The battle for StormBlitz’s first string began. After clearing some jungle camps, everybody headed to their respective nes. Yuel and Lars headed to Bot, where they'll face Howard and Ellen.

  “Remember,” Yuel said. “Don't get carried away against Ellen.”

  “I know, I know,” Lars cimed so, but the glint in his eyes told a different story. “Don't worry, I'mma rek that Witch of Victory. Believe it, yo!”

  That's exactly the mentality I'm worried about... Yuel sighed. Well, maybe that aggressive mentality will work out with this arra. After all, Lars got to py his godly Trickshooter this game and Yuel further supplemehat pick with his Alchemist.

  Alchemist ecialist css which revolved around crafting items. It was sidered mid-tier, but mostly because it required very good game knowledge and deaking skills. Even though most people treated Alchemist as C tier, in Yuel's hands it was easily a B tier.

  It's not a css Yuel showed often, but today was the day to let it loose. Alchemist’s versatility, bined with its surprise element, should work well against Howard.

  “Say,” Howard started. “You ever saw Yuel py Alchemist?”

  “Hmm, don't think so,” Ellen cocked her head. “Think he's experimenting?”

  “I wouldn't put it past him, but that 't be all. No matter what absurd ideas he usually es up with, he wouldn't gamble this mat a css he 't py.”

  “Oh, I know! He must've kept Alchemist as trump card this eime, in preparation for this och!”

  “Only you would do something silly like that.”

  “Teehee~” Ellen pyfully stuck out her tongue.

  “Anyway, let's py it safe,” Howard advised. “Alchemist has a stupid amount of options, so we’ll o figure out Yuel’s exa for this match step-by-step. Try to poke him every now and then to make him leave ne and miss on materials.”

  “Aye aye, cap.” Ellen saluted.

  The two pairs cshed in the duo ne. As always, Ellen used her signature poke-and-run. She advanced just a little tiny bit toward Lars, shot him ond then immediately fled before he could ter.

  Geh! Here we go again. Lars felt like Ellen slowly, but surely, sucked out his blood. It’s like she was a flippin’ mosquito!

  Worst of all, Ellen alicked the most annoying timing to shoot him. Her shots stru the brief moments after Lars finished an attad was stu the recovery animation that followed. By the time he could attack again, Ellen has already snuck out of his range.

  This was especially frustrating when Lars fired Trickshot, which had a longer animation than a basic attack. Ellen was gonna take every ce she could to poke him after a Trickshot.

  “Duuuude!” Lars excimed. “ I kill her already?”

  “Stop,” Yuel shook his head. “The game just started.”

  “, I just o Trickshot her ond get in a few more hits after that. Easy peasy!”

  “You know you'll be pying right into her hands by doing that, right?”

  “Geh, but...!”

  “Don't worry, I'll shut down her pokes after the first wave,” Yuel promised. His Alchemist needed a little time to get going, but he defiook Ellen's poke-and-run into sideration when pig Alchemist.

  Alchemist was an amazing css because it offered tools for dealing with virtually every situation. Yuel could craft any ables avaible in the shop, even Wards, which spoke volumes of the css’s versatility. In addition, Alchemist could craft numerous “tools”, which were unique ables only the Alchemist could use. The tools effectively served as the Alchemist’s kit, since his actual skills all revolved around crafting and using items.

  This huge variety provided options for dealing with many different sarios, but it was a two-edged sword. It was easy to lose oneself in the rge number of options and to take too long to decide on anything. For that reason, Alchemist was one of the few csses in the game to deserve the “Challenging” difficulty tag.

  To perform well as Alchemist iime, it was necessary to decide ahead of time which specific items the pyer was going focus on in the uping matd set these items to shortcut keys. Perhaps the top Alchemist pyers in the world could make fast decisions on the fly while taking into at the Alchemist’s whole kit, but Yuel couldn't, not even with his extensive game knowledge.

  Therefore, when he prepared for today's match, Yuel narrowed down the exact tools he'll be needing today. Ellen's infamous poke-and-run tactic was expected to show up, so Yuel prepared a tool to ter it. But first, he had to gather enough Mage to craft said tool.

  Alchemist's passive, Gather Materials, automatically extracted materials from nearby fallen units, both allied and enemy. The type of gathered material depended on the fallen unit and minions dropped the most basic type: Mage. It was good enough for crafting most tools and ables, save for the most powerful ones.

  A single minion wave rewarded Yuel with 12 Mage, which was enough to craft four Bze Bombs. This was the zoning tool he chose for dealing with Ellen.

  “My!” Ellen excimed as a bomb flew in her dire. It exploded as it hit the ground, spreading fmes on the ground. Ellereated as quickly as she could, but she still received a few ticks of damage from the fme. Fortunately, it was a DoT attack, so a few ticks didn’t hurt that much. But, the bad news were that the fire kept burning on the ground for a while and zoned her out of her favorite poking spot.

  Even though the bomb didn’t quite hit Ellen, it served its purpose as a warning shot. That's clearly Yuel's way of saying “Try to poke if you dare, I'll bomb you.” What a rascal.

  “That's no fun.” Ellen puffed her cheeks. “Yuyu is such a bully.”

  “Bze Bomb, huh, ” Howard took a mental note. So, that was oool in Yuel's arsenal this game. How many more to go? The number had to be limited, so they'll find out with time.

  With that said, Bze Bombs were troublesome. Ellen tried poking from a different angle, but she was met with another Molotov. It felt like Yuel was watg every Ellen made.

  “Say, Wardy,” Ellen twisted her lips. “’t you Divine Shield that thing?”

  “I wish,” Howard shook his head. “It's sidered a tossed object, so Divine Shield doesn't work on it.”

  “So useless.” Ellen pouted.

  “I thought I got him with the Padin pick,” Howard admitted. “But, he came prepared.”

  Padin was a css both Howard and Yuel favored, so Howard felt fident whe to pick Padin. He left the css open on purpose during drafting, despite knowing Yuel's team would be pig first. Yuel was assuredly going to jump on the avaible Trickshooter, so Hrabbed Padin right afterward. It was a rade.

  As, whether by ce or by a stroke of genius, Yuel’s Alchemist repared to deal even with Padin. Really, these Bze Bombs were art. They both zoned out Ellen's poking and bypassed Howard's Divine Shield. Well pyed, Yuel. Well pyed.

  But, that wasn’t enough to shut down Ellen's poking. Even though the bombs were items from Yuel’s iory, they were sidered “tools” and therefore couldn’t be ed normally. Yuel had to activate them with skills, but skills could be silenced.

  “Tell me when you go for a poke . I'll silence him.”

  “Roger~”

  From Yuel's perspective, the ning phase proceeded smoothly. His Bze Bombs zoned Ellen just like he pnned days ahead. It allowed Lars to py his usual game without being distracted by pokes.

  “Dude, gotta say,” Lars grinned. “I usually don't care for Molotovs in games, but this right here is some sick stuff.”

  “Thanks,” Yuel smiled. He actually really loved these sort of tools in a games. Why? Because they were much easier to hit, especially in shooters. Landing a Molotov required predig the enemy’s general movements, but thankfully, it didn’t require hitting that oppo with a naer-sized bullet.

  Anyway, it's too early to celebrate a victory. Howard and Ellen weren't the types to quietly take a beating. They clearly weren't prepared for this Alchemist py, but they'll adapt.

  “Ack!” Just as the thought crossed Yuel's mind - it happened. He tried to bomb Ellen again, but a perfectly-timed Justice Strike sealed his skills. As a result, Ellen successfully poked Lars and ran away.

  “Dude, did I ever tell ya how much I hate that poking stuff?”

  “Only about a billion times.”

  “Okay, then now it gonna be a billion and one. I HAAAAATE that stuff!”

  “Sure you got enough ‘A's there?”

  “Nah, dude. Take all the ‘A's in the world and it ain't gonna be enough.”

  “At least I'm slowing her down,” Yuel sighed. “She'll have to wait for Justice Strike's cooldown before trying anything again.”

  “That's cool and all, but whe to the part where I kick her butt?”

  “Still w on it. Clear minions faster to hit Lv.5, then we begin.”

  “Oh, that's what we're waiting for?”

  “Yes, we are. I believe I went over this py with you a few days ago...”

  “Dude, do you seriously think I remember.”

  “I no longer do.” Yuel sighed. Well, that's to be expected from a goof who didn't even remember what he had for breakfast. They practiced that py together and that’s what was important. Lars's muscle memory should recall the experience they begin. No matter what sce cimed about the human body, Lars's memory was clearly stored in his muscles and ONLY in his muscles.

  The seinion wave has been wiped out, but there haven’t been any new developments on the ne. Ellen's pokes became rarer due to the danger of Bze Bomb, whereas Lars was under Yuel’s watd couldn’t go on the offensive as he wished. As a result, both sides only fired away at minions, it was like a cold war. They only exged hits every now and then when somebody overstepped their boundaries.

  Thanks to Trickshot’s high base damage, Lars easily outcleared Ellen. She could have kept up with him if she used Backfire on, but of course, a sneaky pyer like her wouldn’t do so. Backfire on was both Pirate’s best ne clear ability and its escape tool, so by spending it on minions, Ellen would cut off her best escape option. That's a big no-no.

  These beasts will eat me alive if I do that. Ellen wore a difficult smile. She could see Lars and Yuel's hungry eyes, they both waited for an opportunity to leap forth and ravage this i maiden. My, how savage. I won’t let you take me that easily.

  Thus, Ellen stuck to pying defense even though it came at the expense of surrendering ne trol. Being pushed back a little was nothing pared to dying and feeding the big scary beastie. That rascal had do be tamed little by little, so she couldn’t spoil him with food like that.

  However, this defensive game pn was one hell of a challenge. In addition to the advantage of Trickshot's high base damage, Lars also built more power than Ellen. As a result, even Lars’s basic attacks cleared minions way faster than Ellen’s.

  Per usual, Ellen started off with a lifesteal item, a “bad decision” acc to the meta. But, she knew how to make it work because she was talented like that~

  Even though Ellen was losing in terms of ne advantage and farm, she was leading in HP and has already poked Lars all the way down to 60% HP. Of course, between arrows from aggro’d enemy bowmen and Yuel's pesky bombs, Ellen didn't escape these pokes entirely unscratched. heless, thanks to her lifesteal, she was at 75% HP.

  Lars had her lifesteal nor HP recovery, so eventually, he'll... oh, crap. She fot what Alchemist could do.

  “Take a potion,” Yuel tossed an HP Potion at Lars.

  “Yo, my dude!” Lars excimed. The potion nded on his Trickshooter and the recovery effect kicked in. It was a slow recovery, but over time it resorted 20% of Lars HP and put him at 80% HP, slightly above Ellen.

  “My,” Ellen twisted her lips. “I have a feeling I hate Alchemist.”

  “Yeah, it’s sometimes cheap like that.” Howard nodded. Normally, it was impossible to use ables like HP Potion on another ally. However, Alchemist's “Item Toss” skill made it possible.

  Judging by Yuel and Lars’s starting build, her of them brought any potions when they arrived on the ne. However, at some point, Yuel crafted an HP Potion with Alchemy and now used it on Lars. It cost some Mage, but it erased a rge k of the progress Ellen made with her pokes. Not friendly.

  Getting Alchemist out of ne was the best way to hit him where it hurt because he had to be near dying minions to collect Mage. Under normal circumstances, even the ever defensive Howard would vouch fressively assaulting the Alchemist. Unfortunately, this one Alchemist was guarded by a mad dog. Going on the offensive against Lars's Trickshooter was like asking to be killed.

  Yuel sure got us good with that Alchemist. Howard frowned. What were their options at this point? They have been already pushed back due to the differen damage output, and with HP Potions the enemy will be able to outst them on ne. Ellen’s early game lifesteal was cute and all, but it wasn't even as effective as the cheapest potion the Alchemist could craft on the go.

  In term of preparation, Howard had to hand to Yuel. This Alchemist pick outpyed Howard and Ellen in every way. But, sports wouldn't be fun if the oute were 100% determined by preparatiht? By fag challenges head-on, pyers learo adapt and resolve problems.

  Alchemist seemed overwhelming right now, but Howard wasn’t some salty Bronze V who called “OP! Nerf!” ohing that beat him. Alchemist wasn’t bulletproof, it’s a css with its own shortings. It was a mid-tier css for a reason and not just because it was difficult to py.

  “Elly,” Howard said. “Try baiting bombs out of him. If he runs out of Mag, he won’t be able to do much.”

  “My, how devilish,” Ellen smirked. “I’m sure he’ll fall for it and think I’m being salty after that potion heal.”

  “Aren’t you, though?”

  “Hmph, not in the slightest. Who cares that all my poking efforts have been erased like that? Nope, definitely not me.”

  She’s a salt mine, alright.

  Following on Howard's advice, Elle for a poke even though Justice Strike was still on cooldown.

  So, she's going for it. Yuel o himself. Justice Strike should still be on cooldown acc to Yuel's estimation, but Elle for a pardless. She must have been triggered by that potion py just now. It must’ve sparked a desire to poke even harder than before in order to close that HP gap. This was a ce!

  Unfortunately, it was still too early for the finisher he had in mind. Ellen's HP wasn't low enough to be killed by the py he practiced with Lars.

  Therefore, Yuel went for the usual Bze Bomb. He tossed the bomb in the usual dire, aiming to encircle Ellen with fmes. But, as soon as the bomb left his hand - Ellen rolled away! She escaped the explosie before the bomb even traveled halfway there.

  Ugh, a bait. Well pyed. Yuel had to cede. There was no way Elleed that quickly to the bomb, so she must have inteo roll away from the get-go.

  The Bze Bomb crashed and exploded, but its fmes burned only the ground and nothing else. What a waste of Mage. Well, at least, Ellen didn't get to poke Lars.

  Still, things got more hairy for Yuel. If Ellen mixes baits between her pokes, it'll be difficult to tell when to throw a bomb and when not. It'd be ohing if he had an unlimited supply of bombs, but Alchemist stantly required Mage to craft more bombs. Yuel couldn't waste any bombs os.

  Shortly after this bait py, Ellen advanced for another poke. Another bait? Or, was she serious this time? Justice Strike ossibly out of cooldown by now, Yuel couldn't tell for sure because it's was really borderline.

  Ugh! Ellen must have picked this exact timing to make Yuel hesitate! Should he bomb her? Wasting 3 Mag again would hurt too much, but getting damage on Ellen was very important- Agh! Too te!

  Ellen poked Lars and dashed away, while Yuel was stu analysis paralysis. Goddammit, that hesitation cost him.

  “My,” Ellen giggled. “Yuyu is su indecisive boy~”

  The bait tactic was very effective, so Ellen tinued messing around with Yuel. Was she going for a poke or a bait? Ellen made her decisions on a whim, so there wasn’t any pattern to her as. At least, there shouldn't have been...

  “My,” Ellen clocked her head. “Am I imagining or his accuracy went up? It's like he almost tell when it's a bait.”

  “He must’ve noticed,” Howard said. “You never bait more than twi a row.”

  “Really? And here I thought I was beiive,” Ellen twisted her lips. She thought she was being random but, thinking about it, of course she didn’t like baiting three times in a row. After all, she wao get some hits in. She didn’t want to run bad forth the whole day like a headless chi.

  Yuyu being Yuyu, he must have figured out this pattern after stalking Ellen’s graceful movements. He was soo~oooo not cute sometimes.

  “If you bait twice,” Howard said. “Either wait until Justice Strike is out of cooldown, o for another bait.”

  “Aye aye, cap.”

  Thanks to this advice, Ellen covered up her quirk. She went for a triple bait for the first time while Justice Strike was on cooldown. That pletely fooled Yuel and made him waste another one of his precious bombs. Messing with Yuyu is so fun~

  So, it's no luaranteed ohird time. Yuel o himself. He adapted to Ellen's baits and exploited a quirk they had, but she responded in kind by adapting to his adaptation. Which meant, he now had to adapt to her adaptation to his adaptation. Adapt-ception.

  This was rough. Losing the guarahat Ellen will shoot after two baits forced Yuel back to square one. Predig her movements was the same as predig die rolls. Ellen probably wasn't going to use tripe bait often, but she's the type who'd go to ah to mess with her oppo's expectations. Anything ossible with that fox.

  Then, there's also Howard's Justice Strike which gave Ellen more freedom to work with. Ellen could be even mreedy than usual while Justice Strike had her back, she could mess with Yuel nonstop. For example, using a bait even though she could've gone for poke because Justice Strike would have protected her, oing for an ued poke in the small window of time in which Yuel couldn't tell for sure whether Justice Strike was on cooldown. Then, there's also-

  “Dude, you thinking way too hard about that stuff.” Lars turoward Ellen and fired a shot, straight in her face!

  “Wha...?” Yuel blinked. Ellen must have been equally shocked, she immediately retreated without finishing her poke. All this time, she has been sneaking up to Lars while he was rec from an attaimation, so what oh happened just now?

  “That's how ya do it, yo! Don't think too much, just feel it!”

  Yes, just feel it. I uanding everything now! Yuel made a face. Still, this was a shog stunt. “How did you hit her? I thought she has been catg you off-guard this whole time.”

  “I dunno, I somehow reacted on time now,” Lars shrugged. “I betcha it's because she has been poking way too much tely. Sometimes, I see her step forward before I actually start my shot, so I get time to switch targets.”

  By “enough time” he probably means something like five milliseds. Yuel smiled wryly. What kind of superputer was installed in that goof’s brain to make such split-millised adjustments?

  Anyway, this was an iing discovery. Was Ellen pying a bit more recklessly pared to before? Yuel hadn't noticed anything of the sort, but that's probably because Ellen was stantly wary of his bombs and focused on messing with him. As a result, she couldn't focus as mu Lars's movements and that left her open at times. Or at least, open enough to be tered by people who had Mach 5 rea speed.

  “Keep getting shots on her whenever you ,” Yuel said. “I'll keep pressuring her with bombs.”

  “No problem! Let's rek her already and win this!”

  Pressured both by Yuel's bombs and Lars's quick shots, Ellen began slipping. Her elegant poking fluttered and occasionally led to injury. heless, she stuck with that tactic.

  Both sides were wearing each other down. Lars fell down to 40% HP, whereas Ellen was at 50% HP. Yet again, she somehow gaihe upper hand. She was like a slippery snake which bit, retreated, bit, retreated and then bit some more.

  But, this was goress. 50% HP was very low, especially for a squishy css. Without being aware, Ellen fell right within range for Yuel’s pn.

  Lars was about to hit Lv.5, a fact the enemies didn’t know. Ellen just retly hit Lv.4, so nobody was expeg an Lv.5 from Lars for a while. Howard and Ellen surely knew Lars had some exp advantage over them, but they had no idea that when Lars was fully trated on farming - he nded a perfect st-hit on every single minion. In other words, he has gaihe absolute maximum farm possible from every single minion wave!

  That’s why Yuel insisted on this passive early game. No matter how hard Lars itched to aggress on Ellen, Yuel stopped the hungry beast from toug the main dish and made him focus solely on the appetizers, the minions. This slowly prepared Lars fulping down the main dish in one fell swoop.

  Lars hasn’t done much this ning phase except for farming, which created the impression he wasn't much of a threat. However, in truth, he was like a beast lying in the bushes and waiting for an opportunity to leap on its prey! And now, that he was about to hit Lv.5, it was time!

  “Remember,” Yuel said. “Use Trickshot for the level up.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “I'll move in as soon as you hit Lv.5. If you see me throw an Impulse Bomb, that's the cue.”

  “Gotcha. We practiced something like that, right?”

  “Yeah, we did.” So, you DO remember how the actual py goes. Yuel shook his head with a smile. Seriously, that goof iece of art. Well, that's what made him charming in his own way, kind of.

  Right as Lars was one minion kill away from hitting Lv.5, Yuel made his move. He stepped forward and Ellen stepped forward too, just as phere's no way she'll miss this opportunity to poke Lars. Yuel requested Trickshot to be dealt as the final blow for leveling up because Lars was the most vulnerable while firing Trickshot, hehe most inviting for Ellen to poke.

  There was only one point of : will Howard make a move too? Poking during a Trickshot was so inviting, that Howard almost always backed it up with a Justice Strike. Getting silenced was the st thing Yuel needed right now.

  As the thought crossed Yuel’s mind, Howard turned in Yuel's dire! Justice Strike was ing! Yuel didn't waste a moment and rolled forward. From the er of the s, he saw a white bde f at his previous location. Yes! He read it and dodged it!

  There was a quirk. Whenever Hoo go for Justice Strike, he always turo face Yuel right after Ellen advanced forward. It wasn't an easy quirk to spot because Howard has been looking in Yuel and Lars's general dire the whole the time. heless, that slightly unnatural twitch finally gave him away!

  With that, Yuel baited out Justice Strike. However, that was just a nice bonus. The real py was starting now!

  Yuel lightly tossed, almost rolled, an Impulse Bomb in Ellen's dire. He only o get the bomb a little behind Ellen’s back, so no exaggerated movements were necessary. A low, but quick, throw was enough.

  “Ah!” Howard excimed. “Elly, roll back! That's a-”

  BAM. The Impulse Bomb exploded a behind Ellen's feet and fired a shockwave. The impulse shot Ellen to another dimension! The vertical dimension!

  “My goodneeeeeeess!” Ellen cried out in sync with the hiiiiigh flight. She was uo the other side of the ne like a human rocket! She was thrown into the den of lions! Oh no...

  We got her! Yuel o himself. Finally, the py he had been cooking this whole time was about to e to life!