"The Orc is in Mid," Kai reported, just in case somebody missed this super important development. "If he challenges me then I pn to take him down. I hope nobody has any objects."

  "Just be careful," Yuel said only that. "He's a strong oppo, probably strohan anybody you've ever faced."

  "Wait, you saying dude is even strohan me!?" Lars jumped. "Hell naw! Lemme at 'em and I'mma show you what's what!"

  "It’ll definitely be iing to see which of you is stronger in a fight," Yuel said. "But to be on the safe side, it's better to assume that Apprentece is stronger for now."

  "Dang, dude! Where's yo faith in my skill, yo!?"

  "I have faith in it, but I also knoprentece went toe-to-toe with a B Leaguer. you cim that you’ve ever dohe same?"

  "Hah, ez! I even take on Maker any day, word!"

  "Yes, I'm sure you ." Yuel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, that's my advice. You do whatever you want with it."

  "Don't worry, Lars," Kai reassured. "I'll prove that you're better than this by beating him myself."

  "Heck yeah, that's what I like hearing! Go get him, yo!"

  "Will do." A, I'll defeat you too. Kai had plenty of experience dueling Lars during practice. So as frustrating as it was to admit, she had no choice but to accept that the guy was strohan her, at least for now.

  However, she had no iion of taking any of this lying down. Slowly but surely, she’ll catch up to that meical monster. She had been w hard on improving her meical skill, expanding her game knowledge, and polishing her unique rhythm-based skills.

  One day, I’ll be an oppo you’ll fear, just you watch. Kai promised. But first, I have to take out this Korean pro-wannabe.

  Kai didn’t need aarget to chase right now. She had already had her hands full with catg up to Lars, so Apprentece was really an unnecessary existence as far as Kai was ed. So , let’s this up here and now.

  The minion wave arrived. Fortunately, Apprentece remained in Mid in order to greet the ining minions. He had every iion of filling in for Theorist in this round.

  Good. Kai nodded. Let’s have a good one. I’ll tear you apart, you cocky bastard!

  As expected, Apprentece didn’t e here empty-handed. He brought over his coess too. Even though the guy was fag an oppo with far superior reach, he had no qualms about approag the minion wave with full io farm at melee range.

  There’s no doubt the guy nning to unleash his Sledgehammer and strike the minions from point-bnk. Yes, this mad d was going to farm at melee range against Sorcerer, a css boasting one of the best attack ranges in the game.

  Wow, this is something else. Kai was deeply impressed but for all the wrong reasons. Alright then. You asked for it.

  Naturally, she had no iion of letting the Orleash his deadly hammer on the minions without getting punished for it. She summoned a Magia ht in the ter of all the a: between the enemy swordsmen, the enemy bowmen, and the approag Apprentece.

  , she instantly animation-celed into Dimensional Colpse. The Magia Orb exploded, geing a bck hole that sucked in all the enemies around it! Swordsmen, bowmen, and even the Orc - everybody!

  Once all of them collide at the ter, the damage will be amplified based on the number of objects that crash into each other. So, the more the merrier!

  This is what you get for overextending. Kai executed the py perfectly. The quick cel from Magia Orb into Dimensional Colpse was fast enough to catybody off-guard. Even Lars would have struggled to respond to it in a timely fashion.

  A, Apprentece did just that. He rolled aside right as the bck orb exploded, getting just barely outside the range of the skill’s pull.

  Did he roll ahead of time? Kai wondered. I mean, there’s no way he could’ve rolled that fast AFTER seeing my skill cel. There wasn’t enough time for it.

  Not even Lars would've been able to dodge this py so perfectly. In fact, it might've been ht impossible for any human.

  So, he must’ve guessed I'll do this ahead of time. Kai deduced. He robably waiting for the first sign of me casting the orb. Tch.

  It was such a simple terpy, yet it mao irritate Kai.

  Everything about Apprentece's as radiated overflowing fidend coess, so at first, it looked as if the guy wasn't paying attention to Kai at all. But no, the guy aying attention to everything the eime. While ag bold and cocky, he was heless waiting for the right moment to roll out of Kai's iable attack.

  Oh, I see that I also messed up a little. Kai realized. I tried too hard to hit that bastard along the way so my pt wasn’t perfect. Tch.

  She pced her orb perfectly at the ter between the swordsmen, the bowmen, and Apprentece's earlier location. Unfortunately, from that position, the orb couldn’t su all the enemy minions. The rightmost swordsman and bowman ighe pull and remained in pce.

  This had two implications for Kai. First, these minions weren’t going to receive any damage. Sed, the overall damage from Dimensional Colpse will be lower than expected because fewer colliding objects meant less damage.

  Well, no matter. Kai thought. This is just a little setback. This doesn’t ge the fact I made the first move a far more damage to the minions than he did, which is a ft zero. I'll win this exge no problem.

  As if objeg to Kai’s assessment, Apprentece advaoward the minion wave once again, expressing as much fidence as before if not more. This time there was no threat of Dimensional Colpse, so Apprentece was surely going to attack at full force.

  Are you seriously ing all the way over here? Kai twitched. It's my territory, you know?

  As, Apprentece showed no signs of slowing down. He went past the frontline and invaded deeper, approag Kai's bowmen.

  Did your mama not teach you to respect personal space? Kai hissed at the enemy, but that’s all she could do.

  "Kai, stay away from him," Yuel warned.

  "Yeah, I know, I know." Kai grumped as she stepped away from the ining threat. Her inal pn was to stay near her bowmen and shoot basic attacks at the enemy swordsmen, but the Orc's advances forced her to retreat.

  Kai could only grump about this turn of events. "He totally deserves to have his ass ganked for something like this, just saying."

  "Yes, this is aension for sure," Yuel agreed. "Nia, you should stick around Mid and look for... oh."

  Before he even issued the order, Nia had already reached the Griffin Camp near Mid. She was farming a camp near Bot just a few seds ago, but it seemed like she rushed to Mid shortly after Apprentece's arrival.

  "You're fast," Yuel said. "Do you want to gank him so badly?"

  "Not really." Nia shrugged. "I just felt like this is a good opportunity to take the Griffins. And well, maybe gank too. But only maybe, okay?"

  "I see."

  This was ued, to say the least. In the past, Nia always threw a tantrum whenever she had to gank a "scary" oppo, especially one who had already killed her before in the same game.

  I still remember how hard I had to work in order to vince her to gank a DK back when we were just starting out. Yuel sighed with a wry smile. She's high maintenance pyer, that's for sure. But, she's gettier, slowly but surely.

  A few months ago, it would've been unthinkable for Nia to challenge a "scary" oppo of her own accord like this. Csses like Dark Knight and Orc terrified her to the core.

  But now there she was, getting in position to gank an Orc before Yuel even issued the order. It almost brought a tear to his eye.

  Now, let’s see if he gives her an opportunity to strike. All of Yuel's attention was glued to the situation in Mid. Even though he had his hands full fighting the duo of Rook and Merlin in Bot, he couldn't take his eyes off the unfoldis in Mid. The few pys over there might prove critical for the future of this entire game.

  If they kill Apprehen we’ll get a ount a eback. Yuel thought.

  Not all hope was lost yet. There was still the possibility of a turnabout here, as faint as it was.

  But, will Apprentece give them su opportunity...?

  DarkestCymore