An allied Turret has beeroyed!

  The Leopards’ Bot Turret crumbled to pieces. It happened in a blink of an eye.

  One moment, Beat ushing Bot alohe moment, Chessmaster and Gunz joihe offense and made quick work of the tower.

  By the time William and Ronald finished rotating from Top to Mid to join the big push, the tower in Bot was already gohe team had no time to respond to this py at all.

  “Whoa, these mad ds!” Ronald excimed. “Did they teleport there!? Wild shit!”

  “And, it looks like they pn to keep pushing,” William added.

  “Pft, haha!” Ronald ughed. “Are they seriously trying to backdoor us?”

  “It sure seems that way,” Sonya replied. “And, they might actually have enough mao brute force it. How do we respond?”

  Everybody turheir eyes on Cato, the captain. As the shot-caller, it was his job to decide how the team will ahis push.

  “Hmm. Ahem.” Cato cleared his throat. “Let’s see...”

  This development came out of left field. One moment, all the pieces were anized on the board, then the moment everything fell into chaos.

  I o reevaluate the euation from scratch. Cato frowned. What is Yuel’s agenda here? Is this just a ditch effort attao, it looks tao be just that.

  What’s more, Yuel was actively participating in this attack. So, this clearly wasn’t a case of his teammates going haywire or anything like that. It looked like a legit attempt at backd.

  But, could that erio really push the ne fast enough? It was nonsensical.

  All of Leopards' members were gathered in Mid right now. So, if both sides race for the Colossus, then surely the Leopards will win.

  Sure, Pirate is good for pushing and Druid tank with his ult, but is that really going to be enough? I don’t see how. Then again, I’m not an expert on aggressive attacks like this.

  Betweewo of them, Yuel was the expert on offense. He robably way more familiar with sarios like this than Cato.

  Therefore, if Yuel decided to gamble on an attack like this, then it must have a real ce of succeeding. In that case, it was best to have a few members recall to base and stop the backdoor at once.

  Or, maybe this was all one big eborate trap? Maybe this aggressive offense was just meant to spook the Leopards and make them give up on their current pns of pushing Mid? That, too, sounded like a very Yuel-like pn.

  Same as in chess, Yuel used his aggression with flexibility and creativity in Cssmancers. He delivered the kind of pys ply couldn’t fathom.

  “Earth to Cato,” Sonya said. “What’s our response?”

  “Ah, err...” Cato stuttered.

  Push or retreat, which was the right call here?

  Retreating was the safer option, but it might set the team bauch. They might even lose their overwhelming map trol, which will give the enemy a real ake a eback.

  Oher hand, carelessly pushing Mid might lead straight to defeat if the enemy really outrace them. It’ll boil down to a speedrunning petition, something that the majority of Leopards werely into.

  Worst of all, no matter which py Cato goes for, it’ll be his fault if they fail.

  My, my. What a nasty check you pced me in, Yuel. Cato grimaced.

  Against desperate odds, at the very end of the game, Yuel found a way to unch su irritating check! Truly, that boy had the knack fetting under people’s skin. A very respectable skill, no doubt.

  “We’re wasting time,” William said. “They’ve already reached the Golem.”

  Indeed, as he said, the trio of Chessmaster, Beat, and Gunz arrived at the Bot Golem. And without further ado, the Druid summoned forth his Ents to tank the Golem’s attacks

  Meanwhile, the Bomber blew away all the minions to clear the path. At the same time, the Pirate she Golem’s gem in order to disable its skill resistance.

  After that, all three of them joined forces to assault the Golem.

  There was no time to waste. The enemy’s attack was already knog on the Leopards’ front door. They had to decide on their response now, aheir captain...

  Curses! Cato felt sweat on his forehead. I need more time to analyze this unfamiliar position. I wasn’t ready for this!

  Unfortunately, Cssmancers wasn’t like chess. The board wasn’t frozen in time while Cato was examining all angles.

  Every sed he spent analyzing the positiht the enemy one sed closer to destroying the Golem and reag the Colossus. Time was of the essence, Cato uood that much. A, he couldn’t e to a decision.

  For the better or the worse, this wasn’t the first time such a thing happened. So, his teammates were somewhat familiar with these situations.

  There he is, the “fragile captain”. William sighed. He always makes sure to prepare for every possible situation, just so he act like he’s on top of things. But, the moment something sudden and ued happens...

  “There’s no time,” William said. “We outrace them easily, so let’s attack. Droid is sidered a Hyper Carry for a reason.”

  As if to illustrate his point, William summoned not one, not two, but straight up FIVE Assault Dro once! He was ready to wage war on the Mid Golem.

  “Our minions aren’t here yet,” Sonya pointed out.

  “Then, you tank for us.”

  “I suppose I , but...” Sonya g Cato. Though she agreed that pushing would probably be better here, she still wahe captain to have the st word.

  As, there was no hint of the captain reag a decision anytime soon. He was still frowning, lost in thought.

  “I also think we should push,” Matthew said. “I think Droid outrace their push.”

  “Right, a te-game Droid should be able to...” bled. “Alright, let’s do that. Yeah, that sounds splendid!” I’ll trust Matt’s gut on this one, he’s usually right about these things. Besides, it looks like everybody agrees it’s best to push.

  Even though Cato usually ordered everybody around like chess pieces, it’s not like the team was made from a bunch of braiools. They were all top-tier pyers, trained by her than Ruez, the man who valued indepehinking above anything. So of course, these guys were capable of thinking for themselves and reag their own clusions.

  I suppose I rely on their judgment every now and then. Cato took a deep breath. The tension gradually lifted and his focus returned.

  This was a rare case in which the pieces on the board dictated the strategy for the strategist. That was fine every on a while, but it shouldn’t bee a habit.

  Truth to be told, this dependen the chess piece was a sign of Cato’s inpetence as a strategist. It was a little embarrassing, really. But, it was alright. Nobody erfect.

  I’ll just have to properly review this sario after the match, to make sure ime I’ll be ready for shenanigans like this. ade a mental note and moved on.

  “Alright, cover me.” William charged into the Golem area after Sonya.

  “I got your back, bro!” Ronald cast Ray of Light ihe Golem’s area to provide healing to both the tank and his brother.

  “I’m disabling the core.” William pointed his ser gun toward the Golem’s head. Specifically, toward the gem on the Golem’s forehead.

  Unfortunately, the Golem wasn’t very cooperative. The giant humanoid lump of rock moved around while lifting a big boulder. During this entire animation, it was too hard to nd an accurate shot on the core.

  I did see Gunz do it, though. William grimaced. But, I don’t have that level of accuracy. So, I better wait for the right moment.

  Ohe Golem finished lifting the boulder over its head - that was the cue. ZAP! A ser beam traveled straight toward the Golem’s head!

  CRACK. The gem shattered to pieces. With that, the Golem lost its resistao skill damage. This gave Matthew the green light to go on the offeh his spells.

  Except, Matthew already cast his Whirlwind before the gem even shattered. He installed the hurrie about a sed ahead of time, trusting that William won’t miss his shot.

  There was no time to waste, so the DoT of Whirlwind had to start tig ASAP. This was a race against the enemy’s backdoor, so the Leopards had to py fast.

  “I’ll keep the defenders busy,” Cato informed.

  While everybody was focused on taking down the Golem, Cato invaded deeper into eerritory in order to front the enemy defenders, InformationBckhole and VanishingFlower.

  As the Jungler, Cato had the most threatening burst damage here. He could use it to help destroy the Golem faster, but that’d be a waste of his kit. Instead, it was best to do what Junglers did best: assault enemy pyers!

  First, let’s box you in. Cato activated The King’s Dominion, encirg the area with lions. The blockade trapped both Bckhole and Vanishing before they could escape.

  Now, who do I take out first? Cato weighed his options.

  VanishingFlower had access to Izuna Drop, undoubtedly the most threatening on here. If she approached any of the pushers, then she might be able to kill some of them in one fell swoop.

  And, there was also the invisibility from her Shadow e to sider. She could pce a lot of pressure on everybody by making her position temporarily unknown.

  Worst of all, she also escape this lockdown once her Suriken es out of cooldown.

  Vanishing fired her Backflip Shuriken a short while ago, using it as a mid-raack to avoid getting too close to the attackers. Because of that, she couldn’t jump out of the lion lockdown quite yet, but that’ll ge in the few seds.

  Above everything else, I feel like she’s underperf today. Cato analyzed. Maybe she’s nervous, or maybe she isn’t feeling well. Either way, it’s clear she’s suffering in some way~

  As such, out of the twets in front of him, Vanishing was the least likely to give him a fight. It should be that much easier to finish her off first, and then decide what to do with Bckhole.

  So, it’s settled. Cato charged at Vanishing, ign Bckhole for now. First, let’s take out the fragile threat off the board.

  But of course, that was all easier said than done. While locked in such a small space, both enemies became quickly aware of Cato’s iions. So, how were they going to respond...?

  DarkestCymore