Chapter Thirty-Three: We Strike at the Elite

"Yes, yes, I'm coming down right away."

Fireloli nodded, finished off the F6 camp, and rushed to the bottom lane river. The laning synergy of Varus and Lulu was, as expected, incredibly formidable in the early game.

Lin Ruo pushed up, tanking the minion wave, and unleashed a quick AEAQ combo. With the shield and attack speed boost from Lulu, he instantly whittled Deft's Ashe down to below half health after catching him out of position.

"The enemy AD is pretty fierce," Deft muttered, wiping a bead of sweat as he retreated to his turret. He had anticipated a difficult early game, but not this difficult—he was being forced to recall before even hitting level four.

Mata remained silent. Malzahar’s poke was nothing to sneeze at, but five minutes in, the opposing AD had played with cautious perfection, leaving absolutely no openings. Unable to find a window to trade, Mata was forced to trade poke with Lulu, leaving his own health bar in a precarious state.

A brief moment of inattention allowed Lulu to step out of the brush and land a sneaky, minion-piercing Q. Seeing his health ticking down, Mata dared not step forward again.

As the two retreated to their turret, Score, who was farming Krugs behind them, realized this was a golden opportunity for a gank. "Don't recall yet," he urged. "Wait for me to come in and force a play or counter-gank their jungler. Even if we just trade Flashes, we come out ahead."

No sooner had he spoken than a ward was dropped right in front of him. Fireloli had entered the jungle and, finding no Elise in the Red Buff area, had instinctively warded the Krug camp over the wall. Elise’s position was instantly exposed.

Score looked awkward, leading the jungle monsters into the brush. To be safe, Fireloli doubled back to the bottom lane, camping in the tri-bush as a full-time bodyguard. He only left to resume farming once the bottom lane had cleared a wave, chipped away at the turret, and recalled.

Though he was down 12 CS in the jungle, Fireloli found this perfectly acceptable. Meanwhile, Elise, having nothing better to do, had to recall and head back to the top-side jungle.

Back in lane, Lin Ruo checked the top lane status. Shen was pinned under his turret, unable to move, down 25 CS just seven minutes in.

"Mouse, can you hold on?" Lin Ruo couldn't help but ask.

"I—I'll try my best to stabilize," Mouse exhaled, already drenched in sweat. He was feeling a level of pressure he had never encountered in the LPL. Smeb’s laning mechanics were ridiculously sharp, making life miserable for him. If this continued, he might accidentally feed a monster. He had picked Shen specifically so that even if his lane imploded, he wouldn't be useless. If he could use his ultimate to help other lanes get ahead, he could at least mitigate the damage from his own lost lane.

Now at level seven without having made a move, Mouse grew anxious. "Can we make a play in mid?" If he couldn't contribute anything early while continuing to feed top, the loss would be catastrophic.

"I'm heading to mid, we can try," Meiko said, having finished vision control in the river and lurking behind the mid-lane wall.

Pawn, cautious, kept the lane frozen and stayed safely near his turret. Wanting to clear the wave and reset, he eventually played too aggressively and burned his E, Force of Will.

Scout, seeing his Flash back up, seized the opportunity to engage with R-Flash. Shen’s ultimate immediately locked onto him. Pawn flashed into the turret, but it was too late. Mouse arrived with a clean E-Flash, and with the help of the diving Lulu, they secured First Blood.

Almost simultaneously, Jayce teleported in behind the minions to cut off their retreat, and with the arriving Elise, claimed Mouse’s head. The skirmish ended in a one-for-one trade. EDG burned two Flashes to kill Syndra, while KT took the kill on Shen.

Lin Ruo, guarding the bottom lane alone, was forced to retreat and lose a full wave of minions for fear of a dive from the enemy duo. The gank had been a spontaneous decision, and Fireloli, busy with his Red Buff, couldn't make it in time.

A single thought echoed in the minds of everyone on EDG: *That was a disaster.*

Aside from the top lane, which gained a slight reprieve from the pressure, all other lanes had suffered losses. With Elise picking up a kill, the pressure would only mount.

Mouse, feeling the weight of dragging his team down, coughed awkwardly. "Come on guys, we can still fight."

Not long after, he realized he couldn't fight anymore. At nine minutes, Syndra pushed the lane and immediately joined Elise for a blatant three-man dive top. Mouse, tipped off, retreated to his second turret and narrowly escaped, but watched helplessly as his first turret fell.

Fireloli rotated bottom, rushing to help Lulu secure the first Water Drake to stop the bleeding. Lin Ruo, seeing a massive wave crashing into his turret and noticing Deft was missing, felt a jolt of alarm.

"Their duo rotated mid. Scout, be careful."

Moments later, Scout was standing before his second turret. Excluding Jayce, who was farming top, the entire KT squad had assembled and swiftly taken the mid-tier-one turret.

*God-tier rotation and macro...*

Fireloli, having just returned from the dragon pit, was stunned. He had only taken one dragon, and yet his team had somehow fallen into a massive deficit. Was this the fabled LCK macro?

With a gold deficit nearing 2,500, a pessimistic Fireloli rubbed his nose. "I don't think we can win this. Maybe... just surrender."

They might have had a chance against other LPL teams, but they were facing the elite of the elite, KT. KT’s tight, rhythmic macro wouldn't give them any openings, and Fireloli had lost all hope. It was just a training game, after all—why kill themselves over it?

"You only know how to talk about quitting! Have you lost your mind, Fireloli? Do you want me to come over there and smack you?" Lin Ruo glared at him, cursing. "Isn't your 'Big Daddy' here farming just fine? The late game doesn't depend on you carrying. I'm not panicking, so why are you losing your mind?"

"We can fight," Mouse added. "My shields will be huge in the late game." If they lost this game, it would be his fault, and he didn't want it to end so soon.

"Just play slowly. We aren't at the breaking point yet," Meiko said, checking the AD carry's status. Lin Ruo had solo-taken the bottom tier-one turret and vacuumed up plenty of farm; he was nearly 30 CS ahead of Deft. His growth was already ahead of the curve. Conversely, Deft, having sacrificed for the team, was the one suffering.

Lin Ruo recalled and immediately completed his Blade of the Ruined King. Deft, meanwhile, was far from his own core item; the lane match-up was effectively over. Of course, the KT AD carry had likely been designated as the sacrificial lamb during the draft, so he had fulfilled his mission.

However, because KT had failed to shut down the key carry early on, it meant they still had every chance to mount a comeback in the late game.

At this moment, a remarkably calm Lin Ruo couldn't help but recall a caster's famous line.

*Damn it, I haven't died once. How can the enemy be so sure they've already won?*

*So what if they're the elite of the LCK? I specialize in crushing elites.*