... that was unexpected. Fiona frowned at Venus’ Dodge Roll. To cancel her ultimate with a roll even though she knew it would give her a cooldown penalty... It was not an easy call to make, especially in the heat of the moment.

Either Venus panicked when she saw Shockwave, or she had been planning that counterplay all along. Regardless, this put Fiona in a peculiar situation.

The recovery animation of Shockwave was rather slow, almost lasting a whole second. This slow recovery, coupled with the long startup animation, were the two main reasons why most people advised to avoid the skill.

Based on the changelog Fiona carefully reviewed, these drawbacks were the result of many nerfs that ClassSoft applied to the skill. Shockwave was deemed a must-buy at one point in time, therefore it had to be adjusted.

ClassSoft combated its meta-dominance in many different ways. Across multiple patches, they increased the skill's cost, extended its cooldown, reduced its range, and shortened the stun duration.

Nonetheless, even with all these changes, the skill remained extremely dominant in the pro scene. It became harder and harder to use for the average player, but in the hands of a professional, it was as devastating as ever.

Thus, ClassSoft concluded that nerfing the skill any further in these areas would be pointless. Going any further than that would simply kill off the skill's entire utility, which begged the question of why keep it in the game in the first place.

And indeed, there was talk about outright removing this problematic skill from the game. However, before proceeding with that last resort, ClassSoft tried hitting Shockwave’s performance from a new angle: the animation durations, specifically for startup and recovery.

Once they extended both, the skill finally started falling off in popularity. It became much harder to confirm because of the startup delay, and it became a risky commitment because of the long recovery.

And now, because of that long history of nerfs, Fiona found herself in a vulnerable state after whiffing Shockwave.

Naturally, Venus did not skip a beat before shooting fireballs at Fiona. Everything about the girl's movements conveyed complete confidence.

She does not seem to fear me at all, despite how much ahead I am. Fiona sensed that the other members of StormBlitz respected her advantage, avoiding frontal confrontation whenever it was possible. Essentially, Fiona’s overfed state doubled as a psychological attack that discouraged the enemy from trying anything wild.

And, I dare say Venus also has been respecting that advantage until now. Fiona thought. In fact, she has been playing very defensively most of the game. I assumed it was because she understood that our side had the momentum, but perhaps I was wrong…?

Fiona simply could not wrap her head around what she was seeing right now. The Venus in front of her was almost like a completely different player from before. The girl had been turtling for the majority of the game, yet now she was aggressive beyond measure.

On top of that, as if to further reinforce the oddity, Venus’ Pyromancer was dealing unexpectedly high damage with just basic attacks. Despite the girl’s defensive playstyle, her actual build was very offensive.

It is as if she has been lying low the entire game, biding her time for this very moment. Fiona frowned. I did not see that coming. It appears I have to adjust my notes about her.

Admittedly, out of all the players in StormBlitz, there was the least information about Venus. She and Adapting shared the same role, so only one of them was on stage at any given time. And, it was Adapting who got to play the most.

I suspect Venus is their pinch-hitter. Fiona reasoned. If so, she has successfully scored a surprise home run off me.

Venus’s timely Dodge Roll put Fiona on the spot. By the time she recovered from using Shockwave, she was already down to 20% HP. On top of that, she was now a fair distance away from her target, so she would have to spend additional time getting closer.

Furthermore, on top of all that, there was the Pyromancer’s Flame Wave to consider. It had a considerably low cooldown at this stage in the game, and Venus built items with cooldown reduction. As such, the spell was bound to come off cooldown at any moment.

At my current HP, it would one-shot me. Fiona analyzed. Hmm. It appears I cannot push any further here.

And so, instead of taking any risks, Fiona retreated into the jungle. Her split-push attempt on Top ended in a failure.

Impressive work. Fiona praised her opponent. I shall remember this exchange for future reference. Next time, I will checkmate you properly.

With these parting words, Fiona left the lane and entered the jungle. And so, this was the end of this play… or was it!?

“Hah!” Julia scoffed. “Yeah, run back to your mama!”

Rosemary made a hasty retreat after her Shockwave failed to connect. The girl must’ve been literally shaking and crying right now about how much of a failure she was. Served her right!

That’ll teach you. Julia puffed her chest. Next time, don’t you dare messing with me, dumbass!

With this, Julia got revenge on Rosemary. But, it was only partial. It wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been. She wanted MORE!

I wanna MURDER her ass! Julia’s flames didn’t die down in the slightest. On the contrary, she was even MORE motivated to keep the attack going! She wanted to utterly DESTROY that pompous Werewolf, to mop the floor with that cocky mug!

"Come back here!" Julia dashed after her prey. "I'll KILL you, you fucker!" Her excitement levels reached the point she started cursing out loud, but she couldn't care less about that right now. All she wanted was to utterly CRUSH that stupid wolf!

Her Flame Wave was about to come off cooldown. A single hit from it should reduce Rosemary to ashes, so Julia had full dominance here! Nonetheless...

Stolen novel; please report.

"July, dear," Ellen whispered through private communication. "You better quit while you're ahead."

"Huh? Why should I? This is like the best chance I've gotten all day, so I'm gonna make the most out of it! I'll WRECK that wolf! That'll teach her some respect."

"My, so aggressive~" Ellen smiled wryly. "I understand why you want to score more points, but you're also running the risk of losing everything you’ve gained so far, you know?"

"Hmph. That’s not gonna happen."

"My, such confidence~" Ellen giggled. "But really, you better wake up from that daydream. Yes, you managed to drive Rosey away, but don't forget she's still an incredibly dangerous player. She can delete your HP in about 3~4 hits, which is something she can dish out in a single skill, remember?"

"Well, that's..." Julia glanced at her remaining HP. It was down to 60% already, which a single Grievous Assault could delete on the spot because of how overfed Rosemary was.

And I bet it's coming off cooldown soon, just like my Flame. Julia frowned. Shit, I can score so many points if I get this kill, but…

Was it worth sacrificing everything for it? As Ellen said, if Julia messes up here, she'll lose all the hard-earned points she accumulated.

Tch, I guess I hafta quit after all. Julia took a deep breath and exhaled to discharge her aggression, just like Berserker. I’ve achieved enough, I hope.

Even though Julia failed to seal the deal, she successfully went toe-to-toe with Rosemary and utterly SMASHED that dumbo's plans. That should be good enough to score plenty of points with the captain, right?

"Hrm, not bad," Howard admitted. "I was sure it was a suicidal play but you pulled it off pretty nicely."

"Right?" Julia puffed her chest. "So, I earned the right to play in the next game too, right?"

"No."

"Wha-!?" Julia gasped. "But why!?"

"Don’t get me wrong, you played well here,” Howard said. “But, this just barely made up for your embarrassing death earlier in the game."

"Geh, that's..." Julia tried very hard to find something to say back but she was drawing a blank. She was bearing the consequences of her past, foolish self.

"You should rejoice that you at least played well enough to convince me to not give up on you entirely," Howard said. "After how you disobeyed me and died, I was honestly thinking about booting you from the first-string for good."

"Geh, please no..." Julia turned meek against Howard's cold tone. The captain wasn't messing around. He was seriously going to kick Julia off the team if she keeps screwing up.

"Anyway," Howard continued. "If you've had enough, let's wrap up this game."

"Fine..."

All the players placed their votes for surrender. Their Colossus crumbled to bits of its own accord, granting immediate victory to the enemy.

『DEFEAT』

We really went through with this, huh. Howard stared blankly at the screen. Even though he was the one who brought up the idea, he still couldn't believe his team had just surrendered on the competitive stage, and during such a critical year in his career, no less.

To add insult to injury, their opponents were a bunch of greenhorns. This was supposed to be an easy 5-0 for StormBlitz today, yet they somehow completely butchered the first game.

I hope this early surrender at least saved us some energy. Howard tried to console himself. Next game, we have to stomp them convincingly.

Nobody was perfect, so it was acceptable to mess up once in a blue moon. So long as the next four games will be convincing victories, they’ll wash away the stain from StormBlitz’s reputation.

I bet the scouts from Utopia won't like this surrender but I doubt it'll affect their ultimate decision. At least, I hope it won’t…

The agreement was that Howard would get immediately accepted into Utopia as long as he won the regionals. But, he had to take their word for it. These guys could easily use whatever excuse they wanted to nullify the deal at the last moment, so it was best not to give them any ammo.

If they see this game and complain about how I messed up against a "greenhorn" team, I need to be able to say: "It was a one-time thing. We crushed them afterwards."

To be able to say that, StormBlitz had to win hard in the next few games. Not only get a 4-1, but also do it cleanly in a way that’ll leave no doubts in anybody's mind about StormBlitz's superiority.

Frankly, I almost don't want to sub in Julia today at all after this. Howard thought. She's still too error-prone to my taste. I don't want her to mess up any more games. Then again, it’s not like this defeat is her fault per se…

Players who were talented but troublesome were so irksome to handle as the captain. On one hand, Howard wanted to utilize Julia's explosive power to create momentum for the team. It was something none of the other members could do as well as she did.

On the other hand, the girl sometimes got caught up in her own aggressiveness and spiraled out of control. Depending on the circumstances, that could easily make the team lose the entire game.

It even almost happened in that last play. Howard thought. If Ellen didn't stop her, I'm sure Julia would've chased after Rosemary and died.

Yes, Howard actually overheard that secret little talk. Ellen probably thought she was being all sneaky by whispering to Julia in a private channel, but she forgot Howard was sitting right beside her.

Howard couldn’t hear Julia’s side of things, but judging by the flow of the conversation, it seemed the troublemaker was eager to chase Rosemary. She probably thought she’d easily be able to seal the deal with Flame Wave.

I suppose it’s a reasonable idea. That is, if you completely disregard all the dangers. Howard shook his head in disappointment. It sounded like Ellen just barely stopped her from committing that grave mistake. If not for that, Julia was pretty much going to lose all the good faith she earned.

Howard didn’t care about stepping into that conversation because the game was pretty much over at that point. However, in a real ongoing match, that would’ve been a disaster.

It’s nice that Ellen has some control over that problem child, but she won’t be able to prevent every disaster. Howard thought. Hell, even I failed to convince Julia to retreat earlier today, and I’m supposed to be the one with the highest authority here.

Truly, Julia was such a headache. She had enough potential to make it attractive to include her on the first-string, but using her in real games was like opening a can of worms every time.

I hope I can solve this by the time the regionals come around. Howard thought. I’d really like to hit the Leopards with her extreme offense. It was somewhat effective during the scrim, and I’m sure it can get even better.

Fighting defense with defense was difficult and exhausting. Not to mention, it felt like the Leopards were better trained in that department. So, frankly, in their current state, StormBlitz was going to have a very bad time during the rematch.

That’s where Julia entered the picture. She was the one player in StormBlitz who had the necessary strength to bust through the Leopards’ tight defense. Unfortunately, half the time she got carried away and countered hard.

There’s never a perfect solution, is there? Howard sighed deeply on the way back to the waiting room. I always appreciate a good challenge, but this isn’t exactly it.

A good challenge was to beat strong opponents, not to babysit his own teammates. That’s not what pro players should be wasting their time on.

Well, for now, I’ll use Gil in the next few games. That’ll make my life a lot easier. Howard thought. The Valkyries aren’t the kind of team we should have any trouble against. It’ll be a breeze so long as we don’t accidentally let them gain momentum.

With these convictions, Howard prepared the team for the second game of the day.