Testing the Waters With Aggression

For the third wave, TheTheorist repeated the same pattern as before. She pummeled Vincent's swordsmen with her fists, then backpedaled from the scene while firing Chakra Bullets.

This time, only one bowman successfully made it into the tower area. The poor lad only had one chance to nock an arrow into his bow before perishing.

[What a tragedy!] Vincent shook his head. [And, it shall only get worse from here.]

And, even the great Chessmaster thought the exact same thing.

[So, this routine already went from allowing two survivors to just one.] Yuel frowned. [And, in the next wave, the one bowman who'll make it into the tower area will be injured, so he might even fail to damage the tower at all.]

"Vincent, you need to dial up the aggression," Yuel instructed. "It's nice that you have the lane advantage, but it doesn't give us much as it is. Spellblade has a substantial advantage over Monk in the early-game, so you have to capitalize on it.

"So, shall I initiate combat? A duel to the death!?"

"It probably won't escalate that far, but yes, you need to start hitting her. When she extends to attack your frontline, open an attack on her, and let's where it goes. Just be mindful of the minion damage."

"Worry not, for the minions' feeble attacks shall not pose a threat to my Blade stance! My passive shield shall deflect all incoming physical damage!"

"It only gives you a small defense buff, don't get carried away," Yuel retorted. "But, don't be too conservative, either. Make sure you hit her hard enough to make her reconsider her game plan."

"It shall be done, my lord." Vincent pretended to bow in front of the mastermind. After all, he was but a piece on Chessmaster's elaborate board, and he shall move in accordance to the master's wishes.

With that said, what was the safest way to satisfy the lord's request? If Vincent were to carelessly lay a finger on Theorist, then her loyal guards would run all over him.

In the meantime, the target herself will evacuate the premises as quickly as a phantom thief. Considering Iron Skin could grant the Monk both Invincibility and a Movement Speed buff, there was little chance of delivering any serious damage to Theorist from one such exchange.

[But, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.] Vincent nodded. [Even if the pressure I apply with each individual exchange will be minimal, they'll eventually add up to one huge fearsome momentum! Your end is nigh, o Theorist!]

During the next wave, Vincent began his routine as usual. First, he unleashed Aero Barrage on the enemy wave, then he sliced through them with Aero Slice.

As always, this combo delivered substantial damage. It halved the HP of the bowmen and erased about 30% of the swordsmen's health bars.

Alas, that alone wasn't enough to kill any of the minions. As such, despite Vincent obviously winning lane advantage here, none of this ever put much pressure on Theorist.

Therefore, just like before, the uninvited guest waltzed into Vincent's territory in order to assault his minions. But, little did she know that this time, she was the honored guest! Vincent was more than delighted to provide hospitality for her, in his own special way.

[She does not seem to suspect a thing.] Vincent inferred from Theorist's lax approach. The Monk woman had no problem turning her back to Vincent while she was farming his minions.

[You used to be more vigilant than this, my friend.] Vincent thought back on the first few interactions they had. Back then, Theorist didn't take her eyes off Vincent for longer than 1.5 seconds. Indeed, Theorist was the very incarnate of the All-Seeing Eye back then!

Of course, being that vigilant 24/7 slowed her down, especially her farming speed. But instead, it ensured that she could react in a timely fashion to whatever attack Vincent launched.

However, that no longer seemed to be the case. While Theorist was diverting her full attention to the minions, her back was completely exposed right now.

[Truly, this appears to be the most appropriate time to initiate Ragnarok!] Vincent booted Pyro Blade, coating his sword in flames. [I wonder, did the all-knowing Chessmaster predict that Theorist would let her guard down at this moment? As always, his analysis never ceases to amaze!]

With a blazing blade in hand, Vincent struck hard! But not at Theorist, not yet. His first priority was to diminish the number of minions on the field, to minimize the amount of punishment he'll receive for the sin he was about to commit.

And so, he swung his fire sword, over and over! He shall stop at nothing but total annihilation of the enemy forces!

Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration. The only targets he absolutely had to destroy were the bowmen, as they were the biggest DPS threat on the table.

So, once that's achieved, Vincent shall proceed to strike down the biggest fish in this pound!

["No, you won't."] A mysterious voice stopped Vincent in his tracks. The threat came all the way from the Jungle's direction.

[Oh, this is unfortunate news.] Vincent canceled his plans. Instead of directing his pyro blade at Theorist, he assaulted the swordsmen instead. Initiating an attack on Theorist now would be pointless at best and foolish at worst.

The mysterious "voice" that ruined Vincent's plans belonged to none other than Rook, whose form was revealed by one of the wards in the jungle. The captain of the Leopards came here personally to threaten Vincent.

["Don't try any funny ideas."]

["I wouldn't dream of it, sir."] Vincent replied to the inspector. He made sure to play nice and stay clear of all suspicion.

And so, Vincent only wiped out Theorist's remaining troops. After that, he disengaged in a haste.

With the enemy Jungler stationed so close nearby, it was a bad time to aggress. In fact, Vincent didn't even dare to follow his surviving minions all the way to the enemy side of the lane.

[I apologize, my comrades. I must abandon ship!] Vincent retreated early to his side of the lane, leaving his troops all alone in enemy territory. The threat of a potential incoming gank was just that high.

But, in the end, Rook never entered the lane. Most likely, he canceled his plans after seeing Vincent's prompt retreat.

[Disaster averted.] Vincent sighed in relief. It was unfortunate he couldn't unleash his power on Theorist this time, but the night was still young. He'll have many opportunities to do so today.

Besides, his Pyro Blade didn't go to waste, at least not entirely. Though it failed to achieve its primary mission, it still delivered hefty damage to the enemy minions. As a result, more of Vincent's minions survived than usual.

In this round, 2.5 bowmen invaded Theorist's tower area. It was a substantial jump from the previous round, which meant more damage to the enemy tower.

[Of course, this little bit of extra damage might seem like a drop in the ocean.] Vincent admitted. [However! Even a butterfly can cause a hurricane if it keeps flapping its wings for long enough!]

Every "push" so far only slightly grazed the enemy Turret. However, by repeatedly striking the tower across many waves, the damage slowly but surely added up. It was the same dripping water digging holes through rocks. Each droplet may seem small and insignificant, but together - they delivered a lot of damage!

Theorist's Turret was already down to 95% after this push. It was a fine achievement, considering Vincent hadn't even stepped into the tower's range, not even once.

Essentially, his loyal minions were doing all the work thus far. And this round, thanks to his Pyro Blade, even more of them managed to push the tower!

Unfortunately, this outcome didn't please the mastermind.

"I see you used your Pyro Blade." Yuel inferred that from the cooldowns on Vincent's skills. "Why did you disengage, then? Because the ward revealed Rook?"

"Indeed. I did what I had to dodge the risk of giving First Blood to our foes."

"That's fine, I guess," Yuel said reluctantly. Honestly, with how hectic the laning contest was in Bot, he didn't have the luxury to be 100% invested in everything that took place in Top. As such, he had to trust Vincent's judgment here, but only to a certain extent.

"From what I saw," Yuel said. "The ward exposed Rook but he didn't actually make it to the lane, right?"

"Indeed, that's how the story played out. It appears he aborted his plans at the last moment upon seeing my speedy retreat."

"That's possible. Or, maybe…" Yuel stopped mid-sentence. The rest of the sentence was at the tip of his tongue, but it was admittedly far too early to draw any definite conclusions.

Did Cato really plan to gank Top? Or, did he only apply remote intimidation? Yuel strongly leaned toward the latter theory, but it was impossible to discern the truth with the limited information at hand.

Regardless, the end result was unfortunate. Not only did Vincent waste MP by activating that Pyro Blade, but he also might've telegraphed his intention to go on the offensive.

"You probably want to lay low for a while," Yuel suggested. "Check if anything changed about the way Theorist plays. It's important to know whether she realized the true intention behind your Pyro Blade. I hope she wrote it off as an aggressive push and nothing more."

"Very well. I shall enter detective mode and tail my target's every move!"

The laning phase continued as usual. Vincent pushed the enemy minions away with Aero Barrage, and then he slashed through them with Aero Slice. He left the Pyro Blade sheathed this round, as he had no intention of aggressing on his target.

After two waves of this routine, he was ready to report his findings.

"I apologize, sir. I couldn't spot any irregularities in the target's activity. She was as vigilant as usual, with no noticeable change to her farming routine."

"I see."

"If I had to say, the notable difference in her behavior actually occurred during the wave on which I planned to strike her down."

"Really?" Yuel asked. "That's the first time I hear about it."

"Indeed, for this is the first time I'm reporting it. For, you see, at the time, I did not actually find it peculiar at all. But now, as I take a trip down memory lane, I do find it odd indeed."

"So, did she predict your intention to aggress?" Yuel asked. "Was she more cautious than usual?"

"No, no," Vincent said. "On the contrary, she appeared more careless than usual."

"More careless?" Yuel knotted his brows.

"Indeed, she seemed to pay less heed to moi for some reason; she focused harder on the minions at the time. However, in the two recent waves, she was as cautious as ever. So, as you say, perhaps she sensed my attempt at her life."

"An 'attempt' you didn't even get the chance to initiate," Yuel emphasized. "Anyway, it's hard to draw any definite conclusions from that. Maybe she realized she was careless at the time, so she just fixed her mistake for subsequent waves."

Frankly, it was difficult for Yuel to judge anything about the situation without being physically present at the scene. Getting secondhand information from a teammate was bound to leave some holes in the data. It was one of the things that made analysis in Classmancers that much trickier than in chess, a game where all players had full access to all information at any given time.

Nonetheless, Yuel had to make his calls despite the partial information, for such was the job of the shot-caller.

"Let's try aggressing one more time," Yuel suggested. "You still have MP to spare, so let's use it to get more information."

"Gladly!" Vincent responded. "I shall trade as much MP as required for the sake of acquiring information!"

"It's a good trade long as you don't go overboard…" Yuel smiled wryly.

For an information fanatic like Vincent, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he'll sacrifice his entire MP bar for the sake of obtaining more information. Therefore, it was important to keep a watchful eye on this fellow.

[Well, I trust he knows what he's doing.] Yuel nodded and started shifting his attention back to his own lane. [Still, this entire sequence of events doesn't sit well with me. It's almost as if…]

It was too early to draw any conclusions yet, so Vincent will have to try aggressing once more. Hopefully, this time, his attack will either go through…