Chapter 130
Just before selecting Erik.
-Anyone curious what they're talkin about?
-These two don't even look like they have a strategy lol
-Captain just brute forces with physique, and Yoonho can't play anyway lol
-Huh?
-Kael no ban? What kinda confidence lol
-Opponent is a Challenger
-Yeah, the 4-second Judgement Sword is more insane
-lol he pulled it off easy 'cause it's unranked, just look at yesterday's 1v1 against Windblade; the dude didn't go down easy
-But he beat Windblade, right?
-And he was fast, right?
They expected Seojun to pick Kael.
It wasn't a certainty, but still—if Kael survived, shouldn't he have to prove it once?
Maybe he even purposely asked for no ban!
Just as the logic that Seojun asked Ha Yoonho for help to get on Rios stretched on, Seojun and Ha Yoonho spoke, and Seojun's hand moved to the hero select interface in front.
[Erik the Jailbreaker]
Contrary to their expectations, Seojun picked a new hero.
-Erik??
-He picks Erik here lol
-What? Is it a pre-planned pick?
-100% not lol
-Who knows, Kael had some prep too—watching weak point vids outside lol
[The game is starting.]
Summoned onto the battlefield, Seojun immediately moved and unmuted the audio he'd blocked.
"Ahh. You can hear me, right?"
As he moved forward, Seojun saw a flood of the vowel 'ㅔ' rising in chat.
They probably can't see this chat window during Rios either.
But it was an in-house now, so it didn't matter.
[Invade defense only.]
Mallang, who had run the ban and pick phase, said as they headed into the jungle.
[Yup]
[Everyone glhf]
[Seojun! Please hold on against a Challenger!]
It seemed the enemies also chose to only defend against the invade; not even a tiny skirmish occurred. Seojun examined his own body while waiting for minions in the jungle.
"The chains are wrapped around my arm."
In League, the power is exerted through possession, so the avatar doesn't change. The costume touched before the game also remains the same. So normally, only the essential parts change.
Just like how they put a weapon in his hand when he picked Kael, now Seojun's arms were wrapped in layers upon layers of countless thin chains.
"How do you basic attack?"
The attack using these chains wasn't the basic attack.
-just use it like manipulating cooperative sword energy
-such things are similar
-Kael-god asking a basic thing like this...
-New viewers, especially Kael freaks. This bastard asks basic stuff like this and then like 10 seconds later uses all sorts of veteran skills so don't worry
Seojun imagined emitting formless energy from his hand.
In League, mage position heroes' basic attacks were generally based on magic power.
'This is fascinating.'
Seven years ago, Seojun couldn't play mage heroes.
At that time, moving the body through the capsule was fine, but imagining was difficult. His thoughts weren't properly reflected in the game.
The skills themselves did activate. But they reacted slightly late, as if using an old computer.
That tiny difference would be an incredibly grating difference not just for Seojun, but for any gamer.
'After picking up a sword for the first time in a while, it wasn't that I wanted to main mage deeply, but it was a bit of a shame.'
An effect of some type of energy gathering appeared in Seojun's hand.
Then, in a flash, a small blue sphere materialized above his palm.
"Oh? So this is how it feels."
When Seojun clenched his fist, the sphere transmitted tension to his hand, like an arrow pulled taut on a bowstring. After thoroughly familiarizing himself with the sensation of trembling and faint vibration, Seojun opened his hand.
Then the sphere shot forward.
It was the mage's basic attack. That basic attack with damage weaker than a sword slash.
"Oh!"
Seojun's eyes curved as if in delight.
-lolololololol
-if you're gonna be this fascinated, prep a little beforehand lol
-Nah. He's a true streamer who shows even this side on broadcast.
-Ah lol so he didn't prep beforehand for a real reaction lol
He shot the sphere into empty space a few more times.
Cutting through the bush (the brush that provides concealment, making you invisible to enemy vision), the magic sphere flew on.
"Hmm, then how do you use skills. Ah, minions are coming."
For now, he had to go to lane and grow, so Seojun returned to the mid lane.
In the distance, he saw the opponent who had arrived first and was waiting.
"Hello. We greeted earlier, right? I'm streamer Spoon."
"Hello."
The hero Spoon picked was Dual Pistol Luke. True to his alias, he held one gun with two barrels in his right hand.
The weapon fired two attacks in one burst with a time delay; if the user landed both hits, the feature was that it dealt higher damage than normal heroes' attacks.
Instead, if only one hit landed, the damage was lower than half of a normal basic attack.
Similarly, a high-difficulty hero where mechanics are important.
"Seojun. I'll give it my best; do you think you can win?"
Seojun's chain-wrapped arm moved quickly.
Fweeee!
Instead of answering, Seojun swiftly clenched and opened his hand, launching a sphere.
Thwack!
It was a precise range control that struck the enemy just before the magic sphere disappeared.
He smirked.
"Is that answer enough?"
-First strike wins lolol
-Captain always takes the lead like that first
-Oh, he hit that
-fr it was right about to disappear
Just like Seojun, Spoon laughed as if amused.
'That basic attack just now narrowly caught me at the very edge of its range. A coincidence? No, there's no way. He asked if that answer was enough.'
It was intentional.
As he stepped forward to land his dual pistols, Seojun backed away.
'In that instant, he realized my range is shorter than his.'
Seeing that Spoon didn't immediately counterattack, Seojun had grasped he held the advantage in that brief moment and moved accordingly. Spoon noticed it too.
"This is fun. Kiting is usually my thing."
Kiting, simply put, is spacing control.
It's a mandatory skill for ADCs who fight a lot with long-ranged basic attacks.
Spacing is the way to most efficiently utilize an advantage.
I hit you, but you can't hit me.
"I'm ranged too."
Seojun observed his opponent.
When Spoon backed off, he went forward. When Spoon suddenly came forward, this time he backed off.
It looked simple, but it was movement laced with the spacing know-how of a Challenger ADC.
And then.
Fweeee!
The sphere flew and landed a direct hit on Spoon's body once more.
Again, it narrowly caught him at the very edge of the range.
To the point it was barely any different from the first.
'Huh. Look at this?'
Once more, Spoon's health bar was chipped.
Seojun's gaze dropped from the health bar to meet Spoon's eyes.
Then, the look in Spoon's eyes, which had carried a trace of disregard earlier, changed.
"Are you finally feeling like taking this seriously now?"
"Looks like it, heh heh."
The minions arrived.
Now, real kiting becomes important.
If you ask a newbie what the method is to land a skill on an enemy, most would first say to aim for the timing when the enemy last-hits a minion.
"No matter how long your basic attack is, you know against a mage, it's over if you just don't get hit by skills, right?"
Spoon said, positioning himself while covering his body with minions.
"Yes, I know. Most mage basic attacks have no advantage at all."
"Huh. It starts now."
Luke had a skill that bursts rapid-fire shots at once while moving.
One must be careful of the situation where he closes the distance in a flash and unleashes a burst. He hadn't used it earlier because it was a probing phase.
And Erik's skill...
"Guys, how do you use this skill?"
He had no idea how to activate it.
-lolololol
-idiot
-let's not tell him
-imagine it
"Huh?"
Seojun, regardless of whether Spoon was flustered or not, focused on the health of the minions fighting in front.
And when a minion's health was a hair's breadth from death, he launched a sphere, last-hitting it, and thought.
'I just imagine it?'
Erik's skill is to create a magic circle.
This magic circle fires chains after a little time passes.
Seojun imagined the magic circle he saw in the video forming right in front of him.
And then.
[Chain of Destruction]
Charrrrrt!
Along with the sound of the chains wrapped around his arm moving, they disappeared into some space, and a magic circle appeared in front of Seojun.
"Oh!"
-lolololol he's amazed again
-How many times is that!!
-Sword God (looks happiest when playing mage)
-Now that I think about it, he's almost only ever used swords lol
The reason Seojun was amazed was nothing special.
'I didn't know the reaction would come this fast.'
In the past, Seojun had strengthened his imagination through actions.
Like when he used to stab the sword into the ground when using Judgement Sword before.
Now Judgement Sword just activates by thought, but before the rework, it was a non-target skill, so it was important to think of the landing point and summon it quickly.
'Recently, I just did it for nostalgia.'
For most people, it's an act done for fun and flair, like concept play.
But for past Seojun, it had a pretty big effect.
And now, because the skill activated quickly without any such action, Seojun was amazed.
Spoon watched that scene with a dumbfounded look as he attacked the minions.
He was gauging an angle to dive in.
3 seconds later.
From the magic circle, chains shot out in a straight line like a bolt of lightning and pierced the minion directly in front.
-3 sec is hella long
-fr lol
-that's why it's the lowest pick rate
Chain of Destruction is a skill with a long delay: after the magic circle is created, the chains shoot out 3 to 10 seconds later.
When creating the magic circle, the chain's trajectory is also fixed, so it's on the difficult side to hit an opponent.
And for Chain of Destruction, the longer the delay, the higher the skill's damage becomes.
So usually, users who pick Erik are said to play by pre-placing a 10-second magic circle and then ambushing while waiting.
Currently, Seojun could create a maximum of two magic circles at once.
'Prediction is life.'
It's a bit different from Kael's vital point prediction.
A prediction shot.
The kind where you fire an attack in advance and have to pray the opponent walks into it.
Also, Chain of Destruction was a suicide skill that could hit the caster themselves.
A skill that's ruined if you try to pull the opponent to your desired spot and end up getting hit yourself.
'With this level of reaction speed... seems doable?'
Seojun created two magic circles in the sky behind him.
The chains wrapped around both arms disappeared one by one, making them feel slightly lighter, and red circles rose into the empty air.
And was it about 2 seconds later?
Spoon, who had been gauging an opening, dashed forward.
[Quick Shot]
Luke's skill that lets him slide forward in an instant and burst rapid-fire shots like a shotgun was activated.
Spoon's position instantly closed in on Seojun.
'Skills like Chain of Destruction can't just be carelessly thrown out.'
Having a fixed trajectory means it's the same as saying you can't take it back.
Moreover, if you use up two magic circles, you can't do anything for a while.
Having exploited that gap, Spoon raised his gun to fire the burst.
'This is why he's a newbie.'
The finish of Quick Shot is the attack itself.
However.
Charrrrrt!
Chains shot from the magic circle fixed in the air behind Seojun.
Not at the minion in front, but precisely at Spoon's location.
'It wasn't just thrown out randomly?'
Whether Spoon's pupils shook or not, the chain, whose fate had been decided 3 seconds ago, shot at high speed.
Thwack!
Spoon's health, hit directly by the chain, dropped to a level incomparable to when hit by a basic attack.