Phew. That was close. Kai sighed in relief ohe storm passed. Obeat too slow and that Lionfolk would’ve crashed right into her. She could’ve died right there and then.

  It was totally a trap, huh. Kai frowhey tried to make it look like a good opportunity to push, only to surprise me with that shit. What a nasty duo.

  That's how the majority of the Leopards pyed this year. They exercised caution at every turn and turtled to no end.

  However, amidst the turtling, they also id out deadly traps like this. It was a strategy that revolved around frustrating pyers, that's how Yuel analyzed it during club meetings.

  Oppos who turtled were irritating by design. Whenever Kai faced one, she had this irresistible urge to tear off their shell and kick their ass!

  And, these scammy turtles waited for Kai to make that mistake. They expected her to overextend and screw herself over.

  But, I’m not falling for that nonsense. Kai asserted. I know I have to patiently wait for a real opportunity, not create one by force.

  With enough patiend perseverance, dealing with turtles wasn’t that hard. But, unfortunately, the story didhere.

  In the same way good pyers adapted to the turtles, the sliest turtles also upgraded their methods. They realized that good pyers could exercise patience, so the turtles had to y out more attractive baits.

  In the end, no matter how patient a pyer was, turtling oppos were still infuriating to deal with. So, even while remaining patient, the aggressor would still be on the lookout food opportuo strike. And, the smarter turtles were perfectly aware of that.

  So, these smartass turtles first starved their oppos and then threw them a bone. In the heat of the moment, this little bone looked so attractive that the pyer would leap on it without thinking twice. And, that’s exactly how Kai fell into their trap.

  If I just stopped to think about it for a moment, it was su obvious trap. Kai criticized herself. There’s no way ihat pyers from the Leopards would show su obvious tell.

  Yuel even warned everybody against traps like that. Apparently, he and Lars had lots of experience pying against crafty oppos like that in StormBlitz.

  Oher hand, Kai had almost no such experieo speak of. There weren’t many pyers like that in Ranked, and the few who turtled hard weren’t even that great at it.

  So, on paper, Kai uood Yuel’s warnings and expnations during the club meetings. However, in practice, most of them failed tister properly.

  It’s one of these things that sounds logical when somebody expins it to you, but then you fet most of it because you’ve never got to experie for yourself.

  Even in Challenger rank matches, few oppos were crafty enough to pce baits like this. And, evehey did, Kai could never prepare for those ahead of time because she wasn’t familiar with her oppos. Uh petitive matches, there was no opportunity to research oppos ahead of time for Ranked matches, at least not iail.

  So, it looks like I’ll have to get used to these traps through this game. Kai took a deep breath and steeled herself. I o ighe fact this guy is turtling super hard, that’s just him trying to get on my he only thing I really o worry about is the traps he’s going to pnt.

  This was su annoying situation. Basically, Kai had to question every single move her oppo made because every opening had the potential to be a trap. But then, how was it even possible to get anything started against oppos like that…?

  I guess I just have to git gud and learn how to spot these traps. That was the only way, but it was easier said than dohese guys were experts in their field, whereas Kai was but an amateur at deteg traps, at least for now. So, she was clearly at a huge disadvantage here.

  But, for the better or the worse, she didn't have to deal with this problem all by herself for much longer.

  "I'll rotate to Mid," Yuel announced out of the blue aered the jungle before even receiving a reply.

  "Are you really ing over here?" Kai asked. "I'm not struggling here or anything, just so you know."

  "Yes, but you’re not making much progress either."

  "That's... fair, I guess." Kai grumped.

  Yuel hit nail on the head. Even though Kai had the early-game advantage as a Bomber and she roperly holding the upper hand against Merlin, she hasn’t made any substantial progress. The eower still stood strong at 98% HP, which was ughable pared to how mue trol Kai supposedly had.

  "I'll help you push a little so you get some momentum," Yuel expined.

  "... fine, you e." Kai sighed. At this point, Yuel’s expnation sounded like a formality. It’s not like Kai had any real say oter, that’s how it felt.

  Well, it's not like I'm THAT against it. Kai sulked. I just wao get things done on my own. I mean, I'm sure I find a way to crack this damn turtle, but who knows how long it gonna take. Maybe it won't even happen during this game...

  The game was already fast approag the mid-game, yet Kai still hasn’t discovered a single way to pierce through Merlin’s wall of defense. Soon enough, she’d run out of time for testing differehods, so the solution would probably have to wait for the game. So irritating.

  "Well, it’s fihat you’re ing and all," Kai said. "But, don't expect us to get much dohis guy is a turtling fanatic."

  "Yes, that's how it seems. He won't e out of his shell, so we have t the fight to him."

  "I like the sound of that." Kai nodded.

  In the end, despite her initial resistance, Kai decided to go along with the pn. In fact, she was even a little eager to unch this utack against the damn turtle.

  In the past, Kai would have surely argued far mainst this. She would’ve cimed she “handle everything herself” and would’ve refused Yuel’s help.

  I mean, that part is still true. Kai thought. I hahis myself just fihat turtle got nothing on me.

  Even without Yuel’s help, Kai would’ve tinued dominating the ne just fine. But, at what cost? At this rate, it was clear she wouldn't make much progress by herself.

  Therefore, Kai needed a little help to get her momentum going. But, just a little, okay? She was doing just fine by herself, but it won’t hurt to get a little bit of help and speed things up. Yeah.

  Before long, Yuel arrived at the ne. He came right in time for the minion wave.

  "Alright," Kai started. "I'll go for the more advanced push this time, so watch my back."

  "I have no problem with that, but are you sure? It's not easy to pull off."

  "Hah, just watch." Kai stepped into eerritory. From this position, both the enemy swordsmen and bowmen were within her reach.

  This was a dangerous py to do under normal circumstances, as the possibility of an ining gank was ever-present. However, with an allied Druid on the should be easy enough to fend off any ining attack, if the enemy even had the balls to uny in the first pce.

  Here goes! Kai threw a bomb at the first swordsman, pg a Sticky Bomb on him. This sighe beginning of the advane clearing tech.

  Admittedly, Kai didn't have too much experience pulling this off in actual matches. This tech required extending into eerritory, so it was only possible to execute when Kai had a trusty ally in ne, which was rare during the early-game.

  But, I practiced it enough. Kai flung one bomb after another. Eab hit a swordsman and glued itself to the target.

  So far, this opening was exactly the same as her previous farming routine. Kai always decorated the swordsmen first, as they were usually the only targets she could safely reach with her basic attacks.

  But, from this position, things were different. Right now, the enemy bowmen were also within her reach.

  , I do this. Kai's palms shivered a little as she turned her attention to the bowme.

  It'd be so easy to just blow up the swordsmen now and then manually clear out the bowmen, but Kai insisted to go all the way with the advaeique. Wheed fwlessly, this versioly boosted the Bomber's clearing speed. It was even possible to wipe out the entire ne in one fell swoop!

  It'll be hel embarrassing if I fail, though. Kai threw every bomb with great care toward the faraway bowmen. They were harder targets to hit from this distance, so Kai had to be extra careful to not miss any shots.

  The entire py will fall apart if I miss even one shot. Kai gulped. I'll bee a ughingstock if that happens.

  It was still fine when only her teammates saw her failing. Like, it wasn’t REALLY fine, but it was tolerable, at least.

  But, this situation was different. There were tless eyes on Kai right now, following her every move. The audience was filled with strangers who’ll judge her harshly for any time mistake she it. These bastards might even burst out in loud ughter in respoo Kai’s mistakes, just like these background ughs in edy shows.

  I-It's okay. Kai steeled herself. I'll get this do’s easy. I just gotta do it carefully.

  "You won't make it," Yuel warned.

  CLACK. Something got detached ao the ground.

  Shit! They’re already falling off! Kai celed her attack recovery into a Dodge Roll and moved in front of the swordsmen.

  CLACK. Another bomb fell off in the meahe eup was crumbling apart!

  There's no time! Let’s go! Kai tossed the Bounb in a hurry.

  The big bomb nded in front of the swordsmen and blew them up, all except for the rightmost swordsman. The Sticky Bombs fell off the guy, so the Bounb didn’t trigger any explosions on him.

  After one round of explosions, the Bounb jumped again. However, it jumped only a small distance, so it triggered the Sticky Bombs owo swordsmen once again.

  And then, there was the st hop. BOOM! The bomb blew up, triggering both the swordsmen and bowmen’s Sticky Bombs!

  Though Kai’s execution was far from perfect, this was the essence of the advanced Bomber tech: cover everybody in Sticky Bombs and blow them up all at once! Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

  The Sticky Bombs didn't stay attached forever. They automatically fell off after 4 seds, so that was the short window of time in which Kai had to cover the entire enemy wave with bombs. As, she was too slow this time.

  Damn, I usually do better than this when I practice. Kai cursed internally. I guess I got a little nervous.

  Ironically, being too careful about not messing up was exactly what made her mess up. She took her sweet time aiming at the bowmen to make sure she didn’t miss any shots, and that was her undoing. I should've fired faster, dammit.

  With that said, the e wasn't so terrible. Her setup successfully elimiwo swordsmen and two bowmen. And, even the one swordsman who survived was at low HP, despite only being hit by Bounb’s jumps and explosions, whially dealt little damage.

  Actually, that's weird. Kai realized. I know I shot this guy twid the bomb hit him three times, but that shouldn’t have dealt so much damage.

  In fact, the swordsman was at such low HP that Kai eliminated him in just two more basic attacks. It was odd.

  I mean, I'm not pining, but... She took a moment to sider the possibilities.

  Clearly, she wasn't responsible for all this damage by herself. So, Yuel must have tributed with his basic attacks.

  However, as a Support, Yuel’s basic attacks were even weaker than Kai's. So, there was no way he could easily tribute that much damage in such a short period of time.

  Unless he focused on this specifian from the get-go. Kai realized. He must've aimed ALL his basily on this one guy. He knew.

  Instead of spreading his shots equally across all enemy minions, Yuel trated his fire only on the minion Kai attacked first. Logically, this was the target Kai was most likely to mess up with because the Sticky Bombs were bound to detach from him first. In other words, Yuel was c up for Kai’s most probably fail.

  Damn, I really hate this smartass sometimes. Kai smiled wryly. He just knows everything, huh.

  It always felt good to py alongside an attentive Support like that. If only Yuel agreed to py Support for Kai in Bot, then he would’ve surely helped her shine in that role and carry games.

  Oh well. No use g over spilled milk. Kai shrugged. He’s supp me here right now, so I gotta take advantage of this and push!

  Despite the hiccups, Kai and Yuel elimihe entire enemy army quite swiftly. Now, it was finally time for Kai to press the offense against her turtling oppo!

  But, will the enemy allow su attack to pass through...?

  DarkestCymore