Chapter 56

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 56

Chapter Title: There Was Never a Time We Were Truly Disadvantaged, Right?

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The mid-lane matchup was set in stone.

No matter how well Azir controlled his sand soldiers, he couldn't match LeBlanc's speed at diving in and then pulling back out.

This was a hard limit of the system itself—nothing to do with reaction time.

And even if you predicted their prediction to trade damage, the skill cooldown differences meant you'd take heavy poke while trying to farm CS.

With trades this one-sided, the right play early on was to just quietly take the lane.

That naturally pushed the wave in, so the enemy jungler wouldn't waste a gank turn on mid.

And going top? Milky Way's top was a sturdy tank.

One more kill there wouldn't change much.

In the end, the enemy gank paths were locked in.

Top lane first.

Ox knew I was onto his bot path anyway, so he skipped the rift scuttler and bolted straight for top.

Thwack!

Using Zhaoran's passive to knock up the enemy after their untargetable skill expired at the perfect moment, then as Ornn dashes away, he Flashes after and lands another axe.

Orum burned Flash, but mechanically, these two could stand against anyone.

They nailed the axe and speared right where he'd run—wiping out what little HP he had left.

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"I'll take a shot at this one. Love the weapons."

Even nerfed hard from launch patch, Aphelios could still chunk hard depending on weapon type and situation.

"They used polymorph already."

Lulu's W on allies boosts move and attack speed; on enemies, it polymorphs them into helpless squirrels briefly.

Vi's dash got canceled by Bell's polymorph before reaching Aphelios, and Strike—with Crescent Blade—chopped Braum's HP below half before their ADC and support arrived.

"Pushing forward!"

"Take Vi first!"

Maxing Crescent Blade to force Vi's Flash, then tag-teaming like a shield-bearing Braum—ST's bot duo both Flash over.

Braum even flung his ice skill way forward mid-chase, exposing his back completely.

Vi could've committed fully with Flash-dash into Strike or Bell, letting their support arrive and clean up. But that split-second hesitation created this opening.

Braum's passive stuns after his auto followed by enough ally autos on the target.

But Flash-leaping the champ entirely made late stacks meaningless.

Tracking top and bot while laning mid was a lot, but seeing the kill feed pop made missing a minion or two feel fine.

Jhin survived on scraps, but he couldn't even turret-sit like that—solid gains.

And bot still had one tasty target left.

And so Strike claimed their support too.

Hmm.

Next patch, Aphelios nerf confirmed.

"Not champ favoritism!"

"Sure, sure. Great Flash read—our spoon's safe."

Our team had safety nets like me or Fluke, so aggressive ADC wasn't bad.

Even a 1-for-1 with their ADC favored us if scales even.

"Next set quick!"

"Don't donate Conqueror Gold, buy vision you idiot."

"Till Flash's up."

Anyway.

Bantering aside, he looked thrilled by my praise—pure soul all around.

Brain just too clean sometimes.

Mid-game hit after perfectly drying out Milky Way.

"Throw axe and dive in."

"What? Vi's probably watching for top gank. Just toss axe loose, push wave, and bail."

At Fluke's sensible point, I pushed confidently.

"You gotta dive even knowing sometimes."

"......Fine, trying it."

Right on cue, Ornn's axe perfectly tags enemy.

Fluke charged slowed Orum.

Ornn has attack edge picking up axe to reset cooldown, but Vi joining made it tough.

"You good? Bail smart."

Ornn lifesteal plus Fluke's axe play meant skillless foes could only watch him escape.

Vi ult? I saved that earlier.

"See?"

"...I'd have died if I messed up?"

"Didn't. Enemy burned tons."

Looked risky, but playable.

Even if Ornn died, no Baron for them.

Hyper-scaled Aphelios with Flash up, other lanes patched—Enbi stalled plugging leaks, ignoring my poke.

No burst for Aphelios meant 4v5 fine.

I could one-shot Jhin anytime; Vi ult to stop? Aphelios gets Lulu ult—invincible.

Orum ult variable? Fluke just baited it—overachieved.

Shoving bot, I B'd home, TP'd Baron pit. Fluke joined, mid-pushing Strike hits Baron too.

"B home, straight to Dragon."

Baron: 12 sec.

Home: 4 sec.

Dash to Dragon pit: half-HP Dragon waiting.

Jhin ADC makes it work.

Dragon pit arrived, Strike ults first.

"Fluke..."

"Already going. Collapse on them."

Learned from top skirmish.

Braum defends hard, but ulted charging Ornn unstoppable till HP zero.

Last LeBlanc's Zhonya's popped, sand soldiers charged and ended her.

"Let's go. Final set."

Forward.

One step from victory.