『You have killed an enemy!』

“Woohoo! Let’s go!” Lars pumped a fist. He totally rekt that Berserker. Poor dude didn’t stand a chance.

“Awesome, dude!” Luke exclaimed.

“Magnificent!” Vincent added noise. “As expected from the Insane Beast of the Apocalypse! Anyone who dares to stand in his path shall face death!”

“Good job,” Yuel praised the achievement with conflicted feelings.

It was an unexpected turn of events. He was so afraid of Lars messing up that he almost canceled that push, but Lars surpassed all expectations. Not only did Lars survive, but he even scored a kill on the defender. This was a big deal, probably bigger than anybody realized.

If he can take the Golem on top of that- Oh, drat. Yuel’s thoughts were cut short as a new defender showed up in Bot. The enemy had no intention of surrendering the Golem that easily.

“Whoa!” Lars jumped. A blast of wind was coming straight at him! It was that wind burst spell thingy the Aeromancer used. Where did that thing come from!?

No matter! I just gotta dodge! Actually, wait. Is it even gonna reach me?

That wind blast was coming from far away. Lars’s intuition was telling him that the wind will lose all its momentum and disperse before reaching him.

So, there was no need to panic. Lars could just retreat by foot and keep his Dodge Roll for later.

But, just as the thought crossed his mind, a stream of wind formed between him and the incoming blast. It was that thingy the Aeromancer always installed to speed up his projectiles!

“Oh, snap!” Lars exclaimed. It completely escaped him in the heat of the moment. Today’s Aeromancer was no normal Aeromancer. It was Nirvana, the dude who has been giving Lars trouble the entire day! And, dude had this one sick setup...!

“Dang it!” Lars resorted to rolling after all, but it was already too late. The blast of wind smashed into him right before he took off. It struck him hit hard and slowed him down. His split-second hesitation cost him dearly.

“Dang it!” Lars dashed the heck outta the Golem area. At least, he wanted to dash, he really did. But, his legs were like lead. That slowdown from the wind was the real deal.

BAM! A boulder crashed on his back right before he escaped the area. 15% of his HP vanished on the spot. It hurt, yo!

Whoa, that Golem dude be mad. Lars smiled wryly.

This was actually the second boulder in a row. The Golem attacked Lars once while he was chasing DragonMaster, but that was a calculated risk. He was already mentally prepared to get smacked by one boulder, but he thought he’d escape the area in time before the second boulder comes. Alas, that wind slowdown ruined everything.

Welp, my HP doesn’t feel so good. Lars’s smile shook a little. After getting smashed by a boulder twice and also blasted by wind, he was already down to 60% HP. Things were getting a little risky.

To make things worse, the opponent that appeared in front of him was none other than Nirvana, the enemy captain himself. This was gonna be tough.

“Heh, where did that dude even come from?” Lars grinned. This Nirvana dude was something else. He had the uncanny ability to show up at the worst timing possible. How did Vincent call this ability, again? Something like “Silent Sniper” or such. It was lit as heck!

“He must’ve recalled as soon as they started retreating in Top,” Yuel reasoned.

Nirvana had been confidently pushing Top alongside Renegade and Laplace, but at some point, they suddenly decided to retreat. At the time, their intentions weren’t immediately clear.

It looked more like bait than a sincere retreat. As such, it was difficult to make the right call on that move. And so, Yuel chose to observe the enemy’s movements some more before drawing any conclusions.

As it turned out, Nirvana exploited that brief period of “Fog of War” to recall to base and get ready to defend Bot. All of that was happening while Lars was still in the middle of attacking DragonMaster, so Nirvana must’ve predicted the outcome ahead of time.

“Silent Backer”, huh. Yuel smiled wryly. As Vincent claimed, Nirvana had that kind of skill.

It was like a mini-Aegis. It didn’t provide perfect map-wide defense, but it definitely had the ability to cover up holes in the team’s formation. Truly, a troublesome ability.

With this one defensive move, Nirvana single-handedly stopped an incoming checkmate. The Bot Lane Golem won’t be collapsing any time soon.

“Lars, retreat,” Yuel ordered.

“Yep, already on it,” Lars said. As much as he wanted to challenge an awesome dude like Nirvana, he knew this was neither the time nor the place.

Nirvana was one heck of a dude. He held Lars down in Mid for three games straight, and he didn’t even crack against Lars’s Trickshooter. So, there’s no way Lars could take on this dude in his own territory, not with 60% HP left and without Fan the Hammer.

Next time, yo! Lars promised. Next time we meet, I’mma beat ya for sure! He declared as he scrammed. He felt like a cliche villain who was fleeing the scene while yelling “I’ll remember that!” It was a lame exit, but he had to run for now. No matter what happens, he absolutely couldn’t let himself die here.

Lars was the Carry, the one who had to propel the team to victory. If he falls here, the entire team will lose momentum. So, staying alive was far important than recklessly pushing after the Golem.

And so, Lars ran away and the Bot Golem remained standing with 30% HP. Nirvana successfully put a stop to the intense split-push. But, to make sure the attacker didn’t have any funny ideas, Nirvana made sure to give chase.

This should be far enough. Raymond stopped chasing. After coming this far, it was clear Gunz was going to retreat, so there was no point in chasing any further. It’s tempting to try and catch him, but I shouldn’t fall for that temptation.

Despite Raymond’s great HP advantage, it was still very much possible for Gunz to turn the tables on him in a fight. Raymond had already experienced Gunz’s intense Trickshooter last game, and the Gunslinger this game was looking just as strong. It was clear Gunz wasn’t the kind of opponent to challenge without a decisive advantage.

Besides, we’re not out of the woods yet. Raymond reasoned. I may have saved the Golem for now, but he’s still low on HP.

With just 30% HP, the Golem will easily fold to another enemy push. Therefore, it had to be defended at any cost.

“Jaiden, Rio, join me in Bot,” Raymond ordered.

“Got it,” Jaiden replied for the two of them. They were using the “dead time” to steal the enemy’s Wolf Camp near Top, but it was time for them to recall.

“Man, this was such a wild ride.” Jaiden smiled wryly. “One moment, we were going strong in Top. Then, the next moment, we’re falling back to defend Bot. What a rollercoaster.”

“It was a mistake to neglect the split-push for so long,” Rio spoke frankly.

“Whoa, harsh.” Jaiden smiled awkwardly.

“I agree, it was a mistake,” Raymond admitted. “I should’ve recalled earlier and handled it myself from the start.”

“Well...” Zeph grumped. “I’m very sorry for being this unreliable.”

“It’s not your fault,” Raymond said. “At least, not entirely. You had the least experience fighting Gunz today, so you couldn’t have known what to expect. There’s a big difference between hearing how strong Gunz is and actually fighting him.”

“Yeah, true dat.” Zeph nodded. No matter how much he heard about Gunz being “amazing”, none of that sunk in until he had to actually confront the beast by himself. That’s when he finally realized the immense skill gap between himself and that ex-StormBlitz monster.

“This game has been a bumpy road, but we’re still alright,” Raymond reassured. “We still have our map control. Let’s defend Bot and wait for everybody to revive, then we can go on the offensive again.”

“Sounds good.” Jaiden nodded.

That encouragement was huge coming from Raymond. The captain had always been a guy of few words and he didn’t like deceiving people. So, when he said the team had a good chance to win here, he meant every word of it.

Raymond was a skilled player with great judgment. As such, his few words were far more reliable than any nonsense Bruce liked to yell, like “We gonna win this for sure! I just know it! Trust my baseless confidence!!!”

I can’t believe I’ve lived to see the day when Ray commands the team like a real cap. Jaiden almost got teary about it.

Truth to be told, Raymond had always been one of the seniors Jaiden looked up to. The captain had solid mechanical skill, sharp decision-making, lots of game knowledge, plenty of accumulated experience, and he always retained his cool under any circumstances. He was the kind of well-rounded player that Jaiden always aspired to become.

Raymond’s only glaring flaw was his passiveness when leading the club. He handled all the basic responsibilities of a captain without a hitch, but he couldn’t for the life of him deal with the more complex issues. For example, that’s why Bruce’s reign of terror remained unaddressed for so long.

But, all of that came to an end today. Here and now, in this very scrimmage, Raymond finally burst out of his cocoon and emerged as the powerful leader he was always meant to be!

With such a reliable leader pulling the team, there was no chance they could lose this game. They had it in the bag! Taurus will emerge victorious in today’s scrimmage!