Following Ellen's advice, Julia moved toward Top before she even received permission to strike. Thanks to that, she arrived in Top shortly after Rosemary.
"Just remember, July," Ellen whispered through private communication. "Your main goal here is to stop this push from happening. Getting a kill on Rosey is a nice extra bonus but it's not the focus."
"Yeah, I get that," Julia said. But, I'm definitely going to MURDER this stupid wolf! She'll pay for what she's done to me!
Though it happened a while ago, the memory of dying at Rosemary's hands was still fresh in Julia's memory. That one death forced Julia to cool down her aggression and play defensively instead. It ruined everything Julia planned to achieve in this game.
So, it was payback time! Julia will not only stop this push, but she'll also KILL that damn wolf! It'd be the first time Rosemary dies in this game, so that’d surely score Julia tons of points!
I can do it! Julia advanced toward the enemy wave. Unfortunately, by the time she got to the scene, Rosemary had already taken out most of the minions.
Tch, she's fast. Julia clicked her tongue. She got here just a few seconds earlier but she's almost done, and she only used basic attacks. That's some bullshit levels of being overfed.
As a basic-attack-reliant class, Werewolf was supposed to be slow at clearing a full minion wave at this stage in the game. Similar to a marksman, Werewolf had to wait for the latter parts of the game to be able to dispatch minions quickly.
But, this bitch is so fed it's like she’s already in the late-game. A shiver ran across Julia's arms at this realization. Despite how strongly her fighting spirit was burning, she still felt a chill. She was about to go up against one hell of an opponent.
But, I can win this! I HAVE to win this! Julia took a deep breath and pushed forward. She's definitely going to zone me out before I can reach the wave, but I came prepared!
As expected, Rosemary immediately responded to Julia's arrival. She finished slicing off the last bowman, then leapt forward without any warning! A Grievous Assault was coming straight at Julia!
Heh! I knew that's how you'll do it! Julia was already aiming her Blink in advance. So, as soon as the wolf woman jumped at her, Julia teleported ahead! The two of them practically switched places in an instant!
Phew, okay! Julia exhaled in relief. This one play was a success but it was too early to celebrate. The fight was just getting started, so Julia had to keep chaining strong plays!
As soon as she popped up at the new location, Julia unleashed Flame Wave in the swordmen's faces! From this optimal position, the flames hit both the swordsmen and the bowmen, just as planned!
The swordsmen were already injured earlier by allied minions, so Flame Wave easily erased the remainder of their HP. As for the bowmen, they were far squishier in the first place, so of course the Flame Wave one-shot these dumbos.
Judging by the outcome alone, it was difficult to believe Julia was underfed or that she had been turtling most of the game. The play was so fast and aggressive that it surely made Julia appear dominant.
Surprised? Julia grinned at her opponent. I’ve been lying low most of the game because your stupid ass killed me, but I’ve been preparing for this moment all along!
Yes, Julia had been turtling the whole time in the lane. However, the items she built were actually offense-oriented! She had been waiting for this kind of comeback all along!
Furthermore, even though Julia was lagging behind on gold, she chose to spend some of it to buy Blink. It was an immensely helpful tool for Pyromancer, a class that didn’t have access to any leaps, teleports, or dashes.
Just by adding Blink into her arsenal, Julia was able to play around Werewolf’s Griveous Assault as if it was nothing. Without this handy utility skill, she would’ve been ripped to shreds by that savage attack.
But, thanks to all these preparations, Julia smoothly dodged the enemy’s attack while simultaneously wiping out Rosemary’s squad. With this opening play, Julia was off to a strong start!
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But, of course, the enemy was quick to respond. Rosemary seemed like the type to never be fazed by anything around her, no matter how unexpected. What an annoying bitch.
“AWOOOOO!” Rosemary howled loudly and rolled straight at Julia!
As always, that dang girl didn’t waste any time. Her Grievous Assault had just whiffed, she should’ve been hella salty about that. And yet, it felt as if Rosemary was almost unconcerned. She simply moved on to the next play as if it was nothing.
Shouldn’t you at least stop for a moment to consider whether to retreat!? Julia complained. Or, at least think for a moment about how to best attack me? Something? Any pauses at all? Julia gritted her teeth. Bitch is like a machine!
Ironically, it was ultimately Julia who found herself fazed here. She was too stunned by the fact that her opponent wasn’t surprised by any of this at all. Her reaction grew slower as her brain was filled with pointless questions.
Tch, what’s all this dumb stuff I am even thinking about!? Julia shook her head. I have no time to slow down! I gotta maintain the momentum!
And so, Julia cast Pillar of Fire. Her opponent was currently on the move, so she aimed the AoE under her own feet instead. By standing on the flames, Julia gained a power buff, which she planned to put to very good use.
“Die, you bitch!” Julia cursed as she unleashed a barrage of basic attacks at the incoming predator. She had the range advantage for now, so she was going to take full advantage of it!
On top of that, some of the items she built granted Attack Speed, so her basic attacks were pretty fast for a mage. Thanks to that, Julia unleashed heavy damage on the approaching wolf!
By the time Rosemary reached Julia, her HP already dropped from 60% to 40%. This damage might’ve seemed like a humble achievement, but it was quite impressive for a mage.
Unfortunately, that’s as far as Julia’s onslaught went. Now, it was the enemy’s turn to attack! SLASH! Sharp claws traveled across Julia’s torso, ripping her to shreds!
In just one hit, Julia lost 20% of her HP. Yes, one strike from Rosemary dealt as much damage as all of Julia’s basics combined. It was unreal!
Fortunately, Julia started this fight at a healthy 100%, so her HP was still in safe territory right now. But, for how long?
With busted damage like that, things gonna get critical real fast. Julia gulped. I need my spells to measure up to this!
All her regular spells were on cooldown, but she had access to her ult. It was exactly the trump card she needed.
And so, instead of retaliating with basic attacks at the predator in front of her, Julia started drawing the AoE for Blaze of Inferno. Though, in this case, calling it “drawing” might be a stretch. It wasn’t much in the way of art, that’s for sure.
Instead of drawing an actual path, Julia simply moved her mouse in circles around Rosemary. This level of “drawing” was on par with a fifth grader’s doodling, but it was the optimal play.
Since Rosemary just spent her Dodge Roll to get closer, that dumbass won't be able to get out of the inferno’s range now. She'll have to eat this whole ass damage!
At least, that's how things would've played out under normal circumstances. However, Rosemary had one unusual tool in her arsenal for an occasion like this.
Checkmate. Fiona declared as she activated Shockwave. She picked up this niche utility skill mainly to counter Chronomancer's Time Portal, but she also took into account how it was an effective counter for Pyromancer's ult.
Shockwave was too niche to buy when it only efficiently countered one enemy skill. But, when it countered at least two important skills, that’s when it started getting value.
And so, it was time for Shockwave to justify its cost. While Venus was busy drawing circles, a magical shockwave assaulted her!
Indeed, this was a checkmate. Blaze of Inferno was the last spell available to Venus at the moment, and it will go on a long cooldown after getting interrupted. Venus will become nothing more than a sitting duck at that point.
However, much to Fiona’s surprise, the enemy was ready for this turn of events.
I knew it! Julia canceled her casting animation into a Dodge Roll and got the hell outta there!
Shockwave was a pretty janky skill. Its startup animation was plenty reactable, especially since Julia was fully expecting it. So, she easily rolled out of the AoE’s range in time.
How do you like that, dumbass!? Get outplayed! Julia grinned triumphantly after executing that 200 IQ play. She recovered from the roll and immediately continued her offense by shooting fireballs at her foe.
Of course, she would've liked to cast her ult instead, but the darn thing went on cooldown because Julia canceled it with Dodge Roll. This action counted as an "interruption", so the skill suffered a 50% cooldown penalty. It sucked ass, but it was a neccessary sacrifice to bait out Shockwave.
At first glance, this play might’ve seemed like a waste. After all, Blaze of Inferno went on cooldown all the same, so what’s the point? Well, there was a point. A big one, actually.
After whiffing the skill, Rosemary was now stuck in recovery animation for quite a while. Basically, that Shockwave skill sucked ass. Only idiots bought that stupid shit.
Apparently, the darn thing was OP at one point in the time, but ClassSoft nerfed it into the ground. So now, both the startup and the recovery times were absolute rubbish.
So, by dodging the skill, Julia now had all the time in the world to barrage Rosemary with basics. Eat shit, you cocky bitch!
This was one of the very few times today that somebody from StormBlitz successfully stumped Rosemary. The calculated play kicked the dominant queen off the high horse, allowing Julia to seize the momentum of the battle!