Baby Steps of Cooperation

As promised, during the next wave, Kai laid low. She summoned her Iron Maiden near the enemy bowmen and used it for farming, not for starting a war.

[Good, good.] Vincent nodded in approval. He liked slow starts like this. They gave him time to gather as much information as possible about his opponents. Once enough data is absorbed into his Information Blackhole, he shall pass his verdict as the Arbiter of Talents!

"What the hell?" Bruce ranted. "You ain't coming at me? Where did ya fighting spirit go??"

"Maybe she's scared," Bryan snickered. "She fought you once and that put her in her place."

"Haha, probably. She gotta be quaking in her boots right now. Fear the Legend, bitch!"

"This plays in our favor," Bryan explained. "Impaler is stronger in the early-game, but Pirate gonna own it during mid-game. You just gotta farm slow and steady, then you'll win no problem."

"C'mon, what's with that weak ass attitude?" Bruce sneered. "You saying we gonna kick back and farm 24/7 till mid-game? No way, man. We go hard or we go home!"

"You want to attack?"

"Of course! That bitch started it, so I ain't a man if I don't finish this. I gonna teach her a lesson she never forgets!"

"But, you can't compete with her damage yet," Bryan reminded.

"Pft, you think I need that shit?" Bruce snorted. "I'mma mop the floor with her even with this handicap, just watch."

"You sure sound confident," Bryan smiled wryly. [There's no stopping him, is there? Sigh.] "Okay, I'll help you out."

"Just keep their Cryo out of the way. I wanna rek that girl with my own two hands."

"Sure," Bryan nodded. There was no talking Bruce outta this. Once the guy set his mind on something, there was no stopping him. That's the reason he was the leader of the gang, but it was also one of his greatest weaknesses as a player. Oh well.

Truth to be told, Bryan wanted to draw some blood too. Stratus was a crappy team, everybody knew that. So, Taurus better smash these guys like bugs. They gotta assert total dominance today. Fortunately, the enemy Carry was some Bronze level hot-head. This gonna be easy.

That chick got the surprise element on her side last time, but it won't happen again. This time, Bruce and Bryan will be the ones to open the attack! As soon as they finished clearing the minions, Bryan activated Blinding Light and blinked in using Flash.

"Let's go, let's go, let's goooooo!" Bruce turned his back to the enemy and fired Backfire Cannon, propelling himself into enemy territory!

"They're coming!" Kai rolled aside, in an attempt to dodge the glowing Lumimancer that appeared in front of her. Fortunately, she was fast enough to cast her gaze away from the blinding light. However, the explosion of light still grazed her and dealt minor damage.

[Did she just react to it?] Bryan's face contorted. [Nah, no way. She's just some chick. She can't outplay surprise attacks like this.]

"Die, bitch!" Bruce was the next to show up. Backfire Cannon sent him flying close enough to reach his target with his cutlass. So, he drew his sword and slashed that rolling ass. The chick didn't get any time to dodge this shit! She couldn't even see it coming!

[He switched to his sword.] Kai heard the sword being drawn. It was a distinct sound she was familiar with by now after facing countless Pirates online. So, a slash was coming.

But, could she dodge the attack? Probably not. Still, this was a great opportunity to launch a counter-attack! She was guaranteed to hit him from this range while he was locked in the recovery animation. She could impale his cocky ass!

[Ah, but I used my Iron Maiden on the minions.] Kai pursed her lips. To make the most of Impale, she had to shove the guy into some wall. But, she couldn't create one right now...

[No, wait! There's Vince!] It struck her. The guy picked Cryomancer for this very purpose! Kai didn't have to rely only on herself for creating opportunities, she could ask her Support to lend a hand as well.

"Vince, make a wall behind him!" Kai barked as she turned around, spear in the ready. She didn't have time to wait for a reply. She had to fire back, right here and now! There was no choice but to trust Vincent on this one.

Yuel lectured Kai time and again about cooperating with the Support. He went on and on about how important it was to make use of the Support's resources and share the burden. After drilling Kai's brain with this info on a daily basis, she started getting used to it, little by little.

Vincent seemed to welcome that change with open arms. He was always ready to help her out as much as he could. Therefore, a simple play, like Ice Wall + Impale, was something they've coordinated countless times since then. And, they'll nail it again!

Kai fired her spear without a moment's hesitation. Even though she couldn't even confirm that Vincent properly cast Ice Wall, she launched her spear. She trusted Vincent to do his part. It was blind trust, something that was alien to her a few months ago. But, through practice and experience, she finally realized it was possible to trust teammates in such a manner. It was a blind trust, but a well-founded one at the same time.

Everything turned out exactly as she imagined. An ice wall appeared behind the Pirate and her spear shoved the bastard into the wall, stunning the hell outta him.

[How you like that, huh!?] Kai threw another spear at the stunned target. [I'm SO going to kill you!]

"Fuck! What the-!?" Bruce couldn't believe what just happened. In a split of a second, that bitch turned around and hurled a spear at him. And, that shit shoved him into a wall. Yeah, a wall... that didn't even exist there a moment ago! WTF!?!?

"Let's retreat," Bryan was already on his way back.

"Huh? The hell!? You want us to run? From some chick!?"

"They countered our play. We gotta regroup."

"Tch, fine," Bruce also turned around. But, not before firing one more bullet at that damn bitch!

[You wanna go? Let's go!] Kai sidestepped the bullet and hurled another spear at the bastard.

"Shit!" Bruce rolled aside to dodge, but the stupid roll came out late. "Can't you move faster, you fat fucker!? What's with these lags!? Damn it all!" He cursed at his own Pirate.

"Hey, man," Bryan called out. "Don't let the tilt get to you."

"Huh? What tilt? You think some scrubby chick can tilt me?"

"It's because ya think she's 'scrubby' that she tilts ya," Bryan explained. "Looks like she ain't as bad as you thought. Just gotta accept that and move on."

"Pft, yeah, right. She just got lucky, that's all."

"Lucky, you say..." Bryan smiled wryly. No matter how he looked at that shit, it looked nothing like luck. That girl came across as a brainless aggressive scrub at first, but this time she was calm and efficient.

First, that timely dodge against Bryan's Flash + Blinding Light. Then, that swift counter on Bruce. Bitch shoved the poor guy into an ice wall that appeared like a split second before he rammed into it. Shit was wild.

[So, yeah. Luck? I don't think so.] Bryan shook his head. That girl had at least some skill, that's for sure. Bryan didn't want to give the chick any undeserved credit either, but he had to face the facts here. And, Bruce should do so too.

"Nah, it's all dumb luck, I'm tellin' ya," Bruce insisted. "Next time, just gotta attack faster so you catch that bitch with yo spell. Got it?"

"Sure," Bryan nodded. [Well, maybe I'm really overthinking this shit a little.]

With all said and done, that chick played like a textbook Bronze player in their first fight. Maybe she just had a lucky dodge at the start of the fight, so it threw Bryan and Bruce off. Yeah, that's probably it. That chick was trash. The next time they attack, they'll mop the floor with that wannabe-player!

"Nice Ice Wall," Kai said.

"But, of course!" Vincent made noise. "Our very special 'Impale the Ice' strategy has no weaknesses!"

["Special"? Impale + Ice Wall is like the 101 of combo plays in the game.] Kai made a face but didn't say anything. It was a joyous moment, so Vincent was free to goof around this once.

"Looks like you calmed down," Kai noted.

"Yes, but of course! I've been calm from the moment I was born! I'm tranquility incarnate."

"Yeah, yeah," Kai rolled her eyes. [Looks like we're both good now. We're ready to play these guys for real. Next time, we gonna mop the floor with their ugly faces! We're getting that First Blood-]

『An enemy has been killed!』

『FIRST BLOOD!』

"Huh?" Kai blinked. Was it Lars? Or, Yuel? No, it was... Nia!?

"Woohoo!" Lars made noise. "Nice kill, dude! We're rockin' this!"

"Marvelous!" Vincent hyperventilated. "As expected from the Vanishing Phantom! Silent, but deadly!"

Everybody showered Nia with praise. It was the team's first kill on the competitive stage. The first kill of the first scrimmage. It was a huge deal. It definitely gave Kai an adrenaline boost, making her feel even more confident that she gonna wreck all these bastards! But...

[I should've been the one to score First Blood.] Kai pouted. She was the captain, so it was her job to keep morale high. Not to mention, she had a point to prove against all these bastards who looked down on her, so scoring First Blood would've been the perfect revenge against them.

[Oh well. As long as the team is doing well. That's what counts.] Kai smiled wryly and hurried to congratulate Nia as well. "Good job."

Nia happened to be the one who ignited the team's momentum, but it was up to everybody to keep this momentum going. So, Kai didn't lose her opportunity to prove herself worthy of being the captain. She'll tear TheLegend apart and increase the team's momentum tenfold!

"Play more aggressively from now on," Kai requested. "Try to get their Lumi out of lane so I can 1-on-1 the Pirate."

"Are you back to the Dark Side?" Vincent asked. "I thought we agreed it was a bad idea."

"Don't worry, I'm calm now. I'm tranquility incarnate."

"Yeah, right," Vincent pressed doubt on that one.

"Just lemme 1v1 that guy and I'll prove it to you. I've got a good grasp of what makes him tick. He's trash."

"Oh! So, your Rhythm Reader finished analyzing the targets?"

"Um, yeah, that. Exactly."

"Alrighty, then it means all preparations are set!" Vincent announced loudly. "We shall smite these evildoers with the power of rhythm deduction!"

"No idea what you're smoking, but sure, let's roll with that."

It was time to strike back at these bastards and score another kill for the team!