Chapter 42: Single-Line Breakthrough, the Game Has Only Just Begun!

The atmosphere in the EDG team suddenly turned oppressive.

Chen Yan noticed it as well.

He could somewhat understand it, because current LPL teams relied entirely on team fights to win games; therefore, as long as there was a deficit in kills, they would most likely lose.

If you watched the matches frequently, you would notice that when LPL teams faced strong opponents, especially LCK teams, whether they could win largely depended on how big of a lead they could build in the early game.

Starting with such a disadvantage was undoubtedly a hellish difficulty.

However, as a time traveler, Chen Yan felt not a single ripple in his heart.

This game was not solely about the early phase; even with an early deficit, there was still a chance to fight back later.

"What are you panicking for? Just stabilize and farm."

By this time, his teammates had completely run out of ideas and could only treat Chen Yan as their backbone.

...

"There's nothing we can do; RNG's mid and jungle can move first, and even if EDG rotates to help, it's not a favorable fight."

Wawa analyzed.

Miller also nodded and said, "Actually, EDG's reaction this time was already extremely fast, minimizing the losses to the greatest extent. However, EDG's biggest problem right now is still being far too passive."

An RNG-style poke composition was extremely annoying once it secured an advantage.

They didn't even need to secure kills; as long as they poked the opponents down to low health, they could easily take whatever objectives they wanted.

Jayce's QE, Nidalee's spear, Ashe's Volley, Karma's RQ...

The power of the poke composition began to manifest.

Nidalee and Jayce forcefully defended and pushed the bottom lane duo's tower.

EDG had no particularly good way to respond to this.

"Drag it out if you can; give it up if you can't."

Chen Yan's calm voice slightly eased his teammates' tense nerves.

Yet, facing this avalanche-like deficit, the EDG members still felt a lingering sense of dread in their hearts.

Even in the backstage lounge, Ahbu was already preparing public relations strategies for a defeat.

He was wondering which player to claim had a fever, or what excuse to find to dodge the public backlash.

Icon, on the other hand, was dancing around excitedly in his livestream room.

"All you haters, say something now! Look at you guys, you don't have an ounce of game understanding... Huh, wait a second."

Mid-sentence, Icon suddenly felt something was off.

As he looked at the Ryze's farm, his pupils abruptly contracted, and he said in shock, "How is this Ryze farmed so well?!"

Ryze's creep score was actually nearly 20 minions ahead of Xiaohu.

In terms of items, he was in much better shape than Xiaohu's Jayce as well.

"Why is Jayce so poor?"

"No, it's not that Jayce is too poor; although Jayce's farm was slightly delayed by rotations, it shouldn't be lagging behind by this much."

"How on earth did this Ryze farm?!"

Icon was somewhat dumbfounded.

However, he quickly realized that this Ryze was completely ignoring his teammates and frantically gobbling up economic resources.

He would even venture into dangerous areas like the enemy jungle, solely to clear a single camp of jungle monsters.

Lanes that his teammates couldn't reach in time would be immediately covered and farmed by Ryze.

This resulted in EDG falling behind in overall economy, while Ryze's net worth soared far ahead.

"This Ryze is playing way too selfishly. But it's useless, what's the point of you getting fed by yourself?"

"Does he think he's in some web novel, pulling off 1v5s out of nowhere?"

Icon sneered.

Yet, watching Ryze's farm continue to climb, a lingering sense of unease settled in his heart.

...

Time ticked away.

RNG's suppression continued.

First, they lane-swapped to demolish EDG's top lane tier-one tower, then secured the Rift Herald to pressure EDG's mid tier-one tower.

EDG could only abandon the defense, and Clearlove's Kha'zix seized the opportunity to take a small dragon as a consolation prize.

Right now, elemental dragons didn't carry much weight, providing only minor stat boosts.

Still, every little bit counted; they would take whatever resources they could trade for.

By this point, all three of EDG's outer towers were destroyed, and the game time was not even twenty minutes yet.

"This..."

"It feels like things are getting really tough for EDG."

Seeing this, Wawa and Miller had no idea how EDG could possibly turn the game around.

"If the Baron spawns, the pressure on EDG will be even greater."

Just as they were speaking, the observer's camera suddenly shifted to Ryze.

Realm Warp!

They saw Ryze activate his ultimate, appearing behind the Maokai alongside Kha'zix, and working together with Rumble to secure the kill.

This scene seemed vaguely familiar, but the outcome remained the same.

Maokai put up not the slightest bit of resistance.

In the end, while the kill was awarded to Ryze, the three EDG members also easily pushed down RNG's bottom lane tier-one tower.

"Ryze has stepped up!"

"At a time when EDG is plunged into crisis, the mid laner has found an opening!"

The casters exclaimed excitedly.

The eyes of the fans supporting EDG instantly lit up, only to dim again immediately after.

Although this opening was seized very well, the overall situation still favored RNG.

Almost everyone shared this thought, with only one exception: Chen Yan.

After finishing the fight, Chen Yan directly recalled to base to buy items.

Ninja Tabi + Archangel's Staff + Rod of Ages + Glacial Shroud + Dark Seal.

Among them, the Dark Seal already had four stacks.

Wawa said in surprise, "Ryze's items are looking pretty good."

Looking at the item slots, Ryze's gear was even better than the players on RNG's side.

Miller said thoughtfully, "It feels like RNG's economy is distributed more evenly, whereas EDG has concentrated all their economic resources onto Ryze."

To put it more colloquially, it was vampirism.

However, judging by the state of the game, if EDG wanted a comeback, they indeed had no choice but to rely on Ryze.

Following that, the two casters shifted their gaze to the Glacial Shroud on Ryze.

"Glacial Shroud? What item is he planning to build into?"

"It's also possible he misclicked and bought the wrong thing."

The two commentators muttered and analyzed, but didn't delve deeper, quickly shifting their commentary perspective back to RNG's side.

Meanwhile, inside the EDG team voice comms:

"You guys start grouping up now, keep an eye on RNG and don't let them take Baron."

"I'll go split-push."

Chen Yan issued his orders.

His teammates had zero objections now; they had no idea how to play this game anymore, and their only hope rested on Chen Yan's Ryze.

Baron Nashor respawned shortly after.

Ignoring his teammates entirely, Chen Yan stubbornly buried his head in split-pushing.

As everyone knew, split-pushing yielded the fastest farming speed.

Not only could he harvest minion waves, but he could also devour enemy jungle camps, and if he managed to solo a tower, it would net him a massive influx of gold.

Defending against Ryze's lane was Letme.

Knowing he couldn't out-push Ryze, Letme directly turtled inside his tier-two tower, hoping to defend the wave with the protection of the turret.

However, the moment Ryze shoved the minion wave into the tower, Letme's expression changed drastically.

Overload!

Ryze landed a precise Q skill, immediately refreshed Q via W, and the instant Maokai was snared, delivered another EQ combo onto him.

Maokai had already been suppressed by Rumble in the lane phase and further targeted by EDG, resulting in a miserable level of farm.

Now, facing a hyper-fed Ryze, his health bar simply couldn't withstand the damage.

With a single rotation of Ryze's skills, Maokai's health bar was already knocked down below fifty percent.

Yet Chen Yan showed no mercy, diving right under the tower to chase down Maokai.

The split second Maokai turned around to W, Ryze flashed out of the turret's range while simultaneously dragging Maokai out of the safety zone along with him.

"I'm done for." Letme's heart skipped a beat; he burned his flash upon landing, but with Stormraider's Surge and the bonus movement speed from his passive, Maokai couldn't create any distance at all, and could only watch as he was chased down and slain.

"EDG, ChenYan killed RNG, Letme."

The system kill notification rang out.

"Ah?!"

"Ryze has secured a solo kill in the side lane!"

Following a brief moment of astonishment, the audience on-site immediately erupted into wild cheers.

When the camera panned to Chen Yan, he wore an enigmatic smile.

About to lose? The game was only just beginning.