บท 241: Rescuing Rio!

"You should retreat," Rio said. "It's over for me."

The Ranger's wolf pinned him to the ground, while the Ranger herself was drilling his body with bolts. There was no escape. If Jaiden tries to help, he'll only be putting himself in unnecessary danger. Nevertheless...

"I'm not abandoning you." Jaiden spun the hammer of his revolver, activating Fan the Hammer. He'll scare the enemy away with his lightning-speed shots!

[Stupid, you don't have to...] Rio pouted, but a little smile crept on his face.

Jaiden's idea was extremely dangerous. If the enemies shift their focus on Jaiden, things will go south very fast. Jaiden should've understood the risk as well.

Nevertheless, he was willing to put himself on the line to rescue Rio, even though Rio was the Support and Jaiden was the Carry. Their roles should normally be reversed during such situations, but Jaiden cast such notions aside. He gonna rescue his friend no matter what.

[Really, you don't have to save me all the time.] Rio smiled wryly. He wanted to reject the help, yet he couldn't deny it made him happy. Jaiden always saved Rio like this, even outside the game. And, Nash was usually there to help too. Really, Rio was blessed to have such great friends.

"Get off him!" Jaiden fired.

"The hell?" Kai blinked in confusion. A bullet struck her forehead for massive damage. But, why? What was going on?

Renegade surely understood he was at a great disadvantage here. Nevertheless, he didn't flee the scene. He stood his ground and even had the nerve to unleash Fan the Hammer, knowing all too well it'll only make escaping that much harder.

"Works for me." Kai raised her crossbow and aimed at Renegade. "You're so dead!"

"Wait, our top priority here is the Cleric," Vincent implored. "Leave Renegade to me. I'll distract him."

"Are you sure? You're running low," Kai pointed out. Vincent has been soaking all the damage during their previous attacks on Laplace, so he was down to 40% HP. It was dangerous for him to enter a fight.

"No need for concern," Vincent promised. "I'll merely distract Renegade for a moment, nothing more."

"Alright." Kai returned to drilling blots into the Cleric. Before anything else, they had to get rid of this pesky Support. They won't be able to get anywhere as long as this guy remained on the lane. Therefore, Kai kept shooting Laplace.

"You have to guarantee this kill," Yuel said. "Use your ult."

"No need. I'm saving my ult for a bigger threat," Kai said. "This Cleric is practically dead. Even if he stands up, I'll finish him off."

"I hope so." Yuel frowned. Kai's stubbornness regarding saving up her ult wasn't a misplay per se, but it involved a risk that Yuel preferred to avoid.

Rather than being greedy and saving the ult for Renegade, Kai would be better off spending all her resources on getting a guaranteed kill on Laplace. Naturally, that meant she won't be able to lunch a deadly attack on Renegade afterward. Nevertheless, securing this important kill on Laplace will give the team the early lead, and will open many strong follow-up options.

Alas, Kai chose to keep her ult for Renegade. She only attacked the Cleric with basic attacks. Meanwhile, Renegade fired at her.

BAM! Another swift bullet headed toward Kai. Like the previous shot, this one was also aiming for the head.

[Maybe I'm not a pro.] Jaiden thought. [But, even I can land headshots a target that isn't moving!]

"Hmph." Kai sidestepped the shot at the last moment, without taking her eyes off the Cleric. She didn't even need to see the shot coming.

"Wha-!?" Jaiden exclaimed. [No way! That shot should've been spot on! Did she move aside at the last moment?]

Another shot. This time, Jaiden wasn't greedy. His target might move again, so aiming for the head was too risky. Instead, he went for the body.

Yet, this bullet also pierced through empty air. Beat sidestepped the bullet at the last moment, all the while keeping her aim firmly locked on Rio.

[You're not hitting me with this.] Kai declared firmly.

Bullets came out exceptionally fast during Fan the Hammer, but their frequency was consistent. The shooter had no way of mixing up their timing, so that made Kai's life easy. After she was hit once, none of the other bullets were going to hit her again, that was a fact.

[You gotta be kidding me.] Jaiden found himself smiling. [As much as I wanna trash talk everything this girl does, at least her dodges are on point sometimes. And, I can't delay shots right now. So, what do?]

Unfortunately, there was no time to think. There was a problem, a big one. It forced Jaiden to cut his thoughts short and focus on the situation at hand.

The enemy Lumimancer was heading straight at him! And, the guy was illuminated by bright light! Blinding Light was incoming!

[Dang, it gonna hit!] Jaiden exclaimed. The damage itself won't be much, but the blinding effect will be nasty.

In theory, all Jaiden had to do was turn around and avert his eyes from the light. But, even rotating took more time than usual during Fan the Hammer.

Dodge Roll wasn't an option either. The skill was sealed while Jaiden was performing Fan the Hammer.

Fortunately, there was one dodging skill that didn't betray him even in this critical moment: Combat Roll. It was similar to Dodge Roll, yet critically different in niche scenarios like this.

[Dodge!] Jaiden rolled away from the Lumimancer, making sure the blinding light won't get on his screen.

It was a success! Blinding Light boomed behind Jaiden. He didn't see any of it, but the sound informed him that the storm has passed. Now, it was time to mount a counter-attack!

As soon as Jaiden recovered, he was back in his Fan the Hammer stance. Not only did Combat Roll allow him to roll during the stance without canceling it, but it even allowed him to retain the stance after the roll. The barrage will continue!

"Whoa!" Vincent exclaimed. A bullet pierced through his shoulder. Renegade recovered instantly and delivered a swift shot. [Amazing! Perhaps he doesn't possess the Gungnir Sniper, but Renegade's aim is nevertheless worthy of praise! I have to get away-]

Too late. The next shot was already on its way! It was heading straight at Vincent and he wasn't prepared in the slightest.

[Oh, woe is me.] Vincent hung his head. [Why didn't the gods bless me with supreme reaction speed?]

The bullet pierced through his forehead. A critical hit! Vincent couldn't possibly dodge it.

Mechanically gifted players had the luxury to move between each shot of Fan the Hammer, but not Vincent. The bullets came out way too fast for him, it was like a machine gun on steroids.

After being hit twice, with one of the hits being critical, Vincent was already below 10% HP. The Gunslinger's headshots were indeed scary. They could even reduce the Support's HP to nothing in a blink of an eye.

From there, Renegade's job was easy. Fan the Hammer came to an end, but Renegade only had to do was land two more hits. It was a tale with a tragic ending.

『You have been killed!』

"Apologies," Vincent said.

"It's alright." Kai didn't blame Vincent for this. His sacrifice was probably unnecessary, but it successfully distracted Renegade. That made Kai's life much easier, so she was grateful for that.

[Looks like we're trading Supports, huh. Fine by me.] Kai nodded to herself. She didn't plan to sacrifice Vincent to achieve her goal of removing Laplace from the lane, but it wasn't a terrible price to pay. As long as Kai kills Renegade after this, Vincent's death won't be in vain.

However, there was a little problem. Her wolf vanished, but the Cleric wasn't dead yet! He was one hit away from dying, but he was still alive!

[You're not getting away!] Kai fired as quickly as humanly possible. She won't give that guy a chance to dodge!

But, Laplace didn't even try to dodge.

[I probably won't make it anyway with this HP.] Rio gave up on going for Dodge Roll. Instead, he activated God's Blessing and targeted nobody, which defaulted the target to himself.

Right before the killing blow struck him, a surge of healing shot through his body. Then, the decisive moment came. A bolt dug into his back, but Rio survived.

The burst of healing from God's Blessing was strong enough to let him outlive the damage. It was one of the strongest healing effects in the game. Some even called it broken, and Rio couldn't argue against that. In fact, he was glad this spell was so broken. That's what granted him a chance to escape from this predicament!

Now, that Rio was patched up, it was time to roll out of here and hope for the best.

"Wait!" Kai called after the rolling prey. [Damn, this can't be happening! I'm supposed to secure this kill!] She desperately chased her target and tried to score the killing blow. She now needed two more shots to kill the Cleric. [That damn healing! When will they nerf it!? It's so obviously broken!]

Kai almost caught up, she had her target within firing range. However, she wasn't confident about her aim during an ongoing pursuit. On top of that, once she fires a shot, she'll inevitably slow down. It just might give the enemy the chance to slip away.

Then, what was Kai supposed to do!? As she mulled over her options, an enemy appeared in front of her.

[Game over.] Jaiden stepped in between Rio and Beat. [You should've used your ult to kill Rio. You were close but too bad for you.]

[Damn, did I fuck it up!?] Kai gritted her teeth. Thanks to her, the enemy was about to gain a tremendous advantage in Bot again. Was this game going to become a repeat of last time?

[No, I won't allow that!] Kai insisted. But, what could she possibly do to get that kill!? Her target was slipping away from her. It was dangerous to chase any further into enemy territory, especially with Renegade standing in her way. It was over. She messed up big time...

"Excuse me, passing through!"

"Huh...?"

A hellish firestorm rained from the sky. The flames burned everything in their path, including the target they set their sights on.

"Oh, this is bad." Rio resigned himself to his death as the flames engulfed him whole. His reaction was too slow. Then again, even on a good day, his chances of reacting to Blaze of Inferno were below 50%. So, this result was inevitable.

"Rio!" Jaiden couldn't do anything but watch his friend burn alive. He failed to save Rio this time. "Dang it! Not like this...!"

Alas, no matter how much he shouted, it was over. The unexpected attack was a success.

『An enemy has been killed!』

"Heck yeah, let's goooo!" Luke pumped a fist. His clean-up job was a huge success.

"Ah, good job." Kai meant every word, but her tone came off weak. She didn't expect things to turn out like this. But, it worked! Luke did it! He stabilized the situation with that kill. Now, both sides were even. Each of them only lost the Support.

"Alrighty!" Luke focused his eyes on Renegade next. "Let's get this scrub over here too!"

Thanks to Luke's gank, the situation transformed into a pincer. Kai was facing Renegade head-on, whereas Luke was cutting off the guy's escape route. It gonna be ez! It made the most sense for them to attack Renegade together, but...

"Ah, eh..." Kai was caught off guard by Luke's suggestion even though it made perfect sense. It was a 2v1 situation, so they should jump on Renegade together and kill the guy as quickly as possible.

[But, I wanted to 1v1 that bastard]. Kai pursued her lips. This was a difficult spot.

On one hand, she wanted to tell Luke to leave this fight to her. On the other hand, she knew that'd be a huge misplay.

Just a few seconds ago, Kai almost paid dearly for her stubbornness. She didn't heed Yuel's advice about using her ult to secure the kill on Laplace, and that almost allowed the guy to slip away. In the end, Luke paid for that mistake on Kai's behalf by using his own ult as the finisher.

It was a miraculous turn of events that salvaged the situation at the very last moment. And, that dangerous situation was caused by none other than Kai and her stubbornness. She was guilty as charged about everything here.

Therefore, she had no right to refuse Luke's help against Renegade. Luke worked hard to create this advantageous situation, so Kai had to see it through.

"Alright, let's do it!" Kai nodded and fired a bolt at Renegade.

"Heh, I'm in a tough spot here..." Jaiden smiled wryly. He was pressed between a rock and a hard place. A Ranger on the front and a Pyromancer on the back.

There was nowhere to flee. Jaiden will have to break through one of these opponents to get out of this area. That was easier said than done, considering he was inside a jungle with narrow passages.

Did he mess up that badly? Was it over for him? He couldn't see any openings to escape through...