Chapter 296: Collapse at a Touch

After over nine minutes, ROX's lower tower collapsed with a boom.

ROX took the opportunity to claim a small water drake.

"With the gold gap nearing three thousand at ten minutes, ROX has a small water drake—how do you two see this situation?"

"I think the Dragon King is useless. To be precise, he hasn't achieved the effect this champion pick should have."

"This isn't really Kuro's fault—G2's jungle is playing dirty, Kuro was targeted from the ban phase, and before the first two waves were even pushed, the cougar showed up; anyone would crack under that, and even if Faker came, there'd be nothing to do."

"I know, but am I not stating the facts?"

"That's indeed the case."

"So this game turned out this way because the Dragon King's impact never materialized—he was supposed to be ROX's early-game tempo core, but his engine stalled, leaving ROX to watch helplessly as the cougar grew fat, leading to this state; the cougar is already unmanageable, and even if we let Smeb's Ekko solo‑lane to soak up the crocodile, I feel we'd still be blown up in one combo, and Smeb wouldn't even get to use his ultimate."

"The damage is just too explosive."

"After taking the lower tower, G2 voluntarily swapped lanes, moving the marksman to the top lane."

"ROX was prepared and simultaneously sent their duo lane up."

"If we can take another tower, the marksman's push tempo will really take off."

"Yes, it's a shame the conditions earlier didn't let the marksman solo‑take tower plates; otherwise she'd have farmed faster. Even now it's not bad—she has kills and tower plates, making up all the cs she lost and gaining a noticeable lane‑advantage in gold."

"Actually, a hard support vs. a long‑range soft support gets easier as the game goes on, because the soft support's damage fades while the hard support gets tankier, and with engage priority the soft support usually dies once caught."

"That's right, though ROX's duo lane can still hold their own; defending the lane is fine."

"But the cougar has arrived."

"Liang Yan didn't engage right away; he came over, placed a ward, then slipped a tricky fake eye into the high ground of the blue team's jungle over the wall. While ROX was on high alert, he ran back to his own jungle to clear a camp, only returning to the top lane after ROX's duo, under the blind monk's protection, had pushed the wave out."

""The crocodile pushed the mid lane wave over, forcing the Dragon King to fall back mid, and then the Jungle God showed up! Peanut didn't leave, but he's camping in the bush.""

""Wow, who placed that ward? It's perfect—exactly where the true sight in the tri‑brush can't reach! We can see Peanut's every move clearly.""

""G2's top laner has a teleport lead, it feels like another big play is coming! But right now ROX is pushing the lane, and the two long‑range champs may not be able to shove the wave into tower against the marksman—did the Jungle God come too early? He might just spook the bushes.""

"Liang Yan emerged from the red side's top tri‑brush, and was quickly spotted by ROX's river ward; Xiao Huasheng, who was about to recall to jungle, immediately turned back."

""The Jungle God has been spotted, and the crocodile is rushing up too—ROX's duo started to retreat, thinking there was no chance… huh?! Kennen just teleported!""

""The teleport landed right in front of Peanut!""

""The bull is marching past the minion wave, the marksman auto‑attacking the final Peacekeeper shot to clear ordinary minions—she doesn't even need the cannon minion and just follows the bull—what?! Is G2 trying to skip the wave entirely and just dive?""

""That's too reckless, G2!""

""But the bull has his ultimate—he might actually be able to pull it off!""

""Peanut held his position, waiting for Kennen to land so he could kick him back into the river, but the cougar knocked him back into the brush from behind the wall and then leapt onto him!""

""Kennen is about to land!""

""Peanut can only retreat from the brush!""

""The Jungle God is following up!""

""Peanut daren't give up his spot—ROX's duo just fell back under tower, and if he yields position G2 will trap them in tower and dive.""

""Kennen has landed, the brush's true sight has been cleared, and the cougar's first hook looks like it's trying to zone him back toward tower, but ROX knows they can't retreat—Peeanut shields himself, absorbs the hook, and drags the duo into a hard push toward the second tower.""

""The bull dives in with his ultimate, tanking tower as he charges with the marksman; teammates follow up with the Jungle God's aggressive engage—after landing his hook, a single Q knocks the blind monk below half health, and Peanut kicks him away without taking any E damage.""

""Janna ults to block the path, but once the blind monk uses his ultimate Kennen can dive in freely— the electric rat turns into a spark‑spewing bolt, flashes past Janna's ult, and crashes into the crowd, unleashing a thunderous storm that zaps everyone to a crisp.""

""The Rat King and GorillA both flashed out of the lightning pool before being stunned!""

""The unslowed Peanut took full damage and was instantly killed by Kennen!""

""Jia ke zhang took Peanut's head and kept chasing the trailing Janna, who knocked Kennen back with a backward grab!""

""Meanwhile, the bull has already rushed the marksman past the defensive tower!""

""The Rat King is sprinting for the second tower, not daring to look back!""

""After being kicked back, the Jungle God chased a few steps, reverted to human form, tossed a heal at Kennen, then threw another hook—though he didn't expect to land it, it was just to zone.""

""GorillA was forced to turn back!""

""Kennen lands a Thunderbolt followed by a basic attack with the lightning‑bind mark, stunning Janna and holding her in place; the bull rushes in, and the marksman finishes her with a single auto‑attack.""

""ROX has no chance to fight back—collapse at a touch!""

""It's split again!""

"Pray had already run far off; G2 Zhong Ren didn't pursue, intercepted a blue minion wave behind the tower, waited for their own minions to enter the tower, and the three began to retreat and take down the tower."

"Lao Zhang's Kennen recalled to base the instant Janna fell; at that moment he had become the electric rat, left the fountain, and sprinted down to the bottom lane."

"In the LCK broadcast studio, wails filled the air as the three commentators' lamentations showed no end."

"To add insult to injury, they noticed a detail:"

""Wait, why is Kuro's flash gone?!""

""Huh? What is this?!""

""Judging by his health, it looks like… he was ambushed mid‑route by the crocodile.""

""What? The Dragon King can traverse terrain to support—how could he still be caught by the crocodile? Agu, Kuro is just too careless!""

""Sigh…""

""Don't sigh, seriously don't sigh—we haven't lost yet!""

"At this moment, ROX's outer tower just collapsed."

"An LCK commentator glanced at the gold difference and said:"

""But the gold gap is almost four thousand…""

"As those words fell, the Kennen who had returned to bottom lane turned into a burst of electricity, flying over a big wave of ranged minions before the tower; his W then unleashed streaks of white lightning with a crackle, frying all the ranged minions—G2's total gold ticked up by one, pushing the gold difference over four thousand."

"The three LCK commentators fell silent at once."

"A few seconds later, the Raging Emperor's hoarse voice said:"

"Now we can only rely on Wanghu."

"You mean you're hoping for a miraculous kick?"

"Others can do it, and we Wanghu can do it too! I believe in him!"

……

……

I really want to add more chapters, but unfortunately I have no stockpile.

Here I wish everyone a happy New Year, may everyone strike it rich next year……