The sed game between Stratus and Taurus began. Everybody in Taurus was riled up about the enemy's Dark Knight pick. They all thirsted for blood, but some more than others.

  "Yo, let's ihese fuckers!" Bruce suggested. "We strike them down before they get a ce to put a fight! Gonna teach them what it means to fuck with us."

  "That’s not a good idea," Raymond objected. "Their lineup has a strong early-game. They have the upper hand at this stage of the game."

  ", don't be such a wuss!" Bruce argued bad turo the others. "Y'all wanna invade, right? Right?"

  "I agree with Ray here," Bryan said. "These bastards are clearly trying to end the game early with that lineup. It gonna be hard to beat them right now. We should just stall them until te game."

  "Yeah," Zeph nodded. "I wanna wreck them as much as you do, but we 't be reckless."

  "Tch, fine," Bruce piped down and followed the regur game opening. He, Bryan, and Raymond traveled to the e Camp together.

  I said all that, but I actually wanna start attag that DK scum as soon as possible. Zeph was giddy. A tremble of ecstasy ran through his arms as he imagined bringing down his bde and decapitating Chessmaster. That bastard deserved nothing but cruel death.

  Everybody else must’ve been eager to attack as well. But, they all mao stop themselves and listen to reason. It was rgely thanks to Bruce. The guy was ag like an enraged , so it made everybody realize how stupid and reckless their own thoughts were. It helped them to calm down and listen to reason.

  That’s probably one reason why Bruce was sidered the "captain" of the gang. He was always the first to jump at anybody who trash-talked him or his homies. And, he was always the first to trash talk the enemy. In short, he was a dumbass in every sense of the word. But, a necessary kind of dumbass whose existence made everybody around him feel smarter.

  For example, after everybody shot down Bruce's dumb invade idea, Zeph also woke up from his reckless delusions and developed some patience. He wale Chessmaster ASAP, but he had to hold it back for now. There was no reason to rush. He'll get tless opportuo wreck that bastard during mid-game. For now, he had to focus on surviving through the early-game with minimal losses.

  Dragon got an alright matchup against DK. No problems there. Zeph o himself. He had more than enough experience dealing with cheap Dark Knights in Ranked. Dragonborn was definitely one of the few csses that could give Dark Knight a hard time.

  The main reason for that was Draic Scales, the passive. It reduced all received damage by a ft amount. It was the type of passive that became irrelevant from mid-game onward, but it was a huge deal during the early-game. For Dark Knight, who relied on terrorizing everybody with high ft damage, Draic Scales was a hindrance.

  In addition, Draic Rush was an awesome attack that also granted brief damage immunity. It was hel ve for testing the ne against a Dark Knight.

  Not to mention, Dragonborn's ult allowed him to turn into a dragon. That was a huge game-ger in any fight. Dragonborn was ten times harder to kill in dragon form.

  Seriously, this css was sick. People often ba in Ranked. Nobody wao deal with ahat was so hard to kill. If Chessmaster thought he gon ez kills here, he was about to have a very bad time.

  "I must ask," Vi addressed Yuel. "Was DK really a wise pick? A Dragonborn will prove to be a strong adversary for sure."

  "In a vacuum, Dark Knight is never a good pick," Yuel said. "But, we agreed on a rushdown strategy, didn't we? There's er Top Laner for that game pn. I'll just have to work a little harder than expected for my kills, that's all. Nia, I'll be relying on yanks again."

  "Ok?" Nia nodded. She was fully awake by now.

  The tension of being on stage, in front of the scary audience, spped her awake. This was no time to sleep. She had to py and prevail. She'll sneak up to ead every foe without fail. Easy. No sweat. Yeah, easy. The team has already won one game, so they’ll win this one as well. Yeah, easy. No pressure. She wasn't tense. Not at all. Yeah.

  Okay, let’s see how this pys out. Yuel focused on the ining minion wave. This ning phase will probably go in one of two ways. Either the Dragonborn will be cocky and test the ne all the time, relying on the defense of Draic Scales to keep him alive. Or, he’ll py it safe a Yuel domihe ne.

  Both approaches were viable and had their ups and downs. testing the putting himself in danger, whereas pying safe meant allowing damage on his Turret. Yuel was fih either sario since he’ll get his early-game advaher way.

  Heh, that bastard. Zeph s his oppo. Chessmaster advao the frontlihout a single care in the world. He probably thinks I’m scared of his DK. Think again, bastard!

  As a Dragonborn, Zeph had nothing to be afraid of during the early-game. Nobody could destroy his draic body, not even a Dark Knight. Therefore, he gonna attack! There’s no way he gon Chessmaster domihe ne!

  He activated Draic Rush and charged straight at the enemy wave. The impact pushed the swordsmen back, bringing them closer to the bowmen. With all enemies packed in one pce, Zeph activated Draic Fme. He swung a fire bde in a e, burning all minions in one fell swoop!

  How’s that, huh!? Zeph grinned. What’s wrong? You’re so shook you ’t even move? Haha, that’s what ya get! I ain’t scared of you!

  So, he’s the type onborn who tests the ne. Yuel finished his observation. Before handling the enemy wave, his top priority was to dis what type onborn pyer DragonMaster was. With how fearlessly DragonMaster charged in, it was clear he was the aggressive type.

  I work with that. Yuel moved to the side and found the perfegle. Then, he unleashed a Dark Bst. The bst was supposed to travel through the Dragonborn and hit the minions behind him.

  “Heh! Think it gonhat easy!? No way!” Zeph rolled aside. “You ain’t hitting me, fam. Too easy.”

  Nice rea. Yuel frowned. His Dark Bst rammed through the entire enemy wave, but it failed to hit the Dragonborn. So, he’s going to test the ne, but he won’t drop his guard. Iing.

  This made things a little tricker, but Yuel prepared himself for this. DragonMaster started the previous game on a weak note, but he slowly oiled his rusty performance. By mid-game, he became a det oppo. It won’t be that easy to submit him with a Dark Knight.

  A new minion wave arrived. More than likely, DragonMaster was going to charge in with Draic Rush again. The attack had a brief damage immunity duration, so tering it with Dark Bst wasn’t an option.

  There wasn’t anything Yuel could do to stop Draic Rush, but he could prepare a ter ahead of time. A Dark Knight couldn’t allow ao set foot on his territory and walk away unscratched. He had to domih sides of the ne, or else he wasn’t doing his job.

  As expected, DragonMaster charged in with Dragonic Rush again, pushing all minions along the way. That was the cue. Yuel unleashed a Dark Bst.

  “Whoa!” Zeph saw the dark ssh flying straight at him. Wait, for real? You gonna bst into my charge? It ain’t gonna do any damage, you know.

  However, the moment, Zeph realized something. His Draic Rush was just about to reach its destination. However, the Dark Bst hasn’t hit him yet. It was still on its way, heading straight at him.

  “N-No way!” Zeph had a lump in his throat. This couldn’t be happening. No freakin’ way. His damage invincibility was about to run out, yet the Dark Bst was still on the way.

  “I-It’s gonna hit!” Zeph mashed his spacebar. He had to Dodge Roll that Dark Bst! It was going to hit him right after the damage invincibility ends! Suasty timing...!

  As, it didn’t help. In exge for having the amazing damage invincibility effect, Draic Rush had a rather ky recovery animation. It was impossible to quickly cel it into Dodge Roll. In other words, Zeph became a sitting dubsp;

  Wham! Zeph had no choice but to eat the Dark Bst in the face. It deleted 15% of his HP.

  Shit, how did he even time that!? Zeph roared internally. A split-sed too te and Zeph would’ve safely rolled away. This stunt required extremely precise timing. There’s no way somebody from Stratus could pull it off. Gotta be a fluke. No way he time it again.

  Delicate timing, but I got it. Yuel o himself. The Dark Bst he just fired was carefully calcuted to hit the target at the best timing possible.

  Hitting the Dragonborn during Draic Rush would easy, but it would be waste due to the damage invincibility. So, in order to un atta a Dragonborn, it was neccessary to wait until Draic Rush ended.

  However, if Yuel waited took long, DragonMaster would be free to Dodge Roll the Dark Bst. Given the guy’s performance so far, he probably had the rea speed to pull that off. So, Yuel wouldn’t get any damage in this case either.

  Rushing was bad, but waiting too long was bad too. The optimal timing was firing Dark Bst right before the Dragonborn finished his Draic Rush. The bst had to ect during the brief window of vulnerability, right when the Dragonborn was rec from Draic Rush.

  I didn’t expect to pull it off on the first try, but I’ll take it. Yuel nodded. It was difficult timing to pinpoint. In fact, he partially ow tonMaster. The timing of the guy’s Draic Rush was simply too predictable. That made everything easier. Yuel didn’t have to rea the spot. Instead, he predicted when the Draic Rush was about to start and derived the exact timing from there.

  Zeph uood the gist of it as well, but he still couldn’t believe it actually happened.

  No way he timed that shit. That’d be inhuman! Zeph gulped. Well, "inhuman" might be an exaggeration. I’m sure some pros pull it off. Probably.

  At the highest level of py, pros alulled off amazing pys. So, perfectly timing Dark Bst on Draic Rush wasn’t beyond them. But, a middle schooler doing that? A brat from the same region? Not even a Korean prodigy kid or some shit? No way. Simply impossible.

  Gotta be a fluke. Zeph cluded.

  To his credit, Chessmaster probably had the right idea there. There’s a good ce he was aiming for that specifient. The guy seemed to be smart, so he probably k ossible py. But, actually nding that shot with that perfect timing gotta be a fluke. It won't happen a sed time.

  Therefore, it was safe to charge like this agaiime. If Chessmaster attempts the same trick, he’ll mistime it for sure and Draic Rush will soak all the damage. Or, alternatively, the Dark Bst will e too te and Zeph will have enough time to roll away. Either way, the Dark Bst won’t scratch him.

  Here we go. Zeph took a deep breath. The minion wave arrived. He advao the frontline like before.

  First, he examihe Dark Knight's movements. The startup of Draic Rush was yet another vulnerable time window. Despite what haters liked to say, Draic Rush wasn’t an easy “panic button”. The damage invincibility was awesome, but it didn’t e ht away. Therefore, it wasn’t an easy button to press under pressure.

  Chessmaster surely khat, so there was a ce he’d aim for this opening. Many oppos in Ranked did exactly that. After suffering many bitter experiences, Zeph had no choice but to learn how to py around this weakness.

  In time, he even learo use this weakness as bait. He preteo go for Draic Rush, just to bait out the enemy’s skill. Then, he’d dodge the skill and go for Draic Rush for real. Many greedy oppos fell for this 200 IQ bait.

  But, not Chessmaster. The guy was calm like still water. Basic baits didn’t tempt him in the slightest. What an annoying bastard. Why couldn’t he mispy more? Seriously.

  Well, here goes then. Zeph rammed into the enemy swordsmen with Draic Rush. To be on the safe side, he started spamming the spacebar ahead of time. Gotta roll as soon as I recover. Ez dodges.

  WHISH. A heavy bde tore through empty space, leaving a trail of darkness in the air. As expected, a Dark Bst was ing!

  Here goes! Zeph fihe charge and began his dodge-roll. But, just a split sed before that, the Dark Bst sliced through him.

  "You gotta be shitting me..." His lips trembled. There was no way. It was simply impossible.

  Zeph did everything possible in that situation. He spammed Dodge Roll ahead of time, so he should’ve rolled away at the first ce he got. But, such a ever came. The Dark Bst hit first.

  And, it wasn't just any hit. It was a hit that shaved off 15% HP. Again.

  Is this guy for real? Zeph shuddered. Was this level of execution even legal? Chessmaster gotta be some sort of cyb with artificially enhanced motor skills, no other way to expin it. No human middle schooler should be legally allowed to pull shit like that. It should be banned! All of it!

  Okay, that went well. Yuel sighed in relief. There was no guarantee he'll succeed the sed time, but it went well. He would have liked to cim it was thanks to his meical skill, but that’d be a huge lie.

  A well-timed shot like this usually required superb execution, a thing Yuel didn't possess. Lars would easily pull it off after a single day of practice, but not Yuel. It was simply impossible for him to react to Draic Rush and fire his Dark Bst with precise timing. However, if he knew ahead of time when the shot was ing, it was a different story entirely.

  Fortunately, DragonMaster made life easy by being so predictable. The guy telegraphed his iions by running forward right before activating Draic Rush. He didn't even try to hide his pns. He sprinted a little, the for Draic Rush.

  That gave Yuel enough time to prepare. Of course, even with all these advantages, he wasn't going to perfectly nail it every time. But, so far, he scored two out of two. That should shake DragonMaster to the core.

  Eventually, DragonMaster will crad it a mistake that'll cost him his life. Yuel just had to keep pressuring until then.

  DarkestCymore