Chapter 65: Lurking in the Brush

Bringing Twisted Fate into the lane, Yu Luocheng immediately began shuffling cards. Each time, he selected the blue card, allowing him to keep his mana topped off.

Swiftly achieving his second level from slaying minions, Yu Luocheng’s next skill point went into his Q-skill, ‘Wild Cards’. Whenever it was off cooldown, Yu Luocheng would use it to hurl out another volley of cards.

It was the same for his W-skill, ‘Pick a Card’—as soon its cooldown was over, he’d use it to pick out another blue card, so that his mana was constantly being replenished.

Brand was not exactly slow at clearing minions, but he couldn’t keep up with Twisted Fate spamming Q- and W-skills. Having started with Doran’s Ring, as well as constantly flinging out blue cards, even if he was using his skills non-stop, he was just able to keep from running out of mana.

By the time he was Level 3, the minion wave was clearly pushing towards his opponent’s side. It was at this time that the ward Evelynn had placed earlier detected Xin Zhao sneaking in towards him from the side!

“Sure enough, Team Aviator’s Jungler is out to get the enemy’s Mid-laner. Let’s watch this gank attempt. Twisted Fate is a squishy champion. During the early stages of the game, a high-damage champion like Xin Zhao can swiftly take him down—even without help from his own Mid-laner.

“Twisted Fate is falling back. He’s obviously wise to Xin Zhao’s ways.”

When he saw Xin Zhao leaving, Yu Luocheng resumed pushing the lane.

With prescient teamwork, Yu Wong came by from the left and planted a fresh ward on the Northern river bank, helping to guard Yu Luocheng from that side.

With both sides covered, Yu Luocheng pushed even more aggressively.

Vivid red, opulent gold, regal blue… these three colors flipped constantly past the Card Master’s deft fingertips.

He cut the cards with expert precision, never letting the rotation reach a fourth card. Oftentimes the blue card was the first one he drew, and he’d snatch it up without hesitation.

Each blue card was followed by a fan of Wild Cards. Rather than aiming the cards at Brand, Yu Luocheng sought to slice them across as many minions as possible.

In between shuffling, cutting, and flicking out cards, he used his basic attacks to pick off wounded minions without fail!

***

“Damn, something stinks about this Twisted Fate!” Team Aviator’s Xiao Guangjun snarled in annoyance.

His opponent was clearly just farming mindlessly. Brand was no slouch in this area either, with his W-skill ‘Pillar of Flame’ and E-skill ‘Conflagration’ dealing out tremendous area-effect damage—but his mana was in limited supply, so there was no way for him to spam his skills the way Twisted Fate was doing.

Most relevant of all was that he’d started the game with a pair of Boots of Speed, two Health Potions, and one Mana Potion… his original intention had been to out-play Twisted Fate through superior mobility.

Instead, the minion wave kept pushing against him, making him hesitant to spend his skills on Twisted Fate himself—it was all he could do just to keep the enemy minions away from his tower. It was difficult for Brand to farm under the tower, especially when low on mana.

“Never mind, let him farm—I’ll fix him!” the Aviator Jungler, Li Sheng, declared.

Bringing Xin Zhao through the jungle to the Red Buff on his side, he found only one pathetic little critter left in the creep camp—Jarvan had stolen it away from him.

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Xin Zhao himself had stolen the enemy’s Red, and then gone back to take his own Blue. In other words, they’d exchanged Red Buffs, an equal exchange.

Li Sheng hurried to clear off the Gromps and Raptors, which brought him up to Level 4.

He took a look at how things were going in the Top lane. The enemy had put Kayle there, played by Team Scarlet’s ADC.

Their strategy was based around swapping lanes: While Kayle fattened up in the Top lane, Renekton held off the Ashe and Leona duo down in the Bottom lane.

After a moment’s deliberation, Xin Zhao ultimately chose to go after Mid lane after all. Just now the right side had been warded, which meant the left side should be unguarded. Twisted Fate had moved too far forward—he was a sitting duck!

Swiftly, he moved towards the river brush, West of the lane. “Move up!” he ordered Xiao Guangjun.

“This guy is moving around a lot, I’m not sure I can Stun him. You start,” Xiao Guangjun replied.

Brand had essentially failed so far to do much damage to Twisted Fate, partly because he really was dodging around industriously, but also because he’d mostly been using it to clear off the minions. What he really wanted to do was hit his opponent with E, and then follow it up with his Q-skill, ‘Sear’, causing a Stun—but his odds of pulling this off were low.

“Alright, get him!” Li Sheng’s eyes flashed, and Xin Zhao came charging out of the brush, his spear gleaming with cold light as he raced towards Twisted Fate. He still needed to get closer…

Flash!

Xin Zhao used his Flash to close the distance, thrusting his spear at his target’s face. He would use his E-skill, in combination with his Red Buff, to apply a double Slowing effect!

“A decisive Flash from Xin Zhao! If Twisted Fate gets Slowed down here, so far down the lane, not even a Flash might be enough to get him back to the safety of his tower! Twisted Fate is in mortal danger!” the MC’s excited commentary rang out across the arena.

Silence fell across the hall. All eyes were on Twisted Fate.

To make things worse, Brand was charging in as well! He waved a hand wreathed in flame, and the ground beneath the Card Master’s feet shook, sparks dancing in the air—in a heartbeat, a towering pillar of ravenous fire would erupt from below!

Cool as a cucumber, Yu Luocheng used his Flash to dodge both the Stun from Brand’s ‘Sear’ as well as the high-damage ‘Pillar of Flame’.

Strangely, rather than Flashing directly backwards, Twisted Fate instead teleported a short distance to the right. At the same time, a golden card appeared between his fingers!

Clasped between his long, slender index and middle fingers, it seemed as though he’d been keeping the gleaming golden Stun card up his sleeve the whole time, no shuffling required!

With a flick of his hand, he flung the golden card, Stunning Xin Zhao in place before he could get within reach! This was followed by a basic attack and a fan of Wild Cards—Twisted Fate had evaded Xin Zhao’s deadly attack, but rather than retreating, he’d unleashed a skill combo upon his aggressor!

Just as everyone was watching this show of bravado in doubt, a flag was suddenly planted in the ground beside Xin Zhao’s feet!

It was a battle standard, followed swiftly by a spear!

The crown prince of Demacia, Jarvan the 4th, had joined the battle!

“It’s a counter-gank by Jarvan!” the MC roared, “No wonder Twisted Fate stood his ground. Although he used his Flash to perform this ambush, it looks like Xin Zhao has bitten off more than he can chew!”