Luke entered Mid Lane as planned. His ultimate mission here was to strike down Maverick, but he didn't hurry to attack.
Heh, I don't think I've ever used my gank as bait. Luke chuckled to himself. Welp then, time to try out this 5head strat that Yuel came up with!
On the surface, Luke's invasion looked like a gank through and through. However, he actually had a secret agenda here.
At first, Luke dashed straight at Maverick to spook the gal. He wanted to make it look as if he was gonna ram into her. But little did the enemy know this was just a prank, bro!
"He's here!" Marim exclaimed. "Let's get him!"
"Right behind you!" Nahum leapt out of the jungle, aiming his jump in the invader's direction.
According to Nahum's calculations, there was about an 87% chance that his Majestic Leap would successfully land on the enemy. Memer simply had to continue advancing at roughly the same speed and direction in order for that to happen. It was elementary… or, so Nahum thought.
WHAM. Nahum crashed into an empty lot, hitting nobody. Hmm. It appears I've made a miscalculation. Or, did I…?
Something about this felt off. Initially, the enemy Orc charged full steam ahead to assault Marim. So, if one extrapolated that data, then Memer should've gotten right within Nahum's AoE range. Yet, that didn't happen, not even close.
Did he realize what's going on? Nahum wondered. Perhaps he responded to the sound of my leap and deduced he was at a grave disadvantage. Hrm. Expected from a Stratus player.
Even though Memer insisted on using such unscientific classes, he was still a noteworthy combatant all the same. His picks were bizarre, but his skills were legit. It was quite the conundrum.
"Oh, look! He's backing away!" Marim stated the obvious. "After him! Let's get this kill!"
"Indeed, we shall." Nahum recovered from the landing and darted toward the backtracking foe. This was practically a 2v1; the numbers favored the Tycoons. They should have no problem getting this kill.
The two of them were wholly concentrated on decimating the isolated target. So much, that they didn't give enough thought to the situation at large.
Why did the enemy retreat right away? Was he truly as isolated as Nahum and Marim believed? As it turned out, they failed to ask all these important questions on time.
"Kai, are ya ready?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, let's do this," Kai replied. "I'm starting to draw the ult. Make sure to stun her in time."
"Gotcha!"
Kai activated Blaze of Inferno. She drew a trail that extended toward Maverick, then circled the target multiple times. The result couldn't quite be called art, but it was effective for the job.
"Alrighty, let's goooo!" WHISH! Luke unleashed Scourge at the enemy! The barbed whip flew through the air and stunned the Dark Knight! Needless to say, the enemy didn't see it coming.
"Wha-!?" Marim jumped. "Dang, he's suddenly attacking!? I bet he's trying to slow us down........ oh." She froze once she noticed the redness brewing under her feet.
"Oh, shit! They got me!" Marim cried out right as the area around her erupted in flames. The immediate area turned into a hellscape, but Marim couldn't escape. In fact, she couldn't even move because of that darn scourge hit…!
This unexpected development shocked Nahum as well. "The Pyromancer!? When did she get so close!? I was sure she retreated far away…!"
Neither Nahum nor Marim noticed this creeping threat. How could both of them be so careless!?
"They got us good..." Marim muttered. "It was like a sleight of hand. They made us focus on Memer so we wouldn't notice Beat's movements. As genius as it is irritating…!"
It was such a simple yet devious tactic. They made Marim and Nahum feel like they were winning, only to pull the rug.
With the entirety of Pyro's ult concentrated on Marim, she lost a whopping 50% HP. Yowch! This packed one hell of a punch!
Damn, did we just lose? Refusing to believe that shit, Marim tried to run an emergency simulation in her head. There wasn't time to simulate many different outcomes, so Marim went straight for the idea she liked the most, the one where she and Nahum fight back despite the odds.
And so, the simulation began playing. Marim had only 40% HP left, but Nahum was still healthy at 90%. Therefore, it made sense to use the guy as a meat shield to ensure Marim's survival.
To turn this around, I need to get a kill. Pronto. By striking somebody down, Marim would be able to recover tons of HP. To pull that off, she needed her Dark Blast. The deadly skill was currently on cooldown, but it'll come online in no time. Therefore, there was still a way out of this mess…!
And so, the simulation continued playing. Nahum will be a meat shield, and Marim will carefully aim her Dark Blast at one of the foes. But who should they target? She and Nahum had to laser focus on one of the targets to maximize their chances.
Bzzzt. Bzzzt. Noise started filling up the simulation. Marim struggled to see beyond this point. There were far too many possibilities to consider.
Well, screw it! She thought. Time to wing it!
It was a do-or-die situation, so there was no time to hesitate. She had to act fast!