The Phantom's Elusive Gank

After taking the long route, Nia finally got close to Top Lane. However, one last obstacle stood between her and the lane itself.

[Is there a ward near the entrance?] Nia couldn't possibly tell for she never had the opportunity to venture this far in this game. Therefore, she had to make an educated guess.

[It's probably better to assume that it's warded.] Such was Nia's conclusion based on her experiences with the Leopards' warding thus far.

These guys were good, they stuffed the entire jungle with pesky wards to make Nia's life as difficult as possible. So, surely, they had a ward near the lane entrance well. And, unfortunately, Nia had no choice but to pass through this area in order to enter the lane.

There were three entrances available: one on the allied side of the jungle, one on the enemy side, and one in the middle. Most likely, there was a ward near at least one of these locations.

Nia could take a gamble here and choose an entrance at random, but the odds were against her. If there were two wards, then her chance of picking the right entrance was 1 to 3.

[Actually, the chance is pretty much 0%.] Nia reasoned. [If they placed two wards, then they're probably near our entrance and theirs.]

That kind of arrangement made it practically impossible to reach the middle entrance without being spotted by one of the wards. And, the worst thing was that there were no practical alternatives in this situation. Nia had to enter the lane through one of these paths.

Entering the lane from behind the tower area was also an option but that would take way too long. Therefore, going through one of the regular entrances had to be the play.

But, how could Nia possibly slip by unnoticed?

[I guess it's time to ask my dear sister for help.] Nia activated Shadow Clone, summoning a copy of herself. [I'm sorry I have to treat you like this, sis. But, this is for the greater good…]

Nia directed her dear sister… into a wall. Yes, that's right. The clone was forced to dash straight into a wall, head-first.

Though this clone was supposed to be a copy of Nia, the bot controlling it didn't possess a shred of intelligence. Therefore, Nia's sister simply kept running forward in the direction she was summoned in. In other words, the clone kept running into the wall like a classic bugged bot.

[Please stay like this and don't run into any wards, thank you.] This may have looked like familial abuse but it was a necessary evil.

Now, that the clone was summoned, Nia became cloaked in stealth. This should allow her to get through the sus area ahead without being spotted. Probably.

[I just hope they don't have any Stealth Wards…] This train of thought might've seemed paranoid for such an early phase of the game, but it was impossible to put anything past the Leopards. [Their warding has been over-the-top the entire game so anything is possible…]

Nia gulped as she set foot inside the sus zone. Nervousness assaulted from all directions, but she nonetheless pressed onward. At the end of the day, she had no choice but to hope that not even the Leopards would resort to placing Stealth Wards this early into the game.

Stealth Wards cost more than regular wards and they offered nothing extra except for revealing stealthed players like Nia. As such, it was a huge money sink for the earlier stages of the game.

Besides, Nia hasn't even established herself as much of a threat thus far. So, no matter how careful the Leopards were, surely even they wouldn't resort to something like this... right?

[Right?] Nia gulped. A shudder ran through her entire body with every step she traversed through the sus area. Logically, there shouldn't be any danger here, but the paranoia didn't give her rest.

She half-expected to see Challenger turn around and make a break for it, any moment now. Her gank attempt could end just like this before even getting a chance to start.

Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. Challenger showed no signs of noticing Nia's approach. The guy was nonchalantly pressing his offense on the lane, forcing Ben to retreat.

[I-I made it.] Nia took a deep breath as she set foot in Top Lane. At long last, she was here! This was her first real gank attempt of the day!

[And, I hope it'll also be my first kill.] Nia steeled herself and dashed toward the unsuspecting target. [I don't have Imperial yet, so no point attacking first. I'll go straight for the ult.]

Nia approached the prey from behind and wrapped her arms around the Dragonborn, then leapt into the air! Nobody saw this development coming!

"What the-!?" Ronald jumped. By the time he realized what was happening - he was already flying high through the air! It was the Ninja's ult!

"Dang, where did she even come from!?" Ronald ranted. "I thought we had the entire flipping jungle warded!"

His loud reaction caught the attention of his teammates and they all wondered the same thing: "How did Vanishing manage to show up in Top without any warning?"

As Ronald said, there were countless wards in the jungle, specially placed to keep track of this elusive Ninja. On top of that, Sonya delivered regular reports on the phantom's latest position. Or at least, she should have been doing that…

"Ah..." Sonya stiffened. [When did I make my last report, again? I think it was over a minute ago…]

The last time Sonya actually saw Vanishing in the flesh was when Vanishing was still in Bot Jungle. Sonya reported as much at the time, and ever since she has been making a bunch of empty reports that said a whole lot of nothing.

["The enemy Jungler was last seen in Bot Jungle, but that was a while ago."] That was the extent of Sonya's reports. As frustrating as it was to admit, she simply couldn't deliver anything better than that.

Considering how much time has passed, it was reasonable to assume that Vanishing rotated from Bot Jungle to Top Jungle. Even though there was no hard evidence, Sonya should've at least mentioned that it was a likely possibility.

Alas, she didn't. Why? Because, during that time, she found herself preoccupied with her lane situation all of a sudden. Beat decided to dial up her aggression out of the blue, which forced Sonya to pay more attention to her opponent's position in the lane.

Until then, Sonya was carefully splitting her attention between Vanishing, the lane, and the rest of the map. But, the moment one of these topics started demanding so much attention all of a sudden - the balance was broken.

Sonya found herself in a position where she had to prioritize the lane situation other the rest of the map, so she ended up neglecting her duty of supervising Vanishing. As a result, she failed to warn her teammates about the possibility of Vanishing being in Top Jungle at this point.

[I thought Vanishing was a lower priority considering she hasn't accomplished anything the entire game. But, it seems like that assumption was my undoing…]

There were never any signs of Vanishing trying to pull anything, so Sonya started paying less and less attention to the girl. And, that turned out to be a grave mistake.

[I was supposed to be the one who pays the most attention to her but in the end…] Sonya fell into the very trap that she was supposed to warn others about.

Sonya was like a sentry who stood guard at the gate, her job was to stop Vanishing from slipping past the team's radar. Yet, the guard fell asleep for just a moment and the phantom exploited that brief opportunity to slip through.

[With a Vanguard helping her out, they can even kill Ronald here… or can they?] Sonya blinked in confusion and pushed her glasses up. Unless she was missing something, the situation in Top seemed a little off.

The Ninja successfully snuck up to Ronald and launched Izuna Drop, her trump card. Vanishing was most likely stealthed when she arrived, so Ronald had no chance to respond to the attack at all. It seemed like a well-executed gank, all in all.

Next, Vanishing and Ronald crashed into the ground together. Ronald sustained heavy damage and found himself in critical health.

From that position, with the help of the Vanguard's taunt, the enemy should have no problem finishing Ronald off. But, oddly enough, they couldn't quite do it. Why? Because the Vanguard was too far away from the scene.

Phoenix was in the middle of retreating before Vanishing showed up. His acting seemed very convincing to that end, successfully fooling even Sonya. And surely, Ronald was also 100% convinced that Phoenix was genuinely trying to retreat, therefore he let his guard down.

But, looking at the situation now, was that really just acting? Even after Vanishing showed up in the lane, it felt as if it took Phoenix a moment to register her presence and cancel his plans for retreat.

It took the Vanguard a second or two to turn around and hurry back to the scene. That short delay was going to prove fatal in this delicate situation.

After such a late start, could Pheonix even reach the scene on time to aid Vanishing? Unless he had a cloaked Blink up his sleeve, it seemed impossible.

Nonetheless, the guy dashed to the scene with all his strength. At the very least, he seemed convinced that this was the right play to shoot for.

[Oh no!] Ben gulped as he dashed toward the battlefield. [I-I don't think I'm going to make it in time! But, if I don't, the entire gank might fall apart and it'll all be my fault! I have to hurry!]

And so, Ben darted across the lane while ignoring the enemy minions along his path. Likewise, the minions ignored him as well. The little guys were preoccupied with the stealthy invader who dared to assault their leader.

And so, the same way Ben hurried to the scene of the crime, so did the enemy minions. They all ran there together like an organized police squad, even though their goals were completely opposite of each other.

[These minions are bad news.] Ben realized in the middle of the rush. [Maybe it's better if I stall them? But, then I won't be able to CC the Dragon...]

This entire situation was chaotic beyond salvation. If there was more time to think things through, then maybe Ben would have been able to find the best response to this scenario. Alas, in the heat of the moment, his brain short-circuited from the overload of information.

In short, it was impossible to tell what was the best play here! So, what should he do!?

Amidst the darkness of uncertainty that threatened to swallow him whole, a clear voice resounded all of a sudden.

"Ben, you won't make it," Yuel said. "Taunt the minions. that's the best play in this position."

"O-Okay!" Ben shifted his focus from the distant Dragonborn to the nearby minions. Unlike the faraway target which Ben might or might not reach in time, the minions were within arm's reach and he knew exactly how to handle them.

Ben used Dodge Roll to instantly close the distance to them and then activated Provoke. As a result, the enemy squad, consisting of one swordsman and three bowmen, now focused their attention on Ben.

In a blink of an eye, the enemy soldiers completely forgot about the offender who hurt their captain. Now, all they wanted in life was to smack Ben to death.

[O-Okay, I did it!] Ben sighed in relief.

From here, he was in full control of the situation. This was no longer some chaotic unfamiliar position that he had to analyze on the fly.

[Next, the stomp.] Ben lifted his metal-clad foot. He left it in the air for a second and then brought it down in an instant! BAM! An earthquake erupted across the area!

The force of the impact shook the entire earth, knocking up all the enemies in the vicinity. One moment, the bowmen were in the middle of nocking their arrows in order to Ben, but the next moment, they found themselves flying high in the air.

[Phew.] Ben sighed in relief. It was over, he successfully dealt with the situation.

This was a simple and familiar scenario for a Vanguard player, one that Ben has handled many times before. And thankfully, he was able to execute the play correctly despite the pressure of the competitive stage.

But, this was not the time to celebrate. The problem Ben resolved was like a side dish. The main course was Nia's gank on Challenger, a play that Ben gave up on participating in the moment he stopped to deal with the minions. Or, so he thought.

"Keep moving toward the Dragonborn as you deal with the minions," Yuel instructed. "You have to make it clear that this a 2v1 situation so that Challenger won't try any funny ideas like counterattacking in dragon form."

"O-On it!" Ben hurried to the scene once again.

Unfortunately, the situation indeed developed the way Yuel predicted. Challenger activated his dragon form, and that alone was enough to shift the odds in his favor. Challenger transformed from prey into predator!

Will Nia be able to deal with this threat all by herself? Most likely not, which was why Ben was rushing to the rescue. [I hope I make it in time...!]