The Leopards Rush In!

"Nia!" Vincent called out. "I believe their mighty Lion is planning to target you! You must confront it at once!"

"E-Eh!?" Nia jumped. In her drowsy state, it took her a moment to process this sudden development.

Most of the enemies were going hard at the Golem, about to demolish it. However, while that was taking place, a wall of lions suddenly appeared! What's more, a lion man was charging straight at Nia! Scary!

[G-Gotta run!] Nia turned her back to the incoming threat and made a break for it.

"Wait!" Vincent called out. "We cannot escape this prison. As such, our only choice is to take down the warden!"

He coated his body and blade in flames and rushed to intercept the assaulter.

"Let us join hands!" Vincent implored. "Together, we can smite down this foolhardy invader!"

Alas, his pleas fell on deaf ears. Nia continued running away, half startled and half sleepy.

Her movements were fueled by nothing but pure instinct, as her mind was a mess at the moment. And, what did these instincts tell her in this case?

[Scary! Gotta run!] That's all Nia could think about. In this limbo state between sleeplessness and alertness, she could only think about her own survival and nothing else.

Unfortunately, running away was futile. Inside The King's Dominion, none could outrun the king. Among the various buffs the Lionfolk received inside his domain, a Movement Speed buff was included as well.

And so, Rook caught up to Nia within moments. CLAW! CLAW! Sharp blades pierced her back, deleting big chunks of her HP!

"A-Ah!" Nia trembled. She was like a hapless rabbit at the mercy of a big lion. The predator was faster than her and there was nowhere to run.

CLAW! One of the lion guards clawed Nia as well, telling her she wasn't welcome here.

At some point in her daze, she rammed into the edge of the prison without realizing it. This was a dead end.

CLAW! CLAW! The Lionfolk's vicious attacks didn't stop. Each strike hit home, filling with intense killing intent.

There was nowhere to run. Nothing to do. It was over…

"Nia!" Vincent called out again. "Your foe is within arm's reach! You can use your ult to turn the tables on him!"

"Eh?" Nia blinked in confusion. Her brain was like swiss cheese.

Fortunately, before her HP fell below 20%, she finally figured out what Vincent was talking about: Izuna Drop!

[Right! He's so close that I can hit him!] Nia turned around.

She was on the verge of death with nowhere to run, but she wasn't dead yet. What's more, she had this powerful trump card at her disposal, one that only worked at point-blank. And, her opponent placed himself at the perfect range for it!

[I-I can still do it!] Nia turned around and went for Izuna Drop!

The Lionfolk was right in front of her. Yes, he was that easy to grab! And, that's precisely why this turned out to be a misplay...

"Eh?" Nia blinked in confusion. She intended to give the Lionfolk a deadly hug, yet her arms passed through empty air. Her target was nowhere in sight.

[Muhaha!] Cato laughed maniacally on the inside, like a mastermind whose genius plan came together just right.

When it became clear that Vanishing was turning around, Cato already started rolling to the side. He knew that the ult was coming but he didn't have the necessary reaction speed to respond to plays like that in the last split second, so he had to roll ahead of time.

Against skilled opponents, an early roll like that could have failed miserably. However, Vanishing wasn't a prodigy and she has been underperforming the entire game, so an early roll was more than enough to counter her obvious ult.

[She must've panicked. Poor girl~] Cato smiled impishly. [Now, time to continue the attack.]

Despite all the flawless predictions Cato did, he still took extra safety measures just in case. So, he rolled a little far from his opponent, to make sure Vanishing won't be able to grab him with her ult even if she were to notice the roll in time.

Because of that, it took him one extra second to close the distance to his prey again. But, now he was back in range again.

[Time to finish this.] He opened a relentless assault once more.

This time, Cato didn't have a single worry during his offense. After all, his opponent was effectively fangless without Izuna Drop. Therefore, Cato could attack, attack, and attack to his heart's content~!

CLAW! The sharp claws slashed across Vanishing's body, delivering hefty damage. The hit must have shaken Vanishing awake, as she finally started moving again.

Like before, the girl made a pitiful attempt to escape from certain death. However, it seemed her Backflip Shuriken hasn't come off cooldown yet, so Shadow Clone was the only remaining escape tool at her disposal.

Alas, amidst the panic, it seemed like she had forgotten about it entirely. Or, did she...?

"Heed me, o phantom of vanishing!" Vincent exclaimed. "Cloak thyself in invisibility so you can escape thy pursuer!"

Vincent was confident he delivered the advice very clearly, yet it seemed his words only served to confuse Nia. In her sleepy state, Vincent's theatrics failed to deliver the message.

"Your Shadow Clone!" Vincent implored. "Use it! You can escape the-"

CLAW! Sharp blades slashed across Nia's back, delivering a fatal blow.

『An ally has been killed!』

The Ninja collapsed on the floor, unable to run anymore.

"Curses!" Vincent grimaced. "Worry not, for I shall avenge you!"

Vincent was already in a position to strike the Lionfolk. His body was cloaked in flames and his blade was on fire. He was ready to wage war and smite down this bold invader! However...

"Vincent, retreat," Yuel ordered. "You're still inside his ult, so you won't win a 1v1."

"Ah, that is indeed correct!" For a moment there, Vincent almost forgot he was still within The King's Dominion, Rook's personal Reality Marble. In this accursed space, the laws of physics twisted in the Lionfolk's favor, leaving all his foes powerless.

As much as Vincent wanted to avenge Nia - this was no time to act emotional. Retreating was the only viable option.

"Apologies, Chessmaster," Vincent said. "You're correct. I shall retreat at once!"

Vincent turned his back to Rook and dashed away. It was quite ironic, in fact. This entire time, he has been rushing over there to save Nia, but the moment he nearly reached his destination - he had to do a 180 and run in the opposite direction. It was a terrible performance.

[I'm most certain that Chessmaster will chew me out about this in the next match review.] Vincent smiled wryly. [Fortunately, Rook is a cautious fellow. He seems to be offering a truce.]

Even though Vincent was still in The King's Dominion, Rook didn't chase him further. Perhaps that cautious strategy deemed it too risky to extend any further into enemy territory. Or, maybe Vincent's dark flames instilled terror as they radiated from his entire body.

Regardless of the reason, Rook turned around and joined the attack on the Golem.

[Oh, that's right!] Vincent remembered. [My own life should be the least of my concerns right now! Our Golem is still under heavy fire!]

The entire enemy team ganged up on the Golem and made quick work of the rocky fellow. However, at the same time…

『An enemy Golem has been destroyed!』

Despite all odds, the backdoor team of Chessmaster, Gunz, and Beat won the first lap of the race! They trampled the enemy Golem and opened a path to the Colossus, the ultimate win condition!

"Spectacular!" Vincent exclaimed. "To think that a strike team of just three players can outrace the enemy's entire force!"

[No, it's not that amazing.] Yuel thought. All of this was already within his calculations. [We had the initiative and I used my ult to tank the Golem before minions arrived.]

On the other hand, the Leopards hadn't used any of their ults yet, save for the Lionfolk's which wasn't great for pushes anyway. Clearly, the enemies were saving their most deadly weapons for the Colossus. And yet, even though they were so conservative with their resources…

『An allied Golem has been destroyed!』

The enemy's push shortly caught up to the backdoor. It was only natural, really.

Even though Yuel's group had a head-start, the enemy was pushing with a full team of 5 players. Soon enough, they'll outrace Stratus' backdoor.

[I hoped Vincent and Nia would do a better job stalling their push, but it seems like Cato took that into account.]

Cato's quick assault messed up the defenders' formation and threw them into disarray. As a result, Vincent and Nia couldn't focus on their jobs as defenders, as they had their hands full dealing with Cato instead.

That little attack allowed the rest of the Leopards to push the Golem without slowdowns. It was most certainly the best line of play Cato could've gone for in that situation.

[But, that's still within expectations.] Yuel thought. [We're heading toward one of the more troublesome scenarios here, but I've already analyzed it all the same.]

"Let's recall," Yuel said. "We need to defend the base."

"Say what???" Lars blinked. "Weren't we going to backdoor to victory!?"

"I'm pretty sure I already explained the plan..." Yuel sighed.

"Yeah, you did." Kai started recalling. "This was just an aggressive diversion. We were going to retreat after the Golem either way."

"Oh, right! I totally remember that, haha!" Lars laughed awkwardly as he also booted Recall. "Gotta say tho, we were doing such a great job, so I thought we gonna push all the way."

"I wish it was that easy," Yuel said. "We're not dealing with amateurs here. The Leopards judged the situation correctly and realized they can outrace us, so we have to adjust accordingly."

"So, what's the big plan for this scenario, again?" Lars asked.

"We return to base and defend," Yuel explained it briefly as they teleported back to base.

"Wait, that's it? I remember you had some amazing secret plan."

"I'm not sure what you call 'amazing', but this is the entire plan. Our enemies are rushing to victory right now in order to outrace our 'backdoor', so we'll catch them off guard by returning to base. That's ought to give us a chance to turn the tables on them."

"In order words," Kai paraphrased. "It's a surprise counterattack."

"Oh, I like the sound of that!" Lars grinned. "So, when you say we gonna 'defend', you actually mean we gonna go for the kill on these dudes with a counterattack, right!?"

"It depends on the situation," Yuel explained. "But yes, I'm hoping we can turn the tables on them and get a few kills. If not, then this game is as good as lost."

"Roger!" Lars gave a thumbs up. "It's time to go ham, yoooooo!"

"Just don't overdo it. We're in a 4v5 situation here."

"No problemo!"

The trio teleported to the base and dashed to confront the enemy invaders. As expected, the entire enemy team hastily rushed into the Colossus's area and already opened a swift attack.

The Droid was employing all five of his drones, barraging the Colossus with countless laser beams. His strength as a hyper-carry shined at this stage of the game, allowing him to melt the HP of the giant statue.

Likewise, the rest of the Leopards didn't pull any punches either. Merlin unleashed Hurricane, wrapping the Colossus in a giant storm. The ult dealt heavy damage per tick while simultaneously making it dangerous for Stratus to approach the area.

Rook and Challenger contributed to the assault with ranged basic attacks, while Theorist was right in the Colossus' face, tanking the entire operation until more minions arrive.

It was a devastating five-man band push. The Colossus's HP plummeted by the moment.

However, despite the enemy holding all that firepower on their side, Stratus' Colossus refused to fall that easily. Though its HP was going down at a high speed, it wasn't going to collapse that quickly.

The main reason for that was the lack of enemy minions in the vicinity. The presence of minions shredded the defenses of "tower" objectives, but the Leopards were currently pushing without any soldiers on their side.

[Good.] Yuel nodded. [Even a defensive team like this isn't immune to feeling the need to rush to victory every now and then.]

Under normal circumstances, it was unthinkable for the Leopards to commit to a big push like this without any minions on their side. 99 times out of 100, they would've retreated from an objective as soon as their minions perished.

The only occasional exceptions to that rule were Winner and Challenger, but these two were exceptions among the Leopards in almost every way possible. So, they didn't count here.

As such, the fact that ALL the Leopards were pushing so hastily right now proved that Stratus' backdoor successfully put pressure on them. This was the big chance Yuel was trying to create!

[There's no question that they're superb at playing defense.] Yuel admitted. [There haven't been any weaknesses for me to strike the entire game. But now, as they're throwing their everything into offense - I might finally find an opening!]

This entire last-ditch plan was riding on this dodgy premise. If piercing through the enemy's defenses was impossible, then it was necessary to first force these turtles out of their shells. Then, an opportunity would present itself for sure!

In this situation, with the Leopards fully committed to rushing the endgame, there might finally be a chance to turn this depressing game around!