The pn of luring upHitter deep into allied territory was going smoothly. As expected, the man took the obvious bait and pushed forward along with the surviving bowmen.

  From this position, it is very easy for me to fnk him. Fiona thought. Though, of course, the enemy is surely aware of that as well.

  She was not so naive as to think she was deceiving anybody with this obvious bait. Anybody with a grain of game knowledge could immediately reize this situation for what it truly was. And, it was exactly what Fiona wahem to think.

  Now then, how will you respond to this position? Fiona asked her chess oppo. Surely, sidering how much you care about bolstering your team's defense, you will move a piece closer to the ne. Namely, your Jungler.

  Soon enough, a ward verified Fiona’s predi. It showed Average traveling from the Wolf Camp to Top Lane.

  Surely, he was not rotating over here to join the push itself. His presen the ne would tribute very little to the overall impact of the push.

  Instead, Average was io serve as a bodyguard on standby. His job was to ter Fiona's gank in case things got difficult for Hitter. In short, this was a defensive maneuver.

  And, this defensive move of yours will create an opening that you likely do not expect.

  Right now, Average was all alone in a ral part of the jungle, far away from his allies. This was a great opening for Fiona to strike.

  "elia, I pn to attack their Jungler," Fiona informed. "Please keep their Viking occupied for a while."

  "Oh, is that a green light to finally unleash my noble bat skills!?"

  "Yes, but please do be careful,” Fiona warned. “Do not, and I repeat, do NOT chase your oppo. Fight him only for as long as he is in your territory."

  "Hmph. Very well." elia wasn't too excited about that dition but she was happy enough to finally let loose and dispy her noble might. She allowed that peasant to do as he pleased until now, but it will all end now!

  After liea finished clearing out the st few minions, she permitted her Berserker to es powerful berserk mode! And so, a big csh erupted! It was a duel between an aristocrat and a lowly barbarian. elia was fully i on showing that dog his pce!

  In the meantime, Fiona crept up to Average. The man was caught off guard by all these developments.

  "Wait, she's already attag you???" Dan cocked his head. "Wasn't she waiting fank or something?"

  "Welp, looks like she wasn’t, lol." Roi shrugged. "I take her ht?"

  "Hmm." Howard frowned. Frankly, this development threw him for a loop.

  Until now, it was clear as day that GoldenLady was baiting Roi into overextending. No doubt, the pn was to gank him inside eerritory.

  Did they just give up it? Howard wondered. Or, was it heir iion in the first pce?

  He couldn't his head around this. Something was off.

  "Hey, boss!" Roi called out. "So, what do you say? I fight, right?"

  "... fine, you fight her a bit. Try to see if you reduce her HP enough to make this worthwhile. But first, make sure y her toward the middle of the the very least."

  "Got it, fam!" Roi grinned. He was visibly excited to finally have this duel, as he was forced to always hold himself batil now.

  Based on the previous scrim, GoldenLady was actually supposed to be a rather aggressive girl. But, it felt like she was holding back this game. Maybe the shot-caller ordered her to do so.

  I know the feeling. Roi nodded. I was also told to keep a low profile, so we both couldn't do anything fun until now. But, this is finally a ce to let loose!

  Lady finally decided to e at Roi of her own volition, so it was time to ter that aristocrat ass!

  Pft, I lol every time I see that skin. Roi burst into ughter again. After all, how could he not? That proper dress was beyond hirious for a Berserker. It was supposed to be a sick barbarian css but Lady dressed it up like a doll.

  As a fellow barbarian, I'mma show you that barbarians are WAY cooler than some snotty rich people! And so, the battle of ess enced!

  "So, like, should I get there sooner?" Dan asked as he watched the flifold. Lady went berserk and Roi got ready to fend her off. It was going to be one heck of a fight!

  But, Dan was still in the jungle, a little far from the se. It turned out that farming jungle camps took lohan usual when he was gging in level. Who would’ve guessed.

  Because of this, he couldn't joitle right away. But, if he headed straight to Top now, he should be able to get there before the climax.

  "Yeah, skip the wraiths and ght to the ne," Howard said. "I suspect they’re pnning a gank. But, if not, then that overextending Berserker will be an easy target for you, so it’s best that you get in a ganking position as soon as possible"

  Based on previous scrims, Lady had a bad habit of pig fights aing carried away. She felt like a rogue pyer who didn't always stick to the shot-caller's pn.

  Is that what’s happening right now, too? Howard wondered. Or, is this just bait? Hmm. I feel like I’m missing something here…

  Soon enough, he got his answer in the worst ossible. "AWOOOO!" the Werewolf's Chilling Howl resounded, right in Dan's viity!

  "Oh, so she IS ing over here!" Dan excimed. "But, wasn't that howl kinda loud? It's almost like she's right AH!"

  SLASH! SLASH! Sharp cws razored him as soon as he turned around! The Werewolf was right in his face!

  "ait wait wait!" Dan excimed. I’m not ready for this, man! Like, he knew he might have to faary here at some point, but not like this!

  "Crap! Sorry Roi, I'm running away!" Dan activated Haste and made a break for it!

  The good news was that he had a Time Portal set up at the bottom of Top Jungle. He nning to teleport over there in a jiffy after finishing his business in Top, so he set it up in advance.

  That nifty portal stayed around for a while and it ossible to teleport to it by passing through aime Portal. This was ancer's most impressive skill and kinda the whole reason to pick the css in the first pce, because the rest of the kit was so-so.

  With this, Dan had a surefire way to get away from that crazy Werewolf. He just had to create some distaween himself and Rosemary, then cast Time Portal, and voi! Teleportation, boiz!

  Unfortunately, casting Time Portal took like 2 seds. It didn't sound like much, but it was ay in situations like this where every microsed ted.

  Apparently, the devs wao make sure that the skill would not bee an easy “panic button". Like, they wa to be used more "methodically" or whatever.

  Thanks, CashSoft. Dan grumped. I'm totally loving this design decisiht now. Really cool.

  It ain in the ass, that's all it was. Because of the skill’s obnoxious casting time, Dan couldn't just throw it out in the middle of his escape.

  She’ll totally bite me the moment I start casting it. Dan thought. Gotta get as far as possible first, which isn't that easy, dang it.

  CLAW! CLAW! The razor-sharp attacks kept ing without rest! The enemy was literally breathing down his neck.

  Just like Haste boosted Dan's Movement Speed, so did Chilling Howl boosted Rosemary's. Sure, Haste's buff was a little better in that aspect, but the difference was negligible.

  She also got faster boots, so I 't create any dista all! Dan ran as fast as humanly possible but the werewolf stu like glue.

  Dang, that premature Haste was totally a mispy. Dan cursed. I should’ve buffed it first before casting.

  He had more than three Accel stacks to spare, so he could’ve buffed Haste’s effect like crazy. As, it was too te for that now.

  So, I guess I hafta burn my ult here, huh? I mean, I don't see any other way out…

  His HP lummeting at the speed of light. Just a moment ago he was at over 80%, but now it was a whopping 20%! He was almost as good as dead! That Werewolf hit like a truck!

  Fortunately, ancer had one more skill at his disposal. The devs were niough to allow this oo be an “easy panic button”, maybe because it was an ult.

  Okay, I receive one more hit aaaaand… NOW! Dan activated Rewind right as his HP dropped to a critical level. The skill made him vanish from his current location and travel ba time, back to when he was still a healthy young d.

  To be on the safe side, he spent oack of Accel on this Rewind, to travel even further ba time. He wao get as far as humanly possible from this dang wolf.

  Okay, safe! Dahed in relief as he found himself ba the pce where all this trouble started. His HP was back to being over 80% HP, and he created plenty of distance from Rosemary with this orick. Awesome!

  Now, to teleport the heck outta here! Dan started casting Time Portal before the enemy got back to haunt him. Alright, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!

  The ancer rotating his hand to open a rift in time and space. His magietrated the very fabric of reality, opening a time gate for Dan to travel through.

  This procedure took about 2 seds in total, which should feel like nothing during chill times. But, in a teuation like this, Dan couldn't help but internally scream "Are you do???" every few milliseds.

  Fortunately, the ancer was nearly done casting. Soon, Dan will be able to get away from this dangerous situation- BLINK!

  "Eh…?" Dan coked his head. Why do I feel like I've just heard something that sounded like a Blink- WHOA! Sharp fangs dug into his shoulder!

  "N-No way!" Dan excimed. "How did she...!?"

  The Werewolf was right behind him, driving her sharp teeth into his flesh! How did she get here so fast!?

  I-I teleported the hell away from you! Dan asserted. How you be here already!?

  When Dan used Rewind, the spell quickly moved him back to the starting point of this whole mess. That created a fair distaween him and the predator, which should've given him more than enough time to cast Time Portal.

  A, Rosemary caught up to him in the blink of a turned out she was cloaking a Blink, and she must've also spent her Dodge Roll on top of that.

  Still, even with all these tools, she couldn’t have possibly gotten here so quickly unless she predicted Dan’s movements in advance. Or, if she had Lars’ insaion time speed. Either way, shit was crazy!

  "Is this some pro-level execution!? What the actual heck!?" Dan excimed. pining was all he could dht now because his ancer was locked in pce by that savage werewolf woman.

  This was a very ued turn of events, even for Howard atg everything from the sidelihe way Dan respoo Rosemary's assault was det enough, yet the girl still found a way to turables on him. heless…

  "You should have no problem surviving through this," Howard reassured. "Just cast your portal as soon as you're free. Don't even bother doing anything fancy like rolling."

  "Yeah, gotcha." Dahed in relief upon hearing that analysis. For a moment there, he was sure he was a goner, but it sounded like this situation wasn't as critical as he feared.

  Okay, so just to cast the portal. Just cast the portal. Dan waited for the first sign of the enemy unhanding him. His finger was already ready origger.

  That Beastial Devourer was nasty. It held Dan in pce for like 2 seds, quickly draining his HP all the way from 80% to 50%. Like, seriously. He had just recovered so much HP and now he was back to dangerous levels again. Sigh.

  heless, he'll survive this, that's what Horomised. So, everything should be fine.

  Y-Yeah, I'm calm. I'm the paragon of ess even! Da his palms getting sweaty. At the back of his head, he uood that his ces of survival should be pretty high, but he couldn't help but feel anxious about the whole thing.

  This Rosemary chick was a beast! And no, that wasn't a pun about her pying Werewolf. The girl legit rofessional killing mae. It felt like she always made all the right moves to thhly and utterly murder her prey.

  And, that “prey” is always me for some reason, haha... This was already the third time Dan was about to die, and the game hadn't even reached the mid-game yet! It was absurd! It's like the girl had a personal beef with him. What the heck.

  But, she won't get me this time! Dan asserted. I'm totally getting outta here alive!

  As soon as the wolf released him, Dan started casting Time Portal. Admittedly, casting such a slow-ass spell right in front of the enemy was a little awkward. Essentially, Dan resigo being a pung bag for 2 seds here, and Rosemary didn't miss the opportunity to tear him apart!

  SLASH! SLASH! Sharp cws cut through him from all sides. His HP had already dropped down to 20%, which was hel sus. Rosemary needed just a couple more hits to finish him off.

  The only good news was that none of these attacks interrupted Dan's casting. So, no matter how much damage he was to receive, so long as he was alive, he’d finish creating this dang portal!

  Alright, time's up! I'm out of here- BAM! A shockwave erupted from behind!

  "Say what!?" Dan was stunned, both inside and outside the game!

  Rosemary unleashed Shockwave on him, which briefly stunned all enemies in a small radius. It was aility skill she kept cloaked, no doubt for a surprise attack like this.

  Cloaking Blink was already a surprise, but cloaking Shockwave was like a huimes more shog, no pun intended. It used to be an OP utility skill that got o the ground over the years, so nowadays it retty rare to see it in a.

  Still, in some situations, it was incredibly powerful, like wheo interrupt a slow-ass skill like Time Portal. If Rosemary bought the skill intending to use it in this very specific way, then she was like professional level and stuff.

  "Dang, I think she got me, haha..." Dan shortly recovered from the stun, which by itself was negligible in the rge scheme of things. The duration of the stun got o death, to the point it ractically impossible to take advantage of it.

  heless, Shockwave achieved its goal. It interrupted Time Portal, f Dan to start casting it all ain.

  Fortunately, Time Portal was one of these skills that didn’t go on cooldown if interrupted in the middle. It was a saving grace, sidering how many things out there could interrupt it during these 2 seds. But...

  The thing is, I don't have 2 more seds to spare, not with this HP! Dan rolled away in a feeble attempt to create distance from Rosemary. Maybe, just maybe, this cold-hearted assassin would slip up in this critical moment and allow Dan to get away!

  As, it was nothing but wishful thinking. Rosemary pursued him immediately. Her Dodge Roll was on cooldown but that didn't even matter. She was quiough to close the distance all the same.

  CLAW! CLAW!

  You have been killed!

  "You gotta be kidding me..." Dan performed an advanced form of facepalming by dropping his entire fato the damn table. "I'm done. I’m so dohis dang wolf, man."

  "Yeah, I uand you..." Even Howard didn't know what to say here. "Well pyed", I suppose? That’s all that es to mind.

  From start to end, Rosemary's tactid executioop-not this py. She baited Howard into rotating Dan to that isoted position, then she used every tri the book to methodically dispatch him. It retty amazing, holy.

  I knew she was petent, but this is a whole other level of petency. Howard thought. Sure, many of these pys were only possible because she was already fed, but still...

  It was impressive how effitly Rosemary utilized her momentum. The moment she got ahead, there was simply no stopping this woman. She felt almost as oppressive as the Leopards' Korean ace.

  Now that she had four kills under her belt, was it even possible to do anything to stop her from snowballing at this point...?

  DarkestCymore