Chapter 131
- Did he predict that?
- He's been insane from the start
- Wasn't this guy supposed to be weak without his sword?
- Wasn't the sword his main body?
- They're talking nonsense lol
Thud.
Spoon's skill was interrupted as his body took the hit, and Seo Jun moved back, extending his hand.
A simple basic attack.
Slipped in repeatedly during the fight to accumulate damage, it had an impact that couldn't be ignored.
Smack!
Seo Jun calmly followed Spoon's gaze as he took the basic attack.
'Looks like he's checking.'
Right after being hit by the chain, Spoon's skill was cut off, but he could have landed a basic attack at least.
But he didn't.
It wasn't a mistake born of panic.
If you couldn't keep your cool no matter how absurd the situation, you wouldn't reach Challenger.
Instead of planting a basic attack on Seo Jun, Spoon had checked where the other chain had gone, thinking about the skill that was about to fade.
Standing still in his spot, Spoon raised his gun and spoke.
"The chains attacked left and right separately. I got caught pretty neatly on the left."
The gun gleamed, and an effect of concentrated magical power appeared.
Bang! Bang!
Spoon pulled the trigger. The bullets flew straight at Seo Jun.
But Seo Jun stood still without so much as blinking.
The bullets unraveled right in front of his nose and vanished.
'He's already grasped Ruke's basic attack range too.'
Right now, Seo Jun and Spoon were in the process of scouting each other out.
This was the most fundamental part of combat, and those of exceptional skill never neglect the basics.
"Throwing out both and hoping one hits is better than a fifty percent gamble, isn't it."
"Hmm. You might be the only one who'd call that a fifty percent gamble, Seo Jun-nim."
Spoon's possible movement positions weren't limited.
He was free, and among countless options, he had simply chosen one path that approached Seo Jun diagonally.
And yet, a chain came flying to that spot as if it had been waiting—and you call that simply left or right?
- Calling it a 50% gamble because you have to choose left or right, damn lol, nice and simple
- That's just right for the streamer!
- Seeing this, Eric seems ridiculously good too
- For real, with this trash champ
- His pick rate is bottom tier, to be fair
Spoon's wariness climbed higher, and Seo Jun calmly summoned another magic circle behind him.
* * *
A one-sided—and for Spoon, quite humiliating—short trade came to an end.
The two began fiercely jockeying for position and controlling distance once more, each looking for an angle to attack.
Magic circles could be summoned within a two-meter radius of the caster.
Since the chains also had a limited range, summoning one behind him meant sacrificing up to four meters of effective range.
Yet whenever Seo Jun used the Chain of Destruction now, he kept summoning it behind him.
Actually, Seo Jun was just doing it because the chain's range was generous enough to reach his intended target even when summoned behind him.
'Is there some intent behind that?'
Spoon scrutinized and analyzed every single one of Seo Jun's movements.
From the magic circle floating in the air, a chain shot out in a straight line toward a minion.
Spoon also fired his gun at a minion whose health was nearly depleted.
Bang! Bang!
Even as he did, he didn't forget to claim positioning and control the distance.
'Is this my chance?'
Whoosh!
He swiveled the muzzle that had been aimed at the minion and pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets were fired with an off-beat, one-second gap, but as Seo Jun took a single step back, the magical projectiles unraveled again right before his eyes.
It didn't land.
"You're really good at managing distance. Is that a talent, or do you just spend a lot of time running away in real life?"
"That's rich, coming from a ranged dealer."
Seo Jun smiled, brushing off the taunt.
- Fact) Technically, both of them are ranged right now
- They're roasting themselves lol
- The trash talk and the spacing are both intense
- The streamer, running away? lol
- If he met a mugger, he'd probably go "nice find" and rob the mugger instead?
- LOL he'd love it. Legally allowed to rob someone.
- Self-defense!
Thud!
A chain shot out from the magic circle in the air, now three seconds old.
Spoon was moving without pause and, on top of that, was focused on every action Seo Jun took.
Moving to the left to dodge the skill wasn't particularly difficult.
The chain hit the ranged minion behind him.
"You shouldn't keep hitting minions like that."
A minion wave consists of three melee and three ranged minions.
"Why not?"
"Well, obviously... Never mind."
Spoon held his tongue.
Couldn't that behavior be a deliberate act too?
Each team's minions march from the Nexus in a single file down the lane, and when they meet the enemy, they form up for battle.
The three melee minions tank at the front. Then the three ranged minions attack from a distance, targeting the melee minions fighting up front.
The minions of both teams have identical stats.
So the location where the two teams' minion waves meet and fight is adjusted based on the heroes' intervention.
Closer to the turret, or further from the turret. Or perfectly in the middle like at the very start.
The method is simple.
If you hit minions less than your opponent does, your own minions die faster.
Then the enemy minions, now unopposed, advance and fight the next incoming minion wave.
This moves the meeting point closer to your team's turret—something called pulling the lane.
If you hit minions more than your opponent, your minions push forward.
That's called pushing the lane, and the act of pushing or pulling the lane advantageously depending on the situation is lane management.
The core of lane management is the opponent.
But Seo Jun wasn't paying any attention to Spoon right now; he was just attacking minions whenever he had a spare moment.
Pushing the lane as if by brute force.
However, Spoon wasn't fooled by that.
'He definitely has some intention behind this.'
The reason he'd been hit by the first chain.
It was because Seo Jun had put on an act, pretending to be clueless and not knowing the skills, to lower his guard.
So this current brute-force, newbie-like behavior from Seo Jun was clearly meant to hide something.
'Pushing the lane is advantageous in most situations, to be fair.'
With minions cleared faster, you could unilaterally trade damage when the enemy had to last-hit, or rotate first if a fight broke out nearby.
But if it were always advantageous, everyone would try to push the lane.
In the current fight dynamic, Seo Jun controlled the spacing and held the initiative, but since Spoon was stubbornly dodging everything, Seo Jun lacked the decisive power to secure a kill.
And though Spoon was being led around by Seo Jun, he had a mobility skill, giving him the decisive power to close the gap, force an all-in trade, and create a fight where one of them would die.
"Seo Jun-nim. You know that maintaining this dynamic is advantageous for you, right?"
Bang! Bang!
A bullet lodged itself between a minion's eyes.
"Hmm, considering I haven't been hit by you even once, Spoon-nim, I guess it is advantageous, yes?"
Seo Jun also smiled and threw out a basic attack, pushing the lane.
A vein bulged on Spoon's forehead.
But he calmed down.
A newbie good enough to not get hit even once against a Challenger ADC through distance control.
Getting worked up over weird comments would only be a loss.
"Shall I land one on you right now?"
"Then I'll land one of my skills on you."
"Tsk. Guess I'll have to pray things keep going like this."
The current dynamic being maintained was advantageous for Seo Jun, and Spoon needed to overturn it.
'But what if that guy pushes the lane?'
Pushing the lane means moving further from your own turret.
If Spoon tried to force a fight using his skill while they were close to Seo Jun's turret, Seo Jun could simply move a little and step into the safety of that bunker.
Then he could go back to happily spacing and flinging basic attacks or chains.
But if the lane was pushed and they were far from the turret when Spoon forced a fight?
That would be advantageous for him.
The problem was, Spoon now knew that Seo Jun wasn't the type to do something disadvantageous on purpose.
So he wanted to just maintain the status quo, but...
'No choice. I'll have to focus harder and try.'
Spoon found it hard to let this slide.
- What are you doing? Getting wrecked by a newbie
- He's lost all initiative lol
- If you're losing through spacing, why even play ADC?
- This guy's a Challenger ADC?
He was a streamer too.
And before he was a streamer, he was a Challenger.
'Whatever he's thinking, I'll crush him with mechanics.'
Spoon waited for the lane to be pulled back.
* * *
- Streamer, pushing the lane like that probably isn't good
- Leave him alone, he must have his own thoughts
- Streamer, just last-hit or keep it even, you have the range advantage anyway so it doesn't matter
- No backseating
- He's not going to roam anyway
- Sigh. The viewers and their backseating, seriously.
As Seo Jun managed the distance and hit minions whenever there was an opening, he saw the chat and thought.
"Huh? Why is pushing the lane bad?"
While some viewers said not to backseat, Seo Jun generally didn't stop them.
He actually welcomed it.
"Hmm."
"Would it be alright if I explained?"
"Yes, please tell me."
The lane pushed forward.
And Spoon, who had been waiting for this moment, used his skill.
[Quick Shot]
Spoon kicked off the ground and charged forward at high speed.
"It's because they can close in like this and force a fight."
Having closed the distance to the maximum range of Quick Shot, Spoon's arm moved, aiming at Seo Jun.
The distance to the turret right now was long. Even if Seo Jun kept retreating from here, Spoon could get in a considerable amount of damage trades.
But at that instant, Spoon felt a sense of déjà vu.
"You're saying that coming closer like this is the downside?"
It was because his follow-up skill wouldn't activate. There was only one reason for that.
When a skill is interrupted by being hit.
"Huh?"
He quickly looked back and saw a chain lodged in his back.
A chain that had come from a magic circle hidden flush against the back of a minion, nearly invisible.
Goosebumps ran down his spine.
It wasn't just that he'd predicted the position—if the prediction had failed, that chain would have flown straight at Seo Jun.
"How on earth..."
The moment Spoon realized he'd been seriously mistaken about something, Seo Jun was already talking about something else.
"Why? How is it a downside when the enemy comes right to you? Isn't that an advantage?"
He truly hadn't calculated anything special.
He'd simply pushed because it made the enemy come to fight.
Just like seven years ago.
- Ahh
- Was this all designed too?
- I'm curious what kind of ridiculous logic he'll come up with!
Spoon, sensing danger, fired his gun.
Bang!
The first shot hit Seo Jun.
Bang!
But the second shot was deflected as Seo Jun sent a sphere flying at it.
- Yesss!
- He's pulling off something you rarely see
- If you don't get hit by the second bullet, Ruke's damage is basically nothing
- He's insane
"Huh?"
And this time, Seo Jun didn't distance himself. Instead, he approached Spoon.
Like a swordsman fighting in melee range.
"I think this will work better."
Seo Jun grinned.
And as Seo Jun approached him, something behind where Seo Jun had originally been standing entered Spoon's field of vision.
[Chain of Destruction]
'A magic circle? When did he...'
He quickly realized when it had been made.
The chain shot out. That meant it was from three seconds ago.
Clatter!
Seo Jun was positioned between the magic circle and Spoon.
So this was another risky play where he could get hit himself if things went wrong.
But the chain grazed past Seo Jun's neck by a hair's breadth and struck Spoon.
Thud!
- Crazy lol
- Hiding it well and landing it perfectly
- Do you have to predict everything three seconds ahead every time you use a skill? How do you even play Eric?
Spoon's health was whittled down to the point where one more skill would kill him.
"Huh?"
Seo Jun could read the bewilderment in Spoon's reaction.
- When did he get that low?
- Eric's skill damage is quite high, you know
- Wow. So he's about to solo-kill a Challenger?
- Let's go!
[Chain of Destruction]
'One more hit and I've got him.'
A magic circle appeared two meters in front of Seo Jun, behind Spoon.
Even in the urgent moment, Spoon quickly scanned his rear and confirmed the magic circle Seo Jun had just summoned.
"What are you going to do now?"
Spoon had no leisure to speak. He answered with bullets instead.
Bang!
He must have decided to retreat.
Simply running would be more dangerous, so he fired for cover as he fell back.
Bang!
The second shot.
Again, Seo Jun merely deflected it with a sphere in the air and took no further action.
Spoon moved past and behind the magic circle that had appeared at his rear.
"You should've just stayed still."
Seo Jun, watching that sight leisurely, spoke slowly.
"Wha... what?"
"It's been three seconds."
From the magic circle, a chain shot out.
Not toward where Spoon had been originally, but the opposite direction.
To where Spoon had fled and was now standing.
Clatter!
Thud!
[First Blood]
[Sword God --> FrustratedTopGap]
In the void of the battlefield, a narration appeared—shocking to those who hadn't seen the fight.