Zone Dominator

Just as the thought of retreating crossed Lars's mind - he realized he was in a terrible position!

[Yo, this is like Ellen's shenanigans all over again! Except, a hundred times harder to notice!]

Ellen was also a pro at baiting people into whichever position she wanted, but at some point, Lars learned how to see through her ploys (for the most part).

But, against Winner? That bait was clean as heck. There was no opportunity to even consider the possibility of bait due to how intense their fight was.

[I had to use like 200% of my focus on dodging and aiming. I had no time to think about my position and stuff. But, this dude thought about everything! What a beast.]

Even while keeping up with Lars, Winner managed to secure himself a favorable position for this second phase of the battle. That was some pro-level stuff, no joke.

[So, what's now?] Lars racked his brain to the best of his ability.

Retreating to the tower would be difficult. Yes, [difficult] but not entirely impossible.

[I can run past him and shoot myself back into the tower area.] He had been saving Backfire Cannon for a desperate situation like this, so maybe it was time to use it?

[But, if I do that, it's like admitting defeat. I mean, with how much HP will I make it back to the tower, realistically?]

ZAP! ZAP! Two laser beams flew at Lars without warning!

The first beam grazed his side, but he successfully sidestepped the other one. Yep, this was Lars's current situation in a nutshell.

[This is rough. I can only dodge Winner's shots once in a blue moon. Dude sure knows how to marksman.]

Lars considered retaliating right away as usual, but he passed on the opportunity this time. His only option was shooting at the Droid's exposed legs, but that'll probably be easy for Winner to evade.

[I need more time to think.] Lars had no reason to rush things so he backed away for now.

With every passing second, the Deflector Shield was getting closer and closer to its expiration. So, maybe Lars could just wait it out?

As far as he could tell, the best-case realistic scenario for him was to stay afloat with at least 40% HP by the time Deflector Shield ends. At that point, he'd be lagging behind Winner by only 20% HP, a gap that Lars was confident he'll be able to close after destroying the drone.

[Easier said than done, tho.] Lars chuckled. [Dude is legit strong. I hafta pull all the stops just to beat him normally, and that shield gonna make it like a billion times harder.]

So, what was the right course of action here? If Yuel were here, he'd surely provide some brilliant advice on the spot; that dude knew how to deal with literally anything.

Alas, Yuel was busy in Mid right now and there wasn't much time to consult him. Besides, this was a duel between Lars and Winner.

[I'mma figure something out by myself. I don't need advice about every little thing anymore.]

Lars outgrew that kind of mentality. Playing Mid by himself this year opened his eyes to many things.

Turning to teammates for help was important, but it was also as important to know how to deal with difficult situations by himself. The others won't always be available to help him out because they had their own problems to deal with.

[So, let's pretend this is a Duel match for a moment.] Lars reframed his mindset.

As of this moment, the game mode was no longer a 5v5 MOBA. Instead, it was a 1v1 Duel between Lars and Winner.

[I'm a pro at these, right?] Lars thought. [And, in this mode, I only have myself to rely on. So, let's focus on that.]

Unfortunately, what little time he bought himself by backstepped has run out. His opponent must have grown tired of waiting for a counterattack and realized that Lars was just stalling for time.

[He's not shooting back?] William cautiously observed his opponent. [He'd normally fire back right away, but not this time. Hmph. I see how it is.]

Instead of counterattacking, Gunz was only moving around, trying to create more space between himself and William. Most likely, his plan was to stay out of the drone's range, and maybe even out of William's range altogether.

[So, you rather wait until my shield ends.] William concluded. [Not a bad decision, but a rather defeatist one. In that case, I can crank up the offense!]

ZAP! ZAP! The Droid fired and the drone followed suit. Their sneaky target was still very much within range.

[Crap!] Lars realized he couldn't sidestep in time, so rolled aside to dodge the two beams. His reaction was slower than usual, as 200% of his mind was still preoccupied with thinking about what to do next.

[Yeah, okay. Waiting it out sounds nice on paper, but it ain't gonna be that easy. Dude will just run all over me!]

Winner must've realized what Lars was planning, so dude dialed his aggression up to eleven all of a sudden.

ZAP! ZAP! Two beams bolted toward him again!

[Geh! I'm still within range!?] Lars just barely sidestepped the incoming shots. [Dang, I gotta focus! I should've used that roll to get farther away! But, then again...]

If he used the Dodge Roll in order to back away, then he would've found himself in the middle of the lane, even farther away from his tower than before. That was no good, either.

[It's like all my options play against me here, yo! But, it shouldn't take that much longer for his shield to expire. So, I should at least try heading in the direction of the tower...]

Once his Dodge Roll came out of cooldown, he rolled in a diagonal, getting himself closer to his own territory. He couldn't roll in a straight line because of the gatekeeper blocking the path, so he had to maneuver around that wall.

But, Winner was no push-over. Dude immediately moved in to block Lars's path again. There was no getting past this blockade.

[Well, if that's how you wanna play...!] Lars recovered from the roll and BAM! He fired at the only exposed spot on Winner, the legs! [If ya think you can just keep coming hard at me like that, then ya have another thing coming, yo!]

[Hmph.] William effortlessly sidestepped the bullet. [It was a good shot but it's not enough, not against me.]

"Yo, this dude...!" Lars found himself smiling from ear to ear even though he just missed a shot. [I should've totally caught him off guard but he just stepped like it was nothing! Yeah, this approach ain't gonna work out either, I already see it.]

It was impossible to fight back in any way while the Droid had his Deflector Shield. Lars either had to suck it up and dash past the Droid while eating the damage, or to keep running around like a helpless rabbit while waiting for the shield to expire. Nothing else will work here, not against Winner.

[So, do I just give up on getting back to tower?] Lars wondered while trying to circle around William to no avail. [Yep, this dude sure knows his zoning. What was that other nick Vince used for this dude, again? Something like "Zone Dominator", I think. A sick name, fitting this dude's sick skill. ]

AbsoluteWinner, the master of spacing and zoning, that's the title Vincent crowned this dude with during their meetings. And, even Yuel seemed to agree to some extent.

[I actually didn't notice it much during replays, probably because his opponents didn't give him enough of a challenge. But, now I see that Yuel and Vince were spot-on about this dude's zoning.]

In this duel, the biggest hurdles for Lars were never the enemy's reaction speed, shooting accuracy, or any other mechanical stuff like that. Of course, Winner was decent at all of these, but dude wasn't anything too crazy.

Nah, the real challenge for Lars was something much simpler but equally dangerous: spacing and positioning. Winner always maintained ideal spacing between himself and Lars, making it difficult for Lars to retaliate efficiently.

As a result, even though Lars was mechanically stronger than this dude, he still struggled a lot in this fight.

[So really, what do I do?] Lars glanced back and forth between the tower and the center of the lane. Where should he go next? He didn't have a good answer for anything here and there was no time to come up with one, either.

ZAP! ZAP! Two lasers darted at him once again.

With Dodge Roll being on cooldown, Lars had to sidestep these shots. Alas, he found himself too distracted by everything and failed to react on time.

The first beam hit him right in the center of the body, really embarrassing stuff. And, to add insult to injury, even the drone's beam managed to graze his shoulder.

[Crap, I'm getting dunked on.] Lars chuckled nervously. The more brain juice he spent on thinking, the slower and heavier his body felt. The way he was now, he couldn't react to incoming attacks with the same swiftness as before.

The difference in performance was so noticeable that even his opponent took note of it.

[Hmph. I see.] William nodded. [Not a thinker, are you? Reminds me of a certain brat I know.]

These so-called "power players", who relied on raw strength, were often momentum-driven brutes, even in tennis. As long as they maintained the upper hand via initial momentum, they had no problem delivering powerful groundstrokes and returning every ball that came their way; their performance seemed flawless.

However, the moment they were forced into a difficult spot and had to actually use their brains, then suddenly over half their mechanical skill evaporated without a trace. They started playing slowly and awkwardly, and that was usually William's cue to press harder and crush them.

And so, that's how brains triumphed over brawn. Games like that were the most satisfying.

Shortly after picking up Classmancers, William noticed that similar rules applied here as well. The most notable example of this was none other than his younger brother, who was almost unstoppable when he was on a roll, but also quickly fell apart when his momentum hit a wall.

Based on that, William adopted his favorite methodology from tennis and applied it here as well. He patiently defended against the fierce offense of mechanically superior opponents and waited for the right moment to pull a reversal on them.

This approach worked sufficiently well. Point in case, this year he has become the No. 2 strongest middle schooler in the region based on Sonya's tier list.

The only opponent William still couldn't topple was the Korean prodigy. That monster had both brains and brawn, so it was impossible to submit him via William's usual approach.

However, Gunz was different. This guy was like a slightly more polished version of Ronald, nothing more. He was the kind of opponent that William's methodology was designed to crush.

[That's why I refuse to accept this demotion to No. 3.] William fired again without giving his prey any breather. ZAP! ZAP! Both lasers connected on the slow target.

[Just look at him. He's nothing once you stump him like this. There's no way he deserves the No. 2 spot.]

William held complete dominance over this fight right now. With the Deflector Shield blocking out all incoming attacks, his momentum-driven opponent had no chance of starting anything.

[Geh! Not good!] Lars shook his head. [I'm falling apart here. Literally everything hits me now yo!]

He had to come up with a solution, and fast! But, at the same time, he also had to carefully distance himself from Winner in order to give himself an opportunity to calm down and think. BUT ALSO, he had to keep dodging incoming laser beams every dang second because Winner was chasing him nonstop!

Seriously, there were far too many things to juggle here at once! What the heck should be Lars's priority in a situation like this!?

[Dang, I'm already running pretty low...] Lars glanced at his 40% HP. This was getting bad. Real bad.

Winner was still at 60% HP. The gap between them was growing bigger and bigger by the moment. At this point, Lars didn't have any good options available to him.

Initially, he estimated he'd fall down to 40% HP in case he tried to brute force his way to the tower. It would've been a lame play, but after that, Lars could've safely waited it out at the tower. He would have had all the time in the world to wait for Deflector Shield to expire, after which he would've challenged Winner again.

[I still think it's a lame play, but compared to what I have now…]

He was already down to 40% HP, yet he was nowhere near his tower. By taking his sweet dang time to decide on the best course of action, Lars ended up putting himself in a far worse situation than before!

[This ain't good. I gonna crash and burn real hard at this rate. Guess it's time to start thinking about my last resort options.]

Backfire Cannon and Release the Kraken were still available trump cards. They were both great tools for getting out of pinches like this.

[I wanted to save them for later, but I'm starting to think that this "later" might actually be NOW. Welp, alrighty then. Might as well use both to get out!]

"RELEASE THE-" The Pirate started his infamous line, which naturally made the opponent freeze. At least, it should have...

[So, you're finally bringing it out.] William twitched on reaction, but only for a moment. Despite the threat in front of him, he confidently stepped forward and fired.

ZAP! ZAP! Two beams darted at the Pirate, who was currently busy summoning the sea monster.

[Maybe he planned it to be a feint, or maybe he didn't.] William thought. [Either way, I trust his reaction speed. Now that he saw me attacking, I'm sure he'll go through with the Kraken, regardless of what he originally had in mind.]

Therefore, William immediately canceled his recovery animation with Dodge Roll and rolled away. He had been saving his precious roll for this very moment, so now was the time to trade Dodge Roll for the enemy's ult. At least, that was the plan...

[Yo, he's attacking!?] Lars gasped. Two laser beams flew at him while he was still busy calling upon the Big Squid Dude! [I can't dodge this even if I cancel early, yo! But wait, this means…]

Winner had to be locked in his attack animation right now. In other words, dude shouldn't be able to dodge the Kraken either! It was the perfect opportunity to strike that dude down!

[Nah, I'm not doing that.] Lars canceled his ult into Backfire Cannon and dodged the incoming beams by pushing himself backward.

[There's like no chance that was a real opportunity. Way too easy.] Lars knew better than that. He had more than enough bitter experiences of falling for ploys like this.

[Yep, just like I thought.] Lars chuckled at the sight of his rolling opponent. [Dude made himself look vulnerable while buffering in a Dodge Roll. That's Ellen tactics 101.]

AbsoluteWinner was one heck of a dude. He was nearly as strong as Lars on the mechanical level, yet he was almost as crafty as Ellen when it came to spacing and baits. Truly, that guy could do anything, yo!

But, thanks to the robust experience Lars accumulated from fighting Ellen, he learned how to spot and counter baits like this. Naturally, his opponent didn't see this coming.

[He still canceled his Kraken? In that situation? Hmph.] William scoffed. [Did I overestimate him? No, I don't think so. I doubt his original plan was to cancel Kraken into Backfire. I mean, I know he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but that'd be straight-up dumb.][Then again, if it wasn't his original intention…]

Then it left only one possibility, one that William wanted to reject. [Did he see through this bait? Hmph. I thought he was just a simpleton, but maybe he got more combat experience than I thought.]

Gunz should've been nothing more than an "upgraded version" of Ronald, a power player who relied solely on mechanical skill and instinct. As such, baits like this should have worked splendidly on him.

In fact, William baited Ronald countless times in a similar fashion. Therefore, the same trick should've worked on Gunz as well, especially since this was the first time William showed this trick on the competitive stage.

[Hmph. Maybe his "instincts" are a lot more honed than Ronald's due to past experiences or such. They're both in the same year, but Gunz is clearly one league above my simpleton brother.]

Ultimately, words like "instinct" and "intuition" were just fancy terms to describe the player's ability to tap into their experience. Either Gunz was very good at it, or he had tons of experience facing baits like this. Or, perhaps even both.

[Either way, without Dodge Roll, I can't keep pressing the attack.] William backed away. His Deflector Shield was still up but it would do little good against the Kraken.

[Oh?] Lars grinned as he advanced toward the backpedaling opponent. [Why are you running, dude? Why are you running?]

Even though Lars was severely lagging behind in terms of HP and his opponent was still using that hax Deflector Shield, it was actually Lars who was holding the upper hand now. He still had his Kraken whereas his opponent didn't have a Dodge Roll.

In other words, this was the perfect opportunity to smack that dude down and finish him off! Let's gooooooooo, yo!

[But, should I?] Lars didn't hurry to dump his ult on the lane. It was too important of a trump card to be spent carelessly, and Yuel made sure to drill that lesson into Lars on a regular basis. [I bet he'd say it's not worth using here. And, I kinda agree, to be honest.]

"Release the Kraken" was one of the most infamous ults in the game. Not only did it deliver good damage alongside powerful CC, but it also had a built-in feint option via skill canceling.

It was the kind of oppressing tool that forced the enemy to hold onto their Dodge Roll just to play around it. And, even with that precaution, they still had to guess the 50/50 when the Pirate started casting the ult.

Players with superb reaction speed could usually wait until the last moment and then decide whether to roll, but the entire situation still placed tremendous pressure on them. Meanwhile, the Pirate didn't have to sweat at all. Dude could just cancel the ult as he pleased, ezpz.

And heck, even if the enemy rolls in time, the Pirate could still potentially hit them with the Kraken by guessing right. So seriously, all the odds were in the Pirate's favor here.

[This thing is hax, yo!] Lars grinned. [It's like I'm holding an atom bomb here, hehe. But welp, I guess we're both cheats, huh. Dude got his shield while I got the Big Squid Dude. #Balanced]

And so, that's why Lars boldly advanced toward Winner, and why Winner backed away like a scaredy-cat. In these last few seconds, right before the next minion wave arrives, the situation flipped on its head! It was Lars's overwhelming victory!

Though, his opponent seemed to disagree with that.

[So, this is the end.] William retreated far enough into his territory, and Gunz stopped giving chase as well. With minions about to arrive on the lane, this signaled the end of their second bout.

[The way it ended wasn't pretty, but I won this round.] William declared so based on their remaining HP values. He still had over 60% HP left whereas his opponent fell below 40%.

Therefore, this was absolutely William's victory, no doubt about it. After this, Gunz had no choice but to recall to base in order to heal up, which will allow William to dominate the unprotected lane.

[With that said, the little mess-up I had at the end was dangerous.] William admitted. [He nearly turned the tables on me with that Kraken feint.]

At the very last moment, Gunz seized control of the duel. It was a short-lived advantage that ended before Gunz even had the chance to capitalize on it, but it was undeniable that, for a few moments at the end there, Gunz held the upper hand.

[So, I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with this outcome.] William frowned. [He's not even using his best classes, so this should've been a breeze for me.]

The plan was to stomp Lars's regular classes in order to prove to Sonya that William was the superior player on average. After that, once Cato stops being a scaredy-cat and allows Gunz to pick Trickshooter or Gunslinger, then William intended to defeat these classes too.

With all that evidence, Sonya would have no choice but to give him back the No. 2 spot. But…

[I couldn't even properly crush one of his weaker classes.] William frowned. [From the side, this outcome might even look like a draw to some. Tch.]

Why was this happening? Without Trickshooter and Gunslinger, Gunz should have been easy prey.

[Or, maybe his Pirate is on par with his Shooter and Slinger?] William wondered. [Though I have to say, it really didn't feel that way…]

Gunz's execution was great no matter which class he used. As a result, his mechanical skill made his Pirate seem strong. But, that's all there was to it.

[It doesn't feel like he actually "mastered" Pirate. For example, he hasn't even used his cutlass yet, not even once.]

In fact, their fight could've turned out very different if Gunz properly close the distance between them and utilized Pirate's melee range advantage. However, the guy showed no intention of doing so, therefore William played accordingly and abused the mid-range.

[If he just showed me that he knows how to make use of his cutlass, then I would've had to play it safer and create more space between us. And, then my drone would've struggled to land any shots.]

So, all in all, it didn't feel like Gunz exhibited true mastery of Pirate. But, at the same time, it was impossible to say for sure after just two fights.

[I'll have to watch the replays to say for sure.] William concluded. [I'm sure Sonya will watch them during the break, so I should be able to get my answer soon enough. Until then, I'll arrange as many duels as possible, to make sure there's plenty of footage to analyze. By the end of this game, I'll prove to everybody that I'm No. 2, not this average power player.]

Both players were very much eager to continue the ongoing duel. So far, they have exchanged plenty of blows, but no conclusion has been reached yet. Therefore, they had to fight some more!

Alas, as it turned out, they won't get many more chances to do so in this game. That's because the situation in Mid escalated far beyond what anybody expected at the time...