Chapter 173: Unfinished Business

Luocheng kept a close eye on Shen’s energy bar.

(Translator’s Note: No, we’re not talking about food here—maybe later. Different champions use different resources, e.g. Shen uses Energy instead of Mana.

Energy recharges very rapidly, but is only ever available in a limited amount, so that Energy-based champions can only use their skills in short bursts, but they don’t have to worry about long-term sustainability.

In that sense, perhaps Energy is like chocolate, while Mana is a ham-and-cheese sandwich.)

Shen’s Taunt skill, ‘Shadow Dash’, should have finished its cooldown by now—it was just that he didn’t have enough Energy to use it.

As Shen’s energy reached a total of 120, Luocheng hit E!

Here came the Taunt!

(Translator’s Note: “You fight like a dairy farmer!” “How appropriate: You fight like a cow!”)

Luocheng was well aware that if Shen caught him with his Taunt, Vayne would follow up immediately with a skill combo, and that would be the end of him!

He couldn’t let himself fall victim to Shen’s Taunting!

The instant he had 120 Energy points, Shen would definitely bust out that Taunt, especially because Luocheng had deliberately allowed him to get within range, so that he wouldn’t be able to resist!

Whoosh! It was the fabled art of ninjutsu. Shen lunged in, his powerful physique drawing a long shadow through the air!

It was exactly what Luocheng had been waiting for. As a split-second response, he hit E!

Arcane Shift!

Even as Shen’s shadow passed over him, Ezreal stepped through that door between dimensions, vanishing and then re-appearing to the side!

The ‘Arcane Shift’ skill additionally fired off a shot from Ezreal’s exit point, which struck Shen squarely in the face. Luocheng used this moment to unleash a full combo on him as well!

He had his Muramana active. Although he was running low on mana, in order to ensure that he could finish Shen off right now, he had to burn his mana to enhance his attack damage!

In order to dish out a substantial amount of damage, a mana-based Ezreal relied on this property of Muramana!

As the incoming damage ramped up, Shen didn’t have enough Energy to throw up any kind of protection. When the vicious onslaught finally subsided, Shen was already collapsing indignantly through an icy mist, onto the frozen ground beneath him.

***

Riven’s corpse lay slumped against the wall. As Vayne plucked the bloodied crossbow bolt from her lifeless body and turned back around, she found that Shen had fallen to his knees before Ezreal.

The broad southern stretch of the river was now littered with bodies everywhere, including the two Support champions who’d ended up killing each other.

And now, standing just beyond the Dragon pit, the only ones left were Yu Luocheng and Shallow Dream.

From this battle, it could be seen that all ten players were highly skilled, but ultimately it came down to the two of them to decide the outcome of this game: Bitter rivals all along, now it would be Vayne the ‘Night Hunter’ vs. Ezreal the ‘Prodigal Explorer’.

She, who moved through the shadows of Valoran, cold and haughty, hunting the wretched monsters that lurked in the darkness… a black knight keeping the order within her territory.

He, who braved the perilous places of Valoran, hot-blooded and courageous… an adventurer upholding his own sense of justice and discovery!

When two champions, both of whom have been named the mightiest of ADCs, were facing off against each other, treading over the fallen forms of allies and enemies alike as they stared daggers at one another, it somehow created the impression of two contenders for the throne, on the brink of all-out battle. The tension could be felt across all of Summoner’s Rift!

The mysterious huntress Vayne, or the cunning explorer Ezreal… who was the true power in Valoran?

And as for the two players behind them, they too had once faced off against one another like this, during a solo competition before the whole world!

But that time, she’d inexplicably chosen to forfeit.

Some people had been of the opinion that she didn’t consider herself the equal of F-Hawk, and had opted to spare herself the humiliation. After all, at the time, F-Hawk had achieved worldwide renown, and there were many elite players around the globe who held him in the highest regard.

Others believed that she might have been leaving the professional gaming scene one last scrap of dignity, for if an amateur challenger defeated all these professional players, the whole industry would be in utter disgrace!

Whether one subscribed to the former or the latter, all anyone could really do was guess.

Eventually, it became a thing of the past, and only the most venerable gaming journals still carried the story in their archives.

Most likely, hardly anyone today would be aware of that unfinished duel in the history of international pro-gaming tournaments.

It didn’t matter if everyone else had forgotten.

Luocheng still remembered.

And this time, he was facing Shallow Dream as an amateur player himself!

This time, Shallow Dream would neither withdraw nor forfeit. She watched Luocheng intently. Perhaps she too felt the same regret over what had happened, and that was why this game she’d been playing so spiritedly, almost ravenously!

The inconsequential side characters were out of the way. Now it was just the two of them left to fight this savage battle.

Without a doubt, someone was about to see an Ace!

***

The air was frozen solid. Ezreal clutched an arc of magical energy in his hand. Vayne raised her own enchanted silver crossbow as well.

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Fhwoosh! Mystic Shot!

With a range of 1,150 units, Ezreal could strike at Vayne without the latter being able to return fire.

Up close, Ezreal would have no chance. Before Vayne could close the distance to him, Luocheng had to take full advantage of his superior attack range!

(Translator’s Note: Fully leveled up, Vayne’s ‘Tumble’ has a base cooldown time of two seconds, compared to thirteen seconds on Ezreal’s ‘Arcane Shift’. So yes, together with ‘Night Hunter’, she actually could close the gap to him… at the cost of not dodging his shots.)

With staggered steps, Vayne evaded this Mystic Shot from Ezreal! Then she closed in. Vayne’s passive skill ‘Night Hunter’ increased her movement speed when advancing toward enemies. Ezreal had only just used his Arcane Shift. Now they were 800 units apart—another 250 units closer, and she’d be within range to attack Ezreal!

“Huh!” Vayne exclaimed brazenly, using Tumble to gain even more ground, which finally brought her close enough!

A crossbow quarrel was launched towards Ezreal, but he didn’t retreat right away, instead allowing Vayne to hit him twice!

Luocheng had been keeping Ezreal’s own passive ability ‘Rising Spell Force’ at its maximum of five stacks. Although he’d missed with that last Mystic Shot, he’d used his W-skill ‘Essence Flux’ to keep his attack speed up.

(Translator’s Note: ‘Rising Spell Force’ temporarily increases Ezreal’s attack speed each time he hits something with his skills, to a maximum of five ‘stacks’, i.e. five cumulative instances of the same bonus.

I’m given to understand that the author is still talking about the older version of Essence Flux, which was a straight-line AoE which could deal direct damage to enemy champions. Regardless, the new Essence Flux also counts for stacking Rising Spell Force.)

This brought his attack speed almost on par with Vayne’s. After exchanging two basic attacks, Ezreal didn’t allow her to land a third Silver Bolt, using Flash to get away!

Vayne didn’t use her own Flash to keep up with him, because Luocheng had chosen an excellent spot to Flash away, taking him across the walls of the Dragon pit. If Vayne used her Flash now, she wouldn’t be able to get past the wall herself—she’d just be stuck on the outside.

(Translator’s Note: If you use Flash while standing next to a section of wall, or some other obstacle which the short range of Flash shouldn’t actually be able to get you across of, you’ll be shunted towards the nearest empty space from that point (since you can’t be left standing inside the wall). Often this takes you the rest of the way to the other side, effectively giving you a slight boost in Flash travel distance.)

With no wards over on that side, she lost sight of him.

A good Ezreal player had to know how to seek concealment like this, and then continue to apply damage while his enemies scrambled to regain line-of-sight on him.

Vayne was in hot pursuit, coming around the entrance to the pit. She’d enjoy a tremendous advantage in here, partly because Ezreal’s shots might get blocked by the Dragon itself, and also because it would be too easy for her to impale him against the wall with Condemn.

“Hah!” A bolt of brilliant blue energy streaked out and struck Vayne just as she appeared at the mouth of the pit.

The additional effect from Iceborn Gauntlet threw up a cloud of frost in the area, slowing Vayne down.

Poof! Arcane Shift was ready again, and Ezreal used it to blink out the far side of the Dragon pit, never giving Vayne another shot at him.

Augh! Just then, the Dragon awoke in a storm of wings, roused from its restful slumber, and unleashed its wrath upon the hapless Vayne!

“Wow… beautiful!” Xiao Bei couldn’t help exclaiming in admiration.

He’d lured Vayne into the Dragon pit after him, locked her down at the entrance with an Iceborn Mystic Shot, and then hit the Dragon once to incite its fury. Then he’d used his newly cooled-down Arcane Shift to hop right back out of the Dragon pit once more, while the Dragon helped him to deal that much more damage to Vayne!

It ought to be pointed out that the Dragon’s fiery breath not only did a substantial amount of damage, it also slowed down the victim’s attack speed. In a manner of speaking, it was as though Luocheng had hit Vayne with an extra skill!

(Translator’s Note: Dragons have changed dramatically in recent years. It’s one of the most interesting ways in which Riot Games continuously evolves the game.)

It was the second time Xiao Bei was witnessing Luocheng’s use of wild monsters in combat!

The first time had been during the cyber café quarter-finals, when he’d employed the Baron Nashor to take off one last bit of health from Orianna!

This time he was using the Dragon not only to hurt Vayne, but also reduce her attack speed as well!

Luocheng seized this moment to hit Vayne a couple more times, and then promptly withdrew, denying Vayne any opportunity to retaliate!

***

“OP!!!!!” Seeing Luocheng’s trick with the Dragon, Jarvan’s player unloaded a whole string of exclamation marks in chat.

All eight of the defeated players were watching the duel between their ADCs. When they saw this particularly brilliant play, they immediately filled up the chat box with their excitement.

With all the damage she’d taken, Vayne’s health was now lower than Ezreal’s!

However, Shallow Dream didn’t retreat. If she did, Ezreal would chase her down, and her doom would be assured!

Even with Tumble, Vayne wouldn’t be able to reach Ezreal to deliver a shot. Instead, she let the Dragon have it, even as she got clear of the monster, her Tumble immediately becoming ready again.

Ezreal was fighting a retreating battle as always. At the moment, they were perhaps 700 units apart. The Iceborn Gauntlet required two seconds to cool down between each use, so the next Mystic Shot didn’t carry any Slowing effect. It was actually quite easy for Vayne to catch up, across such a short distance.

Luocheng continued to run until they reached the brush in the corner of the Bottom lane—the place where they’d had their opening duel at Level 1.

If he ducked into the brush as Vayne reached him, she’d lose sight of him again, making it impossible to chain three hits on him!

(Translator’s Note: You probably already know, but each time Vayne lands three consecutive hits on the same target, she causes a great deal of additional damage to them.

When they’re playing as Vayne, less-experienced players have an amusing propensity to dive into any kind of danger in order to land those all-important third hits. This can be exploited to hilarious effect.)

If he could just bring her health a little lower, Luocheng would be able to simply duke it out with her face-to-face!

But not quite yet—he remembered that she still had her Barrier. Even if they both used their Barrier spells, Ezreal would still come out of it the loser!

***

“If Vayne keeps up this chase, she’s done for,” Lin Dong remarked, watching as Luocheng made for the brush.

“Right,” Xiao Bei agreed. “Luocheng has his ulti now. If he fires it the moment he enters the bush, Vayne will be caught by surprise. By the time she has eyes on Ezreal, she’ll be weak enough to go down in one combo!”

Lin Dong nodded. Luocheng’s mastery of Ezreal was impeccable. Even against a late-game terror like Vayne, he was putting on a dominating display. What’s more, that Vayne hadn’t died a single time this whole game—she was undeniably an incredible player herself!