『You have been killed!』
"Weeeelp, I did what I could." Luke shrugged and dropped back on his chair. "It's not much, but I dealt at least some damage to her."
"Very little damage," Yuel corrected. "And she recovered most of it by killing you anyway."
"Dang, that's hax." Luke pouted. "So, I figure this doesn't bode well for us?"
"It's terrible, actually. We gave them an early kill for free. This might force us to play from behind for the rest of the game."
"Soz, my bad. I didn't expect them to pull such a nasty stunt."
"Honestly, I was sceptical, too," Yuel admitted. "But the possibility occurred to me. I was just about to tell you to give up the gank, but I was a few seconds too late."
"Welp, too slow, kid!"
"You're the one who ultimately committed the misplay, though." Yuel made a face. "Anyway, this puts us on the spot."
Maverick was the one who scored the kill, so she recovered HP and gained a boost of momentum. This could snowball into a critical issue.
The only silver lining was that Luke did a good job hitting both targets. While Maverick recovered back to 90% HP, Professor was only at 35%. So, at least, Professor will have to recall for now.
Unfortunately, Maverick will have no problem staying on the lane and dominating it further. Stratus needed a solution to this on the double.
I have to kick her out of the lane soon, or else she'll snowball. Yuel reasoned. I had an idea earlier, but Luke's death delays it by a fair bit.
The plan was to strike Mid with three people. Unfortunately, one of those three was supposed to be Luke…
Can Kai and I achieve something by ourselves there? Not likely. They'll turn the tables on us the moment their Jungler shows up, just like what happened here.
Stratus needed some kind of numerical advantage to overwhelm a Dark Knight. So, either raid Mid with multiple attackers, or isolate the target somehow.
As far as 1v1s go, Luke might be able to contest her. Yuel thought. But that is a risky approach, and it requires Maverick to be alone in our territory.
How could Yuel possibly arrange such a scenario? It's not like he had control over Maverick's mind. He couldn't just hypnotize her and make her willingly overextend into Stratus' territory.
But there might be a way. Yuel thought. Judging by how bold her plays have been so far, she strikes me as the type who goes counter-jungling at the first opportunity that presents itself. That might be our ticket.
And so, Yuel came up with a different plan. "Kai, in the next wave, can you please pressure Maverick?"
"Say what?" Kai raised an eyebrow. "You want me to contest a DK?"
"No, not to actually contest. Clear the minions as quickly as possible and launch a few attacks on her, then quickly retreat."
"Huh. That doesn't sound risky at all." Kai rolled her eyes. "So, what's the big idea here?"
"I want to try luring her into our territory," Yuel explained. "If you leave her with nothing to do on the lane, she might opt for counter-jungling. That's when we catch her."
"Sounds like a plan. But you do understand I'll likely lose tons of HP from pulling something like this, right? Is it really worth?"
"It'll be a good time for you to recall anyway because you have some gold to spend," Yuel explained. "You need to get items ASAP so you can contest DK's clearing speed."
"Yeah, fair enough. Though, going by that logic, Maverick might recall too."
"It's possible," Yuel said. "But I doubt it. She isn't in dire need of more power right now, and she'll surely want to take advantage of your absence."
"Yeah, I can see that." Kai nodded. "She strikes me as ballsy, unlike the rest of the Tycoons."
"Exactly. That's why I believe there's a good chance she'll try to counter-jungle one of the camps around Mid. This is how Luke can get a chance to strike her down."
"Me?" Luke blinked. "I mean, I guess I'll be near Mid around that time anyway, but do you want me to, like, fight her?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I want," Yuel said. "Ideally, I'd like you to kill her."
"Dang, is it really finally happening!? Orc vs. DK, the clash of titans!?"
"Yo, sounds hype as heck!" Lars exclaimed from the side. "I really wanna watch it now!"
Luke grinned nervously. "Well, I sure wanna give it a shot, but are you sure, Yuel? I mean, I dunno if I actually gonna be able to take her out."
"Don't worry, I'll rotate over there as well," Yuel explained. "A 1v1 is risky, especially since you're now lagging behind. But a 2v1 should be a surefire victory."
"Oh, I see, I see." Luke nodded. "So basically, you wanna use me as bait, right?"
"You can look at it that way," Yuel said. "But keep in mind that you're the one who'll have to deal most of the damage."
"Gotcha, so I gotta be smart about how I fight this one. Noted."
"The simplest approach is to lure her deeper into the jungle as you fight."
"Alrighty, gonna try that!"
And so, the plan was set in motion...