Chapter 66: So Fast

"You could draft a strong support, play a bit more aggressively, and create opportunities for Graves."

Changmao's eyes lit up as he continued, "Since EDG has already locked in Tahm Kench, Alistar is honestly the most ideal choice. He makes both diving and initiating with Graves much more convenient."

True to his words, OMG's fifth pick indeed revealed Alistar.

Seeing this selection, Xiao Xiao in the live-stream instantly found the confidence to brag: "That works. Just pick Alistar to mess with their bot lane. If they want to play a passive, safe game with Tahm Kench, we just won't let them."

Xi Ka also chimed in: "EDG's bot lane is definitely going to be left on an island early on. OMG ganking the bot lane is completely viable. With Alistar initiating, how is your Varus without any mobility supposed to run? If Tahm Kench dares to swallow him, they'll both die together."

"Haha, I feel like Varus is going to die at least three times this game."

The two of them bounced off each other, having the time of their lives.

In the EDG player booth, Lin Ruo had no idea he was being disparaged to this extent, as he was busy putting his usual pressure on his teammates:

"A-Guang, you're on your own this game. This is a takeoff matchup for the top lane. If you can't carry, we'll ship you off to the neighboring team and bring in Xiayang next split to play Maokai for EDG."

"To be honest, Xiayang playing Maokai is genuinely better than A-Guang. It fits the team's traditional style, so I'm totally supportive of it," Meiko chimed in.

"What the hell? The ones under pressure should be you guys in the bot lane! If you don't feed early in the bot lane, I'll carry the game," A-Guang retorted, turning the tables.

These words prompted Ailoli to join the rebellion as well: "Brother Lin, I'm not coming bot lane anymore. I'm playing around the middle lane this game, so you're on your own. The enemy Smlz is pretty fierce, not easy to deal with at all."

Scout smiled, rolling up his sleeves. After locking in LeBlanc, his determination to carry was heavier than anyone else's.

"Is Smlz really that fierce?"

Lin Ruo was unimpressed. "He's basically fifty-fifty with me."

The match began, and both teams entered Summoner's Rift. The camera immediately shifted to the upper river, where the top laners and junglers confronted each other across the river.

As soon as the minion waves reached the lane, the OMG duo crossed the halfway mark to apply pressure.

"Bait him, don't step up."

Lin Ruo stood outside the tri-brush, tucked against the wall near the tower to conceal his position, charging up a Piercing Arrow while waiting for the right moment to strike.

Alistar had already entered the third brush, and a slightly complacent Smlz stepped forward a few paces.

Seeing his target enter the skill's range, Lin Ruo swung his bow outward, aiming the trajectory, but held the fully charged ability without releasing it immediately.

Varus's Q outranges Ashe's W. Beyond the maximum range of Volley where Smlz had no room to retaliate, he could only begin side-stepping in a desperate attempt to dodge.

At the very last fraction of the skill's duration, Lin Ruo pressed Q. The arrow shot forth like a thunderbolt, accompanied by a sharp, piercing whistle that tore through the air.

The piercing shriek echoed across the bot lane, leaving Smlz with nowhere to run as his champion was impaled straight through by the arrow.

"He predicted the movement—it hit!" Changmao exclaimed. "EDG's level-one strat is really nice. Knowing OMG would push up, they used Varus's superior range to suddenly poke and chunk them."

Guan Zeyuan nodded. "Mostly, it's because Lin Ruo held his arrow until the very last second. Brother Ma twisted and turned like a clown for ages, but in the end, he still couldn't avoid it."

"The charge time was fully utilized, dealing maximum damage. In the early laning phase, skill shot accuracy is just so crucial."

Over in the Deyunse live-stream, Xiao Xiao violently slapped his thigh:

"Damn it, he actually landed that! Talk about crazy good luck."

Xi Ka placated him, "Relax, relax, we'll sustain right back up. What's a little bit of health lost?"

After this brief interlude, at 1 minute and 40 seconds into the game, jungle camps spawned, and both top laners helped leash their respective buffs.

Both junglers followed the standard top-to-bottom clearing route.

Once the minions clashed, the EDG bot lane maintained a leisurely distance, avoiding any direct clashes with OMG.

Meiko's Tahm Kench landed a Q lick on the Alistar lurking in the brush, forcing him to back off.

Lin Ruo fired a minion-piercing Q that struck Smlz once more. The level-one poke from the duo was executed to near perfection.

The OMG bot lane failed to secure any significant advantage in the laning phase.

Meanwhile, in OMG's voice comms, Juejue—who had finished his red buff and reached level two—shifted his focus to the middle lane.

"Bait him a bit, I'm coming to gank now. LeBlanc successfully rushed level two, so she's definitely going to step up to trade."

Icon nodded, positioning himself closer to the upper river area.

Controlling LeBlanc, Scout was positioned directly opposite the river from Ryze, standing near the lower river entrance.

Without using any abilities to clear minions, he had secretly skilled his E at level one precisely to dish out overwhelming poke damage once he hit level two.

If he could manage to bind and chunk Ryze with his chain, the latter would undoubtedly be denied CS entirely.

That would make his early laning phase an unquestionable success.

Just as he was about to hit level two, Scout began applying pressure, securing the last low-health minion and skilling W, Distortion.

Closing the distance, his figure suddenly leaped forward.

Seeing this, Icon began retreating, moving toward the three backline minions to use them as cover.

Scout closed in with his W, stepping on Ryze, instantly applying Ignite and throwing out his chain.

Caught in the cluster of minions, Icon successfully side-stepped the tether.

Instantly reaching level two, he fired off his W to return the root onto LeBlanc.

Graves followed up immediately, stepping forward with his E to toss out a buckshot.

Caught between the duo's pincer attack and minion damage, Scout's health bar plummeted into the danger zone in an instant.

Breaking free from the root, Scout panicked and activated W to snap back, burning his Flash to create distance and narrowly escaping death.

"Scout tried to race to level two for an aggressive trade, but unfortunately missed his E chain, and the arrival of Graves successfully forced out his Flash."

Guan Zeyuan paused in the caster booth before continuing, "In that case, Scout burned both Summoner Spells, which is a bit rough for him. Fortunately, he's playing LeBlanc, so he doesn't have to worry too much about getting caught out."

The camera shifted back to the bot lane, where the EDG duo used poke to slightly shove the minion wave, forcing Alistar to retreat into the bush nearest his tower.

After clearing his blue buff and gromp to reach level three, Juejue hurried toward the bot lane without stopping.

With an Alistar on his team and the enemy daring to push the wave, a bot lane gank was mandatory.

"I'm coming bot, get ready."

"Come on, hurry up, I can Flash-combo," OMG support Five muttered while lurking in the brush, closely monitoring Varus's movements.

Lin Ruo hugged the outer edge, exercising extreme caution.

Only when the minion wave advanced did he take a few steps toward the inner side.

Tahm Kench was in the second brush, maintaining a fair bit of distance from his AD carry.

"I'm going in!"

Seeing the jungler approach along the river, Five seized the opportunity. The moment he stepped out of the brush, a flash of golden light illuminated the screen as his W surged forward. In the blink of an eye, he arrived right in front of Varus, slamming his heavy fists into the ground.

In his mind's vision, Varus would fail to react in time and be knocked high into the air.

Then Graves would follow up with a smoke grenade...

Yet the very next second, Five realized he seemed to be bowing repeatedly in place.

Because he, too, caught sight of a faint, shimmering flash of gold.

"Alistar steps out of the brush with a Flash-combo, and Lin Ruo... wow, what lightning-fast reaction!"

Guan Zeyuan's mouth hung wide open as his astonished voice echoed throughout the arena.