Sinia was ht now, Rook and Merlin decided to abandon the safe bae for ond step forward to assault the bowmen. They finally got an opportunity to get out of their overly defensive formation and try to equalize the uation a little, so they seized it immediately.

  But, the duo didn’t just stop there. They tinued moving toward Yuel and Lars, hence why Lars was a bit fused by the whole ordeal. It was a bold py, very muusual for that duo sidering their track record until now.

  And, it’s especially odd sidering their track record in THIS game. Yuel thought. In the previous game, they made pys 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 at, the most reasonable clusion here was that Rook and Merlin wao blow off steam. They were forced to be on the defehe entire game, but now that Nia was firmed 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 defiake advantage of this rare mistake and terattack!

  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 oppos, but not against this duo.

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

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

  In clusion, the enemy's uncharacteristic adva was high-level bait. It was directed toward analytical oppos who analyzed pyer behavior and formed game pns based on the clusions. In other words, this bait targeted Yuel.

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

  Ihe previous game left quite an impression ohe tactics ployed there were very slippery aive. They caught Yuel off guard enough times to burn themselves into his mind.

  Simirly to Yuel, Cato often tried to shake the oppo'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.

  I 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 defehe duo was the eime, it became a very attractive idea to strike back at them when whehey stepped forward to poke. As such, Yuel devised many terattack ideas around these pokes. And naturally, Lars was overjoyed to participate in those.

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

  Sometimes, the enemy Jungler was nearby and unched a gank in respoo Yuel and Lars's terattack. 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 exges rarely ever went in Yuel and Lars's favor. No matter how hard Yuel racked his brain to e up with effit terattacks, they never quite worked out for him. It always felt like the enemy was oep ahead, masterminding the entire py. Rook and Merlin were always ready for anything.

  It's like they received professional coag for that kind of pystyle. Yuel thought. It's simir to Ellen. I’ve never quite figured out how to ter her poking game pn.

  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 ter Ellen’s obnoxious poking pystyle. And, he did e up with a few general guidelines, some of which he tried to apply against Rook and Merlin.

  But, it's hat easy, is it? Yuel frowned. I also didn't have that much time to work on any of this ever since we joiratus, but that's just me making excuses. The bottom line is that we don't have a good ter to this pystyle just yet. So, the best we do is ignore baits like this one.

  "Ighem," Yuel said. "They're just trying to bait us into attag."

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

  "No, that's just what they want you to think," Yuel expined. "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 pying around them."

  Just as Nia did a good job solving the enemy's "warding puzzles", Winner replied in kind with solutions of his owe how many wards Stratus has been pg across the juhey rarely ever caught Winner i.

  Any Jungler worth his salt had to be familiar with the popur warding spots aermine which spots the enemy favored the most. Pying 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 fa the mini-map for a while now. The st time a ward exposed him he was still ba Top Jungle, but that was a while ago. Therefore, Winner could very well be in Bot Ju the moment, biding his time until Yuel and Lars get baited into attag.

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

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

  WHISH! A ball of bck 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 Bst 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 pced himself in front of Merlin from the get-go. As such, even if Yuel wao shoot at Merlin instead of Rook, it would’ve proven impossible from his current position.

  Basically, Cato ying as proper Support here, shielding his Carry with his own body. This eup 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.

  heless, 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 Bst, which together amouo 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 py in the first pce. At the very least, the enemy didn't see the value in that py.

  "My, what a rascal." iled wryly.

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

  "It sure does, my boy. It sure does.” iled impishly. “I'm livi-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 g 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 aional outburst. The dark bsts he fired achieved very little in the way of damage.

  Is he trying to kick me out of the ne? Cato g his HP bar; it was currently at 55%. Hmm. I probably stay here for one more wave, at best. I '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 effitly.

  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-effit, 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 ne 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 so from far away thanks to the Radius Invocation, this oion amouo casting two spells in terms of MP cost.

  For a Mid-Laner Warlock, the high MP cost artially offset by the det damage the spells dealt. However, Yuel ying Support, so naturally, he didn’t build much Magical Power. As a result, his spells amouo 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 hen it was ter-productive. Because. at this rate, Yuel will have to leave the ne first due to running out of MP.

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

  "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 fame has proven to be infiougher than the previous ohis 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 uedly 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 iably win.

  All things sidered, Yuel was the herald of aggressive pys. Therefore, no matter how well he could and his team to py defense, surely Cato was superior in that area.

  All in all, the Leopards had far more experieh this pystyle. They’ve used it against tless teams, both offensive and defeeams. So, the same way the Leopards khe matchup against an aggressive team like the back of their hands, they also khe matchup against a fellow defeeam.

  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' i out this game until that stage. So, in that sense, Yuel's defensive approach was actually doing the Leopards a favor.

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

  That oempt Vanishing made on Ronald's life was the first serious attack of the game. Until that point, this game only had small skirmishes on nes, where her side ever seriously went for the kill.

  But, that gank was different. Vanishing had every iion of killing Ronald if he gave her a ce. The only reason he escaped alive was that Phoenix oorly 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 monit and regur reports, Cato had to further ehat the eeam was on high alert against this ohreat. As long as they keep Vanishing ed 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...

  DarkestCymore