LPL didn't want me? I joined SKT instead!

"Five AD carries were banned?!"

When C9 decisively banned Xayah in the last ban phase on the blue side, Miller in the commentary booth gasped, his voice changing tone.

"Caitlynn, Kog'Maw, Tristana, Varus, Xayah... Has C9 gone mad? They're targeting Xiao Yan like they're targeting Faker! This is the most outrageous individual draft pick since the start of the S7 World Championship!"

Wawa took off her glasses and wiped them, looking incredulous. "This is too much of a favor, really. Last game, Kog'Maw gave C9 a psychological trauma. Now, all the usable Tier 1 AD carries are gone, and even half of the Tier 2 carries have been eliminated. What is Xiao Yan supposed to use? Scratch Ashe? Or play Jhin as a front-line tank?"

The audience erupted in uproar. Although many people still questioned Xiao Yan, they couldn't help but feel a bit suffocated by this "ruthless" promotion targeting a newcomer.

On SKT's match bench.

Coach Koma's brows were furrowed, and the notebook in his hand was slightly deformed from being gripped so tightly. He had anticipated that C9 would target the bot lane, but he hadn't expected them to go this far.

"These guys..." Huni whistled, "Are they that afraid of dying?"

"Xiao Yan, what else can we get?" Faker turned his head, his gaze calmly fixed on the boy beside him through his round-framed glasses. "If you feel pressured, we can get a utility AD carry, and I'll carry."

In this game, Faker picked his best champion, Galio. The Colossus of Justice, a guardian angel who shelters his teammates from the storm.

As Xiao Yan looked at the row of grayed-out marksman avatars on the screen and listened to his teammates' concern, a dangerous smile slowly crept onto his lips.

pressure?

No, this is excitement.

Blood surged through his veins, and his fingertips trembled slightly with a thirst for killing.

"Sang-hyeok-hyung, since they're so afraid of death, I'll just send them to their deaths."

Xiao Yan's fingers flew across the search bar, and an avatar lit up instantly.

It was a rat lurking in the gutter, reeking of plague and stench.

"I was wondering why the sewer smelled like a burnt sandwich..."

The source of the plague—Tuch!

"Twitch! Locked in! SKT locked in Twitch for Xiao Yan in their last counter pick on the red side!" Miller exclaimed. "This champion... this champion is strong in this Ardent Censer meta, but it's too squishy! And C9's lineup..."

C9 lineup:

Top lane Impact: Shen

Jungler Contractz: Graves

Mid laner Jensen: Ryze

ADC Sneaky: Sivir

Support Smoothie: Lulu

SKT Roster:

Top laner Huni: Jayce

Jungler Peanut: Jarvan IV

Mid laner Faker: Galio

Support Wolf: Janna

"This game is going to be tough," Wawa analyzed. "C9's lineup has Shen and Ryze's double-drive, Graves' high burst damage, and if Twitch dares to show his face, he'll be melted instantly. Plus, Sivir pushes the lane too fast, so Twitch will be pushed under the tower and beaten in the early game."

Game start.

Just as the commentators predicted, C9 displayed an extremely blatant killing intent from the moment they entered the game at level one.

Sneaky's Sivir, relying on her long range and W's bounce, relentlessly pushed the lane.

Contractz's Graves completely abandoned farming in the top half of the jungle and invaded SKT's bottom half jungle at level three, clearly telling Xiao Yan: I'm living in the bottom lane.

3 minutes 40 seconds.

A large wave of minions pushed into the tower.

"Dive the tower! Go straight for it!" Contractz roared in C9's voice chat.

Impact's Shen teleported directly to the ward behind the bottom lane turret, cutting off Xiao Yan's escape route. Graves rushed out from the tri-bush, and Ryze disappeared from the mid lane.

Four packs of two!

Another four-on-two!

"We're doomed! This is a guaranteed loss!" Miller shouted. "Only level three! C9 is ruthless!"

Faced with a desperate situation, Xiao Yan's eyes were as cold as ice.

"Wolf, give me a shield, charge up your Q."

Just as Shen taunted and flashed into the tower, Xiao Yan's rat didn't run away. Instead, he made an extremely counterintuitive move—he activated his Q skill [Ambush] and, taking advantage of the brief delay before going invisible, took a step towards Graves's gun!

That one step allowed him to dodge Shen's E-Flash taunt!

"I dodged it! But Graves' damage is really high!"

boom!

Graves used his Q skill to hit the wall, and combined with his auto-attack, instantly took away half of Twitch's health.

But at that moment, a huge magic circle lit up under the SKT turret!

The hero has arrived!

"Faker! Faker's here!"

Galio descended like a god, crashing to the ground, the massive shockwave sending Shen, who was tanking the tower, flying.

"Counterattack!"

Xiao Yan gave a low shout over the voice chat.

The rat, whose invisibility had ended, triggered his attack speed buff. Ignoring the tanky Shen, he instead targeted Graves, who had made a mistake while tanking the tower and was now being pulled away from it.

W [Poison Barrel] - Slows down!

Basic attack, movement, basic attack, movement!

Xiao Yan's mouse click rate was astonishingly fast. In the extremely confined space, the mouse dodged Sivir's boomerangs while frantically attacking Graves.

E [Toxic Outbreak]!

Snapped!

The full layer of poison exploded, and with the final attack from the turret, Graves fell to the ground!

However, C9 had the advantage in numbers. Ryze arrived at the battlefield and finished off the low-health Janna with a combo, then turned his attention to Twitch.

"Go! Don't worry about me!" Faker controlled Galio to stand in front, using his W [Duran's Shield] to taunt Ryze and Shen, buying Xiao Yan time to escape.

However, Xiao Yan did not leave.

"Can be killed."

He only said two words.

The low-health rat, taking advantage of the Incense Burner effect left behind by Janna before her death, and taking advantage of the control gap created by Faker, unleashed a barrage of firepower on Ryze.

One, two, three!

Each poisoned arrow struck Ryze with pinpoint accuracy.

Just as Ryze was about to break free of control and instantly kill the rat, Xiao Yan pressed Flash.

It's not a teleportation to escape, but a teleportation to teleport!

He flashed behind Ryze, dodging Ryze's deadly Q skill, and then secured the kill with a basic attack!

Double Kill!

Although Twitch was eventually taken down by Sivir, SKT managed a 2-for-2 trade in this four-man gank, and Twitch even got two kills!

"My God! He managed to trade two for one?" the doll exclaimed in disbelief. "How dare Xiao Yan? In that situation, instead of running away, he fought back? Does he think he's playing with a mouse like an assassin?"

After that, the game entered a long and drawn-out battle.

Although C9 did not achieve the desired collapse effect in the bottom lane, they put enormous pressure on SKT's minion waves in the mid-game thanks to Shen and Ryze's split-push strategy.

After 20 minutes, C9 had a 2,000 gold lead.

Although Xiao Yan's rat had a kill, he was out-damaged by thirty hits, and one of his turrets was also destroyed.

"Don't rush, wait for my three-piece set," Xiao Yan said in the voice chat, his tone eerily calm.

He is waiting.

Like a real rat, he endured in the shadows, searching for the opportunity to strike decisively.

28 minutes.

A crucial team fight around Baron Nashor.

C9 took advantage of their vision and initiated the attack on Baron Nashor.

"We have to take it! If we let this dragon go, it'll be gone!" Peanut shouted.

The SKT team headed to the Dragon Pit.

At this moment, C9's formation was perfectly maintained. Shen was at the very front, with Lulu and Ryze protecting Sivir and Graves, forming an impenetrable fortress.

"How are we supposed to cut through this?" Miller, watching from the commentary booth, felt despair. "Twitch's reach is too short; he can't even touch the backline. The moment he shows his face, Shen's taunt and Ryze's root will instantly vaporize him."

From SKT's perspective, all they could see was C9 taking down the dragon faster and faster.

"Huni, poke me!"

Huni's Jayce fired a powerful shot, but Shen blocked it, rendering it ineffective.

"I'll go for it!" Peanut's prince was getting anxious, wanting to use his EQ combo to steal the dragon.

Don't go.

Xiao Yan, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.

"Sang-hyuk hyung, look at my spot."

Everyone was taken aback and looked at the mini-map.

Xiao Yan's rat was not following the main group. Instead, it had somehow circled around to the triangular bush above the dragon pit—the area behind C9's red buff jungle.

It was pitch black there, shrouded in the fog of war.

"What is he going to do? That spot... that's a dead end!" the doll exclaimed.

Just when the dragon's health was down to 3,000.

Xiao Yan made a move.

Q skill [Ambush] activated.

The mouse's figure gradually faded away, disappearing into the darkness.

He didn't choose to go head-on, nor did he choose to flank from the side. Instead, he activated Youmuu's Ghostblade, used the speed boost, and swaggered into C9's red zone. Then—

Flash over the wall!

He teleported directly to the back of C9's formation!

At this moment, everyone on C9 was focused on the four SKT players in front of them, and no one noticed the invisible rat behind them.

"Hello~"

A sinister, mocking voice rang in the headphones of everyone in C9.

The next second, hell descended.

R skill: [Full Power!]

The crossbow bolt in the rat's hand instantly grew larger, and its range increased dramatically!

Throw the [Poison Barrel] in the center of the densest crowd!

Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep—!

With his ultimate and Youmuu's Ghostblade activated, Twitch's attack speed instantly reached its maximum. His Hurricane's split arrows, infused with piercing poison, were like the Grim Reaper's scythe, relentlessly reaping the health of C9's backline.

"A rat! A rat is behind us!!" Sneaky screamed in terror.

But he didn't have time to react.

Because at the very moment the rat appeared, Faker made a move.

The Colossus of Justice's ultimate skill, "Heroic Appearance," directly targeted the rat!

A massive magic circle covered the area around the rat, not only providing the fragile rat with huge damage reduction, but also creating a huge knockback control field!

Just as the C9 members were about to turn around and kill the rat, they were knocked away by Galio who fell from the sky!

boom!

At this moment, Faker and Xiao Yan achieved perfect synchronization.

Galio landed and used his W Flash to taunt three people!

"Kill! Kill them all!"

Xiao Yan's eyes were fixed on the screen, his fingers moving so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

Critical hit! Critical hit! And another critical hit!

The rat with the Infinity Edge, Hurricane, and Green Cross set deals damage that's incomprehensible.

The squishy Graves melted instantly!

Sivir used Flash to heal, but was instantly killed by Twitch's E skill [Poison Burst]!

Ryze tried to counterattack, but was blocked by the arriving Prince Peanut!

Triple Kill!

Quadra Kill!

"Penta! Penta!" Huni shouted excitedly. Jess blasted Shen, who was trying to escape, with a single shot, then stopped and let him go.

Xiao Yan calmly used basic attacks to finish off Shen with a final auto-attack.

Penta Kill!

Pentakill!

The powerful sound effects resonated throughout the entire Wuhan Sports Center!

"Pentakill! Xiao Yan got the first pentakill of the S7 World Championship!" Miller roared hoarsely, his voice cracking. "What kind of rat is that? That's an assassin! That's a ghost! He initiated the team fight with his bare hands, flanked, and sprayed five enemies! My God! C9 banned five AD carries, but created an even more terrifying monster!"

"Faker's Galio was fantastic! This champion's introduction was a stroke of genius! Is this SKT's duo? One dares to risk everything for damage, and the other dares to sacrifice everything to protect them!"

This team fight effectively ended the game.

With the Baron buff, SKT gave C9 no chance to breathe.

With the Baron buff, SKT gave C9 no chance to breathe.

Xiao Yan's rat instantly became invisible and charged in, forcefully killing the resurrected male gunner on the high ground.

With the explosion of C9's main crystal, the score was set at 2-0.

The moment Xiao Yan took off his headphones, he let out a long breath; his team uniform on the back was already soaked with cold sweat.

That flanking maneuver just now—if even one C9 player had glanced back, or if Faker's ultimate had landed even 0.5 seconds later, he would have instantly died and become a laughingstock across the internet.

But he won his gamble.

Or rather, he believed in Faker, and he believed in himself.

"Nice!"

This time, Faker stood up and turned around to give Xiao Yan a big hug.

"That flanking maneuver was insane," Faker said with a smile, his eyes full of admiration. "But I love it."

Little Peanut jumped excitedly onto the chair: "Brother! You're a god! A rat that can fight itself in a physical battle, I've never seen anything like it in my life!"

Xiao Yan smiled and rubbed his slightly sore fingers.

He turned to look at the big screen, where the devastating pentakill was being replayed.

The original taunts and insults on the screen have disappeared, replaced by a screen full of "666" and "sorry".

I was wrong, I shouldn't have criticized you, that rat was too fierce!

Banning five AD carries? Banning ten won't help!

[Is this really a rookie? That composure, that skill—how could the LPL let someone like this go?]

[SKT's new AD carry is really something; this game was entirely a testament to his individual skill.]

[Faker: Finally, I have an AD carry who can keep up with my pace.]

Xiao Yan packed up his equipment and stood in the center of the stage.

This time, he was greeted by thunderous cheers from the entire stadium and countless waving SKT team flags.

He looked up at the spotlight, a defiant smile playing on his lips.

Because at that moment, that familiar mechanical voice rang in his mind again, tinged with a hint of pleasure:

[Ding! Detected that the entire enemy team is experiencing extreme fear and self-doubt due to the host's "Assassin-style Rat," judged as "Group Defense Break."]

[Congratulations, host! You have received a special reward: Active Skill - "Divine Descent"!]

[Skill Description: Divine Descent (Active) - Upon activation, the host enters a state of absolute focus known as the "Divine Realm." In this state, the host's dynamic vision, reaction speed, and micro-management precision are enhanced to human limits, and the host can predict the opponent's intentions within the next 0.5 seconds.]

Duration: 3 minutes.

Cooldown time: 24 hour.

[Side effect: After the skill ends, the host will be in a state of extreme fatigue and will need to rest for at least 12 hours to recover.]

Xiao Yan's heart skipped a beat as he looked at the skill icon radiating golden light in his mind.

Predicting the next 0.5 seconds? The limits of human capability?

This is practically a cheat-level ability! Although it has side effects, in crucial moments of life and death, these 3 minutes are enough to turn the tide of battle.

"The divine power is coming..." Xiao Yan clenched his fist, feeling the hidden power within him. "It seems that this World Championship will be more interesting than I imagined."