The match has already reached mid-game, yet the Valkyries have not scored a single kill yet. And, even though the same could be said about their foes, this stalemate was advantageous for StormBlitz’s late-game comp.

  To make things worse, without any kills, Fiona could not build any momentum, neither for herself nor for the team. She failed to promote herself to a queen piece that could dominate the board.

  Of course, even without momentum, she made sure to frequently launch attacks. Alas, none of her attempts converted into kills.

  The Bot duo had such an unbreakable defense that it was depressing to even think about ganking them. Similarly, Adapting had virtually no openings to exploit. The man did not bite any of Andria's baits and he always kept an eye on Fiona's position.

  In the jungle, Average avoided all contact with Fiona when he was alone. The only times he showed a will to engage in combat was when he was around fellow laners.

  Realistically, Top was the lane where the Valkyries had the highest chance of making something happen. Hitter was a strong player but his defense wasn’t as airtight as the others’, so there was a chance to strike him down.

  Unfortunately, the enemy was clearly aware of that. As such, they made sure to reinforce Hitter's defense by making Average frequently rotate to Top. In addition, it felt that Hitter retreated from the frontline more often than in the previous game, probably by Ageis's orders.

  He knows Top is the weakest link in their defense, so makes sure to cover it. A very precise play, one that gives me no shortage of trouble.

  When even Top proved to be a difficult target to strike, just where was Fiona supposed to strike? How will she ever be able to get through that ironclad defense?

  And so, she kept thinking, and thinking, and thinking some more. The game went on and on, with the Valkyries achieving nothing of note while their foes were playing it safe. Meanwhile, time was slipping away…

  "This is it! I've had enough!" Cornelia announced. "This peasant doesn’t even take me seriously anymore! I shall strike him down, right here and now!"

  "Cornelia, this is not a favorable position for you," Fiona argued.

  "Hmph, but neither is it unfavorable. Their Ninja on the other side of the map, so there's no way he can gank here."

  "I suppose that is true."

  "I knew it. As expected from my brilliant noble brain, ohohoho!" Cornelia puffed her chest. "So, as you can clearly see, this is the ideal chance for me to strike down this commoner once and for all! My noble might shall grant me victory!"

  "Except, you are forgetting one key factor."

  "Which is?"

  "Your opponent is Hitter, the most mechanically skilled player in StormBlitz."

  "Hmph, then I suppose I shall write his name on my noble resume. I’ll record him as one of the notable foes I've crushed under my heel, ohoho!"

  … this is like talking to a brick wall. Fiona sighed. I knew I had to appease this aggressive troublemaker at some point, but I did not have the opportunity to do so this entire match.

  Cornelia was like a dynamite. She has been an obedient piece until now, but an explosion was inevitable.

  As such, one of Fiona’s usual tasks was to act as the bomb defuser who prevented these regular explosions from occurring. Alas, she failed to execute her role this time around. An explosion was inbound.

  “I shall strike him down!” Cornelia announced loudly as she charged forth. First, she rammed her shield into the enemy swordsmen, pushing them toward the backline. Then, she unleashed her blade on the entire squad!

  Shield Bash into Blade Swing was the typical opening for Knight, but Fiona demanded Cornelia to restrict its usage. Even though it was the most optimal framing method, it also harbored risks a Viking could exploit. And, Hitter did not miss the opportunity.

  “Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting for this!” Roi charged at his overextending opponent. “Lol, it sure took the girl a while to use this setup again, but she finally did! You were right on the money, Ellen!”

  “I told you, patience gets rewarded~”

  “Well, it sure took a damn while. Girl was patient as heck this time around, lol.”

  Honestly, Roi was losing hope about GoldenLady ever using Shield Bash + Blade Swing this game. It felt like she received orders from above not to use this combo ever, except for the rare times when Roi was totally unprepared to intercept it.

  So, as the game went on, Roi stopped expecting anything from Lady. It became less and less likely she’d do anything wild again like in the last game.

  But then, a couple of minutes ago, Ellen advised Roi to change up his approach. She speculated that, despite how things seemed, Lady was approaching her boiling point. Therefore, a misplay was imminent.

  Naturally, Roi took that advice with a grain of salt because to him that didn’t seem like the case at all. But, with that said, Ellen was the pro at reading the opponents’ emotional state, so her analysis was worth taking into consideration.

  And so, ever since Roi received that advice, he slowed down his attacks and started watching Lady more carefully.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  For a while, there was no sign of any “misplays” coming. As time went by, he almost gave up on the whole thing.

  However, Ellen insisted her hypothesis was correct. She even advised Dan to use his clone in a more-than-likely warded area to fake out the enemy. Supposedly, that was going to bait the enemy into ganking Top.

  And, here it is! Roi tackled the overextending female Knight and pushed her to the ground. If this were a movie, then this scene would’ve been misinterpreted as some sexual assault, lol.

  But, Roi’s intentions were totally pure here. All he wanted was to kick this girl’s ass! Actually, that also sounded kinda bad, lol.

  Anyway, here we go! Roi tossed the chick deeper into his territory. We’re about to have some fun, girl!

  He dashed after the flying target and swung his axe! WHISH! A clean hit! And, another one! WHISH! Roi was on a roll!

  His opponent seemed completely stupefied by the sudden development. "S-Such a barbarian assault!" Cornelia ranted. "Do you even know who you've just tossed around, you lowly peasant!?"

  "I believe I warned you this might happen," Fiona criticized. "This was the reason I did not want you to advance too much against him."

  "Hmph, this is but a flesh wound!" Cornelia insisted. "This commoner sure has guts for going up against me, I will give him that."

  "Cornelia, it is in your best interests to retreat-"

  "I shall repay him in kind!"

  "Oh no..." Fiona already knew where this was going. Corenlia's aggressive tone was a clear indication that Fiona had lost all control over this chess piece.

  With her noble pride in shatters, Cornelia disregarded all advice and retaliated against the offender. She was not going to let the assaulter get away with this!

  "Learn your place, commoner!" Cornelia mounted her Noble Steed and charged forth at her foe!

  Everything about this situation is wrong. Fiona criticized. She is using her best escape tool for combat. This is not how it should be…

  Noble Steed was an excellent escape tool, one of the best in the game. It allowed Knight to make a speedy escape from any situation

  However, for the better and the worse, this ult could also be used offensively. Cornelia swapped her sword for a lance and charged straight at her opponent!

  While on the move, she thrust her lance at the approaching Viking. Alas, the man sidestepped the assault at the last moment.

  "W-What!?" Cornelia drove right past her target, like a charging bull that failed to hit the matador. To make things worse, Hitter did not miss the opportunity to strike the horse's side during the charge.

  WHAM! The axe cut across the horse, delivering damage to Cornelia herself. This was yet another problem with this mounted mode.

  Her hurtbox is very large like this. Fiona thought. On top of that, she cannot stop the horse from charging, so she must fight while constantly on the move. This is not suitable for prolonged combat.

  In the pro scene, some players fought splendidly while riding their steed. They used the faster movement speed and the increased reach of the lance to harass their opponent.

  However, such displays of combat skill rarely happened in 1v1 situations. It was far easier to drive through a group of enemies than to repeatedly strike one target while on the move.

  But, such logical arguments will not help convince Cornelia, not in her current state. Fiona knew that all too well from experience. Now that the ult is already cast, all I can do is advise her on how to utilize it best for this situation.

  "Cornelia, make sure to sweep through enemy minions as you pass through them."

  "Hmph, but of course!" Cornelia swung her lance horizontally as she approached the enemy army. Her previous attack failed to land on the main target, so she was going to make up for it by utterly demolishing the enemy’s entire battalion!

  Fortunately, the swordsmen and bowmen were neatly packed right now. As such, it was easy enough to strike all of them in one noble swoop!

  And, of course, Cornelia planned to do all of this from the start. After all, she was a noble of unmeasurable intellect and skill, ohoho!

  However, Fiona was not convinced. I suspect she did not consider that play even for a moment before I spoke up. When she gets like this, she becomes unbelievably tunnel-visioned.

  For Cornelia, Hitter was the only target that existed right now. She must have filtered out everything around her as noise.

  That is not the correct mindset while fighting in the lane. Fiona criticized. At least half the battle is decided by how well a player manages the minions.

  Alas, Cornelia was not thinking about any of that right now. She only sought blood. All the pent-up frustration from the start of the game was now coming to the surface.

  Is it possible to get over there in time to save her? Fiona analyzed the distance. She was currently in the upper half of Bot Jungle, so rotating to Top before the battle concluded was not entirely impossible

  If I spend my ultimate, I can make it. Fiona concluded. But, is it worth it?

  Vampire could use Night Hunt to move faster toward the destination. However, this flight skill was not as impressive as Seraph's ult. It did not let the player fly at a high altitude, so it was not easy to cross through the jungle. Not to mention, the brief duration of Night Hunt was not suitable for crossing long distances.

  And, even if she were to get to the scene before the fight concluded, what will she be able to achieve there? Without her ult to pin the enemy down, she would not have any overwhelming tools at her disposal.

  Not to mention, Top Jungle is empty. Fiona checked every jungle camp she had a vision of. All of them were currently on cooldown and none will respawn anytime soon.

  Everything tells me this would be a terrible misplay. Fiona concluded. However, the one and only major benefit I might reap from this is ensuring Corenlia's survival, which is definitely valuable.

  If Cornelia dies in this play, she will give the enemy a lot of momentum to push the tower. At that point, the status quo of the game will be broken. It sounded like a trivial commonplace occurrence, but it would have big implications for the future of this game.

  We are already in the mid-game, so big swings in momentum can be fatal. Fiona reasoned. Not to mention, it will be the end of us if a late-game team seizes the momentum before we do.

  Truly, the fate of the entire game was hanging in the balance due to Cornelia’s rash play. The girl was clearly not aware of the fatal implications of her actions.

  With that said, it is not guaranteed she will die without my intervention. Fiona thought. I can guide her hand through shot-calling to increase her odds of survival. Such is the job of the shot-caller.

  As an outsider to this fight, Fiona looked at the situation more rationally than the involved players. This allowed her to provide better advice.

  Alas, it was up to Cornelia to decide whether she would follow any of it...

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