The second minion wave arrived. Just like before, the Dragonborn advanced toward Ben's army, no doubt planning to unleash Draconic Rush.
I won't let you...! Ben also stepped forward. His heart was beating like an internal earthquake and his throat was dry to the point of stinging. Nonetheless, he conquered all these pains and pressed onward to confront his foe!
Despite all that, his response to the enemy’s advance was on the slower side. Ben didn't get to the scene as quickly as he should have, but his late arrival might have been a blessing in disguise.
Against an incoming Vanguard, most opponents would back away from the frontline in fear of Provoke. So, whenever Ben stepped forward, his lane opponent would normally give up on whatever sinister plan they were hatching and retreat. That helped Ben to avoid many conflicts in the lane, which was his ideal lane state.
However, this time, Ben stepped in a little late. As a result, he failed to “scare” his opponent in time.
Challenger paid no heed to Ben and unleashed Draconic Rush just like last time. He charged forth and rammed into Ben's swordsmen!
I'm sorry, but I'll have to retaliate against this. Ben apologized in advance as he reached the scene. He hoped to resolve this peacefully but Challenger was a little too cocky with that overextension. I'm sorry but plays like this have to be punished.
Draconic Rush was an amazing skill. It had fast movement, a strong knockback, and even damage immunity. However, it also had one glaring weakness: a long recovery animation that couldn't be canceled with Dodge Roll. And, that's exactly the opening Ben was going to exploit now.
With Challenger stuck in the middle of the long recovery animation, Ben had the perfect opportunity to unleash his Provoke!
"Come at me!" The Vanguard struck his mace against his metal shield, provoking all the enemies in front of him. From his resolute voice, it was clear that this big knight was 100% confident in his ability to deal with the foes in front of him.
I wish I had at least half of this confidence myself. Ben thought. B-But, at least I'm pretty confident about this play!
The taunt effect successfully hit Challenger. With this, the opponent temporarily lost control over his own character. The Dragonborn now acted of his own accord, seeking to strike Ben down.
The AI for the taunt effect was very simple. It sought the shortest path to the aggro target and tried to hit it with basic attacks.
Ranged classes weren’t as vulnerable to this type of taunt because they could safely remain at a distance as they fired their basic attacks. However, Dragonborn was a melee class, so the taunt reeled Challenger deeper into Ben’s territory.
I can draw him even further in if I backpedal a little. Ben thought. But, I also have to make sure that he aggros the minions.
As such, Ben did the opposite of backpedaling. He actually advanced toward Challenger, to make it easier for the guy to hit him. It seemed masochistic in nature, but there was a very good reason for all of this.
SLASH! Challenger hacked away at Ben without a second thought. The man wasn't worried about the situation at all! Or rather, even if he was worried, he couldn't do anything about it because he had no control over his character.
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And so, by landing a hit on Ben, the minions branded the Dragonborn a criminal scum. Now, Ben's entire army was on Challenger's case!
They slashed him, barraged him, and then slashed some more. And, Challenger could do absolutely nothing about it. His character was still at the mercy of the taunt, which was technically short-lived but lasted just long enough to drag Challenger into this unfavorable position.
Ben backpedaled from the scene to make the situation even worse for the enemy. Doing so forced the melee Dragonborn to give chase, dragging him even deeper into Ben’s territory while all of Ben’s minions were already in the process of decimating the invader.
With that said, Ben himself didn't lay a finger on Challenger. Vanguard’s damage output was nothing to write home about, so there was no point in aggro-ing the enemy minions by exhibiting acts of violence. Instead, Ben played the role of a simple punchbag and lured the enemy into overextending harder.
Alas, the taunt effect ended right as things started getting good. Before the situation escalated any further, the Dragonborn woke up from his fever dream.
"Dang, finally!" Ronald rolled away, just barely escaping the next round of attacks. The swordsmen whiffed their slashes and the bowmen's arrows missed their mark.
"Phew." Ronald sighed in relief after creating some distance between himself and the hungry pack of wolves that were trying to eat him alive. For a moment there, he actually started sweating a little.
"Looks like this bruh can get shit done when he wants to," Ronald reported.
"I warned you about doing this twice in a row," Willaim reminded. "He seemed a little unsure of himself at first, but that wasn't likely to last."
"Hey, you never know,” Ronald said. “I remember in our first scrim my opponent was shook from start to end. The harder I pressured him, the more flustered he became. Poor bruh, I ended his whole career."
"Yes, there is merit in pressuring unfamiliar opponents in order to test the waters. But, you should have done it more carefully."
"Hey, no pain, no gain!"
"And what did you ‘gain’ here, exactly?"
"Eh, a confirmation that the guy isn't that shook anymore, I guess?"
"And, was that worth losing 20% HP for?"
"Probably not, haha..." It was impossible to come up with a good retort here. Ronald really did lose about 20% from that little exchange. Ouch.
He was taunted for just a couple of seconds, but it happened right in the center of the enemy formation. On top of that, Provoke also lowered his defense, making all the incoming attacks hurt more than they should have. In short, the situation was one big yikes.
“Well, it’s all water under the bridge now,” Ronald said. “Trust me, bro, it won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” William said. “Don’t forget that the Vanguard didn’t buy any HP Potions, so you’re supposed to focus on bullying him out of the lane. Right now, you’re doing the exact opposite of that.”
“No problem, I got this,” Ronald promised. Now that he had proof that Phoenix wasn’t a total wuss, it was time to start playing for real! I gonna wreck you, bruh!
With that determination, Ronald headed into the third wave of the game. For now, William did a good job putting his younger brother back on track.
“My,” Cato started. “I didn’t even need to say anything this time. You did all the work for me~”
“Well, I can at least put my bratty brother in line sometimes,” William said. “It looks like you’re pretty busy, so I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“My, how thoughtful of you. Many thanks.”
Indeed, Cato was rather busy in Bot. Every new minion wave that arrived was like the beginning of a new chess game between him and Yuel. Each side schemed to overtake the other, so Cato didn’t have much spare concentration to spare on other matters.
And, in what little extra time he had, he spent it keeping an eye on Vanishing. It was technically Sonya’s job to supervise Vanishing, so Cato was essentially just supervising Sonya indirectly. He had to make sure that the analytical android had the capacity to pay attention to both Vanishing and her own lane situation at the same time.
Though, perhaps his worries were unwarranted. So far, Sonya has been delivering consistent reports regarding Vanishing’s movements. Maybe this walking computer was actually capable of multitasking just fine.
But, it remains to be seen whether she’ll be able to keep up the good work throughout the entire game…