『An enemy has been killed!』

“Got him!” Roi exclaimed as his blade cut through Gilbert. With Dan’s help, he finally took down an enemy. It was unfortunate that Dan died in the process, but at least they got rid of one important target. Now, only Howard was left to defend Mid.

Okay, I'm finally getting shit done! Roi pushed hard and disregarded Howard's feeble attacks. This was the chance to make up for all the mistakes Roi committed. This play gonna be huge!

Roi had a chance to break through Mid before the Mid Golem revives. He has been playing like a Bronze tier schmuck for too long, that shit had to stop. And, the first step for redemption was securing Mid here and now.

The whole thing about Howard’s dreams still weighted on Roi, but this was a serious match and he was a competitive-level player. He had to perform even if it meant getting in the way of Howard's dream. Deep down, he wanted Howard to win. But, at the same time, he had to do everything in his power to ensure this match stayed competitive.

Therefore, Roi pushed! He struck down the weak minions and attacked Howard. Nobody gonna stop him! He'll make sure this match was conducted with fair and square sportsmanship.

Okay, the way is open! Roi grinned as Howard finally retreated. It was about damn time because the guy has been eating one attack after another for a while now, both from Roi and from super minions. Howard did his best to soak damage for his minions, but no matter how tanky his build was - his HP wast finite. At long last, Roi forced the Big Shield Dude out of this picture!

I'mma push all the way while he's gone! Time to end this- ah! A heavy thump resounded behind him. Rocks rose into the air and darted into one central point as if sucked in by a black hole. Oh damn, the Mid Golem revived!

Roi was banking on his super minions for this important attack, but the little guys finished their invasion at the Golem’s area started hitting the revived Golem. Damn, pushing through Mid was impossible now, First, Roi had to take down the Golem again.

Unfortunately, none of the damage dealers were around right now. Lars was locked in a 2v2 near Bot, Julia was pushing Top and Dan was dead. Still, Roi was a bruiser, so his offense wasn't a joke. Together with this last wave of super minions, he’ll take down this weakened Golem on his own!

Gonna be difficult once Howard returns. Roi brought the Golem all the way down to 10% HP with the help of the super minions, but the last push will be the real challenge. All his super minions died and a new wave of enemy minions came forth to defend, On top of that, Howard was surely done healing by now and will soon return to defend.

It was a little odd, though. What was taking Howard so long? The guy should have already returned to defend Mid by now. Where was he at?

Well, no matter. The fewer defenders there were, the easier it made Roi’s life. He gonna wreck this Golem and push all the way to the Colossus! That was the least he could do to make up for his countless mess-ups today. He gonna push through all the way!

At around the same time, Yuel and Lars were struggling against Gregory and Taison. With the entire area covered by heavy rain, the tides were turning around.

Got him, yo! Lars landed a shot right at Taison's chest. Easy hit. Taison was way too slow to get out of the way because of the rain, so it was time for a counterattack!

Shit! Taison gritted his teeth. This fuckin’ rain was messing shit up! Taison's shots moved in slow motion compared to before and he became as slow as a turtle. The slowdown from Rainstorm shouldn't have been that big of a deal but, in this srs bsns 1v1, even the slightest debuff was huge. Stupid damn rain! But, I still gonna win!

Taison insisted to fight despite the disadvantage. With his current speed, the usual routine of dodging a shot and then countering gonna be hella hard to pull off, so Taison had to change his approach. It wasn't the first time the enemy slowed him down in a 1v1, so he knew how to handle this shit.

He stopped? Lars noticed an easy opportunity and seized it at once. Wham! A direct hit- gah! A counter right away!? Taison fired during Lars's firing animation! Geh! I can't dodge this one!

Lars successfully seized the inviting opportunity and scored a hit but, in exchange, he was hit as well. Taison purposely slowed down in order to have an easier time firing that counter!

Well played, dude. Lars smiled. So, that’s how ya gonna play this, huh.

While Taison was at a speed disadvantage, he gonna try enforcing a one-for-one ratio of successful hits. Taison was leading in term of HP, so if they gonna keep hitting each other one for one - Lars gonna lose this!

Ain't happening, yo! Lars fired the next shot and immediately canceled into a roll. It was just by a hair's breadth, but he dodged Taison’s counter!

Shit! That damn slippery mofo! Taison barked internally. Just a few more hits and Lars will be dead, but this damn rain forced Taison to slow down the pace. Countering every shot was an awesome 200 IQ play, but it was going to take a while to kill with it.

Fortunately, Taison had leeway in terms of HP. Gregory’s protective aura was on and reached all the way to Taison, so a large chunk of the damage dealt to Taison was transferred to Gregory instead. Even if Taison gets wrecked real hard, it'll be Gregory who'll eat shit instead, khaha.

“Yo, my shots!” Lars complained. “They do nothing!” Even with the speed advantage, Lars couldn't wreck Taison. His shots didn't do nearly enough damage to be deadly.

Taison was a bruiser so he had decent defense. On top of that, like half of the damage Lars delivered was mitigated by Vanguard's ult. So, even though Lars had the upper hand, he couldn't wrap this up. Dang it!

The rain isn't enough. Yuel expected as much. Rainstorm gave Lars the edge in terms of speed, but the problem of Gregory’s protective aura was still present. As long as Gregory was passively protecting Taison, there was no easy way to drive this fight to an end.

Therefore, Yuel absolutely had to break through this barricade. That was the only way to turn this entire thing around.

Rainstorm slowed Gregory too, so slipping by him should be easier now. A movement debuff wasn’t a huge deal in this cramped area, but it had just enough impact. Gregory still managed to block Yuel's path, but it got visibly harder for him. Now, Gregory had to compensate for his slow speed with extra prediction.

Damn, I gotta read that mofo ahead of time. Gregory concentrated on every twitch Yuel made. To block in time, Gregory had to anticipate Yuel's movements faster than before. No matter what it took, he'll buy enough time for Taison to wrap this up. They'll win this shit!

There! Yuel has been running toward the right side in a telegraphed manner, then switched to the left with a quick roll!

Wha!? Shit! Gregory couldn't react in time! He saw Yuel's obvious movements and started moving ahead of time to intercept, but it was a bait!

Finally. Yuel rolled past Gregory. At long last, he passed through, He got out of the prison!

“I’m back,” Yuel announced.

“Only took you a year,” Lars chuckled. “Okay, let's get them! We gonna show them we’re da best around here!”

“Yeah,” Yuel wasn't too keen on that whole “da best” part, but they were definitely going to prove something big here: they were stronger in a 2v2!

First, the protection from Vanguard’s ult had to go. Yuel snuck up to Taison and sprayed the guy with Splash. The protective aura from Vanguard’s ult vanished, so Taison became fully vulnerable to attacks.

Damn! Where did that fucker come from!? Taison exclaimed. “Yo, GG! Where are you at, man? You were supposed to keep this guy away!”

“I can't stall him forever, you know,” Gregory retorted. “You should've finished Lars faster, dumbass.”

“Who ya call a dumbass, yo!? You wanna go!? Don't make me come over there, bro.”

“Kek, just focus on the damn fight.”

“And how you expect me to do that?” This unexpected development shattered the solid 1v1 concentration Taison has been maintained until now. It was impossible to think of this as a 1v1 fight anymore because it became a 1v2 in every sense of the word.

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“I'll be there in a jiffy,” Gregory was running toward the battle scene, but his movements were sluggish. This fatass Vanguard was naturally slow and the stupid rain only made him slower. It was like trying to drive a tank through mud.

“Yeaaaaah,” Taison squinted his eyes at Gregory’s snail pace. “I hope ya gonna get here before the game is over.”

You ain't paying attention, dude! Lars fired a shot. Taison wasn’t even looking in his direction right now, so it was a golden opportunity. Bam, easy hit!

Finally, it was a shot that dealt proper damage as a Carry should. No more of that damage splitting nonsense between Taison and Gregory. From now, it gonna be full damage with every shot, yo!

This was Lars’ seventh hit, so Six Wings activated.

“I'll knock him up,” Yuel said.

“Okay, it's showtime!” Lars's body was ready. He practiced enough shots against knocked up dummies to pull off this combo play. Landing all six shots of Six Wings in a row was quite the challenge compared to landing regular shots, but Lars gonna do it!

Yuel waited for the moment Taison wasn’t looking his way and unleashed Geyser Eruption. Hot water erupted from the ground and blasted Taison toward the sky. This was it, the final act!

“Fuuuuuu!” Taison roared. These mofos totally got him! Thanks for all the help, GG! Such backup, much support!

But, I ain’t gonna give up! Taison took aim at Lars while being air-bound. He needed like three more shots, maybe two if he crits. Even though he was high in the air, he gonna finish off that mofo!

Whish. A laser beam pierced Taison in the middle of the flight, as expected from Lars’s damn accuracy. But, Taison gonna return in kind- eh? A water ball flew right past him, What the actual heck?

Unlike Lars’s accurate laser beam, the water ball missed Taison by a mile. Pft, what’s with that scrubby accuracy?

Anyway, Taison gonna smack Lars right back! Bam! A bat darted downwards like a bullet. It gonna hit! ... or not. Damn, it was totally off! What the heck? Taison should’ve been a better sniper than this! Da best sniper!

Another laser beam came flying at him, another hit. Lars was sniping from the ground without any effort. Damn, this was bad! Taison was already down to like 20% HP! Two more hits and he was dead meat!

He ain’t gonna magically start missing me on my way down, right? Nah, no way. Taison was about to reach the end of the flight, next he’ll be heading downwards. Hitting a falling target should be a pretty damn (difficult) task, but...

Easy, yo! Lars landed every shot on the air-bound target as if it was the easiest thing in the world. Taison was heading downwards now, but that didn’t affect Lars in the slightest. He practiced how to hit targets both on their way up and on their way down, so he ain’t gonna miss a single shot. Wham! Another clean hit! Just one more to go!

I-I’m fucked at this rate! Taison knew death was coming. There’s no way Lars would miss in this kind of situation; dude must’ve been sniper rifle in his past life.

At this point, there was no chance of outshooting Lars either. So, the only thing Taison could possibly do was.... dodge! In mid-air! I gonna do it, yooooo!

Right as Lars fired the next shot, Taison performed a dodge-roll! In mid-air! Yeah, that shit was actually possible!

Oh! That’s sick! Lars grinned as his laser beam missed the target. Taison just dodged a K.O. by a few millimeters. But, you ain’t gonna dodge the next one!

That mid-air roll was sick, but it wasn’t enough to throw off the rhythm of Lars’s shots. Even though it was rare for somebody to dodge-roll like that in mid-air, Lars knew this counter existed because Trever used that stuff against him. So, Lars got to practice against this trick in real fights.

On top of that. Lars also practiced against such situations in training mode. Yuel used some wizardry to configure a training dummy that jumped high into the air and performed a random roll in the middle of the fall. By repeatedly practicing against this wild dummy, this mid-air roll stopped fazing Lars.

The counter was simple: figure out where the target gonna finish its roll and shoot there. To accurately estimate the target’s position, there was a need to know some supah high-level physics and stuff. And, of course, Lars didn’t know the first thing about any of stuff! He just winged it! Snipping sense, yo!

Got him- ah! No way! Just as Lars was about to fire the decisive shot, Taison pulled another trick. Dude canceled the roll halfway through and turned into a bat!

Crap! But, I still can...! Lars adjusted his aim. Taison’s bat form was smaller and floated in mid-air, so it was a completely different type of target to snipe. But, so what of it? Lars just had to strike down that little flying mouse dude!

I got it! Lars could tell his aim was perfect. There won’t be any new tricks now. No rolls, no transformations, and no nothing. His laser gun was 200% locked on Taison. This was the finishing blow, yo! Whish!

The beam cut through the air on its way up- agh!? An ice wall appeared in its path! The wall formed just in time to block the beam.

“N-No way!” Lars’s jaw dropped. His finishing blow was just............... Gaaaaaah!!!

“No way,” Yuel gasped. When did Howard get here!? He was supposed to be defending Mid!

But, that wasn’t the time to wonder about it. Taison still hasn’t gotten away, so this wasn’t over! Yuel could still land a shot on Taison from this position, so if he just calculates the right angle- FREEZE! Howard passed by Yuel and unleashed Ice Coffin.

“Ugh! He froze me,” Yuel informed. “You have to deal the final blow yourself!”

“On it!” Lars rolled around the ice wall. This kill was right within grasp. Lars just had to aim one more time and fire. Okay, there! This time, the true finishing blow...!

Lars’s bullet perfectly hit Taison! But, it didn’t do anything.

Barely made it. Howard sighed in relief as he finished releasing cooling gas into the air. The cold air reached Taison and froze the bat like an icicle. Cryo-Freeze prevented the killing blow!

The entire assault came down crashing. In the end, Yuel and Lars failed to gain the upper hand in this battle. But, this wasn't over yet! With Howard on the scene, this became a 2v3 situation. Now, it was the enemy’s turn to attack!

“Greg, you and I will focus Lars,” Howard commanded. “Tai, join us once you heal a little.”

“You betcha,” Taison nodded repeatedly. “That’s my kill, ya know.”

“Even if the game doesn't it count it that way, we sure will,” Howard said what had to be said. This should lower the chances of Taison prematurely popping out of the ice to chase the kill. That brat was peculiar about scoring his kills, so Howard always had to be extra careful.

“Yo,” Lars exclaimed. “They're rushing me!”

Damn it! Yuel bit his lip. They came so close in that attack! They almost got that decisive kill! But, instead, the entire situation flipped its head and now they were in pinch. How did it come to this!?

“Dude!” Lars called. “What do I do? Want me to take on them?”

“Ah,” Yuel snapped out of it. There will be enough time for regrets later. Right now, Yuel had to make a call. “Retreat. Fly out of here with your ult.”

“But, what about you?”

“Forget about me. Just get out.”

“G-Got it!” Lars still had one shot left for Six Wings, so he activated his ult: Divine Messenger. The robotic arms on his back replaced the laser guns with rockets and launched Lars toward the sky.

Okay, good. Yuel nodded to himself as Lars vanished from view. At the very least, they avoided the worst-case scenario. Lars’s death would have spelled disaster.

As for Yuel, his situation didn’t look too promising. He got out of Ice Coffin’s freeze, but...

“Alright,” Howard changed direction. “Get Yuel instead.”

“Gladly!” Gregory dashed forward. He totally gonna repay that mofo for the earlier defeat at the jungle and for all the other bullshit Yuel has been pulling from the moment he appeared in Gregory’s life. A single kill wasn't nearly enough to compensate for all that shit, but it was a hella sweet start!

I can't get out. Yuel concluded. He was injured from the earlier confrontation with Gregory and this was a 1v3 situation. So, yeah, he was dead, alright.

『You have been killed!』

“Sorry, dude,” Lars apologized. “If I just killed Tai in the air...”

“That wasn't your fault,” Yuel examined Mid Lane, where Roi should’ve been keeping Howard busy this entire time. Yuel wasn’t paying enough attention to the rest of the map during the 2v2 and that cost him dearly. “Roi, you should have said something about Howard missing.”

“Sorry, man,” Roi said. “I thought he just went to heal and was gonna come back any minute, so I kept pushing.”

You should've at least warned us about the possibility. Yuel ranted internally. Howard only made it look like he retreated to heal, while in truth he used that time to teleport into the jungle.

I’m partially to blame too, Yuel held his head. I wasn’t paying enough attention to catch that. When Howard retreated, I should've played it safe and asked Roi to rotate over here to help. Dammit.

There was no denying it: Yuel got overconfident. Even though the 2v2 against Taison and Gregory started off on the wrong foot, Yuel was too confident that he and Lars will win. After all, their opponents were Taison and Gregory, so there was no need to worry. These two were strong, but Yuel and Lars were better.

Even with the surprise element of the fight being split into two 1v1s, Yuel was still sure he and Lars will turn it around. He was so eager to get kills and thin out the enemy’s tight defenses that it was all he could think about at the time. Therefore, the idea of calling Roi over for help didn’t even cross his mind.

It was such an important opportunity, so Yuel shouldn't have allowed himself to take any risks. Even though he believed the chances of defeating the enemy were high, Yuel should have still asked Roi to rotate for backup just in case... wait.

Roi is still in Mid! It suddenly struck Yuel. “Roi, retreat! They might be coming after you-” Too late. They were already there!

“Fuuuuuu!” Roi turned around and fled the Golem's area, but he landed on a bear trap right at the edge of the area. “Damn! Who even places a trap in that kind of place!?” Damn you, Eleeeeeen!

Howard, Taison, and Gregory appeared from Bot Jungle and charged at Roi all at once. Roi was stuck at the Golem’s area thanks to Ellen’s beartrap, so there was no hope of getting out alive...

『You have been killed!』

“Shit!” Roi slammed on the table. He was so close! He almost took down the Mid Golem! That would have been such a big play. It would have redeemed at least half of the garbage plays he has been making this game.

But no, Roi only made things worse again. He was so focused on the Golem that he didn't give enough thought to Howard's movement. The idea of rotating to help in the 2v2 crossed his mind but he wasn't sure whether he'll able to contribute much over there. He believed Yuel and Lars would resolve the 2v2 situation themselves, so his rotation would either look like a weak play or might even be a misplay.

So, instead, Roi focused on a Golem. That was a play where his efforts will surely recognize, so it was the best opportunity to redeem himself. But, instead of doing good, he only made everything a hundred times worse.

They got us good with that 2v2 bait. Yuel frowned. Two deaths and zero kills. We’ve been had.

And, the storm hasn’t even passed yet. Julia was currently pushing the Golem in Top Lane, she was completely isolated from her allies and she was deep in enemy territory. If the enemy gang from Mid come after her, she'll be a goner too.

“Julia, retreat,” Yuel said.

“Huh? But, I almost got this. I gonna kick this Golem's ass!”

“They may come after you from Mid, just like they did to Roi.”

“Tch, okay,” Julia turned around and activated Jet Stream, which generated a flow of wind in front of her. As she passed through the wind, it gave her a boost of movement speed. That allowed her to quickly retreat from the scene.

The situation has been one disaster after another for Yuel's team, but at least the worst-case scenario was averted. Lars and Julia were still alive, so there were still ways to maintain the momentum and keep push. Even though the situation has temporarily become a 2v4, the battle wasn't over yet!