Figuring Out the Younger Brother

[There!] Yuel activated a Geyser Eruption as soon as he spotted the Seraph turning around in panic.

As expected, Winner noticed Vincent's axe in a timely fashion and responded accordingly with a roll. On top of that, despite the obvious panic, Winner managed to execute an optimized roll that kept him out of Lars's sight and also sufficiently far from the rest of Stratus.

Truly, the guy lived up to his title of the "Matrix Convoluter", as dubbed by Vincent. Even during such a difficult moment, Winner found the best spot to roll to.

But, precisely because the play was so highly optimized, it was easier to predict it. There was only one direction in which he could roll in order to satisfy all the conditions, so Yuel targeted that area ahead of time.

Thanks to the foresight, Yuel unleashed Geyser Eruption right at the spot to which Winner rolled!

"Such beautiful execution!" Vincent raved. "You used my axe as a feint to force the enemy into a predictable location! It's simply splendid!"

"Yo, sick knock-up!" Lars followed up on the geyser attack by firing a laser beam high into the air.

Even though this entire set play was a little sudden, there was no way he gonna miss this shot. After all, Last was in first-person mode right now, so this was basically an FPS game! And besides, he was the Gungnir Sniper, yo!

ZAP! The laser beam pierced through the airborne target without any trouble.

This was an exciting development for Lars, no doubt about it. But, for his opponent? Not a very welcome turn of events.

"Tch!" William gritted his teeth. [Such an accurate geyser. Was he going for it from the start? And, then there's that immediate follow-up snipe, too. I've never faced anybody who can pull this off so perfectly.]

In his analysis of the enemy, it seemed William made one grave miscalculation. Despite the pressure the enemy was definitely feeling, Stratus didn't rush blindly out of a sense of obligation to end the game quickly.

These guys knew the pros and cons of their current tactic and approached the situation methodically. Their shot-caller was already thinking two, maybe three, steps ahead.

This wasn't some blind chaotic aggression. Not, this was a systematically calculated assault. It was apparent that Stratus had the know-how to pull off aggressive plays on such a large scale.

[I seem to have underestimated them.] William realized.

In his analysis, William only ever thought about how the enemy had to rush to victory and about how they might commit a misplay in their haste. As such, he focused only on looking for weak spots in their formation, without considering the possibility that Stratus was coming into this assault with a proper plan in mind.

[If I properly analyzed their positions, I might've figured out what they were planning. Then, I wouldn't have found myself flying in the air like this...]

Getting hit by that Geyser Eruption was bad news, extremely bad news. Not only did it render William immobile for the duration of the flight, but it also forcibly altered his position.

Chessmaster made sure to summon that geyser just a little ahead of William's position, to make the eruption knock William backward, closer to the edge of the Golem area. There, the enemy Berserker was already waiting with both axes in the air. He was going to unleash Barbarian Slam right at William's landing location!

[Just how many moves ahead did they predict here!?] William gritted his teeth. He felt like a puppet dancing to the enemy's tune.

With that said, there was no time to feel frustrated or to admire the enemy's shot-calling skill.

"The Berserker!" William shouted only that. He didn't have the time to deliver any more details than that. The situation required immediate intervention, so he had to trust that his younger brother to grasp the situation immediately,

"Don't worry, bro!" Ronald promised. "I gotcha covered!" He aimed his Ice Wall right between the Berserker and the spot where his bro was going to land. The thicc wall was gonna absorb the entire shockwave of Barbarian Slam and leave his brother unscratched. Ez play!

Alas, the ice wall refused to show up. Ronald aimed it perfectly, yet it didn't emerge from the ground. Why? Because, at that critical moment, an obstacle set foot on that spot.

"Wha-!?" Ronald exclaimed. "Nooooo! Whatcha doing there, fam!? Get the heck out!"

It was none other than the Dark Knight, standing confidently at the spot where Ronald was planning to place the wall. That mad lad rolled in at the very least moment, right as the wall was about to be placed!

The moment Memer entered the targeted area, placing the Ice Wall there became illegal, so casting the skill did nothing. It got canceled and Ronald remained standing in place like a scarecrow, failing to lift a single finger to help his dear brother.

"Sorry, bro! I messed up!" Ronald blinked in to provide immediate support.

In truth, he wanted to save this precious Blink for attacking the enemy later, but the situation became far too critical. Ronald had to rescue his bro, right here and now!

[If I can't place my wall to stop you, then I'mma just freeze you!] Ronald activated Ice Coffin as soon as he finished blinking, covering the area in front of him with sheer cold.

The radius of the attack was just wide enough to hit both the Dark Knight and the Berserker, covering both of them in ice. They were rendered motionless on the spot.

"Heh, gotcha!" Ronald pumped a fist. [You thought you were being smart here, but I outsmarted your asses!]

The way the Dark Knight rolled in to cockblock Ronald's Ice Wall was indeed a 200 IQ play, but it had one grave weakness: it positioned the guy very close to Berserker. That allowed Ronald to blink in and hit both dudes real hard with his Ice Coffin.

Now, the two bruhs two were frozen solid! They won't be able to lay a finger on bro anymore... or, so Ronald thought.

SPLASH! Water hit the frozen Dark Knight and Berserker. This happened less than a second after Ronald froze the dudes, as if it was planned in advance.

Actually, nah, there was no "if" there. This shit was DEFINITELY planned. That big-brain Chessmaster bruh must've foreseen all of this, so he used his Splash right after Ronald's Ice Coffin.

[Did I just get baited!?] Ronald's jaw dropped. He was so sure he found a huge opening in the enemy's formation but turned out it was a trap!

"H-Haha, I messed up again. Soz, bro!" Ronald rolled out of the area immediately as he knew exactly what was going to follow next.

Even though his Ice Coffin froze the Berserker momentarily, it didn't cancel out the Barbarian Slam which the guy has been charging up for a while now. Therefore, the moment Splash melted away the ice - Blackhole unleashed his powerful slam, making the entire area tremble!

As much as Ronald wanted to rescue his bro, he first had to save his own skin. After all, he wouldn't be able to help his bro if he gets stunned too.

[Okay, I got out!] Ronald breathed in relief. He heard the loud BOOM behind him and the thunderous shockwave that followed, but none of that reached him.

Still, that was too close to comfort. He dodged that devastating attack by like a centimeter.

Unfortunately, his bro wasn't as lucky. The enemy's attack didn't even give William an opportunity to dodge. The slam crashed on him as soon as he hit the ground, stunning him in place before he could do anything at all.

"Tch." William clicked his tongue. "I'm probably done for, so retreat and focus on-"

"Don't worry, bro! I'mma save ya right away!" Ronald promised. "I've still got my ult!"

"Wait, that's-"

Too late. Ronald had already unleashed Cryo-Freeze on his brother, freezing him in place to protect him. It was a timely response, just like the rest of Ronald's plays up to this point.

On paper, this was a strong play and Ronald had executed it flawlessly. After all, his bro was completely helpless while stunned, so freezing him to make him invincible only improved his situation.

This arrangement should protect bro from all incoming attacks until his Dodge Roll comes off cooldown. Then, bro will be able to safely get out of that nasty predicament.

Not to mention, the Aquamancer had just spent his Splash to cleanse the Ice Coffin, so he was now powerless against this Cryo-Freeze. So truly, this was a great play by Ronald that should've totally thrown a wrench in the attackers' plans.

However, any of that only would have held true only if the attackers were to come unprepared for this possibility...

[Checkmate.] Yuel declared as he activated Rainfall, summoning dark clouds above Challenger's head.

"Kill the Cryomancer," he ordered without flinching. This was a line of play that he had already played out in his head, so he knew exactly where things were going in this situation.

But, even before he said anything, everybody had already shifted their focus from Winner to Challenger. After all, Yuel had informed them ahead of time that Challenger will likely try his best to protect Winner, so he should become the primary target in case he spends Cryo-Freeze on his partner.

[I'm not sure what their relationship is.] Yuel thought.[ But, from their names and actions, it's clear that Challenger feels responsible for keeping Winner alive, as a proper Support should be. Despite how selfish his Support build is, he always goes out of his way to help Winner to the best of his ability, prioritizing the Carry over himself.]

Based on this observation, it was only natural to expect Challenger to do anything in his power to save Winner from dying. And, despite his questionable selfish build, he was actually skilled enough to provide top-tier support, both in terms of decision-making and execution.

In fact, if Yuel wasn't prepared this well for all these scenarios, then Challenger's counterplays would have surely stumped the team here. But unfortunately for Challenger, Yuel had more than enough time to study the guy in the lane.

That's how he hatched the plan of targeting Winner as hard as possible in order to push Challenger's supporting capabilities to the limit. The goal was to force the guy to unload his entire kit for the sake of his precious Carry.

And, once Challenger did all that, he became a sitting duck himself! This created a fatal opening in their defensive formation.

Everybody focused their fire on the defenseless Cryomancer. Luke unleashed a Dark Blast, Kai fired basic attacks, and Lars sniped the guy straight in the head. They didn't give the poor guy a moment to breathe!

Challenger's HP fell from 100% to 30% in a blink of an eye. To make things worse, the black cloud above his head rained cats and dogs on him, turning his movement sluggish. He couldn't even properly evacuate from the area like this.

As soon as this assault started, he realized that he fudged up.

"H-Haha, crap!" Ronald laughed dryly. He felt like three trucks crashed into him all at once! His HP bar vanished faster than the speed of light. These dudes weren't messing around, that's for sure.

[It's like they were waiting for me to use my ult, haha...] Ronald was laughing in his head but his smile twitched in reality. This was not funny, not funny at all.

Somehow, the enemy was one step ahead of him at every turn. Every play Ronald made should've been a good play, yet it immediately turned into a critical misplay. How was that even possible? Was he that bad?

[Nah, it's not me.] Ronald thought. [It's THEM. They're legit this good. I didn't even realize it.]

It's not like he was taking them lightly per se, but somewhere at the back of his head, he was too relaxed about this match. He believed that no matter what happens, the Leopards will ultimately win in the end. As such, he treated any setback as temporary and any misplay as redeemable.

That's the kind of mentality that led him to take a risk at the start of the game, even though the others warned him extensively against extending into the territory of a hyper-aggressive enemy.

Ronald was no amateur, he knew it was dangerous. But, he dismissed the threat and pressed on regardless, believing that nothing bad could really happen in this game.

And he did, in fact, get away with that play, at least for the most part. That only further reinforced the feeling that no matter what kind of problem the Leopards face in this game, everybody on the team was skilled enough to overcome it.

After all, they were destined crowned champions of the region. The only opponent who was supposed to pose a threat to them was StormBlitz, and maybe Taurus if they had a stronger lineup this year.

But, it turned out there was another threat out there. It was a dark horse team that nobody expected anything impressive from despite its recent achievements against Taurus.

[But, I see how it is now.] Ronald grinned. [These guys ARE strong. Last game, they just fell behind very early, But this time, they're the ones who got the early momentum. Dang, I wish I realized that sooner!]

There was nothing more joyous than fighting strong opponents. The higher the obstacle, the more fun it was to leap over it. Only against the strongest of opponents, Ronald could exhibit the full extent of his strength

And, it turned out Stratus warranted that kind of treatment. They were strong enough to pose a real challenge to the Leopards, to even steal a game or two from them! Against strong rivals like this, going all out was totally worth it!

Alas, the realization came far too late.

『You have been killed!』

By the time Ronald recognized Stratus as the powerhouse they were, the fierce assaulters had already wiped him out completely. He missed his chance to go all-out against these worthy opponents.

[Though, even if I wanted to fight, there's only so much I can do as a Support.] Ronald sighed. [I don't HATE the role, but it's really not for me. I need something with more power against these guys, so gotta convince bro to let me play Carry or Top next game.]

And so, Ronald perished, leaving a wide opening in the Leopards' final line of defense. Now, his brother was the only one left on the scene.

Fortunately, William was kept safe inside the cold embrace of Cryo-Freeze. This was the only good thing Ronald achieved during this messy defense.

Or at least, he thought it was an achievement. However, William saw it another way...