Chapter 224. New Card (4)
Chapter 224. New Card (4)
A player needed about ten spirits to effectively use the Spiritmaster champion. However, spirits easily disappeared due to summoner attacks. To maintain ten spirits, a Spiritmaster needed around twenty soul stacks, and maintaining twenty soul stacks was impossible from just killing minions. A Spiritmaster had to attack other players. That was where the difficulty of playing Spiritmaster dramatically increased.
Even while multitasking on other players, a Spiritmaster couldn't miss last-hitting minions with their staff. They also had to pay attention to the enemy’s countermeasures. This made for a very demanding playstyle.
However, when a Spiritmaster met all these conditions...
"How many soul stacks did Almond build up? How many do you think, OrangeKing?"
"Based on my estimation, between twenty and thirty... if it's more than twenty..."
"What happens if it's more than twenty?"
"The tower is in danger! The game could end here!"
A powerful, destructive force erupted.
— Wow..!
— Damn.
— Wow...
The audience buzzed with excitement, and so did the chat room.
— Is the number of soul stacks for real?
— LOL, he gained it from all those kills, so it's understandable.
— Crazy LOL
— How many shots did he land?
The mid-lane began to turn purple. Almond had raised forty-one spirit bodies.
"One, two… ten… forty?!" OrangeKing's face also turned purple.
"OrangeKing! You said the tower could be destroyed with twenty!"
"Yes, yes. That's correct."
"But now there are forty! What happens now?"
"The tower can definitely be taken down! Of course, assuming he has proper control over them!"
"Proper control? Considering how he used the Spirit Wave, isn't that a given?"
OrangeKing shook his head, "No. The Spirit Wave is a single entity. Controlling more than ten spirits is hard. They can't be individually controlled and move as if they’re a single entity."
"So, for the first-timer Almond..."
"Having too many stacks can actually be a setback. And his summoning was a bit late. Surprisingly, Almond took some time to learn the summoning actions for this shop pick..."
The audience lightly laughed at the comment.
— Right, it was a shop pick, LOL
— I wondered why he summoned them late. LOL
— LOL Forgot
"Player Almond proceeds with the attack anyway! He’s moving them in unison!"
"So individual control over them isn’t possible?"
"Yes! But that doesn't matter! Look at the damage!"
Bang!
Half of the tower's health disappeared.
"But Onion has arrived!
"The spirits instantly melt under a champion's attack! There's nothing you can do no matter how many there are!"
"Should he retreat?"
"He should for now!"
"Almond retreats!"
"Oh, too bad. If only the summoning had been done quicker..."
OrangeKing regretted missing the shocking scene of a turret being destroyed at level 2.
However—
"Huh???"
"What, what the hell is this…?" OrangeKing accidentally used informal speech. "Ah, sorry! But what is that!!!"
He slammed his desk and stood up.
"It was sixty stacks!? No! Observer! I told you to show the number of stacks!"
OrangeKing only realized now that Almond actually had sixty-three stacks from a newly created spirit body.
"Calm down, OrangeKing! This is our first time with this observation system too... Ah! I just got word from the observation team. It’s exactly sixty-three stacks. They said Almond didn't raise any more spirit bodies due to a lack of souls!"
— What the...
— Is that real?
— 63 stacks...??
OrangeKing seemed to shout in anger, "No! Onion! How many hits did you take!?"
— Why is he taking it out on Onion?
— It's his fault for not predicting the stacks lolololol
— Haha, crazy.
— LOL
"He's Gold, but isn't this still too much!?"
"The jungler is joining in now!"
"Oh! The jungler came at just the right time? He's almost like a savior for Onion!"
"Is he!? There are forty spirit bodies!"
The analyst adjusted his red glasses and further explained, "Spirits die easily to summoner attacks. The two of them should have stopped him together. So many spirits are more difficult to control and are thus more dangerous."
However, that prediction was completely overturned.
Almond's spirits moved like a living army. Their movements were slightly awkward, but it was unnoticeable on a larger scale. The spirits deflected the jungler’s axe and bent their bodies to dodge the attacks.
"W-What is this!? This is crazy!"
"No..."
The caster team couldn't hide their excitement. OrangeKing had long since stood up from his commentator seat, ready to jump over the table.
"Did I just see that right?! Is Almond a real magician?!"
"No, that would be ForeverAlone!"
"Ah, right! Did he summon the spirits of his ex-girlfriends then?"
"Sorry!?"
"If not, then how can every single one of them defend Almond so well?!!"
The caster was taken aback by the immature joke.
"W-Would the ex-girlfriends defend Almond?"
"They probably miss him! With that face, anyone would miss it!"
— What's he saying
— Ex-girlfriends lol
— Haha
— 63 ex-girlfriends..?
— Is he Orochimaru..?
Onion died in the end and the jungler who came to help also died.
[LazySoldier Double Kill!]
The game had been overturned in real-time.
"Ah! The jungler who came to the rescue… Instead... Almond's exp is..."
"Ah! The savior who came to destroy my lane..."
— LOL
— What a phrase.
— OrangeKing seemed to have skipped his morning medication.
— He seems excited since he doesn't have to hold back for this tournament.
Almond reached Level 3 after the jungler died.
Of course, the turret was destroyed.
[Enemy turret destroyed!]
OrangeKing's shout eclipsed the loud cheers.
— Woaaaaah!
"No, Almond! Are you going in again!?"
Almond didn’t stop even after destroying the turret.
"Is he going for the second one!?"
Almond intended to destroy the second turret as well.
In short, a highway to victory opened up to the enemy base.
"Is this possible? What do you expect, OrangeKing?"
"Don't ask me now! All my predictions are off!"
"Try it anyway!"
"Ah… Well, maybe they can push through?"
While this was happening, Almond's army had arrived at a distance where they could attack the second turret.
Giririk.
Following Almond's command, all the spirits simultaneously drew their crossbows.
Sharak...
Then, both the enemy team's top laner and bottom duo popped out from the hillside bushes.
"Ah! Green Tea Bagging's counterplay is really good!"
"They won't give up the second turret!"
This crisis could potentially end the game, so they tried to stop Almond at all costs.
[Stop them!]
[Kill them!]
The shadows of three summoners flew over Almond.
***
Ten minutes later, a familiar shout came from the commentators as Green Tea Bagging's base exploded.
"GG~~~!"
Balloon Stars had decisively won.
"The decision to push the second turret was ultimately very good. It wasn’t a checkmate in terms of chess, but it was still a check-level move."
"Yes. It was a check leading to a checkmate. The spirit army couldn't completely push through, but Almond survived, and Green Tea Bagging’s overextension resulted in their top and bottom turrets taking significant damage."
Almond couldn’t destroy their second turret all at once. (This meant all of OrangeKing's predictions were wrong.)
However, the entire enemy team had to gather at mid because of Almond’s movements.
Balloon Stars easily destroyed the top and bottom turrets after that. They destroyed two additional turrets just by threatening the second turret.
"As expected, giving away too much in the early mid-fight… snowballed heavily."
As the analyst said, the initial double-kill and loss of the first turret in mid was the root of everything.
"Exactly. It’s really bad when the jungler and mid both die, and the turret flies off."
"What about Green Tea Bagging's teamwork? When a game falls apart like this..."
“Sigh,” OrangeKing took a deep breath and made a serious comment. "If it were solo rank, I would've at least asked how their pets are."
— LOOOOL
— Their pet, haha!
— Hahahaha, asking about their pet?!
— OrangeKing is crazy.
— Is your york terrier doing well??
OrangeKing making this kind of statement indicated how severe the difference in the middle lane was.
"Ah~~ Is it that bad? Hopefully, there aren’t any issues with Green Tea Bagging’s teamwork."
The caster couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Ah. This crazy Onion has such a fitting nickname. Really, you get peeled, peeled, and peeled again! Huh? Just don't revive.”
“I would quit LIL immediately if I got wrecked by a shop pick.”
“Why quit LIL when it’s a perfectly fine game? You should fold that guy's spine instead.”
“Hey, Pickle. Everyone, stop it. What can you do if Almond is just that good…”
“Why are the standards only strict for me!? Huh?! Just give me a break for once! I screw up too!!!! Don't you guys screw up?! Huh?”
“Whew. Onion, you need to calm down too.”
***
"Wowwwwww!"
"Almond! Almond!"
Balloon Stars exited with their hands in the air. Numerous balloons shaped like almonds popped in celebration.
Tudududududu!
"Wowwwwww!"
"We won with a shop pick! Is this real!?"
"Insane!"
"It's worth cheering for. Really."
Among the crowd, a cheerleader who even changed his head into the shape of an almond stood out the most. He climbed up the wall in the spectator stands and, with his enlarged upper body, shouted.
"King~! You can't beat Almond! Dom~!"
How much money he spent in This World was unclear, but his enlarged body had an opacity value of around 30, which made the people behind him still visible.
"Everyone! Please love Kingdom Age too! It was Almond's first god-tier game!"
Ping!
His avatar disappeared after those words. The system had banned him for illegal advertising.
Choi Sa-Rang was blankly watching this and laughed.
She placed the almond applause balloons into her inventory, but a large almond head beside her got stuck.
"Sa-Rang, how was it?"
Her head had changed, but she was still the Doctor Song Ha-Na.
"Um... doing spirit summoning is..."
She knew how Almond felt and conveyed it with the fewest words.
"Similar."
"Similar?"
"Multitasking is easy for people like us."
Poof.
Song Ha-Na's almond head exploded with a cloud of white smoke, revealing her real face.
"Ah, right. It was in the research data. They’re used to using what doesn't exist."
The alien process of moving body parts that the user didn't have. That was the most difficult part of multitasking in LIL or any virtual reality game, but Sang-Hyeon and Sa-Rang already felt familiar with it. They were subconsciously used to it, and the environment wasn’t much different from the usual games.
"By the way, I told you not to overdo it... Multitasking champions really are the worst..."
Being familiar didn't mean it was good for their health. Moving nonexistent legs and arms would inevitably cause a strain.
Multitasking champions would obviously push those senses to the limit.
Song Ha-Na mumbled something to herself and quickly turned to Choi Sa-Rang.
"But, Sarang. Your expression looks much better now ever since we decided to watch this together. Hasn't it?"
"I purchased this expression in This World. It’s a smiling passive."
"What? Really? How deceitful..."
"Just kidding," Sa-Rang smiled and waved.
"I knew that was a joke! Hahaha!"
Song Ha-Na's pride was hurt because she fell for such a trick, so she laughed even louder.
"When should we come again?"
"Um..."
Sa-Rang took a moment to look at her schedule.
"This one time is enough for now."
Her finger pointed quite far back in her schedule.
"Eh? You're not going to watch the rest?"
"After watching today's match, they’ll probably win the rest."
"Ah..."
On the other hand, that meant Balloon Stars could potentially lose on the day that Sa-Rang just pointed to. In four days, the last match of the league would take place.
[Balloon Stars vs. High Protein]
They would play against High Protein.