Chapter 170: Flying Thunder God Three Cold Shadows!

The cold kill notification sounded like a sea of molten lava falling from the sky, instantly heating the already scorching atmosphere of the entire Datong Center to a boil!

Cheers and screams were rushing toward the clouds with unstoppable momentum!

"The mid laner actually managed a solo kill at level 4!!!" Wang Duo's tone was full of inflection, carrying a hint of disbelief.

"This mid-lane matchup, which had everyone's eyes focused on it before the match, this final clash of assassins facing off, actually saw its first kill at just level four!"

Under the camera, Zeka seemed to have lost the calm composure he had just minutes ago.

The director immediately pulled up the replay.

And it was only in slow motion that everyone saw the sudden mutation and tactical maneuvering that had occurred in an instant in reality.

"Fast, such a fast blade!" Wawa's language organization was slightly strained; he could only use simple, crude descriptions.

"Retreating the moment he ate the E, E-flashing into the tower, Zeka wanted to use his own body as a trap to lure the enemy in, but he reacted instantly and flashed sideways! My god!" Miller's logic was still relatively clear, his fists clenched tight as he tore at his vocal cords.

"And I remember Ye Bo using this move before! Wasn't it... the match against Scout?"

"Right! No wonder there was a vague sense of familiarity just now!"

With this mention, everyone's memories were immediately stirred, recalling the LPL playoff duel between EDG and BLG.

At that time, it was also Ye Bo playing Akali and Scout playing Sylas—and it was also a solo kill that happened at level 3!

However, while the core of that match and this one were similar.

They were exactly "role reversals."

That time, it was Ye Bo's Akali using the displacement of E to forcibly take the chains of Sylas, utilizing the mechanic that Sylas's E skill cannot be canceled once it hits, to drag him under the tower for a solo kill.

But this time, it was Zeka's Sylas who wanted to utilize the {follow} mechanism of Akali's E skill, timing his flash to the absolute limit to try and drag Akali into the tower.

More importantly... Zeka had been watching that match at the time and had even given a "sharp critique" of Scout's Sylas.

In fact, the reason this method suddenly came to his mind to try and break the deadlock was, to some extent, inspired by that play from Ye Bo.

But recalling that moment now, he felt his cheeks burning.

The live broadcast chat was even more thunderous at this moment.

【This is what an assassin duel should be! Especially people like this who are stubborn and love to show off their mechanics; it's just better to watch than those farming playstyles, even if they get solo killed, it's spectacular!】

【Don't bring up my peerless dual-region genius, the historical best-result semi-finalist, the successful person who is still "full of potential" four years after debut, the eternal king of KDA, the destroyer of minions, the one who forever loves top-tier salaries and dual-handed rhythm!】

【Ye Wen: Is this the legendary ultimate skill? This doesn't work either!】

【Scout: If you ask me, this mid laner might as well find me and let me go home; since it's all getting solo killed anyway, I could do that too!】

【Hey, truth be told, Zeka is definitely better; he actually persisted to level four in the same matchup, a whole level longer than the "Thief Saint"!!!】

Ye Ying in the audience clapped vigorously, cheering and jeering toward the stage like a crazy fan.

The slightly reserved middle-aged man beside her was initially a bit uncomfortable.

But when he looked around and saw that everyone else was shouting louder than the next, each more sincere in their emotions than the last... he gradually seemed to be infected by it as well.

And everyone knew what a solo kill meant in such a critical match.

Beryl's heart also sank.

He knew this was the result of Zeka taking risks because he wanted to break the deadlock too badly; besides, kills were extremely easy to occur in such assassin hero matchups, so it was naturally impossible to blame anyone.

But the death in the mid lane caused all the other ways they might have broken the deadlock to vanish!

Waiting for the respawn time and then TPing out, the minion wave would definitely have been pushed into the tower by the surviving Akali.

Even if Sylas TPs out, he wouldn't be able to provide support!

DRX was forced into a corner and could only let their jungler suffer another loss, giving up the lower jungle, and for a period of time, the bottom lane would be unable to contest lane priority due to the loss of the half-map, leaving them only to be suppressed.

Time reached 5 minutes, and EDG started the Dragon on time.

Because the lower half of the map was firmly controlled, and more importantly, because of the mid-lane solo kill, Akali would soon reach level six first, so there was no possibility of winning this fight.

Lee Sin could only take this opportunity to try and make a move on the top lane, touching a ward from behind the tower to come out and cooperate with Sejuani to trigger her passive.

It was just a pity that the laning phase between Sejuani and Ornn had been too peaceful, their states were kept too well, and Lee Sin was not yet level six.

Flandre took a wave of damage head-on and pushed into the tower, escaping safely without using any skills.

Pyosik was actually very helpless.

Every jungler knows that if everyone is at full health during the laning phase, what can a jungler do to gank!

This Lee Sin was facing exactly that situation.

With two big tanks in the top lane, even if Kennen wanted to play aggressively, it was hard to create any health difference; this was something destined by the hero attributes.

As for the bottom lane, due to the failure to contest the half-map early on, the lost lane priority had almost become a forbidden zone for Lee Sin.

The jungle went without saying; with two kills in hand, Viego could already step on Lee Sin's head in a 1v1!

As for the mid lane, it should have been the place where opportunities were most likely to be born in this match.

After all, it had already been proven that it was hard for Akali and Sylas to keep the lane peaceful, unless one side was willing to cower like a coward.

But a solo kill in the mid lane broke the balanced situation...

Coupled with the fall of the lower half of the map, DRX's early-game rhythm before eight minutes was like a pool of stagnant water.

The only good news was that they could only be thankful that Lee Sin was flexible enough to still maneuver in the jungle, and Zeka's laning experience was considered seasoned, barely managing to stabilize his growth.

Time approached eight minutes.

"DRX, relying on good discipline, hasn't given Viego too many opportunities during this time; Lee Sin has also been avoiding the farming routes, and the mid lane has managed to stabilize despite the solo kill disadvantage," the Roaring Emperor said, picking the nicest things to say.

"But does DRX want to contest this Rift Herald!?" the CT brother next to him asked, puzzled.

"They shouldn't contest this, right? They should use the gap while the opponent is taking the Herald to trade for some plating gold to make up for the losses!"

Watching everyone on the screen moving toward the Herald, the Roaring Emperor tried to analyze: "Perhaps DRX doesn't want their first tower to fall too quickly; we all know that once the first tower falls too fast, the offensive rhythm that EDG can spread is terrifying!"

"And if we must say, the gap between the two sides isn't so big that there's no chance; a 2k gold difference, it's not much, but it's not little..."

The players in the match didn't know the specific gold gap, but they definitely knew they were at a disadvantage.

Every team has its own way of dealing with different situations.

For example, standard LCK teams led by GEN like to trade for economy at times like this, while teams like DK that trust their jungler might assist and let the jungler try to make a play...

But DRX's decision to "take the fight despite knowing they are at a disadvantage" was actually a bit like T1.

Both benefited from having a clear-headed leader with strong game-reading ability on the team.

Beryl knew very well that although they were at a disadvantage now, there were still opportunities to make plays.

On the contrary, if they just gave the Herald to the opponent, who knows which lane might suddenly be broken through and have their first tower taken, which could very likely lead to their rhythm being torn apart!

Trading for that little bit of economy wouldn't quench their thirst at all!

The DRX bottom duo passed through the mid lane, already showing their intentions.

"They seem to want to take it!"

Fortunately, EDG wasn't greedy for minions this time; the bottom duo had already moved into position early, clearly intending to trade a few bottom lane platings for the Herald steadily.

At this moment, the three mid and bottom players from the opponent had finished pushing the mid wave and were walking from the small path at the F6 corner.

Flandre suddenly perceived keenly that this was an opportunity to start a fight: "This position seems openable! I'm going in!?"

"You can go, you can go!"

Receiving a positive reply, Ornn blew his horn almost without hesitation, instantly summoning the molten ram spirit from afar!

The narrow passage was almost completely covered by the ram, and Viego and the bottom duo, who were crouching in the brush with Ornn, pressed forward, while Akali flanked from the direction of the right-side minion wave.

The DRX members clearly didn't expect the opponent to start a fight so decisively before they had even settled into position.

"EDG seems to have caught an opportunity!"

"The three DRX members without displacement are caught in the intersection passage! And the formation is scattered, hey, what is Kinegn doing!"

At this moment, what resilience meant was displayed.

Just like this moment when Flandre sensed an opportunity to start a fight, the operations in critical moments were fleeting, relying on the on-the-spot performance of every player on the team.

DRX's positioning this time couldn't really be said to be problematic; after all, the three people in the mid lane didn't walk through the most dangerous river direction after pushing the lane, and it was normal to head to this intersection to meet up with teammates.

But the moment the first stage of Ornn's "Call of the Forge God" appeared, a voice immediately came out of the DRX voice chat.

"I can interrupt him!"

Sejuani, crouching in the brush outside the red buff wall, waited for the right moment; as the ram was about to arrive, she dashed in with a boar charge from the shadows and threw out the Glacial Prison in mid-air!

The lasso used the wall to conceal the first half of its flight path.

It was aimed exactly at the Ornn rushing forward!

And at this turn.

DRX also suddenly sensed an opportunity.

Because he was preparing to cooperate with the ram to enter the fight, Viego already had his Heartbreaker ready and was pressing forward; his position was not far from the passage, originally intending to enter the fight together with Akali, who was flanking from below.

And Lee Sin in the brush didn't ask for confirmation, instantly exploding into action!

From the same position outside the red buff wall as Sejuani, he Q-kicked Ornn and then touched a ward to get close in mid-air, a clean and precise R-flash, kicking Viego toward the back!

"Can kill!" Beryl only had time to remind.

Sylas decisively stepped forward, using E and R together, aiming his chains at the airborne Viego, while his stolen chains were aimed at the Varus in the back, catching the 【Chain of Corruption】 in mid-air!

Viego was unable to move while in the air the entire time.

Furthermore, accompanied by a lash of his whip-chain hitting Viego's bound body, his health seemed to be dropping sharply, slightly beyond reason.

Ye Bo noticed something.

However, at this moment, he needed to make a more important decision first.

The 【Chain of Corruption】 that Sylas stole this time was extremely critical; if he had stolen any other skill, the result would have been completely different.

It was only because the Chain of Corruption had a "spread" effect, which forced EDG's bottom duo to be unable to follow up with output to surround the kicking Lee Sin at the first moment, needing to retreat and pull away first to avoid being spread to.

But the close-range Ornn did not escape unscathed.

Having just broken free from the freeze, he was already bound in succession by the close-range spread.

This counterattack by DRX is nothing short of perfect; the jungler has fallen, and Ornn will likely find it difficult to escape as well.

Rationally speaking, this fight cannot be taken to the end.

"Watch your spacing, don't get locked down!"

Ye Bo directs his teammates to retreat.

Yet his own footsteps do not falter in the slightest.

The Rogue Assassin—has always been about doing a "one-man" job.

"Akali is here!"

Within DRX's vision, an Akali suddenly appears, using R 【Perfect Execution】 to leap onto the wall, targeting the two in the bottom lane!

Even though the support applied {Exhaust} at the first opportunity, the two's health bars suddenly drop by a huge chunk in a moment that feels wrong!

"Hekui, don't use Flash! Stick to the crowd!"

The bottom lane duo gathers toward their teammates.

Their teammates also immediately want to abandon the siege to come and support, but Beryl's thinking is incredibly clear.

"He might be bluffing! Ignore him! Kill the Viego first!"

"If Akali wants to kill us by force, he has to die too!"

Most of the group have already used their skills, while Akali still has his Shroud and the second stage of his ultimate; he is extremely agile and not afraid of being locked down at all.

In Beryl's view, this is clearly him trying to come up and draw fire to see if he can save Viego.

This response is undoubtedly wise.

Not to mention, if they really were to use Flash, they would have to use two at once; neither of the two in the bottom lane can withstand Akali's damage.

In front of Akali, flashing over a wall doesn't guarantee survival.

Conversely, if Akali wants to force a kill on the two, he must use his R2 ultimate for the execution—and that would send him straight into the tiger's den, making it hard to escape!

Even if the final result is the bottom lane duo falling in exchange for Akali's death.

A two-for-two trade between the mid-jungle and the bottom lane is clearly a massive win for DRX!

Anyway, at this point in time, both bottom lanes have not yet reached level six; whether it's taking the Rift Herald or fighting, their combat power is limited.

"Viego is the first to be killed! The 600-gold shutdown bounty is taken by Sylas!"

"But Ye's Akali has charged into the enemy backline alone! His damage is very high!"

Having already secured a solo kill, Akali's items are already excellent.

Level 7 against level 5, and these are two squishy targets in the bottom lane; in front of him, they are like little chicks.

Akali pursues the two closely under the cover of his Shroud and lands another AQ, but Deft's Sivir precisely activates 【Spell Shield】 to block a Q Five Point Strike!

Miss Fortune's health bar has already entered execution range.

Ye Bo's gaze is fixed on his skill bar.

Then, he resolutely continues to press forward.

"Akali has no Flash! And he's being very greedy!"

The five DRX members, having finished off Viego, see that Akali is still pursuing and has even actively stepped out of the Shroud's range, so they all immediately turn to surround him!

But the next moment, 【Perfect Execution】 has already leaped over the crowd from a distance, stabbing out from afar!

Akali's figure lunges high backward, using the range of his body's proximity plus the linear dash to skewer both Sivir and Miss Fortune, pulling his figure several meters back!

But it seems difficult to run away like this.

Furthermore, not only did Sivir miss taking a key Five Point Strike Q, but the damage is still a bit short.

Because both of Akali's passive Dragon Mark procs were aimed at Sivir, this R2 pierce actually leaves Miss Fortune with a sliver of health!

This is why Zeka is shouting "very greedy"—he saw that if Akali had focused his AQ attacks on Miss Fortune, who didn't have a Spell Shield, he should have been able to trade for one.

However, at this very moment, Akali's figure has already "vaulted back"!

Yes.

Just before Akali started his R, he had actually thrown a 【Shuriken Flip】 toward the right side, at the minion wave that had just arrived!

Otherwise, how would Ye Bo do such a risky thing?

In that instant, DRX's attention was surely on the follow-up skills in the front; they couldn't have noticed the area to the bottom right off-screen, and they never expected Akali would dare to come in like this!

Though it is of no great consequence, after all, Akali didn't even kill one.

However.

Akali, soaring in the air, suddenly flicks his sleeve slightly—a 【Five Point Strike】 kunai flies out again in a bizarre trajectory!

"Flying Thunder God: Triple Five Point Strike!"

The two DRX bottom laners clutch their hollow foreheads in disbelief.

They collapse to the ground instantly!

"Huh?"

Beryl's big head is full of question marks; he doesn't understand.

And Deft's eyes are full of innocence and helplessness.

But in contrast, Zeka's expression changes in a series of twists and turns: first surprise, then contemplation, doubt, and finally shock.

After a moment of delay, the global casters and the audience are instantly filled with a roar of noise on-site and in front of their screens!

Everyone in the stands is whispering, discussing this entire sequence of incredible events.

"My goodness!" Wa Wa steals his partner's catchphrase: "What is this!!"

"The mid-air Q Flying Thunder God has reappeared!!!" Miller shouts at the top of his lungs, veins bulging.

"This is! Ye's Akali!!!"

Wang Duo is also excited, slamming the table: "This play truly interprets what it means to kill amidst the red dust and escape within the white blades!"

"Ornn has cleansed the CC and successfully escaped; the situation on the field has returned to 3 vs 4! EDG has regained the numerical advantage, forcibly reversing DRX's counter-assault!"

This team fight, with its wave after wave of ups and downs, is simply dazzling.

EDG has lost their jungler, DRX is at a numerical disadvantage, and neither side has immediately started the Rift Herald.

This just gives the director a gap to pull up the replay—

First, it was EDG's Ornn seizing the opportunity to engage from an angle.

Then, it was DRX's Sejuani with a precise interruption, Lee Sin following up with a lightning-fast Q-ward hop-R-Flash kick to bring Viego back, instantly focusing fire on the enemy's fattest player.

Immediately after, Sylas reacted quickly by using Withered Vines to seal the path!

It can be said that until this point, everyone felt that DRX had already pulled off a beautiful comeback from a disadvantage, and the Rift Herald was already in the bag!

And it is also from here that it begins.

The camera begins to focus on Akali.

One sees Akali first adjusting his positioning, throwing a maximum-range E Shuriken Flip at the minion wave to kick back, and then initiating a leap toward the two on the bank at the limit of his R range!

And it is right here.

The director, having captured the details, begins an ultra-slow-motion replay.

"He used Q in the air during R!!" CT Ge's eyes widen as he sees it clearly.

{As long as Akali can initiate at the limit of his R range and his hand speed is fast enough, he can pre-cast "Mid-air Q" before the R1 cast time ends.

This is why the two in DRX's bottom lane felt that the damage from that hit was wrong.

Because that wasn't the damage of R1 at all, but the damage of R1+Q—and it didn't even take the damage reduction from {Exhaust}!

Afterward, Akali continued to press forward, cast his Shroud, and then landed his passive + a second Q.

And finally, he moved in close to unleash the R2 dash, deliberately "over-shooting" the displacement to leave enough casting distance for the "E Mid-air Q"!

In the air while returning from E, he landed the third Five Point Strike!

{Akali just cannot "use Q during the E state," but as long as he uses the second stage of E to interrupt the R2 displacement before the R2 dash process ends, he can "maintain the R state" judgment, thereby casting "E Mid-air Q".

{The Shroud can grant Akali an extra 100 energy; with a 300-energy bar, it is enough to cast three Qs.

"Although E is used for displacement to escape, he used this method to land a full three Qs! Even if the Korean Bodhisattva came, he couldn't save them!" The Roaring Emperor supports his head with one hand, distressed.

"How could it be like this..."

"Wait, that's not right. I remember that Akali's E mid-air Q was disabled a long time ago, wasn't it?!" CT Ge asks with sudden anger: "Could it be a bug!"

However.

Li Xianghe, watching the match from far away in the T1 base, has eyes full of shock at this moment.

The banana in his hand is crushed in the middle, reflecting his true inner turmoil.

Experts look at the technique.

Let alone these casters, any player who doesn't know Akali well enough wouldn't be able to see just how exaggerated this play really is!

It can be described with three sets of numbers.

Akali's Q has a 1. -second cooldown, while R2 requires 2. seconds of preparation to be used... but E can only mark for 3 seconds!

Therefore, before the E skill's return mark disappears, Akali theoretically can only land two Q cooldowns at most!

How did Ye Bo erase the 1. -second "time difference" for the third strike?

The answer is actually already shown in the replay.

First, by utilizing the mechanism that {E only starts counting time after hitting a unit}, he stole 0. seconds using the flight time of E.

Then, by utilizing the "R Mid-air Q" operation, which is equivalent to Q hitting first, the order of Q→R→E, he stole another 0. seconds here.

Finally, the most critical part was the deliberate "close-range R2 over-displacement," using the extra return distance to press until the very last moment when the cooldown just reset, stealing the final 0. seconds!

The "Flying Thunder God Mid-air Q" wasn't to show off—it was necessary to be in the air during E to have a chance to wait for that third Five Point Strike Q to come off cooldown!

Li Xianghe considers his mastery of Akali to be not low.

However, he knew very well.

If he were the one facing this situation, it would be impossible to handle it this way.

This absolutely cannot be explained by "fast hand speed."

It is a true mastery of this hero's mechanics to the extreme! A grasp of every detail down to the finest fraction! An operation that truly pushes the hero's capabilities to their limit!

Of course, the chat stream surely cannot see these outrageous, deep details at this moment.

But just what has been displayed is already enough to make people excited and agitated.

【Holy crap, Master! Akali King! So cool it's insane!】

【Damn, is he possessed by TheShy? Too outrageous!】

【What does this have to do with TheShy? The Flying Thunder God of that version was a normal operational technique; the two operational logics are not the same thing at all, okay!】

【Shameless, so shameless! Another bug! The meticulously prepared match ends up losing to a bug! Unfair, unfair!】

【Damn, the guy above is trolling like crazy. You said the haters' lines first so they'd have nothing to say, right? Change your Ye Wen avatar before you talk!】

【God Akali! His Akali is just different from everyone else's!】

The final result of this wave evolved into DRX blowing all their ultimate abilities, while the Viego who died on the EDG side still had all his skills up.

But if it were just that, DRX would actually still have a chance to make a comeback after leaving the base; the combat power of both sides still hadn't created a massive disparity, and perhaps they still had the strength to fight and carry out their tactical goals.

Yet, a huge accident, or rather, a foreshadowing, appeared in this wave.

The one killed on the DRX side was—the bottom lane!

"In the gap while waiting for both sides to respawn, the EDG bottom duo came to the middle lane to farm, both reaching level six!" The Roaring Emperor discovered the key point.

"In this case, once Viego respawns and arrives, EDG will not only have two extra level-six ultimates, but also Viego's full set of skills; the combat power will instantly show a disparity. It seems DRX can only give up this Rift Herald!"

CT-ge offered some self-consolation: "The good news is that this trade of kills is actually a net gain for DRX."

"Viego's shutdown is worth two kills, even more valuable than Akali's double kill; Sylas has caught up in development!"

If you only look at gold, Akali's two kills were only worth five hundred-plus, while Sylas getting the 2-0 shutdown was worth six hundred.

But what is truly important has never been a bit of gold.

It is the tempo.

Relying on the control of the bottom half of the map, Viego took the Rift Herald directly to the bottom tier-one tower at the 10-minute mark.

Heimerdinger's head sparked with electricity, his ultimate intimidated and forced a retreat, and EDG pushed down the bottom tier-one tower just past 10 minutes!

Turning to take the second dragon, both sides entered the lane-swapping phase.

However, upon entering the lane-swapping phase, DRX appeared as if they still had the strength to fight.

Come to think of it, Miss Fortune support is actually a very retro hero; she had appeared as early as the S6 era, used back then as a black technology to counter Zyra's plants.

And six years later... when BeryL developed the Heimerdinger support option, he also discovered some characteristics of the hero Miss Fortune that perfectly met his needs.

Besides the fast wave clear.

More importantly, the roaming ability!

Miss Fortune's W skill 【Strut】 grants bonus movement speed if she hasn't taken damage for 4 seconds; at level one, it's a full 60 points, exactly a pair of Boots of Swiftness!

The mobility it brings is even above Taliyah, who is known for her roaming ability!

Of course, because Miss Fortune herself has no hard crowd control, only a slow from her E skill, her ganking ability is very weak, which can be considered a natural balancing limitation.

However, BeryL never intended to use her for "ganking" anyway.

Deft has been a solo-laner for years and is extremely experienced, practically the AD version of Flandre; his sense of smell is extremely keen and he simply doesn't give opportunities.

By the lane-swapping phase, Miss Fortune would place an E in the lane and immediately start running, frequently roaming between the three lanes, constantly forcing a numerical advantage, repeatedly causing the offensive tempo to stall!

But... that was all there was to it.

If the bottom tier-one tower hadn't fallen too early, as long as Miss Fortune could drag the game out until she bought a {Umbral Glaive}, she could cooperate with the jungler to roam the map and spam vision! Forcing the opponent to run themselves ragged between lane-swapping and roaming————Heimerdinger's map-traversing ability is far inferior to Miss Fortune's!

But this game clearly could no longer proceed as expected.

What's even more terrifying is that there was more than one accident.

14 minutes.

Akali and Sylas faced off in the side lane.

After the shutdown bounty from the previous wave, Sylas had become the best-equipped person on the entire team.

Zeka was very anxious; he really wanted to do something.

And as the saying goes, as long as one side of this matchup is restless, there can be no peace.

"DRX has been recuperating and struggling to hold on for five minutes; they should be preparing to contest this second Rift Herald."

"But the mid-laners on both sides are playing really aggressively this game; they still need to be careful to maintain their state, after all, the Rift Herald is about to spawn... Ah!?"

"Ye starts directly with his ultimate!"

Zeka was still hesitating.

Yet Ye Bo suddenly erupted for no reason during a seemingly normal probe!

He leaped in with a strike, throwing out a Q in mid-air again.

"Careful, retreat a bit! We're coming!"

Listening to the voices of his teammates, Zeka turned a deaf ear.

At this very moment, the battlefield seemed to fall into silence; this space felt as if only the two of them existed.

I avoid his edge?!

Sylas reacted extremely quickly, pulling with a W in mid-air, immediately pulling his feet back in place, then countering with an R leap; the two were as graceful as startled swans in the air, their crossing paths flashing by!

Subsequently, two opposing Es were cast at the same time!

Zeka knew very well that Akali's maximum-range "RE guaranteed hit" was hard to dodge, so he hadn't prepared to save his E1 to dodge at all, using E1 directly to try to force a mutual E hit.

If he had been vigilant this wave, he could have actually dashed his E toward the opponent's face the moment Akali cast R; this would have created distance, dodging the RE guaranteed hit and the mid-air RQ.

But the reason his vigilance was slightly lower this wave was because he knew the cooldown of Akali's W Twilight Shroud hadn't finished yet!

And precisely because of this.

Zeka sensed an opportunity.

He had been wary of Akali while she had her W, but without W—this duel was actually hard to call!

By this point in time, Sylas's equipment wasn't lagging much, and Akali was even squishier; at the very least, they could "mutual-kill."

The chains and the Shuriken Flip collided in mid-air.

Two sets of damage were dealt simultaneously!

Sylas pulled with W-E-R-A in place, Akali's R-Q-E-E-A sickle blades hummed.

One second after landing, both their health bars dropped to half!

"Akali has no Twilight Shroud! He cannot maneuver!" The Roaring Emperor's breathing became rapid: "And Sylas has Everfrost to lock him down and land the full Q skill, Conqueror getting stronger the more he fights!"

"Both sides have R2 execute; it feels like Akali is about to fall into the execute range..."

Zeka was mentally simulating Akali's subsequent operations.

'Akali needs at least a Q-A-R with her passive to execute.'

'A point-blank Q can't trigger the passive; he'll likely use R or QR directly, but that won't be enough for an execute. I can use the position where he dashes out with R to dash in the opposite direction, wait for the 1 second of W cooldown, then turn around and use R2+W to counter-kill.'

Zeka even considered the possibility of Akali's A-Flash!

However, Akali's attack speed was very low; Zeka was already prepared to wait for the opponent's next auto-attack wind-up to directly use a predicted side-flash to dodge that Q!

But.

Ye Bo seemed to be telling him with his actions.

Why the prefix for all of Akali's skill names is 【My Way Technique】.

The moment Everfrost ended, white light mixed with golden light, driving his figure to flash explosively.

No auto-attack wind-up, just a normal, unavoidable point-blank Q wind-up, but he instantly flashed outward to mark the target with the Five Point Strike!

Then synchronized with an R2 dash to turn back!

{Akali's Q-Flash changes the casting direction, which would cause the Q to miss, so this wave couldn't use Q-Flash, only relying on pure hand speed to connect Q-D-R}

In the moment Zeka was shocked, he instinctively flashed to pull away, still trying to operate with R-R-R-R.

However, the auto-attack of 【Five Point Strike】 is an uncancelable selection—————as long as the target is selected, they cannot escape.

The prisoner who flashed away was hooked from the void by the shadow sickle blade, and with one slash, his heart was carved out.

And in fact, Sylas's R2 icon was still gray.

The reason for using Q-Flash to pull out the passive and then killing back with R2 had three reasons.

1 is that this is the only way to reach the execute range.

2 is that this final landing auto-attack cannot be dodged.

3 is that Sylas's R2 hadn't reached the usage time, so he couldn't create distance or counter-attack.

Don't forget, the ultimate stolen by Sylas also has to follow skill mechanics, needing to wait 2. seconds before being able to use R2————and Akali was the one who initiated with R first.

So.

It seemed like Sylas had a chance to counter-attack and kite.

But in fact, the opponent's time of death had long been calculated to the second; the 2. seconds of Akali's ultimate was the execute time, and Sylas simply couldn't wait to use R2 to fight for his life!

The collision of top-tier assassin blade tips.

Even 0. seconds is the line between life and death.

While the DRX members were still thinking, bad news suddenly came from the side lane again!

And Zeka said nothing, his eyes fixed on his gray screen, his fingertips lingering on the keyboard, seemingly trembling slightly.

The speed of this Akali across from him was so fast it made his heart race!

With no other choice, they could only hand over the second Vanguard Commander once again.

EDG took advantage of the gap left by the enemy's missing member to crash through the top lane's second turret, then turned to take the third dragon.

The LPL commentary booth had already become an ocean of cheers.

The LCK commentary booth was already at a loss for words.

The situation seemed to be trending toward a total collapse.

At 19 minutes and 31 seconds, a third solo kill under the turret nearly occurred.

"Wow, that was so close! Zeka's play there was extremely clutch; he actually synced his ultimate to dodge Akali's instant R2!"

"But it feels like Zeka has gone a bit mad! He actually wanted to fight back in that first moment?!"

"He refuses to accept it; he clearly still refuses to accept it!"

Refusing to accept it is useless.

After the second solo kill, the gap in equipment and levels had completely widened; there was simply no room for outplays.

The key was that in this side lane, only Sylas could go to solo lane against Akali.

This was not only because if Sejuani didn't hold the front line, Ornn, Heimerdinger, and Varus—the three major engage threats—could force a fight at any time.

It was even more so because only by solo laning could Sylas maintain his growth.

Yet, such a terrifying Akali could not be handled by a single DRX member; at least 2-3 people had to travel together to drive her away—this current reality would naturally lead directly to the rapid collapse of the previously deadlocked operational situation.

22 minutes.

EDG engaged the Baron from the front to force a fight, compelling the four members of DRX to head over.

However.

Just as the four of them had taken a few steps.

The third terrifying system notification sound finally appeared.

Zeka failed to continue the success of the third game of wits, and in this encounter, he was once again blinded and lost by Akali's maneuvers, which exceeded his expectations.

Akali's skill freedom is extremely high.

It is truly ever-changing.

Different skill combinations and different operation sequences can create differences that are a hair's breadth apart but lead to a thousand-mile divergence.

In everyone's hands, she is a brand-new hero.

This is 【Perfect Execution】.

And it was very clear that Ye Bo's Akali "style" was above Zeka's understanding.

He could not grasp it.

"Solo kill! The third time!!" Wawa was practically shouting: "The third head-to-head solo kill of this match!!"

"Body like a sword shadow, blade like lightning! Just watching this Akali's maneuvers makes one feel suffocated! Even looking from the spectator's perspective makes my heart clench!"

Wang Duo, face glowing red, got more and more carried away: "This is the signature Akali that no team dares to let through! Since you like to let it through, DRX, then be prepared to pay the price!"

Miller gave an objective evaluation: "The breakthrough in the solo lane has become DRX's nightmare in this match! Just like their top lane against T1 in the semifinals, it is tearing their defensive line apart step by step!"

"DRX is under attack from both sides! They must be careful of Akali's Teleport and split-push threat if they go for the Baron; they have to make a choice!"

After Akali gets a kill, she still has Teleport; even if the four of them go to the dragon pit, they cannot win the team fight.

The choice DRX made was to let Lee Sin try to steal the dragon while the others defended.

However.

To have reached the point of relying on Pyosik to steal a dragon was, in itself, already a desperate move.

Lee Sin couldn't even get close to the dragon pit before being controlled by the bouncing grenade and withering vines, only to be sniped from a distance by Varus.

24 minutes.

With pressure from all three lanes of minions, DRX faced the overwhelming army and could only make a final, desperate stand!

25 minutes, the final battle, swift and decisive, was on the verge of breaking out.

Varus and Heimerdinger provided simple poke, Ornn initiated the fight, and Akali's fleeting movements in the blink of an eye secured the first vessel for Viego!

DRX's final base could not withstand the pressure and exploded into fragments amidst the interplay of light and shadow!

(End of chapter)