Apprentece advanced into Kai's territory as if he owned the place. Then, WHAM! He swung his sledgehammer at Kai’s bowmen, deleting a sizable chunk of their HP.

However, this damage wasn't even worth paying attention to. The skill's damage scaled with the Orc's power to an extent, but this damage wasn't nearly as dreadful as the base power of Orc's basic attacks.

WHAM! The Orc swung his sledgehammer again, crashing it into the bowmen!

This second strike reduced the bowmen's HP to almost nothing, but they still lived. Despite hitting the bowmen twice in succession, Apprentece was unable to delete them from existence.

Well? How do you like that mid-game scaling, huh? Kai snarked at her opponent, which was the only form of retaliation she could mount while retreating. Unfortunately, she was all bark and no bite right now.

I SO wanna shoot this cocky bastard! But no, I can't. Not with my basics, at least. Instead of mindlessly lashing at the guy, Kai took a deep breath and carefully gauged the situation.

She was now far outside the Orc's reach, even his Scourge wasn’t a threat. From here, Kai was free to mount a long-ranged counterattack!

But, this guy doesn’t even give a damn. Kai made a face. First, he cleared the bowmen, and now he’s doing the swordsmen. He even dares to turn his back on me. I’m REALLY gonna smack him hard!

While the opponent was preoccupied with Kai's swordsmen, she summoned a Magia Orb and immediately canceled it into Repelling Force. BAM! It was like a sniper shot!

With his back turned to Kai, there was no way Apprentece could see this attack coming! And of course, Kai's aim was spot on. So, this was going to be a clean hit! … or, not?

WHISH! The Orc rolled aside in the nick of time, dodging the snipe by a hair’s breadth.

“Wha-?!” Kai gasped. But, he couldn’t even see it! Did he react to the sound!? This was a technique that only Kai was supposed to be able to use!

Well, surely she wasn’t the ONLY one in the entire world who could use it. But, this had to be a hella rare skill. At least, Kai hadn’t met many opponents who relied on their hearing to this extent. Even Lars, the mechanical expert, didn’t seem to do it as much.

Yet, Apprentece did it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. What’s more, he rolled to the right while Kai’s shot was aimed at the left. In other words, he even dodged in the best direction possible!

Does he have eyes on his back or something??? Kai’s jaw dropped in disbelief. Even if he heard the shot, how did he know to roll in the opposite direction without seeing the shot? It gotta be a lucky guess, right?

The whole thing triggered Kai to no end. That snipe should’ve been bullseye, yet it completely missed the mark. Dammit!

The only consolation was that her orb did hit the enemy minions. Though it didn’t even hit all of them.

Four of the six enemy minions were previously dragged into the Dimensional Collapse, so they were separated from the rest of the pack. As such, Kai had to shoot her Magia Orb to the left in order to hit these guys along with Apprentece.

Wait, could it be that he read into that…? A shudder ran through her. Is that why he rolled to the right? Did he assume I’ll aim toward the minions? Is that it?

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

If so, it was a big brain outguess right there. And honestly, it was hella weird. The guy looked as if he was parading on the lane without a single care in the world, but could it be that he was actually thinking hard about Kai’s next move at every step of the way?

Does he have no openings or what? Kai gritted her teeth. … no, there’s no such thing as a player without openings, no matter how good they seem to be. I’ve just gotta wake up and start thinking outside the box here.

Kai’s brain was probably still a little sleepy. Playing against Theorist would put anybody into a coma due to boredom.

But right now, Kai finally had a real adversary in front of her. Not to mention, Apprentece was the complete opposite of Theorist. He aggressed, overextended, and attacked without any regard for anybody. In other words, he was exactly the kind of opponent Kai liked trashing in a good fight!

Too bad that everything is on cooldown right now, though. Kai frowned as she was forced to retreat from the scene. After her two assault attempts failed, she didn't have any more weapons at her disposal except for her ult.

Well, I'll start setting up the resonance ahead of time, just in case. Kai summoned another Magia Orb as soon as the skill came out of cooldown.

They were already pretty much in the mid-game, so with Magia Orb’s current cooldown, it could be spammed multiple times in a fight. So, if Apprentece was cocky enough to push any further, then Kai will blow out his brains!

I see I'm cutting it a little close in terms of MP, huh. But it'll be fine. Kai thought. After spending all this MP, I'll have to recall after this wave anyway. So, might as well burn out everything I’ve got.

Kai had already overexerted in terms of MP by attacking Apprentece twice. Before that cocky bastard arrived in her lane, Kai had more than enough MP to last three more waves. But now, she already barely had enough for the next wave.

So, let's just burn it all and recall! She decided.

As expected, Apprentece exhibited his cockiness once again. After he finished clearing all of Kai’s minions, he advanced along the lane with his minions.

A daredevil to the very end, huh. Kai shook her head. Fine by me. Come, lemme hit you!

By the time the enemy army arrived at the tower area, Kai’s Magia Orb came out of cooldown again. And so, she placed a second Magia Orb, this time near the enemy minions.

WHISH. WHISH. The black orb passively damaged every minion that passed through it.

The hitbox of the orb was rather small, so the enemy had to be a literal doofus to run into this static damage. Fortunately, the minions had no brain to speak of, so they dashed into it with zero regrets.

Unlike them, Apprentece was different, of course. He moved aside as he advanced, dodging the Magia Orb.

This maneuver brought Appretence closer to Bot Jungle. He probably thought he was playing it safe, but Kai was actually pulling some strings here like a puppeteer.

"Nia, I’ve got him as close as I can to the jungle," Kai informed. "If you’ve ever considered ganking, now is the time."

"Hmm. I dunno." Nia twisted her lips. "I think he plans to retreat soon."

"Well, he better, unless he wants me to literally kill him.” Kai nodded. “So, the gank idea is a bust?"

"Yeah, sorry. I don't think I’ll be able to do much to him while he retreats."

"Alright then." Kai accepted that reasoning.

Against any other opponent, a gank would’ve been worth a try even in this situation. However, Apprentece wasn't the type of opponent who could be caught off-guard with weak plays. So, trying to gank would be a waste of Nia’s time, a waste of an important resource.

I've learned this the hard way at the expense of my MP. Kai sighed. This guy only pretends he has openings. In practice, he’s carefully paying attention to everything.

Apprentece was a vexing opponent from start to finish. He was cocky but surprisingly cautious. And above everything else, he was skilled. Very skilled.

So, I get why Nia prefers to not gank. Kai nodded. Looks like it’s up to me then.

There won’t be a gank, so Kai will have to do this herself. She’ll unleash the ult she barely had enough MP for…!

With two Magia Orbs already placed on the scene, how was Apprentece going to respond? Will he take his leave here without entering the tower area? Or, will he advance further despite the risks?

As usual, there was no easy way to predict the movements of this professional cocky player...