BAM! A second bombardment resounded. Cato hurried to safety, but as expected he wasn’t the primary target.

It was William who found himself in the center of the danger zone. And, without a Dodge Roll, not even his fast reaction speed was enough to get him out of this.

“Tch!” William grimaced as the loud shockwave hit him. Despite his speedy retreat, he failed to get out of the danger zone in time. The blast erased 25% of his HP in an instant.

But, that was just the beginning. While the enemies were bombarding him from afar, they were also looking for an opportunity to CC him from mid-range.

He’s eying me, I can tell. William made sure to keep an eye on the enemy’s positions, to make sure they don’t catch him off-guard at any point.

The enemy Druid was casually getting closer, no doubt searching for an opportunity to fire his Nature’s Grasp. It seemed like Chessmaster was trying to somewhat conceal his intent but it was way too obvious.

Unfortunately for you, I’m used to being targeted. William thought. When it’s something that happens to you all the time, you develop a sixth sense for it.

That’s why, even as William retreated away from the Bomber’s bombs, he made sure to stay out of Chessmaster’s reach. But, it might be necessary to put an end to that soon.

He’s leading me. William frowned. If I keep running away from him like this, I’ll just get closer to the other enemies. Tch.

There was also the distance from the Colossus to consider. This entire push was riding on the DPS of William and his drones, so he couldn’t stray too far from the Colossus.

Therefore, even as he was running away from the bombardment, William continued shooting the Colossus at every opportunity. And, every time he fired a shot, his five drones followed suit.

Fortunately, the little mechanical fellows were immune to skill damage, so the bombardment didn’t harm them at all. Only basic attacks could eliminate them, and none of these were going to hit them as long as William maintained a perfect distance from his foes.

But, for how long will he be able to keep doing this? And, will his drones even last until the end of this push?

William had been using the same five drones ever since they started pushing the Golem a while ago. The Assault Drones had a very long lifespan, but it wasn’t infinite. Their expiration date was fast approaching.

Honestly, I won’t have any qualms about retreating at this point. William admitted. They played us well with that backdoor. Now, I can’t even say for sure that my decision to push was the correct one.

William glanced at Cato, the captain who was supposed to decide the fate of this push. At this moment, if Cato were to order a retreat, then William might actually agree.

The Leopards still had an overall map advantage, so there was no need to risk the entire game on this one push. They could easily retreat and regroup.

Well, calling it “easy” might be an understatement, but I’m sure most of us can get out of here alive if we play well. But, at the same time, we’re one step away from winning this...

William was conflicted about this, and so was Cato apparently. The guy was frowning, grimacing, biting his lip, and showing literally every sign of stress and hard thinking. It didn’t seem like he was going to come to a decision any time soon.

Fragile as always against sudden unexpected developments. William sighed. It looks like I’ll have to make the call this time too. Sigh. How I hate this. I’m sure Coach will chew me out on this if I make the wrong move.

Nonetheless, somebody had to make a decision here. And, even though the team considered Cato the “shot-caller”, in practice Rodriguez didn’t assign such a role to any one player in particular.

The coach always implored the players to think for themselves and share their own opinions. He didn’t want one player to monopolize the entire strategic front of the team, so anybody here was as equally qualified as Cato to make shot-calls for the team, at least on paper.

Besides, it’s nothing official or anything, but I essentially have the second-highest authority in the team. William thought. So, when Cato can’t make a decision, the responsibility naturally falls on me. Sigh. I didn’t sign up for this…

Alas, life was never easy. Cato was still stuck in analysis paralysis while the important decision had to be made ASAP.

Certainly, in a couple more seconds, Cato will finish analyzing this complicated situation. Then, he’ll finally be ready to make his call, and it’ll likely be a good call.

But, that wasn’t good enough. In this fast-developing situation, every single second was a matter of life and death. The Leopards couldn’t wait that long for a decision. They had to decide right here, right now.

And so, William had no choice but to make the call. After much inner struggle, he decided to continue the initial plan. They were going to wrap up this game, right here and right now!

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Let’s continue the-” “RELEASE THE-” A loud shout interrupted his instruction! Before William could finish the sentence, the enemy made the decision for him.

Damn, I messed up! William realized his bad position only now.

While he was busy thinking about the situation while simultaneously maintaining ideal distance from both the Colossus and the Druid, the enemy Pirate was creeping up to him. And before long, William found himself within range of a Kraken attack!

To make things worse, his Dodge Roll was still on cooldown. And, the upcoming Kraken was perfectly summoned with William dead in the center.

In other words, no form of escape was available to him. There was only one thing William could do as the sea beast threatened to squash him.

ZAP! He fired another laser beam at the Colossus, and all five of his drones followed suit.

Attacking the Colossus, that’s the only thing he could still do before he loses the ability to act. He was the Carry, so it was his job to deliver as much damage as possible on the Colossus, even on the brink of his own death.

“- KRAKEN!” The giant sea monster emerged from under William, pushing him aside before slamming him hard into the ground.

The execution was flawless, as expected from Gunz.

“Yoooo! I actually got ‘em!” Lars pumped a fist. “He really went over there, just like ya said!”

“Good work.” Yuel nodded in satisfaction. This guy really is a “Zone Dominator”, as Vincent dubbed him.

AbsoluteWinner excelled at maintaining optimal spacing against any threat source, and even against multiple threats at the same time. It was nigh impossible to catch the guy overextending or in a bad position.

But, in the end, Winner was only human. He wasn’t some quantum computer that could solve all the spacing problems in parallel. Once enough threats targeted him at the same time from different angles, maintaining optimal spacing became a trap that boxed him within a predictable area.

He did a great job distancing himself from me while keeping the Colossus within attack range, while also paying attention to where he might be bombarded next. But, that also made it that much easier to lead him into this trap.

It was simply impossible for Winner to space himself perfectly against Druid’s Nature’s Grasp, Bomber’s Bombardment, and Pirate’s Kraken all at once, while also sticking close to the Colossus at the same time. It was like a math problem with more variables than equations.

But, it was still too early to celebrate.

“Lars, we need to finish him off quickly,” Yuel said.

“On it!” Lars dashed toward the pinned-down target. The Kraken’s damage alone wasn’t nearly enough to take out Winner, so Lars had to finish this with his own two hands!

But, this was a risky attack. The enemy might aggress on Lars in order to defend their Carry. However, Yuel had a plan for how to mitigate the risk.

“Kai, bombard the area around them.”

“Got it!” Kai aimed her third and last bomb in a general area around Lars and Winner.

This bombardment should discourage the enemy from thoughtlessly advancing on Lars. But, whether this threat was going to actually work or not, was another story entirely.

“We got no choice but to keep attacking now,” William spoke while still buried under the weight of the Kraken’s tentacles. “Retreating isn’t an option anymore. I’m sure you agree, Cato?”

“R-Right...” Cato frowned.

Before he could make a proper decision, the enemy already decided everything for him. From start to end, Yuel has been pulling the strings behind this entire play.

I don’t like this, not one bit. Cato thought. But, there’s no choice but to play along. The Colossus is almost dead. We just need to protect William for a few more seconds, then victory is ours.

“Ronald!” Cato called out. “We have to protect William, so let’s-”

BAM! The third and last bomb launched into the air!

And, where was the marked target area? Naturally, it was right around William!

“Gah-!?” Cato gasped and hit the brakes.

He still had Sticky Bombs on him from the previous hit, so he couldn’t carelessly step into the danger area again. Perhaps some people called him kinky, but he definitely wasn't into throwing his entire HP bar out of the window.

C-Curses! Cato grit his teeth. Did Yuel plan all of this!? Did he think that far ahead!?

This bombardment was like a death threat. The bomb won’t immediately kill Cato, but it’ll leave him too injured to pose a real threat. He’ll be hanging on a thread from that point onward, and the enemy will surely eliminate him at the first opportunity.

As much as I want to, I can’t step forward. Cato grit his teeth as his fingers hovered over the WASD keys. He wanted to press forward, but he couldn't. It was too dangerous and inefficient.

On the other hand, there was somebody who completely ignored the danger and plunged headfirst into the danger.

“Broooooo!” Ronald dashed into the red area while booting his Blinding Light, coating himself in light. “I’m coming!!!”

He blinked forward with Flash, appearing right between his brother and the fast-appraoching Gunz. At this moment, he was going to transcend his humanity and become an absolute meat shield for his older brother!

But, it wasn’t just some empty suicide. As abrupt and as thoughtless as the move seemed, Ronald actually put a lot of thought into it! At least, he believed he did...

BOOM! The big bomb crashed into the floor, blowing up Ronald and his brother! But, Ronald didn’t have any Sticky Bombs on him, so the damage wasn’t that scary.

More importantly, his Blinding Light! The light exploded around him at almost the same time as the bomb, making it very difficult for the enemy to respond.

And so, Ronald successfully robbed Gunz of his vision! Flawlessly calculated!

And, Gunz wasn’t the only one affected. In the heat of this chaotic moment, with two eye-stabbing visual effects overlapping, all the enemies in the vicinity were exposed to Blinding Light.

“Yo!” Lars exclaimed. “My screen is totally white! Dude, lemme look at yours real quick!”

He craned his neck to check out what was actually happening on the scene. But, all he saw on Yuel’s monitor was sheer blankness.

“Wha-?! He blinded you too!?”

“Yes.” Yuel pursed his lips. “I didn’t expect him to jump in like that. It was a reckless move, but also very well timed.”

“Dang, that’s hella cool, yo!” Lars grinned. “Dude got us both.”

“He sure did.” Yuel frowned.

Until now, things have been more or less going according to Yuel’s script. However, this unexpected intervention from AbsoluteChallenger threw everything into disarray.

The blindness was only going to persist for a couple of seconds, but these were some critical few seconds. Lars was supposed to kill Winner and end this push in that short time, but now he was blind and had to worry about his own safety first.

Amidst this unscripted chaos, was it still possible to stop the enemy’s push and turn the tables on them…!?