Chapter 38 - The Blame Others Tournament (2)
The match begins.
The chat window full of cheers for each team’s supporters,
Life and Summit’s commentary all fade into the distance.
Everything is blocked out and only the voices of my teammates stimulate my mind… I briefly demanded:
“Leash until 200 please.”
“Huh? Okay, got it.”
“Wouldn’t that make you late for level 2? Isn’t that not good?”
“We can’t hit level 2 first against Jinx and Zyra anyway. Unless we’re going to gamble with Leona’s level 1 Flash+Q, it’s better to just manage health and take it slow.”
“Okay, unni!”
I get a stronger leash than usual.
With Red buff, I use E skill to leap over the wall blocking Dragon pit and approach the enemy’s Blue buff.
In a space where only junglers exist, far from bot or mid champions.
As the 1v1 situation applies, my senses sharpen and concentration rises.
Time-wise, Yumi’s Nocturne should be in the middle of killing the Gromp.
And we both have Smite spell.
My sharpened senses send a signal.
Right now!
Without hesitation, I turn the corner and suddenly reveal myself.
The Gromp’s HP is precarious.
I use Q skill aiming at both Nocturne and Gromp simultaneously.
And I instinctively use Smite spell without even calculating the Gromp’s remaining HP.
‘Nice!’
I stole it perfectly.
I aggressively shoot my shotgun at Nocturne, who has only 2/3 HP left from fighting the Gromp, while I have Red buff.
Flustered and not knowing what to do, Nocturne uses Flash to disappear over the wall towards the bot second tower.
At that moment, a danger ping appears from bot lane.
Zyra is not visible.
‘Level 1 Zyra? Hmph! Come on then.’
I place a ward diagonally above the bush at Blue buff and move to Wolves.
It’s a position where I can perfectly track their movements if Zyra and Nocturne chase me.
Fortunately, the enemy mid laner was staying in position during this time.
This meant I had nothing to fear.
Bang, bang!
I conserve skills and clear the small wolves with auto attacks first.
Then Nocturne and Zyra’s figures appear below.
Leona tried to come for backup belatedly, but I ping to tell her to just take advantage in lane, and I confuse the enemy by leaping over the thin wall to the right of Wolves.
The wolves wander around the jungle whimpering as their combat target suddenly disappears over the wall.
And for a moment, Zyra and Nocturne are confused, wondering if I escaped towards mid through the river.
I had already confirmed through team voice that Zyra took Q skill at level 1 instead of her root.
I wait for my E skill to come back up, then boldly reveal myself.
Zyra at level 1 and Nocturne at level 2.
Although the “Guillotine Match” ability effect disappeared as there are two opponents, it was still a fight worth taking.
From the start, a level 2 Nocturne without E skill was nothing but a punching bag for a Graves with Red buff, and a level 1 Zyra without root skill wasn’t much of a threat either.
‘If only the enemy mid or ADC don’t join here, it’s totally doable.’
Moreover, the longer this drags on, the more advantageous it becomes for us.
The enemy ADC is Platinum tier, so without Zyra who is the protagonist of the human matchup, Lark and Mia would gain advantage in lane and beat them up all day.
Realizing this fact, Zyra, who had been exchanging skills and trading damage, gives up first and returns to lane.
And Nocturne also gives up on Wolves and dejectedly leaves towards his Red buff direction.
Although I couldn’t secure a kill, this was a huge early game advantage.
I finish clearing Wolves to hit level 3, then hunt the bottom Scuttle Crab before immediately recalling.
I buy basic boots and a sword, then head towards the top Scuttle Crab, bypassing our Blue buff and jungle camps.
This is to see Nocturne’s face again, who is still struggling at level 2 after eating Raptors and Red despite losing Gromp.
Nocturne peeks out towards the river, greedily eyeing the top Scuttle Crab.
As soon as he sees me, he startles and disappears back into his jungle territory.
I quickly clear the top Scuttle Crab, then rotate the Sweeper lens to check for wards as I head towards the enemy’s small Golems where Nocturne is likely to be.
‘The top situation is… fine.’
Renekton and Sett are fighting their own battle in the middle of the lane.
Mid was the same as well.
So I leap over the wall with E skill again without hesitation.
I see Nocturne who just hit level 3 after clearing the small Golems.
As soon as I see him, I fire my Q skill as a greeting.
And I use Smite to steal the small Golem.
A perfect timing steal manifested through the Guillotine Match ability!
Experience fills up and I reach level 4.
Nocturne uses his E skill and resists fiercely.
But I use Flash towards his escape route to dodge the CC fear, then continue chasing while firing auto attacks.
Nocturne had already used Flash near Blue buff earlier and couldn’t recall, so he had nothing except his jungle item.
This means he has no way to escape from my hands with boots.
Eventually, Nocturne helplessly gives up First Blood.
Sett pushes the lane hard and comes for backup belatedly, but it just becomes another 1v1 situation.
At an equal level 4, Sett who hasn’t recalled yet is behind in items compared to me.
On top of that, he’s Gold tier.
In short, this means he’s nothing but a punching bag that can’t be my match at all.
I excitedly chase Sett and chip away a ton of his health.
Sett frantically retreats into his tower.
With this, I’ve given an advantage to top lane following bot.
Wagyu’s happy face as he displays the smiling bee emote.
I rotate down from top, securing Blue buff, Gromp, and Wolves before recalling home again.
Then I complete one of the component items for the mythic item “Immortal Shieldbow”.
With the remaining money, I buy a Control Ward and head to the jungle once more.
But this jungle is not my Red side.
I boldly give up the delicious bottom side jungle camps and cross through the river to enter the enemy’s Red side jungle again.
And I place the Control Ward in the bush above Raptors and wait.
Waiting for the naive Nocturne to approach unknowingly.
“I-Is this really Hani-nim? I can’t believe it!”
“To be honest, I didn’t expect this. Based on the data from team practice games over the past two weeks that I received in advance, Hani-nim’s average KDA was just barely touching 2.”
“That’s right. And the role she mainly took was supporting the team in teamfights along with the support… or aiming for AoE CC with champions like Lillia, so she didn’t get much attention. But what on earth is going on now!”
“She’s completely crushing it. Starting from the Gromp counter-jungle at the beginning, to First Blood at small Golems, and the additional kill at Raptors! It might seem like only Yumi is taking losses, but that’s not the case.”
“That’s right. From the initial backup in bot, to top, and even mid. Despite coming to help at the cost of lane losses, she achieves big results in that short time and slips away smoothly. This way, there’s no need to make separate successful ganks. Each lane gains sufficient advantage.”
“That’s not all. Level 6 is important for Nocturne, but she delayed that timing a lot and even ruined his growth, so each lane can proceed with laning comfortably. She’s completely playing the game alone!”
Following the commentators’ gestures, Yumi’s dumbfounded face is shown in close-up.
Each BJ had chosen to either actually turn on their cam or use a character photo, and Yumi chose the former.
And that became the worst choice.
Every time she gets counter-jungled, her contorted expression and eyes that look like they could devour someone.
And although it can’t be clearly heard, her mouth shape clearly shows she’s spitting out some harsh words.
It was being broadcast clearly to the eyes of over 30,000 viewers.
Realizing this fact, Life and Summer quickly switched to another BJ’s screen, but it already seemed a bit late.
The chat window becomes noisy with criticism towards Yumi.
As the commentators are at a loss, peace suddenly arrives.
“Oh? Ohh!”
“It’s, it’s Hani-nim. She’s wearing a mask, but… um, haha. Well, what should I say.”
The commentators’ reactions soon became the viewers’ hearts.
Eyes sparkling like starlight above the mask.
And a fantastic figure reminiscent of a model or celebrity.
Lastly, mid carry.
Life, who only received rough data about Hani and was seeing her for the first time, stuttered slightly.
“W-Wow, you’re really beautiful. Do you mainly do cam broadcasts?”
“Huh? I think I see some personal interest there.”
“No, what! Ah, don’t push it. It’s not like that.”
Life flustered, Summer with a mischievous smile… and viewers who are now spamming “ㅓㅜㅑ” (an expression of surprise/admiration), forgetting about Yumi’s situation.
The game was heading towards its climax.
The mythic item is complete.
Along with level 7.
I increase the pace.
I rotate through our jungle and when bored, enter the enemy’s jungle… no, the jungle that has now become “mine”, and fire my shotgun as I please.
After scoring 2 kills against Nocturne, monopolizing the jungle, and successfully ganking bot once.
I am an outlaw.
The outlaw of the jungle.
I leisurely secure Dragon alone and even finish off Rift Herald.
Before 14 minutes, I go top to release Rift Herald and let Wagyu taste the delicious tower gold.
If there’s one place where the already ruined Nocturne could be effective, it would probably be top.
So as a preventive measure, I help Wagyu grow more.
“Zyra is missing.”
“It’s fine. We can 2v1.”
“Kyaa! Unni is so cool today.”
After securing the second Dragon, I fearlessly enter the enemy Blue side again.
The enemy mid laner must be resentful.
Blue buff that they haven’t been able to see once since the game started.
Zyra and Nocturne who were waiting try to resist, but the item and level difference is too overwhelming.
Grandmaster support? So what?
With a 2 level difference and one core item ahead.
The same goes for Nocturne.
I leisurely steal the Blue buff and ride the momentum to demolish the bot outer tower.
‘Still, mid is not easy after all.’
Azir is one of the top champions for defense.
The sand soldiers summoned by the Emperor of Shurima diligently thrust their spears to clear the wave.
Even with both top and bot outer towers demolished, he was holding on firmly.
‘No matter how fed I am, diving against Azir is too much. Plus Nocturne will join immediately with his ult.’
If there’s anything the already ruined Nocturne can do, it’s countering reckless dives.
So I made a different plan instead.
The target is not mid.
‘Let’s dig into bot once more!’
Leona’s ultimate falls on Jinx’s head.
A quick Flash reaction!
But Leona closes the distance with a counter-Flash and chains E and Q skills.
Miss Fortune’s powerful ultimate bullet rain pours down like a waterfall onto the CC’d Jinx.
“Pull out slightly!”
At that moment, Zyra and I near the area reveal ourselves simultaneously.
Moreover, it doesn’t stop there as the screen darkens.
Vision blocked.
And an eerie voice seeking darkness is heard from somewhere.
But Jinx’s position has already been confirmed.
As I use Graves’ ultimate “Collateral Damage”, a powerful linear explosion occurs in front, finishing off Jinx.
And at the same time, Leona uses Zhonya’s Hourglass at a precarious amount of health after taking tower hits.
As soon as it wears off, Nocturne flies in and bites Leona, while Zyra uses her ultimate to guard against me and Miss Fortune’s approach.
A strong will to at least finish off Leona!
But I had no intention of abandoning Mia here.
“Just pull back all the way. I’ll draw aggro.”
“Got it!”
The attack power of the ungrown Nocturne was even more miserable than expected.
But the tower damage cannot be ignored, so even knowing I might get knocked up by Zyra’s ultimate, I E dash forward to attack Nocturne.
Then the tower’s attack target switches to me, and simultaneously Zyra Flash-forwards to bind me tightly with her root.
“I’m fine. I won’t die. Let’s save Leona first and go again.”
“Okay!”
“Good good. Nice and calm.”
I took 3 hits from the tower.
At the same time, the mythic item “Immortal Shieldbow” grants the “Lifeline” effect.
An effect that grants a shield for 3 seconds when health falls below 30%, which was a perfect match for the tough Graves.
As soon as the root ends, I leave the tower range then lifesteal off nearby minions.
At that moment, consecutive danger pings come from top.
“It’s TP! Watch out behind!”
“Where? Don’t tell me they’re coming around from far away?”
No traces of Teleport were detected nearby.
After telling the two to pull back all the way, I crossed the wall towards Gromp to secure a different escape route.
Then Sett reveals himself as if he had been waiting.
“There he is! I’ll join.”
“Don’t come! Just keep pushing. Bot pull out too. I’ll handle this.”
I strongly insist while dissuading teammates who want to join.
The enemies’ resistance centered around mid was stronger than expected.
To break that, I needed to lure out the enemies who were huddled up.
So this is the pinpoint.
My health is just over 30% and the Lifeline effect is on cooldown.
On top of that, there’s a fat bounty on my head.
Enemies swarm towards me, unable to resist the temptation.
I’ll completely break the game here.
And currently, it’s a 1v1 situation with Sett.
The effect of Guillotine Match 4 envelops my whole body.
The shotgun spat fire.