Season 5: Chapter 61. The Legendary Ultimate (2)
While Popcorn and Almond clashed in the air, the ground battle raged just as fiercely below. The two teams kept their distance, locked in a poke war, and traded long-range skills back and forth from a safe distance.
"Keep Bubblegum alive! BornToB, hold the line!"
Team Almond, heavy on tanks, was mostly on the defensive. The enemy was on offense.
"Fire! Kill them!"
Dududung! Dudung!
Ranged carries grew stronger in the late game, hence this attempt to land decisive blows from a distance before committing.
Thud thud thud!
BornToB's shield deflected volley after volley of projectiles.
"Ugghh...! We need to keep Bubblegum alive...!"
With Bubblegum dead, the only ranged champion on their side was Choco Shroom's Demolisher. In a poke battle, they would have been badly disadvantaged.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
Every time Choco Shroom lobbed a bomb, she hit two or three enemies at once and did the work of several players.
— boom boom boom
— boom!
— Explosions are an art form!
— Deidara?
Maybe that was why.
‘It's holding even.’
It was three against four, and the two teams were matching each other blow for blow. Of course, this wasn't just Choco Shroom's doing.
‘Ran is effectively keeping Almond busy on two fronts.’
The single biggest factor was the Pure Sniper Ran, the enemy's most powerful ranged attacker. Ran was using their ultimate skill to target Almond in the air.
The enemy had two carries, Rifleman Sharyl and Ran. With Ran occupied on Almond, Rifleman Sharyl was handling ranged damage alone. The mage champion Ignite tried to fill the gap, but that wasn't nearly enough to compete with the Demolisher's long-range artillery.
"Ignite! Ignite! Get up here and shoot! You're leaving it all to me!"
Ignite was a mid-range explosive champion, not a long-range one.
"Get back, you idiot!"
[Nail Scatter]
Whoooosh!
It was a poor matchup against the mid-range dominant Paladin. Ignite couldn't gain a foothold.
"I can't push up! I'll turn into a pincushion!"
LetMeTank's positioning was categorically beyond amateur. She was Master tier.
"How is that Paladin doing the work of five people!?"
Even the enemies could feel something was off and vented.
— What?!
— The enemy admitting it lmao
— Her footwork really is different lmao
Their judgment was fair enough. Right now, LetMeTank was possibly approaching Grandmaster level.
‘I have to win this!’
This was a collab with major streamers! She needed to show what she had. LetMeTank was in a state of pure focus.
Crunch.
She bit her lip hard enough to nearly draw blood.
"Hah... hah..."
She wasn't the only one pushing to concentrate.
This time, Choco Shroom wanted to shed the Silver label for good. She threw her bombs as if her life depended on it. Just as she'd said, maybe this was her moment to shine. However, a Silver player’s stamina was still Silver stamina.
"Ugh... hah... I'm, dying..."
She was reaching her limits. Her heart rate was so high that she actually started sweating.
"Why is this game so brutal..."
"Hang in there just a little more!"
Thud!
BornToB held the front line with his shield and cheered her on.
"Bubblegum will respawn soon!"
Then, Bubblegum returned. They had held on until now.
Pop!
"I'm REBORN!"
‘Huh?’
Choco Shroom exhaled sharply. "So, what do you want from me?!"
— lmaooooooo
— lmaooo
— She's not in a good mood lmao
— Explodey girl personality...
— lmaooooo
— Shut up and go fight!
— Now that you're back, please go die again~
LIL was a game that turned even good-natured people into demons. Winning felt incredible, and losing felt terrible.
‘I have to win...! But when is Almond coming?’
LetMeTank couldn't help but look at the sky. Their current formation wouldn't produce a decisive outcome in a four-versus-four matchup. Whoever died would just revive and rejoin.
The enemies needed someone to dive in and disrupt Almond's Flashy Blade, but Almond wasn't coming down.
"Wait, it's time for him to come back down. Don't tell me he went off to solo level up again... That would be insane."
— Level up lmaooo
— That's too much lmao
— If he can level up here, I'll give him credit lmao
— lmaooo
— Whoa
LetMeTank's jaw dropped, and so did the enemies'.
"What..."
"Wow..."
"Wait, did the Flashy Blade get flight at some point?"
Everyone had assumed Almond would dip in briefly and come back down.
Boom!
He was using his ultimate skill and fighting what was effectively an aerial battle. Obviously, Flashy Blade had no flying ability. He was continuously throwing his blades up, flashing between them in rotation to fight the airborne opponent.
Popcorn was no pushover either, shifting from bear form to hawk in mid-air. Through all of it, Almond didn’t miss a single opening. Following them with the naked eye was a struggle.
— Whoa...
— Top-tier combat
— Incredible
— What even is this lmao
— Wow lmao
Then, Popcorn activated his legendary rune enhanced ultimate skill.
— Behold the power that exists only in legend!
Suddenly, the sound of a choir filled the air.
“Aaaaaah~~.”
The sky turned crimson. The legendary ultimate skill's activation affected the entire map. The music changed as well as the environment.
Thud! Thud!
The hawk wings grew larger.
Whoooooosh!
Crimson flames enveloped the hawk, and it became a firebird launching even higher into the sky. Its overwhelming sense of presence undeniably proved that this was no ordinary ultimate skill.
[Legendary Ultimate Skill: Phoenix Form]
"Is, is this real?" Even the Master ranked LetMeTank stood there with her mouth open. "Popcorn was the one who robbed the Vault?"
“Aaaaaah~~!”
The choir faded as the Phoenix fully unfurled its wings.
***
A few minutes earlier, Zelo continued watching the fight.
"Bear form. Good. This... oh wait? His ultimate skill?! Almond's ultimate skill! AHHHHH?! Hit again? But Popcorn deflected with bear form! WHAAAAAAT!"
Zelo had a front-row seat to their battle from above. What surprised him most was Almond’s aerial combat as Flashy Blade. Beyond that, he felt the supreme catharsis only Survival mode could deliver.
"Hm? This, this ultimate skill isn't the one I know?"
Honestly, there was nothing flashy about Druid's ultimate skill. It allowed the player to use one form's skills while in another form. Simply put, using hawk skills in bear form or bear skills while in hawk form.
This didn’t seem like much on paper, but the unpredictability of it tripped people up. An elevated ultimate skill truly rewarded mastery. Like bread without any jam, it was simple and understated. Its real value only emerged in skilled hands.
"This is way too SPICY!"
The ultimate skill seemed to split the sky in two. This couldn't possibly be the Druid's.
— Whoa
— The legendary ultimate flavor hit different lmao
— That's why you rob vaults lmao
— If this activates, isn't it basically over???
"Survival mode is literally just an all-in mode. Is this rune broken? This isn't even LIL anymore!"
For Zelo, who had never played Survival mode before, he had never seen what robbing the Vault actually did. This went beyond comprehension. It felt too different from the LIL he knew.
— Survival mode is great, right? Come play after the tournament!
— That's the joy of different game modes lmao
— Come visit the Survival board~
— Survival fanboys are pumped lmao
— The ultimate transformation is pretty cool ngl
— Can anyone even beat that now??
"If you rob the Vault, isn't the game basically decided right there?"
Whoooosh!
Zelo watched the Phoenix fly freely through the air and rain down flames.
"Even for the Lord... this feels like something you should run from. Or maybe just die."
He expected the fight to end quickly now.
"That Phoenix skill? Honestly, I have no idea what it does. It looks stupid broken. If it's not broken, just call Police. You build something like that and claim it's not overpowered? That's consumer deception."
— lmao fr
— lmaooo
— I mean it is incredibly dramatic lmao
— lmao fr
Anyone would believe that enormous and overwhelming Phoenix was a final boss instead of a player. The massive firebird with wings spread against the crimson sky evoked something almost cosmically terrifying. Almond, just a human, looked impossibly small by comparison.
"If I were Almond, I'd drop back down. Continuing aerial combat with Flashy Blade is pushing it... Huh?"
Almond flashed directly in front of the enemy. The Phoenix Form, whatever it was, didn't give him a moment's pause. He flew right at it.
"He's going for it? He doesn't know anything. Do you know the enemy's skills, my lord? Even I don't know them!"
— lmaooooo fr
— Why are you so sure he doesn't know lmao
— Decided he definitely doesn't lmaooo
***
Zelo had guessed correctly. Almond didn’t know the Phoenix’s skills. It wasn’t something one ran into regularly.
‘What even is this?!’
Almond was also seeing it for the first time. He didn’t even know about robbing the Vault in Survival mode. He'd simply studied Popcorn's patterns, not the Survival mode rulebook.
Whoooosh!
Fireballs came flying as the Phoenix beat its wings. It looked quite imposing and overwhelming.
‘Focus, and you'll find it.’
Almond had already placed one of his six blades behind the Phoenix.
‘It's slowed down.’
A bigger form meant slower movement.
[Flash]
He flashed, simultaneously spinning and driving in a strike.
‘First hit.’
Whoooosh!
‘Hm?’
Almond had been sure that he landed his attack, but a hitbox didn’t exist there. He'd just slash through fire and never made contact with the Phoenix itself.
‘A mistake...!’
He'd been fooled by the inflated fire silhouette and completely misread the hitbox. Encountering something for the first time always created problems like this. Ordinarily, the world forgave first-time mistakes. In competition, that wasn't the case. In a match against someone like Popcorn, a mistake could connect directly to death.
[Fire Sphere]
Crash!
Before Almond could process what happened, circular flames expanded from the Phoenix and struck him.
[HP: 83%]
The Phoenix's head whipped around, and it unleashed a torrent of fire in front of Almond.
[Flash]
The fire column cleaved through empty air. Almond appeared behind the Phoenix's head.
Popcorn beat his wings and tried to move.
‘There's the hitbox.’
[Spinning Slash]
[Blade Energy]
Slaaaaash!
[HP: 73%]
Popcorn's health dropped.
‘He actually hit that?’
Popcorn changed strategies.
‘Try this then.’
Whoooosh!
The Phoenix enveloped itself in even more flames and dove into a high-speed glide. A blade coming in at a slower speed would no longer reach. Creating distance would favor the Phoenix.
‘What?’
Whoooooosh!
A blade appeared right next to him, keeping pace.
‘This... this far away?’
It wasn't just following. All six blades were circling the enormous Phoenix.
Whoooosh! Slash!
The blades began striking the Phoenix directly.
‘Where is he?’
Popcorn glanced back.
Almond was spinning in slow descent like a pilot whose parachute had malfunctioned.
‘You're controlling all of this while like that?’
His perspective had to be spinning wildly. How?
Popcorn spread his wings again and fired a fan-shaped torrent of flames.
Whooooooooosh!
This skill could deflect projectiles. In other words, he used it to knock away the blades.
Pop!
The blades split to both sides to avoid the flames. One moved to the front while another circled to the back of his head.
‘Incredible.’
Popcorn's eyes tracked every blade. Even he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. One of them would inevitably be used by Flashy Blade to Flash in and land a fully charged Spinning Slash. The fact that Almond could play this kind of psychological game while spiraling in mid-fall...
‘This is... practically like that person.’
It was almost at her level.
Popcorn thought, ‘If she were here, what would she do?’
With blades surrounding her in every direction, which gap would she move through first?
Failing to catch this Flash would take a huge chunk of Popcorn’s health. If he caught it, he'd gain a huge advantage. Hitting a target already on fire with the fire torrent would cause a stun. A stun in mid-air would end this fight.
‘Where... if you were here...’
She would aim for the blind spot. The front was too readable. The left and right were the same. Only behind remained.
‘But that's too obvious.’
If the opponent could play this psychological game with such reaction speed, the worst move would actually be behind.
‘If it were you...’
She only fought battles she could win. Her options wouldn't even be front, back, left, or right. She'd make it look like those were the choices. Then, she would quietly shift a blade and appear from above or below at a completely unexpected angle.
‘Hm?’
[Flash]
Almond suddenly appeared at almost point-blank range, directly in front of Popcorn’s face.
‘What?’
Popcorn had forgotten that Almond wasn't JeonJaPa. Almond was just Almond.
‘Then, what was the point of spreading all six blades!?’
Slaaaaaaaash!
