Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.19 Ch.18: The Valkyries' Achilles' Heel

"Cornelia, do not advance any further after you kill the swordsmen," Fiona instructed. "There is no value in picking a fight here."

"I'm afraid I disagree," Cornelia asserted. "This peasant had the gall to assault me in the previous round, so I must repay him in kind."

"He is merely taunting you. Do not fall for it."

"Hmph." Cornelia scoffed. "He is free to taunt me all he wants. I will make sure he regrets every last bit of it!"

"I would like to remind you that your previous fights against him have not gone so smoothly."

"Hmph. I was still warming up back then," Cornelia argued. "Now, I'm fully ready to put this nobody in his place!"

"Do not do it," Fiona implored. "It is too risky. Your opponent has proven himself adequate, so it is not wise to pick a fight against him without establishing a proper advantage first. You should retreat."

"What's that?" Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me, a noble, to run away!? Blasphemy! Blasphemy, I say!"

As usual, this "noblewoman" was a tough customer. Her pride always took over and made her needlessly engage her lane opponents in combat.

As proven time and again, the enemy Knight was stronger than her in 1v1 exchanges. However, Cornelia insisted on denying that fact with every fiber of her being. And because of the girl's stubbornness, the lane situation in Top went from bad to worse as the game progressed.

It was only a matter of time before the enemy conquered the area entirely. And, it happened sooner than even Fiona anticipated.

"W-What!?" Cornelia exclaimed. "Their Jungler is here!"

"He is...?" Fiona was taken aback. I was sure he had departed to Bot Jungle by now...

By Fiona's command, the team had been keeping the jungle warded at all times. As such, she was aware that the enemy Viking had recently finished clearing all the camps in Top Jungle.

From there, the man should have rotated to Bot Jungle. That was the optimal continuation for this line of play.

Instead, it seemed the Viking lingered in Top Jungle for a while. There should not have been anything of note for him to do there while he waited, yet he chose to wait it out regardless.

That was how the Viking managed to appear on the lane out of the blue and gang up on Cornelia along with the Knight. Fiona completely failed to anticipate this development. What a blunder.

『An ally has been killed!』

This message signaled the end for Top Lane. Shortly, the tower followed in Cornelia's footsteps.

『An allied Turret has been destroyed!』

This whole disaster took place while Fiona was in the middle of rotating from Top Jungle to Bot Jungle. Less than a minute ago she was in Top, helping out Cornelia. Then, shortly after she left, the enemy struck.

Did they wait for me to leave? Fiona wondered. Just how long was their Jungler preparing for this play?

Lying in wait for so long was far from efficient. Fiona did not even consider this possibility due to how suboptimal the idea sounded. And yet, ultimately, the play proved quite effective.

Then again, this only happened because Cornelia did not tighten her defense as she should have. If she started retreating as soon as I asked her to, the gank would have lost most of its value.

In that scenario, the Viking would have had to pay the price for all the time he wasted idling. It was a high-risk high-reward line of play. The Viking placed all his eggs in one basket by banking so heavily on scoring a kill.