Aftermath of the Scheme

『You have killed an enemy!』

『DOUBLE KILL』

"I-I did it..." Nia said in disbelief. The big, scary lion man collapsed in front of her, slain by her own hand. [I won. I actually did. Against somebody from the Leopards. Two of them, even!]

Of course, she understood that this entire situation was only possible thanks to Yuel's elaborate scheme. By herself, Nia would have never been able to suggest, let alone come up, with a ploy like this. In fact, even after the whole thing succeeded somehow, it still felt scary.

Much of this plan was based on the idea that Nia had a better chance to momentarily vanish from the enemy's radar in the heat of battle. Yuel claimed it was pointless to wait for the enemy to "forget" about Nia because these bullies were hellbent on stalking her 24/7. Therefore, instead of waiting for a miracle, it was far more pragmatic to create a situation in which it would be easier for Nia to vanish.

[It was scary.] Nia shuddered as she recalled all the madness that just went down in Mid. [I thought Kai was a goner for a moment there, but...]

Yuel showed up in the nick of time and threw the entire situation into disarray. The enemy had no choice but to focus all their attention on the unexpected situation in front of them.

And, what did they miss in the process? They forgot about Nia's existence!

[To be fair, my dear twin sister also tricked them.] Nia proudly puffed her chest. [Though, that was also Yuel's idea...]

It was the mastermind of the operation who asked Nia to send her sister toward Bot. He specifically instructed her to do so near a spot where Nia suspected the enemy had a ward. The goal was to put on a convincing show.

[And, all these distractions actually worked.] Nia looked at her hands in disbelief. [I actually scored First Blood thanks to all that. Even Theorist forgot about me for a moment there! It was amazing!]

It was hard to believe she was this happy about scoring just two kills. She never felt this way in the previous scrim even though she got far more kills there.

What was the difference? Was it the fact that she was playing against the Leopards, the regional champions? Maybe overthrowing the champions just felt that much sweeter, she couldn't tell.

[But, I think I might be starting to understand a little what's so fun about playing on this stage. It's still scary, though.]

Before she could reach a conclusion, the mastermind was already issuing his next order.

"Nia, good job. Now, return to Mid," Yuel instructed. "We're pushing the tower."

"Eh? We are?" Nia tilted her head. Her confusion was only natural considering the sorry state in which Yuel and Kai's health bars were. Those two were like walking dead right now. Scary.

"It's a 5v3 situation, so we don't have to worry about unexpected ganks," Yuel explained. "Only their Support can rotate over here right now, and there's doubt he will. But, there's only so much he can achieve here alone against all three of us."

"Ok." Nia was convinced. Though, honestly, even if Yuel didn't explain the reason, Nia would've probably gone along with it anyway.

[One does not simply understand how an alien robot thinks.] That was her excuse to shut down her brain during moments like this and just do what she was told. [Good soldiers follow orders.]

And so, the three of them reunited in Mid once again. However, this time, the situation was calm and peaceful.

There was no chaos or any immediate threats this time. It was just the three of them and their minion army, going up against a bunch of enemy minions. Nothing here was putting any pressure on them. It wasn't scary.

WHISH! SLASH! The trio combined their attacks to wipe out the enemy army. Next, they headed toward the tower.

As expected, the enemy Cryomancer appeared in the distance. He was heading in their general direction, no doubt planning to interfere with the push.

But, it was futile.

『An enemy Turret has been destroyed!』

The Mid Turret crumbled to dust. This was going to give Stratus immense leverage.

"I gotta say," Kai started. "This is some big ass achievement right here, we've practically won. Nia, you really pulled through with that gank."

"You too," Nia said. "That situation with Winner was too scary. I don't think I would've survived there in your place."

"Yeah, it was a little rough," Kai admitted. "But, we did it! Now, we can start our counterattack!"

"No, that's all for now." Yuel stopped the duo from getting carried away. "Let's retreat. Nia, I suggest you go to Bot Jungle."

"Ok."

The criminals fled the scene in opposite directions. Yuel and Kai retreated back along the lane to find a safe spot to recall, whereas Nia slipped into the jungle. She still had over 40% HP, so she could continue jungling for a while longer.

They had already established a major advantage by taking down the Mid Turret, but there was no reason to stop there. Therefore, to further capitalize on the current 5v3 situation, Yuel sent Nia to counter-jungle and steal as much farm as possible.

By taking advantage of everything within their reach, Stratus was going to swing the entire game's momentum in their favor!