Failed Gank

"The boss is coming down to gank." Feng Xiaoqing brought Graves back into the lane again.

He'd figured it all out. He would no longer run around wily-nily in front of Blitzcrank—not until Kha'Zix was in position to join the fight.

"Don't rush. Wait for them to get closer," Lin Xu ordered.

He'd placed Kha'Zix behind the wall near the tribush, his finger hovering over Flash. Once Blitzcrank and Miss Fortune were close enough, he'd Flash out and pounce on them!

At last, the minions were pushing forward!

Seeing that Miss Fortune had strayed a little too far from safety, Lin Xu Flashed out of hiding and pounced like a starving wolf at Miss Fortune's ample bosom!

Garen and Graves also rushed gleefully towards Miss Fortune!

Two hulking men and one alien creature, they closed in around the voluptuous beauty, eyes gleaming with naked lust!

Zhong Xiaoyun leapt with fright when Kha'Zix jumped in out of nowhere, and his fingers mashed clumsily upon the keyboard, unsure of what to do.

"Barrier, Flash, fall back!" Yu Luocheng told him.

As he said this, he had Blitzcrank sprint over at maximum speed to cover Miss Fortune's retreat, using his ultimate skill to Silence Kha'Zix, Graves, and Garen all at once.

A half-second Silence was hardly any use at all. Right after using his ultimate, Luocheng hit Graves with his Power Fist, delaying the enemy from dishing out his massive burst damage!

Luocheng was able to hold Graves off like this, but Kha'Zix and Garen both found Miss Fortune with their attacks. Xiaoyun's gameplay was a mess, failing to Flash before Garen imposed Silence upon Miss Fortune. Her ass was about to be torn to shreds by these two rambunctious lummoxes.

Fortunately, he'd managed to get his Barrier out at least, and it absorbed some of the incoming damage, just barely keeping her alive.

Her slender hips swaying frantically, Miss Fortune continued to flee. In those few seconds while she remained Silenced, Kha'Zix and Garen hounded her footsteps, and her health plummeted rapidly.

At last, the Silence ended, and Xiaoyun used Flash, getting away with his last Hit Point.

Thankfully, Luocheng had managed to stall Graves, otherwise a couple of skills from him, and Miss Fortune would have perished before the Silence had run its course.

Their spectators had been breathless with suspense, and it was only when they saw Miss Fortune reach the safety of the tower that they heaved a sigh of relief.

However, in order to save her, Blitzcrank now found himself alone between the three enemy players.

Since they couldn't get Miss Fortune, they'd have to settle for Blitzcrank. All three of them rained their skills down upon the man of metal, who activated his W-skill 'Overdrive' and made a break for it. Even a Tank like him now had less than one third of his health remaining.

"Just a little more, just a little bit more!" Class 3 was baying for blood.

"He's going for the tower. Kill him!"

"Garen, ulti!"

"I can't reach him!"

"Graves, do something!"

Lin Xu glanced at his Skills bar. All his skills were ready, and Blitzcrank only had a quarter of his health remaining!

One skill combo and he'd be dead!

Gritting his teeth, he had Kha'Zix dive into the tower's attack range, whereupon he unleashed all its skills upon Blitzcrank.

Whum…

Just as the last of Blitzcrank's health vanished, he was suddenly surrounded by some kind of energy shield!

The moment when Blitzcrank dropped to critical health, his Mana Barrier had kicked in to preserve him!

Lin Xu hesitated. It was just a tiny sliver of health. One Ignite and the kill should be secured.

And yet, how often had he watched an enemy escape to the safety of their tower with one last handful of Hit Points?

Lin Xu would dearly love to just go and whack him one last time, but the robot was running like he'd left the stove on back home, and since he'd already used his Flash just now, he had no hope of catching him anymore.

There was the infuriating chime, a warning signal that he was under attack by an enemy tower.

Lin Xu had no choice but to leave now. Swerving his mouse in the opposite direction, he swore under his breath. "Curses, just one last—"

And then, before he'd even finished the thought, something came sailing in from behind!

That's right: Crackling with electricity, it was a huge, golden, metallic claw!

Its fingers closed firmly around the creature's wings!

And then, from the very limit of the skill's range, the bluish mauve insectoid was yanked through the air and deposited at the very foot of the tower!

"Ahahahahahaha!"

A fan of bullets swept towards him. With four kills to her name, Miss Fortune demonstrated her overwhelming damage potential, reducing Kha'Zix from two-thirds health to nothing in an instant!

Lin Xu sat frozen in disbelief. One moment he was leaving the tower's reach, the next moment all the color had washed out of his screen, leaving only shades of gray!

(Translator's Note: When you die in this game, your screen grays out until you respawn.)

Miss Fortune's Bullet Time was still going on, the bullets spraying needlessly through empty air, with only his corpse left behind to hear her maniacal cackling.

There was the broken body of Kha'Zix, sprawled at her feet.

He'd died!

Lin Xu's Kha'Zix had been insta-killed under the enemy tower!

Had they just added insult to injury? No, no, no! He'd chased Blitzcrank too far, failed to get the kill, and then got his own ass kicked instead!

"What in the world! You can do that?"

The spectators on both sides were saying the exact same thing!

It had already been a miracle for both Blitzcrank and Miss Fortune to make it out alive, but that last move had been smooth beyond words.

Kha'Zix hadn't managed to pick up any kills down in the Bottom lane, but had instead been pulled to its death under the tower!

Blitzcrank and Miss Fortune were both at nearly zero health and mana, but the fallen corpse of Kha'Zix made it clear that they had emerged from this 2v3 situation victorious!

"OP!"

"Amazing… I've never seen such an amazing hook in all my life!"

Standing at death's door, he'd turned around and killed off Kha'Zix, who had been at full health. It was a play worthy of legend, blinding everyone with its brilliance!

No one could forget the sight of that miraculous long-range Rocket Grab!

***

Lin Xu gaped as the memory of that horrifying turnaround replayed in his mind.

How could he have performed a hook at that moment? How had he even landed that shot? How could he have anticipated that Lin Xu would give up and fall back?

Most importantly: That guy had guts! One hit away from death, he'd nevertheless dared to pull Kha'Zix over to himself!

The players controlling Graves and Garen, Feng Xiaoqing and Xue Ben, were also utterly flabbergasted. They'd been pacing around just beyond the tower, trying to decide whether or not to dive in as well, but Miss Fortune's ultimate skill 'Bullet Time' had scared them off.

Graves looked the worst, in all this. Not only had he contributed zero damage through it all, he'd also been grazed by the Bullet Time for a moment, and had lost half his health just like that!

And although Garen had been at full health himself, he hadn't dared to approach the tower while that horrifying golden specter lingered there. Never mind that he had neither health nor mana at the moment, the sight of Blitzcrank evoked a primal terror within him that prevented him from moving a single step closer!

Now that was what you called an aura!

"The two of you idiots, why didn't you dive the tower together with me? Look at how fat Miss Fortune has become—you even let her get a kill on me!" Lin Xu had lost his temper at last!

(Translator's Note: 'Fat' is a term for a champion who has picked up a lot of gold and Experience Points, so that they are far beyond the rest of the players in that round. The term has some relation to the concept that when someone is getting killed a lot, they are 'feeding' kills to the enemy.)

He'd remained calm all this while because he'd thought he could still turn the tide down in the Bottom lane. However, when he'd gotten killed himself, he snapped!

Feng Xiaoqing and Xue Ben made like a pair of ostriches and buried their heads in the sand, not daring to look up from the table.

They didn't take this abuse gladly, though. Quietly, in his heart, Xiaoqing thought, 'You're the one who got hooked into the tower. Is that our fault, too?'

"Boss, this Blitzcrank is serious business. How are we supposed to fight him?" Xue Ben whined.

When Xue Ben played Garen, he normally ran rampant all over the place. With the beating he was taking this time around, however, he was cowering so far away from the action that he was barely getting any Experience Points (XP) at all.

"Serious business, your mother! Just watch me wreck his shit!" Lin Xu declared.

Lin Xu often watched his master playing in Ranked matches, and had seen plenty of skilled Blitzcrank players. That guy from Class 8 was no big deal, probably had never even heard of Ranked.

That hook just now had been nothing but a lucky fluke. In fact, Lin Xu thought it had been really stupid. If not for all his skills being on cooldown, one blast with 'Void Spike' and both of them, already on their last legs, would have been dead!

***

Yu Luocheng would probably have laughed if he'd heard what Lin Xu was thinking.

Of course he'd been keeping track of his skill cooldowns.