Chapter 213. The Skill To Give Up Vision (1)
Tako briefed them before the match about Solo Is Back.
"The most important thing we need to be cautious of is their mid-laner ForeverAlone, who’s a Challenger tier player. He lost in the scrims without being able to do anything because all the other lanes lost badly..."
The second thing was the other players’ overall improvement.
The match history on the screen was quite different from their scrim matches.
"Their lanes have all improved, so it's hard to calculate their strength level. Especially their bottom lane, the SoMaek duo."
The SoMaek duo was their bottom duo laners consisting of Soju and Maekju. Soju was in Platinum and Maekju was in Bronze, but they both recently ranked up a tier. Soju was in the same tier as Almond at Diamond IV, whereas Maekju had reached Silver I and was just shy of Gold.
"This isn't a common thing... There's a reason why they call ForeverAlone a prodigy. He must be talented in teaching as well. He did terribly when we were picking teams..."
Since Almond joined the tournament midway, he never got to experience the team selection phase. It was a fair system devised for teams to choose players from a variety of ranks. However, ForeverAlone didn’t know much about how the system worked because he was so young. As a result, he didn’t pick the best players.
He managed to train these players and brought their team to first place.
"The SoMaek duo went up by an entire rank, and the other laners are slowly ranking up as well."
Bubblegum was impressed and asked Tako, “Why don't you have talent in teaching?”
Tako responded, “Your talent in sucking outweighs mine.”
"Still, their overall rank is lower than ours. I'm just telling you guys to not lower your guards. It'll be a lot different from the scrims."
The briefing ended, and the champion selection phase began.
Solo Is Back's ban phase went normally. They banned Raina and Sana for Almond, and...
"Huh? Poison Rabbit?"
They also banned the Poison Rabbit, which confused the casters.
"This isn't a common ban, right?"
OrangeKing gave a prediction, "Ah, this is that. Don't confuse us!"
"What does that mean?"
The caster was confused because he had less knowledge of LIL than OrangeKing.
The analyst beside them added, "Poison Rabbit can go ADC, jungle, top, or any lane it wants. Picking it confuses the enemy team."
"Ah! I see! Since the opponent is Balloon Stars and their positions change often as well, it'll really mess with their heads!"
"That's right. And judging by the pattern, Tako always seems to pick Poison Rabbit when they play in their sub-positions. They're banning it to prevent that—"
"Ahhhh!" OrangeKing suddenly screamed. "Now that I think about it, I see another weird thing!"
"They didn't ban the Succubus!?"
Miho's Succubus outdid ForeverAlone multiple times in the past. She didn’t get a solo kill on him or anything like that. Still, she occupied a Challenger player as a Platinum player.
"Will this... be okay?"
"Why did they leave it open? This... means they want Miho to play mid, right? That's why they banned the Poison Rabbit as well, so it'll be difficult for them to change positions."
"That's right. It seems like they have a counter in mind."
"Anyways, I'm sure the viewers are curious why a Platinum Miho's Succubus is so dangerous for the opposing team."
The caster slowly flowed into the conversation as OrangeKing smirked and caught on to his thoughts.
"ForeverAlone, just like his nickname, has never had a girlfriend before."
"Ah! Everyone, it's not because of him! It's because he's so dedicated to this game!"
Laughter from the audience could be heard.
"There's nothing wrong with being single at his age. He's only 20, right?"
"That's right! What's the point of dating before then, right?"
"That's right, but he's such a healthy age... Too bad he's so into LIL!"
The audience laughed again. The chat was filled with LOLs as well. The camera panned and focused on ForeverAlone's expression. He had turned beet red.
"Ah! Tell us more! So what about him being single? What does that have to do with anything!?"
"Miho is famous for her looks, right?"
"There were lots of talk about how ForeverAlone couldn't do anything against Miho during the scrims!"
"Ah~ Do you think it's because of his lack of experience with girls?"
"Yes, especially for this game when Miho picks the Succubus. The genre of the game completely changes."
The caster couldn't hold in his laughter any longer, "Ahahahaha! T-That's right!"
"There's nothing ForeverAlone can do! I understand!"
"From the interview, apparently, he's gone through some harsh training."
"Yes, he purchased all of Miho's magazines and looked at it every day..."
"Is that really helpful!?"
"I'm not sure. It might just be an excuse."
"Ah! While we were talking."
"Balloon Stars has picked Succubus!"
"They've finally decided in the end. It's almost like the enemy team wanted them to pick it..."
"Yes. Something is suspicious about Solo Is Back, but it's hard to resist picking a main champion! Balloon Stars is most stable when Miho picks the Succubus, and Almond goes ADC!"
A pink light shined, and Miho's outfit changed. The crowd started mumbling.
"After hearing that he purchased all of Miho's magazines... maybe he made her pick the Succubus because he just wanted to see it! At least, that's what I think!"
"OrangeKing, Isn't that what you're thinking after seeing Miho's Succubus?"
— The caster is hilarious.
— No way. It’s OrangeKing we're talking about, but he's not that crazy.
— Honestly, good for us.
— ??? What's the point of winning the tournament!? I just want to see Miho's Succubus!
Following Miho's Succubus, StrawberryShooter picked the Beast, Tako picked the Fisherman, and Almond picked Ran. Bubblegum picked his main champion, Iron Ball.
"Now, the last pick remains."
"What will ForeverAlone pick?"
"Hmm... If he's simply picking a counter, he could pick the Illusionist or the Leprechaun... but ForeverAlone isn't struggling because of the champion skill."
"That's right! It's a different problem."
While the audience was filled with laughter again, ForeverAlone smiled.
[Blind Monk - Zygard]
The champion he picked was the monk with heightened senses from losing his eyes. It was Zygard.
"Ahhhh! How unexpected!?"
"That's crazy! He hasn’t even played in the middle lane!"
"He's really saying that he doesn't need to see to win!"
"Then why did he look at Miho's magazines?!"
The casters were excited because this champion was intended for top or jungle. Instead, ForeverAlone was using him in the middle lane.
— He's taking his vision out.
— ForeverAlone is giving up his sight!
— Monk middle lane??? The confidence of a Challenger...
"This is a very interesting champion pick phase. I'm curious what kind of gameplay they're going to show us. They're all ready! Let's go!"
The five summoners spawned into the fountain. While everyone quickly bought their items, Tako had a dark expression.
'I feel like we took the bait...'
Tako couldn't shake off the feeling that the opponent baited them. He felt that the enemy had something prepared. Still, he couldn't resist Miho picking Succubus and Almond picking Ran. That was a stable composition that they hadn’t lost with yet.
'I wonder how well it’ll go as the monk in the middle lane.'
Playing as the monk sacrificed one’s vision just like the champion. However, they gain a second sense that allowed them to see the waves of their opponent. The monk used his body to sense the enemy's movements.
The upside was that he could sense another champion's presence in bushes or beyond walls that would be impossible to see with eyes. However, the downside was that it was just silhouettes floating on a black screen. This was useful in the jungle because there were many walls and bushes, but it was useless in the plain middle lane.
In short, he only picked this champion to not see Miho. He was confident that he could win if he didn't see her. Would it work?
The game started without anything special happening. Each player did their own thing to prepare and implement their plans. There was no particular lane to focus on because nothing was happening.
Something occurred in the middle lane.
The monk sent out a shockwave attack that perfectly landed on Miho. Miho's body trembled as a loud sound echoed. She looked bewildered.
Meanwhile, ForeverAlone was calmer than ever. He figured out Miho’s location using his senses and landed another attack.
Then he activated his skill.
The monk blasted a shockwave toward his target.
He lacked vision, but his mobility was impressive. He could quickly move to where the shockwave landed. However, the shockwave needed to hit to move to the target.
The Succubus quickly ran back, but the shockwave was already on her. It followed her wherever she went. The monk quickly caught up and landed another attack.
The monk's kick landed perfectly.
The Succubus shot her pink spell at the monk. Pink light shone as she released the skill.
The monk ducked and dodged it.
'It's over,' ForeverAlone told himself.
He used the motion from ducking and kicked up like a spring. The kick landed perfectly on the Succubus’ chin.
“Ahhh! They're going up!”
“The combo is starting!”
Just like in a fighting game, the monk consecutively punched the Succubus in the air.
As the hits continued to land, the Succubus remained in the air.
The final kick tossed her lifeless body away.
Surprisingly, ForeverAlone landed another shockwave in the air.
He followed the Succubus and kicked her down.
“Wow!!! What a combo!!”
“What a beautiful thing to watch!”
“That's right! It's not just Miho's Succubus that's a treat to see. This is also a treat for gamers!”
“ForeverAlone is now so strong! It's like he's shouting, I'm a strong man!”
“Ah! He's raising a fist as if to say he's overcome this challenge!”
The crowd went wild as ForeverAlone celebrated.
— ForeverAlone! ForeverAlone! ForeverAlone!
— You're the hope for us singles, Jung Gi-Chan!!!
— Jung Gi-Chan! Jung Gi-Chan!
They even shouted his real name. However, they heard a louder cheer on the other side of the stadium.
[An ally has been slain!]
A familiar message darkened ForeverAlone's expression. He heard an announcement as he was about to check the map.
[LazySoldier double kill!]
“Almond!! He trapped the bottom duo under the turret and finally poked them down!”
“Is this really considered poking!? They seem like large hits instead of tiny hits!?”
“For the enemy, they're large hits to the face!”
This felt like deja vu for ForeverAlone. Bad memories started coming back. This always happened in the scrims. He barely beat Miho, but the bottom lane was already destroyed. ForeverAlone shook his head and waved those thoughts away.
'It's different this time.'
That was right. This time, it was different. Instead of barely beating her, he was doing well in his own right.
'I just need to kill them all.'
ForeverAlone could now carry them. Their ADC wouldn't be able to do anything against the monk.
After five minutes, Almond already achieved two more kills.
ForeverAlone's monk killed Miho and StrawberryShooter once, adding two more kills for him. He invaded the jungle after killing Miho and came out successfully.
"Ah, the mid-lane is the best in LIL, right? The map control he has is incredible!"
"And it's impossible to gank the monk!"
"Miho is falling behind, but so is StrawberryShooter!"
Just then, Solo Is Back's bottom turret exploded.
"The saviors of this game are going to be Tako and Almond!"
"Almond and Tako! They shoved the bottom turret in and are coming up mid!"
"ForeverAlone is trying his best to destroy the mid turret before that happens, but StrawberryShooter and Miho are resisting as best they can!"
ForeverAlone suddenly stopped kicking the turret. He felt a strong presence from his right.
Strong mana powered up from gold, and kills flew toward him.
"Ah! This'll be fun to watch. The two strongest players from each team are going to clash!!!"