Season 5: Chapter 145. Preemptive Annihilation (1)

As with all sports, one never knew until they saw it in action. No matter how many great players assembled in one place, that team wouldn't win every tournament that year. In fact, sometimes they produced the worst results.

A team's performance and an individual's performance were different things.

Ultimately, the synergy between teammates mattered most. This wasn't simply about gaming ability. Personality and interpersonal dynamics also played a role. Until a team actually played a game, one genuinely couldn't be sure how it would turn out.

This was why sports had upsets. The Cheese scrimmage was no exception. A few major upsets occurred.

First, the Knight Order did poorly. This was one of the representative upsets in the current scrimmage, but another upset received even more attention.

It was the Nonghyup. Their full name was Nonghyup & Partners. As their name implied, the original Nonghyup members were Horn Ramen, MiddleAgedDetective, and Donuts. With Green Tea and White Chicken added, they became the Nonghyup & Partners.

Nobody had expected them to post good Survival results. They simply pitied the Partners, White Chicken and Green Tea, because of what was coming. The future was clearly visible: being bossed around by middle-aged men.

"Oof~ my back!"

"Green Tea! Get me some water! Green tea would be even better!"

"Green Tea, quite the evasion there? Ahahahaha!"

The Nonghyup's original members had all entered their forties. Their gaming ability was significantly lower than streamers in their prime.

— ...Not easy

— Wow...

— This is rough

Their streams would do fine since they were major names. As a team, it looked nearly impossible to have game expectations. Green Tea and White Chicken had also started with a mindset of just having fun with the broadcast.

[Overall Rankings]

==== ====

1st: Nonghyup & Partners

2nd: PubCat

3rd: Magical Girls

...

==== ====

Shockingly, the Nonghyup was posting significant results in the scrimmage. No, they were effectively the strongest team in Cheese to date. The community reacted hotly to these unexpected results.

[#3. Current state of Cheese where Nonghyup is king tier.jpg]

[#5. How is Nonghyup in first lmaooooo]

[#10. How did Nonghyup become a strong team?]

These posts had been up on Streamer Garden for a while now. The conversation even reached LIL Pro's Survival board.

[Big: The strategy this Nonghyup team is using is super hip?]

[Big: Nonghyup team strategy analysis, as expected from Ivy Leagues]

[Big: Nonghyup is doing something really unique lol]

LIL Pro's Survival mode veterans had gathered to discuss Nonghyup's play. Nonghyup's middle-aged men clearly weren't particularly skilled at LIL. What had happened? The answer was surprisingly their age.

[Big: Old guys are actually good at Survival mode lmaooo]

— fr

— They survive like slippery eels LOL

— lmaooo kind of true

— FYI: Donuts is actually a massive survival mode fan...

└ fr?

└ Yeah

— Survival mode was literally made for washed-up siege players...

└ True LOL

Survival mode was created as a sanctuary for players exhausted by Siege’s extreme competitiveness. If someone like Donuts laned against Almond in Siege, he'd retire without being able to breathe.

Survival was different. Just hiding somewhere and staying alive moved them up in rankings. Profiting from others' fights was possible.

A team could win first place with good overall judgment. Luck was a significant factor.

Most importantly, Donuts, Horn Ramen, and MiddleAgedDetective had long careers in Survival mode. Because of their age, they'd given up on Siege early and migrated to Survival. This was called the First Generation Survival Immigration.

These first-generation immigrants had essentially established the current Survival meta, which meant their understanding was naturally high. The most notable thing was Nonghyup's self-objectification.

"We lose if we fight."

They'd put this in their heads as a basic principle before every game.

"Occupy the hill unconditionally, avoid fights until we've gotten a lot of information through wards, and only push people away!"

They never fought unless they felt certain, and only occasionally participated in fights they were overwhelmingly sure to win. Under Donuts' calls, the young blood Partners executed the operations with significant synergy.

Excluding the first adjustment game, they'd placed second every time. Thanks to that, Nonghyup was now ranked first in the overall standings.

"We've only gotten second place, but we're overall first."

Donuts wasn't relieved yet.

"Right now, it's just evaluated by average rank. I heard first-place scores are multiplied in the actual competition. If you fall behind on first-place counts, you fall behind in rankings from the start."

Ultimately, without getting first place, they couldn't perform in the actual competition.

"Let's get one first place and drive in the nail."

Donuts wanted to get first place. Naturally, that wasn't as easy as saying it.

White Chicken said, "But to get first place, we ultimately have to fight and win at the end... and we lose if we fight, don't we?"

That was why they were always second. When two teams remained, they had to fight to win.

"That's... we claim our position far earlier! Lay down far more wards! Far more..."

Basically, they could win if they prepared more. The game had already started.

"Let's gooooo!"

Donuts, having come this far, naturally wanted to wrap it up in first place. He put extraordinary effort into the final 1 vs 1 battle he'd never greatly pushed for before.

"Lay wards all through here in advance."

"Hm? What if they don't come?"

"Then we get second."

"Oh."

He made the risky calls he wouldn't normally prefer since the worst outcome was second anyway. They had nothing to lose, so he went for it.

'Got them...!'

It worked again.

[Donuts: Hey they're coming.]

He started flying in advance using Valkyrie’s ultimate skill. The enemies wouldn't see him. In fact, he also wouldn't be able to see them. However, everything was visible through the ward vision on the minimap. Donuts saw the enemy lineup and felt certain of victory.

[Donuts: We’ll get first place. Look at their champion composition.]

[Green Tea: They're mostly a regroup-type. Why in survival mode?]

[Donuts: Don't know. Anyway the advantage of being good at regrouping is useless at this point.]

They couldn't tell who was playing the champions from the minimap, but they could see which champions were there.

[Donuts: We start by overpowering them all at once with 3 ultimate skills.]

He calculated that the teamfight would be decided in just three seconds.

[Donuts: Green Tea, first snipe with your ultimate skill.]

[Green Tea: Hit the snipe! One more hit and someone's gone!]

Crash!

Alongside Green Tea's snipe, they poured out all their ultimate skills. It actually proceeded exactly as Donuts had pictured.

[Donuts: Horn Ramen! Use Ignite’s ultimate skill!]

[Horn Ramen: Okay!]

[Donuts: Going down!]

Just like that, BlackTea died instantly.

[Enemy Defeated!]

[GreenTea → BlackTea]

Thud!

Finally, Donuts descended and split the enemy formation in half.

***

Sweet Radish watched Black Tea dissolve into a rune spirit right in front of him.

'What? Damn.'

The enemies had been reading everything through wards. He honestly hadn't anticipated they'd be this thorough with wards all the way to a 1 vs 1 situation.

"Muhaha! Feel the power of a veteran! Knight Order...!"

Only when Donuts appeared did he understand.

'Nonghyup...'

He thought it was them. Yes, they'd put down all these wards.

'Current overall ranking: 1st. We meet here in the end.'

Nonghyup's strategy was to avoid enemies until the end. The Knight Order kept getting eliminated midway, so they'd never crossed paths until now.

'How many are positioned here? Our formation got split, so it's hard to read.'

The Knight Order was at an overwhelming disadvantage after Black Tea’s death. Sweet Radish's only remaining teammate was Sweet Potato.

"Ha. D-do I finally have to show the power of the double Servants?"

Kiiiiing...!

Sweet Potato muttered while charging Iron Ball's ultimate skill. At that moment, the rest of the Nonghyup members appeared.

[Wildfire: Ignite]

[Horn Ramen]

"Hey~ a fire fight without Ignite would be a shame~?"

[Great Monolith: Kutan]

[MiddleAgedDetective]

"When five people gather, one of them is the culprit."

— What is MiddleAgedDetective saying LOL

— Nonghyup!

— LOL it's the Nonghyup middle-aged men

— They're in such good form, what's the secret??

— Wow Nonghyup!

— Insane concept

Watching them excitedly doing their role-play, Sweet Radish asked, "What's so exciting? You think killing one Black Tea makes it a done deal?"

This was a bluff. Black Tea dying was huge.

"Muhahaha! Sweet Radish! Has your head gone stiff over time? Look at the shadow's position!"

The shadow was pressing right behind Sweet Radish. It couldn't be overcome despite one’s level or items.

"Take this!" Donuts flew up again, and a blade rain poured down.

Patter patter patter!

"Wh-what do we do!?" Sweet Potato had been so confident just moments ago.

One blade rain had him looking for Sweet Radish.

"What do you mean? Go in and brawl!"

"Just the two of us!? Where's the Lord!? Where's Lemon too!?"

Even so, he followed Sweet Radish's words and charged forward.

Crash!

[Rumble!]

Iron Ball's ultimate skill activated. He rotated on his own like a spinning firecracker and bounced off everything around him. However, Donuts was flying, and MiddleAgedDetective had become Stone Shield next to Horn Ramen.

Clunk clunk clunk!

Stone Shield protected Horn Ramen. They took almost no damage and weren't pushed far.

"Hyaaah!"

Sweet Radish charged forward recklessly with Lance Mistress's Gear Gallop to break through.

"Oh my~!"

Patter patter patter...!

[Blade Rain]

Donuts' blade rain obstructed the path. Just taking hits and pushing through would lead to dying with the follow-up joint attacks to come too.

'Then, it's Horn Ramen!'

Sweet Radish made an instant judgment change and charged toward Horn Ramen. No matter how Stone Shield was protecting him, Horn Ramen was the most manageable enemy.

[Mechanized Chariot Collision]

He intended to crash the horse and self-destruct it after dismounting.

"What?"

CRASHHHHH!

Horn Ramen took heavy damage and flew far back.

'As expected, he couldn't dodge.'

Mechanized Chariot Collision dealt high damage, but could be easily dodged, just not for these guys.

'Because they're old!'

Age was age.

"Rolling boulder coming through~!"

Sweet Radish wasn't just facing Ignite. There was also the Great Monolith Kutan.

[Ultimate Skill: Tectonic Upheaval]

[Kutan briefly becomes one with the earth and rapidly advances forward, erupting the ground. Lift enemies in a line high into the air while dealing massive damage.]

Crash!

Kutan's ultimate skill, Tectonic Upheaval, struck Sweet Radish and sent him up.

'Damn.'

Donuts was also pummeling Sweet Potato on the ground.

Clunk!

Clunk!

"Ahhhh! WHERE IS THE LORD!"

'Check the minimap.'

He didn't have the capacity to check the minimap while fighting. Well, even if he looked, the answer wasn't obvious. Almond's position was too bizarre.

'Why is Almond taking that detour?'

Almond's eccentricity would have flustered the old Sweet Radish.

'Well, he'll have a reason.'

Strangely, it wasn't like that now. Was he getting used to this?

'It's the split.'

Was it because of the split strategy? Whatever the case, Sweet Radish's head wasn't heating up. Even while airborne, a calmness settled. Then, he saw it.

'Ah.'

On the minimap, Almond was already engaging the enemy carry.

'That's it!'

Thud!

Sweet Radish hit the ground again, grabbed his spear, and stood. "Sweet Potato, the Lord is coming. Hold on as a rune spirit if you have to!"

"Oh, got it. I'll hold..." Sweet Potato steeled himself but forgot about the Abyss Shadow.

Creep creep creep...!

Dark specters rose and dealt massive damage to him.

"WHAT?!"

[Donuts → SweetPotato]

— lmaooooo

— Donuts kill steal lmaooo

— LOL

— This person

— Donuts just herded him in

Horn Ramen called out excitedly, "Who's coming!? Sweet Radish! Are your eyes too small to see? Uhahaha!"

"He's already here."

"What?"

[DumbYoungMan Double Kill!]

[DumbYoungMan → GreenTea]

[DumbYoungMan → WhiteChicken]

Almond instantly eliminated the Partners in Nonghyup & Partners.

"Sori's movement skill resets when you get kills. I went the long way around precisely to take out the weaker carries first and do a reverse hunt."

"Th-this!?"

Horn Ramen noticed and turned around.

"You're done!"

With Sori's characteristics, Almond’s speed was on a different level.

[Rope Movement]

Snap!

"What... was that?"

A rope grapple had caught Horn Ramen's head.

— ?

— ??

— ?

— ...?

[Ultimate Wind Skill]

Something invisible flew out at a tremendous speed.

BANG!

— LOOOL

— lmaooooo dying so cleanly!

— Hahaha

— That expression lmaooo

— lmaooooo

— Wow

— So fast

— you can't see anything on Sweet Radish's screen

— What the

— ???