Season 5: Chapter 60. The Legendary Ultimate (1)
About five minutes earlier, Zelo had essentially declared his own victory after realizing Popcorn was in this match and happily recounted old stories from his professional days.
"So, Popcorn's Druid pick showed up right then. This was before it was even meta. Like, this nausea-inducing shapeshifting, could you even do that in virtual reality? That's what everyone was saying at the time..."
— Hey Zelo! Stop rambling and carry some bricks!
— For reference: Zelo played exactly one season in LIL Champions before his team disbanded...
— The "back in those days" stories again lmao
Of Popcorn's well-known signature picks, three famous ones existed. The most talked about, by far, was his Druid plays. Back then, handling shapeshifting champions in virtual reality was considered nearly impossible because of clunky controls and disorienting perspective shifts that caused motion sickness.
Popcorn had adapted to it all and achieved near-perfect mastery. Shapeshifting champions, like Druid, could handle a wide variety of situations once mastered. At the time, nobody in the top lane could face him.
"And that's when I ran into him. I was a rookie back then. The micro-organism known as Zelo. Of course, he was top lane, so we weren't in the same lane..."
— Micro-organism Zelo lmaooo
— Were you already a micro-organism back then? lmao
— Compared to prime-era Popcorn, yeah, micro-organism is accurate
— You just got completely wrecked and cried, right?
In the middle of getting nostalgic and emotional, Zelo still stopped to correct one thing.
"Cried? Who cried? You maniac. It was actually pretty even, okay? When we showed up, everyone thought... Ohh?!" Zelo suddenly panicked. "H-here! They're face-to-face!"
Popcorn and Almond's team finally met.
— What
— Oh
— The end of the Almond Era...
— Fat Man deployed!
"Popcorn's current stats: he cleared the Vault, used a legendary rune to power up his ultimate, and he's a level ahead of Almond. This meeting is basically a natural disaster!"
The person who felt most excited when Popcorn appeared wasn't the community Garden users anxious about the Almond era, nor the LIL Pro Survival forum users who had bet too much on the mission. It was Zelo.
"Just GO! Su-Hwan! DO IT!!"
— lmaooooooo
— lmaooo
— He said his real name lmao
— Is he actually going to?
— Honestly, the matchup is too favorable lmao
Popcorn had arrived to avenge three generations of grudges. Of course, Zelo felt excited.
"YEAH!"
Popcorn charged in instantly and eliminated Bubblegum before the enemies could even register what was happening.
[Popcorn → Bubblegum]
Zelo practically spat as he drew a finger across his throat. "The moment he appears! He just CUTS down Bubblegum!"
He was that hyped.
— lmaooo
— Raina should've been watching this...
— He's so fired up
— Wow, Popcorn’s Druid is incredible
— He's so good lmao
— Wow
"This is Popcorn! And THIS is Bubblegum! This is exactly the kind of man Bubblegum is!!"
— He has a personal vendetta against Bubblegum lmao
— Must've been rough being "Below Gum"...
— lmaooooo
— lmaooo
"Okay, so Popcorn just cut down Bubblegum and didn't get greedy. He pulled back! Absolutely excellent judgment instead of pushing any further. Druid outside of bear form is kind of squishy. He'd melt. Here's what actually matters. You know what it is?"
Zelo got all worked up and talked fast for the first time in a while.
"Surprisingly, it's not Almond or Popcorn. It's that Paladin over there."
He pointed to LetMeTank's Paladin.
"Given both teams' current formations, Almond's team will win if that Paladin gets in. If she can't get in, Popcorn's team wins! But!"
LetMeTank tried to push in, and Popcorn lightly knocked her over in wolf form.
"Exactly~! Popcorn just addressed the key point right there. Su-Hwan!"
— Aw yeah
— Kya~!
— Su-Hwan lmaooo
— Ohhh
— Zelo's eyes are still sharp
"The enemy won’t let that slide. Almond's charging in, and bombs are flying everywhere! Popcorn just flies straight up in hawk form! What are you gonna do about that?"
Zelo leaned into the camera as if he were Popcorn himself.
"He’ll be like, ‘I'm up in the air. What can you even do to me?’"
— lmaooooooo
— lmaooooo
— He's genuinely losing it
— Grinning ear to ear, thinking about the free money~
"And on top of that, Popcorn is dodging all the projectiles in mid-air? You can't hit him!"
Zelo's face turned red in excitement.
[If Team Bubblegum places 1st: twerk. If Team Bubblegum doesn't place 1st: 300,000 won.]
Of course, this very direct reason existed. Countless other reasons like dignity and three generations of revenge also fueled him, but the most powerful one was something else.
‘Being below Gum isn't happening.’
He wanted to avoid that situation above all. Zelo was in his own placement matches right now. He was essentially near the bottom of the rankings. If Bubblegum charged ahead and took first, they could end up neck and neck. Zelo could actually end up lower. Even a draw was a loss in this fight.
‘Absolutely not.’
Zelo prayed harder and screamed.
‘Please, Popcorn, end this game!’
"Ok Su-Hwan has come to end this Almond Era! CHARGE!! Oh?!"
Then, Zelo had to rub his eyes. Almond had gone airborne in pursuit of Popcorn. More precisely, he had flashed into the air.
"H-he's going aerial?!"
Flash!
"Here, Popcorn's team is about to counter... Huh?"
Two flashes occurred.
"If you take a hit in hawk form, that ACTUALLY hurts!"
[Spinning Slash]
[Blade Energy]
Slaaaash!
Zelo's fear became reality.
"Wh-what!!"
— What?!
— Wow...
— What is this?!
— Whoa lmao
— In mid-air?!
— Dodging Ran's attack was insane
— He's broken fr
— ??? Your boyfriend is something else!
***
‘It worked.’
Almond's attack landed cleanly. He thought to try something after seeing what he'd seen in the footage. Switching to hawk form was Druid’s weak point. More precisely, Popcorn became vulnerable when he activated hawk form and got into melee range. This weak point was nearly impossible to exploit without a champion like Flashy Blade.
I thought he'd know about it.
Popcorn's teammate was JeonJaPa, who was famous for Flashy Blade. Of course, Popcorn would’ve studied the matchup. Despite that, Almond’s attack had landed cleanly.
The satisfying impact feedback reached Almond’s fingertips. He spun his body and confirmed the target’s location to land another strike.
‘Huh?’
[HP: 97%]
Barely any of Popcorn’s health had dropped. Hawk form was supposed to be extremely fragile.
‘That's not right.’
“Grrrrr!”
It wasn't hawk form.
[Bear Form]
In bear form, the initial transformation provided a large shield and a significant boost to defense and magic resistance.
Swoosh!
Bear form's uppercut also launched anything it hit airborne. Getting launched airborne while already in the air would be devastating.
‘I've experienced this bug.’
Practicing LIL with Bubblegum had exposed Almond to all kinds of glitchy behaviors. He knew what happened when after getting launched while already airborne. The Z-axis value suddenly multiplied, and the player would get flung so high that they’d almost fly off the map. Popcorn was going for that right now.
A small smile settled on Popcorn's lips.
‘I've fought a lot of Flashy Blades.’
Going aerial made a Flashy Blade just as disadvantaged.
Swoosh!
Almond wouldn’t be able to dodge this uppercut either. Flash was on cooldown. He had used it twice already, hadn't he?
‘Die.’
The airborne attack would send Almond flying away. In the meantime, Popcorn would shift to hawk form and fly away. That was the plan.
‘Huh?’
Hair instantly blazed white, and eyes burned crimson.
“I shall fulfill the contract sealed in blood.”
‘An ultimate skill?’
[Ultimate Skill: Spirit Blade Technique]
Almond decided to use his ultimate skill in mid-air. This was a Level 2 ultimate skill, which generated two additional blades, totalling six. It boasted immense power with the ability to control all six blades and Flash to their positions.
‘But the flashes would end up in obvious spots.’
The blades appeared right after the ultimate skill activated. Their landing positions were predictable. They'd all be caught by the bear's wide-radius uppercut anyway.
Wooosh!
[Flash]
Almond flashed regardless.
He vanished for a moment and reappeared barely two centimeters to the side. A bear paw swept through the air just above.
‘Wait?’
The invincibility frame from the Flash had absorbed the uppercut. Their eyes met. Almond looked completely unbothered and swung his blade.
Whoosh!
Popcorn took the hit in bear form.
[HP: 83%]
‘Damn.’
He tried to counter, but Almond's blades had scattered in every direction.
Flash!
Almond appeared at Popcorn's upper right and swung again.
Thud!
This time, Popcorn reacted and blocked with a bear paw. Almond was knocked back, and Popcorn immediately transformed.
Pop!
[Hawk Form]
Popcorn shifted into a hawk and retreated up.
‘Damn, the hawk form burned out.’
His shapeshifting skill went on cooldown. Hawk, bear, and wolf: each animal had its own cooldown with up to two charges.
If hawk form's cooldown was fifteen seconds, it could be used twice in a row after thirty seconds. This made a sequence like hawk, bear, and hawk possible. However, this kind of finishing combo couldn't be used carelessly. Using stored charges carried enormous cooldown penalties.
‘Still, that was the right call.’
Swoosh!
Rising into the sky, Popcorn thought, ‘That used up his ultimate skill.’
The enemy's ultimate skill had a time limit. The longer the aerial fight dragged on, the more favorable it was for this side.
‘He's going to try to close it out fast.’
Popcorn already knew Almond was coming. He had to. Almond was the one racing against the clock.
[Flash]
This time, he appeared to Popcorn's lower left.
‘When did a blade get there?’
He almost had time to think it, but almost wasn't enough. A strike flew in.
Slash!
[Blade Energy]
[Spinning Slash]
It was the same combo as before.
‘Take this.’
Popcorn blocked with his hawk skill and folded his wings.
[Wind Sphere]
Whoooosh!
A circular gust of wind enveloped him. Flashy Blade's strike deflected off it.
Ting!
This hawk form ability gathered wind around himself and condensed it into a spherical shape.
[Burst]
At the desired moment, it could explode and push enemies away. Popcorn moved closer to Almond and activated the skill.
Boom!
‘Get away from me.’
Popcorn burst the sphere with a wingbeat. It dealt almost no damage, but the instant activation and omnidirectional push were unblockable. No telegraphing meant it couldn’t be dodged.
[Flash]
Almond flashed again.
He remained completely unharmed due to the invincibility frame of Flash and slid through. Not just once, but twice.
‘What?!’
This wasn't something that could be done reactively. Almond knew the exact timing of the burst. It had been the same with the bear form transformation and the uppercut before.
Druid switching forms in mid-air wasn't something players often encountered. Without a flicker of confusion, Almond’s follow-up after his ultimate skill had been perfect. He'd been pressing with precision down to the hundredth of a second.
‘This guy...’
Popcorn was certain now.
‘He’s studied me.’
His eyes met Almond's burning crimson eyes in Flashy Blade’s ultimate state.
Popcorn's expression turned serious. Whatever playfulness remained had disappeared entirely.
‘Why...’
Crunch.
‘Why does he remind me of that person?’
As another blade strike swept in, sparks flared in Popcorn's eyes too.
With blazing crimson eyes, the champion shouted, “Behold the power that exists only in legend!”
[Legendary Ultimate Skill: Phoenix Form]
Popcorn activated his rune-enhanced ultimate skill.
***
[Beginner’s Tip]
[Did you know? Some runes can enhance your skills when obtained. And they say a legendary rune can even enhance your ultimate skill itself.]
[Translator’s Note]
[Obviously, this Druid champion is based on Udyr from League of Legends. But I don’t remember Udyr being this badass... lol!]
