Defensive Gears

The last game began. For the third time today, Yuel and Lars faced Howard and Ellen in Bot. However, this time the dynamics of the fight were rather different. For the first time, it was Ellen who went on the offensive during the laning phase.

"Duuude," Lars pouted. "I can't do anything if we keep running. Lemme at her, I'mma get a kill for sure!"

"Patience," Yuel dismissed the idea. "You should've known you'll lag behind during laning as Seraph."

"Yeah, but Athena is right here and she's pushing! And I can't do anything! Gah."

"She's playing like this because she knows you can't go in. And, this also doubles as a bait. If you take it, they'll run all over you."

"I'll just beat them, yo!"

"Or, you'll die and set the whole team back."

"Geh, okay..." Lars pouted but didn't argue any further. As much as he itched to give Ellen some heat, even this goof understood the danger.

For Seraph, the laning phase was merely a situation to live through, not a situation to dominate. This Hyper Carry class didn't have any AoE skills aside for his ult, so clearing the lane was tough. Lars couldn't rely on anything but his basic attacks.

As for the enemy, Ranger wasn't exactly the fastest lane clearer either, especially with Ellen's infamous defensive build. Still, Ellen could send her wolf to slash minions in a cone and this AoE attack allowed her to out-clear Lars.

Fortunately, Yuel was there to help. He splashed water in a cone on multiple minions with Splash and knocked them up with Geyser Eruption. To make his damage relevant, he started off with an Lv.1 Unholy Grail. It was a greedy power item which didn't provide any MP5 or cooldown reduction, two valuable stats during the early game. Instead, it offered raw power on par with a mid-game item for a much lower price.

Unholy Grail was supposed to be a greedy starter item for Mid Laners, not for Supports. However, Yuel had to go that far in order to support Lars's Seraph during this early laning phase.

Thanks to that, Ellen and Howard couldn't dominate the lane. They still had an advantage, but they couldn't do much with it. Every time they tried to aggress, Yuel issued an immediate retreat order.

[What a waste.] Yuel thought every time Ellen advanced to the frontline. It'd be so easy to knock her up with Geyser Eruption and assault her. Unfortunately, Lars's Seraph currently lacked the strength to finish Ellen off even during such a great opportunity. Seraph's only weapon was his basic attacks and it won't become deadly until much later into the game. What a shame.

As a result, the early game in Bot was rather uneventful. Taison ganked a few times and so did Dan, but neither side got a kill. Nobody chased kills too hard or overextended too much because they didn't want to mess up. After all, the risk-reward ratio was skewed when playing a defensive comp. Getting early kills wasn't that important, but falling behind by getting killed could prove fatal during the mid-game.

Thus, both sides fortified their defenses and preserved through the early game to the best of their abilities. In a game between late-game teams, the early-game was just a formality. Neither side cared too much for it and they both wanted it to be over with so they could get to the meat of the fight.

The game proceeded like that on all lanes until the average player level became Lv.7. At this point, everybody had their ults and the mid-game was approaching. So, fights naturally broke out.

During such a critical time, Yuel found himself hanging with little to no MP. That was the inevitable cost of relying on Unholy Grail. At Lv.3, the item gained an amazing passive effect that increased power by 10%, but it came with the cost of increasing MP cost by 10%. It was a calculated risk which allowed Yuel to defend the lane for this long, but now it forced him into a sticky situation.

"They've ground me out of MP," Yuel informed Lars. "I have to recall, so be careful out there. Don't advance too much and keep an eye on the wards in the jungle."

"Gotcha."

"They'll probably try to pull something while I'm away, so pay attention," Yuel said as he crossed into enemy territory in the jungle to place a Checkpoint Ward. [This is where things begin for real. Don't mess this up, I beg of you.]

Despite his worries, Yuel had no idea choice but return to base. The enemy made a very calculated decision to focus almost exclusively on Yuel in all their gank attempts. The goal was no doubt to kick him out of lane so they can catch Lars alone. There was no doubt that a storm was coming.

Howard also left Bot, so it became a 1v1 between Ellen and Lars. A classic recipe for disaster. Gulp.

"Don't worry, dude," Lars said. "I got this!"

"I'm not sure what you 'got' and I'm too scared to even ask."

"Haha," Lars laughed as he fired at a minion. Boom! Headshot! Too bad that didn't do anything when he wasn't Gunslinger. Seraph's laser beams were easy to land, so getting extra damage for headshots would've been sick. Oh well.

Once Ellen killed all of Lars's minions, she fired directly at him.

"Yo!" Lars dodged the bolt with a roll. [You wanna go? You wanna go!?] Lars fired right back at her! Ez hit! No headshot, though.

But, Ellen persisted and fired again. Ha! No dice! Another supah dodge! Maybe this Seraph dude was a little shabby in the early game, but Lars still had his own skills! He fired a counter right away. Bam! Another hit! 2:0 to Lars. He got this!

After the successful hit, three robotic arms stretched from the Seraph's back. Normally, these would be angelic wings, but that was meh. Instead, Lars had this sick sci-fi skin which replaced wings with robotic arms. This was da real stuff, yo! Each arm held a laser gun they were all aimed at Ellen!

This was the power of Seraph's passive: Six Wings of Holiness. Or, in Lars's case, it was Six Laser Beams of Awesome. After landing seven basic attacks, these bad boys popped outta his back and were ready to go wild!

Whishwhishswhish! One beam after another! No breaks! Ellen dodged the first with a roll, but the next two beams hit her before she even finished rolling! Light speed shooting, yo!

Too bad the party had to end after just three beams. The maximum Seraph could fire in a row was six beams, but Lars first had to level up to get more laser juice. The more he levels up, the more shots he'll get every time from Six Wings of Holiness. By the end of the game, he'll be firing like a Gatling laser gun, yo!

Ellen ate up all that damage, but she was still alive. Geh, such a persistence. Did she build defense again? That's no way to play Carry.

[I almost got her!] Lars's heart thumped. It was a chance! He just needed like two more hits and he gonna seal the deal! He was healthy as a horse, so there was no danger of pushing all the way. He had this, yo!

But, of course, Ellen gotta be Ellen and run away. No way! She won't get away! Not under Lars's watch!

He activated Angelic Grace and leaped into the air to pursue. His robotic Seraph launched off the ground with his jetpack and darted forward. Lars gonna get this early kill and bring the team one step closer to victory! They gonna win and enter the first string!

Bam! Lars landed another hit from midair! Just one more hit and it'll be done! Lars landed on the ground and kept running after Ellen.

"Bah!" Just as Lars was about to catch up, Ellen mounted on her wolf and sped away. Yo, so close!

[Have fun, boys~] In the next moment, the trap went off.

"Heeeere comes Taison!"

"Geh! Not again!" Lars exclaimed. He was so concentrated on chasing Ellen that he didn't notice he entered deep into the jungle at some point. Nuuuuuuuu!

"I told you to retreat," Yuel said. "Multiple times."

"Haha, my bad" Lars produced a dry laugh as he dodged a kamikaze bat. Yuel probably objected to this chasing, but all Lars's head was filled to the brim with killing Ellen and winning this game, so he didn't hear squat. This was kinda bad...

"Try to get away," Yuel said. "I'll get there as fast as I can."

"Easier said than done," Lars dodged another bat, but right afterward a swarm of bats flocked around him. Gaaah! Now his flippin' screen was pitch black! He couldn't even see Taison! This was so fair!

[Daim, I spent my escape tool too. I'm such a genius.] Lars just moved randomly, hoping he'd doge attacks that he couldn't even see coming. Using Angelic Grace for chasing Ellen was a bad move. His only remaining escape tool now was his ult, but he first had to activate Six Wings of Holiness before the ult could be used.

So, to escape... he had to attack! But to attack, he had to actually see stuff! But because he couldn't see stuff, his only option was to escape! So wait, what was he even supposed to do!?

He could get rid of these pesky bats CC with Self-Nullification, but that'd leave him at very low MP. His math sucked so he couldn't tell for sure, but there was a good chance he won't be able to use his ult if he spends any MP on Self-Nullification now.

Thus, Lars's only option was to fight despite his blinded state.

[Okay, I got it. From now on, I'll be known as "Lars the Blindfolded Sniper"!] Besides, it wasn't like the screen was 100% covered anyway. Lars could roughly estimate Taison's position. Kinda.

So, screw the rules! Lars just went for it and fired! Without even seeing his target!

[The heck is that scrub doing?] Taison sneered. He got tense for a moment and prepared to dodge a shot, but the shot dodged him instead. WTF, yo? Did Lars plan to play blindfolded darts or some shit? Khaha! No way that scrub gonna land any shots without seeing- gah!? It connected!?

[Okay! That's one!] Lars heard the sound of his beam cutting through meat. He had this! Just three more hits with his basics and he'll activate Six Wings! Then, he'll be able to get the heck outta here with his ult!

[How did he even hit that shit?] Taison clicked his tongue. Well, no matter. That shot caught Taison off guard and he didn't even try to dodge it, but next time he'll pay attention. He won't let that scrub hit him anymore!

They exchanged more blows from afar. Taison tossed his kamikaze bats whereas Lars fired laser beams into the darkness. As expected, Lars didn't have much success landing shots without seeing his surroundings.

[Geh, this is rough!] Lars was running low at 20% HP. Yikes! This was close! But, only one more hit and he'll activate Six Wings! Just one more- whoa!? Giant Bat Dude appeared!?

[It's over!] Taison transformed into a giant bat and darted toward Lars! Taison rammed right into that mofo and transformed back into vampire form. Then, he grabbed Lars and dug his fangs into Lars's neck.

[Gah! I can't move!] Lars spammed the entire WASD to no avail. There was no getting out of this stun! Taison gonna suck out what little remained of Lars's HP. Gaaaah! Wasn't there anything Lars could do here!?

"Be ready to shoot him."

"Huh?" Lars jumped. In the next moment, a splash of water hit both of them. The water canceled the stun CC and allowed Lars to break away "Sick, yo!"

[W-Wha!?] Taison was thrown into a daze. Where did that Aquamncer shithead pop up from!? Didn't Yuel return to base just a few moments ago or something? Shit! This water crap canceled Taison's finishing move!

[Gotcha!] Lars turned around as soon as he broke away and fired at Taison. Alright, Six Wings was up! Now, Lars could do the cool stuff!

[Shit! Shit! Shit!] Taison shifted his eyes right and left. What he gonna do here? He should go after Lars to finish off that mofo, but that damn Yule was gonna get in the way for sure. So, maybe he should smack Yuel first? Or, retreat? Damn, how did this bullshit even happen!?

[He's confused.] Yuel noticed Taison's slow reaction. Yuel's original plan was to get here to help Lars escape, but maybe they could be more greedy and go for a kill.

From all the recent exchanges, Lars brought Taison down to 50% HP. With the power-up of Six Wings, Lars could now deliver tons of damage in a blink of an eye. On top of that, Yuel was here as a backup.

Considering that Taison wasn't at his best when it wasn't a 1v1 situation, this had to be checkmate. They had him!

"Keep attacking him," Yuel cast Rainfall around Taison. A gray cloud formed over Taison's head and poured an intense shower which slowed Taison down. "We can get a kill here."

"You ain't gonna tell me to escape? Sick!" Lars aimed his laser guns at Taison. This gonna be a vortex, yo! Rtatatatata!

[I ain't having this shit!] Taison booted Coffin Slumber. [This situation sucks, so I'mma sleep.]

"Geh, crap," Lars's first beam ran into the coffin without dealing any damage to Taison. "Stop napping, dude!"

"Wait," Yuel shot a ball of water at the coffin. "I'll take the coffin out with basics. No need to waste your Six Wings on it."

"Okey-dokey."

Yuel fired one basic after another. His shots weren't nearly as fast as Lars's, so this took a couple of seconds. However, once they break through it...!

[My, such naughty boys~] Ellen crept up on the unsuspecting backs of her enemies. These two whippersnappers were thinking they're on a roll, but Ellen won't let that pass~

[You're going down, Larsy~] Ellen snuck up behind Lars. [Go, my cute wolfie~]

"Gah!?" Lars exclaimed. A wolf pushed him into the ground from behind! Where did this doggo dude even come from!?

[Wha!?] Yuel didn't expect this either. Ellen came back!? Even though she was low on HP!?

No, that was a wrong assessment of the situation. Ellen WAS low on HP the last time they saw her, but right now she was back to over 50% HP. She quickly restored all that HP by life-stealing from jungle camps. Dammit!

[I should have told Lars to get out while he had the chance! Damn! Damn it all!] Yuel felt like running his face into the desk. But, it wasn't the time for that. This was his blunder, so it was up to him to fix things.

Thanks to landing all these shots on Taison's coffin, Yuel gained enough Water Flow stacks to active Overflow. Therefore, he could spend said Overflow to enhance one of his water spells. Only one of his skills wasn't on cooldown right now, so he went right for it: Geyser Eruption + Overflow = Hot Spring Eruption!

[I'll just knock Ellen up in the air and-]

"The hunt is on!" The Ranger shouted right as Yuel cast Hotspring Eruption. Water erupted from the ground underneath Ellen, but it didn't knock her up; she remained glued to the ground. Her ult negated the knock-up CC! That fox was prepared for everything!

But, Yuel couldn't let Lars die here no matter what!

[Bye bye~] Ellen stuck out her tongue as she pointed her crossbow at the trapped prey. This was going to be a piece of- [Oya?] An obstacle popped up between her and her prey! Yuel stepped in to block the bolt with his body!

[My, protecting your boyfriend with your life? How admirable~ And, how freakin' annoying.] Ellen tried to maneuver around Yuel, but the brat kept covering Lars from her field of view. What a rascal.

"Say, Taitai," Ellen called out. "How long you plan to sleep in that coffin? Come out and finish the work."

"Coming!" Taison jumped outta the coffin and aimed at Lars- whoa! The next moment, Taison found himself in the air! And, the bat he just fired smashed into a wall instead like a drunk driver!

[Knockups don't work on Ellen right now,] Yuel chained another water eruption. [But, I can at least keep Taison in the air!]

With his body, Yuel shielded Lars form Ellen's shots and with his overflow spell, he kept Taison at bay. Yuel had to do everything in his power to keep Lars alive through this unfortunate situation Once Lars breaks out of the wolf stun, he should be able to get out of here with his ult. Just a little longer and the storm will pass...!

[Tch, what a rascal,] Ellen clicked her tongue. This wasn't going as she planned. Like, not at all. "C'mon, Taitai. Can't you land a single shot? So what if you're in the midair? Larsy would have landed every shot from there without trouble."

"Keh! That one was just a warning shot, yo!" Taison took aim again. If Lars can land these shots, then Taison can land them in his sleep! He ain't gonna miss again a second time! [Okay, careful. Aim for that mofo and then- keh!] Another water knock up messed shit up!

But, that's nothing, yo! Taison adjusted on the fly and fired while being launched up! It was a hit, boiiiiiiii! Easiest shot of his life, word.

[The knock-up wasn't enough!?] Yuel launched that second knock-up early before Taison hit the ground. The plan was to mess up Taison's aim with unexpected CC, but Taison still made it land somehow. Lars was now down to barely 1% HP!

"Duuuude! I got like 3 HP left!" Lars exclaimed. The wolf finally let go, so Lars jumped back on his feet. But, what was he even supposed to do in this kind of situation!? If anybody merely sneezes in his general direction - it'll be enough to knock him out!

"Run! Out of here!" Yuel practically yelled.

"But what about you-"

"Just get out! You can't die here!"

"G-Gotcha!" Lars had to boot his ult: Divine Messanger.

[You ain't getting away, bro!] Taison wasn't done yet! He was out for blood and he gonna get it! Whish! Another shot from midair! He was Taison the Combat Airplane! This shot gonna be land perfectly, he could feel it with every fiber of his body!

[It gonna hit!] Lars saw the bat flying straight at him. That squeaky little dude was coming to deliver the finishing blow! Divine Messanger will be too slow! First, Lars gotta roll!

[Wha-!?] Taison gasped so hard he forgot how to close his mouth afterward. His deadly bat crashed into the ground like a blind missile. What a useless little dawg!

[I'm out!] Lars canceled the roll into Divine Messanger without wasting any time on the recovery animation, it was a cool trick he picked up from Trever.

The laser guns on his robotic arms transformed into exhaust pipes and energy burst out of them to launched Lars toward the sky. Ellen fired a bolt which almost hit Lars on the way up, but the bolt didn't make it. Lars got away!

But, what about Yuel? "You gonna be okay, dude?"

"You think I'll be okay?" Yuel smiled wryly. He was surrounded by two strong opponents, both of which were above 50% HP. Yuel already ate a lot of damage while protecting Lars with his body, so there was no getting out of this.

Yuel tried his hardest to slip away, but it was futile.

『You have been killed!』

"About what I expected," Yuel nodded. "This entire situation was a bad call by me. I should have told you to retreat right away."

"C'mon dude, don't be like that," Lars smiled and patted Yuel on the shoulder. "You totally saved my butt there. If you wanna blame somebody, blame me for chasing Ellen like a tool."

"Oh, right. I forgot it was all your fault. Seems like you need another looooong lecture about not chasing Ellen."

"Geh! Spare my poor brain already!

"Heh," Yuel chuckled, but he couldn't curve his lips into a genuine smile. In a way, it was true that Lars caused this entire disaster by insisting to chase Ellen. However, that was still partially Yuel's fault.

Yuel saw how the entire situation unfolded but he didn't insist to stop Lars. He merely advised asked Lars to stop because it was risky and his reluctant words didn't even reach Lars. At the time, Yuel's head was filled to the brim with thoughts about how scoring a kill on Ellen would put the team ahead before the mid-game. He was still stuck in the mentality of an offensive team composition and greedily sought to capitalize on every opportunity.

No matter how Yuel twisted it, that was a risky chase. Plays like that fit an aggressive team, not a defensive one.

Maybe if Lars could pump out more damage in that fight, things would've turned out differently. However, that was impossible to do with Seraph during such an early stage. Lars could only rely only on basic attacks and those were limited in many ways.

Despite the problems, Yuel somehow held the front and prevented the worst-case scenario of Lars's death. But, everything back there came down to the wire. Way too many things could've gone wrong. All it took was one more shot from either Ellen or Taison, then Lars would have been dead. In fact, if not for Lars's fast reflex at the last moment, Taison's last shot would've sealed the deal.

Therefore, frankly, the only reason a disaster was averted was due to dumb luck. Yuel deserved to be ridiculed for allowing such terrible plays. At the back of his head, Yuel understood they were playing with a more defensive formation right now. However, his brain kept thinking of how to attack and exploit weaknesses. Switching gears was harder than he expected.

But, it should be manageable. Yuel's death as the Support was the least impactful death that could happen right now. It still meant the team was heading into the mid-game with a disadvantage, but there were still ways to turn this around. No, they WILL turn this around. They had to. No matter what.