Chapter 45: Mid-Air Delay! Male Version of Widowmaker! His Akshan

"He swung back again! What a bizarre angle!"

"Ye's use of Akshan's E skill is clearly quite proficient; he must have put in a lot of work behind the scenes. It looks like this is a secret weapon from EDG!"

"This double kill in the bottom lane, with Aphelios and Lulu still able to get turret plating, has directly rewritten the situation in the bottom lane!"

"The impact of this is clearly more far-reaching than ganking a Vladimir with Teleport in the top lane!"

The tense commentary desk let out a sharp cry the moment the kill happened.

To anyone watching, this didn't look like a killable situation at all.

Yet Ye Bo used two tricky Heroic Swing angles, forcing the kill by supplementing damage with two rounds of back-and-forth spray-crossbow bolts!

"Damn, Bo! Nice!" Meiko even blurted out some national essence: "This champion of yours is a bit slick!"

"The enemy AD must be stunned; even I'm stunned, haha," Viper laughed, speaking in standard Chinese.

Akshan's E skill is extremely difficult to cast; even those who don't play him can see that.

It could be said that every wall in Summoner's Rift has a dedicated spot for Akshan, and each spot even affects the angle and distance of the displacement due to the "length of the rope."

This is the second point where Akshan is affected by proficiency.

Just feeling all this, Ye Bo wondered how many days and nights of training the "old" Bo, who didn't have the "Trial Grounds" available, had to go through to reach this level.

But from another perspective, this could also be considered exploding "his own" gold coins.

Seems like there's nothing wrong with that!

"Nice, nice, nice!" Jie Jie in the top lane shouted with full emotional value.

"A pity, my bad this time. Didn't expect Li Guangwei, that guy, to come for a hard gank so early..." Saint Gun Brother said with some self-reproach, lamenting his old teammate's ungentlemanly ambush.

"Nothing to be done, it's not your fault. The enemy has a champion counter, too," Ye Bo said, comforting him: "But it doesn't matter, our mid-jungle also has a champion counter against theirs!"

"Leave this game to me and Jie Jie!"

Even if Anivia top counters Vladimir, the champion's mechanics dictate that it is a scaling champion; it lacks mana in the early game, and while it can pressure people, it is very difficult to secure kills.

So this kill was mostly just to give Anivia a bit of a laning advantage.

But the kill in the bottom lane was clearly different.

After returning to the lane, Aphelios and Lulu were already in the upper hand. Now, as long as the two of them didn't make positioning mistakes and get hit by a hook, the initiative in the lane had already reversed.

What was even more important was the mid lane.

A 4-0 Akshan at four minutes—this combat power was absolutely terrifying!

Even if Jarvan IV wanted to help mid now, he would have to weigh the possibility of being counter-killed; in terms of a 2v2 mid-jungle, there was absolutely no chance of winning!

Angel was under immense pressure, feeling terrified even while clearing a wave.

Akshan's W mechanism, which allows for continuous {Camouflage} invisibility when hugging a wall, meant that even if both side bushes had Control Wards, one had to be careful about whether Akshan would sneak over from the lane to get close.

This resulted in Twisted Fate not even daring to draw a red card to clear the wave—because he had to save his W to quickly draw a gold card, in preparation for holding it to escape if suddenly approached.

But this was equivalent to Twisted Fate only being able to rely on auto-attacks and Q to clear the wave!

How fast could that possibly be?

Furthermore, Twisted Fate, who was playing mind games with the air in the mid lane at this moment.

Did not yet know where two prowling figures were rushing.

"Akshan bought Boots of Swiftness directly and is moving up the lane with W on... but he turned into the river! What is this guy doing!"

Xi Ka watched Akshan's movement; he had clearly reached the lane, but he had no intention of staying, instead diving straight into the bottom river.

Trundle, who had left base early, followed closely behind; the two had clear intentions.

"How do they seem to know where Jarvan IV is?" Sun Yalong, who was half-cloud, was just about to ask, but remembered when he saw the mark in Jarvan IV's status bar.

"Oh right, the Scoundrel can track by smelling foot odor! Jarvan IV's mark hasn't disappeared yet!"

"Wow! Sofm is a cloud player; he doesn't seem to have any precautions!"

Akshan's W skill, [Going Rogue], marks enemies who kill allied champions within range as a "Scoundrel" for 60 seconds.

And everyone's impression of this skill is basically that it can "revive" the allies killed by this Scoundrel.

But in fact, this skill can also be used for tracking and locating enemies!

When Akshan reached the mid lane, his tracking range had already covered almost both jungles, and he immediately tracked Jarvan IV's position through the yellow trail revealed on the ground.

Of course, Sofm wasn't unaware of this mechanism.

Under normal circumstances, if Akshan was missing for a long time and he had a mark on him, he would definitely have precautions.

But, because Akshan's economy was too explosive—so wealthy that he bought a pair of [Boots of Swiftness] immediately upon returning to base—plus the fact that W grants an additional 80 movement speed when moving toward a Scoundrel after activation.

This made Akshan's speed somewhat ridiculous!

Clearly, the opponent had only just returned to base after killing their bottom lane, so they obviously wouldn't think he could come to the jungle to hunt him down so quickly.

"He's here! Jie Jie, it's up to you!"

Akshan smelled Jarvan IV at the Wolves camp and, together with Trundle, directly took the Blast Cone to vault over the wall.

Jarvan IV, who was about to finish the Wolves, was instantly startled!

Fortunately, Sofm had initially used EQ over the wall to start the Wolves, so his EQ had already refreshed, and he immediately and decisively abandoned the Wolves and poked EQ toward the mid lane.

But an ice pillar stood up—with a "clang," it knocked Jarvan IV out of the air!

He hit it head-on and was left bruised and battered!

Jarvan IV's EQ combo can be interrupted by crowd control skills like "Thresh's flay" while in flight, but it extremely tests the user's reaction, and the success rate is not high.

Because if the timing is too early, you'll miss, and if the timing is too late, you might be controlled along with the opponent upon landing; you must time the middle of the EQ perfectly.

But Trundle is different.

Trundle hardly needs any reaction; he only needs to use E as a follow-up. Seeing Jarvan IV use EQ, he just places the pillar directly on the path.

It naturally allows him to be blocked head-on!

Akshan used the ice pillar, locked onto the target with an auto-attack, and then swung a semicircle with his short E to deal full damage!

"Damn, what ridiculous damage! Can this Akshan still have this much damage after buying Boots of Swiftness!" Xi Ka shouted in shock.

"Akshan's E deals this much damage when fully hit! If a skill that's so hard to hit fully didn't have this damage, who would play it~" Sun Yalong started acting like a know-it-all again.

"This one is for avenging Saint Gun Brother; you have an ice wall, I have an ice pillar!"

"So you're the only one who can block, huh!"

Twisted Fate originally wanted to come and support, but when he switched screens and saw Jarvan IV intercepted, he knew there was no saving him, so he quickly took the opportunity to push a wave of minions.

But this was also foreshadowing for the mid lane matchup.

It was precisely because the mid lane had been worried about Akshan ambushing him that the minion wave could never be pushed, which gave Akshan the chance to seize such an opportunity.

In the final moments, Akshan killed Jarvan IV and collected the extra 100 gold rewarded by the "Scoundrel"!

At the same time, he also pocketed the Red Buff that hadn't disappeared yet!

"It's over, it's over. Angela really can't play anymore; I feel like this is the last wave he'll be able to push~" Xi Ka patted his belly excitedly and boasted: "Akshan is fat enough to pierce the sky!"

"Hey! What is he doing again!"

"Damn!?"

Akshan had no intention of leaving the jungle.

Because Ye Bo saw Twisted Fate, who had taken the opportunity to step out of the turret to get some fresh air and push the wave.

He immediately took a side turn to behind the turret, slightly adjusted to measure the position, and then aimed his hook at the bottom of the first turret.

There was only this one angle.

The Rogue Sentinel soared again, passing through the only "gap" between the two mid-lane turrets.

With a perfect large-circle angle, he perfectly hugged the turret's firing arc and circled out of the turret—and miraculously only took one turret shot!

Before landing, he even fired four E-skill shots, plus a landing kick and an AQQA.

Instantly triggering two three-ring passives!

Angel was actually very steady; he had just retreated under the turret immediately after pushing the wave. No matter how you calculated it, it was impossible for the two of them to catch up from the jungle.

It's just that he didn't expect... this person could actually do this.

Flying out from behind him in broad daylight!

And most importantly, he only took one turret shot!

If he had taken a few more, with the deterrence of the early-game turret, Twisted Fate might even have had a chance to counter-kill.

Twisted Fate wanted to struggle and run back under the turret, but clearly, after taking the damage from the end of the E, Twisted Fate's health was not enough to survive in front of a 4-0 Akshan.

The sound of a double kill rang out.

Akshan's record had already reached 6-0.

This development and economy gathered on one person meant that the nature of this game had shifted!

[Damn, he's really not acting like a human, I like it!]

[Wait, no? Whose turret is this? How can you play like this!]

[I feel like this champion in my grandpa's hands is different from the Akshan I've seen. He feels so damn flexible, like a snake that's become a spirit!]

[Your grandpa is fine, I get it, Ye's fans are the Calabash Brothers, right?]

[Angel: "Brothers, there's a booster, I can't play this game."]

[Last game's Zoe record, the chat had people saying he stole the MVP, so what about 6-0 at five minutes this game? Haters! Speak!]

Things that happened within a short minute.

Made WBG's situation, which was still considered clear, have a sudden feeling of sudden death!

The advantageous bottom lane was reversed, and now the mid-jungle had both perished; the entire lower half of the map could be said to have completely fallen.

Truly bringing out the characteristics of Akshan as a champion!

At 5 minutes, with the mid-bottom advantage, EDG took the dragon in one go.

"This Akshan, how is he playing like Evelynn? He’s practically a male version of the Widowmaker!" Wang Duo expressed his thoughts.

"He disappears from the map completely after pushing the wave, and once he vanishes, he puts immense pressure on all four lanes for WBG!"

"If they can secure the Rift Herald and liberate the mid lane further, this Akshan's deterrent power will increase exponentially!"

Why did Ye Bo buy Boots of Mobility so early?

It wasn't actually because he wanted to go find the Jarvan IV.

It was simply because movement speed is uniquely important to Akshan.

Akshan's W camouflage requires him to stay close to walls at all times, and he cannot be away from a wall for more than 2 seconds.

Therefore, Akshan needs high movement speed to remain invisible while crossing the mid lane and the river.

And as long as he can maintain full camouflage, control wards cannot detect Akshan's movements!

They can only rely on control wards at key intersections for defense.

The problem is, one person can only place one control ward.

As the center of the map, leading to both jungles as well as the top and bottom lanes, how could the mid lane be defended by just five intersections?

You have to guess every single wave!

More importantly, even if they do manage to defend against him, Akshan, who only leaves after clearing the wave, just uses basic attacks to clear the ward, paying no price at all.

But for WBG, a single control ward costs 75 gold!

In the early game, it’s obviously impossible to keep several control wards on hand at all times, replacing one the moment it's cleared.

Otherwise, there would be no need to fight; just clearing wards would create an economic gap!

The biggest problem in this game is that Akshan took off too early, causing Twisted Fate to lose his laning eligibility and making it difficult for the jungler to gank; otherwise, they might have had a way to kite using the support capabilities of their ultimate.

The WBG members also know how terrifying a fully liberated Akshan will be if they lose the Rift Herald again.

At 7 minutes, Sofm had an idea: "Akshan's Flash is synced with yours, we have to force it out before the Herald fight so we have a chance."

"Right, but I don't know where the Trundle is. If the Trundle isn't there, I can Flash and lock him down!" Angel responded.

"The Trundle should still be top!" TheShy has really played out the significance of Anivia this game, using his laning advantage to tie up a lot of Jiejie's attention.

"Then let's move! Don't force the kill if the situation doesn't allow it, just hit the Flash!" Sofm had already rushed to the mid lane.

EDG has a Lulu; if Akshan has Flash during the 8-minute Herald fight, it's obviously going to be extremely difficult to kill him.

But if Akshan has no Flash, he lacks a displacement tool to get over walls.

Then, if Jarvan IV finds an opportunity, a Flash Cataclysm to lock him into the bowl, combined with the double AoE combo of Anivia and Miss Fortune, they might just be able to force the kill!

One play could turn the team fight around!

Although Sofm is selfish, his train of thought is truly clear.

Judging by the current disadvantage, this indeed seems to be the answer for them to win the 8-minute Herald fight.

Jarvan IV placed a control ward in the brush near the lane, confirmed there was no vision, then used his E-Q combo to go over the wall, bypassing the river vision to take his position and wait for his cooldowns to reset.

"Ready!"

Angel was already prepared.

Akshan was very steady, deliberately keeping a distance of 700 yards from Twisted Fate to ensure the opponent couldn't throw a Gold Card directly.

Ye Bo knew his advantage was already large enough; what was more important now was continuous suppression and deterrence, as well as ensuring he didn't die—there was no need to chase a solo kill.

However, just as this wave of minions was about to be cleared.

Twisted Fate feigned an attempt to step forward normally, as he usually did to collect the minion wave.

But as he activated his W to pick a card, he didn't immediately stop the cycle when it landed on the Red Card!

Ye Bo had been guarding against this; he caught this detail immediately, and a sensitive sense of alarm arose in his heart.

After a brief delay, Twisted Fate instantly switched and pulled a Gold Card.

He flashed forward simultaneously!

Jarvan IV had also walked out of the nearby brush!

The Gold Card had already locked onto the target, flying through the air.

It seemed Akshan couldn't save his Flash, otherwise, he would inevitably be followed up by Jarvan IV's E-Q combo for a full rotation; once face-to-face, his E skill would be interrupted upon impact, preventing him from taking off, and he would still have to burn his Flash then.

To anyone watching, that’s how it seemed.

Unfortunately, in reality, Akshan had one more "mechanic" that could counter Twisted Fate.

Ye Bo's "preparedness" was, of course, not just as simple as keeping his distance.

{Twisted Fate's W counts as a basic attack; its cast range and projectile speed are both equal to a basic attack}

{Twisted Fate's basic attack "projectile speed" is 1500 yards, the second-lowest tier in the League}

Almost at the same moment Twisted Fate flashed, Akshan fired his grappling hook toward the edge of the wall behind him!

The grappling hook pulled his body, and at a flight speed of 1500 yards, he swung in a wide arc toward the defensive tower behind him.

The yellow card chased him through the air... chasing, chasing!

It clearly felt like it was only an inch away from that figure—but it just couldn't land the hit!

"Vlìn! (Damn it!)" Sofm blurted out in his native Vietnamese in his haste.

Seeing the opponent about to swing into the tower, even if the Gold Card hit after he landed, the opponent wouldn't be able to Flash again.

Sofm was extremely decisive, directly flashing and using E-Q to interrupt and force a trade, determined to see his plan through!

Seeing this, Ye Bo also decisively flashed into the tower to dodge.

He landed inside the tower after the Flash.

The Gold Card, traveling at the same speed, immediately caught up and hit.

"The Rich Man is too hateful! He even flashed just to poke you!"

"No problem, if you mess with me, I have to mess with you. It's about the momentum! Just mess with him!"

"But the Herald fight is coming up, maybe there's foreshadowing! Ye Bo, just wait!"

De Yun Se didn't actually see Sofm's true intention; they only felt it was an impulsive act made by someone pushed to the edge after being counter-jungled repeatedly.

Time reached 8 minutes.

"WBG doesn't want to give up this Herald. Their team composition is actually very fierce at this point; they just have to kill Akshan!" Sun Yalong analyzed with a click of his tongue.

"It's very difficult. Akshan isn't stupid; at this time, he just needs to hide next to the AD and attack. With Lulu protecting him, how could he die..." Xika rolled his eyes.

"But it's hard to say. The bot lane gap isn't big, and WBG has a combo this time. Anivia is indeed very fierce in this terrain!"

Everyone knew this team fight was critical.

Once EDG could use this Herald to break the mid lane, WBG's two jungle areas would completely fall, and the gank pressure on both the top and bottom lanes would be infinitely magnified!

An Akshan who can freely move invisibly through the jungle cannot be defended against, even with ten control wards!

But the EDG members also knew this fight wasn't as easy to win as imagined; they needed to be very cautious.

It wasn't because Akshan didn't have Flash.

Even if Akshan still had Flash, given the opponent's team composition and their AoE output occupying the terrain advantage, his room to maneuver was relatively limited.

More importantly, Aphelios and Vladimir, the two main carries, were not strong at this point in the game!

EDG's composition was actually not weaker than their opponent's; it was just that their power spikes were different from the enemy's dual carries, so it was obviously different by the mid-game.

If not for Akshan having such an advantage, they shouldn't even have come to contest this Herald.

But if this Herald could be secured, it would very likely lock in the victory early!

A flash of inspiration struck Ye Bo's mind, and he thought of a move he hadn't used yet in this game.

"Brothers, no time to explain, I have an idea!"

"Later, do this and that... watch my position!"

"OK!"

Both sides stood off in front of the Rift Herald pit; Anivia occupied the favorable terrain, and WBG was looking for an opening to start the fight.

At this moment.

They suddenly saw that Akshan fire his grappling hook toward the edge of the dragon pit!

Subsequently.

Akshan swung in all by himself, in an extremely "bizarre" posture, charging forward to lead the assault!

"Holy crap, is he crazy?" TheShy shouted, but his hands were not slow at all: "I can block him!"

"He has no Flash!!" Sofm roared.

Anivia placed a precise Ice Wall, aiming to block the path behind the swinging Akshan.

Meanwhile, Nautilus and Jarvan IV acted in perfect sync; one flashed to use his Q, the other dove in with an E-Q-R combo!

They wanted to crowd-control and kill him before his teammates could provide support!

"!?"

"?????"

But in the next moment, everyone was filled with shock.

Because Akshan's figure, before landing, had actually performed a "Flash" displacement.

《E-mid-air delayed Hexflash!》

He used the E-swing to charge the [Hexflash] in mid-air; at the end of the charge, he could stop the cast at any time, causing his figure to displace via Flash!

Nautilus, Jarvan IV, Anivia, and Twisted Fate—all the hard crowd control on the opposing side had very obvious wind-up animations.

Ye Bo had sufficient reaction time.

In fact, there was no danger at all!

Just as the Ice Wall appeared, Akshan flashed behind it while in mid-air!

The Titan's giant anchor hooked onto their own ice wall.

And the Imperial Prince's E-Q-R combo, due to the forced-cast mechanism, selected the target and Cataclysm slammed onto the riverbed, splashing water everywhere.

Oh, wait!

This Cataclysm actually succeeded in trapping both the Imperial Prince and the Titan inside!

Originally, this was a "battle pit" prepared for their own Miss Fortune and Anivia, but now it had become a burial ground for these two!

"Hooked them!!!"

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Aphelios blasted an Infernum ultimate, the Vampire spread a Tides of Blood forward, and Akshan dealt damage from behind the ice wall without any pressure!

"Save me, save me!"

"Open the door, open the door!"

"Sell them! Stop saving them, damn it, sell them fast!"

WBG's shot-calling fell into chaos once again; initially, Anivia and Miss Fortune still wanted to support with their ultimate abilities.

Trundle seized the opportunity, bravely flashing forward to penetrate deep into the battlefield to place a pillar, pushing the long-range Anivia back while braving the hail of bullets, simultaneously interrupting both Miss Fortune and Anivia's ultimate abilities!

"I've kept them here!!!"

"Beautiful, Jie!"

Trundle died, but he had already played a key role.

The two in the pit had already been instantly focused down and killed.

Akshan refreshed his Heroic Swing, killed Anivia, and resurrected Trundle.

And the ice wall and ice pillar.

These two man-made structures from the Freljord had now become Akshan's best tools for the chase.

"What the hell! What kind of play is that!" Sun Yalong slapped the table and stood up.

"WBG wants to run, but where do you think you're going! Ye Bo is flying in the damn river!!!"

"Whoa~ whoa! How does this guy always have such flashy moves," Xika shook his head and chuckled: "What a sick swinging technique!"

"It's all over! How are Miss Fortune and Twisted Fate supposed to run? With this gear, Akshan is pinching Miss Fortune like a chick! Twisted Fate's gold card is just tickling him!"

Sun Yalong slammed his hand down, sealing the outcome: "WBG is finished!"

A seemingly risky but actually well-controlled fishing tactic caused WBG to lose their jungler and support first.

And the subsequent one-sided pursuit in the team fight declared a crushing 1-for-5 victory!

Akshan, constantly refreshing his E ability, staged a brilliant jungle adventure show in the river and jungle.

[Super 3D Maneuver Gear!!!]

[Holy crap! Shangguan Wan'er!]

[An Indian guy came to the EDG mid lane, his Akshan is flying in the sky!]

[The way this Akshan uses his E, it's so satisfying for someone with OCD to watch.]

[Who is flying on the zipline? Me!]

[No, is no one laughing at WBG's suffocating coordination? The Titan flashing to hook an ice wall—anyone who doesn't laugh at that is a god; are you all depressed?]

EDG's strategic objective was fully achieved.

After the five of them took the Rift Herald, they gathered their strength to push the mid tower, completely liberating Akshan.

And because WBG lost the jungle, their tempo collapsed; the mid-jungle duo already had no chance in a 2v2, and now it had become a restricted zone!

Through the mid-jungle's aggressive style, EDG truly turned Akshan into a "male version of Evelynn," with even more terrifying deterrence!

Playing steadily and pushing the tempo, they almost completely stifled the opponent's ability to breathe!

At 20 minutes, the gold difference between the two sides had been stretched to 8k.

At 22 minutes, EDG took the Baron and used their momentum to approach WBG's three base inhibitors.

Relying on their solid three carries, Aphelios could already take the baton from Akshan and shoulder the responsibility of dealing damage, and the Vampire also possessed considerable combat power.

Continuing to farm would only increase the advantage.

The damage output of the two sides was no longer on the same level!

At 26 minutes, EDG marched forward triumphantly and finally destroyed the enemy's main crystal accompanied by super minions in all three lanes!

The operation has been restored with a GIF in the chapter notes!

Sorry brothers, I was a bit slow, here is a 6.5k word chapter, please forgive me.

It's mainly because I promised yesterday to finish this match, so I got stuck, but I kept my promise and finished it!

Please keep reading!!!

Also, please give me some monthly tickets, brothers; it's the end of the month, they'll expire if you don't vote!

Thanks to the brothers for the monthly tickets!

Thanks to the brothers for the support!

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(End of chapter)