『An allied Turret has been destroyed!』

The Leopards’ Bot Turret crumbled to pieces. It happened in a blink of an eye.

One moment, Beat was pushing Bot alone. The next moment, Chessmaster and Gunz joined the offense and made quick work of the tower.

By the time William and Ronald finished rotating from Top to Mid to join the next big push, the tower in Bot was already gone. The team had no time to respond to this play at all.

“Whoa, these mad lads!” Ronald exclaimed. “Did they teleport there!? Wild shit!”

“And, it looks like they plan to keep pushing,” William added.

“Pft, haha!” Ronald laughed. “Are they seriously trying to backdoor us?”

“It sure seems that way,” Sonya replied. “And, they might actually have enough manpower to brute force it. How do we respond?”

Everybody turned their eyes on Cato, the captain. As the shot-caller, it was his job to decide how the team will answer this push.

“Hmm. Ahem.” Cato cleared his throat. “Let’s see...”

This development came out of left field. One moment, all the pieces were organized on the board, then the next moment everything fell into chaos. 

I need to reevaluate the entire situation from scratch. Cato frowned. What is Yuel’s agenda here? Is this just a ditch effort attack? No, it looks too organized to be just that.

What’s more, Yuel was actively participating in this attack. So, this clearly wasn’t a case of his teammates going haywire or anything like that. It looked like a legit attempt at backdooring.

But, could that enemy trio really push the lane fast enough? It was nonsensical.

All of Leopards' members were gathered in Mid right now. So, if both sides race for the Colossus, then surely the Leopards will win.

Sure, Pirate is good for pushing and Druid can tank with his ult, but is that really going to be enough? I don’t see how. Then again, I’m not an expert on aggressive attacks like this.

Between the two of them, Yuel was the expert on offense. He was probably way more familiar with scenarios like this than Cato.

Therefore, if Yuel decided to gamble on an attack like this, then it must have a real chance of succeeding. In that case, it was best to have a few members recall to base and stop the backdoor at once.

Or, maybe this was all one big elaborate trap? Maybe this aggressive offense was just meant to spook the Leopards and make them give up on their current plans of pushing Mid? That, too, sounded like a very Yuel-like plan.

Same as in chess, Yuel used his aggression with flexibility and creativity in Classmancers. He delivered the kind of plays Cato simply couldn’t fathom.

“Earth to Cato,” Sonya said. “What’s our response?”

“Ah, err...” Cato stuttered. 

Push or retreat, which was the right call here?

Retreating was the safer option, but it might set the team back too much. They might even lose their overwhelming map control, which will give the enemy a real chance to make a comeback.

On the other hand, carelessly pushing Mid might lead straight to defeat if the enemy can really outrace them. It’ll boil down to a speedrunning competition, something that the majority of Leopards weren’t exactly into.

Worst of all, no matter which play Cato goes for, it’ll be his fault if they fail.

My, my. What a nasty check you placed me in, Yuel. Cato grimaced.

Against desperate odds, at the very end of the game, Yuel found a way to launch such an irritating check! Truly, that boy had the knack for getting under people’s skin. A very respectable skill, no doubt.

“We’re wasting time,” William said. “They’ve already reached the Golem.”

Indeed, as he said, the trio of Chessmaster, Beat, and Gunz arrived at the Bot Golem. And without further ado, the Druid summoned forth his Ents to tank the Golem’s attacks

Meanwhile, the Bomber blew away all the minions to clear the path. At the same time, the Pirate sniped the Golem’s gem in order to disable its skill resistance.

After that, all three of them joined forces to assault the Golem.

There was no time to waste. The enemy’s attack was already knocking on the Leopards’ front door. They had to decide on their response now, and yet their captain...

Curses! Cato felt sweat on his forehead. I need more time to analyze this unfamiliar position. I wasn’t ready for this!

Unfortunately, Classmancers wasn’t like chess. The board wasn’t frozen in time while Cato was examining all angles.

Every second he spent analyzing the position brought the enemy one second closer to destroying the Golem and reaching the Colossus. Time was of the essence, Cato understood that much. And yet, he couldn’t come to a decision.

For the better or the worse, this wasn’t the first time such a thing happened. So, his teammates were somewhat familiar with these situations.

There he is, the “fragile captain”. William sighed. He always makes sure to prepare for every possible situation, just so he can act like he’s on top of things. But, the moment something sudden and unexpected happens...

“There’s no time,” William said. “We can outrace them easily, so let’s attack. Droid is considered a Hyper Carry for a reason.”

As if to illustrate his point, William summoned not one, not two, but straight up FIVE Assault Drones at once! He was ready to wage war on the Mid Golem.

“Our minions aren’t here yet,” Sonya pointed out.

“Then, you tank for us.”

“I suppose I can, but...” Sonya glanced at Cato. Though she agreed that pushing would probably be better here, she still wanted the captain to have the last word.

Alas, there was no hint of the captain reaching a decision anytime soon. He was still frowning, lost in thought.

“I also think we should push,” Matthew said. “I think Droid can outrace their push.”

“Right, a late-game Droid should be able to...” Cato mumbled. “Alright, let’s do that. Yeah, that sounds splendid!” I’ll trust Matt’s gut on this one, he’s usually right about these things. Besides, it looks like everybody agrees it’s best to push.

Even though Cato usually ordered everybody around like chess pieces, it’s not like the team was made from a bunch of brainless tools. They were all top-tier players, trained by none other than Rodriguez, the man who valued independent thinking above anything. So of course, these guys were capable of thinking for themselves and reaching their own conclusions.

I suppose I can rely on their judgment every now and then. Cato took a deep breath. The tension gradually lifted and his focus returned.

This was a rare case in which the pieces on the board dictated the strategy for the strategist. That was fine every once in a while, but it shouldn’t become a habit.

Truth to be told, this dependency on the chess piece was a sign of Cato’s incompetence as a strategist. It was a little embarrassing, really. But, it was alright. Nobody was perfect.

I’ll just have to properly review this scenario after the match, to make sure next time I’ll be ready for shenanigans like this. Cato made a mental note and moved on.

“Alright, cover me.” William charged into the Golem area after Sonya.

“I got your back, bro!” Ronald cast Ray of Light inside the Golem’s area to provide healing to both the tank and his brother.

“I’m disabling the core.” William pointed his laser gun toward the Golem’s head. Specifically, toward the gem on the Golem’s forehead.

Unfortunately, the Golem wasn’t very cooperative. The giant humanoid lump of rock moved around while lifting a big boulder. During this entire animation, it was too hard to land an accurate shot on the core.

I did see Gunz do it, though. William grimaced. But, I don’t have that level of accuracy. So, I better wait for the right moment.

Once the Golem finished lifting the boulder over its head - that was the cue. ZAP! A laser beam traveled straight toward the Golem’s head!

CRACK. The gem shattered to pieces. With that, the Golem lost its resistance to skill damage. This gave Matthew the green light to go on the offensive with his spells.

Except, Matthew already cast his Whirlwind before the gem even shattered. He installed the hurricane about a second ahead of time, trusting that William won’t miss his shot.

There was no time to waste, so the DoT of Whirlwind had to start ticking ASAP. This was a race against the enemy’s backdoor, so the Leopards had to play fast.

“I’ll keep the defenders busy,” Cato informed.

While everybody was focused on taking down the Golem, Cato invaded deeper into enemy territory in order to confront the enemy defenders, InformationBlackhole and VanishingFlower.

As the Jungler, Cato had the most threatening burst damage here. He could use it to help destroy the Golem faster, but that’d be a waste of his kit. Instead, it was best to do what Junglers did best: assault enemy players!

First, let’s box you in. Cato activated The King’s Dominion, encircling the area with lions. The blockade trapped both Blackhole and Vanishing before they could escape.

Now, who do I take out first? Cato weighed his options.

VanishingFlower had access to Izuna Drop, undoubtedly the most threatening weapon here. If she approached any of the pushers, then she might be able to kill some of them in one fell swoop.

And, there was also the invisibility from her Shadow Clone to consider. She could place a lot of pressure on everybody by making her position temporarily unknown.

Worst of all, she can also escape this lockdown once her Suriken comes out of cooldown.

Vanishing fired her Backflip Shuriken a short while ago, using it as a mid-range attack to avoid getting too close to the attackers. Because of that, she couldn’t jump out of the lion lockdown quite yet, but that’ll change in the next few seconds.

Above everything else, I feel like she’s underperforming today. Cato analyzed. Maybe she’s nervous, or maybe she isn’t feeling well. Either way, it’s clear she’s suffering in some way~

As such, out of the two targets in front of him, Vanishing was the least likely to give him a fight. It should be that much easier to finish her off first, and then decide what to do with Blackhole.

So, it’s settled. Cato charged at Vanishing, ignoring Blackhole for now. First, let’s take out the fragile threat off the board.

But of course, that was all easier said than done. While locked in such a small space, both enemies became quickly aware of Cato’s intentions. So, how were they going to respond...?