Chapter 242. Summoning of Memories (2)
Chapter 242. Summoning of Memories (2)
'What on earth is this? Why is Tako playing Yul? Then did Almond pick Sana?'
ForeverAlone couldn’t understand the combination at all.
'Do they think they can beat me with Sana?'
ForeverAlone couldn't believe how Almond looked down on him, and a desire for revenge ignited within him.
'I will destroy you. I'll show you the real Chikicha hell this time.'
However, it wasn’t Almond who greeted him in the lane.
'What’s this?'
He only found an empty field.
'Is nobody here?'
No one else appeared in the mid-lane.
***
"Are you sure about this?" Tako asked Almond while approaching the dense jungle.
Instead of responding to Tako, Almond reflected on all the explanations from earlier.
'I think he said we need to kill the monsters ASAP and secure as many Light Arrows as we can.'
Almond couldn't clearly remember word for word, but he intuitively felt that it wasn't a difficult task.
"I can do it."
"...Really?"
Tako had to double-check because Almond seemed to answer too easily.
"We have to do this to win."
That simple statement felt like it contained the truth of the professional world.
"Okay."
That was enough to convince Tako, so he didn't ask any further. Instead, Tako re-emphasized what needed to be done.
"As I said, we’ll take over the jungle and minions with the Sa-Yul combination. Yul is the one who will be feeding though."
Yul had to secure all the items in the Sa-Yul combination. He had high potential, but it was hard to level him up.
To overcome Yul's disadvantages, they used a method to farm the jungle monsters and minions together. Yul’s disadvantage of low health would be overcome with Sana's ultimate skill and Light Arrows.
"It's too risky to take down jungle monsters and minions. That's why we need a lot of Light Arrows."
Sana normally wasn’t played in the jungle (the act of hunting jungle monsters and roaming around jungle areas) with Yul while farming minions.
They could possibly run out of HP while farming minions, which would make them easy targets for the enemy jungler. However, an issue existed.
"Sana's Light Arrows are no longer infinite. We have to hit the targets above the enemies with Shadow Arrows to create them."
Light Arrows would only form once Shadow Arrows struck the targets. This was why players didn’t use the Sa-Yul combination anymore these days.
"The more serious problem is that targets only appear once on minions or monsters. Thus, only one Light Arrow can be created per monster or minion. That's why the Sa-Yul combination was abolished."
The Sa-Yul combo wasn't abolished simply because it became difficult to create Light Arrows. Only one arrow could be created per minion or monster. This system limitation couldn’t be overcome no matter how well a player played.
"Then when do we get these Light Arrows? We need to hit all the targets that appear over minions and preferably over enemy champions as well when we return to our lane. We need at least five, but more is better."
The first jungle monster spawned as Tako summed up his explanation.
"Grrrr...!"
[Magma Bear]
Red lava flowed through the monster’s body. It gave gold, experience, and a damage-boosting buff once a player killed it.
"Let's go."
Swish.
Tako drew a long sword from his waist.
Without any hesitation, his sword horizontally cut through the Magma Bear.
Crack!
The rocky flesh cracked open, and lava splattered.
"Roarrrr!"
Its red eyes glowed like lasers. Then, as if waiting for this moment, it swung its enormous foot toward Tako. The attack was too fast to even think about dodging.
Thud!!
As the monster moved, its foot almost simultaneously struck.
Most jungle monsters acted like this, which ensured that dodging monster attacks didn't make a difference in hunting stability. Therefore, jungle hunting was a vicious process of exchanging attacks with each other.
However, Tako added one more step.
"Now!"
Thud!
Almond's arrow struck right in the center of the Magma Bear's head at the target.
Tako shouted almost at the same time, “As expected!”
Almond quickly fired several more arrows with satisfying accuracy at the target.
Thump thump!
The Magma Bear's health rapidly dropped.
Magma Bear turned to Almond and perceived him as the greater threat, but Tako slashed it on the side with a knife. The monster became even more confused about whom to hit.
They bounced the aggro! The monster looked quite dumb switching back and forth from Almond and Tako.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
The monster suffered from slashes and also turned into a porcupine full of arrows.
[Magma Bear]
[HP: 13%]
Its health is almost completely depleted already.
"I'll hit it!"
Tako took the last hit.
Slice!
The Magma Bear flipped over and wailed at Tako's sword strike.
Thud.
The bear trembled as it fell and disappeared into smoke.
"Is this speed okay?"
Tako was surprised after he checked the time.
“... Uh. It's more than enough."
Their time was shorter by about 3-4 seconds than the original time.
'Should we go for another monster...?'
He felt greedy, but decided to follow the drill as it was their first time executing it.
"Let's go to the mid lane now."
Almond nodded and followed.
***
Meanwhile, ForeverAlone mumbled to himself and aimlessly looked at the empty mid-lane.
"What… where did they go… damn you popular dicks… Are you guys having fun together? Did you guys really go to the pool party with Miho…?”
ForeverAlone couldn't see any enemies at all.
Balloon Stars’ minions died and Solo Is Back’s minions started attacking the turret, but no one was there. No enemies could be seen.
'Are they still not coming?'
Minions were both enemies and prey for summoners. The team couldn't continue the game without the gold and experience from minions. If all those minions died at the turret like this, the opposing summoners would neither get the experience nor gold.
'What are they trying to do?'
Even ForeverAlone started worrying about his opponents.
At that moment—
A silhouette dashed out from somewhere and sliced the minions in a straight line.
Swoosh!
Tako appeared with his striking bald head.
[Takoyaki]
[Shadowless Samurai - Yul]
Splash! Slash!
Tako skillfully swung the long blade and eliminated the minions.
He was playing Yul, so he should’ve been the jungler. Why was he killing minions in the mid lane?
ForeverAlone briefly pondered before his focus shifted to Yul's health.
[HP: 75%]
As expected, Yul lost that much health just from slightly clashing with minions.
'His health is too low. Did something go wrong?'
ForeverAlone's gaze changed.
They were using a weird combination and were weirdly absent from the mid-lane. Tako also looked weird and hairless.
"It's all messed up."
Something went wrong with that team. An accident had occurred. The opponent made a mistake.
ForeverAlone didn't know what mistake, but he had to take advantage of this chance to win. That was his conclusion.
"If I do well, this could be a free win."
ForeverAlone could picture the result with what he saw in front of him.
"I’m an assassin anyway."
ForeverAlone had picked an assassin champion. The champion was still at a low level, but he could kill the enemy if he played well. He didn't want to miss this opportunity.
Swoosh.
He threw his rope and hooked it far away.
Sheeeek!
His body shot forward as the rope tightly latched on.
Then...
[Level Up!]
Yul suddenly became Level 2.
'What?!'
Tako only killed about six minions, but he leveled up to Level 2. He had also killed jungle monsters along the way, but ForeverAlone had no idea.
'Damn.'
For every level up, Tako restored a small amount of health.
[HP: 85%]
Tako's health returned to 85%.
Not only that, he learned a new skill, and his overall stats increased... Then he reached a different level.
This was more than enough reason for ForeverAlone to retreat, but it didn’t end there.
Bang!
An arrow flew from somewhere and pierced a minion.
Bang!
Another white arrow flew and struck Tako's head.
〔Creating a Holy Zone!〕
Tako's health increased to 100% again.
Sana and Yul had both come to the mid-lane!
"What is this...!?"
ForeverAlone quickly retrieved his rope.
Sheeeek! Thud!
The hook trailed on the ground, and the rope wound up. ForeverAlone swiftly retreated without getting attacked.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Then, three consecutive arrows flew by. The shadow arrows flew toward ForeverAlone.
'They’re coming at me!?'
The Rope Assassin could easily move a long distance, but the enemy could clearly see his trajectory because his body followed the rope.
ForeverAlone had to throw his rope again to change direction, but it was too late. Throwing the rope again would obviously be slower than the arrows.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
[Curse of the Saintess x3]
The arrows consecutively hit the target, and the Saintess’ stacks instantly piled to three. If it exceeded five, the target would suffer from a fatal curse that reduced their vision.
It was dangerous for ForeverAlone to take any more damage in this 2 vs. 1 situation.
Thump.
ForeverAlone landed back in his territory and looked up, lost in thought.
[Takoyaki]
[HP: 100%]
Tako's health had completely recovered due to the Light Arrows from hitting ForeverAlone.
Tako returned to busily eliminating the minions.
'Darn it...'
Tako had nothing to fear now even if minions attacked him. Sana stood right next to him and kept hitting all the targets that appeared on the minions.
Then, Sana continued to hit Tako with the light arrows.
[ForeverAlone]
[Minion Kills: 17]
[Tako]
[Minion Kills: 21]
Tako’s minion kills already exceeded ForeverAlone’s.
"Let's do it again."
Tako disappeared back into the jungle with Almond.
ForeverAlone blankly stared and cursed at them. It felt quite frustrating.
"…What is this!?"
He was stunned.
"Is this how you guys play the game?"
Only then did he grasp the situation. Those two were killing jungle monsters and taking the mid lane minions together. They went to farm the jungle monsters until new minions spawned again in the mid lane.
ForeverAlone didn't know such a strategy was possible.
From then on, Almond and Tako kept roaming the jungle, returned to the mid lane to farm the minions, and returned to the jungle.
'What, what am I supposed to do then?'
ForeverAlone didn't know what to do as the level gap kept increasing.
[Takoyaki]
[Level 6]
The opponent suddenly reached Level 6 while he was still at Level 4. ForeverAlone quickly leveled up to five, but there was a momentary two-level gap. This was dangerous.
However, he didn't know how to stop it.
ForeverAlone's mind went blank.
***
This strategy became a hot topic in the community.
[Almond-Tako combination is perfectly in sync!]
[Wow, ForeverAlone! You noob, lol. Don't you know this old strategy?]
[The lost technology Sa-Yul combo is insane! WOW.]
[Who would've thought we'd see this again, OMG!]
[The old-timers are excited.]
Old memories resurfaced, and everyone in the community felt excited that the combo worked.
For old LIL players, it was like watching an Olympic hero return after ten years and sweep away all the gold medals.
[The memories are flooding back~]
[Wow, I was at least platinum back then.]
[Wow, Sa-Yul combo, lol.]
[It’s been so long since I last saw this combo.]
It summoned their memories back, but it wasn't just the Sa-Yul combo.
A post also appeared on a small community, KAF, where no one showed particular interest. The post could be seen as someone's memories too.
The video was about a boy who could've been an Olympic hero.
[This video is from 10 years ago. Isn't he Almond?]