Shortly after the Valkyries’ strong opening in Top Jungle, PrinceCharmiuro Mid. The sage woman cautiously slipped into the ne from her side of the map without daring to pass through Julia's domain.

  Good for you. Julia thought. I would've KILLED your ass if you dared to ehrough my area.

  She was not in a mood for stupid games. This game was very important for her future, so she won't tolerate any disrespect like that.

  Tch, I 't believe Dan messed up like that. Julia clicked her tohis better not have aive effey uation.

  With Dan out of ission, there was a good ce the enemy Jungler would take advantage of his absend harass Mid. At the very least, Rosemary will attempt to steal both Griffin Camps for sure.

  There goes all my Griffin exp. Julia ranted internally. And, now Charming is gon ahead of me. Thanks, Dan.

  In the end, the eook only one Griffin Camp for now. It seemed they were saving the other camp for ter, knowing all too well that Julia couldn’t clear it by herself anyway.

  I mean, I clear it, but it’s not worth it. Julia grumped. It’s gonna cost way too much time and HP for what it’s worth. Not to mention, I gon my ass Charming would try to get in the way.

  This was infuriating. Why did Julia have to bear the sequences of Dan’s mistake? None of this was her fault in any shape or form, yet she was going to be punished for it.

  Well, nothing I do about that. Julia sighed. I'll just have to kill Charming and start building up momentum for myself.

  Her blood was already boiling. She was SO ready to assault Charming at the first opportunity that preseself!

  Not to mention, Julia had the red buff while Charmiled on the blue buff she stole from Top Jungle. So, Julia had way more firepower at her disposal right now.

  Alright, I’ve got this round! Julia bombarded the enemy swordsmen with basic fireballs, which built up her Heat Gauge along the way. Ohe gauge was full, she advaoward the enemy frontlio unleash a heated-up Fme Wave!

  But, just as she got closer to the minions, the ground underh her started shaking! "Wha-!?" Julia jumped. It's a damhquake!

  She was forced to cool down her heated engines right away, switg from offeo defense. Basically, she had to scram!

  "G-Get out...!" Julia anded her Pyromao roll out of the area as fast as humanly possible. She wasn't some Bronze rank amateur, so there’s no way she’d get hit by a telegraphed attack like that...!

  But, as always, switg from offeo defense on demand was so goddamn tough! The sudden ge in priorities threw her brain for a loop.

  Frankly, she had no idea how Gilbert alulled that shit as if it was the easiest thing in the world. That guy was a hacker for sure.

  But anyway, against Sage's Terra Pulse, even Julia's respoime was good enough. She rolled out of the area in the nick of time, dodging the AoE.

  Unfortunately, her minions weren't as lucky. The initial shockwave of the earthquake hit all of them, stunning them in pce.

  The damage wasn't anything to write home about, but the stun was nasty. It rendered Julia's entire army immobile, which allowed the eo use them as pung bags.

  Furthermore, Terra Pulse tio shake the nd, dealing damage aending the minions’ stun. Eadividual hit of the skill wasn’t that big of a deal, but together they racked up sizable damage.

  Worst of all, with the earthquake in ission, Julia couldn't get close to the enemy swordsmen from the right angle. In other words, this little stunt locked her out of using her wave-clearing routine!

  Shit! Her entire minion wave would’ve been DEAD by now if she let me use my damn spell...!

  Unfortunately, this ical exge between Pyromancer and Sage. While Sorcerer tered Pyromancer with obnoxie, Sage bullied Pyromancer with toxiing.

  My god, look at these little fuckers go. Julia hissed at the enemy swordsmen, who were busy sshing Julia's stunned minions. Right now, all she could do was shoot fireballs at these cocky bastards and bide her time.

  On paper, that earthquake should only st like 2 seds in total. But, it felt like ay in this critical moment. Julia was missing oimal time to clear the damn wave!

  At this rate, the Sage might actually force the uation to be equal after this wave.

  No way in hell I'm gonhat happe without a choice, Julia unleashed her overdue Fme Wave. She was forced to shoot it from outside the earthquake’s AoE, which meant her fmes could only reach the swordsmen, not the bowmen. Still, this was better than nothing.

  The Fme Wave erased the cocky swordsmen from existence. Hmph, that's what these little bastards deserved for thinking they could run all over Julia's army!

  But, after the swordsmen, there were still the bowmen to deal with. Julia had to get them out of the picture as well to establish true ne dominance.

  In the meahe earthquake subsided and her minions started moving toward the enemy forces again. As, her swordsmen had no ce of reag the bowmen alive.

  SWISH! SWISH! One arrow, two arrows, three arrows. Soon enough, all of Julia’s swordsmen were on the ground.

  Meanwhile, Julia cast Pilr of Fire on the shooters. The ground uheir feet started burning intensely, sapping their HP with every passing moment.

  But, that wasn’t enough. She wao go even harder on these fuckers!

  Unfortunately, Burning Spirit wasn't avaible since Julia was still at Lv. 2. So, she had to promise on shooting basics at these bastards. The damage wasn’t anything to write home about, but damage was damage. She was definitely going to eliminate all the minions and gain ne trol, no matter what…!

  But in the end, the first ning exge ended in a draw. Both armies colpsed at about the same time, with her side getting to push this round.

  Tch, I was supposed to win this. Julia clicked her tongue. Damn ter-pick.

  On paper, Julia had everything she o overwhelm her oppo. She had the power buff from the ogres, and Pyromancer's burst potential was much higher than Sage's!

  A, she couldn't win this ne exge. It was all because of that stupid earthquake! It pletely threw Julia off the established Pyromancer farming routine.

  "ime I'll show her...!" Julia promised through gritted teeth.

  "You'll show her what, exactly?" Howard asked.

  "Huh? Oh, you heard that..." Julia realized she was ranting out loud. How did he even catch that anyway? I'm pretty sure I said it quietly. Like, is he monit me 24/7 or something?

  Somehow, Howard was an expert at catg Julian fuming about such things. It's almost as if the guy was actively stalking Julia to check her dition. What a scary thought.

  "I just meant I’m gonna win the round," Julia expined.

  "And how do you pn to do that, exactly?"

  "Well..." I haven't thought that far yet. Julia scratched her head. The only thing she knew for sure was that she'd win the ne exge, no matter what!

  “Alright. At least it looks like you still haven't e up with any crazy ideas," Howard nodded. "So, before you start hatg some terrible pns, I'll give it to you straight: give up on it."

  "Huh? Give up? Seriously?"

  "Yes, seriously,” Howard insisted. “There’s a matchup disadvantage and your oppo proved she knows how to py against Pyro. So, you have to adapt accly."

  "You mean to slow down and only farm the swordsmen?”

  "Yes.” Howard nodded. “See? I knew you're a smart girl."

  "That's just the basics..." Julia made a face. He's totally buttering me up so I go along with whatever he says. When it es down to it, he's basically askio py like a wimp.

  Pyromancer's selling point was its burst damage, which was high enough to wipe out the enemy bae even in the earlier parts of the game. So, when a Pyromancer promised on hitting only the swordsmen, it was the same as sealing away half of the css’s potential.

  A, Howard was telling Julia to do exactly that. And sure, that would make sense against a strong ne oppo, like an actual pro. But, against somebody from the Valkyries? Please.

  No way I'm losing to these greenhorns. Julia thought. They've just formed their team and they think they already take me on? Pft, yeah, right.

  In this game, Julia had to vince Howard she was a great asset to the team, far superior to Gilbert. The best method to achieve that was to utterly trash her ne oppo, especially in this unfavorable match-up. This would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Julia was a very strong and valuable pyer! So, she had to go all out!

  "Somehow," Howard started. "Your face doesn't strike me as very obedient."

  "Ah, well..." Julia gnced aside. She couldn't look Howard in the eye right now, especially not when he was drilling a hole through her skull with his pierg hawk gaze.

  "I believe I made myself clear: give up on winning the ne anytime soon."

  "Okay, okay, I got it already…" Julia sighed. "I'll py nice for now. But, if I see a good opportunity to turn things around, I'll probably try it. That's fine, right?"

  "Just make sure it’s a 'real' opportunity and not just y to pick a fight for fun."

  "Got it."

  And so, the one-sided strategy meeting came to an end. It retty annoying for Julia, but twice as annoying for Howard.

  She's such a high-mainteeammate. Howard sighed. I really have to monitor her at every step, or else she might do something stupid.

  Whenever Julia was ranting out loud, it was a sign that her aggressive side was taking over. It was always a sign for Howard to step in to stop her.

  On the offense, Julia yer who had many wild ideas. Some of them were good, but most of them were too risky. As such, Howard had to stantly the girl down.

  Gil is so much easier to handle in parison. Howard sighed. But, there are some niches only Julia fill in this team at the moment. We DO need another pyer who mount a strong offense.

  Even though Howard's StormBlitz was a defeeam at its core, every team that wao win had to eventually go on the offensive. As such, having a pyer who could execute extreme offense was very appreciated, at least in theory.

  I just wish she wasn't such a mess to manage. Howard sighed again.

  "Wardy, you keep sighing like an old man," Ellen said. "How about, instead of stalking July, you pay some attention to me instead~?"

  "Sure, sure."

  Howard returo his own business in Bot, while Julia prepared for the minion wave. Her fmes cooled down after Howard's lecture, but soon enough another ing i was about to take pce...

  DarkestCymore