Chapter 6

"Ahri, what's going on? Didn't I tell you not to leave the tower?" The Prince, who had just ambushed a wave in the bottom lane and secured a kill, asked angrily.

"I didn't leave the tower!!" Ahri, the mid-lane champion, felt incredibly wronged.

"It's okay, don't blame Ahri. The Zed from the other team just tower-dived. But it's fine, the other four on their team are noobs. Just play it safe, and we can win." Riven, the top-lane champion, who had just witnessed the tower dive, defended Ahri.

Meanwhile...

"Everyone, play it safe, we can win." Li Xianghe encouraged his team in the chat.

Li Xianghe went back to base and bought a small dagger, then returned to the lane.

Seeing that Li Xianghe's Zed ultimate was on cooldown, Ahri felt reassured and safely last-hit a few minions under the tower.

Soon, after his ultimate came back up, Li Xianghe pushed the lane and went back to base.

This time, Li Xianghe bought five-speed boots, a vision ward, and a few health potions, then rushed to the bottom lane.

"Invisible blades are the most deadly!"

Upon reaching the bottom lane, both ADCs were last-hitting minions. Their team's Blitzcrank had just been killed by the Prince and was rushing back to the lane after respawning. The enemy Garen, a tank, was moving around the Graves, looking for an opportunity to land his ultimate on the Ashe.

After placing a vision ward in the first bush and seeing no enemy wards, Li Xianghe quietly entered and slowly approached the enemy Graves.

The enemy mid-lane Ahri, noticing Li Xianghe's prolonged absence, realized something was wrong and quickly signaled the bottom lane.

"It's fine, I have my ultimate, Zed won't come. Riven, be careful, Zed is probably going to you." Garen confidently said in the chat.

Seeing that his ultimate range was sufficient, Li Xianghe didn't wait for the Blitzcrank, who had just arrived at the second tower, and immediately marked the enemy Graves, activating his ultimate.

"Prohibit: Deathmark!"

Graves was clearly startled, taking a few steps back. However, the support Garen was frantically marking, and Graves decided to stand still, preparing to counter-attack as soon as Zed landed, with Garen's ultimate.

The moment Zed landed, Garen, who had been waiting, immediately used his ultimate to charge.

But Li Xianghe, sitting in front of the computer, calmly pressed R, swapping positions with the shadow he had left behind, dodging Garen's ultimate.

Almost simultaneously, Li Xianghe's Zed threw a shuriken and a basic attack, followed by a Haunting Blade and another basic attack. The small dagger's life steal and the second part of Zed's ultimate damage instantly killed the full-health Graves!

Dominating!!!!

"Nice!" the top-lane Master Yi exclaimed.

"God... He's a god... I never knew Zed could be played like this!" Zhao Xin, who had just finished farming the F4 and was heading back to base, saw this and muttered to himself.

This was completely different from the perception of Zed, a champion that had just been released last season. Many professional players had publicly stated that Zed was underpowered, with high difficulty and not recommended for use.

"Ah, how is this even possible?" Garen, stunned by Zed's series of dazzling moves that dodged both his and the ADC's ultimate, felt his entire gaming perspective collapse.

Seeing the situation, Garen quickly used Flash to try to escape but was stopped by Ashe's ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, and then pulled back by the Blitzcrank's Q, Mechanical Claw, and knocked into the air. In the end, with Li Xianghe intentionally letting the kill go, the kill went to the support Blitzcrank.

Ashe, not bothered to argue with Blitzcrank, quickly typed in the chat: "God, add me as a friend."

Clearly, this Ashe player realized that this Zed was a strong ally, and not to add him would be a sin!

"Uh... Sorry, my friend list is full." Li Xianghe politely declined.

For professional players, each friend slot was very important, and they rarely added friends in ranked games. In his previous life, Li Xianghe, at the peak of his e-sports career, had even refused a wealthy person who offered 200,000 RMB for a friend slot.

The kill score was now 5:5, with Li Xianghe securing 4 kills and the Blitzcrank 1.

On the enemy side, the jungler Prince had 1 kill, the top-lane Riven 2, and the ADC Graves 2.

Fifteen minutes later, Li Xianghe went to the top lane, securing a kill without using his ultimate, and then went back to base to buy a Bloodthirster. His build was now complete, and he had the ability to take out key targets in the middle of a battle. A smile crept onto Li Xianghe's face.

"The battle has just begun!"

"Group up, group up! We can't let Zed have more opportunities to split-push and kill." The Prince, watching Zed's ninja-like movements, felt restless.

The enemy team also realized this and started grouping up to push the mid-lane.

"Split-push 4-1." Li Xianghe typed in the chat.

"God, what if they come to gank you?"

The Blitzcrank asked naively.

Before Li Xianghe could answer, Zhao Xin eagerly replied, "Are you stupid? With that group of noobs, two of them coming to gank you would be a free kill. They'd need at least three to gank you, and if they do, we'd have already pushed to their base."

Li Xianghe couldn't help but smile at the Korean player who had previously called him a noob. However, Zed was indeed a champion well-suited for split-pushing.

In his previous life, there were two famous Zed players in the professional scene: one known as the "Naruto" for his aggressive playstyle, and another known for his split-pushing and tower-diving.

This time, Li Xianghe bought a Vision Ward and headed to the bottom lane, taking down the outer tower that had been left with low health by Ashe.

Seeing the enemy team still grouped up at their mid-tower, Li Xianghe continued to push the lane.

Zed's ability to clear waves was strong, and soon Li Xianghe pushed the wave to the enemy's second tower.

Due to Li Xianghe's aggressive lane control, their mid-tower was almost full health, making it difficult for the enemy to take it down.

After pushing the wave into the enemy's second tower, Li Xianghe didn't continue to attack the tower but instead went into the enemy jungle, hiding in the bush near the red buff.

"Where's Zed? Why isn't he pushing the tower?" The enemy Graves, who had been focusing on the bottom lane, asked.

"He might be afraid of us ganking him and went back to base. Who will take the wave at the bottom tower?" the Prince said.

"I'll do it, I have my ultimate." Riven said.

This was a common strategy for assassin champions like Zed. While they were strong in solo engagements, when the enemy grouped up, a skilled assassin needed to create opportunities through different tactics.

Clearly, Li Xianghe's strategy was well-suited for this level of play.

Riven's focus was on the wave at the bottom tower, calculating what item to buy after clearing it. As he walked, he suddenly noticed he was taking damage. Switching his view, he was startled to see Zed, who had appeared and was already attacking him, reducing his health to half.

Riven immediately used his W to try to stun Zed and Flash to escape, but as he raised his hand,

"Prohibit: Deathmark!"

Familiar scene, familiar move!

"Ah, how can he dodge that?!" Riven's W was a targeted skill with no travel time.

After a shuriken and a Haunting Blade, Li Xianghe didn't even use Ignite, leaving the low-health Riven behind and retreating gracefully.

A second later...

Unstoppable!!!!

"God, that damage is insane!" Ashe exclaimed.

"You don't understand, this is what a true assassin is, no, a Naruto!" Zhao Xin, with the ID "Korean Pro," immediately responded.

"Push the tower." Li Xianghe, now in the mid-lane, marked the enemy's second tower.

With one member down, the enemy's Garen didn't dare to use his ultimate to initiate a team fight. They resisted symbolically and then abandoned the tower.

Li Xianghe marked the second tower in the bottom lane, and the team pushed it down.

After returning to base, Li Xianghe bought a Last Whisper, placed a few wards, and headed to the top lane to split-push.

"What do we do? Zed is pushing the top lane again." Riven, seeing Li Xianghe pushing the wave to the first tower, asked anxiously.

"Let him, Garen, find an opportunity to ultimate the enemy Master Yi and ADC. They've already gone back to base to heal. We'll initiate a team fight under the tower!" the Prince said through gritted teeth.

"Wait, Zed is coming, fall back." The ADC Graves suddenly saw Li Xianghe moving through the river from the vision ward at the Dragon pit.

"Are you scared? It's fine, just stand in the middle, he can't fly. The tower only has a little health left, take it down quickly." Garen angrily said, "If he dares to come again, I'll Flash and ultimate him!"

Thanks to the five-speed boots, Li Xianghe moved quickly to the mid-lane bush. Without hesitation, he used W to place a shadow in the bush behind him and charged at the five enemies like a cold-blooded assassin. The intense aura of a lone killer facing a thousand enemies made the five enemies' first reaction to run.

Run? Garen remembered his task and used Flash and R to charge at Li Xianghe.

Garen felt his hand speed improve dramatically, the two skills connecting smoothly and quickly. Was it because Zed had successfully ignited his anger and determination? Was this what the books meant by being grateful to every opponent?

But before he could finish his thoughts, the space where Li Xianghe was standing distorted, and he used Flash, another极限的闪现.

"Ah, is this even a game?!" In a high-end apartment in Seoul, a girl named Yoon Ah, a member of Girls' Generation, was so angry she wanted to throw her keyboard. She rarely had time to play her favorite game, and now she was being frustrated by this Zed!

Garen's ultimate, due to its casting range, could be dodged by good positioning and movement skills.

But Yoon Ah, sitting in front of the computer, was shouting in her mind, "I used Flash and ultimate, and you still dodged! Is this even a game? Is having fast hands and reflexes that impressive?!"

Li Xianghe, however, had no time to care about a girl's thoughts. His target was the ADC Graves.

The moment he landed from his Flash, he used his ultimate to target Graves, who was marked with Ignite. The scattered shadows recombined in front of Graves, revealing Li Xianghe's true form.

A shuriken, a basic attack, and a Shadow Step to swap positions with the shadow behind Graves, dodging Graves' ultimate and narrowly escaping Riven's W.

The black shadow and Li Xianghe's true form both used Haunting Blade, followed by a basic attack, and then Li Xianghe used the Bloodthirster to heal and quickly used W to swap positions with the shadow in the bush, instantly leaving the battlefield.

All of this happened in a split second, so fast that even the Garen who had used his ultimate couldn't apply Weakness to Zed before Li Xianghe finished his damage and left.

Using his skills to cancel the attack animation, he dealt five hits in a second, instantly killing the full-health ADC Graves with a Barrier!

Godlike!!!!

In the chaos, Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow hit the fleeing Riven, and the Blitzcrank pulled him in. Li Xianghe used the slow from his shadow's Haunting Blade to keep Riven in place, and with his high damage, he secured a pentakill, wiping out the enemy team!

Pentakill!!!!

ACE!!!!

After pushing the enemy's base tower, Li Xianghe led his team to destroy one of the inhibitor turrets. The game time was now 25 minutes, and the enemy team surrendered.

This was the advantage of playing in a lower rank. When players felt there was no hope of a comeback, they often surrendered, saving everyone time.

After the game, Li Xianghe stretched lazily, only to be startled by Park Seok-beom, who had been quietly watching behind him.

"Why do these father and son both have the habit of standing behind people and scaring them?" Li Xianghe, feeling good after his return to e-sports, couldn't help but complain.