Since Nia was near Top right now, Rook and Merlin decided to abandon the safe backline for once and step forward to assault the bowmen. They finally got an opportunity to get out of their overly defensive formation and try to equalize the lane situation a little, so they seized it immediately.

But, the duo didn’t just stop there. They continued moving toward Yuel and Lars, hence why Lars was a bit confused by the whole ordeal. It was a bold play, very much unusual for that duo considering their track record until now.

And, it’s especially odd considering their track record in THIS game. Yuel thought. In the previous game, they made plays like this every now and then, probably because they weren’t too afraid of Luke. But, Nia is making them sweat, so they’ve never dared to pull anything until now.

With all of that taken into account, the most reasonable conclusion here was that Rook and Merlin wanted to blow off steam. They were forced to be on the defensive the entire game, but now that Nia was confirmed to be elsewhere, the duo finally had some freedom to breathe and do as they pleased. Basically, they chose to aggress out of spite.

Therefore, clearly, this inaccuracy was the result of the enemy’s pent-up frustration. As such, Yuel and Lars should definitely take advantage of this rare mistake and counterattack!

Is that what Cato expects me to think? Yuel wondered. Sorry, but I'm not buying it. That line of thinking would make sense against other opponents, but not against this duo.

Rook and Merlin weren't the kind of players who’d get frustrated because of having to play defense for a prolonged amount of time. These two lived and breathed defense. It was their comfort zone, one which they rarely ever stepped out from.

They’re like two Ellens. Yuel thought. And, I’ve never EVER seen Ellen complain about having to play defense the entire game. It's just something that doesn't happen.

In conclusion, the enemy's uncharacteristic advancement was high-level bait. It was directed toward analytical opponents who analyzed player behavior and formed game plans based on the conclusions. In other words, this bait targeted Yuel.

But, I'm not falling for that anymore. Yuel declared. I’ve had enough time to adjust to these tactics in the previous game.

Indeed, the previous game left quite an impression on Yuel. The tactics Cato employed there were very slippery and deceptive. They caught Yuel off guard enough times to burn themselves into his mind.

Similarly to Yuel, Cato often tried to shake the opponent's mental state. However, Yuel usually tried to achieve that kind of effect by striking the enemy's weakness in one fell swoop, whereas Cato did this slowly and gradually via occasional poking. It was a very Ellen kind of tactic.

In the last game, Cato and Merlin stayed on the defensive about 90% of the time. But occasionally, seemingly at random, they stepped forth to poke.

Due to how frustratingly defensive the duo was the entire time, it became a very attractive idea to strike back at them when whenever they stepped forward to poke. As such, Yuel devised many counterattack ideas around these pokes. And naturally, Lars was overjoyed to participate in those.

Alas, the result was never satisfactory. The enemy’s seemingly random pokes were never truly just “random”. There was always more hidden substance behind them.

Sometimes, the enemy Jungler was nearby and launched a gank in response to Yuel and Lars's counterattack. Other times, the poke was just a feint, so chasing after it ruined Yuel and Lars’s positions, made them waste precious time, or even put them in immediate danger.

Overall, the exchanges rarely ever went in Yuel and Lars's favor. No matter how hard Yuel racked his brain to come up with efficient counterattacks, they never quite worked out for him. It always felt like the enemy was one step ahead, masterminding the entire play. Rook and Merlin were always ready for anything.

It's like they received professional coaching for that kind of playstyle. Yuel thought. It's similar to Ellen. I’ve never quite figured out how to counter her poking game plan.

Of course, Yuel didn't spend the past few months idling. Ever since he and Lars lost to Howard and Ellen, Yuel has been studying up ways to counter Ellen’s obnoxious poking playstyle. And, he did come up with a few general guidelines, some of which he tried to apply against Rook and Merlin.

But, it's never that easy, is it? Yuel frowned. I also didn't have that much time to work on any of this ever since we joined Stratus, but that's just me making excuses. The bottom line is that we don't have a good counter to this playstyle just yet. So, the best we can do is ignore baits like this one.

"Ignore them," Yuel said. "They're just trying to bait us into attacking."

"You sure?" Lars asked. "Like, I think it's the first time they're coming at us this game, right? And, this is right after Nia tried to gank, so ain’t no way that’s a coincidence. I’m tellin’ ya, these dudes be trying to use this opportunity to attack for real! We can hit them back real hard!"

"No, that's just what they want you to think," Yuel explained. "I bet their Jungler is lying in wait nearby, waiting for us to step forward."

"Dang, seriously? Thinking of it, I haven't seen him in a while."

"Yes, some of our wards expired,” Yuel said. “And, it looks like Winner figured out some of our warding tendencies, so he's playing around them."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Just as Nia did a good job solving the enemy's "warding puzzles", Winner replied in kind with solutions of his own. Despite how many wards Stratus has been placing across the jungle, they rarely ever caught Winner in the act.

Any Jungler worth his salt had to be familiar with the popular warding spots and determine which spots the enemy favored the most. Playing around all these warding spots greatly boosted the success rate of ganks, as well as put the enemy on edge.

As Lars said, Winner hasn't shown his face on the mini-map for a while now. The last time a ward exposed him he was still back in Top Jungle, but that was a while ago. Therefore, Winner could very well be in Bot Jungle at the moment, biding his time until Yuel and Lars get baited into attacking.

"Okay, let’s drop that idea then." Lars gave up on the counterattack idea and retreated from the frontline in response to the enemy's approach. And naturally, as the one who suggested playing safe, Yuel was going to do the same, right?

Actually, before I leave... Yuel stepped forward and aimed his Eldritch Blast after infusing it with Radius Invocation.

WHISH! A ball of black miasma shot straight toward Cato!

Thanks to the buffed attack range from Radius Invocation, it was safe for Yuel to strike first in this situation. The Eldritch Blast hit Cato before he and Merlin even got into position to shoot back at Yuel.

Clearly, the enemy at least somewhat respected Warlock’s reach, therefore Cato placed himself in front of Merlin from the get-go. As such, even if Yuel wanted to shoot at Merlin instead of Rook, it would’ve proven impossible from his current position.

Basically, Cato was playing as proper Support here, shielding his Carry with his own body. This entire setup revolved around the idea that the Support himself was usually a lower-priority target, therefore it was fine for him to soak a few hits for the Carry.

Nonetheless, despite agreeing with this idea, Yuel took the time to step forward and shoot the enemy Support. Not to mention, he used both Radius Invocation and Eldritch Blast, which together amounted to a hefty MP cost.

The enemy didn't respond to the shot in any notable way. It seemed like the attack put them on guard for a moment, but they soon realized that Yuel and Lars were retreating, so there won’t be any fight there.

Essentially, Yuel got away scot-free with that brief offense. Granted, it was questionable how much he gained from that play in the first place. At the very least, the enemy didn't see the value in that play.

"My, what a rascal." Cato smiled wryly.

"He sure likes taking shots at you whenever he can in this game," Matthew commented. "It feels personal."

"It sure does, my boy. It sure does.” Cato smiled impishly. “I'm living rent-free in his head~"

This was something Yuel started doing a few waves ago. Every time the guy had an opportunity to fire shots at Cato, he made sure to do so.

At first glance, it looked like a poking tactic, which was usually an amazing kind of art. Cato and Matthew worshipped this art extensively, probably because they were coached by Esmeralda.

However, what Yuel was doing could hardly be called "art". It looked more like an emotional outburst. The dark blasts he fired achieved very little in the way of damage.

Is he trying to kick me out of the lane? Cato glanced at his HP bar; it was currently at 55%. Hmm. I can probably stay here for one more wave, at best. I can't risk getting Ninja'd.

Izuna Drop was a serious threat around these HP levels. To make things worse, Vanishing was about to finish building her Lv.3 Imperial Spear, which would greatly boost the ult's damage if utilized efficiently.

So yes, in that sense, Yuel's repeated attacks definitely put Cato on the spot here. But, at what cost?

It wasn’t very cost-efficient, that’s for sure. Cato analyzed. He wastes far more MP than it’s worth. If his goal is to boot me out of the lane in order to turn this into a 1v2 situation, then he’s going about it backward.

Warlock’s spells had a lot of flexibility to them thanks to the various invocation effects, but that flexibility cost a lot of MP. So, even though Yuel could snipe Cato from far away thanks to the Radius Invocation, this one action amounted to casting two spells in terms of MP cost.

For a Mid-Laner Warlock, the high MP cost was partially offset by the decent damage the spells dealt. However, Yuel was playing Support, so naturally, he didn’t build much Magical Power. As a result, his spells amounted to mosquito bites.

Sure, the attacks did wear down Cato’s HP via repetition, but all the MP sacrificed in the process was surely not worth it. So, if the goal was to kick Cato out of the lane, then it was counter-productive. Because. at this rate, Yuel will have to leave the lane first due to running out of MP.

Is that some sort of big-brain ploy that I’m failing to understand? Cato wondered. Whatever. No point in getting distracted by it. First, I better deal with the things I DO understand.

"Apologies, it looks like this gank isn't happening," Cato informed. "They aren't taking the bait."

"Yes, I’ve already figured..." William said. His tone was filled with mild irritation, which was rare for this stoic guy. That's what a zero-ganks game does to a man.

So far, this fourth game has proven to be infinitely tougher than the previous one. This time, Stratus no longer had any memes in their lineup, and they weren't aggressive as usual, either. If anything, they were actually rather defensive, and that defense was unexpectedly solid.

It feels like they're trying to fight fire with fire. But, if that's really all you’ve got, Yuel, then we'll inevitably win.

All things considered, Yuel was the herald of aggressive plays. Therefore, no matter how well he could command his team to play defense, surely Cato was superior in that area.

All in all, the Leopards had far more experience with this playstyle. They’ve used it against countless teams, both offensive and defensive teams. So, the same way the Leopards knew the matchup against an aggressive team like the back of their hands, they also knew the matchup against a fellow defensive team.

Not to mention, the Leopards had a Seraph on their side, a Hyper Carry whose true power will awaken at the endgame. As such, it was actually in the Leopards' interest to drag out this game until that stage. So, in that sense, Yuel's defensive approach was actually doing the Leopards a favor.

So, while I understand Will's frustration about the lack of action, that's technically the best for us. Cato thought. Currently, the only one who poses a threat to this status quo is their Jungler.

That one attempt Vanishing made on Ronald's life was the first serious attack of the game. Until that point, this game only had small skirmishes on lanes, where neither side ever seriously went for the kill.

But, that gank was different. Vanishing had every intention of killing Ronald if he gave her a chance. The only reason he escaped alive was that Phoenix was poorly prepared for the situation.

Dealing with Vanishing is our top priority. Cato asserted. This mischievous girl is the biggest threat to this peace treaty we're enjoying right now.

In addition to Sonya’s monitoring and regular reports, Cato had to further ensure that the entire team was on high alert against this one threat. As long as they keep Vanishing chained down, the Leopards will have this game in the bag.

Therefore, as the battle approached mid-game, it was time to further reinforce Vanishing’s supervision...