Venus pushed Top as expected, oblivious to how dangerous her position was.
Frankly, it was a bit surprising to see a member of StormBlitz leave themselves exposed like that. But, nobody was perfect. No matter how much Aegis wanted his team's defense to be faultless, holes were bound to exist.
After all, Classmancers is a team game. Fiona thought. No matter how good your shot-calls are, your teammates will inevitably make misplays.
And so, Fiona struck Venus from behind! She unleashed Hungering Horde, sending a pack of bats to assault the unsuspecting prey.
The surprise attack connected cleanly. It must have thrown Venus for a loop.
"W-What the-!?" Julia gasped as a bunch of bats rammed into her back! To make things worse, these tiny little bastards continued flapping their wings all around her, obstructing her vision and sapping her HP.
Damn, from behind!? Julia turned around. The enemy Vampire was there, already firing her next attack. How come I didn't see her coming!?
Actually, it didn't take a genius to answer that. Julia was too preoccupied with placing her Whirlwind at the optimal spot to clear the minions, so she wasn't paying much attention to what was happening around her.
Dammit, it's like she's been waiting for this! Julia gritted her teeth. Geh, this could be bad news. Like, REAL bad news.
A face-off between an Aeromancer and a Vampire, not the most favorable matchup. But, then Julia noticed the enemy's level.
Oh, I'm a level higher! Julia smirked. I mean, of course I am. I've been scoring kills left and right, dominating literally all game. So, this bitch got nothing on me! Why should I even be worried? I can trash her!
There was nobody who could stop Julia at this point, not even the enemy's "ace". That bitch dominated the first game only because Dan died a million times. She didn't have any big advantages like that right now, so it'll be easy!
C'mon then, I'll bury you! Julia declared boldly as she summoned Jet Stream between herself and the opponent. The wind was blowing in the enemy's direction, so it would slow down Rosemary's attacks while boosting Julia's.
In the meantime, Rosemary already fired her first basic attack. She sent a black bat straight at Julia!
That bat would've rammed right into Julia, but it lost steam when it passed through the Jet Stream. Ultimately, it fell off to the ground shortly before reaching its target.
"Heh, sucks for you!" Julia grinned. Sorry, "princess". You made the wrong decision fighting me from range, and now you're gonna pay for it!
Julia retaliated with a basic attack of her own. She shot a gust of wind that accelerated as it passed through Jet Stream.
WHISH! The wind smacked the enemy! Or, at least, it should've. Alas, Rosemary moved aside just in the nick of time.
Tch, she's a pain in the ass as always. Julia ranted. But, whatever. I'm in full control of this fight. She's got nothing on me!
Julia fired another shot at Rosemary, which also passed through the Jet Stream. As long as this gust of wind was blowing between them, all of Rosemary's attacks were bound to fail while Julia's were fast as heck. Basically, she had this battle in the bag... or so she thought.
While firing her shot, Julia saw the Vampire undergo an instantaneous transformation. The beautiful pale-skinned woman turned into a monstrous bat. And now, that heinous creature was charging straight at Julia!
"Oh fuck!" Julia exclaimed. Even though she clearly saw the monster flying right toward her, she couldn't think of a surefire way to dodge the incoming attack.
Her best bet was to roll aside, but she had to execute it perfectly, or else it'd be a huge waste. Still, it was all she had.
Okay... now! Julia rolled away as the bat came close. From this distance, even somebody with Lars's reaction speed shouldn't be able to change the flight's trajectory in time. That bat was no racing car so it couldn't do sharp turns.
Little did she know that all of this was already part of the enemy's calculations. Rosemary didn't charge in with false optimism.
This is within expectations. Fiona already started steering to the right ahead of time, anticipating Venus's roll.
It was predictable that Venus would want to roll to the right as that put her in a safer position. So, Fiona foresaw only two possible developments here: either Venus would be too slow to respond, or she would roll to the right.
To account for both possibilities, Fiona shifted her flight direction very minimally. In this way, she estimated she would be able to capitalize on either scenario.
Incidentally, if Venus rolled to the left instead, she would have completely thwarted Fiona's plans. Fortunately, only a madman like Yuel Fermond would attempt such a counterintuitive stunt, so there was no need to be concerned about that with Venus.
And so, Fiona successfully rammed into Venus with her ult. Next, the giant bat transformed back into a fair woman, who sank her sharp teeth into the Aeromancer's exposed neck.
With this, Fiona gained the upper hand. Both she and her opponent were at 80% HP at the start, but now Fiona went up to 90% while Venus fell down to 50%.
But, it was not over yet. Even though the enemy was at a disadvantage, that did not guarantee Fiona the kill, not yet.
Unfortunately, anything less than a kill will not quite cut it. Fiona asserted. The team's situation does not allow me to miss opportunities like this. I must secure this one.
If Fiona fails to convert a golden opportunity like this into a kill, then the Valkyries truly have no future in this game. In that sense, this one play was about to decide the fate of this game.
Therefore, I have to succeed. Fiona unleashed a basic attack from point blank.
In this kind of situation, any reasonable opponent would have started fleeing by now. But, Venus was anything but reasonable.
"Oh, you think you're such a big shot, huh!?" Julia shouted as she unleashed Squall right in the enemy's face! Eat this, you shithead! You're not the only one who benefits from us being this close, you know? I can shoot your ass, too!
Squall not only deleted 20% of the Vampire's HP but also slowed down that bitch. The fight was on!
In addition, thanks to Aeromancer's passive, casting a spell also boosted Julia's Movement Speed. But, was Julia actually going to take advantage of this to run away? Nah.
Though, I guess I should retreat at least a little. But, no way I'm running away from that wench! Julia refused to turn her back to the opponent. She had no intention of making a full retreat here.
Even as she moved away to create distance, she kept her eyes firmly locked on the target while backstepping. All the while, she unleashed blasts of wind on the target. She was gonna trash that bitch!
"Good job keeping her occupied. Julia," Howard said. "I know the situation looks dangerous, but Dan is already around the corner, so you'll be fine."
"Huh?" Julia tilted her head. "Oh. Yeah, I guess he's almost here, isn't he."
"... just to make sure, you did know Dan was coming to help you, right?" Howard asked. "That's the reason you felt comfortable fighting, right?"
"Y-Yeah, yeah, of course!" Julia averted her eyes. "I mean, why else would I stay here to 1v1 the enemy Jungler? Haha..."
Howard's inquiry hit Julia like a bucket of cold water. Suddenly, she realized she was getting carried away like crazy! Like, was she seriously planning to have a contest of basic attacks against a Vampire? When she's the one who had less HP? Yeaaaaah, that didn't sound winnable at all.
I mean, I was planning to plug in my ult if things get tough. But, now that I think about it again, it's really not worth it.
Hurricane was a great ult for team fights, so it was a waste to spend it on a 1v1. Not to mention, Rosemary could get out of Hurricane's range with a well-timed Dodge Roll, so spending Hurricane wasn't even guaranteed to turn the tides in Julia's favor.
With all that considered… yeah, Julia was totally running headlong into trouble. She was overly fixated on paying Rosemary back for the first game. It wasn't exactly the smartest course of action.
Fortunately, the fact Dan was nearby turned Julia's questionable play into a 200 IQ strat. Basically, Julia was keeping her opponent busy to give Dan time to launch a gank. It was all perfectly calculated! Yeah.
Thinking of it, why was Dan in Top in the first place? The rest of the team was pushing Mid, so Dan should've been over there to help, especially considering Julia wasn't around. It was so bizarre.
Actually, I think Howard told him to hang around Top Jungle some time ago, didn't he? Julia recalled. I thought it was a little weird, but honestly, I didn't pay much attention to it until now…
Considering the state of the game, a small thing like that didn't matter. Julia was on a roll the whole time, getting further and further ahead of the rest. So, there was no point in her sweating the small details. Or, so she thought.
But, it turned out this one little detail did matter. Howard arranged a lifeline for Julia in case things turned hectic in Top, which they did.
Did he actually foresee that shit like this might happen? Julia couldn't believe it. That level of precognition wasn't real.
Well, technically, Yuel sometimes made absurd predictions like that. But Howard? He was a good shot-caller, not a prophet.
Meh, he probably just played it extra safe and it paid off. Business as usual. Julia shrugged. The bottom line is that Dan is almost here, so I'll keep doing what I'm doing.
And so, Julia continued exchanging ranged blows with her opponent while gradually backing away.
Retreating like this wasn't ideal for Dan's gank, but Julia had to look natural in front of her opponent. She didn't want to leak any info about the incoming gank, so she pretended like she was at a disadvantage.
And, truth be told, Rosemary really did have the upper hand right now. Julia already fell to 25% HP while Rosemary was still at 60%. That was a huge ass gap. Things weren't looking so hot.
But, all of that was about to change very soon…