Chapter 121
The League is a game where you fight by accepting the memories of heroic beings that existed in the past.
The medium is the Hall of Heroes, called the Tower of Memory.
In other words, it’s simply the game’s shop.
Here, players can also partake in various events.
Seo-jun had visited this place the day before and bought a hero. With cash, since he had no game points.
This hero was one Seo-jun had enjoyed playing in the past.
Standing in the center of the Tower of Memory, holding the game, Seo-jun briefly turned his eyes to check the streaming status.
[Jin Seo-jun - 22,000 viewers]
The number of viewers was increasing.
When you enter a category, the default sorting is by highest viewer count, so Seo-jun’s stream was positioned where you’d only need to scroll down a very little bit.
It was 6th in The League category, the spot his stream occupied.
Since he’s in the upper ranks even among mid-tier streamers, there would be some viewers discovering Seo-jun anew because of this.
“What hero am I going to play? Am I going to pick a swordsman? You’ll see right away, so I’ll refrain from spoilers.”
Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times.
- You’re not even ready lolol
- Are you going to just buy a hero from the pick screen right after saying that? lol
- Everyone, what’s good? Tell me quickly! It’s starting soon!
- I can see it, I can see it
They don’t believe me.
“Let me show you what an experienced rookie looks like.”
Seo-jun’s confident voice flowed through the broadcast.
But when had Seo-jun ever not been like that?
Whether when he played Dawn of the Assassin Order, or when he first played For the Sake of the Hero, Seo-jun was always the same, so his sincerity never quite landed.
- Sure you will
- A rookie, but skips the experience phase with sheer mechanics lololol
- For real lol
- Stop spouting nonsense and show us some real newbie behavior
Now, the viewers didn’t expect Seo-jun to be bad at anything at all.
They had learned through long experience that with Seo-jun’s level of physical skill, he would excel at anything.
However, the only time Seo-jun showed an opening was precisely when he played a game for the first time, so they were looking forward to that.
What kind of bizarre troll move would he pull this time!
Just as Seo-jun was looking at the chat with a dumbfounded expression, a match was found.
When he pressed accept, his body was transmitted to the waiting room.
A total of ten people stood in two rows of five, facing each other, and the opposite side from Seo-jun was shrouded in dark shadows.
“I got mid.”
In The League, you can select a preferred position before matchmaking, and these positions follow general AOS rules.
To explain the game’s positions, which are divided into five:
Top.
Goes to the top lane among the lanes divided into top, mid, and bottom; mainly a tank or a position that initiates fights.
Since they spend a lot of time alone, their personalities tend to get a bit odd.
Mid.
The position that goes to the middle lane.
Due to the terrain’s nature, it’s easy to move to the top or bottom lane, so it has great influence in in-game battles.
ADC.
The ranged damage dealer who goes to the bottom lane.
Support.
Goes to the bottom lane together with the ADC and assists them.
Jungle.
The spaces between the lanes are called the jungle, and this position hunts the jungle monsters while going to help each lane.
These are the most common roles for each position, and variations are possible.
But that is something rarely seen, mostly only in tournaments when strategies are discussed with teammates beforehand.
In randomly matched games like now, about 99% of the time, people just don’t care what you do in your own lane.
Unless, of course, you blatantly pick a troll character.
And the character Seo-jun picked was one that fell half into that category.
[The memories of Kael, Agent of Radiance, imbue you.]
[Greetings. Let us hasten to judge evil.]
As soon as Seo-jun finished selecting, a sigh was heard from beside him.
“Ah…….”
He immediately shut his mouth because he didn’t exactly want to fight, but the meaning of that sigh was fully conveyed.
- lolololol
- You bought Kael?
- Host pulling out a noob-trap hero on his very first game lol
- Now that it’s come to this, let’s just play all the insect heroes!
Kael, Agent of Radiance.
In the game’s lore, he is an inquisitor and swordsman of a religious order blessed by the God of Light.
Points to note are that his difficulty is high.
And that Kael’s ultimate is a skill that summons a gigantic sword falling from the sky to execute the enemy.
That’s right.
Kael’s ultimate is awesome. It has a romance that stirs a man’s heart.
High difficulty, flashy plays.
What does that mean?
- But the host probably won’t be a Kael-noob
- No matter how much of a Sword God you are, you can’t resist the Judgment Sword falling from the sky lolol
- Who was the one that showed the host a Kael video yesterday lolol
- I got reminded of that Kael-noob bastard I met yesterday and I’m pissed again
- Suddenly collective PTSD appeal lololol
It generates a lot of noobs.
Here, the ‘noob’ attached to a hero’s name refers to those who, regardless of the situation or matchup, simply pick that hero for their own amusement and have no skill whatsoever.
When you end up on a team with these people, that match is almost certainly a loss.
The reason curses reflexively come out even while naturally assuming Seo-jun will do well is because they’ve been burned by them that many times.
Kael was one of the representative six noob characters.
‘The perception is exactly the same as seven years ago.’
Seven years is enough time for a game to undergo heaven-and-earth changes multiple times.
Yet, the fact that the perception is still the same means—
‘Kael is a classic.’
A value that doesn’t easily change.
I like it.
It was a thought that would have collected all sorts of question marks and curses from The League’s users if they heard.
A satisfied smile on his face, Seo-jun saw the selection time end.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[The game begins.]
They were summoned to the respawn point called the well.
Seo-jun went to the middle lane, the mid lane, corresponding to his position.
He encountered the enemy walking toward him, step by step.
- No invasion or defense or anything lol
- Because they’re beginners
- Doing whatever you want is the right move
In the AOS genre, there are monsters that periodically appear in the three lanes (like the soldiers in For the Sake of the Hero), and these are called minions.
And an invasion refers to everyone rushing into the enemy camp together at the very start before these minions spawn to fight.
Since this is the unranked, beginner’s bracket, people don’t pay much heed to these elements.
“Hello? Your nickname is cool!”
The enemy pointed a crossbow at the top of Seo-jun’s head.
The hero whose memories the opponent had taken on was Shan the Graverobber, a hero who uses a crossbow.
“Thank you.”
Seo-jun expressed his thanks and stepped slightly back.
- Why aren’t you using casual speech?
- Are you now a righteous sect member?!
- The way you’re being polite looks very hypocritical
“Come here.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Ah, too bad.”
Seo-jun is melee and the enemy is ranged.
Right now, without minions to act as shields, no matter how well Seo-jun fights, it’s difficult to gain an advantage.
[A wise choice.]
Kael’s reverent voice echoed in his head.
‘It’s been a while.’
The League had a dialogue mode where you could converse with the hero whose memories you received.
This dialogue mode can enhance mid-game fun through small talk, or increase immersion, but—
Its original purpose was solely to act as a guide for beginners, just like now.
[A sword cannot but fall short of a crossbow.]
[There are several means to compensate for this. Radiance’s Blessing is one such method…….]
And the current content was definitely dialogue that appeared because Seo-jun hadn’t done the tutorial.
Seo-jun frowned.
Because it was explaining his own skills from the very beginning, not minor game tips.
- Anyone can see this is tutorial content, right?
- This is how the game company cares for its users lolol
- Hey host, you said you watched everything yesterday!
The viewers were quick on the uptake, as expected.
Seo-jun immediately brought up the settings window and turned off dialogue mode.
“Not necessary.”
The reverent voice that had been earnestly explaining cut off as if a phone call had suddenly disconnected.
- Eck lolol
- Explanation-noob out!
- Game company: Ah, just listen for a bit! lol
[Minions have spawned.]
On the map in the corner of his vision, the minions’ advance was displayed. They would arrive soon.
“From now on, be prepared to get hit by me one-sidedly.”
The enemy grabbed the crossbow that had been slung over his shoulder with both hands and aimed at Seo-jun, starting to provoke him.
It was a stance ready to shoot the moment Seo-jun came within range.
He came up right to the front of the turret’s attack range and kept taunting Seo-jun.
- He’s acting cocky just because he has the range advantage lolol
- But being melee is a disadvantage
- You usually get hit one-sidedly in most cases lolol
In a fight, range can be considered almost absolute.
That’s why the game company applies various adjustments to balance it out.
By lowering the base attack values, health, and defense of ranged characters.
And for melee characters, they create structures to overcome that range disadvantage.
“Kael has movement speed and an invincibility skill. Right?”
Seo-jun murmured quietly.
The minions approached.
And Seo-jun used the minions as shields, closing the distance.
The enemy whittled down the minions’ health with his crossbow while stepping back, maintaining a constant distance from Seo-jun.
Seo-jun carefully observed the enemy’s body.
Kael’s passive.
[Eye of the Whole Body]
The God of Light’s other name is also the God of Combat.
As the agent of such a god, Kael received several blessings, and one of them was this passive, the Eye of the Whole Body, which allows him to constantly see the enemy’s vital points.
Currently, at one spot on the enemy’s body, a sacred white light wavered, drawing a small circle.
As he kept staring at it, a humming sound effect was heard.
“If you stab that place, you get a momentary boost to movement speed and attack speed.”
Since it also deals bonus damage, Kael’s most important ability is hitting those vital points.
The vital point constantly changes.
Whether you create distance and approach again, or if a certain amount of time passes without attacking.
It also changes if you successfully hit a vital point.
If he succeeds in hitting a vital point, the next one will immediately be generated.
It could be a circle that needs to be stabbed, just like now, or it could be a trajectory that needs to be slashed.
If you attack the next vital point, another one appears after that.
If you successfully attack a total of 3 vital points within a certain time like that, you accumulate one stack for using a skill.
[Radiance’s Blessing]
A skill that temporarily grants CC immunity and invincibility.
It’s the second skill for overcoming the melee disadvantage.
“Isn’t Radiance’s Blessing supposed to be that good?”
If you purely look at the effect without considering the condition, its performance is good enough to be considered one of the best skills.
“That invincibility skill? Sword God, can you even use that? Out of all the Kael players I’ve met, not a single one has ever used that skill.”
But then the enemy asked. He must have thought Seo-jun was talking to him.
- A Kael-noob saying this lol
- Other people must have filled him with weird confidence lolol
- Can’t help why they get called noobs lol
- Honestly, even hitting the vital points is pretty hard, and you have to hit 3 randomly generated ones within a time limit? That’s hell lol
- On top of that, the opponent can also see the vital points that appear on themselves, so they can react lol
- The host will probably use the skill easily though
As the viewer said, the reason Kael’s difficulty is high is because of the vital points, which are known to be randomly generated.
But, would the game company really dislike regularity?
Seo-jun had known the answer to that seven years ago.
‘Let’s see if it’s changed at all.’
Seo-jun immediately burst out from behind the minions.
The enemy, who had been dealing with the minions, aimed his crossbow at Seo-jun.
“Die!”
Thwip!
The first shot, Seo-jun dodged by irregularly changing direction.
The second arrow grazed him slightly, and his health depleted a bit.
Each shot was powerful, but Shan’s reload was a little slow. As he loaded the third arrow, the enemy entered the tip of Seo-jun’s range.
Clang!
A shattering sound like breaking glass rang out.
Seo-jun’s extended sword had stabbed the white circle of light—the vital point.
“Ugh.”
Then, even before a new vital point appeared, Seo-jun’s sword was already moving first, fully utilizing the increased speed.
A split second passed, and a new vital point appeared. And Seo-jun continued without stopping his movement.
Clang!
The newly formed diagonal line of light shattered.
And at that moment, the enemy finished preparing to shoot the third arrow, aimed at Seo-jun’s head.
“Goodbye.”
Since he had gotten close, the enemy thought that if he could land a headshot, it would deal heavy damage.
Clang!
But even in that time, Seo-jun had unhesitatingly already attacked the third vital point.
‘Blessing.’
Seo-jun’s body, having accumulated the stack, became enveloped in a subtle white light.
[Radiance’s Blessing]
Fwoosh!
The third arrow flew precisely toward Seo-jun’s head.
But it bounced off without piercing him.
“Huh?”
The enemy who had shot the arrow widened his eyes.
The viewers were equally surprised.
- ???
- What
- Fuck, that was insanely fast?
- Did he memorize the vital points???
- If vital points could be memorized, wouldn’t any Tom, Dick, or Harry be playing Kael?
- No, seriously, what is it?? lololol
The reason was all too simple.
It was because the time it took from Seo-jun slashing the first vital point to using the skill was only 2 seconds.
“Now you see? Kael’s skill.”
“Y-yes…… what?”
“I’ll show you plenty more from now on.”