78 The Hungry Jungler (1/2)

The match gradually transitioned toward the mid-game. Yuel's team was leading with a 2-0 in terms of kills, one kill by Lars and one kill by Roi. The kill count alone usually didn't tell the entire story unless there was a huge lead but, in this case, it was a fairly accurate representation of the game's state: Yuel's team was in a superior position.

[Not enough.] Yuel knitted his brows. It's great they scored two kills during the early-game, but the pace slowed down ever since.

Howard and Ellen fortified their defenses and Yuel couldn't find another opportunity to set up a kill. The Impulse Bomb play worked splendidly for the first time, but it won't work again. Likewise, Gregory turtled up in Top Lane after his first death. As a result, Roi couldn't score any additional kills.

To be absolutely sure the team will dominate mid-game, Yuel wanted at least one more kill. The damage outputs of both Trickshooter and Dark Knight dropped off during mid-game, so another kill by Lars or Roi was needed to compensate for that. It was especially important in Dark Knight's case, which was a hyper early-game class.

But, how to get this one more kill? The enemy's defense was tight, as expected from a team led by Howard. With Howard playing in Bot, it was a given that killing Ellen would be difficult. However, even Gregory did a spectacular job staying alive while maintaining minimal lane control, despite playing on the other side of the map.

Was Gregory always this good at defense? No, it must have been Howard's influence. Howard knew that Roi would destroy Gregory if they clashed on the lane, so he must have trained Gregory to turtle efficiently. Though, it was unclear why Gregory didn't employ this defensive playstyle right from the start. Did he think he could beat Roi in 1v1 and that made him go against Howard's orders?

Either way, Top was sealed against kills. Yuel sent Dan to gank the lane a few times, but that approach didn't see much success. Venomancer wasn't exactly the best at finishing off weakened opponents, his specialty lied in demolishing tanks. Therefore, even though Yuel coordinated Dan's ganks to strike at the best timing possible, Gregory always slipped away.

[Is that also Howard's work?] Yuel pondered. Gregory's defense improved leaps and bounds during this short week, but that wasn't enough time to develop such acute decision-making. Howard must have been the one issuing the timely retreat orders for Gregory.

It seemed unlikely anybody would be able to score any kills in Top any time soon. Likewise, getting another kill in Bot seemed like a lost cause as long as Howard was there. Thus, only Mid Lane remained.

While Gregory was turtling, Roi rotated to Mid a few times. That was one of the most efficient responses against overly defensive opponents. While Gregory was busy clearing the remains of the minion wave, Roi had the freedom to leave the lane and either steal camps or gank other lanes. Mid Lane was the closest, so Roi ganked Gilbert.

Unfortunately, it never led to a kill because Gilbert was always prepared. One moment, Gilbert was aggressively pushing against Julia, but the next moment he was already retreating. As a player who boasted a great balance of offense and defense, Gilbert was capable of quickly switching gears from offense to defense and vice-versa. It's like he just pressed a button and his entire playstyle did a 180.

So, it was virtually impossible to catch Gilbert off-guard without some elaborate trick. Yuel had a few ideas in mind.

”Roi, let's try the Recall Feint.”

”Lol, starting the mind games? Ok, ok. love this one.” Roi dialed his aggression up to eleven and pressured Gregory with everything he had. It wasn't a very effective approach against a turtling opponent, but the goal wasn't to kill Gregory. Roi just had to exhaust his own resources.

”Julia,” Yuel pinged the map. ”Place a Sentry here and see if they got any Wards.”

”Just a sec,” Julia did as she was told and placed a Sentry Ward. As Yuel suspected, there was an enemy Ward there. Julia cleared it with a single basic attack.

Good, the ”Recall Feint” was ready to go. The preparations for this play were on the costly side, but it'll be worth it if Roi can score another kill.

”Okay, I'm ready,” Roi called out. ”Let's see if this works.” He retreated just enough to stay at the edge of Gregory's field of vision and formed a magical circle. It was the familiar animation for the Recall skill which sent players back to base.

”Roi is recalling,” Gregory announced and sighed in relief. That recent hyper-aggression from Roi was nothing to sneeze at. Even while turtling like some wuss, Gregory found himself pressured by Roi's relentless attacks. That was some scary shit, it might even keep Gregory awake at night, kek.

But, that's behind him now. With Roi gone from the lane, Gregory could also recall now. At least, after he clears all these pesky enemy minions...

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”Wha!?” Gilbert exclaimed a moment later. A thunderstorm formed in Mid Lane! Bolts struck from the sky!

[Her ult!? Why now? But, I can get away.] Gilbert rolled out of the range of Thunderstorm after two bolts struck him. ”Julia's ult is down. Not sure why she even went for it, maybe a misclick.”

”Interesting,” Howard narrowed his eyes. Julia has been playing defensively until now, so why cast Thunderstorm out of blue? Gilbert wasn't low enough to get killed by two hits of Thunderstorm and Julia wasn't exactly in a great position to follow up with another attack. Sure, she dealt decent damage with this play and Gilbert will have to play more cautiously for a while, but that wasn't a good payoff for spending such a powerful AoE ult.

[Did she want to force Gil out of position?] Howard scanned the area around Gilbert's escape path. Maybe it wasn't a very important detail, but Julia cast her Thunderstorm at the bottom half of the lane. As a result, the top half was the most logical place for Gilbert to flee towards.

Was there anything around Top Jungle? A Ward revealed Dan in Bot Jungle just recently, so there was no way he'll gank from Top Jungle. Yuel and Lars were right in Howard's face in Bot Lane, so they had nothing to do with this situation either.

And the last suspect, Roi, just recalled to base. He already bought Blink, so it's extremely unlikely he could afford Teleport on top of that. Therefore, Roi had no way to... wait.

”Gil,” Howard pinged the map. ”What happened to the ward over there?”

”Julia took it out a short time ago. I didn't have the chance to replace it yet.”

[Julia placed a Sentry over there? On top of all the other wards, she has been spreading everywhere?] Howard found this odd.

The Sentry Ward in question was close to Top, in an area which should have been outside Julia's jurisdiction. The Ward which Gilbert originally placed there was supposed to warn him against rotations from Top that may catch him off-guard from behind. However, for Julia, having a Ward over there didn't severe much purpose. Knowing her tendency to ward every nook and cranny, she must have already placed better wards all over the place.

Hrm. Between this odd Sentry Ward near Top Lane and Julia's sudden aggression which pushed Gilbert toward Top Jungle... Wait, it couldn't be! Was this one of Yuel's tricks!?

”Gil, retreat! I think Roi is rotating.”

”But, I told ya,” Gregory intervened. ”Roi recalled to base”

”Did you see him actually finish the recall?”

”Yep, I saw him vanish and all.”

”From what distance?”

”Huh?”

”From what distance did you watch him!?”

”Um, he was kinda far away...” Gregory adjusted his glasses. What was this about anyway?

”Then,” Howard's expression turned grim. ”There's a chance he blinked instead of finishing the recall. From far away, you won't hear Blink's sound and it won't look any different from vanishing because of Recall. Gil, retreat!”

”Already started,” Gilbert was in the middle of dashing toward his side of the lane. Alas, the response was too slow - Roi was already here! As the feared, he didn't recall after all. It was a Recall Feint!

”Tai,” Howard called out. ”Get to Mid and help Gil deal with Roi.”

”Gotcha, fam!”

[This will be rough.] Gilbert grimaced in front of the Dark Knight. Roi only had 30% HP and 20% MP, which was a believable reason for recalling to base. However, at the same time, it was also more than enough resources for a Dark Knight to finish off a squishy mage during the early game.

Gilbert absolutely couldn't die here. Feeding the Dark Knight even a little would spell doom for the entire team. He had to get out. Now.