บท 589: The Sage vs. Pyromancer Matchup

Shortly after the Valkyries' strong opening in Top Jungle, PrinceCharming returned to Mid. The sage woman cautiously slipped into the lane from her side of the map without daring to pass through Julia's domain.

Good for you. Julia thought. I would've KILLED your ass if you dared to enter through my area.

She was not in a mood for stupid games. This game was very important for her future, so she won't tolerate any disrespect like that.

Tch, I can't believe Dan messed up like that. Julia clicked her tongue. This better not have any negative effects on my lane situation.

With Dan out of commission, there was a good chance the enemy Jungler would take advantage of his absence and harass Mid. At the very least, Rosemary will attempt to steal both Griffin Camps for sure.

There goes all my Griffin exp. Julia ranted internally. And, now Charming is gonna get ahead of me. Thanks, Dan.

In the end, the enemy took only one Griffin Camp for now. It seemed they were saving the other camp for later, knowing all too well that Julia couldn't clear it by herself anyway.

I mean, I CAN clear it, but it's not worth it. Julia grumped. It's gonna cost way too much time and HP for what it's worth. Not to mention, I gonna bet my ass Charming would try to get in the way.

This was infuriating. Why did Julia have to bear the consequences of Dan's mistake? None of this was her fault in any shape or form, yet she was going to be punished for it.

Well, nothing I can do about that. Julia sighed. I'll just have to kill Charming and start building up momentum for myself.

Her blood was already boiling. She was SO ready to assault Charming at the first opportunity that presented itself!

Not to mention, Julia had the red buff while Charming settled on the blue buff she stole from Top Jungle. So, Julia had way more firepower at her disposal right now.

Alright, I've got this round! Julia bombarded the enemy swordsmen with basic fireballs, which built up her Heat Gauge along the way. Once the gauge was full, she advanced toward the enemy frontline to unleash a heated-up Flame Wave!

But, just as she got closer to the minions, the ground underneath her started shaking! "Wha-!?" Julia jumped. It's a damn earthquake!

She was forced to cool down her heated engines right away, switching from offense to defense. Basically, she had to scram!

"G-Get out...!" Julia commanded her Pyromancer to roll out of the area as fast as humanly possible. She wasn't some Bronze rank amateur, so there's no way she'd get hit by a telegraphed attack like that...!

But, as always, switching from offense to defense on demand was so goddamn tough! The sudden change in priorities threw her brain for a loop.

Frankly, she had no idea how Gilbert always pulled that shit as if it was the easiest thing in the world. That guy was a hacker for sure.

But anyway, against Sage's Terra Pulse, even Julia's response time was good enough. She rolled out of the area in the nick of time, dodging the AoE.

Unfortunately, her minions weren't as lucky. The initial shockwave of the earthquake hit all of them, stunning them in place.

The damage wasn't anything to write home about, but the stun was nasty. It rendered Julia's entire army immobile, which allowed the enemy to use them as punching bags.

Furthermore, Terra Pulse continued to shake the land, dealing damage and extending the minions' stun. Each individual hit of the skill wasn't that big of a deal, but together they racked up sizable damage.

Worst of all, with the earthquake in commission, Julia couldn't get close to the enemy swordsmen from the right angle. In other words, this little stunt locked her out of using her wave-clearing routine!

Shit! Her entire minion wave would've been DEAD by now if she let me use my damn spell...!

Unfortunately, this was a typical exchange between Pyromancer and Sage. While Sorcerer countered Pyromancer with obnoxious range, Sage bullied Pyromancer with toxic zoning.

My god, look at these little fuckers go. Julia hissed at the enemy swordsmen, who were busy slashing Julia's stunned minions. Right now, all she could do was shoot fireballs at these cocky bastards and bide her time.

On paper, that earthquake should only last like 2 seconds in total. But, it felt like an eternity in this critical moment. Julia was missing on the optimal time to clear the damn wave!

At this rate, the Sage might actually force the lane situation to be equal after this wave.

No way in hell I'm gonna let that happen! Left without a choice, Julia unleashed her overdue Flame Wave. She was forced to shoot it from outside the earthquake's AoE, which meant her flames could only reach the swordsmen, not the bowmen. Still, this was better than nothing.

The Flame Wave erased the cocky swordsmen from existence. Hmph, that's what these little bastards deserved for thinking they could run all over Julia's army!

But, after the swordsmen, there were still the bowmen to deal with. Julia had to get them out of the picture as well to establish true lane dominance.

In the meantime, the earthquake subsided and her minions started moving toward the enemy forces again. Alas, her swordsmen had no chance of reaching the bowmen alive.

SWISH! SWISH! One arrow, two arrows, three arrows. Soon enough, all of Julia's swordsmen were on the ground.

Meanwhile, Julia cast Pillar of Fire on the shooters. The ground under their feet started burning intensely, sapping their HP with every passing moment.

But, that wasn't enough. She wanted to go even harder on these fuckers!

Unfortunately, Burning Spirit wasn't available since Julia was still at Lv. 2. So, she had to compromise on shooting basics at these bastards. The damage wasn't anything to write home about, but damage was damage. She was definitely going to eliminate all the minions and gain lane control, no matter what…!

But in the end, the first laning exchange ended in a draw. Both armies collapsed at about the same time, with neither side getting to push this round.

Tch, I was supposed to win this. Julia clicked her tongue. Damn counter-pick.

On paper, Julia had everything she needed to overwhelm her opponent. She had the power buff from the ogres, and Pyromancer's burst potential was much higher than Sage's!

And yet, she couldn't win this lane exchange. It was all because of that stupid earthquake! It completely threw Julia off the established Pyromancer farming routine.

"Next time I'll show her...!" Julia promised through gritted teeth.

"You'll show her what, exactly?" Howard asked.

"Huh? Oh, you heard that..." Julia realized she was ranting out loud. How did he even catch that anyway? I'm pretty sure I said it quietly. Like, is he monitoring me 24/7 or something?

Somehow, Howard was an expert at catching Julian fuming about such things. It's almost as if the guy was actively stalking Julia to check her condition. What a scary thought.

"I just meant I'm gonna win the next round," Julia explained.

"And how do you plan to do that, exactly?"

"Well..." I haven't thought that far yet. Julia scratched her head. The only thing she knew for sure was that she'd win the next lane exchange, no matter what!

"Alright. At least it looks like you still haven't come up with any crazy ideas," Howard nodded. "So, before you start hatching some terrible plans, I'll give it to you straight: give up on it."

"Huh? Give up? Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Howard insisted. "There's a matchup disadvantage and your opponent proved she knows how to play against Pyro. So, you have to adapt accordingly."

"You mean to slow down and only farm the swordsmen?"

"Yes." Howard nodded. "See? I knew you're a smart girl."

"That's just the basics..." Julia made a face. He's totally buttering me up so I go along with whatever he says. When it comes down to it, he's basically asking me to play like a wimp.

Pyromancer's selling point was its burst damage, which was high enough to wipe out the enemy backline even in the earlier parts of the game. So, when a Pyromancer compromised on hitting only the swordsmen, it was the same as sealing away half of the class's potential.

And yet, Howard was telling Julia to do exactly that. And sure, that would make sense against a strong lane opponent, like an actual pro. But, against somebody from the Valkyries? Please.

No way I'm losing to these greenhorns. Julia thought. They've just formed their team and they think they can already take me on? Pft, yeah, right.

In this game, Julia had to convince Howard she was a great asset to the team, far superior to Gilbert. The best method to achieve that was to utterly trash her lane opponent, especially in this unfavorable match-up. This would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Julia was a very strong and valuable player! So, she had to go all out!

"Somehow," Howard started. "Your face doesn't strike me as very obedient."

"Ah, well..." Julia glanced aside. She couldn't look Howard in the eye right now, especially not when he was drilling a hole through her skull with his piercing hawk gaze.

"I believe I made myself clear: give up on winning the lane anytime soon."

"Okay, okay, I got it already…" Julia sighed. "I'll play nice for now. But, if I see a good opportunity to turn things around, I'll probably try it. That's fine, right?"

"Just make sure it's a 'real' opportunity and not just you trying to pick a fight for fun."

"Got it."

And so, the one-sided strategy meeting came to an end. It was pretty annoying for Julia, but twice as annoying for Howard.

She's such a high-maintenance teammate. Howard sighed. I really have to monitor her at every step, or else she might do something stupid.

Whenever Julia was ranting out loud, it was a sign that her aggressive side was taking over. It was always a sign for Howard to step in to stop her.

On the offense, Julia was a player who had many wild ideas. Some of them were good, but most of them were too risky. As such, Howard had to constantly chain the girl down.

Gil is so much easier to handle in comparison. Howard sighed. But, there are some niches only Julia can fill in this team at the moment. We DO need another player who can mount a strong offense.

Even though Howard's StormBlitz was a defensive team at its core, every team that wanted to win had to eventually go on the offensive. As such, having a player who could execute extreme offense was very appreciated, at least in theory.

I just wish she wasn't such a mess to manage. Howard sighed again.

"Wardy, you keep sighing like an old man," Ellen said. "How about, instead of stalking July, you pay some attention to me instead~?"

"Sure, sure."

Howard returned to his own business in Bot, while Julia prepared for the next minion wave. Her flames cooled down after Howard's lecture, but soon enough another inciting incident was about to take place...