Aron and Alex successfully killed the enemy Lumimancer, as well as injured the Viking enough to make him recall. The horizon was clear.

“That was easy,” Alex said.

“It sure was,” Aron nodded. “I’m still confused about the point behind that rescue attempt.”

“He tried to save the Lumi, duh.”

“Obviously, that was the goal. But, Yuel should know better than going for such a hopeless gank. There was no chance of saving the Lumimancer in that situation.”

“I agree, his chances were bleak,” Alex nodded. “But, it probably looked doable for most people.”

“Except, Yuel isn’t ‘most people’,” Aron frowned. “He should’ve known that this play won’t fly against me. I was expecting a twist, but there was none. It was a plain misplay.”

“Are you sure you’re not giving the guy too much credit? He’s only in second year, right?”

“Yes, but even as a freshman, his judgment has always been exceptional. This is very much unlike him. It’s almost as if his decision was...” Fueled by something other than rational reasoning.

Aron didn’t dare to voice that thought out loud. That wasn’t the Yuel he knew. As a shot-caller, Yuel’s strongest quality was his ability to always think rationally and use objective judgments. So, he couldn’t have possibly regressed into the type of player who made emotional decisions out of sheer optimism. Because, if so, he wouldn’t be Yuel anymore.

“You’re sure making a big deal out of it,” Alex shrugged. “You know, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Maybe he misjudged the situation in the heat of the moment. He had to react fast, so he made a hasty decision.”

“I suppose that’s possible.”

“Besides, he nearly got the Lumi out. I’m not so sure you would’ve confirmed the kill on your own back there.”

“I would have gotten the job done if I focused the Lumi,” Aron objected. “But, it was easier to leave her to you. No point pushing myself and risking a misplay.”

“Either way, you agree that, without me in the picture, there was a slight chance of them getting away, right? Maybe that’s what he was counting on.”

“It was obvious to everybody that you’ll get involved in that situation,” Aron argued. “Yuel wouldn’t miss something so obvious.”

“Maybe he gambled on the chance I won’t make it?”

“Perhaps,” Aron sighed. “Anyway, we’re getting nowhere so let’s move on.”

“Agreed,” Alex nodded. With the Lumimancer out of the picture and the Viking back at the base, the Top Turret was there for the taking. "So, we’re taking the Turret with the next wave, right?"

"You take it," Aron turned his back and strode toward the jungle. "I'll use this opportunity to gank Bot."

"Wait, I'm not sure I can take the Turret alone,” Alex said. “The Viking might return to defend."

"No big deal. You'll take the Turret sooner or later. We're in no hurry."

"True, but pushing alone makes it awkward. I don't have any escape tools, remember? And, I spent my Blink too. So, I'll have to constantly watch out for potential ganks. Not fun."

"Just play safe like you always do and you’ll be fine."

"What a drag," Alex sighed. He was hoping to score the Turret now and have an easy ride on the lane from there onward, but Aron didn't care for realizing this utopia. Oh well. "So, I guess that Elf player is such a big deal?"

"You can put it that way," Aron said. "As long as he's alive, you can never be too sure about anything. He's a wild card. But, if we take him out now, the game is as good as over."

"Sounds greedy," Alex shrugged. "I rather take the tower in front while I can, but you do you."

"I'm sure you can take it alone."

"We'll see how it goes."

On that note, Aron left Top and headed toward Bot through the Jungle.

"I'm rotating to Bot," Aron announced.

"Yeah, I heard," Trever nodded.

"Lure Lars toward me."

"We really hafta gank him? I can take him out myself. He's free as heck today."

"Oh, really? Then go ahead. I'll wait."

"Tch, okay, okay," Trever made a face. If it were so easy, he would've kicked Lars’s turtling arse ages ago. But, Lars's defense has been proving to be surprisingly airtight.

Of course, part of it was Elf being broken with his asinine attack range. Even an infant could pick up this hax class and shoot arrows from across half the universe. Shit was dumb as fuck. Nerfs pls?

But hey, Trever wasn't some scrubby scrub who'd lose to cheap stuff. He had more than enough experience fighting pesky elves. Especially, experience in crushing the smarty-pants players who picked Elf for Duel, thinking they gonna cheat the system with Elf's range. Nah-uh, not gonna happen against Trever. He gave them the business every time.

The counter to Elf was straightforward: just get in and wreck him from close-range! Ezpz. Well, it wasn’t that easy in practice, but Trever knew how to be aggressive enough against these campers. After all, he was the WildDragon! He knew how to cause a storm or two.

Nevertheless, the players who really knew how to play Elf gave him trouble from time to time. Turned out Lars became one of these filthy campers. The brat's Elf used to be much more active and daring, but now he was properly maintaining his distance and all that lame shit.

To make things worse, Lars was still the usual aimbot. So, not only he had asinine range but his shots hit home every single time. His farming was the epitome of Elf effectiveness. Trever could clip that stuff and title it "A PRO ELF PLAYER FARMING LIKE A MACHINE!!!!" and nobody will doubt it’s legit pro-level material. That's how good it looked.

So yeah, even for Trever, it wasn't exactly easy to deal with Lars’s Elf today. It was unclear what was possessing the kid, but his defense was on-point. He didn't fall for any of the usual baits and he nothing tempted him to start pushing.

To make things worse, Lars bought himself some crit after returning to base. The crit chance wasn't high but, but it’ll hurt like hell if it connects. One unlucky shot and Trever will lose like 30% HP.

Until now, Trever has been enjoying the ez lane advantage. He fearlessly charged in with his cutlass and cleared minions from melee range. Lars never dared to shoot him in fear of aggro-ing the minions, so Trever had the leisure to wreak havoc on the frontline without fearing anything or anybody.

However, Lars's newly obtained crit chance changed everything. Now, Trever actually had to be careful, because even a single hit could be lethal. Lars knew that too, so he no longer played nice. As soon as Trever approached the edge of Elf’s obnoxious attack range - BAM! A laser beam straight in the chest!

Nice shot, bastard. Trever grinned but cold sweat formed on his forehead. The aim was pitch-perfect, even from this range. Luckily, this shot wasn’t a critical hit. And yet, Trever lost almost 15% HP from that hit. Damn, I don't wanna find out how much a crit would deal.

The attack aggro'd Trever's minions on Lars's ass, but Lars dealt with them cleanly. The brat built high attack power and some of his shots crit'd, so he shot most of the minions down before they reached him.

Trever could've charged in to attack alongside his goons, but he decided against it. There was a pretty damn good chance Lars will immediately switch focus to Trever and snipe again without fail. Trever could legit die from three unlucky crit hits right now, so advancing was too reckless.

So, this situation didn’t leave Trever with many options. His best shot against an Elf was to get close, but he couldn't approach an opponent who had an aimbot installed in his brain. Therefore, the best Trever could do was to maintain his slight lane advantage by clearing minions a little faster. Unfortunately, that didn't move things anywhere.

"Yeah, to be honest, a gank would be nice," Trever finally accepted Aron’s offer. "So, you just need me to bring Lars into the jungle?"

"Yes, that'd be ideal," Aron said. "I don't have my ult, so my options are limited. It's best to force him into an area from which he'll find it hard to escape."

"Roger," Trever saluted. "Food delivery coming in a minute. Don't forget to prepare your tip."

"You make baiting sound so easy."

"C'mon, it's Lars we're talking about. He's even easier to bait than me, haha."

"I'm glad you're so self-aware," Aron frowned. "How about your work on that flaw of yours?"

"Can't fix my genetics, man," Trever laughed it off. "Anyway, I'm on it. Show me where you want your food delivery and I'll get it there."

"Somewhere around here would be ideal," Aron drew an area on the mini-map.

"Gotcha. Food incoming!" Now, all Trever had to do was lure Lars into the jungle. A little taunt should do the trick.

When the next minion wave arrived, Trever advanced to the frontline with a cutlass in hand.

Crit damage? Trever sneered. Pft, who cares about that flesh wound? I’m going all in! Pulling all the stops! Not scared of you!

That's the story Trever tried to sell to Lars by doing an in-game taunt and advancing to the frontline. It was just a bait, he had no intention of truly putting himself at danger. Therefore, he stopped advancing a little early.

ZIP! A laser beam flew straight at him! But, it vanished into thin air right in front of his nose.

As absurd as Elf's attack range was, it still had a limit like every other shot. With Trever’s experience dueling this crappy class, he could more or less see that range with the naked eye. So, as soon as he stepped into the danger zone, he backpedaled out of Lars's. By the time the laser reached him, he was already out of range. This kind of pro play should go straight into a "Top 10 Plays" video. Too bad nobody was there to witness this sick move.

Heh, you mad? Trever stepped within Lars's attack range again. ZIP! Another laser! But, it failed to reach again. Trever stepped outside the attack range in the nick of time.

You ain't gonna get me like that, kid. Trever kept repeating this taunt over and over. He stepped in, then immediately stepped out.

C'mon, turtle. Come here. Trever grinned. Any moment now.

"Dang it!" Lars missed another shot. Or, more accurately, his shot failed to reach the target. One second, Trever was cleary within range and the beam traveled right at him. Yet, in the end, it failed to reach. WHAY!?!?!?!?

Grrr, dude is toying with me. Lars grumbled. He really wanted to get some big hits on Trever to pay back for their previous fight, but dude kept sneaking outta range. Dang it!

I know I can just ignore his shenanigans, but... Actually, no. No way I can ignore this, yo! Lars had to get at least some damage in. Even with his new crit item, he was still behind in terms of wave clearing speed. So, he had to get something going.

Trever was offering himself on a silver platter over there, so Lars just had to get his laser beams to connect. Once they land, they’ll wreck the heck outta Trever's HP. Therefore, Lars absolutely had to make something happen here! It was such an awesome opportunity!

But, I ain't hitting nothing as long as he moonwalks outta range every time. Lars clicked his tongue.

To make matters worse, Trever started shooting while moving. Of course, he didn't shoot Lars due to the big distance between them, but dude had no trouble reaching Lars’s swordsmen with his bullets. So, every time Lars whiffed a shot, Trever used that time window to snipe a minion. Then, right before it was Lars's turn to shoot again, Trever walked into attack range again and stole the spotlight, making Lars whiff yet another shot...

Ya really hate Elf, doncha? That's why ya play like this. Lars smiled wryly.

Truth to be told, Elf was a pretty damn annoying class to deal with. Dude’s range was that of a sniper, so Elf players always camped far in the back and snipped people from half a map away. Basically, exactly what Lars was doing right now.

I became the evil I swore to destroy. Lars chuckled. A few months ago, playing defensively like this would have been unfathomable for him. After all, he was always all about dat sweet, sweet offense. Blitzing into the fray, getting some shots in, bam, bem, boom, and done! Get the kill and get out. That’s how true fights were meant to be!

However, such an approach didn't quite work for Elf. This dude had super long range but his attack speed was nothing to write home about. And, in general, dude was kinda lame during the early-game. Lars used to play offense as Elf in that past, but that always blew up in his face.

So, he always thought Elf was a lame class. But, the selection match against Ellen taught him an important lesson: defense was kinda important too. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't just charge in and win against any opponent. Even if he was “stronger”, the enemy could beat him by playing smart defense or by baiting Lars into dumb stuff. That's how Ellen got him every single time during the selection match.

That's why Lars had to play more patiently. He had to stay in the back at first and calmly assess the situation. He’ll only start charging in once he's absolutely sure he can get things done.

It turned out Elf was one of the best classes for playing like that. It gave Lars the leisure to kick back and observe his prey from afar while getting them minions cleared. It was ez life.

Most of the time, this laid-back attitude riled up the opponents and they opened an attack on him. From there, Lars just had to catch them overextending and turn the tables on them. Pulling that off always felt hella good! It totally made up for having to play like a passive turtle at first. Mounting that sweet counter was satisfying as heck, yo!

Guess that's how they recruited me into this Turtling Elves cult. Lars smiled wryly. This strat worked pretty well, so he started employing it more often. Yuel encouraged him a lot too, so at some point Elf became one of Lars's frequent picks. It might even join the ranks of Trickshooter and Gunslinger one day.

But, for now, it was still a work-in-progress with many rough edges. Experienced opponents snuck by Lars's range advantage and forced the fight into closer quarters. In those, Elf had a tremendous disadvantage compared to most marksmen, and Trever did exactly that the last time they clashed. Dude was an avid Elf Hater, so he knew how to handle this turtling.

Fortunately, Lars dodged a bullet back then and got outta that desperate situation alive. It was a testament to how much he has been playing Elf over the past month. His defense actually became pretty damn solid. Even the supreme criticizer, the guy who complained about every small misplay Lars ever made, praised Lars a few times for his well-executed defensive plays. Hell yeah!

With all that said, Lars still wanted to score 'em kills. After all, playing defense all day won't win him the game. He had to go on the offensive at some point.

That's why, he absolutely gotta land shots on Trever while that cocky senior was showing an opening. Dude was popping his head in and out, as if asking to be shot. So, Lars gonna drill him with laser beams!