[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 176

[“…Sorry, I’ll focus.”]

“It’s fine. The damage isn’t that bad yet.”

Yeah, not yet.

If you ask where the most important lane in Legends of League is, most will say the Bot Lane with its two champions, but if you ask who the most important laner is, 99 out of 100 will pick Mid.

That’s why a kill in Mid in the early game doesn’t just end with a kill and some lane disadvantage.

[❗] [❗] [❗]

First off, you lose jungle control.

Xin Zhao, supported by LeBlanc, boldly headed down to the river after crossing Mid.

That leaves me with no choice but to be forced up toward the top river.

If it were another game, it’d be somewhat bearable since I’d at least be splitting the losses, but the problem is the bot duo requires jungle ganks.

‘Hitting the core of the game well.’

That means our bot will inevitably face pressure.

Since the jungle has to divide its attention, the enemy will naturally get the bottom Scuttle Crab.

[“Let’s back off a bit.”]

Given the situation, a call from Bot was only natural.

[“Oh, okay.”]

Kim Jae-min, who had been focused on the laning phase, reacted a bit late, but thankfully it wasn’t a dangerous timing, so nothing too serious happened.

If something had gone wrong at that moment in Bot, the game could’ve gotten really tough, but fortunately, we avoided the worst.

‘Must secure a kill at Top.’

Mediocre results won’t cut it.

We need to get a solid kill and use that to shift pressure to Bot.

It seems the enemy knows this too, as Kamal was playing a rather safe lane instead of engaging in aggressive trading.

[“Can we create an angle at Top?”]

[“I’ll try.”]

Seo Yeon-woo’s response lacked confidence, but that didn’t show in her play.

-Bang, bang, bang!

Aatrox’s combo crisply landed on Kamal.

You can’t play too passively.

You have to instill fear in the opponent.

If you just stay back, you might end up receiving a gank instead of getting a solo kill, and that’s the kind of fear I’m talking about.

Therefore, Seo Yeon-woo’s Aatrox didn’t stop but executed another offensive move.

Even after gaining an advantage in a trade, she didn’t back down and moved even closer.

Naturally.

Such reckless behavior is hard to endure, no matter how cautious Kamal tries to be.

Is she seriously stepping up like that?

Are you feeling confident?

What are you doing right now?

I can’t help but think that’s what Kamal might be thinking at this moment.

In the Aatrox vs. Kamal matchup, early on, Aatrox has a slight advantage due to sustain, but after the first recall, Kamal has the better matchup.

Indeed, Kamal could no longer hold back and used his dash right in front of Aatrox, who was pushed against the wall.

From Kamal’s perspective, Aatrox was practically begging him to land a skill since he was right up in his face.

[“Got it.”]

Kamal just burned his escape ability.

That served as my cue to start moving decisively.

At this timing, without a cooldown reduction item, Kamal’s Level 1 E skill cooldown is about 16 seconds.

It’s a sort of time attack.

In this time, at the very least, I need to force Kamal to use his teleport.

I used my spear on Kamal’s escape route.

However, Jarvan III’s spear is ridiculously straightforward.

You can’t avoid it even if you want to.

But, that’s what I expected.

-Flash!

Just as Kamal dodged my spear, Jarvan III’s body flashed to the location where Kamal moved.

A clean spear flash combo.

Along with it, Aatrox’s W and the first hit of Q, which had just returned from cooldown, landed consecutively.

However, since Kamal had managed his health so well originally, he narrowly escaped into the turret.

“If this drags on, Xin Zhao or LeBlanc might show up. We have to do this quickly.”

[“Yes.”]

Of course, I had no intention of letting Kamal go home easily, so I dashed downwards.

If Kamal was slightly careless with his recall timing, I aimed to catch him out.

Kamal, however, was not that careless and backed off to find a safe recall.

Meanwhile, the top lane had inevitably taken a significant hit due to turret damage.

‘It’s disappointing that I didn’t secure a kill, but… I’ll have to be satisfied with this.’

This should be enough to gain a level difference and a 1-kill equivalent advantage at Top.

That wasn’t the only positive thing.

‘This means Kamal will have to use his teleport for returning to Top.’

In other words, the pressure on Bot will be slightly relieved.

Sure, the experience and CS differences in Mid and how that affects Bot couldn’t be ignored, but at least we’d established a favorable basis for our side.

‘So then…’

I promptly went home and surveyed the situation.

Mid was still under pressure, but thanks to the approaching cooldown on summoner spells, the pressure was easing a bit.

‘No sight of Xin Zhao.’

He should have been applying pressure to Bot, but it seems our Bot was playing it very safe, and he was nowhere to be seen.

‘My jungle probably doesn’t have anything left to farm either.’

At that moment.

-The enemy has slain the Wind Dragon!

It seems they were taking it solo.

“Don’t worry about it. The first dragon isn’t a big deal.”

From a strategic standpoint, the first dragon is so lacking in value that it could be exchanged for a few turret shields without losing out.

In fact, if Xin Zhao had been jungling during that time, he would have gained far more value than a single wind dragon.

But even then, I recounted such thoughts mainly to consider how it might affect my teammates’ morale.

‘If we lose the first objective, it’s hard to think positively. I need to support them.’

[“…Yujin is right. The first dragon is one you can just give up.”]

Late to the party, Baek Seong-an agreed.

Perhaps because he was too focused on the laning phase, he didn’t seem to have the spare energy to give orders like before.

[“I’ll take the cannon.”]

[“Oh.”]

Overall, the situation in Bot was pretty even.

Although the enemy Bot had a slight CS lead over our side that held the initiative, it wasn’t a significant number.

‘The game direction has wobbled a bit, but… it’s not too late.’

The reasons for that were clear.

‘Right now, only our side has a teleport for Top. We have to take advantage of this.’

However, one of the key reasons for fighting—the dragon—had already been taken.

That said, shifting focus to the Rift Herald wouldn’t work either, as we still had some time left.

So I had to provoke something in Bot, come what may.

‘……Alright.’

I said,

“I’m going into enemy Blue jungle. Everyone group up.”

[“Are you sure?”]

“It’s time we must act.”

After sweeping through the lower jungle, I immediately crossed the river.

‘Time to….’

Did I hit the timing just right?

Just as I revealed myself in the enemy Blue area, the enemy’s second Blue appeared.

At the same time, the movements of the enemy LeBlanc and their Bot became suspicious.

“This looks like a fight brewing, so keep an eye on the Top teleport angle and let’s see if we can create one.”

[“Yes, I’ll stay back.”]

[“If things go sideways, I’ll ult immediately.”]

Although the pressure in Mid meant I would be a bit late in joining, it wasn’t a big issue as I could ult to gather enemy positions.

What mattered was Bot.

The protagonist of this game is in Bot.

“This is a go for Bot. Twisted Fate, activate your ult right away.”

[“Okay.”]

Every fight needs a cause.

Thus, I chose the enemy Blue for justification, and it seemed the enemy team was gathering around it too.

Yeah, until I willingly give up the justification to turn to Bot.

“I’ll bind two of them right away.”

I zeroed in, throwing away concerns about the Blue, and headed down.

What I encountered were the enemy Bot who had just joined and our own Bot closely trailing behind.

In an instant, the enemy Bot was completely surrounded.

Of course, I couldn’t completely lock them down by myself.

So, right now, I needed Twisted Fate’s ult.

[“I’ve used my ult.”]

-Swoosh!

The eye icon popped up above the enemy’s heads.

Along with that, out came Getback’s Twisted Fate.

What a reassuring sight.

[⨷] [⨷] [⨷]

[OLZ Outlaw (Jarvan III) targets BLH Shotgun (Aphelios)]


[OLZ Outlaw (Jarvan III) targets BLH Shotgun (Aphelios)]


[OLZ Outlaw (Jarvan III) targets BLH Shotgun (Aphelios)]

In no time, the enemy Bot, surrounded by our four champions, crumbled effortlessly.

-Enemy eliminated!

-Double kill!

In one fell swoop, our Lucian locked in a double kill.

“Nice!”

There were many rationales backing this.

Among them, the biggest reason was that only our Top had a Teleport available.

The enemy’s rationale was probably that Kamal believed he could interrupt Aatrox’s teleport.

Or perhaps he planned to win the 5v4.

Regardless of which, the outcome was that we didn’t even have to utilize that reasoning to wrap things up easily.

The enemy Bot acted in haste and failed to realize they were getting surrounded.

The opponent made a critical miscalculation, and in the end, that small difference in judgment created the current outcome.

Of course, the enemy team didn’t remain idle.

While our Bot pushed the lane back to the turret, the enemy LeBlanc and Xin Zhao harassed Twisted Fate to prevent him from returning and tore down the Mid turret.

And I, having invested too much time in ganking and skirmishes, found myself growing at roughly the same rate as Xin Zhao, who had consumed his turns on securing dragons.

Neither our Mid nor Jungler had managed to grow satisfactorily either.

Thus, the situation solidified.

A typical upper vs lower jungle situation.

In this current meta, most matches’ victors are decided from the upper side, but that alone also creates an opportunity for Kim Jae-min.

Right here, a chance to prove himself.

[❕]

[Timid Person 190 (Nami) sends retreat signal to OLZ Jammin (Lucian)]


[“Back off. We need to go home now.”]


[“…Oh, okay!”]

…Well, to be honest, it felt a bit untrustworthy.

‘Anyway…’

Just show me once.

Not as a spoon just feasting on a prepared meal, but as a true noble prince dominating the game.