Lars and Julia’s exam was long and tiring, but it approached its clusion. It was already the te game, all pyers were Lv.20 with full item builds, except for Trever. Golems crumbled all over the pd super minions dominated nes, so it wasn’t going to be long before the victor is decided. The first team to gain momentum now would undoubtedly emerge victorious.

  However, both teams refused to yield. They bashed heads over and over, but none of the team fights had a decisive result. Julia killed two ehen died. Lars rampaged a a shit-ton of damage to the whole eeam, but then got shot down.

  Julia and Lars were the game’s DPS tys right now, so whoever of them survives a team fight was going to gain momentum for the team. However, they were methodically focused on and elimihey both pyed too recklessly, painting a target on their backs. They never faced such experienced oppos before, so they had no idea how to deal with being marked like this.

  “Die! Die! Ahaha!” Julia, in particur, disregarded defense and recklessly charged at every enemy. She simply didn’t care, she was gonna quit Cssmancers anyway.

  Due to Trever’s poor performance, Julia was forced to py two roles: wave clearer and Carry. Thankfully, Pyromancer was a rare mage breed with the power to carry via fast basic attack, it was even a niche Carry pick for Bot Lane in the pro se. With Julia’s hybrid build, whibined magical power with attack speed, she demolished structures nearly as fast as a real Carry during the te game.

  However, Julia didn’t pay much heed to how important her role was for the team. Instead of prioritizing her survival so she could keep carrying the team, she recklessly charged in to score kills and secure objectives. Basically, she just wao murder some tards and blow shit up. She pyed without a single care in the world, which was the source of her strength as much as it was her Achilles heel.

  “Everybody, keep our cute rookie alive at all cost.” Ellen ordered. Putting this much responsibility on a rookie wasly fair, but there was no other choice if they wanted win this 4v5 match. With that trash tier Pirate being dysfunal, only Julia could carry right now.

  Ellen pyed Ranger, so in theory she could also double as a Carry. However, her early item slots were filled with lifesteal and regeion, whereas the rest was geared toward a Jungler build. There wasn’t nearly enough power in her build to even sider carrying, simple as that. If the game were t for like 20 more minutes, Ellen might earn enough gold to overhaul her build and bee a Carry herself, but that’s unlikely.

  In the end, everything was riding on Julia. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a great opportunity for her. If she were to prove herself in this clutch situation, she’d leave a much better impression on Aron. Sadly. as things stood, Julia’s exam evaluation was worrisome. Even though she made some great pys, she also made many terrible mistakes, Aron wasn’t niough to let these slide.

  We got a glimpse of her potential, but it hasn’t bloomed yet. Ellen wore a wry smile. Aron hates reckless pys more than anything. That Trickshooter brat may get away with it thanks to his alien tier meical skill, but dear July doesn’t have the same excuse. My, I already see Aron tearing her apart during the evaluation, even putting on puppy-dog eyes won’t help me persuade him.

  During the early game, Julia pressured her ne oppo via matchup advantage. She outfarmed the Beastmaster and protected herself from ganks with excessive warding. Then, during the mid game, she became a berserker and ripped enemies apart with her superior stats and unventional Teleport tactics. It was called “Blitz Pyromancer” or something? Ellen was sure she heard of it before...

  Anyway, there was a huge trast between the pystyle Julia showed in the early game and the one she was using right now. It’s like Julia had two por opposites living inside her: a cold and calcuted Julia versus a bzing and reckless Julia.

  Both the calcuted Julia and the reckless Julia delivered some great results in their own ways, but each of them alone was half-baked. The calcuted Julia pyed too safely and failed to grasp opportunities, whereas the reckless Julia disregarded everything around her and overextended while chasing objectives. The id fire inside her were both impressive, but the ice was too cold and the fire was too hot.

  heless, it didn’t ge the fact she had both id fire inside her. If she were to find the right band bihese two por opposites into one, she would develop a strong and dynamic pystyle. How long was it going to that take mastering that, though? Would Aron wele her into the club while her two pystyles were still so fwed and so far apart from each other?

  Pirl. It’s so annoying when you have the talent but nob unless you show results right away. Was Ellen still talking about Julia? She wasn’t even sure anymore.

  Anyway, all Ellen could dht now was cover up Julia’s oints a her up for some impressive pys. Holy, this match retty much lost, but Julia still had a way to turn this around. That is, if the rest of the team could hold the enemies down long enough.

  “July, dear, go for the Overlord.” Ellen said. “That’s our only ce at this point.”

  “Alright, got it.” Julia nodded and headed deep into the jungle. She never faced the Overlord all by herself like this, but she felt unstoppable today! , emo scum! I’mma blow you to bits!

  With the Pyromancer’s te game strength, apanied by the Cleric’s heals, taking out the Overlord ossible... probably, she had no idea actually. She just trusted Ellen on this and really wao give it a shot, because it sounded like fun.

  Defeating the Overlord was going to grant a powerful buff to the whole team, allowing them to push all the way to victory. Dead teammates were rewarded with immediate revival instead of a buff, which was no less impactful. In short, defeating the Overlord had huge bes all across the board.

  However, the Overlord was a tough cookie. It was going to take some time to defeat him, especially with just one person’s worth of damage. The Cleric couldn't hit for shit, so it was all up to Julia.

  While she was busy fighting the Overlord, Ellen and the rest had to keep the enemy occupied.

  An ally has been killed!

  An ally has been killed!

  DOUBLE KILL

  Frustratingly, there was oamed beast on the eeam who refused to be stopped. Even fighting that beast in a 2v1, Roi and Trever were swiftly eliminated. Well, to be fair it was more like a 1v1, Trever was just a useless feeder at this point. Anyway, nobody could hold dowrickshooter.

  “Man, that guy means business. Sorry about that.” Roi sighed. “He’s down to about 40%, though.”

  After clearing the super minions at Top La was clear the Trickshooter was heading to the Overlord . He had to be stopped. Like, right here and now. Otherwise, he’d deny them the Overlord buff and shut the only ray of hope they still had.

  Stopping the Trickshooter was of utmost importance, but the team’s st line of defense was... Ellen. Only Ellen.

  My, how troublesome. Ellen frowned. She killed that Trickshooter three times so far, but it was always through iactiot even once did she fight him face to face from start to end, she knew she wouldn’t win.

  However, that applied only during the early/mid game. Pyers were judged by many different criteria: meical skill, deaking, game knowledge, teamwork and so on. But, there’s one criteria often fotten: adaptability. What separated a strong petitive pyer from a weak one, was their ability to adapt to their oppos and to difficult situations.

  Perhaps adaptability didn’t get much attention because it was such a “basic” skill. All humans were naturally adaptive to one degree or ahat’s what allowed humanity tress so far. While beasts had superior strength, agility and stamina, humans possessed the ability to study their adversaries and adapt.

  Meical skill, deaking, game knowledge, teamwork... Ellen was det in all these categories. However, adaptability was the oment where she truly shined.

  She poked the Trickshooter tless times throughout this match. It wasn’t just for pressure and shaving HP, she also studied her prey with every exge. How he reacted to ganks, how hard he chased enemies, how well he fought at various distances - she o know anything and everything. The more information she had, the better she could adapt to that beast.

  Truth to be told, that rookie hoon of raw talent. However, everybody had weaknesses and he was no exception. After exging tless blows with him, Ellen picked up his tendencies and patterns. He was strong, even powerful, but not invincible.

  “His ult is down?” Ellen asked.

  “Yep, we baited that much outta him at least.” Roi replied. “I believe his se is also down. He hasn’t leveled it, so it has a long cooldown.”

  “Good. I’m off to finish him then.”

  “You sure? You don’t have your ult either and you’re injured pretty hard. That guy is nothing to s.”

  “I ha.” Ellen decred. So, it was her 60% HP vs. his 40% HP, huh. Based on their previous exges, she was going to die for sure. However, by pying her very best and utilizing all the informatiohered - she had a shot at victory. That was her verdict as the one worthy of being called Athena, goddess of war.

  Ellen couldn’t keep running away from that monster, not after Julia bravely fronted her adversaries and showed such strong fighting spirit. Now, it was Ellen’s turn to fight. It was time to teach that Trickshooter brat what it took to be a strong petitive pyer! If he thought Ellen was a fragile flower who couldn’t hold her own, that i brat had ahing ing!

  She intercepted the Trickshooter on his way to the Overlord’s camp and a fight broke out immediately. This was it, the fight that could very well decide the fate of this whole mato pressure! all!

  Throughout the match, Ellen gradually raised her skill level to throw the Trickshooter off. Every time they exged blows she pyed little bit better than before, f him to adapt to her anew. However, this time, she no longer held anything back. She absolutely had to squeeze every st ounce of skill to overtake this beast. It was the grand fihere wasn’t going to be a ime!

  Her shots had peak accurad her dodges were nimbler thahat was the full extent of her meical skill. She swiftly dodged to the right, fired back, sidestepped to the right, fired, dodged, fired and the cycle repeated itself, with some fakes and cels thrown into the mix.

  Ellen poured her everything into the fight and held her ground... heless, she was overwhelmed by the Trickshooter. He dodged more shots than her and nded more hits than her. He was like a rampaging typhoon, there was no way to pin him down.

  Tch, is this kid for real? Ellen clicked her tongue. Even when she fought her absolute best, that brat was still a level above her. But, she already khat. She didn’t e here just to pin.

  There! Didn’t see that ing, did you? Ellen smirked and activated Wolf panioing the Trickshooter as the target. She caught him in the middle of a predictable roll, an aggressive roll he occasionally performed to pressure the oppo. He surely khe risk of this py and repared to be hit by once or twice by Ellen’s basic attacks, which didn’t dish out the scary damage one would normally expect from an assassin Jungler.

  But, he certainly didn’t expect to be assaulted by a wolf, did he? Against this infuriating brat, Ellen only ever used Wolf panion to summon a mount. It was always an escape tool, nothing more. After the two of them exged so many blows this game, the Trickshooter was bound to treat her Wolf panion as a st resort she used for disengaging, despite its other funs.

  For this st fight, Ellen took advantage of the false impression she seeded into his mind. It was a trap she had beeing up for a while and it finally paid off! Her wolf leapt on the easy prey and pihe Trickshooter to the ground! The intellectual overtook the brute!

  “Gah! No way!” Lars excimed. “Is she gonna finish me with her ult!? Crap!”

  “No, her ult should be down.” Dan pointed out. “She used it less than a minute ago against me.”

  “You serious?” Lars blihen... what? Athena didn’t have her ult to finish him off and she just spent her one and only escape tool. Sure, being pio the ground and receiving shots to the face hurt like hell, but he was gonna live through it.

  Was it really happening? Was Athena finally gonna fight him to the death!? This was sick! “Yeah, that’s more like it! Let’s rock then!”

  Ohe annoying wolf disappeared, Lars jumped on his feet and resumed the duel. Athena retty damn strong, he had to hand it her. The way she fought now was pletely different from how she fought in the early game, she no longer was a disappoi. A Ptinum pyer... no, maybe even Diamond? Anyway, she was just strong!

  But, even with just 15% HP, he was gonna smack her from 30% HP to -200% HP! He was the stronger one, yeh, this is more clutch that I thought. His grin twitched. They both ran low oh, everything came down to one decisive shot. Whoever was going to nd the shot would be the wihat was some inteuff, yo!

  But, he was gonna win. He already saw it in his mind: himself standing over Athena’s colpsed body. After she pyed him for a fool time and again throughout the match, it was finally payback time!

  Athena took three steps back, so a roll to the left was ing for sure. She was a skilled fighter, but she had one gring fw even Lars noticed: whenever she rolled, it was always to the left side. Throughout their many battles, not even once did she roll or sidestep to the right.

  Therefore, this time too, she was goi or sure! 200%! Lars aimed his pistol to the left without thinking twice, there was no time to hesitate. He fired the final shot, bringing down the curtain on their duel. He was gonna win this!

  Indeed, across their many battles, Ellen always dodged in one dire. Ead every time, without fail, she dodged tht side, which was left for her oppo. She always rolled and sidestepped to the right, so obviously that even a brainless brat would notice it.

  Truly, adapting to oppos was an important skill for petitive pyers. The way the Trickshooter fired to Ellen’s right without hesitation proved how well he adapted to her movements. She had to admit, he had the makings of a strong petitive pyer. However...

  Thank you for being as strong as I hoped~ Ellen smiled while dodging. Being a master of adaptation didn’t only mean she was good at adapting to her oppos, she also uood how her oppos adapted to her. Every pyer, no matter how strong, had quirks and weakheir oppo could learn to exploit, especially when those were very obvious. But, what happened when said quirks and weaknesses were artificially pnted by the pyer?

  From their very first fight, Ellen reized Lars as a dangerous beast. Therefore, each time they cshed, she tamed him bit by bit. She repeatedly showed him how well she dodged tht, f the beast to be scious of that quirk. It was like teag a circus trick, except it was actually a carefully id out trap. Because now, during their very final frontation, Ellen dodged... to her left!

  “Gah!?” Lars jumped, it’s like the ground colpsed from under him. It couldn’t be! Why!? Why did she dodge to the other side!? Suddenly, everything he was fident about was flipped on its head! Every time he thought ered Athena, she found a way to turables on him! What the actual heck!?!?!?!

  I won’t make it. I won’t... I won’t make it!. Lars’s eyes darted from side to side, jumping bad forth between his Trickshooter and the enemy Rao catch up with Athena, he had to make a sharp turn to the right and immediately fire a bullet. However, he was in the process of missing a shot, so his Trickshooter was locked in a recovery animation which couldn’t be attack celled. And, once he shoot again, it’d be too te! He’d be already dead, yo!

  He was suffocated. The more he fought Athena, the further he drowned into a bottomless o. She applied insane pressure on him at all times, f him to carefully sider his moves instead of ag on instinct. It’s like he dao her tuhe whole time.

  Every time he thought he figured something out, it got subverted. Every time he thought he overwhelmed her, she activated some trap card. The harder he tried, the more he got ed around her little finger. Ah, how easy would it be to just give up and bow down before this goddess.

  No! Not yet! Lars gritted his teeth. He wouldn’t yield! No matter how deep he was ihe suffog waters, he was gonna swim toward the surfao matter how many times his struggles were gonna end in vain, he wasn’t gonna quit! Every time he failed, he had to believe that ime he’d succeed!

  I ’t attack, but how about dodging!? Attack cel was impossible, but roll cel worked! Instead of turning toward the Ranger, he turned aside and rolled as far away as he could.

  S-So fast! A jolt ran through Ellen. That roll cel happened right after the Trickshooter fired the missing bullet, it was inhumaion speed! Time and again, this rookie showcased absolute superiority in terms of meical skill.

  However, as infuriating as it was, Ellen expected it to happen. It was so tempting to fire her finishing shht away, to steal victory as soon as possible. But she didn’t give in, she knew her oppo was a beast in human’s clothing. She had to retain her patieil the very end if she wao outpy this Trickshooter.

  After finishing her dodge roll, she took a moment to adjust her aim. Without rushing, without panig and without being greedy. The Trickshooter executed an inhumanly fast emergency roll, but it was a hasty and sloppy one. As long as Ellen was focused, it’s an easy shot to nd.

  You have killed an enemy!

  SHUT DOWN

  “Goodnight.” Elle a flying kiss toward her s. Ah, she did it. She actually did it! Through patiend perseverance, she triumphed over a beast way strohan her. And, this time, the beast she defeated was the real deal, not some trash tier loser who only knew how to show off.

  No matter how many times she was called weak or inpetent, here and now she proved her ability. She didn’t have the meical skill or rea speed of the likes of Lars and Trever, but she had her own ons. Using her own pystyle, she stomped on those who were “strohan her! It was so electrifying~!

  “Damn...” Lars slumped on his chair, all his strength drained. In the end, he couldn’t reach the surface. He kept drowning and drowning and drowning, until he died. But he had s, because he fought his best until the bitter end.

  Athena was an annoying oppo because she employed all sorts of alien tactics. Building Devourer’s Mask er? The heck yo, it was bananas. Even after she killed Lars three times in a row, he still refused to accept her as a strong oppo. None of these kills resulted from a fair face-to-face duel, she always used some underharick to take him out.

  However, this st kill was different. Athena finally honored him with a real duel to the death and... he fudged it up. She was strong and... yeah, she was also cool as heck, yo! Was this the level of the oppos awaiting him in the petitive se!? He couldn’t wait to beat the heck outta them, yo!

  Well, I did all I . Ellen sighed in relief and recalled back to base. The only enemy pyer currently alive was Aron, but he respawned only a couple of seds ago. Even if he were to dash straight to the Overlord, he wouldn’t get there in time before Julia finishes-

  “Ah!?” Ellen gasped. She was wrong! Aron was already there! He closed the distance from his base to the middle of the map in seds!

  He bought Teleport for this, huh. Smart bastard. Ellen twisted her lips. Even after pyers fiheir item builds, it’s not like they stopped earning gold. It was on to buy utility skills and potions with that extra gold, exactly what Aron did by purchasing Teleport.

  Just when did they pce a Checkpoint Ward there? We even have two Sentry Wards around the Overlord. There’s no doubt, that Checkpoint Ward was strategically pced ahead of time. It was somewhere close enough to the Overlord, yet far enough from the the Sentry Wards. It was definitely prepared to ter an attempt on the Overlord, in other words: to ter this exact situation! This had to be Aron’s work, that smartass.

  “Agh! Shit!” Julia cursed as the Lionfolk leapt on her outta nowhere across a wall. Where did that dumbass even e from!? Freakin’ degee! You want a piee!? Die!

  Julia unleashed Fme Wave on the Lionfolk, but her s trembled and her Pyromancer wobbled. As a result, her spell missed its target. Agh! How I hate that stupid roar! He just had to use it right when I’m casting! Die, retard!

  Julia’s parthe Cleric, tahe Overlord this whole time. Therefore, he ran low on HP, low enough to proc the Lionfolk’s passive: Superiority. It grahe Lionfolk’s skills additional effects against prey with low HP, allowing the lion to feast on the weak.

  While Julia was only lightly CC’d by the Lionfolk’s Mighty Roar, the Cleric’s fate was much more brutal. With the effect of Superiority, Might Roar terrorized the Cleric with a “fear” state, f him to untrolbly ran away. He couldn’t do anything against this sudden attack, the Lionfolk swiftly executed him without even giving him a ce to retaliate.

  An ally has been killed!

  Then, the Lionfolk turned his attention to Julia. God, it was the worst! She almost fihe Overlord, but now she had to deal with this lion idiot instead! And, the Overlord just had to switch his focus from the dead Cleric to Julia, how great! No no, it was great! Really! Sure, why not! Everybody should just e here to bully me! No balls to fight me fair and square, is that it!? Die, loser!

  “Retreat from the Overlord.” Ellen said.

  “I know, dammit!” Julia gritted her teeth and did as ordered. She really didn’t want to waste all the hard work she poured into l the Overlord’s HP, but there was no other choice. There’s no way to deal that stupid Lionfolk while being bombarded by the Overlord’s beams.

  “Agh! Shit! No no no!” Just as Julia was about to step out of the Overlord Camp, lio on her face outta nowhere! She found herself surrounded by a pack lions from all side, with no way to escape.

  That was the Lionfolk’s ultimate: The King’s Dominion, a prison with lions as walls. Getting close to the edges made the lions cw the prisoners. The only way to pass them was via jumping over them with a leap skill, which the Pyromancer didn’t have.

  It ossible to kill a few lions to create a hole in the cage, but they were sturdy beasts with high HP. Julia needed Fme Wave to deal with them, but it was still on cooldown after her unsuccessful attempt to hit the Lionfolk.

  So, Julia had no choice but to fight the Lionfolk ihe Overlord’s area, with the Overlord craving her death. Goddammit, could this situatio any worse!? That Lionfolk royally screwed her!

  “Die! Die!” She roared as she shot fireballs at the Lionfolk. She set up Pilr of Fire underh her feet, to boost her magical power and draw the Lionfolk away. If he wao get closer and hit her, he’d have step on the burning ground. Her one and only advantage in this fight was her range, so she had to utilize it as much-

  “W-Wah! Shit!” Julia cursed as the Lionfolk leapt on her and knocked her away. Shit! Majestic Leap normally didn’t have a knockup CC, but the Lionfolk’s Superiority was now in effect against Julia too, after the Overlord shaved off nearly half her HP.

  She was forced out of her Pilr of Fire and bumped into one of the lions, earning a the back. Gah! Shit! Damn! Couldn’t they just leave her alone and all die!?

  Damn, that scum is strong- wah! She didn’t even have time to recollect herself! The Lionfolk instantly closed the gap between them and sshed her with his cws. It was bad. Like, real freakin’ bad!!!

  Each of the Lionfolk’s attacks hit like a truck due to Superiority. As long as his HP pertage was much higher than Julia’s, all his attacks dealt additional damage. On top of that, while ihis lion cage, the Lionfolk beed from increased power, speed, defense and even CC immunity.

  Gaaaaah! Screw that bastard! Julia fired left and right, trying to nd as many hits as possible on that bastard. God, he was so damn fast! Ssh, ssh, ssh. He maneuvered around her while g her from every possible dire! Gah! Just die already!

  Why couldn’t she nd half her hits!? How was she supposed to deal with this shit!? No idea! Did she ever practice close bat with Yuel before as Pyromancer? Ssh, ssh, ssh. Ugh, she couldn’t trate while that retard assaulted her from every side!

  Uo focus her thoughts, Julia kept attacked blindly, praying her fireballs would ect. Her HP was almost entirely deleted, but there were finally some good news: her Fme Wave came out of cooldown!

  About damn time! Alright, now that Fme Wave is up- agh! Her s shook as she started casting Fme Wave. It was Mighty Rain, empowered by Superiority! How was that shit already up again!?

  Damn, right! It has shorter cooldow hits low HP targets! It’s all because he hit that stupid Cleric st time! Grrrr! Julia hissed. The Mighty Roar celled the casting of her Fme Wave and instilled the Pyromancer with fear, making her untrolbly run away, Julia couldn’t do shit anymod, Lionfolk was so bullshit...

  My, this is painful to watch. Ellen shook her head. Between being sniped by the Overlord aing overwhelmed by Aron, Julia was clearly doomed. Her miserable attempts to retaliate resembled a child throwing a tantrum.

  Julia exhibited some iing fighting teiques earlier, but now it was clear they were specific pys she practiced before. She probably spent most of her time pying as the “careul Julia”, so the “reckless Julia” had little to no practical bat experiehat made itself clear from the clumsy way she handled an aggressive melee oppo. Instead of creating distaween herself and Aron, she tried to match his pad hit him with basic attacks from melee range. Foolish, to say the least.

  So that’s your verdict, Ronron? How sad. Ellen sighed. Aron must had realized the “reckless Julia” didn’t yet possess the necessary experieo back up her aggressive pystyle. His dismiss of Julia’s pystyle could be felt in every ssh he shed at her. He was merciless with the pressure he applied, leaving Julia no openings at all.

  My, what a blunder. Ellen shook her head. I should’ve realized we won’t get away with an Overlainst a te game Aron.

  During the early/mid game, Aron was just a methodical and sistent pyer. He pyed detly, without really standing out. However, ohe te game hit, he suddenly transformed into a terminator. After colleg enemy data throughout the match, during the te game he finally finished piling it and started using it against his foes.

  The current situation stood testament to Aron’s strong te game, he crafted everything about it. He pced a sneaky Checkpoint Ward ahead of time, teleported to it at the worst timing possible, swiftly executed their Support and caged Julia ihe Overlord’s area. From beginning to end, Aron made one fwless py after another, leaving his enemies zero openings.

  That’s the kind of scary pyer Aron was in te game, it pletely escaped Ellen’s mind until now. As a fellow pyer excelling at adaptation, Ellen reized him as a strong petitive pyer. Therefore, she could tell: Julia didn’t stand a ce at this point.

  “Gah! So close!” Julia gritted her teeth. She almost figured how to hahat rampaging cat man, but her HP ran out.

  You have been killed!

  “Shit! Couldn’t you just die, dumbface!? I’ll get you ime!” It was so damn infuriating! If she had just a little more time, she’d figure out how to deal with that bullshit! Just you watext time I won’t lose!

  “ime? My, didn’t you say this is going to be your st match?”

  “Huh? Yeah, what of it?”

  “Heehee~” Ellen giggled. “For somebody who cims she hates the game, you sure seem to be enjoying yourself.”

  “Huh? What are you... talking... about...” Julia blinked. Huh? It was weird. Her right hand ched the mouse, while her left halessly danced on top of the keyboard. Not to mention, her head was filled to the brim with thoughts about getting revenge on that Lionfolk idiht now, at this very moment, what she desired more than anything was to respawn aurn to these thrilling fights...!

  “I ten minutes or so, you haven’t been pying to woo some guy. You pyed purely for yourself.”

  “For myself...?” Julia eechless. True, she pletely fot about looking good in front of Lars and all that crap. Hell, she even murdered him! Holy moly, that was some extreme shit right there!

  “If you insist you hate Cssmancers, then you’re lying to yourself, girl” Ellen smiled meaningfully. “You wouldn’t have gotten this strong if you really hated the game. Maybe it didn’t grab your heart right away, but at this point you’re a total Cssmancers geek.”

  “I... not really...” Julia trembled. She couldn’t deny it, this match wasly b. She died a lot, but she also killed a lot. The fights were packed with all sorts of thrills and they... they were fun! Cssmancers... was actually fun!

  “Aw, you’re such a cute crybaby~”

  “W-Who’s g!?” Julia wiped her eyes and averted her red face.

  “Ah~ Please, someone! Kill me so I snuggle this cute little kitten~”

  “S-Stay away and focus on the damn game! You gotta defend until I respawn!”

  “Aye aye, Ms. Cssmancers Geek.”

  “Shut up! Hmph. Pft, hahaha!” Julia couldn’t hold it back, she ughed to the point of tears.

  “Teehee.” Ellen stuck out her tongue. “Don’t quit Cssmancers. You clearly like the game and got more than enough talent.”

  “Hmph, I’ll think about it.” Julia shrugged, but a soft smile formed on her lips. She already realized the truth: she couldn’t quit after ing this far, it just wouldn’t feel right.

  When she picked up Cssmancers, her sole goal was getting closer to Lars. However, that’s not the only thing that kept her going. The frustration she experienced after losing her Support spot to Yuel, the challenges she eo keep up with Lars and the secret training she undergoo achieve her current level. All these defeats, struggles and victories were ushed her to keep pying Cssmancers.

  She wasn’t going to quit, not like this. Of course, her main goal remaihe same: show her good side to Lars and kick Yuel out of the picture to bee Lars’s Support. But, on top of that, she just wao keep pying this dumb game, which grew o some point.

  Despite Ellen’s best efforts, the team lost their Mid Golem and their Colossus colpsed soon afterwards. The long match finally came to an end, and with it Lars and Julia’s entry exam.