League of Legends: League of Unknowns

Sometimes, even if you make every effort to be cautious, the imperative need to keep farming minions could still lead you into a pitfall.

Of crucial importance was that Lin Dong didn’t have Flash available to him. This meant that rather than a mere 500 units’ distance—a gap easily crossed by Riven—he had to maintain a safe distance of 1,100 units!

Lin Dong tended the minion wave carefully, allowing the front-line to creep in towards his side, even coming within reach of his own tower.

Beneath the relative safety of his tower, Lin Dong took a quick glance at his Creep Score, and estimated that another three or four waves should be sufficient to reach 100. The heat was on Zhao Tinghua, not him.

Squeezing through the gap between the tower and the nearby wall, Lin Dong alternated deftly between the Ball and Orianna’s basic attacks, getting all the minions even beneath the tower.

Suddenly, Riven opened with the first strike of ‘Broken Wings’.

Sensing danger, Lin Dong’s heart leapt into his throat, and Orianna recalled the Ball to herself hastily, so that it provided her with a protective barrier!

Bamf! Flash!

As though knowing that Lin Dong still had another ten seconds before his own Flash was ready, Tinghua suddenly dove him under the tower. In particular, this meant Riven caught Orianna in the cramped space between the tower and the wall, boxing her in!

Immediately, Riven activated her ultimate skill!

Riven’s ulti appeared to activate instantly, although in truth there should have been a slight pause beforehand. No one could be sure exactly when Tinghua had actually started it up!

Riven struck once with her blade, and then performed the second technique of ‘Broken Wings’! Another attack, and then she dashed forward with ‘Valor’ to attack again!

As Orianna fled, Riven used ‘Ki Burst’ to Stun her! One more attack, and then Riven followed with ‘Wind Slash’!

“Hah!” A violent gust tore outwards in a fan, slicing through Orianna and reducing her to critical health!

Riven wasn’t finished yet. Even as the Wind Slash swept through the area, she slammed the third strike of ‘Broken Wings’ down upon Orianna!

Each QA-combo was almost too fast for the naked eye to follow!

Upon the enormous viewscreen, all the audience saw was Riven leaping about spectacularly, blade flashing this way and that, some moves occasionally blurring together. It felt as though the character was rapidly going through a pre-programmed sequence of moves—but the truth was that, over the span of a little more than two seconds, Tinghua had performed a dozen separate commands!

The speed had been unbelievable!

QA-chaining was one of the minute techniques required to master Riven, but the light-speed QA-EA-WA-RA sequence that Tinghua had just pulled off… how much would one have to train with Riven before they’d be able to get that whole thing out in just over two seconds?

Moreover, Lin Dong also possessed extraordinary reflexes, and had immediately responded by deploying Orianna’s ulti to pull Riven away… and yet she’d still been hit with that full combo from Riven, plus an Ignite, resulting in Orianna being insta-killed while at full health!

A tower-dive with an impossibly fast combo!

It seemed like a futile venture to even try to wrap one’s head around how quickly that kill had been pulled off!

As the members of the audience slowly shook themselves out of a daze, they saw Riven, having secured the Champion Kill, escaping from the tower with a tiny sliver of health remaining. Her body was wreathed in flames from an Ignite spell.

But in the end, it wasn’t enough to bring her down.

Riven was cloaked in a reddish aura, indicating that as she attacked Orianna, she’d also downed that Elixir of Fortitude. That was what saved her from falling to Orianna’s Ignite.

If Riven had died from that, then the duel would have had to carry on until a clear outcome could be reached.

Too bad.

Lin Dong had been exercising the utmost caution, to the point that he’d been deliberately farming under his own tower. He hadn’t expected, though, that Tinghua would outright tower-dive him!

He’d used that Flash so suddenly, and right as Lin Dong was trapped in a tight spot, making it difficult to get away. The Blood Eagle had clearly retained the ruthless killer instincts that they remembered from the past, to say nothing of his relentless savagery once battle was joined!

Zhou Yan and Luocheng had little reaction to seeing that Lin Dong had fallen as well. They’d expected as much—that Tinghua would make a move before Lin Dong regained his Flash, even if it meant diving the tower. It was exactly the sort of thing he’d do, and yet he’d been allowed to do it.

Up until that point, Tinghua had been farming diligently, just keeping to himself. It suggested that he’d been absolutely certain he’d be able to take down Lin Dong in one go!

***

Wearing the same self-satisfied smile as before, Zhao Tinghua casually removed his headphones, his gaze on Lin Dong.

Lin Dong followed suit, but he was still going over the fight in his mind.

Truly, it had been too fast, too sudden. He’d taken every possible precaution, but he’d been deleted all the same. After two years of training and experience, Tinghua had become even more fearsome than before, not just in terms of pure skill—his tactics and demeanor were simply overpowering!

“Now, me.” Zhou Yan announced to Luocheng, as he watched Lin Dong descend from the stage.

“Jungling is what he’s best at,” Luocheng said.

Zhou Yan nodded, but didn’t reply.

Every player on Team Skycrown had their own sense of pride. Even if it was against a former comrade, losing a solo duel like this was deeply depressing. On top of that, if all three of them were beaten at their own specialties by the same player, it would be an excruciating demonstration of their inferiority.

“Zhou Yan. We’ve bumped into each other quite a number of times before, haven’t we?” Tinghua smirked at him.

“Yeah.” Zhou Yan nodded in reply, but didn’t have more to say.

Zhou Yan was counted among the premier Junglers of the Ionia server, and he’d come across Tinghua in Ranked play, now and again.

“Why don’t you just admit defeat? You lose every game you play against me.”

“You talk a lot.” Zhou Yan took his seat.

Tinghua spoke truthfully. Every game where Zhou Yan had to face off against him, Tinghua would basically have free reign over the whole jungle, and he also had a much better sense for ganking the various lanes.

Perhaps because they used to be teammates, Tinghua had an uncanny grasp of Zhou Yan’s tendencies. Knowing that Zhou Yan never did things the usual way, he himself would employ unusual methods to disrupt him, foiling him at every turn.

Zhou Yan acknowledged that as a Jungler, Tinghua was far beyond his league. Out of ten games, he’d be completely trampled in seven of them, and he fell behind pretty much every time.

But that in no way meant that Zhou Yan would simply surrender. To him, each clash with Tinghua was another lesson learnt. Losing nine out of ten games also meant that there was a 10% chance of getting a win, or forcing a draw.

So he’d fight!

“This third game will be a duel between Junglers. From their five games against Team Fudan, everyone should have clearly seen that Team Skycrown has a talented Jungler on their side, one who favors atypical routes, so that he often catches the enemy by surprise. He’s a wanderer—not your run-of-the-mill Jungler.

“And now, Gale Crane of Team Skycrown must face the greatest player in the nation: The undisputed lord of the jungle, Blood Eagle! Pitting Gale Crane of Team Skycrown against a legendary adversary like this, I wonder what we’ll see from him?” The MC was clearly excited about this particular match-up.

Then, the MC spotted Luocheng walking over to the computers on stage. “Uh, just a moment. It looks like something’s going on over in Team Skycrown’s corner.”

Zhou Yan looked up at Luocheng in surprise.

“Let me do it,” Luocheng said to him.

Da Luo, Lin Dong, Xiao Bei, and Wu Sen stared at Luocheng. Couldn’t he let Zhou Yan have his turn as well, before taking matters into his own hands?

Xiao Bei and Lin Dong both had first-hand experience watching Luocheng play, and there was no doubt in their minds that he’d been born to be a gamer. Even if he was no longer playing professionally, his skills nevertheless appeared second-to-none.

In particular, that game Luocheng had played against Shallow Dream had left the two of them dumbstruck with awe.

Lin Dong knew that Zhang Aijing had recorded a value for Luocheng’s Individual Ability Index: Under the name of ‘F-Hawk’, there was a score of 7 points.

If a recording of Luocheng’s game against Shallow Dream was spread around on the internet, Lin Dong felt that Aijing would scrub off that ridiculous score in a heartbeat!

There were pro gamers who trained desperately but couldn’t seem to get any better. If they saw what Luocheng could do when he was playing seriously, they’d be driven mad with frustration!

Still, Lin Dong couldn’t understand why Luocheng had to skip over Zhou Yan like this. Considering his skill at playing ADC, it should be a clinch for Luocheng to beat Tinghua, who wasn’t much of an ADC himself—probably 7 points at best.

No, hold on… Something occurred to Lin Dong.

Tinghua was best known as a Jungler. For Luocheng to step into this particular duel against him, so that they could go Jungler vs. Jungler… wasn’t this the most blatant sort of challenge in return?

Tinghua sought to take from Luocheng his most treasured spot as world champion; Luocheng was going to humiliate Tinghua at his own specialty!

It all made sense now. Lin Dong finally realized that Tinghua’s presumptuous, discourteous manners today had caused Luocheng to well and truly lose his temper!

Now Luocheng was out to cut Tinghua down a notch, and rub his face into the dirt!

***

Zhou Yan examined the look in Luocheng’s eyes. Eventually, he rose from his seat, and ceded it to him.

Luocheng cast a look at Tinghua. The cocksure smile was gone from his face.

Tinghua himself wasn’t sure why he couldn’t keep up that provocative smirk any longer. Perhaps it was the vestiges of the past.

In the days of the original DOTA, Tinghua had also been this arrogant and bloodthirsty, picking fights with elite players across the land. There was only one person whom, if he didn’t fight him honestly with everything he had, he couldn’t stand a chance.

That person had just taken the seat opposite him. Even after all these years, he still unconsciously felt that sensation of dread.

He had to give this his absolute best, or else he’d be crushed to a pulp!

Last time, he’d been completely overshadowed by this person. There wasn’t a gamer in the world who didn’t know the name ‘F-Hawk’. Tinghua had always been jealous of him. Even as teammates, he’d never really warmed to Luocheng, until that one game…

But now, they were enemies once more.

It was better this way. Now, they could have themselves a proper showdown!