Rise

“You do you, buddy!” Lin Feng laughed, ignoring the Jarvan IV who was attacking him. His entire focus was on Red team’s top inhibitor tower. “I’ll do me. We can both have fun! See? Isn’t this great? We can all get along!”

However, the Red team wasn’t laughing. This was no joking matter. The Nasus was destroying their base! And while the Nasus was doing that, they were stuck on the middle of the map, because four annoying pests were stopping them from recalling. There was nothing they could do to get the recall through. Except by walking half way back to base. By walking so far back that it almost felt like walking back the entire way was the faster approach. But they still tried channeling their recall every few seconds, and finally the Thresh succeeded. He teleported back to his fountain and then rushed towards the top inhibitor tower. He rushed to stop the Nasus from taking the last line of defense of their base!

“Awww, looks like they’re coming back to base already,” Lin Feng complained as the Thresh appeared on his screen. The other players from the Red team had disappeared from his minimap. They were probably all successfully recalling or already arriving back in the fountain. “Ah, too bad. And I almost had it too… Such a waste.” He then pressed on his Q key–Siphoning Strike. His Nasus whacked the tower into disrepair. The stone structure collapsed and the energy kept within dissipated in the air.

“Almost had what? Didn’t you destroy the tower anyway?” Su Xue blurted out, sitting next to Lin Feng, incredulous. What is wrong with him…

“Oh! I was referring to the Jarvan. The tower was already down anyway. But, oh well, looks like I can’t kill him now,” Lin Feng explained, complained.

Su Xue rolled her eyes. She was speechless. Two towers, an inhibitor tower included, wasn’t enough. Apparently. Not for Lin Feng, anyways. He wanted more. He wasn’t satisfied until he had everything. She shook her head and said, “Hey… Aren’t you being a little greedy here?”

Lin Feng wasn’t being greedy. Not even a little. Nasus was the raid boss. He had both health and damage. Taking on a tower and a Champion or two was fine, especially after getting fed. But even a fed Nasus had its limits. That limit was Vayne in combination with Jarvan IV and Thresh. The true damage from Vayne’s silver bolts could deal serious damage to him, while the crowd control from Jarvan IV and Thresh could make sure that he’d never get anywhere near the Vayne. If he ended up giving away a kill to the Vayne, his massive bounty would go to the Vayne too. That was unacceptable. But being mindful of the situation didn’t equate to panicking. Lin Feng played to the full potential of his Champion and not a step beyond that. So he backed away from the Red inhibitor and declared, “I’ll be back!”

✹

Cup Noodles and Old Huang were truly enjoying this game. After Nasus had destroyed the tower defending Red team’s top inhibitor, the Red team had to play a lot more defensively. They couldn’t let the Nasus just push into their base. That would be game. Even the Vayne, who’d welcomed everyone into the game with his big mouth, was forced into submission. He couldn’t make any more aggressive plays. All he could do was defend. He had to try and help his team get to a point where they could challenge the Nasus again. And then, hopefully, if everything worked out just right, they could fight for a win again.