Chapter 166: One Must Fall

The latest patch had completely altered Ezreal’s value as an ADC. This was chiefly due to the changes to his W-skill, which meant he’d lost a significant edge in combat.

Despite this, Luocheng had the highest winning rate on Ezreal out of all his champions. He’d gotten used to the idea that securing Ezreal for himself meant securing victory.

That was just how well he understood this champion.

He’d looked through Shallow Dream’s match history, previously. Among the champions she’d been using, Vayne appeared no small number of times.

Of course, there was no way any mainline ADC player would not be familiar with Vayne, just as every Jungler had to know how to play Lee Sin. The difference was individual tendencies, play-style, and tactics.

***

Luocheng didn’t know who Shallow Dream was, nor did he much care at the moment.

He began by helping his Jungler take Blue, contributing four auto-attacks. Then he returned to his lane directly, by way of the river.

When playing against truly skilled opponents, missing out on even a single minion’s worth of Experience Points could become an insurmountable setback. Luocheng couldn’t afford a single mistake, here.

As though thinking the exact same thing, as Luocheng’s Ezreal reached the brush just southeast of the Dragon pit, Vayne suddenly appeared, brandishing her silver crossbow!

It was the fastest route back to the lane, after leashing for her team’s Jungler. Just leave after dealing four hits, and neither would be missing out on any XP.

It was clear that Luocheng and Shallow Dream were both well-versed in these matters. The competition was off to a fierce start, right from Level 1!

The Support players on both sides were still helping out their Junglers, so the two ADCs were alone with each other in the lane.

They circled around, trading attacks.

Each evasive maneuver meant the loss of a couple of minions. Looking at the team compositions on both sides, whoever got to Level 2 first would enjoy a slight advantage.

Luocheng grimaced faintly.

He was on the red side. Backing off would lose him more than just a couple of minion kills…

He had to fight!

Shallow Dream was of the same mind. As they approached the line of warring minions, violence broke out immediately!

Both champions attacked each other at the same time!

Bolts of magic and silvered steel criss-crossed the battlefield!

Sidestep, and then teleport!

Since he was fighting on the red side, this meant Luocheng was a little closer to the brush along the corner.

As his 1st-level duel with Shallow Dream carried on, he continued to inch towards the nearest bush. With the concealment it would provide him, coupled with a few more basic attacks, he might be able to get First Blood on Vayne!

Shallow Dream had evidently seen through Luocheng’s strategy, and she was edging towards the brush herself. They were both vying for a tactical edge!

“That…”

Qianqian, Xiao Bei, and Lin Dong gaped at the vicious fight that had broken out right away!

At barely a minute and a half into the game, there was no way either of their Supports would be able to make it there in time, since they were still assisting their Junglers in acquiring their starting Buffs.

As they fought, both ADCs were losing health rapidly, yet neither made to withdraw. They were determined to settle this at Level 1!

With these two champions, it was hard to say who had the upper hand at 1st level!

The atmosphere had suddenly become incredibly tense!

They were still at Level 1, but Luocheng and Shallow Dream were already locked in a duel to the death! Although they only had one skill each, it felt like a titanic clash of epic proportions!

“At its first level, Vayne’s Q-skill ‘Tumble’ has a cooldown of six seconds, but it’s the same for Ezreal’s ‘Mystic Shot’! It all comes down to their next skill!” Lin Dong exclaimed.

Lin Dong was an ADC main himself. He had a deep familiarity with both of those champions. If they fought each other at Level 1, it could really go either way—it would depend on who used their skills better, to see who would get First Blood!

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“No, Ezreal’s ‘Mystic Shot’ will have a cooldown of five seconds,” Xiao Bei suddenly corrected him.

“Five seconds?” Lin Dong spluttered. After a moment’s thought, he understood: Mystic Shot had an additional effect, reducing all cooldowns by one second if it successfully hit an enemy.

When the fight began, both champions had used their starting skills at the same time, both aiming to get out as many shots as possible!

This additional effect on Ezreal’s ‘Mystic Shot’ allowed him to get out another one before Vayne’s ‘Tumble’ was ready again!

That difference of one second would be crucial to victory!

***

Sure enough, after five seconds, Ezreal’s ‘Mystic Shot’ was ready again!

Looking at Vayne’s current health, one more hit and Luocheng would be the victor of this duel!

With First Blood imminent, Xiao Bei, Lin Dong, and Qianqian watched as Ezreal’s summoned a glowing bolt of magical energy to hand, and then hurled it forth like a shooting star!

At this distance, with this positioning, there was no way Vayne would be able to dodge it!

In spite of themselves, the three spectators could feel their hearts pounding!

Whistling through the air, the Mystic Shot streaked unerringly towards Vayne!

Bamf!

Suddenly, Vayne vanished in a cloud of light!

Flash!

With a Flash to the side, Vayne had evaded what would have been a fatal Mystic Shot!

***

She’d dodged it!

Shallow Dream had managed to dodge it with a Flash!

Seeing what had happened, Xiao Bei’s heart was doing flip-flops!

Versus Ezreal, skilled players were able to dodge a skillshot with Flash.

However, scrambling to gain vision through the brush meant that Vayne was hardly an arm’s length away from Ezreal. In these circumstances, whatever your reaction speed, it was impossible to dodge a Mystic Shot at point-blank range!

That meant Shallow Dream had already been keeping her finger over the key to use her Flash, and had been counting down the time on Ezreal’s skill cooldown. The moment Ezreal’s hand lit up to fire his Mystic Shot, she’d hit Flash!

She’d been keeping track of Luocheng’s skill cooldowns the whole time—including the skill’s additional cooldown-reduction effect!

Even an expert player like Lin Dong had been under the impression that Ezreal’s ‘Mystic Shot’ had a cooldown time of six seconds!

Locked in pitched combat against Ezreal, she’d been counting down the seconds while dodging and attacking constantly, and had even been able to take such a fine detail into account!

Five seconds!

She’d figured out that his cooldown time would only be five seconds!

Realizing the depth of her skill, a chill ran through Xiao Bei’s entire body!

She was a truly fearsome adversary!

To be able to make such cool judgements in the heat of battle—such precise calculations amid the tumbling chaos—it was nothing short of frightening!

***

Luocheng’s instincts had been right!

Shallow Dream was the highest grade of player—the sort who inspired both awe and abject terror!

And yet, deep down in his bones, something called out in response!