Ben explained in detail why everything was fine in Top and why the others shouldn’t waste their precious time helping him out. Kai seemed convinced enough, but Yuel still exercised caution.

"Then, let's do it like this," Yuel suggested. "Nia’s rotation will make her go to Top Jungle during the next wave anyway, so she can stick around there for a little longer. This won’t waste much of her time, but it’ll greatly boost our defensive options in Top."

“Ok.” Nia nodded. “You want me to do that ‘remote intimidation’ thingy, right?”

“Yes, pretty much,” Yuel said. “We’ll use your presence to discourage the Orc from pushing. The rest of their team had already shown how anxious they are about your ganks, so I hope Appretence will be just as careful.”

“Ok, but I don’t have a good grasp over their wards yet,” Nia said. “So, they might spot me.”

“That’s fine,” Yuel said. “But, in case you feel like the enemy isn’t aware of your position and you see the Orc overextending, then get ready to gank. But, make sure to discuss that decision with me first.”

“Roger.”

“Is this arrangement alright with you too, Ben?” Yuel asked.

“Yes,” Ben answered. “If Nia doesn’t mind this little detour, then it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“Okay, then it’s decided.”

With this defensive plan in hand, the team greeted the second minion wave of the game.

Nia went about her usual routine in Top Jungle, trying to evade all enemy wards. Alas, it didn’t quite work out…

“Gufu. I think they found me.” Nia scowled. “I guess I’ll just stick to that ‘remote intimidation’ plan then.”

There was no longer any hope of invading Top undetected and stabbing that scary Orc in the back. In the past, Nia would’ve treated these sorts of situations as an absolute loss. But, not anymore. Yuel taught her the glass-half-full approach.

On one hand, the enemy was aware of Nia’s presence, which denied her the chance to deliver a surprise gank. But, on the other hand, being aware of her presence will likely make the Leopards overly cautious, hurting their game plans in the process.

Just by being close by, Nia was applying pressure on the enemy without lifting a finger. It was that impressive “remote intimidation” thingy that Yuel preached so much about.

Does that mean the enemy thinks I'm "scary"? That's scary to think about. Nia smirked to herself as she farmed Top Jungle. She was like a Slenderman creeping in the darkness, scaring the living shit out of her potential victims without actually doing anything special.

How will Apprentece respond to this Slenderman? Will the guy exhibit the same amount of aggression as in the previous wave? Or, will he respect Nia's presence and play it safe?

As the next wave arrived, the answer soon revealed itself.

He doesn't seem scared at all... Ben gulped. Honestly, I was half this, but still...

Just like last time, Apprentece rolled in and assaulted Ben’s bowmen with the sledgehammer. After making quick work of the squishy minions, Apprentece went after the swordsmen. He had no qualms about extending into enemy territory even with Nia right around the corner.

Truly, this Korean prodigy was fearless. So much, so that it was getting a little irritating.

He's not supposed to be able to get away with this. Ben stepped forward and fired a basic attack at the overconfident foe. There wasn't much else he could do in this situation anyway, so he might as well graze the Apprentece's HP a little.

WHOOSH! The big seed flew across the air... and crashed into the ground. It nearly grazed Apprentece, but the guy sidestepped in a timely fashion even though his back was still turned to Ben.

Say what!? Ben gasped. B-But, he wasn't even looking at me! How could he...

It made no sense. The Orc was busy swinging his giant sledgehammer at the swordsmen, so Apprentece couldn't possibly know what was going on behind him.

No, wait. Ben tried to calm down. Let’s think about it logically. Maybe he reacted to the sound of the attack? But, is it even possible to react to it that quickly...?

This was most certainly another example of KC, as Ben made sure to shoot the Orc right in the middle of the guy’s swing. Any normal opponent would’ve been stuck in the middle of the recovery animation and couldn't have done anything against this shot, but not Apprentece. The guy sidestepped the shot as if it was nothing, without even looking at it.

Just how strong was this guy!? The more Ben was seeing, the harder his faith tanked...

"Ben, are you retreating?" Yuel asked.

"O-Oh! Right!" Ben shook his head and focused on the situation at hand.

While he was wasting time being depressed, the enemy had already finished clearing out the swordsmen. And so, the entire enemy wave was now on its way to get Ben! If he didn’t retreat ASAP, the minions would assault him!

Ack! I was careless...! Ben rolled away from the scene before anything bad happened. It was unfortunate that he had to waste his Dodge Roll on something minor like this, but it was better than receiving unnecessary damage from the minions.

Besides, I probably don’t need the Dodge Roll anytime soon. Ben tried to comfort himself. I don't think anybody is planning to gank me? At least, the wards haven’t shown any interesting movement lately.

Winner did venture into Top Jungle recently, but it seemed the guy only strolled in to farm a few camps. After that, he likely continued onward to Bot Jungle.

With that in mind, wasting a Dodge Roll here wasn’t a big misplay or anything. Though, it was still rather embarrassing on a personal level...

Focus, focus. Ben slapped his cheeks. I can't drag the team down. I have to perform well. Nia is even dedicating some of her precious time to help me out here, so I can't disappoint her like this...!

Ben had already troubled the team more than enough. He had been absent from tons of practice sessions this year, which was unbecoming of any competitive player.

So, the least I can do to repent is to perform adequately on this stage. Ben thought. For now, let’s carefully retreat to the tower and farm from there. But, for that to work, I need to get the minions' attention first.

Instead of fleeing deep into the tower area right away, Ben hit the brakes and turned around. The enemy minion wave was slowly approaching him, so he decided to greet them at the door.

This is one example of a play that would’ve been much safer to do with a roll. Oh well. Ben shook his head and focused on what he COULD do right now, rather than lingering on what he couldn't.

For starters, he fired a shot at the incoming minions. The shot hit home, which meant Ben was right within the swordsmen’s aggro range.

However, the same couldn't be said for the bowmen in the back just yet. These guys lagged behind the swordsmen, so they weren’t close enough to Ben to spot him.

So, I need to rearrange their positions. Ben nodded to himself. First, drawing away the swordsmen...

Instead of retreating deeper into the tower area, Ben circled around the outskirts of the zone, and the aggro'd swordsmen followed his moves. The soldiers broke formation and chased Ben diagonally.

So far, so good. Ben examined the area behind the minions. There was no sign of Apprentece going on the offensive this round, which made this defensive play that much easier to execute.

Good to see that he won't overextend THAT much, at least. Ben thought. Seriously, if he could get away with overextension under these circumstances, then I might have lost all hope, haha... Anyway, back to the play.

Breaking the enemy's formation was just the beginning. Ben lured the swordsmen further to the side, to separate them from the backline.

Meanwhile, the bowmen continued matching forward, oblivious to the fact their frontline strayed from the path.

This is where it gets down to the wire. Ben gulped. I have to make sure the swordsmen don't enter the area first, but also make sure the bowmen don't aggro on me.

This was the crux of this entire play. The goal was to make the bowmen enter the tower area first, so that the Turret would be focused on them. This way, Ben will be able to eliminate the enemy backline faster, thus reducing the amount of damage the tower will receive.

However, this was easier said than done. To accomplish this, Ben had to drag the enemy swordsmen far away from the tower area. However, he couldn't run away too quickly, or else the minions would lose their aggro.

At the same time, he couldn't do it too slowly either, or else the bowmen in the back will catch up and aggro on him as well. This was a delicate technique with a big margin of error.

Having access to Dodge Roll usually makes this a lot easier, but…

With access to Dodge Roll, it was possible to draw the swordsmen very close to him and then immediately roll away while still maintaining the aggro. That made it much smoother to execute this error-prone technique.

Alas, in his stupidity, Ben wasted his roll earlier, so no he had to do it the hard way. And so, he continued camping at the outskirts of the tower area while slowly moving away from the approaching swordsmen.

Unfortunately, his execution proved to be imperfect. He overstayed his welcome by just a split second, and that’s all it took for the nearest bowman to set his eyes on Ben...