NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 447
– First Blood!
With Akali’s assault, Baek Seong-an’s screen was instantly drenched in gray.
It was a time when he absolutely could not die.
But at the worst possible moment, he got killed solo.
“……Sorry.”
[“It’s okay. I’ll take the lane.”]
[“No problem! I’ll carry it!”]
Still, the team members encouraged Baek Seong-an cheerfully as always.
For some reason, their encouragement felt extraordinarily bitter to him.
‘……I can’t die again.’
Nikon vs. Akali.
No matter how much of a Rainbow she was, giving a kill to Akali in this situation was already too deadly.
Especially knowing the destructive power Akali has when she gets a kill.
So, he had to be extra careful from now on.
[Akali – Level 8]
[Nikon – Level 7]
After getting solo killed, the level gap in mid increased.
Considering the item gap, it had become a life-threatening situation where just brushing against Akali’s ultimate could mean death.
‘But still, I have to wait for the next ultimate to come back.’
I cannot die.
That thought made Baek Seong-an’s hands clumsy, putting pressure on his skill shots.
Nikon was essentially a non-target champion, and no matter how advantageous the matchup, a missed skill shot would lead to a fatal mistake.
That’s exactly what was happening now.
“Ah.”
Feeling Akali’s threat, Nikon hurriedly cast his e-skill, but Akali effortlessly dodged it.
The e-skill was a crowd control ability, and for Nikon, one of the few survival skills he had.
There are many debates about skill shots.
Was it the thrower’s fault for missing, or the dodger’s skill for evading well?
In this case, it could be deemed both.
Baek Seong-an was anxious, while Rainbow remained calm.
As a result, Nikon was hit again by Akali’s q-auto-attack and e-combo.
It was dangerous.
Baek Seong-an’s head lit up with warning signals, and he quickly activated w, but Akali’s e-skill mark was already on him, making it pointless.
Just as Akali dashed towards Nikon again—
[“I’m here.”]
Along with a softly heard voice of rescue, Outlaw’s Jarvan III appeared from behind the lane, having waited.
“Ah.”
With the arrival of Jarvan III, Akali, who had rushed at Nikon, had no choice but to hurry back.
The threatening turn had passed.
Thanks to the jungle cover, he barely survived, but he hadn’t particularly taken anything away from Akali.
He simply survived.
But even that was something to be grateful for right now.
[“I’ll go top.”]
[“Yes.”]
At the very moment Jarvan III ganked and Akali’s health management became tricky, Outlaw smoothly rotated to top using top Rumble, who was in his prime, to successfully execute a top dive.
– Enemy eliminated!
[“Nice!”]
[“Good, good.”]
[“Oh, what’s going on top!”]
“Nice.”
Given that the mid was struggling, it was clear that the jungle managing this much showcased Outlaw’s power.
‘But…….’
Regrettably, the champion Outlaw was currently using was Jarvan III.
Even though Jarvan III’s stock price had gone up recently, and his carry potential had increased significantly since the Chempunk era, he still didn’t solve the fundamental problem Jarvan III had.
He wasn’t a damage dealer.
Of course, there were times he played as an assassin by building towards physical penetration, but at least that build was quite hard to utilize at the pro level.
The evidence was that Outlaw’s item build was also following a standard path.
‘Is this game… going to be okay?’
The game continued.
Though Outlaw made a turn for his team, the balance in mid had long been lost.
As a fact proving that, Nikon was stuck behind the turret and couldn’t step out.
He had been trapped by the turret.
Given the situation, as much as Outlaw was concerned, he couldn’t move freely while the opposing Akali and Vayne were expanding their territory.
He knew that a wrong move could turn him into prey for the enemy’s mid jungle.
That’s when the incident happened.
With mid trapped and jungle being suppressed.
[“This is a bot dive.”]
Outlaw predicted the enemy’s bot dive; however, unfortunately, neither top nor mid could make it there to help.
Top was aggressively winning the lane with ignite, and mid was literally stuck in mid.
‘Of course, our bot is Senna and Tahm Kench, so they could hold out longer…’
Jarvan III was also near, heading towards bot, but it was uncertain if he could take that dive.
[“I’m coming.”]
With Kim Ji-hoon’s words, SY’s champions began to tighten the net around bot.
Given that Outlaw’s Jarvan III was about to arrive, this dive was quite doable for OLZ, but SY was indeed not to be underestimated.
As Vayne’s ultimate dived into bot, it locked onto Tahm Kench.
[“They’re targeting that guy.”]
Even if they aimed for Senna, Tahm Kench could eat it with his ultimate, so they aimed for him from the start.
But the opponent’s plan was not just that.
While Tahm Kench was entangled by Vayne’s ultimate, Akali, Rinse, and Kai’Sa dove in with their ultimates, leaving Senna, who was all alone, to burst instantly.
– An ally was killed!
[“What kind of damage is this?”]
[“……Ah. I should have eaten earlier. Sorry.”]
[“Ah, no! You didn’t do anything wrong.”]
[“No, it was my mistake.”]
The fate of the remaining Tahm Kench wasn’t much different.
After Senna burst, the completely defenseless Tahm Kench was bombarded by all four SY champions.
– An ally was killed!
– Enemy double kill!
Kai’Sa got a double kill.
Only then did Jarvan III arrive, trying to clean up the mess, but given the opposing champions were all still capable, he could do little more than use his ultimate to force the enemy’s spells out.
[“Ah… what a shame.”]
[“This means bot is ruined, huh?”]
[“Let’s try again.”]
Baek Seong-an, who could only watch, felt a helplessness he had never experienced before.
An overwhelming difference in mid.
If the mid situation had been even a little relaxed, he could have joined bot a moment late, but with vision completely trapped, decision-making was too late.
Baek Seong-an too, even if he rushed in late, would have gained nothing, so he pushed mid hard to scrape the turret shield, but that wasn’t going to be satisfying at all.
[“It’s okay. Top is growing well, so we can still do it.”]
Outlaw encouraged the team.
Just like that, the top lane’s top predator, ignite Rumble, was literally burning down TheOne’s Jason.
As Outlaw said, if they focused on top, they could still do something.
Yeah, until Rainbow’s Akali jumped into top lane.
After the successful bot dive, Rainbow’s Akali didn’t return to mid.
Kai’Sa was the one who returned to mid.
[“That Akali went somewhere else.”]
Baek Seong-an seemed to echo that, but until then, he thought Akali had swapped lanes with bot.
But it was different.
Akali was headed to top, and with Akali growing into a monster, no amount of ignite Rumble could withstand that damage.
In the first place, Rumble was naturally weak against assassin-type champions, and Rainbow executed a perfect combo.
– An ally was killed!
The trusted top had fallen.
Even to Rainbow.
[“Ah… I’m sorry.”]
From that point on, the situation spiraled out of control.
With the top dead, Rift Herald was out, and they couldn’t even open vision for Dragon.
Everything was unfolding in SY’s hands, and during Baron timing, OLZ attempted one last team fight, but sadly, it was already too late to make up the growth difference.
After winning the team fight, the SY champions, powered by Baron buffs, marched towards OLZ’s Nexus, concluding the game.
[Defeat]
In this scrim, Baek Seong-an’s Nikon recorded 11 deaths.
*
OLZ vs. SY.
The scrim result was 2:0.
OLZ suffered a complete defeat.
After being swept 2:0 by SY in the scrim, OLZ’s atmosphere had cooled significantly.
“…….”
“Uh… should we eat?”
“……I’m good.”
“I’ll eat chicken breast.”
“Ah… uh-huh.”
Normally, even if they lost in a scrim, the team mood hardly sank this low; however, it was the content of the scrim itself that was shockingly different from the result.
Recently, OLZ was riding high in LCKR, and of course, the vibe within the team was great.
But the earlier match against SY had thrown a bucket of cold water on that mood.
“……Sorry, everyone. I really messed up today.”
Typically, Yujin or Seo Yeon-woo would tell him it was fine, that they could do better next time.
“…….”
But this time no one spoke up.
A heavy silence fell.