115: Chapter 116 Two Golden Shovels! Has the United States secured victory ahead of schedule?!

[ Stage 2-4 match concluded! ]

[ Lena vs. Shen Mo, Shen Mo wins! ]

[ Rankings updated! ]

[ Shen Mo, HP: 92! ]

[ Lena, HP: 90! ]

"It's so intense! The quality of both their boards is very strong. One seems to be a Demon God, and the other is Faerie?"

"Yeah, I heard Faerie got buffed, and it's true. The damage on that two-star Katarina is so high!"

"Hiss, but it's a bit strange. Why did Katarina spin herself to death while spinning?"

Whispers of discussion broke out.

Some audience members had already realized something was wrong!

On the arena, the corners of Shen Mo's mouth curled up slightly. "Heh, look at my luck!"

Radiant Ionic Spark!

[ Radiant Ionic Spark: +15 Ability Power; +50 Magic Resist; +350 Health; Shreds 30% Magic Resist of enemies within 3 hexes. When an enemy casts a spell, deals magic damage equal to 200% of their maximum Mana cost, and heals the holder for 1.5% of their maximum Health per second! ]

Many people subconsciously think that the 'Ionic Spark' item lacks tankiness, but that is a huge mistake.

It's entirely due to being misled by the item's icon. Take the Radiant items in Set 12 for example: the Radiant Spark not only has tankiness but also provides +350 Health and 1.5% healing per second!

It is absolutely an extremely high-quality frontline defensive item!

It crushes Astral Barrier of the same tier!

Not to mention that Shen Mo has the Hextech [ High Voltage ] augment on his board. With both bonuses combined, the Radiant Ionic Spark is absolutely a top-tier choice, bar none!

Lena had decent luck; her 2-star Katarina was equipped with Hand of Justice, and the damage was indeed good.

But Shen Mo also had a 2-star Mordekaiser!

Who's to say who's worse than whom?

A 2-star Mordekaiser carrying 2 Ionic Sparks would instantly delete Katarina the moment she got close, no questions asked.

"Shen Mo's damage is a bit off, right? Katarina got deleted the moment she cast her skill?"

"I didn't even see who attacked!"

Offstage, Xu Shijun from South Korea frowned and muttered to himself. Suddenly, his expression shifted, and he turned to smile at Bae Soo-hyun: "Senior, have you figured out what the issue is?"

Park Bushun was connected remotely, so Bae Soo-hyun couldn't lash out. He could only inwardly curse that this kid was truly scum—not only could he not figure it out himself, but he also had to build a persona of being 'open-minded and eager to learn' in front of the leader.

"Pah! Today's juniors are truly disgusting."

Bae Soo-hyun pinched his nose and grunted: "It should be the effect of that item, the 'Electric Spark Ring.' It deals damage to enemies when they cast a skill, but the damage effect isn't very high, and it has a certain distance restriction."

"It can only be considered average. However, this guy Shen Mo has a Golden Ring, and with the stacking effect of the normal ring, that's why the damage looks so high. Once the units' HP increases in the late game, it won't be of much use."

Xu Shijun feigned sudden realization: "Oh! So that's how it is! Thank you, Senior!"

Park Bushun also nodded in satisfaction and spoke indifferently: "Hmm... not bad. Shijun, if you don't understand something, ask your senior more often. This is good; being open-minded and eager to learn is the very tradition of our great South Korea!"

"Yes! President Park! I will properly seek guidance from Senior!" Xu Shijun replied with a respectful face.

Bae Soo-hyun: ... "Fine, fine, fine. Is that how you want to play it? Just wait... no, tomorrow! When you lose your match tomorrow, don't come begging me!"

Bae Soo-hyun was so angry his teeth itched! He somewhat regretted coming to help with the match. Wasn't it perfectly fine just chilling in the Second District? Why come here to take this crap!

The point is, even if they won, there was no benefit to him whatsoever! Xu Shijun would still be the one playing in the Final Trial. Old guys like them had already ascended the Gods Ladder; at most, he was just helping Xu Shijun grab some priority.

He had originally wanted to come over to take a look at Long Chen's disciple. Well, great. Now he'd seen the disciple, the match was losing, and he had to endure this frustration!

If it weren't for the fact that South Korea was ruled by powerful chaebols, where celebrities and government officials were all under their influence, Bae Soo-hyun would have really wanted to flick his sleeves and leave right then and there, not caring whether Xu Shijun lived or died!

"Passive damage, huh..." Lena furrowed her brows. She had naturally discovered the issue with Shen Mo's equipment. Similar to what Bae Soo-hyun thought, she wondered if it was the mechanics of Katarina's skill that forced her to enter the damage range of the 'Ionic Spark,' which was why she kept losing.

"It's fine, not a big problem!" Lena comforted herself. "At worst, once I get a Remover, I'll just strip the equipment off. Anyway, this lineup doesn't rely on Katarina as the main carry; it still depends on Kalista's output in the late game."

"Besides..." Lena pondered for a long time. Although the skill detection results weren't ideal, relying on her familiarity with the pieces, she could already roughly guess which pieces made up the lineup Shen Mo was talking about.

So now there were only two problems! First, should she try the lineup Shen Mo mentioned? After all, the 'very strong' he spoke of hadn't been verified. If it was really that strong, why wasn't he playing it himself?

Second, could this be a trap? Lena felt that since she had high-profile provoked Shen Mo before the match, perhaps the Dragon Kingdom side had already collected information about her. She wasn't sure if that included specific guesses about her trait skills.

If Shen Mo had done this intentionally... then the things he said about 'Revival' and it being 'very strong' could very likely be a trap to lure her into intentionally playing this lineup!

"..." "I'll play it!"

"If I find out this lineup isn't strong enough, I'll just swap out the pieces and continue gambling for a golden spatula to hit 9 Faerie, that's all!"

"And if there are enough golden spatulas, maybe I can even activate 9 Faerie directly on top of this lineup!"

"As for the issue of needing to reach level 9..." Lena weighed the options for a long while before gritting her teeth: "Then I'll go to level 9!"

"Anyway, even if I gamble for a Staff in the late game, it might not work out. Although it seems like I'll lose some economy, the probability for 4-cost units will be higher, and I can also aim for 9 Faerie. Either way, it's not a loss!"

Lena had a fiery personality; naturally, she was not an indecisive person.

Having made her decision, she immediately grabbed the Bard from the shop, preparing to assemble the core units Shen Mo had mentioned!

Stage 2-4, carousel started!

As the carousel refreshed, the eyes of both Shen Mo and Lena lit up simultaneously! golden spatulas! And there were two of them!

The live audience also noticed this situation and immediately exclaimed.

"Holy crap! Two golden spatulas! No need to fight over them now; Shen Mo and Lena can just each take one!"

"Lena started the game with a 'Faerie' emblem, and now there's another golden spatula. I remember this lineup only needs two emblems to evolve into its complete form, right?"

"Doesn't that mean Lena has already locked in the victory early?!"

"Haha! I bet 100,000 points on Lena! Awesome! I'm guaranteed to win this time!"

"Sigh... I bet 30,000 on Shen Mo..."

"I'm even worse off, I bet 50,000..."

Some were happy while others were sad. Among the void audience, many who had bet on Lena were already starting to pop champagne. Conversely, those who had bet on Shen Mo were sighing; after all, the result now was quite obvious!

The USA's contestant, Lena, had two emblems in hand! Looking at Shen Mo's side, not only did he only have one golden spatula, but he also didn't show much of an advantage in his lineup. Unless...