Luke arrived at the Griffin Camp, which ositioned close to the ter of the map.

  Unlike most other camps in the juhis one was in a ral area, belonging to her team. As such, it was frequently tested by both sides at the same time, leading to many skirmishes.

  But, it doesn’t look like they wanna test it right now. Luke shrugged. A shame. But welp, it’s as expected, I guess.

  Naturally, Rook was smart enough to avoid direct frontation with a Dark Knight at this stage of the game. Oh well.

  “You need help?” Kai asked.

  “Nah, I’m good,” Luke said. “DK clears this camp real ez. I’m actually more curious about what Mid and Jungler are doing. Are they going for the riffin?”

  “Seems like it,” Kai reported. “Pretty sure their Mid is waiting for the Jungler.”

  Merlin was farming minions from afar, standing suspiciously close to the entrance of Top Jungle.

  For a professional turtle like him, it was a rather questionable position, sidering the risks it harbored. That is unless he khat one of his allies was about to arrive there soon.

  “Say, ya harras them a little?” Luke requested. “I’mma finish these griffins real quick, and then we take the griffins in Top too.”

  “You want to take both camps?” Kai blinked. “I like the idea, but aren’t you being a little cocky there? This isn’t Ranked, you know. We’re pying against the regional champions.”

  “Champions shampions. They’re just pyers. Heck, just middle-schoolers like us.”

  “That’s true, I suppose.”

  “Besides, I got the power of DK on my side, so I gonna stomp them if they stay to fight.”

  “You’re sure fident, huh.”

  “Heh, true dat.” Luke grinned. “You always gotta be fident when you py DK, that’s the w.”

  “Is it?”

  “Yep, You gotta be as greedy as ya get away with. The early-game is all I have.”

  “Well, ’t argue with that,” Kai said. “Alright, I’ll slow them down after I clear the ne.”

  “Hell yeah, let’s do this! I’mma go over there in a jiffy.”

  First, Luke reached the Griffin Camp in Bot Jungle. Without further ado, he unleashed Dark Bst owo giant birds!

  However, the beasts were pretty ky, so they still had 20% HP left. And naturally, sihey were alive, they retaliated against the assaulter!

  CLAW! CLAW! Sharp cws ravaged Luke!

  Dang it! Luke cursed internally. This is a rare case where things would’ve gone smoother if I built more power and had the power buff.

  He khat much from researd experience. Knowing how hard or easy it was to take out the griffins was essential knowledge that every self-repseg Jungler had to possess, memer aa-sve alike.

  As such, Luke khat in order to make his Dark Bst one-shot the griffins, he needed substantially more power. For example, buying a mgressive starter item aing the power buff would’ve been suffit.

  But, I actually would’ve needed BOTH. Luke thought. Getting just a better item or just the buff wouldn’t do. So yeah, not really worth it.

  With er alternative avaible, Luke cut down the griffins by hand with his bck bde. After that, he proceeded toward Top Jungle.

  “I’m done over here!” Luke reported to everybody. “ destination: the riffin Camp!”

  “That’s a solid pn,” Yuel agreed. “But, you please approach Mid along this path?” He drew a route on the mini-map.

  “Wait, wut?” Luke blinked. “You wao get there through the enemy jungle?”

  “Yes, that’s the pn.”

  “Why, tho?”

  “By the time you get there, the Sorcerer will already be in Top Jungle. So, if you enter from this dire, then you’ll block his escape route.”

  “Oh! Ooooooh!” Luke excimed. “Yo, that’s one heck of a nasty pn! I love it! Though, it’ll get dangerous as heck if they try anything funny.”

  “Do you think they’ll pick a fight with a Dark Knight this early?”

  “Well, I AM actually just above half HP, so I see them trying to go after my ass.”

  “Don’t fet that Kai will be c for you from the other side,” Yuel expined. “It’ll be a 2v2 situation, with our side possessing an early-game Dark Knight. These odds won’t be in their favor and they know it.”

  “Heh, yeah that makes sense. Besides, these guys are hel turtles. They ain’t gonna take this risk, no way.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Alrighty, I’m in!” Luke grinned. “I’mma give them the spook of their lives, hehe.”

  “That’s the spirit.”

  “Hehe, boi!" Luke grinned as he moved through the jungle in the dire of Mid Lane. However, per Yuel’s instrus, Luke didn’t travel through the allied side of the jungle. Instead, he ventured deeper into eerritory.

  These bois gonna be shook once I show up! This was both exg and scary at the same time. This is a hel ballsy move, even for me. But, I love it!

  How was the enemy going to react to this bold rotation? Could they eve to it at all at this point?

  Merlin had already ventured into Top Jungle, most likely to meet up with Rook he Griffin Camp. So, the guy pretty much sealed his own fate.

  But of course, the Leopards couldn’t be uimated. They quickly picked up on Luke’s irregur movements.

  “Did I just see him enter our jungle?” Cato asked.

  “Yeah, he did,” Matthew answers. “Probably pns to ter-jungle.”

  “My, the nerve of this memer brat.” Cato clicked his tongue.

  Against any other Jungler, such a crime deserved capital punishment. It would’ve been easy enough to teach the invader a hard lesson.

  But, Dark Knight was a different story entirely. Challenging this monster early was the same as inviting a catastrophe upon yourself.

  Even if I tried, I ’t test him if he’s actually going for my camps. Cato reasohough, depending on how far he pns to overextend, maybe we anize a gank.

  With the number of wards in Bot Ju should prove easy enough to traemer’s movements. So, depending on how deep that rascal nning to extend, it might be possible to assault him on the way out.

  But, all that after we clear the griffins first. et up with Matthew in Top Jungle and they proceeded to farm the Griffins Camp together. There, they ran into a little surprise.

  “My, is she pnning to test us?” Cato cocked his head.

  Oher side of the camp stood her tha, with her sights locked on Cato and Matthew. The girl meant business.

  Does she think that possessing a power buff will allow her to fight us 1v2? If so, she’s sorely mistaken.

  Beat was currently far strohan Matthew in terms of damage, but she couldn’t possibly hawo pyers at once. Even without his ult, Cato’s Vampire lenty dangerous with just his basic attacks.

  Really, there was no way aromancer could test both of them at ohis wasn’t right.

  “Do you think it’s bait?” Cato asked.

  “It doesn’t look like it to me,” Matthew answered. “I think she really pns to test the camp.”

  “Seriously?” Cato tilted his head. Matt’s instinct is usually on point with these things, but I ’t help but wonder. Is Beat really the kind of pyer to attempt something absurd like this? I mean, I know she’s a prideful pyer who gets cocky on occasion, but this is taking things too far.

  It wasn’t a stretch to call this ht dumb. It was no lo the level of being “overfident” or “cocky”. It was just a fually fwed idea.

  And, even if she somehow arrived at the clusion that this was a good py, I’m sure Yuel would’ve made her retreat right away. Or, maybe he doesn’t have enough authority ieam yet?

  With all said and done, Beat was Stratus’ captain. Yuel was still a junior, so maybe he didn’t hold as much sway over the seniors.

  There were many possible ways to expin this situation, but in the end, it probably didn’t matter. Cato and Matthew simply had to take the Griffin Camp as pnned.

  If Beat nning to get in their way, then they will simply kill her first, that’s all there was to it. At least, that’s what Cato thought at first.

  Shortly, an uninvited guest showed up in Mid. This flipped the euation on its head!.

  “My, they’re taking the cept of coess to a whole new level.”

  “What a drag...”

  The pyer who arrived in Mid was her than the enemy Dark Knight. What’s more, the guy dialed up his boldness up to eleven by entering the ne from the Leopards’ side of the juhe guy was clearly feeling himself.

  “So, it’s a pincer,” Cato cluded.

  Beat was blog their path from one side, whereas Memer was about to block them off from the other side. And so, Cato and Matthew found themselves caged.

  Of course, it’s not like they were pletely trapped or anything. They were in the jungle, so there were numerous retreat routes avaible for them.

  However, none of these paths led directly baid. Meaning, Matthew won’t be able to easily return to his own ne.

  “We retreat, right?” Matthew asked.

  “So it seems...” Cato frowned. Is this Yuel’s doing? This feels like the kind of py he’d e up with. A bold, aggressive py that es out of left field. Such a pain in the arse.

  Cato and Matthew had no choice but to give up on the Griffin Camp ahe enemy cim the camp for free. It was a substantial exp loss, but it couldn’t be helped.

  We’re bound to py the early-game from behind, so it’s fine. Cato tried to reassure himself. “Let’s clear the Hyena Camp on the way out then.”

  “Are you sure they won’t chase us down?”

  “I sure hope they don’t. They’ve already won the griffins with this nasty maneuver, so what more they ask for? Besides, chasing us now will only make it easier for you to get back to ne.”

  “Hmm. That’s true.”

  And so, the two of them retreated deeper into the jungle and traveled to the Hyena Camp above Mid. Matthew had to make this long roundabout trip anyway in order to return to the ne, s some exp and gold on the way was better than nothing.

  But, as Matthew mentiohere was the possibility the enemy won’t even allow them that. Will Yuel order the Dark Knight to give chase?

  “Hehe, look at them run!” Luke grinned. “Maally spooked these guys! Should we chase them? I saw we run them down!”

  “No need,” Yuel said. “Just take the Griffin Camp and tinue farming as much as possible.”

  “Boo. B.” Luke pouted. “But okay, I gotcha.”

  Luke and Kai joined forces to tear apart the Griffin Camp. Together, they ed things up in a blink of an eye.

  "Lemme also help you out in the ne real quick," Luke said.

  "Huh? I don't need any help."

  "Don't worry, o thank me."

  "You're just ing over to steal my farm, aren't you?"

  "Naaaaah, do you really think I’d do something shameless like that?"

  “Yes, I totally do,” Kai said matter-of-factly.

  “Just let him do it,” Yuel said. “He needs as much farm as he get, and he needs it quick.”

  "Fine..." Kai sighed.

  No Mid Laner would ever appreciate their farm being stolen, but this was an uber-rare exception. Luke ying a css that deviated from the norm so much that somehow this arra made se least acc to Yuel.

  And so, without any shame, Luke arrived in Mid and unleashed a Dark Bst on the minion wave. With just o, he tore the entire army to shreds. It was su overwhelming clearing speed that it put even mage csses to shame.

  After that, Luke traveled to the rest of the camps in Top Juerrorizing ead every one of them with his supreme dark powers. Not a single camp stood a ce against his absurd burst damage.

  However, all that great power came with a cost. His HP fell lower and lower, eventually dropping below 30%.

  It’d be o recover tons of HP in a bang with a kill, but I’m not ready yet. Luke chose to recall instead. Well, it’s all good. Once I gear up a myself Blink, we get this party started for real!

  The early-game definitely started on the right foot for him. He accumuted plenty of exp and was steadily heading toward Lv.5.

  In fact, if leveling up was a race, then Luke would nearly be pping everybody else. He was fast as heck, boi!

  And, it wasn't just Luke who beed from this strong start. Thanks to his efforts and to Yuel's sharp deaking, Stratus started the game on a high note in all nes.

  As etric as this Jungler pick was, so far Yuel has been putting it to good use. From such a strong opening, it was very much possible for Stratus to tinue dominating the game all the way to victory!

  DarkestCymore