With AbsoluteChallenger joining the battle in Mid, things turned for the worse for Yuel and Kai. Now, they found themselves falling behind in terms of clearing speed.

Therefore, Yuel had to launch a preemptive attack before the enemy push them back.

"I'd like to mess up the lane formation if you don’t mind,” Yuel said.

"By how much, exactly?" Kai asked.

"By as much as possible, to be honest. I want to get the minions outside the range of their AoE spells."

A duo of Aeromancer and Lumimancer was quite devastating when they joined hands to clear minions. Both of them summoned an AoE area that delivered damage over time. The Aeromancer cast his Whirlwind while the Lumimancer cast Ray of Light.

The two circles had similar radii, so they could’ve easily overlapped on top of each other to converge into one AoE. However, the enemy duo made things more complicated on purpose. They didn’t align their AoE at all.

Merlin cast his Whirlwind in the middle of the minion formation, right between the swordsmen and the bowmen. Meanwhile, Challenger cast his Ray of LIght on the frontline of both sides, dealing damage to Kai’s swordsmen while healing Merlin’s swordsmen.

Surely, they spread out their fire on purpose, to make it that much harder to approach anywhere near that scene. Therefore, Yuel absolutely had to ruin this setup before it had a chance to get out of hand.

"Well, we don’t really have a choice, do we?" Kai sighed.

"Will you be fine farming during chaos?"

“... yeah, no problem.” There was an odd pause at the start there, but Kai nonetheless continued reassuring. “C'mon, what do you take my Bomber for? I know how to play the class."

"Okay, then I’ll aggro them."

"Knock yourself out."

And so, Yuel cast Gaia’s Protection on himself and stepped into the raging whirlwind. The raging typhoon assaulted him at once, but it only burned away at his shield. Meanwhile, his HP remained perfectly intact.

Nonetheless, the allied minions didn't appreciate this interaction. They now treated Merlin as an offender who hurt one of their commanders, so this crime couldn't go unpunished.

And so, the minions shifted their focus toward the criminal mage. The entire brigade took their feet and hurried to invade enemy territory.

This turn of events immediately put the enemy on the spot.

"Not this shit again." Ronald sighed. "Man, this bruh just likes suiciding on spells. Word."

"It’s not a suicide if he doesn't take any damage," Matthew pointed out. "And, it's not a real problem as long as we stay in our current positions." 

Even though Stratus’ swordsmen marched onward, their bowmen trailed behind. As a result, they remained inside the AoE of the damaging spells for quite some time. So, they were bound to reach the Leopards’ territory with almost no HP, if any at all.

"We just need to get rid of the swordsmen," Matthew concluded.

"Yeah, let's kill these cocky dudes. Who do they think they are, invading against pros like us, right?" 

Matthew cast Jet Stream in front of them, creating a current of wind that blew in direction of the incoming minions.

With the preparations in place, the two of them focused their basic attacks on the incoming swordsmen. Unfortunately, they dealt meager damage.

"Man, mages' basic attacks suck!" Ronald pouted. "Buffs when, CashSoft?" 

Despite the low damage, this was the best tool they could use at the moment. Of course, Ronald could go for Blinding Light as he has done before in Bot, but that’ll be a huge MP sink. He has already learned the hard way how precious MP was during such exchanges.

Never again. Ronald vowed. I’m not gonna fall for this bruh’s tricks. He’s just trying to flush all my MP, right? Nuh-uh, ain’t gonna happen, bruh.

As such, Ronald and Matthew continued firing their underwhelming long-ranged basics. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work.

Compared to this slow and pitiful progression, the enemy side had plenty of burst damage potential. However, it was also very harder for them to properly farm amidst this chaos.

And, I can make it even harder for her. Matthew thought. You started this annoying play, so I’ll make sure it’s equally annoying for you, too.

And so, he set his little scheme into motion. In the meantime, the enemy Bomber was busy enough decorating minions with her bombs.

Tch, I’m not a fan of farming with Bomber during messes like this. Kai admitted. There’s too much shit to keep track of.

As always, she started off by attaching Sticky Bombs to the enemy swordsmen. However, this time, it was easier said than done.

The swordsmen didn’t just stand in one place like training dummies. Instead, they moved all over the place, chasing down Kai’s minions who were in the process of invading enemy territory.

And so, Kai had to constantly adjust her aim and position in order to properly land her Sticky Bombs on all the swordsmen. And, she had to do all of this as quickly as possible, before the older bombs detach.

Of course, landing basic attacks on moving minions wasn’t a real challenge by itself. Only a Bronze rank player would struggle with something as basic as that.

But, being a Bomber meant Kai had to dish out all these basic attacks one after another without rest. There was no time to carefully aim every attack at the minions, but missing shots wasn’t an option either.

Okay, almost done! Despite the hurry, Kai successfully covered two of the swordsmen with two Sticky Bombs. Now, only one more swordsman remained, but he was the farthest away from the bunch.

Come here, you little…! Kai gave chase. There was no time, dammit! She had to apply two Sticky Bombs on that guy ASAP and then blow up all the swordsmen with a Bouncy Bomb!

But, at the same time, she couldn’t rush things too much. It’d be pointless if she misses her shots in a hurry and fails to apply her Sticky Bombs.

Damn, why does it feel like this bastard is faster than other minions!? Kai ranted. It’s like he’s channeling his inner Sonic!

It was a real pain. That last swordsman she was dashing away at the speed of a real scumbag. Out of all her targets, only this last guy decided to be a huge pain in the ass. What was his agenda?

Is it because his target is moving? Kai examined everybody’s positions.

The same way Kai was currently chasing the enemy swordsman, that swordsman was also in the middle chasing one of Kai’s swordsmen. And, the allied swordsman in question was chasing one of the enemy players. It was quite the chain, alright.

So, it's because Merlin is moving in the opposite direction. Kai glared at that sneaky bastard, who was leading Kai's swordsmen diagonally away from her, which subsequently made the enemy minions also diagonally distance themselves from Kai.

Tch, what a pain. Kai clicked her tongue. He gotta be doing this on purpose, right? Yeah, I’m sure he is. I don’t care what anybody says, that’s my canon.

That Merlin bastard was an annoying tactician, so controlling the positions of minions wasn’t beyond him. But, Kai had no intention of letting this smartass play her for a fool.

Okay, done! Kai sighed in relief after finally attaching a second Sticky Bomb on the elusive swordsman. Now, it was time to wrap things up with a Bouncy Bomb, but...

Damn, they're too spread out! Kai clicked her tongue.

Decorating all the swordsmen with Sticky Bombs was the easy part. The real challenge was to find the optimal range and angle for unleashing Bouncy Bomb. It was a hundred times harder to do this optimally when the minions were on the move.

Worst of all, Kai didn't have much time. Sticky Bombs didn't stay attached forever, so they’ll start falling off in less than 2 seconds.

Is this angle good enough? No, maybe a little to the right... Damn, stop moving so much! Kai adjusted her aim time and again, but the situation kept changing before she could decide.

Before long, the dreadful sound cue played. CLACK. The first of the Sticky Bombs fell off. That was it. Kai ran out of time.

Damn, to hell with it! Kai unleashed Bouncy Bomb in the best direction she could come up with. This was going to be far from an ideal play, but it was better than nothing.

The bomb bounced, ramming into a single swordsman. BOOM! The Sticky Bombs exploded, yet remained attached to the swordsman.

Next, the Bouncy Bomb bounced again. It landed right between two swordsmen and hit neither.

Just great... Kai sulked

Fortunately, this wasn't the end of the Bouncy Bomb's adventure. It jumped for the third time, landing in the center of the enemy formation. Then, BOOM! The big bomb blew up.

The explosion grazed two swordsmen and one bowman. The swordsmen blew up hard due to the Sticky Bombs on them, but the bowman received minimal damage. All in all, this turned out to be a really shabby setup.

Yeah, Bomber is sure hard to use in chaotic situations like this. Kai conceded that much. No wonder Yuel asked if I was ready for this. I thought it'd be a cakewalk, but these damn swordsmen just keep moving around so much.

It's not like this was the first time Kai found herself playing Bomber in the middle of an active situation like this. However, the minions' movements here felt more obnoxious than usual. It's almost like they were moving away from Kai on purpose, to make her life as difficult as possible.

I’m like 99% convinced Merlin is leading them away on purpose. Or, am I overthinking it? Kai shook her head. There was no time for such idle thoughts right now. She had to focus on the remaining minions, as her Bouncy Bomb setup failed to eliminate any of them.

And so, the chaotic struggle continued. All allied minions invaded deep into enemy territory and the enemy greeted them with heavy fire from all directions. So, it was up to Kai and Yuel to provide covering fire.

In the end, both sides eliminated each other’s armies at around the same time. It was technically a draw, but not everybody saw it that way.

"Gah! I can't believe it!" Ronald caused a ruckus. "We lost!" 

"It’s a draw," Matthew said.

"Nah, man. We totally lost. I mean, look at us, we're two powerhouses. But, these guys? One of them is a Support."

"Well, pretty sure you're also a Support."

"Yeah, but man, I got a power build and all. I'm supposed to be dunking on any regular Support as far as damage goes."

"Well, you kinda do," Matthew said. "They just created a chaotic situation. Our classes aren't exactly the best with those."

"Yeah, for sure." Ronald nodded. "Damn, this Chessmaster bruh must be really into suiciding. He keeps jumping on people’s spells all the time."

"It's a common counter-play against AoE spells. Nothing special there."

If anything, it was surprising it took the enemy so long to start using this tech. In all the laning contests until now, Kai allowed Matthew to get away with lazy farming without forcing him into any annoying situations like this.

Well, I guess she also prefers to keep things simple as Bomber. Matthew didn't have robust experience with the class, but he played it enough times to form an option.

In short, playing Bomber was a pain. It was a class that had to take so many different things into account while preparing its setups, to the point it felt unrealistic to actually play it well on the competitive scene. Especially, not after Matthew learned a bunch of different ways to counter Bomber players.

The diagonal movement worked like a charm. Matthew nodded to himself.

Back during the chaos, he intentionally led the enemy minions diagonally away from Beat. As a result, Matthew’s own minions also gave chase in a diagonal direction that mimicked their targets’ movements.

Things like that always made the Bomber's life difficult, as the player had to give chase diagonally while firing basics. That surely wasn’t fun for them.

I remember Esmeralda showing me this before. Matthew thought back on his former mentor. I was trying out Bomber and she pulled this frustrating tactic on me. That was the day I decided I won't be maining Bomber, no thank you.

Esmeralda's playstyle revolved entirely around frustrating her opponents, and it so happened that Bomber was easy prey for her. Not only was it a mechanically taxing class, but it also had to deal with unfairly difficult situations like this. Honestly, it wasn't a class worth investing in.

I don't know if I should respect Beat for playing it or feel sorry for her. Matthew shrugged. Either way, I'll keep making her life as difficult as I can. That's how I was taught to play.

The next wave arrived. Both Ronald and Chessmaster stuck around in the lane, giving some space to William and Gunz to duke things out in Bot.

Is this wave also going to turn into a chaotic race like last time? Matthew made a face. Well, I don't mind. As long as I don't have to do anything too taxing, I'm good.

Ronald would disagree, but for Matthew, reaching a draw was more than enough here. As long as he didn't have to work too hard to achieve the draw, then it was pretty much a win in his book. Though, a real win would be even nicer, of course.

"Do you need a hand over there?" Cato asked.

"Nah, me and Matt are doing fine, right?" Ronald asked. "Let's show them who is boss this wave!" 

"Actually, I wouldn't mind some help."

"You what!?" Ronald gasped. "C'mon, man. This is a 2v2! Let's contest these guys and beat them fair and square!"

"3v2 is easier." Matthew shrugged. Easier = better. That was the core principle Matthew operated on.

But, it's not because he was lazy or anything like that. This principle was actually one of the most important laws of the universe. It could’ve easily been coined Newton’s Fourth Law.

The easier it was to accomplish something, the more consistently the player will be able to accomplish it. Basic math.

As such, any help would be welcome in this chaotic situation in Mid. The less uncertainty there was, the better.

“So yes, I’d like some help,” Matthew repeated.

“Alright, got it,” Cato responded. “I’ll rotate over there in a few seconds. Try to lure them in.”

“Then, it means one of us shouldn’t use their spell right away,” Matthew pointed out. “I'd like to go first if you don't mind.”

“No problem,” Ronald said.

Nice. I can have the easier part. Matthew cast Whirlwind on the incoming minion wave. This was the same pattern as before, so he didn’t have to do anything special.

“So,” Ronald said. “I’m gotta wait to see how they respond and then cast my stuff accordingly, that’s what you meant, right?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Matthew nodded. That’s such a pain, though. I prefer to just cast my thing and get this over with.

However, Ronald had no qualms about this arrangement. In fact, he seemed to enjoy this active role a lot more. Good for him.

With only Matthew’s spell doing any work right now, it meant the enemy should have an easy time winning this lane exchange. And, they surely realized that, too.

So, how will Chessmaster and Beat handle this temporary lane advantage? Will they choose to push onward? Or, will they see through this bait and decide to retreat?