The fight against Apprentece was off to a bad start for Nia. She lost way too much HP right off the bat, and the bowmen started raining arrows on her as well.

  From this position, if Appretence successfully nds a terattack against every bolt Nia shoots, then her HP will be deleted in like 2~3 attacks. She had no ce of winning like this!

  "I-I think I'll retreat-"

  "Nah, it's all good, yo!" Lars reassured. "I'll be there in a jiffy, dude! Just keep him pinned and we'll finish him off! And, I'mma clear out these goons on the way too, don't worry!"

  "O-Ok!" Nia snapped out of it. For now, the flight instincts looseheir grip over her.

  I fot I'm not alone here. Nia realized. It’s funny, actually. inally, the whole point of “ganking” is to take down eogether, isn't it?

  The wank" was frequently abused to refer to any surprise attack, but its inal meaning was "gang kill". It referred to the act of ganging up on the enemy with your teammates.

  Admittedly, in her entire career thus, Nia hadn’t done much justice to this term. Most of the time, her "ganks" involved ung a strong attack all by herself.

  But, some monsters are just to to take down alone. Nia realized that now better than ever before. This time, it wasn’t just about ganking a “scary css” like DK or Oro, the pyer himself was scary. And he was also pying Or top of that, so double the scary!

  This was defihe kind of enemy Nia needed help with, no two ways about it. As, she failed to properly sytack with Lars, just as she failed to do so with Ben in Top. She only alerted the team that she was going to rotate to Bot, but nothing beyond that.

  Before Nia arrived, Lars had been taking full advantage of Elf’s long attack range, so he was firing shots from far behind the tower. Therefore, he now had to travel a long distan order to catch up to Nia.

  If only I told him earlier…. well, it is what it is. Nia shook her head and focused on the foe in front of her. She had to fire another bolt ASAP, or else the Orc's sloill expire.

  However, before she could tinue her offense - WHISH! The metal whip cracked once more! The momentum of the battle started shiting to Appretnece’s side and he se.

  She's hesitating. Good. Jin nodded. As expected, she's a scaredy-cat. The moment things go south for her, she freezes up and starts thinking about running away.

  An oppo who abaheir will to fight had no ce of winning. Now that fear took over her, Vanishing was as good as a pung bag.

  Hmph, not that she had any ce of winning in the first pce. Jin thought. Her gank fell apart the moment she failed to push me into the tower area. To make things worse, her gank partner didn’t seem ready at all for any of this.

  Perhaps Vanishing deserved a little bit of praise for how sneakily she delivered her gank and almost caught Jin off-guard. However, in the end, she failed to coordinate her attack with her partherefore the ehing was bound to fail.

  Now, Vanishing was quag in her boots, struggling to tinue her own offense as well. How ughable. Until the very end, she was a subpar Western pyer, like everybody in this god-forsaken region.

  After the sce attack ects and reduces Vanishing’s HP below 40%, the girl should pletely lose her fighting spirit. She’ll run away like the scaredy-cat she was, freeing Jin from the irksome slowdown and allowing him to disengage.

  At least, that’s what he expected the insecure girl to do. However, the move she pulled defined all expectations.

  I-It’s ing! Nia saw the sce flying right toward her! She totally messed up there by getting distracted. Her self-doubt was going to be the end of her!

  The time she spent pting her move halted her entire momentum, and the enemy didn’t let that opportunity slip. The Korean monster seized full trol of the battle in an instant.

  B-But, I'm not scared! Nia decred. I mean, it's super scary and stuff, but I'm not scared of you, you monster! I just gotta dodge it...!

  Nia couldn't let the enemy nd this hit for free, so she rolled! However, this roll wasn’t meant to escape the se. And, it wasn’t a roll to the side, either.

  No, Nia rolled straight at the monster in front of her! She rolled forward, prepared to strike down her foe! Or at least, a part of her repared for this...

  E-Eh!? Nia excimed a moment after making that bold move. A-Am I seriously doing this!? I mean, I did want to hit him with the dagger, but this is super risky!!!

  Regardless, there was no going baow. Her Drow was rolling forward, dug uhe shing sce. She closed the distaween them in an instant.

  Scary! But, this range is good! Nia realized. And, he will be stu a recovery animation for a bit, so this is the perfect ce...!

  Nia took out her bck dagger as soon as she recovered. STAB! She thrust it at the monster in front of her!

  Even though the range of Cursed Dagger oor, Apprentece had no ce of dodging this one from point-bnk, not while he was locked in a recovery animation. Or, so Nia thought...

  WHISH. The dagger pierced through something, but that something was just empty air.

  "Eh...?" Nia blinked in fusion. "But, I was in range, and..."

  She didn't mess up her aim, did she? No, she definitely didn't. Even amidst this fast-developing situation, Nia mao maintain a good degree of focus, so her thrust should’ve been spot-on.

  So no, it wasn't Nia who missed. It was her oppo who moved! Even though the guy was supposed to be stuck rec from the whiff, he somehow mao sidestep Nia's point-bnk stab!

  It's that Korean hack again! Nia seethed. Just how many cheats oep cel fit!?

  It was absurd. First, the guy used KC offeo prevent Nia from stepping out of his attack range. Now, he used it defensibly to dodge a point-bnk strike that should've definitely ected. It's like this oeique was breaking all the rules of the game!

  So, what do I do now!? Nia gulped. I'm literally o him, and each of his attacks hits like a truck. Do I run? I even run? I don't think so. But, I 't beat him in a melee fight, either...

  "You won't be able to run away," Yuel stated matter-of-factly. "Just keep attag."

  "R-Right!" Nia got the answer she was searg for. So, she ighe fact that this telepathic robot somehow read her mind and fired a bolt at her oppo!

  This was a desperate st stand. Her death was all but assured at this point, but Nia heless stood her ground and fought. She wasn't going to let this Korean superhuman scare her...!

  Of course, the enemy shed back right away.

  Hmm. I didn't expect this. Jin thought. I was sure she'd run away the moment her HP dropped low, but she's being surprisingly brave this time. Or reckless, rather.

  Rolling in with Cursed Dagger was an unily bold move for a scaredy-cat like Vanishing. It seemed like the girl was out for blood. She disregarded her usual timidness for the sake of taking Jin down.

  Was it appudable? Or, just foolish? Either way, that py almost put Jin in jeopardy. If he failed to sidestep that thrust, then he would’ve sustained heavy damage and debuffs. In fact, his death would’ve been all but assured at that point.

  But, too bad for you. It didn’t work out, so now you’ll die. Jin shed his sce, erasi another 20% from Vanishing's health bar.

  For a moment there, he eaihe idea of switg his sce back to the default axe. The axe hit faster a more damage, so it was the superior on for close-quarters bat.

  But, she might try to escape the moment I switch. She’s a scaredy-cat, after all. Jin reasoned. So, it's safer to use the sce for now. It’ll take a little longer but it should secure the kill.

  WHISH! trary to Jin’s expectations, Vanishing expressed no iion of retreating. Even in the face of death, the girl tinued drilling bolts into him, as she should.

  Hmph. I'm not even sure what I'm so surprised about here. Jin thought. She's just pying as she's supposed to do, nothing more. Still, it’s a bit odd….

  This brave st stand was uncharacteristic of Vanishing. She wasn't supposed to be the kind of pyer who had the gall for such pys.

  Perhaps I uimated her a little. Well, no matter. Jin unleashed his deadly sce once again, sshing through the Drow's body. The end was nigh.

  WHISH, WHISH, The bowmen tributed to the damage with their arrows, and so the Drow's life was extinguished.

  You have been killed!

  The familiar message showed up on Nia's s. It was the sed time she died at Apprentece's hand in this game, so this had a sense of deja vu to it.

  Gufu... Nia’s shoulders dropped. I failed again...

  Unbelievable. The “great” gank opportunity she discovered ended up being a dud…

  Well, maybe that's ly true. Nia thought. I think I did catch him off-guard overall. He probably just realized his mistake at the very st sed, that's why he cast his ult and rolled away.

  Apprentece pulled that weird py right as Nia ganked him. If only his Spidey-Seivated a sed ter, then Nia would've successfully pushed him into the tower area. In that position, Nia and Lars would've ripped the guy to shreds.

  Well, I tried. Nia slumped. It's all in your hand now, Lars.

  She failed to deliver the finishing blow herself, but she successfully prepared the ground for Apprentece's death. If that cocky guy thought he could escape from something like this alive, then he had ahing ing!

  But, that was just what Nia believed. Apprentece didn’t share her mi all.

  Well, that's that. Jin nodded in satisfa and turned around. Now that he elimihe immediate danger, it was time for him to retreat to safety. At least, that was the pn. But…

  ZAP! A ser beam pierced through his skull!

  Oh yes, of course. Jin nodded. You're not going to let me get away that easily, are you?

  Gunz sure took his sweet time getting to the se, but he was finally here. And, with Jin still affected by Drow's slowdown, it was going to be difficult to escape from this situation alive.

  I have to hope that he misses at least one shot along the way, or else I’m through. Jin analyzed. But, will he actually drop any shots?

  Somebody with Gunz's accuracy wasn't going to miss any shots for no reason, especially not against a slowed target.

  ZAP! Another headshot! As usual, the guy was showing off his trick-shooting skills by nding all his ser beams on Jin’s skull even though it didn't give him any bes whatsoever.

  I suppose this be sidered a form of psychological attack, but a very risky one. I, for one, don't feel intimidated by it at all. If anything, I find it ineffit and exploitable.

  Jin was two hits away from dying at this point. Since Gunz hadn’t built much crit rate yet, it meant there wouldn’t be any surprises on that froly two hits, that’s what separated Jin from death.

  This accursed sloill lift up after the shot. Jin thought. And, my roll is about to e off cooldown. In theory, there's still a ce.

  Jin tried his best to maintain his posure but it was tough. He was steps away from dying to this western rubble, ahat would sully his reputation beyond measure. But, panig won’t do him any favors here.

  I just have to remain calm and make sure I avoid the worst-case sario. Jin took a deep breath and cut off the unnecessary noise. All he should be w abht now was dodging the uping hits.

  ZAP! Another ser beam, another headshot. This one was unavoidable as Jin was in no dition to juke anything at the moment.

  Thankfully, after this, the slowdown finally lifted. This allowed Jin to move around as he pleased.

  He really insists on nding these pointless headshots. Jin grimaced. I admit, it mao get on my nerves a little, but only because of how dumb it is. Time to put him in his pce.

  ZAP! Another ser beam resounded. It was no doubt aimed toward Jin's head again, for no reason other than showing off.

  Fool, do you not realize that this is the petitive stage? Though, I suppose the petition in this region be rather mind-numbing. Jin admitted. So, let me show you how REAL petitive pyers do things and why you ’t keep showing off like this.

  Jin hit the brakes and stepped to the side right before the ser reached him. It was a st-moment sidestep, the kind of mahat normally wouldn't be enough to juke an approag shot.

  However, against Gunz's cocky shot, a single sidestep was more than enough. After all, that dumb shooter aimed the ser at Jin’s head, a small area that was easy to miss.

  ZAP! The ser beam passed by Jin's ear and tinued on, failing to deliver any damage.

  And, that's that. Jin nodded. You missed your d you have only your coess to thank for it.

  This shot would’ve e all but Gunz botched it up. Jin’s Dodge Roll again, so Gunz wouldn't be getting this st hit anymore.

  But of course, Gunz will try to une st attack, as futile as it may be. Will he mao fix his mistake and deliver the killing blow?

  Of course not. That ship has sailed. Jin asserted. But, you're wele to try, amateur.

  And so, the final decisive shot on them…

  DarkestCymore