LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

Chapter 229 The Fierce Battle Between RNG and C9

The night breeze carried a hint of the salty smell of the sea, blowing against the windows of the SKT bus.

Inside the carriage, most of the team members, who had just experienced a fierce battle, leaned back in their seats and closed their eyes to rest.

Although they defeated VIT with an absolute advantage of 2:0, achieving a resounding victory in the S8 group stage, the suffocating pace of the new version still left everyone feeling somewhat fatigued.

Xiao Yan sat by the window, took out his phone from his pocket, and as soon as the screen lit up, a dense list of unread messages popped up.

At the very top of the list was a message from Lee Hyun-kyung.

"Congratulations on your first win! Today, Xiao Pao was like the Grim Reaper descending, so cool! [Sprinkling flowers][Admiration] The match was so tough, you must get a good rest tonight. If you have time, I'll treat you to barbecue when we get back to Seoul~"

Xiao Yan looked at the playful emoticons on the screen, and a very faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Besides Lee Hyun-kyung, here are a few other congratulatory messages from female celebrities in the Korean entertainment industry.

Irene, the leader of the popular girl group Red Velvet, sent a short greeting: "I watched the match, it was very exciting, congratulations on your first victory. Take care of your wrists."

There was also a voice message from Girls' Generation's Yoona, which played in her signature sweet voice: "Xiao Yan is amazing! I watched the live stream with everyone during a break on set today, and that pentakill at the end really stunned us! SKT will definitely win the championship again this year, go go go!"

His long, slender fingers tapped rapidly on the screen, replying to Lee Hyun-kyung: "Thanks, I appreciate your kind words. Let's talk about barbecue after we win the championship."

Afterwards, he replied to Bae Joo-hyun, Im Yoon-ah, and others with simple polite words like "thank you, I will continue to work hard," then locked his phone and put it back in his pocket.

It was already past 9 p.m. when we got back to the hotel where SKT was staying.

After quickly eating the nutritious meal prepared by the base, Xiao Yan did not go to the lounge to play billiards and relax like Xiao Huasheng and the others, but went straight into the training room.

The training room was empty at the moment, except for rows of high-end computers emitting a faint blue light.

Xiao Yan pulled out his gaming chair, sat down, skillfully turned on his computer, and opened the official live stream of the League of Legends tournament.

On the screen, the final BO3 match of today's group stage is taking place between RNG and C9.

"Xiao Yan, aren't you going to rest?"

Footsteps sounded behind him, and Faker walked in carrying a cup of warm grapefruit tea, pulled out the chair next to Xiao Yan and sat down.

"Let's see how RNG is doing." Xiao Yan's eyes were fixed on the draft phase on the screen. "Let's see how the other teams are dealing with this 'constipated' version."

Faker adjusted his round-framed glasses and nodded in deep agreement: "The changes to the turret mechanics and minion waves in this version are simply torture for aggressive teams. VIT taught us a lesson today. If you hadn't forced a breakthrough with Tristana, that game could have dragged on forty minutes."

At this moment, the first match between RNG and C9 had officially begun in the live stream.

Just as Xiao Yan and Faker had predicted, the match turned into an extremely tense and drawn-out battle from the very beginning.

C9's coaching staff clearly understood the advantages of the current meta, picking Anivia for mid laner Jensen and Sivir for bot laner Sneaky. These two champions together are practically like two mobile turrets.

Although RNG gained an early advantage in the bottom lane thanks to Uzi's strong individual skill and jungler Karsa's keen sense of positioning, even securing three kills, they encountered significant resistance when they tried to use the Rift Herald to push the mid lane's first tower at the 15-minute mark.

Anivia used her ultimate to spread minions on the lane, and with Sivir's W bouncing attack, a wave of minions, including large minions and cannon minions, vanished in less than three seconds.

Without minions, RNG had an economic advantage but couldn't even touch C9's turrets.

"This is disgusting." Xiao Yan looked at the screen, his brows furrowing slightly. "C9 is determined to play the coward and drag the game out for another thirty minutes."

In the first match, RNG narrowly secured a victory thanks to Uzi's perfect entry with Kai'Sa at the 35-minute mark.

However, in the very next game, C9 repeated the same strategy, picking Viktor mid and Xayah bot lane for wave clear. This time, RNG made a mistake during an early tower dive, resulting in a 3-for-1 trade for C9.

Having gained the advantage, C9 took their "survival" strategy to the extreme. They didn't fight, didn't invade, and simply stayed under their turrets to clear minions. RNG's attempts to engage were thwarted by Viktor's force field and Xayah's ultimate.

Ultimately, the second game dragged on for a full thirty-eight minutes. C9, relying on Viktor's terrifying AOE damage after he reached full power, crushed RNG in a Baron fight and won a game back.

The score is now tied at 1-1.

The deciding game, the third match.

When the game loading screen appeared, Xiao Yan keenly noticed that when the director gave the players a close-up shot, the RNG players already showed a hint of undisguised fatigue on their faces.

Uzi, in particular, habitually rubbed his right wrist, and even a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Xianghe, did you notice?" Xiao Yan said, pointing at the screen.

Faker nodded, his expression grave: "Uzi's hand injury is a concern. These games that often last over 35 minutes are incredibly taxing on a player's stamina and energy. Especially for the ADC position, which requires constant high-intensity auto-attacks and lightning-fast reflexes, over time, their mechanics will inevitably suffer."

The course of the third game perfectly confirmed Faker's concerns.

In this match, both sides played more cautiously, with very few kills, and it completely turned into a tug-of-war over vision and minion waves.

Twenty minutes later, the economies of both sides were completely even.

Thirty minutes in, RNG secured the dragon, but C9 destroyed RNG's mid-lane tower.

As the game ticked away, the atmosphere on the field became so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

When the clock reached the terrifying forty minutes, almost all ten players on the field had their full builds. At this point, any tiny mistake, even just a wrong step or missing a Flash, could lead to the collapse of the entire game.

The final battle erupted in the ancient dragon pit.

RNG's support Ming was controlling Alistar, looking for an opportunity to initiate a team fight. However, he seemed to have slowed his judgment due to prolonged tension, and ended up crouching in C9's blind spot for an extra second.

That one second of hesitation gave C9's top laner Licorice the opportunity, and Maokai's Asian Bind directly grabbed Uzi, who was positioned slightly forward!

"Uzi has been caught out!" Miller roared in despair from the commentary booth.

Uzi reacted quickly; he used his Mercury's Treads to break free of the control almost the instant he was grabbed, and then used Flash to pull himself away.

However, just as he used Flash to land and was about to turn around and fight back, his operation suffered a fatal mishap!

He was supposed to use his auto-attack on the C9 jungler, but due to a slight shift in the mouse pointer, he accidentally hit a minion instead!

"You attacked the wrong person! Uzi made a mistake with his basic attack at this crucial moment!" Wawa held his head, his face full of disbelief.

For a top-tier ADC, missing even one auto-attack in a late-game team fight can often be fatal.

Because of this mistake, C9's assassin mid-laner found an angle to enter the fray, using a combo to bring Uzi to low health and force him to use his Guardian Angel.

Without Uzi as their core damage dealer, RNG's team fights crumbled instantly.

Although RNG ultimately managed to take down three C9 players thanks to Xiaohu's desperate attempt with his Vladimir, they managed to hold their base and, at the 3-minute mark, secured a dramatic 2-1 victory in the best-of-three series with a ruthless backdoor attack.

But Xiao Yan felt no relief whatsoever after watching the match.

Uzi, in particular, habitually rubbed his right wrist, and even a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Xianghe, did you notice?" Xiao Yan said, pointing at the screen.

Faker nodded, his expression grave: "Uzi's hand injury is a concern. These games that often last over 35 minutes are incredibly taxing on a player's stamina and energy. Especially for the ADC position, which requires constant high-intensity auto-attacks and lightning-fast reflexes, over time, their mechanics will inevitably suffer."

The course of the third game perfectly confirmed Faker's concerns.

In this match, both sides played more cautiously, with very few kills, and it completely turned into a tug-of-war over vision and minion waves.

Twenty minutes later, the economies of both sides were completely even.

Thirty minutes in, RNG secured the dragon, but C9 destroyed RNG's mid-lane tower.

As the game ticked away, the atmosphere on the field became so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

When the clock reached the terrifying forty minutes, almost all ten players on the field had their full builds. At this point, any tiny mistake, even just a wrong step or missing a Flash, could lead to the collapse of the entire game.

The final battle erupted in the ancient dragon pit.

RNG's support Ming was controlling Alistar, looking for an opportunity to initiate a team fight. However, he seemed to have slowed his judgment due to prolonged tension, and ended up crouching in C9's blind spot for an extra second.

That one second of hesitation gave C9's top laner Licorice the opportunity, and Maokai's Asian Bind directly grabbed Uzi, who was positioned slightly forward!

"Uzi has been caught out!" Miller roared in despair from the commentary booth.

Uzi reacted quickly; he used his Mercury's Treads to break free of the control almost the instant he was grabbed, and then used Flash to pull himself away.

However, just as he used Flash to land and was about to turn around and fight back, his operation suffered a fatal mishap!

He was supposed to use his auto-attack on the C9 jungler, but due to a slight shift in the mouse pointer, he accidentally hit a minion instead!

"You attacked the wrong person! Uzi made a mistake with his basic attack at this crucial moment!" Wawa held his head, his face full of disbelief.

For a top-tier ADC, missing even one auto-attack in a late-game team fight can often be fatal.

Because of this mistake, C9's assassin mid-laner found an angle to enter the fray, using a combo to bring Uzi to low health and force him to use his Guardian Angel.

Without Uzi as their core damage dealer, RNG's team fights crumbled instantly.

Although RNG ultimately managed to take down three C9 players thanks to Xiaohu's desperate attempt with his Vladimir, they managed to hold their base and, at the 3-minute mark, secured a dramatic 2-1 victory in the best-of-three series with a ruthless backdoor attack.

But Xiao Yan felt no relief whatsoever after watching the match.

Latest plot update: Click to follow.

Uzi, in particular, habitually rubbed his right wrist, and even a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Xianghe, did you notice?" Xiao Yan said, pointing at the screen.

Faker nodded, his expression grave: "Uzi's hand injury is a concern. These games that often last over 35 minutes are incredibly taxing on a player's stamina and energy. Especially for the ADC position, which requires constant high-intensity auto-attacks and lightning-fast reflexes, over time, their mechanics will inevitably suffer."

The course of the third game perfectly confirmed Faker's concerns.

In this match, both sides played more cautiously, with very few kills, and it completely turned into a tug-of-war over vision and minion waves.

Twenty minutes later, the economies of both sides were completely even.

Thirty minutes in, RNG secured the dragon, but C9 destroyed RNG's mid-lane tower.

As the game ticked away, the atmosphere on the field became so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.

When the clock reached the terrifying forty minutes, almost all ten players on the field had their full builds. At this point, any tiny mistake, even just a wrong step or missing a Flash, could lead to the collapse of the entire game.

The final battle erupted in the ancient dragon pit.

RNG's support Ming was controlling Alistar, looking for an opportunity to initiate a team fight. However, he seemed to have slowed his judgment due to prolonged tension, and ended up crouching in C9's blind spot for an extra second.

That one second of hesitation gave C9's top laner Licorice the opportunity, and Maokai's Asian Bind directly grabbed Uzi, who was positioned slightly forward!

"Uzi has been caught out!" Miller roared in despair from the commentary booth.

Uzi reacted quickly; he used his Mercury's Treads to break free of the control almost the instant he was grabbed, and then used Flash to pull himself away.

However, just as he used Flash to land and was about to turn around and fight back, his operation suffered a fatal mishap!

He was supposed to use his auto-attack on the C9 jungler, but due to a slight shift in the mouse pointer, he accidentally hit a minion instead!

"You attacked the wrong person! Uzi made a mistake with his basic attack at this crucial moment!" Wawa held his head, his face full of disbelief.

For a top-tier ADC, missing even one auto-attack in a late-game team fight can often be fatal.

Because of this mistake, C9's assassin mid-laner found an angle to enter the fray, using a combo to bring Uzi to low health and force him to use his Guardian Angel.

Without Uzi as their core damage dealer, RNG's team fights crumbled instantly.

Although RNG ultimately managed to take down three C9 players thanks to Xiaohu's desperate attempt with his Vladimir, they managed to hold their base and, at the 3-minute mark, secured a dramatic 2-1 victory in the best-of-three series with a ruthless backdoor attack.

But Xiao Yan felt no relief whatsoever after watching the match.