“Die. Die. Die all of you.” Julia muttered while swinging back and forth in front of her table, as if chanting a curse. Enough mulling over her past actions. Who even cared about this stupid game anyway? She was going to quit Classmancers after this match, so the exam didn’t matter anymore. All she wanted was to unleash her pent up frustration, to shut up the bastards who made fun of her efforts.

Thanks to one of her many Wards, she spotted the Beastmaster trying to clear a Wolf Camp. Oh, how nice. he took advantage of Julia’s death to go clear some camps. Who the hell gave him permission to do that, huh? Huh!? Julia warded that whole damn area! It was her zone! If that dumbass thought she’d let that pass, he had another thing coming!

As soon Julia respwaned, she purchased Teleport. She was loaded with gold thanks to her consistent lane advantage, so she was gonna spend every last penny to crush the enemy team! Hell was gonna rain on these retards!

Julia instantly teleported into the Jungle, to a Checkpoint Ward set up by the Orc, their Top Laner. It was located right above the Wolf Camp the Beastmaster farned at right now, how splending. With both the Orc and Pirate all the way down in Bot Lane, the Beastmaster certainly didn’t expect anybody to be here right now. Surprise surprise! Julia was right here, you brainless imbecile retard!

She sneaked up behind the Beastmaster and assaulted him with the perfect Pyromancer combo. Starting off with Pillar of Fire for damage-over-time, followed by four basic attacks to lower the Beastmaster’s defense with Demonic Arm’s passive. Finally, the coup de grace: Flame Wave straight in his stupid face! Ahahahaha!

『You have killed an enemy!』

“Yeah, that’s right, bitch! Ahahaha!” Julia laughed as if possessed. Her teammates threw confused glances at her, but she didn’t give a damn, she no longer had any reason to look good in front of these randoms. It was her last Classmancers match, so she’d have the blast of her life!

Her playstyle turned more and more aggressive with every passing moment. She fearlessly pushed Turrets, even without any Wards around to warn about incoming ganks. Not matter how persistently her opponents hugged their Turrets, she applied pressure until they were forced the hell outta there! She was gonna destroy all their objectives! She was gonna run these fuckers into the ground!

“Ah! I done goofed!” Ellen cried out. She was fleeing from the enemy Lionfolk with just 13% HP. “I seriously done goofed! Halp! Send halp, somebody! Get that lion off me!”

“Bring that idiot to the Checkpoint Ward.” Julia pinged the map with a crazed smile on her face. “I’ll murder his stupid face, haha.”

“... got it.” Ellen finally replied, after sizing Julia up for a few moments. If Julia made that request like five minutes ago, Ellen wouldn’t had trusted her to pull off that play. However, right now, something about Julia was... “off”, to say the least. Ever since Ellen roasted her, Julia’s playstyle made a 180. My, I may have been a bit too harsh on her. This girl is more interesting than I thought, heehee.

As planned, Ellen lured Aron, the Lionfolk, toward the Checkpoint Ward. Getting away from a Lionfolk was no easy feat, especially without her wolf mount. Actually, even with Julia’s help, it seemed unlikely Ellen would survive through this, she was just one breath away from death. Well, at least Julia should be able to finish off Aron’s remaining HP.

Ellen sighed and prepared herself for the lion man’s decisive claw attack... which didn’t come. Oh? Ellen threw a glance behind her.

Aron was running over burning ground, the result of Julia’s Pillar of Fire. That girl sure got here fast, but that alone didn’t explain why Aron didn’t catch up to Ellen yet. He definitely had the superior speed and Pillar of Fire just dealt DOT damage, it didn’t have a slow- oh, wait!

Could it be? Ellen opened the status screen. Yes! Julia built Chains of Infinity! It was an offensive item, best suited for focusing targets without allowing them any escape!

Chains of Infinity added a stacking slowdown effect to the user’s magical spells. Pillar of Fire applied multiple ticks of damage, so it became sinking sand that pinned Aron in place! His leap skill was on cooldown as well, so he couldn’t reach Ellen!

H-How!? Aron exclaimed. He wasn’t surprised by the slowdown, he already saw Chains of Infinity in the Pyromancer’s inventory. It’s the Teleport that didn’t make sense. The Pyromancer used her Teleport about two minutes ago, so it should had been on cooldown still, considering a Lv.1 Teleport had a cooldown of 3 minutes.

She upgraded it!? Aron was agasp. The Pyromancer’s Teleport was Lv.3 right now, which meant its cooldown was shortened by one minute!

When a utility skill was upgraded from the shop, its cooldown duration difference was factored right away, even if that skill was on cooldown at the time. Therefore, upgrading a Lv.1 Teleport to Lv.3 while it was on a one minute cooldown - immediately reset the remaining cooldown to zero. It was an niche mechanic only few remembered to put to good use, so it was hard to anticipate this sort of development.

Did the Pyromancer plan this misleading play? Or, was it just a coincidence it worked out so well? Either way, the situation was what it was: him against the Pyromancer and Ellen. It was technically a 2v1, but Ellen was running too low to retaliate and the Pyromancer shouldn’t be too hard to scare away.

Based on Dan’s analysis as the Pyromancer’s lane opponent, she was a defensive opponent who avoided danger at all cost and ran away at the first sight of danger. Aron developed the same impression as well, as someone who tried ganking her lane many times to no avail. It was like she barricaded herself with Wards from all sides and camped in the lane, waiting for her teammates to push the game forward for her. At the first sight of danger, she left everything behind and fled back to her Turret.

At first, her camping strategy truly foiled Aron’s ganks, his attempts at Counter-Warding were thwarted as well. However, over time, he realized there’s no point struggling so hard to pull a gank on her, because the one who felt the most pressured this whole time was the Pyromancer herself.

She was going to self-destruct on her own by playing so defensively, Aron just had to lightly push her toward that end. He used her own camping strategy against her by faking ganks, making it look like he was going for Mid every once in a while, without any intention to actually do so. The mere possibility of a gank immediately made her retreat, stalling her progress time and again.

With all that considered, there’s no way this Pyromancer was going to fight Aron head on. He still had 60% HP and she was down to 40% HP, a scaredy-cat like her wouldn’t take such a huge risk- wha!?

I’m still slowed down!? Aron just realized the enemy’s Pillar of Fire was placed peculiarly. Rather than being placed with Aron in the center, making it the hardest for him to escape in every direction, most of the burning ground stretched between Aron and the Pyromancer, forcing him to crawl toward her. That’s bad, he couldn’t reach her with Mighty Roar just yet...!

Once he finally got close enough, the Pyromancer activated Burning Spirit. Was she going to retreat? Good, that saved him- No! She didn’t retreat! She kept staring straight at Aron, while backpedaling and shooting him. She just barely kept herself out of the range of his Mighty Roar while bombarding him with quick basic attacks. Am I seriously going to die here?

“Die. Die. Die! Ahahaha!” Julia laughed maniacally as she fired nonstop at the Lionfolk. She was gonna kill that dumbass! He stood no chance!

Ahahaha! Die, worm! You thought I don’t know how to fight, right? Think again, sucker! She maintained distance from her foe and bombarded him with fireballs, just like she practiced against Yuel. Yeah, that’s right: contrary to what these idiots probably thought, Julia practiced her fighting skills quite a lot.

Yuel nagged her so much about her tendency to avoid fights, she legit wanted to murder that jerk a thousand times over. He taught her many combat tactics and forced her to practice against for HOURS. She even slept over a few times because their practice lasted all the way into midnight. It was such a pain in the ass, the only fun part was using Yuel as a practice dummy and beating shit outta him. Yeah, that felt good!

Yuel drilled countless fighting techniques into her brain, like this weird “Blitz Pyromancer” tactic which used Teleport. Apparently, it was used by the best Pyromancer player in the world or something. There were many other techniques as well, Yuel tried too damn hard to find a fighting style Julia would want to use in matches.

However, she refused using any of that in real combat. Why? Because fighting was risky and dying was lame, okay? It made her look like a total noob, Lars was gonna think she’s the worst player in the world. Playing safe was best way to leave a good impression.

But screw all that! For her final match, she wanted to go all out! She channeled the fighting techniques she learned, recalling the sweet moments of beating the crap outta Yuel during practice. Maybe she wasn’t strong like Lars or a walking encyclopedia like Yuel, but she watched how they played, practiced with them and played with them on the same team! She wasn’t some trash who didn’t know how to play Classmancers!

Relying on the fruits of her practice, Julia shaved the Lionfolk’s HP with basic attacks while staying out of his range. Once he fell down to 40% HP, she burned him with Flame Wave and immediately followed with Blaze of Inferno.

『You have killed an enemy!』

“Yes! Die!” Julia trembled from the ecstasy. What a rush! Crushing that retard felt so goooooood Ahahaha!

“My, July, you saved me~!” Ellen jumped on Julia and gave her a hug.

“A-Ah, w-we’re still playing!”

“My, aren’t you just the best~ Please let me have your babies~”

“Creepy.” Julia retorted coldly, but a faint smile formed on her lips. Ellen’s attitude made a complete 180 after that play. Was it because Julia saved her ass? Huh, what a pretentious bitch. Nevertheless, after falling out of favor once, being praised again felt good.

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My, she’s singing a completely different tune now. Ellen released Julia and returned to the game, as her Ranger finally finished recalling back to base. She’s like a kitten who evolved into a lioness, I didn’t think she had it in her.

“So, what changed?” Ellen asked. “You’re like a completely different person. Where were you hiding all this hot stuff until now, girl?”

“I just decided I don’t care anymore.” Julia shrugged. “I figured you’re right, you know? I shouldn’t play Classmancers anymore if I don’t even enjoy this stupid game. So, this gonna be my last game.”

“Your last game?” Ellen blinked.

“Yeah, I’m quitting after this. And if I’mma quit anyway, I just gonna do whatever I want this game.”

“I see.” Ellen smiled meaningfully. I thought she was triggered because I criticized her, but that’s not it. She just stopped being the frightened kitten she was before because she stopped caring about her image. That allowed the lioness inside her to leap into the open. I may have been a little to harsh with her, but... heehee, this is so interesting~

With her awakened fighting spirit, Julia unleashed everything she had on her enemies. She assaulted them out of nowhere, destroyed their Turrets and ravaged them in team fights. The enemy team was thrown into a disarray against this unexpected threat.

It’s like she’s a different person. Aron frowned. He and Dan already finished profiling the Pyromancer as a player with decent game knowledge and decision-making skills, but severely lacking in mechanical skill and assertiveness. She had been playing like a camper the whole match, so that’s how these conclusions were reached.

However, as the match approached the late game, Aron was forced to toss away everything he knew about the Pyromancer. There was a need to reevaluate her from scratch, both as an examinee and as an enemy to deal with.

Did they let somebody else take control over the Pyromancer? No, that’s stupid. Aron chuckled. The Pyromancer’s change was so sudden and so mind boggling that he couldn’t help considering the silliest possibilities. From a campy and calculated player, she transformed into a brute and reckless fighter. She was like a berserker whose switch was flipped.

Normally, it wasn’t hard to punish a rampaging opponent, since they left many holes in their defenses. However, this Pyromancer was well “fed” during the early game. Usually, a player became fed through scoring many kills, but she never took that initiative. Instead, she dominated her lane so hard she managed to outlevel and outbuild most players through minion farming alone. Thus, even when there were opportunities to punish her, it was difficult to kill her due to her superior stats.

However, that only applied during the mid game. The match was already entering its late game, with most players about to reach Lv.20 and finish their builds. The lead she had until now was about to be become moot. As a class, the Pyromancer’s power curve was geared toward mid and late game, so she’d still have that going for her. Nevertheless, soon enough it was going to become much easier to take her down.

“Lars, take out their Pyromancer in the next fight.” Aron ordered.

“Okay, got it.” Lars nodded with a smile. “Gotta say, July is putting some real work. Never seen her play this aggressively, it’s pretty sick.”

“Hm, is that so. I hope you’re not planning to let her get away with this just because you’re friends.”

“Nah, no way, dude.” Lars grinned. “I’mma crush her with everything I got! No mercy, yo!”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Aron secretly sighed in relief. Arranging a match between friends was a blunder, but it couldn’t be helped because he didn’t know the examinees personally. He just had to pray that Lars and Julia knowing each other wasn’t affect their performance too much.

On Lars’s end, there didn’t seem to be any problems. He was a competitive brat and wanted to test his mettle against Julia, treating her like any other tough opponent.

But, what about Julia? She seemed to avoid Lars throughout the match and even let him get away with a risky offense that should had been punished, but that was before her berserk switch was flipped. Was she going to fight him this time? The situation wasn’t exactly fair for her, but observing how she was going to cope with it would give Aron some insight regarding her mental fortitude. Specifically, how serious she really was about passing the exam and becoming a competitive player.

A major 4v4 team fight broke out in Mid Lane. Its result was going to heavily swing the game, possibly deciding the winner. For Julia’s team, which was currently lagging behind, winning this team fight was of utmost important, as defeat would spell imminent doom.

『An ally has been killed!』

“Gah! You degenerating piece of shit!” Ellen roared at Trever. “Are your aiming to become a chef? Is that why you feeding them so hard, huh!? Well, you sure have talent, because they’re LOVING your free treats! Jesus, at this point an AFK would carry us harder.”

“Tch.” Trever’s face contorted, but he didn’t say anything. Yeah it was true, he fed the enemy team pretty hard this game, he couldn’t even argue against that anymore. Sigh, why couldn’t this stupid match just end already? Really, that’s all he was asking for.

However, not all hope was lost for the team fight. Julia aggressively assaulted the enemy team, ignoring their number advantage. She got severely injured in the process, way more than she should had, but her efforts paid off. Her relentless attacks disrupted the enemy’s formation and turned them into an easy target for her Blaze of Inferno.

『An enemy has been killed!』

『An enemy has been killed!』

『DOUBLE KILL』

“You’re amazing, July! Marry me!”

“No way.”

“My, how cruel.” Ellen pretended to be offended. “Atta girl, keep going! We drew them into our territory, we can still turn the tables around!”

“Sure, no problem.” Julia nodded. She was so absorbed in bombarding her enemies, that she didn’t even notice when the team fight moved all the way to her team’s Golem. Did Ellen pull the strings behind that relocation? Well, whatever. Regardless of how this favorable situation was created, Julia just had to kill, kill and then kill some more! Ahahaha!

“It’s time for a trick show!” The sound cue hit Julia like a bucket of cold water. It was the cue for the Trickshooter’s ultimate: Trickshow. Lars fearlessly charged ahead of his team, despite being at 40% HP.

Julia knew this pattern, she saw this play a hundred times by now. Lars was coming to murder them, all by himself!

No matter how heated up Julia became or how little she cared about her actions this match, there was still one thing she was reluctant to do: fight Lars. The way she played right now, she easily scored kills against anybody as long as luck was on her side. With her current momentum, if she were to fight for real... she might even kill Lars. Even though she gave up on her exam, she had no right getting in way of Lars’s exam.

“What are you staring at? Attack him!” Ellen called out, but Julia’s mind was elsewhere. She just stood there, watching Lars slide toward the Cleric and tear the guy apart.

『An ally has been killed!』

A typical start. Next, Lars was probably gonna slide toward Ellen and kill her. That was his favorite method of rending asunder the enemy team, Julia witnessed countless teams fall prey to his strength. Ah, he was just too cool. All these retards were already dead.

“Don’t tell me you gonna cover your boyfriend again!?” Ellen grew restless as she intercepted Lars’s assault. This was the third time she faced Lars’s Trickshot, but she still couldn’t handle it, her trademark poke-and-run tricks weren’t effective in the middle of an ongoing team fight. Facing Lars’s Trickshow was like challenging a raging typhoon, there’s nothing one could do against that terror. She somehow dodged instant death, but her defeat was imminent.

“Listen, I get that you don’t wanna shoot your boyfriend, but this goody-two-shoes act not gonna get you anywhere!” Ellen argued, while doing everything she could to survive Lars’s bullet hell. “Tell me, you think he gonna like you for going easy on him? You think he’s a loser who runs away from challenges?”

“No! No way!” Julia yelled. “He’s strong and he likes challenges, way too much even!”

“Exactly, muscle heads like him wanna compete and come on top. You know who they respect the most? Other strong players, the ones who can give them a run for their money!”

“Strong players...”

“You know, I already killed your sweetheart three times this match. I bet he’s head over heels for me at this point, teehee~ My, I can already see his love confession coming after the match~”

“T-That not gonna happen! No way!” Julia trembled. T-That’s nonsense! B-But, there was some sense in Ellen’s words. Whenever Lars was defeated by a strong opponent, he got tenfold more pumped about the game and showered his opponent with praise... probably more praise than he ever gave Julia, honestly.

“Ah! You little...!” Ellen ran out of time, she couldn’t stall Lars much longer and his allies were about to catch up. “Okay, listen and listen well, sweetie! You said it’s your last game, right? Then finish it in a blaze of glory! Show him you’re not some chicken, show him how strong you really are! He’s going to love you more than ever! Just kill him! Kill him and earn his love! Geh! Just kill him already! Kill him with fire, girl!”

“Kill him... to earn his love...” Julia’s mind was a jumble. She never considered such a drastic move before. But, maybe it was really going to work!? If she were to defeat Lars at least once in her life, he was bound to see her as strong player. He’d shower her with praise and become obsessed with beating her, obsessed with her! Yeah, he’d be totally into her!

That’s it! Here and now, she was going execute the play that’d steal Lars’s heart! It might be the dumbest and most absurd shit ever, but absurdity never sounded so logical before! It was the way!

Watch carefully. Where is he going to slide next? That’ll be my chance...! Julia observed Lars’s moves like a predator eying a prey. Even though she really wanted to go ahead and shoot Lars already, it wasn’t that simple.

While using Trickshow, Lars had access to an infinite supply of Trickslides. He blitzed from side to side without any breaks, while mixing in a few early cancels to throw his enemies off. Landing even a single shot on him was going to be as hard as smacking a fly on steroids. Honestly, it was above Julia’s skills.

However, Julia saw Lars’s Trickshow a billion times by now. Really, it was like magic playing out in front of her very eyes. But any magic, no matter how magnificent, would stop being awe striking after being observed so many times. Yuel even made her practice specific tactics to enhance Lars’s Trickshow, ensuring she and Yuel could back Lars up to the best of their ability. Not only that, but she was even forced to practice countering Lars’s Trickshow, that was Yuel’s way of teaching Lars about its weaknesses.

Therefore, with all of that experience combined, Julia knew both the strong and weak points of Lars’s dazzling Trickshow. A slide to the left, a slide to the right, canceled into a slide to the left, then... next was going to be a cancel to the right! There was no doubt!

Please, accept this burning love! Julia summoned Pillar of Fire and fired four basic attacks in its direction, toward a spot currently devoid of targets. That should do the trick Please die, for the sake of our love!

A moment later, Lars slid straight into the burning ground. Pillar of Fire slowed him down thanks to Chains of Infinity, so he couldn’t dodge the basic attacks Julia sprayed in his direction. Only three out of four attacks landed, but it was more than enough. Now that her prey was weakened, she unleashed a Flame Wave filled with all her love! She was gonna prove her strength right here and now! He had to be killed for their love!

『You have killed an enemy!』

She did it. S-She freakin’ did it! With her own two hands, she wiped Lars out! Unbelievable..

“Whoa...” She had no idea how to react. One part of her wanted to celebrate this victory, while the other part wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Did her intense love reach Lars? Did she impress him? Was he gonna hate her for killing him during such an important exam? Did she mess up!? Oh god, which was it!?

“No freakin’ way!” Lars jumped from his chair. “Julia just wrecked me, yo!”

“Yes, that’s what usually happens when you charge in alone.” Aron stated matter-of-factly.

“No, but like, I had no idea she could even play like this. This is bananas!” Lars stared at his monitor, dumbfound. He mixed feints and cancels into his Trickslides during Trickshow, yet Julia cornered and executed him. Dude, it was... it was so sick, yo! When did she become so freakin’ strong? He should totally play 1v1 against her sometimes. “Dude, Julia royally kicked my ass this fight. I bet she insta-passed the test with that shit.”

“We’ll see about that.” Aron stated in his usual indifferent tone. He put a swift end to the enemy’s celebration by leaping on the Pyromancer.

Even though she managed to kill Lars, which was no easy feat, that put her in a vulnerable position. She had to go out of her way to secure all these shots on Lars, making her an easy prey for Aron’s Lionfolk. In the end, all she achieved was exchanging one death for one kill, nothing impressive.

『An enemy has been killed!』

With the Pyromancer out the picture, the only remaining enemy was Ellen, who quickly got away. Aron’s team should be considered victorious in this fight, but both teams’ Carries were dead. Before long, Ellen returned with full HP to guard her Golem, forcing Aron and Gilbert to retreat. They won that tough team fight, but without a Carry they didn’t get to do much pushing, what a shame.

That Pyromancer proved she had some fighting in her, she even scored a fair share of kills recently. However, her fighting style was reckless and she overextended too often. Honestly, at this rate, she... probably wasn’t going to make it. She’d have to put on some truly fascinating performance before end game to change Aron’s mind.