Division 3 Promotion Battle (13)
The long-awaited final day of the promotion/relegation matches.
Up until they arrived at the stadium, the players had been chatting and laughing boisterously. But after getting their makeup done, the reality of the upcoming match sank in, and their chatter died down. Each one started their own personal mind-control routine.
Eunjae came back to the waiting room only after smoking three cigarettes in a row. Hayoung gnawed at her nails. Seona fidgeted her legs so much it was making everyone else dizzy just watching.
Yuna leaned against the far wall, rhythmically tapping it with her palm like she was drumming. Sera just sat there quietly, staring at me.
"Nervous?"
At my question, Seona stopped shaking her leg and gave me a look like I'd asked the dumbest question ever.
"You think we're not nervous in a situation like this?"
"Don't put too much pressure on yourselves. It messes with your performance. And it'll be different from the winners' match. You saw that in practice yesterday."
"But..."
Seona glanced subtly at Yuna. Yuna didn't notice, still tapping away at the wall.
"It's fine. Relax. Trust your teammates too. Worried it'll go like the winners' match again?"
"You never know."
"It won't. Trust me. Or if you can't trust me, trust the teammates you're playing with."
"Who said I don't trust anyone? I'm just... saying what if."
"Players, get ready for the match!"
At the staff's call, all five stopped what they were doing and exchanged glances. The final showdown was right in front of them—they all swallowed hard.
I gathered them all and held out my hand. One by one, they stacked theirs on top.
"I get it—you're nervous, you're worried. But I know you're not the kind of players who'll fail to promote from here. You've done great so far, right? You all learned a ton from that last loss. Pour it all out in today's match—no regrets. Give it everything you've got! Then you'll win. Shining Star!"
"Fighting!"
Their cheer was louder and fiercer than ever.
I headed straight to the coach's in-game spectator seat to watch.
Both teams pulled out their most confident main picks.
Except for one person—Yuna.
Yuna was holding a tower shield bigger than herself.
Wide Guard (Q) - Expands the shield and taunts nearby enemies in a small area around self, forcing them to attack you. Greatly increases your physical defense during the duration.
Fighting Spirit (W) - Applies a DoT debuff that deals sustained damage over time to the enemy and slightly reduces their movement speed. Persists until the duration ends or the target kills another unit. For each enemy affected, your movement speed slightly increases.
Counter Shield (E) - Passive. Each time you're attacked, spot the enemy's opening. If you catch it perfectly, swing your shield to damage all nearby enemies.
Shield Smash (R) - Deals minor damage to a target. Instantly kills if their health is below a threshold. Resets cooldown on kill and greatly boosts all nearby allies' movement speed.
Big Shield Guarder was a physical tank similar to Wave Sorcerer. But it had much stronger laning than Wave Sorcerer and could even pressure the enemy when played as an offlaner—making it somewhat aggressive.
While Wave Sorcerer dominated teamfights with its massive ultimate range, Big Shield Guarder excelled at ganks and picks.
I'd recommended Big Shield Guarder to Yuna early on—its playstyle was the opposite of Wave Sorcerer, which could only take hits in the early game. I'd crammed everything I knew about operating it and using its skills into her.
With only a day of practice, she wouldn't match her Wave Sorcerer proficiency. But its aggressive playstyle suited Yuna perfectly.
Especially against a team like Brilliant.
Brilliant revolved around Oh Sujin's utility midlaner as their main carry. Utility mids had to hog map resources all by themselves.
Teams like that couldn't afford late-game carry champs that also needed heavy resources, so their carry ended up with a supportive pick—less resource-hungry but weaker scaling.
A carry on a supportive pick meant they lacked early suppression on the enemy offlaner. And that played right into Big Shield Guarder's strengths.
Yuna smirked as she eyed the enemy comp.
Enemy carry: agile melee Bounty Hunter. Second support: Dark Priest.
A matchup Big Shield Guarder couldn't lose.
Yuna executed the laning phase exactly as I'd instructed.
When the minion waves clashed, she held the front line and stonewalled them from approaching.
No low-health melee champ dives a tanky Big Shield Guarder. If they chickened out, they wasted CS. If they pushed in anyway, she attacked to pull aggro.
Yuna crept forward as the Bounty Hunter poked its head out for CS.
The moment it entered range, she bashed it with her shield.
"Still coming for CS? Even now? How about now?"
"Argh! Get lost!"
Bounty Hunter screamed in pain but stubbornly went for the last hit anyway—trusting the Dark Priest's heals behind it.
The second Yuna hit the carry, nearby enemy minions swarmed her. One died, five left.
Yuna focused intently, watching their movements for an opening. A bit more concentration... the path for countering would appear.
'Watch the attackers' movements when they're piling on you—minions too. After learning Counter Shield, big openings in enemy moves show as a golden path. Swing your shield exactly along it to proc it.''Isn't that a passive? Passives just activate, but I have to move for this one?''Most passives are fire-and-forget, but Big Shield Guarder's is special. It's almost active—depends on your movement, reflexes, muscle. Skinny weaklings can't hack it; they miss counters.''I can?''Of course. You're our team's best physical player—what can't you do?''Focus, Cha Yuna... focus... Opportunities don't come often. Precise and fast on the first try... here!'
Right after a melee minion attacked, a golden path lit up on its side. The split-second for Counter Shield—Yuna seized it, swinging her massive shield with all her might.
"Haaaaah!"
The tower shield whistled through the air, sweeping her front arc. Bounty Hunter got its CS but ate massive damage.
But it wasn't over.
'One Counter Shield always leads to another. Don't lose sight while turning. The real terror is chaining them endlessly—unless you're super unlucky.'
Yuna kept her eyes glued to the attacking minion wave even as she swung that heavy shield, squeezing out every ounce of strength.
Another path appeared. Right after the full swing, a diagonal follow-up.
Luck was on her side this time too—she didn't miss it.
"Hngh!"
Groaning under the weight, Yuna swept horizontally then upward diagonally. Counter Shield procced again. Bounty Hunter took way more than expected and retreated. It had braced for one hit amid the minions—not two in quick succession.
"Ugh, that hurts like hell... Heal me."
"Got it!"
Dark Priest's heal landed on the retreating Bounty Hunter. It was AoE with less healing than Holy Knight, but helpful enough.
But.
"No more minions to farm?"
"...?"
"How you gonna deal with this?"
Red light poured from Yuna's shield, drenching the backline Dark Priest.
Fighting Spirit. Long duration and high total damage for a DoT, but it broke on a single last-hit.
Except now, Bounty Hunter had cleared their own minions for CS.
'What if they heal with support? That's what Fighting Spirit's for. Supports deal low auto damage—hard to last-hit. Hang it on their support after their carry farms everything. What happens then?'
"Ugh, damn it... Just need one last-hit on anything—what's around?"
"Crap! I took all the minions earlier!"
The instant their minions died, Yuna slapped Fighting Spirit on the backline support.
To break it fast, they needed a last-hit on minion or jungle—but none were available. Dark Priest ate the full DoT.
Even heals had mana limits.
Once Dark Priest's mana ran dry, Brilliant's carry lane was completely at Yuna's mercy. The matchup was just too lopsided.
Yuna gripped lane control harder than in any prior game, holding 1v2 advantage and farming easily.
Right as Yuna was dominating...
"Guys! Help bot!"
Hayoung's urgent voice rang out.
I pulled up the map. Brilliant's first support—who'd been MIA—had ganked Sera and Hayoung's bot lane. Our minion wave was cleared; theirs pushing tower.
Hayoung had no mana left for a heal. Sera, diving to tower, wasn't at full health either.
And the Bounty Hunter she'd been shoving was portaling bot too. Perfect dive setup.
But Bounty Hunter leaving top meant it was wide open.
She could shove minions for more farm and crash the wave into tower, solidifying top control.
"Seona! Eunjae! They're diving!"
"Sorry! Can't go now! That damn bitch whittled me down—I'll die instantly!"
"I'm heading there but... no portal! Walking's too slow..."
"Ugh... Can't use heal or ult yet..."
Raze was notoriously weak early—no way it'd all-in now. A 3v1 dive impossible to stop. Without Seona, no chance.
As the enemy wave charged tower with them, Hayoung gripped her hammer tight—determined to take at least one with her.
That instant, their tower glowed white. A massive wall erupted horizontally in front of them.
"Gah!"
"Unni?!"
Yuna had portaled in right on dive timing, popping Wide Guard taunt to draw all aggro.
Even tanky Big Shield Guarder couldn't shrug off focused fire unscathed.
Bleeding from her mouth amid the barrage, Yuna spotted Counter Shield paths—landing two counters. While she stalled with taunt, the trapped enemy offlaner ate tower shots and died unable to escape.
"Yuna unni, nice!"
Boosted by Seona and Eunjae's cheers over team voice, Hayoung and Sera counterattacked. No extra kills, but perfect dive defense.
"This... damn it!"
Enemy carry Bounty Hunter, dive foiled, cursed and hurled a shuriken at Yuna. The spinning blade nailed her forehead—already rock-bottom health.
"Guhk..."
"Unni!"
The shuriken dropped Yuna to zero. Blood fountained from her forehead as she toppled backward, lifeless.
Dozens of seconds later—after a 1:1 offlaner trade—Yuna respawned at base fountain.
"Ow ow... That bastard throws hard."
"Unni, you okay? You could've just shoved top for easy farm and wave crash... why..."
Rubbing her forehead where the shuriken had hit, Yuna answered Hayoung's apologetic tone.
"We're a team."