Going to the frontline sounds like all sorts of trouble, so let's not do that. Nia nodded to herself. She had no interest in contesting the Knight for a temporary lane advantage; it was useless for her anyway. All that really mattered was scoring a kill on that guy and then push hard for the win.

So, instead of heading to the frontline, she’ll wait near her Golem and make the minions come to her. That'll be much less of a pain to deal with.

Nia tossed a smoke bomb on the Knight. The explosion dealt slight damage to him and made his minions seek revenge on Nia. But, unbeknown to the minions, that was exactly what Nia wanted from them.

She retreated to her Golem and lured the minions into its fire range. Once all the enemy swordsmen stepped into the danger zone, Nia booted her Stealth for a moment to erase the minions’ aggression.

Hehe, that’s right, Nia smirked. Even though you’re bots, even you can’t detect me.

Her momentary stealth state confused the minions and made them forget they were targetting Nia just a moment ago. So, instead, they returned to their natural game plan: attacking whichever enemy minion was closest to them.

While all of this was going down, Nia’s minions chased after the invaders and caught up to them at the Golem. Since all minions were close to each other right now, the battle broke out right there in the Golem’s area. Instead of stepping out of the area to avoid heavy damage, the enemy minions remained in the lion’s den while clashing with their opponents. These bots were too dumb to realize they were in a deadly situation.

“So, that’s how she’s going to do it,” Vincent nodded to himself. “Beautiful! I like this counter. What do you all think?”

“It’s not bad,” Yuel admitted. He used a similar tactic against Knights when he played Top so this was a solid advanced tech.

“But,” Yuel said. “She took it a bit too far. I understand she wants to clear the minions faster but was it really neccessary to lure them all the way to the Golem? She’s losing exp and gold this way.”

“It’s fine,” Kai objected. “Losing some farm early on isn’t a big deal in 1v1 if you can make up for it later.”

“Not gonna lie, I’m not a fan of that stuff,” Lars said. “You gotta take ALL the farm, yo! Last-hit all the things!”

“Not everybody can play by your high standard,” Kai said.

Hmm. Yuel frowned. It’s hard to judge this play when the two best Duelists here don’t see eye to eye about it. I suppose it’s a passable approach for this Rogue vs. Knight matchup.

In the end, Nia cleared the enemy swordsmen way faster than they killed her swordsmen, all thanks to Golem rampaging around and tossing boulders. After that, she stayed under tower and let her surviving minions fight on their own. It was a battle of 2 swordsmen and 3 bowmen vs. 3 bowmen.

I rather not let these swordsmen reach my bowmen. Vincent was itching to step onto the frontline to block the path of the incoming swordsmen. The bowmen minions were rather squishy, so they’d die fast if the swordsmen get close.

With that said, Vincent couldn't just run ahead and aggro the swordsmen because said swordsmen were closely accompanied by three bowmen behind them. If Vincent steps forward, he'll aggro that entire dangerous gang. The DPS of three bowmen focused on one target was nothing to sneeze at, especially during the earlier parts of the game. Even as a Knight with Mistmail, he didn't want to soak all that damage.

Ultimately, Vincent stepped back and waited for enemy swordsmen to arrive. He had no choice but use his minions as a meat shield in this situation. He was like a Chessmaster and the bowmen were his disposable pawns, muhahaha!

Once all the enemy minions focused their fire on Vincent's bowmen, he charged to the frontline with Shield Bash. He slammed his shield against one of the swordsmen and killed the already-injured warrior on the spot. Meanwhile, his bowmen shot down the other swordsman.

Phew, safe. Vincent breathed in relief. None of his bowmen was lost in this exchange so it turned out much better than he expected.

To wrap things up, Vincent followed up with Blade Swing to cut through all three enemy bowmen in one fell swoop. Along with the backup fire from his bowmen, he swiftly finished off all the enemy minions. However, he only had one and a half bowmen remaining after that whole exchange. This tiny group of survivors was far from enough to properly push the enemy Golem.

Nia didn't show any signs of coming out to fight the bowmen, so there was no opening for Vincent to attack. He just let his bowmen venture into enemy territory alone and get bombarded by the Golem. The bowmen merely got two shots on the tower before dying.

With that, the first minion wave was over.

"It turned out pretty equal," Vincent summarized.

"Not quite," Yuel objected. "She missed a lot of farm with this approach."

The game punished players who farmed while hugging their tower. All exp and gold earned from minions inside the Golem's range were reduced by 30%. So, even if the player scored last-hits on these minions to benefit from x1.2 earnings, that still put them at around 85% of the normal earnings. In other words, by luring the minions to her Golem, Nia threw away over 15% of the farm she could've easily gotten.

"Geh, I think I fried my brain with all them numbers," Lars rubbed his temples. "In short, she missed a lot of farm, right?"

"Yes."

"Well," Kai crossed her arms. "If you finished showing off your math skills, let me just say that optimizing farming is not something you'd expect from a freshman."

"I suppose you're right," Yuel agreed. "I just had to mention it because it might become an issue for her going forward. It's alrighty to trade some farm for extra safety, but she'll have to mount a counter at some point if she wants to win. Otherwise, Vincent will eventually outlevel her and destroy her Golem.”

"Yeah, I'm quite aware,” Kai made a face. “Thanks for explaining it to me like I'm a Bronze tier from kindergarten."

"So," Vincent got everybody's attention. "Do you guys want me to test anything specific? Or, do I just let her maintain this routine to see if it goes anywhere?"

"Sure, why not," Yuel said. "So far, the situation is in your favor in terms of farm. As long as she keeps using that tactic, you'll win by default."

"Fair enough," Vincent nodded. "Alrighty, I'll keep doing my thing and see how deep the rabbit hole goes."

During the next minion wave, Nia repeated the same routine. She dropped a smoke bomb on Vincent to lure the enemy minions to her Golem. Once they invaded deep enough into the danger zone, she entered Stealth to make them forget all about their aggression.

Everything played out exactly like last time. Yet again, only one and half of Vincent's bowmen survived. They got a couple of hits on the enemy Golem before perishing. What brave soldiers they were.

Even after just two waves, the gap in their farm was already becoming apparent. Vincent leveled up to Lv.7 in the middle of that exchange while Nia only hit Lv.7 at the very end. In a couple of waves, Vincent will outright beat her by one level. If Nia had any counter tactic in mind, she better execute it sooner than later.

Alas, the outcome of the next minion wave was exactly the same. Yet again, Vincent let Nia do her thing and carefully observed her moves. But, she did nothing new.

He's not biting. Nia pursed her lips. Most opponents got irritated by such a defensive tactic and invaded at this point. However, this Knight patiently observed her without overextending. He was like a predator eying his prey. Scary.

Is he judging my every move? Along with everybody else over there? Nia felt cold sweat on her forehead. These examiners monitored every single move, every twitch, she made. They judged everything and will fail her for the smallest of mistakes. They might even fail her for just breathing. Or, even worse, they might forget to grade her at all...

I-I'll show them! Nia clenched her controller. If all that Knight gonna do is stand there and laugh at her, she had an idea of her own. The Knight was already down to 80% from her repeated smoke bombs, so he'll be within kill range after just another one bomb. That's when she'll make her move. The hunted will become the hunter! She'll overtake the bully!

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When the next wave came, Nia executed her routine per usual. She threw a smoke bomb on the Knight, lured the minions to her Golem, and finished them off. Then, instead of waiting in the safe zone, she retreated deeper into her lane and went around the corner.

"Oh, she's gone," Vincent glanced at the mini-map. "It appears she's planning to use this time to farm the Wraiths. They're right about to respawn."

"Man, talk about disrespect," Luke shook his head. “She’s practically handing you the lane for free.”

"What do I do?" Vincent asked everybody. "Do I go ambush her at the Wraiths?"

"I don't think you need to go that far," Kai was quick to object. "It's just an exam."

"But, a mistake is a mistake," Vincent argued. "I can't just let her get away with it, right?"

"Shouldn't you just push?" Luke suggested.

"Yeah," Lars said. "I'd totally use this time to push hard. Gotta make them regret leaving the lane behind like that. She should’ve stayed and fought till the bitter end like a true duelist."

“That works," Vincent nodded. "I can feel the Golem begging me to invade."

"To be fair," Kai said. "I'd probably push too. If my opponent is the type to neglect the lane for some side farm, I'll capitalize on it every single time."

"Alrighty then," Vincent concluded. "I'll push like my life depends on it. Here comes doomsday!"

Vincent charged ahead of his minions with Shield Bash and slammed the enemy wave. The enemy began firing at him but that's exactly what he wanted. To make the most out of this opportunity, he wanted to keep his minions as healthy as possible for the invasion. The longer his minions survive in the Golem's area, the more he'll be able to push. Therefore, he tanked all the incoming damage to keep his minions at perfect health.

Is this really okay? Yuel wondered. He didn't say anything on the topic but the others knew better than him how to play Duel, but it felt like everybody was rushing it a little. Just because Nia walked away from the lane didn't necessarily mean she went to farm the Wraiths. I agree that's the most likely scenario but it's better to stay vigilant. A single misplay can cost the entire match here.

Despite the worry, Yuel kept these thoughts to himself. Maybe he was overthinking it and what the others suggested was the superior line of play. After all, Lars and Kai ranked much higher than him in Duel so they should know better. Besides, the opponent was a freshman. What kind of tricky could Nia possibly pull?

“Alrighty,” Vincent finished off the enemy wave. He lost a chunk of his HP in the process but, in exchange, all his soldiers were at full health. The healthier they were, the more Golem hits they’ll be able to tank for him.

Without further ado, Vincent charged into the Golem's area with his loyal army. The minions tanked the Golem's slams and boulders while Vincent hacked away at the Golem's legs.

Even though this was the same Golem from the MOBA mode in terms of design, it was quite smaller and didn’t hit as hard. Therefore, it took the Golem quite a while to kill all of Vincent's minions. On top of that, the Golem’s HP and defense were nowhere as tough as those of the MOBA Golem. Thus, its HP plummeted quickly from all the attacks. If all goes smoothly, Vincent might bring this Golem all the way down to 30% HP.

However, that was too easy to be true. While Vincent was busy attacking the Golem, an invisible figure crept up to him from behind. Once the invisible assaulter got within range, it struck from the shadows!

"Whoa!" Vincent jumped. A blade sliced his back! Nia was right behind him! She’s back so fast!?

Got you. Nia smirked. She stuck to the Knight's back and slashed away at it. Thanks to Rogue's passive, Backstabber, each of her attacks dealt 30% more damage. On top of that, her Lv.3 Murasama stole defenses on each successful hit, making the Knight even more vulnerable. This guy done goofed and he was about to pay for it!

"Darn, this is rough...!" Vincent turned around and dashed out of the Golem's area. He couldn't strike back from this position due to the Golem’s looming presence. If he lifts but a single finger on Nia, the Golem will be all over his business. Vincent will turn into dead meat within seconds. Therefore, his only option was to get the heck out of there!

"What a marvelous trap!" Vincent made noise while running away. “I shall dub it the Ultimate Bait-and-Switch!”

"It's just a basic bait," Yuel said. As he feared, everybody jumped to conclusions regarding Nia’s absence from the lane. Despite being a freshman, Nia was Platinum rank in Duel. It wasn’t a rank anybody could easily get to while playing poorly, especially not with assassin classes. So, it was no surprise Nia could pull off such a basic bait tactic. And, yet...

"You saw that!?" Kai pointed at the screen. "Wasn't that a pretty high-level play?"

"Yeah!” Lars exclaimed. “Dude totally fooled me, yo!"

Are these guys seriously Diamond and Challenger ranks in Duel? Yuel made a face. If they could fall for such a simple tactic then even Yuel had a chance against them...

"Welp, I'm pretty much done for," Vincent’s HP dropped to 20%. He successfully got out of Golem's range but Nia was still breathing down his neck. Even though continuously dishing out attacks slowed her down, she kept up with Vincent due to Rogue's superior movement speed. Vincent wasn't going to shake her off just by running.

"This is my last stand!" Vincent made noise. "Let's us see if you can stop my magnificent escape plan!" He rolled forward just as Nia's next strike was about to land. That made her whiff the attack and created some space between them.

However, it wasn't enough by itself. Vincent's Golem was still far away and there was nowhere to hide. If they both keep running, Nia will easily catch up to him and seal the deal. Therefore, Vincent had to pull out his secret Noble Phantasm!

"Come forth, Sleipnir!" He summoned a black demonic horse via his ult. It was dangerous to mount Sleipnir in front of the enemy because he was more vulnerable to attacks than ever during the mounting animation. However, from this distance, it should be safe enough.

If Vincent can just get on the horse and ride away, he'll get out of this sticky situation and- Whoa! A blade from behind!

Nia instantly closed the distance with Phantom Strike and stuck her dagger into his back! Since the attack landed from behind, it activated an extra effect of Phantom Strike: it stunned Vincent on the spot! That allowed Nia to follow up with further attacks.

"Alright, now I'm officially done for," Vincent smiled wryly and raised his hands in resignation. "GG."

『You have been killed!』

『FIRST BLOOD!』

"Yes!" Kai pumped a fist but immediately hid it away. “Ah, ahem. She did well.”

"She totally pawned ya, haha," Luke laughed. "She sure knows how to Rogue. I already like that girl."

"Yeah, that was smooth as heck," Lars nodded.

"Was it, really?" Yuel wondered. "I thought invading the Golem back there was rather risky. It was predictable something like this might happen."

"Now that I think about it," Vincent crossed his arms. "That’s true. I feel that push was way too brave for me. Love me or hate me for it but I normally don’t play like that. So, I’m shocked I didn’t stop myself. Don't tell me you guys pressured me into it on purpose?"

"Nope," Lars shrugged. "Pretty sure I would have pushed as well."

"Yeah," Kai agreed. "I would have gone on the offensive as well. Nia just outplayed you. Deal with it, scrub."

"By the sound of it, she would have outplayed you too in this situation," Vincent pointed out.

"Huh, guess that's true," Kai somehow forced these words through her teeth. "But, I'm sure I would've retreated without dying, unlike a certain someone."

"If you say so," Vincent rolled his eyes. Typical Kai. With that said, perhaps her Rhythm Reader would have indeed rescued her out of this predicament. The Rhythm Reader vs. the Ultimate Bait-and-Switch! It’ll be the battle of the century!

Alas, no matter how hard he tried to laugh it off, something about this turn of events still bothered him. Vincent didn’t consider himself a particularly skilled player but he prided himself on his ability to analyze his opponents’ offense and adjust his defense accordingly. As such, he should've picked up on Nia’s sneaky attack plan and played more cautiously. Yet, he failed to do so.

Did she outsmart both my Arbiter of Talents and Information Blackhole skills!? Impossible! None should be able to escape their gravitational pull!

Yet, it was a fact: Nia outplayed him. With ease, on top of that. Did Vincent underestimate her because this was just an exam for a freshman? No way. At least, that wasn’t his intention.

Then, did he go for that risky play because everybody else talked him into it? Maybe he cracked a little under peer pressure. But, that couldn’t be all because the idea of an ambush didn’t even cross his mind when Nia left the lane. It’s like he couldn’t even think of such a basic scenario. It was so odd.

Welp, maybe I’m just overthinking it. Vincent shook his head. Everybody made mistakes and he was no exception. No problem! Next time, my flawless Information Blackhole shall reveal all her cunning tricks!

While Vincent was waiting to respawn, Nia had a great opportunity to make something big happen. How was she going to capitalize on this situation? Will she use this time to push the lane? Or, will she steal one of the camps?

Unfortunately, none of the observers could tell because they had to watch the game from Vincent's point-of-view. Thus, nobody could pass any judgment on Nia during this critical situation.

“That’s why I wanted to watch from her point-of-view,” Yuel ranted.

“It can’t be helped if she feels uncomfortable being watched,” Kai was quick to object. “It’s always more stressful when others watch you play.”

“Yep, I know the feel,” Luke nodded. “Always feels like ya gonna fudge something up when ya got eyes on ya.”

“I suppose,” Yuel was no alien to this feeling. When somebody was there, watching and judging every twitch he made, it had a chance to affect his decision-making. For example, sometimes, he went for the safe option to look good in front of the crowd rather than gamble on riskier play with a higher payoff.

So, there was no question that watching Nia closely would most likely hurt her performance. Then again, Yuel survived StormBlitz’s exam while being interrogated by Aron nonstop the whole time. So, being silently watched wouldn’t kill Nia.

“You can just watch the replay later,” Kai said.

“I know,” Yuel said so but he wasn’t satisfied. That’s why, while everybody was waiting for Vincent's revival, Yuel focused on his own tablet. He has sneakily joined the game as a spectator shortly after it began. This way, he could see the entire map from an omniscient point-of-view.

Unfortunately, spectator mode had a delay of one minute for this match, which was the lowest delay the game allowed to set for custom matches. So, his tablet was still showing Vincent carelessly pushing Nia’s Golem. However, shortly after that, it’ll show exactly what Nia planned to do with this huge opportunity she got.

Will she push? Or, will she take the red/blue buffs? This was where her playstyle and decision-making will be tested in a big way.