Chapter 163

On the big screen at the venue, Xmithie's Rek'Sai dug a tunnel from the river into the blue side blue buff Ye Qu, then crouched down in the Triangular Grass behind the right rear of the previous tower, quietly waiting for the right moment to strike.

In front of the tower, Ryze pushed the minion wave forward.

"It looks like CLG really wants to dive Island's Pantheon, but Pantheon's health is around two-thirds, still relatively healthy; if the coordination is poor, there's a risk of being counter-killed."

"Correct, and Darshan's Ryze likely took a lot of Q damage, now at about half health; this health line is actually already close to Pantheon's execute threshold, after all he has Ignite on him."

"Yes, the minion wave has entered the tower, but CLG still wants to engage; Rek'Sai came around from behind, Pantheon didn't retreat but advanced, moving toward Ryze; after Ryze finished his combo, he wanted to leave, but Pantheon landed a Q before being stunned and also jumped with his W!!"

"Stun only restricts Pantheon's mobility but cannot stop his damage output!"

"Basic attack followed by the heart-piercing spear dealt full damage! Ignite was also applied! Rek'Sai hurriedly dug a tunnel and came over, trying to knock Pantheon up; Ryze broke free of the stun, flashed away, and Pantheon flashed and dodged Rek'Sai's emergence from the ground!!"

"Spear in left hand, burn in right hand, Ryze can't hold up!"

"If the next spear throw crits, it will definitely insta-kill!"

"Rek'Sai hurriedly flashed forward to save his teammate and intercept!"

"But Pantheon's spear has already been released!"

"Ryze collapsed upon hearing it!!"

"Rek'Sai knocked him up and unleashed a full combo, but Pantheon blocked some of the damage, making it look average—about a quarter of health left; can we finish him off?!"

"Can't finish him!"

"Pantheon survived with over eighty health and made it back under the tower!!"

"Wow, Ryze fed that wave!"

"This is too reckless; Rek'Sai is only level three, even with good coordination it's a bit risky, let alone the two of them aren't even coordinated."

"Ryze got a bit anxious."

"Uh... it's indeed a bit rough."

"The barrage was full of haha, with phrases like 'Ou Mei lobi' flying across the stream; some said they wouldn't watch, it's too trashy, not even as good as me playing."

"Here at the venue, the audience didn't cheer either, only occasionally hearing a few strange cries from European viewers who had come far."

"The venue commentator's voice became tense again."

"The situation is a bit unfavorable."

"Yes, Pantheon got the kill, and Darshan has no flash left; the upcoming lane will be very tough, Xmithie needs to pay him more attention, otherwise a solo lane kill could happen again."

"Darshan made a big mistake; he shouldn't have turned back just now—clearly he should have waited for Xmithie to engage first—but he still felt nervous."

"The Zhong Lu matchup isn't great either..."

"I'm a bit confused—how did the card we picked later turn out like this?"

"The card versus Hu li matchup inherently has no advantage."

"What's the point of picking it then?"

"It's mainly for supporting the side lanes; we don't need to rush, believing CLG will have a decent rhythm after the card hits level six."

"Alright..."

"G2 team voice channel."

"Nice job, Lao Zhang."

"Liang Yan's praise came through the headphones; Lao Zhang chuckled embarrassedly, pulled his Pantheon into the tower gap to recall, then took his hands off the mouse and keyboard, picked up the sweat-absorbing cloth beside him, rubbed it, and said:"

"Pantheon feels overly simplistic and brutal; I didn't expect laning against Ryze to be this easy—just spamming QQQ, the enemy must be sick of me, haha."

"Hmm, but still be careful—without flash you're easy to catch; when I'm not in Shang Ban Qu, don't push the lane."

"I know!"

"Actually, Lao Zhang didn't earn much this wave either; mainly, the minion wave that went into the tower missed a lot of last hits, offsetting about half the kill gold, but at least he got all the experience."

"However, Ryze does have Teleport."

"So after Liang Yan killed someone and cleared the monsters in the lower jungle, he went back home, walked up to the top lane, helped Lao Zhang fully push the wave, then returned to farm his own jungle."

"Both sides' lanes subsequently returned to base to resupply during this period."

"Xia Lu, Bard's flash is about to come off cooldown, finally allowing his long-range poke to shine; he not only locked down lane control, but also knocked the recently spawned Trundle to low health, forcing the enemy to recall again."

"Liang Yan returned to his own jungle to farm Magic Swamp Frogs, timing Trundle's recall, and sent a warning to Zhong Lu; AP then began pushing the wave."

"Trundle indeed appeared in Zhong Lu, wandered around, then disappeared."

AP thought the enemy had left, so he came out from behind the tower to farm.

Just as a minion died under tower, Rek'Sai appeared from behind the F4 camp jungle exit, and at the same time, a troll rushed out from the shadows below the right riverbank wall.

Perkz hadn't decided whether to retreat or make a play when the enemy Card flashed in with a yellow card stunning him, then Rek'Sai tunnelled up and followed with a knock-up.

After landing, already low on health, Perkz instinctively flashed with E, pulling the enemy Card who was tanking the tower back; the next moment after igniting him, he was shoved by the troll's pillar next to Rek'Sai, who then seized the opportunity to bite off Hu li's head.

The Card left the tower with only a few dozen health, then died from the final tick of ignite damage.

A one-for-one trade is a better outcome than simply walking away.

After all, walking away means getting no minion farm from the tower at all, whereas a one-for-one trade lets you scrape two extra minions killed by area damage before you die.

Moreover, the bottom lane had EZ shoved out of the experience zone, so altogether CLG's three-man tower dive actually didn't gain much and might even have been a loss.

It's equivalent to sacrificing the AD's development to feed the jungler a kill, which really isn't profitable.

Perkz respawned and headed out with double Doran's Rings plus a Vampiric Scepter, allowing him to clear a wave roughly every ten seconds on average.

The Card, however, built a big skirt and a book—this... might be too safe?

What skirt?

That thing on him—what's that item called?

Negative Cloak...

Oh, I thought it was a skirt.

Actually, I think his first item was meant to be the Abyssal Scepter, and the Negative Cloak is just a minor component in its build path.

「Why doesn't he get the Demonic Codex? I remember it's only eight hundred gold, right? It gives ability power and cooldown reduction, and a yellow card stun combined with Rek'Sai's combo should be able to instantly kill the Hu li without flash, while he himself has Swiftness。」

「Um... personal choice, I guess。」

「So his choice is just to be a bit safer, right? 」

「Hmm... 」

Both sides remained peaceful for two or three minutes.

Around seven and a half minutes, Ryze facechecked, with the jungler blocking Pantheon's retreat, and finally succeeded in catching and killing Pantheon.

As if pressing some battle switch, the tranquility in the canyon was broken.