The "Defensive" Counter Gank

"I'm invading," Willaim informed as he approached Top Lane. "I hope you don't mind."

"Fine." Jin shrugged. "But, leave kills to me."

"... alright." Willaim didn't appreciate that commanding tone in the slightest, but he didn't have a rebuttal either. It was definitely better to feed the Orc than the Viking at this stage of the game. So, as bossy as the request sounded, William decided to respect it.

As the two of them came to an agreement on the matter, the enemy was still under the illusion that they had the upper hand in this situation.

[I-I'm alive!] Nia realized. The deadly scourge definitely struck her, delivering what was supposed to be the killing blow. However, the damage was softened by a barrier made of branches. It was all thanks to Ben's timely arrival.

[Wow. For once, he made it in time.] Nia was impressed.

It sounded mean, but that wasn't her intention at all. This was nothing more than her honest reaction based on past experiences with Ben.

The guy was a decent player overall, but he was on the slower side when it came to arriving on the scene and cooperating with Nia's ganks. After repeating a billion sore experiences like this during club practice, Nia developed a sense of distrust toward some of Ben's skills.

[But, maybe as Yuel said, I just need to give him more opportunities to prove himself. Maybe he's not that bad, after all.]

Ben's timely arrival flipped the entire situation on its head. Since Nia survived the critical blow, the enemy had no choice but to flee the scene at this point.

BAM! The Turret retaliated for Nia's sake, erasing over 20% of the aggressor's HP!

Now, Apprentece's HP fell below 20%, placing him one tower shot away from death. So naturally, the guy footed it. He turned around and fled outside the tower area.

[But, he's still close.] Nia thought. [Drow is faster, so maybe I can still get this kill...!]

She gave chase without thinking twice. The desire to smite Apprentece overwhelmed everything. She wanted that scary monster dead, no matter what!

"N-Nia, wait! There's-" Ben was trying to say something, but his shaky voice failed to register.

[Dunno what's he worried about.] Nia thought. [It's 2v1 and I have the range advantage, so there isn't anything scary here-] WHAM! An axe crashed into the ground beside her!

"Eh?" Nia blinked. "What is-?" Before she had the chance to complete the sentence - it already happened. WHISH! The enemy Viking popped out of thin air, right beside her!

"A-Ah!" Nia froze. Her brain short-circuited. This was death. Death. Death. Death. Death. Death.

The Viking tackled Nia as soon as he appeared, giving her no chance to dodge. He wrapped his arms around the Drow's torso and flung Nia outside the tower area!

"N-No!" Nia shrieked. [This is... This is not how it was supposed to...!]

WHISH! The all-familiar scourge cracked once again. The bribed metal ravaged Nia's body without mercy.

『You have been killed!』

"Ah..." Nia just sat there, staring at her monitor in a daze. "This is... just... how..." 

Everything was over in a blink of an eye, without warning. Winner just blinked in, tossed Nia around like a sack of trash, and Apprentece finished her off. Nia had no chance to retaliate at all.

[I messed up...] Nia lowered her head. [How didn't I notice? He was right there, I should've...]

Yes, by all accounts, she should've noticed Winner earlier. Sure, the guy was a little sneaky in how he approached the lane from around the corner, but Nia still should've noticed him. That is, if she bothered to check the area around her at all...

[I guess... I guess didn't look...] Nia reluctantly admitted to herself. [I was so focused on Apprentece that I didn't see anything. And, now I'm dead.]

She dropped her face into her palms. This was such an amateur mistake. What's more, the entire audience witnessed her spectacular failure. She was going to become the laughingstock of the entire city! Nuuuu!

Worst of all, this wasn't even the end. The enemy rode the momentum and pushed onward, attacking the tower together!

First, the Viking stepped out of the tower area after getting hit by one Turret shot. However, he soon stepped in again. Except, this time, he wasn't alone.

"Odin owns ye all!" the Viking shouted at the top of his lungs, summoning a brigade of scoundrels.

He let the summoned mobs enter the tower area first, to make them tank the Turret's shots. After that, Winner and Apprentece invaded the area as well. Yes, even Apprentece stepped into the tower area despite hanging at critical HP.

[Is there no limit to this guy's confidence…?] Nia's stared at the spectacle with her jaw wide open. As much as she didn't want to see any of this, she couldn't ignore reality.

This ballsy invasion was very much real and it was going to wipe the Turret out of existence. There was nothing Ben could possibly do by himself to stop any of this.

"Ben, retreat," Yuel ordered.

"Y-Yes…" Ben launched a few basic attacks at the incoming minions and then fled the scene.

『An allied Turret has been destroyed!』

And so, the Top Turret fell. This was still the early-game, yet Stratus had already lost one tower. And to make things worse, they gave huge momentum to an Orc, one of these classes that weren't allowed to gain early momentum no matter what.

The situation was looking terrible on all fronts, and much of it was Nia's fault. If only she assaulted Apprentece better and actually killed the guy, or if she at least paid more attention to her surroundings and dodged Winner's counter-gank…

[So, when are you going to bash me?] Nia glanced at the team's No. 1 criticizer as she anxiously waited for judgment to be passed on her. Surely, the ever-harsh alien robot had a bunch of things to say about Nia's poor performance.

But, for some reason, Yuel remained silent. He just stared at his monitor with a stern expression. His eyes darted across the screen as if scanning terabytes of data.

[Should I say something?] Nia wondered. [A lot of this was my fault, so maybe I should apologize. But....]

Naturally, a part of her resisted that thought. After all, what kind of crazy person liked owning up to their own mistakes out loud?

[Well, if he's not going to say anything, then maybe I can keep quiet, too…] And so, Nia planned to get away scot-free. But then, somebody else spoke up…

"I'm really sorry!" Ben apologized. "I saw their Viking coming, so I should've done something about it! But, I... I just couldn't react in time..."

If only he was more mechanically skilled and less nervous, perhaps Ben could've hit the Viking with Nature's Grasp before the killing blow was dealt.

Of course, it was a very difficult skill shot to land. Even under calmer circumstances, there was no guarantee that Ben would've been able to pull it off reliably.

Nevertheless, this was the only counterplay available to him in that situation. Therefore, he had to try to pull it off. He simply had to! After all, Nia wasted her precious time in Top in order to help Ben, and yet he couldn't even save her…

With that said, even though all this self-bashing made perfect sense to Ben, for Nia it sounded like alien logic.

[I don't get it. What could he even do there?] Nia wondered. [I'm the one who overextended without checking the area first. So, it was... my fault.]

Honestly, it was unclear why Ben was even apologizing. His only sin here was that he wasn't born an Asian prodigy with godlike mechanical skill. Maybe if he was that kind of elite player then he could've somehow rescued Nia in that situation.

[He actually played surprisingly well for once.] Nia admitted. [He even got here fast enough to shield me. If anything, I'm a little impressed. Just a little, though.][So, I don't get why he's apologizing.]

In fact, Ben's apology only guilt-tripped Nia. She felt obligated to admit what she did wrong even though this was looking like a rare opportunity to escape Yuel's criticism.

[Eeeeeh. Buuuuut...] Nia wrestled with her inner demons. She wanted to say something, but at the same time, she totally didn't. [Do I really have to? Uuuuu...]

Admitting mistakes was such a painful process, especially during such an important match. The team might lose the entire game because of this one blunder from Nia. Scary.

"I, um, well..." Nia failed to string two words together. Nervousness overwhelmed her. It felt as if the moment she uttered her apology, then the entire world would turn against her. Brrrr! Scary.

Nonetheless, she decided to brave that horror. If Ben was able to own up to the mistakes he believed he committed, then Nia should be able to do the same.

"I'm also sorry," Nia squeezed out these difficult words. "I didn't properly check the area before advancing. I-I mean, that Viking was really sly, right? Super hard to detect. Mega stealth. Yeah."

"Um, yeah…?" Ben reluctantly agreed. "He was a little hard to see, I guess."

[W-What kind of weak follow-up is that!?] Nia made a face. She couldn't even tell whether Ben was trying back her up or call bullshit on her excuse.

Regardless, Nia did it. She properly stepped forth and admitted her fault, at least as much as she could. So, what will be her judgment?

For a while, there was only silence. Yuel didn't respond to either confession and continued staring at his monitor, like a robot whose power cord was cut...