Chapter 33 : Ace

Jericho’s newly formed team, ‘Curry Breakers,’ has caused a major stir with the announcement of their joint broadcast.

Five streamers, each ranked among the top in the industry, coming together for this platform battle? Given that value often fluctuates based on rarity, the unexpected gathering of these five streamers has drawn immense attention.

Just how much attention? Well, to put it into perspective, the viewership of Curry, often referred to as the “President of Twitch Leo,” has dropped by more than half compared to his usual numbers.

That’s how much interest in Leo and broadcasting has shifted towards the streamers in the ‘Curry Breakers’ team.

Among them, the broadcast that drew the most viewers was undoubtedly that of Barcode, the only female challenger.

However, overwhelming viewership wasn’t always a good thing.

Just like how flies swarm a flower with a sweet scent, excessive attention turned into poison.

[“What kind of confidence does she have to first-pick Gragas but second-pick Talon? LOL”]

[“Her picks are a mess, is she really a challenger? Did she get boosted?”]

[“Gragas is good against AP, but he’s definitely not weak against AD;”]

[“Fun fact: All those women who claimed to be challengers actually got boosted by their ‘oppa’ “]

[“Gragas with Aftershock can easily trade with Talon just by using E, how can she not know that?”]

[“I knew she was a cyber slut from the moment she tried to gain attention with her facecam.”]

[“How much did she pay to get boosted? Or maybe she just got paid?”]

Usually, Barcode’s hardcore fans would have taken care of the trash who were blatantly stirring up trouble for no reason.

But with the influx of countless trolls due to the joint broadcast news, their chat was instantly filled with their messages.

Since Curry was also broadcasting at the time, the managers in his chat were also absent. The chatroom was essentially a lawless zone with no rules or regulations.

I simply watched the chat messages roll by without taking any action. Even as the situation deteriorated, I stood by and watched the chatroom become increasingly filthy.

At some point, the malice I had felt from people who were once like me came rushing back.

The face of a demon disguised as someone I had called a friend, someone I had called father, appeared in my mind. The surge of nausea rose up, and I forced my mouth shut, trying to hold back the contents threatening to come up.

Those who had taught me that causing pain to others was normal.

If it had been the old me, I might have thought that was just the way things were.

But not anymore.

I forced myself to calm down, taking a deep breath and focusing. In the brief moment I had gotten lost in my thoughts, the ban-pick phase had ended, and we were now at the loading screen.

The way to silence the people who were cursing me was simple. Prove my skills here so they couldn’t spew nonsense. I had already done it once before—there was no reason I couldn’t do it again.

And so, the game began.

After receiving the schedule for the upcoming events from Curry, the Ronin Swordsman confirmed it and logged into Twitch.

The Wandering Swordsman, uninterested in other games, set the category to ‘LoL’ and sorted the streams by the number of viewers.

As expected, the channel at the top of the sorted list was Barcode’s.

The title was simply “Team Collaboration,” and yet the viewer count was a staggering 40,000.

Once again, the Ronin Swordsman was reminded of just how popular Barcode was and how remarkable she truly was. He entered her channel.

And immediately, what caught his eye was a chatroom overflowing with maliciousness.

Words like prostitute, slut, carried player, gold digger, bitch, queen bee, sexual harassment, nonsensical advice disguised as criticism, and all manner of slander.

It made him doubt whether this was even a normal situation, and soon enough, he understood the reason for it.

There was no moderation. No intervention. Despite the crossing of every line imaginable, the chatroom was left unchecked.

I scrolled through the viewer list, but there wasn’t even a single manager, let alone a simple chat bot.

Those who had poured into Barcode’s stream were freely exposing the ugly sides of themselves they had kept hidden.

They had come to a popular streamer’s broadcast, put on the disgusting mask of anonymity, and were busy tearing others down.

Jealous of others’ success.

Crossing lines by following the crowd.

And because there were no consequences, the situation had deteriorated to this point.

It couldn’t be explained any other way.

At least, that’s what Ronin thought.

No longer able to bear the sight of the chatroom, which made him feel nauseous, Ronin minimized it and turned his attention to the broadcast screen. In the broadcast, Barcode’s Talon was actively trading blows with Gragas, who had a surprisingly fast early-game push. As a result, both Talon and Gragas were left with less than half health.

Gragas moved forward to finish off the three remaining ranged minions with a sliver of health.

Seizing the opportunity, Talon quickly took out one of the melee minions from the next wave and reached level 2.

It was a common Talon level 2 kill setup, and Gragas was aware of the timing.

While Talon was clearing the melee minion, Gragas, who had already cleared the three ranged minions, backed off.

The moment Talon reached level 2, he used his W towards Gragas.

The narrowly returning W hit Gragas.

Talon stepped forward and used his E, quickly following up with a Q-E-Q-Ignite combo.

Gragas tried to escape with Flash, but he couldn’t withstand the bleeding damage from Talon’s passive and the DoT damage from Ignite.

In the end…

[First Blood!]

…he was forced to give up the kill.

‘…What speed.’

The Ronin Swordsman wished he could rewind the situation he had just witnessed.

The kill angle that only Barcode could have seen, that only Barcode could have executed.

If Talon had used his Flash at the same time, it wouldn’t have been possible.

If there hadn’t been a calculated risk of his own death, no matter how high the opponent’s rank, it would have been inevitable.

The shocking First Blood that Barcode’s Talon secured.

The Ronin Swordsman made the chatroom, which he had hidden, visible again.

And he checked the messages that had been posted in the chatroom, which had been so disgusting just moments ago.

[What a joke. Bronze and Silver idiots getting upset because a girl plays better than them. Hahaha.]

[I’ve captured all the sexual harassment and slander. Watch out.]

[I’m gonna report this to Barcode later.]

[Seems like the chat’s gotten a little cleaner after I reported it to Twitch.]

[It looks like almost all the trolls are gone, huh?]

[Ugh… Watching her show off her skills is so hot…]

[Barcode shut everyone up by solo killing, huh? Hahaha.]

[Twitch admins doing their job for once?]

[Lol, first time seeing Twitch mods actually do their job.]

[Ugh… that girl…]

[It’s so satisfying seeing those trolls zip it.]

[That two-level kill with Telon was really a masterpiece.]

[My Telon can’t do that with just basic Q auto attacks, is that a bug?]

[That’s because you… ]

[Your fingers must be the bug~]

Seeing the original chatroom again, the Ronin Swordsman couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction.

Afterward, he continued watching Barcode’s stream without even checking the schedule that Curry had sent him.

I’ve been researching countless item builds during the preseason.

Not just for Yone, but for all the champions I usually play.

With so many new and changed items, it’s been really fun to experiment, and through my research, I’ve found another overpowered build to follow in the footsteps of the Guinsoo’s Yone.

[There’s no stopping me.]

Two mid lane solo kills.

Two jungle solo kills.

With a total of four kills, I headed straight for my next target, bot lane.

“Tell me the enemy bot lane’s summoner spells.”

“Vayne has both spells, and Lulu has none!”

“Initiate a fight now!”

After giving me a quick briefing, Antenna, aware of my position, started the fight.

Thresh hooked Lulu, and I jumped over the wall as soon as Lulu’s ultimate was over.

Vayne, thinking she was going to die from my sudden Talon invasion, immediately used Flash to create distance.

But with both her summoner spell and ultimate on cooldown, Lulu was helplessly turned into gray ashes by our combined attacks.

Sensing the danger of a turret dive, Vayne immediately started backing off.

But I closed the gap with Flash once, then twice with Gust.

Following up with a Q-R-W-E combo, I cleanly finished off Vayne, who had no Flash or ultimate left.

“Man… I saw it too, but it’s just insane.”

“Not Yone, and he’s closing that much distance…”

Jericho, dumbfounded, and Antenna, filled with admiration, each said a word.

“But didn’t I do well in that situation?”

“Can you please be a little more considerate, you jerk?”

Meanwhile, Cooldog, oblivious to the situation, praised himself, and Antenna scolded him.

Having accumulated a huge amount of gold, I returned home to regroup.

To quickly snowball, I purchased Boots of Swiftness and Youmuu’s Ghostblade, items that significantly increased my movement speed.

Completing two core items within 15 minutes of the game, I freely roamed the rift, continuing my one-sided massacre.

“Latte, get ready to dive.”

“I, I’m not that old yet…”

“Just do it now!”

Ignoring Latte’s words, I demanded his cooperation.

Ornn, who had been picked for team fights, used his ultimate a beat earlier than my timing.

As the turret aggro was drawn to Ornn, I jumped over the wall as soon as the enemy was airborne.

Vayne, thinking she was going to die from my sudden Talon invasion, immediately used Flash to create distance.

But with both her summoner spell and ultimate on cooldown, Lulu was helplessly turned into gray ashes by our combined attacks.

“Rico? Can you ward and go in?

“I’m not bait…”

“…Nevermind.”

Jericho, about to say something, shut his mouth and headed straight for where Barcode had pinged.

Becoming a living ward, Jericho spotted Karthus desperately farming.

“Karthus is here…”

[Slaying the enemy!]

Before Jericho could finish his briefing, Barcode’s Talon jumped over the wall and instantly ended Karthus’ life.

Even using Flash to create distance, escaping Talon was impossible.

Karthus, turned into a ghost by his passive, watched Talon’s back as he walked away, aimlessly using his abilities on empty ground.

After that, even the current Grandmasters and Challengers were helplessly slaughtered by the never-before-seen Galeforce Talon.

The game was no longer a game, but rather a one-sided slaughter by Talon.

[Godlike!]

[Double Kill!]

[An enemy has been slain!]

[Triple Kill!]

“What did I just witness?”

Once the laning phase ended and the game balance was broken, Latte, who finally had some time to look at the map, was shocked to see Barcode’s Talon wreaking havoc.

Seeing Barcode’s Galeforce Talon instantly assassinate three enemies with overwhelming physical prowess was simply beyond comprehension.

“What do you mean?”

Jericho replied to the shocked Latte in a low voice with a wry smile.

[Ace!]

“Our team’s ace.”