Chapter 244. Another Stolen Penta Kill (2)
After Yul destroyed the first turret in the mid lane, the other turrets followed one by one.
[Turret has been destroyed!]
[Turret has been destroyed!]
Whenever Solo Is Back rushed to counter them, Tako and Almond had already left.
Those two moved separately from the other members like lone wolves and didn't engage even when Solo Is Back tried to instigate a 5 vs. 5 fight. They acted like terrorists and simply destroyed the turrets.
"All the top and mid lane turrets have been destroyed, haven't they?"
"The gold difference between Solo Is Back and Balloon Stars must be quite big since gold is rewarded to the enemy team when a turret is destroyed! War is all about money! Same for LIL!"
"Yes, I can see the gold difference getting bigger and bigger!"
The two teams hadn't properly fought each other, but the differences in the items they bought from the shop were clear.
"Balloon Stars is buying Chanel purses while Solo Is Back is barely affording backpacks! This won't be good for the team at all!"
The difference wasn't as huge as OrangeKing described, but it slowly grew.
"Money will backfire on you eventually!"
Solo Is Back eventually decided to gather in the mid lane and charge in.
"Ah! Solo Is Back! They have no choice but to gather all five members and charge the mid lane!" the caster exclaimed with a sigh.
The caster knew little about LIL, but he could see the shadow of defeat. He looked down at the entire map and saw the two monsters closing in from behind Solo Is Back.
"This is the true terror of the Sa-Yul combination. They make the match seem as if nothing else is possible other than a 5 vs. 5 fight. However, when it actually comes to that..."
OrangeKing's explanation was cut off.
[Ultimate Skill - Shadowless]
Tako's body emitted a red aura as he sprinted.
"Ah, Shadowless has been activated!"
"Shadowless means there are no more shadows! You'll soon understand as you see it!"
Tako instantly left multiple afterimages. His speed was bending the space around him.
[Speed has increased by 350%]
[Damage has increased by 400%]
[Duration: 10 seconds]
The name Shadowless originated from this.
The samurai didn’t leave any shadows wherever he passed.
Several sword strikes scratched the enemy's back at an undetectable speed.
"What?!! Pollock! His HP has gone down by half?"
"Tako caught him from behind!"
"Solo Is Back! They’re focusing their fire on Yul!"
All the Solo Is Back champions turned toward Yul and unleashed their skills.
Countless hard-to-describe skills imbued with killing intent tore through Yul.
[Ultimate Skill - Faith]
An arrow on the bowstring turned red as blood.
Almond aimed at Tako from afar while Tako whipped through the enemy lines at a speed that left afterimages.
Could Almond make it? That was the question on everyone’s mind.
Almond released the bowstring without any hesitation.
The arrow cleanly flew and pierced the back of Tako's head.
[Target will become invincible for 3 seconds!]
A refreshing white aura surrounded Tako, and all the enemy attacks bounced off.
"Wow! Takoyaki survived with a sliver of health left! Now he’s invincible!"
Almond continued shooting Light Arrows. No matter how fast Tako moved, Almond's arrows never missed.
[Holy Blessing Protects You!]
Tako's health steadily rose while he was invincible.
Another arrow struck Takoyaki.
"No way. Is he really shooting Light Arrows from that...distance...?"
"Sana usually gets a little closer to Yul when shooting in the Sa-Yul combo, but Almond is still shooting from maximum range! There's no way they can kill Almond from that distance!"
From the enemy's perspective, Sana was healing Yul at a very annoying distance to counter.
Normally, some arrows would have missed and made it possible to kill that bald menace.
[Holy Blessing Protects You!]
However, the arrows didn’t miss at all.
In the meantime, Yul swung his sword several more times, and Pollock fell to the ground.
[An enemy has been slain!]
Next was Soju, who was right next to Pollock.
The Acceleration effect activated on Yul's sword, which instantly killed the ADC within a few seconds.
[Takoyaki Double Kill!]
"Woah! Solo Is Back's ADC just died!?"
"No, this can't be true!"
Takoyaki's invincibility finally ended.
"It's time! Hit him now!"
"ForeverAlone, use your ultimate skill!"
ForeverAlone cast his ultimate skill, Rope Choke, on Takoyaki.
It was one of the strongest skills against a single target. The ropes crossed around the enemy to strangle them and dealt huge damage while immobilizing them. The only downside was that it often missed the target.
However, ForeverAlone was a Challenger. Unbeknownst to anyone, Rope Assassin was also his hidden card. There was no way he would miss.
Takoyaki was suppressed.
His HP instantly decreased by 70% because all the other team members had attacked at the same time with ForeverAlone.
[Target cannot be attacked!]
Again, all their attacks were nullified.
"Ohhhhh! Almond shot his ultimate skill at Tako again?!"
Almond made Takoyaki invincible again. Sana's ultimate skill consisted of three arrows in total. Almond had used two of them so far.
"He really shoots conservatively! Naughty Nuts!"
From the enemy's perspective, the timing of his ultimate skill was impeccably annoying. For that reason, a few members started running to catch Almond.
However, Takoyaki wasn't just going to watch them.
Takoyaki instantly charged in a straight line and swung his sword. The two running toward Almond helplessly fell.
[Takoyaki Quadra Kill!]
[Takoyaki → RiceWine]
Only ForeverAlone remained in the lane.
"Tak-Takoyaki with a quadra kill?!"
"I can't believe I'm watching this right now!"
Takoyaki turned around and glared at ForeverAlone.
[Ultimate Skill, Shadowless, Has Ended]
Shadowless ended, but killing the last enemy alone would be a piece of cake.
ForeverAlone also seemed to have realized that the game was over and showed no intention to run away.
Instead, he threw his rope toward Takoyaki and charged in.
"It's do or die for ForeverAlone now!"
"Either he catches Takoyaki, or the game is over!"
ForeverAlone's big sword and Takoyaki's scimitar crossed as blood scattered. Immediately afterward, both turned and swung their swords at each other again.
Some strikes clashed and neutralized each other, but others slashed and stabbed at vitals. Though it seemed evenly matched, the damage difference was apparent.
ForeverAlone's health hit rock bottom first.
An arrow from Sana pierced ForeverAlone's forehead and ended it.
[LazySoldier → ForeverAlone]
"Wait a moment," OrangeKing momentarily paused and listened carefully.
Almond seemed to be saying something.
Ju-Hyeok suddenly stood up while watching the game.
"Wow. That guy really holds a grudge."
Soon, he burst into laughter.
"He was definitely annoyed by ForeverAlone!"
Ju-Hyeok could immediately tell that Almond did that on purpose.
Ju-Hyeok recognized the tone of the voice.
It was when Sang-Hyeon used his ultimate skill of attractiveness. He frequently used this when a superior was scolding him.
From Ju-Hyeok's perspective, Sang-Hyeon knew how to use his attractiveness and get away with things.
“Hmm? What? Penta kill? Haha, that could happen anytime! Our ace did it, after all! Haha! I don't care about such things as long as we beat them!”
As expected, Tako brushed it off as if missing a penta kill was nothing special to him. He didn't desire it much and mostly played as a supporter or jungler.
“It was so fun using such a nostalgic combo!!”
Tako was only interested in winning, and the match already ended with their victory. That was all that mattered to him.
Solo Is Back used their strategy time for twenty minutes before the third match to make up for their previous two losses, but...
“Wow, how could that be... The game ended 3-0.”
The next game also resulted in a complete victory for Balloon Stars. The strategy time had been of no use for Solo Is Back.
“Ah, Solo Is Back... Despite calling coaches for their strategy time, they’re sadly going home.]
“On the contrary! Balloon Stars! Advances to the finals!?!”
“Exactly~! OMG~! This is finally happening. The showdown between SweetRadish and Almond!!”
The semi-final ended much easier than expected. Balloon Stars advanced to the finals without any special hidden cards or tactics.
The audience loudly cheered when Almond waved after the game.
— Almond! Almond! Almond!
— Wow! Love you! Almond!
— When I grow up, I want to be Almond's wrapper!
Many more fans than before wore Almond hats and held Almond balloons.
Ju-Hyeok looked over the crowd with a satisfied smile and returned to the monitor. The screen showed a chat between Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah. The topic was mainly about how to edit the tournament videos, and...
"What should we do about this?"
Balloon Stars didn't need any particular feedback after the match. They had three days until the final, so there was plenty of time to prepare.
"Great work, everyone! Let's just rest at home today! Let's practice hard again starting tomorrow!"
The team members cheered as if it was the last day of school.
Almond also looked happy, especially because Tako complimented him many times today.
"You rocked today, Almond."
Tako didn't skimp on praising him until the end.
"If you joined this world a little earlier, you could've tried playing in a professional league."
Of course, Tako didn't know that Almond had already been in a professional scene before. That was why Sang-Hyeon was late to playing LIL.
Sang-Hyeon didn't want to step into the professional world anymore unless he could settle his regrets regarding archery. Still, he enjoyed the praises and the possibility of becoming a professional player. Rather, he felt the happiest with these types of compliments.
"Nah, I'm not good enough."
He said so, but his lips curled into a smile. The funniest thing for Almond was always winning.
"Haha, honestly, you could even join the professional leagues right now. However… it’s entirely different from being a streamer."
"True, but I like being a streamer anyway."
Sang-Hyeon had reaffirmed his resolve to walk the path of a streamer after meeting with Hyeon-Ju.
Memories would remain as memories. He decided to keep it that way, and he was able to keep it that way.
At least, that was what he thought until he came out of the capsule and saw Ju-Hyeok watching a video.
"Huh...? When did you come out? Wow... that capsule doesn’t make a sound when it opens."
"What's this? Why are you watching this?"
Ju-Hyeok was watching a video of Sang-Hyeon's gold medal days in archery.
Ju-Hyeok seemed flustered and tried to avoid eye contact with Sang-Hyeon.
Sang-Hyeon headed to the bathroom and ignored Ju-Hyeok, but he felt something odd about the video.
'Isn't that video different from the one I have?'
It was shot from a different angle and didn’t look like the other videos broadcasted by the local media. The footage looked handheld like someone personally recorded it.