Rook, AbsoluteChallenger, and Merlin opened a joint atta Mid. It was an unusually early attack for Cato.

  It looks like he's more than just a “defense maniaowadays. Yuel thought. Is he doing this because the Lumimancer is here and he doesn’t want to put the guy’s power build to waste? Holy, I'm not sure how Cato even allows this ineffit build in his team, but I assume he has his reasoher that, or he has no trol over it, just like me and Luke’s memes.

  AbsoluteChallenger and AbsoluteWinner came across as twues" within the Leopards’ ranks. While everybody else oeam strongly preferred defehese two promoted offe every opportunity.

  Therefore, sidering Challenger was involved, it was safe to assume this push wasn't just for show. These guys had every iion to see it through.

  As such, Yuel and Kai had no choice but to backpedal.

  "Damn, where did their Jungler even e from?" Kai cursed. "I thought my wards were enough to catch him."

  "If I had to guess, he probably studied the positions of your wards every time he approached the ne. So, he probably mapped out most of them by now.”

  "You serious? That sounds like cheating. Jungler pyers really figure out ositions that easily?”

  “Anybody do it if they’re methodical enough,” Yuel expined. “I also snoop around for wards when I py Jungler, and I base many of my rotations around what I find.”

  “And, you actually mao memorize all these locations and stuff?”

  “Using the mini-map helps a lot with that.”

  “ht. You always fill those out, don’t you?”

  Even in this very game, there were already multiple ward is on Kai’s mini-map, but they weren’t pced there by her. It was Yuel who decorated his mini-map with these symbols and then shared them with the eeam.

  But, since Yuel wasn’t the Juhis game, he couldn’t possibly discover wards across the entire map. So, as expected, most of the is he added were near Bot Lane. And, there were barely any other is pced anywhere else on the mini-map.

  “I’ve actually spent the past few weeks teag the importance of this to Nia,” Yuel said. “But, it looks like she hasn’t been pg too many ward is this game. Either that, or she’s fetting to share them. Sigh.”

  “Well, not everybody is a chess nerd like you and Rook, you know?”

  “I agree that having good memory helps a lot with this, but it’s not everything. With enough practice, anybody get used to this detective work. And, Nia actually showed a lot of promise in that regard.”

  Nia had this oddly sharp game sense when it came to jungling. She had a very good intuition for when the enemies were aware of her position, which helped her greatly in dedug when was the exaent she otted by an enemy ward.

  But, she didn’t put this skill to much use in this game. Yuel he girl about this a few times throughout the game, but the sleepyhead only shared a handful of ward locations thus far. It was really unfortunate.

  Oher hand, Cato seems to be doing his detective work just fine. Yuel thought. And, he got many strong theory pyers oeam, so I’m sure they’re helping him with that as much as they .

  Thanks to that, ao sneak into Mid ued. And now, together with Challenger and Merlin, they formed a dangerous trio.

  Admittedly, they only had three injured bowmen in their army, so their push won't hold for too long o ehe tower area. heless, it seemed they were determio make the most of it.

  Are they pnning to clear our the wave as well with this manpower? Yuel frowned.

  On its own, the current push wasn't too lethal. Even if Yuel and Kai retreat and do nothing, the Mid Turret won't lose more than 20% HP. Sure, that’d be an unfortunate loss, but it wasn’t worth dying to prevent this from happening.

  The real problem was the momentum such a push could gee. If this trio doesn’t run into any walls, they might take it as a sign that they keep pushing nonstop. That was the worst-case sario that Yuel had to prevent at any cost.

  The pushers already invaded deep into Kai's territory, so they were in a position to clear the minion wave swiftly, without the minions even reag the ter of the ne. If that happens, the enemy's push will be apanied by a full healthy squadron. That’ll be no joke. If not stopped in time, that kind of push will allow the eo take dowire Mid Turret in one fell swoop.

  But, will Cato really go for su aggressive py? That didn't sit right with the image Yuel had of Cato's pystyle, but her did the current push that was undeniably happening in front of Yuel’s very eyes. Ultimately, there was no telling for sure what Cato was really thinking here.

  "So, do we wait this o?" Kai asked ohey retreated to the back of the tower area.

  "Well, we 't attack them, that's for sure. For now, we just have to minimize the damage oower and see what they do ."

  "I have a feeling these bastards gonna keep pushing like this into the wave."

  "You think so, too?" Yuel frowned. If I put aside the fact I'm dealing with Cato's team here, then tinuing this push into the wave sounds incredibly reasonable, so much that even Kai thinks so. After all, it'd be a waste for them to push like this with three people if they weren't pnning to reap some big rewards.

  At the very least, Yuel and Kai needed a ter pn in case the push does indeed tio the wave. However, there wasn't much they could do here by themselves. In other words, they needed a third a pyer to help them out here.

  Question is, who? Yuel g the mini-map. Vi and Lars are both be busy in their respective nes. So, that only leaves Nia.

  In a way, it was only fitting. The enemy Mid Laner was borrowing the help of the Support and the Jungler, so Kai could terpy by doing the exact same thing.

  But, is this really a good idea? Yuel frowhis is an important py, but Nia hasn't been doing so hot this game.

  Even now, that sleepyhead ying like a drunk. Her rotations were unstable and she sometimes found herself in the middle of nowhere, bnkly staring at her surroundings in fusion.

  The gank attempts on Top were supposed to help wake her up, but Cato cut them off before they even had the ce to start. In the end, these disappointing attempts seemed to have the opposite effect of further increasing Nia’s sleepiness.

  All in all, Nia was a very unreliable Ju the momerusting her with about anything would be a gamble.

  Do I take this risk? In this kind of situation? Yuel ched his mouse. It felt like he was holding the fate of the e his hand right now.

  We're almost in the mid-game and that girl is still half asleep. At this rate, the mid-game will practically be like a 4v5 at all times. So, we really he girl to wake up already, or else we don’t stand a ce.

  The current dangerous situation might as well be the st ce to wake up Nia before the mid-game. Iing her into this delicate situation harbored many risks, but the payoff will be huge if everything goes well.

  "Nia, please rotate to Mid," Yuel requested. "The enemies here are probably pnning to keep pushing into the wave as well, so use this opportunity to sneak up to them a a kill, preferably on the Aeromancer."

  "... hm? Ok." Nia responded in a sleepy voice that didn’t inspire much fidence. Was she really going to be okay...?

  "Damn, she sounds like a zombie," Kai said. "Am I the only one ered about this idea?"

  "No, that makes two of us." Yuel smiled wryly. "But, we don't have much choice, do we? She's the only one who help us out."

  "We always help ourselves. I mean, you weren't pnning to stand here like a scarecrow while these guys are pushing, right?"

  "Of course not," Yuel said. "I just wao be ready in case we fail to chase them away by ourselves."

  "The's make sure we don't fail. Easy, right?"

  "Yeah sure, very easy." Yuel rolled his eyes.

  While they were discussing the details, the enemy forces arrived. Three enemy bowmen ihe tower area, followed by three pushers.

  The fident invaders pletely ighe dangers of the situation. They were determio knock dowower at any cost.

  But, Yuel and Kai had no iion of letting this bull rush slide. The enemies were taking a huge risk and they had to pay for it accly.

  Hmm. In theory, Merlin is the best target to pull. Yuel reasoned as he directed the aim of his Nature’s Grasp at the Aeromancer. He's the only one here without any escape tools whatsoever, so he’s dead for sure if I just pull him in.

  A Lionfolk had the option of leaping out of the area with Majestic Leap, whereas a Lumimancer could blink away with Fsh. Only the Aeromancer had no access to any such escape tools.

  It's odd, though. I would've expected him to be a little more cautious than this.

  Merlin positioned himself in the back, as he should, but he was still just barely within the range of Nature’s Grasp. Yuel could easily reach the guy with the skillshot by moving just a little forward.

  To his credit, Merlin moved from side to side as he was shooting. This implied he was aware of his status as an inviting target for Nature’s Grasp. A, he didn't go the extra mile of pletely stepping out of its range. Why?

  Is he just overextending by mistake? That’s a istake during quick pushes like this, but somehow I don't see Merlin itting such a basic mistake.

  As, Yuel didn’t have the time to solve mysteries like that. He had to aow. The situation was only growing grimmer by the moment.

  The enemy bowmen barraged the tower hard despite Kai shooting them down one by one. Without Bounb, she had no access to any burst damage other than her ult, so she had to take the minions down with her subpar basic attacks.

  Meanwhile, the erio assaulted the Mid Turret without mercy. The HP bar of the tower plummeted at lightning speed, and it couldn’t evealiate against the main offenders because it had to clear out the minions first.

  There was only one effit way to flip this situation on its head in an instant, and it was to pull Merlin in. From point-bnk, Yuel and Kai will make quick work of the guy, they even already discussed the details ahead of time.

  In clusion, that was uionably the winning move for them in this situation. So, even if it was some sort of trap, there retty muo other choice.

  Here goes! Yuel waited for the right moment and shot loending braoward Merlin!

  It was a quick shot, but it also had to travel quite the distanot to mention, the enemy found it extremely predictable.

  So, you fell for it. Matthew had been waiting for this.

  He set himself up as an inviting target on purpose, knowing all too well that he was the only one in the group without a ve escape tool. So, if Chessmaster was going to pull anybody, the guy would surely be tempted to go after Matthew.

  Knowing all that, why give the enemy what they wanted? It was to make them more predictable.

  Rather than w about “when” and “how” Chessmaster will unleash his deadly skillshot, it was easier to just bee the “best target” and make Chessmaster e after him right away.

  It’s a lot easier to dodge stuff when you know they’re ing. At least, that’s how it should be...

  Matthew used Dodge Roll in respoo the ining wood branches, yet they grabbed him heless. His response was just a heartbeat too te.

  “Oh, I messed up,” Matthew reported as the branches dragged him deep into eerritory. Despite the critical situation, his calm tone made it sound like this was somebody’s else problem.

  “Damn, my guy!” Ronald was the first to panic. “This is some serious shit! We gotta save him!”

  “I had the feeling this bait won’t work out well for you.” Cato sighed. “Seriously, you’re not a meical beast, how many times do you o be reminded of that?”

  “Tch, I almost had it.” Matthew pouted. “He just caught me at a bad time, right when I was shooting the tower. He must’ve aimed for that.”

  “I won’t be surprised if he did,” Cato agreed. “High-level Druid pyers always wait for that brief moment of vulnerability.”

  “Wait, why are you both so chill about this!?” Ronald was having a stroke. “Dude is getting pulled to his death! We gotta save him!”

  “Nah. It’ll be fine, right?”

  “Yeah, no problem,” Matthew said. For the better or the worse, I repared for this possibility.

  Despite how much he would have liked to be a meical god who could pull off split-sed baits like this on the fly, unfortunately, his rea speed wasn’t up to par. As such, he had to pensate for his ck of skill with ing. That's how Esmeralda's teags went oopic:

  "If you 't overpower your oppo, then be smarter, craftier than them. Make them think they trol the fight, then pull the rug from uhem! And, make sure they hit their pretty little heads as hard as possible on their way down~"

  Unfortunately, this wasn't the kind of situation in which Matthew could actually make his enemies "hit their heads", so to speak. He couldn’t think of a way to turn this pull into something that’ll screw over his oppos.

  heless, the rest of Esmeralda’s creed applied to this situation. Matthew was going to pull a fast one on that duht as they became vihat they won the fight.

  "Okay!" Kai threw a bomb at the big fish Yuel reeled in. His job was to deliver the raw fish, whereas Kai's role was to cut the fish into sashimi!

  The Aeromancer was the most vearget of the bunch because he had no escape tools. It meant Kai could take her sweet time decorating the guy with Sticky Bombs before blowing him up. This was going to be a kill for sure!

  And so, Kai attached oicky Bomb to the target, and then another, and then- WHISH! Her bomb flew through empty air, without hitting anything.

  Her target vanished into thin air...

  DarkestCymore