Chapter 59: WTF! A Rat

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: WTF! A Rat

As the countdown ended, both sides entered the loading screen.

Ally team: Luna, Gaia, Lady Sunfire, Yo-yo, Torvin.

Enemy team: Kaelan, Helen of Troy, Rhys, Yo-yo, The Old Master.

[Hey? Is the enemy Kaelan’s ID Quillon?]

[WTF! It is! I went and checked. They queued into Quillon! Quillon and Ariel are duo-queueing!]

[Sniping them already? Is Nico going to GG his very first game carrying Miss Innocent?]

[Nico: These fifty million feel too hot to handle.]

[They definitely matched!]

[That’s a movement-god Kaelan on the other side! He reached Rank One on the Peak Tournament with Kaelan!]

[It’s over. Nico is going to have a hard time this match.]

[I hope Nico can hold his ground!]

[Ariel’s Helen of Troy is no joke either. Both of them are playing their signature heroes. This match is going to be tough.]

[Ariel’s Helen of Troy is really accurate at pulling people. Paired with Quillon, it’s absolutely terrifying!]

[I hope the other side goes easy on them!]

[I feel bad for Miss Innocent. Her first duo match with Nico turned straight into a professional scrimmage.]

[Nico: I’ve never offended any of you.]

...

Everyone in the stream believed this match was unwinnable. Moreover, they had picked Luna, a hero that heavily tested a player’s mechanics and execution. The viewers flooded the chat with the same sentiment: this game was a lost cause.

Nico looked up at the chat. His face turned bitter when he learned that he had matched against Sharkstream’s Quillon and Ariel.

"A sudden extra training session, a sudden handicap... this is just too abrupt," he thought bitterly.

Nico informed Rian Sinclair about the matchup. "Miss Innocent, we queued into Sharkstream’s Quillon and Ariel."

"Who are they?"

Although Rian Sinclair played the game, her knowledge of streamers was limited to the most popular ones: The Great Archmage, Dreamtear, Lone Shadow, and Sword Immortal. She only knew a few professional players like Fly, Enoch, Cat, and Jochen.

"Quillon’s Kaelan is the perfect combination of mechanics and movement. He once pushed to the national leaderboard entirely through solo queue, and even reached Rank One on the Peak Tournament with Kaelan.

"Ariel is also a top-tier Glory player and high-ranking in the Peak Tournament. What’s more, she made her name playing Helen of Troy. Her Helen of Troy is the real deal."

After listening to Nico’s introduction, Rian Sinclair had a good grasp of the situation. However, she didn’t panic. She would face whatever came her way. Panicking was utterly useless.

As the loading screen ended, the ten players entered the game map.

"Welcome to Honor of Kings."

Rian Sinclair controlled Luna and headed toward the blue jungle camp.

Luna’s demand for the blue buff was immense. Therefore, as long as it was safe, there was no way she would give it up.

Fortunately, her team’s support came over to secure vision for her, forcing the enemy Quillon to retreat and take his own red buff.

Rian Sinclair quickly cleared the blue jungle area and immediately turned toward the red buff.

A Luna with her Ultimate and a Luna without her Ultimate were two entirely different heroes.

Normally, picking Luna meant facing early harassment in the blue jungle. However, the enemy didn’t invade. Perhaps out of mutual respect as fellow junglers, both sides allowed each other the space to farm and develop.

Rian Sinclair took the opportunity to reap the benefits.

"Huh?" Quillon thought in confusion.

After clearing the jungle monsters, Rian Sinclair reached level four. Seeing the enemy Rhys pushing aggressively in the bottom lane, she decided to make him her first target.

She guessed the enemy jungler was in his blue area and would definitely come to help his bottom lane marksman. Keeping that in mind, Rian Sinclair stayed alert, constantly watching for Kaelan’s appearance.

She stored her passive by using basic attacks while moving. Once her empowered basic attack was ready, she initiated the gank.

She marked the frontline Yo-yo with her Skill and immediately dashed over with her Ultimate. Noticing that Yo-yo’s passive was still active, Rian Sinclair refrained from using any crowd control Skills.

Instead, she used a basic attack on a minion to apply a mark. The moment the enemy Rhys saw Luna appear, he immediately used his Second Skill to dash backward and retreat.

Using the minion as a springboard, Rian Sinclair chased right after him with a flurry of moves: a basic attack, an Ultimate, her Second Skill, and another Ultimate.

Just on the brink of death, Rhys desperately pressed his Flash.

It was a classic "Death Flash."

A perfect example of "flashing into a new grave."

Rian Sinclair then controlled her hero to continue auto-attacking the Yo-yo behind her. She aimed to use Luna’s Crescent Moon Ultimate to dash through Yo-yo and reposition toward the river.

Then, she bypassed Yo-yo, gliding smoothly toward the minion wave behind her.

As a result, Kaelan’s One Skill knocked up nothing but empty air.

Seeing this, Quillon couldn’t help but be astonished.

"Did she just predict my prediction?" he wondered.

"WTF! There’s an expert here! Nico isn’t the only master in this match! Neither of them belongs in this elo," he realized.

Kaelan didn’t overstay his welcome and immediately turned to leave.

Rian Sinclair cleared the remaining cannon minion and subsequently secured the Tyrant.

To mitigate the loss, Kaelan took The Overlord in the top lane.

Watching Luna’s movements, Nico hadn’t expected Miss Innocent’s gameplay to be this flashy.

"That was absolutely badass!" he thought excitedly.

The viewers in the livestream were equally amazed by The Innocent Heiress’s mechanics, howling in excitement across the chat.

Rian Sinclair’s Yo-yo seemed to realize that Luna was the true carry. Abandoning the bottom lane marksman, she cast her Ultimate and attached herself to Luna’s head.

After securing the blue buff, Rian Sinclair’s Luna headed to the top lane to ambush the enemy.

In another livestream.

A man with strong, chiseled features looked down at his phone, frowning. "Ariel, the enemy Luna in this match is pretty solid."

Ariel’s voice rang out, slightly forced to sound cute but carrying a hint of irritability. "I noticed. I’ll lock onto Luna during team fights."

Quillon trusted Ariel, but he certainly didn’t trust their three randomly matched teammates.

He spammed the "Support, follow me" ping, but their support stubbornly remained in the bottom lane, sticking to Rhys.

Eventually, Quillon gave up and had no choice but to play patiently.

Ariel also noticed Luna showing her face in the top lane, with a Yo-yo in tow. This meant Quillon would have an even harder time operating this match.

Watching Quillon successfully ambush and kill Lady Sunfire in the bottom lane, Ariel couldn’t help but praise, "Nice play!"

As a result of her momentary distraction, she ate a full combo of Skills from Gaia. Although their equipment builds hadn’t fully formed yet, Ariel’s Helen of Troy was left with just a sliver of health. Fortunately, she wasn’t instantly one-shot.

Noticing that the enemy Gaia wasn’t pressuring the tower, Ariel eyed the minion wave, intending to carefully farm it. Keeping a wary watch on Gaia, she cleared the wave.

She then retreated between the first and second towers to recall.

While buying items, Ariel had just closed the shop window when she was suddenly marked by Luna’s One Skill.

And just like that, she was dead.

"F*ck your m*ther, you dog Luna! What a filthy camper!"

Ariel was completely used to swearing while playing games, so the fans in her stream were completely unfazed.

Naturally, Rian Sinclair had seen the enemy Helen of Troy getting greedy for the minion wave. Seizing the perfect opportunity, she effortlessly claimed the kill.

She had feigned a movement toward the top lane for a gank, but her real target had always been Helen of Troy in the middle lane. Rian Sinclair guessed correctly that her opponent wouldn’t abandon that wave.

The middle wave wasn’t just attractive to a jungler; it held a fatal allure for a mage.

Rian Sinclair then steered Luna to clear out Kaelan’s red jungle camp. On the other side, noticing Luna’s position, Quillon realized his red buff was a lost cause.

His only option was to invade the enemy’s red jungle, trading camps to minimize the gold deficit.

Coincidentally, Nico’s Gaia was hiding in the bottom brush of the red jungle. Seeing Kaelan appear, Nico let out a soft chuckle. "Gotcha."

Earlier, Nico had watched Miss Innocent head into the enemy’s red jungle without pressuring Helen of Troy, providing fake vision of going to the top lane.

He then circled around to his own red jungle to ambush Kaelan, who hated losing out on resources. He bet that the enemy Kaelan wouldn’t be able to resist taking the gold.

Nico’s Gaia had already set up two jelly blocks in their red jungle brush. The moment Kaelan appeared, Nico flashed over and used his One Skill to push him right into the blocks.

Brimming with confidence, Nico’s Gaia unleashed her Ultimate directly at Kaelan.

"Directive: Annihilation!"

"Bow down to civilization!"

Kaelan had assumed Gaia had rotated to the top lane. He never expected the enemy to give fake vision just to ambush him in the red jungle.

With a silky-smooth combo, Gaia instantly obliterated Kaelan.

"WTF! You filthy camper!"

Staring at his gray screen, Quillon was on the verge of suffering a total mental breakdown courtesy of this bush-camping Gaia!