As the match went on, Yuel improved at managing the risks of his tactics. Even though ead every one of his pns was shut down by Aegis, the team didn’t receive harsh punishment.

  In addition, following Aron’s advice, everybody added their own twists on Yuel’s pns, making them even more failsafe. All his teammates were skilled and experienced, with their own ideas and pystyles. Therefore, there was o babysit them or worry about their performa was amazing, Yuel had never pyed on such a high level team.

  Since everybody was able to care for themselves, Yuel challenged Aegis over and over without fearing the sequences. Even if he ying chess against a superior oppo, nothing was going to ge unless he made the move, and the following move and the move after that. No matter how many times he was tered, he kept pushing forward, oep at a time. Frustrating as it was, that’s the only way he could win this chess match.

  Despite the lead his team gained during the early game, they had a hard time sealing the game due to Aegis’s defeo make things worse, the team started losing its advantage as the match approached te game. Once all pyers fiheir item builds, any early game advantage was going to be rendered null.

  To prevent that from happening, Yuel’s team had to push through, right here and now. Out of the myriad of options, he picked the most unventional atta he could e up with, while staying cautious of possible backfire. After tag Aegis so many times, he was definitely getting closer to crag Howard’s defenses.

  He was certain that, with the py, he’d finally get through Aegis. After tless defeats, he’d cim victory!

  “Trever, go push Bot.” Yuel said.

  “You don’t need me ieam fight?” Trever was taken aback. “If I join ya, we steamroll these scrubs!”

  “I don’t believe that’d happen. Don’t fet we’re pying against Aegis, I’m sure they’ll retreat before you evehere.”

  “Heh, that’s fair.” Trever shrugged. “So Bot Lane, right? On it!”

  “Oh, and buy a Checkpoint Ward.” Yuel added. “Pce it as close as you to their Golem, somewhere around here.” He pihe map.

  “Oh? Oh!? Sounds like another crazy pn is on!” Trever grinned. “Holy, your shot-calls have been kinda servative tely, but now you sound like you’re ready to give a real fight! Gotcha, a Checkpoint Ward it is!”

  “You sure look fident.” Aron said. “Found a weakness in their defense?”

  “I won’t go as far as call it a ‘weakness’, but I believe I found a way to break through.” Yuel nodded. “Aegis definitely provides solid defense, but that makes him predictable at times. With the move, we should be able to break through the defenses he’s going to set up.”

  Yuel shared the gist of the pn with Aron and Trever, making sure they were in the loop. As Trever guessed, it was indeed an ambitious pheless, both seniors approved it.

  While Trever was heading to Bot, the rest of the team was locked in a 4v4 fight. To divert the enemy’s attention from Trever, the team pressued the enemy as hard as they could. In particur, Aron’s Lionfolk did a splendid job disrupting the enemy's formation by leaping on squishy targets and shooking enemies with roars.

  Bot? Trever isn’t joining the fight? Despite the diversion, Howard didn’t fail catg wind of the enemy’s movements. Even though he was locked in an inteeam fight, which even forced him to use Justice Strike and Aegis to keep the team alive, he still noticed Trever advang through the juoward Bot Lane.

  Split pushing with a Ranger in this situatiohey’re really desperate, aren’t they? Howard sneered. “Mark, defend Bot as soon as you respawn. Their Ranger is going for the Golem.”

  “Got it!” Mark answered.

  Just as Horedicted, Trever arrived at the Bot Golem along with the minion wave and attempted destroying it. However, with Mark guarding the spot, it was impossible for a Rao pull off this split push. Even though Trever had a full Carry build at this point, Ranger cked the necessary DPS to quickly finish off the Golem. That split push was a dead end.

  So, he sent the Pirate to defend. As expected. Yuel o himself. “Trever, pce the Checkpoint Ward. I’ll be right there.”

  “Roger!”

  The sed phase of the pn started. Ohe Checkpoint Ward ced, Yuel retreated from the team fight. He purposely soaked a lot of damage for the team, so it didn’t seem odd to return to base with such low HP.

  However, he had no iiourning to base. Once he ehe juo escape the enemy’s visioivated the utility skill Teleport. He wasn’t telep back to base, but rather to the Checkpoint Ward set up by Trever!

  “Alright, that pesky Druid finally returo base.” Gilbert sighed in relief. “With their Ra Bot Lahis is now a 4v3. I know me and Roi are running low, but I think we should get aggressive with them here.”

  “Yeah! Let’s do it!”

  “We make a eback here!”

  Weird, why hasn’t Trever retreated yet? Howard frowned as he examined Bot Lane on the mini-map. Trever’s split pushing attempt should had been shut down the moment Mark stepped in to defend the Golem. Yet, Trever was still there, fruitlessly trying to push the was as if he was waiting for something to happen.

  Actually, since when they had a Ward all the way out there? Howard noticed a stray enemy ced right outside their base. It was only barely caught in the line of sight of an allied Sentry Ward, which he pced there to ter eeleportation attempts.

  And, it’s a Checkpoint Ward too. Did Trever pce it there? Don’t tell me they’re going to...! Howard flinched and scouted the area, verifying that the Druid was o be found. Did the Druid really return to base? Dammit, there was no way to firm it!

  And, their minion wave is about to arrive too. Dammit, the timing is way too perfect. Howard would had told Mark to retreat to be on the safe said, but that was impossible. The moment Mark was going stepped down from his post, Trever would easily erase the remaining 20% HP of the Bot Golem. Howard’s hands were tied.

  There was a crack, Howard felt it f in his absolute defense. If the enemy was really going for the eborate py he had in mind, the result would be disastrous. He’d normally dismiss such a far stretched idea, but he couldn’t put anything past that irritating rookie.

  I won’t let them! Hritted his teeth areated from the team fight. “Gil, hahe rest from here. I have to return to base.”

  “Eh? But we have the advantage here-”

  “They’re going to take Bot at this rate!” Howard barked. There was no time to expin! He had to act fast, he had to act right now!

  He began recalling to base, it was the lohree seds of his life. Could he make it in time? The Teleport utility skill took five seds to cast, so he had an advantage of two seds over his oppo. He had to make it, no matter what!

  “Mark, make sure you move all over the pce!” Howard ordered. “They probably gonna pull you through the wall. Since you ’t retreat right now, at least make their lives harder. Spam that WASD like your life depends on it!”

  “Eh? G-Got it!” Mark nodded.

  Heh. Haha. Hahaha! This is rich! Howard wore a crazed smile, his heart raced. Who would have thought a fight against a mere rookie could excite him this much? For him, who pyed Cssmancers lohan anybody here and even practiced with pros, su exhausting csh of deaking was a rare occurrence when he pyed with others his age.

  And, precisely because of that, he couldn't bear to lose, not to some random rookie! Even though he shut down ead every tactic Yuel tried so far, it wasn’t over yet. Until the very st sed of the match, Howard wasn’t going to let even a siack through! Against a rookie, he wouldn’t be satisfied with anythihan a perfect shutdown!

  “Oh, snap! Howard returo base!” Trever announced.

  Amazing, he figured it out so quickly. Yuel’s hands trembled, not from fear, but from excitement. Indeed, his oppo had an unbreakable defense. However, right here and now, he was going to pierce through it!

  “It doesn’t matter, he won’t make it.” Yuel cimed with fidence. Padin had no way to boost his movement speed. So, despite how quickly Hot back to the base, he had no means to cover the necessary distan such a short time span. It was settled.

  Ugh, stop moving so much! Yuel carefully aimed his Nature’s Grasp at the zigzagging Pirate. It felt like the Pirate was mashing the WASD buttons at random, so log on him ain. Was this also part of Aegis’s defense?

  heless, that much wasn’t enough to foil Yuel’s pn. Even if the Pirate thought he ressing buttons at random, they still had a distinct pattern. By taking a sed to analyze the Pirate’s moves, Yuel predicted the one.

  Caught you. It’s over. Yuel shot his brahrough the wall. They were going to hit for sure, nothing could stop them now. Aegis’s absolute defense was about to crumble.

  Tch, run faster! Hritted his teeth as he dashed toward Mark. His Padin was slow, way too slow. Without any movement speed buffs, he couldn’t close the necessary distan time by foot. The Druid’s branches already pierced through the wall, but Howard was nowhere close enough.

  What a frustratingly delightful py. Even though his shield was supposed to be imperable, he felt Yuel’s attack breaking in through the ti of cracks. Any other day, this level of py could had screwed Howard. But not today, not in this match!

  Not under my watch, rookie! Hooured his everything into tering Yuel, nothing else mattered. He couldn’t lose here, even if he had to outdo himself! In this match, in this very instant, he was going to surpass himself!

  Sure, Padin was a slow tank with no mobility boosts, but that didn't stop Howard. Just as Nature’s Grasp was about to grab Mark, Howard blitzed forward. He closed the distan a blink of an eye and activated Divine Shield, defleg the branches.

  “Yes!” Howard couldn’t tain himself. He couldn’t believe he just executed su absurd py, but he did it! He shut down Yuel yet again!

  “Wow! You saw that!?” Trever’s jaw dropped. “I’m clipping that shit! It’s gonna go into Top 5 Pys for sure!”

  Blink? But that’s... Yuel bit his lip. It was impossible. It was absurd.

  Howard used Blink to close that distan an instant. It was a utility skill, which alloyer to instantly teleport a short distance forward. Being a utility skill, it was avaible to every css, so it wasn’t unthinkable for a Padin to use Blink. Except, Howard didn’t have Blink until now.

  He... He bought Blink as soon as he returo base. He realized right away that he wouldn’t make it, so he bought Blink on the spot. That’s just... Yuel hung his head. To think Howard could make such a split-sed decision to i gold into a costly utility skill, just so he could block Yuel’s py. It was brilliant defense, Yuel was thhly crushed yet again.

  “Focus! It’s not over yet.”

  “Eh...?”

  “Tank the Golem.” Aron ordered.

  “Eh? Ah, sure...” Yuel acted on instind stepped into the Golem’s area. He made sure to cast Gaia’s Prote on himself, to mitigate the ining damage.

  “Now, Trever. Finish off the Pirate.”

  “What about the Padin’s ult?” Trever asked.

  “It’s on cooldown. I made sure to bait it out in the previous team fight.”

  “Sweet, okay then!” Trever grinned. “Too bad Aegis ’t use his Aegis, haha!”

  “But even without his ult, they still got the advantage here...” Yuel mumbled. What was even going on? What was Trever trying to do? They failed to make this push, they got thhly shut down by Aegis. There was nothing else for them to do here, they just failed hard and that’s all. Yuel’s careful pnnied in nothing more than an embarrassing blunder.

  “Wha!?” Yuel gasped at what unfolded . While he was drawing the Golem’s attention, Trever fearlessly rolled into the Golem’s area! It was so reckless! Yuel had no tools to support su aggressive right now, so Trever literally leapt into the lion's den!

  Before his oppos got the ce to react, Trever performed a quick roll cel and activated Wolf panion, sending his wolf to knock down the Pirate. While the target was rendered immobile, Trever followed up with his ult, The Hunt is On, marking the Pirate as his “prey”. Now, each of Trever’s attacks was going to deal huge damage to the floored Pirate.

  “Dammit!” Howard cursed. Of course! They could easily get away with such a straightforower py while Howard’s ult was down! sidering the skill differeween Mark and Trever, it was an obvious py! How did he miss it!?

  That damn Aron, he pressured me into using both Justice Strike and Aegis i fight. Was it all for this py!? Hritted his teeth and charged at Trever.

  While The Hunt is On was active, all of Trever’s shots pierced through eherefore, Howard couldn’t even body block the arrows to save Mark. The most he could do in the meantime was striking Trever as much as possible, drawing the intruder away.

  “You little!” However, even that option was deo Howard. The enemy Druid stepped in front of Trever, blog Howard’s path. That Druid. That damn Druid! Everything was falling apart because of him! Howard’s perfect defense was shattered in the most pitiful of ways!

  Even though it ointless, Howard bashed the Druid with his bde. Over and over, unleashing all his pent up frustration. How could a mere rookie push him this far!? It was uable! Senseless! Ridiculous!

  “Look at that brat throwing a tantrum.” Aron sneered and turo Yuel. “So much for his ‘absolute defense’. As you see, as long as you keep struggling, you get results even against the most impossible odds.”

  “But, I didn’t really...” Yuel bit his lip. Even though they ultimately gaihe upper hand in Bot Lahanks to Yuel’s teleportation pn, it wasn’t truly his achievement. Diving uhe Golem to kill the Pirate wasn’t part of his script, and it wasn’t him who baited Justice Strike and Aegis out of Howard in the previous team fight. In the end, Yuel just lost to Howard yet again.

  “You two are so simir it’s almost siing.” Aron spat a sigh. “Get off the high horse, rookie. You think you’re pying this game alone?”

  “Eh? No, I...”

  “I told you to keep challenging Aegis, but when did I say it’s your responsibility to beat him? The two of you became so engrossed in your little bad forth that you’ve pletely lost track of the match. You both knew how Trever’s skill pared to the Pirate’s, but, for some reasoher of you saw the tower dive py.”

  “That’s...” Yuel had nothing to retort with. Seriously, how did he miss such a straightfory? Earlier this match, he everever’s superior strength as a supp argument for some of his pns. Yet, at some point, he grew so obsessed with exploiting the enemy’s weakhat he fot all about this adva was su embarrassing blunder.

  “You have four other members oeam, remember that.” Aron said. “I admit, you and Howard see the game differently and e up with great strategies. But, we’re all pyers here, we’re not just pawns for your little chess game. Trever is skilled enough to beat a rookie uower and I e up with a strategy or two myself. Or what, you thought my captain title is just for show? Know your pce, runt.”

  “Hey, hey! Hold your horses!” Trever intervened with an awkward smile. “o be that harsh with a rookie, is there?”

  “Keep your babysitter mentality out of this. I’m saying this for his own good.”

  “, you’re totally being an ass-”

  “No, it’s fine.” Yuel shook his head. “Aron is right. I... I disregarded the team while trying to beat Aegis. That was wrong of me.”

  That’s right, Cssmancers wasn’t chess. It was a team sport, with five pyers on both sides. It didn’t just mean there five enemies, it also meant Yuel had four allies. Whenever he made a mistake or couldn’t beat a tough enemy on his own, the rest of the team could pick up the sck. He was so used to pying with weaker pyers that, at some point, he stopped relying on his teammates. Lars was the only skilled pyer he wholly trusted until now.

  However, in this match, all his teammates were strong. They were all petitive pyers, with way more experiehan him. Even if they couldn’t directly touch the “chessboard” Yuel and Hoyed on, they could still polish every move Yuel suggested. With Aron’s help, Yuel’s tactic even broke through Aegis’s defe was amazing, he truly wasn’t fighting alone.

  “You’ll do well to remember this feeling.” Aron said.

  “Well, guess there was no reason to worry.” Trever shrugged and focused och. Soon after the Pirate was killed, the Bot Lane Golem followed suit.

  An enemy has been killed!

  An enemy Golem has beeroyed!

  With the Golem’s fall, Yuel’s team now spawned super minions in Bot. They were already spawning super minions in Mid, so now they domiwo out of three nes. However, their advantage didhere.

  Soon after the Golem’s colpse, an ued message popped up on Howard’s s.

  An ally has been killed!

  “Wha?! Who!?” Howard jumped. Mark already died a few seds ago, so who else could die right now!?

  “Sorry, we couldn’t hahem.” Gilbert averted his eyes. While Howard and Mark intercepted Trever in Bot, the remaining members attempted to 3v3 the eeam. As, they were crushed and forced to flee.

  “Idiot, you should have retreated as soon as I left!” Howard roared. Just what the heck was everybody doing!? First that useless rookie got himself killed again, now Gilbert messed up big time. Was he pying with Bronze pyers or something!?

  “Heh, haha...” Howard’s arms dropped. Who was he kidding? Keeping track of all these things and guaranteeing his teammates’ safety was his job. Yet, this whole time, he had his hands full with just defleg Yuel’s attacks.

  At some point along the way, he pletely lost track of his teammates and focused solely on whatever bullshit Yuel was going to pull . “My bad, I did us in with that st py. Good game, everybody.”

  The match came to a swift end. Tried as he might, Howard couldn’t stop the enemy’s advanbsp; on his own. All the teammates he was supposed to protect were dead, only he remaianding. Some amazing shield he was.

  VICTORY

  “Yeah! We did it!” Trever grinned and smacked Yuel on the back.

  “Ugh, yeah.” Yuel forced himself to smile. Was this really a victory, though? Howard didn’t take the match seriously during the first half, which is how Yuel’s team gained early game advantage. If not for that, could they had won?

  On top of that, Yuel felt like he didn’t settle the score with Howard yet. Despite what Aron said about teamwork, Yuel still wao defeat Aegis with his own two hands at least onext time, he was going to win for sure...!

  “So, what are my ces to pass?” Yuel asked ohey got out of the examination room.

  “Hmm, let’s see.” Aron pondered. “You couldn’t beat Aegis even once, even though you disregarded everything else and focused solely only on that. In addition, you tried pying the game all by yourself without relying on your teammates. Quite the trash tier pyer, if you ask me.”

  “Ugh, I see...”

  “All in all, one day you may get somewhere in the petitive se.” Aron turned around a.

  “Eh...?” Yuel uzzled. “Does that mean I have a good ce?”

  “Haha! You betcha, kid!” Trever rubbed Yuel’s hair.

  “Would you mind not treating me like a kid?” Yuel pouted.

  “Anyway, Aron is treating ya like shit because he really likes ya. That’s how he is with everybody, he’s like that with me as well, haha.”

  Are you sure he doesn’t just hate yuts?

  “We gotta see the other didates first, but I’ll be damned if we find somebody better than you.”

  “I see.” Yuel sighed in relief. He was worried his erformance during the te game pletely overshadowed the positive impression he created earlier, but apparently everything was going to be fine.

  As for the other didates, I guarahere’s at least one who’ll amaze you even more than I did. Yuel smiled to himself as he left.

  On his way to the stairs, he ran into Howard.

  “...”

  “...”

  They just stood there, staring at each other in silence. Just a few seds ago, they were sworn enemies who poured their everything into crushing each other. They cshed using their ideal pystyles, each trying to prove his was superior. It was a ceptual battle, in which they tried to vehemently deny each other.

  What kind of versation could they possibly hold after going through something like that? Howard was the first to break the standstill. He walked toward Yuel, wearing a fierce look. He was one year older and quite taller, which made Yuel flinch. W-Was he going to get hit or yelled at!?

  “Heh, good game.” Howard smirked and stretched his hand.

  “L-Likewise.” Yuel sighed in relief and mustered a weak smile.

  “Where did you learn to py like this? Got any pros in your family?”

  “I wish.” Yuel smiled wryly as he shook Howard’s hand. “I just research the game a lot and py daily with friends.”

  “So, you’re saying it’s all self-study?”

  “How curious.” Howard squinted his eyes. “You sure gave a good a fight.”

  “Ugh! Wha!?” Pain shot through Yuel’s fingers. His hand was being crushed!

  “But, don’t get carried away, rookie.” Hred at Yuel. “A toddler like you ’t break through my defense. You’re ooo young to even try!”

  “Ugh, just you wait.” Yuel ighe pain and gred back. “ime, I’ll leave your precious defense in the dust.”

  “Heh, that’s the spirit.” Hrinned and finally released Yuel. “It may be a bit premature, but wele to the Cssmancers club. I’m expeg great things from you.” He turned around a.

  ime I’ll get him for sure. Yuel promised himself. her of them got the closure they desired from this match, so they yearned for another opportunity to settle things.

  Was such opportunity going to present itself while they’re in the same club? Nobody could tell. But it’d definitely e, someday, somewhere.