S-So fast! Ben gulped as he observed his ne oppo. The wave has just arrived, but he's already all the way over here!

  Apprentece didn't waste any time getting around to Ben's bae. He eve his Dodge Roll to travel faster.

  Before Ben’s bowmen even had the ce to nock their arrows, the Orc delivered the first strike! BAM! Apprentece swung a giant sledgehammer, sweeping through the entire bae!

  This o deleted nearly half of the bowmen's HP, but it wasn't even the full extent of Orc's power. After the initial hit of the Sledgehammer skill, Apprentece’s hammer swing was a basic attack. It deleted the bowmen’s remaining HP in one fell swoop.

  Every time I see Orc or DK pull things like this, it always feels so absurd... Ben shuddered.

  This was the opening of the game, the stage at which all pyers were supposed to be at their weakest. A, Apprenteleashed such destructive damage as if it was nothing.

  Csses like that shattered the game’s ventions, and Appretnece made sure to drive this point home. After he erased the bae, he immediately went after the frontline.

  “Huh?” Ben blinked. Um, this is weird… right?

  There was supposed to be a rather lengthy recovery animation for that sledgehammer basic attack. Yet, Apprentece immediately stepped back after swinging.

  Did I see things wrong? Ben blinked repeatedly. He swung the hammer and then backstepped almost immediately. How is that even possible? Oh, maybe it was KC?

  Hoy, Ben had very partial knowledge about the Korean Step cel. He came across the term multiple times today, both in regard to AbsoluteWinner and Apprentece, but otherwise, Ben had barely ever seen it in a until now.

  So, that's what it allows you to do. Ben nodded in uanding. It's just a sidestep that happens in the middle of the recovery animation. Holy, it looks a little eerie.

  The basic attack’s recovery animation was cut prematurely, making it look as if the Orc short-circuited in the middle of the motion. For all is and purposes, it looked like a bug that broke immersio, for some reason, the devs insisted on keeping this "feature".

  Well, it's not my pce to judge. I'm sure the devs know better. Ben shrugged. This was not the time to pohe history of KC. I have to focus on farming.

  Ben threw a big seed at one of the enemy swordsmen. This was Druid’s basic attaimation, which seemed harmless at first gnce… until the oversized seed came down crashing on the victim’s head.

  Unlike his oppo, Ben didn't take any risks here. He didn't try to optimize his farming by striking the enemy bae or anything like that.

  For this difficult matchup, Ben was tent with just shooting at the swordsmen. The seeds he tossed strue, each erasing 5% of a swordsman’s HP.

  Yes, Ben’s basic attacks only deleted 5% HP at a time. Meanwhile, his oppo’s attacks? BAM! 60% deleted! BAM! The entire frontline was gone!

  Not only did Orc’s sledgehammer deliver insane amounts of damage, but it hit in ao boot. Every swing bsted through Beire frontline, deleting tons of HP in one fell swoop.

  Ben didn't even have the opportunity to do much here. After firing three basic attacks, he was forced to retreat against the enemy’s ining forces.

  I'm going to lose so much farm from this... Ben sighed as he fled from the se. He had no choice but to return to his tower and front the ining minions there.

  Unfortunately, the enemy minions weren't the only ones ing his way. The enemy captain, the Orc, was also on his way.

  Is he pnning to push? Ben gulped. There’s no way, right? That's way too risky to do on the first wave. A high-level pyer would never do that… right?

  As, it happened. Apprentece followed his minions all the way through, entering Ben's tower area. The guy even switched his on from a sledgehammer to a sce along the way, so he could hit Ben’s tower from mid-range.

  T-This 't be happening! Ben shuddered. This should t as a huge overextension! I have to punish him for something like this! But, I feel like I just... 't.

  Ben etrified, uo ter this bold yet brilliant py. The situation looked as if Apprentece was taking an unimaginable risk, yet in practice, the guy’s position was actually rather safe.

  What were Ben's options here, really? He could try shooting basic attacks at Apprentece, but that'll barely do any damage. Instead, all it’ll achieve is attrag the attention of Appretnece’s minions, which was the st thing Ben wao deal with right now.

  Of course, atractive option was to use Nature's Grasp in order t Apprentece deeper into the tower area. That sounded like an awesome py, but it'll probably achieve very little in this particur situation. Ben’s Turret was currently busy firing bolts at the invading minions, so it won’t bother targeting Appretnece even if Ben pulls that criminal closer.

  Then, what I even do here??? Ben trembled as he watched the tower's HP plummet at an arming rate,

  For now, Ben’s only respoo this assault was to tinue firing basic attacks at the minions. But, this was weak terpy that barely slowed down the enemy’s attacks.

  "You should hit him," Yuel advised. "Half of his minions are gone by now, so you get their attention and soak their damage with your shield."

  "R-Right!" Ben his was a tactic he knew, yet his mind bnked out for a moment there. His brain struggled to process the absurdity in front of him.

  “Also,” Yuel added. "Ohere's only one minio, pull the Or if he doesn't retreat by then."

  "Okay!" Ben nodded and took a deep breath. By fog on Yuel’s clear orders, it was much easier to deal with the unfolding situation. Ben kly what he had to do, so he went straight for it!

  First, he took a few steps forward in order to get the Apprehin the reach of his basic attacks. Annoyingly, Apprentece mimicked Ben's movements and backstepped away, f Ben to walk farther than expected.

  heless, in the end, Ben got the target within attack range and threw a rge seed at him. It struck against the Orc's shoulder, triggering all the enemy minions in the viity.

  To not lose too much HP to the minions' wrath, Ben activated Gaia's Prote, granting himself a shield. It had a det HP for soaking early-game damage, so it successfully tanked all ining attacks without Ben losing any HP.

  The bowmen fired arrows at him and only hit his shield, while he fired seeds at them and delivered actual damage. Ben ighe swordsmen because they were tankier, so it was best to leave them to the tower.

  Shortly, all swordsmen fell and only one bowman remained.

  A, Apprentece is still here. Ben g the overextending Orc. The guy insisted on remaining withiower's area and shed at Ben’s tower with the sce. It seemed like he had no iion of retreating just yet even though he was down to one minion.

  This is rude. Ben thought. At first, I thought this push was brilliant. But now, I'm starting to think maybe he's just uimating me. I'll show him!

  Ben stepped forward and aimed his Nature's Grasp. It was a very narrow skillshot, so it had to be aimed perfectly in order to grab the target.

  Fortunately, as an avid Druid pyer, Ben was used to the process. He had a lot of experience pying Druid as a Support in the past, and he pyed it plenty in Top during club practice as well. Therefore, his aim with Nature’s Grasp was quite det despite the meical challenges of the skill.

  Okay, locked on. Here goes! Ben shot braoward the overextending target! He was going t that overfident pyer deep into the tower area!

  But, that didn't e to pass. As soon as Ben unleashed the brahe enemy rolled out of the area. The response was instantaneous as if Apprentece had been waiting for this one moment his entire life.

  Oh, I see. He was fident he'd be able to roll away in time. Ben nodded. I guess it proves that he really doesn't think I’m anywhere near his skill level. And, so far, he’s kinda correct…

  No matter how cocky Apprentece's push seemed, all of his pys had been perfectly on point. Disrespect or otherwise, Apprentece successfully got away with everything he believed he’d get away with.

  This is a little frustrating. He walked all over me like I was nothing. Ben chewed his lip. But, I 't even call him out on anything. He kly what he was doing. It's me who wasn’t good enough...

  After just one exge against the Korean prodigy, Be like a hapless rabbit challenging a vicious lion…

  DarkestCymore