Chapter 168: Team Fight at Six Minutes

“I’m here, bro. If this gank succeeds, add me as a Friend, cool?” Jarvan quipped cheekily.

“Be careful of a counter-gank by the enemy Jungler. This Vayne is really something else.” Luocheng hastily typed this in reply as his minions pushed in towards the enemy’s side.

“Should we wait until Level 6, instead?” Zyra wondered.

“We can take them. It’ll be harder at Level 6,” Luocheng said.

Jarvan slipped into the brush along the side, where their Support had confirmed there were no enemy wards. It was the perfect hiding spot!

As the minion wave pushed back towards them, it seemed that Jarvan had arrived at just the right time. Hidden behind enemy lines, one wrong step by Sona or Vayne, and Jarvan would pounce on them with an EQ-combo. Even if he didn’t knock them up, Slowing them down would also be enough to secure a kill!

Playing as the Jungler meant being decisive, yet also patient. As the minions marched past him, Jarvan marshalled his resolve, lying in wait like a cold-blooded killer for Sona to come within his reach.

She would likely come by any moment to plant a ward. That was precisely what he was waiting for.

Sure enough, here came Sona now, leading the way with those majestic twin peaks of hers!

Hefting his spear, Jarvan brought down his battle standard right at her feet!

Dragon Strike!

It was a solid EQ-combo, and the Crown Prince of Demacia surged out like a raging dragon, laying waste to everything in his path!

Caught completely by surprise, Sona was tossed high into the air, skirts billowing!

Zyra and Ezreal had already been waiting to move in. They dove in now, throwing all their skills onto Sona, intent on taking her down in one move.

Suddenly, there was a great, bellowing roar from behind Sona!

The enemy Jungler, Lee Sin, came flying in out of nowhere, soaring over to Sona and covering her in a shimmering shield!

Tempest! Cripple!

Slamming his palm into the ground, Lee Sin sent out a golden wave of energy, nauseating Jarvan and Zyra, and reducing both their movement and attack speed!

“Hah!” Sonic Wave!

With a kick, Lee Sin sent out a rippling line of discordance, turning the ambush against Jarvan!

Finding her feet once more, Sona unleashed a skill combo of her own, then threw out an Exhaust and backed away. She’d successfully baited them in. The rest would be up to Lee Sin and Vayne. For now, she’d just heal from the back, while preparing another Power Chord.

Sona’s combo had inflicted quite a bit of damage upon Jarvan. When Lee Sin and Vayne joined in, compounding his wounds, he had no choice but to Flash out of the fight.

“Oh, crap. That’s a counter-gank!” Xiao Bei wailed.

Lee Sin was a particularly good champion for counter-ganking. With his ‘Resonating Strike’, sometimes not even a Flash could get you away from him.

Jarvan could see that he’d lost, and immediately fell back, leaving Zyra to fend for herself.

Zyra was a squishy champion herself, and had no hope of surviving long against a combined assault from both Lee Sin and Vayne. She too was forced to use her Flash to get away.

(Translator’s Note: For some reason, I’ve been avoiding this term until now, but fragile champions with low health and defences are referred to as ‘squishy’—the opposite of being ‘tanky’. For your amusement, here in Asia, other synonyms for ‘squishy’ include ‘tofu’ and ‘paper’, used as adjectives.)

But the enemy Lee Sin was unbelievably cunning. Pretending to give up and turn away, he suddenly whipped back around with another Sonic Wave, catching Zyra as she fled.

Resonating Strike!

Lee Sin sailed through the air, delivering a flying kick across the distance until he reached Zyra!

‘Crack!’ It was the sound of bones breaking. That emptied away the last of Zyra’s health.

With a pained cry, Zyra withered away to become a large, venomous blossom. As her last, bitter act of retribution, she shot a massive thorn at Lee Sin.

Smooth as silk, Lee Sin used his W-skill ‘Safeguard’ to dodge this spike of true damage, and then withdrew to safety.

“Oh, we’re screwed!” Lin Dong was aghast. He hadn’t expected the enemy Lee Sin to be this sharp, even managing to anticipate Jarvan’s gank in the Bottom lane.

It had been a brilliant counter-gank. It had to be said that high-level play meant coming across all kinds of remarkable players.

‘Fwoosh!’

As the battle descended into all-out chaos, one of the red minions froze in place, eldritch winds swirling wildly around it. The melee minion was being used as an anchor for a Teleport spell. Ryze was coming over from the Mid-lane!

“Ryze is coming!” The three spectators exclaimed with glee. He couldn’t be doing it at a better time. The destination of his arrival would cut off Lee Sin and Vayne’s escape, now that they had both run so far ahead!

As Ryze appeared, he threw out Overload, Rune Prison, Spell Flux, another Overload… a cascade of runic magic assaulted Lee Sin, snuffing out his life quickly and cleanly—a show of devastating power!

After killing Lee Sin, Ryze set his sights on Vayne. If he could land another Rune Prison on her before she made it back to her tower, that would be a Double Kill!

The sudden addition of Ryze had turned the tables yet again. Although low on health, Jarvan’s player saw that his skills were ready once more, so he charged in from behind with heedless courage!

EQ-combo, Dragon Strike!

Shallow Dream reacted with inhuman speed. One hand on the ground, long coat billowing, she threw herself aside with ‘Tumble’, avoiding the interception attempt as she fired off a shot in return!

Condemn! A crossbow bolt nailed him to the wall!

One more shot, and the extra damage from ‘Silver Bolts’ kicked in, cleaning off what little health Jarvan had been holding on to!

Impaled to the rough stone wall, blood pouring from his wounds, his body slowly went slack, staring in disbelief even as his eyes glazed over.

Although he’d allowed Vayne to claim his life, one couldn’t say Jarvan’s actions had all been in vain—because she’d paused to attack him, it had bought Ryze precious time for his skills to cool down.

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After killing Jarvan, Vayne began kiting backwards, continuing to attack as she retreated towards her tower.

“Ugh!” Without warning, a melancholy last refrain played out behind Vayne. Already low on health from earlier, Sona collapsed to the ground, dead by Ezreal’s hand!

(Translator’s Note: Original text suggests that Sona cried out, but… she’s mute.)

As with Jarvan from a moment ago, Sona had died without even knowing what hit her, still trying to get some healing onto Vayne.

It wasn’t just Sona, either—Xiao Bei, Lin Dong, and Qianqian all gaped at Luocheng’s screen, utterly baffled!

Exactly when did Luocheng’s Ezreal get behind the enemy?

He’d struck Sona down as suddenly as a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky!

***

Coming around from behind, Luocheng’s Ezreal worked with Ryze to perform a pincer attack against Shallow Dream’s Vayne!

When she saw Ezreal appearing behind her, Shallow Dream immediately gave up on retreating to her tower, and headed for the brush along the side instead.

Ryze was ready to cast ‘Rune Prison’ again. Though Shallow Dream was kiting towards the cover of the brush, she was cornered this time, with no escape!

Rune Prison, Overload, Spell Flux! A battery of spells thundered down on Vayne.

Rooted to the spot, her health rapidly dwindling down to nothing, Ezreal only had to hit Vayne a couple more times to secure the kill!

The three spectators behind Luocheng watched with bated breath!

If he got a Double Kill here, it would be a huge advantage!

Whoom!

But life has a way of defying expectations.

A halo of violet light fell over Vayne, forming a protective shield which blunted what should have been a fatal blow. Vayne took advantage of this extended lease on life to keep attacking Ryze, whose health had dropped all the way down to the last one-third now!

Whoosh! The halo faded away. Shen, the Eye of Twilight, had arrived at Vayne’s side!

This Shen had most definitely come flying over as soon as he hit Level 6—Ryze was only a couple of minions away from Level 6 himself!

Taunt! Flash!

The player was skilled at using Shen. As he rushed in to land a Taunt on Ryze, he also used Flash at the last instant, catching Ezreal in the effect as well, and thus preventing him from getting out any attacks at all!

(Translator’s Note: There are many champion skills where a well-timed Flash in the middle of its execution can reposition you just before the effect is actually released. Such techniques are very common at the highest level of play, where games are decided in split seconds and inches.)

At the threshold of death’s door, Vayne had been spared for another four or five seconds, allowing her to finish off the last remainder of Ryze’s health!

His spellbook tumbled out of his limp fingers. Ryze glared at Vayne, who by all rights should have been dead by now, yet had somehow survived to kill him instead!

“How… how can this be happening?” Qianqian cried in frustration.

It should have been three kills for their side, but thanks to Shen’s sudden ulti upon his promotion to Level 6, everything had gone awry!

It was just one twist after another!

Coming out of the Taunt, Luocheng immediately pulled back, not because he’d lost interest in sending Shallow Dream the rest of the way to the dark beyond, but because the enemy’s Orianna had also arrived on the scene!

Orianna, Shen, and a badly wounded Vayne… Luocheng knew that if he continued the pursuit into the brush, he’d pay for it with his life, so he wisely chose to fall back for now, kiting Shen and Orianna.

“You should retreat. You’re out of mana,” Lin Dong pointed out to Luocheng.

It had been a good move for Ryze to Teleport in, putting the odds in their favor… but Shen’s response with his own ultimate skill had been just as marvelous, buying Vayne the time she needed to get another kill.

From Jarvan’s gank attempt, to Sona’s baiting, to the arrival of their Mid as well as the enemy’s Top—and now, finally, with Orianna joining the fray… After all that, Luocheng’s side was one kill behind.

What’s more, Vayne had gotten herself two champion kills.

It seemed that Luocheng still wasn’t done. As Shen chased after him, he continued to attack while kiting backward—not quite a full retreat.

Waging a running battle in this manner, Luocheng led Orianna and Shen from the Bottom lane towards the Dragon pit.

***

Ezreal had lost quite a bit of health already, and he was all out of mana. It was just a question of when Shen’s next Taunt would be ready.

Qianqian wanted to chew her nails off with anxiety. Luocheng’s Ezreal couldn’t be allowed to die. It would be too great a setback if Ezreal was lost here as well, and they’d lose the Dragon too.

She just couldn’t figure out why, even though he clearly had no hope of winning this fight anymore… Why was Ezreal still kiting the enemy champions? Doing so was putting himself in grave danger.

(Translator’s Note: In case you missed it last time, to ‘kite’ enemies is to attack while moving constantly. Because you have to stop moving, at least briefly, with each attack, this means you will move slower than if you weren’t attacking at all – making it easier for enemies to catch up to you.)

Was it that he just couldn’t admit defeat?

No way, he wasn’t the sort to lose his head like that!

Luocheng panned the view on his screen forward. Somebody popped into the Dragon pit with a Flash, and then promptly pounced onto Shen, still hot on Ezreal’s heels!

“It’s Riven!” Qianqian nearly squealed in glee.

All the way from the jungle between their Top and Mid lanes, Riven had come running down to the Bottom lane to lend her aid!

Across the disparate lanes of the Summoner’s Rift, all ten champions in the game had broken away from their farming to join in what should have been a minor skirmish in the Bottom lane. It was a full-scale team fight, barely six minutes into the game!

The question was: Who would end up having the last laugh?