The first game between the Valkyries and StormBlitz began. Based oeams' lineups, it was clear the game was going to be a race against the clock for both sides.

  “Late game is our deadline,” Fiona said. “We have to end the game before that. Or, in the worst-case sario, we must establish enough map trol by the time te-game hits.”

  Fiona's team had csses that favored the early-game and mid-game, therefore they had to win fast. Going into the te game was ily disadvantageous and there was no tactic Fiona could use to ge that.

  An aggressive early-game team ractically doomed the moment it fell behind. The st resort it had was to transition from an aggressive build to a defensive one and hope for the oppoo blunder. However, it was usually too te at that point.

  All of this made the drafting phase aremely important phase of the game. It was not an exaggeration to say that 30% of the oute was decided all the way back there. It was like a chess game that took pce right before the mai.

  As the team's tacti, Fiona took it upon herself to study all aspects of the drafting phase. Surely, Yuel Fermond hahe drafting for his team as well, as did Cato for the Leopards. Mind games such as these felt natural for chess pyers.

  Although, Cato said he also had a "trusty secretary" to help him out in that department, probably Theorist. Two heads were ofteer than one, so it must have been helpful to have a trustworthy partner with whom Cato could brainstorm ideas.

  Oher hand, in the Valkyries, Fiona was all alone on that front. As it stood, the other members did not have suffit uanding of game theory to provide fresh advice, and they did not seem ied iopic either. They only cared about their own csses without sidering the bigger picture much.

  I would like to fix that, but this team has more important issues to fix first. Fiona sighed. It is better for them to focus on themselves while I hahe strategic front on my own.

  Besides, truth be told, Fiona was more fortable w like that. Just as in chess, she wao be in full trol of the game pn and the pieces. As far as she was ed, having one main strategist at the helm was most effit.

  Of course, it also meant Fiona had heavy responsibility on her shoulders. The team’s win dition was to gain early momentum and push to victory as quickly as possible, but they could not act carelessly, especially not against a tricky team like StormBlitz.

  It is time to see how well I mao study their py style. Fiona thought. I have gone over all their game footage tless times, but the real experience might still be different.

  Acc to the extensive analysis, StormBlitz was a defeeam that effitly covered all its ots. As such, even when something looked like an opening, there was a good ce StormBlitz already covered it. Trying to strike that imaginary opening would only lead to a devastating terattack.

  With that in mind, it was dangerous to immediately jump on any attractive opportunity that preseself. Especially, against Athena who ofteed such fake openings to bait out her oppos.

  In her head, Fiona uood all that. Hopefully, all her teammates were on the same page by now after weeks of studying the enemy.

  But, all of this was easier said than done. In the end, the game would not move forward unless Fiona unches some attacks on the enemy. Not to mention, as the early-game-focused team, the Valkyries had to be the oo take initiative.

  Sitting idly and waiting for opportunities is a fool's errand. Fiona thought. I have no choice but t the fight to them.

  The earliest opportunity to deliver an attack was at the very opening of the game. It was a brief phase during which both sides were busy warding the jungle as they waited for jungle camps to spawn.

  The term "early invade" existed to describe an attack that was unched right as the enemy was farming the very first camp that spawned. However, it was also possible to strike the enemy even before that point. Not a popur move, but ohat definitely had some viability to it.

  While preoccupied with warding different parts of the juhe enemies were briefly scattered around. High-level pyers khe importance of staying within reach of each other just in case, but they couldn't stick close the eime, that was simply too ineffit.

  As such, even though it was a bit dangerous for them to spread out, everybody was willing to take that small risk. It was as if an unwritten rule existed that said ganks could not possibly occur during this brief part of the opening phase.

  However, there is fually nothing in the game that guarahat kind of prote. Fiona thought. It is perfectly viable to un attack here as it is during the “early iself.

  Perhaps the biggest difference was the fog of war. During an early i was known for certain that the enemies gathered at the jungle camps. Furthermore, it was easy to tell which pyers would be present in each camp.

  Oher hand, attag during the very opening was a dicier endeavor. There were many unknowns in the equation as enemy pyers were traveling around the map, pg wards.

  Who will Fiona run into if she heads deeper into Top Jungle right now? Where will she meet them? And most importantly, how far away will their allies be? These were all critical questions. One wrong answer would single-handedly lead to failure.

  This is already a game with inplete information, and the opening is where the ck of information is at its peak. Fiona reasoned. But, there is one way to mitigate this issue.

  The one whht this solution to Fiona's attention was her than Esmeralda, the Sweepers' Mid Laner. Despite being a professional, the woman had many unusual quirks in her pystyle, and she passed some of her untraditional wisdom to Fiona.

  "If you reaa~aaally want to go for a super early attack, there is a way to improve your odds," Esmeralda said. "Basically, the more, the merrier~"

  It was such a simple but insightful lesson. It instantly transformed the idea of an early attack from absurd to semi-realistic.

  Ihere were many unknowns in this equation and there was nothing Fiona could do about that. However, there was ohing she knew for sure: the enemy forces were dispersed to some extent during this phase. In other words, they were rgely isoted. That was the key that held the solution to the whole matter.

  Even though it was unknown who, where, or when Fiona would run into an enemy, it was almost guarahat she would run into only one oppo. It would be difficult to predict the oute of such a 1v1, but what if Fiona e would be a 2v1? Or, even a 3v1? As Esmeralda said, "the more the merrier".

  Basically, instead of invading by herself, Fiona could bring a couple of teammates to unch a coorditack. This would boost the success ce expoially.

  Of course, doing so would e at a cost. For ohe team would have to dey their pns of warding the jungle. In addition, depending on how long the battle sts, the invaders might be forced to skip clearing the jungle camp ao nes directly afterward.

  These were not small prices to pay by any stretch of the imagination. heless, for an aggressive team p that wao gain momentum as soon as possible, the bes of sg an early kill could easily outweigh the ives.

  It was definitely not a tactic that should be used extensively as it was very easy to py around it and make the attacker waste their time. In fact, Cato's team was traio stick together even during the very opening of the game, which made it impossible for Fiona to test out this tacti a petitive enviro until now.

  Fortunately, judging by previous scrimmages, StormBlitz was not quite as defensive during the early parts of the game. Despite how well they teo cover all their vulnerabilities, their backs were wide open during the opening. They prioritized efficy over safety in this one seemingly unimportant instance.

  Or, do they py uncharacteristically careless like that to bait out early invades? Fiona wondered. It is possible this ve “opening” is something Aegis has already covered.

  It was always difficult to tell for sure when it came to StormBlitz. In the repys, Fiona saw many examples of pyers trying to exploit openings that even she believed were good, yet StormBlitz almost always turhe tables around somehow.

  But, I ot let paranoia get the better of me. Fiona thought. There is no such thing as a team without any openings. Pig the niame "Aegis" does not automatically grant you invincibility.

  Aegis was the iructible shield of the gods and it felt like StormBlitz's captain tried to live up to the name. But, in the end, it was just a fantasy. In real life, no team was fully invincible. There were always openings and ots.

  And, striking at the very start of the game might just be one rare opening even Aegis missed. At the very least, it was worth expl this avenue before shooting it down.

  And so, Fiona formed a pn of attack. She got elia and Andria involved in the operation, to guarantee maximum power output.

  Two of them were already in Top Jungle because that was the game’s meta for the opening, and Andria was the Mid Laner so she had the freedom to start either in Top Jungle or Bot Jungle.

  On top of that, Sage was a mana-hungry css, so there was an argument fiving it the blue buff instead of the red buff. Not to mention, Berserker had a Rage meter instead of a traditional MP bar, therefore the important MP regeion part of the mana buff ractically useless for elia.

  With all these siderations oable, the trio gathered up in Top Jungle. From there, they were in a great position to ihe eerritory as a group.

  "I must say, this sounds incredibly risky to me," Andria ented. "Are you sure you don't want to resider, midy?"

  "I do not bme you for harb doubt about this idea," Fiona said. "This is not a standard meta py, that much is certain. However, after much research, I cluded this tacti pay off greatly under certain ditions."

  "And, this game meets these ditions?"

  "I believe it does," Fiona expined. "We are fag a very defeeam whose guard we are uo crack using standard methods. As such, we have to think outside the box. We will be the aggressors in this game, so it falls on us to e up with creative pns of attack."

  "Heh, I see. When phrased like that, it does sound ving," Andria admitted. "But, it feels you’re taking lightly the risks this pn poses."

  "Oh, !" Karen interjected from the other side of the map. "Why do you have to make sis’s life so difficult?”

  “Pardon me, but I believe it’s only natural to question the risks when I’m dragged into su unusual py.”

  “Tch. I'd gdly switch pces with you but I gotta be in Bot, so you gotta groair, Andri!” Karen ranted. “You like rolepying as a dude, right? So, be more manly!"

  "There is a fine liween being 'manly' and 'reckless'," Andria argued. "But, you're right. As a gentleman esc two dies, I should be the one showing bae. So, let us march forward!"

  "That's more like it." elia nodded in satisfa as the oners resolved the issue among themselves. "Now, let us teach these plebians a lesson!”

  And so, the thriller begins. Andria smiled wryly as she escorted the two fident dies into the unknown.

  And so, the trio ventured into eerritory. There was an absolute fog of war around them, they knew nothing about the enemies’ positions.

  Who will they run int this expedition? How many enemies will they be fighting at o was anybody's guess.

  heless, they had to brave through this uainty and hope for the best-case sario. Ideally, only one unfortunate soul would cross their path. In that sario, the trio's victory would be all but assured.

  Realistically, there were only two potential csses they could run into: Hitter's Viking or Average's ahese were the two main sarios Fiona analyzed.

  her of them should have their escape tools ready at Lv. 1. She reasoned. It is simply not effit from a meta perspective. As such, they should be reasonably straightforward targets.

  Knowing that much was reassuring. But, of course, their attack would go that much smoother if they khe exact locations of their foes.

  As it happened, Werewolf had an ability that revealed all enemies in the surrounding area. However, Fiona prioritized Grievous Assault over Chilling Howl for Lv. 1. It was an attack skill with high base damage, a property that was very valuable for the uping operation.

  And so, without Chilling Howl, the trio had no choice but to blindly search for their prey in this fog of war...

  DarkestCymore