Chapter 131: The Springboard Has Arrived

Yi Fan was circling.

At some point, he had looped around, moving straight from the intersection of the mid-lane defense tower and the river toward the lower half of the river. Since Sun Bin and Zhou Yu had led the minions into the range of the enemy Ying Zheng’s first mid-lane tower, Old Master’s vision remained concealed.

Yi Fan’s initial intention in moving toward the middle was to find a way to take down the first tower, but Ying Zheng cleared waves too quickly. Moreover, with the enemy team clearly preparing to contest the Dragon, he headed straight for the Dragon Pit.

Yi Fan had always been a player who took the initiative to dictate the tempo, and his thoughts for this play aligned perfectly with Lin Hao’s.

Lin Hao immediately toggled his microphone to express his approval: "Go for it, I can follow up."

As he spoke, Lin Hao timed his movement with the final sliver of health on the Red Buff, used his third skill to fly over, and refreshed his ultimate! At the same time, Yi Fan arrived at the river.

The already deceased Sun Shangxiang was playing the contrarian, continuously spamming the "Retreat" signal. True, with fewer men—four against five—it was not a favorable trade. But sometimes, players are static while gameplay is fluid. Not to mention that Ying Zheng had already used his ultimate to clear the mid-lane wave, significantly diminishing his effectiveness in a team fight. Most importantly, both Yi Fan and Lin Hao had immense confidence in their own mechanical skills.

"Sun Shangxiang, stop signaling to retreat. It’s not like we don’t have experts here dictating the pace!" Yi Fan confidently retorted to his fallen teammate’s armchair commanding. "Just follow my lead!"

After Lin Hao flew over the Red Buff, he gained eyes on the opposing team. It was just as he had expected. Marco Polo, Li Bai, and Ma Chao were all pouring their efforts into the Dragon. Even Zhang Fei was swinging his Zhangba Serpent Spear, landing basic attacks on the Dark Tyrant in the pit. The reason for this? A minor detail: Zhang Fei’s ultimate was just shy of full rage, and he was taking the opportunity to build it up.

Seeing Lin Hao’s Luna, Xiao Jin and the others had an initial reaction of... complete composure. They had been wary of a Luna in the red jungle all along, so they had pulled the Dragon toward the edge of the pit, fighting in a more exposed area.

This was one of Luna’s limitations. If it were Jing, Lan, or Fei, a skilled player could instantly dash across a massive distance to reach the Dragon and challenge for the Smite. But not Luna; she was too dependent on her ultimate. If her first skill failed to mark the Dragon, her ultimate could not follow up. She could only circle around.

At that moment, the Dark Tyrant had about 2,000 health left—it was almost finished!

A moment later, Yi Fan followed closely behind. The first person he spotted was the one closest to him: Wei Liang’s Marco Polo.

Yi Fan’s initiation was instantaneous. Once he seized an opening, he would strike without the slightest hesitation. He would even flash-ult to bind a lone support and lead his team into a fight. This time, he saw Wei Liang’s Marco Polo.

Whoosh!

Old Master unleashed his ultimate combined with Flicker, without a shred of hesitation! And this was starting from zero rage!

However, Wei Liang’s reaction was even faster. The instant Yi Fan initiated, Wei Liang triggered his Purify!

With a dull thud, Old Master’s ultimate collided with the Purify... nothing happened! Wei Liang had dodged Old Master’s ultimate!

Yi Fan’s heart sank instantly. But it wasn’t over. Wei Liang used his second skill to create distance, then turned to unleash his first skill, outputting damage onto Old Master!

Inside the Dragon Pit, everyone shifted their focus, dumping their skills onto Old Master. Xiao Jin used his two-stage dash to stun Old Master for a split second before returning to his original position, continuing to strike the Dark Tyrant while unleashing his ultimate! Ma Chao joined in the assault, and Zhang Fei spat out a glob of venom; Old Master, lacking mobility skills, was instantly knocked airborne and stunned!

Fortunately, Yi Fan had activated his second skill. Relying on the damage reduction, his health didn’t bottom out immediately. But Marco Polo’s true damage was about to proc!

Just then, Lin Hao rounded the side of the Dragon Pit and arrived beside Yi Fan, just as Zhang Fei lunged at him.

"The springboard has arrived."

What Luna loved most was precisely this kind of enemy composition. Heroes like Ma Chao, Marco Polo, Ying Zheng, and Zhang Fei, who lacked hard crowd control, provided Lin Hao with a platform to display his mechanics freely. Zhang Fei’s only hard CC was his ultimate, and he had already used it on Old Master.

Lin Hao landed a basic attack to get close to Zhang Fei and swept his first skill, creating a crescent of moonlight! The angle was perfect, hitting Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Marco Polo in a single line. These three were the ones focusing Old Master, and they were all marked by Lin Hao.

A moment later, after a quick basic attack, Lin Hao used his ultimate to pull in, instantly closing the distance to Marco Polo!

Wei Liang’s hand speed was blinding. In that split second, he decisively used his ultimate to spin toward Old Master’s position! Because he had already procced his true damage, and with Old Master’s second-skill damage immunity having just expired, Old Master’s health bar plummeted!

Advancing by retreating! Wei Liang’s reaction was incredibly nuanced; it allowed him to dodge Luna’s follow-up burst while dumping all his true damage onto Old Master. If he had simply retreated backward, it would have been harder to avoid Luna’s subsequent flight.

Lin Hao used his second skill in the next instant, sword energy swirling to pull in the nearby enemies. However, because Marco Polo had spun away, he only managed to catch Ma Chao.

Just then, Lin Hao noticed the Dark Tyrant; it had only a sliver of health left. Fly in and steal the Dragon?

Lin Hao flicked his joystick hard. Luna drifted backward, abandoning the steal to confront Marco Polo instead! He chose to save Old Master first! Because Lin Hao felt that there wasn’t enough time!

Sure enough, just as he reached Marco Polo, the Dark Tyrant’s health bar vanished—Xiao Jin had used Smite to secure the Dragon buff.

Old Master’s health continued to drop. When it reached one-quarter, Yi Fan was finally able to act. He unleashed his first skill!

The Pull of the King!

Marco Polo’s spinning motion came to a screeching halt. Only then did Wei Liang realize he was out of skills! His second skill had been used to kite Old Master, and his other abilities were all on cooldown!

For the next two seconds, Marco Polo could only be focused down by Luna and Old Master!

Nearby, Ma Chao and Zhang Fei were slowed by Luna’s second skill. Furthermore, they had no crowd control left in their kits, leaving them completely unable to stop the frenzied Old Master or the Luna dancing right in Marco Polo’s face!

With the final strike, Lin Hao successfully claimed Wei Liang’s head with an ultimate, then used the mark on Marco Polo to fly toward Ma Chao!