"My, somebody is making a very difficult face over here~" Ellen giggled. "What's wrong, Wardy? Feeling down?"

  "Yeah, a little,” Howard admitted. “This game is rough."

  "It sure is. Do you thiill have a ce?"

  "That's exactly what I keep asking myself." Howard sighed. "It's not looking good. Rosemary is too fed at this point, and she only keeps snowballing more and more."

  "Yep, Rosey is sure feeling herself~"

  "... Rosey? Did you just e up with a niame for a niame?"

  "Yep! I do that sometimes."

  "I guess you do..." Holy, Howard shouldn’t even be surprised at this point. Ellen would go to ah to attach a niame to anything and everything.

  "So," Ellen tinued. "Do we have any backup p, or...?"

  "Nothing I think of. The only way I see to hahis snowballing is to start turtling and hope we stretch out this game for as long as possible."

  "My, that sure paints a grim picture. I personally have no problem with that pn, but I doubt the others will enjoy it much."

  "Yeah, they won't."

  Howard and Ellen trained a ton is of defense under Esmeralda, so turtling was just anitimate teique in their arsenal. However, most pyers didn't like pying like that.

  Julia might be fih it because she already had been turtling ever since she died in the early-game. But, Roi and Dan will surely hate Howard fgesting such a dragged-out game pn. They’ve expressed their hatred plenty toward the Leopards' pystyle when watg repys, so it was clear where they stood on the subject.

  They'll go along with it but they'll whine for sure. Howard thought. Their morale will be in shambles, which is the st thing we need for winning this game.

  StormBlitz already found itself in an almost unwinnable position. From here, to have a ce at all, they had to py their absolute best. High morale was mandatory.

  Sadly, Roi and Dan won't be able to draw out their "best" with a turtling strategy. Even worse, f them to py like this now might affect their mood for the game as well.

  Sure, if the turtling strategy wins them the game, then Roi and Dan would celebrate and move on. But, what if the turtling fails?

  They’ll eat my head about it. Howard sighed. There’ll be some salt too, which might carry over into the rest of the match.

  There could be long-term sequeo this. That’s the st thing the team needed right now.

  The current game is an anomaly. Rosemary won’t get to snowball that like that again today. Howard asserted. So, there's no reason to linger about anything that happens here.

  Rosemary was snowballing hard only because she pulled a fast one on StormBlitz at the start of the game. Sihen, she has been abusing her initial momentum to gain more and more advantage.

  Of course, there was no denying that Rosemary abused that momentum exceptionally well. But, if StormBlitz had never givehat opportunity, then the game would turned out very differently. As in, StormBlitz would have domi from start to finish.

  So, the st thing I want is to lioo much about what happened here. The longer we drag this game out, the worse it is for our mental health.

  The more Howard thought about it from that ahe more vinced he became that turtling was a bad idea. It'll only stretch out the game needlessly.

  But, what else we try? He frowned. I'm not Yuel. I’m not good with smartass turnabout ideas.

  "My, you'll bee all wrinkly if you keep frowning like this~" Ellen chuckled. "You're probably thinking too hard about it, Wardy. If you don't see a way to win, then F6 is a button, you know?"

  "... are you suggesting to surrender?"

  "I'm just saying that's an option."

  "Hmm..." Howard instinctively wao reject the proposal but he couldn’t. There was some seo it, as unfortunate as it was.

  Generally speaking, forfeiting this early was frowned upon in the petitive se. Pros were expected to fight their hardest to the bitter end, as there was always a ce to turn things around ie-game.

  But, when the enemy had a tremendous advahere were bes to giving up and moving on. It saved a lot of time and energy, as well as interrupted the enemy's ongoing momentum.

  But, forfeiting here is embarrassing. Hrumped. It's like admitting that this amateur team is “so much better” than us.

  StormBlitz was supposed to be the "sed stro" team in the region, on par with the Leopards. Surrendering against a newbie team like the Valkyries will destroy their reputation.

  The scouts from Utopia will chew me out on this if they see it. Howard shuddered at the thought. Then again, they’ll also chew me out if I tinue pying and lose. her result is good for the team's image, or mine.

  "Listen, everybody," Howard spoke up. "As I’m sure you’ve all realized by now, this game is almost certainly lost. At best, we try to turtle and hope to pull something off ie-game, but that sounds more like torture."

  "Dang, boss." Dan chuckled. "That wasn’t your best motivational speech."

  "Lol, it sure wasn’t." Roi ughed dryly.

  "It's because that wasn’t a motivational speech," Howard crified. "What I'm suggesting is that we end it here and now. In other words, we surrender."

  "Whoa…" Roi and Dan blinked in disbelief. That was the first time this kind of talk was oable for a petitive game. Even against the Leopards, StormBlitz pyed all the games until the bitter end. Yet now, against a greenhorn team, Howard suggested forfeiting…?

  "What? This makes no sense," Julia argued. "Isn't their team way weaker than us? Why would we ever surrender against them?"

  "Because this game got out of hand," Howard expined. "Rosemary is too fed and she knows how to use that fact to her adva's no longer possible to have a fair game here."

  "But, we're still way better than them, so it should even out, right?" Julia insisted. "We should be able to turables on them somehow!"

  "Well, if you want to suggest a winning strategy, then I'm all ears."

  "Eh, well, I don't really have o..."

  "Aher do I," Howard admitted. "Trust me, I thought this over. Surrendering is always a st resort, but I believe we in this case."

  "But, surrendering against that team sounds so stupid..." Julia grumped. If it were Lars calling the shots, he would've never given up. And heck, even Yuel would’ve had more bae than that. Instead of suggesting something stupid like surrendering, he would’ve cooked up some stupid but effective pn.

  Surrendering this early was nonse’s not like any quitters disected from the game or anything. This was still a 5v5 and StormBlitz was the stroeam by far. At least, it should’ve been…

  Sadly, Julia didn’t have any bright ideas for fixing this game. She only khat she absolutely didn't want to surrender because that would leave a bad taste.

  I still haven't scored any points yet! She grumped. The only notable thing I did in this game so far was to die like an idiot. That’s only ive points…

  Julia was supposed to prove herself worthy of the first string in this game. So, things couldn't just end like this without her achieving anything.

  Then again, most of this is Dan’s fault anyway, so maybe I'll get some pity points from Howard? Julia prayed. Who knows, maybe he'll fet about my mistake because the entire game was a mess? Yeaaaah, fat ce…

  Howard wasn't the type tet that kind of thing. He'll surely grill Julia about it during the match review.

  So, she had to achieve at least SOMETHING, anything, before this game ended! Otherwise, there’ll only be bad things to say about her performance here!

  Unfortunately, while she was busy thinking about all that, everybody else started agreeing with Howard. Nuuuuuu!

  "Welp, surrendering is kinda me and stuff," Dan said. "But, I'm in. I mean, I've already died a billion times. I'm gging behind everybody by at least five waves, so I don't see any future for me here."

  "Yep," Roi said. "And that Rosemary chick is overfed as hell, I dunno how we gonna deal with that shit, lol. So, to be ho, I kinda agree with quitting."

  "Mhm.” Ellen nodded. “I also think that surrendering is a timely idea, as expected from Wardy~ We should cut this circus short and move on to the game."

  "Yeah." Howard nodded. "It sounds like everybody is on board. Save for you, Julia."

  "Ugh..." Julia groaned. Four pairs of eyes drilled through her, pressurio submit. "Y-You 't vince me that’s a good idea," she insisted. "I still think we should try harder to turn this around."

  “As I said,” Howard repeated. “If you have any ideas, then I’m all ears. But, you have nothing, right?”

  “Well, yeah, but… I want to keep fighting! Rather, I have to!”

  “You ‘have to’?” Howard blinked. “Oh, so that’s what this is all about. You’re only thinking about sg some ‘points’, aren’t you?”

  “Eh, well, that’s part of it, yeah, I guess…” Julia averted her eyes. “Like, think about it. I haven’t gotten the ce to do anything in this game yet. I ’t just let it end on me like this!”

  “What do you mean?” Howard asked. “You’ve already provided me with tons of material.”

  “Huh? I did?”

  “Yes, you did,” Howard said. “First, you ignored my orders when I told you to retreat against Rosemary. As a result, you died.”

  “Ugh…”

  “Ever sihen, you’ve been overly cautious, essentially turtling the entire game. Not the worst thing you could’ve done, but a mediocre performance all in all.”

  “W-Well, I was just waiting for the right opportunity to attack…”

  “With that kind of passive mentality, you might as well wait for the messiah,” Howard said. “How do you imagine you’ll ever find opportunities if you only turtle? In case you didn’t know, good opportunities usually don’t e knog on your door on their own.”

  “Well duh, I know that.” Julia grumped. “I was waiting for them to make some mistake, or for Dan to stop feeding and actually rotate over here fank.”

  “Dang, so now it’s my fault?” Dan made a face. “I mean, I admit I wasn’t very helpful in this game. Sorry about that, guys. This game has been real rough for me.”

  "Yeah, there's a lot to say about your performance as well," Howard ented. "But, we'll leave that for the match review."

  "Sounds like fun, haha..." Dan ughed dryly. He could already imagine himself getting ripped apart in that meeting. Yay…

  "Anyway, ba topic, Julia," Howard tinued. "From the sound of it, you were just waiting for an opportunity to magically appear out of thin air."

  "Well, what else was I supposed to do?" Julia challenged. "I’m gging a little behind and they have all the momentum because of their overfed Jungler. So, I had to y low and wait for something to ge."

  "On paper, that sounds reasonable enough," Howard said. "But, how about trying to ge something about the situation yourself? Or, at least discuss any of this with the team to brainstorm ideas?"

  "Eh, I trusted somebody would pull something..." Julia's voice grew dimmer with every word. She already realized how bad it sounded before she even fihe sentence.

  "I'm gd you have so much faith in your teammates," Howard said. "But, to me, it sounds like you just didn’t want to step out of your fort zo was easier for you to py defense and y low, so that’s what you did."

  "... yeah, I guess I could've tried harder to start something." Julia lowered her head i. God damn it. I thought I had this one, but he somehow turhe argument against me. He always does this.

  Worst of all, Julia had no idea how else to ter at this point. After all, Howard was teically right.

  Indeed, Julia didn't lift a fio ge anything about the team’s situation. She went full Defense Mode after getting killed once, and she was stu that mode until now.

  It felt dangerous to try anything with that overfed Jungler around, so I stayed put. But, I guess everybody thought the same thing, that’s why nobody tried anything big...

  Anybody who had eyes could clearly tell the game was heading in a bad dire. Something had to ge, they all khat.

  But, maki ANOTHER bad move was the st thing the team needed. And so, they were all "waiting for an opportunity", just like Julia. Nobody was going t her that opportunity on a silver ptter, that’s for sure.

  At the very least, the others were more proactive in their attempts to make something happen. They ultimately failed to do so and got punished hard, driving the team even closer to defeat. But, at least they tried. Julia didn’t.

  "It looks like it finally sank in," Howard said. "In that case, are you ready to this game?"

  "N-No!" Julia insisted. "I uand that nobody else will create an opportunity for me, so I'll create one myself!"

  "Cool speech but you’re ten mioo te for that kind of talk."

  "Ugh, I... I still make something happen!"

  "At this point? Unlikely."

  "But, I have to..." Julia bit her lip. I 't just quit here without sg any points at all! At this rate, I'll never get to be a mainstay on the first-string, and I won't be able to py against THEM.

  Julia had to get into the first-string, no matter what. Not only to affirm her skill but also to challehe oppos waiting for her on the petitive stage. She just had to get there, no matter what!

  But, real talk, what I do at this point? Julia looked around. As Howard said, the game looks pretty much lost. If I didn't have to worry about sg points, I probably would've agreed to quit.

  As, this game was too important for Julia to simply throw it away. After the mistakes she itted, she probably won't get another ce today.

  "Be ho,” Julia started. “If we surrender, am I going to get another the game?"

  "No, I'll sub Gil in for now," Howard said matter-of-factly. Judging by his tohere was no ging his mind on this. “If we win the hree games, then I might give you another ce."

  "I see." Julia knotted her brows. This is better than nothing, but it's still wack. I want to py as many games as possible today! I don’t want to be reduced to a sub again!

  At present, Julia's status in the first-string was that of an "experimental substitute". Nobody really sidered her a ember of the first-string, they all saw Gilbert as the real Mid Laner of StormBlitz.

  This game was supposed to be my golden opportunity to ge that! Grrr!

  Julia really blew it. Of course, most of the fault y with Dan’s feeding, but Julia could’ve pyed so much better as well.

  At this point, I don't think I do anything to make the team win. Julia reasoned. But, is there at least anything I do to look a little better? Something to pensate for the points I've lost?

  There had to be something Julia could still do to salvage her points. It could even be an absurd py, that didn't matter at this point. The team was about to throw the game anyway, so Julia won't cause anybody any more problems even if she were to royally screw up at this point.

  With that realization, the frozen gears inside her started to heat up again. They span faster and faster, accelerating to a boiling point!

  “Pying it safe”? “Waiting for an opportunity”? Pft, what kinda dumb shit was she even thinking about until now?

  Nah, screw all that. She just gotta go in there aROY these cocky greenhirls!

  Like, who do they even think they are!? I mean, it's impressive how they mao form a team in that servative rich girls' hellhole, but that doesn't give them the right to beat us or to interfere with my exam!

  Oppos of that level were supposed to be like a free snack for StormBlitz. They were supposed to STEAMROLL these scrubs!

  I dunno why I even became so defensive against them. Julia thought. Like, so what if their Jungler is a little fed? I still could’ve kept pying aggressively in the hat would’ve scored me at least some points.

  Hell, maybe the game wouldn’t have been such a lost cause if she did that. The reason StormBlitz stagnated so hard was because Rosemary ditioned everybody to fear her.

  Even if it’s too te now, I REALLY wanna say in their faces that I’m NOT scared of them! Like, at all!

  And, as if answering her request, an opportunity to do so preseself...

  DarkestCymore