As the game went on, Nia felt herself being stealthier. It seemed like the enemy's all-seeing eye started to lose its authority. The ners' respoo Nia’s rotations became slower and more negligent. It seemed they weren't on max alert like before.

  A ce to gank might be ing up soon. Nia gulped. I o choose where to strike, and then just pull it off. Yes, just pull it off against the regional champions. No pressure. all. Yeah...

  Holy, it was scary. Every single pyer on the eeam owerhouse of some sort. Basically, they were the dangerous kind of prey who could easily turables on the predator. Therefore, Nia had to be very careful with her attack.

  And, if that wasn’t already enough pressure, then there was also the fact that this was Nia’s ce to achieve some sort of success for the first time today. She got a few nice opportunities in Game 1 as well, but she blew all of them due to her sleepiness.

  But, this time, I have to make it work. I 't mess up, not again. Nia repeated this in her head more times than she was willing to admit. Such thoughts filled her mind to the brim as she slithered around the jungle, evading all the ward traps pced there by the enemy.

  After a while lohe time has finally e. Nia felt it - she vahe enemy lost sight of her!

  So, I guess this was just a question of time, after all. Nia nodded. I almost started thinking that the Leopards were somehow immune, but it turned out they were just stubborn.

  If the Leopards assigned someone specific to stalk Nia’s movements, then that person was sleeping on duty right now. Alternatively, maybe none of the wards have spotted Nia for so long, that the eeam has pletely lost track of where Nia was.

  Either way, the Leopards were no longer on high alert like before. This time, even though Nia walked deep into Top Jungle, Challeill showed no signs of retreating.

  So, I slipped past their wards. Nia nodded. Am I not amazing? I solved all these plicated warding puzzles!

  In truth, maybe some of the wards over here had expired by now and that made Nia’s job easier, but she decided to ighat nitpick.

  Never before in her life did she imagihat she’ll be so happy about figuring out enemy wards. This was the first time she tackled a riddle of this difficulty, and after a lot of hard work, she actually aced that thing!

  This could probably be a fun standalone puzzle game in its ht. Nia thought. But anyway, the real challearts from here. Gulp.

  Getting past the wards was only the first step. , Nia had to actually execute the gank.

  From Top Jungle, she only had two avaible targets: Mid or Top. However, in this case, there was no real dilemma. Ganking Mid was out of the question.

  Their Mid is turtling 24/7. Not fun. Nia pouted.

  It would have beeo gank Mid because of how important the ne was, but Theorist was a very unattractive target. Sneaking up to that Turtlewoman was going to be an exercise in futility.

  Oher hand, Top was the most attractive target ever. Challenger was the carefree fident type, so it should be easy enough to catch him off-guard.

  The guy only ever retreated early when wards spotted Nia approag. However, right now, Challenger wasn’t suspeg a thing, so he ying very boldly.

  And, they still haven’t finished clearing minions. Nia thought. S-So, I'm in a good position to go for this gank. Yeah.

  Thump. Thump. Thump. Her heartbeat quied with each breath she took.

  This was it. This gank was Nia’s first big opportunity of the day. It was as joyous of a moment as it was terrifying.

  I have to nail this one. I have to. Nia repeated in her head as her legs carried her closer to Top. Oh, but wait! I have to make sure I don't let wards spot me!

  She stopped iracks right in front of a very inviting shortcut. Was there a ward there? She couldn't tell.

  But, maybe it’s a solvable puzzle. Nia thought. sidering I got this far ued, it’s probably safe to assume that there’s a ward here.

  The Leopards have been religiously warding the juhis entire game. So, even if somebody was sg on the jht now, surely some of the dangerous wards were still present across the jungle.

  Nia did a good job slipping through the enemy’s blind spots to e this far, but the shortcut ahead of her was risky business. Many of the most effit rotation routes toward Top used this shortcut, so it had to be warded.

  I'll have to go around. Nia retreated a few steps and took a different path. There's no rush. I still make it in time to the ne, probably.

  Even if it meant losing time, Nia had no iion of letting herself get exposed due to rushing. This was the very first mistake she itted during her debut game against Taurus, and it left quite a trauma.

  So, never again! Even if she has to slow down, Nia will definitely nail the first gank of this game, no matter what! Hopefully.

  So far so good. Nia firmed that Challenger showed ion to her movement. She had clearly reached peak stealth at this point.

  In faia was so stealthy that probably even Yuel was unaware of what she was doing right now. Normally, he'd call out to her at this point and ask her about her iions, but so far, there was radio silence.

  He seems busy over there. Nia could vaguely tell that the pyers in Bot stantly engaged in some plex bad-forth that went way over Nia’s head.

  Should I report rotation this to him? Nia wondered. Hmm, I don't wanna distract him. Besides, I bet the moment I bring this up, then the alien robot will start lecturing as usual...

  In all likelihood, Yuel will want to discuss the specifics of Nia's pn. In turn, that will get Ben involved in the process.

  Ben wasn't an alien robot like Yuel, so he probably had no idea that Nia roag. And, as odd as it sounded, Nia kinda wao keep it that way.

  I 't mess up this ia repeated to herself. If I tell Ben I'm ing aarts ag differently because of it, then he might expose me.

  Based on how things usually went down during club practiia khat Ben wasn't a very good actor. Normally, he had a very stable defensive pystyle, but he always started ag up the moment he learhat somebody was rotating to his ne.

  Instead of pying his usual solid defense, Ben often started baiting the enemy. Basically, he tried to lure the enemy deeper into allied territory in order to make them easier to gank.

  For some reason, he felt like it was his responsibility to increase the gank’s odds of success. After all, the Jungler was going out of their way to grace Ben's h their presence, so Ben had to respond with proper courtesy or something like that.

  The iion itself wasn’t half bad. In fact, if Ben could do this properly, then some of Nia’s ganks could’ve beed greatly from this kind ement.

  But unfortunately, Ben was a terrible actor. In the process of baiting the enemy, Ben made his iions way too obvious. Any half-det oppo immediately figured out that Ben reparing the ground fank. Even in Ranked, most oppos weren't THAT stupid.

  As a result, even though Nia successfully cealed herself in these games, Ben's overly dedicated preparations ruihe surprise. Ben’s poor ag spooked the enemy and made them retreat, which killed the gank in its infancy. It was such a pain.

  I know that Yuel said he was w on this problem with Ben, but not sure how far they’ve progressed. Nia thought. It's not like we had that many weeks to prepare for this game, so I bet the problem is still there.

  In all likelihood, Ben was still a terrible actor. Even if he improved his ag a little, these pro pyers from the Leopard will surely figure him out at a gnce.

  Even worse, this is his first game oage. Nia shuddered as she recalled how much of a mess she was during her ow game. The pressure of the first game is real scary, it makes everybody make mistakes. So, I’m sure Ben will mess something up.

  This was Nia speaking as Ben's senior on the petitive se. Perhaps she was just a freshman, but she had already experienced 4 petitive games up to this point. So, she kinda knew what she was talking about. Probably.

  Basically, giving in to the stage’s pressure was the worst. Ben was visibly still struggling with that aspect, which was very retable.

  Oher hand, Nia has already overe that obstacle. At least, for the most part...

  I have to make this gank t, no matter what. Nia repeated once more to reinforce her determination. So, to improve my ces, it’s best to keep quiet about this.

  Normally, it timal for the Juo borrow the ner’s aid during ganks. Nia uood that her as here went against the most fual aspects of game theory, but it was necessary in this particur edge case, it really was.

  I have to make this gank t. I have to. Nia steadied her will and focused solely oask at hand. I just o kill Challehat's all that matters here.

  Admittedly, delivering a gank on a Dragonborn was no easy task. It was a rather tanky css and could also use its dragon form as a st-resort escape tool. Truly, this esky target for Juo deal with.

  But, there was no choice. Mid-game was already around the er, so Nia had to go for it. Now.

  With that said, there was some good news here as well. At this point in the game, everybody's builds have already solidified into the overall pystyle they were going for. And, Challenger's iions couldn’t be clearer from his build.

  He built a lot of power, so it means he’s pnning to go full offense! Nia deduced this like a pro. Indeed, it was a great dedu worthy of Herlock Sholmes' respect.

  sidering that Challenger didn’t build much defe should be retively easy to take the guy out. Therefore, Nia should be able to score the kill even without Ben's help.

  I have no choice but to do it myself. Nia repeated to herself. I ’t let this ce slip no matter what…!

  After a long internal struggle, Nia finally made a decision. She k was wrong to keep her teammate in the dark about the uping py, but it was all for the greater good. She absolutely had to nail this gank, no matter what!

  DarkestCymore