[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return – Chapter 321

The first thought that crossed my mind was confusion.

“Even so, isn’t Platinum a bit too much?”

Of course, I joked about how Bronze-iron-Platinum was the term of the day, but while Platinum could be excused, those in Dia were truly dedicated to Legends of League.

“Sure, both Kamal and Rek’Sai are champions that can’t back out once they engage… but they have Flash, right?”

Just as I couldn’t wrap my head around this entire situation, a familiar shout came from across the way.

“Hey, how can you go in like that from there?”

“No, you said to go!”

“When did I say that?”

I suddenly seemed to understand how things had come to this.

“…Oh. They must be drunk.”

This was what they called drinking League.

And let me tell you, it was terrifying.

The true fear of drunk League wasn’t just about blurred judgment or heightened emotions.

The real terror was that it ignited discord among teammates like a spark.

“Ugh, I can’t deal with these bugs in Platinum.”

At that moment, my Gold Mid buddy chimed in.

“I can acknowledge the bugs in Platinum!”

“Hey, why is this guy so clueless?”

“Who cares.”

Then, a part-timer observing us called over.

“Excuse me, customers. I’m sorry, but could you keep it down? You’re bothering other guests…”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Wait, are you…?”

“…Sorry. Really sorry.”

Why do I have to apologize when those idiots were the noisy ones…

My face felt like it was on fire.

“Oh, no! I was just wondering if you were Outlaw!”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Oh my gosh! I’m a fan! Could you give me an autograph?”

“Ah, sure…”

So there I was, in the middle of jungling, wasting time signing for a gaming café part-timer.

But I couldn’t complain too much, as the other team was busy fighting among themselves and getting scolded by the part-timer, completely missing the lane.

“…This is a mess.”

At this point, winning or losing didn’t seem to matter.

“Wait, was it ever important?”

What began as a pride battle between Gold and Platinum Mid Laners felt more like a social gathering from the start.

Amidst the flurry of pointless thoughts, the game continued.

The situation wasn’t bad.

Our unranked Malphite managed to get a double kill against the enemy’s main threats, the Platinum Top and Dia Jungle, so things couldn’t have been worse.

“But this is pure luck.”

More than anything, just because our Malphite was getting kills didn’t exactly scream ‘good news’.

He might pick up a couple of tank items, but the real deal in this game was the damage dealer.

“Rather, if he gets a kill, wouldn’t that just be a hassle?”

He hadn’t been able to farm properly, and even after getting a double kill, he hadn’t gained any control, but we still couldn’t afford to relax.

At that moment, intense trading broke out in mid.

And with the nature of Gold and Platinum tiers, one successful trade usually meant one of the two dies.

“Seriously, here?”

My position was such that I could reach mid anytime soon.

Hell, the opposing jungler was dead at top and couldn’t even counter-gank.

And yet, at this point, why were we playing a soul-matching duel?

“…I don’t even know anymore.”

Yasuon and Zed moved in a dazzling manner.

Or rather, that’s what it looked like, but they were both hitting each other’s skill shots.

Completely pointless movements.

-Our ally has been defeated!

Ignites flared up on both sides, and the only one left standing was the opposing Zed.

It was literally a hair’s breadth difference, but winning was still winning.

[“Ah, what a shame.”]

My Gold Mid Yasuon said, sounding genuinely disappointed.

I felt like I was about to faint.

[“Can you gank next time, sis?”]

I flinched—

Asking for a gank after dying.

That’s a perfect way to trigger the Jungler’s victim complex.

To the Jungler, that line sounded like “Because you didn’t gank, I died.”

“…Sure.”

Why though?

Why is this so infuriating?

“…The opponent is Gold.”

It’s only natural he wouldn’t know what actions he’d taken and what he just said.

Right, that’s it.

After barely calming my breath, I headed straight to mid and easily took care of the foolish Zed who was mindlessly pushing the lane.

-Enemy slain!

Usually, in such situations, you’d expect the enemy jungler to come help push the lane or Zed should have given up pushing to go back home, but neither happened.

[“Nice!”]

[“Whoa, she didn’t even go home.”]

[“Seriously, you killed him?”]

It suddenly hit me again.

This game doesn’t align with common sense.

“…Or is it just me being weird?”

It felt like something fundamental was twisted.

“Speaking of which… there was that talk about localization too.”

The notion that when high-rank gamers play for too long in lower tiers, they downgrade to that tier’s level.

It’s not exactly a myth, but it’s not something to be ignored either, given the numerous real-world examples.

“I need to be cautious.”

The chaos of this game felt like it was about to swallow me whole.

[“Ah! What the heck! Get away!”]

At that moment, my younger sister screamed.

-Our ally has been defeated!

A solo kill had happened at top.

Our once strong Malphite was now being hunted, slowly donating gold and experience to the enemy team.

“I knew this would happen.”

Eventually, the game began to revert back to the expected course.

In fact, it felt easier for me this way.

Then, I hit tab and noticed something was quite off.

“Yuri.”

[“Yeah?”]

“…You didn’t buy items?”

Aside from the basic ones presumed to have been purchased at the start, there were no items at all.

She had been unable to farm, but it wasn’t like she had gotten zero, and more surprisingly, she had even picked up a double kill.

[“I’m out of money.”]

“…What do you want to buy?”

[“Um… I was going to buy the recommended items?”]

“……”

If the enemy top jungler had known this, it would have been something to seriously reflect on.

You got a double kill against someone who didn’t even know how to buy items…

“……Can you buy lower-tier items first?”

[“Oh… I guess so?”]

Her reaction was akin to humanity’s first discovery of fire.

[“Ah, now it makes sense. They all died.”]

Holding the spark of Bamu in her hands, Malphite confidently moved towards the lane.

Meanwhile, I continued to jungle and stockpile power.

It seemed that in a situation where I couldn’t expect any support from allies, forcing ganks would likely only harm me.

“Even if my allies sacrifice… I don’t care.”

Typically, when a jungler focuses purely on jungling, allies face losses.

But this game was different.

I didn’t care how much my allies had to suffer.

“I need to get strong.”

That was the key to this game.

[“Gank, please.”]

That’s why I needed to lightly ignore the chattering coming from mid.

“Just a sec.”

Ganking timing should be taken after clearing all jungle camps when there’s a bit of leeway.

Within this simple and powerful principle, I made my moves.

Meanwhile, deaths piled up at Bot.

Top was difficult given Malphite’s nature of being obvious once he gets away, but Bot was a different story.

-Our ally has been defeated!

-Enemy, double kill!

So naturally, I went to Bottom to farm the lane.

“Just a bit more.”

I stocked up my strength.

Just for one shot.

And that chance came sooner than expected.

The first Rift Herald timing.

Now was my time to shine.

Currently, the kill score was 3:8.

Beyond the visible kills, our team was overwhelmingly disadvantaged.

“That is, except for the jungle.”

Right now, my level was 8.

Having grown through taking waves and kills, I had surpassed the average jungler’s growth by far.

“Yumi, recall now and jump onto me.”

[“Oh, okay.”]

Just before the first Rift Herald came up, I took Yumi along and headed to the Herald.

“Yasuon and Malphite, get ready.”

[“Okay.”]

[“What are we getting ready for?”]

“Just come.”

[“Where to?”]

“To where I am. I pinged it.”

Even though the enemy team wasn’t preparing for the first Rift Herald, I called Yasuon and Malphite for backup and hit it first for a simple reason.

“Let’s fight.”

This was a declaration of war.

A declaration of war to the enemy team.

Whether my declaration was effective or not, it wasn’t long before the enemy Kamal and Zed started moving.

What caught me by surprise was that even the enemy bot started coming up.

Considering the distance, it was likely that by the time their bot arrived, the situation would already be over.

“Well… it’s good for our team.”

Thanks to that, our bot, who was supposed to die and had to give up opportunities to farm, ended up getting a free lane.

Although, it’s not like I could expect much even if our ADC grew given they were unranked.

I kept my eye on the happenings near the Herald.

“Our ally has the numerical advantage.”

So, I had to ensure we got a solid advantage at the Herald spotting.

[“Oh, they are coming.”]

As she said, Kamal, Zed, and Rek’Sai all poked around the Rift Herald.

“Yuri.”

[“Yeah?”]

“If there’s a champ you don’t like, just hit R and use it on them.”

[“Is that allowed?”]

“Yeah.”

Orders given to beginners must be as simple as possible.

And then,

[“Here they come!”]

As if they were waiting for it, Malphite’s ultimate slammed down on Rek’Sai, who’s been poking around.