Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.16 Ch.4: Fatal Underestimation

"So, are we ready to go down the stage and face our coach?" Cato asked with his usual impish smirk. "The real roasting is about to start, haha..."

"A nice finisher for a motivation speech, bruh." Ronald made a face.

Reminding the team about Rodriguez put a damper on their mood all over again. Nonetheless, they were a strong bunch, so they overcame this within seconds and dragged themselves down the stage.

Cato's speech had already helped them to move on after the crushing defeat, so being roasted by the coach didn't feel like such a big deal at his point. They overcame the first challenge, so they'll overcome the second one as well.

Besides, an unexpected defeat on the competitive stage was a first for the Leopards, so naturally, it rattled them. On the other hand, getting roasted by Rodriguez? That was a daily routine.

So, everybody was more than ready to face Rodriguez's armor-piercing questions head-on. Though, to their surprise, Rodriguez didn't hit them as hard as they expected.

"I see it took you a while to gather the courage to come down the stage," Rodriguez said. "So, I take it you're ashamed of this defeat? You shouldn't be."

Everybody lifted their heads upon hearing these unexpected words. Instead of beating them down to oblivion, Rodriguez actually started off with nice words. Though, knowing the guy, this only made things scarier...

"The enemy caught you off-guard," Rodriguez continued. "They placed many traps during the drafting phase and they drafted a very unconventional lineup. Especially, that Jungle DK was something else."

It was an abnormally soft analysis of how things went down, especially considering the team had just suffered its first defeat on the competitive stage since its debut. Everybody prepared themselves for an earful, but so far, Rodriguez hasn't scolded them much. At least, for now.

"With so many unexpected factors, it's not too strange for you to drop one game," Rodriguez said. "No matter how strong a team is, nobody is immune to the surprise element. So, if losing to a 'meme' team is what's bothering you, then it shouldn't."

A few breaths of relief resounded in response to these words. The team expected to get roasted to death, yet Rodriguez let it slide. It was unusually kind of him.

In fact, his words resembled the little speech Cato gave earlier in order to revive the team's morale. This similarity between the two further boosted the team's spirits.

But, they should have known better than to rejoice so early. After all, they had been Rodriguez's pupils for over two years now, they should have known that one of Rodriguez's favorite tactics was to start with praises before moving on to bombard them with criticism.

"However." That's how it always started. Everybody straightened their backs at the mere sound of the word. "There is one thing you did do horribly wrong in this game and you have to reflect on. Anybody wants to wager a guess?"

He laid his eyes on each of them in order, like a hawk staring down his prey. One of them will have to speak up, that's the message he was sending. This lecture won't proceed forward until somebody provides an answer, regardless of whether that answer will be correct or not.

As usual, Rodriguez's demands were met with silence at first. Rarely did anybody volunteer to put themselves on the chopping block so early. Especially, this time, the riddle was seriously difficult, too.

"Eh, anybody got any idea?" Ronald whispered. "I'm totally stumped on this one."

But, nobody responded to his question. Not because they were ignoring him, but because they were genuinely unsure what to say.