Chapter 391: Draining Divine Power

"G~g~!"

Even though he was reluctant in his heart, as the host commentator, the Roaring Emperor still had to follow tradition and offer congratulations to V5 as his home team's base exploded.

"Sigh, V5 is really too sportsmanlike!"

The P-junior shook his head with a hint of regret: "To think they could hold back from fountain-farming in that last wave; they let the Aatrox and Sylas go. Otherwise, I feel like they might have even snagged another pentakill in that final push!"

Nuguri didn't look like he could be happy either.

Both teams had their own friends, but naturally, he still hoped more for HLE to win, as they were, after all, the team from his own region.

Come to think of it, if they had actually been fountain-farmed for a double pentakill, and on their own home turf at that, he didn't even dare to imagine how terrifying the public opinion would be!

Although, given the level of suppression in this match, the post-match public opinion was likely already terrifying enough.

The Roaring Emperor looked dejected and shook his head repeatedly: "HLE is now trailing zero to two and stands on the edge of a cliff. This team, possessing last year's runner-up mid-laner and top-laner along with a championship jungler, is only one step away from saying goodbye to their World Championship journey!"

"Please, HLE, this match is crucial. You must find your form quickly; at the very least, don't let V5 enter the semifinals so easily!"

After the quarterfinal draw ceremony concluded, a certain sentiment spread across all regions.

The bottom half of the bracket was "LPL's Siege of T1," and the top half was "LCK's Stop V5"—the LCK had to obstruct this team from achieving the unprecedented "Golden Road" grand slam for the year!

And since Samsung had already entered the final four, even if no one truly expected HLE to beat V5 today, they certainly hoped they could help Samsung by at least accomplishing something and biting off a piece of flesh.

But who could have imagined?

In today's quarterfinal, HLE couldn't even feel a glimmer of hope for two consecutive games!

The HLE players on stage, amidst the screams ignited by the pentakill, were completely unable to hear the voices from the commentary booth on the high platform.

But even if they could hear, the five of them were in no mood to think about it.

When Canyon left his seat, he mechanically poured cola into his mouth with vacant eyes, his round face reflecting the meaningful turmoil within—what on earth did I come to HLE for this year!?

Is this right!

He had originally suffered a mental breakdown after losing to the Four-Yang EDG in the quarterfinals while at DK last year, believing that DK could no longer help him reach the next level, which was why he wanted to change teams.

HLE had lured him with the promise of the second-most heroic mid and top laners from DRX; even if the bot lane configuration was slightly weaker, it should have been enough to dominate the world in a meta where the bot lane was clearly not very important.

He hadn't expected that his two rookies in the bot lane wouldn't have any issues, but instead, the top and mid duo had become the biggest weak points!

Now it looked like he was about to stop at the quarterfinals again!

By comparison, Canyon was still doing okay.

The two rookies who had transferred from the long-sunken giant ship KT to HLE, a team gathered with top-mid-jungle stars, had thought they could just coast, but at this moment, their expressions already carried a hint of confusion.

As for the mid and top duo, they could only be described as soul-crushed.

Kingen's Aatrox and Zeka's Sylas—these two had been their most confident champions from last year all the way to this year.

Yet they were brutally beaten by the opponent in turn!

Especially Kingen.

When he personally laning against Ye Bo in this match, the shock in his heart was simply indescribable!

And now, reflecting carefully after the match.

He could naturally discover what Nuguri had seen from the commentary booth during the game—the opponent's Aatrox was absolutely not right!

Kingen silently glanced at the back of Zeka, who was walking half a step ahead; the slight rift he had felt deep in his heart regarding the other's performance in last year's finals was now completely gone.

Brother, it really isn't your fault!

HLE's head coach Jin Jingzhu met them outside the lounge. Seeing the players' mental imbalance, he didn't offer much consolation, just stood before the backstage door with his arms crossed, watching the group walking toward him with dejected faces.

The Fushan venue was not large, and the player backstage area was very crowded.

The corridors after the match were now surging with people, stretching as far as the eye could see.

But this didn't prevent Jin Jingzhu from hearing the Chinese shouting coming from the V5 entrance not far away.

Having worked in the LPL for many years, although his Chinese wasn't very good, he could still understand a fair amount.

"Holy crap, that's awesome! Master Ye, you are simply godlike! I almost threw my chair away in the back watching that pentakill! Too awesome!"

"Chuan-ge, that's my line! That's my line!"

"But seriously, why don't we let Chuanzi go up and play a round next time? I feel like he could do it too!"

When Jin Jingzhu heard the last sentence, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope in his eyes, and perhaps a hint of "envy."

However, after closing the door and entering his own backstage area, and looking at the HLE group before him.

A hard-to-capture look flashed deep in Jin Jingzhu's eyes—he believed that HLE's mid and top had completely failed his trust in these two games and hadn't produced the results they should have at all!

Simply put, he felt it was all "the players' fault"—if I had gone to V5, could I really not be better than that 'nobody'?

And if one were to really talk about it.

Jin Jingzhu's coaching career, apart from that one highlight in '18, could be said to be "full of stains" for all the rest of the time!

Went to DWG in '19, was kicked in early '20, and then DWG won the championship in '20.

Went to T1 in '20, caused the infamous "Power Struggle Incident," pushed Faker to the bench under the high-sounding excuse that "the overall atmosphere of the team is better when he is not there," and nearly forced Faker out of T1!

Later, when he brought Faker back up, he still had to boast to the media: "It was all because I scolded him severely; Faker gained new motivation through what I said and also learned his own positioning."

In '21, Jin Jingzhu was kicked again, slunk back to the LPL to join the foolish and wealthy BLG, only for the team to finish ninth in the playoffs and be eliminated in the first round!

The funniest part was last year, '22; he joined DRX in January and was kicked at lightning speed in mid-June, not even lasting a full season!

And then DRX became last year's runner-up.

If this career resume were compared to a player's career, it would be absolutely comparable to a 0-15 record in international play without a single win, being eliminated in the round of 16 after being swept by Europe and America in the group stage, and the first seed becoming a captive of the wildcards.

So why did Hanwha still want him as a coach this year?

That, of course, could only be because of the golden signboard of "18 IG Head Coach"!

Clearly, even the Hanwha top brass themselves thought they were very similar to that IG team, which is why they wanted him to replicate that team's successful experience.

Jin Jingzhu also regarded this coaching opportunity as a great chance to wash away his shame.

But perhaps neither the Hanwha top brass nor Jin Jingzhu himself realized one thing.

Is there a possibility—that some teams are strong, and it actually has nothing to do with the coach?

Of course, it was also because V5 was only established this year.

Otherwise, V5, whose coach is named 'nobody', would actually already be the best example.

Turning off the TV that was playing the post-match highlights, Jin Jingzhu began to share his thoughts.

"The MVP for this match still goes to Ye's Viego; his performance in this game was truly impeccable and perfect!" The Roaring Emperor on the commentary desk had already adjusted his state and looked at the post-match replay with a smile.

From the handling of the early laning phase to the laning suppression after switching to the top lane, and then to the shocking counter-kill with the Riven's Broken Wings mid-air rotation in a 1v2.

The director's highlight shot froze, capturing the moment the Viego turned back for an R-flash and the Aatrox flashed for a Q2.

Two flashes of golden light emerged, and the scene of the Viego flashing to dodge the sword edge and pulling his sword while turning his back once again drew cheers from the entire arena!

[He really is a monster. Other people become superstitious after winning a championship once, and their strength immediately declines after winning, eventually becoming mediocre... How is it that Ye only gets fiercer year after year?]

[Don't stir up trouble; it's just that the sun has set, and Master Ye forgot that he is actually already a champion!]