All Hope Crushed at the Early-Game

Frankly, Bryan pretty much gave up on the game at this point. A Dark Knight was dominating in Top, while Bruce has recently died in Bot. No matter how Bryan looked at the situation, things were looking bleak.

Nevertheless, the game went on. And, a loud bug was buzzing in Bryan's ear, demanding an answer for a stupid question.

"Hey, are ya listening? Got nothing to say for yourself, huh!?" Bruce kept rambling on and on, but Bryan didn't have the willpower to entertain that ungrateful dumbass. He came up with half-assed vague replies and tried his best to focus on the game.

The three enemies in Bot ventured into the Jungle.

"Enemies missing in Bot," Bryan reported. "They might be rotating to Mid."

"Or going for Dragon," Raymond suggested.

"Yeah, possible," Brayn agreed. "We gonna do anything about that, or...?"

"There's nothing we [can] do," Raymond said. "We're in a 3v5. They earned that Dragon."

"Hey, that Impaler is running low, right?" Dylan smirked. "I can probably kill her if I gank."

"Yes please!" Bruce jumped. "Do it! Kill that bitch! Do it now!"

"A good idea," Raymond said. "Except, how do you plan to escape from them without your ult."

"Touche," Dylan gave up the idea as quickly as he brought it up.

"Goddammit y'all," Bruce ranted. "Somebody, anybody, just shoot down that damn Impaler. Don't put all my hard work to waste!"

"Sorry, bro," Dylan apologized. "I think she's out of reach for now."

"Goddamit," Bruce finally gave the topic a rest. Though, he continued stomping with his foot mumbling to himself. The guy just couldn't get over it.

『An enemy defeated the Dragon!』

The message verified their suspicion. The enemy has taken the Dragon and there was nothing the team could do about that.

Shortly, the Impaler and Druid returned to Bot. Even though the Impaler was hanging on a thread, she refused to recall.

[Girl got balls.] Bryan laughed. It's as if the Impaler was inviting them to attack. If Dylan rotated to Bot right now, he and Bryan could finish off that gal together.

[Oh wait, the Ninja is also here.] Bryan noticed. [Never mind then. We better avoid this fight.]

Shortly, the next minion wave arrived and all three enemies pushed together. There was nothing Bryan could do about this development. He chose to stay on the lane with his 60% HP and defend, but his presence barely had any impact. He couldn't stand up to three enemies alone.

"C'mon, kill her! She's almost dead! Do it!" Bruce insisted and insisted and insisted.

"And how do you suggest I do that without dying?" Bryan didn't expect a real answer. He knew Bruce didn't really think things through. Bruh was just spouting salty nonsense.

The Impaler was ballsy. She chose to push instead of recalling to base, despite having only 20% HP. It looked like a terrible misplay at first glance, but it wasn't. In fact, recalling to base would have been the true misplay here, since she would've missed on this juicy opportunity to push hard.

Even though the girl was hanging onto 20% HP, there was no efficient way to kill her at the moment. Her two allies served as professional bodyguards, they'll shot down anybody who dared to approach. The Impaler must have chosen to push with that in mind. There was nothing Bryan could do about it.

"Meh, whatever," Bruce gave up. Or, so it seemed. "Hey, Dyl! Come gank Bot! I already rekt this Impaler pretty hard, so ya just gotta get a few hits in. Ez."

"You want me to gank [that]?" Dylan made a face. "Sorry, my ult is down."

"So what? Just go in there and shoot her and stuff!"

"That's kinda..." Dylan wasn't sure how to retort to that nonsense. He should able to get in there and kill the Impaler, but his chances of escaping alive were slim-to-none. The Ninja and Druid will immediately gang on him and kick his ass. It was risky as heck.

"C'mon," Bruce urged on. "Don't wuss out. Ya got this. bro!"

"'Got this', huh. Yeaaaah." Dylan had no idea what to say. Arguing back will only trigger Bruce, but following his instructions meant death. Dylan had to inject some reason into this conversation ASAP.

"Hey Bryan, what do you think?" Dylan asked.

"Me?" Bryan grumped. [Don't shift the responsibility to me, dammit.]

"Ignore that guy," Bruce said. "He'll distract them by defending while you sneak up to them. The perfect plan!"

"Perfect, huh. Yaaaaah," Dylan rolled his eyes. He hoped that adding Bryan to the discussion will make Bruce see reason, but Bryan clearly wanted nothing to do with this. Dylan had to figure a different way to deflect this request.

What would a pro player do in this situation? Bruce's silly demand was [kinda] like an order from the team captain. Bruce wasn't the official captain, but his word carried that much weight.

[Because the real captain is acting oblivious all the time.] Dylan threw a glance at Raymond, who hasn't spoken a single word on this topic. If Taurus was a proper team, Dylan could've relied on the captain to talk some sense into Bruce. Alas, Raymond was too passive for his own good. He was a captain only in name.

Even if Raymond had an opinion about this, he didn't share it. He was fully concentrated on his situation in Mid. Apparently, the ex-StormBlitz dude was giving the captain a hard time. He had his hands full.

On top of that, Raymond's motto was something like "let the players resolve things among themselves". A cute slogan, but it caused countless problems for the team and the club at large. It gave Bruce the "okay" to take the reins and order everybody around. Anybody who opposed the king had to suffer the consequences.

[If I refuse to gank, Bruce gonna complain. If I gank and die, Bruce gonna complain. Fuck my life.] Dylan sighed. He was screwed no matter what he gonna pick. Why was life so unfair sometimes? Sigh.

"C'mon, man," Bruce insisted. "Do it for your homie."

"Okay, got it already," Dylan gave in. He'll go there and get the damn kill, then probably die. Will that make Bruce happy? Probably not, but whatever.

At least, it'll become the team's first kill this game. Their situation was a depressing 0-2, so getting one kill could brighten things a little. At the same time, one more early death will make a grim situation look even grimmer...

[Whatever. Let's just get it over with.] Dylan knew he was probably committing a misplay, but it wasn't entirely hopeless. He might get a kill and escape alive. The odds were slim, but they existed. Worst case, if things go south, he'll eject outta there right away.

[Actually, wait. I can just go there, distract them a little, and then run away!] Dylan found a third option! It was brilliant! This way, he gonna keep everybody happy. It'll even help Bryan with the defense efforts.

With that ingenious plan in mind, Dylan made his way toward Bot Lane. Unbeknown to him, an enemy ward caught wind of his rotation...

"He's going to gank? For real?" Kai couldn't help but ask out loud.

"So it seems," Yuel also found that a little odd, but Taurus was no stranger to committing amateurish mistakes from time to time. It seemed as if their captain, or perhaps their shot-caller, was lacking in the decision-making department. Or, maybe they didn't have a shot-caller at all. That'd explain why they seemed so disorganized.

"Let's kill him," Nia suggested.

"Yeah," Kai nodded. "He's probably going after me. Let's strike him first."

"Wait, let him come closer first," Yuel said. "Act oblivious for now and focus on pushing. Once he gets close enough, Vincent should place a shield on Kai and pull the Vampire."

"A good plan, except I wouldn't trust this doofus to pull anybody," Kai retorted.

"Such harshness toward poor lil' me," Vincent pretended to sob.

"I agree," Yuel said. "His accuracy isn't reliable."

"Even the great Chessmaster belittles moi!?" Vincent pretended to sniffle. "I see how it is. Yes, it's exactly as you say. After all, Mr. Blackhole is only good at gathering info. He's a complete amateur when it comes to playing the actual game. [Sob.]"

"That nonsense aside," Yuel continued. "Kai and Nia, be ready to attack in case the pull fails. Iron Maiden into Impale, or Shuriken Flip and into a blink. Or both. Your call."

"Ok," Nia nodded.

"Got it," Kai nodded as well. They were more than prepared. If that Vampire thought he gonna suck out Kai's remaining HP, he better think again!

Meanwhile, Dylan was on his way to Bot, believing he was being sneaky. The enemy didn't show any signs of anticipating his arrival. They were pushing onward in full throttle. They won't even know what hit them!

Dylan entered the lane and crept from behind toward the overextending foes. All three pushers were looking straight ahead, unaware of the super sneaky forward who was about to score a goal. It gonna be a perfect crime!

Just as he thought that, the Impaler turned around for some reason. It's as if she sensed Dylan behind her back.

"He's here!" Kai announced. No matter how quietly the Vampire was trying to creep up to them, no sound could escape Kai's acute hearing.

"Roger!" Vincent activated Gaia's Protection and placed a shield on Kai. That alone was almost enough to thwart the entire gank. But, that was only the beginning. They were going to mount a counterattack!

Vincent opened the attack by firing Nature's Grasp! And missed.

"Again!?" Vincent exclaimed. The success rate of his pulls was unbelievably low. It was 0% for this game so far. How could that be!? Blasmephy!

"Really," Kai sighed and summoned an Iron Maiden behind the Impaler. Next, she gonna impale that bastard! But, she stopped at the last moment. The guy rolled aside.

"Damn, they're onto me!" Dylan shouted while performing a panic Dodge Roll. He knew this gank was gonna be bad news, but he didn't expect such a fierce counter-attack. He didn't even have the chance to deliver one hit!

Fortunately, he reacted fast and avoided the worst-case scenario, that of being impaled into the Iron Maiden. He rolled around the Iron Maiden, so no there was nothing to impale him into.

[Damn, I can't shoot Impale now.] Kai clicked her tongue. She was confident in landing the skillshot, but there was no wall to impale the target into. A raw Imaple will only push the Vampire father away from them. In other words, it'd help him escape. Dammit.

[We messed this one up.] Kai sighed in defeat. Both she and Vincent failed to pin down the target. And, he rolled away so fast that Nia didn't have a chance to throw a shuriken at him.

[Speaking of Nia, where is she?] Kai looked around. [Oh, there she is.] The elusive Ninja was chasing after the fleeing Vampire. She must've really wanted that kill, huh.

[Wait, isn't that just the clone?] Kai took a closer look. Enemies couldn't tell Nia's clone apart from the real deal, but allies had an indicator for it. There was a small icon showing duplicating human figures, proving this was indeed a clone.

Then, where was the real Nia? And, when did she even leave their side? Kai didn't notice any of it.

[Wait, she's already over there!?] Kai couldn't believe her eyes. Nia was already inside the jungle. She must have used Dodge Roll to get there so fast. Was she planning to intercept the Vampire in the jungle?

"I'll chase the Vampire," Kai told Vincent. "Stay here and start pushing with Ents."

"Roger," Vincent unleashed "Awaken the Ents" right before allied minions entered the tower area. With the gigantic living trees tanking tower shots, even a push composed of only minions had deadly might.

Meanwhile, a chase began in the jungle.

[Damn, they're both after me!] Dylan ranted internally as he glanced behind him. The Ninja and the Impaler were hot on his trail. He had to make a run for it! And so, he headed toward the nearby jungle entrance.

Vampire had decent Movement Speed, but he was slower than Ninja. So, that damn Ninja might catch up to him. It was a bad idea to fight her at close range, so Dylan had to prioritize his escape.

As soon as he entered the jungle, he made a sharp turn to the right. If he flees deep enough into the allied side of the jungle, his pursuers should give up.

However, just as he thought that, a blade flashed in front of his face! It appeared outta nowhere and slashed him!

"The heck!?" Dylan jumped. Who the hell was there!? He knew everybody's positions through the mini-map, so nobody could've possibly been there at the moment. Yet, someone was.

It was the Ninja! She was right in front of Dylan somehow. But, how!? Wasn't she chasing him from behind just a moment ago... Ah!

[A clone!? Did she scare me away from the lane so I run over here!?] Dylan couldn't believe this was really happening in a middle school level game. [Anyway, this is bad. I gotta backpedal and find a different escape route... Oh, fuck my life.]

The true gravity of the situation only hit him once he turned around. Turning around meant facing whoever was coming after him from behind. And, who stood there? The Impaler, naturally.

Those two caught Dylan in a pincer! To make things worse, there were long jungle walls all around this area. There was nowhere to escape!

[Shit, she gonna Impale the living shit outta me...!] Dylan booted Coffin Slumber by reflex. He summoned a coffin that swallowed him whole. That'll prevent Impale from hitting him.

[Wait, she didn't even shot it yet...] Dylan face-palmed. He totally panicked. He pulled the trigger before the enemy even started their move. Thanks to that, Dylan became a sitting duck for his foes. Awesome...

[He sure pulled that coffin fast.] Kai shrugged. [I didn't even start aiming yet. Well, that makes things easier for me.]

The Vampire willingly became a practice dummy for her, how nice of him. Kai and Nia repeatedly struck the coffin with basic attacks until they forced the Vampire out. Then, Kai fired Impale. It shoved the Vampire into a wall and sunned him. From there, it was an easy kill.

『An enemy has been killed!』

Nia delivered the finishing blow. Kai gave the kill away because she has already scored a kill on the Pirate the last time they worked together. Not to mention, Nia really deserved this one.

This entire pincer was practically Nia's work. Well, perhaps it only converted into a kill so smoothly because Kai quickly followed on Nia's play. Nonetheless, even without Kai being here, Nia would have surely given the Vampire a hard time in the jungle. It was a great play from her either way.

"Let's get back to pushing," Kai said.

"Ok," Nia ran back the way she came. Her chase ended up being anti-climatic and short. But, at least it meant she had time to join the push efforts in Bot before Vincent's Ents perish.

With the three pushers joining hands and the Ents tanking tower shots, the enemy turret stood no chance. A single defender couldn't fend them off.

『An enemy Turret has been destroyed!』

One tower already down, long before the game even started approaching mid-game. This signaled the beginning of the end for Taurus. With this momentum, Stratus' early-game composition easily pushed all the way to victory.

That was the end of the second game. The scrimmage became 2-0 for StormBlitz. An easy 2-0 to boot. If things keep going like this, Stratus will end the day with a perfect 5-0. That'll be a great way to open the scrimmaging season.

However, that's provided their opponents will fail to adapt and continue playing on the same mediocre level. And, it also depended on whether Taurus' lineup will remain the same after this game...