“Phew.” Yuel sighed in relief. Somehow, his bluff worked. He couldn’t make it in time to help Lars against Taison so, in a desperate attempt, he tossed a Blaze Bomb in their direction. Yuel knew the bomb won’t reach, but he hoped the explosion would distract Taison.

And, it did. For a split second, Taison turned around to check what was going on. For just a moment, it stopped being a pure 1v1. In that tiny window of time, Lars turned the tables around.

“Got ‘em!” Lars pumped a fist. “Easy!”

“Sure, ‘easy’.” Yuel made a face. Taison totally wrecked Lars in that fight. Sure, Lars put on a decent fight and brought Taison low enough to be finished off with two Trickshots, but overall Taison overwhelmed him.

Taison’s 1v1 skill was even scarier than the statistics implied. Did he hone his 1v1 skills even further throughout the week? Was that part of Howard preparations? Either way, this fight showed everybody must avoid 1v1-ing Taison at all cost. If Lars with a Trickshooter can’t win, then nobody can.

Still, it was impressive. Lars somehow made an entire comeback in that situation. Even though Yuel suspected the bomb distraction will affect Taison, he didn’t expect Lars would convert that brief moment of vulnerability into a kill. It was a mind-blowing play.

“I have to admit,” Yuel said. “You really surprised with that kill. Did you know Taison will be distracted by the bomb?”

“I dunno, dude. I just heard a BANG and I was like ‘Yo! Shit about to go down!’ and I just went for it!”

“Just went for it...?”

“Yeah. I was looking for a chance to shoot Tai but I was kinda in a pinch, right? So, I couldn’t decide whether to fight or retreat. But, when that BANG happened, I just jumped him, yo!”

He was thinking about fighting back? In that situation? Yuel had no words. Lars was clearly heading toward defeat, yet he didn’t stop searching for an opportunity to mount a comeback. Even when all the odds play against him, this hungry beast will keep thinking about how to devour his enemy.

“You really do some crazy plays, you know that?” Yuel couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s the most fun, yo.” Lars grinned. Seriously, it was impossible to keep up with this goof. No matter how many games they played together, Lars always found a way to surpass Yuel’s expectations.

This miraculous turnabout was even greater than Lars realized. Thanks to how the fight played out, Yuel confirmed his suspicions regarding Taison’s weakness.

According to the statistics, Taison was a monster in 1v1 and halfway through the year, his win ratio surpassed those of Trever and Lars. It was even a little higher than Lars’s Trickshooter, the only class with which Lars had a consistently higher win ratio than Trever in 1v1.

On top of that, Taison even passed Lars’s rank in the 1v1 Ranked mode. Taison was at Challenger V, whereas Lars was at Diamond I.

These impressive achievements made it look like Taison tremendously improved as a player throughout the year. However, in practice, Taison didn’t show such amazing improvement in practice matches.

When Taison played Carry in Bot, he didn’t stand out more than before. He was a strong player, but not a match for Lars or Trever. While undoubtedly strong in 1v1s, Taison was rather sloppy everywhere else and especially in team fights.

So, compared to the impressive 1v1 stats, it didn’t feel like Taison actually improved that much as a player. Then, why was Taison so strong only in 1v1? That question has been bugging Yuel ever since he found out about the 1v1 statistics. By understanding what was so different between 1v1 and other situations for Taison, it’ll be possible to arrange unfavorable circumstances for him and to avoid the scenarios in which he’ll be dangerous.

The outcome of the 1v1 between Lars and Taison verified Yuel’s theory. With just a tiny bit of distraction, Taison let victory slip through his fingers. Therefore, his short attention span was most likely the main culprit. Throughout the year, Yuel has noticed signs of Taison’s poor attention span during practice matches, but this was the first time he saw that weakness play such a big role.

Taison was a huge threat in 1v1, but it wasn’t that hard to counter him. As long as somebody or something distracted him and got in the way of a “pure 1v1”, Taison would start slipping up. If just one more player walks into the scene, Taison will no longer be able to focus on the 1v1.

“Listen,” Yuel addressed everybody. “As you saw, Taison is very strong in 1v1s. Even Lars can barely keep up with him.”

“Hey, I was totally winning, yo!”

“So,” Yuel continued. “Avoid 1v1s with him at all cost. If he forces you into a 1v1, you should either retreat or try changing the situation into anything other than 1v1. Taison is good at concentrating on one opponent at a time, but he gets easily distracted when there are other players on the scene.”

“So, you’re saying it’s better to 2v2 him instead of 1v1?” Dan asked.

“Yes, exactly. The more enemies he has to deal with, the worse he performs.”

“So, it’s like ADHD or something?”

“I’m not sure but it’s probably similar. Taison seem to have attention span issues.”

“Wait, then how about fighting Taison in a 1v2 situation? Is he gonna perform worse even though having allies around is a good thing?”

“... it’s possible, I suppose.” Yuel felt like a lecturer who was stumped by a smartass question. “You never want to find yourself in a 1v2 situation anyway, so it’s pointless to analyze that.”

“Heh, I guess.” Dan chuckled. He was clearly having too much fun testing the extent of Yuel’s knowledge. It wasn’t a bad thing, though. There was a chance others were wondering the same thing, so addressing these questions should help them get a clearer understanding of Taison’s weakness.

Still, that last question was interesting. Which would be easier: to 1v1 Taison or to 1v2 him while he got another ally nearby, say a low DPS player like a Support. No, stop. I just explained why that’s a pointless question. Yuel shook his head and stopped himself before going down the analysis rabbit hole.

Anyway, everybody got the message about facing Taison in 1v1. Once the game entered the mid-game phase, Taison aggressively pursued players and tried to corner them into 1v1s. However, everybody heeded Yuel’s advice and did their best to avoid such situations.

In particular, Dan was quick to rotate whenever somebody found themselves in a 1v1. Venomancer didn’t exactly have the scariest gank potential but against Taison that wasn’t necessary. Just by popping on the scene, Dan distracted Taison and sealed that beast’s power.

With Taison’s attacks constantly blocked, the enemy team stopped posing any serious threats. Howard’s team assumed an overly defensive game plan as if they already their accepted defeat in the mid-game and had no choice but to bank everything on the late-game.

It wasn’t too surprising, considering Roi was becoming more and more fed. His score jumped all the way to 5/0/1 in mid-game. A Dark Knight this fed was almost unstoppable at this point, especially in the hands of a mechanically skilled player like Roi.

“Shoot! They got me!” Roi exclaimed as he found himself in a 1v2 situation against Ellen and Gilbert. They totally baited him into that one! But, was it really a reason for concern?

Roi booted Nightmare and proceeded to wreck both enemies. As the two fought back, half the damage they dealt reflected back at them. On top of that, with the high damage of Dark Blast and the execution ability of Gate of Sheol, Roi made quick work of them. Even the slippery Ellen failed to escape.

『You have killed an enemy!』

『You have killed an enemy!』

『DOUBLE KILL』

“Man,” Roi chuckled. “Dark Knight is sure fair.”

He’s doing his job. Yuel nodded in approval. After seeing Roi and Dan’s performance this game, Yuel felt really bad for suspecting they might throw today’s game to let Howard win.

Roi was the strongest player in the game at the moment and unstoppable even in a 1v2. Meanwhile, Dan provided timely backups to completely shut down Taison’s 1v1 strength. They both performed splendidly and Yuel couldn’t come up with a single complaint.

And, if that wasn’t enough, the two of them cooperated really well together. Dan shredded the defenses of tanky targets with Venomancer’s percentage-based damage, then Roi finished them off via execution. With this strong duo and with Lars’s carrying, the team pushed forward at full throttle!

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Compared to them, Julia... Well, she did alright. She was at 0/0/2. Zero deaths and two assists was a positive score, but not a particularly remarkable one. She had many good opportunities to score kills, but she constantly picked defense over offense, it was an old habit which refused to die. At least, she defended Mid from all attacks and set up a few kills for others, so overall her performance was passable.

With Roi and Lars pulling the team forward with their offense, there was no real need for Julia to join. It was a waste a class pick since Electromancer was a strong offensive class, but they were winning anyway so it was fine.

Is that really it? Yuel’s heart beat faster and faster as the game approached its finale. With every kill the team scored, the position on the chess board became even more unwinnable for the enemy. At this point, it was impossible to imagine what sort of comeback Howard’s team could possibly mount.

But, the smoother things went, the harder it was to not be concerned. Was this really the extent of Howard’s strength? Was that really the best he could achieve with his current team after preparing for a week? It was hard to believe but at the same time, Yuel felt like he truly won in the strategic department this round.

Roi snowballed hard as a Dark Knight, just like Yuel planned. Also, everybody dodged 1v1s with Taison and surely avoided many deaths. And, most importantly, Yuel’s Alchemist pick successfully created an opportunity for Lars to kill Ellen during the early-game. It wasn’t the smoothest play and they failed to reproduce it ever since, but it worked the first time and that was huge. It felt like Yuel outwitted Howard across the entire board.

We’ll win this! Yuel’s fingers trembled. They were really doing it! They were winning against Howard! After being thoroughly shut down by Howard back during the entry exam, Yuel came to the point where he could put on a decent fight against Howard’s defense. Or rather, he was WINNING and quite decisively too!

Before long, they’ll claim their spots on the first string. The competitive scene was just a few steps away!

『VICTORY』

The first game came to an expected conclusion. Howard’s team played defensively till the bitter end and dragged the game out for as long as humanly possible but they couldn’t stop Roi and Lars’s overwhelming pushes.

“Woohoo! We did it!” Lars raised a hand. “Just one more and we gonna go pro! We got this!”

“Yeah!” Yuel high-fived Lars amidst the excitement and regretted it a moment later. Ugh, his palm turned red. Lars’s hands were definitely made of metal or maybe something even stronger.

“There’s a 10-minute break between games,” Yuel explained. “We arranged it to be like tournament matches.”

“Okay, cool.” Roi jumped from his chair and stretched.

“Overall,” Yuel said. “You all played well. Especially, Roi and Lars. You carried the entire team.”

“No problem, yo.”

“Dark Knight is fair, lol.”

“C’mon, guys,” Dan pouted. “You finished the game so quickly I didn’t even get my Venom online.”

“You did fine too,” Yuel said. “But, there are a few parts I’d like to address.” He briefly went over the few occasions in which Lars and Roi were lured into a trap. Considering it was Ellen’s specialty to bait players to their doom, there was no way Lars and Roi would develop complete resistance to it, especially not in such a short time. Still, they’ll hopefully pay more attention after being shown their mistakes.

All in all, Yuel was content with the team’s performance. The teamwork and tactics they practiced throughout the week delivered results in this game. Their early-game lead could have been easily lost if they performed poorly during team fights, but that didn’t happen. They dominated even that part of the game, so they were stronger from start to end.

Truly, they all played well. Well, almost all of them were.

“Julia,” Yuel called out once everybody else left. Julia crossed her arms and shot him a glare, must be a defensive stance of some sort. She probably had an idea where this was going. “You played too defensively, again.”

“Hmph, not really.” Julia shifted her eyes away. “I got some assists, didn’t I? Could’ve easily been kills instead.”

“Not exactly. You did a good job setting up kills for others, but you never pushed hard enough to get kills yourself. For example, when Taison ganked Mid and Roi was there, you had a 2v1 situation. Why didn’t you advance to help Roi against Taison? That could’ve easily been a kill.”

“I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Risk it? But it was a 2v1. You had all the advantage.”

“But, what if he suddenly turns around and focuses me? I might die, you know?”

“That’s always a possibility in literally any scenario, so that’s not how you’re supposed to think during advantageous situations. They’re called ‘advantagous’ for a reason, you’re supposed to take advantage of them. Otherwise, you’ll keep missing any opportunity you’re given.”

“Hmph, it’s not my fault,” Julia lifted her chin. “Remember what you told us about Tai a few days ago? You went on and on about how he’s like the most dangerous guy on that team and how we gotta be careful around him. So, I didn’t wanna take any risks.”

“How’s that my fault?” Yuel was taken aback. Yes, he did warn the team about Taison’s potential strength before the match. He shared his findings of Taison’s impressive 1v1 record and told everybody to be careful.

At the time, it was unclear in which specific scenarios Taison lost his efficiency. Therefore, Yuel told them to watch out for Taison in general, not only in 1v1. But, that wasn’t supposed to scare them to the point they’d avoid taking advantage of a 2v1 situation against Taison.

“If you told me earlier that he’s only good at 1v1, I would have attacked him for sure. So yeah, it’s all your fault.”

“Huh...” Yuel wasn’t even sure how to retort. This accusation was beyond asinine, but that was par for the course for Julia. Yuel just had to approach this from a different angle. “Taison wasn’t there every time you had a good chance. You also gave up many opportunities because you chose to not chase enemies. There are times when chasing the enemy is the right play, you know.”

“But, what if it’s a trap?” Julia retorted. “I know Ellen likes that kind of stuff, so you can never be too careful. It’s safer to just let them go. They can’t do anything with that little HP anyway.”

“That’s not how it...” Yuel sighed. Julia was stubborn with her stance even though she knew she gave up many great opportunities. She couldn’t bring herself to play aggressively in front of Lars, not even during such an important match. It’s a shame, but that’s how it was.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Yuel had to pacify her before this gets out of hand and she stops listening to him entirely. “You did a passable job overall, but you could’ve done even more with a defensive class. If you can’t bring yourself to play offense, then picking an Electromancer is a waste. You should go with a class that has more utility.”

“I just...” Julia clenched her fists but didn’t follow up with anything.

“You said you’ll do your best to make the team win today, right?”

“Well, yeah, but...”

“Then, I’m sorry to say, but doing a ‘passable’ job isn’t enough. You can do better and the team needs you to do better. So, again, if you don’t plan on bringing out your explosive playstyle-”

“I get it already!” Julia shifted her eyes from side to side to make sure nobody was listening. “Okay, fine. Next drafting phase, you tell me which class you think is good for me and I’ll think about it. Hmph.”

“Got it.” Not exactly the most conclusive way to finish this conversation, but it’s probably the most Yuel could get out of her right now. Julia was visibly frustrated by her own lackluster performance, so Yuel didn’t want to press any further.

At around the same time, another secret conversation was taking place.

“Welp,” Dan leaned on the window. “We won.”

“Yeah,” Roi took a sip from his Cola. “DK is sure fair, lol.”

“Well, to be fair, any class would feel cheap when you’re fed.”

“That true,” Roi smiled wryly. “But, it felt like I stomped GG without even giving him a chance. He did get a little better afterwards when he started turtling, but it felt like I was bullying him. I like it when I can fight face-to-face without having that swingy advantage, ya feel me?”

“Well, Yuel wants to win at any cost, so he doesn’t care about you having fun.”

“Yeah, I get it, but it’s not exactly fun.”

“Well, if things keep going like this we may actually win this thing.”

“Yeah...” Roi wore a difficult expression as he took another sip. “Should we really be doing this? I mean, at this rate, Howard gonna give up his position.”

“So, what you suggest? We butcher the game?”

“No, but...” Roi clenched his drink. “No matter how you look at it, we clearly got the stronger team this match. I dunno what Howard was thinking when he suggested this silly challenge, but he either underestimated Yuel or overestimated Tai and GG. Either way, this ain’t looking good for him.”

“Yep. Well, me and you probably gonna be starters no matter who wins, right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to only be a starter - I wanna win. The regionals and the nationals, I want the team to go places and challenge the strongest guys out there. And to do that stuff, the team needs a strong captain. I respect Yuel and all, but I don’t think he quite cuts it right now. He’s a good strategist and shot-caller, maybe even a better than Howard. But, as a captain, he’s lacking right now.”

“If only we could somehow form a team with both Howard and Yuel in it.”

“Heh, that’d be pretty epic,” Roi smiled. “Also throw Lars into the mix and you got yourself some godlike team right there.”

“Ez nationals.”

“Lol, no joke. Too bad that can’t happen, though. We either gonna have the best captain or the best strategist, but not both. I think Yuel may become a decent captain in the future, but there’s a gap of one year between him and Howard. Or maybe even more, dunno for how long Howard has been playing Mancers.”

“From age zero. The first thing he did when he was born was to pick Paladin.”

“Lol, can totally see that. Really, there’s just a huge gap of experience between them. I don’t see Yuel making up for it with just good shot-calls.”

“Well,” Dan shrugged. “If Howard is really such an amazing captain, he won’t go down without a fight, right? He probably got an ace or two up his sleeve. This match gonna prove which is superior: Howard’s leadership or Yuel’s crazy ass shot-calls, heh.”

“Lol, yeah,” Roi smiled wryly and clenched his knee. “I just know how important it is to have a strong captain to get far in tournaments, that’s why I’m not sure about this. You were there too, right?”

“Sure was,” Dan narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Roi’s leg. The injury which ended Roi’s baseball career and destroyed the team’s spirits, Dan saw it all from the dugout. Everybody crumbled under pressure without a strong captain to reassure them.

“Well,” Dan smirked. “Worst case, if Yuel wins, you can become the captain.”

“Lol, yeah right.”

“Really, I think you’d do a fine-”

“No, Howard is our man,” Roi declared. “I can tell the guy is serious about winning the championship. If it’s with him, we can really get there.”

“Then, what about this match?”

“Ugh...”

“We’re back to square one, huh.” Dan shook his head.

“I’ll play,” Roi said. “Howard came up with this idea, so he better put his money where his mouth is at. Otherwise, not gonna lie, I’ll lose some respect for him as a competent captain.”

“Heh, gotta believe his team holds some secret strategy.”

“Yeah. I hope he finds a way to turn this around, but I’ll keep playing seriously,” Roi sighed. “Gotta admit, not a fan of heading into a match while rooting for the enemy.”

“You can say that again.” Dan stared at the clear summer sky. Did Howard really have a way to turn this around? Yuel hasn’t even displayed the full extent of the planning he has done over the week. This was worrisome.

Nevertheless, the two of them had no choice but to keep acting like faithful chess pieces in Yuels’ plans. While secretly praying for Howard’s comeback, they had to keep taking the match seriously...

One-third of the match was over, but everything was still shroud in uncertainty. Even though Yuel’s team took the first round quite decisively, doubt and uneasiness secretly seeded themselves among some of his teammates. How will that affect the team’s performance? Will Yuel be able to push all the way to victory despite all of this?

What’s for sure, the true challenge will begin with the second game.