Chapter 114: Closing Battle

After losing the first game, the Luoshendian coach quickly went to the soundproof booth.

From a God’s-eye view of this match, Tianhuan’s improvement during this period was tremendous. From the initial Mid-laner carrying the rhythm, to later Mid-Jungle synergy opening up the situation, Chi Shuo’s Jungle Carry resurgence, and now today, the entire team’s tacit understanding was full. In team fights, the 5 members divided labor and cooperated, chaining skills seamlessly. Especially Cheng Xing in the marksman position; his performance was also remarkable.

Tianhuan’s growth was alarming. Once Luoshendian lost the second game, based on the current point standings, they wouldn’t be able to advance from Group A. So, they had to find a way to win the second game!

The coach frowned and calmed down quickly, saying, “Lieyang’s hero pool is very deep; banning mid-laners is futile. In the second game, we target the bot lane. Break through from the bot first!”

No matter how you looked at it, bot lane was Tianhuan’s relatively weaker lane. If they opened a breach in bot lane first, forcing their own marksman and support to frequently disturb mid-lane farm, Ye Shaoyang wouldn’t be able to carry the rhythm.

In the second game, the BP (Ban/Pick) contest between the two sides was completely different from the first. Luoshendian surprisingly banned [Wind Spirit], the flexible marksman with displacement, and [Machine Gun Hunter], the marksman with fast wave clear, forcing Cheng Xing to pick [Holy Spirit Archer].

There were only a few versatile “panacea” marksmen strong in the current meta; other marksmen needed specific systems to work.

If Cheng Xing picked [Holy Spirit Archer], Luoshendian could counter-pick with [Poison Warlock] marksman and an assassin jungler specifically to kill him. [Holy Spirit Archer] was very squishy and dealt no damage in the early game.

How would Tianhuan respond?

The audience stared anxiously at the big screen.

As a result, Tianhuan didn’t grab a marksman in the 1st slot but directly took [Paladin].

The Luoshendian coach was delighted and immediately locked in [Poison Warlock] marksman + [Stealth Rogue] jungle carry. This way, no matter what marksman Cheng Xing picked, the jungler could flank and kill him.

Tianhuan picked [Archer] + [Thunder Goddess].

The two commentators looked at each other, somewhat puzzled—

“[Thunder Goddess] paired with [Archer]. [Thunder Goddess]’s lightning damage can splash to surroundings, and [Archer]’s fire arrows, after activating ultimate, can also split and deal splash damage to surroundings!”

“So… is Tianhuan playing a Splash Damage strategy this game?”

In the backstage viewing area, Xu Zhuo couldn’t help but roast, “Tianhuan has so many cheeky strategies this season. [Thunder Goddess] mid paired with [Archer] marksman—a Double Carry Splash strategy. Very fierce in team fights! But both heroes lack displacement and self-protection. They’re easily killed by the enemy jungler.”

Xie Weiyu analyzed seriously, “But Luoshendian’s jungler picked [Stealth Rogue]. Trying to kill people with [Stealth Rogue] in front of Captain Chi… might not necessarily succeed, right?”

Xu Zhuo laughed. “That’s true.”

In the P2 phase, Luoshendian banned two supports consecutively. Chi Shuo brought out [Knight], a utility jungler. Following closely, Tianhuan selected [Dark Angel]—a mage tank usually played in the top lane.

“Didn’t Tianhuan pick [Paladin] earlier? Wait, is [Paladin] playing support in this game?!”

“Tactical confusion! In the first game, Old Qin took [Paladin] top. The enemy coach probably thought they picked [Paladin] for top again. Turns out, [Paladin] was given to Qu Jiang, and Old Qin picked [Dark Angel].”

“Seamless engage lineup. Tianhuan is telling you: I want to fight you in this game!”

[Paladin] could jump to pull people and start fights, or use Substitute to save teammates.
[Dark Angel]’s ultimate, Dark Curse, could forcibly root enemies in range and lower their defense.
[Knight] was a utility jungler who dealt damage with kicks. He could kick a designated target far away, or perform a reverse kick (Insec) to send a squishy enemy into our team’s encirclement.

Three engage points, plus Mid-Marksman double splash damage output. Tianhuan’s lineup practically wrote a line of text on their faces: I want to team fight you.

Because Luoshendian frantically targeted bot lane in the BP phase, their bot lane continued to take [Poison Warlock] + [Forest Messenger], a duo with strong sustain. Their jungler [Stealth Rogue] could threaten the enemy Double Carry, top laner [Vampire Duke] could tank and fight, and mid-laner [Storm Goddess] was a control mage.

On the surface, the lineups seemed 50-50. Tianhuan had strong engage (various CC), while Luoshendian had strong sustain (lifesteal, healing). It depended on who killed the enemy’s damage dealers first in team fights.

The match began.

Luoshendian didn’t invade aggressively in this game. Chi Shuo’s utility jungler diligently continued to yield buffs to teammates until Luoshendian’s jungler hit level 6 for the first gank.

[Stealth Rogue] could go invisible; he couldn’t be found on the map.
But Chi Shuo had a premonition that the enemy jungler would definitely gank bot.

Chi Shuo had been eyeing bot lane early on, lying in ambush in the side bush. Just as the [Stealth Rogue] flanked, wanting to kill Cheng Xing, Chi Shuo suddenly jumped from the bush and kicked him flying!

[Stealth Rogue] was indeed a carry jungler with amazing burst. A squishy hero would be dead or crippled if hit by his full combo.
However, Chi Shuo’s understanding of [Stealth Rogue]…
Was simply like having a God’s-eye view.

He could calculate the duration of [Stealth Rogue]’s invisibility and even his flanking path!

The visual effect was incredibly comical.
[Stealth Rogue] had just popped up to tower-dive Cheng Xing when the Human [Knight] descended from the sky and kicked him away.
Like a hero saving a beauty in a TV drama!

The live stream was flooded with “Hahaha” comments—

[Captain Chi: Eat my Shadowless Kick!]

[Dare to touch my apprentice? I’ll kick you flying.]

[Shuoyue kicked the Rogue to Lieyang. Lieyang dropped a thunderbolt from the sky to stun the Rogue. Poor Rogue failed to gank, got kicked, then got zapped. Miserable!]

Chi Shuo indeed saw Ye Shaoyang coming to support and kicked the [Stealth Rogue] towards him. Ye Shaoyang originally couldn’t reach, but this way, he could zap the Rogue stunned with a thunderbolt perfectly.
Cheng Xing immediately followed up with damage. The two quickly beat the Rogue to critical health.
[Storm Goddess]’s tornado blew towards them, but because the Rogue had been kicked away by Chi Shuo, Luoshendian’s Mid and Jungle skills didn’t chain together. Their marksman was too far away. This gank returned fruitless, and the Rogue had to recall with low health.

In the next few gank attempts, Luoshendian gained no advantage.

Playing [Stealth Rogue] in front of Chi Shuo was indeed too difficult. Chi Shuo could predict your thoughts clearly. Wherever you went as [Stealth Rogue], Chi Shuo followed, like man-to-man defense in basketball. The moment the Rogue appeared, he was immediately kicked away, preventing him from chaining his combo.

The Luoshendian coach felt worse the more he watched.
He didn’t expect Tianhuan to pick a utility jungler like [Knight] with zero carry potential, yet it perfectly countered their [Stealth Rogue]! The Rogue couldn’t get close to kill the enemy Double Carries. Under Chi Shuo’s protection, Ye Shaoyang and Cheng Xing farmed up quickly and built their core items.

Top lane was too far to support bot frequently. If the Jungler couldn’t break through bot, winning late-game team fights would depend on the Top Laner’s performance.
Maybe [Vampire Duke] diving the backline could open up the situation?
The Luoshendian coach clenched his fists nervously.

In the viewing area, Coach Lin Feng, however, wore a smile and looked relaxed.
Tianhuan had been practicing this [Thunder Goddess] + [Archer] team fight system for a while. He believed the Double Carry coordination between Shaoyang and Cheng Xing would bring a surprise to everyone.

The match reached 12 minutes, entering a stalemate.
Luoshendian’s [Stealth Rogue] couldn’t kill Tianhuan’s Double Carries, but Chi Shuo’s utility [Knight] also couldn’t kill Luoshendian’s damage dealers. Dragging on until now, the kill score was still 0:0.

Seeing they couldn’t open a breach in bot, Luoshendian immediately rotated top, 3v1 tower-diving Old Qin and taking the outer tower!
Chi Shuo organized an attack on bot lane, 4v2 killing the enemy marksman and taking the bot outer tower.
Both sides traded towers; still, no one suffered a loss.

At 15 minutes, Chi Shuo pinged “Gather” in mid lane.
Top and bot lanes cleared their waves and immediately came to mid. 5 people grouped to push the mid tower, forcing Luoshendian to defend.

Suddenly, Qu Jiang pressed “Attack.” The tall and burly [Paladin] decisively charged into the crowd to force an engage. Old Qin followed immediately, using “Dark Curse” to root 3 enemies in mid lane!

Chi Shuo hovered on the periphery. The enemy Rogue tried to cut the marksman but was kicked away by the ever-vigilant Chi Shuo.
The enemy top laner charged to cut Cheng Xing, but Cheng Xing Flashed into a bush to dodge.

Ye Shaoyang immediately cast his ultimate—Five Thunders Strike!
A dark cloud spread in the sky, followed by purple lightning crashing down, stunning the 3 enemies collectively!

Lightning chain markers appeared on the three of them. Cheng Xing seized the opportunity, activating his ultimate to fire fire-arrows. The flaming arrows split in the air—one into two, two into four—shooting directly into the lightning-chained crowd and exploding!

[Archer] relied on his ultimate for damage. After the arrows split, they dealt considerable splash AOE damage. If the enemies were spread out, the arrows wouldn’t hit many. Conversely, the more clustered the enemies, the more each arrow splashes to the surroundings, dealing more serious damage!

At this moment, Qu Jiang and Old Qin’s chain CC held the enemies together.
Ye Shaoyang’s lightning combo linked the 3 enemies, zapping them tender on the inside and scorched on the outside, applying “Lightning” chain damage. Even normal skills could conduct through the lightning chain.
This was the core of the [Thunder Goddess] chain strategy. [Archer]’s arrows naturally splashed; splash damage conducted through lightning meant double damage!

With Chi Shuo protecting nearby to prevent the enemy Jungle and Top from cutting the backline, Cheng Xing had a perfect output environment. His ultimate’s damage was fully realized!
One arrow, two arrows, three arrows!
Overwhelming sharp arrows rained down densely, fire splashing everywhere like a rain of fire!

The three enemies were already crippled by the Thunder Goddess’s combo. After Cheng Xing dumped his full damage, even the [Forest Messenger] activating his healing ultimate couldn’t heal them up.

——[Tianhuan Fanying (Archer) killed LSD-Feifei (Storm Goddess)]!
——[Tianhuan Fanying (Archer) killed LSD-Xiaoyin (Poison Warlock)]!
——[Tianhuan Fanying (Archer) killed LSD-Douding (Forest Messenger)]!

Luoshendian’s top laner finally caught up to Cheng Xing, who had flashed into the bush and burst him down. However, Luoshendian lost 3 people in the blink of an eye. Even if Cheng Xing died, he had dealt sufficient damage before dying, securing a triple kill.

Before, he died with regrets (eyes open); this time, he died peacefully.
After dying, Cheng Xing was still shouting excitedly, “I killed 3! Not a loss, not a loss!”
Ye Shaoyang praised, “Good job, Xiao Xing.”

This team fight was a 1-for-3 trade. Tianhuan’s economy took off. Ye Shaoyang’s [Thunder Goddess] had luxurious items, and Cheng Xing’s [Archer] finished his damage items. Luoshendian’s jungler was marked by Chi Shuo from start to finish and couldn’t kill Cheng Xing at all. The top laner tried to cut Cheng Xing but was blocked by Qu Jiang’s Substitute skill.

Tianhuan snowballed economy rapidly, stealing resources and forcing a Baron fight.
In the critical Baron team fight, because Luoshendian couldn’t deal with the two damage points of Cheng Xing and Ye Shaoyang, they were once again hit by the full force of the Lightning Chain + Fire Arrow Splash combo.
Dense lightning and overwhelming fire rain announced the end of the match.

In the live stream, Tianhuan fans excitedly filled the screen with comments.
[Lightning and fire, it’s like a blockbuster movie scene!]
[Zapped crisp by thunder, then burned to ash by fire arrows. So miserable.]
[Chained together to be stunned, then burned into kebabs? Tianhuan’s chain lineup is strong!]
[Tianhuan this season is truly strong.]
[Water, Fire, Sun, Moon, Star—charge forward for me! Charge to Group S, charge to the Grand Finals!]

At the commentary desk, the two commentators’ voices were also excited—
“Congratulations to Tianhuan for winning this match 2:0!”
“The MVP of this game goes to Fanying (Cheng Xing). Xiao Xing’s Archer performance was indeed outstanding. In two consecutive key team fights, his ultimate damage was fully realized, with rocket splashes dealing 45% of the team’s total damage!”
“Of course, Lieyang’s mid-lane performance was still remarkable. The lightning chains connected the enemy squishies every time. Candle Fire and River Water’s engagement was seamless. Shuoyue’s protective marking was spot on. Tianhuan won this game because the coordination of the 5 members was truly tacit!”
“Group A’s matches have all concluded. Let’s look at the final points table.”

Group A Final Standings:
Tianhuan: 5 consecutive wins, advancing as 1st place without a doubt.
Moon Shadow: 3 Wins 2 Losses.
Luoshendian: 3 Wins 2 Losses.
Both teams had the same Net Win Score, but since Moon Shadow defeated Luoshendian in the group stage, Moon Shadow ranked higher and prioritized advancement.

“Congratulations again to Tianhuan for securing qualification with a complete victory in Group A! I believe today’s match has also given everyone a new understanding of Team Tianhuan. Tianhuan this season has improved at godlike speed; their future is promising!”
“Let us look forward to Tianhuan’s performance in the Promotion/Relegation Matches!”