Chapter 139 - A Gritty Opponent!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translationn/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Every LoL champion possessed a total of seven abilities including the innate and Summoner spell. Who wouldn’t know how to use these seven skills?

A few games in and anyone would be familiar with the spell effects. Yet, why was the opponent often more superior to you while your ranking was forever stuck at the lower tiers?

Take the solo top position for example. Do you always check your opponent’s item? Do you know how to keep count of the opponent’s as well as your own experience? Are you aware of when your champion is stronger and when your opponent is weaker? Do you follow the opponent’s champion’s cooldown closely and be vigilant about the enemy’s jungler position at all times?

This was a game that challenged the IQ, thus, if you were killed, please try not to be an annoyance by doing something like the following:

“My gosh, just a little more. I forgot about Ignite.”

“D*mn, he Flashed away!”

“Sh*t, why is the opponent’s jungler hidden here?”

Instead of complaining or playing the blame-game, you should mark down these instances and keep it close to your mind. That way, you would certainly improve beyond the naysayers. Maybe you would linger around the lower tier at first, but for certain, your efforts would pull you into the higher ranks after some consistent practice.

***

To be honest, the top lane was not Yu Luocheng’s turf. He only had a few select champions that were suitable for solo play, such as Kennen, that had a playstyle similar to an ADC. Coincidentally, Renekton was a champion that an ADC often needed to face and this made him extremely familiar with Renekton’s skills and combos.

After he had successfully executed the kill on Mayor, Yu Luocheng recalled to the Fountain decisively. The opponent’s jungler was sure to be sniffing around while his own team’s jungler was camping at mid-lane. It would be too greedy to CS the remaining minions on the lane in such a situation.

“Well played, top lane. You have taken down that famous Mayor!” The guy nicknamed Sitcom at mid-lane complimented.

“Just some dumb luck,” Yu Luocheng replied humbly.

Yu Luocheng bought another Doran’s Blade and equipped Kennen with the Amplifying Tome. Once he was done, he cheerfully guided Kennen back to the top lane.

Renekton, in contrast, was at the start of a nightmare. He only had Cloth Armor and three health potions with him at the moment, which was worse than his starting build.

***

Double Kill!

All of a sudden, a double kill erupted at the bottom lane. Hearing the notification, Yu Luocheng hastily dragged his camera to the bottom right corner of the map. When his vision reached the bottom lane, two corpses were seen on the ground, and the bodies were those TTYA’s Sona and TTYL’s Ezreal.

‘What? I thought they were good? How come they were both killed?’ Yu Luocheng rebuked them silently.

Their laning opponents were Caitlyn and Soraka, and both of their HPs were rather low at the moment. Jax from Yu Luocheng’s team had rounded from behind with a double buff and had intended to force the kills under the opponent’s tower!

‘Alright, a double kill for Jax.’

Jax was strong at tower-diving since this champion’s E-skill, Counter Strike, was effective against the turret as well. Caitlyn and Soraka would most probably yield their lives there.

Triple Kill!

Abruptly, the announcement shook the entire Summoner’s Rift.

Caitlyn and Soraka were still alive, and instead, Jax had surrendered his double buff and knelt before Caitlyn’s short skirt.

“This…” Yu Luocheng’s camera was maintained at the bottom lane so he had witnessed the entire process.

A snap trap! An outrageously precise snap trap had kept Jax tamed under the tower. Caitlyn had then used her Caliber Net to recoil behind the minion wave and auto-attacked Jax to death!

Yu Luocheng was a high-end player himself and his prediction was certain deaths for both Caitlyn and Soraka. He had however miscalculated the fact that the enemy’s Caitlyn was exceptionally skilled.

She showed accurate prediction and calm control while utilizing the environment brilliantly to her utmost advantage. The snap trap was used to seal Jax’s positioning; the brush was used to blind their vision; while the minion wave was used as her barrier.

After buying enough time, Soraka’s healing spell bathed on her right on time, and the courageous assault by Caitlyn had Jax completely twisted around her little finger.

Three kills in addition to double buffs…

‘Alright, the bottom lane can really go AFK now!’

“Kennen, push the top lane and rotate to the bottom lane once you reach level 6. We have to take down the Dragon first, otherwise we will have no chance in this game,” Sitcom at mid-lane commanded.

“Ok. We are going to turtle first, this Caitlyn is very good.” TTYA typed.

“Okay. Jungler, get your farm up. Don’t worry about me, top lane is still manageable,” Yu Luocheng replied.

Yu Luocheng’s Kennen had surpassed his opponent’s Renekton by almost two levels. If the enemy team’s jungler dared to intercept him at the top lane, Yu Luocheng would gladly take the double kills. Indeed, he didn’t need any help from his jungler.

Jax had just lost his double buff at bottom lane and his economy was not looking good at the moment. If he could not secure the next gank, this champion would basically be useless for the rest of the game.

***

The opponents played well afterward as their jungler cleverly avoided the top lane where Kennen was now level 6. A level 4 Renekton and a level 5 jungler Shyvana were basically presenting their necks to Yu Luocheng’s Kennen if they dared to lay a finger on him.

After pushing the minions across the river, Yu Luocheng directly recalled back to Fountain. He fused one of Zhonya’s recipes, Seeker’s Armguard, and added Master Boot to his build. Then, he made no delay and headed hastily toward the bottom lane.

TTYL and TTYA at the bottom lane were being miserably oppressed by Caitlyn. Seven minutes had passed and their CS total was only fifteen. That was an absurd stat.

“This Caitlyn is effing fierce. She directly uses her body to block me from my CS,” Ezreal complained.

With Soraka as her support and her item dominance, Caitlyn fearlessly blocked Ezreal’s Mystic Shot with her own body and hindered the latter from scoring creeps. Having played so many ranked games at this tier in the Ionia region, TTYL and TTYA had never been this mediocre and miserable.

Right now, the Sheriff of Piltover was like a sniping queen, her imposing aura spread beyond her 650 range, forcing Ezreal and Sona to back down by at least 800 ranges. They had a huge problem in gaining experience, let alone being able to last-hit the minions.

“I’m on my way, get ready.” Yu Luocheng signaled the bottom lane.

“Ok! Both of them are out of Flash.”

Sona had her Song of Celerity ready while waiting for Kennen to arrive. As Kennen got into position, Sona Flashed forward decisively and landed her Power Chord with the slow effect on Caitlyn, proceeding to hide in the brush right after. Yu Luocheng charged up immediately by releasing Kennen’s E-skill, Electrical Surge!

Once the enemy was within shooting distance, Yu Luocheng made no delay and activated Kennen’s ulti, Slicing Maelstrom.

Thousands of rumbling thunderbolts reached out with Kennen as the eye of the storm. These thunders formed a roaring shuriken storm and it ravaged everything in its path as it headed toward Caitlyn and Soraka!

Bang!

Amidst the sudden entrance of Kennen, Caitlyn managed to maintain her composure, first casting her 90 Caliber Net to slow down Yu Luocheng’s Kennen while leaping back to evade the thundering ulti.

Mark of the Storm!

Despite her best efforts, Caitlyn was still stunned by Kennen’s innate at the edge of the shuriken storm. This was when Ezreal and Sona followed up tacitly to harass Caitlyn.

Meanwhile, Soraka silenced Yu Luocheng’s Kennen immediately to prevent him from releasing any further spells. The period of the stun was neither long nor short. After Caitlyn was freed, she showed no intention to retreat, and moving sideways, the Sheriff nimbly evaded Yu Luocheng’s Thundering Shuriken and swiftly connected a critical strike on Kennen. This instantly removed a huge chunk of Kennen’s HP.

Yu Luocheng was shocked to see his plummeting HP and he could only retreat without any skills available. If he had stayed, he would have been killed by Caitlyn as her damage was tremendously high.

Yu Luocheng’s champion was left with only a quarter of HP after he retreated from the warzone. Caitlyn’s damage was truly terrifying given that Kennen actually had a Seeker’s Armguard with him!

***

Sona and Ezreal pushed forth trying to deliver the kill on the ADC. Soraka had used her body to shield Caitlyn from Ezreal’s spell, and Caitlyn had entered the brush to make use of her stealth to auto-attack Sona with three quick bullets.

Sona was planning to cast Exhaust on Caitlyn but decided to fall back as her HP was decreasing incredibly fast. Alas, she was finished off by Caitlyn’s Q-skill, the Piltover Peacemaker on her way out.

Caitlyn’s innate skill granted her a critical strike every 3-4 attacks when hiding in the brush. After taking care of Sona who was unable to unleash Exhaust in time, Caitlyn’s subsequent critical strike hit Ezreal head-on mercilessly, and his HP bar was instantly shortened by a huge margin.

The cornered Ezreal had no other choice but to exchange hits with Caitlyn. The latter only had 200 HP left while Ezreal had around 600. However, the HP difference was deemed meaningless once Sonaka placed Exhaust on Ezreal. He was now simply a moving dummy to the sniping queen.

Double Kill!

Ezreal, even with his life point advantage was easily killed after a few shots. Everything happened in a flash.

Yu Luocheng’s earlier decision to back off was to avoid being killed by Caitlyn while conveniently letting the under-farmed Ezreal bag the kill. He’d never expected that the two of them would be killed by Caitlyn instead. Yu Luocheng was speechless, looking at his teammates corpses.

‘She killed two champions even after getting hit by my ulti… That’s remarkable…’

Although he may have made a mistake in this scenario, it was undeniable that this Caitlyn’s prowess was pretty unreal.

***

‘Wow, you want to claim my head too?!’ Yu Luocheng frowned as he saw Caitlyn walking toward him hungrily after her double kill.

Caitlyn began to hit Yu Luocheng confidently even though her HP bar was just barely hanging by a thread.

‘Let’s do it!’ Yu Luocheng turned serious and decided to fight Caitlyn to the death.

Ding~

Out of nowhere, Soraka raised her arm and unleashed Astral Infusion to heal Caitlyn’s HP. The edges of Yu Luocheng’s mouth twitched after he saw Caitlyn’s recovered HP.

‘Forget it, I will let you go this time.’

Bam!!

A fiery bullet flew in, traveling along a curved projectile, and struck hard on Kennen. Yu Luocheng’s Kennen dashed away like a frightened deer.

‘Sh*t, what a tough nut to crack. Luckily I bought the Seeker’s Armguard or else she would have claimed another triple kill!’

Overwhelmed, Yu Luocheng’s Kennen fled back to the base with 30 HP left.