League of Legends: League of Unknowns

“What a pest, he Exhausted me!” Yi Qin grumbled.

When Asmodai pushed so far forwards with Ezreal, he naturally came within Caitlyn’s attack range.

Thanks to Yu Luocheng’s Grasping Roots and Stranglethorns, he’d been disabled for two to three seconds—enough for Caitlyn to kill him off.

However, the Exhaust spell drastically reduced Caitlyn’s damage. Worse, Thresh had caught Caitlyn with his hook, preventing her from attacking at all!

“Now he’s dead!”

At last, Thresh’s hook fell off, and Yi Qin hit Q to launch Caitlyn’s ‘Piltover Peacemaker’ at Ezreal’s face. He was on his very last shred of health, so this would be his end!

That was when a ghostly green lantern soared over to Ezreal, sheathing him in an ethereal shield!

With the addition of this shield, Ezreal’s health just barely rose by one white bar ¹ !

The Piltover Peacemaker slashed across his body, shattering the shield at once.

Still alive? That’s alright, her next attack would be a Headshot—that would seal the deal!

***

Yu Luocheng himself wasn’t celebrating, even though it seemed that they were about to get a kill themselves. He still had a card to play: Zyra’s retribution, the ‘Rise of the Thorns’!

Ezreal was no more than four hundred units away from where Zyra fell. Even if Caitlyn didn’t finish him with her Headshot, Yu Luocheng could hit a key and take the kill himself.

In the end, Yu Luocheng didn’t fire the shot at Ezreal.

With a flick of his mouse, he fired the extremely long-ranged spike shot at Thresh!

Why Thresh? Yi Qin herself couldn’t understand what Yu Luocheng was thinking. She supposed he was letting her have the kill.

This thought brought a smile to her lips, and she fired the Headshot off at Ezreal.

Die with grace, Asmodai!

It seemed Yi Qin was about to get three hundred gold, herself.

In that moment of imminent triumph, she was greeted with a horrifying shock: All of a sudden, Ezreal took flight!

An eerie green light wreathed his body as the lantern pulled him back to Thresh—and out of the reach of her attacks!

Yi Qin could only watch as Ezreal was stolen away from her. She’d never managed to get off that last shot, after all!

She gaped, flabbergasted. How could she have forgotten that the new champion, Thresh, could do that?

He was out of range, now. Even if she used Caitlyn’s ultimate skill, Thresh would just move to intercept it. The moment she saw Ezreal being yanked away from her, she knew that he’d managed to get away!

“Disgusting!” Yi Qin spat in frustration.

Fwoosh!

At that moment, a long wooden thorn sailed past! Although it had apparently been aimed at Thresh, to Yi Qin’s surprise, it connected with Ezreal even as he was being pulled back to safety!

It almost felt as though, after seeing that the lethal shot had gone astray, Ezreal had purposely dived into its way!

“Uwah!” Ezreal gave a startled yelp as the projectile impaled him clean through, and he crashed to the ground.

A golden ‘150’ floated up from his body, and Yi Qin’s Caitlyn was credited with an Assist.

Yi Qin blinked, staring at the screen. Events had completely defied her imagination!

Her prey had been about to get away, but his escape route had led it right smack into Yu Luocheng’s attack. The emotional roller-coaster ride of the past minute finally culminated in a shower of fireworks!

He’d been slain! Ezreal had been slain!

They’d taken down Ezreal while he was being played by the best of the best, Asmodai!

If Yu Luocheng had been sitting next to her just then, she’d have given him a big kiss, what a precious boy he was!

And if Yu Luocheng had known about Lady Yi Qin’s feelings at that moment, he’d have booked a flight down to the GTV hostels without hesitation, so she could kiss him as much as she liked.

***

Seeing that Ezreal had fallen, Yu Luocheng relaxed a little, and his mouth curled with a tiny smile.

Thank goodness he’d had that momentary premonition, or else he’d have fired the spike directly at Ezreal, and he could have dodged it by taking the lantern.

He’d been that close to letting him slip away.

It was too bad that Yi Qin hadn’t gotten the kill herself. That would have been even better.

***

Asmodai and Osiris stared at their respective screens, their cocksure grins frozen in place.

How could this have happened? Weren’t they an invincible team?

Ezreal had used a double-Flash to get in the enemy’s face, and then after securing the kill, he’d catch hold of the lantern and escape by the skin of his teeth!

It was only because Azmodai had held absolute faith that Osiris would be able to withhold Caitlyn, and then toss the lantern over in time—that was why he’d dared to make such a risky play for Zyra’s life!

Everything had been accounted for. Ezreal had even been waiting for Zyra to fire her last, spiteful spike, so that he could dodge aside via Thresh’s lantern.

He hadn’t expected the enemy Zyra to throw her spike at Thresh, instead! That one move had cut off Ezreal’s escape.

If he hadn’t taken the lantern, Caitlyn would have killed him with a Headshot.

Take the lantern, and he’d collide with Zyra’s final thorn!

Either way, he’d have died!

Asmodai stared at the ash-gray scene on-screen, his heart a roiling storm.

The blonde-haired youth was silent for a long time, as well.

At first, he hadn’t believed Asmodai, but this last battle had proven it to him beyond the shadow of a doubt—whoever was playing Zyra, they were definitely a player of the highest caliber!

In the face of Ezreal’s vicious assault, Zyra had calmly retaliated. An entire series of reflexive motions, with neither pause nor error, at a speed worthy of the pro-level.

Most spectacular of all had been that final shot!

That perfectly calculated attack had trumped their flawless teamwork, and wrested a kill from them.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that players at this level would be able to predict Ezreal’s escape via lantern, and cut him off in advance. However, that last battle had been so fast, so furious, that anyone who’d been able to demonstrate such deft gameplay, while reading their tactics so thoroughly in mere moments…

Wasn’t that what you called a pro?

“We’ve underestimated them.” Waiting to respawn at their Fountain, Asmodai gave Osiris a wry smile.

Osiris nodded gravely. “You’re right. This fellow’s reflexes, precision, and tactical sense are all first-class. It’s rare to come across someone like him in Ranked play.”

“That he is Yi Qin’s partner already indicates he is no ordinary person. Must be some top player’s alternate account.” Asmodai thought for a moment, but finally declared, “However, if we fall by the hand of some random master playing boyfriend today, it will be the end of our careers as pro-gamers.

“I’ll give coach a call, tell him we’ll be late.”

1. The health bar is white, and each division represents a hundred HP—a useful visual cue to give you a quick idea of how much HP each champion has, at a glance.