Chapter Thirty: What Storm Can a Level Three Guan Yu Stir Up?

“Are you teaching me how to play?” Lin Hao chuckled, addressing the viewers watching the live stream, “This teammate, Golden Cicada, clearly has a different grasp of the game compared to me.”

“Don’t be fooled by the fact that we’re losing gold and kills here—Li Bai’s rhythm has already fallen behind our jungler by a great margin!”

“Look, Yun Ying is already preparing to invade Li Bai’s red jungle.”

While Lin Hao was contesting Li Bai’s blue jungle, Yun Ying quietly finished clearing the red jungle, claimed the river crab in mid, and took an extra wave of Golden Cicada’s mid lane minions.

Her experience shot up to well over level three. As a seasoned jungler, Yun Ying knew that with just one more buff, she’d reach level four.

Meanwhile, Li Bai was still stuck at level one. With this disparity, why not invade Li Bai’s red jungle for the red buff?

Of course, Yun Ying’s movement through mid was spotted by Nine-Tailed Fox. Still at level one after respawning, Nine-Tailed Fox sensibly chose to farm blue.

Angry as he was, he didn’t lose his cool. If red’s gone, so be it.

But the game, which started out as a normal development phase, had become chaotic, and the opposing Guan Yu was certainly a big part of that.

“I just hope Yun Ying leaves some monsters in my red jungle. Once I hit level four, I’m heading straight top to hunt down that Guan Yu. After our earlier clash, his development must be suffering too.”

The game continued. Lin Hao quietly farmed two waves under his tower, pushing Guan Yu to just over level three.

“This lane isn’t safe anymore. I can feel it—Li Bai is lurking in one of the bushes.”

“It’s better to just let the lane go and support elsewhere.”

In theory, Lin Hao’s Guan Yu needed another wave to hit level four, and only then would he be useful in team fights.

But Lin Hao sensed the enemy would almost certainly dive him under tower.

So he made the decisive call to abandon the tower and look for opportunities along the side lanes.

He mainly didn’t want to give Nine-Tailed Fox’s Li Bai the satisfaction of killing him and boosting his morale.

Lin Hao looped around from the depths of his own territory, bypassing two jungle areas, never showing himself in mid.

The enemy minion wave slowly reached the top tower.

Seeing the tower empty, Nine-Tailed Fox emerged from the bush and, with Bai Qi, began pushing.

“This Guan Yu is clever. I thought he’d fight to the death defending the tower.”

Nine-Tailed Fox guessed Guan Yu was probably waiting near the second tower for teammates.

Pushing the tower was always the right move, and once the wave was cleared, they’d start the dragon.

Or perhaps they’d pull a surprise attack, lying in wait for Guan Yu in the back bush to see if reinforcements arrived.

After all, Guan Yu was only level three, so Nine-Tailed Fox pushed confidently, pondering his next move.

Meanwhile, Lin Hao had already arrived bottom lane.

“Attack!” he pinged twice, then opened the chat box to announce a planned tower dive. But he realized that all his quick messages were just apologies...

Yu Ji and Bull Demon in bot lane watched Guan Yu strolling out of the nearby bush, speechless.

Bro, you’re only level three. Are you really thinking of diving?

Still, the minion wave had entered the enemy tower.

Bull Demon immediately moved forward to pressure!

Yu Ji seized the chance to push the tower!

Golden Cicada, who’d given vision in river, was initially planning some crowd control but got distracted by the incoming Bomb Cat.

Golden Cicada unleashed a full combo on Bomb Cat, but Bomb Cat ignored him, charging up the ultimate. Two seconds later, Yu Ji’s position was bombarded by a giant feline explosive.

Lin Hao’s Guan Yu burst from the bush, swaying his horse’s head, but did not target Di Renjie or Liu Chan defending under tower—instead, he moved closer to the enemy duo.

What the hell? How did Guan Yu end up here?

Di Renjie was startled.

But seeing Guan Yu’s level, he relaxed.

A level three Guan Yu couldn’t threaten him—at most, a basic combo, but not enough to kill Di Renjie.

Still, both Di Renjie and Liu Chan were annoyed by Guan Yu’s approach.

Dude, do you realize the situation?

Both our skills and health are full.

You don’t even have your ultimate—are you sure you want to mess with us?

As Guan Yu kept closing the gap, passing the distance needed for his second ability, neither Di Renjie nor Liu Chan could figure out what he was planning.

Was he going to charge in solo?

If so, Liu Chan would easily pin him down and render him helpless.

Or was he going to use the first skill to swing back?

That would ignore the trap Liu Chan had set.

So, most likely, he was just trying to pressure and help teammates push.

With that in mind, Di Renjie and Liu Chan stopped retreating.

Calculating the distance, Liu Chan lunged at Guan Yu’s swaying horse head.

Di Renjie threw a yellow card straight at him!

But at that moment, Guan Yu—almost as if he could predict the future—suddenly turned and dodged backward!

Smack!

Whoosh!

Liu Chan’s claw hit nothing but air.

Di Renjie’s yellow card also missed.

Just a hair’s breadth away from connecting.

“What kind of movement is this?”

It felt as if Guan Yu had absolute control over their skill range.

But it wasn’t over yet. After dodging both critical skills, Lin Hao quickly sent an apology through the quick-chat.

“The one drawback to Guan Yu is that you can’t use the recall animation to greet opponents, since you always have to keep running,” Lin Hao commented.

“Anger from Di Renjie: +200.”

“Anger from Liu Chan: +100.”

Lin Hao would never miss a chance to farm anger points.

This was as simple a maneuver as could be. Not only was Lin Hao a master of movement, but even players like Yi Fan, who excelled in positioning, could manipulate enemies into casting their skills at maximum range, achieving a bait-and-dodge effect.

“On the surface, it looks like I’m just pressuring the duo, but actually, I’m turning sharply away!”

Lin Hao narrated as he played. Guan Yu now circled out from the bush beside the enemy’s first tower on the bot lane.

His target was Shen Mengxi, who was dueling Golden Cicada!

Combo: second, then first ability!

Both Shen Mengxi and Golden Cicada were low on health, though Shen Mengxi was in slightly better shape—Golden Cicada had already used his combo, while Shen Mengxi still had her first skill, tossing little bombs as she chased Golden Cicada.

Guan Yu’s horse stomp interrupted Shen Mengxi’s bomb throw, then he closed in, spun with his first skill, followed by a basic attack, and Shen Mengxi was taken out!

The power of Guan Yu, top-tier in the national server, was undeniable. Even if Lin Hao’s game sense and micro weren’t as monstrous as his movement, he was still far from ordinary!