The situation in Mid wasn't looking good for the Leopards. Even though William came close to drawing First Blood, the Warlock's ult robbed him of that opportunity. Or at least, it put the kill on an indefinite hiatus.

  "I still get the kill," William stated before anybody could tell him to retreat.

  "My, so stubborn," Cato said. "Well, I suppose given your HP advantage, you still shoot for it."

  "I sure , and I will," William asserted.

  “Keep in mind that you’re dangerously close to a 1v2 situation there.”

  "It’ll be a temporary 1v2 at best. Sonya is here too."

  "True, true." Cato could only nod in response.

  At first g might have seemed as if the two enemies were about to gang up on poor William in the darkness and draw blood. But in practice, his situation wasn't that bad.

  For ohe King's Dominion served as a barricade for keeping Chessmaster out. Its primary fun was to stop prey from esg outside, but right now, it served as a wall that denied entry to outsiders.

  As such, it'll take Chessmaster a while to break into the prison. And, by the time he does, his HP will be just as low as his panion's.

  Therefore, there was still a det ce that William will be able to turables on the enemy here, especially with Sonya's help. In fact, if the enemy tinues pressing this offehen they might be setting themselves up for a Double Kill.

  My, Yuel sure crafted one heck of a voluted script. Cato thought. To think that he'd dare to rotate to Mid without any MP, and then pay so much HP just to cast his ult. Truly, only a madman like him would e up with a ploy like this~

  It was b on absurdity. This pn could backfire in so many different ways and there was no guarahat anything good would e out of it. A, Yuel went for this risky py regardless.

  Good, good. Cato found himself grinning. After all, how could he not? It felt like he finally got the opportunity to py an intellectual game against the “real Yuel”, not the half-assed faker who faced him back during their chess match.

  Yes, yes! This is more like it! Kekeke! Cato couldn't stop himself from cag like a gremlin. Yes, use more of these weird, unorthodox tactics. Take all these nonsensical risks and try to make them pay off. This is how you aly when you're serious, right? This is how you beat Fiona, after all.

  The sheer amount of madness behind Yuel’s current script roof of how seriously he was taking this match. This was very different from Yuel’s attitude during the chess match with Cato two years ago.

  You didn't even try back then. Cato criticized. You weren’t serious, I could tell. So, even though I beat you, it didn't feel as satisfying as it should have been. On that day, I didn’t REALLY get to crush the same guy who beat Fiona.

  Back theroying Yuel in chess was supposed to be equivalent to defeating Fiona herself. The guy stole the regional champion title from the La Princess, so defeating him was supposed to be a big deal.

  A, after Cato’s euphoria of victory subsided, he felt empty. It wasn’t right. He didn’t feel like he truly defeated the same man who triumphed over Fiona.

  I remember I was thrilled about the fact I crushed Yuel... for about an hour or so. Cato recalled. Then, I got to py Fiona in the finals. Brrr.

  The mere recolle of that match was enough to give him the shivers. It ure sughter. It's like Fiona was trying to make it perfectly clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Cato stood absolutely no ce against her, not even close.

  Brrr. Let’s not think about it right now. Cato shook his head. I o focus ouation.

  Things were moving forward while Cato was reminisg about all these irrelevant things. The situation in Mid turned into a delicate board position, ohat Yuel must’ve meticulously prepared. It was like a check against Cato, so he had to respond accly.

  So, was my previous clusi about them wanting to gank Matt? Cato wondered. Did Beat overextend in order to lure Will? Or, was Yuel pnning to gank the ne anyway and things just turned out well for him? It could be that this ter-gank against Will wasn't even part of his inal pn.

  It was impossible to tell anything for sure yet, but it felt like the ao these questions would shed a lot of light oher Yuel had anything more pnned for this situation. Because, if this was the full extent of his pn, then it wasn’t a very impressive one.

  Sure, this ter-gank came as a surprise but it wasn't a decisive ter at all ohe Warlock's ult was stopping William in his tracks for now, but it didn't ge the fact that William had a rge HP lead over his oppo.

  Perhaps his entire pn was hanging oriple resohat would've turhe situation around for sure.

  Wilim would have lost about 90% of his HP from a triple resoack, but instead, he got away with losing only 40%. Needless to say, there was a huge differeween tinuing this fight with 10% HP or with 60% HP.

  Either way, it's a super unreliable pn if getting the triple resonance was a must. Cato criticized. But, I wouldn't put it past Yuel to push for a high-risk high-rey like this, that's more or less how he took out Fiona, after all.

  Cato had to read even deeper into Yuel's is to uand what that guy was really scheming. Was this really the full extent of the pn? Or, was there yet another surprise that Yuel was going to pull out of his magi hat?

  I already drew the wrong clusion the first time I analyzed Beat’s overextension, so I rather not make any hasty clusions. Cato thought. With that said, I suspect that figuring out what's on this lunatic’s mind is beyond me.

  After all, Cato and Yuel were as inpatible as they could get. Their minds were wired in opposite ways when it came to pystyle and strategy.

  I'll just have to take the situation at face value. Cato had no choice. So, let’s see. Will is at 60% HP, locked ihe darkness, and he has no Stealth Wards because he's a rascal who doesn't listen to advice.

  Though Lionfolk was immuo all forms of CC while inside his dominioill couldn't see his enemies ihe darkness of Eldritightmare. That's because the darkness didn’t try to blind William directly but instead granted pseudo-stealth to the enemies.

  This made anti-stealth tools the best for tering Eldritightmare. And, Stealth Wards were avaible to everybody from the shop.

  But, Will didn't buy any. Cato sighed. I even advised everybody to do it, too. But, of course, he refused. But, it’s uandable.

  Though Stealth Wards were an effective ter, they were also a costly iment. Not to mention, William thought of himself as "gging behind" due to his ck of kills, so he didn't want to promise his build any further. He even started buying less regur wards, that rascal.

  But, good thing that Sonya is su obedient soldier~ iled in delight. "Sonya, do you mind granting some vision to our rebel friend?"

  "Yeah, on it." Sonya was already halfway to the se. She had been cautiously approag it the eime, careful to not overextend in case the enemy nning to hit her from behind. Indeed, she was as cautious as ever even though there robably o be on guard in a favorable situation like this.

  Or, is there? Cato stopped to think. Why do I feel like I'm fetting something? Something that has to do with how my previous clusion about Yuel's pns was wrong...

  It's like the answer was at the tip of his to he couldn’t draw it out. There were just so many things to think abht now that he couldn't keep track of everything.

  Anyway, the solution to the current predit was rather simple. Sonya merely had to get close to the se and pce a Stealth Ward. That'll grant William vision once more, which will allow him to finish off Beat, and maybe even kill Chess as a bonus.

  I 't see Yuel’s current HP in that darkness but I bet he's below 50% by now. Cato specuted. That ult is quite draining when you don’t have MP.

  Though Warlock’s passive allowed him to spend his HP as a rept for MP when casting skills, the HP-to-MP version rate was rather brutal. In theory, Life Tap was an iing utility that opened doors to some unusual pys like this, but in practice, it was almost impossible to put it to good use due to how self-destructive it was.

  So, in the end, instead of killing Will here, Yuel might give us a double kill. My, what a nice fellow~

  With that said, without realizing it at the time, there was definitely ohing issed about this board position. It was the very thing that nagged him earlier, the reason he drew the wrong clusiarding Yuel’s pns in the first pce.

  His inal theory was that Beat overextended in Mid in order to draw the Leopards' attention away from Vanishing. And, acc to what the ward revealed, the sneaky phantom was on her way to gank Bot.

  But, after sidering the ret turn of events, was there still any truth to that clusion at all? Was ganking Bot really in the pns here? And, if not, what was Vanishing up to at this moment...?

  DarkestCymore