Finally, an opening revealed itself in Appretence’s uncrackable defense. So, with a burning desire to strike down her nemesis, Nia headed off to Bot! This time, she was going to take down that cocky Korean guy!

  Oh, wait. But I better inform everybody about this pn. She realized along the way.

  Back during her first gank on Apprenteia failed to properly unicate her arrival to Ben and it cost her dearly. So, she had to do things properly this time.

  "I'm ganking Bot," Nia announced. For a moment there, even she was surprised by how strongly her tone came across. She wasn’t asking for permission or leaving anything open for debate. No, she stated an absolute fact.

  "Eh, I mean, if it's alright with everybody..." she added.

  "Did you finally spot a good opportunity?" Yuel asked.

  "Yes." Nia nodded fidently at first, but then she realized she'd surely be held atable if anythi south. "Eh, well, I think I found something. At least, this looks way better than previous opportunities."

  "Is that so." Yuel knotted his brows. Holy, I don't see much difference. Apprentece seems to be pying as boldly as usual, but so far that never verted into a true opening. But, maybe Nia sees something I don't. Her game sense is abnormally sharp for these things.

  Though it wasn't immediately apparent, Nia owned much of her success as a gao her heightened game sense. She was exceptionally good at spotting when the enemy's guard was down. She incorporated all sorts of small tells into her analysis to deliver her sneaky ganks.

  It was easy to just call her a "Vanishing Phantom" and pretend like her impressive results only came from the fact she was “hard to notice”. But in truth, Nia's pystyle was more intricate than that. Yuel only realized that after coag the girl on a regur basis.

  Nia was indeed good at lying low to the point her oppos fot to factor in her presence. However, that wasn't something that was going to happen right at the start of the game. Her vanishing act was a gradual process that took an ierminate amount of time.

  In every game, it to Nia to tell when she had finished "erasing her presence", as she called it. But, how could she even tell? There weren't any clear in-game indications for something like that. It sychological.

  I, for one, ’t tell when it’s time. Yuel admitted. That's why I always have to trust her judgment on that. And, the oime I went against her judgment in this game, there were sequences.

  The first time Yuel asked Nia to gank Apprente Top, he was met with resistania cimed she didn't feel like she "erased her prese the time, so it didn’t make seo her to try sneaking up on an enemy just yet.

  Yuel sidered that input but ultimately chose to ig. He assumed that even if Nia was correct, it wouldn't ge the fact that she'd be able to deliver a strong gank on Apprentece sidering the guy's bold overextension.

  But, I ended up being wrong. Badly so. Yuel frowned. Nia's analysis was corre that situation. It's actually pretty impressive.

  That's why for the sed gank Yuel made sure to first reach a sensus with Nia. The girl resisted the idea at first as she often did, but in the end, Yuel mao vince her that the risks weren’t as high as she feared. If he failed to vince her then he nning to give up on the idea altogether to avoid further tragedies.

  That sensual gank was indeed far more effective than the first. Nia successfully erased her presence even against Apprented mao surprise him. As, her execution was stiff because she was too worried about her low HP, a factor Yuel failed to take into at.

  In the end, the oute of that gank was unfortu it was definitely a good opportunity. Therefore, it seemed that when Yuel and Nia's analyses reached an agreement, there was a real possibility of striking Apprentece down.

  This time, she's the oaking the initiative. Yuel thought. She analyzed the situation and somehow determihat this was the right moment. This goes beyond even my analysis.

  If he couldn’t uand all the reasonings behind it, could Yuel really approve of this py?

  Ironic. Yuel smiled wryly. Isn't this the exact same dilemma others have to deal with whenever I e up with a pn? I know better than anybody how difficult it is to vihers in these situations.

  Yuel was gettier at this through repetition, but Nia didn't have the same amount of experienot to mention, her analysis usually only revolved around her own pystyle, so she rarely had the o vihers of anything.

  And, I rarely ever pressed her too hard to expin her reasoning to me in the past. Yuel frowned. I suppose I reap what I sow. I should’ve questioned her more often to uand her reasoning process.

  As, it was too te to start that now. Nia wao gank Bht here and now. There was no time to bombard her with questions and try to draw out a satisfying answer from her. In fact, attempting that would only distract her from the py and will ruin its ces of success.

  In other words, Yuel had to make this decision based on nothing but his trust in Nia. So, the real question was: how much did he trust Nia ohings?

  I… tentatively trust her. Yuel thought. But in this particur game, she really impressed me with ho her intuition get. And besides, she's showing a great amount of iive to go up against an oppohat she openly admits is "scary". That's a first.

  Nia was abnormally motivated to hunt dorehis scaredy-cat, who usually gave up at the first sight of a “scary” enemy, was now volunteering to fight the scariest monster in the region.

  Regardless of my reasoning, I feel pelled to respond to her feelings in kind. Yuel decided. "Okay, you gank Bot. Lars, did you catch all that?"

  "Yep, loud and clear. But, I dunno about this…" Lars twisted his lips. "I really wao 1v1 this dude and stuff."

  "You're already dueling him and it's ly going well, is it?"

  "Yeaaaah, welp. Dude's clearing speed is too dang high, yo!"

  "Yes, it sure is," Yuel agreed. "You might've still had a fighting ce if you didn't hit him earlier, but now he’s dominating the ne."

  "Hey, it wasn't on purpose, okay?” Lars pouted. “Like, I tried my best to avoid the dude, I really did. But, he just pulled that Korean magic of his and stepped into my shot outta nowhere! It was sick, yo! And annoying, too."

  "I see. I figured it was something along those lines, or that you missed."

  "I never miss, yo! 200% accuracy, believe it!"

  "Right, right." Yuel rolled his eyes. "Anyway, now that the situation has turned out like this, there isn't much you do there by yourself. By the time you finish fending off his push, Apprentece will already retreat."

  "Yeah, true dat." Lars pouted. "Dang, there goes my ce to duel this pro for realz…" If only I trained dat Elf more, dang it…

  Yuel insisted time and again that Lars should focus exclusively on the Elf, even at the expensive and turning rusty with Trickshooter and Gunslinger. But of course, Lars couldn’t possibly allow that. These were his main csses, yo! He had to keep them polished like a master swordsman keeps his bdes in shape!

  But, maybe it was really the wrong move. Lars frowned. Because of this, I didn’t eveo practice the quick-sg tech properly. That thing alone gonna take weeks to master…

  As much as he would’ve wao deny it, Lars was definitely underprepared here today. He got this golden opportunity to fight an insanely strong dude, but his skill with Elf wasn’t up to the challenge.

  “Yep, I guess I missed this ce alright.” Lars sighed.

  "Perhaps you missed the ce to duel him,” Yuel said. “But, you still have a ce to score a kill on him by cooperating with Nia. That'll be a huge achievement for us." Even though it probably won't salvage the game...

  "Wait, we haven't scored any kills on this dude yet, right?" Lars realized this after cheg the KDA. "Alrighty theally gotta mop this Korean pro at least once! We're also pros, ya know? Gotta prove it to him!"

  "I agree.” Yuel nodded. “We must get at least one kill on him, or else it'll leave a sour taste."

  Apprentece has been dominating this entire game from the very beginning. Ben was uo stand up to the guy at all and Nia failed to kill him twice. Likewise, Kai couldn't get anything going against him in Mid either, she ultimately only wasted MP .

  It was undeniable that, at the moment, it looked as if Appreood head and shoulder above the ey of Stratus. He was like an untouchable god far above the realm of mere mortals.

  That’s definitely not the kind of impression Yuel wao end this game with. This sort of thing might bee a mental trauma that'll stick with the team all the way into the regionals. And, it seemed like Lars reached the same clusion.

  "Okay, I gotcha!" Lars said. ", Nia! Let's cook up this Korean dude real gud!"

  "On my way!"

  They wasted a little bit of precious time before finally agreeing, but fortunately, this didn't dey Nia at all. The eime, she had been advang toward Bot as if the decision had already been made.

  Would she have given up if we disagreed with the gank? Yuel wondered. Well, no use w about that now. Let's see if Nia's analysis is on point in this situation.

  And so, a gank was about to strike Bot. Will Nia finally be able to take down this Korean monster!?

  DarkestCymore