Chapter 253. We Were Not Wrong (2)


    The casters got excited and shouted when shy de reappeared.


    "No way, they didn''t ban him?"


    "And they''re sticking with their initial picks!?"


    The caster looked surprised and asked the analyst for an exnation.


    "It''s nice for us to see Almond''s shy de again... but is this okay? Storm Ninja is banned, so who will be used to counter him?"


    The ssic hard counter, Storm Ninja, was still banned even though High Protein had intentionally given up shy de.


    The casters and viewers couldn’tprehend it.


    — Why didn''t they ban shy de?


    — They must have a n.


    — shy de wasn''t powerful enough to ban. They can''t just ban him because Almond showed off one super y.


    — Do you guys really think they should just ban the champions they don''t like? WTF.


    The viewers expressed divided opinions. Some questioned why High Protein didn’t ban sh de. Others argued that banning him just because he worked out once would undermine the whole ban-pick system.


    The casters sided with the second opinion.


    "I think I know what High Protein is thinking! This ismon in professional games!"


    "What, what is it?!"


    "You''re picking shy de? It''s no big deal. They think they just lost unexpectedly earlier! In other words, they believe that they didn''t make an error and the first set was simply a mistake!"


    Indeed, the first set wasn''t a total defeat. There had been moments when the game could have turned around. They simply lost because they couldn''t stop the powerful shy de in thete game.


    Was there really a reason to ban him? By professional standards, the answer was no.


    "If you ban him just because of one super y, the whole ban-pick system gets messed up! One reason they allowed it is precisely because they knew the opponent would definitely pick shy de!"


    "Ah, is that so? That could be the reason why they didn''t ban him?"


    "Of course! Usually, you can''t strategize because you don''t know what the opponent will pick. What if it''s obvious though? Why bother banning it then? Otherwise, another unpredictable champion maye up!"


    "Wow! I get it! You can counter the champion if you already know! Folks, they lost the first set because they didn''t know!"


    "Exactly!" OrangeKing nodded and suddenly mmed the table. "And!"


    He pointed at SweetRadish and passionately spoke, "SweetRadish is human too! As a professional yer! As a challenger! His pride must have been hurt!"


    There was a reason for OrangeKing''s suddenments. It was because High Protein''s pick for the midne had just been confirmed.


    [Wind Sword - Seiko]


    Boom!


    Seikonded with a shy gust of wind.


    "He must want to fight again!"


    — Sword vs. de Revenge!


    — WOW.


    — Holy shit! Is this going to be a revenge match?


    — LOL.


    — We weren’t wrong!


    — Let''s go, Team We Weren’t Wrong!


    "Damn, look at all thosements in the chat!"


    High Protein finished their picks.


    — Wow, they''re crazy af.


    — Are they really doing this again?


    — Literally?


    — This is the true We Were Not Wrong team!


    — Showing too much pride, OMG.


    "Woah~" OrangeKing eximed in awe.


    "Wow, is it aplete rematch?"


    Both teams picked the same champions.


    "Apparently, High Protein thinks they were just unlucky in the first set! Balloon Stars seems to be saying, ''It''s not luck. It''s your skills!’"


    "This is interesting! We''ve seen this sometimes in LCK or Worlds, haven''t we?"


    "Yes. Strong teams will usually say, ''There''s nothing wrong with our ban-picks! We just made mistakes in our y!'' This kind of feedback usuallyes after the match."


    "In reality, there have been many cases where the results were different, right?"


    "Of course, there have been many cases where the ban picks remained the same, but the oue changed."


    Ban picks were just a way to set the stage. The most important thing was how they yed within that framework.


    — But I think that shy de is too OP.


    — I like how I get to watch another game with shy de.


    — shy de is overrated just because he got first blood. It’ll be different this round.


    Both teams finished their picks, and the casters had nothing more to say. The teams chose the same picks as the previous round.


    "There we go! They’ve finished their picks! Will SweetRadish''s We Weren''t Wrong Revenge Tour be sessful? Let''s find out in the second round!"


    ***


    The game certainly flowed differently from the first one at the start.


    First, no early skirmishes urred because SweetRadish didn’t intentionally provoke one.


    "It’s already different from the first game, isn''t it? The flow is quite different!"


    "Yes, the first game’s main event was definitely when Almond drew first blood in the midne. It''s not happening now, right?"


    Both sides focused on farming each other''s minions, and a peaceful period followed.


    This benefitted Almond, who needed to reach Level 6.


    However, High Protein wasn''t nning for it to go smoothly.


    "Huh? SweetPotato''s movements seem unusual. Do you see?"


    "Why is he there?"


    Junglers usually took the most efficient path to kill monsters. Only a few variations of the most efficient path existed. Therefore, the movement of junglers could often easily be predicted.


    Casters watching from a third-person perspective could make predictions even easier.


    However, SweetPotato was moving along apletely different path.


    "Is he going to kill Almond without caring about optimizing his y?!"


    SweetPotato ran toward the midne.


    "SweetPotato is slowly approaching!"


    "Almond doesn''t know yet!"


    "SweetRadish is standing still. He suddenly moved forward! Almond should notice right away!"


    [Whirlwind]


    Bang!


    Wind Sword used his Whirlwind.


    Almond would’ve usually just dodged it by jumping, but he felt something odd and quickly threw his de back.


    "Almond noticed! Will he be able to escape..."


    Then, he instantly shed away.


    Pop!


    Almond arrived at thepletely wrong ce.


    "What!?"


    "Wow! SweetPotato!"


    The de pierced SweetPotato in the Beast''s nk, but his body also pinned shy de.


    "Is this an all-out attack!?"


    "There''s no way to escape now!"


    "Almond! It’s do or die! He’s just hitting him!"


    Almond decided it was better to kill the Beast and started attacking.


    sh!


    Their ws and des shed and stabbed at each other. Almond sessfully dodged several of his attacks.


    "But why is he so strong in the middle of this...!?"


    "They''re really fighting their asses off!"


    [SweetPotato]


    [HP: 73%]


    The situation was odd because SweetPotato initiated the ambush, but had lower health.


    "Wait until SweetRadish joins!"


    Wind Sword joined from behind and stabbed Almond in the back.


    Thud!


    Almond''s health dropped to below half. He moved to the left, adjusting his position, and pointed his de at them.


    sh!


    Almond blocked the charging Beast''s ws.


    ng!!


    He also deflected the thrust from Wind Sword.


    The Beast attempted to pounce on him, but Almond easily dodged and countered with his de.


    ng!


    With a determined look, SweetRadish shed the air toward Almond as if cutting fresh vegetables with both hands. His sword energy began to speed up.


    ng! sh! ng!


    Sparks flew like welding metal.


    Almond''s health gradually decreased from countless attacks of Sweet Radish and the Beast.


    "sh will be ready soon!?"


    The sh cooldown went from four seconds to almost zero.


    "It''ll be a big problem if they don''t catch him! SweetPotato invested a lot in this!"


    "Ah, Almond is going to get caught!"


    [First Blood!]


    [SweetPotato → LazySoldier]


    Finally, Almond fell to the ground.


    "Phew! They caught him!"


    "But was it supposed to be this hard to catch him? It''s a bit concerning, isn''t it?"


    — Is this a raid or what...


    — He blocked that much with the de.


    — Huh... if Almond didn''t make a mistake on his sh, he would''ve killed one of them instead.


    — Is it easier to block because the de is faster?


    Even though they caught Almond from behind and the Level 2 gank ambush went perfectly, High Protein almost lost against Almond.


    "He wasn''t just lucky in the first game with shy de! How did he endure that for so long?"


    "Yes, his de mastery is no joke! Of course, he''s stillckingpared to SweetRadish, but his reaction speed is insane!"


    "Anyway! To summarize, SweetRadish sessfully took revenge. The result is what’s most important, right?"


    — Anyway, it was a sess, lol.


    — Well, they did kill Almond, lol.


    — The game is flowing well.


    "And! It felt like this kill was deliberately passed to SweetPotato."


    OrangeKing''s suspicion was correct. SweetRadish''s strategy for this game was to invest heavily in SweetPotato.


    "He went that far at Level 2. A reward seems like a given. SweetPotato''s movements are looking unusual again, aren''t they?"


    SweetPotato started approaching differentnes with a different route again.


    Alerts came one after another.


    [An ally has been in!]


    [AcornJelly → Bubblegum]


    [An ally has been in!]


    [WhiteChicken → Miho]


    If SweetPotato went to the top, the top ally died. If he went to the bottom, the bottom ally died.


    Even Almond, who already died once, couldn’t turn things around.


    It wentpletely different from the first game.


    "Ah, all theirnes are at a disadvantage."


    "It was the same in the first game, too."


    "But Almond did well in the first game!"


    "That''s correct. He made a huge difference."


    Reaching Level 6 early was the best thing Almond did in the first game. He barely did anything from levels two to five.


    SweetRadish and SweetPotato exploited this weakness and demolished the othernes.


    [An ally has been in!]


    [The enemy is rampaging!]


    [SweetPotato is dominating!]


    "Ah...! Another death!?"


    "No, it''s almost the samebination. How can the situation be so different!?"


    "Bubblegum is on his third death! They can''t let their guard down!"


    — OMG, lol. I guess the We Were Not Wrong revenge is turning out well


    — What will happen with the ban picks if they lose like this?


    — Please, Bubblegum, do something!


    — This is Bubblegum''s best I guess...


    yers couldn''t defend the tower if they died three times.


    [The tower has been destroyed!]


    "Ah...! They even got the first tower! This is going to make a big difference..."


    The early flow of the game lost nearly all hope.


    If there was any hope left, it was that.


    "Still, somehow the mid-tower survived, right!?"


    "Yes, we''ll safely get Almond to Level 6 no matter what happens! That''s Tako''s will!"


    Theirst hope was Almond reaching Level 6.


    "If Almond makes another super y at Level 6, no one can predict the final result!"


    Meanwhile, Almond steadily gained experience and leveled up. Without any additional deaths, he would soon reach Level 6.


    "This isn''t something a yer can handle alone!"


    "That''s right! But we can still hope!"


    — Lol


    — If hope fails, then whatever.


    — Seriously, lol.


    — This OrangeKing bastard, lol.


    No matter how strong Almond was at Level 6, he couldn''t simply turn around this situation like a wild card. If that were possible, the ban pick rate of shy de in the professional scene would be 100%.


    "Real miracles happen sometimes, right!? We call them super ys."


    "That''s right. Balloon Stars must be holding on and hoping for that."


    Giving up wasn’t an option even if it seemed impossible. The probability didn’t matter much as long as they still had one way. They had to do what needed to be done.


    The result would decide whether it was possible or not.


    ''I’ve got this,'' Almond repeated to himself as he neared level six.


    "Finally! He’ll soon reach Level 6! Can he show us something?"


    "Oh! But right now, five people are gathering in the midne to kill Almond! They want to kill him before he reaches Level 6! That’s what they''re trying to do, right!?"


    SweetRadish started approaching again. On the map, all four High Protein members ran toward the midne.


    Almond already knew.


    ''Up to here...''


    Just a few more minions, and he would level up.


    He thrust his de forward.


    [de Art]


    de Art traced a line through the minions.


    Clink nk!


    It was far more efficient than hitting them one at a time with the de. Moreover, he perfectly chose the path with only low-health minions.


    [You''ve leveled up!]


    He leveled up.


    "Ohhh! Almond! He leveled up before High Protein arrived!? Now it’ll be easier to escape!"


    Zing...!


    A red light shone from the sky, and the des slowly descended.


    "SweetRadish is rushing toward him! He saw the two des and wants Almond to use one of the sh in advance!"


    It wasn''t just SweetRadish.


    Champions sprang out from every direction except the rear.


    Pa bat!


    "SweetPotato is shouting that Almond won’t fool them twice!!"


    Screech.


    Almond spun his twin des around his wrist as if letting them loose. Then, like a spinning top, his body rotated.


    Swing!


    Both des flew out simultaneously toward the enemies.


    "Almond!? He isn''t running away! Instead, he’s counterattacking!?"


    Almond judged that his team couldn''t win the game if he ran away.


    ''I need to do it now.''


    Bzzt!


    His figure disappeared like lightning.