Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Mai's Rampage
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"Daiana's five-man ult was insane, Tower Master!"
"I-It was nothing..."
"Let's keep this momentum and win the next set too!"
The Illusion Tower savored their first set victory.
Thanks to Hina's ultimate, the Illusion Tower had secured a flashy win.
Each match was best of three, so winning the next set would send them to the round of 16.
"Hey, we only pressured mid early on—how did they let Daiana snowball like that?!"
"No, Daiana's just on another level. She's way too good!"
"She kept rotating top and shutting it down, though."
"Mid diff."
"Try facing her yourself! No way you win."
In contrast, the Wind Tower's mood was sour.
They'd thrown away the first set on Daiana's carry performance.
The wind mages feared the gaze of their Tower Master watching from above.
"Daiana really is ridiculously good. How do we counter her?"
"Yeah. Everything else was even, but she carried hard..."
"She cleared all the other lanes early too..."
"Ugh... We have to win this. What do we do..."
The other lanes were evenly matched.
But mid showed a clear skill gap.
The Illusion Tower Master's prowess was overwhelmingly superior for someone with the same playtime.
Unless they solved her, the Wind Tower was as good as eliminated.
"...No choice. Everyone, stall out the early game."
The Wind Tower jungler spoke as if resolved.
"Don't give up kills early, just survive. And no matter how fed their mid gets, pick champs we can still beat."
"Does something like that exist? Balance is pretty even."
"It does. You guys just hold. I'll Mai."
And so, for the next set, the Wind Tower picked jungle Mai.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Huh? Mai."
Ban-pick phase for set two.
Medea noted the Wind Tower jungler picking Mai.
"Mai? Hmm..."
Illusion Tower jungler Seris pondered the Mai pick.
Mai was definitely a fun champion.
The rapid attack speed slashes were satisfying, and the one-shot skill was cool.
But compared to others, her ganks weren't that great—that was Seris's take.
Dive potential seemed solid, but plenty of other gank-heavy champs existed.
Of course, that wasn't all there was to Mai.
With limited playtime, they weren't masters of every champion yet.
In the end, Seris picked Amumu.
"Hmm... What to pick..."
Support Rain deliberated last.
Hina spoke to her.
"R-Rain. Can you play Leona or something? Lots of CC..."
"Huh? But we have Amumu?"
"True, but their Mai means we need CC..."
"Nah, Tower Master! I'm Amumu. We're light on damage—Sona would be better."
"Uh, w-well..."
Hina instinctively knew they needed to check Mai.
But the team overruled her, and Rain picked Sona.
In truth, Hina's sharp instincts were right.
The team, with little playtime, hadn't thought that far.
They'd never practiced Mai much either.
Riot had said champs like Mai didn't fit team play.
And so set two began.
(Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): Uh, uh. Enemy Mai's already level 6. (Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): I ganked top and bot once each. (Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): S-Still, letting her get that ahead feels bad... While Amumu sat at level 4, Wind Tower's Mai had hit 6.
Mai hadn't ganked once, true.
Kill score favored Illusion Tower.
But Hina sensed danger.
She'd barely faced Mai in practice.
Still, her gamer instincts screamed to stop Mai's insane scaling.
(Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): W-We gotta cut Mai...! Invade enemy jungle with me, Amumu...! (Team) MagicTrashDog (Caitlyn): If I leave bot now, they get a free kill! Hina called to invade Mai's predicted camp.
But Caitlyn's call sent Amumu bot instead.
Meanwhile, Mai farmed steadily.
The crisis hit around 14 minutes.
⚠️ Ally Defeated ⚠️ (Team) CloneMaster (Darius): Argh! That bitch is scary as hell! Darius died top.
Frustrated by the enemy hugging tower, he overextended into Mai's gank.
No prior kills top.
Darius needed early leads.
Dying first left top Medea in a bind.
(Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): It's fine, Mai took the kill. (Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): N-No it's not! We gotta kill Mai! Hina snapped, uncharacteristically angry.
Hearing her yell for the first time, jungler Seris finally listened.
(Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): O-Okay, Tower Master. (Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): Mai's probably on enemy blue now. Invade with me. Cover bot backup. Hina spoke deliberately, enunciating clearly—unlike her usual stutter.
It signaled dire straits.
Fwosh—
Amumu warded enemy blue bush.
Sure enough, Mai was there eating blue.
Slash—
Amumu threw his bandage.
LeBlanc chained her distortion (W) to the tether (E) and rushed in.
But Mai vanished.
(Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): Huh? Mai alpha struck (Q) LeBlanc, sticking instantly.
She ulted, melting LeBlanc with attack speed.
LeBlanc's passive revived her once, but Mai's ult kept spinning.
(Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): Don't hold ult—use it! (Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): Y-Yeah! Bang—
Amumu desperately ulted: Curse of the Sad Mummy.
But Mai's Q was off cooldown.
She sidestepped the stun and finished LeBlanc.
⚠️ Ally Defeated ⚠️ Mai then pummeled Amumu.
Lacking damage, he crumpled after a beating.
💥 DOUBLE KILL! 💥 (Team) MagicTrashDog (Caitlyn): Wh-What the hell?! (Team) LifeLotterySucks (Sona): Uh, uh! 💥 TRIPLE KILL! 💥 💥 QUADRA KILL! 💥 Mai swept the joining bot duo in seconds.
(Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): What the... how... (Team) BasementTowerLord (LeBlanc): Th-That's why I said cut her early—! (Team) GhostIllusionExpert (Amumu): If we hadn't invaded from the start, this wouldn't have happened! Wind Tower's Mai had snowballed explosively.
With quadra, she was unstoppable.
She roamed the canyon, widening the gap.
✨ PENTAKILL! ✨ In the final teamfight, Mai achieved COL's first-ever pentakill, destroying the nexus.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "What the hell is that champ?! She wiped them solo!"
"That one-shot skill—pure romance!"
"Way cooler than Maple Leaf Tale skills!"
Rooooar—!
Set two ended.
The crowd roared louder than before.
Sword-romantic guys especially lost it.
Mai's cosmic swordplay boiled their blood.
"Master Yi... that blade..."
One man burned hottest: Galliard.
Watching Mai, his body trembled.
First time since the Demon King fight.
No—even then, the hype wasn't this intense.
Master Yi—Mai—was swordsmanship romance incarnate.
Like a lone general carving through a million foes.
Slicing endlessly with a slender blade.
Alpha Strike dodging all, cleaving space.
Tanking barrages like the last warrior, annihilating foes.
Surviving to meditate atop a corpse mountain.
The pinnacle for any swordsman.
Between sets, Galliard bolted to the booth.
"Riot!"
"Gah!"
Galliard's charge toppled Riot chair and all.
"G-Galliard?"
"Hiding that and hogging it with mages?!"
"No, I told you—mass production issues..."
"Hand over the artifact now—!!"
Galliard's roar shook the air.
The council building and mage stage held firm.
"Calm down! It'll launch after Arcane War!"
Riot clutched his ringing head, yelling.
Approval wasn't final.
But this hype guaranteed it.
Riot barely calmed Galliard.
"Won't that widen the gap between mages and normals? Rankings exist, right?"
"They do. But official launch resets everyone to level 1. Gotta collect champs. This is the Arcane War beta."
"Still, skill gaps..."
"Eh. Doesn't reward playtime alone, IMO."
Galliard grumbled, but it was true.
Riot, with near-10 years past life grinding, was barely Gold top.
Many played longer without Gold.
"Anyway, head back. Watch, build feel—helps at launch."
"Hmph... Fine. Release ASAP. I need Mai."
"Mai? That trashy single-target champ..."
"Grah—!"
Whack—
Galliard smacked Riot for dissing Mai.
"After that display?!"
"It's just inexperience—they couldn't stop her growth. Later, Mai's for bronze/silver trash..."
"Grah—!"
Riot, KO'd for 3 seconds, shut up.
"If COL launches, Mai only."
"...Huh."
"I'll conquer COL's peak with Mai."
"..."
Riot closed his mouth.
A Mai main before official release.
No response needed.
"Riot! Mai sucks, right?!"
Galliard left; Illusion Tower reps swarmed Riot.
"Should've stopped her early. Strong late, sure. No—more CC for Mai..."
"Shut up, you suck! All talk! Nerf Mai!"
"You lost and blame me...?"
Seris vented at Riot.
He retorted dryly.
"Team chat showed Tower Master calling shots right. Your fault for ignoring, Seris."
"Urk..."
"Just ban her. Winnable if not fed."
"Arrrgh! You suck, always yapping—pisses me off!"
Seris raged on.
Others planned next game.
Luckily, they banned Mai; Hina carried to win.
Illusion Tower advanced to round of 16.
The last three groups finished; Arcane War day one ended.