League of Legends: League of Unknowns

By his second visit to the Blue Buff, Yu Luocheng had already attained Level 3. This meant he was much more efficient at wiping out the creep camps, and the second phase of his W-skill was useful for getting some health back. With the additional Lifesteal from Doran’s Blade, Luocheng was still holding on to one Health Potion.

As he walked past, he suddenly noticed that the Ancient Golem had vanished! The two Young Lizards were hurling bolts of magic into the nearby bush, where some portion of the colossal Ancient Golem could be seen spilling out of the brush!

That scoundrel was trying to sneak a quick one with the big daddy!

Luocheng knew Zhao Tinghua was a gambling man, which was why he made a point of always checking both Buffs after each camp he cleared.

Sure enough, Level 3 and he was making a solo attempt on the Blue Buff. If he succeeded, Luocheng would have to run for his life!

He scrambled over to send a Sonic Wave into the bush!

It was a hit, lighting up the critically wounded Ancient Golem—but the moment Luocheng’s skillshot made contact, Tinghua instantly threw down a ‘Tempest’ and finished it off!

Tinghua’s Lee Sin only had about one third of his health left. That had been the terrible price of challenging the Ancient Golem.

Luocheng had arrived just a little too late. A few seconds earlier, and he could very well have stolen the Buff for himself!

Getting the Blue Buff also meant that Tinghua was now at Level 4—and he was aware of Luocheng’s presence.

Without wasting a single moment, Tinghua whirled around and tossed his Sonic Wave towards the Wolves camp, using them to pull himself to safety. Just like that, Luocheng lost sight of him.

In a solo duel, it was forbidden to return to base. If Luocheng gave chase, he might be able to finish off his badly wounded adversary.

However, Tinghua was very cunning, and circled around the Wolves camp non-stop, buying time for his health to regenerate.

If he could get his health back up to two-thirds, he might be able to take Luocheng on. Each level gained not only meant improvements to all of a champion’s attributes, it also raised the effectiveness of skills, and even the Ignite and Barrier Spells. With two-thirds health and the Cooldown Reduction from the Blue Buff, he’d be more than a match for Luocheng’s Level-3 Lee Sin!

Holding down the Tab key, Luocheng confirmed that Tinghua had already used up all his Health Potions.

Rather than run after him, Luocheng doubled back to his side of the jungle. With the aid of his last Health Potion, he had to get himself to Level 4 as soon as possible, or else he’d have serious trouble with their next fight.

Back on his side of the river, Luocheng quickly sent the Wraiths to their final rest, but doing so didn’t really give him all that much XP. He’d have to take down his own Buff monster if he hoped to level up in time.

There was the Lizard Elder, right before his eyes. The way things were going right now, whoever got the Red Buff would basically win the game. Augmenting attacks with True Damage and a Slowing effect, it was the ultimate weapon.

The problem was that neither Tinghua nor Luocheng felt ready to tangle with the Lizard Elder, who enjoyed the benefits of its own Red Buff. If either one of them engaged it in battle, and then the other player crashed the party, that would be game over.

Having brought a swift end to the Wraiths, Luocheng was on his way over to the Golems camp when he bumped into a Level-4 Lee Sin!

Tinghua had recovered up to three-quarters of his maximum health. As his gaze fell over Luocheng, there was the unmistakable air of killing intent!

“Hah!” Tinghua unleashed his attack as though he’d been lying in wait for awhile. His Sonic Wave struck Luocheng right in the face!

Luocheng couldn’t get clear in time. As he got hit, he heard the enemy Lee Sin belt out a spirited cry, and then saw him soaring in like a cruise missile!

He was diving in for the attack! Knowing he had Cooldown Reduction from his Blue Buff, Tinghua was going all-out.

Luocheng glanced at his current health. Under the circumstances, there was no hope of disengaging!

Wham! He slammed a palm into the ground with all his might, throwing out a violent shockwave that caught Tinghua as he came flying in!

Punch, kick! Then he used ‘Cripple’ to Slow his opponent down!

Whirling with fist and foot, Lee Sin unleashed a combined outburst of willpower and brute strength, throwing up a storm of dirt and grass, and causing all the nearby wildlife to bolt in terror!

The skills came out one after another, both players exhibiting flawless control over the smallest details, both bringing Lee Sin’s full damage potential to bear!

They even continued to move throughout the brawl, which carried all the way over from the Golems camp to the lair of the Lizard Elder!

“Did he just… It looks like Skycrown’s coach messed up, there. One of his basic attacks seems to have tagged a Young Lizard guarding the Red Buff!” Qi Qiao said. “How could he make such a drastic mistake?”

Luocheng was fighting a retreating battle, but when he reached the bush outside the Red Buff, he suddenly attacked one of the Young Lizards guarding the Lizard Elder. No one could make sense of it. Although Blood Eagle was still just a little out of reach, that didn’t mean he ought to just waste one of his strikes on a minor creep like that!

Just as everyone was thinking that this might be Luocheng’s last mistake, he suddenly threw down a ward and then hopped over to it using ‘Safeguard’, placing himself behind Tinghua just as the latter was entering the bush himself.

No sooner had Tinghua stepped into the brush than he was confronted with a furious Lizard Elder!

At the same time, Luocheng attacked him from behind, boxing him in!

“He’s making the monsters fight for him!” Lin Dong and Xiao Bei exchanged looks of astonishment and exhilaration.

Wasn’t that none other than Luocheng’s signature tactic?

During the quarter-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup, Luocheng had inexplicably provoked Baron Nashor, ultimately causing Orianna’s demise.

In his duel against Shallow Dream, he’d caused the Dragon to turn its Slowing effect against his opponent.

This time, he was using a Red Buff-enhanced Lizard Elder to provide damage support in a pincer attack against Tinghua!

Luocheng was always doing things that no one else would have ever thought of, which was the real reason why so many were terrified of him!

Upon the screen, the Lizard Elder was seen switching over to attack Tinghua, and a hubbub arose from the audience.

Having just accused Luocheng of committing a serious blunder, Qi Qiao was momentarily at a loss for words.

Why did this remind her so much of that time, during the Coca-Cola Cup, when a certain commentator jeered at Vayne for ‘mistakenly’ attacking Baron Nashor, only to bear witness to a jaw-dropping turnaround kill.

The same scenario was playing out right now: Provoke the Lizard Elder, and then direct its attacks upon one’s own enemy!

“Unbelievable… Team Skycrown’s coach has shown something new to our number one Jungler, Blood Eagle!” Zhang Aijing was barely able to contain her excitement at the moment.

This F-Hawk was definitely worth more than seven points on his Individual Ability Index. Sometimes, he even proved to be thinking ahead of Tinghua: cooldown-timing gaps, taking advantage of wild creeps… all of these tactics had caught Tinghua off guard!

Pummeled by the Lizard Elder, Tinghua’s health plummeted away rapidly!

He was about to lose this one, because in another two seconds, Luocheng’s Ignite would be available again! That would be the last nail in his coffin!

Glancing at his own skill cooldowns, Tinghua grit his teeth and performed a lightning-quick ward jump!

Fleeing from the combined assault from Luocheng and the Lizard Elder, Tinghua was now on his last fifty-or-so HP!

Anticipating this move from Tinghua, Luocheng had already been moving in that direction in between his attacks.

Three seconds until his Q-skill was ready again! Two seconds for Ignite! Either way, Tinghua was about to become dead meat!

Separated by a distance of less than five hundred units, his target was totally within range of the Ignite Spell—and he’d just used his Safeguard!

This would be the end of Zhao Tinghua!

One second left!

Half a second!

Luocheng’s finger hovered over the F key, ready to Ignite!

“Hah!” Suddenly, Tinghua threw his Sonic Wave off to the side… towards the Golems camp!

Luocheng’s heart missed a beat. That scoundrel was going to use the Golems to leap to safety!

Sure enough, the next thing that happened was Tinghua taking flight with the second phase of his Q-skill. This carried him over the long stone wall to the south, and he alighted on the other side with a perfect landing!

Luocheng’s Ignite was ready—but Tinghua had gotten away, right from underneath his nose!

No way Luocheng was going to let that pass.

One second later, his Q-skill came off cooldown, and Luocheng sent his own Sonic Wave towards the Golems!

Soaring over there in hot pursuit, he arrived at the far side just in time to spot Tinghua circling right back around towards the Red Buff again!

“Cunning dastard!”

Then he was lost to sight once more, and Luocheng had no one to use his Ignite on.

Always missing by inches, although Luocheng was obviously one move away from checkmate. It only served to incite him further!

***

For a while now, the whole audience had been in the grip of a dead silence. Occasionally, an excited gasp issued from one of the commentators.

Luocheng’s use of wild creeps as impromptu allies had been a stroke of blinding brilliance, but Tinghua’s death-defying escape to the Golems camp had been equally stunning!

Earlier, when both Lee Sins had been hunting through the shadows for one another, the crowd had already been on the edge of their seats. When they finally clashed for real, it was as though the screen had exploded in their faces. In terms of precision, savagery, and cunning, both players were a spectacle to behold. One used ferocious beasts to his advantage; the other danced upon the threshold of death’s door. Who knew that a solo duel could be such thrilling stuff!

Moreover, every skill used was a masterpiece. As they collided, dodged, and soared about, one couldn’t help but imagine the following scene:

In the skies above the treetops, a hawk and an eagle rode upon violent winds, tearing at each other with razor-sharp claws, flitting aside with a flick of their wings… they’d descend through the canopy and into the midst of the trees, fresh blood painting everything in crimson!

***

“I’ll be damned, is this really that Support player from Shanghai University?” Huang Lin of Fudan University stood staring up at the screen in disbelief.

After their defeat, Team Fudan had continued to hang around. Lin Dong and Da Luo’s solo duels against Blood Eagle had already been an eye-opening sight—but watching Yu Luocheng go up against Zhao Tinghua, it was a thrill beyond words to describe!

All this while, they’d felt that as a bunch of university students, being able to come close to a first-class standard was already something worth bragging about… who would have suspected that Shanghai University had been harboring a freak of nature who could stand up to the Blood Eagle to this extent!

Thank the heavens he’d only been playing Support during the University League! Any other position, and that inhuman level of skill would have allowed him to skin their Jungler alive! After all, the Blood Eagle who was going solo against him right now was nothing less than the universally recognized king of Junglers in all of China… and he was running for dear life!

Now that they thought about it, it had been a blessing that Luocheng hadn’t been playing for Team Skycrown during this LPL pre-season tournament…

… if he’d been there, Team Fudan wouldn’t need to bother playing at all!