Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
âIâm here, bro. If this gank succeeds, add me as a Friend, cool?â Jarvan quipped cheekily.
âBe careful of a counter-gank by the enemy Jungler. This Vayne is really something else.â Luocheng hastily typed this in reply as his minions pushed in towards the enemyâs side.
âShould we wait until Level 6, instead?â Zyra wondered.
âWe can take them. Itâll be harder at Level 6,â Luocheng said.
Jarvan slipped into the brush along the side, where their Support had confirmed there were no enemy wards. It was the perfect hiding spot!
As the minion wave pushed back towards them, it seemed that Jarvan had arrived at just the right time. Hidden behind enemy lines, one wrong step by Sona or Vayne, and Jarvan would pounce on them with an EQ-combo. Even if he didnât knock them up, Slowing them down would also be enough to secure a kill!
Playing as the Jungler meant being decisive, yet also patient. As the minions marched past him, Jarvan marshalled his resolve, lying in wait like a cold-blooded killer for Sona to come within his reach.
She would likely come by any moment to plant a ward. That was precisely what he was waiting for.
Sure enough, here came Sona now, leading the way with those majestic twin peaks of hers!
Hefting his spear, Jarvan brought down his battle standard right at her feet!
Dragon Strike!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
It was a solid EQ-combo, and the Crown Prince of Demacia surged out like a raging dragon, laying waste to everything in his path!
Caught completely by surprise, Sona was tossed high into the air, skirts billowing!
Zyra and Ezreal had already been waiting to move in. They dove in now, throwing all their skills onto Sona, intent on taking her down in one move.
Suddenly, there was a great, bellowing roar from behind Sona!
The enemy Jungler, Lee Sin, came flying in out of nowhere, soaring over to Sona and covering her in a shimmering shield!
Tempest! Cripple!
Slamming his palm into the ground, Lee Sin sent out a golden wave of energy, nauseating Jarvan and Zyra, and reducing both their movement and attack speed!
âHah!â Sonic Wave!
With a kick, Lee Sin sent out a rippling line of discordance, turning the ambush against Jarvan!
Finding her feet once more, Sona unleashed a skill combo of her own, then threw out an Exhaust and backed away. Sheâd successfully baited them in. The rest would be up to Lee Sin and Vayne. For now, sheâd just heal from the back, while preparing another Power Chord.
Sonaâs combo had inflicted quite a bit of damage upon Jarvan. When Lee Sin and Vayne joined in, compounding his wounds, he had no choice but to Flash out of the fight.
âOh, crap. Thatâs a counter-gank!â Xiao Bei wailed.
Lee Sin was a particularly good champion for counter-ganking. With his âResonating Strikeâ, sometimes not even a Flash could get you away from him.
Jarvan could see that heâd lost, and immediately fell back, leaving Zyra to fend for herself.
Zyra was a squishy champion herself, and had no hope of surviving long against a combined assault from both Lee Sin and Vayne. She too was forced to use her Flash to get away.
(Translatorâs Note: For some reason, Iâve been avoiding this term until now, but fragile champions with low health and defences are referred to as âsquishyââthe opposite of being âtankyâ. For your amusement, here in Asia, other synonyms for âsquishyâ include âtofuâ and âpaperâ, used as adjectives.)
But the enemy Lee Sin was unbelievably cunning. Pretending to give up and turn away, he suddenly whipped back around with another Sonic Wave, catching Zyra as she fled.
Resonating Strike!
Lee Sin sailed through the air, delivering a flying kick across the distance until he reached Zyra!
âCrack!â It was the sound of bones breaking. That emptied away the last of Zyraâs health.
With a pained cry, Zyra withered away to become a large, venomous blossom. As her last, bitter act of retribution, she shot a massive thorn at Lee Sin.
Smooth as silk, Lee Sin used his W-skill âSafeguardâ to dodge this spike of true damage, and then withdrew to safety.
âOh, weâre screwed!â Lin Dong was aghast. He hadnât expected the enemy Lee Sin to be this sharp, even managing to anticipate Jarvanâs gank in the Bottom lane.
It had been a brilliant counter-gank. It had to be said that high-level play meant coming across all kinds of remarkable players.
âFwoosh!â
As the battle descended into all-out chaos, one of the red minions froze in place, eldritch winds swirling wildly around it. The melee minion was being used as an anchor for a Teleport spell. Ryze was coming over from the Mid-lane!
âRyze is coming!â The three spectators exclaimed with glee. He couldnât be doing it at a better time. The destination of his arrival would cut off Lee Sin and Vayneâs escape, now that they had both run so far ahead!
As Ryze appeared, he threw out Overload, Rune Prison, Spell Flux, another Overload⦠a cascade of runic magic assaulted Lee Sin, snuffing out his life quickly and cleanlyâa show of devastating power!
After killing Lee Sin, Ryze set his sights on Vayne. If he could land another Rune Prison on her before she made it back to her tower, that would be a Double Kill!
The sudden addition of Ryze had turned the tables yet again. Although low on health, Jarvanâs player saw that his skills were ready once more, so he charged in from behind with heedless courage!
EQ-combo, Dragon Strike!
Shallow Dream reacted with inhuman speed. One hand on the ground, long coat billowing, she threw herself aside with âTumbleâ, avoiding the interception attempt as she fired off a shot in return!
Condemn! A crossbow bolt nailed him to the wall!
One more shot, and the extra damage from âSilver Boltsâ kicked in, cleaning off what little health Jarvan had been holding on to!
Impaled to the rough stone wall, blood pouring from his wounds, his body slowly went slack, staring in disbelief even as his eyes glazed over.
Although heâd allowed Vayne to claim his life, one couldnât say Jarvanâs actions had all been in vainâbecause sheâd paused to attack him, it had bought Ryze precious time for his skills to cool down.
After killing Jarvan, Vayne began kiting backwards, continuing to attack as she retreated towards her tower.
âUgh!â Without warning, a melancholy last refrain played out behind Vayne. Already low on health from earlier, Sona collapsed to the ground, dead by Ezrealâs hand!
(Translatorâs Note: Original text suggests that Sona cried out, but⦠sheâs mute.)
As with Jarvan from a moment ago, Sona had died without even knowing what hit her, still trying to get some healing onto Vayne.
It wasnât just Sona, eitherâXiao Bei, Lin Dong, and Qianqian all gaped at Luochengâs screen, utterly baffled!
Exactly when did Luochengâs Ezreal get behind the enemy?
Heâd struck Sona down as suddenly as a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky!
***
Coming around from behind, Luochengâs Ezreal worked with Ryze to perform a pincer attack against Shallow Dreamâs Vayne!
When she saw Ezreal appearing behind her, Shallow Dream immediately gave up on retreating to her tower, and headed for the brush along the side instead.
Ryze was ready to cast âRune Prisonâ again. Though Shallow Dream was kiting towards the cover of the brush, she was cornered this time, with no escape!
Rune Prison, Overload, Spell Flux! A battery of spells thundered down on Vayne.
Rooted to the spot, her health rapidly dwindling down to nothing, Ezreal only had to hit Vayne a couple more times to secure the kill!
The three spectators behind Luocheng watched with bated breath!
If he got a Double Kill here, it would be a huge advantage!
Whoom!
But life has a way of defying expectations.
A halo of violet light fell over Vayne, forming a protective shield which blunted what should have been a fatal blow. Vayne took advantage of this extended lease on life to keep attacking Ryze, whose health had dropped all the way down to the last one-third now!
Whoosh! The halo faded away. Shen, the Eye of Twilight, had arrived at Vayneâs side!
This Shen had most definitely come flying over as soon as he hit Level 6âRyze was only a couple of minions away from Level 6 himself!
Taunt! Flash!
The player was skilled at using Shen. As he rushed in to land a Taunt on Ryze, he also used Flash at the last instant, catching Ezreal in the effect as well, and thus preventing him from getting out any attacks at all!
(Translatorâs Note: There are many champion skills where a well-timed Flash in the middle of its execution can reposition you just before the effect is actually released. Such techniques are very common at the highest level of play, where games are decided in split seconds and inches.)
At the threshold of deathâs door, Vayne had been spared for another four or five seconds, allowing her to finish off the last remainder of Ryzeâs health!
His spellbook tumbled out of his limp fingers. Ryze glared at Vayne, who by all rights should have been dead by now, yet had somehow survived to kill him instead!
âHow⦠how can this be happening?â Qianqian cried in frustration.
It should have been three kills for their side, but thanks to Shenâs sudden ulti upon his promotion to Level 6, everything had gone awry!
It was just one twist after another!
Coming out of the Taunt, Luocheng immediately pulled back, not because heâd lost interest in sending Shallow Dream the rest of the way to the dark beyond, but because the enemyâs Orianna had also arrived on the scene!
Orianna, Shen, and a badly wounded Vayne⦠Luocheng knew that if he continued the pursuit into the brush, heâd pay for it with his life, so he wisely chose to fall back for now, kiting Shen and Orianna.
âYou should retreat. Youâre out of mana,â Lin Dong pointed out to Luocheng.
It had been a good move for Ryze to Teleport in, putting the odds in their favor⦠but Shenâs response with his own ultimate skill had been just as marvelous, buying Vayne the time she needed to get another kill.
From Jarvanâs gank attempt, to Sonaâs baiting, to the arrival of their Mid as well as the enemyâs Topâand now, finally, with Orianna joining the fray⦠After all that, Luochengâs side was one kill behind.
Whatâs more, Vayne had gotten herself two champion kills.
It seemed that Luocheng still wasnât done. As Shen chased after him, he continued to attack while kiting backwardânot quite a full retreat.
Waging a running battle in this manner, Luocheng led Orianna and Shen from the Bottom lane towards the Dragon pit.
***
Ezreal had lost quite a bit of health already, and he was all out of mana. It was just a question of when Shenâs next Taunt would be ready.
Qianqian wanted to chew her nails off with anxiety. Luochengâs Ezreal couldnât be allowed to die. It would be too great a setback if Ezreal was lost here as well, and theyâd lose the Dragon too.
She just couldnât figure out why, even though he clearly had no hope of winning this fight anymore⦠Why was Ezreal still kiting the enemy champions? Doing so was putting himself in grave danger.
(Translatorâs Note: In case you missed it last time, to âkiteâ enemies is to attack while moving constantly. Because you have to stop moving, at least briefly, with each attack, this means you will move slower than if you werenât attacking at all â making it easier for enemies to catch up to you.)
Was it that he just couldnât admit defeat?
No way, he wasnât the sort to lose his head like that!
Luocheng panned the view on his screen forward. Somebody popped into the Dragon pit with a Flash, and then promptly pounced onto Shen, still hot on Ezrealâs heels!
âItâs Riven!â Qianqian nearly squealed in glee.
All the way from the jungle between their Top and Mid lanes, Riven had come running down to the Bottom lane to lend her aid!
Across the disparate lanes of the Summonerâs Rift, all ten champions in the game had broken away from their farming to join in what should have been a minor skirmish in the Bottom lane. It was a full-scale team fight, barely six minutes into the game!
The question was: Who would end up having the last laugh?