And so, the master plan to kill Maverick kicked off. It started with Kai dialing up her aggression in Mid.
I just hope he realizes how risky this strat is. Kai sighed as she advanced closer to the frontline. I'm toast if I make even one wrong move.
She carefully gauged the distance between herself, the enemy minions, and Maverick. Well, it's going to be a bit rough, but I can pull this off just fine. So, let's get this started!
She approached the enemy wave diagonally and fired basic attacks. For now, she still maintained a distance from the minions to make herself a hard target for Maverick. Nonetheless, she made it crystal clear she was going to fight hard for the lane this time.
So, what's your move? Kai glanced at the opponent. I'm ready to kick off this party whenever you are.
Needless to say, the sudden change in Kai's mannerisms puzzled the enemy for a moment. It created a suspicious opportunity.
"Wow, look at her overextending like crazy," Marim said. "Too bad you aren't here to gank this, Nahum."
"If I had to guess," Nahum replied. "She probably allows herself to extend like this precisely because I'm not around. They're likely keeping a good track of my movements."
"Yeah, that's true." Marim nodded and smiled mischievously. "Hehe. This is interesting. I wonder how I should cook her up~"
The sudden change in Beat's approach was likely explained by the fact that Nahum wasn't around, plus the fact that Marim was pulling ahead after killing Memer. The enemy team must've been sweating bullets right now. The Dark Knight snowball was upon them!
This looked like a juicy opportunity, but Beat made sure it wasn't too easy. That cheeky girl positioned herself diagonally from the minions, which made it impossible to hit both her and the enemy minions with one Dark Blast.
So, you're telling me to pick my poison, right? I've gotta hit either you or the minions. Marim smirked. Except, there's a third option here!
She withheld her Dark Blast for now and advanced on Beat. I just hafta rearrange the pieces on the board first. Something like this!
Marim rolled forward, closing the distance to Beat. Then, she swung her black blade! SWHISH! It was a clean hit! That surely gave the enemy the scare of their life.
"Tch!" Kai saw that roll coming and tried to step away, but she didn't make it in time. What a pain in the ass.
It would've been easy enough for Kai to respond to the enemy's roll with a roll of her own, but she couldn't quite do that. With the ever-looming danger of Dark Blast, there was no choice but to keep Dodge Roll available for the critical moment.
Naturally, the enemy didn't appreciate Kai's calculated caution here. Dang, she's good. Marim praised. I was sure she'd do a panic roll. Real competitive players are made different, huh.
Everything was so much harder and trickier to execute in this game compared to Ranked matches. It was annoying but also hella fun!
There are some real puzzles to solve here, and none of them have trivial solutions. Marim nodded. And, there isn't much time to think, either. Gotta wing it!
With the convenient plan denied, what was the next best move? There were multiple options to consider, but only so much time to decide. So, Marim had to go with her gut here.
Well, if you're not gonna roll, then that gives me more time to rearrange the pieces. Marim used this time to circle around Beat, all the while lashing out with basic attacks.
Unlike the first successful hit, her other attacks missed the target. But that was fine for now. Marim's goal lay elsewhere.
With all the minions focused on her, she moved around to align all her enemies for one efficient Dark Blast. It was gonna be the play of the decade!
However, Beat wasn't a scarecrow. She didn't just stand in place and wait for Marim to get into a sniping position.
I see you there. Kai figured out the enemy's intentions right away. That's a very greedy play, you know? It usually doesn't work at this level of play.
In response to the enemy's amateurish idea, Kai simply moved closer to the enemy wave. She acted as if she had no fear. To an onlooker, it would've appeared as if Kai wasn't even keeping an eye on Maverick.
Needless to say, the opponent found this behavior very weird. "What the...?" Marim raised an eyebrow. Why is she so nonchalant? I'm practically holding a gun to her head, but she isn't even looking at me.
Beat turned her attention to the minions, so she couldn't possibly see what Marim was up to. That level of confidence was outta this world for real.
Something about this smells. Marim squinted her eyes. What is going on? Am I missing something?
She looked all around her, trying to find an answer to the puzzling riddle in front of her. Was she missing something? A gank? Something else?
Nope. As far as Marim could see, there was nothing amiss. The enemy was just shrugging her off for no good reason.
Is she just being rude? Is that it? Marim frowned. If I had to guess, this is an intentional taunt. But I don't see the point.
While Marim was stuck in analysis paralysis, Beat moved ever closer to the minions. This changed the formation of the enemy army into an awkward triangle.
Swordsmen were rushing at Marim from the front while bowmen were getting into position to shoot her from the right. At the same time, Beat was about to wreck Marim's army on the left. Everybody was scattered around! What a mess!
Carp, there's no way I can get all of them aligned now! Marim groaned. Her brilliant plan fell apart before it even started. Geh, there's no time to waste! I just have to shoot someone!
There were two options. Marim could unleash her Dark Blast either at the swordsmen + bowmen, or at the swordsmen + Beat. Naturally, she chose the latter.
WHISH! Marim swung her dark blade, cutting through the very fabric of air! A dark slash passed through the enemy frontline and headed straight toward Beat!
At the exact same time, Beat was in the middle of unleashing her Flame Wave at Marim's minions. Marim didn't actually plan this timing, but it couldn't get any more perfect than this. Beat was cooked!
However, once again, Marim was reminded that her opponent wasn't some Ranked scrub.
Now! Kai heard the sound cue and rolled backward. Even though she was in the middle of unleashing flames on the enemy minions, she was able to animation-cancel out of it just in time to make the roll.
WHISH. She dodged the Dark Blast in a timely fashion. The enemy was likely in shambles.
"Wha-!?" Marim exclaimed. "How did she even-!?"
Beat wasn't even looking at Marim! What the hell!?!?!? The girl was busy farming minions, with her back completely exposed. What's more, she was in the middle of unleashing Flame Wave! Just how in the world did she…!?
"Gotta say, the competitive scene is really something else," Marim commented. "These guys play like crazy."
Nahum agreed with the sentiment. "My impression is that Stratus is full of fanatics this year. That exclaims how they went from rock bottom to becoming part of the region's Top 5, arguably Top 3."
"Yeah, these guys are legit." Marim nodded. "But, that doesn't mean we can't win!"
It was too early to give up. In fact, Marim was just getting started! Yeah!
And so, she charged forth! But not at her lane opponent, unfortunately. It was impossible to mount a fight right away. First, she had to eliminate the enemy bowmen.
Ack, so much unnecessary damage. Marim clicked her tongue as arrows pierced through her dark armor.
Without Dark Blast, she had to manually slash down each and every bowman. This was going to take a while, which meant she was going to lose even more HP to these bowmen. How fun.
But I'm not gonna retreat and farm them at the tower, no way. Marim asserted. DK needs all the exp it can get.
And so, instead of taking the safer route, Marim fought the minions in the middle of the lane. In the meantime, her opponent made another unexpected move...