Coping with Defeat

"Only the strong can survive in this harsh world." A metallic voice resounded after Gate of Sheol vanished. Gregory's soul was sucked out, both figuratively and literally.

["Only the strong", huh.] Gregory took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. It was just a dumb scripted line, but it struck home right now. Gregory was completely overwhelmed by Roi because he wasn't strong enough.

Of course, part of it was Dark Knight's fault. That overpowered edgy boi was the best at bullying during the early game. But, even beyond that, Roi totally outplayed Gregory at every step of the way. Gregory thought he knew how Dark Knight was supposed to be played and how to beat it, but Roi countered everything. Damn it...

In the end, Gregory was just a weakling, he couldn't do shit. This one-sided battle made it crystal clear: he had no future in Solo Lane. By himself, he was a worthless player.

"Tai," Howard called out. "I need you to gank Top."

"Okay, on it!"

"It'll be great if you can get a kill, but driving Roi out of lane is good enough."

"I'mma kick his ass, no problem!" Taison claimed with a confident grin. "Gonna get there in a jiffy." He said while clearing the Wolf Camp.

"You know," Gregory muttered. "You could've gotten there earlier to help me if you didn't farm camps the whole day."

"Hey, farming is important too, ya know? Gotta get vegetables from somewhere, right? Khaha."

"Hilarious."

"I mean, hey, you didn't call for help or anything. How the hell should I know you're in trouble?"

"That's... fair, I guess." Gregory pursed his lips. Right, it wasn't Taison's fault. Like, sure, if Taison were a half-decent Jungler with sharp decision-making, he would have noticed Gregory's situation and would have rotated to Solo as quickly as possible. But, Taison was just a brainless thug, so what did Gregory expect?

"Anyway," Gregory continued. "Don't underestimate Roi. He's strong."

"Well yeah, he's playing DK."

"It's not just that. He's just strong, in general."

"No problem, yo. I'mma avenge ya, my brudda!"

"Good luck with that." Gregory smiled wryly. With this gung-ho attitude, Taison will probably burn and crash too. Despite the friendly advice, a part of Gregory actually wished to see it happen. If Taison puts on an even fight against Roi here, then...

"Heeeeere comes Taison!" Taison leaped onto the lane from the jungle and crashed onto the enemy minions. As soon as he landed, he swept through the remaining minions with his lance. Awesome! All the weak dawgs were dead, so it gonna be a pure 1v1 now!

[Okay, let's go!] Taison dashed toward Roi and thrust his lance. Wham! Easy hit! That slowpoke tried to sidestep, but no dice! Ain't nobody getting away from Lightning Speed Taison!

Still, though, that dude had over half his HP bar. The heck was Gregory doing here until now?

"Yo GG," Taison called out. "Didn'tcha fight this guy? He's healthy like a damn horse!"

"Didn't you check his HP before jumping him?" Gregory made a face. "I almost got him, but he restored like 30% after killing me. DK kinda got a passive, in case you forgot."

"Oh, yeah?" Taison shrugged. Welp, that sucked ass, but no problem! He just gotta beat Roi from half HP to zero. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Taison maintained his distance and thrust his lance again. Bullseye! Another clean hit! The fight only started and it's already 2:0 to Taison!

But, Roi ain't no pushover, he won't keep taking a beating like some wuss. Edgy Knight charged his blade with some edgy magic stuff and slashed through the air.

[Oh shit, it's that thing!] Taison exclaimed. It was that thing! The high damage shit! What was it called again? Dark Fart or something? Anyway, it was coming!

Taison rolled aside and dodged that shit. Khaha! Easy! Now, back to offense- keh!? "When did he-!?"

Roi was right in front of him! When did that mofo close the distance!? Shit, this ain't good! Taison had to create some space again- geh!

Edgy Knight slashed without any chill, taking off like 10% from Taison's HP. Damn, even a simple basic hit like a truck! But, now it was Taison's turn! Ha!

Taison's lance dug into Edgy Knight's chest. Goal! He totally owned this- whoa! Black ooze sprayed at him from the Dark Knight's wound! And it hurt, yo!

[Pulling out the big guns, huh?] Taison flinched. Edgy Knight cloaked himself in a black aura. It was that Nightmare crap, Dark Knight's second ability. Taison properly remembered this name, because it was so spot on. 1v1 against this shit was a legit nightmare, yo!

At low ranks, there were a bunch of shitheads who thought they're good at the game by bringing Edgy Knight to 1v1 mode. Heck, Taison did that shit too at first. The class seemed hella broken, no joke. The win streaks he had were hella funny.

But, eventually, Taison came across stronger opponents and that's where shit got real. These bastards did everything they could to ruin Taison's game plan as a Dark Knight, which led to some of the most frustrating gaming experiences EVER. An Edgy Knight who didn't start strong in the early-game was trash later on, so eventually, Taison moved on from this disappointing mess of a class.

But, to REALLY move on, Taison first had to be strong enough to beat the trashbags who continued playing Edgy Knight. To become da best, he fought lots and lots of Edgy Knights until he figured out how to deal with that mofo. So, there's no way this shitty class will take him out in 1v1!

Nightmare reflected like 40% damage and buffed the heck out of Edgy Knight, but it also gradually sapped Edgy Knight's HP. So, Taison just had to maintain his distance and let Roi burn himself out.

[Come at me, yo!] Roi taunted by rapidly stepping back and forth. As much as he liked charging at the opponent's face, Taison had to play the waiting game for now. [I'mma let Roi wipe out his own HP, khaha.]

Since Taison became passive, Roi took the initiative and tried closing the distance. But, too bad, sucker! Edgy Knight had no movement options for shit! While Black Fart was on cooldown, Roi didn't have any ranged attacks and only had his basics to rely on. As long as Taison doesn't let that mofo get into melee range, this fight was ez.

Roi approached from different sides and angles, but Taison just stepped away every time. A game of cat and mouse, heh.

[I know whatcha trying to do, but it ain't gonna work.] Taison smirked. Roi clearly tried to corner Taison against one of the jungle walls, but Taison was smarter than that. Whenever his back was forced to a wall, he re-positioned himself with a roll. [Keep trying, fam. You ain't cornering the mighty Taison!]

Tick tock. Tick tock. Dark Knight's HP went down with every tick. Dude has already lost like 5% since he entered Nightmare.

[Damn, he's good.] Roi glanced at his HP. He was already down to 30% because of his Nightmare and he hasn't achieved much in return. This was getting bad. Taison was hella healthy at 70% HP, so there's no way this gonna be a fair fight. Especially, there's Lancer's ult to look out for. [Guess I have to scram. At least, I got myself an easy escape route. Thanks for being so cooperative, Tai! Lol.]

[Oh, finally.] Taison grinned and clenched his mouse. The dark fog around Dark Knight dispersed. Nightmare was out of the picture, so now they could fight like real men!

Except, apparently Roi had no intention to fight. He just turned around and dashed! Fuuuuu! He gonna get away!

[Damn, I forgot to block his escape route. Derp.] Taison smiled wryly. While he was busy running away from Roi, he rotated to the opposite side of the lane and opened an easy escape route for Roi. Welp, damn. Good damn job, Roi. A 200 IQ play.

But, it ain't over yet! There was still Gae Bolg! Taison just had to close the distance a little and launch himself at Roi!

[Follow me, by all means.] Roi threw some glances behind his back, to see if Gae Bolg was coming. "Dan, you ready to jump on Tai when comes?"

"I'm not done with the wolves yet, but I'll be there."

"You still messing with the wolves? Lol, you slow as fuck, boi."

"Hey, not my fault ClassSoft can't give Venomancer a proper jungle clear ability."

"How can you even play that slowpoke."

"Yeah, he's slow as heck, but shredding tanks is fun. Anyway, no problem. I'll gank Tai if he comes."

"Roger," Roi nodded. [I'll slow down a little then, to give Tai more hope about catching up. Next level bait, lol.]

"Hey, I can get him!" Taison exclaimed as Roi was almost within range. The guy kept turning around while running, he probably thought Taison will eventually give up. Not in a million years! Taison gonna chase his prey to the end of the world!

"Alright, Tai. That's enough," Howard pierced Taison with a sharp tone. "You did your part, now retreat."

"Yo, but I almost got him! Just a little more and I'mma kill his ass!"

"Or, maybe just a little more and you'll get your ass ganked instead. I haven't seen Dan for a while now."

"Oh shit, for real?" Taison backpedaled. "Oh hey, there's our guy." He spotted the Venomancer peeking from inside the jungle. "Yo, my man. How's life?" Taison used a hand-waving emote inside the game, then got the heck of outta there. Phew, he almost had his ass ganked for real. Too bad he couldn't get that sweet kill, tho.

"Good job," Howard nodded. "That should be enough to make Roi retreat. I bet you're salty about missing the kill but trust me, your contribution was huge. It may not look like it right now, but you saved the entire game."

"Just doing my job, khaha."

"..." Gregory silently watched how the whole situation unfolded. He had nothing to do because he was dead, so he closely followed the Taison vs. Roi fight. He saw every part of it.

Taison actually fought on equal ground against Roi, the guy who kicked Gregory's ass without breaking a sweat. Taison failed to score a kill, but even just driving Roi out of the lane was huge. It neutralized the situation Gregory caused in Solo Lane with his incompetence.

Why? This didn't make sense. Yeah, sure, Gregory didn't main Solo, so it's understandable why his combat skills were lacking. But then, what about Taison? The guy didn't main Jungler, yet he put on a strong show anyway. It didn't make any sense.

Was Gregory just... weak? Was that the truth? No matter which role he played, he couldn't deliver results. Was that the extent of his worth? Was he forever doomed to remain "GG", the joke of the club? Dammit...

[This stupid respawn timer is taking too long. Let me back into the game already!] Gregory refused to accept this reality. He wanted another shot to prove he wasn't some useless weakling.

While waiting for the timer to tick to zero, something unexpected happened in Bot Lane.

『An ally has been killed!』

The second death in the team. This time, it was Ellen. That was a rare occurrence.

Ellen always played safe during the early game and hid behind her pokes. Gregory knew this all too well because he was often on the receiving end of Taison's rants when these two clashed. In practice matches, Ellen's pokes always triggered Taison to the point he started overextending just to get a few hits on her.

As a result, Gregory always had to do something to salvage the situation before Taison screwed himself and the team. Man, these matches were such a pain. The most Gregory ever achieved was stopping the fool from getting killed. They never actually managed to counter Ellen's poking.

So, to think Yuel and Lars found a way to score a kill on that poking machine... Honestly, it was pretty impressive. Gregory missed how that play went down, but it must have been something out of this world. Yuel probably came up with another one of his bullshit plans and Lars pulled off some inhuman stunt. It's frustrating to admit, but these two were... good. Really good.

And, Taison was pretty good too, even as a Jungler. Only Gregory didn't perform for shit. No, he wasn't even "Gregory", he was just "GG". He didn't even deserve a proper name because he was trash. Fuck...

"Well," Howard smiled. "I suppose that's how this match gotta go."

Huh? He was smiling? Even though his rival just shat on him real hard? Gregory found himself staring in disbelief.

"Something wrong?" Howard asked.

"Uh, nothing." Gregory shifted his eyes away. "I just thought you'll be more salty about losing to Yuel."

"Oh, trust me, I AM salty. Very salty." Howard claimed so but there was still a faint smile on his face. "It's just that I knew I might be biting off more than I can chew, so I can live with this result. Turns out Lars's Trickshooter is pretty damn good after all, haha."

This was some bizarre shit right there. That situation was "more than Howard could chew"? How was that even possible? Howard was the top dog of this club, so there shouldn't be anything he can't handle. That defeat should've completely destroyed his confidence, yet Howard was smiling like he was having fun.

"Looks weird to you?" Howard asked as if reading Gregory's mind.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you just got owned."

"You can't win every time, right? Matches aren't just about winning or losing, they also let you test your limits and teach you new things."

"You sound like these YouTubers who make 'Top 10 Tips' videos."

"Haha. Won't lie, I listened to many of those. But, that's a nice mindset to have, right? You should adopt it. Think about why you lost and what you learned."

"What I learned, huh," Gregory mumbled. All Gregory learned from the fight with Roi was that he's complete trash who couldn't play Solo for shit. Even a noob class like Dark Knight stomped him hard.

"You seem to beat yourself over dying to Roi," Howard said. "But, you gotta look at it with the right mind frame. Tell me, how would you describe Roi as a whole?"

"The Lol Guy, kek."

"Heh, that's definitely a thing. Anyway, when you look at Roi from your current position, what do you see? Just some senior from your club who plays Top, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Gregory shrugged, not sure where this was going. Like, that's what Roi objectively was, right? A senior in the club who played Solo and the enemy Gregory had to surpass in order to play Solo competitively in the upcoming year. Also, the Lol Guy, kek.

"That's a narrow view," Howard stated. "You need to think on a bigger scale. Roi is actually one of the best Top Laners I've seen in our entire region. We still don't know the regional lineups for the upcoming year, but I guarantee Roi will count among the strongest Top Laners in the tournament."

[The strongest...] Gregory clenched his fists. He knew Roi was good, but THAT good? If Howard said so, then Roi probably warranted the praise.

Thinking of it, Gregory heard something about Roi almost making it into the first string last year, so there was no doubt that everybody highly regarded the guy in the club. And, to be fair, Roi had the skill to back up that trust.

"So," Howard continued. "If you think you lost to some nobody, you gotta reframe your perspective. You lost against one of the best Top Laners, so no need to beat yourself over it. You made a few mistakes and Roi exploited them, but that's alright. Don't focus too hard on the fact you lost. Instead, think about your mistakes and figure out how you gonna avoid them next time. That's how you get better."

"I guess that makes sense..." Gregory's words trailed. Maybe he was really beating himself over nothing. Just because he lost so pitifully against the "strongest" didn't mean he was necessarily weak. He just wasn't as strong as Roi, that's all.

Yeah, it was only inevitable for Gregory to lose that 1v1. He "bit more than he could chew", as Howard put it. Now, that Gregory learned the gap between himself and Roi, he should give up on proving himself superior and should focus on dealing with Roi in the lane.

How should Gregory play against one of the strongest Solo Laners in the region? To be fair, Howard already kinda gave him the answer a week ago.

"Got it," Gregory said. "I'll play more defensively from now on."

"Atta boy," Howard nodded. "I know you wanted to beat Roi and take his spot, but you're not up to the challenge yet."

"Wha-!?" Gregory coughed. Was Howard aware of Gregory's super secret plan to overthrow Roi all along? Nah, the guy was probably just guessing based on circumstantial evidence. Seriously tho, Howard was borderline ESP sometimes.

[Good.] Howard nodded to himself. After they finished the conversation, Gregory had a refreshed look on his face. Now, he'll be more willing to listen to Howard's directions and to play defense, maybe he'll even be willing to turtle. Being beaten to a pulp taught that brat a good lesson. Good thing this problem fixed itself so early,

That's one troublemaker dealt with. Next, Howard focused his attention on Taison. This "throw-away" game was a good chance to test the waters and see how far their "Lars Killer" weapon could go. Its effectiveness will undoubtedly decide a lot in the upcoming battles...