It was over; Marim had her opponent cornered. Her ultimate was about to wipe that bro from existence!
But right as she pressed the button, something hit her from the side. "Huh…?" Marim blinked in confusion. It took her a moment to realize that the small thing that hit her was an icicle. But well, it didn't deal much damage, so it was fine.
Nonetheless, something unexpected happened. BZZT. An error sound played for Marim's Gate of Sheol. The skill failed to activate.
『Insufficient HP.』 The message flashed on Marim's screen in response to her request to cast the ult. The darn thing refused to work!
"Oh, I'm at 8% now…" Marim realized. "Damn, that Cryo…!"
It was just 2% damage; that was the extent of the Chessmaster's basic attack. And yet, it was just enough to seal Marim's ult.
"It's over," Yuel announced. "Finish her off."
Luke blinked for a moment. "Oh, ah, y-yeah!" He whammed Maverick once again, cutting her down.
『You have killed an enemy!』
"Phew, it's over." Luke sighed in relief. My heart was sure racing hard for a moment there. Things came down to the wire. It was so hype!
Luke was moments away from getting wiped out by a meme. But then Yuel waltzed in and landed just one basic attack on Maverick. That's all it took to kill the hype. It's as if the guy poured a bucket of cold water on the two overly excited brats.
"You got too invested in that fight," Yuel criticized. "You should've dragged her closer to me instead of playing to her tune."
"Welp, I was sure it'd be ezpz. Besides, everything was so hype that I think I forgot how to think for a moment, haha."
"Very funny." Yuel made a face. "At the very least, you should've known better when to disengage. You put yourself in grave danger for no good reason."
"Haha. Yeah, that's fair…" Luke smiled wryly. As always, bruh throws heavy criticism at people without praising them for their cool plays. Oh well. It is true that I only got this kill thanks to him.
If it were just Luke in this gank, he likely would've let Maverick slip away. Yuel's Ice Wall was the big game changer that turned the tables around.
Actually, even before that, isn't he pretty much the one who masterminded this entire situation!? Luke just realized how deep the rabbit hole went. Like, he's the one who told Kai to be aggressive on the lane to frustrate Maverick. That's what made the girl overextend into our jungle, and ultimately led to this successful kill. It was all one huge scheme!
As always, Yuel's foresight didn't fail to amaze. Bro spotted this opportunity from a mile away, and he also took into account anything that could go wrong in order to cover his bases. Shit was almost inhuman, man.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, even the enemy felt that way. "Damn, that's unreal..." Marim slumped on her chair. "What the hell even was that? How in the world did their Support come all the way to Mid with that perfect timing?"
"It is quite baffling," Nahum agreed. "I was certain he recalled to base when he left Bot. That seemed like the most probable turn of events."
"Yeah, I thought the same." Marim nodded. "But no, looks like he headed straight to Mid instead? It's like he knew that something was gonna go down here long before it actually did."
In fact, things had been weird ever since the recent minion wave. Beat dialed up her aggression outta nowhere, leaving Marim without any lane advantage. That frustration led Marim to go hunt the enemy's Hyena Camp, which was how she ended up in this whole mess.
Did Chess predict this entire chain reaction? No way, right? Marim couldn't believe it, but all the evidence pointed toward this being a calculated ploy. Just how good are these guys!?
This was crazy, plain and simple. Marim pretty much lost all the momentum she had earlier when she killed Memer. This wasn't boding well.
This entire class pick is pointless if I can't get the momentum going. Marim reasoned. We'll lose for sure if I can't get ahead.But what's the strat? I need something spicy. Predictable ideas won't work against the mad lads in Stratus.
Basically, Marim needed kills. Lots of kills. She had to make up for the lost momentum and revive the "Snowball Into Victory!" plan. Surely, it was doable. She just had to figure out a spicy, unpredictable game plan, and then she'll be back on the roll in no time! S-Surely it'll be that easy...!