Phew. That was close. Kai sighed in relief once the storm passed. One heartbeat 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 frowned. They 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 played this year. They exercised caution at every turn and turtled to no end.

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

Opponents 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 patience and perseverance, dealing with turtles wasn’t that hard. But, unfortunately, the story didn't end there.

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

In the end, no matter how patient a player was, turtling opponents were still infuriating to deal with. So, even while remaining patient, the aggressor would still be on the lookout for good opportunities to strike. And, the smarter turtles were perfectly aware of that.

So, these smartass turtles first starved their opponents and then threw them a bone. In the heat of the moment, this little bone looked so attractive that the player 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 such an obvious trap. Kai criticized herself. There’s no way in hell that players from the Leopards would show such an obvious tell.

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

On the other hand, Kai had almost no such experience to speak of. There weren’t many players like that in Ranked, and the few who turtled hard weren’t even that great at it.

So, on paper, Kai understood Yuel’s warnings and explanations during the club meetings. However, in practice, most of them failed to register properly.

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

Even in Challenger rank matches, few opponents were crafty enough to place baits like this. And, even when they did, Kai could never prepare for those ahead of time because she wasn’t familiar with her opponents. Unlike with competitive matches, there was no opportunity to research opponents ahead of time for Ranked matches, at least not in detail.

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 need to ignore the fact this guy is turtling super hard, that’s just him trying to get on my nerves. The only thing I really need to worry about is the traps he’s going to plant.

This was such an annoying situation. Basically, Kai had to question every single move her opponent made because every opening had the potential to be a trap. But then, how was it even possible to get anything started against opponents 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 done. These guys were experts in their field, whereas Kai was but an amateur at detecting 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 and entered the jungle before even receiving a reply.

"Are you really coming 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 was properly holding the upper hand against Merlin, she hasn’t made any substantial progress. The enemy tower still stood strong at 98% HP, which was laughable compared to how much lane control Kai supposedly had.

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

"... fine, you can come." Kai sighed. At this point, Yuel’s explanation sounded like a formality. It’s not like Kai had any real say on the matter, that’s how it felt.

Well, it's not like I'm THAT against it. Kai sulked. I just wanted to get things done on my own. I mean, I'm sure I can 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 approaching 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 different methods, so the solution would probably have to wait for the next game. So irritating.

"Well, it’s fine that you’re coming and all," Kai said. "But, don't expect us to get much done. This guy is a turtling fanatic."

"Yes, that's how it seems. He won't come out of his shell, so we have to bring 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 plan. In fact, she was even a little eager to launch this united attack against the damn turtle.

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

I mean, that part is still true. Kai thought. I CAN handle this myself just fine. That turtle got nothing on me.

Even without Yuel’s help, Kai would’ve continued dominating the lane 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 lane. He came right in time for the next 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 enemy territory. From this position, both the enemy swordsmen and bowmen were within her reach.

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

Here goes! Kai threw a bomb at the first swordsman, placing a Sticky Bomb on him. This signaled the beginning of the advanced lane clearing tech.

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

But, I practiced it enough. Kai flung one bomb after another. Each bomb 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.

C'mon, I can do this. Kai's palms shivered a little as she turned her attention to the bowmen next.

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 advanced technique. When executed flawlessly, this version greatly boosted the Bomber's clearing speed. It was even possible to wipe out the entire lane in one fell swoop!

It'll be hella 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 play will fall apart if I miss even one shot. Kai gulped. I'll become a laughingstock 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 countless 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 commit. These bastards might even burst out in loud laughter in response to Kai’s mistakes, just like these background laughs in comedy shows.

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

"You won't make it," Yuel warned.

CLACK. Something got detached and fell to the ground.

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

CLACK. Another bomb fell off in the meantime. The entire setup was crumbling apart!

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

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

After one round of explosions, the Bouncy Bomb jumped again. However, it jumped only a small distance, so it triggered the Sticky Bombs on the two swordsmen once again.

And then, there was the last 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 seconds, so that was the short window of time in which Kai had to cover the entire enemy wave with bombs. Alas, 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 end result wasn't so terrible. Her setup successfully eliminated two swordsmen and two bowmen. And, even the one swordsman who survived was at low HP, despite only being hit by Bouncy Bomb’s jumps and explosions, which normally dealt little damage.

Actually, that's weird. Kai realized. I know I shot this guy twice and 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 complaining, but... She took a moment to consider the possibilities.

Clearly, she wasn't responsible for all this damage by herself. So, Yuel must have contributed 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 contribute that much damage in such a short period of time.

Unless he focused on this specific swordsman from the get-go. Kai realized. He must've aimed ALL his basics only on this one guy. He knew. 

Instead of spreading his shots equally across all enemy minions, Yuel concentrated 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 covering 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 play alongside an attentive Support like that. If only Yuel agreed to play Support for Kai in Bot, then he would’ve surely helped her shine in that role and carry games. 

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

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

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