The Human Shield

Yuel focused almost entirely on dealing with Kai during the early-game. And, he also got to gank Mid so there was some action there too. But, how were things going in Top? Nothing seemed to be happening over there.

Every time Yuel checked the mini-map, he immediately disregarded the situation in Top as "nothing of interest" and went on with his business. Neither Ben nor his opponent was controlling the lane, neither of them got into fights and there weren't any serious ganks coming their way. It was a chill and isolated laning phase for those two.

"So, tell me," Vincent came close. "How are you liking Ben's performance this game?"

"It's hard to say," Yuel answered. "He's not doing anything wrong, but he's not winning anything either."

"Yes, exactly!" Vincent's voice boomed. "He is the Eternal Peacemaker! He has the ability to negate all conflicts on the lane to have a peaceful laning phase with any opponent!"

"So, he's good at freezing lanes," Yuel translated that to human language. Vincent's eccentric description aside, the meat of his words seemed to be right on the money.

Yuel couldn't analyze Ben's playstyle in detail from across the map, but it felt like Ben was playing in a way that demotivated conflict. Ben always stayed far enough from the enemy to show he had no intention of going on the offensive. On top of that, the distance discouraged the opponent from aggressing on Ben because any assault felt like it'd require a great commitment that might result in overextension. So, most likely, that's why the enemy avoided confrontation.

At first glance, none of this looked particularly special. It was common for Top Lane to progress slowly and methodically. There was a reason players often joked about being "stuck" in Top as if it was a jail.

But, considering Vincent went out of his way to come up with a silly nickname like "Eternal Peacemaker" for Ben, it implied Ben had a knack for creating a stalemate against many opponents. If so, it was an interesting technique to examine. How often did it work? Was it something Ben did on purpose or by nature? The answers should reveal themselves as they keep playing together.

The team gained many kills during the early game so victory was all but assured. They were leading in every possible area: exp, gold, and map control. They even rotated to Top as a gang and smashed the status quo over there by pushing all the way to the enemy Golem.

Nevertheless, the game reached the team-fighting phase because the enemy was stubborn. This is where the mid-game began and mistakes became way more critical. And, unfortunately, the team in the lead wasn't immune to committing such grave mistakes...

"Okay, let's go!" Lars exclaimed. "I'mma push Top all the way to the win!"

"Wait, they might-"

"Let's goooo!" Lars opened an attack against the enemy Sorcerer. The Top Golem was down and only one enemy was defending the lane. So, it was a great opportunity to push hard, yo! He gonna kick this Sorcerer outta here and push all the way to- oh, crap! A wild Vampire appeared!

The Vampire released a horde of bats. That stuff was bad! It gonna blind and slow and stuff! Lars rolled away as fast as humanly possible and just barely dodged that stuff. Phew, he was safe!

Okay, not really. It was a 1v2 situation and the enemies were coming right at him!

"I told you to not rush it," Yuel made a face. "I hope you know what you have to do here."

"Of course," Lars nodded. "Gotta take 'em both down, yo!"

"Really now."

"Haha, just kidding ya," Lars blinked away with Thunderclap. "I'mma retreat like a good boy."

"Good," Yuel said so but immediately changed his mind when a giant bat rammed into Lars. "Actually, not good. Not good at all."

The giant bat turned back into the Vampire and held Lars in place to suck the goof's blood. Meanwhile, the Sorcerer caught up and unleashed Magie Orb on the immobile goof. The magical orb deleted 20% of Lars's HP and slowed him down.

"These guys are serious," Lars cracked a dry laugh. "Okay, here goes nothing!" He activated Thunderstorm ahead of himself and dashed through it. The enemy won't dare to step into that storm of damage so he might gain some distance.

Unfortunately, he was already down to just 25% HP. Just a couple of basic attacks from these dudes and they gonna finish him off. The situation was wack and there ain't nothing he could do about it.

[Okay, then I'mma dodge all their shots- aiya!] A bat rammed into him as soon as he formed that thought. This was bad! They gonna barrage him down! He gotta slip away somehow!

Thanks to the slowdown the Sorcerer inflicted on him, both pursuers caught up in no time and got Lars within their firing range. He juked some of their shots by zigzagging around but that was no more than a momentary delay for them. They kept landing shots and Lars already dropped all the way to 5%. He was so dead, yo!

But, at that moment, a savior appeared! A big armored dude greeted Lars from the jungle. It was Ben!

"Yo, Ben, my dude!" Lars called out. "Can ya get these two off me?"

"E-Eh?" Ben jumped from the sudden attention directed at him. "Um, yeah, I'll do my best."

[This will come down to the wire.] Yuel thought. A Vanguard could get Lars out of this sticky situation but it required the Vanguard player to have the right mindset for this operation. Namely, a mindset of self-sacrifice.

Could Ben pull this off? Yuel considered giving them specific orders that'll salvage the situation for sure but ultimately decided against it. This was a great opportunity to test Ben's mettle and mentality. Since the guy picked Vanguard, he had to be able to play the part. As such, there was only one thing Yuel was willing to do for them to make this play a little easier.

"Ben, I'm rotating over there with Luke," Yuel informed. "So, no need to be afraid of engaging the enemy."

"T-Thank you," Ben still sounded pressured by this situation but, nevertheless, he went ahead to engage the enemy.

First, Ben activated his ult, "Hold the Line!", to mitigate the damage dealt to Lars. The Vampire landed the decisive shot that should have killed Lars, but the defensive aura cut the shot's damage by more than half. Thanks to that, Lars was still alive and clung to the few remaining pixels of HP on his life bar.

But, Lars wasn't out of the woods yet. Another killing shot was incoming! This time, from the Sorcerer. This attack will kill even with mitigated damage, so it was up to Ben to judge the situation correctly and react to it.

Did Ben have what it took to shut down this play? It'll be fine if he didn't have the mastery to pull off the right play in such a clutch situation, but it'll be interesting to see whether Ben at least had the right idea in mind.

And, indeed, Ben had it. He stepped in between Lars and the Sorcerer without hesitation. The decisive killing shot smashed into Ben without reaching its intended target. It was a beautiful body-block!

[So, he got it.] Yuel nodded. That body-block was a self-sacrificial play that required Ben to be comfortable with putting himself on the line for his teammates even during stressful situations like these. This body-block play had to be the first thing on Ben's mind for him to be able to pull it off in a timely fashion like this.

"There it is!" Vincent made some noise. "The Invincible Human Shield! No attacks shall reach you when the Human Shield is there to protect you! You saw that!?"

"Yes, I saw," Yuel said.

"Isn't it amazing!? In such a tight situation, during such a critical time, the Invincible Human Shield is keeping his teammate alive against the enemy's fatal blows!"

"Yes, yes. You can pipe down now," Yuel shook his head. It felt like Vincent was desperately trying hard to make Yuel see Ben in a more positive light. That was so unnecessary.

By now, the negative first impression of Ben being the "delinquent who skips practice" vanished without a trace. A player, who could put himself on the line for his teammates in the heat of the moment, couldn't possibly be some selfish delinquent who didn't take the game seriously. There must have been some good reason why Ben skipped the first few days of practice and that's why Kai and Vincent let it slide.

Unfortunately, the danger hasn't passed yet. Lars was still at death's door with enemies chasing him. However, from this position, things should be much more straightforward for Ben.

Ben activated Provoke to shift the Vampire and Sorcerer's attention to himself. While the enemies were busy shooting Ben, Lars successfully slipped away. That left Ben behind in a 1v2 situation but Yuel and Luke were right around the corner to help.

Yuel originally gave Ben the heads up about the incoming backup just to make sure Ben won't be afraid of using Provoke in a 1v2 situation. However, turned out it was unnecessary. Ben properly understood that, in situations like these, he should be willing to become a disposable pawn if it meant saving a teammate with DPS.

As promised, Yuel and Luke ganked the lane and got a kill on the Sorcerer. Unfortunately, none of them was a damage dealer because Luke was memeing with Druid, so they couldn't finish off the Vampire. Oh well.

"Good job, my dudes," Lars gave a thumbs.

"What do you mean 'good job'?" Yuel narrowed his eyes. "You almost died and dragged Ben down with you."

"Haha, I guess."

"Don't you 'haha' me. I'm adding this match to the list of matches we're reviewing this weekend."

"Welp, RIP my weekend, haha..." Lars scratched his head. "But hey, it all turned out fine in the end, right? We got a kill and I got away alive-" Just as he started saying that, a mounted knight charged at him! It was the enemy Knight on his steed!

"Oh, crap!" Lars was just about to recall to base but these dudes refused to give him a break! "Gotta get the heck out!"

Alas, there was no chance for him to outrun the horse...

『An ally has been killed!』

"Haha, whoops," Lars scratched his head. "Maybe I shouldn't have pushed Top back there after all."

"You don't say," Yuel made a face. "You should be grateful you survived for as long as you did."

"Yesh, ya right," Lars turned to Ben. "Thanks a lot for the help, dude. Saved my butt back there."

"Sorry," Ben hung his head. "You still died."

"Nah, it's okay. It was all my fault anyway. Ya did all you could."

[Ben really did well.] Yuel silently agreed. He had to see more before passing judgment but, so far, Ben was proving himself as a solid Top Laner.

Will Vincent be able to top this impressive performance? It'll be interesting to see. For now, Yuel was favoring Ben over Vincent for Top, if only because Vincent was a thousand times louder.

In the end, despite Lars's mess up, the team still maintained the momentum it created during the early game and pushed toward victory with ease. Once the game was over, Yuel suggested Ben and Vincent to switch.

"Ah, but..." Ben stuttered. "I understand." He slowly got up from his chair with the face of an abused pug.

"I'm fine with letting Ben play today", Vincent said. "I'll just commentate and help you guys out."

"You don't want to play?" Yuel asked.

"Of course I do. But, Ben missed a couple of days of training so I think it's a good idea to let him play a little more."

"Hmm, that's true," Yuel agreed reluctantly. He really wanted to compare how Ben and Vincent played Top but there was no reason to rush it.

"Um, it's okay," Ben sheepishly spoke up and motioned at the chair. "You should play. It's my fault I missed training."

"C'mon, that's not really..." Vincent didn't finish the sentence. He just glanced away with an awkward expression and let the silence sink in.

"Besides," Ben smiled wryly. "Yuel is asking you to play instead, so he must be thinking I'm baggage to the team."

"That's not true at all," Yuel was quick to shoot down that absurd misunderstanding. Thinking about it, he didn't convey his intentions properly when he asked Ben to step down. So, maybe Ben just assumed the worst due to his timid personality.

"You actually played very well," Yuel said.

"R-Really?" Ben jumped as if it was a shocker.

"Yeah, dude!" Lars smacked Ben on the shoulder. "You were sick that game! Also, just so ya know, it's super mega ultra rare for Yuel to praise anybody so it means you were totally lit!"

"T-Thanks," Ben shook for a moment from Lars's smack but tired to put on a smile nonetheless. Yuel perfectly understood that feeling. This technique of a smack on the back, invented by Trever and inherited by Lars, was cursed. It packed so much positive friendly energy that it hurt. Like, a lot.

"You really played well," Yuel repeated to make sure there were no further misunderstandings. "I only suggested you switch out because I want to see how Vincent plays Top, that's all."

"So, you wanted to compare the two future candidates for Top, right?" Vincent wore a meaningful smile.

[This guy and his big mouth!] Yuel felt exposed. He was trying to be careful with his wording but this needlessly observant clown exposed his hidden agenda! Ughhhh!

"What does that mean?" Kai turned to Yuel. "You're planning to switch to Support?"

"Well, I'm still considering a lot of things," Yuel gave the most evasive answer that came to mind.

"Is that so," Kai dropped the topic. It seemed like Vincent's implications flew way over her head.

"You want to take my Support spot?" Vincent asked. "Please, by all means. I'll even pay you for it."

"Wow," Yuel smirked. This was an opportunity to pay back that clown. "You hate supporting Kai so much you'd rather pay me to get away?"

"Huh, is that so?" Kai shot Vincent a look.

"Ahahaha," Vincent produced a long hollow laugh. "Didn't know Yuel was such a jester. Maybe he got the Mystic Mouth of Jesting Perception and I didn't notice!"

"You didn't answer the question," Kai pointed out.

"Right, I didn't answer the question..." Vincent shifted his eyes around as if searching for an excuse he hid somewhere in the room. "What I was trying to say is that Yuel is a much better Support than me, so I rather have him play Support for the team. I meant I'd be willing to throw money at him if it meant increasing the team's chances of winning the regionals."

"Is that so," Kai nodded with her usual stoic expression. Did she really buy that? Impossible to tell. At least, she dropped the subject at that.

["How do you like the payback?"] Yuel silently threw the question at Vincent.

["My bad. I won't bring this up again."] Vincent seems to imply something along these lines with his apologetic bow.

With that, Yuel's secret agenda of taking over Bot with Lars remained a secret. Well, everybody must have realized these two were shooting for it, but Yuel didn't want to constantly remind them about it. For now, he and Lars will lie low and play by Kai's rules. Then, once the opportunity presents itself, they'll take the Bot roles for themselves in one fell swoop!