Per Yuel's request, Vi chased Theorist deep into the jungle.

  At present, he had absolutely no idea how he was going to stop that One-Punan from delivering the killing blow on Nia. heless, he had to do something, ANYTHING, to prevent this kill.

  Therefore, if his presen the se was going to hiheorist at least a little, then it was wetting involved with this dangerous situation.

  At some point along the way, Nia decided to turn around and flee in the opposite dire.

  A wise decision. Vi nodded. At least now, Vanishing won’t be running straight into Theorist’s hands. As, it appears Theorist won't let her prey get away so easily! What will happe!?

  Instead of giving up aurning to the heorist gave chase after Nia. And, if she were to borrow the Movement Speed buff of Iron Skin, then she might very well catch up to her target and exorcise the Vanishing Phantom!

  I mustn't allow that to happen! Vi swore on his honor and activated Pyro Trail. It buffed his Movement Speed while also leaving a trail of hellish fmes behind him. It was the only skill in his kit that remotely resembled an escape tool, but he used it for chasing this time.

  No matter what, Vi had to get to the se and interrupt Theorist. He'll save the Vanishing Phantom from being bao the afterlife, and in doing so, he’ll also fulfill his duty as Chessmaster’s reliable goon!

  Unfortunately, because his head was overflowing with suaive thoughts, he failed to notice the obvious danger in time.

  SLASH! A ceared from the depths of the ju was her than Rook, the Lionfolk!

  “I-Impossible!” Vi excimed. While he had his eyes focused on nobody other thaheorist, this lion person snuck up to him! “Chessmaster, we have a problem!”

  “roblem? Oh!” Yuel nearly choked upon cheg the situation in Top Jungle. He only left it alone for a couple of seds, but everything turned on its head now!

  “Retreat!” Yuel ordered. “The Monk will probably e after you, too!”

  “Copy that!” Viurned away from the Lionfolk and dashed as if his life depended on this, because it really did!

  Thankfully, he still had the speed buff of Pyro Trail, so it wasn’t too hard to outrun the Lionfolk. All Vi had to do was to circle around the er in order to lose the hunter, and then he’d return to the ne in no time. But, if only it were that easy…

  Nani!? Vi excimed. He should’ve definitely lost the chaser when he went around the er, yet the Lionfolk was already there, waiting oher side!

  He read my moves ahead of time! Truly, he is a worthy intellectual rival to our own Chessmaster!

  Instead of following Vi directly, Rook circled around the jungle wall from the opposite side. And now, he appeared right in front of Vi once again!

  It appears he’s fully i on blog my path no matter what. Vi smiled meaningfully. Very well! The us partake in this battle of wits! Let us see whether you keep blog my path at every turn as I try my best to shake you off!

  “Just run past him,” Yuel killed that idea on the spot. “If you keep trying to avoid him, you’ll just fall into his trap.” That’s what I should’ve told Nia to do from the get-go, too.

  Fleeing from a predator was a natural instinct that all animals shared. However, that wasn’t always the correct course of a. Real-life situations were more plicated than just “fight or flight”. Therefore, sometimes, one had to plunge headfirst into danger and be ready to receive a few bruises in order to survive.

  "Very well!" Vi said. "I shall sacrifie of my HP for the sake of keeping my life!"

  He tinued running forward, right toward his enemy. Naturally, Rook took this opportunity to cw Vi as much as possible.

  "InformationBckhole is under heavy fire!" Vi narrated. " he make out of here alive!? And, what of the dangerous Monk that’s surely eying him at this very moment!?"

  He checked around him, but he couldn't see Theorist anywhere for now. From the momearted running away, he had no time to follow Theorist's movements anymore. As such, her position was unclear at present.

  But, ohing is for certain. Vihought. She shall soon appear before me with the iion of deliverio death's cold embrace. However! I did not order a one-way ticket to hell, nor do I pn to take that trip for free!

  And so, Vi tinued running back toward the h Rook breathing down his neck.

  Thankfully, the Movement Speed buff of Pyro Trail allowed him to create some distaween himself and the hunter. However, the buff sooinguished, redug Vi’s Movement Speed to the level of a mere mortal.

  Thank you, o fmes of hell. You have served me well. Vi nodded in satisfa.

  Even though a Movement Speed buff was far from a reliable escape tool, it proved plenty useful in this difficult situation. Thanks to it, Vi successfully reached the h minimal damage and- SLAM!

  "B-B-Bakana!" Vi shrieked. He thought he escaped to safety, but all that awaited him at the here was a bloodthirsty Monk!

  Theorist was right around the er, lying in wait fod knows how long. She must have used Rook as her eyes in order to follow Vi's movements and cut him off via a shortcut. And then, with the perfect timing and perfegle, she unleashed her deadly secret on - Asura Strike!

  Well, in truth, it was just a palm strike. Yes, that’s all this “deadly secret on” really was.

  But, that was just the first strike. After the opening hit ected, a barrage of lightning-speed palms exploded in Vi's face!

  Owo, five, ten, twenty, a hundred!? It was impossible to t! This attack speed was not meant for mortal eyes!

  Theorist unloaded her entire Chakra bar on this finishing move. Each spent Chakra point trao one more palm strike that was almost as strong as the Monk's basic attack!

  Iter of a single sed, Theorist unleashed the equivalent of over ten undodgeable basic attacks on Vi! His HP plummeted from 80% all the way down to 20%!

  And, that wasn't the end of the effect. The more hits Asura Strike ected, the more ive status effect it inflicted on the victim!

  As the result of eating that many hits at once, Vi found himself inflicted with a cripple. Now, he couldn’t even use his Dodge Roll anymore.

  "I'm afraid it's over for moi..." Vi reported the depressing news moments before the curtain fell on this py.

  Uo roll away from the two predators, the only fate awaiting Vi erishing here. Such was the price he had to pay for his carelessness.

  You have been killed!

  Theorist delivered the killing blow, courtesy of her aplice. From start to end, Rook merely pyed the part of a Support in this entire operatioing up a kill for Theorist.

  "My bad," Yuel apologized. "It was a bad call on my end."

  "Nay, it is our oppos who deserve praise here. They fooled us all, leading us into this sophisticated trap."

  "It wasn’t even that ‘sophisticated’ yet I couldn't see through it, which makes it my fault," Yuel insisted. "My role as the shot-caller is to analyze the situation and make the right decision, and I clearly failed to do that here."

  "Perhaps so, but it's impossible for any one pyer to keep track of the entire map at all times. Therefore, as the pyer who resent on the se at the time, it was my responsibility to exercise caution."

  "But, I'm the one who told you to chase Theorist."

  "And, I'm the one who didn't object to the order."

  "Tell me then, is it the soldier's fault when the ander gives a fwed order?"

  "If said soldier finds the reeable, then I dare say he is equally guilty."

  "I see." Yuel sighed. There was no winning this one.

  It should be clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the bme id with Yuel here. It was his mispy.

  With that said, he wasn't the only one involved in this operation. In the end, Vi pyed the main role in this show, so he also definitely shared at least a little bit of the responsibility.

  For example, he could've realized the enemy’s iions a little earlier if he aying more attention to his surroundings. Or, he could’ve escaped more effitly instead of heading back to the ne via a predictable route that was easy to cut off.

  And, the same goes for Nia, too. Yuel g the troublemaker who made it out alive and was now rec at the base. I'm the one who asked her to gank Mid in the first pce, so the situation was mostly my fault. But, she definitely underperformed there as well. She failed to properly sneak up to the ne ued, and her escape pn was very subpar.

  Creeping up to a ne ued and vanishing without a trace were two of Nia's stro points, but she failed on both ats this time. Holy, her performance was terrible.

  Of course, Cato deserved a lot of the credit for that, He clearly did his homework on Nia and exercised more than enough caution against her.

  But still, Nia definitely mispyed there. Yuel thought. She should have noticed the enemy's iions before anybody else, but she didn't inform anybody.

  The moment Cato stopped chasing Nia, that should have been an immediate red fg. If only Nia mentiohat right away, then Vi could’ve started retreating sooner and stayed alive. But, instead...

  An allied Turret has beeroyed!

  Cato and Theorist ganged oop Turret and demolished it together. There was nobody avaible to defend the ne ank the overextenders, so they took dowower without aa all.

  With that said, it was an uedly risky and aggressive push for Cato. He made Theorist tank the tower almost to death before they finally brought it down.

  Did one of their wards show Nia recalling? Is that why they were so fident? Yuel wondered. Seriously, just how many wards did they p our territory? It feels like they see everything we do.

  Was that also Cato’s doing? Maybe it was his way of taking precautions against Nia’s vanishing stunts. If so, it worked very well for him.

  But, Nia could’ve prevented all that disaster by simply rep the situation in time. If only she informed us that Cato stopped chasing her…

  “Nia… never mind.” Yuel dropped the subject the moment he saw the girl’s drowsy face.

  Even after so much time has passed, the girl still looked as sleepy as she was back whearted the game, if not more. And, perhaps Yuel was only imagining it, but there seemed to be a hint of sadness mixed into Nia’s sleepy expression.

  She either realized her mistake or at least uood that she artially responsible for Vi’s death. Either way, everything that happehere was a bad call on my end. I should’ve evaluated Nia’s ditioer.

  It was clear as day that the girl was sleepy. heless, Yuel kept hoping that Nia will wake up after exeg some intense py. As, that never came to pass.

  In the end, Nia’s sleepiness never cleared. And so, in this py, it became a huge setback that cost the team many things: Vi’s life, the Top Turret, and possibly the entire game.

  And, everything was Yuel’s fault. He kept pushing Nia toward making a major py and it backfired in his face. But, that wasn’t even the worst part.

  Cato read ahead of me in that position. Yuel frowned. He probably expected that I’ll make Nia gank Mid. So, he id his trap all the way back then, or maybe even before that.

  The excessive warding in Top Juhe frequent ganks on Mid, the remote intimidations on Top - everything art of an interected web of traps. It was all done in order to build up the team’s frustration, especially regarding Nia’s inability to do her job.

  And perhaps, the main goal was to build up Yuel’s frustration, to tempt him into over-itting to some big py that promised to ge this frustrating situation.

  Nia has been like a pinned piece this entire game. So, of course I wao unpin her and put her to use. The Jungler is an important pymaker, after all.

  On top of that, the enemy’s aggressive push on Mid was too tempting to gank, probably by design. Cato iionally made it look like an appealing opportunity in order to force Yuel’s hand.

  It seems his tactics have evolved somewhat sihe st time I pyed chess against him.

  During their chess game, Cato's entire agenda was to turtle up and frustrate the enemy into mispying. It seemed that this core principle of his pystyle didn't ge even now, but he added more yers of trickery to that game pn.

  In addition to frustrating the enemy, Cato also actively id traps that further pushed the enemy in the dire he desired. Essentially, Cato tried to manipute his oppos like puppets on a string and make them do his bidding.

  When a pyer is frustrated, it's that much more tempting to strike at the first opening that presents itself. Yuel criticized his own rashness. It almost feels like somebody gave Cato a crash course on Ellen's philosophy sihe st time we pyed. I already tell this is going to be quite the exhausting scrim...

  The game was rapidly approag mid-game. Or rather, the Leopards were pushing for the mid-game to start now while they had a 5v4 advantage.

  With Top Turret lost, Vi dead, and Nia being dysfunal, could Stratus still salvage this game...?

  DarkestCymore