It took us several minutes to travel to our outer bottom-lane tower, which stood in the southeast corner of the arena. We had arrived there early, and our golem troops lagged behind us a short distance away. Time ticked crisply; each second passed with full resolution. I steadied my breathing and raised my crossbow to firing position. My vision sharpened to view the world in full detail. Hunter's eye, I've heard it called. A boost in perception fueled by adrenaline.

The red tower stood opposite to ours. Within its long shadow stood a pair of figures, both humanoid in shape and size. The so-called robots. Squinting, I could see their bodies of wood buttressed with stripes of dark metal. One of them held a bow. The other, a stouter robot, carried a mace and shield. I double-blinked to check their HP. 590 on the robot “Archer”; 700 on the “Mace-bot.”

A dark grove of bamboo bordered the lane to our right. I sensed no movement from within.

"I'll go in there for cover," I checked with Hei. He had his spear gripped in one hand, in an over-the-shoulder, throwing stance.

He gave me a shallow nod. "Be careful."

We didn't get consistent intel on what the Archer could do, other than shoot arrows. The Mace-bot, however, we knew. Its level 1 ability was Staggering Blow, a heavy strike that stunned its target. Its level 2 ability was Shield Charge, which provided it a great burst of movement speed and defense. I eyed the wicked flanges of its mace and the thick metal rim of its shield. I told myself to be bold; this robot had no way of reaching me at level 1 if I kept my distance. I had to press my advantage early. Steeling my nerves, I charged ahead of Hei into the bamboo grove to secure the cover it'd provide me to snipe from. The Archer raised its bow at me. Right as it did, I dove into the grove's shadows, where the cool earth, damp with grasses, silenced my footsteps. My heart thumped madly from a mix of exertion and fear.

I knelt down at a spot near the grove's edge, where a small gap in the outgrowth gave me access to my targets. I aimed my crossbow at the robots to get a feel. No good. My hand trembled uncontrollably. My entire body did.

Sophia! Get a hold of yourself. You've even got Hei with you. Breathe in, three seconds…breathe out, three seconds…there you go.

Soon our golems met the enemies' golems at the midpoint of the lane. The shield-bearers formed parallel frontlines, while the crossbowers fired from behind.

image [https://imgur.com/gxcoajO.png]

(Figures not drawn to scale)

Hei stepped up to hurl spears at the red shield-golems. The robots mirrored him and attacked our golems. As the robot Archer drew back its bowstring, I saw my chance.

Frost Missile.

I launched a shard of ice, hitting the Archer on the arm. The Archer staggered from the blow, then quickly glanced in my direction. Silencing my breath, I compressed and hid my body behind the bamboo stalks. When I peeked, the robot had retreated away, back toward its own tower. Leaving its mace-wielding ally to bash at our golems alone. I tightened my grip on the crossbow. Now was our chance.

I darted out of the grove and pelted the hapless melee robot with a couple crossbow shots. And just as the red golems turned to me in retaliation for hurting their master, I disappeared back among the bamboo. Soon as I did that, the enemy golems seemed to instantly drop their grudge, and they went back to mindlessly attacking our golems.

Looked like the golems were hyper-protective of the "players" characters, but also had the memory of goldfishes. Out of sight, out of mind.

Now, both the robots had retreated, cautious of my next attack. The Archer must've known, especially: any time it focused its aim on a golem, I'd exploit that opening. It instead resorted to only firing sparse shots to deliver the finishing blows on our dying golems, for the gold bounty

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Hei, meanwhile, pelted away relentlessly at the enemy golems, his spear-throws streaking silver across the air. Soon, the next waves of five golems arrived from both sides. By the time Hei killed his seventh golem, the Archer had only finished off its sixth.

Hei charged forward. As though taking advantage of his audacious foray into enemy lines, the enemy robots moved up toward him, emboldened by the chance for bloodshed. Hei tossed one additional spear, not at the robots he charged toward, but rather at one of their fractured, dying golems, finally shattering it for good.

And that was our eighth slain golem. Just enough for us to hit level 2. As for our enemies, they were both still stuck at level 1.

"Plan A!" Hei shouted in my direction. I dashed once again out of the grove, charging forward with abandon, throwing all fear to the wind. Blood pounded my head so hard, I thought I'd faint.

Hei vanished in a flash of light, then reappeared behind the Archer and Mace-bot in a shadowy burst. The wave of purple energy from him splintered the bodies of both robots. That was his Voidstep. He crouched and thrusted, driving his spear into the Archer. Space distorted, then burst as Hei's Graviton Joust catapulted the Archer into the air. The robot landed far away, in the midst of our golems. I fired my crossbow at it, and it returned fire. An arrow buried into my abdomen shallowly, but I bit my lips and endured the wound. Our golems, meanwhile, joined in my assault with their own crossbow bolts and shield-bashes.

The Archer must've quickly realized it couldn't win against all of us, and it made a beeline back toward its own troops. I denied it mobility with the slow from a Frost Missile, then lobbed a Vortex Shield for good measure. The water blast crashed squarely into it, bringing the Archer to its knees. Meanwhile, the Mace-bot, supposedly still first level, chased after Hei futilely as he ran back to our golems.

Hei speared the Archer repeatedly from range, and I added in bolts from my crossbow. In a matter of seconds the Archer dropped to the ground and vanished in a puff of mist. It only left behind a broken medallion – its used-up Death Ward. A token of our sweet, hard-earned victory. I exhaled in relief, allowing myself sweet seconds of respite.

Hei and I called our maneuver a "level 2 all-in." The idea was to hit the golems hard, get eight of them dead ASAP to level up before your opponents, then immediately go for an all-in attack with everything you got. The sheer power gap between levels 2 and 1 likely meant a one-sided slaughter against careless foes.

We pressed our advantage against the remaining Mace-bot, harrying it with ranged attacks until it retreated under the protection of its tower, near-dead. It planted one hand upon the ground, conjuring a blue runic circle around itself.

"Ring of Recall," I guessed. The robot probably wanted to go back to base, to heal using the vending machine’s Aura of Recovery. I counted down 30 seconds in my head as I dashed forward. If memory served right, that was how long it'd take to channel the recall.

I veered to the side of the lane, passing the enemy golems. 10 seconds until channel complete.

I stood as close as I dared to the enemy tower. It loomed tall above me, but so far no laser shots. If Atlas was right, the tower had a range of 150 meters. I inched forward while the lone robot watched, hand still on the ground.

Frost Missile.

I launched it not at the robot, but diagonally forward. It traveled 100 meters, bounced off the ground, then continued another 100m toward the robot. The robot raised its battered shield to block.

My missile pierced the shield. It came out clean on the other side, then blew out the robot's neck with a satisfying crunch. Now decapitated, the frosted robot collapsed and disappeared. I imagined it'd leave behind another broken death ward, but I couldn't tell from this distance. 141 meters, my max range with a ricochet snipe. Nowhere under the tower was outside my reach, except a tiny circle near its base. The Mace-bot hadn't taken care to stay within that circle.

Before the enemy golems could get mad at me, I retreated, almost laughing in exhilaration. I ran back to rejoin Hei on the other side. Look at us, both still alive!

We finished off the remainder of the enemy golems, then marched ours forward to assault their tower. We managed to seriously damage it, before it finished off our golems and we had to retreat. Soon, the next golem waves arrived to clash at the lane's midpoint. And with them, the two robots also returned.

"Wait," I said. "They should still be level 1, right?"

I checked their max HP. Same as before. So yes, still level 1.

This time, they played a lot more cautiously. As I took my spot inside the bamboo grove, they hid among their golem troops for cover. And as Hei neared them, they even kited back while shooting arrows. Soon, a subtle aura pulsed across both the robots. They had leveled up. Almost instantly, the Mace-bot sprinted forward at Hei. Wheels extended from its feet and accelerated it faster and faster. As Hei met its advance with spear throws, it blocked them with its raised shield. I readied a Frost Missile and closed an eye to aim.

Steady…steady…

No good. On wheels, the robot outpaced my hand and sight. But I had to fire. Now or never –

Splashes sounded from the river. To my surprise, I saw Saber wading into our lane. She pointed her sword, stained with the purplish gore of undeads, at the Archer. Then she charged into the fray.