The game transitioned into mid-game. Yuel's team failed to establish the early-game advantages which their lineup desperately needed. Roi was locked out in Top, Julia turtled in Mid and Lars was killed before he got a ce to push much.

  This was bad. Extremely bad. Dark Knight and Gunslinger were supposed to carry the team through the early game and that should have opehe path to winning the game during the mid-game. But, the enemy stalled them out all across the board.

  What's worse, Taison scored three kills already and that put him on a roll. He was two levels ahead of most pyers and one level above Lars. A fed Jungler had lots of flexibility with its rotations and ganks because it didn’t o fear getting tered as much, so it naturally put all the ners on edge. Well, except for one...

  “e at me, yo!” Lars fearlessly charged into the jungle as soon as a Ward exposed Taison. That goof...

  “Oh!” Taison excimed. “He's ing at me!”

  “Back,” Howard ordered. “o fight him right now.”

  “But, I totally destroy him-”

  “I said BACK. You'll get plenty of ces to score kills before this game ends.”

  “That’s right,” Ellen winked. “I'll make sure te some uations for you~”

  “Tch, okay,” Taison shrugged and deed Lars’s duel invitation. Seriously, what was the deal? Taison could have totally wrecked that lht here and now. Howard totally anded like a pussy sometimes, but whatever. As long as Taison gon some ood fights ter down the road, he ain’t gonna pi.

  “Hey! Don't run away!” Lars called so loud that his voice pierced through the wall. At least, he had the decy to turn off his mic because otherwise, everybody's ears would have bled.

  “I ain't running away!” A reply thundered from the other side of the wall. “I just got more important shot to dht now!”

  “My... ears...” Ellen took off her earplugs with shaky hands. That shout raped her ear. “... you alive?”

  “Yeah,” Howard answered nontly as if nothing happened. “I figured he'll shout something back, so I muted him.”

  “Jeez, thanks for the advance warning...”

  “Haha, my bad.”

  The eeam was inflicted with stun for two seds. Thankfully, nobody was in the middle of making any major pys, so they weren't affected too badly.

  “Hah!” Lars excimed out loud. “I bet you're just sc-”

  “Enough already,” Yuel jabbed Lars’s side. “It's bad etiquette to shout during a match.”

  “But dude, both Ellen ad Tai keep running away from me! How am I supposed to get my revenge like that?”

  “Focus on pushing instead. If you push enough, they'll have to e after you themselves.”

  “Oh! Genius, dude! I'mma push so hard they 't ignore me anymore!”

  “Just please don't get into unnecessary trouble,” Yuel pled. “Don't 1v1 Taison in areas from which you 't retreat and don't chase Ellen too far.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Does he really get it? Yuel frowhe enemy must be banking on Lars's gung-ho mentality. After killing Lars oaison had been avoiding unnecessary tad Ellen was the same way. Lars couldn't execute his vea on any of them, which irritated him and hampered his judgment.

  There was no way an aggressive pyer like Taison would py defensively like this of his own volition, so it had to be Howard's doing. This was undoubtedly all part of a pn. It was unclear whether this “pn” had an end goal in mind, but for the time being: it has been doing a good job rattling Lars.

  How should Yuel respond to this? The optimal solution would be to er Ellen or Taison in a disadvantageous situation a Lars finish them off. This way, Lars will deliver his revenge and will be on a roll, so he’ll be able t the team bato the game.

  But, that was easier said than done. ering Ellen was like ering a fly. She'll find a way to wiggle out of any situation, that was one of her strong suits. Worst of all, even if they mao somehow er her, it may turn out she was the one who ered them instead. It oio even try.

  Oher hand, Taison should be an easier fish to bait, but his movements so far have been careful and well-calcuted. When Taison pyed in the club, he was usually reckless and aggressive, but the Taison this game was retively tame. Howard must have been leading Taison by hand because he uood how important of a piece Taison became in this game. With three kills under his belt, Taison was the greatest threat on the eeam a didate for carrying it to victory. Therefore, Howard made sure to protect Taison well.

  If all of that wasn’t hard enough, the eeam also employed a very defensive game pn during the mid-game. Enemies always grouped in duos and trios everywhere on the map, leaving no isoted targets for Yuel to pick off. Ellen joined Gilbert to push against Julia in Mid, whereas Howard and Taison rotated to Top against Roi. It was much harder to catybody off-guard like that.

  “You know,” Roi said. “I could really use some help in Top here. It's a 1v3.”

  “Sure,” Dan volunteered. “I'll be right there-”

  “No, wait,” Yuel objected. “Rotate to Mid instead. With you ahere, ush against Ellen and Gilbert.”

  “Hey,” Roi excimed.” What about Top then? They gonna run all me over.”

  “Fight them for as long as you , thereat. You're still at 0/1 and it's already mid-game, so there's no much you do. We'll have to use you as a tank.”

  “Not much I do”? Roi ched his mouse. Yeah, that sounded fair. First, Roi was forced to py that stupid Dark Knight and now he was dismissed as useless because he couldn't get an early-game advantage. How FUN. “... okay, I got it.”

  “You okay?” Dan whispered over the shoulder with the miute.

  “Sure,” Roi sneered. “Having the bst of my life.”

  “If you think we turn things around in Top, I'll go there-”

  “Dan?” Yuel asked. “You listening?”

  “Yep,” Dan turned his mic up and threw o g Roi.

  It’s okay. Roi just shook his head to dismiss the offer. They were soldiers on a battlefield and Yuel was the ander right now.

  “Okay,” Dan nodded in response. “So, I'm rotating to Mid?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Roger, cap.”

  Dan and Yuel both rotated to Mid and tur into a 3v2 situation together with Julia. Meanwhile, Lars was left pletely alone in Bot.

  “Where do I rotate?” Lars asked.

  “Just push,” Yuel said.

  “Eeeeh? Why only you guys get to have fun?”

  “Don't worry,” Yuel smiled meaningfully. “If you push hard enough, they'll e to you themselves.”

  “Okey-dokey! I'mma bst that Turret in no time!” Lars booted Fan the Hammer and barraged the eower.

  Gunslinger's efficy fell substantially during mid-game, so, for now, it was best to let Lars grind and push instead of fighting. The power curve of Gunslinger was wild and will pick up again during the te-game, so Lars will just have to be patient until then.

  To keep Lars safe, Yuel warded Bot Juh Sentry Wards to ter any Teleport tactics. It was a costly operation, but he borrowed Julia's help for it. She was already wasting a lot of gold on Wards anyway, so Yuel just mentioned how important it was to ward Bot Juo keep Lars safe, that made Julia cooperate without hesitation. If only she was always this agreeable.

  Even though Yuel’s team was still gging behind, the current position wasn't terrible. Howard, Taison, and Gregory were pushing Top against Roi, whereas Yuel, Dan and Julia kept Ellen and Gilbert busy in Mid. This gave Lars plete freedom to push Bot. Eventually, the enemy will be forced to break their thick defensive formation and rotate to Bot to stop Lars. That should create some openings to exploit.

  An ally has been killed!

  “Damn,” Roi fell. He was about to make his escape, but Gregory de with a timely pull of Nature's Grasp. Following Roi’s death, the enemy busted the ne wide open and they’ll take dowurret in no time if they biheir firepower.

  It was an unfortunate, but reasonable sacrifice. The iing question was: how will this trio move ? Surely, they won't rotate together all the way from Top to Bot, that'll be too ineffit. Then, how will they proceed? There were multiple possibilities.

  Option #1: All three of them will stay in Top and keep pushing hard. In other words, they’ll force Yuel’s team to make a move. That’s probably what Yuel would have done in Howard’s shoes, but Howard wasn’t that kind of aggressive pyer. So, this was unlikely.

  Option #2: They’ll all rotate to Mid. An iing move that might win them Mid if executed well. But again, Howard’s team wasn’t aggressive enough to go for that type of py.

  Option #3: Some will return to base and go to defend Bot from there, while the rest will either keep pushing Top or will rotate to Mid. That sounded like the most Howard-like game pn.

  There was a very helpful mathematical fact which pyed in Yuel’s favor here: the number 3 couldn’t be equally divided into two integers. In other words, if the trio in Top splits into two groups, somebody will be isoted for a while. That’ll be a great opportunity to piebody off.

  An allied Turret has beeroyed!

  After the eook dowurret, they were about to make the important move.

  “Good job,” Howard said. “Greg, you and I will rotate to Mid.”

  “Huh,” Gregory pondered. “Isn't it better if oates to Mid and the rest push all the way to Golem?”

  “It's risky to travel alone. I told you, Yuel always searches for opportuo pick off isoted targets.”

  “That sounds abht,” Gregory had to agree. “Okay, Mid it is then.”

  “As for Tai,” Howard tinued. “Return to base to heal up. And then...”

  The offense in Top came to an end with the destru of the Top Turret. Taison was seen recalling to base, whereas Howard and Gregory were apparently rotating towards Mid.

  I see Howard is really persistent about the ck of isotion. Yuel wasn't amused. The duo traveling from Top to Mid had reinforced defense which made it impossible to piybody off and they’ll also turuation into a 3v4 ohey reach Mid. It was bad news.

  Aurret has beeroyed!

  At least, meanwhile, Lars was able to take down the first objective in Bot. That was some good news. Taison undoubtedly recalled to base in order to heal up and theo Bot from there, but it’ll take him a while to reach- huh!?

  “SURPRISE MOTHAFUCKA!” Was it a bird? Was it a pne? No, it was the one and only - Taison! ing right at that mofo in Bot!

  “Where did dude e from!?” Lars had every right to be surprised. Taison literally appeared behind him on the of nowhere. This was impossible...!

  This could only be pulled off with Teleport, but with which Checkpoint Ward? The team had Anti-Ward vision iy much every er of Bot Jungle, so it should have been impossible for anybody to slip in a Checkpoint Ward in one of the few uncovered areas. Doing so would require either cirvoyance or cheats. But, if it the Checkpoint Ward wasn’t in Bot Juhen where...?

  Don’t tell me, from the ne!? Yuel couldn’t believe it, but that was the only expnation. Somebody must have pced a Checkpoint Ward on the self!

  Irospect, it was a bit odd how easily the enemy gave up on the warding war in Bot Jungle. Howard khe importance of vision, so he’d never allow the eo trol Bot Jungle like this unless it was a misdire all along...

  It was a trap, no two ways about it. Yuel thought he found an easy exploit in the enemy’s thiation but turned out it was a bait. They lured Lars into pushing Bot, just so they could arrahis situation.

  Yet again, it’ll be a 1v1 between Lars and Taiso again, Taison had HP advantage because he teleported here from the base. And, yet again, Lars had little-to-no ce of esg. This was a huge blunder, but the goof definitely didn’t realize that.

  “Awesome!” Lars excimed. “Exactly what I was asking for!”

  This guy... Yuel sighed. There was a difference of about 30% HP between them. Did Lars really think he could overe that gap in a 1v1 against Taison? Was he even thinking at all? No, probably not. He just wao duke it out with Taison a his revenge.

  Unfortunately, there was nothing Yuel could say to help here. Lars's defensive py oor, so his ces of getting out of this situation by pying defense were slim. Therefore, unfortunately, fighting all-out against Taison robably the safer approach for Lars. This was going to go south fast...

  “Try getting as far away as you ,” Yuel said. “Don't fight too hard if you see you're losing.”

  “Don't worry, yo!” Lars fired a shot and hit Taison in the chest. I ain't gonna lose this time! I already know headshots aren’t good against this dude, so I not gonna waste any shots on that. I just gotta keep hitting him till he drops, yo!

  Lars fired, rolled, fired, sidestepped and fired again. Taison rolled, fired, sidestepped and rolled. They danced around and exging blows. In term of skill, her had a clear0cut advantage. But...

  Huh! Taison shat's all ya got? It’s like ya shooting turtles, kahaha!

  Geh! Why is he so fast!? Lars fired one shht after another, but Taison somehow had enough time to dodge-roll iween. So fast! No, it actually wasn't Taison who was fast. It's Lars’s shots, they're so slow as heck!

  Welp, I guess that's what happens when you don't buy any attack speed. As much as Lars liked Gunslihe mid-game always felt so slow. He didn't build any attack speed despite being a Carry because Gunslinger relied on Fan the Hammer for delivering ultra-fast shots. The Attack Speed stat didn’t affect the speed of the shots during Fan the Hammer, so there wasn’t much reason to buy any attack speed items funslinger.

  So, Lars mainly had poeion in his build. And look at this, even a Jungler was attag faster than him. He was totally losing face as a Carry, yo!

  't this cooldown tick faster!? Lars threw g the tig number every couple of seds. Fan the Hammer was still offline because he just used it to push the tower. He somehow held his ground against Taison with basics so far, but he really needed Fan the Hammer to turn this around.

  No choice! I just gonna dodge everything! Lars rolled, then bat Rolled and then ran around.

  The heck ya doing, man? Taison raised a brow. Trying to escape? Not under my watch!

  Taison closed in to improve his accurao way he gonhis scrub get away with this embarrassing performaaison gonroy that scrub again and prove that he was No.1! He ain’t gonna be overshadowed by Lars anymore!

  Duuuude! Lars was backed into a er. Yeah, this pn to stall for time by dodging shots was a bust. Lars didn’t have the defensive capabilities to pull off such a pro-level maneuver.

  Taison was hel savage, he closed on Lars like it was nothing. This ain't good, Lars was already down to 10% HP. He gonna lose at this rate!

  But, Lars was still alive and Fan the Hammer finally came outta cooldown. This was the ce to turn things around! Even Taison gonna have trouble dodging headshots against super-fast shots, especially now that they were so close to each other. This was the moment of ahrow!

  Fan dat hammer with all ya got, yo! Lars spun the revolver's hammer and aimed at Taison. It was now or never! Fire! ...dang it.

  The bullet didn't miss, but it didn't hit either. Taison just turned himself into a freakin’ coffin. Lars was trying to wreck his life, but dude just went off to sleep!

  That's right, Taison smirked. That's exactly what I think of ya right now: you put me to sleep, bro. Too easy!

  Geh, what now? Lars fired at the coffin, but the bullet didn't deal any damage. Coffin Slumber made Taison invulnerable to everything, so Lars first had to nd multiple basic attacks to pull Taison outta that state. What's even more annoying, that beauty sleep also recovered some of Taison’s HP. It was the most hax skill ever!

  Lars has already started the barrage of Fan the Hammer, so he couldn't cel it. There was no choice but to keep shooting and shooting until he runs out of bullets. And, he couldn’t evehis opportunity to escape because his movement was reduced while he fired. This situation was wack.

  My ace went dowoilet. Lars twisted his lips. Welp, this was kinda bad. Like, seriously flippin’ bad. He was forced to spend the ey of Fan the Hammer merely on kig Taison outta bed. And, oaison finished his beauty sleep...

  You have been killed!

  It ended, just like that. Lars lost for the sed time. Taison totally got him. Damn it.

  So, Lars couldn't do it after all. Yuel shook his head. It wasn't much of a surprise sidering Gunslinger was at its weakest during the mid-game due to its relian Fan the Hammer. The mid-game was like the uny valley of the css because, at this point, Fan the Hammer was already a rather deadly tool, but the build didn't have enough attack power and cooldowion to turn it into a sistent threat quite yet. It wasn’t Lars's fault.

  “I...” Lars muttered. “I 't beat that dude...”

  “Eh?” Yuel was sure his ears were pying tricks on him. Lars? Giving up? That cept should have been alien to that optimistic goof. If Lars loses faith, the eeam will be doomed.

  Maybe this match was already over. Howard and Gregory's rotation to Mid forced everybody to retreat. Dan got killed and Yuel was forced to recall to base. Only Julia remained healthy because she stayed far in the bae and only poked from afar every now and then. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do alone against four enemies on the ne.

  Yuel’s team lost Mid Lane and Lars was losing any hope of winning against Taison. This was turning hopeless. Maybe they have already lost...

  “I 't beat Tai, not yet,” Lars ched his fists. “I o get more power first. Mid-game Gunslinger just doesn't cut it. Once I get my build going, I'mma kick Tai's butt!”

  He didn't give up at all! Yuel found himself smiling. That's right, what was Yuel even thinking? This was far from over. So what if they lost initiative? So what if they lost trol of Mid? So what if Lars lost to Taison twice? There was still a game to py, they still had time to turn things around before te-game!

  As the captain and shot-caller, it was Yuel's job to figure out how they could mount a eback. The enemy defense was strong, but not imperable. There had to be a way to break through it! This wasn't over it. Yuel and Lars's ticket to the petitive se was riding on this match, so they’ll win this sed game and earn their spots on the first string!