A new minion wave arrived. Like before, Matthew's job as an Aeromancer was very simple. He only had to cast Whirlwind on the enemy wave and thereat, that's all.

  I like it. Matthew thought. This is like Auto-Battle. There's nothing iing about farming minions anyway, so might as well put the game on auto-grind until I run out of stamina.

  And so, Matthew just kicked bad watched the tornado do all the work for him.

  Uher circumstances, he might've bothered to step forward and shoot basic attacks at the minions. However, he deemed it too dangerous against a Bomber.

  Of course, he also had the safer option of castiream in order to shoot basic attacks from afar, but that was just a waste of MP as far as he was ed. Now wasn’t the right time to cast it.

  Uthew’s passiveness, his ne oppo was far more involved in the ning process.

  Okay, done. Kai finished decorating the enemy swordsmen with Sticky Bombs. was the fun part.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Bounb jumped thrid caused three explosions in a row. Like before, this act of terrorism annihited the entire frontline, save for one pesky swordsman.

  Now, it should be that part where I bst the enemy ner, but... Kai made a face. He's too damn far! Why doesn’t he e any closer to shoot minions? What a zy bum.

  Merlin was the worst kind of defensive pyer, a bona fide turtle. He won’t e forward no matter what. No matter how mue advantage Kai establishes, that turtle will keep sleeping under his tower.

  Or, maybe he WANTS me to push. Kai g Top Jungle on the mini-map, at the area where the enemy Jungler was st seen. Is this guy ing again?

  She didn't have to wait long for an answer. A ward revealed Rook approag the ne, with a very obvious i of jumping Kai.

  Okay, I'm out. Kai turned around areated.

  This was just the regur response against ining ganks, but the enemy side found it quite informative.

  "She's retreating early," Matthew said. "They probably got a ward over there."

  "Roger." ade a mental note.

  Sihe enemy already saw him ing, there was no point ihy approag the ne anymore. Instead, Cato ran straight to Mid in order to help Matthe.

  "Thanks," Matthew said. It was always o borrow the help of friends in order to split the burden. Especially, when said friends had 5-star heroes. It was the best.

  Uhis 4-star Aeromancer, which could only farm the minions using Whirlwind, Cato's 5-star Lionfolk tore through soldiers with his sharp basic attacks. Matthew only had to things up by sg st-hits. It was ez life.

  I hope we tinue like this for a while. Matthew prayed. Manually fighting bosses is fun and all, but I prefer this auto-py grind for the early-game.

  First, auto-grind to gain gold, and the to buy items and build a strong character. That’s the kind of chill routithew preferred for the early game.

  And so, by relying on Cato’s 5-star hero, the sed wave was also eliminated without a problem. Ohe ission was finished, Cato took his leave.

  Unfortunately, it robably too much to expect Cato to drop by for every wave, so Matthew might have to start getting a little mgressive with the minions soon. But, until then, he just wao chill ahe game flow peacefully toward the mid-game without any flict.

  However, his oppo clearly had other pns in mind.

  Tch, is this really how they're going to py? Kai clicked her tongue. I mean, I khey’re turtles, but this is a whole new level of turtling. It's like freakin' turtling corporation. Might as well reheir team “the Turtles”.

  Not only was Merlin turtling to the extreme, but also Rook, their captain, was actively encing that behavior by agreeing to rotate to the was corporate turtling!

  they really allow themselves to miss out on so much exp? I 't tell if they think this is fine, or if they're just uimating us.

  In the end, no matter how many waves have gone by, Kai never got a good opportunity to attack Merlin. She always had to retreat early in case Rook nning to rotate to the ne, which he often did. Even if none of the wards showed the guy approag the was better to be safe than sorry.

  Huh. Ironic. Kai smiled wryly. I’ve been giving the guy a lot of shit about being too defensive, but I’m ly that proactive either.

  her side wao take any risks during this important match. As a result, the situation in Mid remained a stalemate.

  For Kai, it was only natural to exercise caution after her bitter experiences from the previous scrimmage. And, perhaps Merlin carried simir scars as well. After all, a pystyle of extreme turtling wasn’t born in a day. The guy was obviously very dedicated to it, probably with years of experiender his belt.

  And, I’m starting to see there’s an obvious telegraph in his pystyle. Kai thought ba all their ne exges thus far.

  For the first three waves, Merlin stayed at the back the eime without lifting a finger. During these times, Rook rotated to the ne and helped to clear the remaining minions.

  However, things pyed out differently on the fourth wave. That time, Merlin actually bothered to cast Jet Stream early in order to shoot minions from afar.

  The wind bsts he fired accelerated after passing through Jet Stream, turning his basic attacks into sniper shots. Thanks to that, he was able to assault Kai’s frontline from all the way back at his tower.

  Iingly, the first time Merlin bothered to put in the effort, it was also the first time Rook didn’t rotate to the felt like Merli out of his way to farm the minions in order to pensate for the fact Rook won’t help him that round.

  At first, I thought he might start pying more proactively from there onward, but...

  On the fifth wave, everythiuro normal again. Merlin stayed far in the bad waited for Whirlwind to do all the work for him. After that, Rook joined him in ne for up.

  But then, on the wave after that, he used Jet Stream early again and Rook didn’t rotate to the hat time.

  This was starting to look like a pattern. It seemed like Merlin only bothered to attack the minions from afar when he khat Rook won’t be joining him for the up operation.

  This means I predict when Rook will rotate over here. Kai deduced. I’ve only seen two examples so far, but it makes perfect seo me.

  It was huge if true. It meant Kai had a reliable way to tell when it was safe for her to push alongside her minions.

  I o try it ime. Kai decided.

  A new wave arrived, but this time Merlin didn't bother attag the minions. So, this meant Rook will probably rotate to the ne in order to help with the farming.

  Right on the money. Kai nodded as the Lionfolk showed up on the ne. Rook cwed through the minions and then vanished into the jungle as usual.

  I 't believe somebody from the Leopards has su obvious tell. Kai shook her head. Well, I'm not pining. It makes things easier for me.

  Finally, a faint opening emerged in Merlin's unapproachable defense. Kai just had to wait for the guy to step forward and shoot the minions with basic attacks, that'll be her opportunity to strike.

  And, said opportunity preseself on the very wave. Merlin stepped forth and cast Jet Stream, then proceeded to fire wind bsts at Kai’s minions.

  This is it! Kai ime to push!

  First, she annihited the enemy frontline as usual, using a bination of Sticky Bombs and Bounb. And, this time, she equally hit all the swordsmen.

  With every wave, she adjusted the angle and distance of her Bounb until she reached perfe. So now, her deadly Bounb blew up the entire enemy frontline, leaving none alive!

  The bowmen were also injured by Bounb’s explosion, so this was a great time to open an attack! Merlin should still feel safe while he had minions alive, so Kai took advantage of this critical moment in order to strike!

  Little did she know that the enemy was very muticipating this move.

  "She's ing," Matthew informed.

  "As they say, third time’s the charm~" iled impishly as he watched Beat's movements through the wall using X-ray vision. The enemy was visible to Matthew, so Cato could spy on her movements as well.

  A beautiful trap, if I may say so myself. Cato nodded in satisfa. Leave it to Esmeralda's pupils to e up with pys like this~

  The eup was Matthew's idea, but it was something he and Cato both learned from their former mentor, Esmeralda. She was the Sweepers’ trickster, a pro at baiting people and turning the tables on them.

  And now, her devoted pupils were about to do the same thing! Cato carefully calcuted Beat’s position and activated Majestic Leap, pnning to leap over the jungle wall.

  “RAR!” the Lionfolk roared loudly as he took off toward the sky. Unfortunately, the sound alerted the enemy.

  Shit, seriously!? Kai's body instinctively respoo the loud r. Every fiber of her body could tell: a Majestic Leap was ing!

  I'm out! Kai tossed a satchel charge in front of her, then activated the skill again to immediately blow it up.

  BOOM! The explosio her flying back to her side of the ne.

  A momehe Lionfolk came crashing down from the sky. The leap erfectly aimed, it eveed a few steps ahead in order to nd on Kai’s exact location.

  However, Kai was no longer in that area. She dodged that bullet in a timely fashion, whiaturally didn’t amuse the enemy.

  "My, I missed?" Cato blinked. "Hmm. This ss is pag some fiion speed."

  "We already khat," Sonya criticized from the other side of the map. "When she performs her best, Beat is a highly skilled pyer with very fast rea speed."

  "Right, right." Cato nodded. "Of course you'd remember a detail like that. After all, meically skilled girls are your thing, right? Just like Jennifer~"

  "What do you mean 'my thing'?"

  "I wonder~"

  "Sigh. Anyway, Jennifer was stronger," Sonya stated matter-of-factly. "But, Beat is not half bad, either. If she doesn't fall apart at any point today, then she's guarao jump up a few ranks on my list."

  "So, she's good enough to make you keep track of her rank. I see."

  "I already told you before that I was keeping an eye on her..."

  "Right, right. Anyway, this gank is a bust," marized. "I'll just help you clear the minions and then I'm out."

  "Okay."

  Instead of hunting dowy prey, the poor lion ended up eating a vegetarian meal once again. Such was the sad tale of the ganking lion.

  But, it wasn't a total waste. On the bright side, this gank must’ve scared her shitless. I imagine what kind of frustrated face she's wearing right now~ I'm sure she won't try this ever again.

  And indeed, as he specuted, the enemy learned a hard lesson from this exge...

  DarkestCymore