For the third wave, TheTheorist repeated the same pattern as before. She pummeled Vi’s swordsmen with her fists, then backpedaled from the se while firing Chakra Bullets.

  This time, only one bowman successfully made it into the tower area. The poor d only had one ce to no arrow into his bow before perishing.

  What a tragedy! Vi shook his head. And, it shall only get worse from here.

  And, even the great Chessmaster thought the exact same thing.

  So, this routine already went from allowing two survivors to just one. Yuel frowned. And, in the wave, the one bowman who’ll make it into the tower area will be injured, so he might even fail to damage the tower at all.

  “Vi, you o dial up the aggression,” Yuel instructed. “It’s hat you have the ne advantage, but it doesn’t give us much as it is. Spellbde has a substantial advantage over Monk in the early-game, so you have to capitalize on it.

  “So, shall I initiate bat? A duel to the death!?”

  “It probably woe that far, but yes, you o start hitting her. Wheends to attack your frontline, open an atta her, a's where it goes. Just be mindful of the minion damage.”

  “Worry not, for the minions’ feeble attacks shall not pose a threat to my Bde stance! My passive shield shall deflect all ining physical damage!”

  “It only gives you a small defense buff, don’t get carried away,” Yuel retorted. “But, don’t be too servative, either. Make sure you hit her hard enough to make her resider her game pn.”

  “It shall be done, my lord.” Vi preteo bow in front of the mastermind. After all, he was but a pie Chessmaster’s eborate board, and he shall move in accordao the master’s wishes.

  With that said, what was the safest way to satisfy the lord's request? If Vi were to carelessly y a finger on Theorist, then her loyal guards would run all over him.

  In the meahe target herself will evacuate the premises as quickly as a phantom thief. sidering Iron Skin could grant the Monk both Invincibility and a Movement Speed buff, there was little ce of delivering any serious damage to Theorist from one such exge.

  But, as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Vi nodded. Even if the pressure I apply with eadividual exge will be minimal, they’ll eventually add up to one huge fearsome momentum! Your end is nigh, o Theorist!

  During the wave, Vi began his routine as usual. First, he unleashed Aere on the enemy wave, then he sliced through them with Aero Slice.

  As always, this bo delivered substantial damage. It halved the HP of the bowmen and erased about 30% of the swordsmen's health bars.

  As, that alone wasn't enough to kill any of the minions. As such, despite Vi obviously winning ne advantage here, none of this ever put much pressure on Theorist.

  Therefore, just like before, the uninvited guest waltzed into Vi's territory in order to assault his minions. But, little did she know that this time, she was the huest! Vi was more than delighted to provide hospitality for her, in his own special way.

  She does not seem to suspect a thing. Vi inferred from Theorist's x approach. The Monk woman had no problem turning her back to Vi while she was farming his minions.

  You used to be more vigint than this, my friend. Vihought ba the first few iions they had. Back then, Theorist didn't take her eyes off Vi for lohan 1.5 seds. Iheorist was the very inate of the All-Seeing Eye back then!

  Of course, being that vigint 24/7 slowed her down, especially her farming speed. But instead, it ehat she could rea a timely fashion to whatever attack Vi unched.

  However, that no longer seemed to be the case. While Theorist was diverting her full attention to the minions, her back was pletely exposed right now.

  Truly, this appears to be the most appropriate time to initiate Ragnarok! Vi booted Pyro Bde, coating his sword in fmes. I wonder, did the all-knowing Chessmaster predict that Theorist would let her guard down at this moment? As always, his analysis never ceases to amaze!

  With a bzing bde in hand, Vi struck hard! But not at Theorist, not yet. His first priority was to diminish the number of minions on the field, to minimize the amount of punishment he’ll receive for the sin he was about to it.

  And so, he swung his fire sword, over and over! He shall stop at nothing but total annihition of the enemy forces!

  Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration. The only targets he absolutely had to destroy were the bowmen, as they were the biggest DPS threat oable.

  So, ohat's achieved, Vi shall proceed to strike down the biggest fish in this pound!

  "No, you won't." A mysterious voice stopped Vi in his tracks. The threat came all the way from the Jungle's dire.

  Oh, this is unfortunate news. Vi celed his pns. Instead of direg his pyro bde at Theorist, he assaulted the swordsmen instead. Initiating an atta Theorist now would be pointless at best and foolish at worst.

  The mysterious "voice" that ruined Vi’s pns beloo her than Rook, whose form was revealed by one of the wards in the juhe captain of the Leopards came here personally to threaten Vi.

  “Don’t try any funny ideas.”

  “I wouldn't dream of it, sir.” Vi replied to the ior. He made sure to py nid stay clear of all suspi.

  And so, Vi only wiped out Theorist's remaining troops. After that, he disengaged in a haste.

  With the enemy Juationed so close nearby, it was a bad time to aggress. In fact, Vi didn’t even dare to follow his surviving minions all the way to the enemy side of the ne.

  I apologize, my rades. I must abandon ship! Vi retreated early to his side of the ne, leaving his troops all alone ierritory. The threat of a potential ining gank was just that high.

  But, in the end, Rook never ehe ne. Most likely, he celed his pns after seeing Vi’s prompt retreat.

  Disaster averted. Vi sighed in relief. It was unfortunate he couldn't unleash his power on Theorist this time, but the night was still young. He'll have many opportuo do so today.

  Besides, his Pyro Bde didn’t go to waste, at least irely. Though it failed to achieve its primary mission, it still delivered hefty damage to the enemy minions. As a result, more of Vi’s minions survived than usual.

  In this round, 2.5 bowmen iheorist’s tower area. It was a substantial jump from the previous round, which meant more damage to the eower.

  Of course, this little bit of extra damage might seem like a drop in the o. Vi admitted. However! Even a butterfly cause a hurrie if it keeps fpping its wings for long enough!

  Every "push" so far only slightly grazed the eurret. However, by repeatedly striking the tower aany waves, the damage slowly but surely added up. It was the same dripping water digging holes through rocks. Each droplet may seem small and insignifit, but together - they delivered a lot of damage!

  Theorist's Turret was already down to 95% after this push. It was a fine achievement, sidering Vi hadn't even stepped into the tower's range, not even once.

  Essentially, his loyal minions were doing all the work thus far. And this round, thanks to his Pyro Bde, even more of them mao push the tower!

  Unfortunately, this oute didn't please the mastermind.

  "I see you used your Pyro Bde." Yuel inferred that from the cooldowns on Vi's skills. "Why did you disehen? Because the ward revealed Rook?"

  "Indeed. I did what I had to dodge the risk of giving First Blood to our foes."

  "That's fine, I guess," Yuel said relutly. Holy, with how hectic the ning test was in Bot, he didn't have the luxury to be 100% ied ihing that took p Top. As such, he had to trust Vi's judgment here, but only to a certaient.

  “From what I saw,” Yuel said. “The ward exposed Rook but he didn’t actually make it to the ne, right?”

  “Ihat’s how the story pyed out. It appears he aborted his pns at the st moment upon seeing my speedy retreat.”

  “That’s possible. Or, maybe…” Yuel stopped mid-sentehe rest of the sentence was at the tip of his tongue, but it was admittedly far too early to draw any definite clusions.

  Did Cato really pn to gank Top? Or, did he only apply remote intimidation? Yuel strongly leaoward the tter theory, but it was impossible to dis the truth with the limited information at hand.

  Regardless, the e was unfortunate. Not only did Vi waste MP by activating that Pyro Bde, but he also might’ve telegraphed his iion to go on the offensive.

  “You probably want to y low for a while,” Yuel suggested. “Check if anything ged about the way Theorist pys. It’s important to know whether she realized the true iion behind your Pyro Bde. I hope she wrote it off as an aggressive push and nothing more.”

  “Very well. I shall enter detective mode and tail my target’s every move!”

  The ning phase tinued as usual. Vi pushed the enemy minions away with Aere, and then he sshed through them with Aero Slice. He left the Pyro Bde sheathed this round, as he had no iion of aggressing on his target.

  After two waves of this routine, he was ready to report his findings.

  “I apologize, sir. I couldn’t spot any irregurities iarget’s activity. She was as vigint as usual, with no noticeable ge to her farming routine.”

  “I see.”

  “If I had to say, the notable differen her behavior actually occurred during the wave on which I po strike her down.”

  “Really?” Yuel asked. “That’s the first time I hear about it.”

  “Indeed, for this is the first time I’m rep it. For, you see, at the time, I did not actually find it peculiar at all. But now, as I take a trip down memory ne, I do find it odd indeed.”

  “So, did she predict your iion to aggress?” Yuel asked. “Was she more cautious than usual?”

  “No, no,” Vi said. “On the trary, she appeared more careless than usual.”

  “More careless?” Yuel knotted his brows.

  “Indeed, she seemed to pay less heed to moi for some reason; she focused harder on the minions at the time. However, iwo ret waves, she was as cautious as ever. So, as you say, perhaps she sensed my attempt at her life.”

  “An ’attempt’ you didn’t evehe ce to initiate,” Yuel emphasized. “Anyway, it’s hard to draw any definite clusions from that. Maybe she realized she was careless at the time, so she just fixed her mistake for subsequent waves.”

  Frankly, it was difficult for Yuel to judge anything about the situation without being physically present at the se. Getting sedhand information from a teammate was bound to leave some holes ia. It was one of the things that made analysis in Cssmahat much trickier than in chess, a game where all pyers had full access to all information at any given time.

  heless, Yuel had to make his calls despite the partial information, for such was the job of the shot-caller.

  “Let’s try aggressing one more time,” Yuel suggested. “You still have MP to spare, so let’s use it to get more information.”

  “Gdly!” Vi responded. “I shall trade as much MP as required for the sake of acquiring information!”

  “It’s a good trade long as you don’t go overboard…” Yuel smiled wryly.

  For an information fanatic like Vi, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he’ll sacrifice his entire MP bar for the sake of obtaining more information. Therefore, it was important to keep a watchful eye on this fellow.

  Well, I trust he knows what he’s doing. Yuel nodded and started shifting his attention back to his owill, this entire sequence of events doesn’t sit well with me. It’s almost as if…

  It was too early to draw any clusio, so Vi will have tgressing once more. Hopefully, this time, his attack will either gh…

  DarkestCymore