Isekai Online Game Developer

“Diana’s quintuple kill was amazing, Tower Master!”

“It was nothing special.”

“Let’s win the next game the same way!”

The Illusion Tower celebrated the victory of the first set.

With Hina’s ultimate, the Illusion Tower achieved a splendid victory.

Each match was played in a best-of-three format, so winning the next set would result in advancing to the top 16.

“Hey, how could you let Diana grow like that when she only focused mid at the start?!”

“No, Diana’s skill is insane! She’s way too good!”

“But Diana kept coming top and wrecking it.”

“Ah, mid difference.”

“No, you try facing her! You’d never win.”

In contrast, the mood in the Wind Tower wasn’t good.

They handed over the first set so easily, carried by Diana.

The Wind Mages were afraid of the Tower Master’s gaze, who was watching them from above.

“But honestly, Diana is really strong. How should we prepare for her?”

“Right. Everyone else was pretty much the same except for Diana carrying…”

“Diana clears other lanes from the start, too…”

“Ah… we really need to win. What should we do…”

The skill levels in the other lanes were fairly equal.

But the skill difference in mid was glaring.

The Illusion Tower’s mastery was far too superior for the same duration of playtime.

If they couldn’t deal with her, the Wind Tower was sure to be eliminated.

“…There’s no way. Everyone, play safe in the early game.”

The Wind Tower’s jungler spoke as if he had made a resolution.

“Let’s just avoid giving up kills early and hold out. And no matter how well the enemy mid plays, we’ll pick champions that can win!”

“Is that even possible? The balance is pretty much the same anyway.”

“It is! You all just hold on. I’ll play Mai.”

So, for the next set, the Wind Tower picked jungler Mai.

*

“Huh? Mai.”

As the second set began and the ban/pick phase started, Medeia commented on the Wind Tower’s jungler picking Mai.

“Mai? Hmm…”

Illusion Tower’s jungler, Seris, pondered upon seeing the Mai pick.

Mai was definitely an interesting champion.

Using quick attack speed to slice was fun, and her one-shot skill looked awesome.

But in Seris’s opinion, her gank potential wasn’t really that great compared to other champions.

Her dive ability seemed good, but there were plenty of other champions with better gank potential, too.

Of course, that wasn’t all Mai was about.

Still, with their limited gameplay experience, they weren’t fully accustomed to every champion yet.

In the end, Seris picked Amumu.

“Um… what to do…”

Support Rain contemplated which champion to pick last.

Hina then spoke to her.

“R-Rain, can you play something like Leona? A CC-heavy one…”

“Eh? But we already have Amumu, don’t we?”

“True, but since it’s the enemy’s Mai, I feel like we need more CC…”

“Hey, Tower Master! I’m Amumu, you know! I think something like Sona would be better since we lack damage!”

“U-u-uh…”

Feeling instinctively that they needed to limit Mai, Hina spoke up.

But since the voices of the other team members were louder, Rain ended up picking Sona.

Truthfully, Hina’s instinct was correct.

However, the teammates with fewer plays hadn’t thought that far ahead.

There might’ve been a reason why the Illusion Tower hadn’t practiced with Mai either.

Rai had said that champions like Mai shouldn’t be played in team games.

And then the second set began.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): Ugh, ugh. The enemy Mai is already level 6.

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): I went top and poked bottom once.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): Still, it seems like we shouldn’t let her grow this much…

While Amumu was level 4, the Wind Tower’s Mai was already level 6.

Of course, Mai hadn’t gone for a gank just yet.

The kill score was in favor of the Illusion Tower.

But for some reason, Hina felt a sense of impending doom.

Hina also hadn’t really faced Mai much during practice.

Despite that, her gamer instincts told her she had to stop the rapidly growing Mai.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): We need to take down Mai once…! Let’s go invade their jungle, Amumu…!

(Team) Illusion Magic Trash (Caitlyn): If we support bottom now, we’ll get an easy kill!

As the Tower Master suggested entering Mai’s camp, Amumu headed bottom at Caitlyn’s call.

And even so, Mai was steadily growing.

The sense of crisis hit when the game hit around the 14-minute mark.

– Our ally has fallen.

(Team) Clone Technique Master (Darius): Ah! This is so frustrating!

Darius died top.

Frustrated at the constantly stuck enemy by the tower, he overextended and got ganked by Mai.

Until then, there hadn’t been any kills in the top lane.

Darius was a champion that needed to ramp up early.

Not getting a kill early was fatal for Darius.

And now, with Darius dying first, it was a frustrating situation for Medeia in the top lane.

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): It’s okay, Mai got a kill.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): Ah, that’s not okay! We really need to take down Mai!

Hina, usually calm, reacted angrily.

At the sound of Hina’s unexpected scolding, even Seris, the jungler, began to follow her orders.

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): Alright, Tower Master.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): Mai should be at the enemy blue so we should invade together. Keep an eye on bottom for backup.

Hina spoke incredibly precisely.

That wasn’t her usual diction.

But at the same time, it meant that things weren’t going well.

Swish—

Amumu placed a ward in the enemy blue bush.

Just as expected, Mai was there eating the blue.

Swoosh—

Amumu threw his bandage right away.

At the same time, Reblong dashed in with his Phantom Chains (E) and used his Distortion (W) skill to follow up.

But at that moment, Mai disappeared.

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): Huh?

Mai used her One-Shot (Q) on Reblong and swiftly closed the distance.

She immediately activated her ultimate and started melting Reblong with her rapid attack speed.

Reblong’s passive activated, allowing him to revive once, but Mai’s ultimate was still in play.

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): Don’t hold back on your ult!

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): Yes, yes!

Boom—

In a panic, Amumu used his ultimate, Curse of the Mummy.

But in the meantime, Mai had her One-Shot (Q) cooldown back.

Mai, unaffected by the stun, took down Reblong.

– Our ally has fallen.

And immediately, Mai turned to start smacking down Amumu.

With no damage to speak of, Amumu was soundly beaten and promptly died.

– Double kill!

(Team) Illusion Magic Trash (Caitlyn): W-what the?!

(Team) Life Lottery Failure (Sona): Ugh, oh no!

– Triple kill!

– Quadra kill!

Even the bottom duo arriving late was wiped out in an instant by Mai.

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): What on earth is that…

(Team) Couch Potato Tower Master (Reblong): I-I told you we needed to cut her down early—

(Team) Ghostly Illusion Authority (Amumu): If we hadn’t let her grow from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had this problem!

In the blink of an eye, the Mai of the Wind Tower had grown strong.

With a quadra kill under her belt, she became unstoppable.

Thus, with a massive lead in growth, Mai began to roam the rift.

– Penta kill!

In the final teamfight, she achieved the first penta kill in COL history, destroying the Nexus.

*

“What the heck is that champion! She’s sweeping everything alone!”

“Isn’t that skill One-Shot just a bit insane?!”

“It looks way cooler than the skills in the Maple Leaf Story!”

Woooooohhhh—!

As the second set concluded, people cheered even louder than the last match.

Especially, the male spectators with a love for swordplay reacted intensely.

Mai’s cosmic swordplay was enough to boil a man’s blood.

“Masterly… That sword is…!”

And no one was more captivated than one particular person.

Galleard trembled all over watching Mai’s play.

His body hadn’t reacted this excitedly since the battle with the Demon King.

No, even back then, the anticipation and excitement for battle weren’t this high.

Masterly… commonly known as Mai, was the embodiment of every swordsman’s romance.

Like a lone general carving a path through a million soldiers.

Wielding a slender blade at rapid speed, effortlessly advancing forward.

Dodging every attack with her One-Shot and slicing through the air,

Standing tall as the last warrior, absorbing all firepower, decimating her foes,

Ultimately meditating regally atop a mound of corpses.

That was the pinnacle, the ultimate destination for every swordsman.

During the break between sets, Galleard dashed straight to the commentary booth.

“No way, Rai!”

“Wha, wah!”

Galleard’s massive form charged in, causing Rai to topple over in his chair.

“Galleard, sir?”

“Are you saying you kept something like that secret among just mages?!”

“No, that’s not it, I mentioned it before—about the parasol issue…”

“Hand over the artifact immediately!!”

Galleard roared, causing a tremendous vibration.

However, the council’s building and the stage set up by the mages didn’t shake at all.

“Please, calm down! It’ll be released after the Arcane War!”

Rai shouted, clutching his ringing head.

Of course, they hadn’t actually received approval yet.

But if the Arcane War was generating this much buzz from the start, approval was bound to come through.

Rai finally managed to calm Galleard down.

“Then doesn’t that mean the gap between mages and regular users will widen? There must be some ranking system in this game.”

“There is, but once it’s officially released, everyone will start from level 1. Champions will be gathered one by one, too. What the mages are playing now is a version made for the Arcane War.”

“Still, isn’t there a clear skill difference already?”

“I’m not sure. From my experience, this game doesn’t necessarily mean you get good just by playing a lot.”

Galleard still seemed dissatisfied, but that was the truth.

Just look at Rai, who had nearly a decade of experience yet barely reached gold tier.

Of course, there were plenty of people who had played even longer and still couldn’t even crack gold.

“Anyway, just go back. Watching will help you get a feel for it so you’ll be better prepared when it officially launches.”

“Phew… Fine. You must release it as soon as possible. I can’t hold back wanting to play Mai.”

“Mai? That champion is…”

“Let’s go!”

Bang—

As Rai was about to insult Mai, Galleard smacked the top of his head.

“After seeing that grandeur, how can you still say such things?!”

“No, that’s just because the players lack experience, so they couldn’t stop her from growing. Later on, Mai’s bound to be a joke champion used by the bronze/silver players…”

“Let’s go!”

After fainting for about three seconds, Rai decided to stay quiet.

“I am going to play Mai when COL is released.”

“…Huh.”

“With Mai, I will become the pinnacle of the COL world.”

“……”

As Rai gaped, he decided to just keep his mouth shut.

It was unbelievable that such a Mai fanatic would emerge even before the official release.

He opted to hold back his words, as he didn’t even want to respond to that statement.

“Rai! You said you didn’t like Mai!”

After Galleard left, the representatives from the Illusion Tower approached Rai.

“You should’ve blocked her growth early on. She’s strong in the late game, but if Mai appears, we should have prepared with more CC…”

“What are you saying? You couldn’t even play properly! Always complaining, I swear! Just nerf Mai already!”

“No, you’re the one who’s making excuses for your own inability!”

Seris immediately vented on Rai.

Rai replied incredulously.

“But in-game chat said the Tower Master made good calls, so it’s Seris’s fault if you didn’t hear!”

“Ugh…”

“Just ban her or something. If you handle it right, you could’ve won, instead of letting Mai grow unchecked.”

“Aaahhh! Rai, you can’t even play, and you never stop complaining about it!”

Seris continued to throw a fit.

The rest of the members began strategizing for the next game.

Fortunately, in the next match, they banned Mai and Hina carried them to victory.

The Illusion Tower climbed to the top 16.

Thus, three more groups competed, and the first day of the Arcane War came to a close.