Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Suspiciously Skilled Rookie Mid Laner with Pigeons
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The early bottom lane was utterly invincible.
Their laning phase was so strong it was destructive, covering up even Bell's weaknesses as support to some extent, while flaunting Strike's aggression based on long range.
"Bottom's completely popping off right now."
"Come take dragon on your way."
In fact, less than ten minutes into the game, two out of the five plates on the enemy outer tower shield had already been shaved off.
On top of that, Ox had cleanly taken the first major monster, the dragon, from the dragon pit at bottom without interference, allowing him to head straight up and secure other major monsters too. The enemy bottom was effectively nonexistent.
'...Haven't they practiced against this much?'
Since AD carry champs crawling into mid was a valid meta for a reason, I'd expected Tristana to be even stronger than I thought, but the enemy mid Seven was struggling to handle Azir.
I hadn't pulled this champ out often in scrims myself, but it shouldn't be this bewildering.
"Mid's sent home for now. I'll check bottom Twisted Forest—if no monsters, head straight top."
"Okay."
With Ox's reply, I pushed the wave in, checked the enemy's empty bottom Twisted Forest, and took my recall timing.
"Lillia seems to have gone top, but watch bottom a bit."
Lillia couldn't hit level 6 without going top. They'd probably avoid slowing growth at all costs, but team games were unpredictable.
The moment I recalled and bought items, I realized the timing was off.
"Pull bottom out! Still no Tristana."
By now, she should've walked back from base or detoured somewhere and arrived at mid to push the wave.
Her absence meant something was up. Top had Ornn's ult, making ganks from Lillia or Tristana ults nearly impossible.
Mid was clear since I'd recalled, leaving only the bottom duo gleefully smacking the tower.
"Tristana in that bush."
"Wanna suck her in?"
"Nah, just keep pulling back."
Coming so blatantly meant more was coming.
Tristana's jump skill popped out with the kill log.
[DS Drag -> ST Strike]
[DS Drag -> ST Bell]
I had no idea how long they'd waited in that bush, but DS Gaming committed Lillia, leveled her ult with minion cleanup, and devoured our bottom duo.
"Take Happy Toad and their buff at least."
Fortunately, bottom had built a gold lead already, Ox was pathing camps, and I'd scratched mid tower, so the overall gold gap wasn't bad. But what came next was the issue.
"They're gonna keep targeting bottom now."
It worked once— no reason not to twice.
Enemy jungler growth would slow, but at this point, DS Gaming had enough damage from mid and ADC alone.
Just using the hunter as ult bait left our immobile bottom helpless.
That killed our ability to shove aggressively, undermining the bottom comp entirely.
"Take it slow. We still have our chance."
And we did.
Even by bottom standards, our recall hadn't taken too long, and we led in CS and gold.
Couldn't erase the mental pressure entirely, but as ADC—gold and items defined us—it wasn't dire.
A bit more time passed, and as I thought about rotating for side management...
Light flared from their hidden deep ward.
Too late.
Our bottom vanished in seconds.
"What the hell! This is bullshit!"
Strike raged, but that didn't restore the demolished tower or undo the kills.
Enemy ADC Drag and mid Seven each snagged 2 kills from the two ganks.
Acceleration toward full double-carry power.
Solo queue? Bottom would've inted. But this was playoffs.
"Should we avoid teamfights?"
"No. We win."
Protecting bottom let their top and mid towers fall simultaneously, overgrowing their top, mid, and jungler.
They planned to obsess over bottom, ignoring tough matchups—but ignored problems only grew.
"Tristana first."
No sooner said than Viego Flash-walljumped and ulted their mid.
They reacted alive, retreating fast, but Viego's ult—why it stays meta despite one-trick punchlines—clings to target no matter what.
"Tristana's backing off!"
No sooner said than Plook and I dove their side.
Leona dropped her stun-zone ult from the sky, but Plook ulted for full CC immunity without hesitation, and I maneuvered soldiers as predicted to dodge.
Distance closed instantly to their ADC.
Dive in, wait one turn, poke ADC and sup with sand soldiers, forcing their ult dodge.
Then, time it...
"These are the Emperor's orders!"
⟨ [Emperor's Command] ⟩
Delivered right to Ornn.
[ST Fluke -> DS Drag]
One pillar of their double carry gone in a flash.
[DS Seven -> ST OX]
Bad news for Ox, who'd dipped out of the pit briefly.
"I'm dead."
"Got their ult?"
"Yeah. And no Flash."
"Good enough."
Not for nothing was double-carry meta.
Didn't expect short-range ult Tristana to beat Viego.
More impressive: baiting both ult and Flash with that straightforward champ.
Sleep us and smash, they win—that mindset? They chipped dragon HP.
Perfect for us holding C-bush.
"I'll flank."
Plook vanished from vision, I hugged riverside wall, mercilessly stabbing Lillia smacking dragon with soldier spears.
Lillia was great for damage and ult utility, sure—but no tank.
She twisted desperately into the pit to keep smacking dragon, but that assumed proper front and backlines.
I skewered the rampaging deer from bottom.
[ST True -> DS Vita]
True kept poking! Vita out too!
Axe'd Tristana jumped out of Ornn's vision without hesitation, but that left their sup as 300-gold snack.
[ST Fluke -> DS Tolo]
ADC and sup fresh, me at half from Zayan clash but Ornn solid.
Their hunter dead; Ox respawns soon, pristine, to contest Baron pit.
One thing left.
As always, no desire to stall.
Formation crumbled, they dropped in our midst, melted without resistance.
We ignored their ADC, trusted buff, and shoved.
Ornn ulted up instantly, diving to cut Zayan too.
Nothing left to stop us.
Standing to see their faces, no worries for game 2.