READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 17
After a minor commotion in the pick screen.
Finally, the game has started.
[Starting the game!]
As soon as the screen switched to the loading screen, I instinctively checked the opponents’ tiers through a stats search site.
───────────────
(D3) IlIIIIIIIIllllll – Renekton
(D2) DiaorDai – Lee Sin
(D2) Master of Je-do Kim – Zed
(D4) 2021.06.07 – Samira
(P2) Haeil is Dot – Nami
───────────────
‘If I had to average it out… they’re probably around mid-Dia.’
With the highest tier being Dia 2 and the lowest being Platinum 2, that seemed to be a reasonable assumption.
On the other hand, our team’s tiers were relatively lower except for me.
───────────────
(P2) DiaSooMoonJang11 – Sion
(C1) Prisoner – Sylas
(D4) Triangle Mid Laner – Talon
(P4) JaeHyukMaster123 – Kai’Sa
(G3) DaHyeIsThumbGondyu – Ruler
───────────────
‘Platinum, Dia, Platinum, Gold.’
It was somewhat expected.
No matter how disconnected normal game MMR is from ranked games, experience suggests there’s a high probability that normal game MMR correlates with ranked game MMR.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
Regardless of the situation, my only goal was to test out the performance of new equipment.
[Loading….]
The loading was quite lengthy.
It made sense, considering that I was probably playing in a section where people care less about the game environment, so this was a natural outcome.
-Welcome to Summoner’s Rift.
Finally, after about three minutes of waiting, the game officially began.
Since it was a normal game, perhaps, even after 20 seconds of gameplay, I was the only one moving from the fountain.
[!] [!] [!]
Even when I pinged just in case, there was no response.
Various reasons like smoking, bathroom breaks, and the like could be in play, but one thing was clear: It wasn’t a pleasant situation as a jungler.
Getting invaded means the enemy will have vision over our jungle, which implies I’m restricted in my movements.
‘This place is still the same…’
It’s been so long since I played normal games that I even felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
If this happened in a ranked game, I would have been tempted to rage quit, but this is a normal game.
This level of variable was already well within my expectations.
‘Let’s see……’
I checked the invade matchups.
[Allies / Enemies]
Top: Sion / Renekton
Jungle: Sylas / Lee Sin
Mid: Talon / Zed
ADC: Kai’Sa / Samira
Support: Ruler / Nami
To someone unfamiliar with the game, it might seem pointless to check the invade matchups when our team isn’t moving at all, but it’s actually not.
Only our team knows that nobody is defending the invade because of smoke breaks or a quick rest.
In other words, irrespective of whether our team goes out to defend against the invade, how the enemy team chooses to move in an invade situation purely depends on the early game matchup between our champions and theirs.
Thus, I made a judgment call.
‘The matchup suggests they’re likely to come in first.’
Our team’s formation is in the lower area.
I placed a ward in my red bush and then backed off.
Trying to defend my red alone without my teammates would only increase the risk I had to bear.
It was the moment one minute into the game.
[All][Master of Je-do Kim (Zed): ?]
[All][Master of Je-do Kim (Zed): For real?]
Finally, it seemed the opponent finished checking the stats, and they sent out a strange reaction.
Now, our team members, who had just started to move, also chimed in the chat.
[All][Triangle Mid Laner (Talon): ㅇㅇㅋ]
[All][Triangle Mid Laner (Talon): Guys, we’re screwed now]
[All][Triangle Mid Laner (Talon): 15 surrender, let’s go]
[All][Master of Je-do Kim (Zed): What the heck, a Challenger shows up in normals ㅋㅋ]
[All][2021.06.07 (Samira): No… such a rare person in this humble place…]
[All][2021.06.07 (Samira): Just kidding]
[All][DiaorDai (Lee Sin): I’m a real fan. Please give me a lesson]
With various messages popping up, it had already been 1 minute and 10 seconds since the game started, and finally, our bottom duo began to move.
It was already too late for a leash, and our vision over the enemy’s red was extremely dangerous, so I pinged for retreat.
[!] [!] [!]
Even after pinging for retreat, it seemed that Ruler was still pressing forward without moving away from the spot, which looked suspicious.
-First Blood!
Sure enough.
Our support soon fell to the enemy team that revealed themselves outside of the ward’s vision.
[DaHyeIsThumbGondyu (Ruler): Ah]
[DaHyeIsThumbGondyu (Ruler): Sorry]
[JaeHyukMaster123 (Kai’Sa): It’s okay, let’s keep fighting]
I took it in stride, as it was a familiar sight.
While I was busy checking the enemy blue for my early blue buff.
‘Hmm?’
Suddenly, the opponent Renekton and Zed appeared near my blue.
They must have been waiting by placing a ward ahead of time.
‘Look at that?’
The enemy jungler and bottom duo are currently eating my red.
In other words, this means there are only two of them right now.
If our team could have helped with the invade, a 2:3 situation would have formed where we could have caught them, but unfortunately, our team top and mid were already fixed in their lanes.
‘Things are getting interesting.’
They’re clearly showing a determination to bother me, even if it means suffering slight lane losses.
After all, this is a highly effective tactic in normal games where there’s a stark tier difference across positions.
In any case, all lanes excluding the jungler were relatively higher tier than our team.
Moreover, was it really the case where players at the Dia level didn’t just recklessly barge in?
They were probably considering the possibility of trouble if our teammates joined in.
‘Keeping a proper distance and teasing me.’
In other words, their goal is just to disrupt my jungle time, not to take my blue.
‘In situations like this, it’s usually right for teammates to come help even at a loss… But I can’t expect that.’
In this situation, I couldn’t just keep hitting my blue alone, so I had no choice but to stop jungling and retreat for a bit.
-Hahaha!
-Kakakakaka!!
Seeing me back off, the enemy Renekton and Zed made laughing emotes.
This is getting irritating.
After the blue reset,
The hurriedly moving allies, having cleared a lane, finally joined in.
Of course, it was already after the blue was reset and the enemy top and mid had already returned.
In the end, the result was that the enemy two laners had suffered minor lane losses, and I had significant jungle delays.
‘This is going to be tough.’
It’s a Sylas jungle where without a leash, you can’t jungle at all.
And now on top of that, I’ve reset my blue buff, leaving my options extremely narrow.
‘This is why you don’t pick junglers like this in normals.’
I can’t believe the opponents are coming out like this in a normal game…
It seems like I’m facing the consequence of picking a trash champion after all.
‘I need to take the wolves first.’
Since my health was already pretty low, even with smite, I couldn’t take down a buff monster alone.
Ultimately, when I finished taking the wolves, I finally reached level 2, while the enemy Lee Sin, who was slightly ahead of me, already made an appearance at our bottom.
-Our ally has been slain!
-Ennemy, double kill!
In an instant, the bottom duo went down.
Seal the strengths of the opponents and dig into their weaknesses.
I thought it was a sight you wouldn’t see in a normal game, but perhaps it’s precisely because it’s a normal game that they can play like that.
Losing without any penalty for defeat means you can throw out all sorts of risky plays without a care.
‘Things are flowing quite nicely.’
Often while playing Legends of League, there are times where individually, no matter what you do, you can’t win a game.
For me, this game might be one of those.
There’s barely a justification to win.
It’s just a normal game that doesn’t impact scores, and even more so, it’s merely a game to test new equipment.
But…….
[All][2021.06.07 (Samira): Don’t get too discouraged. It’s me, after all~]
[All][IlIIIIIIIIllllll (Renekton): Is this… Challenger Rank 2?]
[All][DiaorDai (Lee Sin): Master, can I reach Master-level with this performance?]
I suddenly want to win this game.