The trio dove deeper into the enemy side of the jungle. However, so far, there was no sign of the enemy.

  " already!” elia said. “I and you to show yourselves!" She checked left, then right, the, and then right again. "Step forth so I deliver you swift death!"

  As if responding to her provocative call, a pyer showed up from around the er. It was Average, the enemy Jungler. As a Lv. 1 ancer, he was the easier target out of the options.

  "Let us go!" Fiona charged at the prey without further ado. The man did not notice them at first, which gave them the initiative.

  “elia, throw your axe at him before he notices us.”

  “Right on it!” Ohoho! The unsuspeg prey had absolutely no idea what was going to hit him!

  And ihe poor prey’s mind was elsewhere at the moment.

  Okay, so the ward should be around here… Dan casually strolled through the juhout a single care in the world. After all, it was the opening, the most chill part of the game. There wasn’t anything to worry about, or so he thought.

  BAM! An axe lunged into his shoulder outta nowhere! “What the-!?”

  Then, in the very moment: SLASH! SLASH! Razor-sharp cws tore him asunder out of the blue!

  “W-What’s going on-!?” Dan’s brain struggled to catch up to the iuation in front of him. The enemy Werewolf was all over him, ravaging his flesh without any mercy!

  The deep cuts from Grievous Assault caused a Bleeding state, making Dan lose additional HP every sed. But, the Werewolf had no iion of stopping there. Rosemary tio tirelessly unleash her cws at Dan! SLASH! SLASH!

  To make things worse, that crazy wolf woman wasn’t alone. She was apanied by two more allies, Berserker and Sage!

  “The heck they’re all doing here!?” Dan cried out. A-Anyway, I gotta scram! Like, fast!

  Except, he didn’t have any escape tools at the ready! He already used his one skill point to unlock ostatis, the css’s primary framing tool! Dang it!

  Both Time Portal and Haste could’ve really helped him right now, but Dan never imagined he’d hese skills so early into the game…!

  Amidst the panic, Dan’s first instinct was to roll a! So, he did exactly that.

  Fortunately, the enemy started attag him as soon as he popped around the jungle wall. It meant he could easily head back the way he came from and try to lose the attackers amidst the thick walls of the jungle.

  Thus, Dan rolled out of the enemy’s view. Or, at least, that was the iion.

  He executed the roll itself without any problem, but he fot one importaail. Even though he rolled away, there was aill stu his shoulder. Said axe was ected to the Berserker via a .

  “Oh, shi-! GAH!” WHISH! The enemy abruptly reeled in the axe, dragging Dan along with it!

  The situation was turning from bad to worse. The pulled Dan out of the denser parts of the juion that could best be described as an open area. Nuuuuuuuu!

  Dan found himself surrounded by three enemies: Werewolf, Berserker, and Sage. Needless to say, his aking it out alive weren’t looking so hht now…

  Weeeeelp. If I ’t run, then might as well fight back! Dan cast ostasis right between the Berserker and the Sage. These amateurs didn’t keep enough space between each other, so Dan was gonna smack them both!

  But, it turned out these girls were less scrubby than Dan gave them credit for. They noticed the spinning magical gears and sidestepped the atta opposite dires.

  Dang, maybe I should’ve targeted only one of them after all… Dan grimaced. He cast that AoE spell sma the middle, so it only took the enemies a step and a half to get outta rahat was more than doable oion against this slowpoke of a spell, even for amateurs.

  Okay, so what now? Dan ughed dryly. Am I basically screwed?

  It turned out that yes, indeed, he was.

  You have been killed!

  “Weeeeelp.” There was literally nothing he could do about this situation. He was surrounded from all sides by these mad girls. It was the most absurd form of early aggression he had ever seen in his life, and that said a lot sidering he pyed many games with Yuel.

  “That just happened.” Dan shook his head. “Dunno what to even say about this. I think you better run for your life, Roi, They might be ing after you .”

  “Yeah, I see them diving deeper after that crazy stunt, lol.” Roi ughed at the absurdity of what he just withese chicks be crazy! “I betcha they’re gonna go after my Wraith Camp. It’s robbery in broad daylight, man!”

  “Word. That was a crazy py.” Dan nodded. “Like, nobody does that shit right at the opening game, right? What the actual heck.”

  “... it was definitely an unventional py,” Howard ented with an obvious hint of irritation in his tone. But, he wasn’t angry at Dan for failing to deflect that surprise attao, Howard was more frustrated with himself for letting something like that happen under his watch.

  The opening isn’t something we’ve practiced that much, to be ho. Howard realized. It’s the most autopilot part of the game, so I didn’t think there was much to cover there. But, looks like there are some improvements to be made. Roi and Dan should’ve stuck clether to avoid things like that.

  The Valkyries probably noticed this while researg StormBlitz. This whole thing robably the work of the La Princess herself. What a pesky oppo.

  This is the kind of gamble I would've expected somebody like Yuel to go for. I better be ready for anything in this game.

  The Valkyries as a whole weren't a particurly amazing team, but the La Princess showed a lot of promise. She was the only one who sistently performed well in the Leo scrim, and apparently, she was also a solid tacti.

  I’m starting to think that maybe all that media ce she's been receiving is well-deserved. From what they wrote, she’s been pying Mancers for less than a year, yet she's already at this level. Is this what they call a "genius"?

  For a moment there, just a brief moment, Howard felt like a small fry. Even though he was uionably one of the best pyers in the region and should have no problem getting into the pro se in a couple of years, it felt like there were too many pyers even in this region who were ily mifted than him.

  Frankly, it was annoying. It’s like these brats were using speed hacks to catch up. They had less experience, yet they nearly caught up to Howard’s skill.

  First, there were Yuel and Lars. They had fewer years of experienpared to Howard and Elle both sides were nearly even in battle. And, now there was this La Princess who boasted incredible skill with virtually zero experience.

  The existence of talented pyers like these made Howard's future look a little uain. He will surely get into the pro se without any problem, but how far will he be able to climb there? How many more "prodigies" will be waiting for him there? Could it be that A-League was filled to the brim with obstacles like these?

  Well, that’s far iure. For now, everybody I’m fighting is a fellow middle schooler. Howard reminded himself. Maybe these guys are just fast learners. They might fall off ter down the line, just as early-game csses lose their edge ie-game.

  That's what he always had to tell himself to keep his fidence afloat. Even though it looked as if a bunateurs was catg up with him at lightning speed, Howard wao believe that their ialent would only carry them so far.

  And, to make sure they never reach me, I have to keep beating them. Howard asserted. So, it doesn’t matter how much talent you are pag, princess. You will not get any wins from me.

  To live up to that promise, Howard switched gears in his mind. Before, he only told himself to not uimate the Valkyries. Now, he was fully focused on taking them down, thhly and mercilessly.

  “Roi, I agree with Dan’s assessment,” Howard said. “They’ll e for you blue buff.”

  "Yep, figured as much." Roi nodded. "These chicks are fierce, lol. So, what do I do in situations like this, again? I feel like I haven't been in this kinda sario like ever."

  "True, it’s a peculiar situation."

  Against a normal ihat targeted the Wraith Camp, the obvious response was to retreat. Suvades normally happened around the time minions were arriving, so going to the ne was the most effit line of py.

  However, this situation was different. The enemy's gank occurred way before the buff camps even spawned, so Roi had plenty of time to burn.

  On paper, there should be enough time for him to farm either the Hyena Camp or the Wolf Camp, both of which spawned before the buff camps did. But, would he be able to farm these camps effitly all by himself?

  I'm sure a Viking at least clear the Hyena Camp, but how much HP will that cost him? Probably too much.

  Even Howard wasn't 100% savvy about such specifics. After all, no Viking would normally try to solo a jungle camp at Lv. 1.

  But, to maintain high morale ieam, Howard acted fident. "The hyenas and wolves are too much for you to handle alo Lv. 1," he cimed. "So, ght to ne."

  "Yep, figured it'll be something like that." Roi shrugged. "Okay, I'm off then."

  "Since you have time until minions arrive, go ehe ne from behind.” Howard dreath on the mini-map that went from Roi’s current location all the way to the far back of the ne, way behind the Top Turret. “No poiering the ne directly from the jungle.”

  "Oh, true that.” Roi nodded. “Don't wanna run into these mad girls, lol."

  And so, Roi followed the path Howard drew. It felt like a very y to be ho, but better safe than sorry.

  As expected, the erio didn't stop at killing Dan. They invaded deeper into StormBlitz's territory, setting their eyes on Roi’s Wraith Camp. It was daylight robbery!

  Not only were the Valkyries going to get a bunch of gold and exp from all of these shenanigans, but they also threw StormBlitz's opening pletely off the rails for Top Lane.

  Basically, things were chaotic as heck, lol. Yuel would probably be proud if he saw this mad aggressive opening. And, as it happened, Yuel did in fact see this py, right from the audience.

  So, this type of early invade works against Howard, huh. Yuel watched the turn of events with a plicated expression. I nning to try something simir in our rematch, but Fio me to it.

  In a way, it was o get a firmation that a hyper-aggressive py like that could catch Howard off guard. Yuel analyzed Howard's StormBlitza a lot and also cluded that Howard’s defense was uncharacteristically sloppy in the very opening of the game. As such, one of the many anti-Howard strategies he came up with was to strike hard during the very opening.

  Unfortunately, the Valkyries pulled this trick first. Therefore, while it verified Yuel's thesis, it also meant Howard would be on guard against it ime.

  So, that's oi-Howard tactic to delete from the list. Yuel sighed. It was already hard enough to e up with tactics to defeat Howard, so he’d really appreciate it if random teams didn’t swoop in to steal his ideas.

  Unlike him, his scouting partner was excited through the roof about this py. "It was such a marvelous py!" Vi made noise. "It is almost unbelievable that a neophyte team like the Valkyries mao expose such a cra Aegis's absolute defehis proves that the title of the 'La Princess' is not just for show!"

  "You know, I actually had the same idea myself..." Yuel grumped. "Now that the Valkyries showed this trick to everyo means it won’t wain."

  "Ihat sounds correct.” Vi nodded. “Surely, Aegis will study every facet of this opening to be 1000% ready for it ime."

  "Yes. Knowing the guy, this is exactly what he’s going to do. Sigh...”

  "I must say," Vi tinued. "I'm starting to think it's a shame you didn't tell the others to e here as well. I'm sure they would've ehis show!"

  "Perhaps, but we don't have the time to go and watch every scrim," Yuel argued. "Our team is severely g in experience, so we have to utilize every free moment to practice. Holy, I almost skipped this scrim myself."

  "It's not good to lie to yourself, Chessmaster." Vi smiled meaningfully. "Hell would freeze over before you ever miss one of StormBlitz's scrimmages!"

  "Hmph. Maybe so."

  Even though it was easy enough to purchase a repy of the ech after the fact, Yuel wao be physically present during StormBlitz's scrims. He believed there were certain things he could only fully grasp iime when he didn't have the ability to freeze or rewind the footage to analyze it extensively.

  Because of that, Yuel sacrificed precious practice time to go and watch StormBlitz's scrims. Lars insisted on tagging along, but Yuel kept the goof at bay with one simple terargument: "Don't you have a css you should be w on? Do you really think you have any spare time to burn?"

  Oher hand, there was no problem in having Viag along. In fact, it was more accurate to say that Yuel was the oagging along here, as Vi was the team's main scout.

  Yes, the reporter wannabe volunteered to go and watch every single scrimmage in the region. Holy, it was an overkill. Vi was also a key part of the team, so he had to practice as well. He didn't have the option to burn all his free time on scouting oppos.

  With that said, the guy was very diligent at the craft. He always returned with many important observations, some of which could only be caught iime. As such, Yuel promised and allowed Vio attend every scrim that had medium her priority.

  Naturally, the most relevant scrims were the ohat involved the region’s powerhouses: StormBlitz, Leopards, and Taurus. These big three were the main threats for Stratus this year, so their pys from up close was arguably worth it, even at the expense of Vi’s practice time.

  And, as it turned out, this particur scrim might even turn into a must-watch. Perhaps it will not be a one-sided stomping like everybody was expeg...

  DarkestCymore