Unexpected Target Shift

Per Yuel's request, Vincent chased Theorist deep into the jungle.

At present, he had absolutely no idea how he was going to stop that One-Punch Woman from delivering the killing blow on Nia. Nonetheless, he had to do something, ANYTHING, to prevent this kill.

Therefore, if his presence on the scene was going to hinder Theorist at least a little, then it was worth getting involved with this dangerous situation.

At some point along the way, Nia decided to turn around and flee in the opposite direction.

[A wise decision.] Vincent nodded. [At least now, Vanishing won't be running straight into Theorist's hands. Alas, it appears Theorist won't let her prey get away so easily! What will happen next!?]

Instead of giving up and returning to the lane, Theorist gave chase after Nia. And, if she were to borrow the Movement Speed buff of Iron Skin, then she might very well catch up to her target and exorcise the Vanishing Phantom!

[I mustn't allow that to happen!] Vincent swore on his honor and activated Pyro Trail. It buffed his Movement Speed while also leaving a trail of hellish flames behind him. It was the only skill in his kit that remotely resembled an escape tool, but he used it for chasing this time.

No matter what, Vincent had to get to the scene and interrupt Theorist. He'll save the Vanishing Phantom from being banished to the afterlife, and in doing so, he'll also fulfill his duty as Chessmaster's reliable goon!

Unfortunately, because his head was overflowing with such naive thoughts, he failed to notice the obvious danger in time.

SLASH! A claw appeared from the depths of the jungle! It was none other than Rook, the Lionfolk!

"I-Impossible!" Vincent exclaimed. While he had his eyes focused on nobody other than TheTheorist, this lion person snuck up to him! "Chessmaster, we have a problem!"

"What problem? Oh!" Yuel nearly choked upon checking the situation in Top Jungle. He only left it alone for a couple of seconds, but everything turned on its head now!

"Retreat!" Yuel ordered. "The Monk will probably come after you, too!"

"Copy that!" Vincent turned away from the Lionfolk and dashed as if his life depended on this, because it really did!

Thankfully, he still had the speed buff of Pyro Trail, so it wasn't too hard to outrun the Lionfolk. All Vincent had to do was to circle around the next corner in order to lose the hunter, and then he'd return to the lane in no time. But, if only it were that easy…

[Nani!?] Vincent exclaimed. He should've definitely lost the chaser when he went around the corner, yet the Lionfolk was already there, waiting on the other side!

[He read my moves ahead of time! Truly, he is a worthy intellectual rival to our own Chessmaster!]

Instead of following Vincent directly, Rook circled around the jungle wall from the opposite side. And now, he appeared right in front of Vincent once again!

[It appears he's fully intent on blocking my path no matter what.] Vincent smiled meaningfully. [Very well! Then, let us partake in this battle of wits! Let us see whether you can keep blocking my path at every turn as I try my best to shake you off!]

"Just run past him," Yuel killed that idea on the spot. "If you keep trying to avoid him, you'll just fall into his trap." [That's what I should've told Nia to do from the get-go, too.]

Fleeing from a predator was a natural instinct that all animals shared. However, that wasn't always the correct course of action. Real-life situations were more complicated than just "fight or flight". Therefore, sometimes, one had to plunge headfirst into danger and be ready to receive a few bruises in order to survive.

"Very well!" Vincent said. "I shall sacrifice some of my HP for the sake of keeping my life!"

He continued running forward, right toward his enemy. Naturally, Rook took this opportunity to claw Vincent as much as possible.

["InformationBlackhole is under heavy fire!"] Vincent narrated. ["Can he make out of here alive!? And, what of the dangerous Monk that's surely eying him at this very moment!?"]

He checked around him, but he couldn't see Theorist anywhere for now. From the moment he started running away, he had no time to follow Theorist's movements anymore. As such, her position was unclear at present.

[But, one thing is for certain.] Vincent thought. [She shall soon appear before me with the intention of delivering me to death's cold embrace. However! I did not order a one-way ticket to hell, nor do I plan to take that trip for free!]

And so, Vincent continued running back toward the lane with Rook breathing down his neck.

Thankfully, the Movement Speed buff of Pyro Trail allowed him to create some distance between himself and the hunter. However, the buff soon extinguished, reducing Vincent's Movement Speed to the level of a mere mortal.

[Thank you, o flames of hell. You have served me well.] Vincent nodded in satisfaction.

Even though a Movement Speed buff was far from a reliable escape tool, it proved plenty useful in this difficult situation. Thanks to it, Vincent successfully reached the lane with minimal damage and- SLAM!

"B-B-Bakana!" Vincent shrieked. He thought he escaped to safety, but all that awaited him at the lane there was a bloodthirsty Monk!

Theorist was right around the corner, lying in wait for god knows how long. She must have used Rook as her eyes in order to follow Vincent's movements and cut him off via a shortcut. And then, with the perfect timing and perfect angle, she unleashed her deadly secret weapon - Asura Strike!

Well, in truth, it was just a palm strike. Yes, that's all this "deadly secret weapon" really was.

But, that was just the first strike. After the opening hit connected, a barrage of lightning-speed palms exploded in Vincent's face!

One, two, five, ten, twenty, a hundred!? It was impossible to count! This attack speed was not meant for mortal eyes!

Theorist unloaded her entire Chakra bar on this finishing move. Each spent Chakra point translated to one more palm strike that was almost as strong as the Monk's basic attack!

In the matter of a single second, Theorist unleashed the equivalent of over ten undodgeable basic attacks on Vincent! His HP plummeted from 80% all the way down to 20%!

And, that wasn't the end of the effect. The more hits Asura Strike connected, the more negative status effect it inflicted on the victim!

As the result of eating that many hits at once, Vincent found himself inflicted with a cripple. Now, he couldn't even use his Dodge Roll anymore.

"I'm afraid it's over for moi..." Vincent reported the depressing news moments before the curtain fell on this play.

Unable to roll away from the two predators, the only fate awaiting Vincent was perishing here. Such was the price he had to pay for his carelessness.

『You have been killed!』

Theorist delivered the killing blow, courtesy of her accomplice. From start to end, Rook merely played the part of a Support in this entire operation, setting up a kill for Theorist.

"My bad," Yuel apologized. "It was a bad call on my end."

"Nay, it is our opponents who deserve praise here. They fooled us all, leading us into this sophisticated trap."

"It wasn't even that 'sophisticated' yet I couldn't see through it, which makes it my fault," Yuel insisted. "My role as the shot-caller is to analyze the situation and make the right decision, and I clearly failed to do that here."

"Perhaps so, but it's impossible for any one player to keep track of the entire map at all times. Therefore, as the player who was present on the scene at the time, it was my responsibility to exercise caution."

"But, I'm the one who told you to chase Theorist."

"And, I'm the one who didn't object to the order."

"Tell me then, is it the soldier's fault when the commander gives a flawed order?"

"If said soldier finds the order agreeable, then I dare say he is equally guilty."

"I see." Yuel sighed. There was no winning this one.

It should be clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the blame laid with Yuel here. It was his misplay.

With that said, he wasn't the only one involved in this operation. In the end, Vincent played the main role in this show, so he also definitely shared at least a little bit of the responsibility.

For example, he could've realized the enemy's intentions a little earlier if he was paying more attention to his surroundings. Or, he could've escaped more efficiently instead of heading back to the lane via a predictable route that was easy to cut off.

[And, the same goes for Nia, too.] Yuel glanced at the troublemaker who made it out alive and was now recovering at the base. [I'm the one who asked her to gank Mid in the first place, so the situation was mostly my fault. But, she definitely underperformed there as well. She failed to properly sneak up to the lane undetected, and her escape plan was very subpar.]

Creeping up to a lane undetected and vanishing without a trace were two of Nia's strongest points, but she failed on both accounts this time. Honestly, her performance was terrible.

Of course, Cato deserved a lot of the credit for that, He clearly did his homework on Nia and exercised more than enough caution against her.

[But still, Nia definitely misplayed there.] Yuel thought. [She should have noticed the enemy's intentions before anybody else, but she didn't inform anybody.]

The moment Cato stopped chasing Nia, that should have been an immediate red flag. If only Nia mentioned that right away, then Vincent could've started retreating sooner and stayed alive. But, instead...

『An allied Turret has been destroyed!』

Cato and Theorist ganged on the Top Turret and demolished it together. There was nobody available to defend the lane or gank the overextenders, so they took down the tower without any resistance at all.

With that said, it was an unexpectedly risky and aggressive push for Cato. He made Theorist tank the tower almost to death before they finally brought it down.

[Did one of their wards show Nia recalling? Is that why they were so confident?] Yuel wondered. [Seriously, just how many wards did they place in our territory? It feels like they can see everything we do.]

Was that also Cato's doing? Maybe it was his way of taking precautions against Nia's vanishing stunts. If so, it worked very well for him.

[But, Nia could've prevented all that disaster by simply reporting the situation in time. If only she informed us that Cato stopped chasing her…]

"Nia… never mind." Yuel dropped the subject the moment he saw the girl's drowsy face.

Even after so much time has passed, the girl still looked as sleepy as she was back when she started the game, if not more. And, perhaps Yuel was only imagining it, but there seemed to be a hint of sadness mixed into Nia's sleepy expression.

[She either realized her mistake or at least understood that she was partially responsible for Vincent's death. Either way, everything that happened there was a bad call on my end. I should've evaluated Nia's condition better.]

It was clear as day that the girl was sleepy. Nonetheless, Yuel kept hoping that Nia will wake up after executing some intense play. Alas, that never came to pass.

In the end, Nia's sleepiness never cleared. And so, in this play, it became a huge setback that cost the team many things: Vincent's life, the Top Turret, and possibly the entire game.

And, everything was Yuel's fault. He kept pushing Nia toward making a major play and it backfired in his face. But, that wasn't even the worst part.

[Cato read ahead of me in that position.] Yuel frowned. [He probably expected that I'll make Nia gank Mid. So, he laid his trap all the way back then, or maybe even before that.]

The excessive warding in Top Jungle, the frequent ganks on Mid, the remote intimidations on Top - everything was part of an interconnected web of traps. It was all done in order to build up the team's frustration, especially regarding Nia's inability to do her job.

And perhaps, the main goal was to build up Yuel's frustration, to tempt him into over-committing to some big play that promised to change this frustrating situation.

[Nia has been like a pinned piece this entire game. So, of course I wanted to unpin her and put her to use. The Jungler is an important playmaker, after all.]

On top of that, the enemy's aggressive push on Mid was too tempting to gank, probably by design. Cato intentionally made it look like an appealing opportunity in order to force Yuel's hand.

[It seems his tactics have evolved somewhat since the last time I played chess against him.]

During their chess game, Cato's entire agenda was to turtle up and frustrate the enemy into misplaying. It seemed that this core principle of his playstyle didn't change even now, but he added more layers of trickery to that game plan.

In addition to frustrating the enemy, Cato also actively laid traps that further pushed the enemy in the direction he desired. Essentially, Cato tried to manipulate his opponents like puppets on a string and make them do his bidding.

[When a player is frustrated, it's that much more tempting to strike at the first opening that presents itself.] Yuel criticized his own rashness. [It almost feels like somebody gave Cato a crash course on Ellen's philosophy since the last time we played. I can already tell this is going to be quite the exhausting scrim...]

The game was rapidly approaching mid-game. Or rather, the Leopards were pushing for the mid-game to start now while they had a 5v4 advantage.

With Top Turret lost, Vincent dead, and Nia being dysfunctional, could Stratus still salvage this game...?