Chapter 544: Demolish!

Game time hit 14 minutes, the match entered the laning phase, and both sides started trading small-scale skirmishes more often, with kill counts alternating upward.

VG remained at an economic disadvantage because they had lost their top tower.

The first blood tower bounty was split between G2's mid and bottom laners, making Hu li and the mouse fatter.

VG promptly took down G2's bottom tower, recovering some of their economy.

At 15 minutes, with less than 2,000 gold behind, VG felt pressure, but the deficit wasn't large, and the balance of victory remained basically even.

While G2's mid and bottom laners were destroying the top tower, G2's top laner and jungler casually went to capture a Xia Gu Xian Feng, and the Herald's Eye allowed Galio to pick it up.

Meanwhile, VG took a small dragon, gaining a slight advantage in the exchange.

However, only now did they secure the first small dragon, meaning the ancient dragon would spawn very late in this game—possibly not at all before the match ended—and without the ancient dragon's buff, the modest boost from the small dragon alone would have little impact.

Over the next few minutes, G2 focused on the upper half of the map, scavenging all of VG's resources there; but VG returned the favor, likewise stripping G2's lower half of all its resources.

However, the choices for solo laners on the side lanes differed between the two teams.

G2's bottom second tower was solely defended by Galio, who had picked up the Herald's Eye, giving him solid wave clear and tankiness; with the well-fed Perkz providing teleport backup, whereas VG's physical damage core, Sima Laozei, was only moderately farmed, a four-man tower dive could not kill Galio quickly, and an all-in attempt carried extreme risk.

On VG's side, the top second tower was held alone by Easyhoon's Ziggs, who still had Flash; his wave clear was fast, and Shen's ultimate was ready to back him up at any moment. With Galio absent, G2 lacked a reliable engage tool, and since Galio had no Teleport to provide support, they likewise dared not easily engage that Ziggs.

The two sides stalemated for two minutes, neither able to do anything to the other.

"G2's advantage snowball is getting stuck—this is a good thing for VG!"

"VG's macro play and defense are on point!"

This situation, where neither side can fight and they must rely on macro play waiting for the opponent's mistake, is actually a bit boring for viewers. But the atmosphere at the venue hasn't cooled; everyone sits in tense silence, waiting for the moment an intense clash erupts.

The time came to around 18 minutes.

In the end, VG had to relent, as a big wave of minions had naturally pushed to under their middle tower, forcing them to send someone to clear the wave.

The stalemate was broken by G2 at that moment.

Spotting Varus appear in mid lane, G2 reacted swiftly and decisively, with four players from the upper half of the map rushing through a jungle side path to flank mid.

At that point, G2 had taken control of VG's entire upper jungle; from VG's perspective, the whole area was pitch black.

Although Liang Yan warned Sima Laozei when he pushed the bottom wave to G2's second tower and found it empty behind the tower, the warning came a little late, and Sima Laozei chose the wrong retreat direction—he fled into the protective range of the first tower.

This is not safe.

Four G2 players surged out from the choke point in the upper jungle before the red side's middle second tower; Sima Laozei hurriedly retreated down the river, hoping to meet up with his bottom lane teammates, but as he just came up the river slope into the blue side's lower jungle, Galio cut off his path.

Moreover, in the river not far from Sima Laozei, the four G2 players who had Lulu shield Mang Seng and were bravely tanking the turret also completely blocked his escape route.

Further back, more than 3,000 units behind the four G2 players, Easyhoon's Ziggs trailed behind, having already reached the rear of their own middle first tower.

Sima Laozei was surrounded on both sides, yet he did not give up escaping; he turned back toward the river, intending to run downstream along it to buy time for his teammates' aid.

But when Liang Yan saw Mang Seng's Heavenly Sound Wave force Sima Laozei to retreat and dodge the ability, he knew Sima Laozei was done for.

Liang Yan made a snap decision and issued a command over the team voice channel:

"Don't go there, we'll just push down."

"Marquis, you don't need to come over—quickly clear the mid lane wave and push forward with all your might!"

Liang Yan meant to push forward with full force, and Easyhoon fully understood his intent.

The players in the lower half of the map stared for a moment in silence, then without hesitation carried out Liang Yan's order, all rushing back together to begin an all‑out push to destroy the tower.

Word came that Sima Laozei had died.

Three seconds later, G2's bottom second tower fell, and the three VG players continued pushing forward with their minion wave.

At that moment, a disagreement arose within G2.

Expect loudly asked whether they should fall back to defend.

Jankos thought they could simply flank around and kill the three VG players, but Mithy immediately objected, saying they couldn't lock them down because the entire lower half of the map was warded by VG, and the three VG players could just recall to base the moment they saw G2 trying to flank from below.

Perkz's suggestion was far more aggressive: he proposed that everyone turn back and catch the mid laner, regardless of whether they could kill the Ziggs, as long as they stopped the Ziggs from clearing the wave, they could break straight through VG's mid lane.

Although G2's cohesion was not as strong as when Liang Yan was present, Perkz had already become the team's anchor, so despite the brief disagreement among G2 members, the confusion lasted only two seconds before they reached a consensus.

At the crucial moment, Perkz's opinion garnered everyone's support.

All five G2 players surged toward mid lane as a pack.

Easyhoon faced death head‑on, hugging the upper river edge while pushing forward with his minion wave.

Near G2's middle first tower, he picked up the next minion wave, went in and immediately unleashed his full combo, wiping out the wave almost completely—

leaving only a low‑health cannon minion.

It would take roughly three basic attacks to finish off the low‑health cannon minion; to fulfill his final duty, Easyhoon flashed forward to evade Galio's Flash‑into‑Justice Punch knock‑up and landed a basic attack on the cannon.

Still two hits short…

Easyhoon focused entirely on his positioning, dodged another Heavenly Sound Wave from Mang Seng, and landed his second basic attack.

But the third attack never came off—Mithy's Lulu flashed in and hit him with Whimsy, a green magic bolt that struck the Ziggs and turned it into a harmless little sheep.

Galio, who had already moved in, followed up with a taunt, and the G2 players piled on.

Easyhoon didn't move another muscle, and melted away under G2's focused fire.