You Call This Steady

But even among geniuses, there are differences.

In any profession, there are those with extraordinary talent that ordinary people find hard to comprehend. Looking back, the former DK support player, Genshin Bro, from LCK was one such incomprehensible genius. He didn't need to train hard or have guidance from a master; he just needed to watch replays himself to become a prodigy that the whole world admired.

However, besides this kind of genius, there's another type: those who become stronger when facing stronger opponents.

There are players who are born with big hearts; there are players who only grow when they encounter strong enemies; there are players who remain unknown simply because they've never stood on the battlefield that truly belongs to them.

Take LWX from the opposing team as an example.

When he debuted, no one thought he could win the championship.

But he truly joined the LPL in S8.

That year, RNG dominated. The old gods hadn't fallen, and new gods struggled to rise. It wasn't until RNG's troubles during the S8 period that IG's trident slowly emerged before the world. JKL's Flash forward fundamentally changed the playstyle of ADCs in the LPL.

By S9, LWX, who had been silent the previous year, began to exert his strength. Finally, alongside his teammates, he secured the S9 championship with perfect team operation, even achieving a record of not dying once.

In S11, EDG's Viper, within a year of arriving in the LPL, rapidly transformed from an ADC discarded by LCK into the S11 championship ADC.

They all experienced incredibly rapid growth in their respective years.

And now, the seed named "talent" buried within Luo Zhen's body has finally begun to sprout.

[My feel for the game seems to be slowly improving...]

[Is it like that last time? No, the improvement isn't as significant this time, but I can feel myself getting stronger bit by bit.]

[It seems I don't need to click so many times here, but over there, I can't do that. Changing it like this feels much more comfortable. Could this be... the rhythm?]

[My heart is racing, but why does it feel like the pressure from the opponent isn't as great anymore? Let me try clicking... click again... and again... It seems I've grasped some method.]

The offensive rhythm was constantly controlled, and the pressure on the opposing player steadily increased.

Caitlyn, strictly speaking, is an ADC that heavily tests a player's fundamental abilities. She's very straightforward: positioning, range, trap placement, skill prediction – that's all there is to it.

There are no messy mechanics, only flawless details.

With a significant advantage in gold and items (advantageous economy + Lulu), FPX was forced to avoid engagements, waiting for their own two carries to get their three items before attempting a miracle team fight. As the game entered a prolonged phase, it meant that both sides would officially hand over the damage-dealing core to their dual carries.

"Little Zhen."

"Huh?"

Luo Zhen, slightly dazed, turned his gaze to Rookie beside him. Rookie, with a smile on his face, spoke into the team comms:

"Let's win this game together, just this one."

"Okay!"

Chapter Thirty-Three: You Have No Chance Against Me, Who Carries V5's Will

"FPX's concession, are they planning to wait for their dual carries to get three items for a Dragon Soul team fight?"

"But V5 isn't afraid of going late game either. We have Azir and Caitlyn, and Ornn providing items. Isn't this a bit too risky?"

"Both ADCs' equipment is updating rapidly, but it seems V5's ADC's equipment is updating even faster."

"Is there a possibility that V5 will directly force a Baron Nashor team fight?"

The commentators' shouts undoubtedly confirmed the players' thoughts.

LPL is a competition, and competitions are always cruel. When you have the advantage, why wait for the opponent's carries to get their items before fighting? V5, due to their early lead, will have their dual carries reach their three-item power spike about a minute earlier than the opponent's. This is the window where they can force Baron Nashor to initiate a team fight.

You won't fight me?

Then I'll force you to come and fight me!

"I have my items."

"I'm almost there too, we can force a fight."

With Kraken Slayer, Infinity Edge, and Serylda's Grudge, along with Ornn's item delivery and Lulu's buffs, Caitlyn at this point could practically be considered to have four items. Theoretically, developing further to get a Zhonya's Hourglass would be better, but by then, Jinx might also have completed her third item.

So, they couldn't stop.

With their items ready, they immediately pressured Baron Nashor!

V5 forcing a Baron Nashor team fight meant FPX absolutely had to respond. In Luo Zhen's eyes, the only player FPX could rely on at this moment was LWX. The critical issue was that because they could only count on LWX, he had to play a hypercarry ADC like Jinx.

And a hypercarry, by definition, means being restricted everywhere until fully developed.

In this wave, FPX was truly trapped by Coach Homme's BP.

Without any hesitation, after the support cleared the vision around the dragon pit, the V5 members directly started the Baron Nashor. They weren't afraid of being seen, or rather, even if the opponent didn't see, they would definitely guess V5's intentions when they saw no one on the map.

But they had no choice; they had to push. And while pushing, they had to be wary of whether V5 was actually taking Baron Nashor or faking it to set up an ambush. If it was the latter, they would be doomed.

However, they soon saw what was happening inside the Baron pit.

"They're taking Baron, they're taking Baron!"

"Prepare to engage, prepare to engage."

Once the Baron Nashor's health dropped to half, Viego and Renekton unhesitatingly engaged. Renekton activated his ultimate, Viego used his E, and Beichuan, hidden in the fog of war, attempted to contest the smite during this Baron Nashor play.

In the current patch, everyone's smite damage is a fixed 900. He refused to believe that if his awareness wasn't on par, his reaction and hand speed wouldn't be.

But...

R [Summoning of the Forged God]

The instant the Renekton charged in, the V5 players almost simultaneously chose to stop attacking. The Baron, with 3000 health, was in an awkward spot inside the dragon pit. With this much health, neither attacking nor retreating seemed ideal, but the Trundle's ultimate was already preventing FPX from reacting.

Attack!

They had no choice but to attack now!

The Trundle and Ornn simultaneously focused their firepower on FPX's Renekton. Facing the V5's charge, Karma activated her team-wide speed boost. Renekton used his Flash, and at the same time, LWX began his cannon-form firepower coverage.

This kind of engagement was very dangerous, but for LWX, it was also an opportunity.

If the enemy charges their formation, and they defend theirs, they could output damage to the enemy's front line faster than the enemy's back line could output damage to their own. This was a way to compensate for any output shortage caused by mechanical errors, but at the same time, it was a maneuver performed on the tip of a knife.

Viktor's ultimate created terrain to divide the space, while Jinx's cannon-form firepower provided damage. The Renekton, while escaping, waited for the Trundle's ultimate on him to end. The entire FPX team was actually managing the situation in an orderly fashion.

Up to this point, both sides were racing to deal with the enemy's front line.

But similarly, LWX's vision was constantly fixed on Rookie's Azir. At this point in time, only Azir was the hero capable of creating a miracle.

However...

Just as he was fully focused, preparing to meet Azir's "fatal push," another dazzling figure appeared at the very front of the battlefield – Caitlyn.

The Mythic item [Shurelya's Battlesong] gave Caitlyn a 25% movement speed bonus.

Lulu's W [Whimsy] also granted Caitlyn an additional movement speed of (30 + 5% AP).

Luo Zhen knew that following behind his teammates was the safest option, but at the same time, it also gave the enemy the greatest opportunity. This was because, as the enemy could see, V5 had concentrated their economic advantage on Azir and Caitlyn. As for the front-line Ornn and Trundle, they weren't as tanky as expected.

Once the Trundle's ultimate ended, with the half-built lethality item in Jinx's hands, it was possible for them to create a miracle.

Rather than waiting for the Azir to play a risky game of "driving a hearse" until they were completely defended, it was better to stand on the front lines himself!

Then, he would bait them with his own body!

"Madman, he dares to charge in like this?"

The ADC charging forward was equivalent to forcing FPX to make a choice.

They could either gamble on turning back to kill the enemy Caitlyn, or they would be chased down and killed by the enemy.

And so...

When they saw Caitlyn raise her hand as if to cast her Q, the Renekton, who had been acting like a deserter until then, saw this and immediately turned back. Using his double E dash as a springboard off the minions, he targeted the stunned Caitlyn. If Caitlyn were to be knocked down by Renekton's empowered W, then with any additional damage from FPX, V5 would face the awkward situation of losing a carry first.

However... how could Luo Zhen not have foreseen this?

"Swish~"

Flash.

One second, the ferocious Renekton was there; the next second, after the flash of light, he lunged into empty air. Before he could even react to what had happened, the Q skill that was supposed to hit his original position fired off along its original trajectory.

The Q-Flash combo perfectly dodged Renekton's surprise attack. The trap fell, and Caitlyn began to output damage to the giant before her.

Seeing this, Beichuan immediately used his Flash and W, attempting to help Renekton complete his unfinished wish of locking down Caitlyn.

But...

Another milky white light flashed. The moment Cleanse was used, the entire Demacia Cup live stage erupted with thunderous cheers.

From the start of the Demacia Cup until now, this was Luo Zhen's third crucial Cleanse to resolve a situation.

"Diao Shen!"

"Here he comes, the Big Nose Lulu!"

E [Help, Pix!]

Q [Piercing Bolt!]

With buffs applied and a slow delivered, as Lulu finally caught up to her ADC during the enemy's turn-around, Caitlyn's status bar immediately underwent a drastic change.

The MOBA game instantly transformed into an DNF status bar.

"You're finished. Now that I've completed my shenanigans, I'm invincible!"

Auto-attack, reposition, auto-attack again, cast E on the Renekton who had finally managed to get close, and create distance once more.

Damage was dealt.

At this moment, the battlefield was clearly divided into two zones.

On the left side, Ornn, Trundle, and Azir were staring intently at the enemy's bottom lane and jungle duo, especially Azir, who was fixated on Jinx's position, squeezing her output space. On the right side, V5's bottom lane duo was directly facing the enemy's low-health top laner and full-health jungler, continuously outputting damage to the enemy's front line.

Karsa and Rookie's experience was simply too profound.

They knew very well that with their clumsy combination, killing the enemy ADC was almost impossible without a god-tier Azir push.

But they had a third option!

They would create space, leave the situation to their hypercarry, and once Caitlyn and Lulu killed the enemy top laner and jungler, wouldn't it be an easy win with a five-on-three advantage?

In fact, Rookie and Karsa were extremely familiar with this kind of tempo.

Killing their bodies and then their hearts.

This was truly a heart-piercing, LWX-specific assassination technique.

Before the transfer period, he, like Luo Zhen, had teammates who could create an output environment for him. But in just two short months, the club's world championship dreams were shattered, and the championship lineup scattered. Even though he was called the "blackened" Xiang Zhangmen cleaning house, at this moment, he had only avenged his own support once.

Looking at Luo Zhen, who was being tightly protected and zoned by two veterans, LWX's eyes revealed a hint of envy and reminiscence.

His output never stopped, but a sense of desolate defeat inexplicably appeared in his heart. Before he could fully emerge from that state, a red target in the distance had already locked onto Jinx's neck.

At this point in the game, how could Renekton + Viego possibly be a match for Caitlyn, who at 24 minutes already had four items (Lulu counting as one)? Every bullet that hit FPX's front line visibly drained a large chunk of their health.

FPX underestimated Caitlyn's output.

But now, it was too late.

"Although as a blackened world champion, I should show you respect, but to oppose me, who carries V5's will, means you are destined to have no chance of winning!"

He bent his knees, half-crouched, and aimed.

"Target distance 1500m, vertical speed difference 100km/h, air temperature 30c, crosswind speed 15, calculate firing solution."

"Coordinates 0-9-8."

"Fire!"

Chapter 34: To the LPL's AD, We Declare War!

"They're here, FPX is here, they're moving towards the Dragon pit."

"But V5 isn't actually going for the Dragon, they're stopping. Ornn used his ultimate! V5 is forcing a team fight!"

"Can they keep them? Renekton retreated, what's V5 doing? Going back to continue the Dragon or chase?"

"Wait, why did Caitlyn charge forward too?"

As Luo Zhen's Caitlyn, empowered by movement speed buffs, charged at the very front of the formation, the bullet screens of the entire LPL broadcast were filled with question marks. However, soon, as he dodged abilities with his prediction and landed auto-attacks, everyone finally realized how terrifying his damage was now.