The Werewolf Isn’t Coming...?

The second minion wave arrived in Mid. Naturally, Julia wanted to wipe it out ASAP, but...

"Remember: no aggressing," Howard reminded. "Take it slow and easy."

"Tch, okay, okay." Julia made a face in protest but nonetheless followed the dictator's orders. Instead of advancing all the way to the frontline, she unleashed her Flame Wave from a distance. Her flames only reached the swordsmen while leaving the bowmen untouched.

God, this was such a lame way to farm as a Pyromancer! This class was capable of so much more! Alas, Julia wasn't allowed to capitalize on its strengths.

At the very least, Julia made sure her Flame Wave burned the entire frontline to a crisp. That should be enough to stump Charming.

"Oh my." Andria blinked in surprise. She didn't expect to see her entire frontline vanish so soon. One moment, her soldiers had over 60% HP. Then, the next moment they were reduced to ashes.

A spectacular execution, I must say. Andria nodded. Though, I suppose it was a misplay on my end.

The entire time, she had been waiting for Venus to get closer and unleash Flame Wave from point-blank, just as she attempted last time. The plan was to counter that brave flower again with Terra Pulse.

However, Venus wasn't like the opponents in Ranked who repeatedly failed to learn from their mistakes. This smart girl adjusted her game plan after a single exchange. This quick adaptation radiated true professionalism.

But, not all is lost. Andria thought. I can still fight back, albeit not as efficiently as I would liked to.

She cast Terra Pulse on the incoming enemy army, better late than never. After a brief moment, the earthquake stunned the invaders in place. This allowed Andria's bowmen to mount an attack without any resistance.

… actually, one correction to that point. There was in fact one enemy who could still move around and fight back.

WHISH! WHISH! One fireball after another! The Pyromancer attacked the bowmen without rest!

In addition, Venus cast Pillar of Fire around the bowmen. The flames burned away the bowmen's HP, making it rush down toward zero.

Such burning aggression! Andria exclaimed. I assume she's trying to make sure her minions can push forward after the stun effect ends. I can't let that happen, can I?

Andria cast Ventus Vacuum in the middle of the enemy formation. A spiral of wind swirled between the soldiers and sucked them in, damaging them in the process.

Compared to Sage's other spells, Ventus Vacuum was on the weaker side. However, it was the only other AoE spell Andria had, so it was optimal to unleash it while the enemy army was still fully intact.

One instance of damage from Ventus was nothing to write home about, but hitting six different targets summed up to decent damage. Alas, in the end, the enemy came on top regardless. Venus eliminated Andria's bowmen faster than Andria could demolish the enemy squad. But, that was only natural.

I paid the piper for my earlier misplay. Andria thought. But, the next round won't be the same, I promise.

Until then, Andria found herself on the defensive for the rest of this round. She had no choice but to run away from the incoming attackers.

Three bowmen and one swordsman still remained on the enemy side, threatening to invade deep into Andria's territory if left unchecked. And, along with the bloodthirsty soldiers, the commander herself also marched forward. It seemed her boldness knew no bounds.

"Fiona, just as you know, their Pyromancer is overextending a bit."

"Yes, I noticed." Fiona nodded. "If she comes any closer, I'll strike."

"Oh, so decisive!" Andria exclaimed. "As expected from the one and only Landberht Princess!"

"We must take any opportunity they give us."

"Indeed." Andria nodded. "Though, keep in mind that their Jungler seems to be roaming around nearby as well." 

"Yes, I saw the reveal," Fiona said. "He must be planning to go after the griffins. But, he cannot possibly handle them by himself at Lv. 2, therefore he's waiting for Venus."

"Wow, that's a fine amount of details you extracted from a single ward reveal," Andria said. "If you've figured out this much, then do you already have a counterplay in mind?" 

"Yes. We'll take the griffins ourselves after the current wave." 

"Oh, as expected from the grand commander! Not missing a single opportunity to establish a tactical advantage, do you?"

Indeed, Fiona never missed a heartbeat. This mastermind always had the next few turns figured out. While everybody else was focused only on the situation in front of them, Fiona was thinking multiple steps ahead.

Even for the current situation, Fiona had already considered multiple potential lines of play. For starters, if Venus continues to aggress, then Fiona will simply gank and it'll be over right there. Otherwise, Fiona will wait for the enemy to approach the Griffin Camp, then she'll strike together with Andria.

On paper, everything about the current situation was already figured out. That made it look as if the enemy was trapped in a lose-lose situation no matter what they'd do.

However, it was important to remember that the enemy team had a shot-caller as well, and a capable one at that.

"Julia, you're wasting time with that weak push," Howard pointed out. "Go join Dan at the griffins instead."

"Tch, okay." Julia protested by clicking her tongue but she didn't argue back. After all, it was true that this push was nothing more than self-satisfaction. She just wanted to get revenge for the previous round, nothing more.

As Howard said, it was better to use this time to join Dan and make quick work of the griffins. But, just as Julia approached the entrance to Bot Jungle, she saw the enemy Werewolf entering Mid Lane from Bot Jungle. In other words, that bastard was also coming after the griffins!

"Dan, their Jungler is here!" Julia informed in haste. "We have to take the griffins first! Go, go, go!"

"Well, I've been waiting over here for half an hour already, so my body is ready."

"Let's do it then!"

Julia dashed into the jungle and circled the thick wall. There, she rendezvoused with Dan in front of the Griffin Camp.

"Say, do you mind tanking them?" Dan asked. "As you can see, I've lost a bit of HP already, haha…"

"Huh?" Julia raised an eyebrow. "How the hell did you lose that much health so quickly? You've literally just returned from the base, what the hell?"

"Welp, it turns out clearing a jungle camp by myself at Lv. 1 is quite the big deal, haha."

"Lame." Jula made a face. "Eeeeeh, I really don't wanna throw away my HP for something like this..."

"Alright, then I'll tank it."

"No, wait," Howard intervened. "Split the damage among yourselves. Julia, tank the first part, then step out of the area to let Dan tank the rest."

"Tch, do I really have to?"

"Yes."

"Fiiiiine…"

And so, Julia entered the griffins' territory first. For now, the beasts were still peaceful because nobody had shown any signs of aggression toward them. But, the moment Julia threw a fireball at one of them, the beasts unleashed their fury!

The half-eagle half-lion creatures dashed straight at Julia and slashed her with their razor-sharp claws! Against a squishy mage in the early-game, that attack dealt substantial damage. Goddamit!

To make things worse, a loud ass cry resounded across the area. "AWOOOO!" the Werewolf made noise with its Chilling Howl.

The howl informed that Rosemary was now fully aware of everything that was going down in the Griffin Camp. She could monitor every move Julia and Dan made.

She's planning to attack soon, I'm beyond convinced. Julia grimaced. But, we're going to take this camp before she gets here! There's no way in hell I'm letting them have BOTH camps!

So, the reveal effect of the Chilling Howl didn't concern Julia that much. She just concentrated on doing her job as fast as humanly possible.

But, there was another part to Chilling Howl, and that one was a real pain in the ass. On top of exposing Julia, it also lowered her Physical Defense. It was a general debuff that anybody could take advantage of, so even the griffins' attacks hit harder than usual.

"Damn, it hurts so badly," Julia ranted as she watched her HP plummet with every hit. It's like these ugly creatures were on steroids!

To minimize the injuries, Julia retreated away from the two beasts as she fired basic attacks at them. This gradually charged up her Heat Gauge. Soon enough, she would be able to unleash a Flame Wave that would make barbeque out of these birds!

In the meantime, Dan unleashed Chronostasis on the beasts. A bunch of clock gears appeared out of thin air above the griffins' heads, then came down crashing on the beasts. The track dealt decent damage and stunned the beasts in place, allowing Julia to retreat even farther away.

To make everything go even faster, Julia activated Burning Spirt. Likewise, she urged Dan to activate Haste. The two buffs made their basic attacks pack a serious punch.

"You tank the rest," Julia ordered as she stepped out of the griffins' area for a moment.

"Got it." Dan remained inside the area, so the enemy's aggro switched over to him.

Once the griffins became entirely focused on Dan, Julia stepped into the camp again and continued her assault on the beasts. But, something was odd here.

"Have you seen their Werewolf anywhere?" Julia asked.

"Nope." Dan shrugged. "You said you saw her going toward the jungle, right?"

"Yeah, I did. I was sure she'd try to contest the camp. I mean, she even howled and all, but…"

So far, there was no sign of the Werewolf anywhere in the vicinity. Furthermore, the enemy Sage also remained in the lane, she was still busy clearing the minions Julia left there.

"You think she gave up?" Dan asked.

"Probably…?" Julia shrugged. "Hmph, she must've realized she has no chance against us."

"Yeah, damn straight!" 

"Is that really so?" Howard doubted. He had no choice but to pay close attention to this situation because of the looming danger, and he found the current development highly concerning.

Rosemary was the type of Jungler to pack her rotations to the brim. She tried to take advantage of every single opportunity that showed up, so she surely wanted to farm the Griffin Camp in Bot Jungle, too

Furthermore, she was last seen heading in the camp's direction. So, everything pointed toward the obvious conclusion.

And yet, there was no sign of the Werewolf. So, where was she right now, and what was she doing?

I have a bad feeling about this. Howard frowned. But, they've almost finished farming the griffins, and Julia will soon clean it up in one blow, so there's no chance of the camp being stolen. And, the Sage is still back in the lane, so it doesn't look like they're planning a surprise gank of any sort.

Honestly, it was mind-boggling. The uncertainty made Howard's insides twist. He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. But what, exactly?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Howard thought. Their surprise attack from earlier makes me expect another crazy stunt, but frankly, they don't seem like that kind of team in general.

That opening attack was something extreme for the Valkyries. Certainly, they've already established themselves as an offense-oriented team during the Leo scrim, but their plays usually weren't extreme like this. Therefore, there was no reason to be constantly wary of surprise attacks.

After reaching that conclusion, Howard tentatively left the duo in Mid to their own devices. Dan tanked a few more hits from the griffins, and then Julia wrapped things up with a powerful Flame Wave.

The griffins burned to crisp and the entire incident was over. Or, at least, that's what everybody thought...