Nerves on Both Sides

The second minion wave arrived. Like before, the Dark Knight opened an assault with Dark Blast. This time, it grazed one of Yuel's bowmen and killed the poor guy. So, Yuel was left with three dying swordsmen and two healthy bowmen.

[Missing the bowmen twice in a row? Interesting.] Yuel didn't waste any time and charged in to taunt the enemy swordsmen. The plan was to drag them away while his bowmen shoot them down, the same as before.

However, this time it wasn't going to fly. The opponent acted boldly, as a Dark Knight should, and stepped in to intercept Yuel.

[Don't get any funny ideas, scrub.] Zeph ran in and swung his blade.

[Close.] Yuel stopped in the nick of time and backpedaled before the black blade slashed his neck. He successfully made the attack whiff, but he couldn't counter-attack. Dark Knight's sword was a little longer than Knight's, so if the Dark Knight couldn't reach Yuel, then surely Yuel couldn't reach the Dark Knight either. The laws of physics were a pain like that sometimes.

Still, his opponent whiffed an attack. It created a small opening and Yuel grabbed it right away.

Whish! Yuel charged forth and slammed his shield into the swordsmen. With a few follow-up shots from his bowmen, the enemy's frontline vanished.

But, there was no reason to stop there. Yuel darted toward the enemy bowmen as well and unleashed Blade Swing, reducing their HP to almost nothing.

While all of that was going down, the Dark Knight only had enough time to recover from the whiff and assess the situation.

"This freakin' scrub, I'm tellin' ya...!" Zeph's face contorted. [You dare invade against a Dark Knight!? Lemme teach ya a thing or two!]

Zeph didn't hold any punches. He booted Nightmare and charged at the overextending foe. [When it's this early into the game, DK totally wrecks Knight, right? Yeah, pretty sure he does. Haven't played it in a while, but it's a no-brain class anyway, so it's all good! Heh.]

[Too late.] Yuel was already in the middle of retreating to his side of the lane. However, continuing in this direction will make him run straight into the Dark Knight! But, it was fine.

"How nice of you to come to me yourself," Zeph swung his giant blade at the approaching opponent. "Die, scrub!"

[Predictable.] Yuel rolled forth, going under the horizontal slash.

"Say what!?" Zeph roared. He felt like a dumb cat who let a mouse slip by him. "The heck!? Come back here, dammit!"

Zeph turned around and gave chase. Both he and his opponent were clad in heavy armor, so they ran like damn turtles. However, Nightmare boosted Zeph's stats, including his Movement Speed!

[I'm fast as fuck, boi! Okay, maybe not THAT fast.] Zeph made a face. Sure, he was faster than usual and he'll catch up to the Knight eventually, but that "eventually" gonna take a while. Dang it.

And, this wasn't the end of the bad news. As Zeph was chasing, two arrows flew his way!

"The hell!?" Zeph exclaimed. Two enemy bowmen stood there and shot at him, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. [Wait a freakin' second here. Are you telling me this guy just out-cleared a DK? Dang it, this scrub be wilding!]

Zeph gave up the chase and darted toward the bowmen instead. He cut them down swiftly, but not as swiftly as he hoped to.

[Damn, even with Nightmare I need two hits to take them out?] Zeph made a face. One basic attack during Nightmare erased 90% of a bowman's HP, but 90% was no 100%. So, he had to deliver a second strike to get rid of that tiny 10%. Damn, Nightmare ended up being such a waste here.

[He's making many small misplays.] Yuel criticized the Dark Knight. The guy was already down to 75% HP due to goofing around too much. That's 30% HP lost.

15% of it was spent on firing Dark Blasts, so that couldn't be helped. However, the remaining 10% was unnecessary damage he received from Nightmare and Yuel's bowmen. It was the kind of damage that a competent Dark Knight should be able to avoid.

[If that's his skill level, I can defend the lane by myself.] Yuel thought. [With that said, I'll probably be able to ONLY defend, little else.]

Even though Yuel clearly outplayed the Dark Knight during this wave, it didn't give him any lane advantage. He merely avoided losing lane advantage, that's all. Such was the reality of facing a Dark Knight on lane. It was an uphill battle with little hope of prevailing. No matter how many mistakes the Dark Knight commits, Yuel probably won't be able to punish the guy in any meaningful way. Nia's help was necessary for turning the tables on the enemy in a big way.

To make things worse, it felt like DragonMaster has been gradually improving his Dark Knight. Little by little, the guy was getting better. During the third wave, his Dark Blast already landed on two bowmen.

[Tch, still not good.] Zeph clicked his tongue. [So, I gotta shoot a little more to the right, got it. Man, where did all my muscle memory go? I know I haven't played DK in like a month or two, but c'mon. The heck is wrong with me?]

Zeph threw a glance at the right hand clutching the mouse. His palm was uncomfortable. It's been this way ever since he sat down. His fingers were tightly wrapped around the mouse, as if they caught a prey they wanted to crush.

[Why the hell am I clutching so hard? This ain't no "Mouse Cushing" competition here.] Zeph forced his hand to loosen the grip. That's when he noticed something peculiar: his hand was shaking a little.

[The heck? Calm down, bitch.] Zeph smacked his hand. The hell was this shit? Was he nervous or something? Nah, no way. Like, this was his first match on a big stage and all, but there's no reason to be nervous.

[This gonna be an ez win.] He reassured himself. [Like, we're playing against the scrubbiest team in the region. These guys ain't nothing to worry about. We got this.]

After repeating such thoughts a few more times in his head, his hand ceased its annoying trembling. Okay, now he was back to his usual self. [Time to tear this scrub apart!]

During the next minion wave, Zeph properly landed his Dark Blast on the entire minion wave. Swordsmen and bowmen, - he annihilated everybody!

"That's more like it!" Zeph nodded to himself. A Dark knight gotta be like this. A symbol of terror, somebody who could eliminate everybody and everything in one shot.

[It seems like he's done warming up.] Yuel concluded

From now on, it was probably going to be the familiar Dark Knight experience. Knight's Chivalry effect was still enough to let his swordsmen survive Dark Blast, but not for long. The flat defense buff of Chivalry remained static throughout the game, whereas Dark Blast's power increased with the skill's level. In a couple of waves, the difference in power will be big enough and Dark Blast will eliminate Yuel's entire army in one hit.

But, not all was doom and gloom. Yuel made it this far without losing a single point of HP on his Turret. That was a huge deal against a Dark Knight. The first couple of waves were the best time for a Dark Knight to establish his lane advantage, but this guy took too long to wake up. He wasted that precious time and he won't be getting it back.

Everybody hit Lv.5 by now, including Nia. So, she was more than ready to deliver a gank on Top Lane.

"Nia, are you coming to gank?" Yuel asked

"Soon TM," Nia cleared the Hyena Camp in Top Jungle and continued toward Top. [Gank. Yeah, I need to gank that DK. That's how we'll win. Ez. Yeah.]

For some reason, no matter how many times she repeated these words in her head, her hands still trembled. Why? Was she scared of ganking that Dark Knight?

No, that couldn't be it. Nia was already over that stuff. Yuel forced her to gank every Dark Knight in existence during club practice. By now, ganking Dark Knights was as natural as breathing.

Then, why? Why did her fingers feel so numb? Why did shivers run across her arms? Simple, because tons of people were watching her. She felt like a clown cast on a big stage.

[I can't mess this up. Can't mess up. Can't.] Nia gulped. [They all gonna laugh at me if I do. They're all bullies.]

Everybody in the crowd must have been watching Nia right now. They were all wondering "Who the heck is this scrub? Can she even play?" They'll ridicule her at the first sight of a misplay, no question about it.

[I have to do this right.] Nia repeated. She had to get to Top, sneak up to the Dark Knight, and Izuna him out of existence. Yeah, that's the plan. Get to Top, sneak up, Izuna. Top, sneak, Izuna. One, two, three. Top, sneak, Izuna.

[Gufu, why is it taking so long to get there?] Nia twisted her lips. She has already executed that sequence of plays at least a hundred times by now, but only in her head. In reality, she was only midway to Top Lane. Faster! She had to get there faster, before she forgets all this stuff.

[Nia is taking the short route?] Yuel raised an eyebrow. Instead of picking one of the roundabout routes, Nia cut straight through the jungle. Odd.

[Well, it's not a misplay by any means, but...] Yuel found this unsettling. It was like watching a Bishop move horizontally instead of diagonally; it was against the rules.

There was no question that taking the shortest path when rotating saved precious time. However, it also increased the chances of passing by enemy wards and exposing the rotation. At the same time, taking a roundabout route slowed down the rotation but kept it hidden.

There was a fair trade-off, so neither approach was more "correct" for rotating. Everything came down on the Jungler's ability to estimate warding positions. If they had a good idea where wards will be, it was worth playing around these wards. On the other hand, if the Jungler was guessing blindingly, it was better to simply press ahead and don't try any funny ideas.

Nia has proven, time and again, that she was good at sneaking past wards. Yuel wrote it off as luck at first, but Nia kept proving her ability to get past wards was reliable. Her success rate was far from 100%, especially at higher ranks, but it was high enough to justify not taking the shortest route. So, nine times out of ten, Nia would pick a roundabout slower route.

Yet, this very same Nia was taking the shortest path right now. Why? As far a Yuel could tell, there was no special reason to do so.

[Do I say something?] Yuel was too baffled to form coherent thoughts. He felt like he should bring up this topic, but at the same time, he had no idea what he could possibly say. After all, Nia was the Jungler, so she should know what worked best for her in the current situation.

"Shoot!" Zeph noticed the Ninja on the mini-map. The chick passed by one of his wards and they exposed her. [She's coming here, ain't she. Do I take the risk? I bet Bruce gonna call me a pussy if I retreat. At the same time, he also gonna call me feeder if I stay here and die. Can't win that shit, haha.]

Ultimately, Zeph chose to retreat. The Ninja was already at Lv.5, so Izuna Drop was a thing. The damage on that shit was no joke. Better scram.

[Top, sneak, Izuna. Top, sneak, Izuna. One, two, three.] Nia kept reciting on the way. She had a clear image of that play. She was going to do it. It'll be easy. No problem.

"Hey, Nia," Yuel called out. "The Dark Knight is retreating."

[Top, sneak, Izuna. Top, sneak, Izuna.]

"Did you hear me?" Yuel frowned. The girl either muted everybody or was mentally not presented. The latter sounded like a joke, but it was a real possibility when it came to Nia. Her brain had a special function that allowed her to transfer her mind to another dimension, unreachable by others.

[Good thing I made sure she sits beside me.] Yuel retreated back to his Turret, then elbowed Nia lightly.

"E-Eh? Wha?" Nia blinked in confusion, as if she just woke up from a state of trance.

"You hear me now?" Yuel asked. "Give up on the rotation."

"Eh? Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? The Dark Knight retreated to his tower."

"Oh..." Nia just realized. Indeed, the Dark Knight was all the way back in his turret area. When did he get all the way over there?

"You didn't notice?"

"O-Of course I noticed," Nia averted her eyes. "I was just, um, going to for the wolves. Yeah."

"There's still time until they respawn."

"T-Then, I was coming to help you push!"

"That'd be pointless. We won't win a laning contest against a Dark Knight even if we farm together.

"Gufu..." Nia's shoulders sunk. She had no other excuses to throw at him.

"Is something wrong?" Yuel asked. "It's not like you to rush a rotation like this. And, you usually pay more attention to your target. What's the matter?"

"Ah, I, um... N-Nothing, all green."

"Are you still nervous?"

"N-No I'm not," Nia insisted at first, then lowered her head in defeat. "Maybe. Just a little."

[I swear, this girl. Every time it looks like she got over it, the stage fright strikes again.] Yuel sighed. Nia was always a tough customer like this.

"Looks like your Spartan method didn't quite work," Yuel informed Lars.

"Yeah, it doesn't always do the trick right away," Lars admitted. "Buy hey, it's a start. We just gotta give her another push or two, then it gonna work, 200%"

"So, got any more extreme ideas up your sleeve? Say, maybe straight up throw her into the audience?"

"Haha, we should totally try that!"

"Please no."

"Haha, just kidding ya. That ain't gonna do anything for Nia."

"I agree," Yuel knotted his brows. This issue has been persisting for way too long. It had to be eliminated somehow.

Thanks to Lars's (questionable) methods, Nia mustered the will to sit at the table and play. However, her performance was a far cry from her usual self. The nerves hampered her decision-making. If things go on like this, she'll eventually make a fatal mistake and bring ruin upon herself, or on the rest of the team.

[What can I do for her? I don't have any charisma that could put her at ease, and I don't know any extreme relief tricks like the one Lars used. All I can do is watch her play and warn her whenever she's about to commit a mistake.]

"One play," Lars said. "If she pulls off one good play, it gonna make her feels awesome. I remember I was a little nervous the first time I played last year, but then I scored a kill and it felt awesome! From there, everything was smooth. So, just help her get that one play."

"One play, huh," Yuel repeated. "Okay, sounds like a plan. I'll try that. Thanks."

"No problem, dude. I'd help ya out more, but this Aero dude over here is keeping me busy. Can't catch a breather."

"I see," Yuel glanced at the situation in Mid. Indeed, it wasn't a favorable position. Both Mid towers were untouched, but Lars was lagging behind in HP. It wasn't a serious difference just yet, but it might become a problem if things keep going on like this. Clearly, Lars had no time to spare to other matters.

[He might need a gank over there sometime soon.] Yuel concluded. [But, I feel Nia is in no condition to gank anywhere right now. First, I need to make her successfully gank Top.]

The immediate goal was clear. Yuel will help Nia execute a good gank on Top, which will hopefully alleviate her stress. Then, Nia should be ready to gank other lanes as well, including Mid.

An easy and straightforward plan, at least on paper. But, will Yuel really be able to help out this troublemaker girl...?