“Oh.” Adam Bennett responded. In fact, he had tried to move his view to observe the battle in the middle lane, but since it was his first time playing, even though he knew the technique, his operation was really clumsy and awkward. He either overshot or didn’t move the view far enough, and in the end, he didn’t see any useful information.

“There are supposed to be nine jungle monsters in the upper half of the jungle, right? Why is there one missing?” After checking on Huang Zhong’s situation by moving his view, Ethan Harris said.

“There’s one right in the middle, it respawns at 1 minute.” Adam Bennett said.

“One minute… then after you finish, go wait for that one to respawn.” Ethan Harris said.

“Are we ambushing someone?” Adam Bennett immediately guessed Ethan Harris’s intention.

“The terrain is perfect!” Ethan Harris grinned slyly.

David Bolton and Samuel Carter, who had split up, had already entered the jungle by now. They quickly noticed that most of the monsters at each spawn point were in pairs. The two veterans immediately realized that jungle knives would level up very quickly on this map, so they adjusted their item builds without hesitation.

David Bolton cleared four small monsters in a row and unexpectedly got a BUFF: his character’s movement speed increased, and his skill cooldowns were reduced for 30 seconds. He only understood the effect after reading the BUFF description. Then he moved toward the monster that spawned in the center, and immediately heard the sound of cannon fire—Adam Bennett’s Huang Zhong was already fighting that monster below.

“Level 2?” Seeing Huang Zhong’s status, David Bolton couldn’t hold back his excitement. Luna’s core damage skill is her ultimate, Crescent Assault, which can only be learned at level 4. Right now, David Bolton’s Luna was level 3, one level higher than Huang Zhong, but without Crescent Assault, Luna was still in her weak phase. However, seeing Huang Zhong cluelessly fighting monsters, and with the “Roar of the Forest” BUFF on himself, David Bolton finally made up his mind. He quickly dashed into Huang Zhong’s vision, used Luna’s passive “Moonlight Dance,” and with a basic attack, leapt over the wall from above to land right next to Huang Zhong.

“Surprise!” David Bolton shouted, deliberately loud enough for Adam Bennett and his teammates to hear. Then he unleashed two skills in quick succession: Crescent Slash and Blazing Sword Light. Even though his Luna was only level 3 and didn’t have Crescent Assault, she became a chopping machine, swinging basic attacks at Huang Zhong one after another.

But just then, two people suddenly jumped out from the nearby bush—a warrior in front, a mage behind…

“Surprise!” Ethan Harris responded crisply and loudly to David Bolton. Emily Carter’s Su Lie charged forward with “Unstoppable,” slamming David Bolton’s Luna into the wall. Ethan Harris’s Zhuge Liang calmly stepped up, used “Time Travel” for a two-stage hit, then followed up with a close-range “East Wind Assault,” skillfully dealing five hits in a row and activating Zhuge Liang’s passive “Moment of Strategy.” Instantly, magic orbs flew out, all targeting Luna. A dazzling burst of magic exploded, Su Lie’s giant staff kept swinging, and after a cannon shot from Huang Zhong, Luna fell.

First Blood!

In Honor of Kings, the first kill in a match is called First Blood, with a reward of 300 gold coins—far more than a regular kill. It’s a significant early advantage and a blow to the opponent’s morale. David Bolton had just been shouting about surprising the enemy, but in the blink of an eye, he was pounded into the ground and gave up First Blood. Looking at his fallen body, he felt like crying.

After getting the First Blood reward, Adam Bennett immediately upgraded his jungle knife to level 2, finished off the half-dead monster, and started moving toward the lower half of the jungle.

“How was that ambush?” Ethan Harris asked him.

“I didn’t expect him to be so careless. He was already exposed in my vision, and I didn’t retreat. It was obvious I had teammates nearby.” Adam Bennett said.

“Heh.” Ethan Harris chuckled. She knew David Bolton had underestimated Adam Bennett, thinking he didn’t know how to play. New players usually focus all their attention on their own hero and don’t pay attention to the map. So it wasn’t really arrogance on David Bolton’s part—just a misunderstanding.

But for them, this misunderstanding was a beautiful thing, something they could take advantage of.

“Just go clear the monsters in the lower jungle.” she said to Adam Bennett.

“Right now?” Adam Bennett glanced at the mini-map and saw Su Lie circling from the left side of the map toward the lower jungle. He immediately understood, and Huang Zhong boldly walked through the middle lane toward the lower jungle. On the other side, William Clark’s Sun Shangxiang was pushing a wave of minions forward. When she saw Huang Zhong, she tried to close in with a “Rolling Assault,” but was hastily stopped by David Bolton.

“Careful, it might be a trap!” David Bolton was still brooding over losing First Blood to the enemy’s bait.

William Clark looked at the map and saw that Zhuge Liang and Su Lie were missing, nodded, and gave up the chase. Then they heard Ethan Harris’s angry scolding from the other side: “Stick to the edge when you walk!”

This… David Bolton was instantly dumbfounded. So the enemy really had just mispositioned, and they’d missed a chance? Back in the day, he’d been scolded by Ethan Harris for misplays in-game, so he didn’t doubt it was a trap at all. Instead, he felt embarrassed and avoided William Clark’s gaze, turning to remind Samuel Carter: “Huang Zhong went to the lower jungle.”

“Let him come!” Yang Jian, who had rooted himself in the lower jungle, was the first in the game to reach level 4. Samuel Carter was feeling on top of the world. He’d never played the Changping Offense and Defense map before, and was amazed by the number of jungle monsters. The rapidly stacking jungle knife made him feel like he could take on eight enemies at once.