『An ally has been killed!』

The red message flashed on Stratus's monitors. It happened so unexpectedly that everybody just stared at it with dumb faces for a while.

"Shit!" Kai slammed on the table. "How could you let this happen!?"

"My apologies," Vincent said. "The Absolute Duo took us completely by surprise."

"You should've warded better then."

"Indeed, we should have."

"Nah," Luke intervened. "C'mon, man. You got nothing to apologize for. We warded plenty, didn't we?"

"Clearly not enough," Kai criticized. "Luke, you warded the minimum amount to save resources, didn't you?"

"Weeeeelp, maybe." Luke innocently rolled his eyes. "I mean, I'm a DK, so I gotta be smart with how I spend, ya know?"

"So, you’re saying that you were smart with your spending?"

"Yep."

"And, what did it cost you in the end?"

"Everything..." Luke hung his head.

Not only did the enemy kill Vincent, but next they set their eyes on Luke. The dangerous duo came straight at him and chased him out of the area. The nerve of these hooligans!

So, on top of losing a comrade, Luke also missed some precious farm. This was a devastating early-game loss for a DK.

"Again, I sincerely apologize," Vincent said. "If I exercised more caution, then we could've avoided this tragedy."

"Nah, no need to apologize, man," Luke said. "These guys just showed outta nowhere and ganged on you. And, I wasn't even there to help ya because I ran ahead like a tool instead of making sure we stick together. Nobody saw any of this coming, man."

"Even so," Kai argued. "Even if it was unexpected and Vince was isolated, I still would've expected him to survive, at the very least."

It was becoming increasingly obvious that this turn of events frustrated Kai and she was hellbent on venting. Somebody had to step in and cut this discussion short.

"That duo launched a very calculated attack," Yuel said. "As much as the outcome frustrates me too, I can't fault Vincent on this one. If anything, it's my fault for failing to consider this turn of events."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

In all the past scrimmages combined, the Leopards had only used an early invade once, and it was against a team that they’d already beaten to a pulp in the first two rounds. That particular play looked like a case of Winner and Challenger messing around just because they could, so it was hard to take that example seriously.

But, I remember they executed that invade extremely well. Yuel thought. I should've taken a mental note of it. That one example showed us that this duo was capable of going for invades, even if rarely. There wasn’t enough evidence to conclude that the Leopards only use invades against teams they underestimate.

Or, could it be that the Leopards were underestimating Stratus at this very moment? Even though they had just suffered a crushing defeat in the previous game? It sounded absurd but there was no saying for sure.

Maybe it was a calculated countermove against our Dark Knight. Yuel speculated. This doesn't sound like an idea Cato would come up with, but I can definitely see him pulling something like this just to aggravate us.

Either way, what’s undebatable was that Vincent's death will be a terrible setback for the team. So, Kai had every reason to be frustrated and Yuel shared much of the same sentiment. With that said, there was no point crying over spilled milk.

"Luke, stick around Top until Vincent comes back," Yuel instructed.

"Oh, so I gonna be a Top Laner for a while? Funny because DK excels at that shit. It's like I was made for this."

"I trust you know how to use Dark Knight in Top?"

"Well, duh.” Luke nodded. “Memeing extends beyond just jungling, ya know? I admit I didn't practice DK in Top nearly as much, but I know my stuff. As they say, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects.”

"Good.” Yuel nodded. “This arrangement should mitigate our losses at least a little."

"Worry not," Vincent reassured. “I shall return to work before you notice! I apologize for putting you through this hassle, but I assure you that you’ll only have to tend to my lane for a single wave at most.”

"No worries, man.” Luke gave a thumbs up. “It’s partially my fault too, so I kinda think of it as taking responsibility."

"That's a surprisingly good mentality you have there," Kai commented.

"Hey, what do you mean 'surprisingly'? I always got that 200 IQ mentality."

"Yeah, sure." Kai rolled her eyes.

"C'mon, my dudes," Lars intervened. "I know ya having fun chewing each other out and all that, but we gotta move on. What's happened, happened. We can't get too hung up on that bad start. It’s only gonna keep dragging us down."

"My man here spittin' facts."

"Fair enough." Kai gave it a rest for now. She'll have more than enough time to watch this game’s replay later and determine who was really at fault for that play.

Perhaps, as Yuel said, the enemy was simply too strong and organized, so this outcome couldn't be helped. But, Kai called bullshit on that. Stratus wasn't a team of amateurs. They were serious challengers aiming for the top of the competitive scene, so there was no such a thing as an "unavoidable" mistake for them.

Well, I'm sure Yuel will analyze that play to death as well. Kai concluded. So, if there's anything more to it, we'll surely hear about it in the next five-hour-long match review session...

With that sorted out, the team moved on with the game. Fortunately, there weren't any unexpected developments on the other side of the jungle, so the trio over there finished their opening routine without a hitch and went separate ways.

Meanwhile, Luke manned Top Lane because its usual caretaker was amiss. He was supposed to be a Jungler meme, yet there he was, playing Top as any normal Dark Knight would. Ironic.