“You should retreat,” Rio said. “It’s over for me.”

  The Ranger’s wolf pinned him to the ground, while the Ranger herself was drilling his body with bolts. There was no escape. If Jaiden tries to help, he’ll only be putting himself in unnecessary danger. heless...

  “I’m not abandoning you.” Jaiden spun the hammer of his revolver, activating Fan the Hammer. He’ll scare the enemy away with his lightning-speed shots!

  Stupid, you don’t have to... Rio pouted, but a little smile crept on his face.

  Jaiden’s idea was extremely dangerous. If the enemies shift their focus on Jaiden, things will go south very fast. Jaiden should’ve uood the risk as well.

  heless, he was willing to put himself on the lio rescue Rio, even though Rio was the Support and Jaiden was the Carry. Their roles should normally be reversed during such situations, but Jaiden cast suotions aside. He gonna rescue his friend no matter what.

  Really, you don’t have to save me all the time. Rio smiled wryly. He wao reject the help, yet he couldn’t deny it made him happy. Jaiden always saved Rio like this, even outside the game. And, Nash was usually there to help too. Really, Rio was blessed to have such great friends.

  “Get off him!” Jaiden fired.

  “The hell?” Kai blinked in fusion. A bullet struck her forehead for massive damage. But, why? What was going on?

  Renegade surely uood he was at a great disadvantage here. heless, he didn’t flee the se. He stood his ground and even had the o unleash Fan the Hammer, knowing all too well it’ll only make esg that much harder.

  “Works for me.” Kai raised her crossbow and aimed at Renegade. “You’re so dead!”

  “Wait, our top priority here is the Cleric,” Vi implored. “Leave Renegade to me. I’ll distract him.”

  “Are you sure? You’re running low,” Kai pointed out. Vi has been soaking all the damage during their previous attacks on Lapce, so he was down to 40% HP. It was dangerous for him to enter a fight.

  “No need for ,” Vi promised. “I’ll merely distract Renegade for a moment, nothing more.”

  “Alright.” Kai returo drilling blots into the Cleric. Before anything else, they had to get rid of this pesky Support. They won’t be able to get anywhere as long as this guy remained on the herefore, Kai kept shooting Lapce.

  “You have to guarahis kill,” Yuel said. “Use your ult.”

  “No need. I’m saving my ult for a bigger threat,” Kai said. “This Cleric is practically dead. Even if he stands up, I’ll finish him off.”

  “I hope so.” Yuel frowned. Kai’s stubbornness regarding saving up her ult wasn’t a mispy per se, but it involved a risk that Yuel preferred to avoid.

  Rather than being greedy and saving the ult fade, Kai would be better off spending all her resources oing a guaranteed kill on Lapaturally, that meant she won’t be able to lunch a deadly atta Renegade afterward. heless, seg this important kill on Lapce will give the team the early lead, and will open many strong follow-up options.

  As, Kai chose to keep her ult fade. She only attacked the Cleric with basic attacks. Meanwhile, Renegade fired at her.

  BAM! Another swift bullet headed toward Kai. Like the previous shot, this one was also aiming for the head.

  Maybe I'm not a pro. Jaiden thought. But, even I d headshots a target that isn't moving!

  "Hmph." Kai sidestepped the shot at the st moment, without taking her eyes off the Cleric. She didn't eveo see the shot ing.

  "Wha-!?" Jaiden excimed. No way! That shot should've been spot on! Did she move aside at the st moment?

  Another shot. This time, Jaiden wasn't greedy. His target might move again, so aiming for the head was too risky. Instead, he went for the body.

  Yet, this bullet also pierced through empty air. Beat sidestepped the bullet at the st moment, all the while keeping her aim firmly locked on Rio.

  You're not hittih this. Kai decred firmly.

  Bullets came out exceptionally fast during Fan the Hammer, but their frequency was sistent. The shooter had no way of mixing up their timing, so that made Kai's life easy. After she was hit onone of the other bullets were going to hit her again, that was a fact.

  You gotta be kidding me. Jaiden found himself smiling. As much as I wanna trash talk everything this girl does, at least her dodges are on point sometimes. And, I 't dey shht now. So, what do?

  Unfortunately, there was no time to think. There roblem, a big o forced Jaiden to cut his thoughts short and focus ouation at hand.

  The enemy Lumimancer was heading straight at him! And, the guy was illuminated by bright light! Blinding Light was ining!

  Dang, it gonna hit! Jaiden excimed. The damage itself won't be much, but the blinding effect will be nasty.

  In theory, all Jaiden had to do was turn around and avert his eyes from the light. But, even rotating took more time than usual during Fan the Hammer.

  Dodge Roll wasn't an optioher. The skill was sealed while Jaiden erf Fan the Hammer.

  Fortunately, there was one dodging skill that didn't betray him even in this critical moment: bat Roll. It was simir to Dodge Roll, yet critically different in niche sarios like this.

  Dodge! Jaiden rolled away from the Lumimancer, making sure the blinding light won't get on his s.

  It was a success! Blinding Light boomed behind Jaiden. He didn't see any of it, but the sound informed him that the storm has passed. Now, it was time to mount a ter-attack!

  As soon as Jaiden recovered, he was ba his Fan the Hammer stanot only did bat Roll allow him to roll during the stahout g it, but it even allowed him to retaiaer the roll. The barrage will tinue!

  "Whoa!" Vi excimed. A bullet pierced through his shoulder. Renegade recovered instantly and delivered a swift shot. Amazing! Perhaps he doesn't possess the Gungnir Sniper, but Renegade's aim is heless worthy of praise! I have to get away-

  Too te. The shot was already on its way! It was heading straight at Vi and he wasn't prepared in the slightest.

  Oh, woe is me. Vi hung his head. Why didn't the gods bless me with supreme rea speed?

  The bullet pierced through his forehead. A critical hit! Vi couldn’t possibly dodge it.

  Meically gifted pyers had the luxury to move between each shot of Fan the Hammer, but not Vi. The bullets came out way too fast for him, it was like a mae gun on steroids.

  After being hit twice, with one of the hits being critical, Vi was already below 10% HP. The Gunslinger’s headshots were indeed scary. They could even reduce the Support’s HP to nothing in a blink of an eye.

  From there, Renegade’s job was easy. Fan the Hammer came to an end, but Renegade only had to do was nd two more hits. It was a tale with a tragiding.

  You have been killed!

  "Apologies," Vi said.

  "It's alright." Kai didn’t bme Vi for this. His sacrifice robably unnecessary, but it successfully distracted Renegade. That made Kai’s life much easier, so she was grateful for that.

  Looks like we're trading Supports, huh. Fine by me. Kai o herself. She didn't pn to sacrifice Vio achieve her goal of removing Lapce from the ne, but it wasn't a terrible price to pay. As long as Kai kills Renegade after this, Vi's death won't be in vain.

  However, there was a little problem. Her wolf vanished, but the Cleric wasn't dead yet! He was o away from dying, but he was still alive!

  You're not getting away! Kai fired as quickly as humanly possible. She won't give that guy a ce to dodge!

  But, Lapce didn't even try to dodge.

  I probably won't make it anyway with this HP. Rio gave up on going for Dodge Roll. Instead, he activated God’s Blessing and targeted nobody, which defaulted the target to himself.

  Right before the killing blow struck him, a surge of healing shot through his body. Then, the decisive moment came. A bolt dug into his back, but Rio survived.

  The burst of healing from God’s Blessing was strong enough to let him outlive the damage. It was one of the stro healing effects in the game. Some even called it broken, and Rio couldn’t argue against that. In fact, he was gd this spell was so broken. That’s what granted him a ce to escape from this predit!

  Now, that Rio atched up, it was time to roll out of here and hope for the best.

  "Wait!" Kai called after the rolling prey. Damn, this 't be happening! I'm supposed to secure this kill! She desperately chased her target and tried to score the killing blow. She now wo more shots to kill the Cleric. That damn healing! When will they nerf it!? It's so obviously broken!

  Kai almost caught up, she had her target within firing range. However, she wasn't fident about her aim during an ongoing pursuit. On top of that, once she fires a shot, she'll iably slow down. It just might give the ehe ce to slip away.

  Then, what was Kai supposed to do!? As she mulled over her options, an enemy appeared in front of her.

  Game over. Jaiden stepped iween Rio a. You should've used your ult to kill Rio. You were close but too bad for you.

  Damn, did I fuck it up!? Kai gritted her teeth. Thanks to her, the enemy was about to gain a tremendous advantage in Bot again. Was this game going to bee a repeat of st time?

  No, I won’t allow that! Kai insisted. But, what could she possibly do to get that kill!? Her target was slipping away from her. It was dangerous to chase any further into eerritory, especially with Renegade standing in her way. It was over. She messed up big time...

  "Excuse me, passing through!"

  "Huh...?"

  A hellish firestorm rained from the sky. The fmes burned everything in their path, including the target they set their sights on.

  "Oh, this is bad." Rined himself to his death as the fmes engulfed him whole. His rea was too slow. Then again, even on a good day, his ces of reag to Bze of Inferno were below 50%. So, this result was iable.

  "Rio!" Jaiden couldn't do anything but watch his friend burn alive. He failed to save Rio this time. “Dang it! Not like this...!”

  As, no matter how much he shouted, it was over. The ued attack was a success.

  An enemy has been killed!

  "Heck yeah, let's goooo!" Luke pumped a fist. His -up job was a huge success.

  "Ah, good job." Kai meant every word, but her tone came off weak. She didn't expect things to turn out like this. But, it worked! Luke did it! He stabilized the situation with that kill. Now, both sides were even. Each of them only lost the Support.

  "Alrighty!” Luke focused his eyes ade . “Let's get this scrub over here too!"

  Thanks to Luke’s gank, the situation transformed into a pincer. Kai was fag Renegade head-on, whereas Luke was cutting off the guy’s escape route. It gonna be ez! It made the most sense for them to attack Renegade together, but...

  "Ah, eh..." Kai was caught off guard by Luke’s suggestiohough it made perfect se was a 2v1 situation, so they should jump ade together and kill the guy as quickly as possible.

  But, I wao 1v1 that bastard. Kai pursued her lips. This was a difficult spot.

  On one hand, she wao tell Luke to leave this fight to her. Oher hand, she khat’d be a huge mispy.

  Just a few seds ago, Kai almost paid dearly for her stubbornness. She didn’t heed Yuel’s advice about using her ult to secure the kill on Lapce, and that almost allowed the guy to slip away. In the end, Luke paid for that mistake on Kai’s behalf by using his own ult as the finisher.

  It was a miraculous turn of events that salvaged the situation at the very st moment. And, that dangerous situation was caused by her than Kai aubbornness. She was guilty as charged about everything here.

  Therefore, she had nht to refuse Luke's help against Renegade. Luke worked hard to create this advantageous situation, so Kai had to see it through.

  "Alright, let's do it!" Kai nodded and fired a bolt at Renegade.

  "Heh, I'm in a tough spot here..." Jaiden smiled wryly. He ressed between a rod a hard pce. A Ranger on the front and a Pyromancer on the back.

  There was o flee. Jaiden will have to break through one of these oppos to get out of this area. That was easier said than done, sidering he was inside a juh narrow passages.

  Did he mess up that badly? Was it over for him? He couldn’t see any openings to escape through...

  DarkestCymore