Chapter 31
“Diana’s 5-man Moonfall was amazing, Tower Master.”
“I-It was nothing.”
“Let’s keep this momentum and win the next game to move up!”
The Illusion Tower basked in the glory of their first set victory. With Hina’s ultimate, the Illusion Tower secured a spectacular win.
Each match was a best-of-three, meaning if they won the next set, they would advance to the round of 16.
“Hey, we focused all our resources on the mid-lane, and now Diana is fed. What do we do?”
“No, Diana’s skill is unreal. She’s playing too well!”
“But Diana kept coming to top lane, and it made things hard up there.”
“Ah, mid-lane difference.”
“No, you try dealing with her! She’s impossible to beat.”
On the other hand, the atmosphere in the Wind Tower was grim after losing the first set to Diana’s carry performance. The Wind mages feared the gaze of their Tower Master, watching from above.
“Still, Diana is playing exceptionally well. We need a strategy to counter her.”
“Right. Honestly, aside from mid-lane, everything else was pretty even, but Diana carried the game…”
“Diana freed up all the other lanes early on as well…”
“Ah… we need to win, but how…”
In reality, the other lanes were quite evenly matched. But the clear skill gap in the mid-lane was undeniable. The skill level of the Illusion Tower Master was far superior, as if they hadn’t played for the same amount of time.
If they couldn’t figure out how to deal with her, the Wind Tower was destined to be eliminated.
“…There’s no other way. Everyone, lock down the early game,” said the Wind Tower’s jungler with a determined tone.
“Just don’t give them any kills early and hold on. And no matter how well their mid-laner plays, we need champions that can win the game.”
“Are there any champions like that? I thought the game was pretty balanced.”
“There are. Just hang in there. I’ll pick Master Yi.”
For the next set, the Wind Tower’s jungler picked Master Yi.
***
“Huh? Master Yi.”
As the second set started and the ban-pick phase unfolded, Medeia spoke up upon seeing the Wind Tower jungler pick Master Yi.
“Master Yi? Hmm…”
Illusion Tower’s jungler, Seris, contemplated. Master Yi was certainly an interesting champion. His fast attack speed and swordplay were fun, and his one-strike kill skill was impressive.
However, compared to other champions, his ganks weren’t that good, at least that was Seris’ opinion. While he seemed good at diving, there were other champions better suited for ganks. But Master Yi wasn’t all about ganks, after all.
Having played fewer games, they weren’t yet familiar with every champion. In the end, Seris picked Amumu.
“Hmm… what should I pick…”
As the last pick, the support, Rain, was undecided.
Hina spoke up.
“R-Rain, could you pick something like Leona? Something with a lot of crowd control…”
“But we already have Amumu, don’t we?”
“That’s true, but since the enemy has Master Yi, we need more crowd control…”
“But Tower Master! I’m Amumu! We lack damage; something like Sona might be better,” Seris chimed in.
“U-Um, u-uh…”
Hina instinctively felt they needed to counter Master Yi. However, the voices of the other team members were louder, and in the end, Rain picked Sona.
Though Hina’s instinct was right, the team, still inexperienced, couldn’t think that far ahead. They hadn’t practiced against Master Yi much either. Rai had once said that champions like Master Yi weren’t fit for team games.
And so, the second set began.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): Oh, oh. Their Master Yi is already level 6.
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): I did gank top and bottom once.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): S-Still, we shouldn’t let him get that big…
While Amumu was still level 4, Master Yi had already hit level 6. Of course, Master Yi hadn’t ganked even once. The kill score was in Illusion Tower’s favor, but Hina still felt uneasy.
She hadn’t faced Master Yi much during practice, but her gamer instincts were screaming at her to stop his rapid growth.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): We need to shut down Master Yi…! Let’s invade his jungle, Amumu…!
(Team) PhantomMagicTrash (Caitri): If you help bot now, it’s a free kill!
LeBlanc, predicting Master Yi’s jungle path, suggested invading. But Caitri’s call led Amumu to head for the bottom lane instead.
Meanwhile, Master Yi continued to grow stronger.
The sense of danger hit them around the 14-minute mark.
-An ally has been slain.
(Team) CloneTechniqueMaster (Darius): Ah! He’s being way too passive!
Darius, frustrated with the top lane stalemate, overextended and died to a gank from Master Yi. Until then, no kills had been exchanged in the top lane.
Darius, a champion that needed to snowball early, hadn’t gotten any kills, a critical disadvantage.
And now, after dying first, Medeia, the top laner, was feeling frustrated.
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): It’s okay, Master Yi got the kill.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): N-No, it’s not okay! We need to shut him down!
For the first time, Hina raised her voice, uncharacteristically angry. Hearing her outburst, Seris, the jungler, finally began to follow her lead.
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): O-Okay, Tower Master.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): He’s probably at his blue buff now. Let’s invade together. Watch for backup from bot.
Hina’s words were calm but precise, unusual for her.
This only signalled how bad the situation had become.
Swish!
Amumu placed a ward in the enemy blue buff bush, and sure enough, Master Yi was there, taking the buff.
Swoosh!
Amumu immediately threw his bandage toss. At the same time, LeBlanc’s chain (E) and distortion (W) followed.
However, at that moment, Master Yi’s figure vanished.
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): Huh?
Master Yi used his Alpha Strike (Q) on LeBlanc, closing the gap in an instant.
He immediately activated his ultimate and began melting LeBlanc with rapid attacks.
LeBlanc’s passive triggered, allowing her to survive once, but Master Yi’s ultimate was still active.
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): “Don’t hold back, use your ult!”
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): “Y-Yes!”
Paang—
Amumu hastily activated his ultimate, Curse of the Sad Mummy.
But by then, Master Yi’s Alpha Strike (Q) had already come off cooldown.
Master Yi avoided the stun and killed LeBlanc.
—An ally has been slain.
He then turned his attention to Amumu, beating him down quickly.
With no damage output, Amumu was swiftly defeated.
—Double Kill!
(Team) PhantomMagicTrash (Caitri): “W-What is that?!”
(Team) LifeGachaFailure (Sona): “H-Huh?!”
—Triple Kill!
—Quadra Kill!
Master Yi swiftly took down the bot lane duo who had arrived to join the fight.
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): “What in the world…”
(Team) BackroomTowerMaster (LeBlanc): “I told you we needed to stop him early…!”
(Team) PhantomIllusionAuthority (Amumu): “We wouldn’t be in this mess if we hadn’t invaded in the first place!”
In no time, Master Yi from the Wind Tower had grown too powerful to stop.
With a Quadra Kill under his belt, he became unstoppable.
With the growing difference in power, Master Yi roamed freely around the map.
—Penta Kill!
In the final team fight, Master Yi secured the first Penta Kill in COL history and destroyed the Nexus.
***
“What kind of champion is that?! He wiped everyone out on his own!”
“That skill Alpha Strike is so romantic! It’s even cooler than the skills in Maple Leaf Story!”
Woooooooaaahhh—!
As the second set ended, the crowd erupted into an even louder cheer than before.
Male spectators, especially those with a fascination for swords, reacted fervently to Master Yi’s performance.
Master Yi’s swift swordplay ignited something primal in them.
“Master Yi… that sword…”
And one man in particular was more excited than anyone else.
Galliard watched Master Yi’s play, his whole body trembling.
It was the first time he had felt this kind of excitement since his battle with the Demon King.
No, even back then, the thrill and anticipation of the fight weren’t as intense as they were now.
Master Yi. The champion known as Master Yi embodied every swordsman’s romance.
Like a lone general cutting through a million enemies.
Wielding a thin sword with incredible speed, constantly breaking through the frontlines.
With his Alpha Strike (Q), he dodged all attacks, slicing through space itself.
And with his ultimate, fitting for a warrior’s last stand, he withstood all enemy fire and annihilated his foes.
Finally, he stood as the last survivor, calmly meditating atop a mountain of corpses.
That was the pinnacle, the final destination of every swordsman.
During the break between sets, Galliard immediately rushed to the commentary desk.
“Riot!”
“W-Whoa!”
Rai fell over in his chair as Galliard, with his large frame, dashed toward him.
“Galliard?”
“You’ve been hiding something like this and only letting mages play it?!”
“No, I told you before, it’s because of the mass production issues…”
“Give me the artifact right now!!”
Galliard’s roar created a massive vibration.
However, neither the council building nor the stage set up by the mages wavered.
“Please, calm down! I told you, it’ll be released after the Arcane War!”
Rai shouted as he held his pounding head.
Of course, the release wasn’t officially approved yet.
But if the Arcane War continued to generate this much excitement, approval was certain.
Rai finally managed to calm Galliard down.
“But won’t this create a gap between the mages and regular users? This game will have a ranking system, right?”
“Yes, but when it’s officially released, everyone will start at level 1. You’ll have to collect champions one by one too. The version the mages are using now is just for the Arcane War.”
“But the skill difference will still be there.”
“Well… in my experience, this game isn’t something you’re good at just because you’ve played it a lot.”
Galliard still seemed dissatisfied, but it was true.
Even Rai, who had played for nearly 10 years in his past life, only managed to reach the Gold tier at best.
And many people played even longer without ever reaching Gold.
“Anyway, just keep watching. You’ll get a feel for it, which will help when it officially releases.”
“Huff… fine. Release it as soon as possible. I can’t stand it anymore—I need to play as Master Yi.”
“Master Yi? That broken champion…”
Smack!
Galliard slapped Rai’s head when he tried to insult Master Yi.
“How can you say that after witnessing that majesty?!”
“No, it’s just that players couldn’t stop him from scaling. Later on, Master Yi will just be used by low-rank players…”
Smack!
Rai passed out for about three seconds before waking up again, deciding to keep his mouth shut.
“When COL launches, I will only play Master Yi.”
“…Huh.”
“I will stand at the pinnacle of the COL world with Master Yi.”
“……”
Rai opened his mouth, then shut it again.
The game hadn’t even officially launched yet, but there were already Master Yi fanatics like this.
Rai decided to just hold his tongue. It wasn’t a statement he wanted to engage with.
“Rai! Didn’t you say Master Yi wasn’t that good?!”
Galliard left, and the representatives of the Illusion Tower approached Rai.
“We should’ve shut him down early. He’s strong late-game, but you should’ve picked more crowd control if Master Yi was going to be in the game…”
“What are you talking about? You played terribly and just complain all the time! Just nerf Master Yi!”
“What? You guys were the ones who couldn’t play properly…”
Seris vented her frustration directly at Rai.
Rai responded incredulously.
“Well, from the in-game chat, it seemed like the Tower Master gave good orders. Seris, it’s your fault for not listening!”
“Ugh…”
“Just ban him next time. You could’ve won if you’d kept him from scaling.”
“Argh! Rai, you’re terrible at playing but always running your mouth! It’s so annoying!”
Seris continued to rant.
The other members, however, began planning for the next game.
Fortunately, they banned Master Yi in the next game, and Hina carried the team to victory.
Illusion Tower advanced to the round of 16.
After that, three more groups competed, and the first day of the Arcane War came to an end.
—
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