"Do not level up a skill yet. An opportune moment might come that needs you to use one of your skills specifically. Be it escaping or securing a kill."
"Hey Rachel, use your skills on the DS. Harass him. Even if someone comes, use them not the supports."
"Well, it depends on the situation."
"Even if you can't kill the him, it's okay. Just zone him off."
"Try stacking the Ancients for DR every now and then."
"Pull the creeps too if they're too far ahead."
"Leo, use orb-walking to harass DS."
"And Void, buy lots of sustain cause you'll be subjected to a lot of harassment. Just aim to not die a lot."
"Nyx, just help make sure that Void won't die easily. If you could also use your stun to secure further creeps from Void, or to damage Sven, use it."
"Do not linger at top lane all the time though, xp is of the essence for Void now. Go stack creeps for him or help bottom."
Kite began advising his team right after the game started.
"What about you?" someone asked.
"Okay lang ako. When I reach level 3, I could probably kill the Storm at that time," he said casually.
"Okay."
———
After witnessing Kite killing and suppressing his midlane opponent, Rachel was elated.
Her previous doubt was removed. Only trust remained.
But after a while, she saw Kite by the minimap, circling around the jungle camps.
It wasn't just once though, he kept on doing this before every minute.
She decided to look at what he's doing and was shocked to see two to three camps have multiple stacks.
Damn, how much would that give once he's farmed them?
Rachel could only grin and follow what Kite has said to her.
She's been harassing and zoning off the offlane as much as she could, pulling the creepwaves to keep them near their tower, and stacking ancient camps while providing protection for Leo's DR.
Every now and then, she would also place some defensive wards around their jungle.
With the Nyx Assasin and Leo's Frost Arrows, they were able to secure two early kills on the Dark Seer.
Even though she died once already, it was still fine since Leo was safe.
After quite a while, she noticed that her ward on the right rune spot has expired, so she had her teammate Nyx place a ward on this since he's already there, and was planning for a gank in bottomlane.
Even if there's nothing to gank, Nyx would still be here since Kite emphasized that once Storm reaches level 6, he will be more active and would most likely be ganking around the map. Thus, they needed to protect Leo.
Coincidently, when Nyx placed a ward there, they saw Storm capturing a Double Damage rune in his bottle.
Rachel immediately informed Kite.
"Go with Nyx. Protect DR," he said.
"Okay. Papunta na kami."
"What about me, what should I do?" Leo asked.
"Just farm."
"But what if Storm jumps in?"
"Trust me."
"I trust you, dude. Pero wala kang mana at mababa health mo ngayon."
"Ehdi uuwi ako." Kite answered and at the same time uses his tp to go back to their base. He's using his bottle continuesly to regen faster.
"So paano ka makakatulong ngayon eh cd tp mo, at kulang pa ng kaunti yung pera mo para sa Travel?" Leo asked worriedly.
"Nakalimutan mo na yata..." Kite chuckled. "... I'm Tinker."
———
After Kite said those words, his hero instantly raised both of his arms and made some robotic movements. After 3 seconds, the 3 tps that he's bought which should've been in cooldown, were now ready to use.
Leo raised his eyes at this. Some might know this, but for Leo, it was something new. He's not a fan of Tinker since he's primarily a safelane user. So he hasn't used Tinker yet and was still oblivious to this concept.
'So you can do that. Interesting.'
As Leo was still thinking about his findings, Storm, with a Double Damage buff and Ion Shell, jumped onto him.
"Shit!"
His level 1 silence that he's been planning to use never came out at that moment.
"Shit! Papunta na kami diyan Leo!" Rachel and Nyx exclaimed.
In an instant, they said again, "P*ta sorry na-Echo Stomp kami!"
He saw them behind him. They're not that far. Rachel's Ice Patch could've reach the Storm. But unfortunately, they were put to sleep by the Echo Stomp.
When Leo returned to his hero, he saw the Ice Blast Projectile slowly reaching his position. With the disable from Storm's Electric Vortex, there's nothing he can do about it but pray.
With all of these, he was pretty sure that he's dead.
All of a sudden, he heard the familiar sound of a Teleportation being successfully used. Afterwards, a Laser beam hit the storm that was attacking him. At the same time, two Heat-Seeking Missiles were launched.
Tinker!
Kite!
He felt hope after knowing that he's there. Although he knew that he was going to back him up since his TPs are no longer in cooldown, he completely forgot about him because of the rapid development on his side.
That's why he was really glad when Kite came.
As Storm's electric vortex is low level yet, it finally came off.
He knew that Storm should head for Tinker now. So he made his decision to immediately use silence on Kite's direction.
Yet, he was surprised as Storm chooses to retreat instead.
'Why? He still got the DD rune, though.'
With Storm retreating, his allies naturally retreated as well.
"What next?" Leo asked.
"What else? We chase!" Kite said.
"Target?"
"If possible, Storm. If not, anyone that we could reach."
"Okay."
———
When Jeremy called for retreat, his teammates immediately asked him about his decision while at the Radiant jungle camp at bottom lane near the Side-shop, and were retreating.
"Why? We could've killed Drow at the very least."
"Naduduwag ka na ba?"
"Hey! What happened to you?"
Jeremy shook his head and told them all his thoughts earlier, and how he concluded to retreat.
"I see." One of his teammates said.
After telling them this, he asked their Ancient Apparition, "Wala bang sentries?"
"It's on top and mid, the one at bottom expired already. I prioritized you and Sven, eh."
When Jeremy heard about this, he immediately used his bottle to replenish his 10% mana left, then asked for a Surge.
"Why?" DS asked him but still began walking to him to be able to cast Surge.
"Nyx! Vendetta!" Jeremy only gave them these words.
AA immediately used Ice Vortex to where they came from and saw the Drow Ranger following them.
With the limited vision of Ice Vortex, it would be hard to see all of the enemy, unless they form a line and pass through the same path where the Vortex is placed. Or if there's only two of them.
When they saw DR already near them, which as a carry, should be at the back, they had a premonition that her ally should be near them already.
"I'll stay behind to divert their target!" AA proposed.
"Ako din." Elder Titan concurred.
When they said this, it was the same time when DS finally reached Storm within his cast range of Surge.
After using Surge on Storm, Jeremy saw his movement speed reach the maximum.
He placed a remnant to scout if the invisible Nyx is following him, and retreat to safety using his relatively high movement speed.
But after only being able to run a few distance, his hero was damaged and stopped.
"Stunned!"
"Spike Carapace!"
Shit!
Afterwards, his life decreased by a large amount in an instant after Nyx chose to break the Vendetta by attacking him. Then, the figure of Nyx Assasin appeared next to him.
The Nyx immediately used Impale to stun him again and keep him in place, for other reinforcements to come.
His teammates weren't idle either.
Seeing his predicament, DS used Vacuum to drag the Nyx behind and far from Jeremy's Storm.
However, the Impale was already casted and in motion towards him. With this, his hero shot up from the ground with his health decreased again, and the 'stunned' status on Jeremy was prolonged.
Elder Titan attempted to use Echo Stomp to stop the reinforcements, but Drow Ranger used silence.
Seeing the silence already used, with the stun duration from Impale almost up, and the distance between him and the other Radiant heroes, Jeremy felt like there's still a chance to live.
However, his hopes are quenched when a dazzling path made of Ice reached him. The damage was nigh, but the disable status that came along was like cold water splashed onto him.
"Stunned!"
With the chained stuns hitting him here and there, Jeremy saw his hero being unable to take even a single step from his current location. It was only a few seconds, but for him, it felt like eternity.
Even with his teammates throwing everything into the enemies, their focus remained the same, to kill him.
Dark Seer even used Wall of Replica to slow their enemies down.
Jeremy knew that his death was inevitable, so he told his team to focus on the nearest hero for a trade.
"Nyx Assasin nalang!" he said to his team.
After this, as if knowing that he'll be focused upon, Nyx used Mana Burn onto Storm which further decreased Jeremy's life to 5% and retreated fast.
Jeremy didn't know why. He thought that he would at least kill him. With the trade of a support against a core, the Radiant undoubtedly had the upperhand.
Seeing the enemy retreat, he a sigh with relief.
Then again, his hopes were shattered.
One of heat-seeking missiles coming from near the Dire tower reached him just a before the stun from Ice Path disappeared. Which eventually killed his hero.
Tinker!
"How did I forget about him?" Jeremy frowned as he was thinking. "Nevermind that though, how did his Rockets came from near our tower? If it came from the Radiant side, it would've hit the Replicas or my teammates instesd. I wouldn't have died!"
When he saw both side's creepwaves fighting near the Dire bottom tower, he saw the reason.
"Boots of Travel," he muttered. "9 minutes Travel!"
After the failed attempt of ganking earlier, Tinker used his March to clear fast the Dire creepwave. This resulted to the remaining Radiant's creepwave to charge ahead their current location.
So when Tinker used his Travel, there's no need for it to be on their bottom lane tier 1 tower. He could just go for the creeps instead.
Jeremy's heart plummeted. Compared to his items, he only got 2 Null Talismans, a Magic Wand, Bottle, and Soul Ring, which seems insignificant even with just the Tinker's Travel.
Other than that, he was mostly surprised by the sudden improvement of the other team.
All of their skills are used efficiently, and with a purpose, unlike the previous game. It's like they're being controlled by a single person. From the Nyx Assasin's pursuit and immediate retreat, to the unhesitant pop of silence to cancel the Echo Stomp, and the Ice Path that shot right through him.
Their focus was without a doubt, to kill him. However, in clashes like this, it's hard for one to think clearly with all the chaos and variables laid down.
For example, the DR could've argued that his silence were meant for the him instead of the Chaos Stomp. Or the Ice Path should be used for the AA to stop his disruptions from the side.
But no, they were focused on me. It's like someone was orchestrating this scene from behind.
Because of what they've done, the 3 Radiant heroes in pursuit has relatively lower health compared to his team. If it weren't for the timely arrival of Tinker, they would've paid a higher price for killing him. Their Dire team could've killed them all or just the low-health Nyx and Drow.
But they weren't able to because of Tinker.
When he saw him arriving earlier at the previous gank attempt, his teammate confirmed that Tinker didn't have Travels yet. He only used his TP which is Rearmed to get to the fight instantly.
Of course, Tinker shouldn't have purposely delay his Travels just to trick them into believing that he hasn't got the item yet. He should've gotten the needed amount after that clearing of the bottom lane creeps.
If Tinker's calculations about his gold and the time if would take for him to arrive were wrong in the slightest, I would've been able to dodge his missiles using my ulti and ultimately retreat safely. His teammates would've been killed too by the constant harassment of my allies. It would've been a disaster for his team. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they took a big risk for that.
Knowing all of these, he couldn't help but shudder. All the skills, and decisions were calculated up to this point. And for his teammates to fully trust him despite the possible drawbacks, it's... amazing.
"Just who the hell are you?" he shot a scrutinizing look at the newcomer from across. Now, not with rage, but with amazement and quite some loathing.
He is now convinced that this guy, is a very difficult—most probably the most difficult, hurdle that he and his team has ever faced.
###