章 67: Stats over Skill

The minions from both sides clashed in the center of the lane. This served as the starting gun to inform that the battle began for real.

The first move in Yuel's envisioned checkmate was to stun Ignis with Beartrap. For that reason, he leveled up Beartrap to Lv.4. This allowed him to place up to four traps at the same time. It was normally a waste to level up Beartrap this much, but he had a five-levels lead, so he traded some of his extra SP for increasing the chances of trapping Ignis.

Yuel scattered all four traps around the clashing swordsmen. Warrior was melee, so Ignis had to approach the minions if she wanted to strike. That'll prove difficult with so many traps lying in wait.

"Tch," Ignis clicked her tongue. "What a *hic* you are, Chesskid."

"Maybe it's because I'm actually a Chessmaster."

"Naaaaaah." Ignis maneuvered around the traps and focused on his bowmen instead. A ballsy move that played around Yuel's plan, but how was Ignis going to play from this dangerous position? She placed herself right within Yuel's attack range.

[Well, I'm not complaining.] Yuel shrugged and focused his attacks on Ignis. If she stays this close, it'll be easy snipes for him.

"Too sloooow!" Ignis sidestepped the first shot. And the second shot. She continued striking Yuel's minions while sidestepping all his shots! What was this inhuman situational awareness!? And how did she sidestep so perfectly every time!? Warrior sidestepping speed OP, pls nerf.

But, there's no way Ignis could keep this up forever. Yuel kept shooting and shooting. Eventually, Ignis had to slip. It just had to happen, or else she's officially a demon.

Ignis dodged the third shot. And the fourth shot. However, the fifth was about to- PARRIED.

"Wha!?" Yuel jumped. "You can parry too!?"

"Haha! Hichaha!" Ignis burst into laughter so strong even hiccups failed to interrupt her. "Of course I can parry, kid. That's basic shit right there. If you keep shooting easy shots like that, I'mma send them flying!"

["Easy shots", huh.] Yuel frowned. He wasn't exactly the best sniper in the world, so he relied on stability to increase his aim. Once he gets his target marked, he always tries to steadily keep shooting from the same position and angle. Such shots had the highest chance of hitting.

Unfortunately, such shots were the easiest to predict. And, predictable shots were the easiest to parry.

[It's no good from this distance. I can't hit her.] Yuel pursed his lips and slowly advanced forward, reducing the gap between him and Ignis. The closer he gets, the better chance he'll have to hit her. But, at the same time, it'll be easier for Ignis to charge at him with Fearless Charge and destroy him in melee combat.

As a countermeasure, he placed a Beartrap between them. If Ignis charges at him, she'll run straight into the trap and get stunned. She had a way to play around that trap, but Yuel had a way to outplay the play that played around the trap. Outplay-ception.

A shot. And another shot. And another. All misses. Each of Yuel's bolts was either sidestepped or parried. He couldn't land a single hit.

[Steady shots just won't cut it.] This was the time for some experimentation. How should he go about making his shots connect?

Ignis claimed the shots were too easy to predict. In that case, should he shoot quickly and wildly? After getting this close to her, even his terrible accuracy must have gone up a little. Maybe he could actually land a quick shot or two. Maybe. Possibly.

Either way, Yuel had nothing to lose. He fired a slow steady shot first, which Ignis dodged without a problem. Right after, he drastically changed his aim and fired toward Ignis's legs! A fast and totally uncalculated shot which relied purely on his coordination.

"Ah!" Ignis exclaimed. Good, it caught her off guard. She moved backward in an attempt to dodge, but she didn't react in time. It was effective! ... except, the shot ended up hitting the ground. 10/10 accuracy. Sigh.

"Nice shot, kid," Ignis laughed. "Too bad you're facing the best *hic* in the world! I mean, the best [Grandmaster] in the world!"

[Yes, the best Hiccuping Grandmaster in the world.] Yuel shook his head. He missed the wild shot, but it successfully surprised Ignis. It was close. If he keeps trying it, eventually it should connect. There was still time before the minion waves eliminate each other, so Yuel turned it into target practice time.

[I better add this type of practice into my regular training]. Yuel rarely ever played marksmen, so normally it wasn't a big deal if he failed to land a shot or two. But, that didn't mean he should aspire to be the kind of player who can't land shots. If Ignis is any indication of what the pro scene held, then Yuel's slow and steady shots will be rendered ineffective on the pro level. Even a ranged Support mage had to be able to confirm shots, especially since some of them had effects which were tied to their basic attacks, like Cryomancer's Frostbite.

For the first shot, Yuel took his time to aim. The opening shot better be accurate, or else Ignis would ignore the whole assault. As expected, Ignis dodged that shot.

[Good, and now...!] Yuel tilted his crossbow upwards and fired.

"Whoa!" Ignis exclaimed as the bolt went toward her face... and passed over her head. "Scaaaaary."

[Tch, so close.] Just a couple centimeters lower and it would have hit. Yuel was getting closer and closer. He tried that routine again. And again. And again. Every time, his bolt almost grazed Ignis. [Almost! So close...!]

With every shot, Yuel got a better feel for the bolt's trajectory and for Ignis's sidesteps. If he can predict how she'll dodge his first shot, he'll have a much easier time landing his quick follow up shot.

Unfortunately, Ignis did a good job mixing up her evasive maneuvers. A sidestep to the left, a parry, another sidestep to the left, another left, a parry, a right sidestep, right again, parry, left, right, parry. Ugh, it's too random! She's like a stumbling drunkard who tilted from side to side.

[Wait, maybe it's really because she's drunk?] Yuel hasn't seen yet how being drunk affected Ignis's performance. Aside from her rowdy behavior and endless hiccups, there weren't any signs that her performance was hampered by alcohol in any way.

But, perhaps her random movements were a result of that? She wasn't thinking straight, so she dodged randomly instead of following some pattern. There's a chance this line of thinking was a huge stretch and Ignis was just that good at masking her patterns; she's a pro, after all.

However, Yuel had nothing to lose by testing it. Assuming her movements were truly random and lacked coherent thinking, there was a great way to exploit it. In fact, it might be exactly what he needed for his checkmate.

[If she reacts mostly by instinct, then she can't always be aware of everything in her surrounding. If I just lead her with me attacks...] It won't be easy, but it's worth a shot.

Yuel took a few steps forward. His wild shots should have an even higher chance of hitting now, so Ignis will have to work harder to dodge them. Like before, he placed a Beartrap to kill any ideas like being rushed with Fearless Charge. Or rather, the trap was there to ensure that if Ignis decides to rush him - he'll checkmate her.

With preparations finished, Yuel began another target practice routine. A steady shot, followed by a wild shot. However, this time he had an ulterior motive. He fired faster and aimed toward Ignis's left side, to make it more appealing for her to dodges to the right side. This worked well. Ignis instinctively dodged to the right almost every time. Good.

This trick gradually pushed her closer to the side of the lane. More specifically, pushed her toward an area where Yuel planted two bear traps. Ignis was now just a couple steps away from being trapped. She only had to move a little more to the right...!

If Ignis were in full form, she'd probably keep tabs on all of Yuel's traps. But, right now, she was drunk and had her hands full with dodging Yuel's wild shots. Her judgment should be impaired. Even if she's aware of the traps, there's a chance their exact positions will slip her mind while she dodges one bolt after another.

Believing in that possibility, Yuel continued shooting without rest. It was no easy feat to lead Ignis toward the traps because her drunk dodges were all over the place. There was no way to predict how exactly she'd react to every shot.

But still, many of her responses made some sense. When Yuel fired toward her left side, she often dodged to the right. When he fired toward her legs, she usually backstepped. Shot by shot, Yuel led her toward the trap.

After countless shots, by the time the minion waves already finished clashing, Ignis was just one step away from a trap. Just a little more! She was right there! Just a little!

Yuel fired again, aiming toward her shoulder. Or rather, he fired the bolt and just prayed it'd fly toward that general area. A professional sharpshooter, by the way.

Miraculously, the bolt flew exactly where Yuel wanted it! It'll pierce through Ignis's shoulder if she doesn't move! Probably. At least, it was going to be too close for her to ignore.

CLACK. The sound of metal shutting. Finally, Ignis did it. She stepped on the trap and got herself stunned!

Yuel dashed forward to get Ignis within the range of his Wolf Companion. As soon as she gets out of the stun, he'll pin her down with the wolf to extend her immobility. In that short period of time, he should be able to barrage her to death thanks to his ult. It'll be a checkmate, one of the easiest variations he came up with.

In case something goes wrong, Yuel first placed a Beartrap in front of him. Then, he activated his ult. "THE HUNT IS-" his Ranger began t shout.

"Nope!" Ignis reacted as soon as Yuel started casting the ult. No, she probably reacted even earlier. She knew exactly what Yuel was going for. It was a typical Ranger play, but also the best one he had available.

Ignis activated Cleanse to remove her stun and charged at Yuel with Fearless Charge. She was going to exploit the brief moment it took to activate Ranger's ult to get in Yuel's face and tear him apart!

Even though Yuel set up a trap between them ahead of time, it was rendered useless. On top of removing all CC, Cleanse also granted Ignis a temporary CC-immunity. She passed over the trap, but it didn't stun her. Her charge wasn't slowed down in the slightest!

Countering her with the wolf will be equally pointless. No CC could hold her down right now. Ignis was going to get in Yuel's face and rend him asunder with Swordwhirl. She'll become CC-immune while spinning, so his traps and wolf will be useless yet again.

If Yuel stays and fights, will he be able to shoot Ignis down before Swordwhirl kills him? He had an advantage of five levels and "The Hunt is On" was going to greatly amplify his damage against Ignis. So, he should be able to put on a decent fight.

However, it would be an extremely difficult fight due to Swordwhirl's high damage and defense reduction. Yuel would out-DPS Ignis if he were to land a few lucky crits, but with just Morning Star in his build that's not going to happen.

Thus, that'd be a futile struggle. Ignis was one step ahead of him yet again! She was going to own this 1v1! Hopefully, that's what she thought.

There were many details and calculations involved in this sequence of plays, way more than Yuel could possibly handle on the spot. Thankfully, he has already analyzed this scenario ahead of time. Ignis buying Cleanse, using it to negate a trap and relying on its CC-immunity to charge at him - he already went over this set of moves. It was an effective counter to Ranger and something Yuel would have considered doing himself in her shoes.

Therefore, Yuel came prepared. He started the game with a cheap item like Morning Star to leave enough gold for Blink. And, since he has already played out this scenario in his head, he responded without wasting any time.

As soon as Ignis got close and began spinning her blade - Yuel blinked away! That's it, checkmate! Yuel was outside the range of Swordwhirl and his ult was on, granting him a huge damage boost. Ignis was moving slower while spinning, so she could neither chase him nor dodge his shots. Yuel had the high ground in every regard.

"No way!" Ignis exclaimed. She must've understood this was the end. "You little whippersnapper...!"

[Just don't mess up now!] Yuel's moved the mouse with a trembling hand. Fire! Unlike before, the bolt connected with ease. No matter how predictable his shots were or how good Ignis was at dodging, she couldn't dodge while spinning around. This one bolt instantly eliminated 15% of her HP. With such a big level advantage, he needed at most 6 more hits to seal the deal. It was almost settled!

"Think you won, huh?" Ignis barked. "No way I gonna let ya!" She canceled Swordwhirl to regain her mobility, but it did little to help her at this point. Without Swordwhirl, she was no longer CC-immune. Yuel has been waiting for this moment!

Right as Ignis's spinning slowed down, Yuel activated Wolf Companion. The wolf leaped on Ignis and pinned her to the ground as soon as she stopped lost her CC-immunity. She didn't even get a chance to try to roll away.

It was over. Ignis's Cleanse was already spent on Beartrap, so she had no way to get out of this stun. Yuel just had to land a few easy shots-

"Hey, over here!" Ignis waved her arms exaggeratedly, blocking some of Yuel's view. "Look! The house is on fire! We gotta run! ... and what's that over there!? A UFO!? Aliens are invading earth, kid!"

[Tell them I said hi.] Yuel moved aside to dodge Ignis's arms and finished the job.

『You have killed an enemy!』

Yuel did it. He actually did it! He beat the 1v1 Grandmaster! It's was only made possible by the advantage of five levels and because Ignis underestimated him a little, but a win was a win! Yuel flawlessly calculated his way to the victory!

Yuel normally disliked 1v1 because it was a mode for the mechanically gifted, but this variation with a handicap was actually quite fun. It allowed him to counter the enemy's superior skill with a combination of stats and tactics, which turned it into a much fairer.

"Nuuuuuuu!" Ignis kicked like an angry toddler. "You were just lucky! I went easy on you. Don't think you can really *hic* the best Grandmaster in the world!"

[More like, the brattiest Grandmaster in the world.] Yuel shook his head and concentrated on the game. His objective was clear: take advantage of Ignis's death and push all the way into her base! He was going to win this match!