Surprise Recall

The Leopards were pouring their everything into a rushed assault on the Colossus. They probably still thought that Yuel, Lars, and Kai were pushing down in Bot.

If so, the Leopards were in for a surprise. The backdoor trio actually returned to base to deliver a surprise counterattack!

"Welcome back, warriors of purgatory!" Vincent greeted the brave heroes. It was unfortunate that he was the only one here to greet them, but such was the dire situation at hand.

Even though this was a 4v5 situation, the enemy team was clearly rushing here. As such, Stratus had more than enough opportunity to gain the upper hand.

[They've even spent all their dangerous tools.] Yuel analyzed the situation at hand.

Rook used his ult to kill Nia, Winner summoned all five of his drones, and Merlin used Hurricane on the Colossus. Just like that, the enemy team threw away three of their most dangerous tools. There was only one more dangerous tool that was possibly still on the table.

"Have their Monk used her ult?" Yuel asked.

"Non, not yet," Vincent reported. "It appears the TheTheorist is still in the middle of formulating the ultimate winning theory. She refuses to let go of her trump card so easily."

"I see." Yuel frowned. [Smart play.]

Unlike Droid's Assault Drones and Aeromancer's Hurricane, Asura Strike delivered all of its deadly damage in a burst. As such, there was no hurry to spend it early even as the enemy was rushing to seal the deal.

Most likely, Theorist was saving her ult until the Colossus was on its deathbed, that's when she'll finish it off in one fell swoop. Until then, she preferred to save it in case she'll need the Chakra for something else.

[Even though they should be panicking, they're not slipping up.] Yuel nodded in respect. [Looks like turning the tables on them would be harder than I expected. But, we have no choice but to do it, here and now!]

"Your top priorities are the Droid and the Monk," Yuel explained. "The Droid is self-explanatory. As for the Monk, she still hasn't used her ult, so it's best to eliminate her before she gets the chance to drop that burst on the Colossus."

"Okey-dokey!"

"Got it."

The trio rendezvoused with Vincent and the counterattack began! Will they be able to strike down the invaders and turn the game around? Everything was riding on this last line of defense! Only one team will walk away victorious from this battle.

"Kai, shoot your ult from the base," Yuel instructed.

"Wait, I'm not joining the fight?" Kai asked.

"We need to scatter them first. Your ult is the best for that."

"Okay, got it." Kai backed away deeper into the team's base, the safest place in their territory. Here, nobody would dare to assault her while she'll be providing artillery support.

"Vincent, once they scatter around, try to keep their Monk away from everybody, including the Colossus."

"Very well, it shall be done!" Vincent saluted.

"Just make sure you're careful. Your job is to make sure the Monk doesn't get a chance to ult anybody, which includes you, too."

"A difficult task, indeed." Vincent nodded in understanding. "Just to be clear, between stopping Theorist from ulting the Colossus and stopping her from ulting myself, which one possesses the higher priority?"

"Hrm..." Yuel frowned. The guy just had to ask such a difficult question during this complicated situation. "It'll depend on the Colossus's remaining HP, but if I had to say..."

"I'll have to sacrifice myself, will I not?"

"Perhaps."

"Very well!" Vincent nodded. "I shall gladly offer my life to save our team from ruin!"

"Just so we're clear, that doesn't mean you're supposed to suicide on her," Kai pointed out. "You really like that kind of shit, don't you?"

"But of course!" Vincent announced proudly. "There's no greater honor than dying in a blaze of glory while saving the rest of my nakama!"

"......." Everybody gave him a cold look, except for Lars who nodded with respect for some reason.

"A-Alright, alright." Vincent caved in. "I heard your pleas loud and clear. Worry not, for I shall not forfeit my life needlessly!"

"I sure hope so." Yuel sighed. "Okay, as for our last target - Lars, you focus on the Droid together with me. We have to eliminate him first."

"Got it!" Lars grinned. "Are we gonna do any of our usual tricks?"

"I'll fire my CC at the right time. You follow up on whatever happens next."

"Gotcha!"

These vague instructions were more than enough to give Lars an idea of what to do. After all, the two of them have played so many games together.

They developed countless tricks and combos that became second nature to them at this point. As such, they knew exactly how to follow up on each other's plays without much explanation needed.

And so, everybody's positions were decided. Amidst this tense, complicated, and chaotic situation, Yuel calmly assigned everybody their roles.

[Okay, this should work.] Yuel sighed in relief. He made it look easy, but it was actually extremely stressful. He had to analyze so many factors and consider so many possible lines of play in order to come up with one solid plan here.

Fortunately, he was prepared for a development like this ahead of time, so he made some of these calculations all the way back when they were pushing Bot. Thanks to that preparation, the defenders were now ready to efficiently fend off the assaulters!

The counterattack started off with a loud BOOM! Kai fired off a giant bomb from a canon.

Her target was none other than the team's Colossus. Or, more specifically, the area surrounding it, as it was crawling with enemies that had to be wrecked!

The Colossus's surroundings turned into a danger zone that was painted in a threatening red. The enemy saw this mark as well, which gave them about a second and a half to respond.

"Snap!" Ronald casually backpedaled to safety. "This is dangerous as heck, man!"

"Tch!" William barely rolled out of the danger zone in the nick of time.

He had no choice but to fight deep inside enemy territory until now because his attacks were carrying the entire push. Nonetheless, he managed to get away from the bombardment in time, if only thanks to his reaction speed.

"Phew." Matthew also stepped out of the danger zone just before the bomb landed.

It took him a moment to react to this sudden development, but he was already close to the edge, so he didn't have to retreat much. It was a good thing he constantly maintained a distance from the Colossus, just in case. This push was super risky, so a development like this wasn't entirely unexpected.

And so, three out of five players fled the danger zone in time. On the other hand, Cato and Sonya weren't as fortunate.

"Agh!" Sonya flinched as a giant bomb exploded right in her face!

As the tank, her role was to fight in the Colossus's face. As such, she had no chance of escaping that bombardment in time.

[Maybe if I had Jenny's reaction speed then I could've done something.] Sonya's shoulders slumped. [Oh well.]

"Curses!" Cato ranted.

He was the only melee fighter in the team aside from Sonya, so he had to stick close to the Colossus as well. Coupled with the fact his reaction speed was nothing to write home about, Caro also had no chance of dodging this big damage.

Of course, he tried to roll away, but his response came far too late...

[Awesome. I just gave them a fifth of my HP for free.] Cato grumped as he glanced at his HP bar, or rather at what was left of it. This one bomb erased 20%, and it was only the first bomb of the upcoming bombardment.

"So, they've returned to defend. I see..." Cato muttered. This was all rather unexpected.

"They're all here," Sonya reported. "What's our move?"

"Um, we..." Cato frowned. [I want to scream "RETREAT!!!", but should we, really? They'll chase us hard, I'm pretty sure. We won't be able to get out of here unscratched. And, we're already so close to winning...]

The enemy Colossus was down to 30% HP. Furthermore, allied minions were about to join the fray.

Truly, the team was a short distance away from finishing this game. But, should they really go for one extra final push under these harsh circumstances?

[Which one is Yuel's real trap?] Cato wondered. [Does he want us to push or retreat? I seriously can't tell.]

This entire scenario was one giant script Yuel wrote. He must've prepared for all the likely possibilities and adjusted his calls accordingly.

First, there was the unexpected backdoor that put the Leopards in a 50-50 situation: push or retreat. It seemed like a gamble, but Yuel probably analyzed both lines of play in depth.

At the time, retreating seemed like a bad choice because it was going to let the enemy get away with that backdoor for free. So naturally, pushing was the option that'll give Stratus the most trouble, right?

[Right, Will? Right!?] Cato felt like complaining to the one who steered the team in this direction. [But, I don't have the right to complain.]

Back then, Cato was stuck in analysis paralysis. So, William already did more than him by at least making some kind of call in that difficult situation.

[I have nobody to blame but myself.] Cato bit his lip. [And now, yet again, I'm wasting time because I can't come to a decision. Some pro-level shot-caller I am, haha...]

Unexpected situations like this were the worst. They were like an Achilles' heel in Cato's otherwise foolproof shot-calling.

He was always on top of things as long as he did his homework and prepared for all the likely lines of plays. But, once something completely unexpected happened - it threw him off his game in a big way. It was such a pain.

[I have to admit, Yuel planned all of this so damn well. That backdoor wasn't just some desperate attack. He was prepared to come back to defend from the get-go. He knew his team's advantages all too well.]

When it came to dominating the late-game, the Leopards were better equipped as a whole. They had a hyper-carry in Droid and a "one-shot" expert in Monk. With these two giant threats, merely allowing the Leopards to reach the late-game was almost as good as handing them the game.

Nonetheless, Stratus' team composition also had its own share of advantages. Most notably, their team fighting potential.

BAM! Another big bomb was launched into the air as if to agree with Cato's analysis. A second wave of the bombardment was coming!

[Curses! At least give me some time to think!]

This second bomb intended to drop in Cato's general area, aiming to hit him, Ronald, and William all at once. And, the radius of these atom bombs was nothing to sneeze at.

[But, I might make it out!] Cato dashed to the edge of the red zone.

There was no time to think about anything but evacuating as fast as possible. Getting hit a second time by this bomb would be far too devastating…!

These giant bombs weren't just regular bombs. They were actually a cluster of smaller bombs that were glued together into one big bomb.

Upon hitting an enemy, this cluster of bombs attached 2 Sticky Bombs to the target if they had less than that. This is how Cato ended up carrying two bombs on his chest right now.

Now, if another big bomb hits him, then all the Sticky Bombs on him will blow up, dealing extra damage.

[I believe I'll lose between 30% to 40% HP from this.] Cato gulped as he hurried to safety.

Fortunately, he wasn't the primary target of this second bombardment. He was rather far from the center of the red circle, so he managed to dash out of the area in time.

But, that begged the question: if Cato wasn't the primary target, then who was? A trivial question, of course.

Any half-competent team would choose to prioritize the same target in this situation: the hyper-carry!