Volume One, Chapter Three: Is Sion... severing the lifeline?

The ban-and-pick phase ended quickly.

After both teams successively removed a number of the most powerful champions in the current version, their final lineups were finally locked in.

Team Qilin: top lane Gnar, jungle Gragas, mid lane Sion, marksman Sivir, support Thresh.

Team Samsung: top lane Aatrox, jungle Xin Zhao, mid lane Galio, marksman Lucian, support Braum.

The moment the two compositions were revealed, the Chinese commentator on the God Arena desk instantly darkened.

“Galio. I did not expect Samsung’s mid laner, Park Hwang-gwan, to pull out Galio as well.”

“Could it be that Galio is the secret weapon of the Korean team this year?!”

Not far away, the Korean commentator burst into laughter.

“A secret weapon? We would not need to use a secret weapon against your Chinese team.”

“As far as I know, Galio is only an experiment from our players. To put it plainly, they are just practicing champions!”

The British commentator chimed in with a grin.

“Practicing champions? I think the Chinese mid laner is also practicing, because in his previous matches he never once picked Sion for mid.”

“Can Sion even go mid? Can he beat Galio? I do not know the answer, but using the final match for China to practice a champion—one must admit, that takes quite a bit of courage!”

Although the Chinese audience could tell the British commentator was being sarcastic, they had no time to argue.

Because even they themselves were beginning to question Wang Yaozu’s choice.

[This is the last match, and the other four all picked their signature champions, so why is Wang Yaozu the only one who did not?]

[Using the final match to practice a champion? Wang Yaozu, you are not fit to be Team Qilin’s captain! You are not fit to represent China at the God Arena!]

[Why did nobody ban Galio? Korea just won with Galio, and you still dare to let it through?!]

[Wang Yaozu, if China loses this match because of you, then don’t even think about walking out of the National Operations Center alive!]

The fate of the nation was already hanging by a thread, yet Wang Yaozu remained so willful that all Chinese viewers were furious.

But the match had already begun. The only thing they could do was hope that if China had to lose, it would not be too ugly.

……

“Sure enough, it really is a live-action, 3D version of League of Legends!”

“Still, even if it is a live-action version, there are still the red side and the blue side—it's just that you can’t instantly see what is behind you.”

“But I can check the minimap and scoreboard through my retina, and even send pings with a thought.”

“If Earth had a live-action version of League of Legends too, wouldn’t that be absolutely insane?”

Once the match officially began, the players could no longer see the stream chat, so Wang Yaozu quickly familiarized himself with this national-fate version of League of Legends.

Although physical operation was entirely different from mouse and keyboard, it seemed that during the transmigration a mysterious force had transformed Wang Yaozu’s experience into muscle memory, so he did not feel the slightest discomfort.

“Brothers, it is time to fight with our backs to the sea!”

“This game, I will definitely lead you to victory!”

After buying a Long Sword, a refillable potion, and a yellow trinket ward, Wang Yaozu walked toward mid lane and solemnly addressed his teammates.

“Let’s go! We must win this one!”

“Back to the wall! Burn the bridges!”

“Play safe in lane, and wait for my ganks!”

“Don’t worry, I picked Sivir this game just to play it safe!”

Perhaps because the stream chat was gone, or because they had entered Summoner’s Rift, the four teammates’ mental state actually improved a little.

Wang Yaozu was quite satisfied with this, because as long as they did not get completely crushed, he had the confidence to destroy Samsung’s base crystal within twenty minutes.

“Tiantian, ignore me this game. Help them instead.”

Wang Yaozu said to the jungler, Tiantian, while alone he headed toward the enemy red buff jungle.

“Hm? Why isn’t the enemy jungler here to stand guard?”

Having invaded the jungle with no pressure at all, Wang Yaozu paused in surprise, sensing that something felt a little strange.

But he did not think too much about it and kept walking deeper into the jungle, stopping only when he reached the brush in front of the enemy high ground.

“Looks like this Sion feed strategy really is a dimensionality-reduction strike. Those Koreans don’t even bother to ward against it.”

Wang Yaozu sneered, then rubbed his hands together and prepared to trigger the timing.

Just then, a message suddenly popped up in his vision.

[All] Galio: Where is Sion? Come out and die!

[All] Galio: Since this is your last match, if I do not kill all five of you into a humiliation score, then I will never eat kimchi again!

???

What the hell? National-fate League of Legends even has all-chat?

Wang Yaozu was somewhat surprised, but seeing the Koreans’ baffling confidence, he only smiled coldly.

[All] Sion: Congratulations. Then you’ll never get to eat kimchi again!

Wang Yaozu said disdainfully. Then, seeing the game timer reach exactly one minute, he immediately began his move!

……

[South Korean Audience]: Dammit, what is this Chinese player so arrogant about? When Galio turns him into a humiliation score, let’s see if his mouth can still stay so hard!

[South Korean Audience]: Camp their fountain! We must camp their fountain this game! We have to beat the Chinese to their knees and make them beg for mercy before we take their base crystal!

[South Korean Audience]: Chinese players, remember the name of your mid laner. Because he has enraged our great Korea, your nation will be doomed forever!

A man already destined to lose still dared to lash out with his tongue, and that sent the Korean audience into a frenzy.

But the Chinese audience had no time to deal with them, because at that moment they were all stunned by Wang Yaozu’s actions.

[What is Sion trying to do? Level-one tower suicide?]

[No way. Even though Sion took Teleport and Ghost this game, dying at the start would be the same as wasting a Teleport!]

On the caster desk, the Chinese commentators were equally shocked, because they had never seen such an outrageous opening.

And under their skeptical gazes, Sion had already reached the position of the mid-lane high ground crystal, where the tower’s laser cannon successfully emptied his health bar.

[It’s over. Team Qilin’s captain has defected. Not only is he practicing champions in a match, he has started blatantly feeding from the very beginning!]

In that instant, all Chinese viewers felt as though their hearts had turned to ash, and they even lost the desire to kill Wang Yaozu.

After all, if China was about to be annihilated, what was the point of killing Wang Yaozu?

But in the next moment, the situation changed abruptly, and all Chinese viewers widened their eyes in disbelief.

Because after Sion died, he actually rose again thanks to his passive skill, Glory in Death.

Immediately afterward, he even blocked the first wave of minions in mid lane and used his corpse to hammer them all down one by one.

“Is Sion… cutting the wave?!”

A thought flashed through the Chinese commentator’s mind.

But he had no time to think further, because immediately after that, Wang Yaozu’s Sion had already revived.