Chapter 200: Challengers Hurdle (4)
"Arrrrgh!"
Fwooosh!
Necromancer Cuifan made a loud noise as he was burned by Solia's flames. On his back, there were several arrows thrust into him.
"Unnie!!"
Lemon desperately called out for BlackTea, but she ran away without looking back.
Fwoosh!
Miho's fireball chased BlackTea, but alas, the opponent was still Challenger tier.
Tak!
BlackTea dodged it easily through the frames. Of course, that didn't mean there was hope. She was still running away.
"Huff... puff... Fuck..." BlackTea cursed as she tried to catch her breath.
'I forgot how ass our mid-lane was.'
BlackTea couldn't let her guard down knowing that her mid-laner was Silver tier. Even if the opponent wasn't Miho, their mid-lane always lost. It wasn't strange for the enemy mid-laner to show up at any time.
"The game is so fucking difficult."
At times like this, she felt that LIL was a team game. No, it was a mid-lane-focused game.
"I need to play someone other than Ran."
Ran didn't have much influence in the early game. He depended heavily on his team because he shot slowly, and there were other criteria for him. It wasn't an optimal pick in a game where BlackTea had to carry on her own. She only picked him to take away Almond's main champion.
"Phew... Am I alive?"
After running away for a while, BlackTea calmed down. She took a deep breath and started recalling.
Wooong...!
The recall was starting.
[Returning to Fountain]
[Stay out of combat for 8 seconds]
Now she had to return to the fountain and think about what item to buy next.
'I just need to survive twenty more minutes...'
If BlackTea survived until the twenty minute mark without dying, she could carry as Ran. However, she was unaware of the crimson ultimate coming from the distance.
[Ultimate Skill - Demian's Liberated Arrow]
"... Huh?"
It was already too late when she felt something eerie.
Kwang!
The blue mana swept her away.
[Dead]
Her screen turned black and white.
'Ah, what the fuck. He was Level 6?'
After BlackTea figured out what happened, she felt baffled.
'He already reached his stacks?'
Other than turning Level 6, Raina had to fully stack her combo to use her ultimate. It seemed like she stacked it when Almond rained his arrows on Cuifan. It was incomprehensible.
'Sigh... Let's just surrender.'
She lost all will to continue this match.
***
"Good job, Summoner."
Raina, who was summoned to the battlefield, smiled at him. Her bow, Damien, was still flaring.
"Almond! Good job!"
Tako patted Almond on the shoulder.
"That judgment earlier. That was amazing."
Almond thought Tako would scold him, but thankfully he didn't.
"Really?"
"Yeah! When I'm in danger like that, I can't make proper calls! And besides, your call was correct!"
Almond checked that their mid-lane was in a good position to help them and made the call. It was the right decision, which changed the tide of the game.
Around five minutes after the skirmish, the enemy team surrendered.
[We'll finish the scrims off here today.]
After a moment, Balloon Stars gathered in the waiting lobby. Tako was individually coaching some players, whereas Almond was receiving donations.
[Mission Success!]
Dududung!
A large celebratory noise was followed by a 500,000 won donation.
[RubySword: Congratulations!]
"Wow! RubySword, thank you so much! I'll work harder!"
— No reaction?
— Figure out how you're going to die.
— Almond, are you going to die now?!
"Ah, I don't think I can do the reaction in this game since it's a team game. I'll turn on Battle Large later or something."
— Why did Battle Large turn into a game like that...
— Hey! At least use Kingdom Age!
— What a crazy guy, LOL
"Or maybe I'll do the reaction when I'm playing Lazy Soldier."
— That's a freaking mobile game.
— An ad for a reaction?!
— A streamer using an ad for his reaction!?
— I want to be a streamer too!
— Infinite money glitch.
"Oh, round 2 is starting! I'll be off."
Almond left without telling them what kind of reaction he would do. There was a high chance he wasn't going to do anything.
***
The second round banning phase was a lot different. The first champion banned was obviously Raina.
[Raina - The Cold-Blooded Evil Archer]
After the ban was confirmed, Raina's voice sounded.
[Pathetic.]
The enemy could hear this as well. It looked like BlackTea’s pride took a hit, but she ignored it and continued the bans.
[Ran - The Pure Sniper]
[Sana - Light's Melody]
These three champions were banned. They chose to ban all the ADCs that used a bow.
'Is the Frost Archer the only one left...'
He had good control skills, but was undesirable because his damage was so low. However, if that was the only champion remaining, Almond was willing to pick him.
"Huh...?"
Almond became dumbfounded after what happened next. BlackTea picked Leon - Frost Archer.
— Wow. Anyone with a bow is gone.
— Damn! They found out about his gimmick!
— Almond can only play bow champions??
— They're using their first pick like this?!
— Is Almond all banned!?
Tako scratched his head during the banning phase.
"I knew this would happen, but not during a practice game... and against Red Carpets of all teams..."
— For real, LOL
— She's Challenger, yet she's banning him out?!
— So merciless.
— Is that how you get to Challenger?!
BlackTea thought the biggest weakness Almond had was the limited amount of champions he could play. She was somewhat correct.
"Hey Almond, what do you want to do? Is there anyone you can pick?"
"There is a champion I practiced a bit to play with one hand..."
Almond had no choice but to pick Jacky - Poison Dart Rabbit.
[What the. Are you the one who summoned the almighty me?]
Jacky appeared with his prideful voice. Two bunny ears formed on Almond's head, and his height shrunk by half. He also received a blowdart in his hand to shoot the poison darts. It was an underwhelming look compared to Raina's.
— LOL so cute
— Hahahaha
— Are you playing as Poison Dart Rabbit!?
— Awww. Rabbit Almond!
— This is... rare…
[AlmondRabbitEarFans has donated a whopping 100,000 won!]
[Finally! A dream come true!]
[AlmondSouffle has donated 30,000 won!]
[Wow!! Almond, play as him all the time!]
The donations were coming in for strange reasons. Almond felt embarrassed, but told himself that he was a streamer in his head five times and thanked the donors.
"Thank you RabbitEarFans for the 100,000 won! And thank you AlmondSouffle. How do you make a souffle using Almonds? Anyways, thank you so much."
— LOL, that's what your curious about?
— That's impossible...
— Probably just putting a single almond on top of a souffle.
— Unfair... I'd probably get arrested for putting bunny ears on me, but this guy is getting donations.
— I hope you lose!!!
The chatroom was full of laughter, but Almond was worried.
'Is this going to work?'
He rashly picked the Poison Dart Rabbit, but the enemy was too skilled to play a champion he picked out of the blue. Even earlier, it was hard to say Almond beat BlackTea with Raina. They won the game earlier because the mid-lane and the jungler won. If it weren't for Miho and StrawberryShooter, they wouldn't have been able to win.
Could Almond face BlackTea as the Poison Dart Rabbit?
Even Tako added, "If we lose here, every other team is going to copy the same bans."
If the other teams found out that Almond could be locked up by these bans, no one would have a reason not to do so. In the actual matches, everyone would ban this way. This would only be the case if the other team picked first, but it guaranteed them at least a game, maybe two, for free.
"If we reveal that these bans lock you up, we're in a difficult position."
"But isn't it still okay because the other lanes are freed up?"
"For now it is. As I said, Red Carpets invested everything into their bottom lane since their other lanes aren't that high-ranked..."
"Ah..."
"If the enemy mid and top lane was higher ranked and the ADC was low ranked, it would be fine. However, if they strategize like this and go half and half with Almond?"
Even the thought scared him. Almond would be stuck in the bottom lane playing as the Poison Rabbit, while the other teammates would lose due to the skill gap. They would lock Almond down so he couldn't carry while destroying the other lanes.
"So I think now is the time," Tako said as if he had decided.
At first, Almond didn't understand what he was talking about but figured it out immediately after hearing what he said next.
"Miho."
"Yes?"
"Go support."
"... Huh?!"
"StrawberryShooter, you take Almond's Poison Rabbit."
"Yes!"
"I'll go jungle. Bubblegum stays top. And Almond..."
They were changing up their positions.
'The sub-position!'
The entire team was changing up their sub-positions. They were even changing their champions as well. Almond's Poison Rabbit went over to StrawberryShooter, whose main champion was the Rabbit. The other players picked for Almond.
"Tako, do you want me to pull it out now?"
That meant Flashy Blade. Almond was careful because even the viewers didn't know.
— ??? Do these guys have something hidden up their sleeves!?
— Hey, time for plan B.
— They're just faking it.
— Is this a cartoon? Geez...
— Pull what out?
Thankfully, the audience seemed to be in disbelief.
"No, not that."
"Then what should I do?"
Almond hadn't practiced any other champion other than Flashy Blade to play in the middle lane.
"Just pick anything you want, buy it, and play it."
Was Tako telling him to buy a new champion from the shop and play it? The viewers couldn't believe it.
— What a wacko team.
— Wacko Tako.
— Damn.
— Trick your team, so you can trick the opponents!!
— Damn...
The audience was in disbelief at Tako's decision, but Tako had his own plan.
"The enemy is in Silver. He's no match for you."
"Ah, I see. The enemy is a Silver tier..."
— Almond was Silver not too long ago too!
— LOL! Poor silver.
— Silver is pretty easy.
— What a crazy team.
The chat still called them out for being crazy, but Almond was the star of the show and seemed unfazed. He calmly opened the champion shop. For him, buying and playing a new champion wasn't new. There was a champion he had seen before that seemed interesting.
'SweetRadish played this champion.'
This champion swept through the battlefield with quick speed.
[Haruki - Storm Ninja]
"I'll pick this champion."
He bought Haruki. Tako nodded. He thought the champion fit him because Haruki's skills were similar to Flashy Blade.
"Alright, let's go with that."
The pick was complete and he gave the Poison Rabbit over to StrawberryShooter during the swapping period. Miho picked Haruki and passed the champion to Almond.
"Alright, let's goooo!"
Almond's first match in the middle lane began.
***
"W... What the?"
BlackTea was stunned after seeing the enemy's champion pick.
"Huh... T-That's weird. Almond is playing as the Storm Ninja?"
Lemon scratched her head, "Not Miho?"
"Miho's not good with assassins, so I thought it was weird..."
"Tako is playing as Hammer Warrior. I think he's playing as jungler..."
The enemy team was confused after seeing all the position changes.
"StrawberryShooter is playing as Poison Rabbit?"
"Uh... Miho picked Leah. She's kind of weird... to use as mid, right?"
"I mean, it can work..."
Since all the champions were viable for most positions, they were confused. One thing was for sure. Bubblegum was still top lane.
"Oh! They're playing as their sub-positions!"
"... Ah!"
BlackTea finally realized they were playing as their sub-positions. Players indicated their sub-positions by rule, but they rarely ever played it.
"These guys..."
Crunch.
BlackTea ground her teeth.
"Are you underestimating me?"
Playing as their sub-positions in their practice game? It was another hit to BlackTea's pride.
"U-Unnie... they're not underestimating you. They're probably underestimating our mid-lane! Almond is running away to the mid lane because he's been banned out."
"Ah... Is that it?"
BlackTea scratched her head and giggled.
"That's right!"