Chapter Sixty-Three: Fish on the Chopping Board

Fire Dance walked straight over and kicked Mengya, who was clearing the lane! It was Fire Dance’s signature Flash attack!

At the same time, Yuange’s puppet emerged from the bushes, and before Xinran could react, he had already closed in, stunning Xishi hiding in the grass for three seconds.

“Oh no!”

Mengya was caught off guard, and Xinran was distracted. Just as she was about to activate her first skill, Yuange dashed in and locked her down, leaving her completely immobilized.

Xinran frantically tapped her Flash, but without resistance boots, she lacked the tenacity to break free, so Yuange kept her under his control and unleashed his second and third skills in quick succession!

Both sides clashed almost simultaneously.

Teammate Liuchan, who wanted to chain his control after Xishi pulled someone in, didn’t patrol the river for vision and instead stood a bit further inside, failing to spot Fire Dance in time and prevent his Flash attack.

Now Liuchan could only activate his first skill for speed, rush to Mengya’s side, and claw at Fire Dance, interrupting his combo.

Zhuang Zhou from the opposing team also came over to cut the carry, but without his ultimate, he could only stay nearby, providing some slow and extra damage.

Just then, Marco Polo rotated in, activated Purify, and unleashed a seemingly endless barrage at this choke point!

Mengya seized the brief respite Liuchan granted, instantly triggered his ultimate, activated Sprint, pressed his first skill, and unleashed his machine gun on Fire Dance.

Liuchan relentlessly controlled Fire Dance from the side.

With Mengya’s damage piling on, Fire Dance’s health rapidly plummeted, but before dying, Fire Dance managed to unleash his full combo.

Mengya still had a quarter of his health left. After killing Fire Dance, he immediately escaped Marco Polo’s barrage.

Marco Polo pressed the attack, followed up with his second skill and several basic attacks!

Liuchan desperately tried to protect Mengya, but facing a two-man hard engage, all his control went into stopping Fire Dance. Now, he could only spin his mechanical arm to deal some damage to Marco Polo.

Ultimately, Marco Polo ignored Liuchan’s skills, pressed close, and used his first skill to finish off Mengya!

It was a costly exchange—Marco Polo’s health was halved by the combined assault from Mengya and Liuchan.

Meanwhile, inside the canyon, the battle raged just as fiercely.

Yuange’s combo locked down his target, using the classic sequence: one-four-three-three-two-two-three.

This is the standard kill combo against squishy mages in the early game—usually just enough damage to finish them, and if not, a quick basic attack between the second and third skills will do the trick.

But Xinran’s fingers moved incredibly fast; she was frantically tapping the screen.

Shangjie sensed the damage might not be enough, so he used a mixed attack pattern—one-four-three-three-two-two-A-three—which allowed Xinran’s Flash to miraculously escape!

“Damn!” Shangjie shouted, “Ahhh, my Cross Slash missed! Don’t panic! Flash in, basic attack, I’ll finish you off! Dodge with the fourth skill, another basic attack!”

Yuange still had his ace up his sleeve. His Flash was perfectly timed. He immediately flashed after her, attempting to finish Xishi with basic attacks.

Xishi now had just enough health for two more basic attacks.

Xinran hastily released her first skill, but Shangjie, with quick reflexes, dodged it using his fourth skill reposition.

Xinran could only use her second skill to poke at Shangjie, applying a bit of slow.

But she knew well—escaping from this position would be extremely difficult!

At this moment, Marco Polo joined the fray.

He forced Liuchan, now at sliver health, to retreat, then turned around to trap Xishi!

Xishi was instantly surrounded by Marco Polo and Yuange, clearly isolated and helpless!

Lin Hao witnessed all this from the top lane—it happened far too quickly.

His awareness was sharp, but by the time he relayed information to Xinran, she needed time to process and react, inevitably slowing her response.

Lin Hao could only rush to help the bottom lane via the teleportation altar.

He could push the top tower, but his hero, Ma Chao, wasn’t a split-pushing specialist like Old Master.

With the bot lane collapsing, losing this teamfight would severely hinder his teammates’ development.

The teleportation altar glowed red—Ma Chao was about to arrive!

Suddenly, the situation in bot lane shifted again.

Lin Hao’s teammate, Nakoruru, emerged from the red jungle, circled the river, and sat down hard, applying a powerful slow to Marco Polo, who had used all his dash skills!

Nakoruru summoned Mamahaha with her first skill, then instantly chained her second skill!

Marco Polo at half health was slain in a flash!

Almost simultaneously, the enemy’s Jubei approached from the blue jungle, heading for the bush near bot lane’s outer tower, arriving a few seconds later than Nakoruru.

But it didn’t matter—Nakoruru’s second skill was aimed in his direction, landing right in Jubei’s face.

Jubei immediately used a slash to lock her down, then unleashed a burst combo!

On the right, Yuange, barely surviving, finally killed Xishi, then joined in to deal a few more blows to Nakoruru.

With no skills left, Nakoruru quickly fell!

At this moment, Zhuang Zhou, still observing, and Jubei both lost some health from Nakoruru’s desperate first skill and basic attack.

The teamfight ended with a two-for-three trade—Marco Polo and Fire Dance fell, while Lin Hao’s team lost their marksman and paid with their jungler as well!

At this point, the bottom lane had completely collapsed.

But suddenly, a figure burst from the river, trailing a red streak!

He blazed with golden light!

“Divine Might Across Miles!”

It was Ma Chao!

While the bot lane was engulfed in a fierce and thrilling brawl, Lin Hao’s Ma Chao arrived at the dragon pit via the teleportation altar, then activated Sprint to hurry over!

Time was of the essence!

Yet, when he arrived, he was just a step too late—the enemy had wiped out nearly all his teammates. Only Liuchan remained, silently recalling behind the tower, his health depleted.

Attack!

A top-tier Ma Chao knows the importance of choosing the right moment to enter the fray. Ma Chao has no control skills, so initiating a fight is a poor strategy—he excels at finishing off enemies and supplementing damage.

The key indicator for entry isn’t the opponents’ health, but whether they still have skills available.

Many Ma Chao players see the enemy carry at low health and recklessly charge in, only to be stunned by a barrage of skills and killed outright.

But this time, Lin Hao observed carefully—most enemy skills had already been used. Even if their health was decent, they were like fish on a chopping board, waiting to be stabbed!