All-Round Mid Laner

Fang Zhengqing: “…”

I’m really feeling puzzled1方 (Fang) is also slang for being puzzled and is Fang Zhengqing’s surname right now. Both of you are really going all out to take advantage of and exploit me!

Can you switch targets? Chi Shuo already killed me once, and now it’s Ye Shaoyang’s turn. Do I not need to save face? Am I such an important target that you need to keep ganging up on me in the mid lane?

Fang Zhengqing raised an eyebrow and said calmly, “Ah Yuan, go farm the minions in the mid lane. I’ll gank the top lane and breakthrough as soon as possible. We can’t let them set the pace of the game.”

Xie Yuan: “Got it.”

Jingzhe’s top laner was the Dark Angel, which had mid-range crowd-control skills. Fang Zhengqing sent a wave of minions to Xie Yuan after resurrecting and went to the top lane.

Ye Shaoyang realized Xie Yuan had appeared in the middle lane and instantly reminded, “Old Qin, be careful.”

However, the kill sound effect could be heard as soon as his words fell.

——[I’m Very Square (Destruction Mage) killed Tianhuan-Zhuhuo (Man of Steel)!]

Although Old Qin had a tanky hero, he still wouldn’t be able to hold his ground against Jingzhe’s 3v1. Fang Zhengqing giving up on the mid lane to gank the top lane instead made Ye Shaoyang very surprised.

The most unfavorable thing when competing was for the opponents to lead you by the nose. After being killed twice, Fang Zhengqing changed his strategy decisively. Although Fang Zhengqing and Chi Shuo had completely different approaches, one had to admit that Fang Zhengqing was an incredible strategist.

He went to the top lane, secured a kill, and cleared a minion wave which put him at an advantage. Since Xie Yuan had also cleared a wave in the mid lane, his economy was better than Cheng Xing’s.

Chi Shuo commanded, “Switch lanes.”

Being able to launch a sneak attack and take out Fang Zhengqing twice was already the limit. After all, Fang Zhengqing wasn’t a novice and wouldn’t be waiting around for them to take him out the third time. Thus, Chi Shuo immediately shifted his focus to the top lane.

And so, a team fight broke out again in the top lane after Old Qin resurrected. This time, it was a 3v3 PK involving all three lanes!

Old Qin directly activated his ult to tank damage while the opposing team’s Dark Angel used a mid-range crowd control skill to immobilize him. Fang Zhengqing didn’t use his ult on Old Qin but instead, targeted the back line. The six arcing blades of black mist shot out, instantly launching themselves toward Ye Shaoyang!

Ye Shaoyang positioned himself very cautiously, but Fang Zhengqing executed his ult very cleverly. Ye Shaoyang was hit by four of the mist blades, instantly leaving him in critical health.

He quickly called the white foxes back and activated his ‘protector’ skill.2This was a skill previously mentioned in c57 but the translator didn’t give a name to it, so I just came up with a simple name for this skill

The little foxes surrounded him, helping him to tank some damage. Jingzhe’s jungler wanted to follow up with another skill to kill him but was unable to do so. Ye Shaoyang quickly transformed back to his human form and stunned the jungler with his ult in return!

Chi Shuo cut in from the side and counterattacked the enemy jungler with an explosive combo.

——[Tianhuan-Shuoyue (Black Wolf King) killed A Knife (Brawler)!]

This round of 3v3 concluded with Ye Shaoyang escaping with just a sliver of his health while Jingzhe’s jungler was killed. Tianhuan gained an advantage through another kill but since Fang Zhengqing had also managed to take down a river crab, Jingzhe didn’t suffer a significant loss.

As the game progressed, Cheng Xing who was at the bottom lane gradually felt the strain.

Xie Yuan unknowingly had a lead of 500 gold. That was because Xie Yuan had started to farm the middle lane aggressively and the experience from the lower half of the jungle all went to him. Thus, he became the most fed player in the game.

Ye Shao Yang opened the game stats and took a glance, “Yuanyuan’s economy is even higher than yours.”

The ‘you’ naturally referred to Chi Shuo.

Chi Shuo responded, “Got it, let’s initiate a team fight when the minor dragon spawns.”

If Xie Yuan was allowed to continue developing further without any hindrances, he would become a big boss that would be difficult to deal with in the late-game. Once that happened, they would be farmed by him if they couldn’t take him out first in the team fight.

Tianhuan focused on playing around the top and middle lane this time while letting Cheng Xing withstand the pressure and handle the bottom lane. The effectiveness of this strategy was actually quite mediocre.

Because Fang Zhengqing and Chi Shuo had both done reverse elimination, the both of them finally met in the top lane!

As a result, no one was able to make a breakthrough at the top lane, and the marksman’s economy at the bottom lane fell behind.

That wasn’t a good sign.

Presently, the economy ranking of the players is as follows: Xie Yuan > Chi Shuo > Ye Shaoyang > Fang Zhengqing > Cheng Xing.

Xie Yuan developed the most steadily as a result of farming from two lanes, but Chi Shuo had a kill advantage. Coupled with the experience he’d gotten from the jungle, the difference between them was only 200 gold, which had little impact. Hence, they could still proceed with the team fight.

Chi Shuo marked the spot of the dragon pit on the map and both teams began another round of push and pull there.

When the dragon was down to half health, they would get disrupted by the other team. After getting a few attacks in, the other team would get disrupted again by the first team.

The commentators were speechless, “The minor dragon is innocent! Don’t bully the dragon like that.”

“This must have been the highest number of times in which the dragon has been fought back and forth, right? The minor dragon must be feeling quite helpless.”

The minor dragon spawned in the dragon pit and would go after the hero that dealt the highest damage to it. Once it reached a certain distance away from the pit, the dragon would return to full health, just like those bosses in online games.

During a tug-of-war between two teams, going back and forth and trying to disrupt the other team would be the most commonly used tactic as they did not want to let go of the boss, yet they couldn’t secure the kill.

As the match entered the mid-game stages, the minor dragon’s buffs were quite significant. Neither Tianhuan nor Jingzhe wanted to give up on the dragon and hence, it was back to them pushing and pulling in the jungle for another half a day.

The commentators started, “Could it be that they want to push and…”

Before they could finish speaking, Qu Jiang suddenly flashed over while carrying a big shield and directly stunned the enemy’s back line!

Xie Yuan also moved extremely cautiously, immediately flashing before flipping over the wall to avoid getting stunned.

At the same time, Jingzhe also acted. Their top laner used his mid-range crowd control skill to stun Cheng Xing but Cheng Xing also evaded it by flashing and going over the wall.

“The control skills forced the marksmen of both teams to use their flash! Seems like they’re about to start fighting now!”

The atmosphere among the live spectators was also filled with excitement and they spammed the screen with comments, “Fight, fight!”

This was indeed the most intense clash between the two teams since the beginning of the game.

For a moment, the visual effects of various skills could be seen near the dragon pit, making it difficult to discern which skills were being used. After a round of exchanging skills, everyone in the front lines was left with low health, and the back lines weren’t in a good state either.

Although Cheng Xing had flashed and escaped the enemy’s control skill, Fang Zhengqing’s ‘Curse of Destruction’ was waiting for him.

It was as though the six blades of mist had calculated his landing point perfectly, leaving him with only a sliver of health!

The enemy jungler flanked from behind, intending to attack Cheng Xing which caused Old Qin to hurriedly turn back and protect him. At the same time, Chi Shuo was also trying to locate Xie Yuan.

The other players weren’t as important in this team fight. It was crucial to eliminate Xie Yuan and disrupt his momentum. Chi Shuo switched to his wolf form and ran, swiftly maneuvering himself around. He made a mark on the map after finding Xie Yuan, “The marksman is here.”

Ye Shaoyang: “Got it.”

Just simple communication with a few words was enough. All of them knew what the other would do next.

The next moment, Ye Shaoyang suddenly flashed over——

Although the White Fox King was currently in its human form, the summoned fox cubs would still automatically follow him regardless of which form the hero was in. Hence, there was a visual impact of a handsome man with four fox cubs swiftly bolting over walls.

Flashing in with his little companions to fight, it was such an impressive sight!

The commentators exclaimed with great excitement, “Lieyang used flash and went straight to the jungler. This was to cooperate with Shuoyue to take down the enemy marksman!”

“Yes, we all know that Lieyang has an aggressive playstyle. While he does use his flash for escape, it is mostly used to secure kills!”

Facing the ult that could inflict ‘fear’, Xie Yuan had nowhere to hide.

The four fox cubs rushed in like a gust of wind and swiftly surrounded Xie Yuan, trapping him! Chi Shuo followed up by flanking Xie Yuan. The Black Wolf King vaulted over the walls and launched a long-range attack, directly reducing Xie Yuan’s health to half with a single bite.

“Shuoyue’s burst damage is quite high, his equipment must be extremely good.”

“The Black Wolf King is, after all, a jungler carry. This hero has more complex mechanics and its ult damage is lowered, causing its pick rate to decline significantly in recent seasons. Despite that, this hero’s ability to quickly eliminate its targets once fully equipped is extremely terrifying!”

“That’s right, and the White Fox King’s crowd control ult provided him with the best opportunity to enter the fight! The bites from the fox cubs will leave the enemy’s health severely depleted, allowing the Black Wolf King to finish them off while their health is low!”

Xie Yuan was instakilled by Tianhuan’s mid/jungler duo, with Chi Shuo securing the kill.

Fang Zhengqing took down the crippled Cheng Xing with a Q skill.

In this exchange of 1-for-1, the marksman from both teams was killed. But it was obvious that Tianhuan reaped a greater profit. This was because Jingzhe’s marksman had developed steadily, resembling a big fat sheep. Tianhuan’s marksman was malnourished, like a skinny lamb.

Once Xie Yuan was killed, Jingzhe’s tower pushing momentum in the bottom lane was affected. They went to push the top lane instead.

On the other hand, Tianhuan quickly pushed the bottom lane, hoping to relieve some of Cheng Xing’s pressure.

Both teams lost one defense tower each while the kill count remained relatively similar. There also wasn’t any significant difference in team economy.