Bloody Rose (7)
"Hic... Hiccup..."
Bloody Rose's midlaner, Han Areum, was now crying outright.
"Areum, it's okay! Don't let it get to you—get your mental back together!"
"Hic... Sob... S-sorry..."
No matter how much her teammates comforted and encouraged her, Han Areum's mentality had shattered long ago. And who could blame her? In her mind, winning the laning phase in game 1 was a given, but she'd been utterly demolished by Seon-ah. Then in game 2, she'd even been solo-killed twice by Sera, who wasn't even a main midlaner.
She might not dominate in Division 2, but in Division 3, she was publicly recognized as the strongest mid. To her, could there be any greater humiliation in the world?
Han Areum was unfortunate, but her ordeal showed no signs of ending anytime soon.
"Hup!"
Sera psyched herself up, raising her long twin blades in an X-cross. Her body erupted into fiercer flames. Then, she became a blaze itself, streaking between the enemy minions and Han Areum.
Burning Slicer—an invincible dash that rapidly auto-attacks every enemy in range once before returning to its starting point.
Early game without items, it fell behind Burning Chain and Burning Shield's skill damage. But late game with attack power built up, this core ability—its one-sided strike from afar and safe return—made it the most infuriating skill of all.
That said, it wasn't useless early on. The constant poke from added damage on autos from range was annoying enough, but more than that...
After quickly clearing the minion wave with Burning Shield, Sera spotted no other enemies around Han Areum and immediately unleashed Burning Slicer. She became a ferocious fireball hurtling toward her. The only hint it was Sera: the twin blades gripped in each hand.
The flaming blades stuck to Han Areum in the blink of an eye and swung once. With no way to counter, Han Areum swallowed a curse and tried retreating to her tower. But...
"Aaaack! Hot!"
Flaming shackles bound her legs. It would've been better if she were so unskilled she couldn't even comprehend it—but Han Areum was too good for that. She knew every Eternal Combat combo and trick inside out.
N-no way...! She landed Chain in that split second while sticking with Slicer!? How...! Just balancing is enough to make you hurl...!
The Burning Slicer into Burning Chain link—a well-known Burning Spirit long-range bind combo, but few executed it properly.
First reason: most lacked the reaction speed to Chain in that 0.4-second window. Second: the 0.2-second back-and-forth target switches made even pros lose balance or get dizzy and collapse.
Impossible...! In Division 3, a non-main-mid pulling off perfect Slicer-Chain? No way...! I shelved practicing it myself because it made me so dizzy... How...!
Han Areum's thoughts of shock didn't last. The instant Burning Chain hit, Sera unleashed three translucent, identical flame afterimages straight at her.
"Hic... Damn it... Goddamn it!!!"
Han Areum could see exactly what was coming next. She bit her lip in frustration and screamed, but there was nothing she could do.
As the afterimages closed in, Sera turned into a burning orb and bounced to their positions.
Afterimage Activation—instant teleport to an active flame afterimage's position, damaging surroundings. With multiples, it detonates all, ending at the targeted one's spot.
But all three max-charge afterimages were clustered right beside Han Areum.
Sera bounced between them, detonating all in an instant. Han Areum melted on the spot from the triple-explosion damage, plus Burning Shield and Chain's DoTs.
"Guh... S-sorry... guys..."
Han Areum left an apology to her team through tears, then died and vanished.
"Ugh... Still... a bit dizzy..."
Even Sera couldn't handle Burning Spirit perfectly nonstop—bouncing as fireballs for kills left her with some vertigo.
Of course, at that level, no one in Division 3 could even mimic her Burning Spirit movement anymore.
Mid was exploding with growth already, and Yuna—who'd seen hell in game 1—had less skill restrictions without Time Locker.
No variables.
The only threats: Wave Sorcerer's ult nuke or Silent Magician's teamfight-disrupting ult. Sure, our side had champs weak to silence too, but with Nightcrawler and Mightback, and Eunjae linking Light Bind before silence hit, we could fight.
And the carry lane.
Enemy offlaner Wave Sorcerer excelled at stable farming and tanking. But that was only against physical dealers.
"I'll keep poking!"
"Hayoung's doing great, great, great~!"
Hayoung's new pick: Arcane Shooter. Frailest body in Eternal Combat, no escape, but insane range and firepower—an extreme glass cannon. Seemed mid material, and most played it there now, but as support? Immense value.
"Ughhh! This is so freaking annoying!"
Bloody Rose's offlaner couldn't do jack, harassed nonstop by Arcane Missiles and Arcane Shocks from extreme range.
Try CSing with skills? Weird rune text branded on instantly—Arcane Emblem, projectileless long-range instant silence.
Magic damage amp made even Arcane Shooter poke lethal, and when Seon-ah's Nightcrawler joined, no Wave Sorcerer survived the skill melt.
"Areum, mid too rough? Come gank bot? Grab Arcane, get a kill, head back."
"Yeah..."
Han Areum slunk to bot depressed. She appeared before Hayoung as a lightning orb via Vortex Stream, unleashing her combo.
"Ugh... Dammit! Seon-ah, back's yours!"
Frailest champ, no escape, caught by Thunder Spirit? No survival. If Thunder Spirit wanted the kill, Arcane Shooter died—pure mechanics, no skill issue.
Sensing doom, Hayoung silenced Thunder Spirit with Arcane Emblem right before dying. Rune-marked Thunder Spirit stood silenced like an idiot. Seon-ah pounced without missing a beat.
"Where you going!"
Bloody Rose's offlaner raised a massive anchor.
Seawater Eruption...!
Seon-ah activated a skill instantly.
A geyser erupted, launching her sky-high. Wave Sorcerer's ult—we knew it well from practice.
But.
"You tell me!"
Instead of riding the geyser up then crashing stunned, Seon-ah was already free mid-air atop it.
"What the..."
The stunned enemies realized one possibility and paled.
After a brief delay, deals damage to all nearby enemies over 1 second, taking half itself. Clears all debuffs and CC on self during damage phase.
Nightcrawler's farming, damage, and CC-cleanse tool. During its 1-second damage, no CC sticks—it's purged instantly.
Downside: can't use if already CC'd, so predict and preempt. But after a year rolling with me, Seon-ah had the timing sense down pat.
She'd pre-activated Purification Blood just before Seawater Eruption. Mid-air on the geyser, it purged the stun.
Seon-ah used the water pillar as high ground, chain-wrapped stake in hand, plummeting like a bird missile onto silenced Han Areum.
"Take this, Seon-ah Missile!"
"Aaaaaah!"
Arcane Emblem's silence lasts long. Silenced Thunder Spirit helpless; ult-less Wave Sorcerer sucks at protecting allies.
Pinned by Chain Stake—silenced and rooted like a puppet—Han Areum was shredded by Seon-ah's shark-tooth sawblade.
Seon-ah ulted into black mist after deleting her, escaping cleanly. Mid-support trade. Bloody Rose's massive loss.
Their prime scaler Thunder Spirit botched hard; next scaler Hollow Spirit countered by Arcane Shooter too.
Teamfight: Bloody Rose's Silent Magician tried ult-forcing advantage, but growth gap too wide. Couldn't stop Light Spirit-linked Mightback charging or Burning Spirit split-pushing via afterimages.
A fed Thunder Spirit could've solo-carried us all. Sadly, Han Areum's was too crippled.
From 0-4 to 5-4. Our Division 3 Round 1 final record.