Rise

this.” He briefly paused, switching to the few words of Chinese he’d picked up during his time in China, then ordered, “Freeze lanes, farm.
Jarvan IV, Irelia, gank me!”

✹

At 12 minutes, Irelia slipped away from her lane.
She ran down the river, past the Baron pit, and then turned left into Red Team’s topside Jungle.
Jarvan IV was already waiting for her there.
They walked to the small alcove right next to the entrance into the mid lane.
Here they waited for the order from Goalie, who was pushing a minion wave into Red team’s outer tower.

Zephyr leaned in towards his microphone and said, “Looks like we’ve got a 3 man towerdive coming right up!”

“You don’t gank Lin Feng,” Su Xue mumbled. Wait, casting! She smiled and added, “Lin Feng is really good.
And he’s on Talon! I’m thinking that he’ll outplay Team Guangzhou and get out ahead in this gank!”

Goalie gave the order.
Irelia dashed at Lin Feng’s Talon with Blade Surge and Jarvan IV dashed at Lin Feng’s Talon with his flag-toss combo.
From the other side of the outer tower, Goalie jumped in with Distortion! He followed up with Sigil of Malice and completed his combo with a set of Ethereal Chains!

Lin Feng saw the skills as if in slow motion.
Two were dodgeable.
Ethereal Chains and the flag-toss combo.
Those were also the two skills that would kill him if he got hit by them.
He flicked his mouse to the side and activated Flash.
A veil of light fell over his Talon and carried him a short distance, just far enough to dodge the skills from LeBlanc and Jarvan IV.

Team Guangzhou’s Jarvan IV followed his failed flag-toss combo with his ultimate–Cataclysm! He leaped up above Lin Feng’s Talon and then came down on him with such force that he terraformed the ground into an arena! He locked himself, with Talon and Irelia inside, while Goalie’s LeBlanc could fire her skills from outside.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes.
The outer tower had targeted Irelia, making her his easiest target. I’m coming for you! He had his Talon blink behind Irelia and then slashed her throat! He followed this Cutthroat up with an auto attack, the wounds causing Irelia bleed damage! And then he cast his ultimate.
He threw a large number of daggers out around him, using the brief moment of confusion as the daggers cut through all three Champions attacking him to disappear into the surroundings.

“That’s Shadow Assault! Talon’s cast his ultimate!” Su Xue shoutcasted.

Zephyr continued, “Team Shanghai is collapsing on mid! Liss, Grag and Braum are all coming!”

Su Xue glanced at the minimap before quickly focusing back on the fight.
She clenched both her fists and said, “This might become another 3-0 for Team Shanghai!”

Goalie stared at his screen, laser focused.
“Care!” he shouted over the team’s voice chat.
Then he placed a vision ward on the ground.
A pink shroud exploded outwards and revealed all that was hidden.
Talon’s shadow slowly formed and then the Champion himself did.
Goalie smiled and cast Mimic: Ethereal Chains! The illusory chains struck Talong and wrapped around him.

Lin Feng grimaced. Ah, crap! I got hit.
Guess I’m still not there for a 1vs3 against these guys. He shrugged the disappointment off and focused on what he could do.
Kill Irelia.
The energy shots from the tower and his attacks had whittled her health down and the root from Ethereal Chains wouldn’t come into effect for another second.
He stopped dodging, stopped trying to survive.
His fingers glided over his keyboard as he activated Rake, Noxian Diplomacy, and the second half of his ultimate skill.
Talon threw a cone of daggers in front of him.
They sliced through Irelia! He followed up by plunging his hand blade into Irelia! And he finished it off by tugging on the strings of all the daggers around him.
They came flying back, cutting through LeBlanc, Jarvan IV and Irelia.

《You have slain an enemy!》
《You have been slain!》

“Haaah!” Lin Feng exclaimed, letting go of his mouse and keyboard.
He relaxed back in his gaming chair and chuckled.
His screen had turned grey and the announcer reminded him that he had really died.
But that was fine.
He got the kill on Irelia.
More importantly, LeBlanc and Jarvan IV were out of position and the rest of his team was collapsing on them.
He said over the team’s voice chat, “Get ‘em, boys!”

Zeng Rui focused on the game.
He ordered over the team’s voice chat, “Zhang Hao.
LeBlanc first! Lock her down!”

“On it!” Zhang Hao exclaimed.
His Lissandra was right above the mid lane.
Glacial Path! An icy claw tore through the ground and paved the road to LeBlanc! When it was almost upon her, Zhang Hao reactivated the skill.
Lissandra blinked towards the icy claw and then cast Frozen Tomb on LeBlanc! Ice spires shot up from the ground and pierced LeBlanc, locking her up within the outer tower’s range!

Goalie started trembling and shaking.
His teeth chattered in pure rage.
His nose twitched, as did his eyebrows.
He clenched his fist and yelled, “Fucking dogs!” But he couldn’t move his eyes away from the screen.
He watched Zhang Hao’s Lissandra attack him with an Ice Shard.
Then, just as the stun from Frozen Tomb was about to break, Lissandra froze him to the ground with Ring of Frost.
The tower’s energy shots were dealing too much damage.
“FUCKING DOGS!” he screamed.

《You have been slain.》

“That’s more like it!” Zuo Cheng said.
He looked around him, hesitated for a brief moment, then leaped to his feet and shouted, “WOOOOOOOO TEAM SHANGHAI! WIN FENG! WIN FENG!”

Sun Ruinian glanced at his Midlaner and laughed.
He said, “You’re right, he won that fight 1vs3.
Practically, anyway.
He kept them occupied long enough for the rest of his team to collapse on them.
The Jarvan IV is also dead.”

“Exactly!” Zuo Cheng replied.
He grinned and continued, “This was only to be expected! He beat the cap! What’s this damn Korean compared to the cap? A NOBODY!”

Team Guangzhou’s Jarvan IV was the last one alive.
He ran back where he came from, Red team’s topside Jungle.
His teammates were screaming in his ears in Korean, Chinese and another language he didn’t recognize.
He tried to ignore them and focused on the minimap.
There was a large number of wards revealing the surrounding area.
He saw the Lissandra and Braum coming from the mid lane.
His own Support, Thresh, was running through Blue team’s top side Jungle towards him.
He shouted over the team’s voice chat, “Get to the Baron pit and Lantern me out of he–”

An Xin’s Gragas Body Slammed over a Jungle wall into Team Guangzhou’s Jarvan IV and knocked him up into the air.
She then drank an entire barrel empty to power herself up and attacked with ferocious might–Drunken Rage! She then retrieved another barrel and rolled it towards Jarvan IV.
A moment later, it exploded.

“Hahaha! That Gragas! Jarvan IV had no clue what was coming for him!”
“Jarvan IV was already looking at the Baron pit! Sucks to be him!”
“Team Shanghai turning another fight around!”
“Woooooooo!”

Team Guangzhou’s Thresh arrived in the Baron pit and threw his lantern, trying to help Jarvan IV.
But when Jarvan IV started running again, an Explosive Cask sent him flying away from the lantern and towards Zhang Hao’s Lissandra and Zeng Rui’s Braum.

Zhang Hao’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise.
He laughed and threw an Ice Shard at Jarvan IV! From beside him, Zeng Rui’s Braum cast Winter’s Bite.
He propelled ice from his shield that slammed into Jarvan IV.
He then ran up to him and landed an auto attack.
An Xin’s Gragas did the same, as did Zhang Hao’s Lissandra.
The four attacks activated Braum’s Concussive Blow.
Team Guangzhou’s Jarvan IV was stunned.
He died seconds later to another Lissandra Ice Shard.

《Double kill!》

“Nice!” Zhang Hao exclaimed.
He then turned his head to look at An Xin and added, “Thanks.
Couldn’t have done this without you.”

Lin Feng nodded and chimed in, “Yeah! Not bad, not bad at all, BunBun!”

“Not bad? Bad like you with your two deaths?” An Xin countered, laughing.

“Wow! Rude! I got three-man dived, okay?” Lin Feng argued.
He then grinned and added, “I did keep them busy long enough for you guys to catch up.
That has to count for something.”

✹

Goalie slumped back in his gaming chair.
The initial burst of anger dissipated.
He was frustrated with his teammates, but more than that, he’d lost.
His plan for this game was to pick LeBlanc and stomp Lin Feng.
But he’d lost.
He’d lost.
He stared at his screen, shaking his head.
A good gank that was executed well ended in a 1 for 3 trade.
Not because they screwed up, but because Lin Feng was better.
His opponent was better.
He leaned forward and hit the Tab key.
Top was snowballing, bot was 4/1 and he wasn’t winning mid either. It’s not supposed to be like this! I was supposed to crush him and show that stupid dog what real skill looks like! We were going to make them all look and feel useless! How… How did it get here? Why are we losing? We haven’t lost anything yet! How are we losing this game so hard!?