fragile body was destroyed by Ryze’s combo, which had grown into a monster.

Despite that, Liu Zhinxian and Rainbow’s Sylas didn’t stay idle.

“I got him.”

The chain from Sylas hit Zinkus, and Yasuo immediately followed up.

Along with that, Nami, who was next to Zinkus, was swept up by Sylas and Yasuo, and in an instant, two portraits appeared.

• Enemy slain!
• Double kill!

Now, the remaining enemies were Ryze and Li Xim, who barely managed to escape.

“Hurry up and recall. I’ll mark Li Xim.”

“Okay.”

With that, Liu Zhinxian hit recall and Sylas moved to mark Li Xim.

Yun Gi and Ezreal were already facing off against Ryze, who had been pushing down.

“I’ll harass them, you go back.”

“Got it.”

“Here! …It missed.”

Yun Gi’s Ezreal tried to maintain a proper distance and threw his Q, but Ryze dodged the skill shots as if mocking them.

“…This is so frustrating.”

Even while using fake recalls and throwing skill shots, Ryze avoided all of them.

Time was not on our side.

Because of that, Ezreal, feeling impatient, used one of his forbidden moves, the forward vision.

“Ah.”

That was a mistake.

Ryze and Ezreal entered auto attack range of each other, and skill shots were exchanged.

Ezreal’s skills all missed, but Ryze’s skills landed perfectly.

No matter how much Ezreal had grown, he couldn’t beat Ryze, who had grown stronger.

Forward vision, back flash.

Yun Gi showed a grotesque play that Ezreal mains often display.

The problem didn’t end there.

“No, if only that dissonance had hit!”

In an instant, Ryze reduced Ezreal to a near-death state, and then, with the help of the movement speed from the entry skill, he dashed straight toward Yun Gi, who had only a second left on his recall.

Ryze decided to use a daring flash forward and followed up with a W to interrupt Yun Gi’s recall.

It was incredibly close.

“Ah, it’s over.”

“We can’t let that go. We have to take him down.”

The recall failed.

With that decision, Ezreal and Yun Gi rushed toward Ryze.

However, Ryze was no ordinary champion.

Despite being in a 2v1 situation, he dodged every skill that could be avoided with movement and used Zhonya’s Hourglass and another Stopwatch to dodge the unavoidable ones.

He dragged the fight on endlessly.

“No, using Zhonya’s Hourglass and Stopwatch is crossing the line.”

While Ryze was stalling in a 2v1 against Yun Gi and Ezreal, there was one fortunate thing.

Yasuo, who had recalled earlier, managed to return safely.

Our base was in a critical situation with only one twin turret remaining.

“Are we going to show them?”

Yasuo received the team’s full expectation for a moment.

“What? What’s going on?”

As Kamahl’s true damage hit Yasuo’s shoulder while he was breaking the turret, Yasuo staggered.

Kamahl didn’t stop there.

He immediately used his ultimate to bind Yasuo, and without any spell cooldowns or Ironclad Archer cooldowns, he easily took Yasuo down.

• Our team was slain!
• The enemy is going wild!

“——.”

A brief silence followed.

“Mid difference, we lose.”

In the end, we couldn’t stop Kamahl’s advance, and our Nexus exploded.

[Rematch]

We never expected to see this in a normal game, but the voices of our teammates were filled with it.

“What is this?”

“We’re losing this.”

“Mid difference.”

“Agreed.”

“…But why was I the only one who went back to base in the end? Wasn’t it a 2v4?”

As feedback exchanged among the teammates, Liu Zhinxian didn’t say a word, staring at the word “defeat” that appeared.

It felt oddly familiar.

“…Why?”

Then, a name crossed Liu Zhinxian’s mind.

“No, that can’t be.”

He had tried hard to shake off the name.

He didn’t want to bring it up now.

That would be disrespectful to Prisoner as well.

However, Liu Zhinxian thought to himself.

“If, really…”

It couldn’t be.

He couldn’t believe it.

“If you really are Prisoner…”

Maybe we’ll meet again.

Whether in solo rank.

Or in a professional match.

“I’ll wait until then.”

Though he knew that day might never come, he still decided to wait under the name of hope.

“…But if that day really comes…”

Then, I will win.

Liu Zhinxian made this vow, as the word “defeat” hovered in his vision.