Ch.2323 – Fateful Promotion Match

“We’re screwed if we lose this teamfight, it’s game over!”

In the tense standoff at Elder Dragon, after a fierce battle, it seemed like the enemy team was gaining the upper hand.

In their second promotion match, the duo who once again picked Asteria-Lulu got heavily countered in the draft phase, leading to a difficult 40-minute deadlock.

But when an overly aggressive engage from their top laner started a teamfight at the Elder Dragon’s nest, Sia had no choice but to join in.

However, positioning, growth differences, and every other factor favored the enemy team, and the unwinnable fight proceeded exactly as expected.

The enemy still had their well-fed ranged carry and both top and jungle alive.

Their ADC was particularly monstrous, capable of destroying their base with just a few hits.

“Ah… I knew we’d lose eventually, but why now…”

-I seriously want to kill our top laner

-How is it fair we have to lose because of this idiot top?

At least they still had another chance at Master promotion.

Only 500,000 won in donations would be lost.

Honestly, it would be a lie to say she hadn’t been hopeful. With NoName, even a perfect win streak wasn’t out of reach.

But then NoName’s Asteria, who had barely survived, crossed over the enemy jungle and headed straight for their base.

The enemy jungle was guarding the mid lane—where they could end the game—watching for Asteria to interfere with their minions’ advance.

But her target was bottom lane.

“A backdoor?”

With the enemy inhibitor down, siege would be easier, but it was still one against three.

A battle of nerves begins.

“Hey! We’re getting backdoored! What do we do? Ignore it and push?”

“We’re faster. Just focus the Nexus.”

“Asteria has 3.0 attack speed! We need to defend!”

“If we don’t end now, we lose. Send one back to stall.”

“I’ll defend the base.”

The top laner Baokai, with his guaranteed crowd control, recalled to stop the fearless Asteria.

Recalling was definitely the right call.

With nearly 90% possession rate, Asteria’s structure damage was monstrous.

As the jungler said, they could lose a won game to a backdoor.

But even the mobile Asteria would be helpless against Baokai’s guaranteed crowd control.

Just one W-Q combo would buy at least one second of time.

One second would be more than enough.

The mid and support who died heroically in the teamfight seemed relieved and stopped giving orders.

Asteria circled around the Nexus, trying to stay out of his range.

But Baokai had anticipated this and sold items to buy three movement speed items when he recalled, allowing him to catch up to her.

The moment she entered his 525 range…

Baokai charged fiercely toward Asteria.

But strangely, Asteria, who had maintained 99% possession by not hitting champions or minions to keep maximum attack speed…

[La Asteria Shalein Ksetan]

She hit Baokai with an auto attack and used Supernova.

Supernova isn’t unstoppable or untargetable. Also, the ultimate’s damage doesn’t apply to the Nexus.

Baokai thought she was making a desperate final attempt, knowing defeat was imminent.

But at that moment, a wave of minions poured out from the Nexus.

“Huh?”

Asteria whirled her blades at lightning speed within the Supernova’s range.

Because her movement was faster, she continuously teleported along star fragment paths that avoided Baokai’s unstoppable charge.

As the minions in her path took the full damage of her ultimate, the item’s built-in effect of dealing AoE damage when skills hit activated, and the Nexus began to crumble.

“That’s impossible! Isn’t this a bug?”

Asteria’s ultimate delayed Baokai’s crowd control from his charge.

Asteria’s kill score was 18/0/3. She was level 18 with a full item build.

Baokai despaired as he watched the Nexus fall so easily just from the AoE damage.

“Great, we’ve won…?”

The enemy jungle and ADC were about to celebrate their comeback victory.

“Complete disaster. Bug-level game.”

[DEFEAT]

They could only stare helplessly at their Nexus, which had just one hit left.

* * *

[VICTORY]

-NoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGodNoNameIsGod

-Wait, how does that interaction even work? LMAO

-Asteria MDC confirmed hahaha

-Isn’t it a bug that the ultimate splash damage affects the Nexus?

-Yeah it’s definitely a bug, probably because it’s a new champ

-There is no god but NoName, and Asteria is his prophet

“500,000 won… might not be just a dream.”

Sia, as if entranced, changes the stream title again.

[The One True God NoName: Master Promotion V V _ _ _]

It was truly a difficult game. If she hadn’t known that ultimates could damage the Nexus, they would have lost.

The enemies, true to their former Grandmaster-Challenger ranks, made no mistakes after the teamfight and only made optimal choices.

Like how the enemy jungle didn’t rush straight to their base but deliberately stayed hidden to escort the minions.

How they sent Baokai, who had the lowest damage expectation but guaranteed CC, straight back to base.

How the enemy ADC efficiently used all item passive effects to deal maximum damage to their inhibitor and Nexus.

If Baokai had gone home from the start, things would have been different, but then there would have been no reason for the backdoor attempt, so it would have evened out.

Simply put, they got lucky.

In a situation where both sides made optimal choices, heaven took her side.

“Wooooow NoName!!! How do you even win games like this?!”

“I can barely breathe, Sia… I don’t have much time, so let’s quickly start the next game.”

“Oh right, right!”

High-elo ranked queues take at least 10 minutes to pop.

The clock was already showing 5 PM, so they had just enough time for one last game.

[Game found!]

[Valhalla Battlefield · Ranked · 5v5]

[Game accepted]

“By the way, how did you think of using your ultimate to deal damage in that last situation?”

“I saw an enemy Asteria with Tiamat chip away at our Nexus health a bit when they dove us before.”

“You have such a good eye for detail. I never would have thought of that. Wow, I can’t believe it’s the final game already. I’m so nervous!”

Sia was already celebrating as if the 50-win streak and my Master promotion were guaranteed.

“That kind of flag makes me uneasy.”

Though I didn’t believe in fate, there are certain phrases that deflate people.

For example, when soldiers propose before going to war, saying they’ll get married when they return, or when someone claims the Dark Lord is weakened and now is the perfect chance to defeat him.

The soldier never returns from the flames of war, and the Dark Lord remains strong, devastating the empire.

Of course, if you’re confident you can defy fate, that’s all that matters.

“Take this, adventurer seeking heritage. It’s expensive, so be careful not to lose it.”

Leaving the Minotaur gatekeeper behind, I enter the battlefield.

But Sia’s expression was concerning.

“What? The enemy ADC is Paysauce?! And the support is Sauron?!”

“Why? Do you know them?”

“Know them? They’re last year’s World Champions! Don’t you know TK Pathos, TK Sauron?”

“So they’re… pro gamers?”

“Oh my god, why such bad luck on top of bad luck! Why are you still here, teachers?!”

-They probably finish in Diamond after Worlds lol

-Right, that’s why they’re starting in Diamond 1

-Their names are so intimidating

Sia says if she had known they were Paysauce and Sauron, she would never have picked the Asteria-Lulu combo.

The enemy bottom lane was the traditional Lucian-Nami combo that hasn’t seen nerfs in five years. It was too harsh a matchup for the Asteria-Lulu combo to withstand.

“We’re doomed… completely doomed.”

“Can our bottom lane hold?”

“And our top is Miroking’s alt account. Why did we get this queue, we got completely destroyed in draft.”

“Then swap with me.”

Our team’s morale was down before the game even started.

As they said, top lane had Kalista with no late-game carry potential against Mordekaiser, the traditional counter to ranged tops.

Bottom lane had Asteria-Lulu against Lucian-Nami, a matchup where Asteria would get bullied from level 3 to 11.

“Swap, you say?”

“I’ll go top. Please play ADC with Lulu.”

“You want to play Asteria top? Are you crazy?”

“If we want to win, that’s what we need to do.”

“NoName? Are you serious?”

“Even Kalista struggles against Mordekaiser, Asteria will definitely get ganked 108 times.”

Time was ticking.

Finally, Kalista gave in to my stubbornness and formed a contract with Lulu.

“Fine, I don’t care if bottom lane collapses!”

“Kalista-Lulu is much better at low levels, so you should be fine. Let’s do our best.”

The rogue-turned-prince set off with Sia, and I walked the lonely path.

To break through or be broken.

In the isolated top lane, Mordekaiser was hiding in his tower, not showing himself.

“What? It’s not Kalista top? Did they really bring Asteria to top lane?”

But as soon as he confirmed my appearance, Mordekaiser came out to the middle of the path to intimidate me.

“You came because you’re scared of brothers Paysauce and Sauron? But I’m no pushover either!”

“Mordekaiser can never beat Asteria, not in a million years.”

“Wow, that’s really rude! Time for some manners education.”

Even though Asteria has short range, she’s still ranged.

With Mordekaiser, a melee champion with only one mobility skill in his ultimate, he can have the advantage until level 6.

The only variable is a level 2 gank.

To prevent this, Sia secretly came top to place a ward, illuminating the area.

Sure enough, the enemy jungler came running despite being a scaling jungler, eager to pick the juicy fruit of “top Asteria.”

Our jungler was doing a standard buff start while the enemy did a reverse buff, so even though our bottom lane had an advantage, they couldn’t easily trade.

I acted my heart out to delay the enemy jungler, but he kept maintaining an awkward distance—neither engaging nor leaving—until he finally returned to his jungle.

His judgment and awareness were quick, but at least the early crisis was averted.

“How did you know? Was it a ward?”

“I wonder? Maybe some kind-hearted person placed a ward.”

“That’s unfortunate. I thought you wouldn’t expect a level 2 gank.”

Mordekaiser pulled back again, maintaining a safe distance from Asteria.

But he still came within auto attack range due to my increased possession rate.

In lower tiers, one might think Mordekaiser misjudged the distance because Asteria’s range constantly changes.

Flash!

Flash!

I responded to Mordekaiser’s only engage tool, E-Flash, with my own Flash, and simultaneously, Rengar jumped out from behind me.

“Mordekaiser, you missed that? I only ate one jungle camp before coming, if this fails I’m doomed!”

“No…!”

Miroking visibly panicked.

Rengar, unable to contain his frustration, left huffing and puffing, and I sneered at him.

“Aren’t you going to ask if it was a ward this time?”