Defense That Sets up the Offense

[Think. Think!] Yuel took a deep breath. The match wasn't over yet. There still had to be something he could try. If there's even the smallest chance of mounting a comeback here, Yuel will find it.

To deal with Howard's tough defense, Yuel's team first needed momentum. Simple tricks won't work here. Any easy opening in the enemy's formation was a potential trap, just like the one which got Lars killed. Tactics alone won't be enough. Even after coming such a long way from being a total rookie during the entrance exam, Yuel still didn't have a way to pierce through Howard's defense with strategy alone.

Power and momentum, that's what the team needed. Once they seize the initiative, they'll be able to pressure the enemy team into submission.

Positive momentum should also inspire everybody to play better. Right now, Roi lagged behind as Dark Knight, Dan didn't get any chances to deliver decent ganks and Julia turtled too hard. If everybody continues this way, the team will never make a comeback.

Something had to change. Right now. Fortunately, there was one player who harbored the same feeling as Yuel: Lars. That goof was the keyman here. Even without momentum, Lars's spirit didn't waver, he was dead set on beating Taison even after dying twice.

Therefore, Lars had to be the one to spark a turnaround in this situation. He'll have to drag the team out of this predicament and carry it to victory!

Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Gunslinger's mid-game was too weak and Lars has started lagging behind after dying twice. His power curve will stabilize again in the late game, but dragging the game until that point was bad news. Once late-game hits, it'll be game over for sure.

But, there was one way. It was a risky approach that went all out, but it had a chance to pay off.

"You said you need more power, right?" Yuel asked.

"Yep. Just a little bit more DPS and I'll be able to beat Tai for sure!"

"And, you'll be fine with it even if it's demonic power, right?"

"Hoho, sounds edgy as heck. Whatcha got?"

"Something that may become our last chance," Yuel explained the gist of his idea. "For now, make sure you always stick close to a teammate so the enemy doesn't catch you isolated. We'll have to slow down and play defense for a while, but then..."

It was a gamble that might not pay off, but they reached a point at which taking risks was necessary. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Hmm,] Howard squinted his eyes. It seemed the enemy resorted to defense because their attacks didn't work[. Is that it? Yuel no longer sees a road to victory?]

It took a long time to reach this point, but it seemed like Howard's defensive plan finally crushed out the enemy's fighting spirit. When faced against an impenetrable defense, the enemy felt like they were bashing their heads against a wall when they attacked. The harder they hit, the more it hurt them. Therefore, at some point, they were bound to lose the will to continue.

This applied all the more to Yuel's aggressive team, which was in total disarray at this point. Roi and Dan underperformed all across the board and Julia turtled for no reason. Yuel probably didn't even bother to address any of that and kept issuing orders as if everybody was alright.

No wonder Yuel's attacks didn't reach Howard at all. As long as Yuel's teammates were in a turmoil, their performance was bound to be lackluster. No matter how many times Yuel thrust his spear, it'll never break through Howard's shield as long as the spear was unsharpened. Will Yuel realize that at some point?

Either way, this game was over. Yuel showed an intention to drag this fight to the bitter end by playing defense, but it won't work. Maybe Yuel was banking on Lars to somehow turn things around, but it was futile.

Taison was already at 5/0 thanks to everybody leaving the kills to him, per Howard's request. At this point, Taison was no longer just a "Lars Killer" - he was the pillar of the team's offense and the one who'll wrap this game up. Honestly, Taison performed beyond expectations. His strong desire to defeat Lars must have contributed to that.

With unbreakable defense across the map and with a fed aggressive Jungler, Howard's team had all the means to win this. If Yuel wants to struggle to the bitter end, that's his choice. Howard will simply keep deflecting attacks and keep driving the enemy into a corner until they lose all hope and beg for a swift death.

[This is my fault.] Julia pursed her lips as she retreated to base again. All she has been doing this game was staying far in the back and poking the enemy every now and then. She had zero kills, one death, and one assist. She hasn't done anything meaningful at all and allowed the enemy to take Mid. At this rate...

[I'm totally blowing this game.] Roi tapped his foot. He has already died three times this game and he scored only one kill via the execution from Gate of Sheol. On top of that, his bat failed to make contact with enemy shots, so he barely got to parry anything and ended up eating a lot of damage while swinging. The entire enemy lineup was made of ranged attackers, yet Roi couldn't parry for the life of him. What a terrible batting average...

[Is it just me or I'm messing up too much this game?] Dan tilted his head. There was that one time when he didn't ask whether Gilbert had blink to escape. Then, another time when he got killed in a team fight due to poor positioning. And then, that other time when he... Yeah, that was a nice and long list of mess-ups. Nobody was perfect, but this game just looked bad. So much for "not throwing the game" like he claimed he'd do...

While individual players were carrying their own worries and frustrations, the game went on. Yuel switched to defensive shot-calling and deflected the enemy's pushes to the best of his ability. All they were doing right now was stalling the enemy's progress, it didn't feel like they were getting any closer to victory.

But, Yuel believed. If there was still a way to turn this game around, it'll be during the transition from mid to late game. Once Lars completes his build of attack power, crit damage and cooldown reduction, as well as maxes out the level of Fan the Hammer, he'll become a killing machine. That'll be their chance to go on the offensive!

『An ally has been killed!』

[This is rough.] Yuel frowned. The team didn't practice defense much, so their defensive play was a bit shallow. There were so many holes that even a defensive team like Howard's found weaknesses to exploit.

However, the same seemed to apply to the enemy team. After being forced on the offensive, Howard's team hasn't been doing too hot. They played too cautiously and gave up many great opportunities to push. In addition, small gaps opened in the enemy formation and Yuel had no intention of missing them.

"Lars," Yuel pinged the mini-map. "Go cut Gregory off."

"Gotcha!" Lars dashed into the jungle to greet the incoming invader. The distance between lanes shrunk down when they were this deep in their territory, so Gregory's rotation from Top to Mid must have felt like a short walk. But, there was still some distance to travel and Yuel was going to use that to his advantage.

"Got him!" Lars opened an attack with Combat Roll into Fan the Hammer. One headshot! Two headshots! Three headshots! Stun! 200% accuracy! This was easy! Gregory couldn't dodge a single bullet!

[Good!] Yuel nodded. Gregory has just recently spent his Gaia's Protection in Top, so it should be still on cooldown. Therefore, he wasn't tanky enough to survive this onslaught-

[Nice try.] Howard arrived on the scene and booted Cryo-Freeze right before Gregory's HP dropped to zero. He froze Gregory still, which made Gregory invulnerable to all attacks and quickly restored HP.

[Even here!?] Yuel felt like yelling. It was absurd. Nothing escaped Howard's attention. Every little hole in the enemy's formation was covered up immediately. "Retreat!"

"But," Lars insisted. "I can take on him-"

"Don't. Gilbert and Ellen are close enough to rotate there. You don't suppose you can win a 1v3, do you?"

"Bring it on, yo!" Lars said that, but his Gunslinger turned around and retreated. When the situation was this dire, even this goof understood the importance of minimizing risks and making the right decisions.

"Come with me to the ogres," Yuel said. The time was almost right to mount a comeback. After Lars gets the red buff on top of his blue buff, they'll finally begin their counterattack during the next team fight.

It didn't take long for the fight to come to them. Most of the enemy team gathered in Mid, save for Taison who was likely farming Dragon. Even though the enemy held the advantage across all lanes, breaking through Mid was always the preferable tactic. Howard's team let their super minions push the other lanes while they all focused on Mid.

This was the last stand. If Yuel's defense falls here, the game will be over.

"Julia," Yuel said. "Right after we start, advance a little and use Hurricane."

"Huh? But, what about Thunderstorm and Kraken? They gonna gun for me right away."

"It'll be fine."

"I wouldn't exactly describe anything as 'fine' this game so far."

"Just do it, please."

"Okay, sure. Not like we got any chance anyway."

"That's not the right mentality to have during a fight."

"Hmph."

Both sides got into position. Roi and Yuel were at the front, while Lars and Julia started at the rear. Similarly, the enemy had Howard and Gregory on the front while Gilbert and Ellen were in the rear. Both sides had two damage dealers, so everything will boil down to which side loses their DPS first.

As the only melee fighter, Roi had no choice but to advance all the way to the enemy's face. Yuel followed closely behind, but he didn't stick out his neck more than was necessary. This was the optimal arrangement because, with Roi's defensive build, he was quite tankier than Yuel. In addition, Roi was the most disposable teammate this game because Dark Knight didn't have any good CC and his overall value was low when he was lagging behind.

The team fight began. First, zoning shots were fired. Lars and Julia fired at Howard, whereas Ellen and Gilbert fired at Yuel. Both sides gunned for the squishiest target they could reach without putting themselves at danger. However, even though they were the "squishiest" in range, both Yuel and Howard had defensive build, so they endured without a problem.

"Julia, now," Yuel ordered. "Make sure to maintain some distance to make Kraken feel like a waste if they go for it."

"Sure," Julia didn't sound too enthusiastic, but she followed the order nonetheless. She broke formation to and went far to the left side. Once the enemy team was at the tip of her range, she began channeling her ultimate: Hurricane. It was a huge AoE spell which dealt high damage and sucked enemies into its center, which placed them in a compact area that made it easy to follow-up with even more AoE attacks.

However, the downside of this great skill was the long windup animation. The Aeromancer flailed her arms around to generate a spiral of wind and it took a couple of seconds until the hurricane reaches its full size and was ready to be unleashed. Therefore, the enemy had plenty of time to react and one of the most common counters was Electromancer's Thunderstorm.

"Wait," Howard said. "Don't step-"

[I'll get her this time!] Gilbert stepped forth to counter Hurricane. This was a great opportunity! He'll get this easy kill on Julia and prove that he was unquestionably the best Mid Laner in StromBlitz- wha!? A knock-up!? Water erupted from the ground and sent Gilbert flying toward the sky! It was Aquamancer's Geyser Eruption!

"Tch!" Howard erected an ice wall between the two teams and fired commands. "Greg, shield me. Ellen, Kraken her." Right after Gregory cast Gaia's Protection to give Howard a shield, Howard blinked forward across the wall and darted in Lars's direction. He had to prevent the worst-case scenario!

That Hurricane was clearly a bait. The enemy's real goal was to bait somebody and knock them up, which allowed Lars to barrage them in midair. To prevent that kill, Howard had to freeze Lars here and now.

One headshot. Two headshots. Lars landed his shots without breaking a sweat even though his target was far and high in the air. The shots came out in blinding speed during Fan the Hammer, but he had no intention of dropping even a single headshot!

[Okay, I got this!] Lars grinned. It was about flippin' time he got himself another kill! He gonna get this one for sure and- wha!? Big Shield Dude!? That absolute mad lad was charging right at Lars! Even though this was all the way in the Golem's area!

[So fast!] Yuel expected Howard to counter this play in some way, but that reaction was way too fast! Yuel originally planned to follow up with another Geyser Eruption to knock up any enemy who advanced forward in an attempt to interfere with Lars, but he couldn't keep up with how fast Howard executed this counter!

[Your offense is over.] Howard declared as he released a burst of cold air. Ice Coffin will put an end to this- wait, Lars was gone!? The guy was literally there a moment ago, but then he vanished! He couldn't roll while Fan the Hammer was active, but he could still do a Combat Roll! Lars rolled right underneath Howard's spell and got behind him!

[You ain't getting in my way, yo! This kill is mine!] Lars quickly recovered behind Howard and fired another shot at the falling Gilbert! It wasn't a headshot, though. Dang it, connecting a headshot on an air-bound target right after a Combat Roll was sure hard. Lars wasn't worthy of being called a master Gunslinger player yet, he gotta practice more.

[What an absurd guy.] Howard shook his head. Even though Lars should have been preoccupied with landing headshots on Gilbert, he still noticed Howard's advance and countered in a split second with Combat Roll. [These reflexes are beyond human. It's like playing with sis, maybe even worse...]

Nevertheless, this wasn't entirely outside Howard's estimation. That's what he created the ice wall for. Once Gilbert falls low enough, the ice wall will hide him from Lars's sight.

"Another one!" Yuel announced. He caused another geyser eruption and knocked Gilbert back into the sky right before Gilbert hit the ground.

[Again!]? Gilbert made a huge mistake. That knock-up spell wasn't Geyser Eruption, it was the Overflow version of it: Hot Spring Eruption! It was an upgrade which put the skill on par with an ultimate ability and allowed the caster to spam three geyser eruptions in a row without a cooldown. Gilbert won't be touching ground today...

『An enemy has been killed!』

The turnaround was starting here and now! If Yuel's team wins this fight, they'll be able to turn this game on its head! This was their last chance and they had to seize it!