What a nasty position. Cato was right ihe lion's maw, almost literally. The already narrow area around him was now further enclosed by lions, raring to cw him to death. And, in front of him stood the queen in charge of this territory who received tless buffs just for being here.

  To make things worse, Cato's ultimate wasn't up yet. Therefore, he didn’t even have the option of going for an emergency evacuation. What a nasty and difficult position. What was the best line of py here?

  I o sleep on this. eant that quite literally. He activated Slumber Coffin, taking a nap inside a safe invulnerable coffin. Alright, now I have time to think.

  Cato took a deep breath to rex and sort his thoughts. There was no poiing too agitated over the situation at hand. The circumstances were as they were. No amount of denial would ge that reality.

  Instead of cursing, Cato had to figure a solution on the double. His ult will e out of cooldown ihan 10 seds, so there was no reason to worry about survival. He will make it out of this cage alive, that much was guaranteed.

  Question is, where do I go from there? Cato knotted his brows.

  When faced with su overwhelming force, the first instinct was to flee the se as fast as possible. So, Cato's immediate instinct was to fly all the way back to his Golem after esg the blockage. That was the safest line of py.

  Not to mention, the enemy minions were currently partying at his Golem. So, it was reasoo return to the tower and bee ruin their party.

  But, that's probably what she wants me to do. There was one gaping hole in that line of py. By fleeing back to the tower, Cato will have to leave Fiona pletely unsupervised over here in the jungle. And, with her being so close to the Ogre Camp...

  She'll take the camp while I defend. Cato figured. Most likely, that's also a part of her grand scheme. If she researched this position ahead of time, then she surely sidered all these options

  There was no easy way out here. Cato had to somehow clear multiple flig missions at the same time. He had to guarantee his own safety, guarahe Ogres’ safety, and guarahe tower’s safety.

  Yes, he had to aplish all of that at the same time, even though like most humans he only had two hands at his disposal. It seemed like mission impossible, certainly.

  heless, there was ohod that could potentially work. As unlikely as that sounded, it wasirely impossible to meet all these ditions at the same time.

  CREAK. CRACK. The sound of wood crag apart interrupted his thoughts.

  Time’s up. Cato nodded. He had a couple of seds to sit there and pte over his options, but Fiona’s relentless g soon demolished his coffin.

  And so, Cato was ba the sunlight now, something no vampire ever appreciated.

  Alright, let's do this. For starters, Cato rolled away from his dangerous foe.

  Few csses could test a Lionfolk is royal domain, and Vampire certainly wasn't among such csses. Therefore, until Cato’s ult es off cooldown, he had to run around the area and minimize ining damage- SLASH!

  "Ack!" Cato gasped. Cws reached him as soon as he recovered from the roll! Drat! She’s so fast and accurate...!

  Fiona didn't waste a moment in resuming her offense. Before Cato even started rolling, the lioness was already heading in the dire he nning to escape to. She caught up to him in no time!

  Tch. A guess. mehen again, it’s not that hard to guess where I’ll be goi. It’s not like I have that many options here in the first pce

  In such a narrow space, Cato didn't have many safe spots to roll toward. As such, he focused oing to the closest safe area, and Fiona very much expected that.

  SLASH. SLASH. The lioness cwed furiously. She had no iion of lettiarget slip out of her range!

  My, such fwless execution...! How a newbie be at this level???

  This didn't feel like a fight against a greenhorn who has only picked the game retly. Fiona’s pressure was real.

  In fact, it was embarrassing to admit, but the lioness’s aggression almost made Cato shudder. That was a big achievement, ohat only a handful of meical monsters unlocked before.

  Of course, Cato trained himself for difficult situations like this. Despite the pressure, his fingers smoothly moved on the WASD as if pying an instrument. He zigzagged around the narrow area, doing his best to distance himself from the enemy’s dangerous cws.

  But, it proved futile. There was no escape from Fiona La. Once she got her cws on Cato she didn't let up, not even for a moment.

  The Queen's Domain boosted her Movement Speed, allowio stick to Cato like glue. All his juking attempts were practically useless. At most, he forced Fiona to be ooes the eime.

  Well, that's also something. As long as I make it difficult for her, she won't be perf at 100%. Probably.

  And so, Cato had to keep running around like that for five more seds. These were possibly the lo 5 seds of his life.

  The lioness ravaged him nonstop during that short time. His HP dropped all the way down to 50% from all that aggression, and that’s despite his defensive build.

  It was all very impressive indeed. heless, Fiona's time . Cato's ultimate finally came out of cooldown.

  Adios! Cato booted Night Hunt, transf into a giant bat. , he uoward the sky like a rocket, desperate to get away from the lioness as quickly as humanly possible.

  Once he asded high enough above the lion cage, he ractically untouchable. The lions couldn’t reach him and Fiona didn’t have any led tools at her disposal to shoot him down. Now, he was the one in trol of the situation! He was the overlord! Muhaha!

  With that said, what’s ? Cato frowhough he had some time to sider his options earlier, he failed to reach a clusive decision.

  These minions are making quick work of my Golem over there. Cato g the mini-map. A part of him itched to return to the tower and defend. However, the circumstances didn't permit him to do so.

  I ’t let her take the power buff again. Cato thought. I have to cut off her momentum, here and now. So, that only leaves the st resort I thought of...

  How could Cato both defend the Ogre Camp and also avoid losing any further ne adva the same time? Only one answer came to mind, as tricky as it was.

  And so, Cato raised high into the air a his course. However, he was not heading toward his attacked tower. Quite the opposite, he was toward the Ogre Camp!

  I'll just have to take the camp for myself! That’s the solution Cato reached after prolonged p. It was an absurd idea at first gnce, yet it held the potential to resolve all his problems.

  By seg the power buff for himself, he’ll kill Fiona’s momentum on the spot. But, there was more to it. With the boosted power he’ll gain, Cato will be able to fully ree trol in the uping waves.

  So, by ing his tower just for one wave, Cato will secure the upper hand for many waves to e. Truly, despite how extreme the idea souhis py held the ao all his current problems!

  It won’t be easy, but I’m sure I pull it off. After all, my oppo is an amateur.

  Cato nded in the middle of the Ogre Camp, right between the ogres.

  Despite their scary looks, the ogres were, in fact, peaceful fellows. They didn't raise a finger against Cato even though he was clearly invading their personal space.

  This was the standard behavior for jungle creeps. They tacked pyers until somebody provoked them.

  As much as Cato enjoyed provoking others, he had had no iion of doing so to the ogres at the moment. Instead, the one he roving with this move was her than the La Princess.

  , try to take this camp. I'm ready. iled impishly as he squeezed himself between the ogres. From this moment, the ral monsters became his personal minions. They pledged their undying loyalty to the one and only overlord.

  It was a check. If Fiona tries to assault Cato here, she'll have a hard time avoiding the ogres. And, once she touches any of them, the entire family will gang up on her. It'll bee a 4v1 situation~

  I dare say it's mate in a couple of turns if she tries that. iled fidently. I’ve won. I'm sure that, at your level, you uand that much, don’t you?

  iled from ear to ear as he presehis beautiful chessboard position to Fiona. What's your move? How do you pn to untahis problem, o genius?

  There was no response. His chess oppo didn't lift a finger for a while. She was still somewhere around the er, deep within The Queen’s Dominion. There weren’t any signs of movements, at least hat Cato could see from his current position.

  Was Fiona deep in thought? Perhaps, for the first time since gaining momentum, the lioness actually had to stop and carefully think about her move.

  My, is something wrong? Cato chuckled. You’re sure taking your sweet time to make a move. I don’t have all day, you know.

  Fiona was bound to emerge from around the er, sooner or ter. So, any moment now.

  Will she aggress on the Ogre Camp despite Cato standing guard here? Or, will she give up on the whole ordeal areat back to her way, Cato will e on top.

  For a few good seds, there was no sign of anything happening. Fiona simply refused to e out of the er.

  Was she too shy? No, of course not. The Fiona La that Cato knew was anything but a shy person. Even in the face of the most ued developments, the girl always maintained her cool and bravely threw herself at the challenge.

  So, what’s wrong? Cato frowned. Don’t tell me she used this opportunity to recall? That’s certainly possible but it’d be a huge waste for her. With that said, if she didn’t recall, then what else could she be... oh. Oh, my!

  Cato realized another possibility. He certainly didn’t expect a bold move like that from a greenhorn, but it was a sensible ter to his great move. In fact, it was arguably the best py Fiona could go for in this situation...!

  As he suspected, Fiona didn’t recall to base. However, her did she show any signs of emerging from around the er. Instead of heading to the Ogre Camp, Fiona headed in the opposite dire... toward Cato’s tower!

  I blundered! Cato realized far too te. While he was hanging out with his ogre minions, Fiona joined her army on the frontline. Her entire minion wave was assaulting Cato’s Golem, and now she the effort!

  This is bad. Very, very, VERY bad. I have to defend! Cato absolutely had to get back there and chase the intruders away!

  But, he couldn’t. The tower was simply too far away and he didn't have his ult anymore. Worst of all, if his calcutions were correct...

  I lost the Golem. marized. It’s a checkmate.

  There was no way to prevent the impending disaster, not from his current position. Fiona WILL cim the tower.

  ... alright, then. Cato turo the ogres, his trusty minions. I need you to sacrifice yourselves for my cause.

  Cato unleashed bats on the ogres. It was impossible to defend against Fiona’s push at this point, so at least he’ll take the power buff as inally phat was the most he could make out of this sad situation.

  Unfortunately, pared to what Fiona gained from this exge, the red buff wasn't going to be worth much...

  An allied Golem has beeroyed!

  Cato's Golem was reduced to dust. In pce of a mighty guardian, all that remained in the area ile of rubble. Fiona busted the most important line of defense. And, to make things even worse, felling the Golem also powered up Fiona's minions.

  Even though the Golem was the "first tower" in Duel, it granted simir bes to the Golem of MOBA mode. This greatly rewarded whoever cimed a tower first. In fact, it made them almost unstoppable for a while.

  This is bad. Very bad. Cato gulped. He cleared the Ogre Camp and recalled to base. Then, he frohe wave that came knog on his door.

  It was a regur wave of soldiers that spawned before his Golem perished. Thus, with the power buff at hand, Cato had no trouble eliminating these pesky invaders.

  The real problem started with the following wave that featured super minions. These minions were no longer small fry that Cato could kill in a couple of hits. They were beefy and persistent oppos.

  She has all the momentum. All of it. Cato frowned. I might not be able to recover from this...

  In Duel, without any allies to call for backup, it was extremely difficult to mount a eback from such a disadvantageous position. It was simir to being stu a terrible mid-game position in chess. It didn't always decide the winner, but it often did.

  And, it just so happehat this game was no exception...

  DEFEAT

  DarkestCymore