Chapter 149: Explosive Fruit Artist! Walking Along the Sand Wall for a Triangular Flip

Canyon looked very distressed.

Because at this moment, Graves was extremely passive.

For two consecutive games, he hadn't been able to play a "normal" jungle opening; this feeling of the game's tempo being constantly controlled by others was maddening.

Yet, he was the very person who loved playing this way the most!

Canyon was famous for his various magical counter-jungling openings, but now that he was facing this situation himself, it was like a falconer getting his eyes pecked out by his own falcon!

Now, there were two choices before him.

Since his own jungle was completely empty, if he wanted to farm, he had to go counter-jungle the opponent's side.

It was undoubtedly hard for Graves to accept starting the game missing a section of his jungle—especially since his opening route design meant he didn't even have his Red Buff yet!

The other choice was to go for a counter-gank.

After Maokai helped Pyke push the minion wave, both of them disappeared from vision.

There was no information to determine where Maokai and Pyke had gone.

Were they recalling to farm, going to gank together, or splitting up to gank?

This was the passivity caused by {opening tempo} and {jungle information}!

Once the choice made at this moment was wrong, it could very well lead to a total defeat!

Viewers standing from a god's-eye perspective found it hard to empathize with the pressure of the choices faced by those inside the match.

After struggling with the decision, Canyon chose the safer "counter-jungling" option.

This was partly because the primary core objective for a hero like Graves was to ensure his own development.

By comparison, the success rate of a Graves without a Red Buff attempting a gank was simply too low.

If it failed, Maokai's three-camp opening would likely lead to a collapse in his own development.

Although Graves had an advantage over Maokai in the jungle, that advantage was definitely not large enough to ignore the equipment gap!

Secondly, it was because the opponent's gank would likely involve both the mid-laner and the jungler, so his counter-gank might not yield any results.

"The unexpected death in the mid lane, and Canyon's jungle tempo has been affected again."

"Graves is choosing to detour from his own jungle to the top-side red quadrant; he's going to lose quite a bit of time."

"But this wave really can't be blamed on ShowMaker; even from our god's-eye view, we didn't expect such an invasion from Maokai. In fact, his anti-gank positioning was fine!" Brother CT was still explaining to the players on the field.

The Roaring Emperor looked troubled as he examined the situation: "That may be so, but the mid lane still needs to be careful this time!"

So, where did Pyke and Maokai actually go after pushing the wave?

Maokai was at almost full health, and although Pyke had lost some health, he had Teleport in hand and wasn't in a rush to recall.

The two of them were actually camping at the entrance to their own blue-side jungle!

If Graves had chosen the most direct route to the blue quadrant, he would have run straight into the two people camping him!

And if he didn't run into them, then Graves's movements would be obvious.

This was an unfair information war; since they knew Graves's movements, it was clearly destined that he wouldn't be able to get anything done in the top quadrant.

Both the top and bottom lanes of DK received warnings from their jungler and were on high alert.

Caitlyn in the bottom lane began to push forward, and the double-blond duo in DK's bottom lane simply conceded the minion wave.

"Jianfu, you have to be careful. Pyke is still missing, and he hasn't used his Teleport."

Seeing that no Teleport had lit up under the opponent's tower, Xu Xiu hurried to push the minion wave out after emerging, attempting to use the pressure of the wave to force Pyke back.

But before he could finish his sentence, he saw the warning for 【Ghostwater Dive】 appear on his character.

"Pyke is in the mid lane!"

The vision in the right-side river didn't show Pyke appearing, and not knowing which side the opponent would come from, the Emperor of the Sands could only head straight toward his tower.

Fortunately, he had already reached level three, and with Flash and E in hand, he felt quite secure.

And Maokai had already arrived at the same spot as the first wave!

The two had previously cleared the vision in the middle of the river, so they could be certain there was no vision there.

Coupled with the fact that the red quadrant was empty and not worth defending, by simple process of elimination, the Emperor of the Sands' ward was likely placed in the lane brush.

Pyke, having walked out from the jungle path, was already closing in while in stealth.

And Maokai once again used {Hextech Flashtraption} to strike!

Xu Xiu's nerves were extremely tense.

The moment he saw Pyke appear, the Emperor of the Sands reacted with lightning speed, summoning a sand soldier in the opposite direction and immediately pressing WE for 【Shifting Sands】 to try and create distance!

But the next moment... the Shifting Sands turned into "treading in place"!

The charging Phantom Undertow directly cut off and blocked the connection between the Emperor of the Sands and his sand soldier!

"It was interrupted!?"

"The Emperor of the Sands' E was perfectly interrupted, a face-to-face hook... fortunately! Fortunately, ShowMaker reacted extremely quickly! He used Flash the moment Pyke attacked!"

The Roaring Emperor still felt lingering fear after speaking: "Was that a mistake? Why was it interrupted at that moment?"

Looking at this from the god's-eye view, it seemed a bit like the Emperor of the Sands was slow on the WE input?

But clearly, with Xu Xiu's nerves stretched to the limit, how could a reaction error occur?

The answer——————is that it couldn't be dodged!

This was Pyke vs. the Emperor of the Sands, a "distance collision" between two heroes.

The proximity "reveal warning" range for Pyke's W underwater is 550 units.

The charge distance of Pyke's E is 550 units.

And the cast range of the Emperor of the Sands' W is also 550 units.

This means that when the Emperor of the Sands can "see" Pyke approaching with W, he has actually already entered the range of the E charge!

This is not only useful when ganking the mid lane—it is equally applicable during normal laning.

Of course, that is not the main point.

What is truly important is the Emperor of the Sands' 【W+E】 displacement combo; W has a 0. -second "stiffness" effect after summoning a sand soldier, and only then can he use E to fly in.

Therefore, as long as Pyke uses E to charge the moment he reveals himself.

Even if the Emperor of the Sands reacts fast enough to synchronize, he will definitely be blocked!

In fact——————if DK hadn't banned the Emperor of the Sands today, Ye Bo was prepared to play the Emperor of the Sands for all five games, so that he could shoulder the main output pressure himself, just like in the first game.

Letting teammates who are not in good form play defensively is always much easier than attacking.

And if the Emperor of the Sands was banned, and both Akali and Sylas were not released, he would choose Pyke.

Simply because Pyke's laning can exert certain aspects of suppression against the Emperor of the Sands!

And Pyke is also the hero most capable of driving the team's tempo.

One could even say there is no other.

"Pyke is stealthing directly from the lane again! He's gone into the jungle to find Graves again!"

"After Pyke TP'd out last time, he already entered the jungle once, and with Maokai's Hextech Flash flanking, they forced out Graves's Flash. Coming back again might be very dangerous!"

"It's hard to imagine what we are seeing; in the first five minutes, it's actually Maokai who has been invading and counter-jungling Graves! He's turned his jungle upside down! It's simply defying the natural order!"

"And after the Emperor of the Sands lost his Flash, he's a bit afraid to push the lane; in fact, as soon as Pyke turns on his W, he immediately retreats!"

"After the roles of attacker and defender were swapped, EDG's early-game offensive is clearly better than DK's in the previous game!"

Pyke would be laning perfectly fine, then suddenly turn on his W 【Ghostwater Dive】 and disappear right in front of you.

After the last wave, the Emperor of the Sands now treats this W like a formidable enemy; his first reaction is to retreat.

Pyke, relying on the 5-second duration and 50%+ movement speed boost of his W, takes two steps and turns into the jungle to coordinate with Maokai in hunting Graves!

The skill that truly gives Pyke his "strong roaming ability"——————is actually his W.

Pyke's damage is very high; this could already be glimpsed during the previous laning phase.

The only flaw is that, apart from his basic attacks, his Q, E, and R skills are all non-targeted and are not guaranteed to hit.

But with Maokai's coordination, it's a different story!

Once these two seemingly soft combinations are paired together, their ability to fight in the jungle is actually quite formidable!

At the very least, it's far better than the Emperor of the Sands.

So, when facing counter-jungling, Canyon can at most call for teammates to help drive them away, but it is difficult to effectively counter them.

He could only hope his handling was calm and detailed enough.

Seeing Maokai and Pyke flanking with Hextech Flash again, he first threw his 【Smoke Screen】 at the nearly adjacent Maokai, causing the opponent to lose the chance to W onto him, then hurriedly used his E skill to pull away and escape the range of Pyke's Q.

But although he didn't die, the damage to his jungle was unavoidable.

The audience watches for the spectacle, the experts watch for the technique.

On the other side, BeryL, watching the match from the DRX backstage, seemed to finally understand something.

He looked as if he had suddenly seen his favorite anime girl; his eyes were shining.

"The person who did their draft is very impressive!"

"In this version, the only ones who can consistently suppress Maokai in the jungle throughout all stages are Graves and Viego; even Nidalee can't do it, let alone the fact that this guy Jin Jianfu hasn't played Nidalee at all since the durability update!"

"So they dared to pick the Emperor of the Sands in the first game because they banned those two junglers; at worst, Maokai would just self-destruct in the jungle with Lee Sin, and besides, Maokai isn't afraid of Lee Sin in the jungle at all!"

"But DK can't do that, because if they pick the Emperor of the Sands, they can't protect the jungle, and they can't accept a self-destruction in the jungle... picking the Emperor of the Sands actually walked them right into EDG's trap!"

"This way, they can force Jin Jianfu to play heroes like Maokai himself, or force you to release the mid-lane heroes..."

The other members of DRX listened, feeling confused.

But clearly, BeryL, who had also devoured the recordings of all the World Championship teams, was practicing almost the same "mental cultivation method" as Ye Bo.

He immediately saw the logic behind this draft.

"We can learn from their mid-jungle draft logic; although we don't play heroes like Pyke, our mid-laner has his own advantages..."

Beryl, looking full of energy, is recording his own thoughts.

Yet Ye Bo, on the field, does not yet know that his own draft strategy has provided inspiration to the opponent.

The time reaches 5 minutes.

The Graves' creep score is actually lower than the Maokai's!

There is no help for it.

Because this is already far more than just a confrontation in the jungle.

Pyke constantly relies on the movement speed bonus from his W to intimidate the mid lane for lane priority, occasionally assists in invading the jungle, and periodically roams to gank!

Xu Xiu has no other choice; after all, it is impossible for Azir to run around everywhere.

At the very least, before level six, Azir's roaming ability is infinitely close to zero.

He can only cautiously push the minion wave, trying his best to seize gold through lane priority.

At 5 minutes, EDG starts the first dragon on time.

Due to the restricted growth in the jungle, DK decisively chooses to give it up, letting Graves take the opportunity to rotate to the top half of the jungle to counter-jungle and catch up on growth.

The dragon's cry echoes through the Summoner's Rift, and the four members of EDG then take advantage of the momentum to recall together.

Meanwhile, Canyon, who is currently counter-jungling in the top half, looks at the minimap and then opens the scoreboard.

Seeing his own miserable creep score, he is clearly also a bit anxious.

It cannot go on like this.

From the god's-eye view, both sides are deploying their troops.

The solo lane Pyke has already reached level six and is only just about to begin his first rhythm.

And the target, naturally, is still the jungle!

Ye Bo has thought it through very clearly.

Although they are running a Caitlyn composition this game, the way to help the bottom lane is not limited to a four-man dive or a forced gank—locking down the opponent's mid and jungle can achieve the same result!

Even though Viper and Meiko are not in the best form, if there is no pressure from ganks and it is a pure 2v2 laning phase, they can still produce results!

After all, the Ezreal in the bottom lane for DK this game is clearly a pressure-absorbing option; they weren't planning to play through the bottom lane, just picking a double-ranged bottom lane to counter the opponent's Caitlyn combo.

More importantly, the suppression of Graves has already been established, and his Flash has been forced out.

They should strike while the iron is hot and not give the opponent a chance to breathe.

Graves used the time they were taking the dragon to clear out the entire top half of the jungle.

But because the jungle was invaded earlier, Graves' position is almost transparent, so his path is not hard to guess; there is a high probability he is turning directly back to his own blue buff area.

"Sheng Qiang Ge, we might have to fight a 3v3 here, be careful to support."

"Bottom lane, just be a little careful of Azir, though I estimate he won't go bottom."

Ye Bo gives instructions while moving toward the top half of the jungle with Maokai.

At the same time, both top laners have also adopted a posture ready to support at any moment.

But little do they know.

Inside the jungle, there are three people crouching and waiting for them!

"Canyon's intuition! He seems to have determined that the opponent would definitely come to counter-jungle their top half!" Guan Zeyuan's eyes show shock.

"This Lux, after leaving the base, actually came straight to the top jungle to counter-gank; she's been crouching here for ten seconds already!"

Wang Duo is worried: "It seems EDG really is going; this DK move is unexpected. It looks like they are prepared to use the bottom lane plating to set up a counter-attack in the jungle!?"

Canyon's wishful thinking is very sound.

Of course, Ezreal guarding the bottom lane alone will lose plating, but at most, it would be two or three plates.

But once they catch them here and kill the opponent's mid, jungle, or even top laner—all three of them.

The kill gold alone would already far exceed the profit from the plates!

Not to mention that the mid lane can also take plates in the process, and the jungler can reverse the previously suppressed jungle situation in one go, rewriting the mid-jungle landscape; it is definitely a plan to kill several birds with one stone!

Pyke and Maokai approach the blue buff area and activate their sweeper at the entrance.

Anyway, they aren't trying to kill Graves, just to seize the jungle and keep the opponent's growth restricted, so they don't care about being discovered.

However, this time, no vision is swept out.

"There's actually no ward here?"

Ye Bo feels suspicious.

Logically speaking, after multiple consecutive jungle invasions, there is no reason for the opponent not to place wards at such a critical jungle entrance.

"Don't rush, Jie, you walk behind me, I'll go in first."

Pyke and Maokai swap positions.

One enters stealth with W and leads the way into the jungle.

And just as they turn the corner and take two more steps forward, a red 【exclamation mark】 suddenly jumps up above Pyke's head!

That is the warning that his W has been detected.

The only things that can detect Pyke are Control Wards and hero units.

Relying on the 550-unit detection range of his W and the survival capability of his E skill, Pyke can serve as a "vision scout" when necessary.

Ye Bo's vigilance is suddenly pulled to the max.

But immediately following, a ball of light from 【Light Binding】 flies out blindly from the brush!

Ye Bo, who was already on alert, reacts extremely quickly.

Because this is exactly at the narrowest corner of the jungle entrance and there isn't much room to dodge, he instinctively uses his E directly toward the direction of the Blast Cone on the side!

The Light Binding grazes the top of Pyke's head... but still hits the Maokai behind him!

"Hit! Maokai!"

"I'm coming!" Nuguri in the top lane has already arrived at the first moment.

Xu Xiu makes a decisive decision, using an E-Q-R drift dash forward to pull Maokai back!

Although Pyke reacts quickly, this is a 3-on-2; no matter how strong your combat power is, there is no reason you can win!

And even if Pyke uses the Blast Cone to bounce away, Camille is coming from above and can use 【Hextech Ultimatum】 to surround and intercept him.

These two seem to be in a hopeless situation.

"A meticulously arranged net by DK! The EDG mid and jungle have stepped in; there's no way they're escaping this!"

The Roaring Emperor just shouted excitedly, but the next moment he screams in horror.

"What!!!"

When Ye Bo sees that there are actually three people standing in the brush, and Azir has dashed through him to pull Maokai back, he knows they have been ambushed.

And it is in this instant.

The crystal of proficiency in hero understanding shines once again.

Everything in Summoner's Rift that can interact with it connects like lightning in his mind.

In the current battle, the scene of a desperate situation still has a glimmer of light to be found.

The next moment, the dashing Pyke does not change direction; instead, he continues to step forward two inches to calibrate his key positioning, then lightly swings his dagger to poke the fruit.

Pyke uses the force to bounce his body to the side, landing behind—realigning with the starting point of his E skill on the same straight line.

And the Phantom Undertow that was chasing from behind in mid-air suddenly changes its pursuit direction because of this!

It flies right over the heads of the three enemies!

"Direction-Changing Phantom!"

Three points form a line.

The Azir who dashed forward with E-Q was already dashing toward a direction close to Pyke's E starting point, forming a straight line with the two people standing in the brush.

The moment Maokai lands after being pulled back—the three bodies are first entangled by the phantom and pinned in place, falling into {Stun}!

"Lux!"

Maokai understands instantly, using W to root her and then knocking her away with a reverse Q, keeping her away from the position near the defensive tower where she could have flashed over the wall.

Pyke, carrying a {Serrated Dirk}, hits three times with Hail of Blades without even using his Q.

The mere level-four Lux's health bar is already showing a bulging blood-red color!

But the moment the Lady of Luminosity breaks free from the crowd control, she still panics and immediately flashes over the wall, traveling into the Wolves camp.

Although it seems she has broken line of sight.

In reality, Pyke's R does not require target locking.

Two bone blades cross into an inverted cross, and he executes the lethal blood vortex blindly over the wall.

【Death from Below】!

After a crisp sound, two bags of bounty gold fall into the pockets of Pyke and Maokai.

"Camille is... is going to arrive first!" Sheng Qiang Ge says so urgently his voice cracks: "I'm behind!"

And it is precisely this shout that makes Ye Bo instantly stop his finger, which was about to turn and press the R key again.

He has thought of more possibilities.

"Don't come! Sheng Qiang Ge, you go back!"

Although the two in the top lane set off at almost the same time.

But Camille has the support advantage of her Hookshot and will inevitably arrive at the battlefield before Aatrox.

And even if they kill the most fragile Lux first, the situation on the field is still just a 2v2, and both of them have used almost all their skills; there is definitely no chance of winning if they keep fighting.

That is why Ye Bo calls off Aatrox's support.

"Player Ye's play! He actually used the Blast Cone to flash the phantom back from behind his head?" Guan Zeyuan is hoarse: "He's really playing with this Blast Cone like a master!"

"Because of Pyke's ultimate bounty-sharing mechanic, Maokai also gets gold; actually, trading one person is equivalent to getting two kills! So, a 2-for-1 trade here still isn't a big loss!"

"That's right! The bottom lane can also take turret plating, so the economy is at most even!" Wang Duo also chimed in passionately.

"Player Ye has once again turned the situation around with his personal mechanics! He broke a trap that was very likely to collapse!"

Pyke had no Flash; if he hadn't used the Blast Cone so cleverly, he would have only been able to use his R ability to get close and trigger the phantom.

And if that were the case, not to mention whether he could get the kill, at the very least it wouldn't have ended with the ultimate, so the bounty-sharing effect couldn't have been achieved.

It's just a pity that it seems to have ended here.

Pyke had used all his abilities; with no E and no Flash to dash, and deep in the enemy jungle, there was almost nowhere to run.

"Ah, although the support was traded, DK countered and killed Maokai, with the kill going to Azir!" The Roaring Emperor kept his tone as high-pitched as possible.

"Can this Pyke kill be shared with Graves? He should at least give Camille an assist! A little extra economy... anyway, he definitely has no way to escape!"

Azir and Graves vented all their fury on Maokai, with a Collateral Damage and three sand soldiers stabbing fiercely.

After finishing off Maokai, they turned their heads to continue looking for the Pyke who seemed to be "waiting for death" on the spot.

Ye Bo did indeed look like he was waiting for death on the spot, standing still by the wall.

But obviously, Pyke's E ability also has a cooldown of over 10 seconds; there is no way it could have refreshed.

Everyone really wanted to give Camille an assist, otherwise, the trip would have been for nothing; Aatrox had already used his three Qs' AOE to quickly push the minion wave into the tower, and he was still going to lose quite a bit of experience.

And the Pyke who was waiting for death suddenly raised his Bone Skewer to charge up.

Then he stabbed at the Graves who was chasing him.

Graves didn't dodge at all; his health was still healthy anyway, and there was no way Pyke could kill him in return; instead, it helped him get close quickly to output damage.

Camille had already reached the corner of the Blue Buff, used Hookshot to latch onto the wall, and kicked with a sweep, preparing to snag an assist.

"Give the kill to Jianfu!" Xu Xiu reminded him.

But, just at this moment.

Pyke used his Bone Skewer to pull Graves to his side as if in a final struggle, then used the ultimate refreshed by Death from Below to strike again.

Pyke's figure actually disappeared!

Camille's Hookshot sweep kicked into thin air, and the shotgun and sand soldiers also stabbed at empty air.

Pyke just disappeared in front of the three of them like that!

"Where did he go!?"

Nuguri had the fastest reaction, directly placing a ward over the wall—and discovered Pyke in front of their own high-ground gate!

The three of them seemed to be staring at each other in the canyon.

The entire arena erupted in shocking exclamations.

"Ah???"

"What just happened!?"

"How did Pyke get over there!"

If we are talking about the thickest "lateral volume" wall in Summoner's Rift, the jungle wall in front of the high-ground gate where Pyke just was definitely ranks in the top three!

The main thing is that Pyke clearly didn't have his E, and he didn't use E to get over!

The answer is 【Death from Below】.

The range of Death from Below is an X-shape, and this time he aimed at an edge to target the enemy, using the center target point to cross more than half the wall—which can act as a "Dash Ghost Slash" effect.

This is an absolute utilization of the ability's mechanics.

Azir's level one E is a full 22 seconds, even longer than Pyke's E, so naturally, it didn't refresh.

And Graves and Azir's Flash were not yet off cooldown, while Camille had used her E to barely reach the battlefield, so it was impossible to use Flash to chase hard.

No one could continue to cross this thick wall to pursue.

【Damn, that was so cool!!!】

【Y · Blast Cone Artist · E】

【Roar, there's even this kind of escape route? What a survivor!】

【The true clutch player!】

【This is Master Ye's water ghost! Do you understand what a signature champion is!】

"Wait a minute... it seems it's not over yet!"

Everyone was still immersed in shock.

But they realized the director hadn't played the replay yet, and the camera was still locked on Pyke.

They saw Pyke, who had slipped into the lower half of the map, not pressing Recall.

And the DK members were still completely unaware, immersed in the emotions of this setback, with no clear-headed commander noticing more possibilities.

Nor did they realize—the water ghost was continuing to head toward the bottom lane!

"DK didn't realize! They didn't notice!"

"Ezreal is still under the tower with no intention of retreating!"

Pyke used the Blast Cone to quickly flip over the wall and had already landed behind the second tower; even if the opponent discovered him now, it would be too late.

"Go!"

Diuge was very cautious, keeping his health healthy, and didn't feel at all that he could be dived under the tower this time.

A clear command was issued.

Meiko's Renata, who had been honestly auto-attacking the tower, suddenly erupted, using Q-Flash to initiate!

Viper's Caitlyn coordinated perfectly, simultaneously following up with 【Yordle Snap Trap】.

The second part of Hostile Takeover pulled and dragged, directly yanking Ezreal onto the trap, completing the crowd control chain and executing a small combo!

Caitlyn raised her sniper rifle high to fire Piltover Peacemaker, aiming at the head and firing wildly.

Behind them, Pyke had already walked out, walking directly into the tower to AA-AA-Q stab.

With 【Death from Below】 protection, Pyke finished the kill and then strolled out of the tower with an E, elegant and effortless.

"Another kill in the bottom lane! Wow, this seems like they made a fortune!" Guan Zeyuan's mouth couldn't stop curling upward: "EDG faced the opponent's trap design, but countered with a miraculous comeback!"

"This EDG bottom lane duo seems to have also achieved a combo effect similar to Lux and Caitlyn~"

"And Pyke isn't planning to leave; he's going to push the turret plating along with the bottom lane!"

"DK has no one who can rotate back to the bottom lane; it seems they can only let the mid and jungle go to the mid tower to try and trade economy."

DK clearly lost a fortune this time.

Originally, trading one kill for Pyke, and using the ultimate to execute for a bounty kill, was already hard to gain much economy.

As a result, the bottom lane died too!

This back-and-forth is equivalent to being hit with a "1-for-3," while also losing extra turret plating in the top and bottom lanes!

And Ye Bo's decision to continue helping the bottom lane push the tower to "trade plating" was still considering the long-term game.

The mid lane's first tower was at full health, so losing some health to the opponent was no big deal.

But everyone knows what the bottom lane's first tower means.

It means the acceleration of the "Caitlyn system"!

The time came to the eve of the canyon team fight, and the impact had already begun to manifest.

"In these two minutes, Maokai didn't go to counter-jungle again, but has been squatting in the bottom lane as a bodyguard to cover this; the bottom lane first tower only has one bar of health left!"

"DK must make a choice; they are bound to lose either the bottom lane first tower or the Rift Herald!"

Generally speaking, if the Caitlyn system can take two plates in 8 minutes, it's already a very smooth start.

But due to the previous "trade plating" decision, the bottom tower only had one bar of health, and it was hard for Ezreal and Lux to stop it!

If you don't send people, the bottom tower will definitely fall.

If you send people, the Herald will definitely be lost!

DK's final choice was to give up competing for the Herald and try to catch the bottom lane.

Their consideration was also very simple—because Pyke is a very standard tempo hero, and his strength lies in his ability to fight in groups in the early and mid-game.

And it's very easy for a situation to arise where one team fight leads to an "economic explosion."

But the disadvantages are also very obvious; as long as it drags into the mid-game and Pyke hasn't built up a large enough advantage, the high risk of this hero's fragile body will be exposed.

Not to mention that there is no comparison to heroes like Azir in the late game.

So avoiding group fights as much as possible is the best strategy for DK.

"Let's be steady in the bottom lane, okay? The opponent hasn't shown their faces yet, don't be anxious."

"Wait for them to show their faces before pushing; we'll definitely get the Herald anyway!"

Ye Bo gave a reminder.

Unfortunately, there was still a small accident.

Although the two in the bottom lane had already retreated to prepare, the opponent's mid and jungle had been very patient and squatted for a long time.

Viper held both summoner spells, so his positioning was slightly forward, but he was caught in a positioning gap, and Azir drifted out from the side over the wall, forcibly using Flash to push the Caitlyn back while in "mid-air"!

According to previous reactions, Viper had Flash and E, so he shouldn't have died; even if they didn't catch him, it would have been a huge loss for the opponent's mid and jungle for wasting so much time.

But he was a bit dizzy this time, and because he was worried about his slow reaction, he pressed Flash very "hurriedly"... which resulted in him being "delayed-pushed" back by Azir!

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, my bad..." Viper apologized repeatedly, almost blurting out his native language in his hurry.

"It's not a big problem~" Ye Bo comforted him thoughtfully and explained seriously: "It's mainly because the mechanic of Azir's ultimate is shameless!"

"Because Azir's ultimate pushes forward from '200 yards behind,' if you want to use a dash to 'pass through,' you actually have to delay it; if you use it too early, you might just get pushed back exactly."

"Let's throw the Herald in the mid lane; the first tower is still ours."

Ye Bo's tone was relaxed, continuously giving his teammates confidence.

However, in truth, he himself felt a sense of urgency.

Because originally, after this wave was fought, EDG could already be considered to have secured the majority of the victory.

In an ideal state.

This wave should have been taking the Rift Herald, then steadily poking down the bottom lane's first turret.

Then, relying on the Rift Herald, it would be very likely to tear down all three outer turrets before ten minutes, compressing the growth of everyone on DK within the range of their second turrets.

In this way, two jungle areas and three minion lanes would be left for Pyke to hunt.

"EDG is the first to crash through the middle lane's first turret and take the First Turret gold! But DK has also turned to dismantle the bottom lane turret!"

"DK has traded for quite a bit of gold in the bottom lane; Xu Xiu's Azir is growing quite well now," Guan Zeyuan seemed to sense a hidden danger.

"The previous few kills were all taken by Azir, plus the plating in the middle and bottom lanes; his items are actually not worse than Pyke's now."

"The good news is that Graves's growth has been restricted quite miserably, and the champion Azir also has a very long growth cycle and hasn't reached his power spike yet," Wang Duo analyzed, "but the presence of this Azir is indeed creating quite a bit of offensive pressure for EDG."

"You can't underestimate DK either; Canyon and ShowMaker's ability to find opportunities is truly strong!" Rita also helped explain for the team.

At 11 minutes, Caitlyn finally dismantled the bottom lane's first turret, killed the dragon on the way, and only then turned to attack the top turret.

But it was very clear that with such an advantage, the tempo had slowed down by a beat.

And although the middle lane's first turret was pushed flat.

Azir's special function was also playing a role.

The 90-second 【Sun Disc】 was erected on flat ground, becoming the Shurima defensive position for the middle lane's first turret.

The minion wave that could have rushed into the middle second turret to contain them was blocked out again, and Camille was still split-pushing at the second turret in the bottom lane, exerting side-lane pressure.

All of a sudden.

The situation instead turned into DK pushing down the bottom lane's first turret, while EDG "failed to push the first turret"!

Furthermore, the Sun Disc had a special mechanism—minions killed by the Sun Disc would all count as Azir's CS, remotely transferring the full experience and gold!

This meant.

Azir could leave the middle lane alone and let the Sun Disc "grow in his stead."

And this also caused the progress of the top lane push to be hindered significantly; if the stalemate continued, EDG would undoubtedly be the ones losing out.

If Camille continued to split-push for a while longer and managed to get Divine Sunderer, she would also have a side-lane advantage against Aatrox.

Despite holding a significant advantage, the suddenly awkward tempo caused everyone on EDG to fall into a state of slight anxiety.

At this moment, it was still Ye Bo who stood up to steady the team's morale.

"Don't rush, brothers, we have at least a four or five thousand gold lead right now!"

"There are still two dragons; we absolutely don't need to rush."

"Aatrox, go to the bottom lane and push with Camille; Maokai, stay on the top side to protect the bottom lane push; I will tie Azir down in the middle lane."

Ye Bo laid out the plan in an orderly fashion.

Of course, the gold gap was actually something he made up on the fly—in reality, after the bottom lane's fully-plated first turret was traded, the gap between the two sides was less than 3k.

Sure enough.

When Pyke appeared in the middle lane, he immediately succeeded in bringing Azir back.

Azir, who had the best items on the team, already had a Mythic item; Xu Xiu chose 【Luden's Tempest】, an item for wave clear and burst damage, and his 3-1 record even carried a bounty, exactly the same as Pyke's!

And having reached this time period, things were different from before.

Azir now had a huge advantage in a 1v1 against Pyke!

"This Pyke can't lane against me now; if we drag it out a bit longer, I feel like we'll have a chance to fight for the third dragon!" Xu Xiu's voice sounded equally confident.

Although the start of this game hadn't gone smoothly.

But playing up to now, Xu Xiu already felt quite triumphant.

He believed that his Azir in this game could lead his teammates to victory!

But just at this moment.

The warning sound of Ghostwater Dive rang out again—

However, Azir was completely unafraid at this time and walked toward the turret calmly.

Even if Pyke's items were still slightly better than his, as long as he couldn't be hit by the full combo, it would only take one combo for Azir to kill him as well!

Pyke chased and revealed his form at close range.

He held his Bone Skewer high, charging it up and aiming forward.

But this position... made Xu Xiu suddenly realize there was an opportunity to outplay!

As long as he could push Pyke into the turret, there would definitely be a chance to secure a solo kill this wave!

You have to know, Pyke was also the fattest person on the team, with a shutdown bounty as high as 900 gold, even more than Azir's.

Killing Pyke, Azir might even be able to finish two items around 15 minutes; it would definitely be a huge tempo swing!

Sand Soldiers rose, Shifting Sands moved forward, but he immediately commanded the direction in reverse, then pushed out the Emperor's Divide in mid-air, intending to push Pyke into the turret—

This was the exact operational intent of the advanced Azir technique, "Reverse Parking"!

Xu Xiu was quite skilled at using this move.

Only.

Ye Bo, who had been practicing Azir frantically recently, knew that an Azir with the desire to make plays would find it hard to resist using this move when seeing an enemy hero standing in front of the turret.

But an Azir using EQ to dash could not change direction again in mid-air.

At this moment, Azir was like a target—aimed at and "snatched out of the air" by the prematurely released short-charge Bone Skewer!

While interrupting the E Shifting Sands, it also tossed Azir behind him, throwing him out of the defensive turret's range!

But the 【Emperor's Divide】 command had been issued in mid-air.

The Emperor's soldiers still pushed out!

Watching Pyke, he was still about to be pushed into the turret by the wall of soldiers rushing toward him!

However, remember the small trick about the ultimate that Ye Bo had just explained to Viper.

Azir's R pushes from back → front.

And Pyke's E is a "trajectory dash," which cannot face the Emperor's Divide wall directly, otherwise, he would be delayed and pushed back just like Caitlyn.

But... actually, as long as you E in reverse or E to the side, you can do it!

The Ghostwater shadow rolled sideways, brushing past the Emperor's Divide, and in an instant, he turned around to slash Death From Below at the chicken head, forcibly pulling the diagonally drowning ghost shadow back to himself!

"Triangular Rolling Ghost Slash Along the Sand Wall"!

The movement trajectories of the two people seemed to intersect in the air, forming two colliding triangles.

It looked as if there were two people flying in the sky.

Everything changed within 1. seconds, so fast that it made people feel dazed.

Accompanied by a few stabs from Pyke, the passionate prompt of the voice broadcast already rang out.

【SHUTDOWN!】

【EDG Ye killed DK ShowMaker!】

"Wow!!!"

"Solo kill!!!"

"Xu Xiu took the initiative to challenge Ye; he wanted to be the hero to break the deadlock! Yet he didn't know he had stepped into the gates of hell in a single thought!"

"No... this wave was a bit too fast; I just saw two people flying in the sky the whole time!"

The director quickly cut to the replay.

"Azir's QE was interrupted by the hook snatching him in the face, the ultimate was dodged by Pyke's extremely limit-testing side-roll, and then Death From Below brought the ghost shadow back; Pyke essentially landed all his skills..."

"My god, this is too extreme! A true difference of a single step! Xu Xiu was outplayed until he was dizzy!"

"Player Ye shouted in the Rift: Xu Xiu! No showing off!"

Only in the 0. x slow-motion replay could one feel the amazement even more.

Facing the charge with a calm interruption in the face, the side-E dodge that was so extreme it was truly a hair's breadth away, and then the high-speed reverse R to bring back the ghost shadow for the stun—

Any mistake in any step might have changed the outcome.

The venue and the livestream room instantly erupted into an ocean of cheers.

【66666666666666】

【EDG has a ghostwater; his hook is flying in the sky!】

【It really is one force breaking ten thousand techniques! The most essential operation! It's all mechanics!】

【Oh my, Brother Xu is awesome, Brother Xu is starting to feed!】

【Xu Xiu? Xu Chu!】

【Only allowed to show off, not allowed to let Xu Xiu show off!】

Xu Xiu froze in front of the screen.

That small round face was full of an expression of disbelief, his eyes wide open.

And after dazing for a long while, he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted: "Run, run! Pyke might have gone to the top lane!"

"Pyke doesn't have his ultimate."

With the failure in the middle lane, Pyke didn't rush to dismantle the turret but instead disappeared from the map.

The three people holding the top lane's first turret never expected that the fattest middle lane would be broken through, and everything happened way too fast.

Switching the screen over, they already saw Pyke "Chang Wei" hacking at "Lai Fu."

And at this moment, Maokai's Nature's Grasp and Renata's toxic mist had both spread forward!

"Retreat, retreat, retreat!"

"Everyone has Flash and don't save your skills, just don't let Pyke hold us down!"

"He can't hold us down; if he tries to force it, we can kill him first!"

The ultimate speeds of Maokai and Renata Glasc are similar, both very slow, and seem to serve more as a zoning tool.

In this wave, the Graves and Ezreal duo, all three of them have Flash.

They aren't worried about being locked down.

But then, the terrifying warning sound of Ghostwater Dive manifested once again.

"Pyke is here, Pyke is here!"

"Aigoo!!!"

The composure from just a moment ago suddenly turned into everyone shouting louder than the next.

And that phantom of the deep, as if emerging from dark shadows, suddenly appeared.

Three figures were stunned to find themselves entangled by a ghostly shadow that had emerged from nowhere!

They fell into a deep stun!

Immediately following was the spread of poison gas and the entanglement of the tree roots.

The two commentators on the LCK desk held their heads in silence; the impact of less than half a minute left them unable to recover.

"Such a terrifying Pyke," CT whispered.

"What kind of mechanics are these!?"

The busy director's mouse pointer was practically sparking as they constantly pulled up replays.

It could be seen that Pyke had circled from behind the Blue Buff, using his W to skirt the edge and dodge the vision of the tier-two turret, slipping into the lane brush in front of the tier-two turret.

Then—Pyke suddenly "hit the wall" with his head!

In the very next instant, it was a synchronized Flash and Phantom Undertow.

"Wall-Hitting Phantom"!

The three members of DK did not see Pyke use his E.

By using "Wall-Hitting Phantom" plus a pre-buffered Flash and Phantom Undertow, he stood side-by-side with them the moment he appeared, followed by the entanglement of the ghostly shadow.

No warning, no wind-up, no time to react.

Stunned the moment the shadow was seen!

The four of them gathered in the top lane, the stalemated top tier-one turret was instantly pushed down, and they continued to press toward the undefended tier-two turret!

"Top tier-one turret plating pushed down! Top tier-two turret falls in succession at 12 minutes!"

"DK has been nearly aced within one minute! Player Ye Bo's Pyke has led an explosive 0-for-4 tempo!"

"The stalemated gold gap has been widened again; this wave alone has pushed the gold difference to nearly 6k!"

Caitlyn's tempo has completely taken off.

At 14 minutes, EDG takes the second Rift Herald.

They push down the mid tier-two turret first, then rotate to push the bottom lane.

A mere 17 minutes.

DK's six outer turrets have fallen one after another.

DK's original means of survival were their side-lane advantage and mid-game strength; Aatrox split-pushing against Camille would definitely become harder to play, and dragging it out would surely lead to side-lane vulnerabilities.

But they couldn't withstand the constant influx of team gold being poured into Aatrox—keeping his items in a state of superiority!

After EDG took the third soul-point dragon, they actually wanted to rotate and pressure the bottom inhibitor!

Summoning the Rift Herald.

Maokai used his ultimate to block the path, Pyke went underwater to intimidate, waiting on the sidelines.

At 18 minutes, the bottom inhibitor turret exploded.

And with the collapse of the seventh defensive turret, the gold gap between the two sides was officially pushed to the 10k mark.

The LCK commentary desk was filled with wails.

"Pizza! A nearly 10k gold gap at 18 minutes, there's just no way to fight this head-on!"

"It's still too early! DK's Ezreal hasn't even stacked his Manamune, Azir is nowhere near his power spike, and Graves didn't even buy his Umbral Glaive until 13 minutes, but by then he couldn't even leave his base!"

"Map economy has been completely eroded; Pyke is too much of a threat with this kind of vision, they can't really leave their base!"

"Wait... they're still operating! They aren't pushing this crystal!"

Pushing the inhibitor too early, while it creates constant pressure from a lane of super minions, would also prevent the bottom lane wave from being pushed out.

That would be unfavorable for Pyke's "Hunt."

At this moment, the bottom lane is completely bare; it can be said that whoever tries to farm the bottom wave is walking right into a trap.

The Caitlyn composition is strong precisely because of this.

Once it successfully unfolds, the early loss of defensive turrets quickly leads to the jungle resources being taken over and controlled, gradually losing or even having no room to farm!

This is even more fatal for a scaling-heavy composition like DK's.

Everyone knows it.

This match is already a slow death.

At 19 minutes, Ye Bo finally ordered his team to gather and destroy the bottom inhibitor.

And this subtle timing also dictates that for the Dragon Soul fight and the Baron fight, the opponent will face even greater minion pressure.

22 minutes.

EDG, carrying the Dragon Soul and Baron buff, arrived in front of the inhibitor.

Renata Glasc and Maokai once again used their ultimates to block the path, while the 22-minute-farmed Star-Worm Aatrox activated World Ender, swinging his greatsword and turning into an "AD Kennen" in the crowd, crazily dealing AOE damage!

One slash nearly took half the health of the support Morgana, who was five levels down.

One slash also directly carved out the execute threshold on Pyke's health bar.

"Pyke is starting the execution!!!"

Pyke, empowered by "Redemption," was like a fearless god of the Bloodharbor, slashing into the crowd under the cover of the dual AOE of poison gas and tree roots.

The crisp sound of the dagger was like a requiem for the soul, accompanied by X-shaped blood-red roses appearing one after another on the ground.

【Double Kill!】

【Triple Kill!】

【Quadra Kill!】

"Quadra kill! Quadra kill! Is there a Penta kill!? Is there..."

"Hey! Canyon, what are you doing!"

Canyon, who had survived to the end, had clearly been caught by the hook, but after his Zhonya's Hourglass ended, Pyke precisely timed his ultimate to execute him—but the Penta kill notification did not appear.

Instead, it turned into the revival animation of a Guardian Angel.

At the same time, Graves's item slot below was constantly changing.

"Damn! He's item-swapping!"

Because Pyke dashed into the fountain with his R, he was killed by the fountain laser after missing his strike, and the Penta kill was lost.

"Damn it! Get him!"

The other four members of EDG were blinded by bloodlust; Ye Bo shouted "Take the base! Take the base!" in voice chat, but couldn't stop them.

They were determined to rush the fountain to kill Graves.

In the end, the desperate Graves, despite swapping into a full tank build with lightning-fast speed, still couldn't survive the suicidal fury of the four!

【Ace】!

【Ace】!

Two "Ace" announcements rang out simultaneously.

But it was already of no consequence; the three lanes of super minions were like a zombie siege, and facing the undefended, exposed crystal, they all struck at once to shatter it!

(End of chapter)