Bloody Rose (4)
"Arum!"
"What's going on? Against Shadow Assassin..."
"It's fine. Don't get too rattled—keep your cool, Arum."
"Uh... uh..."
Her teammates showered the respawning Han Areum with words of encouragement.
But no matter how much they tried to cheer her up, Areum's mentality was still shaken.
Damn it, how could I suffer such humiliation...
An Elementalist solo-killing a Shadow Assassin in a mid-lane matchup? It was unthinkable. In a lane matchup where she absolutely shouldn't lose, she'd been embarrassingly taken down. The thought made her blood boil.
Ugh, so humiliating... Did I underestimate Sera too much? Gotta pull myself together...
But Han Areum had no idea. What the world saw as an unbeatable matchup for the Elementalist was, in truth, a lane where the Elementalist could never win.
Slash!
"Aaaagh!"
Seona, hitting level 6 and unlocking her ultimate Death Sentence, tossed out a Shadow Dagger for poke—and it crit. In an instant, a third of Areum's health vanished.
The crit chance was usually a measly 15%, but Shadow Assassin's ultimate boasted the highest multiplier in all of Eternal Combat, outstripping every other crit-based skill and item combined. There was a reason this passive—granting nothing but a crit chance boost to basic attacks and Shadow Daggers—was slotted as her ultimate.
Shadow Dagger had low mana cost and cooldown for spamming, plus a decent slow, but its base damage wasn't overwhelming. But when the ultimate procs a crit? Game-changer. Long range, short cooldown, low mana, slow, and massive damage—it became a total cheat skill.
Caught off-guard by the surprise burst, Areum doubled over in pain. The moment the dagger crit, Seona dissolved into shadows and reappeared behind her.
"You little... bastard... Get lost!"
Areum spat curses as she activated her elemental orbs.
Seona quickly scanned the shifting colors, just as I'd taught her.
Lightning, lightning, ice... Crap!
Areum thrust both arms forward, summoning a massive tornado that swept forward.
Sends a spiraling whirlwind forward. Enemies along the path take damage, get briefly lifted into the air, then land. Damage and range scale with Lightning level; air time scales with Ice level. Airborne enemies are invincible while floating.
The skill activated so fast that dodging at point-blank range was nearly impossible, even if predicted. But right now, eating a Tornado was no big deal.
"Hah! That didn't even tickle!"
"Grr... Aaaagh!"
Areum's current build focused on fire and ice, with just one point in lightning for combos. Tornado's damage scaled with lightning level—so it barely scratched.
Launched into the air and crashing back down, Seona didn't retreat. She stuck to Areum, slashing away relentlessly.
Areum let out an irritated scream and slapped a frostbite debuff on Seona, hoping to stun and create distance. But—
Slash!
Crit. Seona spun her blade in a 360-degree arc, carving a gruesome gash across Areum's upper body. With her health already critically low, Areum hit zero before she could even land her frostbite swing. She spat blood and toppled backward.
Twice solo-killed in a matchup she thought was a sure win—Areum's mentality shattered visibly. Overheated, she couldn't even use skills properly anymore. Pure rage left her spamming wildly until cooldowns left her helpless, dying with eyes wide open.
"Tsk tsk, look at that mid play. Tilting hard and inting the game. Always stay calm and—"
"Yeah... you're right, but... coming from you, sis, it feels off?"
"Eunjae, we're talking after this."
"Anyway, how's Yuna unnie holding up? Manageable?"
"Does it look manageable?!"
Yuna grumbled.
And she wasn't wrong. As the red team's offlaner, Yuna was in hell down bot.
Neither Moon Priestess nor Silent Magician excelled at roaming. No hard CC to stick enemies, so ganks were low-percentage plays.
So Bloody Rose's supports stuck to babysitting their carry, Time Locker. Smart call.
Yuna had to farm 1v3, barely scraping by as she exploded repeatedly, clinging to life.
Even trying to CS with skills like Burst Thorns got countered hard by Mightback duoing with Silent Magician.
Mightback's core was spamming short-cooldown Burst Thorns for stacks and bigger damage, building ultimate stacks via frequent casts.
But Silent Magician's Silence Curse extended duration every time the target cast a skill. Mindlessly spamming like Mightback led to 20+ second stacks. Even Mightback's tankiness couldn't survive that DoT.
And if you pushed through? Silence Prophecy locked skills after one cast.
That wasn't all. Time Locker's Time Delay quartered cooldown recovery for its duration. Hit Burst Thorns (3-sec CD) during cooldown? Now it's 12 seconds. Plus attack speed slow as icing.
Time Locker and Silent Magician were picked to hard-counter our spirit comp we'd abused so well. Yuna facing both? Hell tour inevitable.
"My health's melting. I'm gonna be useless in teamfights."
"Only Eunjae unnie counters that without eating it hard..."
"Want me to watch Yuna unnie?"
"Nah. Teamfight, I'll be the big minion tank. Better watch Seona?"
"Me?"
"Agreed with Yuna unnie. She needs constant skill rotation to scale, but Seona just needs to auto—crits pop regardless."
"Hehehe, so Kim Seona becomes the star? Been waiting for this day."
"Hey, I'll make you the star—just debut already! I'm seriously gonna cough blood and die!"
While Yuna suffered on our side, Bloody Rose's mid Areum was in the same boat.
Yuna's lane was doomed from the start, but Areum was losing a "winnable" one—hitting her mentality harder.
Once momentum swung to Shadow Assassin, Elementalist couldn't flip it solo. Late-game infinite combos? Maybe. But Seona's evasion passive scaled, dodging more attacks; her items amplified crit one-shots.
"This... can't be... Guys, help mid. I can't win this."
"Got it, Arum. Calm down, steady your mental. Ganking your way."
Bloody Rose answered Areum's near-tear plea.
And moments later.
"Hey, all three vanished? Watch mid."
"Huh? Yeah? Then I'll shop and base re—aaaagh!"
Seona screamed mid-sentence. Areum glared murderously, unleashing a Tornado. Unable to dodge, Seona spun wildly in the air before crashing down. Then Bloody Rose's carry—wielding a massive hammer—leaped from the hill right in front of her.
"You're dead!"
Time Locker erupted energy, deploying a massive blue hemispherical field over Seona's head. Time Lock ultimate. Dizzying clock hands spun clockwise and counter at wild speeds; ears rang with ticking vibrations.
Everything in the field froze: Seona, minions, even our tower. Only Time Locker moved free.
Bloody Rose had committed a 4-man gank to secure her.
Conscious but paralyzed, Seona desperately signaled mentally.
H-Help! I'm dying! Anyone!
"I'm coming!"
Thankfully, Eunjae—patrolling nearby—linked a light tether and closed in.
"No funny business!"
But Silent Magician slapped Silence Curse on Eunjae, then Silence Prophecy. Reacting late, Eunjae spun Light Vortex—extending debuffs—and got silenced. Light Bind stayed linked (silence-proof), but no other help.
"Now! Kill her!"
The four Bloody Rose players focused the trapped Seona. But after 3 seconds, they sensed something wrong.
Why... isn't she dying?
Early game, Stout Shield mitigated meaningfully. But with items? Less so.
Yet Seona's health barely budged. Flares poured over her exposed form, health plummeting—but recovery outpaced it.
"Grr... damn it!"
Their carry gritted teeth, swinging his hammer. But against Seona's now-blurry form, half his attacks whiffed. She stood frozen before him, yet hitting felt like slicing water.
I smirked watching.
"Counters ain't one-sided."
Their Silent Magician pick countered most of ours brilliantly.
But our Shadow Assassin countered most of theirs.
CC-focused support Silent Magician, save-bot Dark Priest—low damage. Silent Magician could've burst, but spent skills disrupting Eunjae.
Plus Elementalist (skill-reliant pre-late), auto-carry Time Locker. Shadow Assassin's passive Evasion Master dodged half their attacks. Even in Time Lock, passive ticked.
Time Lock ended—short but not. Seona bolted back, healed by Eunjae. Yuna, Hayoung, Sera ported in; their offlaner Brutal Spearman dove mid.
Instant 1v4 gank became 5v5 teamfight.
"Unnie! Frontline first!"
"Hey! Hit me! Hit me!"
Trusting her tankiness, Yuna charged.
"Mightback incoming! Focus teamfight!"
"I'll push back!"
Bloody Rose's Brutal Spearman raised his spear and dashed forward. Yuna, speared in the side, got dragged along.
"Guh... Let... go?!"
Not huge damage, but Yuna—mid-dive—got shoved into our territory with him.
"I can push too!"
Hayoung closed on the incoming Spearman for Boulder Smash. Then—
"Gotcha!"
Silent Magician raised her glaive skyward. Energy surged, warping map-wide mana flows.
"Silence!!!"
And all sound vanished.