The seinion wave arrived in Mid. Naturally, Julia wao wipe it out ASAP, but...

  "Remember: no aggressing," Howard reminded. "Take it slow and easy."

  "Tch, okay, okay." Julia made a fa protest but heless followed the dictator's orders. Instead of advang all the way to the frontline, she unleashed her Fme Wave from a distance. Her fmes only reached the swordsmen while leaving the bowmen untouched.

  God, this was such a me way to farm as a Pyromahis css was capable of so much more! As, Julia wasn’t allowed to capitalize on its strengths.

  At the very least, Julia made sure her Fme Wave burhe entire frontlio a crisp. That should be enough to stump Charming.

  "Oh my." Andria blinked in surprise. She didn't expect to see her entire frontline vanish so soon. One moment, her soldiers had over 60% HP. Then, the moment they were reduced to ashes.

  A spectacur execution, I must say. Andria hough, I suppose it was a mispy on my end.

  The eime, she had been waiting for Venus to get closer and unleash Fme Wave from point-bnk, just as she attempted st time. The pn was to ter that brave flain with Terra Pulse.

  However, Venus wasn't like the oppos in Ranked who repeatedly failed to learn from their mistakes. This smart girl adjusted her game pn after a single exge. This quick adaptation radiated true professionalism.

  But, not all is lost. Andria thought. I still fight back, albeit not as effitly as I would liked to.

  She cast Terra Pulse on the ining enemy army, better te than never. After a brief moment, the earthquake stuhe invaders ihis allowed Andria's bowmen to mount an attack without aance.

  … actually, one corre to that point. There was in fae enemy who could still move around and fight back.

  WHISH! WHISH! One fireball after ahe Pyromatacked the bowmen without rest!

  In addition, Venus cast Pilr of Fire around the bowmen. The fmes burned away the bowmen's HP, making it rush down toward zero.

  Such burning aggression! Andria excimed. I assume she's trying to make sure her minions push forward after the stun effeds. I 't let that happen, I?

  Andria cast Ventus Vacuum in the middle of the enemy formation. A spiral of wind swirled between the soldiers and sucked them in, damaging them in the process.

  pared to Sage's other spells, Ventus Vacuum was on the weaker side. However, it was the only other AoE spell Andria had, so it timal to unleash it while the enemy army was still fully intact.

  One instance of damage from Ventus was nothing to write home about, but hitting six different targets summed up to det damage. As, in the end, the enemy came on tardless. Venus eliminated Andria's bowmen faster than Andria could demolish the enemy squad. But, that was only natural.

  I paid the piper for my earlier mispy. Andria thought. But, the round won’t be the same, I promise.

  Until then, Andria found herself on the defensive for the rest of this round. She had no choice but to run away from the ining attackers.

  Three bowmen and one swordsman still remained on the enemy side, threatening to invade deep into Andria's territory if left unchecked. And, along with the bloodthirsty soldiers, the ander herself also marched forward. It seemed her boldness knew no bounds.

  "Fiona, just as you know, their Pyromancer is overextending a bit.”

  "Yes, I noticed." Fiona nodded. "If she es any closer, I'll strike."

  "Oh, so decisive!” Andria excimed. “As expected from the one and only La Princess!"

  "We must take any opportunity they give us."

  "Indeed.” Andria nodded. “Though, keep in mind that their Jungler seems to be roaming around nearby as well."

  "Yes, I saw the reveal," Fiona said. "He must be pnning to go after the griffins. But, he ot possibly hahem by himself at Lv. 2, therefore he’s waiting for Venus."

  "Wow, that's a fine amount of details you extracted from a single ward reveal," Andria said. "If you've figured out this much, then do you already have a terpy in mind?"

  "Yes. We'll take the griffins ourselves after the current wave."

  "Oh, as expected from the grand ander! Not missing a single opportunity to establish a tactical advantage, do you?"

  Indeed, Fiona never missed a heartbeat. This mastermind always had the few turns figured out. While everybody else was focused only ouation in front of them, Fiona was thinking multiple steps ahead.

  Even for the current situation, Fiona had already sidered multiple potential lines of py. For starters, if Venus tio aggress, then Fiona will simply gank and it’ll be ht there. Otherwise, Fiona will wait for the eo approach the Griffin Camp, then she’ll strike together with Andria.

  On paper, everything about the current situation was already figured out. That made it look as if the enemy was trapped in a lose-lose situation no matter what they’d do.

  However, it was important to remember that the eeam had a shot-caller as well, and a capable o that.

  "Julia, you're wasting time with that ush," Hoointed out. "Go join Dan at the griffins instead."

  "Tch, okay." Julia protested by clig her to she didn't argue back. After all, it was true that this push was nothing more than self-satisfa. She just wao get revenge for the previous round, nothing more.

  As Howard said, it was better to use this time to join Dan and make quick work of the griffins. But, just as Julia approached the entrao Bot Jungle, she saw the enemy Werewolf entering Mid Lane from Bot Jungle. In other words, that bastard was also ing after the griffins!

  “Dan, their Jungler is here!” Julia informed in haste. “We have to take the griffins first! Go, go, go!”

  “Well, I’ve been waiting over here for half an hour already, so my body is ready.”

  “Let’s do it then!”

  Julia dashed into the jungle and circled the thick wall. There, she rendezvoused with Dan in front of the Griffin Camp.

  “Say, do you mind tanking them?” Dan asked. “As you see, I’ve lost a bit of HP already, haha…”

  “Huh?” Julia raised an eyebrow. “How the hell did you lose that much health so quickly? You’ve literally just returned from the base, what the hell?”

  “Welp, it turns out clearing a jungle camp by myself at Lv. 1 is quite the big deal, haha.”

  “Lame.” Ju made a face. “Eeeeeh, I really don’t wanna throw away my HP for something like this...”

  “Alright, then I’ll tank it.”

  “No, wait,” Howard intervened. “Split the damage among yourselves. Julia, tank the first part, then step out of the area to let Dan tank the rest.”

  “Tch, do I really have to?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fiiiiine…”

  And so, Julia ehe griffins’ territory first. For now, the beasts were still peaceful because nobody had shown any signs of aggression toward them. But, the moment Julia threw a fireball at one of them, the beasts unleashed their fury!

  The half-eagle half-lioures dashed straight at Julia and sshed her with their razor-sharp cws! Against a squishy mage in the early-game, that attack dealt substantial damage. Goddamit!

  To make things worse, a loud ass cry resounded across the area. “AWOOOO!” the Werewolf made h its Chilling Howl.

  The howl informed that Rosemary was now fully aware of everything that was going down in the Griffin Camp. She could monitor every move Julia and Dan made.

  She’s pnning to attack soon, I’m beyond vinced. Julia grimaced. But, we’re going to take this camp before she gets here! There’s no way in hell I’m letting them have BOTH camps!

  So, the reveal effect of the Chilling Howl didn’t Julia that much. She just trated on doing her job as fast as humanly possible.

  But, there was another part to Chilling Howl, and that one was a real pain in the ass. On top of exposing Julia, it also lowered her Physical Defe was a general debuff that anybody could take advantage of, so even the griffins’ attacks hit harder than usual.

  “Damn, it hurts so badly,” Julia ranted as she watched her HP plummet with every hit. It’s like these ugly creatures were on steroids!

  To minimize the injuries, Julia retreated away from the two beasts as she fired basic attacks at them. This gradually charged up her Heat Gauge. Soon enough, she would be able to unleash a Fme Wave that would make barbeque out of these birds!

  In the meantime, Dan unleashed ostasis on the beasts. A bunch of clock gears appeared out of thin air above the griffins' heads, then came down crashing on the beasts. The track dealt det damage and stuhe beasts in pce, allowing Julia to retreat even farther away.

  To make everything go even faster, Julia activated Burning Spirt. Likewise, she urged Dan to activate Haste. The two buffs made their basic attacks pack a serious punch.

  "You tank the rest," Julia ordered as she stepped out of the griffins' area for a moment.

  "Got it." Dan remained ihe area, so the enemy's aggro switched over to him.

  Ohe griffins became entirely focused on Dan, Julia stepped into the camp again and tinued her assault on the beasts. But, something was odd here.

  "Have you seen their Werewolf anywhere?" Julia asked.

  "Nope." Dan shrugged. "You said you saw her going toward the jungle, right?"

  "Yeah, I did. I was sure she'd try to test the camp. I mean, she even howled and all, but…"

  So far, there was no sign of the Werewolf anywhere in the viity. Furthermore, the enemy Sage also remained in the ne, she was still busy clearing the minions Julia left there.

  "You think she gave up?" Dan asked.

  "Probably…?" Julia shrugged. "Hmph, she must've realized she has no ce against us."

  "Yeah, damn straight!"

  "Is that really so?" Howard doubted. He had no choice but to pay close attention to this situation because of the looming danger, and he found the current development highly ing.

  Rosemary was the type of Juo pack her rotations to the brim. She tried to take advantage of every single opportunity that showed up, so she surely wao farm the Griffin Camp in Bot Juoo

  Furthermore, she was st seen heading in the camp’s dire. So, everything poioward the obvious clusion.

  Ahere was no sign of the Werewolf. So, where was she right now, and what was she doing?

  I have a bad feeling about this. Howard frowned. But, they've almost finished farming the griffins, and Julia will soon it up in one blow, so there’s no ce of the camp being stolen. And, the Sage is still ba the ne, so it doesn’t look like they’re pnning a surprise gank of any sort.

  Holy, it was mind-boggling. The uainty made Howard's iwist. He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. But what, exactly?

  Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Howard thought. Their surprise attack from earlier makes me expeother crazy stunt, but frankly, they don't seem like that kind of team in general.

  That opening attack was somethireme for the Valkyries. Certainly, they’ve already established themselves as an offense-orieeam during the Leo scrim, but their pys usually werereme like this. Therefore, there was no reason to be stantly wary of surprise attacks.

  After reag that clusion, Howard tentatively left the duo in Mid to their own devices. Dan tanked a few more hits from the griffins, and then Julia ed things up with a powerful Fme Wave.

  The griffins buro crisp and the entire i was over. Or, at least, that's what everybody thought...

  DarkestCymore