Nahum's ult was a great success. Memer was now inside the lion cage, isolated from his partner. It has effectively become a 2v1 situation, so Nahum and Marim should be able to execute the enemy.
But Marim's HP is dangerously low. Nahum reminded himself. So, I must pull most of the weight myself.
And so, he charged straight at the trapped opponent. Naturally, the enemy side panicked at this development.
"Shit!" Kai cursed. "He blocked me off!"
"Is this real, chat!?" Luke exclaimed. "So, I'm trapped with these mofos here? Nice, haha..."
Basically, he was cooked! The enemies were about to turn the tables here…!
"This is bad…" Yuel frowned. He was also taken aback by the enemy's smooth play, but there was no time to be fazed. Luke had to act fast if he wanted to survive.
"Luke, bust your way out of there," Yuel instructed. "You have to regroup with Kai."
"Y-Yeah!" Luke nodded and turned toward the pesky lions blocking his path. Orc's basics could cut down just about anybody in a couple of hits, but not these fuckers. They didn't have HP per se. Instead, it took a fixed number of hits to take them down.
So, I have to go for the fastest weapon. Luke switched from the scourge to the default axe and hacked away at the closest lion.
In the meantime, Yuel analyzed the rest of the lane. "Kai, you can focus on the minions for now."
"Yeah, already on it." Kai fired basic attacks at the approaching enemy minions. She didn't have time to properly clear them before this mess started, so now was the time to take out all this trash.
First, she fired a couple of shots to build up Heat. Then, she unleashed Flame Wave. WHISH! The destructive spell wiped out all the minions in one fell swoop.
And so, the duo quickly defused the situation. Luke broke out of the lion prison while Kai cleaned up the perimeter. The situation was neutralized for the most part.
With that said, Luke couldn't escape without any scratches. The Lionfolk assaulted Luke savagely from behind while he was taking down the lion. On top of that, Maverick took advantage of the situation and drove a Dark Blast right into Luke's back while he wasn't watching.
As a result of this joint assault, Luke dropped all the way to 40% HP. The situation was growing tenser by the moment...!
In fact, Luke started worrying at this point. "So, like, do we disengage?"
"A difficult question," Yuel said, "overall, you're about equal in terms of HP, and you definitely have the edge in terms of skill. So, the odds are in your favor. But if you don't feel confident you can win, then it's not mandatory to take this risk."
"Nah, let's do it anyway," Kai asserted. "These guys are supposed to be weak. They shouldn't be giving us this much trouble."
"Yes, I agree with the sentiment," Yuel said. "I insisted on this gank so we can defeat them thoroughly. Sure, we've got the better players, but we can't just sit on our bums because of that. We have to keep playing proactively, even when it's a little hard or uncomfortable."
As the stronger team, it was always easy to disengage and avoid complications. After all, why take the risk when you're ahead?
Playing it safe was one way to win, but it was lukewarm. A hollow victory like this was only going to make Stratus overconfident. It won't do any good for the players' growth.
Therefore, Yuel wanted the duo to take on this challenge. Despite the unexpected developments, Kai and Luke still had the upper hand here in terms of raw player skill. So, they should challenge themselves and push onward.
However, not everybody agreed with this sentiment. "I dunno, I don't really like forcing it," Luke said, "but welp, you two seem convinced that we've gotta fight this one out. So, meh. Whatever. Let's just do this thing!"
Kai and Luke regrouped, then prepared to face their opponents once again. Luke was down to 40% HP, but Kai was still healthy at 80%. Similarly, Maverick was limping with 40% HP while MathProfessor had 90%.
On top of that, each side spent only one of their ults. Kai unleashed her Blaze of Inferno, while Professor used The King's Dominion. Meanwhile, Luke and Maverick still had their ults, so the odds were mostly even here. With all of that considered, Kai and Luke should easily come on top.
"So," Luke started, "what's the plan?"
"I'll take the frontline," Kai stepped in. "I'm immortal, so it should be fine."
"Immortal?" Luke cocked his head. "Ah, you mean my ult. Don't forget they've got DK, tho."
"Oh, true." Kai frowned. "This sure makes things a little awkward."
Orc's ult granted temporary immortality to allies, but Dark Knight's ult could execute the target regardless. This made Maverick a huge pain in the ass.
"And," Kai said, "it looks like she's planning to stay in the back, too. So annoying."
"Yep," Luke nodded, "it is what it is."
It was a funny arrangement, really. On both sides, the most threatening players were memers who had to stay in the back due to low HP. Everything about this sounded so contradictory.
So, as the healthy player, it was Kai's job to go toe-to-toe with MathProfessor. She couldn't help but grumble at this arrangement. Lionfolk can easily frontline. But, Pyro? Not so much.
This was another point where the enemy had an advantage. And it was no laughing matter, either. Kai had to be very creative here to get an edge.
"Tch. Let's just give it a shot." Kai stepped forward despite everything. "I'll start shooting him; let's see where this goes. If he comes at me, I'll lure him toward you."
"Sounds like a plan."
And so, the 2v2 began again!