Chapter 33: The Strongest King — Achieved! (Please Follow, Please Vote)

With no one able to withstand the damage from the Gromp barrel, Jiang Ming, wielding the barrel, became the esports reaper of this match, bringing death to every lane he touched.

Killing enemies, pushing towers, and plundering jungle resources; the purple team's economy surged from a few thousand to nearly ten thousand in just a few minutes.

By mid-game, Smile and the others tried to rely on team coordination to defend the second tower and high ground, but the Gromp remained silent, doing nothing but hurling nuclear bombs.

Throwing the Q skill into the crowd, the purple team died upon impact and were injured by mere grazes.

He used his skills as if they were free, aiming only to cripple them; once their status dropped, when the blue team pushed again, Smile and the others had no choice but to retreat, as low-health players could not safely stay under the turrets against full-health foes.

Just as they finally grouped up as five, hoping to counterattack, the second ultimate of Gragas, now refreshed, blasted Thresh, Lee Sin, and the others back with another barrel.

Lacking strong initiators, they could only watch helplessly as the blue team departed.

Watching the purple team crumble like a landslide in the livestream, unable even to organize a single effective resistance, the fans in the YY90001 broadcast channel fell completely silent.

The louder they shouted before the match, the harder their faces were slapped now.

They never expected that their own four WE players, plus a powerful top laner, would be beaten by the opponent without a single chance to fight back.

In the end, if the blue team's Vayne hadn't been too aggressive, failing to retreat in time and getting hooked by Curl's Thresh, the purple team might not have scored a single kill in the mid-to-late game.

Jiang Ming's overwhelming personal skill in the mid lane, combined with his ahead-of-the-curve understanding of the game version, meant the dragon-and-tiger struggle the audience had anticipated never materialized; exaggerating slightly, it simply became a solo showcase for the mid laner.

It was the ultimate personal performance, stepping on the corpses of WE's quartet and trampling the heads of professional players.

Victory!

Accompanied by the thunderous collapse of the purple team's crystal.

The English word representing victory stretched across the center of the screen.

Tenth placement match — Victory!

Thus, achieving a record of nine wins and one loss, Jiang Ming stared intently at his personal backend.

He saw the rank badge for Diamond 1 with one hundred victory points suddenly crackle, transforming into a cloud of light mist.

Immediately, the light mist slowly coalesced, and blue-gold wings unfolded left and right, enveloping a diamond-shaped crystal.

【Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!】

【Here it comes, here it comes, JM's Highest King badge.】

【I ask you all: who else is there? Who else!】

【Where are the WE fans? Speak up, come out and speak.】

The fans in Jiang Ming's livestream were wildly excited, feeling a sense of shared glory.

A battle for the National Server's Highest King?

A contest between a random player king and professional players?

Back and forth, unable to determine superiority within forty minutes?

Sorry, including queue wait time, the entire match lasted only half an hour, and from start to finish, it didn't even give JM a shred of pressure.

Professional players aren't necessarily stronger than us random experts.

JM just hasn't joined the professional scene yet.

Jiang Ming smiled brilliantly.

Admiring his updated personal profile page.

Region One, National Server's Highest King — Goal Achieved!

"Congratulations, player YY-JM has advanced to the Highest King rank!"

"Congratulations, player YY-JM has advanced to the Highest King rank!"

"Congratulations, player YY-JM has advanced to the Highest King rank!"

The blue-gold Highest King badge took shape; at the same time, countless LOL players logged into the Region One client all received such a notification.

【Whoa, what the heck, someone already reached Highest King?】

【Damn it, it's been less than a day since the rank update, I haven't even finished my placement matches, and someone already reached King!】

【Is this the world of the strong? I just wanted to reach Gold for the skin...】

【Brothers, go watch quickly; JM is livestreaming on YY, and he reached Highest King while stepping on a world champion.】

The YY platform instantly followed the trend; the celebration effects prepared in advance for the livestream, the notification banners across the entire platform, and the promotional advertisements outside the venue were all released at nearly the same moment.

The first Highest King on the entire platform!

At the same time, due to Ming Kai's defeat, the victory points of competing opponents were deducted.

This meant that at this moment, Jiang Ming was still number one on the National Server!

A perfect performance as the mid-lane Gromp, a godlike slaughter match, overpowering members of a world champion team.

Combining mechanics and awareness, stepping on the corpses of professional players to enter the "Emperor Realm"; one could say all stackable buffs were fully stacked.

For a moment, the livestream was flooded with gifts sent by the platform staff and the audience.

【Awesome, my Brother Ming!】

【Number one Highest King on the National Server; although only temporary, we still managed to be awesome once.】

【Let's see if that group of fans still brings up professional players versus randoms; my JM advanced by stepping on their heads.】

【Were the opponents really professional players? They felt just average; watching JM's livestream from the first-person perspective, there was zero pressure, pure domination.】

【One step fast, every step fast; last season JM was a constant presence in the top ranks of the ladder; the current version feels quite suitable for JM; securing the number one spot isn't impossible.】

【Please upload the replay, brothers; I just got off work, boo hoo, I missed the promotion battle.】

On the other side, Jiang Ming, having exited the match, received friend requests from Tabe and several others in a row.

After approving them one by one, Jiang Ming finally turned his gaze to the livestream comments.

He thanked the viewers who sent gifts: "Thank you all, thank you, brothers in the livestream, for your support."

"Hehe, lucky me. I got a few teammates with solid skills, and the jungler is even a member of my own team."

"Crushing pro players? Haha, I can't say that. I'm not a god... Mainly, after the changes to the S3 season meta, the pace is extremely fast. Once the mid-jungle duo gains an advantage, it's easy to create such a crushing match."

"So, in the new version, these two positions, mid and jungle, are extremely important. They can basically be called the top priority for ranking up. What are you still waiting for?"

After expressing his gratitude, Jiang Ming immediately proceeded to select and answer some questions from the live chat.

If left unchecked, it's easy to get dragged into controversy. With the team about to enter the LPL soon, too much controversy could make them a target for focused attacks.

However, regarding Jiang Ming's explanation, the viewers in the live room chose to accept it selectively.

Meta reasons? Or just luck?

Are you kidding? If I was so lucky, why don't I see anyone else crushing the mid-jungle of pro teams?

It's just modesty, that's all.

Some fans started paying attention to the "teammate" Jiang Ming mentioned.

【Oh ho, teammate. Is the jungler someone from the pro team you set up before, JM?】

【You actually got it done. Is JM planning to go pro?】

【Feels pointless. Going pro and all that is just a bunch of internet-addicted teenagers indulging themselves. Better to just stick to streaming and making money.】

"Yes, the team has been formed for a while, and our NXG has already secured a spot in the LPL pre-season tournament."

Jiang Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, giving the impression of having accidentally let something slip.

Since the previous game had consumed a lot of his energy, he wasn't in a hurry to queue up again and simply started chatting with the audience.