Chapter 61: The Dust Settles, WE Goes Completely Wild!

WE backstage lounge.

Redmi currently wore a grim expression.

He had anticipated that their team composition would fall behind in the early game, but he never expected the deficit to be this massive.

The situation was completely out of control now, and a total collapse could happen at any second.

What puzzled him the most was that EDG's pacing had always leaned toward being steady, which was why he opted for a protect-the-carry composition. Yet the tempo EDG displayed in this game was suffocating, even to someone of his caliber.

"What on earth happened to EDG? Their playstyle has changed so drastically..."

Redmi was utterly baffled.

...

Meanwhile.

With a Statikk Shiv completed, Yasuo's farming speed multiplied exponentially.

Xiye's Karma still could not move, locked down in the mid lane, which in turn caused Condi's jungle to be completely counter-jungled and ravaged.

When the mid lane provides no presence, the jungler typically struggles to make plays as well.

Especially since Condi was playing Kha'Zix in this match; he could only farm in silence and completely failed to find any tempo.

Mostly because he didn't know who to gank.

Condi seriously doubted that if he leaped onto Kalista's face, he might not even be able to win the fight.

When an assassin cannot defeat the backline, the utility an assassin can provide drops to virtually zero.

Playing it safe, Condi prioritized evolving his W skill first.

Since he couldn't get in, he might as well use the W skill to poke from afar.

The entire WE team had now adopted a turtle shell posture.

In contrast, EDG's aggression not only refused to stop but intensified further.

Chen Yan would group up with Jarvan IV immediately after clearing his lane, roaming to support the side lanes.

Two minutes later, WE's top lane tier-one tower was also demolished, leaving only a lonely mid lane tier-one tower standing.

Once the top lane tower fell, Kog'Maw and Lulu rotated to the mid lane to farm safely.

EDG attempted to push down the mid lane.

However, during the mid lane push, WE offered fierce resistance.

Kalista had a short attack range, making it difficult to chip away at the defensive tower's health.

Moreover, due to the unique geography of the mid lane tier-one tower, pushing it required winning a teamfight beforehand.

"Let's slow down a bit and look for opportunities gradually," Clearlove suggested.

Chen Yan immediately vetoed the idea.

Despite their massive gold advantage right now, Chen Yan knew clearly that this gold was illusory.

If they gave WE even a moment to breathe, WE could still easily pull off a comeback.

Because only Kog'Maw needed gold on WE's side; whether the others had high or low gold had little impact.

Therefore, every minute EDG delayed gave Kog'Maw another minute of scaling time.

They had to use thunderous methods and deny WE any breathing room.

"Dive them directly!" Chen Yan made his decision.

The EDG members were taken aback.

This decision was far too aggressive—more aggressive than any team they had ever witnessed.

A few of them felt somewhat worried.

The risks of diving a tower were simply too high; if the teamfight went poorly, the consequences would be unimaginable.

However, Chen Yan's mind was made up, giving his teammates no room for rebuttal.

"Rumble, push out your lane and head toward mid. We're fighting in the middle."

"Bot lane, initiate on their bot lane first. It doesn't matter if you absorb tower aggro and die."

"Just don't chicken out!"

Under Chen Yan's direction, Mouse's Rumble moved from the river toward the mid lane.

Meiko cleared all vision around the mid lane.

From a spectator's perspective, WE's map was practically pitch black.

Clearlove's Jarvan IV quietly concealed himself in the F6 camp within WE's jungle.

"EDG is making a move on the mid lane!"

Doll and Miller saw everything clearly.

"WE's mid laner needs to go over and defend; Kog'Maw and Lulu alone cannot hold it."

"They're going, they're going! WE has realized it too."

On the screen, Nautilus and Karma abandoned catching side waves and bolted straight for the mid lane.

However, because they were the ones reacting to the wave, their movements were slightly slower than EDG's.

By the time they arrived, the skirmish in mid had already broken out.

Thresh transformed into a spirit ball, sucked into Kalista's hand.

Thresh hurtled straight toward the faces of Kog'Maw and Lulu.

"They're diving like this?!"

Doll and Miller were somewhat shocked.

Although they knew EDG was targeting mid, they didn't expect the execution to be so crude and violent—a hard tower dive.

Mystic reacted quickly, flashing to evade Thresh.

Yet the moment he burned his flash, Jarvan IV burst out from the F6 alcove.

"Demacia!"

Jarvan's ultimate slammed down, trapping the flashless Kog'Maw inside.

Simultaneously, a rain of fire descended from the skies, landing right inside Jarvan's cataclysm.

"Oh! Kog'Maw doesn't have flash!"

"Rumble's ultimate damage is fully applied."

"Save him! Someone save him quickly!"

WE fans were dying of anxiety watching this.

Rumble's ultimate damage was no joke; Kog'Maw's health bar was depleting at a visible rate every single second.

"Grow, grow, grow!"

Fortunately, Lulu bought some time with a shield and her ultimate.

Karma arrived just in time as well, granting Kog'Maw a shield and finally keeping him alive.

Yet it was useless; Kog'Maw was already down to a sliver of health and devoid of combat power. After outputting mere moments of damage, he was collected by Jarvan.

"Knock them up! Hit the knockup!"

Chen Yan was getting anxious, continuously waiting for his teammates to land a knockup so he could enter the fray.

As a result, his teammates failed to land a single knockup...

Following Kog'Maw's demise, WE had no heart to linger and chose to retreat, sacrificing Lulu in the process.

The moment WE retreated, the mid lane defensive tower fell as well.

"How was my initiation?" Clearlove immediately fished for praise.

His teammates showered him with compliments.

"Am I invisible here?" Chen Yan was speechless.

He had expected his teammates to knock up a few targets so he could fulfill his mission.

Now it seemed he still had to rely on himself.

...

Following this skirmish, all of WE's outer towers were lost.

The biggest impact was on WE's vision; without outer towers, EDG entering WE's jungle was like walking through their own backyard.

Whenever a WE member was caught isolated, EDG would hunt them down.

WE's members realized they could no longer allow EDG to snowball like this.

"Let's fight them head-on."

Seeing the depressing atmosphere within the team, 957 stepped up as captain and said, "If we can secure a few kills for Kog'Maw in teamfights, we still have a chance. If we keep playing like this, the gold gap will only grow wider."

Gold differences are invisible during matches; players have to rely on estimation.

And players typically estimate conservatively, leading WE's members to feel as though the gold gap had reached an insurmountable chasm.

Seeing that his teammates raised no objections, 957 grouped up with them.

At the Rift Herald pit.

WE proactively engaged EDG.

The frontlines of both teams tangled immediately.

Chen Yan first used his Q to stack up a tornado. Upon generating the whirlwind, he EQ'd Nautilus while flashing directly into WE's backline.

Kog'Maw and Lulu were instantly knocked airborne.

Having farmed for so long, Yasuo had already completed his Infinity Edge.

Synergizing with Yasuo's passive, his critical strike chance reached one hundred percent.

The damage output was utterly incomprehensible.

The instant he landed from his ultimate, Chen Yan E'd onto Lulu's face, executing Lulu first.

Lulu had dumped all her spells onto Kog'Maw.

Chen Yan erected a counter-windwall to block the remaining spells from others, then dashed onto Kog'Maw's face for a frenzy of slashes.

"Double kill!"

"Yasuo! Yasuo is going off!"

"One slash per kill! WE's backline has been completely shredded by Yasuo!"

Doll and Miller were emotionally charged.

Cheers erupted from the live audience in successive waves.

"Ace."

Until WE was aced, not a single member of EDG had died.

Immediately following, EDG smoothly claimed the Rift Herald.

In this patch, there was only one Rift Herald, and it would scale up over time.

Thus, everyone targeted the Herald right around the twenty-minute mark.

Just as EDG finished taking the Herald, Baron Nashor spawned.

After respawning, WE didn't even bother contesting the Baron pit.

With Kalista on the enemy team, even Condi, dubbed the Dragon King, held zero aspirations for the Nashor.

As the sound effect of Baron being slain echoed, anyone with eyes could tell that WE was at the end of their rope; losing the match was merely a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Chen Yan checked his quest progress list.

The rapid parry quest had been completed.

Multi-target knockups: 2/3.

Windwall damage mitigation had also surpassed 7,000.

"Just a little bit more."

"I should be able to finish it before taking down their base."

Carrying the Baron buff, Chen Yan split-pushed a side lane while the rest of EDG pressed forward from the center.

What Chen Yan failed to anticipate, however, was that WE's members had completely lost their minds at this juncture.

Watching the split-pushing Yasuo, Xiye's eyes turned crimson. "Kill him!"