『EXECUTION』

『You have killed an enemy!』

"Hell yeah, let's goooo!" Luke pumped his fist. "Did you guys see that!?"

"Indeed, I saw everything." Vincent nodded. "It was a splendid execution."

"Right? Right? I totally outplayed that girl, haha! I bet she didn't see any of this coming, haha!"

At this early stage, Luke was the only one in the game with access to his ultimate. He reached Lv. 5 before anybody else thanks to the Dark Knight's broken early-game power!

Welp, I had to take a few detours for that, too. Luke thought back on all his brilliant plays in this game. He felt like such a big brain for weaving all these little ploys together, even if it was Yuel who gave him most of the advice.

When the game just started, on the very first wave, Luke joined Lars in Bot and they cleared minions together. Sometime later, Luke also wandered to Mid and cleared minions there as well. In other words, he shared plenty of exp with the laners.

The enemy must've thought that Luke was just helping his peeps out, but it was more than just that. He was also grabbing all that juicy minion exp from these exchanges.

In this manner, he was slowly but surely building up toward this very moment, in which he unleashed his powerful ult to secure an early kill! It was a 200 IQ game plan!

"I agree this play was nothing short of amazing," Vincent said. "However, I believe it's best for you to evacuate from the enemy’s tower area posthaste."

"Oh, shoot!" Luke jumped. He only now realized that Vincent was already outside the tower area, so the Turret set its sights on Luke next!

WHAM! A giant bolt darted at him! It functioned like a tracking missile, so there was no dodging it. Luke just had to eat it like a man.

"Whoopsie, haha. Got a little too excited there." Luke hurried out of the tower area.

Fortunately, the momentary distraction only cost him 20% HP and not more. Considering he gained 30% HP for slaying Theorist, this trade was still in his favor, sorta.

"So, what's next?" Luke asked. "We're pushing this tower, right?"

"Yes, take it down," Yuel said. "You should be able to."

"No problem! Leave it to us!"

"As you demand, my liege." Vincent bowed dramatically. "I shall unleash the dark fury sealed in my right arm to demolish this tower into nothingness!"

First, the duo cleared the few remaining enemy minions on the lane. Then, they pushed ahead together with what was left of their minion army.

There was not a single opponent who could stand in their way right now, so they were free to overextend to their hearts' content.

"If I may inquire, what is our next mission after eliminating this defenseless tower?" Vincent posed that question in the middle of unleashing a flurry of attacks on the tower.

Clearly, this tower was about to collapse within moments. From there, where should this dynamic duo head next?

"About that..."

As usual, Yuel already had the next move figured out. In fact, he had already mapped the next few moves in advance, and he even made the preparation for them ahead of time.

This was the time to make Luke use that one particular item he purchased. Stratus was about to run down their opponents with immense aggression, going all-in with a Taurus-style play!

Naturally, the enemy should have no idea that any of this was coming their way. At best, they'll figure out Luke and Vincent’s next destination, but they should not have any idea how strong that rotation will actually be.

Will they rotate to Mid next? Cato wondered. This seems like the strongest play they can make in this situation. It's predictable but it’s too strong to pass on.

As much as Yuel liked pulling random nonsense out of thin air, he was no stranger to optimal plays. Under normal circumstances, when everything was already going his way, Yuel would often stick to the meta and go for the best plays available. At least, that's what his chess history suggested.

It looks like I'll have to rotate to Mid and intercept them. Cato thought. But, there should still be some time before that happens. So, since I'm already all the way out here, I might as well make use of my position.

Instead of rotating to Mid right away, Cato headed toward Bot first. He made the wrong guess when he stayed in Bot Jungle, but he could at least still reap some benefits from this position.

"Will, I'm coming over for a gank," Cato informed.

“A gank?”

"Well, it’ll probably be more about scaring your enemies away to help you push."

"Got it."

"Heh, weak!" Ronald called out. "Why just scare them? Come here with the intention to kick their asses!"

"I'm just being realistic," Cato explained. "They won't overextend enough for us to score a kill, so this will just be an intimidation play."

"If they're not going to overextend of their own accord, then we just gotta make them! Right, bro?"

"Sure," William answered flatly. "And, how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Eeeeh. No idea! I think I’ll leave this one to the big brains of the team, haha."

"Awesome." Cato made a face. "Thanks for wasting our time."

"Ouch, haha. Brutal."

They discussed the matter some more but concluded that none of them had any bright ideas. The enemy duo in Bot was a tough nut to crack.

Elf excelled at long-range sniping, therefore it was extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, to drag him to the frontline. And Yuel, as Aquamncer, had no interest in overextending either.

And so, the gank was nothing more than a peek-a-boo. Cato was only going to drop by and scare the enemies into retreating, nothing more.

And, it looks like they won't even let me do that much. Cato shook his head.

Before he even arrived on the lane, the two opponents had already shown signs of retreating.

"There's probably a ward somewhere around here," Cato informed the others as he placed a couple of question mark icons on the mini-map, which he then shared with everybody.

By the time Cato arrived in Bot Lane, Gunz and Yuel had completely retreated back to their tower. They had no intention of taking any risks whatsoever here.

Good, good. Cato smiled impishly. It won’t feel good to crush you if you make it too easy for us. So sure, you can take our Top tower, it's no big deal. Making a comeback from such a difficult position would make us look all the more impressive~ Muhaha...

This facade was the last source of positivity that Cato could cling to at this point.

The Leopards were supposed to completely dominate this game, to show off their overwhelming strength as the regional champions. But instead, this game was drawing them closer and closer toward looking like the underdogs.

They messed up in the drafting phase, in the opening, and now in Top, too. So, rather than being the overwhelming champions, it could be said that they were overwhelmed by their opponents instead.

It's just an accident, nothing more. Cato convinced himself. We weren't ready for this level of trolling so they caught us off-guard, that's all. We're still going to win.

Who was he making these excuses for? For the coach? The audience? Himself?

Either way, that's what he wanted to believe, what he HAD to believe. As bad as the current position seemed, it wasn't irreversible.

By finding a way to turn this around, Cato will redeem himself for all the mistakes he has made thus far. He’ll find a way to put the Leopards on their rightful throne once more, that’s a promise.

"Let me help you out a little,” Cato said as he entered Bot Lane. Since he had already come all the way over here, it was best to help with the farming and push Bot as much as possible.

"It’s fine as long as you don't take my last hits,” Willaim said.

"Don't worry, I won't." Cato unleashed bats at the enemy minions but made sure to stay his hand at the very last moment to avoid stealing any last-hits. "I play Support too, remember? I know the drill."

"Right."

Granted, in this situation, things were a little more complicated than the usual supporting, as Cato wasn't the only “Support” on the lane. Ronald was there as well, shooting icicles at the minions. As such, Cato had to watch out for more shots than usual.

That makes it a teeny-tiny bit harder, but it's alright. Cato thought. I’ve practiced all these things more than enough, so they better work out for me in a real game, too.

As a player who mained both Jungler and Support, Cato understood the importance of practicing complex situations like this. As a Support, he knew that nobody was permitted to steal the Carry's valuable last-hits, and as a Jungler he knew that sometimes he’ll have to lane alongside others, including the Bot duo.

Putting one and one together, it became obvious that situations like this would occur every now and then. They were a little tricky on the mechanical side, therefore it was imperative to practice execution ahead of time. So, that's exactly what Cato did.

In fact, he even went a step further and also made sure to practice this setup specifically alongside William and Ronald. The brothers will always be the Bot duo whenever Cato plays Jungler, so it was mandatory to try this out alongside these troublemakers and study their quirks.

Now that the swordsmen are running low, the brat will start targeting the bowmen. Cato analyzed. As usual, he'll start with the one closest to him. So, I'll go for the one on the opposite side.

And so, the two of them assaulted bowmen from opposite ends. This efficiently prepared a full row of half-dead targets for William to take out with ease.

With that said, the number of targets was finite. There were only three bowmen for them to shoot.

Eventually, Cato and Ronald finished working on the two bowmen on the sides. Next, they turned their attention to the remaining bowman in the middle.

WHISH! Ronald fired an icicle without thinking twice. He followed his regular routine, paying no heed to the fact that Cato was also on the lane.

My, what a brat. Cato shook his head. Well, I suppose I’ll be the adult here and make sure that we can avoid any accidents.

Cato fired a single bat at the bowman, but then he stayed his hand. The brat wasn't going to stop shooting of his own accord, so Cato had to call it quits first.

And with that, Cato’s contribution to Bot came to an end. His presence here didn’t achieve anything grandiose, but at least he helped the brothers gain temporary lane control.

It might have seemed like a small thing, but it was extremely valuable in the early-game against an aggressive team. It was a tiny ray of hope in an otherwise suffocating darkness,

Cato had to do everything in his power in order to drag the team out of the disadvantageous mess they were drowning in, or else this game might actually result in defeat…