Chapter 68: Decisive Battle

“Quit bickering, take the Dragon!” Liu Qi, the team captain, snapped at Li Sheng and Xiao Guangjun.

The enemy team was basically short a man, so there should be no way for Team Scarlet to contest side objectives like the Dragon.

Respawning at the fountain, Brand rushed over to the dragon pit, and their four champions slew the Dragon without issue . ¹

“Ah… If Team Aviator goes for the Dragon, there’s really nothing Team Scarlet can do about it,” the MC commented. “I suppose Jarvan could try and steal it… but Team Scarlet just let them have it, after all.”

Yu Luocheng hadn’t bothered sending Jarvan to attempt a steal on the Dragon. It was a tremendous risk for very little reward. It couldn’t be ignored that they were short-handed—if anyone on their team fell now, the enemy could very well just bring the whole team to storm the Middle lane directly.

Yu Luocheng coolly remained in his lane, throwing a constant barrage of blue cards at the enemy’s first-tier tower. It had already been whittled down quite a bit, and Twisted Fate was a good champion for breaking towers in any case.

The enemy had won themselves a Dragon, but Yu Luocheng had taken down an important tower.

Next, Team Aviator sent three people down to the Bottom lane, where they ganged up on Renekton and killed him under the tower again.

The enemy team was really bringing their numbers to bear now, roving around in packs of three or four. Jarvan was no longer able to roam freely, so he stayed in the Bottom lane to help protect Renekton, who otherwise would not be able to grow at all.

Kayle was coming along well up in the Top lane. Olaf had made several attempts to bull rush her, and each time he’d been thrown back with his tail tucked between his legs. Xin Zhao had also come by a few times to try to make a difference, but Twisted Fate could always spare the time to come and reinforce Kayle whenever that happened, thus preventing any disruption to her growth.

“Evelynn is just planting wards all over the place for Team Scarlet, so that Team Aviator can’t make a move without them knowing about it. It completely foiled their Jungler’s gank attempts during the early game,” the MC was saying.

“However, this won’t be enough once all five members of Team Aviator have assembled their key items. With their numbers advantage, they can keep taking Dragons, maybe even the Baron, and perhaps just rush whichever tower they please. What can Team Scarlet do to stop them?”

It was a full team of five people, after all. With how far Renekton had fallen behind, this 4v5 game was becoming more and more untenable.

Each time Yu Luocheng used his ulti, it had been to get Brand or Xin Zhao. At the twelve-minute mark, his Twisted Fate already had four kills under his belt, and a Creep Score of 120!

He had the ‘ Lich Bane ¹ ‘ now, as well as a pair of ‘ Sorcerer’s Shoes ² ‘. To have completed both these items before the fifteenth minute, he was doing very well for himself.

This meant that if Brand made the slightest error, Yu Luocheng would smash him open like a cash register!

As they neared the fourteenth minute of the game, Yu Luocheng scored another solo kill against Brand.

It was proof that Brand had lost control of the Middle lane.

Realizing at last that Twisted Fate had to be stopped, Team Aviator came up with a plan.

“How can you be losing this badly?” Team Aviator’s captain, Liu Qi, hissed.

“This Twisted Fate is not without some skills—and Xin Zhao hasn’t been ganking for me.” Xiao Guangjun pushed the blame to his Jungler.

“Screw you!” Li Sheng returned fire. “Mid-lane is littered with wards, and Jarvan is camping there.”

“Never mind, it’s just Twisted Fate,” Kai Wu declared. “I’ll pounce right on his face later.”

Leona was a powerhouse on the offense, and also Wu Kai’s best Support champion. A low-mobility champion like Twisted Fate stood no chance against her if he got caught, so there was nothing to worry about.

The team captain took a closer look at the Middle lane. His Ashe had just returned to base to get more items. The first-tier tower down in the Bottom lane already lay in ruins, so they were clear to switch over to the Middle lane and lay siege to the enemy’s tower.

“Brand, I’m sending an ulti down Mid-lane. Use it to kill Twisted Fate,” Liu Qi ordered.

The terrifying thing about Ashe was her ability to send an ‘Enchanted Crystal Arrow’ hurtling out from the fog-of-war all of a sudden. Especially along the Middle lane, which ran in a straight line across the center of the map, it could easily hit an AP champion who wasn’t on high alert, and then her teammates could swiftly finish the kill.

Liu Qi, the captain of Team Aviator, drew back the shard of magical ice, and with a great ‘whoosh’, let fly!

The Enchanted Crystal Arrow shot forth, sailing over the heads of the red side’s minions!

It left a trail of frost in its wake, hurtling at breakneck speed towards Twisted Fate, still farming in the Middle lane!

***

Yu Luocheng was mowing down minions in the Middle lane, as always. When his ultimate skill wasn’t ready, he’d go clear out the Raptors and Wolves camps, maximizing his income.

However, just as he was cleaning off another wave of minions, a massive bolt of ice came hurtling towards him, head-on—a frightening sight!

Yu Luocheng’s brow furrowed. The instant the Enchanted Crystal Arrow appeared within his sight, he immediately moved left to evade it.

If he had Flash, a player with his speed and reflexes could easily avoid this attack—however, he’d just used it to get the kill on Brand, earlier.

Although he tried to get out of its way, it was an undeniably well-placed shot, catching him while he was amongst the minions!

Wham!

The arrow slammed into him, showering fragments of ice everywhere, and Stunning him in place.

After traveling such a long distance, the duration of the Stun effect from the Enchanted Crystal Arrow would be tremendous. Yu Luocheng watched as Brand came into view, and knew he was in a pinch this time.

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Fwoosh!

Brand had envisioned this moment countless times, in fevered dreams. Flashing forward, he unleashed his full fury upon Twisted Fate!

“Shutdown!”

His immaculate score of 5/0/0 had finally been marred with a death. His bounty had been worth five hundred gold, and with a combined Flash and Ignite, Brand had claimed it for himself!

All of Team Scarlet’s hopes were riding upon Yu Luocheng. When his Twisted Fate fell, so did the spirits of the crowd.

“What happened?” Xue Haiyang asked in alarm. Pre-occupied up in the Top lane, he hadn’t noticed the fight down in the Middle lane at all.

“Ashe surprised him with an Arrow. Brand Flashed in and threw everything at him.” Knife recounted the moments leading up to the tragedy.

The arrow seemed to have come out of nowhere. An average person wouldn’t have been able to respond to it at all. Yu Luocheng could hardly be blamed for getting caught, either.

“They’re going to gang up at Mid. Try to hold them off, but don’t engage—let them have the first tower. Protect the second one, and wait for me to respawn.” Yu Luocheng wasn’t shaken by this unexpected death. Maintaining his composure, he directed his team’s next moves.

Sure enough, the moment Twisted Fate went down, all five members of Team Aviator gathered in the Middle lane.

Team Scarlet’s first-tier Mid tower, still at nearly perfect health, was soon toppled entirely. Kayle was forced to leave Top in order to help reinforce Mid, otherwise the second-tier tower might fall in a hurry next.

“That one Arrow from the Team Aviator captain Liu Qi seems to have turned the tide of this battle. Many of you must have been wondering about his choice to bring Ashe into this game. Does a fragile champion like her really belong in a serious competition?

“Honestly, yes, she does. Team Scarlet is obviously short-handed, and will be disadvantaged in team fights—and Ashe is the greatest team-fight initiator in the game, with no equal in this respect!” Once again, the MC provided an expert-level analysis.

Ashe was a champion with her strengths as well as weaknesses. Used properly, she could wreak utter devastation upon the enemy team.

When the ADC and captain of Team Aviator selected Ashe, it was as she herself would say: “We’re on the right path.”

The worth of her ‘Enchanted Crystal Arrow’ could not have been demonstrated better. From this point forward, it would represent the greatest threat to Team Scarlet!

“Team Scarlet is in trouble, now. Team Aviator can just keep using this tactic repeatedly: a five-man siege down Mid—or any other lane—and after a bit of skirmishing and harassment, Ashe can start a team fight with her ulti. Four against five, Team Scarlet might not be able to hold their towers, even while fighting right beside them.

“Their Twisted Fate has put on a good showing this game, but now that Team Aviator is grouping up all the way, there’s nothing he can do,” the MC said with some regret.

Four versus five. In the end, it was too great a stretch.

Hearing this judgment from the MC, the people in the audience began to despair for Team Scarlet. No matter how many wards Evelynn placed, if the enemy team just rushed them all at once, map vision was a moot point.

“Ah, what the heck… I got so excited just now, thinking Twisted Fate could save this game…” a university-age youth in the front row was saying.

“If they’re just going to stick together all the way, there’s nothing Twisted Fate can do about it. Maybe if they drag the game past twenty minutes, and Twisted Fate picks up some nice gear, there might still be a fight to be had—but Team Aviator isn’t stupid: they know Twisted Fate is a threat, and they won’t allow him to get any fatter.”

“I’m guessing this will be a surrender-at-20. Renekton’s been beaten too badly down in the Bottom lane—he’s died three times. Without a ‘Sunfire Cape’, he’s basically worthless.”

The crowd was abuzz with speculation, and most of them weren’t holding out much hope for Team Scarlet.

***

Yang Qianqian was seated among the spectators. Beside her, Wang Qin’s face was as dark as a stormcloud.

“Ugh… I think the MC may be right,” he lamented.

Yang Qianqian could feel doubt gnawing at her heart, too. After what she’d seen in the hospital that night, she’d hoped fervently for Team Scarlet to prove victorious—but the way things were going…

***

“Evelynn, go plant a ward in the dragon pit,” Yu Luocheng instructed Huang Yu.

Huang Yu had been patrolling the jungle constantly, avoiding any conflict zones. Considering the level he was at, a simple Slow would mean his doom. Any one of the enemy champions could easily do him in.

“The dragon pit?” Huang Yu was befuddled by this. The enemy had five people besieging their second-tier tower. What good was a ward in the dragon pit going to be?

Although doubtful, Huang Yu did it anyway. Slipping down to the dragon pit, he placed wards at several key locations.

Yu Luocheng had returned to life, and was rushing down into the lane. With Twisted Fate entering the fray, his potent minion wave-clearing capability denied the enemy champions an easy assault against the tower. Their second-tier tower should be safe for the moment.

Seeing that they wouldn’t be able to bring down that tower after all, Team Aviator waffled about for a bit, then decided to pull back… and then, sure enough, they headed for the dragon pit!

Team Aviator had slain their first dragon at the ninth minute, after which it would respawn six minutes later. The game had reached its fifteenth minute now, which meant the next dragon had appeared.

Having brought down one tower each from the Bottom and Middle lanes, as well as one Dragon, Team Aviator was enjoying a clear lead in overall finances. If they were allowed to take a second Dragon, they would pull even further ahead.

Under this economic pressure, as well as the constant threat of being forced into an unfavorable team fight, when he saw the enemy team making for the Dragon, Yu Luocheng spoke solemnly to the other players of Team Scarlet, “We have to fight for this Dragon—and we have to win!”

Xiao Dao, Xiao Tongtong, and Xue Haiyang all turned towards Yu Luocheng. They could feel it too: the fight for this Dragon would be a decisive battle!

If they won, they could still hope to fight on.

If they lost, they would lose all hope!