Chapter 10 Do Not Underestimate Our Bond!

Caster's booth.

Ten-plus minutes into the match, Teacher Daxiao gradually began to notice.

V5, whom he hadn't thought much of earlier, was slowly steering the game into their own tempo, which once again ran counter to his pre-match predictions.

That was fine, however.

These were mere setbacks. With TES's player roster, a miracle was bound to erupt sooner or later.

Look.

Didn't Tian just seize a practically flawless opportunity?

"Here they come!"

"Tian's preemptive river stakeout has successfully ambushed the V5 jungle-support duo coming to clear and place vision. Zoe is right nearby. Can Karsa and PPGOD react in time?"

"They can't react! Jarvan IV goes in!"

Following the knock-up of the EQ combo, Knight's Zoe landed a precise trailing sleep bubble.

What was even more fatal was this:

The target of Knight's bubble wasn't Rakan, the support, but Karsa, the jungler.

Oh no!

The moment the channel bar of the bubble appeared on his body, Karsa sensed that something was terribly wrong.

At this juncture.

Anyone could die, but not him. Yet Knight's brilliance lay in the fact that his initial target had always been the Lee Sin.

It was over.

PPGOD made a prompt and decisive decision. As a veteran, whenever he wasn't burdened with shotcalling duties, his mind remained exceptionally clear, and he immediately chose to abandon the jungler.

With that sacrifice made.

Yet another elemental dragon on the rift had to be handed over on a silver platter.

TES.Knight killed V5.Karsa.

"That's three dragons."

Karsa let out a sigh.

Throughout the entire early game, he had only managed to secure a single dragon. His original plan was to secure this one as well, which would tie the dragon count at 2:2. That would inevitably drag the game into the late game, and at that point, it would be their home turf.

He hadn't expected the enemy to find an opening anyway.

"So that means Odin is still left in the dragon pit, huh?"

Luo Ji suddenly piped up.

"Who's Odin?"

"Oh, nothing. Just suddenly thought of some other stuff."

The sudden and untimely demise of the mid-jungler duo forced Luo Ji to admire Tian's knack for seizing opportunities. Although Tian's cheerful mode hadn't awakened yet, his autistic mode occasionally seemed to scratch the surface of that legendary "Uncle Gao II" power.

As expected.

None of the championship junglers were simple characters.

Securing three elemental dragons finally gave TES a glimmer of hope to accelerate the match and seal their victory.

Over the next few minutes.

Nearly all skirmishes were concentrated around the mid lane and the area just south of it. The supports from both teams frequently recalled to replenish vision, fighting tooth and nail for control of the river.

Meanwhile, in the side lanes.

Luo Ji had finally completed his core item, the Turbo Chemtank.

There was a lot to be said about this item.

In patch 12.1, the designers nerfed Shieldbow, reducing its shield to a mere paper-thin layer. Consequently, numerous Irelia players began shifting their build paths back to Blade of the Ruined King combined with Divine Sunderer, or BOTRK combined with Goredrinker.

Among them, naturally, was the BOTRK-Chemtank build Luo Ji had picked up. This setup focused heavily on teamfight error-forgiveness.

As everyone knew.

Irelia was a champion heavily reliant on her ultimate. Even Nuguri, Teacher TheShy's prized disciple, could only edge-game and orbit around teamfights if he missed his ultimate, not daring to walk up and engage at all.

Chemtank was different, however.

Irelia's dashes could trigger Chemtank's AOE effect. Even with a missed ultimate, as long as her E skill's blade flash caught two or more enemies, it was enough for her to utilize her passive dashes to proc the Chemtank and deal AOE damage.

She was tanky enough to stand her ground while dealing respectable damage.

Of course, there was another playstyle as well: Doinb's Goredrinker full-tank Irelia.

The core of that build relied on maxing W; a fully charged W followed by six Qs was just enough to clear a wave of minions, offering even higher safety margins in teamfights.

The only drawback was that it lacked damage.

With this item in hand, Luo Ji felt much more confident about the upcoming teamfight against TES.

Calculating the elemental dragon respawn timer.

Figuring he could still squeeze in two more waves of minion pressure, he continued pushing the side lane, wanting to at least guarantee that this lane would exert pressure on the enemy before the upcoming dragon fight.

Little did he know.

This time around, Zeus's Gnar had already teleported into position ahead of time, poised to initiate a teamfight at a moment's notice.

That's right.

TES had no intention of engaging in a straight 5v5 river brawl with V5.

The river was too narrow, and that Irelia's Chemtank clearly catered to the Chemtank meta prevalent in recent solo queue games (during patches 12.2-12.3, the Chemtank meta ran rampant on the test server, though the main abusers back then were Chemtank Singed and Chemtank Akali).

Since the goal was to minimize the degree of unpredictability.

Why not proactively initiate, catching the enemy out in a numerical advantage right in the mid lane?

Harboring this thought.

Zhuo, operating Nautilus, decisively triggered the teamfight.

On V5's side.

The exact moment Rookie brought the minion wave past the mid-point, his Q skill grappled directly onto the wall extending from the river. Once the distance was cleared, he immediately unleashed his ultimate, Depth Charge.

A hard engage!

Simultaneously.

Jarvan IV emerged from the rear fog of war, and Zeus's Gnar dropped down from the jungle brush.

"Not good."

Witnessing this scene, Rookie felt his scalp go slightly numb.

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Yet he wasn't entirely unprepared.

Anticipating this teamfight, he had long since purchased a life-saving artifact. The very split second before Nautilus's ultimate crashed down upon his head—

"Clang!"

Stopwatch shattered successfully.

Though it was merely a stopwatch waiting for death, it at least bought his teammates some precious time.

Beside him.

The exact moment the mid lane was engaged, Luo Ji immediately slammed down his Teleport.

He never expected that TES possessed this kind of decisiveness for an engage.

The next moment, he saw Zeus gauge his rage bar, leap into mid-air, transform into Mega Gnar, and successfully unleash his ultimate, GNAR!, slamming them against the terrain.

Xiaoyan successfully cheated death using his Flash.

Karsa, however, while managing to kick Jarvan IV away with his ultimate, failed to escape the boulder's slam.

PPGOD instinctively wanted to burn his ultimate and dash in to buy time.

But...

He held back.

The more chaotic the environment, the more crucial it was to keep a cool head. PPGOD acting as a shotcaller was merely an R-tier card, but when he wasn't calling shots, he hovered indeterminately between SSR and SR.

He was waiting.

Waiting for Irelia to touch down.

Holding onto an unused ultimate, he instead became a shackle restricting Jinx.

An AD without mobility after all.

JKL didn't dare to rashly chase in at this moment, forced to auto-attack whoever was within his range.

Until!

Irelia's Teleport successfully completed.

R - Flashing Passage!

Rakan as a support possessed a distinct characteristic: whenever the player operating Rakan held onto their Flash, theoretically, there was no target on this battlefield he couldn't reach.

In just a flash of brilliance, JKL found himself successfully charmed by Rakan's ultimate.

On the other side.

Knight watched Irelia approach, finally unleashing the E skill he had been hoarding for so long.

E - Ethereal Chains!

This was a blind interception.

No one expected that a hyper-carry Zoe like him would still be holding onto his E skill several seconds after a teamfight broke out. This E wasn't meant for anything else; its sole purpose was to halt Irelia's dashing assassination at the most critical moment.

However.

He still miscalculated the internal variables within V5.

"Don't underestimate our bond!"

E - Battle Dance.

W - Grand Entrance.

The Rakan suddenly manifesting right in front of him became the second major X-factor on the battlefield following the blade dancer.

The advantage of a trailing entry was the ability to calmly observe the battlefield from the get-go. Knight thought his play was seamless, but from start to finish, he had been entirely within PPGOD's line of sight.

The bubble.

Was successfully intercepted with his own flesh and blood!

"Well played, Diao-shen!"

Luo Ji's eyes lit up.

If PPGOD hadn't blocked it like that, by the time it reached him, even if he reacted in time, he would've been forced to burn his Flash. A panic Flash under reflex might land him in an awkward spot, stripping him of his best offensive window.

And now?

"Ionia still stands!"

E - Duet Beam.

The two scattered blades slanted inward, scooping both Jinx and Jarvan IV into their trajectory.

This angle was bizarre.

Normally, Irelia's E lines were straight or horizontal, dodgeable by moving vertically or horizontally. But a diagonally pulled E required dodging at a 45-degree angle, which felt somewhat anti-human and was typically difficult to dodge on reaction.

Even Tian, who had grazed the edge of "Uncle Gao II's" divine power, failed to dodge this E.

The stun applied successfully!

Q - Bladesurge X2.

The existence of the E skill's passive made both Jarvan IV and Jinx stepping stones for his Q dashes. Closing the distance right onto Jinx's face, he unleashed a basic attack alongside the decisive execution of his ultimate, Vanguard's Edge.

"What kind of goddamn damage is this!?"

The moment Irelia dashed in, Chemtank's AOE damage had already triggered. Eating that AOE, combined with the damage from a Q, an ultimate, and a basic attack, instantly melted Jinx's health bar down to a sliver.

Another Bladesurge rang out.

Simultaneously.

Zhuo flashed forward, attempting to land a basic attack to proc his control passive, while Tian's Jarvan IV hoisted an EQ combo directly toward Jinx's position.

One prepared to lock down hard crowd control, one prepared to anticipate the blade dancer's landing spot, and JKL kept his finger glued to his Flash, ready to flash backward over the wall and escape.

If the blade dancer chased.

She'd be knocked up by Jarvan. If she didn't chase, she'd be CC'd by Nautilus.

Then he would toss out an E. With Irelia's squishy health pool, even with Chemtank built, she shouldn't be able to survive their concentrated burst.

However...

Just as all these crowd control abilities were primed for Irelia's next move—

"Whoosh!"

A Flash was burned.

Not to chase forward after Jinx, but—flashing over the wall even faster than JKL.

Immediately following that.

Another Bladesurge darted straight toward Knight's Zoe, who was pursuing PPGOD.

TES's bot-jungle-support trio: ???

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Fled?

You just ran away like that?

Wait, bro, I'm low HP, low HP! A single Q or Q-auto would kill me, and you didn't feel even the slightest temptation toward me?!

I hate that you're a block of wood! ! !

JKL just lifted his finger off the Flash key, turned around, and saw a blue projectile steadily closing in on his position.

What is that...

Wait!

Moonlight Vigil!?

Irelia's threat caused TES's bot-jungle-support trio to focus almost entirely on her. At this moment.

In this split second.

The Moonlight Vigil unleashed from Aphelios's hands became the "final straw" that crushed TES's backline.

Tian didn't collapse, but the sky had fallen.

The blue-gun Moonlight Vigil, accurately striking Jarvan IV, detonated in an instant. Although JKL belatedly mashed his Flash, he was ultimately a fraction too slow.

Boundless blue flames successfully spread across his body, turning his attempted Flash into a corpse-flashing spectacle.

V5.Photic killed TES.JKL.

Not far away.

Jarvan and Nautilus stared dumbfoundedly at Jinx's corpse. Looking at each other once more, an indescribably interrogative signal radiated from their eyes.

Seemingly questioning—

Just what on earth had they been protecting?!

The game state instantly reversed with the fall of the carries.

[Ohhhhhh!!!]

[Clean! Clean! Clean! Clean!]

[No way, no way, I gotta play some Irelia after this. The shotcalling was crystal clear.]

[Chunk the carries, bait out their abilities, feign retreat to lure the enemy, then pivot to zone away the other carry—how can this thought process be so pristine!?]

Let alone the spectators.

Even Knight wore a look of utter bewilderment.

Didn't you kid just chase my teammate a second ago? How did you suddenly smash right into my face like this?

After dashing in with Q, she hunted him down with max-stack basic attacks.

Only when she saw Zoe pick up a spell shard via W to gain movement speed did she begin channeling her W in place, attempting to apply its slow.

Seeing this.

Knight almost instinctively pressed R to perform a standing long-jump evasion.

As a result...

He saw the blade flash of Irelia's E light up a second time right at his ultimate's takeoff destination.

[Turbo Chemtank] Mythic Passive: Grants all other Legendary items 5 Ability Haste and 50 Health.

Coupled with the item's inherent 10 Ability Haste.

Her current cooldowns were sufficient for her to cycle back into her second E skill.

It's a trap!

This realization flashed through Knight's mind.

Followed by—

Returning to his original spot only to be stunned, allowing Irelia's refreshed double Bladesurge and basic attacks, paired with Chemtank's damage, to cleanly finish him off!

V5.Mebius killed TES.Knight.

The teamfight had completely exploded!

"Damn, bro! Dream!"

"This Irelia is so ruthless, how can she be this god-tier?!"

"Did you quit cold turkey or something, kid? I totally thought you were gonna chase JKL down, how'd you choose to turn back?"

"No, no, no, this play was all thanks to Diao-shen. If he hadn't blocked that bubble for me, I would've had to mindlessly commit all the way and trade kills with JKL."

Listening to his teammates shower him with praise, Luo Ji hurriedly deflected the "fire" back onto PPGOD.

Right now, however.

The priority was cleaning up the battlefield before them.

Glancing at the battered and fleeing remnants of TES, Luo Ji couldn't be bothered to recall. Since chasing Zoe had brought him all the way to TES's tier-2 tower, he simply kept pushing down the incoming minion wave before making a direct beeline for Baron Nashor.

A 1-for-4 trade.

With both carries falling in succession, the remaining members of TES had no way to defend the map objectives. By the time their main force respawned, the Baron was already gone.

When they regrouped in the lower river once more.

Before them.

Stood the fifth elemental dragon about to respawn, alongside the V5 squad freshly bathed in the blood of Baron Nashor.

Under normal circumstances.

At this juncture, V5's carries' items should still be slightly lacking.

Yet the dividends from that last teamfight combined with the acquisition of the Baron allowed V5 to smoothly bridge that final equipment gap.

After a moment of contemplation.

TES ultimately retreated under V5's glare of *"Do you want me to reason with you, or do you want me to use physics?"*

In principle, they weren't cowards.

No choice, though—the principles this game belonged to the enemy.

Watching his team's retreating posture.

JKL let out a sigh.

He couldn't help but feel...

Their morale had been blasted into a void once again.