A new minion wave was ining, led by the enemy’s triangle ade, StormMonster, and Lapce. Yuel, Lars, and Luke advao the frontlio ter the offense, but they refused to step too far out of the Golem’s area.

  They had to stop as many minions as possible from reag the Golem area, but they had no iion of starting a full-blown fight. They couldn’t allow themselves to overextend, not against the “Bermuda Triangle”.

  “Welp, they kinda came to fight us, but they kinda didn’t.” Nash made a face. The enemy did e out of the Golem’s rao test the ne, but they did it ever so slightly. “Do I jump them, or...?”

  “Nah, I wouldn’t risk it,” Jaiden dismissed the idea.

  The eook the middle grouween testing the ne and pying it safe. They didn’t fully stay in the Golem’s area, but her did they extend far enough to get easily wrecked. What a smartass approach.

  “I say we focus the minions and push them back,” Jaiden suggested. “What do you think, Rio?”

  “Sounds good,” Rio agreed.

  “Okay, let’s do that then.” Jaiden nodded.

  Nash, the frontliner, swept his nce across the enemy swordsmen. Meanwhile, Jaiden and Rio provided support fire from afar.

  The enemy’s frontline colpsed in no time. , the attack moved on tet the bae, the bowmen.

  At the same time, the enemy cleared only two swordsmen out of three. LegendaryMemer didn’t charge in to attack, probably in fear of overextending. Therefore, only Gunz and Chessmaster actively tributed to the farming. The Knight served merely as a bodyguard. He was there to disce Jaiden’s group from recklessly charging in, but nothing more than that.

  Little did he know that, uhis seemingly normal defense operation, was hatg a much rger ploy.

  “Okay, I got enough cash,” Lars announced. “I’mma go now.”

  “Okay, we’re falling back,” Yuel announced.

  “Roger.” Luke backpedaled away from the enemy, with his sights still locked on them just in case. This was the slower way to retreat but it was more intimidating. We ain’t running away. We’re just tactically retreating. I still got my eyes on ya all. Fear me, yo!

  After retreating far enough, Lars turned around and dashed full speed ahead. He returo base, purchased Teleport, and ed to the Checkpoint Ward in Bot.

  Meanwhile, Yuel and Luke barricaded themselves at the Golem and tinued farming the minions with the help of the Golem’s AoE attacks.

  “Damn, it ain’t easy to push a Golem during mid-game, huh,” Nash ranted.

  The Golem’s AoE attacks were devastating. That big boi tossed huge boulders like they were pebbles. Their AoE wasn’t that big, but they still hit at least two minions at once, sometimes even three. Shit was cheap as heck.

  Before long, the invading squad vanished without a trace. It was time to retreat.

  “Let’s fall back befuurns,” Jaiden said.

  “Gotcha.” Nash backpedaled from the danger zone.

  They’ve only reduced the Golem’s HP by 10% thanks to Jaiden trating his fire on it. They still had a long way to go before they quer Mid.

  Fortunately, the minion wave was already underway. With the enemy’s Mid Turret destroyed, the minions marched across the hout slowing down or receiving any damage, all the way to the Golem. Such was the tremendous be of taking down Turrets. It allowed the Invincible Triao oppress their oppos nonstop on ne.

  Before long, Jaiden and Co. will be able to reheir offense in full throttle. Slowly but surely, they’ll pressure Stratus into submission. After all, they were the Invincible Triangle! None could put a stop to their progress, not even Gunz!

  “Gotta say, Gunz is sure taking his sweet time to return,” Jaiden pointed out. “You think there’s a ce he rotated somewhere?”

  “Ah, look at Bot!” Rio excimed. “He’s split-pushing.”

  “Whoa!?” Nash excimed. “When did he get all the way over there!?”

  “That was fast.” Jaiden frowned. “Like, way too fast. He couldn’t have traveled there.”

  “Teleport,” Rio said after cheg Gunz’s items.

  “Dang, when did they even have a ce to pce a Checkpoint Ward!?” Jaide sweat f on his forehead. This wasn’t how he expected things to go!

  The trio was supposed to keep pressuring Stratus in Mid until the defense cracks and the Golem falls. It should’ve goly like i two games, but Stratus adapted.

  Heh, that’s good. It won’t be any fun if it’s too easy. Jaiden smiled dangerously. Okay, so how do we answer here? Mid-game Gunslinger split-push hard. Gunz gonna take Bot if we don’t do anything about it.

  “Who cares?” Nash shrugged. “A new wave is here, so let’s push! They have less defenders now, so let’s push the heck outta them!”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Jaideantly agreed.

  Until now, Gunz was the most dangerous defender from the enemy side. Not because his defense was godlike or anything, but because his offense was so swift and overwhelming. This guy could turables oacker in a blink of an eye a a kill. His mere presen the defe tremendous pressure oackers.

  But, this dangerous fellow wasn’t here anymore. It’ll be that much easier to push the Golem now.

  “Ighe split-push for now,” Raymond said the final word. “Keep pushing Mid and take the Golem.”

  “Really!? Let’s go then!” Jaiden roared. I didn’t expect Ray, of all people, to agree to this. It’s like he’s a totally different person all of a sudden. Sick!

  And so, the Invincible Triangle pushed forth! It was a 3v2 assault on the Golem. They were going to bust through!

  Not so fast. Yuel unleashed Tsunami, pushing back the entire enemy army, minions, and pyers alike. It dealt sizable damage to minions and deyed the ining attack.

  “Shit!” Nash cursed. “They’re trying to stall us! I ain’t gon ‘em!” He was about to jump in and mess up these bastards.

  “Wait, calm down,” Jaiden said. “We ’t break formation like that. I know how yo feel, I also ush as fast as possible. But, we ’t lose our cool here. Even without Gunz, one wrong move cost us the game.”

  “Yeah, ya right.” Nash took a deep breath. This was no time to be a hothead. He was in charge of the vanguard, so he couldn’t be too reckless. If the enemy eliminates him, Jaiden and Rio won’t have anybody on the frontline. Basically, that’ll stop the entire offense in its tracks.

  They had to do things methodically if they wao win. This wasn’t some Ranked mat which dropping a game only meant losing points. If they lose this ohey’ll lose the entire scrimmage!

  “Let’s do this fast but carefully,” Jaiden said. They had the advantage in terms of numbers, so they’ll destroy the Golem and drive the game to victory, long befunz makes any substantial progress in Bot.

  I see they’re not rushing it. Yuel o himself. He was hoping that the pressure of the split-push would make the Triangle lose their cool and charge in, but they were better than that.

  I thought StormMonster was a hot-blooded pyer. Yuel frowned. I expected him to charge in and overextend, especially after I stalled them with that tsunami.

  The enemy was rag against the clock, testing with Lars’s pushing speed. As such, being washed away by a tsunami should’ve triggered them enough to force a rea. Yuel even calcuted multiple moves ahead for how to severely punish StormMonster for aension. As, none of that came into py.

  They probably have a voice of reason in that group. Yuel cluded.

  Individually, StormMonster seemed like a rather rash pyer. As such, there robably somebody iriangle who stopped StormMonster from overextending.

  That’s what made that Triangle so dreadful. Each of the three pyers was g in some areas, but they covered each other’s weaknesses when fighting as a triangle.

  That’s why Yuel could ear that trio apart. It’s almost as if the three of them had no weaknesses when baogether. Instead of being three individual pieces on the board, they fused into one powerful Queehat had no weaknesses.

  No, everybody has a weakness. Yuel corrected himself.

  Everybody had a weakness. This was one of the basic principles his dad taught him about chess, and it applied to any game at rge. Nobody was truly invincible and every formation could be crushed. At least, in theory.

  If I could py five mames against them, I’d probably find something. Yuel reasoned. But, we don’t have time for that. We have to win this game.

  In theory, the Triangle definitely had some weaknesses. However, in practice, it’d take too long to discover and exploit them. Not to mention, even after these weaknesses finally reveal themselves, it wasn’t guarahat Stratus will have the necessary tools for striking them.

  Therefore, within the scope of this one game, it was best to create an unwritten game rule. This Triangle is uable. Such was the artificial truth Stratus had to deal with.

  Si was impossible to directly defeat the Triangle, all Yuel could do y around it. He had to craft a strategy that’ll win the game without ever fronting the Triangle. As far as he was ed, the Triangle was like an invincible chess piece that couldn’t be captured.

  That’s why we have to focus on other parts of the board. Yuel cluded. That’s the line of thinking that gave birth to the split-pushing in Bot.

  The Triangle was just one pie the board, so it couldn't be in two pces at the same time. Renegade and his brigade had to choose between rotating to Bot and pushing Mid, and they chose the tter. Now, it to Yuel and Luke to stall that push for as long as possible.

  “Make sure you maintain distance from me,” Yuel reminded.

  “Heh, I’m already four parallel universes ahead of ya!” Luke was on the opposite side of the Golem's area, as far as humanly possible from Yuel while still within the safe zone and close enough to the frontlio be a menace.

  “Good.” Yuel nodded.

  To make the enemy’s life as difficult as possible, it was best for Yuel and Luke to position themselves far away from each other. This way, Renegade’s Kraken couldn’t hit both of them at the same time, and it was impossible to focus on both of them at on general.

  Memer or not, Luke definitely knows how to hahese situations. Yuel admitted. And, as unventional as it is, there are some occasional bes to his odd picks.

  Knight oor choice as a Jungler pid it caused Luke to g behind by two levels. However, in this specific situation, having a Knight on the defense was actually great.

  Knight was tanky enough to soak damage and the existence of his taunt skill stantly put pressure oackers. The moment somebody gets too close, Luke would aggro them and draw them into the Golem area against their will. As such, the enemy had to proceed with extreme caution.

  What’s more, Luke has been handling himself surprisingly well on the defense. From watg him py, one would think he port main. In Yuel’s experience, Jungler mains usually didn’t exhibit such finesse on the defense, for it wasn’t a responsibility they were expected to haoo often.

  Ellen was about the only exception I knew, but she’s an exception in about anything she does. Oher hand, Dan was more about offense and ganks. He did have a solid defense because anybody who wants to py on Howard’s team must have a solid defense. But, aside from that requirement, Dan definitely enjoyed offense and ganks a lot more, like any ordinary Jungler.

  But, Luke was no ordinary Jungler. He was a memer, and the csses he picked often had an unorthodox game pn. So much, that they strayed from the meta definition of what the Jungler role should be about.

  That usually made them ineffit as Junglers, but sometimes it also made them strong ihat Junglers weren’t expected to excel at, such as defending. And, as someone who alyed the unventional picks, Luke had plenty of experieh situations that were alien to the average Jungler.

  That’s why I’m sure we stall the Triaogether. Yuel reasoned. It’d be hard to achieve that alongside a regur Jungler like Nia, but with Luke, we defend just fine.

  And ihe eriangle failed to deliver much damage on the Golem this round as well. They shaved off another 10%, so the Golem now stood at 80%. It was still plenty healthy, it’ll withstand many more rounds with ease. If the enemy chooses to tinue pursuing this offehis will turn into a drawn-out war.

  Meanwhile, in Bot...

  Aurret has beeroyed!

  “Woohoo! Let’s go!” Lars pumped a fist. “I gonna keep pushing, right?”

  “Yes, go for their Golem,” Yuel said. “Even if they make a move now, you’ll have more than enough time to react.”

  “Okey-dokey!” Lars grinned. “Let’s turn this game on its head!”

  And so, Lars pressed onward with his offense.

  “Man, that guy is still pushing!?” Nash excimed. “Cocky son of a gun.”

  “He took out that Turret in no time,” Jaiden said. “Meanwhile, we haven’t made much progress over here.”

  They barely shaved off 10% from the Golem, while the eook the e Turret at the same amount of time. This definitely wasn’t a favorable trade for them.

  “Maybe we should go Bot?” Rio suggested.

  “Yeah, I was thinking that too, but...” Jaiden knotted his brows. This was a difficult call.

  They couldn’t allow the eo take Bot Golem. However, rotating the entire Invincible Triangle over there felt like a waste. Especially, with the Mid Golem right in front of their eyes.

  They were right there, right about to take the Golem that would pretty much wihe game. As, two tough gatekeepers stood in their paths.

  Chessmaster and LegendaryMemer boasted an airtight defehey stantly threatehe trio with their dangerous CC, making it difficult to find safe ao approach from.

  Especially, Chessmaster’s Tsunami was devastating. I attack, it reduced the entire wave’s HP before the push even started. As a result, there was no hope of getting much damage on the Golem from the get-go.

  Well, at least the wave will be better in that regard. Jaiden reasoning. Chessmaster won’t have Overflow for a while now.

  But, even without the tsunami, it was hard enough to crack this duo’s defense. How much longer will it take the Invincible Triao fell the Golem? Was it justified to leave Bot Golem undefended for that long?

  Dang it, paring all these odds is SO not my strong point. Jaiden sighed. “Rio, do you think we should rotate to Bot?”

  “Hard to say. All I know for sure is that somebody will have to defend Bot soon.”

  “True that.” Jaiden nodded. “If nobody goes to defend now, I already see us losing the Golem.”

  With that said, what was the best way to go about this? Rotate the eriangle? Or, break up the triangle and send only one of them to handle Gunz? Could a single defender even stop Gunz?

  “Jaiden,” Raymond called out. “Do you think you destroy their Mid Golem in the wo waves?”

  “Of course we !” Nash decred without hesitation. Where was he even drawing that baseless fidence from?

  “Jaiden?” Raymoed, ign the fool.

  “Not sure,” Jaiden admitted. “Their defense is tight. It might take us three or even four waves.”

  “I see. Then, we’ll have to postpohe push on Mid. Let’s start defending Bot soon”

  “Makes sense.” Jaiden hey didn’t have the luxury to tinue pushing while a dangerous split-pusher artying on an undefended ne. But, if they give up Mid for now, what should be their move?

  There were two reasoioher rotate the entire Invincible Triao Bot, or break it up and split its members between Top and Bot. But, whie was the right call!?

  I don’t think that a sitle split-push has ever givehis much headache before. Jaiden made a face.

  It felt like Chessmaster ed them all around his finger, making them wrack their brains to resolves a difficult dilemma he set in front of them. Will their move also be within that mastermind’s expectations? Did that guy already prepare an appropriate ter to whatever they’ll do ?

  There was o the question swirling in Jaiden’s head as he found himself stu analysis paralysis...

  DarkestCymore