"A-Ah!" Lua excimed. "They surrounded me!"

  It happened in the middle of a heated Ranked game. The enemy Jungler and Support teamed up in the jungle in order to gang up on Lua! They cut off her path right as she was about to return to the ne!

  But, pared to Lua’s rising levels of ay, Fiona analyzed the situation calmly. They must have spotted her through wards. I have to admit, this is a imed gank. I doubt she make it out of there alive.

  Lua had access to Padin’s invincibility ultimate but it would be a waste to spend it here. Even if she does get away alive, she will be too io tiivity in the ne. As such, that line of py will not lead to any advantages for the team.

  Unfortunately, sacrifig her is the only logical option here. Fiona cluded matter-of-factly. Her teammates sometimes called her “heartless” for proposing such lines, but that was simply nonsehis is a strategic game just like chess. In a situation like this, sacrifig a teammate is no different than sacrifig a pieprove the position.

  Any objes to such pys always came from the heart, not the brain. For some reason, there were many pyers who felt obligated to "rescue their rades" without stopping to think about the bigger picture first.

  But, Fiona did not fall for su obvious pitfall. She had no iion of wasting time and resources on a suboptimal py. There was no valid rescue pn at hand that would objectively make seo go for. So, it was far more logical to assume that Lua’s fate was sealed and ihink of how to best utilize her as a resourtil she colpses.

  And so, Fiona analyzed the area from a distance using X-ray vision. Their Jungler is running low. I assume he only dared to join this surprise attack because he has an aplice.

  The enemy Viking was at 30% HP. Lua’s ward actually revealed his presen the jungle a little before all of this, but everybody assumed the Viking would not dare to eh such low HP. Even Fiona believed as much.

  I failed to take into at the fact he rely on the Support's recovery if push es to shove. Fiona criticized herself. In hindsight, this redictable attack.

  The enemy's Support was a Cleric, so he had no she of heals to spare. Fiona should have factored that in when analyzing the situation. As, it was too te now.

  It was impossible to rewind time, so Fiona had to deal with the awkward board position in front of her. Even though she already cluded that Lua could not be saved, it did not meaeam should surrehat piece for free.

  If I time it right, I kill the Jungler. Fiona analyzed a few moves ahead. She was already on her way from Top Juo Bot Jungle, so this pn fitted well into her schedule.

  The Cleric’s ult is down, so that will not pose an issue. Fiona analyzed. In that case, everything hangs on Lua’s ability to keep the enemy distracted. I will have to advise her well.

  Fiona quickly drew up an escape path for Lua on the mini-map. This was simir to giving an order to a chess piece, except here it was uaiher the piece would be able to execute the orders to a T.

  “Lua, follow this path,” Fiona ordered.

  “Eh? Shouldn’t I retreat to Bot?”

  “No, that is hopeless. They will catch up to you with the Cleric’s speed buff.”

  “Oh. Yeah, they probably will…”

  In truth, that was only partially correct. Lua had a ce of getting away alive if she were to use Aegis, but that meant wasting her ult aing almost nothing iurn. That was barely aer than dying, so Fiona omitted that part of the analysis so they could stay focused on the uping pn.

  “I am on my way over there,” Fiona informed. “Stall them for as long as you . Follow the path I drew for you and dodge their attacks as much as possible even if it slows you down. Don’t worry, I will .”

  “O-Okay!”

  “Also, strike the Cleric with your skill.”

  “A-Alright!” Lua activated Justice Strike, summoning a giant bde from the sky. It crashed right on the Cleric as instructed, slowing down the pursuer.

  I wonder, was the Cleric really the better target? Lua asked herself as ran. I feel like slowing down the Viking would do much more for me. But, who am I to question Fiona?

  And so, Lua did her best to run away from her bloodthirsty pursuers. Though she had a notoriously bad habit of finding herself in unfortuuations like these, she was also just as good at wiggling her way out of them. So, she’ll surely survive this predit too! Y-yeah, no sweat!

  Even with the panic drumming down on her, Lua navigated rather smoothly through the jungle. She effitly cut through the ers and gave her pursuers a run for their money.

  At some point, the Viking even used his Axe Blitz in order to catch up. From that point onward, he essentially tihe pursuit all alohe Cleric was most likely still following from behind, but the two of them were practically separated at this point.

  This was the ideal sario Fiona envisioned. But unfortunately, even in this best-case sario, it was impossible to save Lua when her HP was at a mere 10%.

  Despite predig this oute from a mile away, Fiona did her best to get to the se as quickly as possible. As, it was not meant to be…

  An ally has been killed!

  It was an unfortuurn of events, ohat Fiona had every iion of getting pensation for. Before the Viking had a ce to get away, Fio over the jungle wall using Majestic Leap.

  Her careless target only had 40% HP remaining even after getting patched up by the Cleric. Meanwhile, Fiona was at 90%. This immense gap activated her Superiority passive, granting useful buffs for seg this kill.

  BAM! Fiona crashed oarget from the sky and khem up into the air. And, while her prey was helplessly flying in the air, Fiona followed up with Mighty Roar.

  RAAAAAWR! The roar shredded the prey's defenses and inflicted him with Fear. It made the Viking temporarily lose trol over his character as he ran away in terror.

  To make the most out of this crowd-trol effect, Fiona made sure to scare away the Viking deeper into allied territory and farther away from the Cleric. Even though the Viking had already scored a kill, there was a very good ce the healer was still on his way to the se due to Fiona’s intervention, so she had to keep them separated.

  Things will bee difficult if the Viking is healed. Fiona thought. I have to this up quickly.

  She activated The Queen's Dominion, summoning a pride of lions to block off the area. Despite how uhe surrounding jungle walls were, the lions had no problem adjusting their formation to match the yout.

  Most other AoE skills would have failed to activate a restricted area like this, but not The Queen's Dominion. Fiona was thankful for this unusual property of the skill as it made her life easier on many occasions.

  He ot escape now. It is over. Fiona chased dowerrorized Viking and sshed him from behind with her cws. By this point she had unleashed every skill in her kit, so now it was all about firming the kill via basic attacks.

  However, the Viking had no iion of going down without a fight. Once he recovered from the Fear, he retaliated with his ult. "Odin owns ye all!" He called upon a squad of warriors to aid him in battle.

  In an instant, Fiona found herself surrounded by six rowdy fighters. However, that did not faze her in the slightest. How wasteful. This will not save you.

  She ighe threats around her and titag the Viking. As long as she takes down the boss, the goons will disperse on their own.

  SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! Fiona tirelessly assaulted the Viking. The man tried to terattack at first but soon realized it was futile. Despite being outnumbered, Fiona had too much stat advantage inside her domain.

  Down to it, everything revolved around damage numbers. All that mattered was redug the Viking’s HP down to 0 before the Cleric arrived. As such, the enemy warriors could be entirely ignored so long as Fiona achieved that goal.

  However, her oppo had no iions of making this easy. The Viking rolled away and eveakedown as an escape tool. He did everything he could to keep his distance from Fiona and prolong his life.

  He is good. Fiona thought. Perhaps I uimated his skill a little. I assumed I had more leeway than that.

  The Viking and his goons were making Fiona's life much harder than expected. During times like this, she was forced to remember that all the “pieces” on the board were actual human beings who could sometimes exceed expectations.

  Even though this fight was teically a math problem that involved damage numbers and stats, there was still a huma that plicated matters. The Viking very much wao stay alive and that adrenaline made him outperform Fiona’s expectations.

  An admirable fighting spirit. Fiona nodded. However, in the end, math and game theory are absolute.

  You have killed an enemy!

  She sshed down the Viking right before he reunited with the Cleric. The man's stubbornness nearly caused Fiona’s pn to fall apart, but in the end, everything remained within Fiona's expectations.

  Her uanding of Cssmancers' game theory was still far from plete due to her limited experienoheless, she was already capable of thinking multiple steps ahead aimating the math involved.

  And, this is not over yet. Fiona dashed past the colpsed Viking. Good, he is here. She nodded in satisfa as she spotted the Cleric. The man only came here to rescue his ally, so he turned around as soon as that was no longer possible.

  But, Fiona had every iion of giving chase. There was a very real opportunity of sg a Double Kill here, which she very much wao seize.

  Thus, Fiona chased the Cleric through the jungle. Her Movement Speed dropped signifitly after she left the Queen's Dominion, but her Lionfolk was heless faster than her prey.

  The Cleric could have gotten away with ease if he had Godspeed avaible, but he spent it earlier in order to chase Lua. That py helped his aplice catch up to Lua and secure the kill, but it left him defenseless against a terattack such as this.

  Eventually, Fiona caught up to the clergyman. Then, she ravaged the man's back with her razor-sharp cws. SWISH! SWISH! RIP!

  Despite the quick attacks, the damage accumuted slowly. The Clerily dropped to 50% HP after all these hits.

  He is quite tanky. Fiona realized. It seems that getting a kill is out of the question. In that case, I shall use this opportunity to ter-jungle.

  Uhe pretense of chasing the Cleric, Fiona invaded deep into the enemy juhere was no immediate danger of being ganked here because Fiona had just sin the enemy Jungler with her own two hands. As such, there should be no threats in the viity.

  Essentially, Fiona got a free ticket into the enemy’s territory, and she nning to fully capitalize on this golden opportunity.

  DarkestCymore