Chapter 474: Stage Victory

When 957 used Teleport, he had just left base, so his fury was empty on landing, and he couldn't fill it up quickly after joining the fight.

Little Ner had no burst tools at all, and Liang Yan's earlier dive under the second tower to kill someone is playing out again.

Although 957's gear was decent and his sustained damage was solid, the Lulu + Fan Mom shield combo was just too cheeky, hard‑protecting Sima Laozei right in front of Ner.

The casters and the audience were all bewildered.

"No way?! It's just a low‑health mouse, how can you not kill it?!"

"This is health‑cheating! With no burst damage, 957 simply can't kill Sima Laozei! Yet Sima Laozei keeps dealing damage, and his health only goes up the more he's hit!"

"And Jiao Shen came down from the top lane, leaving 957 surrounded!"

"On the other side, Fu Lan Duo had already killed Ben, but she herself was likewise surrounded by WE's mid and jungle three. As an underdeveloped non‑tank hero, lasting this long was already remarkable; she finally flashed to try to escape, but was still stomped to death by a copied ultimate from the Enchantress."

"Soon after this team fight began, the entire battlefield had been completely split in two: one side was the 2v1 in the F6 base that had turned into a 4v1, and the other side was the 1v1 near the Zhong Lu river lane that had turned into a 3v1."

"After WE's three members killed Sheng Qiang Ge, 957 finally filled his fury when low on health; Little Ner turned into Big Ner, gaining hundreds of health and decent resistances out of thin air, but this couldn't change the battle's outcome because his teammates were too far away—no one would come to save him—and he was finally taken down by Easyhoon's single Soul Flame."

"Zero for two! WE made the first move but still ended up losing!"

"Can we push mid? If VG can smoothly take this middle tower, it feels like this wave has a taste of killing the game!"

"Can't push, 957 still dragged it out for a while; now Malzahar has revived too, and VG has no minion wave."

"Yeah... but the second little dragon is about to spawn!"

"Oh wow?! A little fire dragon!"

"Jiao Shen ran straight down the river—sure enough VG is going for the little dragon. If I recall correctly, the first was an earth dragon, and this one is a fire dragon; VG's luck is not bad!"

"Um, a 3,000‑gold economic advantage, plus two decent‑stat little dragons, at the 19‑minute mark—this advantage is not small."

"I'll say something a bit untimely, but compared to regular season play, WE has actually played very well this game—after all, across the whole season, there aren't many teams that trail VG by only 3,000 gold at the 20‑minute mark."

"Your comment really is……"

"But I think Yan Ge is indeed quite objective; one thing we have to admit is that VG is truly a tier‑above powerhouse, and even before the match Tui Ge said so……"

"Bringing up my Tui Ge again."

"Uh, Tui Ge really did say before the match that VG is actually just a big boss."

"Got it—this WE game is like tackling a brand‑new, ultra‑high‑difficulty dungeon; even if we can't clear it in the end, each little boss we defeat counts as a stage victory."

"Pretty much that's the idea."

"……"

"Han Guo."

"LCK Spring Playoffs Finals venue, backstage lounge."

"KT members haven't left yet; the FMVP and coach are on stage being interviewed, while the rest stay in the lounge, one side waiting for them to return, the other side watching the LPL playoffs broadcast on their phones."

"Among them, three veterans who have served in the LPL are watching the Chinese‑language stream."

"Just then they caught the end of the mid‑lane team fight; the three casters chattered away, and although all three had opened the Chinese‑language stream, only Mata could actually grasp the gist, while the other two—Pawn and Deft—could only say they understood a little, and could only pick up a few simple game terms like "push mid/top/bottom", "take big/small dragon", "x lane miss", and the like; as soon as a sentence got a bit longer they were lost, and faced with the casters' rapid‑fire crosstalk‑like speech, the two of them might as well have been deaf."

"But Pawn was also curious what the casters had actually said, because he could hear them mention VG and WE's team names many times, clearly making some kind of comparison."

"So Pawn asked Mata:"

""Shixiang Ge, what are they saying?""

"Mata, in high spirits whenever something good happens, his face full of smiles, lifted his head and glanced at Pawn:"

""Oh, they said VG is a big boss, WE's just grinding this dungeon, and they said WE had gotten some…… uh, small‑stage victories?""

""It's stage victories.""

"The team's little translator brother, standing nearby, corrected him; seeing Pawn look his way, the little translator brother added:"

""They mean that WE fighting VG is like tackling a newly released, high‑difficulty dungeon in an MMORPG—even if we can't clear it, just getting past a small stage counts as a kind of stage victory, which in the LPL could be considered an honor.""

"Pawn thought for a moment, still puzzled, and said:"

""Stage victories? But they haven't even taken a single game from VG!""

""They're talking about how much gold they were behind VG at the 20‑minute mark.""

""Huh?""

""Yeah, that's it.""

"Pawn and Deft exchanged a glance, both feeling a bit incredulous."

"What is this, self‑comfort?"

"Mata beside them, however, fell into thought."

"He was thinking, although this sounds laughable, but if you want to study VG with the goal of crushing it, this might actually be a viable approach."

"For example, set a small goal: keep the gold difference within x at the 15‑minute mark."

"Although KT gets along well with VG and they often schedule scrims, at this point—with an international tournament looming—being the leaders of their two regions (Mata already assuming VG will win the championship), they have in fact become genuine rivals."

"So, some preparatory work can actually be started now."

"Thinking of this, Mata began to seriously ponder it in his mind, wondering how he would later discuss the viability of this approach with the team coach in detail."

"……"

"On site."

"The little dragon's dying roar echoed across the arena."

"VG fans cheered like thunder."

""VG successfully secured this little fire dragon, likewise achieving a stage victory!""

"Miller lightly mocked the odd remarks just made by Wawa and Chang Mao, not giving them a chance to rebut, and he continued his fast‑talk commentary to the camera."

""Jiao Shen can even grab a river crab on the side—very nice! And Sima Laozei went home, topped off his stats, then with invisibility and speed boosts hurried back to Zhong Lu, just in time to pick up the incoming minion wave before the tower, not missing a single minion—VG's play this wave was incredibly smooth!""

"Wawa & Chang Mao: "……""