Can't Go on the Offensive

『An ally has been killed!』

[For real?] Julia blinked. Roi? Beaten by that loser? [Oh, it was a gank.] That made more sense. After all, there's no way Roi would lose against that loser GG.

[But, this isn't good. Are they gonna focus Mid next? Okay, on the bottom half everybody is in place. On the top side... missing.] Julia knotted her brows. Taison didn't stay in Top to push the undefended lane. Meaning, he was either counter jungling or... he gonna gank Mid!

Julia immediately turned around. Dying right now would be the worst. Lars did a great job gaining an advantage in Bot, but Roi totally blew it in Top. So, now the kill count was 1-1 and each team dominated one lane. If Julia dies now and loses Mid, she'll be blamed for losing the entire game and everybody will point fingers at her. Lars will hate her! Nuuuuuu!

[Nope, not having any of that.] Back, back, back! All the way to the tower! Gilbert was kinda running out of steam anyway, so he'll retreat any-

"Excuse me!?" Julia blurted. That stupidface didn't retreat! He advanced instead! Even though Gilbert only got like 30% HP and 25% MP, the guy was acting like he was all that. The nerve!

[Okay, let's see how long you dare to stay here.] Julia activated Whirlwind to summon raging winds in the center of the enemy wave. Of course, she didn't miss the chance to hit Gilbert along the way. Unfortunately, he dodged the spell after being hit by just a single tick of damage. [Can't you play like Bronze sometimes? Stop being good at this game.]

But, of course, Gilbert gotta be good like that. After all, he was StormBlitz's Mid Laner, at least for now. If Julia just scores a kill on him...!

[Take that! And that!] Two basics, two misses. Grr, that slippery bastard! Gilbert stayed just close enough to be within Julia's attack range, but also far enough to quickly step out of it. It's like he had a sixth sense to tell delicate border between the two. Did he have a uni degree at "Spacing" or something? Jesus.

Worst of all, Gilbert refused to budge. He stayed on the offensive even though he was running low on HP. It's as if he was asking to get killed. Like, seriously, did he think Julia won't dare to rush him?

[You won't attack.] Gilbert confidently pushed forward. Going on the offensive with 30% HP was normally against his better judgment, but there was an exception to everything. One such exception was Julia's extreme tendency to stick to defense, even to turtle if necessary.

Julia already displayed her strong intent to stay on the defensive in the previous game. She remained on guard that entire game, even though she was playing an aggressive class like Electromancer. And, this game, she went for Aeromancer, which told she was fully committed to the defensive game plan. It was just like Howard briefed them: Julia only played defense.

Therefore, Gilbert extended more than usual into enemy territory. He put aside his balanced playstyle and went full offense to pressured Julia with everything he had. Thanks to that aggressiveness he shaved the Mid Turret's HP, little by little. These small pushes stacked up to sizable damage and gave Gilbert a big lead in term fo Turret health.

So, even now with just 30% HP, Gilbert pushed hard. Every little bit of damage to the enemy Turret will go a long way. In addition, this may tempt Julia to go on the offense and then...

[Darn it.] Julia twisted her lips. She couldn't do it after all. To punish Gilbert for this overextension, Julia will have to fully commit to the offense. But, there was the risk of getting ganked by Taison and besides, going on the offensive for real required her to... Ugh, she couldn't do it. Julia had to stay on the defensive, there had to another way to punish Gilbert.

"Gilbert is overextending and stuff," Julia notified, her words were aimed at their Jungler.

"Okay," Dan answered. "I'll get there in a jiffy."

"Wait," Yuel said. "If you plan to gank, you better go through this route because there's... a Ward." Ugh, too late.

"Whoops," Dan's mistake led to consequences right away. Gilbert turned around and began retreating, fully aware of the incoming gank.

"Um, should I keep going?" Dan asked.

"Yes," Yuel said. "You may still have a chance to catch him."

"Roger."

[Well, the gank is still a thing, but...] Julia chewed her lips. Dan most likely won't make it in time. At this rate, Gilbert will get away scot-free after blatantly overextending in Julia's face. Grrr!

[If I just slow him down a little... No, but that...] Her heartbeat quickened. This was a great opportunity to put on a strong show! Or, to mess up horribly...

Jet Stream and Squall were online, so Julia could catch up to Gilbert and blast him from behind. However, that required entering enemy territory and exposing herself to tremendous danger. Julia only had 60% HP, so this chase could go wrong very fast.

She... no. She couldn't. It was too risky. It's not like Julia doubted her offensive skills or anything. She trained them plenty with Ellen and she tested them in Ranked. She also used them to punch the lights outta Yuel in 1v1 practice, though that probably wasn't much of an achievement.

Anyway, Julia could definitely go full offense if she wanted. But, she had a bad habit of getting overly excited and... blurting stuff.

["You did a passable job overall,"] Yuel's words echoed in her head.[ "But, you could've done even more with a defensive class. If you can't bring yourself to play offense, then you should go for a class with more utility."]

The words hammered at Julia. It's not like she played defensively because she wanted, dammit! Okay, that's it! Julia cast Jet Stream, which created a trail of wind on the lane. It was a pointless move unless she was really going to give chase.

[O-Okay, what now?] Her heartbeat quickened. I-It's not like she was necessarily going to risk it. It's just that, if she still wanted a chance to catch up, she had to start moving now.

Julia passed through the slipstream and gained a movement speed boost. With her speed, it was a no-brainer to get Gilbert into her attack range. But...

[Not good. I... I don't know.] Julia's hands trembled. It felt like her heart was beating inside her skull. On one hand, she had to stay alive no matter what. On the other hand, she had to do everything in her power to win this match. If Julia lets this opportunity slip and it somehow leads to the team's defeat via some crazy domino effect... But, if she chases and gets killed in the process, that'll also... Gaaaaaah!

["You could've done even more with a defensive class. If you can't bring yourself to play offense..."] Grr, that stupid idiot and his big mouth! It's not like Julia wanted to play like this! And, even though Aeromancer was a "defensive mage", it's not like she couldn't go on the offensive at all, damn it!

[T-That's it! I'll show you what I can do!] Julia went full steam ahead! She gonna chase after Gilbert and slow him down!

But, things weren't so easy. Julia wasted too much time hesitating, so this chase became trickier. There was no choice but to venture a little deep into enemy territory to catch up with Gilbert.

But, Julia will make it! With her buffed movement speed, it was a non-issue. The only challenge was to land Squall from that distance, but she practiced basic moves like that to the point they became as natural as breathing. It'll be a cinch! Julia just had to predict a few steps ahead and fire there. She'll wreck Gilbert for sure- wha!? Thunder!?

Dark clouds formed over Julia's head and lightning shot through her body. Thunderstorm!? What the-!?

For a brief moment, her eyes locked with Gilbert's. Amidst his escape, Gilbert turned around to unleash Thunderstorm. How!? What a fast switch from defense and offense! Darn it!

Another lighting struck. This was bad! Bad, bad, BAD! Should Julia push forward or retreat!? There was no time to think! She rolled aside and got out of the danger zone.

Her HP fell down to 40%, but she got out alive. Phew, this almost ended as a disaster- Wha?! Bats!? Oh no! Taison was here! The gank came from Top just like Julia feared!

[Crap! I can't see shit!] Julia cursed internally as she tried to figure the best course of action. She still had the speed boost from Jet Stream, so she might be able to get away. However, said speed buff was partially diminished by the pesky bats flapping around her. And to make things worse, Julia could barely make out the situation with the bats covering her screen. [Oh god, why me!?]

[Think! Fast!] Her heart was about to explode from all this craziness. There was only one thing she knew for sure: she gotta get away! Now!

Julia turned toward her Turret and flew at full speed! [Stupid class. If your basic movement is to fly, then at least be as fast as Superman!]

New bats rammed into Julia as she was making her escape. Vampire's basic attacks fired bats and there were also bats flocking around her. Flippin' bats everywhere!

No good, Julia already fell down to 30% HP. Taison will chase her all the way to the Turret unless she does something fast. A slowdown! Right, she should slow that idiot! That's what Squall was for! She won't get to use it on Gilbert anymore, so Taison should get hit by that stuff.

The blinding effect of the bats was about to lift up, so it was now or never! Julia turned around and took aim. [Gilbert isn't the only one who can quickly turn around and fire a skillshot, you know!]

Whish! A blast of wind cut through the air. It darted right toward Taison... but it missed.

No, that's wrong. It didn't "miss" because Julia's aim was spot on. Taison dodged it. Just like that, without breaking a sweat. It's like he dodged a turtle that was charging at him, it was that easy.

[Oh god, I'm screwed. So screwed.] There was no hope of deflecting Taison's assault, especially not in a 1v1. This idiot was one heck of a monster in those, even Julia had to admit.

Her only option was to keep running. Thanks to the Aeromancer's passive, Wind Flow, she gained a 10% movement speed buff for 3 seconds after casting a spell. Even though her Squall missed, she gained a burst of speedup from firing it. If she could just cast one more spell and gain an additional 10%, she'd get away in no time!

Alas, Whirlwind was used earlier for zoning and Jet Stream was used for chasing, so she had nothing. Her ult didn't count because it required long casting time, so the 10% from Squall and the earlier buff from Jet Stream were the only things she had to rely on. And, Jet Stream's buff was about to run out, so she won't benefit from that buff stacking for long.

It was terrible. Taison had no problem staying on her tail with his ranged basic attacks, so the only hope she had was that maybe that dumbass would miss a few shots. Buuuuut of course that didn't happen. Taison landed each and every flippin' shot. His bats were like guided missiles.

Still, Julia somehow made it! She reached her Turret's area! She was barely alive, but she still- BAM! An electric explosion! The Thunderstorm from earlier inflicted Julia with Electric Charges and now Gilbert detonated them. Just great...

『You have been killed!』

[Fuck!] Julia slammed on the table. [I knew I shouldn't have chased! I died without getting anything out of it! Goddammit!]

"You shouldn't have extended so much," Yuel said.

"Yeah, I KNOW that."

"The opportunity itself wasn't bad," Yuel droned on. "But, you took too long to decide-"

"I said I KNOW!" Julia thundered. If she just decided her course of action faster, she would have avoided this disaster. She had to run so deep into enemy territory only because she started late. Goddammit.

"I got him!" Dan leaped onto the lane and surrounded Gilbert with lions from all side.

[Oh, at least something came out of it.] Julia sighed. Gilbert had to turn around to unleash Thunderstorm on Julia, so maybe that slowed him down enough to help Dan catch up. If Dan scores this kill... oh, nevermind.

"Ah!" Dan exclaimed. Gilbert activated Thunderclap and blinked outside the prison of lions. He got away, just like that. "No way! He had the blink? Weeeeeelp."

"That was careless," Yuel remarked. "You should've asked Julia if Thunderclap was up."

"Yeaaaah, I just kinda assumed he already spent it to get this far. I mean, if he didn't blink even once, then how the heck did he escape all the way out here against an Aeromancer?"

"......." Julia left the question hanging. As far as chasing potential was concerned, Aeromancer had all the tools to outpace an Electromancer: a movement speed buff from Jet Stream, another buff from Windflow and a speed debuff from Squall. To get away against these odds, Electromancer would normally have to blink away with Thunderclap, so Dan's assumption wasn't too out there. The one at fault here was... goddammit.

"You still should double-check the situation with the laner before ganking," Yuel said. "Anyway, get out of there before Taison catches you in a 1v1."

"Roger." Dan fled from Mid to avoid confrontation and left the lane completely unguarded. Thankfully, Gilbert was forced to retreat due to running out of steam, so he won't get to capitalize on this opening. However, Taison was totally free to push Julia's undefended lane.

[We'll lose. Because of me.] Julia clawed at her knees. She was supposed to do her best today, so what's with this crappy performance? If she keeps going like that, she'll drag down the whole team. They'll lose and it'll be her fault. She'll single-handedly ruin Lars's chances of becoming a first-string member and he'll hate her for life. [I... I need to... I don't even...]

Of course, for the other team, this development was worthy of celebration.

"Nice kill, Tai." Howard said.

"Heh, ez!"

"Stay in Mid for a while and push."

"You got it, bro!"

"Nice escape there," Howard addressed Gilbert.

"It was a no-brainer," Gilbert shrugged. "We already know she can't go on the offensive, or at least that she can't switch gears quickly."

[Heh, good job criticizing Julia while emphasizing why you're a better player.] Howard chuckled. Gilbert was selling himself in his own roundabout way, it was cute.

Julia's weak performance on the offensive was par for the course, but Dan's slip-ups during the gank were quite unusual. Firstly, Dan telegraphed the gank by letting a predictable meta Ward to expose him. Secondly, Dan used his ult right away without accounting for Gilbert's Thunderclap.

The Ward issue was the smaller offense out of the two. With Dan's experience, he should have known to not take the straight path to Mid because it was pretty much always warded. But alright, that's just on paper. It was impossible to have perfect judgment during a stressful match, so this kind of misplay was understandable.

However, the mess up with "The King's Dominion" just looked bad. For Lionfolk, the ult was the surefire way to secure kills. In fact, the enemy clearly picked this class to bully Howard's team composition. Most of the classes on Howard's team didn't have any good answers to "The King's Dominion", so they were great targets for a gank.

However, Gilbert did have an answer in the form of Thunderclap and Dan should've kept that in mind. Yet, Dan completely butchered that opportunity and now his ult was on cooldown, so his ganks won't be nearly as scary for the time being.

Was it a case of miscommunication? Maybe Julia didn't remember whether Gilbert has already used Thunderclap, so she couldn't feed Dan with the necessary information on time. However, in that case, Dan should have thought twice before going all in. No matter how Howard looked at it, it was clearly a huge misplay by Dan. Just like Roi, Dan has been slipping this game.

[The effect of the first game is sinking in.] Howard smiled meaningfully. Just as he suspected, Yuel hasn't resolved the core issues plaguing his team. Roi wavered, Dan slipped and Julia couldn't bring herself to play aggressively.

Only Lars still posed danger, but that won't last long either. It was time to bring out the "Lars Killer". Once they destroy the last pillar that was supporting the enemy team, it'll be over.