"Ace." The game boomed in a triumphant voice, almost as if taunting Yu Pengkai for his stolen Pentakill.
Kevin's smile nearly stretched to the far edges of his face, and looking carefully at this exact moment, his gums were gleaming under the classroom's yellow light. Surely, his mouth must have hurt from smiling so widely.
"I can't believe we won that," his words came out in a tone of utter disbelief. "Like yo, Kai, did you see that? I killed him!"
In front of the other computer screen, Yu Pengkai's faint smile collapsed again. While he repeatedly tried convincing himself that he was an adult at heart and couldn't logically get mad over a mere high schooler for a game, he couldn't keep himself from gritting his teeth.
In the middle of the lane, Kevin was trying to return to base with his newly stolen in-game currency.
Uncontrollably, Yu pengkai balled his right fist for a split second before pinging for his team to continue attacking the enemy tower. Already, its health was half gone, and if they could push out the wave, their team would finally be able to exert pressure on the enemies.
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/wallythewarrior (Alexander the Great): Enemies are dead
/wallythewarrior (Alexander the Great): Keeping pushing towers
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Although he canceled his recall, Kevin continued going off. "Like seriously, did you see that? My cannon hit him before he could even see what was coming at him!"
Quite literally, it took Yu Pengkai every bit of his self control to not let all of his facial muscles contort into a snarl. As much as he wanted to remain a gentleman in this situation, Kevin's casual and well-intentioned remarks appeared more gloating with each passing moment.
After seeing their first enemy tower crumble just as the enemies began respawning, the rest of the team seemed happy enough as they returned to back to base for a much-needed restock of mana, health, and items.
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/amywall_bf (Thomas Plunkett): gj again team
/amywall_bf (Thomas Plunkett): we can actually win dis
/hashing_it_out (Joan of Arc): yea!!!!
/Bearbear (Houyi): can we talk abou tthat quadra tho
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After a short pause, even the before-quiet Emperor Qin chimed in, sneaking a quick lag alert.
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/I_suck_at_this_game (Emperor Qin): 342 Ping
/I_suck_at_this_game (Emperor Qin): bit late but ya!
/I_suck_at_this_game (Emperor Qin): carry me alex the g :)
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In all honesty, Yu Pengkai couldn't remember the last time he played alongside a non-toxic team. Even outside of professional play, it seemed that whenever he tried to queue in a normal ranked game, the other players yelled at each other for every small mistake, amplifying each of their teammate's errors while completely not taking any blame for the team's losses.
Placing a ward at the edge of the bush instead of the center. Not leashing enough for Jungle buffs at the start of the game. Dying to an enemy gank. Buying the wrong item to target the wrong enemy champion. Sure, every detail eventually snowballed into a loss, especially for carefully calculated games in high ELO, but the words of hatred really made Yu Pengkai scared to even open the chat half the time.
It was almost as if Paracelsus's mercury vial had accidentally spilled into each of the gamer's minds, the toxin slowly corroding away their compassion and empathy in place of cold statistics and rank points.
Used to the familiar scent of gunpowder exploding in the group chat, it was admittedly strange to Yu Pengkai as he looked at these encouraging words. This was definitely not the Kings of Valor that he was familiar with.
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/wallythewarrior (Alexander the Great): push out mid
/wallythewarrior (Alexander the Great): I got top
/hashing_it_out (Joan of Arc): oki!!!!
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Holding back his own bridled frustration, Yu Pengkai began to split push the top lane while the rest of his team continued doing their own thing. As the enemies decided to duel him one by one, sending one champion to the top lane after another, he easily held his ground and took the two top towers.
And whenever he noticed that at least three enemies were coming his way, he would quickly run into the jungle and disappear without a trace, leading them on a brief wild goose hunt to further waste their time.
Meanwhile, the other four champions had managed to make it to the first tower at the enemy base as well. Only, it took them four people to match half of Yu Pengkai's progress.
As Yu Pengkai slammed his sword into the top base tower, he couldn't help but notice that Cleopatra was still making a last-ditch effort to turn the tide as she cowered underneath the mid base tower.
It seemed that his four teammates had not learned their lesson about being grouped up in front of a Cleopatra. When the familiar scarab beetles flew out of Cleopatra's staff, he immediately knew that they were instant dead meat.
"An ally has been slain!"
"Double Kill!"
"Triple Kill!"
"Quadra Kill!"
There was nearly no pause between each of these announcements, and Yu Pengkai could only temporarily retreat as he hid in the middle of the jungle.
Cleopatra entered behind him, alone, obviously not content with only securing a Quadrakill. As she strutted around in the darkness, she didn't even know what hit her. Or rather, when she realized, she found a ring of stars surrounding herself as Alexander the Great's stun and subsequent skill combo took away her life.
"Shut down!"
Yu Pengkai smiled, the familiar course of adrenaline rushing through him as he made his way back to the tower, now at a sliver of health. A single W should surely be enough to destroy it.
Just as the tower clung to the last bits of health, Jing Ke and Genghis Khan simultaneously rushed towards Yu Pengkai's Alexander the Great. Paying them no regards, Yu Pengkai continued hitting away at the tower.
Seeing the satisfying crumbling animation, only then did Yu Pengkai turn towards the two enemy champions. Their attacks were barely scratches against Alexander the Great's health bar, and even these itches were soon regenerated.
W. He jumped onto Jing Ke, one blow dealing half of his damage.
Q. As he launched the three soldiers, Jing Ke was forced to flee, with three very unhappy sword-wielding characters chasing after him.
E. Genghis Khan could barely survive the damage dealt after the stun.
Yu Pengkai moved to the last layer of defense—the two final towers defending the enemy castle. Pure adrenaline coursed through his veins as he swung his broad sword.
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/all wallythewarrior (Alexander the Great): gg
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A charm hit him.
Before him, Cleopatra stood with a confident smile on her face.