Chapter 33

Eventually, Sia and Myunjoon sent me far away to the jungle tower as punishment for bothering them.

So I naturally began to perform the bottom lane battle with “Working Hard Without Getting Angry.”

“Is it Ms. Semin? Nice to meet you.”

“Oh yes! Nice to meet you too. Um…”

“Please call me Noname.”

“Noname? Is that your real name?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I chose Arsteria as usual. I intended to stick with this champion until the patch update.

After all, this would likely be my last time playing League of Legends.

It was now Semin’s turn to pick.

A gigantic warrior wielding a shield appeared.

“Are you really going to choose Bra…um? Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about that earlier…”

“No, no, I’m going with Lulu! Lulu would be better, right?”

“Lulu? You could always play Rammus instead.”

“Still, it’s burdensome to play support like that. But you remember, right?”

“…Let’s go.”

The ranked game’s lane phase was unbearably boring.

I hit level 2 first, but the opponent had already retreated back, preventing us from leveraging our level advantage.

At this rate, it was obvious we’d both end up farming evenly without any fighting, just wasting time.

It wasn’t a bad composition for the late game, so there was really no need to exert ourselves early on.

Even Semin, caught among the celestial tiers, seemed to relax in the generous gaming environment.

“Did I really send that message about saving Noname as a joke?”

“Why do you think it was a joke?”

As I mischievously asked back, Semin scratched his head, seemingly at a loss for words.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his puzzled expression.

“Look, Arsteria is definitely overpowered, but she’s a champion with clear limitations. Until level 6, I have to just take hits like this.”

The enemy Vayne charged at me with a tumble.

Ordinarily, Lulu would shield me, and I would kite with the AD carry while Vayne escapes, but I didn’t expect that much from Semin.

Instead of risking significant health loss fighting alone without support, I chose to take a hit.

Arsteria’s fox ears drooped. It must have hurt a lot. I might be feeling powerless.

“It’s hard to even take the RS for the others. I could take it without hesitation if I were Miss Fortune or Kettle, but I have to make precise judgments with Arsteria every moment.”

Should I eliminate a minion while taking attacks from the enemy, or should I abandon the minion to avoid damage?

“I could pretend to kill the minions while attacking the opponent, or I could bait out the enemy AD carry’s skill and then re-engage. Something like that.”

My childhood was always a series of choices.

One mistake would lead to death, so even minor accidents were unacceptable, even if they didn’t stem from my mistakes.

“Reaching level 6 doesn’t change much.”

A bird that breaks free from its egg faces another world, but that world is by no means welcoming.

To survive, it must fight against countless predators, oppressive heat, and raging storms.

Even with wings, it cannot fly.

That was 6-level Arsteria, and that was me.

Taking advantage of a moment when Vayne briefly moved away from her support, I immediately used my supernova.

However, thanks to the tumble and flash skills I had saved, she fortuitously dodged both attacks and ultimately avoided wasting my ultimate.

In such a situation, would Vayne feel a sense of crisis?

Most people would not.

Rather, they would gain confidence from surviving Arsteria’s full combo and be even bolder in the next battle.

Perceptual errors deepen selective perception and reinforce existing poor decision-making.

It would be hard for a person, always in the position of the predator, to accept that they might be devoured next.

“If I go in, you cast ‘Grow!’ for me.”

[Asel!]

I took out the ranged minion with a Q skill, fulfilling the condition for possessing a spirit.

[Sai!]

With a W skill, I restricted the enemy’s movements and blocked the support with an E skill.

[Liba!]

Though there was no additional damage marker, I charged straight at Vayne without hesitation.

[La Arsteria Shuhata Firelum]

[Grow!]

A perfectly executed ultimate combo.

One I had experienced dozens of times.

A pattern that fools had no choice but to lose against Arsteria.

It didn’t require complex calculations.

Vayne’s ultimate allowed for invisibility, but it was useless against a non-targeting skill like Arsteria’s, and the remaining health on both sides was half.

Logically, when both sides performed their best attacks, Arsteria had a significantly higher damage expectation.

Yet the snake, unable to shed its past arrogance, fell prey to the eagle it had thought was a chick.

[Double Kill]

“But the reason Arsteria is overpowered is primarily due to the teammates who sacrifice themselves until she grows.”

It’s easy for someone benefiting from that support to forget who helped them grow.

Especially for players of Kassadin, Kayle, and Arsteria.

Am I in this place solely because of my own merit?

There’s no way.

Without a mother bird to brood over the egg, the egg won’t hatch.

Until I built an entire world for myself, I expressed gratitude to all those who sometimes acted as a nest or a shield.

“Thank you, Cheon Semin. For saving my life.”

In that brief moment, you recognized my struggle, which could easily be overlooked.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here.”

I was truly grateful. From the bottom of my heart.

* * *

[Do you know about Walpurgis?]

With a double kill, Arsteria’s champion became stronger.

Her range was long, with both sustained and burst damage, and she was by no means weak.

As a ranged dealer, she even had mobility, and her ultimate dealt merciless damage depending on the caster.

“I was trapped in a capsule with my mom, without knowing why.”

“Noname, you’re doing really well, aren’t you?”

Arsteria had successfully executed a top dive.

Myunjoon praised her as he looked at her kill score.

(13/0/2)

Some might say that Arsteria only got 13 kills, questioning the bragging rights, but that was considering what would happen in the late game.

A matchup consisting of four celestial-tier players was beyond unbalanced; the Earth’s axis could flip and the poles could switch.

No matter how much they claimed to enjoy the game, it was one-sided, and the playtime was still showing 19 minutes.

In other words, the enemy team had been relentlessly beaten for the entire 19 minutes.

[But I couldn’t find any information even when I tried to investigate what that group did in Korea.]

As soon as Naame and Semin signaled their victory from the bottom, Arsteria manifested as a god of disaster.

Having taken two solo kills from Myunjoon in the lane phase, she persistently targeted the opponent top who was already mentally defeated.

As an AD carry, she had successfully executed two top dives by 15 minutes, destroying two towers.

[Should I live my life in ignorance?]

Soon, Arsteria descended to mid and ruthlessly claimed the lives of three enemy champions defending their mid.

“Is there anything more unfair than dying in a tower?”

Sia muttered, claiming that the enemies had simply been trying to defend their mid tower.

“Then they should have grown stronger.”

Naame replied cynically.

She even chided them about what they were doing while others were growing.

Following Naame closely, I thought she was truly an unpredictable character.

“Thank goodness she seems bright.”

But Semin still couldn’t shake the words she had said during the lane phase from his mind.

Seven years ago, the name of the terrorist organization that had caused significant disturbances in Korea, warranting extended coverage on the main news, came up here.

“And the prosecutor who handled that case back then was probably…”

[Junho123: Hey, when will the game end?]

A message from Junho came in.

Semin then remembered that he had come to the PC room with friends.

[Working Hard Without Getting Angry: It will end soon.]

[Working Hard Without Getting Angry: Just a moment.]

[Junho123: Stop spamming periods; are you compulsively doing that?]

“What’s wrong with sending periods?”

Semin was about to send a flurry of texts.

“I’ll make sure to take you down before the surrender comes!”

While battling the lane, Vayne, with her ethereal spell, fiercely pursued Semin, who was left alone in enemy territory.

Vayne must have been infuriated by Lulu’s laughter throughout the game.

Without taking a trophy from the little fairy, she would surely have a restless night.

Semin hurriedly tried to escape, but the speed difference had become stark, with Vayne’s silver arrows piercing his body.

Just before the final verdict struck his heart,

He felt a sensation of healing accompanied by a bright sound.

[Flash – Heal]

“You shouldn’t lose focus while gaming.”

Arsteria used her four-minute heal and her five-minute cool-down flash spell generously, dramatically saving Lulu.

Semin knew the importance of that spell, no matter how much he was in the silver tier.

“A full spell for a support isn’t too much to lose, is it?”

“She’s not just any supporter.”

Arsteria raised a fairy and responded with a smile brighter than ever.

“You’re my benefactor, after all.”

“Oh…”

“Let’s go finish the game now.”