Chapter 257. The Final Interview (1)
The casters looked visibly shocked.
[LazySoldier! Double Kill!]
Almond didn't just survive an ambush at Level 1, he faced the opponents head-on and completely destroyed them.
"How did he kill both of them!?"
"And he survived!?"
"Has anyone ever been this good at Level 1 fights?"
At Level 1, every champion only had two skills: their unique passive and the skill learned at Level 1. They had less room for tactics and most outcomes depended purely on physical skill.
"This proves that Almond's VNS stats weren't exaggerated at all! Level 1 is a test of pure physical skills!"
"A Level 1 fight against Almond was a mistake! But it was a good strategy from High Protein!"
"What's the point of good strategies if Almond plays at this level!? Who could have predicted this!?"
— This is insane.
— Is this Almond? Really Almond? Really?
— And Raina! Raina! Raina!
— So this is the skill of the one who stole Raina's lips... impressive.
None of the previous four games had started this one-sidedly.
"Can High Protein recover from this?"
"Um... I don't know."
High Protein hadn't necessarily been destroyed yet, but it was close.
— Nooooo, they can't do this in the last round of the final!
— High Protein....please...
— They're fucked, LOL.
Many people in the chat worried about High Protein, and others worried that the final game would end quickly.
It was an interesting reaction compared to the beginning of the finals when almost 80% of the viewers bet that High Protein would win.
— Hey, whoever is only cheering for High Protein, you better wake up now!
— High Protein is done for!
— This is it! This is what true betting is about!
On the other hand, those who had bet on Balloon Stars were ecstatic. The atmosphere in the chat was completely different for people who voted for High Protein.
"OrangeKing! High Protein's situation is really bad right now! Is there anything they can do!?"
"Hmmm, I would say it's at least better that Balloon Stars has Raina in the mid lane because she isn't originally a core mid-laner."
OrangeKing tried to find some hope for High Protein, but...
— Yeah, try your best to look for non-existent hope for High Protein, LOL!
— If Almond's Raina gets two early kills, it's basically the start of a nightmare.
— I bet OrangeKing already knows that. We already know how the game will flow just by looking at Almond right now.
The chat’s reaction was lukewarm, and the live audience felt the same.
— Woah!
— Woah! Woah! Balloon! Balloon!
— Al! Mond! Al! Mond!
Balloon Stars' audience enthusiastically cheered while the atmosphere was icy cold on High Protein's side.
OrangeKing started talking again to mitigate the situation, "It's not over yet! A big mistake happened in the mid lane, but the other lanes are still unaffected!"
"Right, two kills alone don't make a game. It's all about snowballing!"
"High Protein still has hope in the top lane!"
OrangeKing emphasized High Protein's top lane for a simple reason.
"Only their mid laner and supporter died. The top lane is still good!"
First, the top lane was unaffected since Almond only killed the mid laner and supporter.
"Plus, High Protein has Valkyrie, the strongest champion of them all!"
Secondly, High Protein's top laner was Valkyrie. Valkyrie was the champion banned for every match because of its OP skills. If this champion did well, there could still be hope for High Protein.
The audience accepted OrangeKing's explanation and started hoping for High Protein.
— Okay, that's true.
— So it's that annoying top guy.
— If it's Valkyrie, who knows?
— OrangeKing definitely has a degree in Bachelor of Optimism...
The casters also agreed with OrangeKing.
"Yes! Valkyrie! If she does well, High Protein has room for a comeback!"
"High Protein! Just keep looking for an opportunity. Let's turn the game around!"
OrangeKing's hope seemed to reach the High Protein fans.
High Protein managed quite well against Balloon Stars as the game went on. No incidents occurred in the mid lane for about ten minutes.
[Enemy Eliminated!]
[SweetPotato → Bubblegum]
They even scored a kill in the top lane.
"Wow! A kill in the top lane!"
"Oh? That's good? You never know how it will end now!"
"Both teams are almost fifty-fifty right now."
High Protein almost caught up to balance the game again.
— They ended up killing Gum
— There's nothing that can be done about that.
— It was a fatal gank.
— That's why it's cheating? They just walked to the turret.
If High Protein prolonged this, they could make up for their early mistakes.
"In this game, you have to roll with your advantage and continue killing with those benefits. If Balloon Stars can't do that, it's all over!"
"Exactly. The early double-kill in the mid lane could fizzle out!"
"Almond has to do something now."
In such situations, the player who got the kills usually had to do something. Many cases existed where a player who got many kills still got criticized.
What did you do with all those kills? They often got attacked with such logic, which wasn't entirely wrong.
If a player accumulated kills and grew stronger, the burden on their shoulders also increased. That was one of the game's characteristics. One had to bear the weight of the crown to carry the game.
"Can Almond do something!? Raina has grown quite powerful at Level 4!"
Now, it was Almond's turn. He already achieved two kills earlier. This was his chance to capitalize on that growth.
"Getting another solo kill could be difficult."
"Why?"
"Storm Ninja has a smoke bomb. When he releases chakra, he becomes incredibly fast. He usually doesn't die that easily."
OrangeKing agreed with the analyst, "Exactly! That isn't how that champion really works, but he won't die easily if he just focuses on not dying!"
Assassins usually had good mobility and normally used it for assassinating. However, they could also use it to simply evade and survive. This made them difficult to kill.
"Perhaps it would be better for Almond to impact other lanes instead..."
Players usually interfered with other lanes, but it wasn’t easy for Raina who had no crowd control.
Suddenly!
"Takoyaki just entered the mid lane!?"
Swoosh!
Takoyaki appeared from a bush on the right in the mid lane. He forcefully broke through into the mid lane.
[Wood Spirit - Woodrel]
[Takoyaki]
[Level 3]
"Ah! We didn’t go over this blind pick, but Takoyaki's pick was really obvious!"
"Exactly! This pick is clearly aimed at supporting Almond!"
The Wood Spirit Woodrel was a champion with a strange supporter-jungler role. Rather than having combat abilities himself, he granted special effects to allies.
It was clear who he would be helping this time.
"Almond is also charging!"
It was Almond.
"SweetRadish! He needs to quickly react! Run away!"
[Chakra Release]
Boom!
SweetRadish immediately realized he was being ganked and sprinted away at a speed Raina couldn't catch up to.
But then—
[Spirit's Blessing]
[Will send a spirit to the target, granting them a shield. The target's movement speed will increase, and their attacks do extra damage. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 8.4 seconds]
Whoosh!
A green light enveloped Almond.
Zoom!
He started running at an incredible speed. In that moment, Almond was much faster than Storm Ninja.
"Almond caught up with Storm Ninja in an instant!"
Swoosh!
Almond drew his bow while quickly running.
"What? Drawing a bow while running?!"
A blue arrow flew as he released the bowstring.
Swoosh!
It hit the target behind Storm Ninja's head.
Thud!
"Direct hit!"
"He shot so perfectly as if he was standing still!"
That wasn't all.
Crack!
The additional damage bestowed by the Spirit's Blessing automatically kicked in.
From then on, Almond continued to run and shoot arrows.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The arrows he shot while running all struck their targets.
[6 Hit Combo!]
"A six-hit combo while moving!"
[SweetRadish]
[HP: 11%]
SweetRadish's health had noticeably decreased.
"SweetRadish is going to die!"
SweetRadish barely made it to his team's turret range, but neither Takoyaki nor Almond cared.
Whoosh!
Once again, Almond ignored the turret shots and kept running forward with the Spirit's Blessing.
"Almond! He’s taking the turret shots and diving in!"
"It's possible because of the shield!"
As the turret struck Almond, he drew his bow again.
Bang!
[Smoke Bomb]
Storm Ninja's smoke bomb exploded.
Almond's continuous shots stopped. His vision was obscured and there was no trace of the ninja.
"Nice! The timing is perfect!"
"It's too risky for Almond now!"
The situation became extremely difficult for Almond, who had been taking the turret shots and pushing forward.
'My health…'
[LazySoldier]
[HP: 53%]
After just two turret shots, his health had decreased substantially. Two more hits and he would die.
'I can't miss.'
Almond drew his bow.
Swoosh!
"What? He's shooting there!?"
He focused all his concentration and recalled his experience playing as Storm Ninja.
'I can see the footsteps.'
Even within the smoke, Storm Ninja's footsteps could be seen.
Almond possessed keen senses and always found this as a minor annoyance, but never voiced it out loud when he played Storm Ninja. He planned to take advantage of this.
“Hmph.”
His breathing stopped, and time seemed to slow.
Tap.
He spotted an indentation on the ground. It looked quite blurry and tiny, but was still visible.
'Got him.'
He relaxed his right hand as if he never held a bowstring.
Swoosh!
The blue arrow flew.
There was no need to shoot anymore. Just one more hit and the opponent would die. The arrow didn't even need to hit the target.
Almond turned and walked away without even confirming that the arrow landed.
Behind him, blue flames burst in the distance.
[LazySoldier → SweetRadish]
Whoosh!
The arrow struck in the middle of the target and set the enemy on fire.
"Wow! Wow! Did he kill SweetRadish!?"
— A smoke kill, wow!
— How did he hit that?
— Insane...
— This guy is nuts! Take care of Raina! This guy is nuts! Take care of Raina! This guy is nuts! Take care of Raina!
"Will Almond survive though!?"
[LazySoldier]
[HP: 21%]
He escaped the turret’s range with just 21% of his health left.
"Almond survived!"
"Wow! A turret dive kill! The game is over now!"
A turret dive kill referred to fighting near a turret and achieving a kill there. Dying there caused a huge loss in minion experience and gold, making it the worst kind of death.
— Wow... he even survived.
— SweetRadish died from a turret dive kill. This is terrible.
— What the heck are you doing, SweetRadish!?
— He died in the smoke, lol.
***
Afterward, High Protein's mid turret was destroyed.
[The turret has been destroyed!]
"Their mentality has crumbled!" OrangeKing exclaimed with a sorrowful voice.
— Crumbled mentality, lol
— OrangeKing lol.
— He's insane, lmao.
"Oh, no! The mid turret is the first to go! It's the most important turret!"
"Exactly! But Almond is still attacking, right?!"
"High Protein is pushed back until the second turret?!"
Almond wasn’t satisfied with just taking down the first turret. He pushed forward to the second one.
"If the second turret falls, there will only be one left in front of their base! This can't happen! They’re only level four right now?!"
Giving up a second turret at this point was absurd.
SweetRadish arrived to stop this from happening.
"But right now, SweetRadish can't do anything! The power gap is too big!"
SweetRadish couldn’t challenge Almond due to a severe gap in items and levels after already dying twice. If he stepped forward recklessly, he would just give away another kill to Almond.
"Then everyone needs to come and stop this!"
Ultimately, SweetRadish needed help from his other teammates. The jungler would normally suffice, but...
"SweetRadish can't do anything alone! They need at least three members! That's what Almond is saying!"
Even a jungler would be insufficient to compete with Almond.
"Everyone is coming! They have to stop Almond at all costs! High Protein just needs to bite the bullet right now!"
OrangeKing had a reason for saying High Protein needed to bite the bullet.
"No one else from Balloon Stars is joining the mid lane except for Tako! They’re just farming the top and bottom lanes!"
While five players from High Protein mobilized to defend the second turret, the other Balloon Star members comfortably farmed and took turrets in the top and bottom lanes.
"Almond and Tako alone are enough to face the five of them! This is a very good situation! Balloon Stars will be quite pleased if this happens!"
"From High Protein's perspective, it's a losing business even if they kill both of them!"
"Ah, that's why High Protein has to bite the bullet!"
"Exactly!"
Even if High Protein defeated Almond and Tako, they would be at a loss. However, they couldn't afford to not fight them. Otherwise, they would suffer even more losses.
"Almond is saying: Would you rather get hit once or three times?! If you stop me, you get hit once! If you can't, you get hit three times!"
— Wow, it reminds me of my childhood days.
— Is there no option to bribe them?
— No choice but to get hit, lol
— Is OrangeKing actually Almond? How does he know what Almond is saying?
"Is there no option other than getting hit?!"
"There's none! It's either once or three times! If you catch Almond and Tako, you get hit once! If you can't catch them, it's three times!"
"What if they all die instead of catching those two?"
"Then you get hit fifteen times!"
"Why did it suddenly increase so much?"
— Fifteen times lol.
— This is bully math.
— What kind of calculation is that? Lol.
— LMAO!
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