The minion wave arrived. This was the perfect opportunity for Raymond to test his offense o.

  Sorcerer's range was great, but Beat still had to step out of her tower to clear the minions. That moment will be Raymond’s best opportunity to strike.

  Aeromancer was best suited for defense, but that didn't mean it couldn't go on the offensive. If anything, many of its defeools were also great for offense.

  Raymond pced a Whirlwind on the ining enemy wave. So far, it was nothihat alone shouldn't arise the enemy's suspi.

  After Whirlwind, Raymond would normally retreat to his side of the ne. But, not this time. Instead, he fired a Squall toward Beat.

  Huh? He's shooting? Kai blinked in fusion and instinctively backed away. But, that wasn’t even necessary.

  There was no way Squall would reach her from that distance. Kai was vinced because she knew how to Aeromancer. She developed a good grasp of Squall’s range- WHAM! The gust of wind smmed her!

  "Huh!?" Kai, staggered backward, uo process the situation. What? How!? Squall couldn't reach across such a big range, no way.

  Did they stealth-buffed the range or something? Kai frowned. No, there weren't a bance ges as far as I know.

  Ahe Squall undeniably reached her. In other words, it flew farther than it normally could. There was only one way an Aeromancer could make that happen: with Jet Stream.

  When did he pce it? Kai spotted the culprit. As expected, there was a trail of wind blowiween her and her oppo. She didn't eve being pced, so that’s why it took her a couple of seds to figure what was going on. When did he...?

  The Jet Stream wasn't there before Nirvana fired Squall, Kai could swear on that. So, did Nirvana pce the Jet Stream after firing Squall?

  I know it’s just barely possible in terms of timing, but... Even Kai, who ehe challenge of execution, wouldn't risk trying this advae a critical match like this. Even the slightest miscalcution could ruin that eup and waste preP. In particur, it was too risky to try it online, especially in ggy matches.

  But, this match is more like offline. Kai reasoned. On this stage, there won't be any g spikes or ued deys, so difficult setups like this were far more viable.

  Damn, so he gonna zoh that? Kai clicked her tongue. What a pain.

  The Squall, boosted by Jet Stream, ate 20% of Kai’s HP i. It was no joke.

  While I farm the ne, he’ll be farming my HP. Kai frowned.

  To clear minions effitly as a Sorcerer, Kai had to step out of her tower range and pce a Magia Orb in the ter of the enemy wave. However, doing so pced her in the range of the Squall + Jet Stream bo. She'll have to pay with her HP for the ability to farm optimally.

  In that case, I'll just have to dodge it. Kai thought. If the enemy nning to Squall + Jet Stream her every time she approached, then Kai will simply have to avoid the attaext time, she'll be ready.

  The wave arrived.

  Kai advao the front in order to pce her Magia Orb, but she also kept a watchful eye on the oppo’s movements. The moment Nirvana fires, she'll move out of the way.

  WHISH! A gust of wind charged at her! That sound was the cue. Now, Kai just had to step to the right and- WHAM! The wind struck her!

  "Wha-!?" Kai excimed. How in the-!? I was ready this time!

  Even though Kai reacted on time, the Squall still hit her. Was she too slow? Even with her refined auditory senses?

  Oh, I see what's up. The speed is deceptive. Kai figured.

  If she were dealing with a normal Squall, she'd be able to dodge it based on the sound cue. However, what Nirvana fired at her was no simple Squall. The moment Squall passed through Jet Stream, it gained a sudden boost of speed and rammed into Kai right after.

  Alright, then Dodge Roll it is. Kai cluded.

  Another wave arrived.

  Like before, Nirvana unleashed his Squall + Slipstream bo. But, this time, Kai didn’t sidestep. Instead, she rolled aside as soon as she heard the sound of the wind bst.

  Alright. Good. Kai o herself. This time, there was no i. She successfully evaded the damage.

  How do you like that, huh? Kai lifted her . She recovered from the roll, then unleashed Dimensional Colpse on the enemy wave as usual. You’re wele to try hitting me again. Keep wasting your MP as much as you want, I'm down for it.

  Unfortunately, her oppo wasn’t greedy.

  I see she adapted. Raymond nodded. He khis setup won't work forever, but it did rob Beat of 40% HP. It well spent. , let's try this.

  During the minion wave, Raymond assumed the usual position. He made it look as he was going to unleash Squall + Jet Stream again.

  Judging by the enemy’s movements, the bluff was ving enough.

  Not giving up, huh. Kai sneered. Fine by me. Try me!

  Kai was ready. Her eyes were peeled. As long as she doesn't miss the sound cue, she'll Dodge Roll that Squall no problem.

  Yeah, she'll dodge it. Whe es. Any moment now. No matter when it happens. Anytime. No problem...

  Is he messing with me? Kai clicked her tongue. Alright, I'll just ignore your bullshit. She activated Dimensional Colpse. At that moment - WHAM! A wind burst!

  "You little...!" Kai cursed. She spammed the spacebar to roll as quickly as humanly possible, but she was still stu the casting animation of Dimensional Colpse. That Squall was charging at her with the worst timing possible!

  Eventually, Kai recovered from the casting animation and started rolling away. But, it was too te. WHAM! Wind crashed into her. Another 20% HP gone.

  Damn, this bastard is good. Kai ched her mouse. She had no choice but to admit her defeat this round.

  With 40% HP left, it was risky to remain in the was best to recall to base and heal up, even though it meant surrendering ne trol for one wave. Tch.

  Maybe I should risk it and stay here anyway? Kai wondered. She didn't want to admit defeat so quickly here, not like this. It was too me.

  As, she had to suck it up. The st two games taught her a harsh lesson. She didn’t want to bee the trigger for the team’s defeat again.

  Not to mention, she has already caught a glimpse of the enemy Jungler roaming around Mid. Against a potential gank, especially one ing from StormMonster, staying ih 40% HP ractically suicide.

  There was no other way around it. Kai lost against Nirvana and had to bail out.

  Was Lars holding down such a strong oppohis eime? A shudder ran through Kai.

  Throughout the entire day, Kai barely got to see Nirvana in a or even hear much about him. There weren’t any hy developments in Mid as long as the situation remained as Lars testing Nirvana.

  Therefore, as a pyer, Nirvana didn't stand out much. Kai assumed the guy was just another scrub, like the majority of Taurus pyers from earlier today.

  Of course, Lars mentioned a few times that things weren’t going easy for him in Mid. And, given Lars’s skill, it was logical to assume that Nirvana had some fighting in him.

  However, Kai was always detached from the events in Mid, and Lars never showed signs of experieng real trouble. Therefore, it was easy to assume that Nirvana was no big deal.

  I was pletely wrong. Kai realized only now, after fighting Nirvana face-to-face.

  Nirvana was a strong pyer. He figured that Kai nning to py defensively and immediately applied pressure. And, once Kai adapted to the pressure, Nirvana immediately mixed things up. After just a handful of waves, Nirvana forced Kai to run with her tail between her legs.

  It was humiliating. Lars has been holding the fort in Mid the entire day, yet Kai lost the ne in just a couple of minutes. It was bullshit, there was no other way to describe it.

  So, I'm basically trash, huh. Kai bit her lip. At this point, she had nth to deny it any lohe enemy outcssed her no matter whie she pyed. She was plete and utter trash.

  "Kai, you should've said you're recalling," Yuel criticized.

  "Ah, yeah, sure." Kai hung her head. Another mispy. She has been making mistakes left and right today. Fuck it all. Let this horrible day just end already...

  "Luke, you defend Mid until Kai returns?" Yuel requested.

  "Welp, I give it a try, but..." Luke smiled wryly.

  "Yeah, I know." Yuel nodded. "Knight isly fast at clearing but it’s all you have right now."

  "Gotcha." Luke rotated to Mid as requested. Let's see if I troll this guy, huehue.

  He cautiously advaoward the frontlihe moment his oppo uses Whirlwind, Luke will activate his trap card!

  I got the 200 IQ strats. Luke smiled mischievously.

  The pn was to push enemy minions away with Shield Bash. That’d create a distaweewo armies, f allied minions to chase the enemy. In the process, they’ll leave Whirlwind’s rah minimal damage. It was the ultimate Aeromancer ter!

  , go for it. Luke urged. Do it, bruh.

  Any moment now. Ohis Aeromancer unleashes Whirlwind, it'll be time for that sweet ter! Heck yeah, let's gooooooooo!

  Um... let's go? Whenever you're ready. Luke's smile twitched. Something was off. The Aeromancer was sure taking his sweet time.

  Unbeknown to Luke, his oppo was also waiting for something to happen.

  He’s not using Shield Bash? Raymond wondered.

  The staple wave clearing routine for Knight was to lump eogether with Shield Bash, then slice through them with Bde Swing. However, LegendaryMemer wasn't hurrying to do anything.

  Is it on cooldown? That was definitely possible. The Knight probably rushed over here at short notice, so maybe his Shield Bash wasn't o. It was definitely possible, but somehow hard to believe.

  He must be really experienced with Knight to pick it for jungling. Raymond reasoned.

  Jungler Knight wasn't a standard pick, but her was Jungler Pyromancer for that matter. A, LegendaryMemer performed well with Pyroma game. The way he carried himself showed he had plenty of experience pying that niche pick. As such, it was fair to assume that the same applied to his Knight.

  Perhaps, as the name implied, LegenadryMemer specialized with niche csses. He accumuted enough ted experieo pete against meta csses with mere memes. At least, that was Raymond’s impression.

  Am I overthinking this? After all, his niame is LegendaryMemer... Raymond couldn't tell for sure. Maybe this pyer ig unventional Junglers just to meme around. If so, the guy was a disgrace to this petitive stage.

  I'd like to believe Stratus is above pulling such pranks. Raymond thought. They e across as a solid team this year, so I better take this Knight seriously.

  Due to these worries, Raymond was relut to summon his Whirlwind. Doing so would give the enemy an advantage.

  Shield Bash had a dispt CC, so the Knight will be able to manipute the positions of minions on the ne. For example, he could push Raymond’s minions away. That’ll make his minions give chase, leaving Whirlwind's area of effe the process. It was a risk Raymond didn’t want to take

  Therefore, he just stood far away and fired basics at the enemy swordsmen. There was no hurry. The enemy didn't dare to e closer, so Raymond effortlessly maintained ne advahout spending any MP. It was a goement.

  Sooner or ter, this situation should force the Knight to it to a move. Or, perhaps, LegendaryMemer was fih just stalling Raymond a little, without ht testing the hat'll be fioo.

  But, should I really be satisfied with just that? Raymond had a weird thought.

  Normally, he'd bat such situations with his patience. He’d wait for the eo it, then ter them. And, if the enemy refuses to it, Raymond will simply maintaiatus quo as long as it didn’t py in his enemy’s favor. But, should he really be satisfied with just that?

  Raymond gained a tremendous ne advaer chasi out of the ne. But now, LegendaryMemer was trying to e that advantage by simply standing there, staring Raymond down. The guy wasn't even willing to e forth and it to any pys.

  If I do nothing here, the advantage I worked for will be gone. Raymond reasohe Sorcerer will return to h the wave, so the uation will be back to square one.

  Maybe I should be greedier? For a moment, Raymond couldn't believe that thought crossed his mind.

  No, that wasn't quite right. Such thoughts crossed his mind tless times before during simir situations. However, this was the first time he seriously sidered ag upon them.

  Raymond had the ne advantage right now. The Knight only came here to put out the fire, not tain ne advantage. And, in the first pce, a Knight couldn't possibly test Aeromancer's clearing speed. The entire ne was at Raymond's mercy right now.

  He knew all that because he researched the game more than anybody else in the club. Given enough time, anybody could learn tnize advantageous situations like this.

  What would guides advise him to do in this situation? Naturally, they’ll tell him to pressure the Knight. “Go all out and scare him out of the hat’ll probably be the gist of the advice.

  So, let’s do exactly that! Raymond unleashed Squall.

  "Wha-!?" Luke jumped. That stuff came outta nowhere! He didn't eve a ce to react as the bst ate away 15% of his HP.

  Heh, you’re ing after me? Luke grihat's ballsy of you.

  By injuring Luke, Nirvana became a bona fide criminal. The minions didn’t let it pass. They charged straight at the Aeromancer, like apprentices seeing revenge for their master.

  However, the enemy anticipated that. Rather, he must've been aiming for it all along...!

  Good. Now, everybody is packed in one pce. Raymond cast Whirlwind ahead of himself.

  The enemy squad was focused on hunting him down, so they didn’t pay any attention to his minions. In other words, dispg Raymond’s minions will no longer distract the enemy army. The threat of Shield Bash was off the table.

  “Dang, bruh hit me with a 5-dimensional chess move!” Luke facepalmed. It was a sad story, but firing Shield Bash no longer made any sense now. Derp.

  While he was giving up ouation, his oppo sidered taking things a step further.

  Do I ult him? Raymond wondered.

  More than likely, he won't be able to get a kill here. The Knight was at 70% HP, so Hurrie won't be enough to finish him off. heless, it will eat a lot of his HP and will likely force the guy to recall to base. That, in turn, will slow down his framing and will make LegendaryMemer g behind the rest.

  I've already e this far, so I'll go all the way! Raymond created a Jet Stream in the distance.

  "Whoa, for real!?" Luke grimaced as he passed through a gust of wind.

  It only slowed him down, that's all it did. But, who in their right mind would slow dopohey had no iion of fighting? Nobody. In other words, something was ing!

  "Holy moly!" Luke turned around and caught a glimpse of the st thing he wao see right now.

  The Aeromancer was moving his hands in rapid circur motions. Bruh was cooking up a storm with his bare hands!

  Dang, this slowdown is the real shit! Luke felt sweat f on his forehead. He couldn't get away by just running.

  WHAM! He charged forth with Shield Bash. That was his st-ditch effort to escape the approag hurrie.

  It was almost a success too, if not for his turtle tier movement speed. He was slow, painfully so. The hurrie was slowly but surely catg up to him, pulling him in stronger and stronger.

  "The Aero’s ult is down!" Luke announced and he booted his eed. "I'm outta here!"

  Even as the wind was dragging him away, he still somehow mouhe skeletal horse. Yeah, that's right. His horse wasn’t just a white steed, it was a skeleton horse! This skin cost like 3 euro, but it was worth every penny.

  Unfortunately, this cool skin didn't offer any actual advahe hurrie pulled the horse as strongly as ever, even though bruh was just bones.

  , you do it! Ride like the wind, my boy! Luke cheered on his dead steed.

  Even with the horse’s speed, it was hard to flee from Hurrie’s pull at this range. But, at the very least, the wind failed to suck him in. Slowly, but surely, Luke was making his escape. Like, reaaaaaally slowly...

  It was an i escape, but it was an escape all the same. Against Hurrie from this range, any kind of escape ted as an achievement.

  That’s a good answer. Raymond nodded. I didn’t expect him to ter with his ult. Well pyed.

  It seemed like Raymond won't be getting any damage on the Knight after all. But, at least, they just traded an ult for an ult. Nobody lost more thaher here.

  "Knight’s ult is down," Raymond informed. That’s all he achieved with his aggressive py, for the better and the worse.

  Eventually, the hurrie died out and the Knight was free from the pull.

  Freedom! Luke sprinted full speed toward the allied Mid Turret. He unmounted ihe tower’s area and turned around to assess the situation of the ne.

  Yep, about what I expected... Luke smiled wryly.

  It was bad. Like, real bad. His entire minion wave was gone. And, who could bme them? These little guys ate damage from both Whirlwind and Hurrie. They ood a ce.

  So, the situation was basically like this: Luke lost his entire army, while the enemy army was almost in perfect health and was heading straight to the tower. Fun times.

  Welp, this sucks. How am I supposed to clear anything? Luke shook his head iion. His Shield Bash was down and he couldn't access Bde Swiher. All he had were his basic attacks and his taunt. Awesome.

  Welp, I got HP to spare, so I at least soak some tower damage. Luke reasoned.

  The Hurrie failed to do anything to him, so he was still at 70% HP. The minions will give him hell if he taunts them, but Knight was tanky enough to ehat pain. I po recall soon anyway, so I might as well spend my HP. It’s a resource, after all.

  Ohe enemy minioered the tower’s range, Luke activated Honorable Duel.

  Yeah, this looks real honorable to me. Luke snickered. A bunch of guys ganging up on one poor sob. Welp, I asked for it myself, so ’t really pin.

  It was too risky to taunt the entire enemy wave, so Luke only targeted the enemy bowmen. These guys were the main source of DPS, so they had to go first.

  But, to reach the bae with Honorable Duel, Luke had to advaoward the edge of the tower’s area. That put him within the Aeromancer’s attack range.

  So, he’s drawing away the bowmen? I see. Raymond fired a basic attack at the Knight.

  Dang! This guy doesn't feel like giving me a break, does he? Luke grumped as he ate the damage like a champ. Well, it was just a measly 2% of his HP anyway. He could ehat much for days. Them mages are hitting like little girls.

  While the Aeromancer’s basic attacks were nothing to panic about, the bowmen’s arrows were a different story. They also dealt retively low damage, only erased like 4% HP per shot However, there were three bowmen, so that turhe damage into 12% HP per attack. Yikes.

  Unfortunately, Luke had no choice but to suck it up. He had to bee their practice dummy to divert their attention from the tower. Therefore, he ate the first round of damage unditionally.

  Simultaneously, he also used that time to lure the minions deeper into the tower’s area. Ohey’ve ventured deep enough, it was time to smack these dudes!

  Eat this! Luke swung his bde and cut the bowmen down, one by one.

  During all that time, the little guys never ceased their relentless shooting. By the time the fight cluded, Luke was at 40% HP. It was a rough exge, but it was worth it. Thanks to Luke’s sacrifice, the tower only lost about 15% HP instead of losing like 50%.

  It sounded extreme, but the bowmehat formidable of a force. When aire wave was intad bowmen were allowed to shoot the tower nonstop, the damage accumuted rapidly. Minion pushes were hel dangerous when the game roag mid-game, so Luke’s sacrifice literally saved the future of the ne.

  "Well, I'm outta here," Luke announced. "I’ve done what I could. Gotta recall."

  "Good work," Yuel said. He was hoping for a more peaceful resolution for that situation, but Nirvana has been aggressing harshly this game. First on Kai, and now on Luke.

  It was as if some sort of switch flipped in Nirvana’s brain. Did he reae sort of enlighte? The guy was undeniably strong before, but in this game, he transformed into a real threat.

  Just great. Yuel sighed. Another difficult problem to deal with...

  As the game went on, the situation in Mid remained far from ideal. Even after Kai returo ne, Nirvana has been giving her a hard time. The enemy quered Mid in all but name. Kai was only there to dey the iable.

  To make things worse, the situation in Top wasly favorable either...

  DarkestCymore