“So,” Vi started. “How would you like to cook TheLegend? Do I charge in and freeze him solid? Or, do we lure him in and close off his escape options?”

  “Hmm,” Kai frowned. A difficult dilemma.

  With the Lumimancer out of the picture, the Pirate went on the defense. He stayed far in the bad ran away at the first sign of danger, eve was just Vi advang a little to farm the bowmen. TheLegend barked loud as if he was all that, but right now he ying like a scaredy-cat.

  With the csses Kai and Vi pyed, there were two on ways to pressure a defensive foe. Vi could buy Blink to get in and freeze the Pirate. Then, Kai will follow up with the cssiaiden + Impale py.

  That might work, but it first required Vio recall and buy Blink. In addition, the cowardly Pirate will have to overextend a little more for this attack to work. If they freeze him near his tower, it won’t help them whatsoever.

  The other line of py Vi suggested was luring the Pirate to the frontline. A on way to achieve that was by pretending to retreat. However, it was questionable whether the Pirate will take the bait. In addition, to make the retreat look ving, Kai would have to slow down her farming and potentially miss some st-hits. It wasly the kind of payoff she was hoping for after they successfully eliminating the enemy Support. They earned ne advantage, so gambling it away like this didn’t sound inviting.

  On top of all that, the enemy Jungler was a Lionfolk. In both lines of py, there was a ce the Lionfolk will jump ohey didn’t have any solid ter-pys if that happens. So, both ideas were risky.

  "For starters, we should elimihe Jungler," Yuel said all of a sudden, as if he read Kai's mind. "He didn’t e across as a strong oppo, so Nia handle him."

  "Me?" Nia blihat came out of left field.

  "Yes, you. Their Lionfolk is camping around Bot, most likely waiting for Kai and Vio push and overextend. You should be able to take him out if you sneak up to him."

  "But, my Izuna isn't up yet."

  "It will be by the time you get there."

  "Ah, yeah, probably," Nia nodded. "Ok, I try."

  "Just make sure to go for the full setup with Imperial Spear."

  "Got it."

  "He should be hanging somewhere around here," Yuel circled an area on the mini-map. "Go into stealth as soon as you approach this area."

  "Ok." Nia set off.

  "Are you sure she take him out by herself?" Kai asked. "The guy is healthy as a horse, so a simple gank won’t finish him off."

  She'll at least keep him busy while you do your thing. Yuel replied with a direct message.

  "Huh, is that so," Kai nodded. In other words, Yuel told a white lie to mobilize Nia and make her gank the Lionfolk. Unfortunately, that's how they had to hahis girl sometimes, she was a difficult one. Unless somebody told her she could achieve something, she might hink it ossible.

  "Nia will elimihe threat of being ganked by their Lionfolk," Yuel tihis time out loud. "I reend using this time to either push hard to try killing their Pirate."

  "Indeed, a marvelous pn!" Vi made noise. "Shall we charge in and smite him down? Or, shall we reel him in like a siren and make him walk toward death of his own volition!?"

  "I doubt either will work," Kai shook her head. "That bastard isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he's still a petitive pyer. He knows a thing or two. These basic tactics probably won't cut it."

  "Mhm, indeed," Vi nodded. "My Information Bckhole detects that our target erected formidable defensive protocols. It won't be easy to hack through them."

  "Yeah, everybody and their moms tell that," Kai rolled her eyes. Damn, time is tig and we haven't e up with anythi. How do we make that scaredy-cat to e out?

  "Kai, you hahat Pirate in a 1v1?" Yuel asked.

  "Huh? Of course," Kai lifted her . "That bastard got nothing on me!"

  "Vi, do you agree with that assessment?"

  "Yes, of course," Vi nodded. "At first, I was a little worried. However! Beat sealed away her Pheromone Buster for now. Therefore, she tap into her Rhythm Reader ability as usual to destroy the opposition!"

  "Okay, then I'll have one unventional pn for you," Yuel shared. "That Pirate appears to be rather simple-minded, so it might work on him. It's a little risky, but your side has the advantage now, so you got some leeway to try things."

  Yuel id out the tricky pn. It took into at everything he figured thus far about TheLegend’s pystyle. If Kai defeat the guy in a pure 1v1, she'll score a kill here.

  "Oh! Such a devilish pn!" Vi snickered. "As expected from the one and only Chessmaster!"

  "Yeah, that's a good one," Kai nodded. "Let's do it."

  The minion wave arrived. This was their st ce to exploit the 1v2 situation before the Lumimancer returns. However, precisely because it was a 1v2, TheLegend pyed like a wuss and refused to take more than three steps outta his tower area.

  To force this bastard to e out and fight, they had to prepare a juicy bait. And, Yuel just supplied them with a great bait idea.

  "Time to put your ag skills to some use," Kai said.

  "Huhuhu," Vi giggled suspiciously. "Indeed, I shall bee the Ultimate Bait! I'm the bait of my sword!"

  "You don't have a sword, though."

  "Tsk, tsk. This unenlightened peasant," Vi shook his head.

  Before the minions reached the middle of the ne, Vi ran up to front them all by himself. This naturally alerted TheLegend and made the guy backpedal.

  Are these fuckers finally ing? Bruce grinned nervously. e, I'll take you on! I'll 1v2 your asses into obliviohreatehem in his head but tinued backpedaling. e if you dare! e, bitches!

  Unfortunately, the ancer didn't advance much further. The guy only approached the bowmen and froze them solid. Meanwhile, Bruce’s swordsmen were cl the guy like he ung bag.

  "Pft, do you see this dumbass?" Bruce cackled. "The hell is he doing? He’s getting his ass beat by these minions."

  "Yeah, WTF," Bryan cracked a ugh. "Maybe they're trying to reduce the damage on their minions? Ya know, to push harder and all that."

  "I guess?" Bruce shrugged. "Well, since he's this close, I might as well get some shots on him-" A wild Ice Wall appeared! "What the...? What are these guys up to?"

  The ice wall stood in Bruce's way, stopping him from interfering with the ne. Even though that suicidal ancer aggro'd all these minions on his ass, he didn't want Bruce to participate in that party. "Heh, okay then. I'll just let the minions mess you up."

  Thanks to the vision granted by minions, Bruce could see what was going on behind the ice wall. The ancer tianking the swordsmen’s hits, while the Impaler she frozen bowmen. It was hard to tell whether these guys came here with a pn or were just messing around.

  Eventually, with some help from their minions, the enemy wiped out Bruce's gang. Meanwhile, the enemy’s gang was in perfect health because the aook all the hits upon himself. What a maso.

  So, the enemy won ne trol, but at what cost? The minihed up the ancer so hard, the guy fell to 40% HP from tanking all that shit. Bruh let himself be royally screwed. Where was his self-respect? Bruce would never let some minions do him in like this. Never.

  "Oh, noes! I lost so much HP!" Vi cried out theatrically. "How could this happen!? Oh lordy, I'm so dead!"

  "You don't o act it out for us, you know," Kai made a face.

  "Nay, it's of utmost importao fool the enemy, you first fool your allies!"

  "Yeah, right," Kai rolled her eyes. "Get going already."

  "On my way!" Vi headed toward the ju was on practice to get out of enemy view when recalling, evehe i was obvious. Doing so kept the enemy ooes at least a little bit, sihey couldn’t firm that the pyer indeed recalled.

  No matter how fident they were, the "what if?" was stuck at the back of their heads. Maybe the pyer hid in the jungle and po gank? Or, maybe he rotated to gank another ne? If carelessly dismissed, both sarios would lead to devastatis. Therefore, it applied pressure.

  "Yo, Dyl. Are you watg this?" Bruce called out. "It's your ce. Go gank that Cryo boi."

  "Already on my way," Dyn rotated toward the area of i. He has been hanging nearby the eime, so getting to that dying Cryo was no sweat. He gonna catch that fool off guard!

  He's distracted. Nia o herself as she observed the enemy Lionfolk from within the jungle.

  Until now, the Lionfolk was cautiously moving around and scouting his surroundings. He was rather alert, so it was difficult to sneak up to him. However, all of a sudden, everything ged. It's like he found himself a target and trated on it.

  Ok, this is the moment. Nia took a deep breath and dashed toward the Lionfolk's back. The target was distracted, so the gank had a much higher ce of success. She snuck up to the guy ih and delivered a ssh from behind!

  "Wha-!?" Dyn jumped. "Who!? Where did they- The Ninja!? Shit, I gotta roll-" It was too te. The Ninja already ed herself around him and leaped toward the sky.

  Look, I'm all for being hugged by chicks, but this ain't it, chief! Dyn shouted internally. This shit gonna hurt so bad.

  "Vi, lend her Nia a hand," Yuel advised.

  "Yes, of course," Vi put the recalling pn on hold and ran toward the area of flict. "This wasn't in your script, but it makes it eveer!"

  "It sure does," Yuel answered nontly as if there was nothing surprising about this development. Wait, could it be...!?

  "So, it art of the pn!" Vi cluded. "You must have seen this possibility with your Mystic Eye of Future Perception!"

  "When did my 'mystic eyes' evolve? I must have missed it."

  "Haha, but I'm right, right? Right? You khis would happen."

  "I k might happen. I don't have enough data about their Jungler, but I assumed he might be the simple type who'll go for an ‘easy kill’. I simply made sure my pn was bulletproof against that sario, that’s all."

  "Bulletproof? More like, desigo capitalize on this sario in the best ossible!"

  "The 'best'? I wouldn't necessarily say so. This sario is own share of plexities."

  "Like what?"

  "You'll find out soon enough," Yuel said. "Focus on the fight first."

  "Roger," Vi reached the area of i just as Nia smmed the Lionfolk into the ground.

  This is a great ce to freeze him with my Ice Coffin... if I had one! Unfortunately, Vi spent his e on fighting the minions ohe only thi was his ult, Cryo-Freeze, but it wasn't a tool for bat.

  Therefore, the only support he could provide was firing basic attacks. It wasn't much, but it’s better than nothing. At the very least, it forced the Lionfolk inth 1v2 situation. That alone will apply pressure on the guy.

  "Damn, they're double-teaming me!" Dyn ranted.

  "These maggots keep messing with us," Bruce gritted his teeth. "You better get outta there. Don't let these fucker kill ya, or else we gonna be in deep shit."

  "o vince me. I'm SO outta here!" As soon as Dyn was ba his feet, he activated The King's Dominion. Lions popped ie of thin air and encircled the area, like poli f a blockade.

  "So long, suckers!" Dyn dashed toward the edge of the blockage. These lions were his pets, so they let him through the barricade no problem. Oher hand, when his pursuers tried to pass, the lions closed their formation tightly. Even a mosquito couldn’t squeeze through.

  The ancer was totally stu there, he didn't have any leap or blink abilities. As for the Ninja, she did have a leap. But, it was a short one and was intended for creating distanot for jumping over obstacles. Could that skill even jump over the lions? Maybe with optimal positioning. That Ninja chick probably won’t be able to pull it off.

  WHISH. Just before he escaped the lion barricade, something hit him from behind. The enemy saw Dyn esg, so they tried to get as much damage on him as possible. Uandable.

  Too bad. I'm already outta here! Dyn grinned. As soon as he was out, the lions closed the gap and the barricade was inescapable. Or, it should've been...

  SLASH. Something sliced Dyn from behind!

  "Whoa!? Who!?" He turned around in a hurry. "What? But she was... Oh." He finally realized his huge mess up. The "thing" that hit him before he escaped wasn't some randed attack, it was Ninja's Backflip Shuriken! The chick pced it on him like a trag devid then blio it!

  "Damn you!" Dyn unleashed Mighty Roar.

  "Guh!" Nia shivered a little as the loud roar assaulted her. Even the s shook a little. Scary.

  Maybe it was a bad move to chase here? She was now at cle, in a 1v1 situation, against this scary guy. And, now the Mighty Roar debuffed her too.

  No, it's okay. He's low on HP. Nia o herself. Whenever she doubted herself, she should always ask what were her advantages in this position. That's what Yuel reended. It was a good tip. Nia had a bad habit of always thinking about the ives, so it was a good idea to remind herself of the positives as well.

  I do it. Nia tihe assault. Even with the debuff from Mighty Roar, she should be able to beat that Lionfolk in a 1v1.

  "Run to your mama already, girl!" Dyhe Ninja girl, but she repaid him in kind with a ssh. It seemed like she had no iion of bag away.

  Crap, this is legit bad. Dyn had to flee, no question about it. Running away from some chick was me as heck, but what else could he do? He couldn't die here, no way.

  "Watcha running away from that bitch?" Bruce criticized. "Kick her ass!"

  "I'm too low," Dyn said. "Even a Bronze pyer beat me with this HP difference."

  "Heh, a Bronze pyer will beat ya any day if you always run away like a wuss."

  "Think you do this better? Here, take my seat."

  "I’d totally show ya, but I'm busy over here too."

  "Sure, sure," Dyn rolled his eyes. Maybe he could've turhe tables on this girl if she were a total amateur, but this Ninja was actually kinda troublesome. She even killed Zeph in Top. She was clearly more dangerous than anybody gave her credit for.

  sidering all that, Dyn couldn't handle her right now. This time, he had to retreat. But, he'll remember this! ime, that chick will be dead! Hel dead!

  "Tch, he got away," Nia muttered as she gradually fell behind. The debuff of Mighty Roar slowed her down, so she couldn't catch up to the Lionfolk. "Boo. No kill."

  It’s all good. The gank served its purpose. Yuel nodded in satisfa. "Kai, all green. Their Jungler has bee with. He got away, but it's unlikely he'll return to gank you with that HP."

  "Alright," Kai answered. "Thanks for the help, Nia."

  "Sure," Nia was still pouting about the missed kill, but being thanked felt oo.

  Now, it's just you and me. Kai trated all her attention on the Pirate scum. Nobody was going to e to save his ass anymore. This ure 1v1. That guy should realize that as well, so he'll jump on the opportunity to fight her, expeg her to be some scrub. That's when she'll teach this scumbag the biggest lesson of his life!

  DarkestCymore