Chapter 144 - Bottom Lane 2 vs. 3

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ulti, Stand United!

Shen, the Eye of Twilight, arrived at the bottom lane via his ulti. They were advancing forward, owing to the 3 vs 2 number advantage.

Taunt upon landing is the most common combo sequence used by Shen.

Yu Luocheng guided Thresh to move toward Caitlyn but his eyes never moved away from the Shen who had just landed in front of them!

This Shen was rather experienced. He did not use Shadow Dash to taunt Luocheng immediately after he landed. Instead, he moved forward a few steps, hoping to lure Thresh into using Flay.

Luocheng did not panic. He instantly cast Thresh’s R-ulti, The Box, to prevent the three enemy champions from focusing their fire on him.

Five spectral walls appeared abruptly under Thresh feet. If Shen still refused to use taunt now, he would not have another chance to do so as the skill would slow him tremendously.

Shen finally released Shadow Dash. His body lunged forward aggressively toward Thresh, carrying the scarlet taunting radiance.

The control effect of taunt was relatively long. It would even cause the target to move back involuntarily by a few steps. If Luocheng’s Thresh was taunted, he was not going to come out alive from this.

Luocheng was extremely calm amidst the pressing taunt and he calmly hit the E key.

As soon as Shen began to move, his Thresh turned around swiftly and flung the chain in his hand steadily forward.

Flay!!!

Shen was midway through his dash and was about to taunt Thresh. This was when the chain hit Shen’s face and pulled his dash to a halt. Shen stopped short, like how a 100-meter sprinter would after being slapped on the face. His taunt had been interrupted directly by Thresh’s skill.

“D*mn!!” Bond couldn’t help but shout.

Shen’s taunt had been denied!

Bai Feng was enthused. ‘What witty play. He managed to cancel Shen’s taunt with his Flay. This Thresh is better than I thought!’

Thresh breaking Shen’s taunt with Flay worked the same way as to how Nami had broken Thresh’s Q-dash recast. Both foiled the opponent’s skills by forcing them back with a displacement spell.

Janna’s Gale; Thresh’s Flay; Draven’s Stand Aside; and Nami’s ulti—These were the skills capable of intercepting an enemy’s forward jump/dash, and grounded them.

The technique used by Thresh to disrupt Shen’s CC was commonly known as “counter”.

Taunting after landing was the most common practice for players using Shen. This Shen’s player was considered cautious as compared to the others. He reckoned Thresh might counter him so he had decided to make a hesitant move and released the dash only when the opponent was least suspecting.

To his surprise, his opponent had been more wary than he thought. He was forced into using his taunt as Thresh surrendered his ulti to slow him down.

The duration of Shen’s dash was probably 0.5 seconds or less. The same went for Flay as it also has a 0.5 second delayed motion. In other words, to successfully counter Shen’s taunt, the opponent must first predict the timing of Shadow dash!

The logic behind it was easy to grasp, but it was an entirely different matter to materialize the move. “Counter” was truly a difficult technique to master.

The students behind James and Bond were just casual players. All of them stared with rounded eyes as they witnessed Thresh deny Shen’s taunt with Flay.

They were not aware of such a trick called counter and were deeply amazed. ‘Dear me! Thresh can be played this way?’

They had learned something extraordinary as such a maneuver seldom occurred in common games.

“They are forcing the fight!” Bai Feng reminded as everyone was still bewildered.

‘Forcing the fight?? Are they nuts? It’s a 2 vs 3 situation!’

Boom!

An enraged peacemaker flew out in response to the pressed trigger and plowed away a huge chunk of HP from Draven.

Pew!! Pew!!

The heart-wrenching gun sounds ravaged the three champions who were pursuing Thresh mercilessly. Draven’s HP was immediately halved!

***

Luocheng’s eyes beamed in delight as he saw Caitlyn fearlessly pushing forward.

Shen without his taunt was no different than a melee minion. Shallow Dream ignored Shen and attacked Draven fervently!

An innate Headshot had further trimmed Draven’s already low HP and the latter retreated out of fear.

Luocheng’s Thresh was equally aggressive. In contrast to being pursued, he now ran voluntarily after the three enemies and fearlessly cast Exhaust on Draven.

Thresh then threw his Soul Lantern backward. Caitlyn tacitly lit the lantern and flew toward Thresh’s position, which was more favorable for her to shoot down Draven.

Nami had yielded her Exhaust in the previous fight and her Q-skill was once again evaded by Caitlyn through Thresh’s Dark Passage. The speed boost and heal provided by Nami could no longer bail them out of this mess.

Thresh and Caitlyn had a common target—To take down Draven first.

Draven fled clumsily relying on Nami’s speed boost after seeing his insufficient HP.

Poof!

A Caliber Net expanded from the tip of Caitlyn’s rifle and landed accurately on Shen. Shen’s speed was further reduced on top of the initial slow by Thresh’s ulti. His Spirit Blade had been mistakenly thrown at the tanky Thresh, causing only insignificant damage.

The recoil from the Caliber Net had conveniently pushed Caitlyn nearer to the fleeing Draven.

Pew!!

Another bullet, another segment of his HP gone.

Boom!

The Peacemaker flew out and sealed off all potential escape routes of Draven.

The enemy has been slain!

After she had finished off Draven, Caitlyn focused all her bullets on Nami.

Nami sped up and escaped through the enemy’s brush.

Caitlyn’s damage was outrageously high now. She only needed a few shots to bring down the vulnerable Nami. Nami had made a wise decision to flee in the opposite direction.

Clank!

Suddenly, a metal sound clicked!

Nami’s position in the brush was exposed as she had stepped on a Snap Trap.

She had no vision over the brush. Despite being aware of the Snap Trap when it was placed earlier, she had totally forgotten about it while escaping in haste.

Caitlyn continued to pick on Nami and reduce her HP to below 1/3.

Nami fled rapidly downward to get away from Caitlyn’s attack range after the CC ended.

Caitlyn gave up on her pursuit and switched to the tank—Shen.

Bond was relieved after seeing Caitlyn change targets and wanted to take a detour to escape through the tri brush.

“Stay in the brush!” Bai Feng suddenly yelled at Bond.

His warning came too late however. Nami had exited the brush under Bond’s control.

Stepping out of the brush gave instant vision to Caitlyn.

Click!

As if the sound of Caitlyn calibrating her sniper was heard, a tangerine line appeared out of nowhere and aimed straight at Nami’s heart.

Bang!

A bullet wrapped in fire broke through the air and shot straight toward Nami!

The blasting sound sucked out the air from Bond’s lung!

A single shot was all it took to empty Nami’s remaining HP.

‘Had she foreseen this? Is this why she gave up on pursuing just now? She must have calculated that her ulti would be enough to finish off my Nami!’

Looking at his champion’s remains, Bond was left speechless for a long while.

Double Kill!

Nami was unable to escape after Draven was killed.

“Shen is going to die too. Thresh’s skills are all up,” Bai Feng suddenly announced in a deep tone.

Indeed, not long after, “Triple Kill” was heard, resonating throughout the living room.

Shen’s support play was known to instantly outnumber the opponent and provide an unmatchable advantage to his teammates. Who would have thought that all three of them would be wiped out even in such a favorable situation, while Thresh and Caitlyn remained safe and sound?

“This… this…” Ke Shaoying stuttered as he fought to find the right words.

The students watching at the back were equally dumbstruck too.

‘What’s going on here? This is not what we came for!’

They were here to witness how James and Bond were to supposedly conquer the bottom lane. Instead, it seemed as if the opponent Thresh and Caitlyn were giving them a lesson of their lifetime.