Chapter 15: Dedicate Your Heart to the Captain!

Over at WBG.

Having successfully secured the second Rift Herald, the players immediately began rotating toward the middle lane, preparing to see if they had an opportunity to let the Herald crash into an outer tower.

However, while the main force rushed to the middle lane, The Shy did not follow immediately. Instead, he headed straight for his own team's raptors.

Typical The Shy.

Even if temporarily forced to alter his playstyle, he would ultimately return to the domain he was most familiar with—a paramount emphasis on his own personal farming.

Anyway, clearing a camp of raptors wouldn't take much time.

So he thought.

Little did he know.

Hidden in the brush right beside his raptors, Luo Ji had stealthily slipped in using his camouflage and was now watching with extreme composure as the Graves stepped closer and closer step by step.

The exact moment The Shy used his E to reposition and cast his Q onto the raptors, Luo Ji, who had been fishing for a long time in the bushes, finally made his move.

Q-A.

The boomerang followed by a basic attack landed, triggering his passive to grant a shield overhead while instantly resetting his E skill, [Heroic Swing].

With just a half-circle sweep, Akshan successfully swung around the wall and landed right behind Graves.

Luo Ji: "Don't look back, Shy Bro, I am Ultraman Mebius."

The Shy: "!!!"

The sudden appearance of Akshan in his own jungle not only gave The Shy a tremendous public scare, but also tipped off the rest of the WBG members in the mid lane.

Angel's Corki, still packing the Special Delivery package, chose to assist immediately.

However...

Over at the raptor camp.

Graves and Akshan had already successfully entered the second phase of their brawl.

Without his Q, The Shy's burst wasn't enough to instantly melt the Akshan in front of him, but Graves did have a smoke grenade, which briefly caused Luo Ji to lose vision.

No big deal, though.

Regardless of the situation, a Graves missing his Q could never defeat an item-advantaged Akshan. Enduring the damage from Graves's basic attacks all the way, Luo Ji emerged from the smoke screen to find the retreating figure of Graves launching his ultimate.

"Whoosh!"

Flash!

At this moment, the effect of the second item in his inventory besides Shieldbow—[Wit's End]—came into play.

By patch 9.7, this item had its utility reworked to grant attack speed and movement speed upon attacking.

According to the theory of Rift relativity, me speeding up is equivalent to you slowing down.

Relying on the bonus movement speed, interwoven with the passive of the "three-hit mechanism" (dealing extra damage on every third attack), another Q-A successfully procced Graves's Shieldbow passive.

By this point.

The Corki carrying the Special Delivery package finally arrived.

The mid lane wasn't far from the raptors, and the enhanced W skill, [Valkyrie], abruptly halted Akshan's pursuit momentum, violently shoving him aside under the impact of the package.

Yet...

He was too late!

R [Going Rogue].

The location was the jungle.

There were no minions here, no defensive towers, only a Corki who had just flown past on a package. Theoretically, there wasn't even a champion who could step in to help block the shots.

Locked in by the ultimate's targeting mechanism, a diamond-shaped frame slowly materialized over the Graves controlled by The Shy.

Followed closely by the sound—

"Pew pew pew pew pew pew~"

Angel tried his absolute best to block. Upon seeing Akshan unleash his ultimate on The Shy's Graves, he even burned his Flash to intercept the bullets.

Regrettably.

The advantage of Corki's package W lay in flying very far, and its disadvantage also lay in flying very far.

He flew right past.

Along with the successful discharge of the final stored bullet.

V5 Mebius killed WBG The Shy.

E skill passive: participating in the elimination of an enemy champion resets the cooldown of this ability.

Right in front of the opposing Corki who had just flashed back, aiming toward the furthest wall, the refreshed E skill [Heroic Swing] was activated once more!

Meanwhile, the lingering damage from Corki's package W successfully triggered the activation of his own [Shieldbow] passive.

The wind-wheel spun round and round.

Relying on the circular swing of his E skill, Akshan effortlessly pulled away from Angel's Corki, who had burned both his W and Flash.

[Dream!!!]

[Solo killing a world champion twice in a single game, every time brings a fresh feeling~]

[Too ruthless, he literally gambled that someone from the enemy team would come to take the raptors. He completely mastered The Shy psychology.]

[It is what it is, no one will wait for you forever—except the old-school camper, who can wait for you for a lifetime.]

The livestream chat was in absolute uproar!

Although The Shy's own performance that year was not entirely in top form, the traffic and attention he commanded were undeniably massive.

A solo kill on The Shy in this era.

Held an impact second only to solo killing Faker in solo queue across various esports leagues five or six years prior.

Furious, Angel prepared to pursue, but over team voice comms, a teammate's slightly panicked voice abruptly rang out:

"Fall back! Fall back! Fall back!"

"They're pressing up, stop chasing!"

The members of V5 were no fools.

Their top laner had seized an opportunity to pick off the enemy's The Shy and casually baited out the enemy Corki's package—if they didn't push forward now, wouldn't that make them teammates who abandoned their own?

Furthermore!

It wasn't just about pressing up.

As one of the engagement tools, PPGOD kept his eyes locked firmly on the opposing support Sett, who was standing the furthest back as the rear guard.

The moment Sett walked from the river into the brush connecting to the mid lane, the Nautilus player pressed Flash.

Immediately following.

His Q skill, [Dredge Line], landed with pinpoint accuracy.

The Nautilus had hooked the Sett!

After closing the distance, he unleashed his ultimate, [Depth Charge], targeting the absolute maximum range on Caitlyn!

Were they forcing an hard engage?!

Sofm was momentarily stunned. He couldn't figure out where V5's courage to engage came from. Launching an initiation from this far away meant Viktor's little legs wouldn't arrive at the battlefield until they had all already run away, and the only carry capable of following up on the output was a Zeri.

Did they expect Zeri to deal all the damage?

Sofm was baffled.

He simply cast his pillar E to zone and divide the terrain.

Soon enough.

He saw Xiaoyan's Zeri indeed rushing forward relying on her mobility not far away.

R [Surge of Light]!

A cascade of brilliant lights suddenly burst forth, instantly enveloping Zeri in bonus attack speed and movement speed. Facing Zeri's various electrical pokes under the safety of her movement speed tether, Sofm didn't take her seriously at first.

After all, their own team's Huanfeng practiced this champion quite a bit, and before completing three core items, she seemed to lack any meaningful damage.

However...

The moment Zeri's damage was fully distributed across the WBG members.

He began to realize something was wrong.

Why does your current come with skill visual effects?

Patch 12.2.

With the help of the transmigrator Luo Ji, Xiaoyan directly bypassed all the incorrect answers of the patch and began opting for the single correct build for Zeri upon her release: the Trinity Force, Runaan's Hurricane, and Titanic Hydra route!

Of course, at this juncture, he only possessed Trinity Force and Tiamat.

Yet the damage was already apparent.

It wasn't the tickle-damage Sofm had imagined it would be; rather, it packed quite a punch while remaining supremely agile.

Zeri's output was sustained.

As long as her basic attacks and skills hit, the duration of her ultimate could be extended up to double, and the champion's strengths began to manifest at this exact moment.

Other ADCs.

Spent nine seconds of a ten-second teamfight positioning, and the remaining one second getting blown up by the enemy's burst combo.

As for Zeri.

Relying on her high movement speed and an Ezreal-like kit, she could kite madly from a medium-long distance, supplemented by the passive of Lethal Tempo. With only Sofm's Trundle trying to restrict her, it was effectively equivalent to—

The enemy fundamentally unable to restrict her at all.

Sofm could only watch helplessly as Zeri transformed into a Lightning Mage, constantly zapping and shocking him.

Over on the other side.

Angel was piloting Corki, intending to rush back and assist his teammates, but before he could fully reach the frontline, he saw a flash of light in the distance.

The next moment.

Karsa's Xin Zhao successfully closed the gap.

Xin Zhao restricted Corki, Zeri kited Trundle, Nautilus locked down the enemy bot lane duo, and Rookie's Viktor was marching toward the battlefield.

Everyone on WBG knew this teamfight could no longer be taken.

Breaking free from Nautilus's CC, Caitlyn instantly used her E to back away while subconsciously dropping several traps on the ground in front of her.

Right now.

She had no E, no W, no teammates, and only a Flash remaining in her inventory.

Asking her to All-In?

That didn't fit the demeanor of the LPL's steadiest ADC.

So she planned it out nicely: she'd dish out a couple of basic attacks, toss out a Q, fire her ultimate, and then wait to see when the enemy Viktor arrived on the scene. The moment he showed up, she'd immediately initiate a strategic tactical retreat.

However...

Just as she squatted in place, attempting to emulate Akshan and play the "Nearsight game."

Behind her.

A familiar figure stepped out from the jungle once more.

Looking closely.

It was none other than the top lane Akshan with less than half health?!

The moment he caught sight of this figure, Huanfeng instinctively sensed that something was amiss, but his [Ace in the Hole] action was already crouched, his rifle loaded—how could he not fire?

Holding it in would burst a vessel.

With that single squat, Luo Ji's Akshan effortlessly utilized his spatial grappling gear to arrive right beside Huanfeng.

Luo Ji: "What lies on the other side of the sea?"

Huanfeng: "???"

No more hesitation.

As the E skill's "bullets" poured relentlessly into Caitlyn, Luo Ji landed, weaving basic attacks and Qs to pump damage into Caitlyn while watching Caitlyn's rifle barrel turn to target him right as her ultimate channeled to completion.

Their positions were practically chest-to-chest.

This scene was the legendary mid-lane duel of Division D players—a sniper battle across the middle lane!

"He actually didn't leave?"

"Is this guy completely devoid of fear of death?"

Right now.

Huanfeng still had his Flash available.

Yet he knew deep down that with Akshan right on top of him, even flashing wouldn't allow him to escape Akshan's ensuing pursuit.

This play.

It wasn't that he didn't want to run; rather, the enemy Akshan had cut off every single path of escape from the very beginning.

The victor lives, the vanquished eat dust.

Give your hearts to the commander!

"Oh my god!"

"Akshan has returned to the battlefield from behind enemy lines!"

"He still hasn't left! He's still dealing damage! [Heroic Swing] arrives right beside Caitlyn, and this time, only one of them is walking out alive."

He's nuts!

They're all nuts!

Yutong, caster at the desk, had completely lost his mind!

From sneaking solo into the jungle like a camper to ambush and assassinate The Shy's Graves, to resetting his skills on a kill for an extreme escape, and finally returning to the battlefield at low health for a 1v1 Western cowboy showdown with Caitlyn.

This Mebius guy—he's entirely too good at this!

Under Luo Ji's full-skill ALL-IN, in the end, both of them perished together: Caitlyn, lacking burst capability but sitting near full health, and Akshan, possessing burst capability but sitting below half health.

Corki was isolated, Caitlyn traded off, and Graves was still dead in the fountain without a respawn.

The remaining Trundle and Sett thoroughly became target practice for V5's main army, falling one by one under Xiaoyan's "Three Thousand Thundering Movements" divine technique.

A 1-for-3 trade!

Aside from Corki successfully escaping, the middle lane was littered everywhere with the corpses of WBG heroes.

V5 had gone completely berserk!

[Handsome, handsome, handsome!]

[Promising in the future? Right now is fine!]

[Only with the resolve to be killed are you qualified to pull the trigger. He gambled too boldly, trading one life for the enemy's two!]

[This is the light; he always appears before you precisely when you need him most. When normal, he's Mebius, but when abnormal, some unbelievably shady entity pops out.]

[Tiga: Don't call me.]

"Do you know you're about to take off? You played out of your mind this game!!!"

Inside the V5 player booth.

Karsa acted even more excited than Luo Ji himself.

This was The Shy after all. Granted, bullying The Shy right now felt a bit like picking on an old veteran, but the sheer volume of web traffic he commanded was massive. The kicker was that not only had he bullied The Shy, but he also hunted down and traded with the league's universally acknowledged hardest-to-kill ADC (Huanfeng).

The sheer gold content of this play.

He could already imagine how high the praise and adoration for Luo Ji would be after the match.

"Don't jinx it, this is only game one. What if my keyboard malfunctions with milk bubbling out in the upcoming matches?" Hearing Karsa's hype, Luo Ji quickly stepped in to cut him off.

Historically.

There had been countless instances of jinxing yourself with flags.

And it was proven that the more flags one raised, the more miserable the subsequent outcome. As a follower of the cautious-yet-brave school of thought, Luo Ji knew full well that journeys are walked step by step, meals are eaten bite by bite, and fortunes are earned coin by coin.

Mhm.

As far as he was concerned.

He was thoroughly satisfied with this game.

Upon discovering that WBG's players universally liked to snake around on solo lanes, Luo Ji gradually developed a style skewing heavily toward the extremes of shady play. After clearing waves, he would rely on his camouflage to prowl the jungle and river like an old-school camper.

For a time, he genuinely made WBG's life an absolute misery.

"This kid, his gaming emotional intelligence is ridiculously high."

Down below.

Nofe watched the grand screen where Luo Ji had virtually flawlessly orchestrated the entire sequence, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face.

The only point worthy of complaint.

Was that while his playstyle was shady, the moment he successfully caught someone, his execution immediately shifted to being somewhat overly fierce.

A normal Akshan playstyle.

Consisted of cowering in the back, waiting for teammates to do most of the work before stepping out to clean up kills and trigger the revival passive. Whereas his Akshan style was either ambushing people or brawling head-on, charging in faster than anyone and diving deeper than anyone else.

Placed on a modern battlefield.

He was the spitting image of a Soviet political commissar—the kind you could never hold back.

"The advantage has infinitely skewed toward us. We just need one more teamfight to snuff out WBG's last breath." Zero remarked from the side with deep emotion.

Compared to many veteran organizations, their team lost out in terms of player experience and lacked synchronization in team synergy, yet their execution was exceptionally high.

If they played strictly by the book, it would have taken at least half a season to stabilize at a four-game win streak like this.

Yet Luo Ji.

Relied purely on his wildly imaginative ideas and performances to forcefully accelerate the team's trajectory.

How could a player like this even exist?

Why wasn't there a player like this when he was playing professionally?!

As time elapsed.

The fourth elemental drake was also successfully secured under V5's massive advantage. After claiming this drake, Corki's poke threat was more than half neutralized.

Of course, that wasn't what WBG found most headache-inducing.

What truly drove them crazy was that.

As time ticked on, Luo Ji, who had previously been playing the ultimate shady style, suddenly reverted to a normal playstyle—his back stopped aching, his legs stopped hurting, and he even began actively grouping with the team.

And the root cause of all this was...

Zeri.

She had her three core items.