Chapter Thirty-Six: Far Too Sudden!

The second wave of minions finally made its slow way into the defensive turret.

This was the second wave—the mid lane minions naturally arrived faster, but since the high ground turret in the middle had fallen, Nine-tailed Fox and his team had no intention of pushing mid any further.

Lin Hao’s teammates had already spotted his Guan Yu’s position.

He was in a perfect spot!

Niu Mo was itching to coordinate a pincer attack with Guan Yu from both front and back.

His ultimate had a short cooldown, only a dozen seconds or so, and it was up again by now.

“Attack!” he signaled, ready to flash in with his ultimate as soon as Guan Yu charged out from the brush.

But Lin Hao quickly pinged “Retreat!” several times, urging Niu Mo to hold back for now.

“There’s no chance if we engage head-on. All their heroes excel at countering initiations. If I try to flank recklessly and charge in with my ultimate, I’ll probably just get chain-CCed and burst down. Plus, Di Renjie still has both his ultimate and flash—I might not even be able to reach him,” Lin Hao explained to the audience in his livestream, his attention glued to the screen as he used three fingers to keep an eye on the frontlines while hiding in the brush.

“If I use my second skill to split up their formation and lose my cleanse in the process, I’ll just get focused down and killed instantly in the follow-up too.”

“It’s not time yet. We need to wait until they’ve used up most of their cooldowns before making a move—at least until their big skills are mostly down.”

“I’m curious,” someone in the chat wondered, “how do you keep circling in the brush while using the three-finger view?”

“That’s all muscle memory. Do you really think a top-50 Guan Yu in the province would be joking around?” someone replied.

“Provincial-caliber Guan Yu is terrifying!”

“But if we keep waiting, they’ll just take down our top lane turret!” someone else worried.

On the frontlines, Shen Mengxi kept lobbing bombs, dealing heavy damage and chunking down most of Yu Ji and Jin Chan’s health.

Nine-tailed Fox’s Li Bai seized the opportunity, slashing through the wolf camp in two steps and landing right in front of Jin Chan, who had just cast his second skill on the minion wave.

A basic attack, then the circle, and the ultimate!

Instant kill!

Nine-tailed Fox’s build was extremely aggressive—he’d gone for the combination of Broken Army and Master’s Will, forgoing both Burst Armor and any defensive items as his last slot.

Jin Chan, too, had built for full damage—nothing but magic power.

As soon as Nine-tailed Fox’s abilities hit him, Jin Chan tried to use his first skill, but his timing was off—he cast it just as Li Bai’s second skill made him untargetable, so it had no effect.

“Damn, this Li Bai!” the Jin Chan player cursed under his breath.

To get picked off even on the high ground!

If only I’d built a little tankier!

Jin Chan is different from Zhang Liang, after all. Zhang Liang’s ultimate only targets enemy heroes and doesn’t affect minions.

If it had been Zhang Liang in this wave, he could’ve just spammed his ultimate, maybe even used an autoclicker.

That way, no matter how fast Li Bai dove, he couldn’t escape Zhang Liang’s chains!

But Jin Chan’s first skill also affects minions, so with the enemy minion wave nearby, he couldn’t just spam it. Combined with his slow reaction, it was only natural that Nine-tailed Fox caught him and killed him in an instant.

Yu Ji was also left with barely any health.

A Dou immediately moved forward to take down the turret, with Bai Qi slowly pressing ahead as well.

It was clear—the enemy wanted to force a team fight.

“Retreat! Retreat!” Lin Hao’s fingers were flying across the screen, but the retreat commands were necessary.

Sometimes, those inside the fight can’t see as clearly as those watching from outside. From his three-finger vantage, Lin Hao could see that Yu Ji’s health was dangerously low, Yun Ying could go in but would have trouble reaching the enemy backline, and Jin Chan had already fallen.

In this scenario, even if Niu Mo charged in with his ultimate to defend the turret, Bai Qi would just taunt him and they’d all get focused down and killed.

This turret had to be sacrificed.

Niu Mo took a deep breath, looked ahead, and decided not to even bother with his ultimate—he simply turned and left.

With a crash, the top lane turret collapsed.

“Two high grounds down, dragon buff’s about to expire, let’s pull back, clear our jungle, and wait for Lord Baron,” Nine-tailed Fox called out.

Although their team was still fairly healthy, several ultimates had already been used—it wasn’t the right time to force an all-in.

The best play was to keep widening the gold gap, then, with superior items—or when everyone had their defensive gear and the enemy couldn’t afford to swap—go for a decisive team fight, and take the game in one fell swoop.

“Wait! Where’s Guan Yu?” Shen Mengxi’s sharp instincts as a mid laner instantly picked up on something off.

That’s right!

Where was Guan Yu?

He hadn’t shown himself at all during those three waves on the enemy high ground.

It was as if he’d vanished from the map altogether!

Nine-tailed Fox frowned.

“He must be flanking around. Let’s keep our formation tight—don’t get split up, he can’t do much to us if we stick together.”

The team withdrew in an orderly fashion.

“Guan Yu shouldn’t be hiding in the brush, right? Isn’t that bad for his horse’s momentum…?” someone wondered on Nine-tailed Fox’s voice channel, where only Shen Mengxi and Nine-tailed Fox were communicating.

Shen Mengxi voiced her doubts, but was suddenly interrupted by a startled exclamation.

“Whoa!”

She’d been heading back through the blue jungle from the second top lane turret, with Di Renjie by her side.

Liu Chan and Bai Qi were further behind, which was normal—the two tanks had led the charge in the siege, but now, during the retreat, the carries were at the rear.

Li Bai had gone straight through the small wolf camp in the blue jungle, having just used that spot to refresh his ultimate.

But as Shen Mengxi and Di Renjie reached the second turret, a thunderous charge erupted from the brush nearby!

“With a shout!” Guan Yu’s battle cry rang out as he burst forth, sending both Shen Mengxi and Di Renjie flying backward!

Anyone with a weaker heart might have fainted from the shock.

It was completely unexpected!

They hadn’t been on guard at all.

Guan Yu had been hiding in that brush the whole time!

But how had he managed to stay hidden? Not even the second wave of top lane minions nor the shifting vision from their own retreat had revealed him.

Not a single glimpse of Guan Yu’s position!

But this wasn’t the time to ponder that. Guan Yu spun his great blade in a sweeping arc, then, with a twist of the reins, charged again!

Di Renjie finally snapped back to his senses and instantly threw out a yellow card!

Guan Yu was stunned!

Bai Qi rushed over in a hurry, and because Lin Hao had pushed the enemies back, Bai Qi was able to reach the backline with little effort.

His ultimate taunt landed right away!

At that moment, Lin Hao immediately activated his second skill—cleanse!

A Guan Yu of national caliber had to master the timing of his second skill.

Meanwhile, Di Renjie was already hammering away at him.

Lin Hao quickly activated his Skysplitter!

Eyes sharp, he maneuvered Guan Yu’s horse, twisting to dodge Bai Qi’s hook from the second skill!

Then, with a sweeping movement, he evaded Di Renjie’s powered-up red card!