Chapter 244: Brainstorming True Seventy-Two Transformations

After Neeko completed the counter-kill, she relied on the AOE of her ultimate to clear the wave in passing, then retreated and vanished.

Li Xianghe watched helplessly as the opponent transformed back from a melee minion, and naturally, he figured out how they had pulled off this "stealing the heavens and changing the sun" right in front of his eyes, unable to help but sigh inwardly.

This turn of events was because they hadn't taken the new version of Neeko seriously, relying only on the oversight of "experience."

In fact, the core of the new Neeko rework was "Transformation," so there was a small optimization to the W ability: the clone created by the transformation changed from "disappearing immediately upon taking damage" to "delayed disappearance upon taking damage."

This subtle deviation was not written in the patch notes; it was clearly a difference that could only be discovered by actually practicing enough games.

If they had known, they should have been suspicious the moment Galio finished his W suction and only one person was revealed.

At this moment.

In the stands, someone was excitedly standing up, leaning on the edge of the railing, the corners of their mouth curling up wildly, almost ready to put their hands on their hips.

"Fuck," Brother KC couldn't help but turn his head and ask.

"CT! Was this intentional, or was it an accident?"

Brother CT's expression at this moment was incredibly similar to a certain anti-Japanese themed meme on the Chinese internet, his face full of smugness.

In reality, this was indeed an "Easter egg" he had specially designed.

He didn't want the so-called "Transformation" to just be a change in appearance—actually, the mechanism Ye Bo had used in the previous version, which could inherit the {Homeguard} movement speed, had deeply won his heart; he only considered that to be a true game Easter egg!

It was just a pity that the set of mechanics was too broken in actual combat; being able to maintain the Homeguard effect throughout the entire process was simply unrivaled in terms of support, and in the end, it was collectively rejected by the balance team.

That was why Brother CT came up with the "trait" that allowed Neeko to disguise herself as other things.

For example, the trait of minions as {non-hero units}!

Brother CT was even more excited than everyone else at the scene.

Even though he had known it was possible, looking at that figure on the stage, he was filled with even more appreciation, simply because someone had finally discovered the painstaking effort he had buried!

"Is this also something you specially designed?" Brother Sanhuan asked after seeing the change in the live broadcast.

"Of course! If you can inherit minions, you can naturally inherit jungle monsters!" Brother CT said, lost in describing his own philosophy.

"When we designed the jungle monsters, we set the Shadow Wolf and the Raptors as two {speed-type} monsters, so isn't it a cool thing to think about 'using their' movement speed to travel!?"

"But... why isn't he recalling yet?"

In the live broadcast, Neeko retreated under the tower but didn't press recall.

Instead, she walked into their own lower jungle and arrived at the Wolves.

As the designer, Brother CT had thought the opponent wanted to use the Wolves' movement speed to recall and travel quickly.

It wasn't hard to see from the "names" that the {base movement speed} of the two jungle camps, Wolves and Raptors, was the fastest among all jungle monsters—both had a full 493 units, quite a bit faster than even wearing Boots of Mobility!

Although it couldn't compare to the absurd effect of extending Homeguard from before, it was definitely a practical technique!

But strangely... after Neeko finished imitating the Wolves, she didn't choose to recall.

Instead, she continued toward the bottom lane.

At the same time, Zhao Xin, who had seen that the mid-lane big brother hadn't recalled and had also specifically not recalled directly, was also heading to the bottom lane again after finishing the Gromp.

"What are Xun and Master Ye trying to do? Are they trying to change the tempo and go bot!?"

"This four-man dive shouldn't be doable, right??"

"Zhao Xin is in a very low state! Although Neeko's health is still decent, she doesn't have any abilities, and she's even low on mana!"

This play didn't seem to make much sense no matter how you looked at it.

At first glance, the timing seemed very clever.

Neeko relied on the extremely fast movement speed of the transformed Wolves to suddenly change the tempo and turn to the bottom lane, then "hid" in the minion wave to catch the T1 bottom lane off guard.

The jungler was dead, Galio had no Teleport—using Neeko's own development to restrict Zeri was definitely worth it!

After all, the entire T1 team was counting on Zeri, the "1."

But in reality, neither the mid nor the jungle had recalled to replenish items, so it was hard for them to have the ability to instantly kill the opponent under the tower; there was a high probability they would trade kills.

If they only traded kills with Zeri, or even had more kills traded back, accelerating Zeri's development would undoubtedly be a huge loss.

And Li Xianghe had just pushed the minion wave into the tower and was hesitating whether to go threaten the mid-lane plating.

But he discovered that Neeko hadn't immediately Teleported out.

If it were someone with a simpler mind, they might not think so much and would just assume the opponent was waiting for gold in the fountain to buy items.

But Li Xianghe was different.

Especially since he had just been "tricked" by the opponent, it was the moment his suspicion was at its peak, and several thoughts immediately appeared in his mind.

'Disguising as the second wave of mid-lane minions to get close, letting the jungler flank me?'

'Or...'

He scanned the map.

Looking at Draven, who was clearly starting to press forward and trade health very actively, the bottom lane where both sides were not at full health, and Jayce, who also seemed to be constantly pressing forward in the top lane...

Li Xianghe's consciousness exploded, and a terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Youqi, retreat, prepare to Teleport and watch bot!"

"Bot lane, protect your health, don't get traded anymore! The enemy mid and jungle might not have really gone home!"

His warning had an effect.

Because neither side's bottom lane had participated in the dragon fight last time, Draven had already worn down some of the plating on the bottom outer tower.

In order not to have the plating eaten, the T1 bottom duo also pressed forward without giving an inch; they were preparing to recall soon anyway.

But upon hearing the command, the two immediately shrank back into the tower, even giving up the few minions still outside—Keria also immediately began counting the number of enemy minions.

Don't look at how the "hiding in minions to gank" trick had already been played out in ranked games.

During normal laning, if one wasn't consciously aware that Neeko was missing and might have gank intentions, who would instinctively pay attention to the number of minions in every wave?

Especially when multiple waves of minions were intersecting.

Galio immediately got up and rushed to the bottom lane, and Karma, who had been passionately trading in the top lane, also retreated into the tower without looking back.

"The top laner retreated! Maybe they discovered they want to Teleport!" Saint Gunner shouted immediately upon seeing Karma's move.

"Galio seems to be coming too!" Xun caught a glimpse of the movement in the mid lane.

"Then dive directly!"

Ye Bo, hiding in the minion pile, no longer disguised himself and revealed his true form to press forward.

Above, Zhao Xin also walked out from behind to block the retreat.

"Teleport! Teleport! Teleport directly!!" Li Xianghe shouted decisively upon seeing this.

Galio didn't have Teleport, and at the first moment, he wasn't within range to jump with his ultimate.

Although the top laner Teleporting directly might have the risk of being baited into wasting the summoner spell, there could be no hesitation at this moment—the top lane could suffer, but Zeri's development could not have any problems!

It was just that Li Xianghe's command was fast enough, and the execution of the entire T1 team was also high enough.

The bottom lane minion wave hadn't entered the tower yet, and Karma would definitely be able to land via Teleport before the wave entered the tower, so as to avoid being forced into an all-in by the opponent to instantly kill Zeri!

"Zeus uses Teleport directly to protect, then V5 should be able to retreat..."

"Is V5 going to dive hard like this!? Hey, the wave hasn't entered yet!!"

Strangely, the four members of V5 were actually going to enter the tower and take action without a minion wave!

Clearly, they didn't want to wait for Karma's 4-second Teleport to land!

But the one tanking the tower wasn't the support Poppy—it was Neeko, who walked into the tower first and threw a Q ability at the two of them to deal damage.

The other three members of V5 charged into the tower.

Poppy flashed to adjust her position and used her E ability to pin Zeri against the wall, Zhao Xin thrust his long spear, and Draven used Blood Rush to charge forward with dual axes.

Gumayusi immediately used Cleanse to remove it instantly, and his thinking was very clear.

He knew his teammates were all on the way, and the entire opposing team had Flash, so no matter where he flashed, he would definitely be chased and killed by Flash—so he simply flashed backward with a death-defying spirit, running deep into the inner side of the defensive tower!

Although Draven could still attack from this Flash position, Zhao Xin and Poppy were pulled away at the first moment.

But clearly, the entire V5 team had a clear intent; Zhao Xin directly flashed to follow up with a three-hit strike to knock him up and then thrust his spear like a dragon!

Yuumi exerted all her strength to save her mount, pressing Q, E, D, F in succession, and actively dismounted to use her physical body to help the AD attract fire.

But it was clearly to no avail!

The four of them dealt full damage, and 3 seconds was enough to kill Zeri, who was in poor condition due to refusing to trade health.

Zhao Xin finally retracted his spear at the limit, giving the kill to Draven.

"Killing Zeri before Karma lands! Nice!" Guan Zeyuan stared intently at the changes in the chaotic battle: "In this case, even if Neeko dies tanking the tower, it's only a tower kill! V5 made a huge profit!"

"Eh?" Jide opened his eyes wide: "Why isn't V5 stopping! Are they going to kill Yuumi too!"

"Are they that greedy... everyone is on the way!" Rita was confused.

Yuumi had actively come out earlier, and as one of the heroes with the lowest base and growth health in the League, facing the three strong men in her face was just like a piece of paper, her health dropping rapidly.

But the problem was, in one second, the Teleport would land, and Galio's ultimate was also on the way!

Continuing to greedily kill Yuumi was clearly very likely to result in a traded kill!

However, because Galio's R only had a range of 4000 units at level one, he needed to walk to the front entrance of the dragon pit to jump, so there was still some distance.

And this was also the command Ye Bo made after judging the distance in his heart, as he understood Galio very well.

Zeus's Karma landed.

He first put an E shield on Yuumi, then hit the three people outputting in his face with RQ, while simultaneously using his W chain to tether Zhao Xin!

His combat decision was clearly very wise.

Neeko, who was tanking the tower at the edge, would definitely have to leave the tower soon to trade, and Zhao Xin under the tower no longer had Flash; Karma would definitely be able to keep the opponent under the tower!

Which meant at least one kill could be traded.

Even if the opponent wanted to save Zhao Xin and help tank, it was possible to keep several people!

"Yuumi wants to attach, but is blocked by Poppy's deliberately held Steadfast Presence! Keria is going to suffer too!"

"But Galio is coming!"

It was naturally impossible for the top-lane Karma to max E, and with a shield value of a mere 80 points in the early game, the Yuumi blocked by Poppy's W was still cut down by a Draven axe for a double kill!

But Galio finally arrived within range.

Aiming at the location of Yuumi's corpse, which was also where the three opponents were gathered, he jumped!

By this time, 7 seconds had passed since the V5 members made their move.

Everyone's attention had been focused on the center of the tower-diving firepower, and it seemed they had all overlooked something.

When Karma's spirit link tightened and Galio's ultimate took off, everyone wanted to see how many people V5 would lose in this wave, only to suddenly discover—why was everyone's status still so healthy!?

Xin Zhao even had more health than when he started because he had killed two people!

Looking back again.

A "cannon minion" was actually still tanking the tower.

"Why is Neeko still tanking the tower!?" The Roaring Emperor's voice was so shocked it was almost shrill.

"How long has he been tanking! This isn't right!!!"

From T1's perspective, they could only see a cannon minion with at least 40% of its health bar remaining, lingering at the edge of the defensive tower.

But in the observer perspective, one could clearly see the two {overlapping health bars} after Neeko transformed, dropping in sync—and the health bar representing Neeko's actual health still had nearly one-third remaining.

One must know that because defensive towers have a "heating damage increase" mechanism, a standard full-health level-six squishy mage would die after tanking for at most 4-5 seconds!

Yet at this moment, Neeko had already tanked for at least 7 seconds, and he wasn't even at full health before starting.

"You guys retreat downwards, run in different directions!"

Seeing Galio's ultimate landing, Ye Bo immediately commanded them to disperse and flee.

He himself was alone, sticking to the wall away from the main battlefield, walking toward the direction of the opponent's jungle.

Xin Zhao was kept under the tower by the chains and then knocked up by Galio's landing; he would likely have taken the full Galio control chain and found it hard to escape... Neeko could at most tank two more tower shots.

And more importantly, Karma's sustained combat ability was not weak.

The Enlightened One's passive 【Gathering Fire】 reduces the ultimate's cooldown by 4 seconds for every enemy hero damaged—and having just hit three people with RQ under the tower and triggered W twice, the ultimate was about to refresh!

The status of the two V5 bottom-lane members couldn't be considered particularly good either; if everyone ran together, it might instead give T1 a chance to chase and kite.

In the end, someone would still have to be sacrificed to hold them off, no difference.

And as Neeko walked alone toward the front side of the tower, he was clearly using his physical body to attract firepower, forcing T1 to make an immediate choice.

T1 had only two people left; on one side was the heavily wounded Neeko, and on the other were the three who all still had over half health, so they clearly didn't hesitate too much.

"Kill Neeko."

Galio held his skills, and seeing Neeko throw an E after walking out of the tower along the wall, he stepped forward and countered with his own E to cancel the control.

Zeus's Karma moved enchantingly, twisting his body laterally to dodge.

"Master Ye sacrificed himself! In this way, the three below can all retreat!"

"But Neeko probably won't be able to run either; Karma also has Flash, and there was no need for him to burn Flash here anyway, it doesn't matter if he dies!"

"Master Ye must have thought that since he has TP, a 1-for-1 trade to return to lane isn't a loss, which is why he made the sacrifice; no problem there!"

Ye Bo indeed thought so.

However, he had not completely given up yet.

Before entering the brush, he first placed a fake ward "in front of himself," then the moment he entered the brush, he used W to split into two clones—one running toward the tri-brush, the other continuing to run toward the opponent's jungle.

"Look at the one inside!"

Li Xianghe was certain the opponent would definitely double back, but at this time, he naturally couldn't gamble.

Galio stepped to the right, adjusted his orientation, and fired a precise Winds of War from a distance; after a brief delay, he saw the clone in that direction die!

Karma then immediately and firmly pursued to the left!

Galio, who had no Flash, naturally had no need to pursue, so he turned to clear the massive wave of minions under the tower, which counted as not having come for nothing.

Although Neeko managed to pull away some distance by relying on the W speed boost, Karma's E had a shorter cooldown and could continuously gain speed; the opponent would definitely not be able to pull away later, it was just a matter of whether or not to trade Flashes.

No matter how you looked at it, Neeko running here was already a certain death!

And the reason Ye Bo chose to run here was also because he couldn't be sure if there was a Blast Cone on the other side of the wall, so he meticulously decided not to go over the wall.

The two chased and fled, having already passed the Krug camp.

Zeus watched Neeko, who looked like he was trying to escape to his own high ground, and only felt that the opponent was trying to stall for time to let the empty top lane Jayce get more plating.

Fortunately, Karma's ultimate 【Mantra】 had refreshed!

The circular fan on his back shone brightly, aiming at the Neeko in front, and he suddenly fired an RQ 【Inner Flame】!

Neeko's health was already extremely low; let alone an RQ, even a regular Q would be enough to kill him.

But this RQ did not hit.

Because Neeko suddenly jumped in place—and then transformed into "a ward"!!

The ward that Neeko had meticulously placed "in front of himself" when he entered the brush earlier was enough to complete the "camouflage imitation" storage without stopping his pace.

And clearly, any League of Legends player knows that hero skills "cannot hit" a Stealth Ward; only basic attacks can "destroy a ward."

That Inner Flame passed right over the top of that ward!

Zeus was stunned in place for a moment.

Immediately after, he saw the golden light of a Flash appear in front!

He immediately began to track the location of the Flash, only to find that it was under their own tier-two tower in the distance!?

"Where is Master Ye flashing to!"

"Wait, no? It seems he isn't tanking the tower???"

"Oh! Oh right! Defensive towers cannot attack wards!"

"The ward is TPing!!!"

Seeing the "TP ward" under their own tier-two tower clearly, Zeus was completely dumbfounded.

No way?

Can this hero even do that!?

However, even in the midst of extreme shock, Zeus's attention to detail remained meticulous; he didn't foolishly follow with a Flash over the wall—because he was currently at the thick end of the bottom tier-two tower wall, and flashing directly would definitely result in hitting the wall.

Quickly adjusting his position downward, Karma then flashed over the wall and immediately began to basic attack to "destroy the ward" upon landing.

But destroying a ward requires 3 basic attacks.

And with 0. 9% attack speed, Karma would need 3. seconds to land three basic attacks, while killing Neeko would require at least 4 basic attacks.

TP has a 4-second channel time. This is why Ye Bo ran here; the thick wall point where Karma was just now was also the position he deliberately aimed for—even if the opponent hadn't used Q in this wave, Neeko would still have flashed into the tower here.

Only because of this, he used the "wall-clip flash" long-distance displacement to stall the opponent.

Only with the remaining health and time could Neeko manage to TP away!

If he had TPed anywhere else, Karma only needed to decisively flash into melee range, land three attacks to break the ward's camouflage, and then instantly follow up with a Q to complete the kill!

"The last basic attack knocked Neeko back to his original form, but the four-second TP channel has already been completed!"

"Neeko actually ran away!!!"

The LPL commentary desk cheered and jumped for joy.

Everyone let out an irrepressible, instinctive gasp.

At the last moment, before the defensive tower could finish locking onto him, Neeko had already TPed to his own nexus tower and taken the opportunity to quickly recall, landing safely.

"It's too exaggerated! It's really too exaggerated!"

"So this is the new Neeko! The correct way to open the new Neeko is actually like this!"

"True thousand-faced transformation! True whimsical ideas! True Curious Chameleon!!!"

In the director's replay, they specifically focused on the key points.

The reason Neeko was able to tank the defensive tower for so long earlier was because of the {cannon minion talent skill} inherited after transforming into a cannon minion—【Anti-Tower Socks】.

"This unit will have its health reduced by 14% each time it is shot by an outer tower, and it will not cause the defensive tower to 'overheat'—although it smells a bit, the effect is outstanding."

Because minions themselves have 0 resistance, and the cannon minion Neeko transforms into possesses his own armor as well.

Therefore, Neeko transforming into a cannon minion can tank even better than a cannon minion itself!

In Ye Bo's tests, a level 1 Neeko could already tank 8-9 defensive tower attacks... which is nearly 12 full seconds!

12 seconds is enough to TP three times.

As for the subsequent transformation into a ward to dodge skills and flashing into the tower to drop aggro, they were actually all very "obvious" principles.

But they absolutely made everyone feel as if a hole had been opened in their brains!

【The person who discovered this mechanism is truly a 24k pure genius!!!】

【Minions: Something's not right! There's an imposter among us!】

【Neeko, you can be whoever you want to be!】

【Hey hey hey, that's a foul! Changing shapes everywhere in Summoner's Rift!】

【Who said the new version is a demon? This is the Great Sage Equaling Heaven! This is what you call the true 72 Transformations!】

【It's too outrageous, who exactly said this thing was trash? Isn't this simply a mechanism monster!?】

【I think this is definitely a bug, no matter how you look at it, it's too cheap, League of Legends designers!!!】

Let alone the livestream room.

Even the three people on the viewing platform were clearly a bit stunned.

"What the holy crab!" Brother KC took a long time to recover and subconsciously cursed again: "What is this situation!?"

This time, even the calm Brother Sanhuan's voice was somewhat shocked.

He turned his head to look at the middle, at the person who was also standing there with his mouth wide open.

"This, was this also intentional?"

The originator fell into silence.

This, I didn't expect either!

Ct-ge did indeed "specifically set" mechanisms like using minions to dodge skills, using minion attack speed, and even using jungle monster movement speed to travel.

But he truly didn't expect the later uses of using cannon minions to tank towers, transforming into wards to dodge skills, and transforming into wards to teleport into towers!

One hundred percent, he didn't expect it!

After all, if the original rework plan had included such a "subjective program," it would likely have been very difficult to pass the "balance team's" review—yet the mechanics perfectly matched the principles he had envisioned!

Everyone could see the significance of this move.

The practical combat significance was visibly enormous!

Neeko was already an AP hero full of "non-targetable skills"; once her skills were dumped, there was no need for sustained combat.

And after dumping her skills, transforming into a cannon minion capable of tanking defense towers for 12 seconds to assist teammates in tower dives...

Defense towers, could those even be called defense towers anymore?

The commentary booths on both sides soon realized this point.

"It's over... things are looking dire!" The Roaring Emperor felt his voice even carried a hint of sobbing: "With the top laner teleporting over like this, Jayce is directly eating two and a half plating stacks in one go! Draven even picked up a double kill!! And Zeri is being tower-dived!!!"

"The laning phase in the bottom lane is over! Completely over! The jungler has no way to come and help at all!"

"After this wave, T1 is actually a bit blown up!"

"The more critical thing is what to do next... what about this Neeko!?"

This wave was truly too painful for T1.

It wasn't just failing to save the AD, getting cashed out by Draven, and even giving up a double kill; they didn't trade for a single kill, and the top and mid laning phases were indirectly ruined together.

More importantly, Galio's ultimate had been used up.

Galio's usage rate in this version wasn't high precisely because his level-one ultimate had been nerfed; the 180-second, full three-minute cooldown was on par with Twisted Fate, and his early-game support capability was no longer that strong.

And Galio having no lane priority meant he couldn't move at all within those 3 minutes.

So, with Nocturne's development in ruins, even if he reached level six... would he dare to fly solo to gank the bottom lane?

The Zeri-Yuumi laning phase was already relatively weak.

If Nocturne flew to the bottom lane, it would simply be handing over a triple kill!

V5's bottom lane directly cleared away all threats and obstacles, Beryl stopped roaming, and the two of them laning together was just exceptionally arrogant—they were practically playing on top of the opponents' heads!

At 8 minutes, because of the kill in the mid lane, Nocturne hadn't even reached level six, so the Rift Herald was naturally given up.

And T1's mid-jungle duo took advantage of the gap while Xin Zhao went to the bottom lane to drop the Rift Herald, wanting to make a move on the mid lane.

However, just as the dark clouds appeared above the Rift and the sound of Paranoia was transmitted—the target's figure suddenly vanished from the mid lane.

Neeko, right in front of Galio, transformed into a "minion" the moment the sound was transmitted.

With the jungler heading to the bottom lane to drop the Rift Herald and the top laner steadily leaning back, Ye Bo was naturally very clear that the only opportunity the opponent could find was himself, so he had been "waiting for the darkness" the whole time.

It was very obvious.

【Paranoia】 could not target "minions."

"Oner's Nocturne missed his ultimate!!!" Jiejie felt like he was about to laugh out loud in the commentary booth: "Galio's ultimate isn't ready yet, and Nocturne's ultimate has entered cooldown again!"

"The first tower in the bottom lane fell in less than nine minutes!"

"Draven's development is truly too explosive! Right now, T1 has absolutely no qualification to take a team fight!"

Recalling at 9 minutes, Draven pulled out {Infinity Edge} + {B. . Sword}.

All the Chinese server players felt a shiver down their spines when they saw this scene.

【Damn O!! Was the protein powder in the thermos replaced with O-Pao fruit milk again today!?】

【Ho ho~ Brother is coming! How does it feel like I've seen this kind of Draven development before~】

【Who is "Brother"? Forget about Vincent, this game is clearly a case of "Wai Po" (JackeyLove) coming! Open your eyes and see whose Draven skin this is!】

【I can only say, being Master Ye's ADC is truly too happy; it really doesn't matter who it is, this kill is literally being fed into his mouth, he's purely enjoying it!】

【Heh, the pilot's Draven, he's going to throw!】

Facts proved that Deft's Draven was actually more stable.

To be fair, a super-fed Draven and a normal Draven are absolutely two different heroes.

A super-fed Draven is completely a "just need hands" hero; there really isn't much to operate... instead, one is more afraid of people who "want to operate" rushing in to feed!

As long as one is slightly stable.

Anyway, one axe from Draven could take nearly a quarter or a third of a health bar; there was simply no chance to fight back!

At 11 minutes, all three of T1's outer towers had fallen.

And in just 14 minutes, the gold difference had already flown to the sky.

The reason was that upon entering the lane-swapping phase, the people T1 left in the side lanes to eat "dangerous waves" would always be tower-dived and killed by Neeko's lead!

They simply couldn't survive under the tower!

T1's team composition construction was difficult to execute and could only be managed halfway.

After Zeus's Karma bought {Shurelya's Battlesong} as her first item, she directly bought a {Support Item}.

The whole team poured all their economy into Gumayusi.

And if it hadn't been so ruined earlier—coming into the mid-game, a "I eat all three lanes alone" Zeri could definitely take off quickly and carry the game under double support + double protection!

But at this moment, no matter how they poured resources in, it seemed they couldn't catch up to Draven's pace at all.

And with Neeko's existence, it seemed even side-lane operations had become extremely difficult for T1.

16 minutes.

V5 took the third fire dragon and arrived in the mid lane with the second Rift Herald.

"Fortunately, it's still early! V5's composition actually isn't good at tower diving!" The Roaring Emperor was still nervously offering advice: "Neeko's tower tanking is useless in a frontal team fight! It's very easy to get engaged on and locked down!"

"Guma is developing rapidly; although the fire dragon soul fight isn't easy to take, as long as we develop a little longer with this composition, we definitely have..."

"What is Ye doing again!"

Seeing that V5 didn't immediately crush the Rift Herald eye, T1 guessed that the opponent was likely preserving the Herald's health to use it to push directly to the high ground.

Of course, they couldn't let V5 have their way so easily.

Once the mid-lane high ground was broken, T1 would completely lose all space for side-lane resource maneuvering, and even funneling economy would become difficult to achieve!

Both sides of the walls were filled with vision, and the right side was even filled with wards in the bushes and corridors, leaving no space for flanking.

"Count the minions, watch the mini-map!"

Li Xianghe commanded loudly and urgently, messily brushing back his bangs; his fluctuating emotions seemed to make even the back of his hands tremble slightly.

"Neeko isn't in the front, don't let him sneak in!"

"If they tower dive, we still have a chance; the opponent's composition doesn't have a tower tank, it's fine if Zeri trades for a kill!"

But just as T1 was nervously setting up their defense.

From the god's-eye view.

Neeko was already quietly circling through the jungle alone, arriving behind the blue side's second tower, in the corridor under the high-ground wall.

There were no wards placed here, and there was no reason to place wards—because the vision behind the second tower was enough to see the intersection; clearly, there was no position for Neeko to pull a sneak attack here.

But Ye Bo's next action made everyone in the observer view widen their eyes in shock.

"He bounced up!?"

"Hey, how! Can't they see him!!!"

In a balance update three years ago, the Fire Dragon Soul Rift added a feature where "【Blast Cones】 would generate in the side-lane high-ground corridors."

This was originally a change no one cared about... but at this moment, Neeko was riding one of these fruits to fly onto the blue side's high ground!

Of course, under normal circumstances, as soon as one bounced over the wall, the blue side would be able to see all the vision information on their own high ground.

A red icon would also appear on the mini-map accordingly.

So when Neeko used a basic attack to detonate the fruit, she completed the insanely difficult "Mid-Air Transformation" while still in the air!

In fact, the mid-air transformation was the true core difficulty of this wave—because if Neeko was in a {Knock-up} state, her {Camouflage} state would be instantly broken, and once she entered a {Knock-up} state, her {Camouflage} ability would also be instantly disabled!

This wasn't some simple "A + Blast Cone" move like in the past.

It was, in the true sense, something that needed to be timed down to the "frame," issuing the transformation command at the exact instant of being knocked up by the Blast Cone to complete the mid-air transformation.

If this Neeko hadn't been using the 【Mountain and Sea Scrolls】 skin, without the blessing of Akali's operational style, Ye Bo might have found it difficult to complete it in one go... of course, in that case, he could have just treated it as a forced flank engage; with Flash and Zhonya's Hourglass in hand, he wouldn't have panicked at all.

And the object of the transformation was a Blast Cone.

Regardless of whether Neeko transformed into a "ward," "minion," or "jungle monster"—a small red dot would immediately appear on T1's mini-map, which would inevitably be enough to alert the highly vigilant crowd.

But there was no prompt on T1's mini-map.

Because a "Fruit" is not an enemy unit.

Not only would it not have any markings on the map, but even passing minions wouldn't be attracted to it, and defense towers would also be impossible to lock onto it!

"Watch out behind you, T1!!"

The heart-wrenching shout could not reach the ears of the T1 members.

And a Blast Cone was already moving along the wall, silently arriving at the corner of the high-ground wall.

All of T1 were nervously counting the minion wave together, observing the mini-map for any changes—the screen size was limited, who would switch screens to look at their own high ground at a time like this!?

Even the screen-switching fanatic Li Xianghe wouldn't.

"They're engaging! Pull back!"

Poppy charged up her ultimate, rushing from the right side!

All of T1 instinctively pulled back to the left rear immediately, and Li Xianghe even actively pressed forward, preparing to use crowd control to offset and block Poppy's hammer.

But at this moment, Poppy used Recall, canceling the casting of her ultimate.

"?"

Just as everyone was looking bewildered.

Keria, who had retreated and panned his camera to the back, seemed to catch a glimpse of something appearing in the bottom left corner of his screen.

"What is th—"

"Hey!!!"

The next moment, the fruit that had been channeled for half a second revealed its true form in mid-air, R-Flash + Rocketbelt dashing forward!

"Explosive Fruit's High Ground Bloom!"

Poppy's ultimate was clearly just to threaten positioning; canceling the ultimate was to avoid knocking the opponent away and "saving" them.

A scene of destruction suddenly appeared.

The expressions of the five people sat upon by the bloom were incredibly vivid, and the venue was instantly hit by a simultaneous wave of screams!

"Pizza!!!!!"

Neeko flanked and landed her ultimate on all five, already sealing the fate of the team fight.

The new version of Neeko is indeed a bit lacking in damage early on, but that's because some of her base stats were moved to her AP scaling; once geared up, her damage is only higher than the old version, not lower!

And there is another very important change——————the ultimate went from the old version's 1. -second root → first knocking up for 0. seconds, then rooting for 0. 5 seconds.

Gumayusi, with his lightning-fast reactions, instinctively pressed Cleanse, but not knowing who he was imitating, he used Cleanse to remove the knock-up~

Jayce fired a cannon shot, and Draven simultaneously sent his ultimate flying axes slashing over.

It instantly blew Zeri up in mid-air!

Neeko slammed down her Q and E abilities at point-blank range to clean up the battlefield, and Draven entered the fray, killing one with every strike!

In the blink of an eye, blood splattered everywhere.

T1 was wiped out!

"In that case... the mid lane high ground is definitely going to..." The roar of the caster's hoarse vocal cords carried a mournful tone, but it suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

Because he seemed to have suddenly realized something.

At the same time, the two people sitting next to him also jolted, seemingly having suddenly realized something as they both looked at the time.

The tier-two turret was destroyed, and the Rift Herald was dropped.

It rammed into the mid lane high ground, taking off more than half its health, then rammed into the barracks.

The entire V5 team truly did not retreat at all; they kept pushing forward, charging toward the two exposed nexus turrets.

"Could it be? Could it really be!?"

"V5 seems to really want to end it in one wave!!"

"There are still over twenty seconds left! It really seems like there's a chance!!!"

With three AD heroes in Jayce, Zhao Xin, and Draven, their tower-taking speed was top-tier, and they had the Rift Herald assisting their continued charge.

The Herald rammed through one nexus turret.

It continued to ram into the second one.

When the exposed nexus appeared, the fastest respawning T1 member still had 7 seconds left, and everyone in front of their screens wore an indescribable expression.

16 minutes and 43 seconds.

The T1 nexus was blasted into pieces by the five of them, while the remaining sliver-of-health Rift Herald danced a happy dance on the spot.

(End of chapter)