Man, it's so weird to play DK Top these days. Luke smiled wryly. I don't remember the last time I did this. I used to play like this a lot in the old days and wreck clueless scrubs in Casual, but at some point, I switched over to real memes.

Top DK was a borderline meme but not quite. It was technically viable, just very low-tier and extremely situational. As such, it didn’t quite match the “meme” definition that Luke wanted to stick with, so he stopped playing the class.

Probably because of that, the moment he stepped into Top Lane, he felt a tingle. It felt as if the lane was mocking him for coming back after all this time. "You couldn't live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me."

It was truly a poetic turn of events. It felt as if Luke returned to his roots as a casual player who enjoyed playing memes for fun. Back then, nobody was forcing him to play like a sweaty tryhard.

The good ol' days. Luke nodded to himself. But, too bad this ain't Casual. My guy over there gonna rip me apart if I show him any weaknesses.

AbsoluteChallenger arrived on the lane far later than Luke, but dude was already ahead by a whole level in terms of farm. That Nordic duo must've stolen the wolves on Luke’s side, then returned to their side of the jungle to also clear the wraiths and wolves there. A tag team of Berserker and Viking was strong enough to pull off such a speedy start.

Well, all that exp advantage is cool and all. Luke thought. But, can you compete with this!?

He unleashed Dark Blast, deleting the entire enemy army in one fell swoop. Ez game.

I may just be subbing for my man Vince here, but that doesn't mean I gonna sit here and be passive about the job. Luke thought. Nah, dude. I'mma make you regret making me come over here! You have no idea what you did just bring upon this cursed land!

After eliminating all enemy forces, Luke advanced along the lane with his brigade. All his trusty minions were at full health, ready to wreak havoc! The plan was to push all the way to the enemy tower, but…

"Luke, retreat," Yuel ordered. "Don't overextend. The Viking might still be nearby."

"Really? You think so?" Luke hit the brakes. "Shouldn't the guy be rotating to the griffins or to Bot Jungle by now?"

"None of the wards showed him do any of those,” Yuel said. “We're seriously lacking wards over there."

"Geh." Luke felt that jab. He was the one who traded wards for greater early power, so it was basically his fault. Ehe.

"Okay, I'mma spare this mortal’s life for today." Luke backpedaled and gave up on this juicy opportunity to push. While retreating, he glanced at the jungle entrance, to see if he could spot anybody there.

Hmm. I don’t see the Viking anywhere. Dan squinted his eyes. I think Yuel was just paranoid about- Oh, never mind. Here’s our boi.

A wild Winner has appeared! But, too bad for him. Luke was already five parallel universes ahead of the guy!

Surely, Winner was regretting all his life choices right about now.

"Hmph." William grumbled.

"Dang it, bruh!" Ronald exclaimed. "We almost had him! If only he came a little closer, just a little! Can't believe he has that level of self-control as a DK."

"Either he does, or somebody else warned him,” William said. “Either way, we're not getting this kill so I'll help you clear this wave."

"Thanks, bro. For real, there are way too many dudes coming my way, haha."

The entire enemy brigade was marching toward Ronald, and all the soldiers there were at full health to boot. This was the classic experience of laning against a Dark Knight.

"Man, I really hope this DK isn’t here to stay," Ronald complained.

"Of course not," William said. "He's the Jungler."

"Or IS he!? Maybe this is one huge scam and their real Jungler is the Knight!”

"That would only make their lineup look even dumber than it already does."

"Yeah, that'd be too much even for them, wouldn't it?” Ronald chuckled.

"No point thinking too hard about it. We'll know for sure what they have in mind after this wave."

"True that."

The siblings joined forces to take out the incoming invaders. But even with their powers combined, clearing that many minions at once was no simple task. They'd have to sustain a fair amount of damage in the process.

"I'll tank the initial shots," William said. "You charge your slam in the meantime."

"Gotcha!"

"Alright, I'm going in." William approached the enemy wave from behind. This allowed him to get closer to the bowmen while staying far away from the swordsmen.

“I got the aggro.” William confirmed that all the minions set their sights on him. This was the cue for Ronald to get closer and start charging up.

But, there was still some time until Ronald actually executes his important attack. For now, William had to handle the enemies by himself. There were 3 bowmen and 3 swordsmen craving his blood. If William receives too much damage from this exchange, then the entire play won’t be worth the trouble in the end.

The entire point of helping Ronald here was to maximize the team's overall efficiency. However, if William ends up wasting too much time here or gets too injured, it might actually hurt the team as a whole.

I just have to make sure it's worth it. William positioned himself face-to-face with the bowmen. This way, the bowmen served as a wall between him and the incoming swordsmen. The melee soldiers will have to circle around their allies in order to get to William, which bought William time.

Until the swordsmen get closer, William started hacking away at the bowmen in front of him, striking each of them in order. In this situation, instead of focusing on one bowman and eliminating it as quickly as possible, it was more optimal to wear them out equally. After all, an AoE attack was soon about to rain down on all of them.

"Here it comes!" BAM! The Berserker slammed his axes into the ground, unleashing a shockwave that stunned the entire minion wave! This Barbarian Slam was charged up to the max, so both the damage and the stun were at their absolute highest.

Since the swordsmen were foolish enough to get closer to the bowmen, they also got caught up in the slam. This was William’s plan all along.

After the devastating slam, all the bowmen were just one hit away from dying. This was thanks to the way William split up his damage across all three of them.

Now it's my turn. William used Takedown and grabbed the bowman on the right, then hurled him into the center of the minion pack. WHAM! The small guy crashed into his allies and deleted some of them from existence.

All three bowmen perished in this play, but the swordsmen still had some HP to them. Still, they weren't long for this world.

While the swordsmen were still stunned, the duo launched a joint attack. The Viking struck hard with his giant axe, whereas the Berserker used dual axes to deliver weaker but swifter strikes.

In the end, only one swordsman survived long enough to wake up from the stun. But, the poor fellow had less than a second to live.

WHAM! Two axes sliced through the swordsman from opposite sides. Both brothers went for the last-hit but only one of them got it.

"Mine!" Ronald grinned.

"Tch." William frowned. He was a split second too late.

"Sorry bro, but this is my farm so I deserve it all."

"Not a very convincing argument when I'm helping you out at the expense of losing on jungle farm."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Hmph. It's not your fault."

The real culprit here was the Dark Knight who chose to terrorize Top while the Top Laner was away. Even though William and Ronald's invade surely shocked the enemy, their adaptation was lightning-fast. By rotating the Dark Knight to Top, the enemy minimized their losses in the best way possible.

Chessmaster, huh. William thought. An arrogant name, but in moments like this I can respect it.

On that note, William left the lane.