H-Here I am. Ben gulped as he arrived on the -This is where the trouble starts for real. A shiver ran across his arms as he spotted Challenger. His right hand was shaking on top of the mouse.
He was no longer in Kansas, this wasn’t an allied territory anymore. Ben was in Top Lane and about to pete with his oppo for ne trol!
What's worse, his ne oppo was the one who gave Vi a lot of trouble i game. In fact, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Ben was subbed in for the sole purpose of dealing with this dangerous foe.
I o perform at least as well as Vi did, preferably better. Of course, Ben was well aware that he was a worse pyer than Vi overall. He didn't have nearly as muowledge, experience, or versatility. Truly, he was interior to Vi in almost every possible way.
However, there was one particur area in which Ben excelled, probably even more than Vi did. Yes, even Ben with his shaky self-esteem was able to cim as much.
I defend. Ben thought. That's what I was subbed in to dht?
His job here was quite simple: to protect the ne from Challenger's aggression. And, as far as that specific goal was ed, Ben might be able to do a slightly better job than Vi.
A-At least, I think I have a ce to aplish it. That is, if I get rid of all this shaking first.
Even after he took five deep breaths, his body refused to rex. There was simply too much tension in the air, one could cut through it with a knife.
The audience is watg, my teammates have expectations, and the enemy is looking for opportuo end me. Gulp.
His meager existence was suddenly exposed to so much attention the momeepped oage. And especially now, with a powerhouse like Challenger right in front of him, Behe pressure beating him down.
B-But even so, I have to do it! Ben did everything in his power to vince his shaky body. B-But the shaking just won't go away. I think I just have to py like this for a while...
There was no time to llygag. The first minion waves had already cshed in the middle of the ne, so despite the numerous shivers, Ben had to hahe situation accly.
But, what was the right approach here? The enemy was a mighty Dragonborn, ohat was capable of stomping even strong pyers like Vi. What was Ben even going to do about this mighty foe?
Sometimes, Yuel criticizes me for not being aggressive enough in the ne. But, I assume this isn't going to be one of these cases.
This was one of these games where Ben didn't have to worry too much about attag. Against Challenger, Ben was tasked with oing an unbreakable wall of defense. His primary job was to avoid surrendering any ne trol to the enemy, that’s about it.
So, I'll make sure to do just that. Ben o himself. In his mind, he kly what had to be done. However, the enemy had no iions of making any of this easy.
As soon as the two armies cshed, Challenger charged forth with Draic Rush, knog Ben's frontlioward the bae! With all of Ben's minions packed in one area, Challenger unleashed Draic Fme, slig through all of them with a bde of fire!
Just like that, with two attacks, Ben's army lost over 60% of its HP. And, Ben didn't evehe ce to lift a finger yet.
S-So fast and decisive! Ben gulped. This isn't going to be easy...
The enemy was brimming with fidence here. Challenger had no qualms about spending both of his skills right off the gate. Doing so actually put him in a rather dangerous position, but Ben had no way of exploiting it as a Vanguard.
He knew I won’t be able to do anything, that’s why he went for this. Ben thought. He's aggressive, sometimes even a little reckless, but he knows what he’s doing. After all, he pys for the Leopards.
There were no shabby pyers on this elite team. The Leopards didn't have any yers like Ben t them down. Ead every one of them -tier petitive pyer.
A-And then there’s me, who is somehow expected to front pyers like this. Ben gulped. He knew he had to punish the enemy's bold py, yet he couldn't bring himself to lift a fihe enemy's petitive aura was too overwhelming. There wasn't a single shred of doubt in any of Challenger’s moves.
"Ben, you better retreat," Yuel advised.
"ht!" Ben backpedaled from the se. He missed his opportunity to punish the oppo, so he had to evacuate.
Following the bold attack of Draic Rush + Draic Fme, Challenger proceeded to slid dice Ben’s minions. The enemy minions also joihe massacre and eliminated Beire army.
It all happened in a blink of an eye. Ben’s mind struggled to keep up with these rapid developments. It’s like his brain was frozen.
T-This is bad. Ben gulped. It’s beehan two minutes into the game and I’ve already lost ne trol…
Naturally, Challenger pressed on with his ne advantage. He anded his army to invade Ben’s tower.
I had one job. Ben thought. All I had to do was to protect the ne from things like this. Ahe game has barely started and I’ve already messed up…
At this rate, he was going to do a worse job than Vi on the defehe team will lose the entire game because of Ben’s blunders!
“Is there a reason you didn’t taunt him when he advanced?” Yuel inquired.
“Ah, well…” Ben’s eyes shifted from side to side. “I just… Um, I mean… Err…”
“Just to be clear, you khat using Provoke was the py there, right?”
“Y-Yes! I knew, I just…”
“You got tense, I assume?” Yuel asked. “That’s fine. As long as you know what o be done.”
“Oh, it’s…. fine? Really?”
“Well, of course, it’s not really ‘fine’,” Yuel said. “It’s never ‘fio give the enemy any momentum.”
“R-Right. I’m very sorry about that…” Ben hung his head.
“But, this isn’t the end of the world,” Yuel said. “This is only the first wave. What really matters is that you know how to hahis situatioime. As long as you don’t let him repeat this routihen it’ll be fine.”
“Y-Yes! ime, I won’t let him get away with it!” Ben promised.
“That’s good to hear. Though, before that, you still have to deal with the current attack.”
“Oh, yes, that’s true.”
The enemy army was about to invade his tower’s area. The minions weren’t capable of deliverihal damage to the tower this early into the game, but it was heless imperative to deny any attacks oower.
If Ben allows small hits like that to pass through, then the enemy will slowly but surely grind his tower to dust. It was actually very on to lose towers to small repeated attacks like this.
“You know what to dht?” Yuel firmed.
“I think I should stomp them right as they ehe area.”
“Yes, that’s what you should do. I hope that this time you won’t freeze up.”
“I-I’ll try my best…”
“You rex, dude,” Lars interjected. “It’s not like the whole world is at stake here or anything, ya know? Anybody make a mistake or two, especially in a big game like this. Ya just gotta learn from it and keep moving forward!”
“R-Right, thanks.” Ben nodded and took a deep breath. This robably at least the 27th time he did it today, all in a futile attempt to calm down his nerves. However, this time, it was actually somewhat effective. Lars’s words really helped Ben overe his worry, at least temporarily.
I was subbed in to defend the ne. Ben reminded himself. That's the ohing I have to do well, no matter what. It doesn't matter how strong the oppo is - I just have to do this!
Ben closed his eyes and hit both of his cheeks. SLAP! There was a loud sound, but probably nobody heard it because of the headphones. And, hopefully, nobody from the audience saw it either because their eyes should be glued to the big s right now.
I-It'd be pretty embarrassing if somebody actually saw this... Ben nervously looked around him for a moment but theurned his focus to the game. This was no time to worry about petty matters like that. He had to fully trate on the wave, which has already arrived in the ne.
This time, I won't mess up. I know what I have to do. Ben took yet another deep breath. The fast beat of his heart slowed down a little, but it seemed like he had no choice but to keep pying the game while distracted by all sorts of symptoms like this. This robably how he had to roll in order to get used to the pressure of pying on the petitive stage.
And so, the minion wave arrived...
DarkestCymore
