『An ally has been killed!』
LegendaryMemer crumbled to ashes, leaving nothing behind. However, the Absolute Duo was not done yet. Next, they turned their eyes on the one and only InfomrationBlackhole!
[Y-You challenging moi!?] Vincent tried to convince himself that everything will be alright, but he struggled to do so.
The Absolute Duo was powerful, dangerously so. Vincent understood that better than anybody as the Arbiter of Talents.
Even though they were but a pair, the duo's threat level almost rivaled The Bermuda Triangle of Certain Doom! Indeed, they were frightening opponents who had to be avoided at all costs.
The only way for Stratus to combat this powerful pair was to bring more numbers to the fight. They had to make it a 4v2, or at least a 3v2, situation, such was Chessmaster's conclusion after prolonged research.
Indeed, this sounded like a solid theory, one that unfortunately Vincent had no way of testing out at the moment. After all, he was all alone here, with two monsters hot on his trail! And, they were getting dangerously close, too!
Challenger chased Vincent directly, whereas Winner rotated around the jungle and showed up ahead of Vincent, blocking the best escape route available. It was such masterful teamwork!
As Vincent's preferred retreat route was blocked, he now had to slow down and change course. However, in this situation, slowing down had critical consequences.
WHISH! An axe lodged itself into Vincent's back! As expected, Challenger caught up to him in a heartbeat. And so, Vincent found himself in a pincer.
[B-But, I shall not lose heart!] Vincent insisted. [Even as the monster keeps striking me, I shall not yield!!!]
WHISH! WHISH! WHISH! Axes whacked Vincent from behind as he ran, but he paid them no heed. After all, these attacks were as harmless as a buzzing fly! At least, that's what he convinced himself to think in order to keep his courage afloat.
With that said, there was no arguing with the fact that the Berserker was much faster than Vincent in Berserk mode. As such, competing against Challenger in a race was suicidal in this case.
[Then, I shall roll!] Vincent activated Dodge Roll just as he went around a corner. This should create sufficient distance between himself and his pursuers.
Alas, it was futile as his pursuer responded immediately with Savage Leap. Challenger leapt over a jungle wall and crashed right at Vincent's new location! BAM!
[S-Such magnificent execution!] Vincent couldn't help but sing praises even amidst this fatal situation. [It's as if the man has encountered hundreds, perhaps thousands, of scenarios such as this. As a result, Challenger has learned all the best ways to respond to a dodgy roll like this.]
Truly, Challenger was a dangerous beast, especially now that the Berserk mode was amplifying his bestial strength tenfold. If Winner had joined the assault as well, then Vincent would have been dead a long time ago.
[Fortunately, there's no sign of Winner. He probably cannot keep up with this race.] Vincent sighed in relief after drawing this valuable piece of information from the Akashic Records.
Even though Winner showed up earlier to block off Vincent's path, the man stood quite a distance away from Vincent's actual position. As such, it would've been difficult for Winner to catch up from there. The entire point of that play was to slow Vincent down and block off his shortest route back home.
In short, Vincent had a substantial lead on Winner. As such, it was nigh impossible for that Viking to catch up and pile extra damage on Vincent.
[Thus, my survival is all but guaranteed.] Vincent reassured himself.
After the Dodge Roll, Challenger had caught up to Vincent in a matter of seconds and was already unleashing a barrage of axe attacks on Vincent's back. Even so, Vincent was convinced he'll make it out alive. His HP was dropping lower and lower, but not at a particularly alarming pace.
By running some quick, rough math on all the available information, Vincent estimated that he should be able to survive this onslaught. And, he was correct. Indeed, he safely reached his tower area alive.
[Though, perhaps "safely" is a bit of an exaggeration here.] Vincent corrected his own narrative. [I'm very much at death's door, so I wouldn't call the current situation "safe" by any stretch of the imagination.]
With just 30% HP left, a tower dive from Challenger would be very scary for him right now. But fortunately, that beast wasn't hungry enough to go to such lengths. Challenger properly stopped outside the tower area without coming in.
But, was this really because he gave up on the offense? Or, was he simply biding his time until his accomplice shows up!?
"Vincent, you better recall now," Yuel said. "They might dive in once they regroup."
"Yes, my thoughts exactly!" Vincent retreated behind his tower and started the recalling process.
Challenger didn't dare to invade alone considering all the risks. But, if he were to team up with Winner, then the two of them will dive in for the kill for sure.
[I know that for a fact, for I have seen the Absolute Duo commit such war crimes before!] As such, Vincent hurried to take an early leave. And, as expected, Winner showed up shortly, but it was too late at that point.
"Dang, bro. He already recalled." Ronald shook his head. "Like, seriously, who would normally choose to recall so quickly in a situation like this???"
"Anybody who did their homework on us," William said. "It was a good call."
"Yep, it sure was. So, what now? We can't exactly push yet."
"Yes, there's nothing to push anymore because a certain somebody decided to join my fight instead of pushing a defenseless lane."
"Hey, I helped secure that kill on the DK, though!"
"Which probably doesn't even matter overall," William said. "That DK was practically done for the moment I ruined his plans."
"Hey, you never know, bro," Ronald insisted. "They could always pull something super unexpected next. I mean, you saw how these guys roll. These bruhs are crazy."
"Hmph. I suppose." William shrugged.
In the end, the duo couldn't capitalize on this golden opportunity in order to push. There were no allied minions nearby to tank the tower, so any attempt to push right now would be extremely shot-lived and dangerous.
Instead, the brothers ventured into the enemy jungle and stole the wolves and ogres. After that, they went their separate ways.
Overall, their gains weren't as big as William hoped, but this was satisfactory.
[This game is a wrap.] William concluded. But, was he correct? Or, was Stratus going to surprise them once again, as they had done many times before...?
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[Phew, okay.] Yuel sighed in relief after seeing Vincent return to the base without accident. With that, the worst-case scenario was averted.
[Honestly, I'm surprised Challenger chose to join the fight instead of pushing the lane. That was very unexpected.]
It was more logical for Challenger to stay on the lane and push while Vincent was absent. The guy could've dealt substantial damage to the tower if he pushed it in Berserk mode along with a full minion squad.
But instead, Challenger left the lane right after Vincent and joined the fight. That gave the minions enough time to duke it out among themselves and eliminate each other, leaving the lane barren.
And, what did the enemy gain for giving up this opportunity? They managed to secure a kill on Luke, but that's pretty much it. Of course, Luke's death was a painful outcome for Stratus, but not nearly as much as the hypothetical push on Top would've been.
[Did Cato approve of this decision? In fact, did he approve of ANYTHING that had just happened there? It sure doesn't feel like it.]
That entire play felt like something that Winner and Challenger came up with on their own. They must've completely disregarded Cato's opinion on anything here.
In fact, even back in the replays, many of the duo's joint plays felt like they went against Cato's methodology. Those two often strayed from the Leopards' ever-defensive playstyle.
[I should've taken a better note of this.] Yuel thought. [This means two things. First, I should expect this duo to go for plays that Cato would never approve of. Second, because such plays aren't carefully planned by Cato, it means there might be some glaring openings in them.]
That was very important to keep in mind, but realizing that now probably won't help in this particular game. The current board position looked almost unsalvageable.
Of course, Yuel continued to issue shot-calls as usual in an attempt to turn things around. He ordered Luke to switch to a defensive build, and he started roaming around to help create opportunities on lanes.
Alas, it was to no avail. The team failed to bust through the enemy's tight defenses in Mid and Bot. Only Top had some occasional holes to exploit, but the enemy had too much momentum there.
『An ally has been killed!』
"Baaaaakana!" Vincent held his head dramatically. "A thousand apologies, Chessmaster! I underestimated my foe but for a fleeting moment, yet this is the outcome."
"Challenger capitalized well on that opportunity," Yuel said. "In general, he's getting a little out of control."
The more Challenger widened the exp gap between him and Vincent, the fiercer the guy's offense grew. He frequently pushed Vincent back and dominated the lane via brute strength.
In turn, Vincent was forced to retreat more often and play safer, which made him miss on some precious farm in the process. That only further widened the power gap between them. As a result, Challenger kept growing stronger while Vincent was becoming weaker and weaker.
Normally, it was the Jungler's job to put an end to such a vicious cycle. Alas, Luke couldn't do much on that front, not after shifting to a defensive build.
Of course, Luke rotated to Top as often as he could to provide backup, but that backup did precious little for overturning the situation. It just barely delayed the inevitable.
『DEFEAT』
Until the very end, Yuel was unable to turn the situation around. He focused on taking down Challenger, who had the most openings among the Leopards, but all his schemes fell through.
Yuel even went through trials and tribulations in order to arrange a duel between Challenger and Lars, but even that wasn't enough to stop Challenger's snowballing momentum. Since Challenger was so much ahead in terms of farm, that duel ended in a draw.
[As I thought, the Dark Knight rerun didn't work out.] Yuel sighed on his way down the stage. This was the outcome he predicted long before this game even started, yet it still frustrated him nonetheless.
[We have to get a second win as fast as we can to force out their Korean player.] Yuel thought. [We don't have time to waste on experiments with Luke's memes.]
Down to it, the DK meme was the main source of their problems in this game. If only Luke was willing to play a proper aggressive class that wasn't so fragile, then the team would've still had a chance to turn the game around at any point in the game.
[Even though Nia is also a troublemaker in her own right, I so wish she was playing instead.] Yuel sighed. [Seriously, why do our Junglers have to be so problematic?] He sighed once more.
"Hey, why are ya sighing like an old man, dude?" Lars massaged Yuel's shoulders. "You're taking this too hard, yo. Gotta loosen up a bit."
"How can I 'loosen up' after a game like this? They showed us they have no problem adapting to Luke's DK and that's the only aggressive option he has at the moment. Now, I have to find a way to make Setup Junglers work against that tight defense..."
"But hey, at least Nia woke up."
"Oh!"
Indeed, Nia was there, sitting on the sofa and munching one of Ben's sandwiches like a hamster. She was takings bites so small that it felt like it'll take her an hour to finish the whole thing.
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