Chapter 74

Without them noticing, the economic gap between the two sides widened to over two thousand gold.

The number of towers pushed is the same, and there aren't many kills either; the game is just over ten minutes in, and so far only two kills have occurred, amounting to at most a one‑thousand‑gold difference.

The remaining over one thousand gold comes from the difference in last‑hits between the jungler and the top laner.

According to the lane‑economic data provided by the director, Lao Zhang's Big Tree in the top lane gained a gap of nearly four hundred gold from last‑hits, while the jungler position was ahead by over nine hundred.

Of that nine‑hundred‑gold lead, only four hundred gold comes from kills; the remaining over five hundred gold is entirely due to the difference in jungle monster count.

Besides the gold lead, Kalista also has an advantage in experience.

Liang Yan's level is actually even with the mid laner AP's Fan Mom; the lane is now eight versus seven, and although Jankos just hit level seven, Liang Yan has been at level eight for a while, which means he will soon be nine versus seven.

The commentators couldn't help but remark:

"We never expected that, although the jungle matchup had turned around, the result is still that Firrrrrre gradually gained the upper hand; Jankos picked a tempo‑type jungler to counter G2's Wild Core, yet he still couldn't gain any advantage in the lane."

"I think there's certainly a team‑strength gap involved, but we must face the fact that perhaps individual ability has an even greater impact."

"You mean Firrrrrre's personal ability is stronger than Jankos's—I know that, and you could just say it straight out."

"Well, Jankos is after all a senior."

"But esports has never been about who can linger longer being worthy of praise."

"What I mean is, Jankos is widely recognized as Europe's number one jungler."

"So what?"

"Alright..."

In the chat, some were laughing, others sighing about the new generation pushing out the old, but the most frequent message was:

【Europe is dead (EUisded)】

In fact, Yasuo is still young, yet they talk about him as if he were a hero past his prime, and the S6 season hasn't even reached Yasuo's peak.

After the tug‑of‑war over the blue buff in the jungle ended, the H2K team retreated like a tide, returning to their own half to clear jungle, clear lanes, and then stayed back, not coming out.

After Liang Yan cleared the monsters in the lower half of the jungle, having nothing else to do, he finally "remembered" that the small dragon hadn't been taken, so he went together with Lao Zhang's Big Tree to kill the small dragon.

H2K could actually infer from the Big Tree's movements that G2 was going for the small dragon, but for various reasons they had no intention to come and defend.

At just over eleven minutes, Liang Yan smote the small dragon.

When Jankos was clearing the upper half of the jungle, the true ward Liang Yan had placed in H2K's jungle was finally spotted and then removed.

At that moment the bot lane wave was still in front of H2K's second turret, and Ekko was holding the line there, seemingly intending to control the wave and farm a bit.

Liang Yan observed the entire battlefield situation, thinking about the next moves while returning to base; upon arriving home he ran straight up, throwing several signals toward the upper river entrance as he left, marking the key spots that needed vision control.

At that moment Liang Yan and Lao Zhang were still on their way, AP had just finished clearing the mid lane, the others hadn't grouped up yet, and Mithy ran out alone to place wards, dropping a fake eye at the river entrance and another in the Triangular Grass, then crouched beneath the red side's upper river wall waiting for someone.

The entire red side's upper half had only a single blue ward in the Triangular Grass; Mithy's position was actually very dangerous. Seeing this, Liang Yan pinged him to retreat, but Mithy lingered a moment before turning away—too late.

Behind the wall of Da Long Keng lay a H2K ward placed sometime ago, still active and not swept away; H2K had long known Mithy's movements, and the three H2K players hungry for kills quickly descended from the jungle path.

Just as Bu Long turned to leave, a huge beer barrel full of fermented brew flew out from behind the wall shadow with a thud, blasting Bu Long onto the wall, and immediately Gragas came rolling out from behind with his round belly.

This wall is thick—even flashes often hit it—but the barrel's 【Body Slam】 reaches farther than a flash, and with a thud it sent Bu Long reeling.

Bard then opened a portal through the wall, and Lu Xi An with Freeze slid through, landing and unleashing a combo of abilities and auto-attacks.

Zven rushed over and fired two abilities, seeing Mithy couldn't hold, he quickly used 【Arcane Shift】 to blink toward his own second tower to escape.

The two H2K mid and top laners landed almost simultaneously, and the five of them grouped up, pursuing relentlessly.

Liang Yan and Lao Zhang came from the top lane to reinforce Zven, while AP's fan‑wielding mother also rushed from the blue buff area; the three threw skills as they retreated but couldn't shake off the barrel, which had gotten a speed boost from Chrono and was now flying fast.

When the three reached the vicinity of their own top lane Triangular Grass, the barrel's second 【Body Slam】 came off cooldown; as it lunged forward with its belly, it also flashed, aiming deliberately at Liang Yan trailing behind.

Liang Yan had flash available, and with his reflexes dodging this E-flash would have been easy, but he chose not to dodge and instead took the crowd control head-on.

Jankos was already pumped; the moment his belly pressed against Thresh's back, he became overexcited, his face flushing red as he shouted, 'Kill! Kill! Kill him!'

But the barrel was out of sync with his teammates, and his ultimate had already been used when he grabbed Bu Long; the knock‑up from his 【Body Slam】 lasted only a brief instant.

Liang Yan landed, jumped back, and while continuing to retreat he drew his bow and fired, all the while shouting into the team voice channel:

"Don't run, turn and fight!"

Hearing that, Lao Zhang immediately unleashed his ultimate, reverse‑handing a 【Distortion Strike】 to bind the barrel.

AP's fan‑wielding mother finally arrived, charging out from the nearby Triangular Grass.

The severely under‑farmed barrel hadn't even finished its jungle knife, let alone any tankiness; under the focused fire of G2 Zhong Ren it almost died instantly, but it was still alive because Yue Lun's Chrono had caught up and placed a revival on it.

The H2K players swarmed forward to meet the barrel as it was about to revive.

AP unleashed a sudden RQ, and the exploding 【Soul Shackles】 hit three H2K members, each losing at least three hundred health; such terrifying AOE stunned the commentators and audience into loud exclamations.

On G2's side, the front‑line tank Maokai was taking damage as fast as if a fire hydrant were opened; Liang Yan, standing in front of Zven, also took heavy losses, his health dropping quickly, but at the crucial moment he activated 【Guardian Angel】 to temporarily save himself and Lao Zhang.

The three low‑health H2K players also wanted a share of that heal, so they rushed into the 【Guardian Angel】 circle; counting the barrel feigning death, both sides had a total of five people crammed into the small skill area.

The scene was chaotic, like a gang brawl.

The commentators were dazzled, spouting rap regardless of sense, and the atmosphere was pumped to the max.