The rhythm of Howard’s team pletely ged. At first g seemed as if eadividual member became stronger, by patg out the weaknesses Yuel had been exploiting until now. However, in truth, the huge ge was caused by just one person.

  “Mark, go meet Gil, the Warlock, in the jungle.” Howard said.

  “Huh?” Mark checked the mini-map with a puzzled expression. Gilbert, the team’s Warlock, was on his way to Bot Lane in order to help pushing. What’s the point of leaving that very same ne just meet him halfway there?

  Not to mention, Mark hasn’t even finished clearing the minion wave yet. It felt like a terrible time to leave the ne. Was it some kind of test? “Shouldn’t I push the il he arrives? It sounds like a waste to go all the way to meet him. Besides, there are still minions here.”

  “Just to be on the safe side.” Howard said. “With the Ranger and Lionfolk, the eeam effectively has two junglers, so we ’t let uard down. If you don’t stick together, one of you may be picked off. You don’t wanhem any more, do you?”

  “O-Of course not!” Mark gulped. Questioning Howard’s order was yet another error for the huge pile he already accumuted, he was totally blowing this exam. Damn!

  “Heh, don’t worry about it.” Hoatted Mark’s shoulder. “You’re right, I’m being pretty cautious here. But, our wave already spawned, so it deal with the remaining minions without letting them damage the Golem. Even if you don’t stay ohe Golem will be safe for a while. Besides, the pn is to push hard with the wave anyway, right?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Mark nodded. Phew, what a relief. It didn’t seem like Howard was angry with him at all. “I thought I’ll farm the Hyena Camp while waiting for the Warlock, but guess that’s still too risky.”

  “That’s actually a great idea! Oneet up with Gil, you two should do the camp together. Good thinking there!”

  “T-Thanks!” Mark ched his mouse. Hell yeah! He finally scored some points! He still had a ake a eba this exam! WIth renewed determination, he headed into the juo rendezvous with Gilbert.

  “Hey! The Ranger is here!” Mark excimed. Just as he arrived at his destination, he spotted the Rarying to gank the Warlock. With how fed the Ranger was by now, he was going to wreck the Warlo 1v1 without breaking a sweat. But, thanks to Mark arriving on the se, the situation ged into a 2v1! They had a ce to turables on that pesky Ranger!

  You have killed an enemy!

  “Yeah! Eat that!” Mark ched his fist and grihey took down that damn Ranger! Mark finally scored his first kill this game!

  “Good py, keep it going!” Howard said.

  “Yeah! We do it!” Mark was on fire. With this kill, the tides began turning in their favor! The irritating Ranger wasn’t there to defend Bot anymore, so it was a great ce to push hard! Making a eback wasn’t impossibile! This exam wasn’t lost for him yet!

  “Good call there.” Gilbert said.

  “Yeah...” Howard was deep in thought. He didn’t actually expeybody tanking Gilbert with such perfect timing. His adviark was merely a “just in case”, yet it resulted iing a kill on Trever.

  “Roi, you’ve been holding onto that Sentry Ward like it’s your baby.” Howard said. “Use it already.”

  “Oh, totally fot about it, lol!” Roi ughed. “Our side looks pretty warded, though. Man, you do such a good work that there’s nowhere for me to put it, lol.”

  “The here.” Hoinged on the map.

  “Here? Eh? You sure?”

  “You already bought it, so may as well use it. Or what, you’re so rich that you toss money away?”

  “That’s fair. Okay, here goes... oh!?” Roi’s eyes went wide after he pced his Sentry Ward. “Lol, they actually had a Ward here! I’mma get rid of it. Good guess there, man.”

  “Yeah, haha...” Howard faked a smile. He k ossible for a niche Ward to be pced there, but he didn’t really expect it to be there. The enemy Druid must had pced it there to get vision on fleeing targets, so that he could pull them with Nature’s Grasp. With that enemy Ward gone, yet another one of the team’s weaknesses was dealt with.

  In this fashion, Howard kept tweaking the pys of his teammates. He advised against risky rotations, gave timely retreat orders aermined which jungle camps were safe to clear. As a result, the team’s defense was strongly reinforced and the enemy failed to push, gradually losing the momentum they maintained until now.

  Aurret has beeroyed!

  “Lol, I took Mid so easily! Where are these guys even at, lol!” Roi ughed as he demolished the eurret. He inally po rotate to Bot, but Howard advised to keep pushing Mid. For some reason, nobody came in time to stop him.

  “They all went Bot.” Gilbert pointed out. “Good thing you didn’t rotate there.”

  “Lol, true that. Man, Howard you’re on fire today! You’re usually such a worrywart, but today we’re actually sg big thanks to you!”

  “Heh, maybe now you’ll learn to respect me a little.” Howard smirked, but theed his eyes. The whole team was excited about turning the tables thanks to Howard’s advice. Of course, he was also happy that his shot-calls were effective.

  However, he had flicted feelings about it. His advice worked well, too well. Things usually didn’t turn out like this just from Howard’s advice. He uood better than anybody why it was happening this game and what it meant.

  heless, he had no choice but to keep providing his team with that fwless defense. When they were about to make a risky py, he proposed a safer alternative. When they found themselves in a sticky situations, he immediately arrived for the rescue. He left no openings.

  “You see his in-game name?” Aron asked Yuel. “He decided to call himself ‘Aegis’, the shield of gods. Just like you find weaknesses in your oppos tanize a strong offense, he finds the weaknesses of his teammates to put on a strong defe’s like he puts an imperable shield in front of his whole team, therefore ‘Aegis’.”

  “An imperable shield...” Yuel bit his lip. Indeed, every offense he attempted was shut down, he couldn’t pierce through enemy defenses anymore. They truly were protected by Aegis, the shield of gods.

  Hoatched out ead every hole Yuel spotted in the enemy’s formation. It was impossible to pierce through anymore. The harder Yuel’s tried to exploit the enemy’s weakhe harder his team unished by defensive terpy.

  “The Pirate is going for the Hyena Camp.” Yuel said. “Trever, you gank him?”

  “Hmm. Are ya sure, bro?” Trever cocked his head.

  “Eh? Ah, well...” Yuel stumbled over his words. Was he sure? Really? Was the Pirate really heading to the Hyena Camp? Acc to Yuel’s analysis, that must had been the case, but...

  “They destroyed all our Wards there, so we ’t see shit.” Trever shrugged. “If I get there and Pirate rotates to Mid meanwhile, you guys will have to fight 4v5.”

  “You’re right...” Yuel bit his lip.

  “I mean, if you have a good reason to believe the Pirate is going after the camp, I give it a shot.”

  “Fet it.” Yuel shook his head. “Let’s foid then.”

  Doubt was seeded among his teammates. Even though Aron told them to follow Yuel’s tactics, they started questioning Yuel’s shot-calls. It wasn’t surprising, sidering his suggestiohem into mispys, time after time after time.

  At this point, even Yuel lost faith in his own analysis. What’s the point? Every weakness he discovered was covered up by Howard. Yuel was battling an invisible enemy, on a chessboard that existed on an invisible higher pne.

  The “Padin” pying on the map and the “Aegis” who provided absolute defehey were two entirely different ehe Padin could be analyzed by watg the map, but how was Yuel supposed to overe an invisible chess oppo like Aegis? Yuel had no way to iigate what weaknesses Aegis had as a pyer, there’s no way to win against su elusive oppo.

  Is he trying to py god? Yuel bit his lip. All pyers were fwed, that’s what made team sports iing. Finding said fws and exploiting them was Yuel’s forte.

  However, against Aegis, that didn’t work. Under Howard’s leadership, all his teammates became “fwless” pyers. They left no holes in their formation, there wasn’t anything for Yuel to exploit. In order to get to them, Yuel first had to defeat Aegis on the chessboard.

  I thought I left this frustration behind when I quit the chess club. Yuel’s hands bee sweaty. This agonizing feeling was familiar, it was the same as when he pyed chess against a superior oppo. There weren’t any ots to strike, the enemy was simply strohat’s all.

  The more he insisted on striking the enemy’s weakhe harder his team got outpyed by Howard’s defense. His shot-calls were clearly dragging the team down at this point. Therefore, it was best to just shut his mouth a his teammates do their job.

  Yuel fell silent aed bato being merely an alright by-the-book Support. He warded, set up basiks and helped in team fights, but that’s all. HIs sophisticated offeactics were unnecessary, and that’s fine. His team still maintaihe ne advantage in Mid and Bot. It’s fihey could win as long as he didn’t suggest any ideas that backfired. Right, it’s fine.

  “So, that’s your solution? Running away?” Aron fronwed.

  “That’s...” Yuel averted his eyes. “That’s the safest strategy. We gaihe advantage in the early game, so we let it carry us to victory. My shot-calls just get in the way right now.”

  “The me ask you this: what would you do if this were a real match? We only gaihe early game advantage because Howard didn’t py seriously from the beginning. What would you do if we didn’t have that advantage?”

  “I... I don’t know.” Yuel bit his lip. What was Aron expeg of him? How was Yuel supposed to beat something like Aegis? It was an impregnatable shield, all enemy pyers had perfect defense and didn’t even feel like fwed humans anymore. Holy? It was terrifying. He couldn’t fight against something like that.

  “So, you’d throw the match?” Aron eyed Yuel ily. “You’d give up because you’re too scared to face your oppo? Is that your answer as somebody who’s striving to bee a petitive pyer?”

  “That’s...” Yuel hung his head. That’s right, he was aiming to bee a petitive pyer, even a pro eventually. Didn’t he seek the petitive se to py this team sport on the highest level? To py against the stro oppos?

  Yet, he caved in. He couldn’t beat Aegis, so he gave up. All his tactics were torn asunder by the enemy’s absolute defe was frustrating, painful and demoralizing. He felt like he was trying to pierce through Howard’s iron defenses with nothing but a twig in his hands. A...!

  “I... I want to win against him!” Yuel gritted his teeth. “I want to break through Aegis a him! But, it’ll cost us the game if I fail.”

  “Fet about winning this rigged match. Fet about the exam.” Aron said. “Pretend this is an official matd we didn’t get any early game advantage. Everything is riding on your ability to defeat Aegis.”

  “I want to face him, really. But, is that fih all of you?” Yuel sed his teammates. “We may lose because of me. Is that really fine?”

  “Heh, no worry, bro.” Trever grinned and smacked Yuel on the back. “Just between you and me, we all wanna see somebody break through that damn ‘Aegis’ at least once. you imagine how it feels practig against that shit everyday? We wanna wreck him, yo!”

  The rest of the team was on the same wavelength.

  “Yeah, I’m down with that. You’ve been doing a great job earlier, so you may actually pull this off.”

  “Agreed. Let’s show Howard that his defense isn’t as perfect as he thinks.”

  “And there you have it.” Aron wore a faint smile, which was eerily uncharacteristic. Or rather, it was a smirk. Just like the rest of the team, he definitely wished to see Aegis broken through. “None of us expects a rookie to succeed against Aegis on the first try, but you’ll never get anywhere without trying. A petitive pyer isn’t somebody who only fights in matches he win. A true petitive pyer knows how to grit his teeth and struggle through frustrating matches, grasping at anything he for the smallest ce of attaining victory. You’ll do well to remember that.”

  “And we’re all petitive pyers like that!” Trever added with a smile. “You trust us to pick up the sck whenever you fail!”

  “Hey, don’t ence him to make mistakes.”

  “And you stop making him shit his pants from all that pressure, okay?”

  “Thank you.” Yuel regained his smile. Despite how poorly he was faring, he had the support of his whole team. No matter how badly things would turn out, he wao py this match without as. He wao face Aegis and win! “I ’t make any promises, but I’ll do the best I .”

  “That’s the spirit.” Aron nodded. “Everybody, keep following Yuel’s suggestions to the best of your ability. Keep in mind that the enemy may ter them, so use your own brains as well.”

  “Roger.”

  “Got it.”

  “Aye aye, cap.” Trever shrugged with a smile, then leaoward Yuel. “Just between you and me, I think Aron really likes you.”

  “Hm? Likes? Me?” Yuel raised an eyebrow. No way that was true, sidering how harsh and imposing Aron was.

  “Heh, you just gotta know the guy. The harsher he is with ya, the more he likes ya. He’s a natural sadist, I’m telling ya. Haha.”

  “Haha...” Yuel preteo ugh along, unsure what to make of this information. He should had been gd that he (probably) made a positive impression on the key examiner, but that didn’t matter right now. All Yuel cared about was defeating Aegis.

  Once again, he began analyzing his enemies ih, seeking weaknesses his team could exploit. However, unlike before, he didn’t jump at every opportunity that preseself. He formed tless attas with lightning speed, only to drop 90% of them without sharing with anybody. He wasn’t running away, though.

  Against an oppo who could strehe defenses of the whole team, Yuel had to be more cautious. Whenever Yuel discovered a hole in the enemy defense which seemed too obvious, Howard most likely covered it up by now. Pursuing that angle would only lead to Yuel’s team getting outpyed

  Therefore, he focused on the more plicated and advanced pys. He struck the enemy from ued angles, leaving little room for ters. Even when he failed arranging the optimal sario due to Howard’s interference, his team wasn’t punished much by the oute.

  “Trever, the Warlock is rotating to Bot. Try cutting him off.” Yuel drew the most likely route on the mini-map. “But, don’t spend your mount to get there faster. There’s a ce you’ll have to retreat.”

  “Roger!” Trever dashed toward the destination, ready to score an easy kill. However, when he finally caught up with the Warlock, the enemy Pirate was also there. It was a 1v2 situation.

  “Haha, we got him!” Mark ughed. “Let’s finish him off!”

  “Agreed.” Gilbert nodded. “With this kill, we start turning things around.”

  The Pirate and Warlock rushed at Trever, fident that they’d take him out. The ganker bee the ganked, it was a delicious development, all thanks to Howard’s suggestion!

  “Geh, so there were really two of them.” Trever clicked his tongue. Despite outleveling his enemies by two levels, he couldn’t 1v2 them. He summoned a wolf mount and rode away. “Catch me if you !”

  “Heh, look at him running!” Mark grinned. “Let’s chase! We finish him off!”

  “Sounds good.” Gilbert nodded. “Looks like we catch up to him if we cut through the middle of the jungle. He chose a terrible escape route.”

  Or did he? Howard frowned as he sed the mini-map. Trever wasly the sharpest tool in the shed, but he had more than enough experieo avoid such basic mistakes. Was he so surprised by the 2v1 situation that he made a wrong turn while esg?

  Actually, why wasn’t the mount on cooldown? It means he didn’t use it to get faster to Gilbert. It’s as if he kept it in case he’d have to escape. None of that sat right with Howard. And, if that wasn’t c enough, the enemy Lionfolk and Druid were currently missing from the mini-map. Judging by the areas where Howard’s team didn’t have vision, and sidering Trever’s escape path...

  Am I overthinking this? Getting a kill on Trever will allow us to turn things around, but... Howard hesitated. His team thirsted for this important kill. If Howard’s suspi was just a false arm, telling Mark and Gilbert to retreat would make his team give up on a game-ging py.

  Damn. It’s drivis! Anything is possible as long as it’s that rookie! Unlike everybody else oeam, Howard didn’t rejoice much when the enemy got outpyed by his defeactics. For that kind of outpy to happen, the enemy had tet the exact same weaknesses Howard noticed and covered up. This usually happened only a handful of times in a match, but here it was a sistent routine.

  Time and again, that damn rookie found one of the holes Hoatched. Even though Howard always came on top as a result, he didn’t feel like he domihe mental battle against Yuel. On the trary, he ressured and couldn’t let his guard down for even a sed. The moment he rexed and opehe ti gap in his team’s defense - Yuel was going to immediately sneak an attack through that gap.

  Dammit! Better safe than sorry! Howard refused to be defeated by some rookie. He pyed Cssmancers more than anybody here, he even trained with his sis’ pro buddies. His defense was absolute, there was no way some newer would be able to pierce through it! “Mark! Gil! Retreat! There’s a good ce you’re running into a trap!”

  “But we almost caught up to him.” Mark insisted. “Just a little more and we turn things around-”

  “Do you wan killed ahem even more than you already have!?” Howard shot a gre at Mark.

  “Ugh, got it.” Mark hung his head areated. Gilbert didn’t raise any objes and quietly retreated as well. With that, a potential disaster revented.

  “Sorry, my bad.” Howard noticed that Mark was shaken by his earlier outburst. “I got a little heated up because there was no time to expin. They probably po ambush you at the Dragon with two more members, the Lionfolk and Druid are missing right now. It sucks that we gotta let them have the Dragon, but we gotta defend our nes first. Don’t worry, there will surely be another opportunity for a eback. You’ve been doing a great job so far, so just keep it up”

  “Alright, we’ll get him ime!” Mark nodded.

  “That’s the spirit!” Howard secretly sighed. Ruining a teammate’s moral was the st thing he such a difficult part of the match. He felt his tration slipping away, restlessly providing his team with defense gradually wore him out. Just whehought he was finally going to catch a breather because the attacks slowed down, the enemy delivered a tricker attack than ever.

  Heh, I don’t even remember the st time I had to work this hard on the defense. Howard smiled wryly. He didn’t want to lose, not to this irritating rookie. tering so many perfectly timed attacks was taxing, but it was also fun, in its own way. It was a direct challenge fis, on a scope he had never experienced before. He wao win this, no matter what!

  So they didn’t bite. Yuel sighed when he saw the Pirate and Warlock halting their chase. The pn was to lure them toward the Dragon, where Yuel and Aron waited to ambush them. But, as expected, Aegis didn’t fall for this trap.

  However, that’s fine. Orever arrived, the three of them killed the Dragon without being tested. Even though the ambush strategy didn’t e to fruition, they still secured an important objective. They wasted some time, due to Trever going the long way for that gank, but otherwise they didn’t lose much. They made a slightly ineffit py, but they weren’t “outpyed”.

  In this fashion, Yuel kept fearlessly challenging Howard over and over. He promised himself that, by the end of this match, he’d break through Aegis’s defense.