Chapter 128: Ultimate (2)
Meanwhile, someone on Almond's team was reviving at the fountain. It was his mid-laner, VietADC.
"I shouldn't have gone top," he shouted for everyone to hear while frowning. "Fucking troll. I should've known from the champ select."
The toxic ones were usually bad at the game as well.
CoolChampion was the username of the one who insulted Almond for being Level 1.
"I should've known from the childish username."
VietADC didn't know CoolChampion's actual age, but was sure his mental age was at most fifteen because the top lane gap was so big that the enemy had farmed enough to win a 1v3.
"How is a 1v3 possible? 1v3?!"
Since the enemy got a triple kill, they'd be more powerful now.
[Smebu is unstoppable!]
[Smebu -> CoolChampion]
The announcement echoed again. It was their ally, CoolChampion dying.
"Sigh... Mid and top turret is going to be gone."
Smebu was the enemy top laner. Being unstoppable meant that he was getting stronger and stronger. The game sounded over until...
[LazySoldier double kill!]
[LazySoldier is unstoppable!]
Another unstoppable summoner appeared.
"What the... is it the Raina from earlier?"
It was Raina. After growing stronger in the bottom lane, she was quite powerful herself. If the enemy's hope was in the top laner, theirs was on the bottom lane.
A Level 1 player was their hope. It seemed bleak.
'If a shitty Raina player gets kills early, it'll be bad in the late game...'
Since VietADC's main role was ADC, he knew better than anyone that it was easy to pick up kills early on. If it were all luck, it'd become obvious during the mid to late game.
What mattered was the damage dealt as an ADC. If that were low, the game was doomed.
'Well, at least they defended mid.'
The results looked good for now. VietADC went back to mid, reassured that the mid turret still stood.
***
The support shouted with their jaws on the floor, "Wow! Mr. Soldier! Who are you?!" They spat everywhere while shouting excitedly, "T-This is seriously next level!"
The gameplay Almond showed was unbelievable. How could the ADC fight against the jungler and mid-laner in a 1v2? It was clear that mechanics played a heavy part in LIL's gameplay.
A player would usually die in a situation like that, especially if they were an ADC. Instead, the other two players died.
It wasn't their fault either. The only mistake was Kaizad missing their skill against Almond because of his feint, but even that mistake was caused by Almond's evasiveness. It was all due to Almond's skills.
"... Are you using a bio-code glitch or something?"
The support kept asking and stuck beside him.
— I think that guy wants to duo with him, LOL
— For real
— This is why tools need to stay in their place~
— Obviously, the support wants to duo with him, LOL
"... No."
"Then have you reincarnated or something? How's this possible?"
"Haha... Let's just push mid."
— Talk to the support, LOL
— Poor support...
— Hey! Why is a tool talking to the king?! Hmph!
As VietADC joined them, they could easily destroy the enemy mid-turret. Almond received a large amount of money again.
[Recall]
He recalled back to the base and purchased items. He just bought the items Raina recommended. Almond felt much stronger now.
[None of them can stop you, except for their top laner.]
Raina reassured him that he grew stronger. Afterward, he peacefully farmed for a bit.
Tang. Tang.
All he had to do was land the arrows just before the minions died. It was the most relaxing time on the battlefield. Almond used this time to talk to the chat.
"Ah, the game's finally quiet now."
The interval of fights in LIL was much more frequent than in Battle Large. In one round of LIL, a player could fight with the enemy hundreds of times.
It was difficult for a beginner like Almond to play and stream simultaneously. He had to communicate with his viewers at least while he farmed.
— He's finally talking to us.
— Can't blame him. He's super focused.
— He's nervous because it's his first round.
— AlHa! Almond hai!
— You were so cool earlier!
As Almond started reading, the chat increased.
"Ah, thank you for the 50,000 won mission earlier, Spurite."
Almond thanked the donor earlier as well.
[Spurite has donated 50,000 won!]
[50,000 won wasn't much... here, have more!]
— ????
— Wow
— Um
— This is just reprinting money!
"Thank you for the continuous donations. What are you talking about! 50,000 won is a lot too!"
— Hey, put some soul into it.
— Hey, LazySoldier. Be honest.
— Almond (doing 3 ads): 50,000 won is a lot too!
Almond was truly thankful for the donation, but his viewers were right. For him, 50,000 won wasn't much anymore. The Lazy Soldier advertisement alone was worth 50 million won.
However, he couldn't ignore a mission because of the amount. He needed to give it his all whether the amount was high or low.
‘Out of all the successful streams, there weren't any that took missions lightly.’
Just like Ju-Hyeok said, missions were a vital part of a stream. He could naturally show off his skills for viewers and donors to enjoy.
Therefore, Almond rolled forward as soon as he received the mission.
"It's not the money. I give it my all for every mission," Almond honestly said to his viewers.
[JamJam has registered a mission.]
[Then 100,000 won if you wear rabbit ears and play!]
"..."
[Mission declined.]
— LOL
— What the hahaha
— What did you say a second ago?
— Almond, you're amazing!
"Sorry? Did something happen?"
Raina rescued him just in time.
[Summoner, let's go top.]
Since they pushed the bottom and mid lane, it was time to push the top lane.
"Ah, I need to go top!"
— (Liar)
— Give us rabbit ears...
— Ah, boss. You're saving it for your 100,000 subscribers special event, right? I believe you!
***
The top lane was located beyond the humid jungle. The lane was unofficially called the lane for men because of how lonely it was.
Out of the five roles, it was the role where individuality mattered the most.
Almond's top lane looked lonelier than usual.
Swoosh...
It looked like Battle Large's desert.
"... This place feels a little different than the others."
He met eyes with his solo top laner. CoolChampion turned red and scratched his head.
"Ah... You see..."
Upon looking closer, Almond figured out the user had cursed at him earlier.
"Our turret's been destroyed."
"Ah... Why?"
"..."
Almond was genuinely asking, but the top laner's expression froze. The support chimed in and explained, "It's because our top lost badly, so the turret got destroyed. Just like our bottom lane earlier."
"Ah..."
Almond understood right away with their bottom lane as a reference.
"I-I didn't lose that bad..." CoolChampion tried to protect the little pride he had left, but failed.
"If this isn't losing badly, then what is? Just shut up and tank for us."
Unlike his kind attitude to Almond, the support was assertive towards the top laner.
"... Ah, sure. I'm not a tank though... I'm a damage dealer..."
"Just go in front! The jungler could be hiding! It's alright if you die!"
"Ah... Okay."
CoolChampion obeyed and walked forward.
— LOL, he should've just played as a tank.
— What happened to that big man early on?!
— Is this the same topliner from earlier? Damn...
— He's whipped into shape!
— Haha loser.
— Damn, the support is spicy!
"Sigh, the lane is pushed way back. Alright, alright. Let's put our bodies together and push forward. We'll clean up."
"Okay..."
Their line was pushed way back. It was a hassle to push forward again because the enemy would likely use it as an opportunity to gank.
Somebody needed to stay in front and act as the sandbag. This was the role of a top laner. The top laner led the way and gave vision to the team while Almond and the support continued to kill the minion soldiers.
They pushed the lane further and further in.
After 2-3 minutes, they could finally see the enemy turret. Some friendly faces greeted them.
"Huh…!? Huh?"
"Ah shit, they're back!"
The bottom duo returned to the top lane to defend the turret. It was the sorcerer Cuifan and the gunner Paul. They took a step back because of their PTSD from Almond.
"...?"
CoolChampion couldn't understand why they were panicking because he hadn't seen Almond's gameplay.
'Bottom did good, but aren't they overreacting?'
He thought their reactions were odd because their bottom received the better outcome compared to how badly he lost the top lane.
"R-Raina! You're disgusting! Call the jungler! Call for him!"
"I-I don't think I can stay here any longer..."
The two looked like they saw a ghost. He couldn't believe this was the fear a Level 1 user was causing them.
"Just push it quickly."
Almond started firing his arrows as if the enemy bottom duo weren't there.
Pung! Pung!
Since the turret prioritized minions, the champion could freely hit the turret. However, when their allied champion was hit, they changed their target. That meant if a fight occurred under a turret, whoever was on the same team as the turret had a great advantage because turret shots had 100% accuracy and immense power.
However, it didn't matter because the enemy duo was cowering in fear.
Pububung! Pubung!
Almond continued to wear down the turret. The turret would be destroyed at this rate, but the enemy duo backed off as if they had given up.
— What are they doing?
— Are they that scared?
— There’s a three-level gap.
— They're dead if the support gets turret aggro and Almond dives them.
— Their top laner is so confused, haha
— Where's the enemy top laner?
Almond read the chat and became curious as well.
'Where's the enemy top laner…?'
The bottom duo wasn't a problem, but he needed to be wary of the enemy top laner. Even Raina had warned him.
Brrrrrr...!
Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation.
"... Huh?"
He felt the ground rumble.
"What's wrong with the ground?"
"Huh? What is?"
The other players weren't aware, but Almond could feel it as the top scorer of Fanatasia's minigame.
'Something is coming.'
In every game, there was a buildup before the ultimate skill. Especially in LIL, it was much more apparent. Almond could instinctively feel something big was coming.
Just then, a faint shadow appeared. It was much too big to be a champion's shadow. Almond rolled back with all his might.
Ta-dak!
"Dodge—"
Swooosh…!
He could hear it. A single beam of light fell from the sky as soon as the light hit the ground.
SLAM!
The earth shook like a tsunami and the immense shockwave enveloped their surroundings.
Swoosh!!
The sandstorm spread along with the shockwave. Finally, they could see the large figure.
[Smebu]
[Valkyrie - The Firm Wing]
[Lv.6]
It was the enemy's strongest laner, Smebu.
Charrr!
Its wings made out of iron blades fluttered. Valkyrie activated her ultimate and descended, ready to use her wings as weapons.
"Ta-da!?I'm here to clean up your mess, you losers!"
***
Smebu currently had five kills and activated their ultimate ability.
“I'm here to clean up your mess.”
Valkyrie was full of herself, ready to clean up whatever mess her allies left. However, the mess was a lot bigger than she imagined.
Her confident smile disappeared because of a certain red light.
"Huh? What the…?"
[I'm going to activate the blood contract now.]
A crimson light brightly shone as Raina spoke.
Bzzzt—?
The red energy enveloped Almond.
"What the? How many stacks did Raina get? How badly did you guys fuck up?!"
The enemy top laner was Level 6, but Raina was beyond Level 6 already and fully stacked. Something unbelievable was happening.
[Ultimate - Evil Archer]
"Goddamit, this mother—"
He couldn't finish his sentence.
[Ultimate Skill - Demian's Liberated Arrow]
Kwakwakwakwang!!!!
All of Raina's stacks were pooled into this one arrow. Their surroundings were covered in a shining white light.
— Poof! Bye bye!
— Ta-da! You're gone!
— Are you the only one with an ultimate?
— Ultimate: Noona, you're killing me!!