The Leopards' Last Struggle

Even though his brother perished, William was safely inside Cryo-Freeze. But...

[This doesn't actually save me.] William thought. [Now that they're done with Ron, they'll turn on me next.]

He had only one chance to make a break for it. That was when the enemy was preoccupied with killing Ronald. In those couple of seconds, William could've busted out of the icicle and retreated to the back of the Golem area.

[But, I wouldn't have gotten far anyways. They were monitoring me, waiting for the moment I come out.]

He sensed as much from the enemies' movements and gazes. Every so often, they threw glances in his direction to make sure he wasn't trying to slip away. So, if William were to bust out of the Cryo-Freeze, the enemy would have struck him down on the spot.

At the same time, waiting for so long inside this ice coffin didn't exactly improve his situation, either. Once the enemy eliminated Ronald, they focused all their attention on William next. So really, this Cryo-Freeze was only delaying the inevitable.

[Well, at least buying time is also important for us, so this isn't a total waste.] William thought. [Sonya will get here very soon, and I also have my roll now.]

As counterproductive as it might have seemed, staying inside the ice of invincibility instead running actually had its advantages. Though, in the end, without time-traveling abilities, it was impossible to know for sure whether this was the correct decision or not.

[Well, that's enough overthinking.] William decided.[ I made a decision, so now I have to work with the consequences.]

In the end, William chose to remain inside the Cryo-Freeze in order to buy time and heal up, so this was the only timeline that mattered. Perhaps in a different timeline, a different William would've picked a different option and achieved a different ending, but that was irrelevant. Only this timeline mattered for this Willaim, after all.

[I need to roll as soon as the ice melts.] William thought. [The biggest threat here is the Elf's ult. I have to dodge it if I want to get away. But, knowing Gunz's skills, this won't be easy. He might predict where I move and- ah!]

His brain short-circuited. Branches emerged from the ground below him and covered his bottom half even though he was still inside the Cryo-Freeze.

[Ah yes, of course.] William sighed. [There's no need to worry about what I'll do next if you just preemptively root me. Just great...]

Unlike regular CC effects, Elf's Nature's Embrace first summoned "physical objects" onto the field that infected their target with the actual CC. As such, even though William was technically immune to CC inside Cryo-Freeze, it was legal to place the branches around him ahead of time, and they'll successfully root him in place the moment the Cryo-Freeze ends.

The enemy took no breaks. They smoothly chained one play into another during this offense. The moment they finished with Ronald, they immediately set their sights on William. They didn't give him a moment to rest.

[Hmph. I suppose I made the wrong call, after all.] William thought. [I should've retreated earlier to complicate the situation a little for them. I made it too easy by staying here like a sitting duck. Then again, I'm sure they were ready for either scenario.]

From start to end, Stratus exhibited flawless execution in this attack. It was an impressive performance, no doubt born from a combination of skill and experience. William wasn't expecting any of this, therefore he responded poorly to this entire assault.

[This is the end.] William sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

The ice melted, exposing him bare for all attackers to ravage. While rooted in place, he couldn't protect himself in any way from incoming attacks.

Nonetheless, even as his life was about to expire, William struggled to the bitter end. He activated Self-Nullification, boosting his Attack Power and Attack Speed.

The skill also cleansed soft CC, but unfortunately, the branches rooting him in place didn't count as such. Therefore, he had to stay in place as he fired back at his attackers.

WHISH! ZAP! A multitude of undodgeable attacks darted at him all at once!

But, William ignored all that noise and aimed his finger at the Dark Knight. Then, white magical arrows barraged Memer one after another.

The high frequency of the arrows, combined with William's flawless aim, made it difficult for Memer to dodge anything.

"I'm lowering the DK's HP," William informed. "Focus on him first if you get a chance to attack."

"Noted," Sonya responded.

[Alright then, looks like this is as far as I go...] William sighed in resignation as the final laser beam pierced through his skull.

『You have been killed!』

Out of the multitude of attacks directed at him, these laser beams hurt the most. Not just physically, but also mentally.

The shots were constantly aimed at William's head for some reason. Elf was no Gunslinger so it didn't benefit from headshots in any way, yet Gunz insisted to land each and every shot on William's head.

It was as baffling as it was vexing. It felt as if Gunz was exhibiting his total dominance here, so much so that he was fine with taking unnecessary risks with these headshots just to drive the point home.

And, that tied to the other reason why this was frustrating: William hadn't gotten a chance to defeat Gunz this game. This was supposed to be the game where he'd prove his superiority and reclaim his spot as the 2nd strongest player in the region, but the game denied him that opportunity.

[I know that Gunz doesn't actually deserve much credit for how this game has turned out as a whole, but…]

Being executed by his nemesis just felt bad. It was as if Gunz was ridiculing him, claiming that a defeat at William's hand was never an option for him.

And so, the only fate left for William was to collapse and crumble away, without achieving much of anything against Gunz. He could only hope that the shots he landed on the Dark Knight were going to help Sonya at least a little bit. Alas...

『An allied Golem has been destroyed!』

It was hopeless from the start. As a lone defender against five attackers, Sonya couldn't properly fight the enemy gang even inside the Golem area.

She transformed into a dragon just to get some pressure going, but the enemy pushed through her regardless.

"Looks like this is the best I can do here," Sonya said as she retested. Just like William, she felt completely powerless against this unstoppable raid.

Even though the enemy was executing such a reckless all-in attack, they nonetheless pushed the attack through and the Leopards couldn't do a single thing to stop it. Honestly, it was mind-boggling.

[How does that even work for them?] Sonya bit her lip. [There are so many factors that should be working against their success here, yet they're pushing through. And, they're doing it against our team, to boot.]

If this unlikely situation was happening to some other team from the region, then it would have been easy to write it off as a simple mistake. But no, this was happening to THIS team, to the Leopards, the regional champions.

Yes, this unbelievable strategy was currently working on the highest level of competitive play for their league. How….?

[Is it our fault? Did we mess up somewhere in a big way?] Sonya couldn't help but ask herself that over and over.

Of course, she understood that this overwhelming attack started all the way back when the enemy first scored a kill on her in Top. That was undeniably the start of it all and Sonya admitted that she messed up there.

However, that one death wasn't supposed to escalate so much. It wasn't supposed to result in Cato and Matthew dying, nor in this unstoppable push on Mid.

[We'll have to review everything in detail after the game.] Sonya took a mental note as she watched an apocalypse unfold in front of her very eyes.

The enemies penetrated all the way into the base along with empowered minions and assaulted the Colossus. Even now, Sonya was still the only one who could do anything about the situation.

It will take some more time for Cato and Matthew to revive, as they were killed a long time after Sonya was. As such, Sonya remained the sole defender in this critical moment.

Her Draconic Fever had already expired, so she reverted back to human form. In this state, she couldn't do anything at all to stop the onslaught.

She had no choice but to watch the base burn down as mounted feeble resistance. Frankly, it felt depressing.

Soon enough, the Colossus also crumbled under the pressure. Its gigantic body cracked, with rocks falling left and right from its big frame. In a matter of seconds, the tall titan turned into a pile of lifeless rocks, which then crumbled further and turned to dust.

『DEFEAT』

The second game was over.