Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 2

Vol.9 Ch.13: First Blood on the Competitive Stage

"I'm rotating," Nia finally gathered the courage.

"Good," Yuel nodded, then quietly sighed in relief. Okay, I think my attempt at pep talk worked. Now, we can take out this Dark Knight for good. I didn't tell Nia, but the guy has been getting better and better throughout the match. We need to shut him down now, before he gets out of hand.

I gotta get there fast. Nia thought to herself as she traversed through the jungle. Ah, but they got a ward somewhere in here, right? That's how they saw me coming last time. Hmm.

"Can I take the long path?" Nia asked. "I think there's a ward here somewhere."

"There's no rush," Yuel said. "Use the best route you can find."

"Ok," Nia carefully analyzed the mini-map. There were a couple of intersections that served as common warding spots. Mainly, the pathways around the Overlord's camp.

The evil boss hasn't spawned yet, but multiple jungle paths intersected nicely around his camp. In fact, they were so nice, that Nia tried to rush to Top through one of them last time. So, the enemy's ward was most likely somewhere around there.

If they're warding there, they're probably not warding around our camps. Nia concluded. There was no hard limit on the number of wards a team could place at the same time, but each player could only carry two normal Wards at a time. So, if they wanted to spam wards, they'd have to keep recalling to base and buy new ones.

Nobody loved warding so much that they'd go through all that trouble. Besides, it cost a pretty penny. So, assuming the enemy warded the Overlord's camp and their side of the jungle, it should leave Stratus's jungle mostly devoid of enemy wards.

Ok, so I take this route. Instead of heading straight to Top, Nia circled around allied jungle camps until she finally reached the lane.

Ok, here goes. She took a deep breath and activated Shadow Clone. She pondered for a moment whether to send the clone to the lane, but ultimately decided against it.

Sending the clone to the lane was a good bait against aggressive and confident opponents. This usually fell for it and focused their attacks on the clone, allowing Nia to sneak on them.

But, according to Yuel, this Dark Knight was a defensive player. So, he'll probably retreat at the first sight of her clone.

Sorry, my sister. You have to go over there. Nia sent her twin sister deep into the jungle, never to be seen again. The clone was unnecessary for this gank. All Nia needed from the Shadow Clone skill was the stealth it granted.

Ok, careful now. Nia entered the lane while stealthed. She was already so close to her target, yet the Dark Knight couldn't see her.

Now, do I hit him once? Or, do I just Izuna? Nia pondered. The classic setup was to land one basic attack to proc Imperial Spear, then follow up with Izuna Drop. But, this setup wasn't 100% guaranteed, as proven by Lars's inhuman reaction before.

This was the competitive stage. The opponents were top-notch. So, there was a chance some of them could pull a Lars and dodge her setup. Scary.

"Go for the full setup," Yuel said. "I doubt he got the mechanical skill to dodge the Izuna."

"Ah," Nia blinked for a moment. How did Yuel know what she was mulling over? Mind-reading alien confirmed! Scary.

Ok, here goes...! Nia emerged from the darkness and slashed!

"Wha-!?" Zeph jumped. An attack!? From where!? There was nobody behind him the last time he checked. And, he was the type to often glance at the jungle, so nobody should've slipped past him. Yet, somebody did! In other words, it an unseen foe.