Chapter 243. Another Stolen Penta Kill (1)
They killed the jungle monsters, minions, jungle monsters again, minions again, and repeated this.
"Back to the jungle."
“Get aggroed. It’s my turn.”
"I need a heal."
"Now go to the Blue Fang Wolf. Then back to the minions again."
Even the viewers were blown away at their impeccably coordinated tactic.
— Wow, this is brutal. You baldy Tako, haha.
-— Oh well, that's why you went bald.
— Solo Is Back fans are angry, LOL!
— Well done, Octopus!
Many praised Tako's perfect orders in the chat. Most were about Almond and his ability to execute the orders.
— It’s even more impressive that Almond did exactly as told...
— What is Almond, a magic wand? Does everything as said?
— How are the light arrows infinite there?
— Bald goblin leader and his magic wand, Almond.
— How long did they practice this?
— Are they okay showing this here? Wasn’t this combination meant for countering SweetRadish instead?
— Almond-Tako combo! Sa-Yul combo! Let's go!
Even some people thought the Sa-Yul combo was a hidden card they had prepared before the match. Almost everyone believed that even though only Solo Is Back had prepared a hidden card.
***
"When did you practice this, Takoyaki? Almond's proficiency is outstanding!!"
"Yes! There are absolutely no gaps in every movement! Tako is already at Level 6! All the other summoners are at four or five!" the caster yelled in excitement.
Tako's level was simply that overwhelming.
"That's because he killed both the minions and jungle monsters! And their hunting speed is unbelievably fast!"
It was easier said than done.
Yul took all the jungle monsters’ experience, gold, and farmed the mid-lane minions too. He shared some with Sana, but mostly took everything for himself. This made Yul overwhelmingly strong now...
"Wait, is that even allowed? Can ForeverAlone also kill both jungle monsters and minions?"
"No, it's absolutely not possible with Rope Assassin and Dragon Tamer. They would only disrupt each other. The total amount of experience and gold is fixed."
"Ah-ha, so Yul takes away some of Sana's experience and gold!?"
"Yes, it's because Sana is less affected by levels and items while Yul is greatly affected by them. Plus, their synergy is fantastic together. When those two are combined, it creates a filthy tactic known as the Sa-Yul combo. Sana's ultimate skill grants invincibility, so Yul will become almost as strong as five players when Almond uses it on Tako!"
—Haha, praising hard
— Dirty? Here, it's a reward.
— We decided to call this a reward.
"One player can match five players? But five players is an entire team, you know?! Isn’t that too broken?" the caster asked.
OrangeKing casually answered, "It is broken. That's why they were nerfed!"
— LOL, for real.
— That's right, haha.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt— But why does it work right now when it was nerfed back then?!
— Was it really nerfed? Haha.
The caster had no choice but to ask the same question, "Yes, you're right. It was nerfed! But why is it working now? Isn't this why it was nerfed?!"
"That’s because of Almond! The nerf was a restriction on infinite light arrows, but this has no meaning to Almond!"
"Why?!"
The analyst didn’t need to answer the caster's question.
Almond was already showing the reason.
"Just look. Almond came back to the mid lane. You'll see!"
Almond started killing the minions as soon as he returned from the jungle. He fired at an unbelievable speed with his unique and practical archery technique. All the arrows perfectly struck their targets.
Pababang!
More than ten light arrows appeared.
"First, they’re aiming for all the minion targets to collect light arrows. Then, Tako will hardly be able to die."
After that, Tako killed the minions while Almond fired arrows to restrain ForeverAlone.
"While Tako kills the minions, Almond shoots at ForeverAlone to suppress him."
ForeverAlone tried to counter Tako, but had to retreat after being hit by several Shadow Arrows.
If the Curse of Saintess began to stack, Tako would have a chance to kill ForeverAlone.
"Even these arrows meant for suppression are hitting their targets and generating more light arrows."
Almond and Tako left ForeverAlone alone and returned to the jungle again.
"After this, those two are going back to the jungle for a monster-hunting date! But they have to do it quickly to save time for jungling!"
— A jungle date with Almond, LOL!
— ???... It's possible! (bald head shines)
The caster exclaimed in awe at Almond's multitasking ability, "How many arms does Almond have to do all these tasks simultaneously?"
— He must've practiced a lot.
— I didn't see him practicing at all. Was this their hidden card?
— MOM!!! I wanna return this. This game makes me feel like a loser!
Almond's rapid-fire ability made him look OP and the game seemed unbalanced. The developers didn't intend for Sana's arrows to be drawn so quickly. After all, they never imagined anyone could possibly shoot with such speed so accurately.
Even when the Light Arrows infinitely generated, players didn’t consider Sana one of the OP champions. Sana's weapon, the bow, had a steep learning curve.
However, that was of no concern to Almond. The weapon didn’t restrict him. Instead, it encouraged him to play the champion.
"Sana will also become a must-ban following Raina." The analyst placed Sana on Almond's ban-pick list.
Tako's level continued to rise as the casters complimented Almond.
[Level 7]
He reached Level 7 faster than anyone else.
"Yul is already at Level 7?!"
"ForeverAlone is still at Level 5. So is Sana."
"This must feel like taking candy from a baby, doesn't it, ForeverAlone? Shouldn't he try something?"
"ForeverAlone also prepared something, didn't he? He should go to the other lanes with the Dragon Tamer to counter..."
As if ForeverAlone heard the casters, he called over his jungler to roam the other lanes.
“GRRRRR!”
Pollock’s Dragon Tamer summoned a dragon. He started flying as the dragon grabbed his shoulders. He could only summon large dragons by using his ultimate skill, so he had to fly like this.
The Rope Assassin immediately threw a hook toward the dragon and followed along.
"That synergy is pretty broken too, right?"
"Yes. It’d be really terrifying if Rope Assassin did that in front of me."
"But they're heading to the top lane!?"
"Right, Bubblegum's Iron Ball was banned. They're planning to counter the top."
Both of them arrived at the top lane.
Bubblegum had chosen the Great Rock - Kutan.
Even the viewers felt startled when two enemies fell from the sky.
Crash!
Bubblegum tried to run away using his skills, but the Rope Assassin instantly caught him.
Swish!
Bubblegum squirmed like a fish caught on a fishing line as ForeverAlone landed on top of him.
Thud!
ForeverAlone started attacking with his skills on top of Bubblegum.
A small dragon sent by the Dragon Tamer also spat fire and added more damage.
[First Blood]
[ForeverAlone → Bubblegum]
They took the first kill of the game.
The game’s pace had evidently slowed.
"Finally, first blood!"
First blood rewarded extra gold.
"But… is it also a first blood tower?" OrangeKing suddenly mentioned.
A first blood tower referred to the bonus gold rewarded for taking the first tower.
"Solo Is Back's first turret will fall soon?!"
Taking down a tower obviously had much higher value than a kill, especially if it was the mid-tower.
[The tower has been destroyed!]
Bo-boom!
Solo Is Back’s mid-tower collapsed.
— What's with this speed? lol.
— This is Yul!
— Woah, lol, it's the enemy. Yul!
"That speed is insane!"
"Is this happening because ForeverAlone left his lane for a bit!?"
Yul was the strongest in LIL without any counterattacks.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
What would happen if such attack power freely struck a tower, especially while receiving Sana's support?
[The tower has been destroyed!]
It wouldn’t just stop at one tower. Whenever Yul swung his sword, he gained the Acceleration effect. That meant all his movements became faster.
"Two, two towers have gone down!?"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Oh no, this is really painful! ForeverAlone seems to have a very low understanding of the Sa-Yul combo!"
Solo Is Back futilely gave away two towers.
"Two towers for one Bubblegum... That was such a bad trade!"
"Right. Even if we trade another player for Bubblegum, it's a bit unfair."
— Lol, so mean.
— Don't say that! He's my Bubblegum! He's the star of the first set!
— Did you just ignore the carry machine Gum?
— Step on gum while you walk, you bastard OrangeKing.
"I'm not ignoring Bubblegum, but his role is simply as a shield in this game. The Sa-Yul combo is the alpha and omega of this game. You can't leave those two unchecked like that!"
"Is ForeverAlone still pushing the top? He's going to the top again?"
[An enemy has been slain!]
[ForeverAlone → Bubblegum]
ForeverAlone killed Bubblegum again.
Then, another tower fell.
[A turret has been destroyed!]
"No… the trade is off again! Bubblegum isn't important here!"
Was it a difference in strategy?
The game kept tilting in favor of Balloon Stars.
***
Frustrated voices filled Solo Is Back’s voice chat.
They felt stifled because their team was losing when they hadn't even properly fought yet.
“What's happening?”
“Why is Yul leveling up like that?”
“This mid lane gap…”
They were used to talking freely and directly spoke about their team losing in the voice chat.
ForeverAlone felt a sense of unfairness this time.
“No, this is the first time I've seen that, okay? I've been asking what that combo was, didn't I?”
“I said that's the Sa-Yul combo! But it shouldn’t work that way after getting nerfed. I can't believe this.”
The team members scolded ForeverAlone because he couldn't handle the nerfed Sa-Yul combo.
They also blamed Pollock.
“You're way behind in the mid-jungle~”
“No, everyone. This is insane, okay? I said we shouldn't have let Almond use a bow champion! ForeverAlone, listen to me!” Pollock blamed ForeverAlone again.
“I wish your shooting was perfect like that, bro.”
“What? I'm a Dragon Tamer.”
“I'm saying you're excellent at diverting arrows to me!”
After chastising Pollock, ForeverAlone made a final decision.
“Let's all gather and push the mid-lane. We have to do something.”
“Do you mean a 5 vs. 5? You think they would allow it? They'll probably go somewhere else and destroy all the turrets.”
“We have no choice! We need five people to do this!”
“... Alright.”
It didn't seem like a good plan, but everyone agreed that no other options existed.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that a 5 vs. 5 battle after Yul reached Level 10 was the dumbest thing to do.