The Unexpected Teleport

『An enemy has been killed!』

"Haha, goteem!" Nash pumped a fist.

"You could've given me that one," Jaiden sulked.

"Nuh-uh, bruh," Nash grinned. "All your kills are belong to me!"

"You greedy son of a gun," Jaiden chuckled. Well, it's not like he really cared about Nash taking both kills. It didn't bother him in the slightest. Not at all. [Dang it, I'm taking the next two kills for sure!]

"Anyway, time for our grand plan," Jaiden grinned. "Are you all got enough money?"

"Mhm," Rio nodded.

"Hell yeah, bring it on!" Nash gave a thumbs up.

"Alright then," Jaiden nodded. "Zeph, you can place it soon. We'll be there in a jiffy."

"Got it," Zeph rejoiced upon hearing the good news. He has been doing his best to play defensively against Chessmaster's Dark Knight, but he wasn't doing too hot. His tower already fell to 70% HP and he didn't have anything going for him.

[This guy is a monster.] Zeph concluded. There was no way he could take on a demon like Chessmaster. He needed help. Like, lots of help.

At first, Zeph thought that summoning the entire junior trio to Top Lane was overkill. But, now he found it neccessary. Chessmaster was that difficult of an opponent.

So, Zeph did his part and placed a Checkpoint Ward as requested. The plan was set in motion.

Jaiden, Nash, and Rio recalled to base and all three of them bought Teleports.

[It's a costly gimmick plan.] Jaiden thought. [But, it gonna pay off for sure! Nobody gonna expect us in Top. If this plan works, we'll have the game in the bag.]

Meanwhile, the other team could only wonder what this crazy trio was up to.

[They're not pushing?] Yuel examined the state of Bot Lane. A new minion wave arrived and the two sides clashed, yet nobody from Taurus was there to farm. It was peculiar.

Just moments ago, the trio in Bot secured themselves the entire lane by killing Kai and Vincent. Yet, right afterward, all three enemies vanished from the scene without a trace. They didn't do anything with the advantage they worked so hard to gain. It was mind-boggling.

[Where did they go? To farm Dragon?] Yuel wondered. [No, that's impossible. Vincent has wards over there. We would've seen them by now.]

So, where else could the trio possibly disappear to? Did they abandon their lane advantage and chose to retreat? Their Gunslinger was injured, so it wasn't entirely impossible.

But, would they really give up on such a great opportunity? Bot was completely under their jurisdiction at the moment. They could do as they pleased with the entire area. It was a golden opportunity. Nobody would give up on a chance like this.

But, if these guys weren't pushing Bot and weren't at the Dragon, then where were they? There weren't any other big jungle camps around that were worth clearing as a group.

[Well, they could pay a visit to the Griffins, but...] Yuel didn't believe it. The Griffin Camp was worth a pretty penny, but focusing on it would be a poor way to capitalize on the amazing advantage the enemy gained in Bot. It wasn't worth it.

There was definitely something bigger afloat. Judging by the new players' performance thus far, they were too good to ignore such a golden opportunity. They were planning something.

Other than taking Dragon, what other lines of play could be worth more than pushing Bot? Yuel could only come up with one logical idea.

"Lars, retreat," Yuel instructed. "They might be rotating to gank you."

"Hm? Who?" Lars titled his head. "I don't see nobody."

"Exactly, that's the problem," Yuel explained. "The enemy took control of Bot but they're not pushing it. Then, where did they go?"

"Oh, I see watcha mean. Yeah, that's suspect alright," Lars retreated from the center of the lane.

The idea of three dudes rotating together from Bot to Mid was pretty extreme, but it wasn't too out there. Stuff like that happened sometimes. In fact, it didn't [just] happen.

"Wait, ain't that our tech!?" Lars exclaimed. "We used to do that kinda stuff together with July."

"It's not like we have a monopoly over this tactic," Yuel said.

Traveling around the map as a coordinated trio had its perks. If the three players had solid teamwork, they could terrorize enemy lanes to no end. They could rack up more kills this way, or get a chance to push more important lanes like Mid.

The tactic involved many risks and demanded careful timing. But, when successful, it could propel the entire team into a winning position in a matter of minutes. Judging by how Vincent gave that trio a bombastic name like "Triangel of Certain Doom", there was a good chance those three were experienced enough to attempt such an idea.

Unfortunately, Yuel's deduction was only half-correct. He was right about the enemy trio sticking together and preparing for a gank, but...

"Heh, their Mid is retreating." Jaiden smiled meaningfully as he examined the mini-map.

"Whoa, no way!" Nash's eyes almost popped out. "Man, are you telling me they figured we're the kind of mad lads who'd gank Mid together? The game barely even started yet! They can't know that stuff."

"I hear you, but that's facts. I told you, these guys are something else."

"Too bad for them, though," Rio smirked. "They guessed wrong."

"Yeah, good thing I thought of this master plan ahead of time," Jaiden turned to Nash. "And you were trying to stop me, remember? Saying I was overthinking things and all that. Just look at the dang situation. Look at it, bro!"

"Haha, yeah, yeah" Nash laughed. "I still can't believe this is real life right now. But, we just gotta roll with it. Let's go get 'em, bois!"

The preparations were set. All three of them got Teleport and fully recovered. Now, it was time to begin their masterful attack!

As Chessmaster predicted, they were planning to launch an organized attack together. However, their target wasn't Mid Lane. It was Top Lane!

They booted Teleport at the same time and targeted the Checkpoint Ward installed by Zeph. In just two seconds, the three of them traveled from the base and all the way to Top!

"Wha...?" Yuel was speechless. Who could blame him? Out of literally nowhere, three ominous figures appeared on his lane. And, they immediately launched an attack!

"T-They're all here!" Yuel reported, barely containing the panic. He has been leisurely pushing the lane until now, advancing into enemy territory without any worries. But now, three enemies were right behind him! They caught him overextending!

No, that wasn't quite right. Until a moment ago, Yuel's push was perfectly fine. He ventured deep into enemy territory, but it was a calculated risk. He knew that the enemy jungler was near Bot, so there was no reason to be cautious about any ganks.

But, a gank happened nonetheless. And, it was no simple gank by one opponent. All of Taurus' new players were here. The entire so-called "Bermuda Triangle" showed up!

[Such a nasty Teleport gimmick! How didn't I think of that!?] Yuel gritted his teeth. He didn't expect to see such a bizarre tactic here today, but here it was.

[What are my options?] Yuel broke into a run before he could answer that question. Even without thinking about it, he knew he stood no chance against these opponents. He had to make a break for it.

But, realistically, what were his chances of getting away? And, what could he do to increase them? Dark Knight didn't have any escape tools and he was slow by foot. Once forced into an unfavorable situation like this, there was no clean way to get out.

For starters, Yuel booted Nightmare. It slowly sapped his HP, but it gave him a small boost of Movement Speed that he very much needed.

Next, he rolled forward- CLANK. The Dark Knight rammed into a wall like a ball.

[I see.] Yuel grimaced as an ice wall towered over him. [You're not going to give me any chances at all, are you?]

The enemy Cryomancer was quick at blocking the shortest escape route with that ice wall. It was impossible to continue onward. Yuel will first have to circle around the wall. That'll waste a lot of precious time.

But, there was no time to even worry about such matters. By the time Yuel recovered from his failed roll, the three predators have already encircled him.

[So, this is the "triangle".] Yuel looked around him. There were no openings. The ice wall was blocking the path ahead, the Gunslinger and Viking blocked the sides, and the Cryomancer blocked the back. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. They got him.

[I'm through.] Yuel didn't give up, he merely stated a fact. There was no way to come on top in this situation.

[Looks I'm fighting to the death.] He sighed in resignation.

Despite being trapped in a 1v3 situation, he was still a Dark Knight, a powerful damage dealer. Therefore, his best option was to stand his ground and retaliate. Perhaps one of the enemies will be careless enough to let Yuel kill them.

[Who do I go after?] Yuel didn't have enough data to choose the best target out of the three, so he went after the Gunslinger, the squishiest target.

"Oh, trying to kill the Carry?" Jaiden grinned as a black sword slashed through him. "That's cute, but not gonna happen. Let's finish him, guys!"

"Gotcha!" Nash roared. "Another kill, here I come!"

"Hey," Jaiden made a face. "Gimme this one, will you?"

"Nope."

"You damn Kill Stealer," Jaiden cracked a dry laugh. [Alright, it's a race, then. Let's see who gets the last hit!]

The trio launched their attacks on the Dark Knight. But, the guy didn't just stand there and took it like a good boy. Chessmaster retaliated with violent swings aimed at Jaiden, going for a kill even under these desperate circumstances. The guy had no intention of giving them anything for free.

[Dang, this guy sure knows what he's doing.] Jaiden gulped. Even though he and his pals had the absolute advantage here, the Dark Knight's retaliation was oppressive enough to make Jaiden sweat. [But, you not gonna get me. Get dead already!]

Jaiden fired while backpedaling. Nash hacked away with his axe. Rio shot icicles. There was no escape from the Invincible Triangle!

『An enemy has been killed!』

It was over within seconds. The Dark Knight collapsed on the ground and didn't stand up again.

"Alright!" Jaiden pumped a fist. They eliminated one of the enemy's stars. [Never thought it'd be this easy. We actually did it like it was nothing!]

Back when Jaiden saw Gunz and Chessmaster on stage for the first time, he felt like there was an infinite skill gap between them. Even a lifetime of training shouldn't have been enough to shrink that enormous distance.

And yet, here Jaiden was, totally destroying Chessmaster. It was easy too, almost painfully easy. And, he got the kill too!

"Goddamit, my kill!" Nash ranted. "Hey Rio, the heck was that freezing stunt!?"

"My hand slipped," Rio averted his eyes.

"Oh, yeah? It's must've slipped real freakin' bad to make you cast your ult on me!" Nash waved an angry fist.

He couldn't believe what just happened. Nash has been carefully waiting for the perfect moment to land the last hit on the Dark Knight. But, just as the time came, his body froze. Why? Because Rio decided to hit him with Cryo-Freeze outta freakin' nowhere! He missed the kill because of that stunt.

"Like, the heck, man?" Nash grumped. "Hey, Jai. You tell him something too."

"Hmm," Jaiden knotted his brows. As Nash was saying, that Cryo-Freeze from Rio was a terrible waste of an ult. It'd normally deserve nothing less than capital punishment. "Good job, Rio!"

"Say WHAAAAT!?" Nash almost fell off his chair.

"You're welcome," Rio nodded with a small smile.

"You dudes be ganging on me like that?" Nash asked. "I'mma cry."

"Just learn to share," Jaiden laughed. "I know you've been waiting for that last hit."

"Who? What? Where?" Nash whistled innocently.

"I saw how you stopped attacking near the end there. I was planning to let you have the kill because I'm nice, but I guess Rio didn't wanna let that slide."

"Ya both bullies. Bullies, I'm tellin' ya!" Nash thrust his finger. "It's on now! Let's see who gets more kills by the end!"

"Aaaaaaand nothing was learned that day," Jaiden sighed.

"Gorilla brain," Rio agreed quietly. [I spent my ult for nothing.]

Under normal circumstances, wasting the Cryomancer's precious ult would be a grave mistake. However, at this point, Rio simply couldn't see them losing. They've been dominating the game thus far.

They scored three kills one after another in a matter of minutes. The situation became an overwhelming 5v2. There was literally nothing their opponents could do against this offense.

And, Jaiden had no plans of stopping any time soon.

[There's more from where that came from!] Jaiden grinned. He didn't really plan this far because he didn't expect things to go this smoothly. Even so, their next course of action was obvious. They gonna keep raiding the enemy's territory!