Rise (Web Novel CN)

There was still Morgana. She could use her Black Shield to protect the Tristana. The roots couldn’t root and the Vine Lashers couldn’t slow. Nor was their damage enough to break the barrier. It was the perfect counter. However, Morgana had only one Black Shield. It had a long cooldown timer. And Lin Feng was on point with his plays. He baited out the Black Shield on either Morgana or Tristana and then would quickly switch targets. If the Morgana tried to wait and cast her Black Shield a little later, the damage would be done. She had to make that decision. But it never worked out in her favour.

The crowd watching the game could agree on one thing. Bot lane looked like a horror lane. The Tristana and Morgana were pushed underneath their tower, and even there they weren’t safe. Lin Feng targeted them. Harassed them with his skills. The damage kept piling on. And if Tristana or Morgana made a slight misplay, the Twitch would jump in and help the Zyra attack. Their health dropped and they were ready to flip their tables and yell at their counterparts across from them. This wasn’t any fun!

✹

At 8 minutes, Lee Sin roamed towards bot for the second time in the game. He’d timed it just right. High School 13’s wards had worn off. They had no vision of the jungle entrance or up the river. Their Botlaners were pushing into North High’s outer tower, like they had been for the last couple of minutes. The Zyra especially caused the Tristana and Morgana a massive headache. She’d single-handedly harassed them down to below half health. If they got caught by her Grasping Roots, they’d be dead. The Lee Sin had to be fast.

North High’s Support looked at the minimap. He knew their Jungler was coming for a gank. High School 13 looked ill-prepared for it. This was their chance. “Let’s do this. We can still win!”

The ad-carry from North High nodded. His eyes were locked on the Twitch. He wanted revenge. He needed it! “Mhm. You engage first. I’ll follow right behind. Try and lock down Twitch, but if you can’t, go for the Zyra. I don’t care who we kill, just that we kill one of them.” Because after the Tristana got the first kill, her Rocket Jump cooldown would reset. She could chase after the second and pick up the kill. North High’s ad-carry was confident he could do at least that much. His Tristana should be strong enough.

Standing behind the players from North High was still Zeng Rui. He glanced at the minimap. Jarvan IV’s portrait popped up in top lane. Twisted Fate was still in mid. Lee Sin came bot for a gank. There were no other variables coming into play. This would be a 3vs2. The Lee Sin, Morgana, and Tristana were all three Level 6. They had the damage to kill the Zyra and Twitch. They also had the crowd control to lock them down, so that they couldn’t escape or turn the fight around on them. Looks like they’ll finally get something going in bot.

✹

“Watch out! Lin Feng, back!” Yang Fan shouted in voice chat. He was the first on High School 13’s team to notice. As the ingame clock hit 8:35 minutes, Lee Sin’s portrait appeared on the minimap. He came walking down the river into bot lane. Lin Feng and Tang Bingyao were still pushing into North High’s outer tower, harassing the Morgana and Tristana underneath. They had their Zyra and Twitch run back towards High School 13’s side of the lane.

“Ha! Want to run? Fat chance!” North High Support laughed. He had his Morgana move forward, to whichever from Twitch and Zyra was easier to bind.

North High’s ad-carry was in even more of a rush. This was his change to get a kill back! To show everyone watching that he wasn’t the worst player in the game who’d lost a winning matchup! He slammed down his W key–Rocket Jump! His Tristana pointed her cannon to the ground and fired. She arced through the air and landed in front of the Zyra! Then she placed a bomb on the Zyra’s head–Explosive Charge!

The Morgana wouldn’t wait any longer either. She flashed forward and appeared right in front of the Zyra. Then she activated her ultimate–Soul Shackles! Two wings appeared on her back as she released the full force of her Celestial power! Her feet left the ground. She floated and lashed out chains of dark pain on the Zyra. They slowed and dealt some damage. And after a brief delay, would also stun. She followed up by conjuring her dark magic to lock the Zyra down–Dark Binding!

Zeng Rui nodded. “Not bad. That’s the right play.” The Morgana was playing it just like he would, by focusing the Zyra. That was the correct play in this situation. A point blank skillshot was hard to miss. If she’d instead tried to hit the Twitch, that would’ve been asking for problems! But something didn’t feel quite right. It didn’t make sense. He’d been paying close attention to the bot lane and gotten some understanding of how Lin Feng played on his Zyra. This didn’t look like a dead Zyra.

Lin Feng looked at his screen. The Lee Sin was ganking. He was a little out of position. This was his mistake. He should’ve warded. The Morgana flashed towards him. Her Soul Shackles wrapped around his Zyra. And then the Dark Binding appeared. His breathing stayed calm and there was no sweat on his forehead as he moved his mouth and then pressed down on his Q key–Deadly Spines! Thick vines spread through the ground and exploded into spines in between the Zyra and Morgana. There was a seed. It bloomed into a Thorn Spitter plant. The Dark Binding hit the plant and bound it. The Zyra was free.

“W-what? I-it was blocked?” North High’s Support muttered. He stared at his screen. It didn’t make sense. He was right in front of the Morgana. His attack should’ve hit! He should’ve locked the Zyra down! How did he do that? H-how is that even possible? Was he waiting? Did he know? No. There were no wards. I swept for them. Then how?

Everyone in the crowd needed a second to process what happened. Even the players from Shanghai High School were thoroughly impressed, and that included Zeng Rui. This was something else. This was something truly special! Then the silence broke. People started talking. Cheering. Shouting!

“OH SNAP! Did you see that? Did you? Did you?”“WOOOO! That was sick!”“How is that possible? That looks like a bug!”“He makes it look so easy…"“My god… How. Just how.”

Lin Feng wasn’t quite done yet. This was only a little trick. There was nothing impressive about it once you knew how to do it. He pressed down on his E key–Grasping Roots! His Zyra sent forth vines through the ground that ensnared those caught by it. The Morgana was the first, well before she could even think about casting Black Shield. And the Tristana was second. Lin Feng rooted both North High’s Support and ad-carry with one well placed skillshot!

“WOOT WOOT! That’s Lin Feng for you right there!” Liu Yue shouted, high fiving Wei Dong.

“Oh, yeah! Nice! Awesome! Couldn’t have done that any better!” Wei Dong laughed, slapping Liu Yue’s hand as hard as he could.

A loud slap sounded out and Ren Rou shook her head. Boys will be boys… Then she looked back at Lin Feng and said, “Good job! Nice play! Keep it up, guys! You can do it!”

There was one last play left in Lin Feng’s playbook. One final skill that could complete the turn around. He glanced over at Tang Bingyao and said, “Now! Go in!” His fingers glided over the keyboard and he pressed down on the R key–Stranglethorns! His Zyra summoned a twisted thicket. It passed through the Morgana and Tristana, damaging them. The seeds in the thicket then grew enraged, growing into massive Thorn Spitter plants!