The second game was rough. Lars gained an early advantage in Bot, but the others lost the initiative in Top and Mid. Roi's early death hurt in particular because a Dark Knight who falls behind always had an incredibly hard time climbing back.

Even after returning to lane, Roi hasn't been able to gain an advantage. Gregory continued to turtle and poke and played even more defensively than before. So, getting a kill in Top seemed hopeless and instead, Roi hoped to pull off a gank on Gilbert in Mid.

Alas, whenever Roi tried to rotate, he always ran into Taison. It seemed like Taison was tasked with patrolling Top Jungle, probably by Howard’s command. It was just like Howard to notice this hole in the team’s formation and to close it off. This effectively locked Roi up in Top Lane and forced him to starve.

In Mid, Julia continued reinforcing her defenses. She prioritized stability and freezing the lane’s progress above everything else. To that end, she bought way more wards than necessary...

“Don't waste gold like that,” Yuel said.

“Hmph, I'm only buying as many as I need.”

“Are you trying to light up the entire map or something? You even warded some of Top...”

“I need to see where Taison is because he's been all over Top Jungle recently.”

“Yeah, but...” Yuel sighed. There was no point reasoning with Julia when she became like that. Excessive warding was still way better than conceding kills and losing lane control, so Yuel didn’t want to make the situation any worse by arguing. If that's how Julia felt most comfortable protecting Mid, so be it.

All in all, the situation looked bad. The enemy effectively controlled Top and Mid right now. Roi was locked out in Top while Julia was pushed back in Mid. Thus, Bot was the only lane where Yuel’s team maintained an advantage. But, even there, the enemy stabilized very well.

Howard and Ellen learned to be cautious of Lars's Gunslinger, so they played hyper defense. Lars rolled forward a few times to get things going and he successfully caused some havoc, he couldn't confirm a second kill. As expected from impenetrable Aegis and the ever slippery Athena, they flawlessly defended against Lars’s Gunslinger.

But, that's only while the lane was at a 2v2. How will Howard defend in a 2v3?

“Dan, now!” Yuel called out.

“Gotcha!” Dan jumped over a jungle wall and aimed at Howard and Ellen. Once he lands, he'll lock them inside “The King’s Dominion”! Then, he’ll proceed to tear them apart- DENIED. Dan turned into an icicle in midair. A timely Ice Coffin from Howard.

With Dan frozen in place, the situation remained the usual 2v2 and nothing stopped the enemies from fleeing. It was a terrible gank blunder.

“Why did you jump so close to Howard?” Yuel demanded. “Ellen is the primary goal. There was absolutely no need to target both of them and run the risk of getting CC'd in midair.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Dan smiled awkwardly. “Fudged that one, my bad.”

“Okay, as long as you keep that in mind for next time.” Yuel sighed. This was rough. The team’s aggressive composition demanded to get early momentum to be able to win during the mid-game, but they haven't achieved anything so far. All lanes were frozen at best and pushed back at worst.

Somebody had to break this settlement and it should be Lars. Out of everybody right now, his performance was the only one which lived up to the standard and even surpassed it. The rest of the team wasn't up to par right now due to the enemy’s tactics. But, once the Lars seizes momentum, the others will surely follow on it.

“Lame,” Lars pouted when Ellen snuck away yet again. “They ain't coming at me. Where's the action, dude? Howard is always there to ruin the fun right when things start getting interesting. What a party popper.”

“Agreed, Howard makes this difficult,” Yuel nodded. “I'll go help in Mid and hopefully that'll bait him into rotating out of Bot.”

“Oh, that's smart! Dude, you're a genius!”

Literally one of the most basic tactics ever. Yuel rolled his eyes. Still, sometimes the simplest tactics were the best. It won’t be easy to bait a defensive juggernaut like Howard, but this play should leave Howard no choice. Either Howard will rotate to Mid to interrupt Yuel and that’ll create the desire 1v1 in Bot, or alternatively, Howard will remain in Bot while Yuel helps Julia gain the upper hand in Mid. It was a win-win situation as far as Yuel was concerned, but how will Howard see it?

“He's baiting me,” Howard sneered.

“My, Yuyu is such a brat,” Ellen shook her head. “He really thinks such an obvious bait will work?”

“He knows it's obvious, but he also knows he doesn’t leave much choice,” Howard said. “If I don't go to Mid, Gilbert will be pushed back. Taison has to keep an eye on Top and you need to stay in Bot to farm, so only I can rotate.”

“My, Yuyu came up with such a simple but devious plan. So, what you're going to do?”

“I'll accept the invitation. Yuel is doing this under the assumption you won't be able to survive against Lars in a 1v1, so we'll just have to prove him wrong.”

“I feel so underrated,” Ellen puffed her cheeks. “I'll show him!”

“Yeah, let's do it. Time to turn Taison into the ‘Lars Killer’ we deserve, and the one we need.”

“Sure thing~” Ellen smiled from ear to ear. “I got a Checkpoint Ward ready.”

“Tai, you listening?” Howard asked.

“Huh? What?”

“We're doing ‘Da Play’, as you like to call it.”

“Oh, awesome! I've been waiting for this shit! Patrolling near Top all day is such a snoozefest.”

Alright, we’re set. Heh, Yuel doesn't even realize, Howard couldn't help but snicker. Leaving Lars alone with Ellen is exactly what we want too.

After Howard left Bot, it became a 1v1. Ellen fell back a little to escape Lars's attack range, but she continued poking him and the minion wave. Lars wasn't gonna get any hits on that fox unless he aggresses.

“Yo, them pokes,” Lars pouted. “I gonna go all out on her, yo!” That's normally where Yuel would stop him, but Yuel didn't say a word. “I'm totally going!” Still no reaction. “I gonna jump into the danger and fight face-to-face, yo!” Even this warning passed through. “I'MMA TOTALLY-”

“Just DO IT,” Roi shouted into the mic and almost turned everybody deaf.

“Yeah,” Dan tuned in. “JUST-”

“DO IT.”

“JUST-”

“DO IT!”

“Gah!” Julia slammed on the table. “Would you mind to kindly SHUT UP? Thanks.”

Everybody laughed and even Julia couldn’t help but smile. Finally, Yuel reacted to Lars’s warning. “Go for it. This is your chance to turn the game around. This was what you’ve practiced Gunslinger for, right?”

“Yeah, you betcha!” Lars nodded repeatedly. He sure trained hard, every day without fail.

The daily practice the team had at the clubroom this week was already exhausting, it was nothing but matches, practice, strategy meetings and match reviews from 8 am to 5 pm. Like, that's literally the same as the work hours of Lars’s folks. Where was his fat salary check, yo?

And, that practice wasn't even the end of it. After they wrapped up at the club, Lars went to Yuel's place to do some extra duo training, with emphasis on playing Gunslinger. If Lars wasn’t totally popped from the practice at the clubroom, this extra duo training made sure to suck out every last bit of MP he had left. Yuel was even stricter than these math teachers who only knew how to give single-digit marks.

And, even THAT wasn't the end of Lars’s daily routine. After he returned home, he did some extra fine-tuning practice with his Gunslinger. The only way to bring his Gunslinger anywhere close to the level of his Trickshooter was to train with Gunslinger just as hard, and even harder.

To make quick progress in just one week, Lars even sacrificed some of his Trickshooter training for Gunslinger. There were days when he was simply too beat and didn't have any strength left for a long practice session before bed. So, he always started and finished with Gunslinger, then either moved on to Trickshooter or fell asleep, depending on how much MP he had left.

Yeah, that's right: Lars skipped on practicing his strongest class for the sake of improving as a Gunslinger. All of it was for this one moment: the 1v1 against Ellen! Lars will apply everything he learned with Gunslinger to mop the floor with that fox! That'll prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was the stronger Carry, That starter spot is mine, yo!

“Okay, here I come!” Lars rolled forward with Combat Roll. After leveling up the skill, its properties became way better than those of a normal dodge-roll. Yuel always said he barely felt any difference, but dude just wasn’t paying enough attention. Combat Roll felt totally different! The startup on the roll was super fast and the wake-up was almost immediate! It was a rolling technique from another realm, attained only by masters who spent hundreds of years rolling every day from morning till evening!

Lars rolled fast and recovered fast, then activated Fan the Hammer. Same good old strat which gonna apply the buffs from Combat Roll onto every shot of Fan the Hammer. Lars barraged Ellen before she could even react!

My, watch this brat go. Ellen sidestepped the deadly first shot. If she were to react just a moment later, the bullet would have hit her square in the forehead. But, she did it! She dodged the opening shot!

After seeing this play so many times, of course Ellen could outplay it. Lar’s fast combo of Combat Roll into Fan the Hammer caught Ellen off-guard the first time, but that rascal has been desperately trying to repeat the success ever since. After seeing this move so many times, it became predictable and easy to dodge.

I missed? Well played, dude. Then, how about this...! Lars adjusted his aim after the recoil and his gun automatically fired again on its own. The barrage during Fan the Hammer was insanely fast and fired nonstop, so Lars didn’t have any time to act surprised. He had to keep attacking no matter what!

Alright, now! Ellen rolled aside before Lars fired. Normally, if Ellen were to move before the shot was fired, Lars would adjust right away by shifting his aim. It sounded absurd, but that's the kind of beastie Lars was. Even if he only had a fraction a microsecond to react to somebody’s movements, he would adjust without fail.

However, right now, Larsy should be just a teeny-weeny rattled by the fact his first shot missed. Therefore...!

Geh! I can’t adjust in time! Lars tried to follow Ellen’s rolling form with his aim, but he was too late. The shot fired without waiting for him... and it missed.

Dang it, that last second roll was something else. It was a perfectly timed dodge, as expected from a fox like Ellen. It reminded him of an important fact: even though that fox spent most of the game doing cheap poke-and-run, she was actually hella fine in combat too!

However, that Dodge Roll left Ellen wide open. Before she finished the roll, Lars already fired his next shot. He knew exactly where to aim and there was no way for Ellen to pull any tricks this time.

Third shot! Headshot!

My, it's so hard to shake him. Ellen twitched but insisted to maintain a confident smile. Alrighty, let's go. I'll dance with you, my dear Larsy. Follow my lead, right into the sweet embrace of death~

Lars fired again. Another headshot! He got her now! One more hit and he'll stun Ellen!

Third shoot... dodged! Ellen sidestepped it. Dang it, so close!

How eager~ Ellen smirked. There was no denying that Lars's head-shooting skill was superhuman right now, but he still had that little thing all humans had: a brain. In his case, it was mostly empty, but that didn't stop him from being affected by emotions.

When Lars missed the first shot, it threw off his rhythm. That was incredibly dangerous during Fan the Hammer because the trick to landing all the shots was in maintaining perfect harmony with the tempo of the shots. Ellen was a Carry too, so she knew that stuff.

The reason Ellen easily dodged Lar’s second shot was that his first miss rattled him. As a result, he had to pour extra attention into regaining his groove, which hampered his ability to adjust the aim in the last moment like he usually did.

Unfortunately, Lars was a hard nut to crack. He regained his tempo for the third shot and scored a headshot, then rolled into another headshot with that momentum.

But, that's when Lars became too eager. Like a starving beastie which finally received a snack, Lars wanted to gobble down everything at once. Landing a third headshot in a row would stun Ellen, so Lars wanted to pull it off right away. Therefore, he didn't even notice the trap Ellen led him into.

The fifth shot darted straight toward Ellen’s forehead, it was going to be a clean hit and Ellen wasn’t fast enough to react. But, the bullet never hit its target, it dropped shortly before reaching Ellen. There was too much distance between them!

When Ellen let Lars land a second headshot, that service wasn’t for free. She used that opportunity to distance herself as much as possible from the rampaging beast. Thanks to that, she only had to take one step to get out of Lars’s firing range for the fifth shot. No matter how inhumanly scary Lars's shots were, they couldn't transcend the concept of distance. Too bad for him~

Geh, I have to catch up! Lars dashed after Ellen to close the distance and secure his last shot. He successfully scored a headshot on the sixth shot, but unfortunately, it didn't count for the combo and therefore didn't stun Ellen.

Still, Ellen was crippled from all the shots and every Lars landed extended the cripple duration. She won't get away, yo!

Finally over. Ellen exhaled. She did it, she survived the onslaught of Fan the Hammer. From here on out, she’ll counterattack and force Lars into her pace.

“RELEASE THE-”

Wha!? Giant Squid Dude!? Lars didn't expect Ellen to fight back here. That fox was supposed to be the master of escaping, so why did she turn around to summon a Kraken!? I gotta roll aside- wait, there are no sides!

Lars just realized: he just entered the jungle, so there were walls on both sides. There was nowhere to roll to! When did he even get here!? They were fighting on the lane just a moment ago, but before he realized - the battle moved all the way out here into the jungle. Lars was so focused on landing all his shots that he didn't see notice around him. Whoops.

Rolling to the sides was impossible, so he had to roll either forward or backward. If he rolls forward, Ellen will most likely cancel the Kraken and will use it again from a closer range. But, that's okay. Lars had Cleanse for dealing with the Kraken’s CC, so he had no problem pushing forward anyway!

Coming right at me? Ellen smiled meaningfully. Then, your Cleanse must be online. Thanks for the free info~ In that case, there's no need to waste my ult here. She canceled the Kraken and fired a shot instead. Hitting an opponent during their roll wakeup was always so inviting, she couldn't possibly miss this opportunity.

Once Lars was back on his feet, the fight fell into Ellen’s routine. She ran away to maintain distance, but also occasionally turned around to poke Lars. She had to wear down that beastie as much as possible without dying herself.

It was like walking on thin ice. Ellen couldn’t fall down to low HP because Gunslinger's ult, Deadeye, will guarantee her death. It was a nasty locked-on shot which passed through any obstacles. So, Ellen had to maintain a delicate balance her distance from Lars and her timely pokes.

Ellen has already set up a Checkpoint Ward while fleeing. She placed the ward right when she turned around a corner, to make sure Lars couldn't see her in action. The preparations have been set. Now, Ellen just had to get in as much damage as possible without dying.

Eventually, she had to let go. Leaving Lars at 60% HP should be good enough, so she could retreat in peace now.

“That’s it,” Ellen created distance with Backfire Cannon to guarantee her escape. “He’s all yours, Taitai~”

“Okay!” Taison exclaimed. “Here coooooomes Taison!” He activated Teleport and targeted Ellen’s Checkpoint Ward.

Man, she gonna get away. Lars grumped. He could hit Ellen with Deadeye because she was still within his field of vision, but even a headshot probably won’t kill her from 30% HP. All that lifesteal and defense Ellen built was super annoying. It’s like she was a tank instead of a Carry. Oof!

Welp, he’ll chase her as far as he can. The rest of the enemy team was scattered across Mid and Top, so there was no danger of being ganked out here. Lars was allowed to overextend into the enemy’s side of Bot Jungle.

If Lars gets just one more headshot on Ellen, he can finish her off with a headshot from Deadeye afterward. C’mon, he was so close! He gonna catch up and - Huh? Bats!?

A pack of black bats swirled around Lars. What? From where!? This was clearly the job of Vampire, but Taison was on the other side of the map just a moment ago. That dude couldn’t possibly be here right now... but he was.

“No way!” Lars exclaimed. “Where did Tai pop up from!?”

“Huh?” Yuel blinked. Taison? In Bot Jungle? It must have been Teleport. And, considering the timing and position, that must have been...

“They planned it,” Yuel concluded. “Ellen wore you down so that Taison can finish you off in a 1v1.”

“Geh, that girl I’m tellin’ ya...!” Lars gritted his teeth as he turned around to face the assaulter. Can’t she ever fight fair? Dang it, always relying on these cheap tricks...!

No way I’ll fight you to death. Ellen smiled innocently. My job ended when I lured you here, I don’t need to lift a finger anymore. Let the brutes duke it out among themselves~

“This is bad,” Yuel said. “You’re too low to give him a proper fight.”

“No problem!” Lars fired a shot even though bats obstructed his field of vision. Easy headshot! ... not. Damn, this is rough.

As soon as Lars whiffed a shot, Taison fired right back. But, no problem! Lars just gotta sidestep that shot- ack! It hit! Lars couldn’t move aside as quickly as he wanted because the bats around him were slowing him down.

“I take it back,” Lars said. “This gonna be a little rough.”

“You have to slip away somehow,” Yuel said. “Try getting closer to Mid so I can get there and help.”

“I don’t think Tai gonna let me,” Lars missed yet another headshot. This time, his aim should’ve been perfect, but Taison sidestepped the bullet. What an absolute mad lad.

“Khaha!” Taison laughed. I know all yo tricks! Ya think I gonna let ya headshot me from that distance? Think again, loser!

Geh, I can’t land these freakin’ shots! Lars missed another shot. Headshots won’t cut it against Tai.

Even with 200% accuracy, aiming at the head was always riskier. The head was a tiny target compared to the rest of the body, so a simple timely sidestep was enough to dodge a shot aimed toward the head. If things keep going like this, instead of dealing with insane headshot damage, Lars will end up dealing no damage at all!

No choice, I gotta go for the body. Lars lowered his aim toward the center of Taison’s body while doing his best to retreat at the same time.

Bam! Finally, Lars landed a shot! But, his next shot was dodged-rolled. But then, his next shot connected! However, the next one missed again.

Tai busts some moves, yo! Lars grinned. This was awesome! Even in the Challenger division in Ranked, there weren’t that many opponents who moved as smoothly as Taison. This gonna be a good fight!

At long last, the pesky bats stopped bothering Lars and he could see everything now, as well as move around at full speed. The real fight gonna start now, yo! Bring it on, dude!

Sidestep. Shoot. Roll. Shoot. Sidestep. Shoot. Sidestep. Shoot. Side- Ha! It’s a feint! It’s a shot instead! Gotcha!

Shit! Taison anticipated another sidestep and fired ahead of time, but Lars stayed in place instead and fired back!

I ain’t gonna fall into your stupid game! Taison took the hit like a man and fired back right away. Instead of playing this stupid guessing game of “sidestep vs. shooting”, Taison rather take control into his hands. He got the HP advantage here, so he’ll dictate the pace!

He’s advancing!? Lars flinched. From close quarters, there’ll be less room for dodging. If they both start hitting each other 100% of the time, Lars will surely be the first one to fall. He was already down to 20% HP, barely hanging by a thread.

Against Taison’s 60% HP, there was no way to win in a straight exchange of blows. It’d be a different story if Lars had access to the firing speed of Fan the Hammer, but he used it against Ellen. Without that overwhelming DPS and considering how difficult it was to score headshots against Taison, Lars had nothing at his disposal except for the raw attack power of his build. He didn’t have any attack speed, crit or lifesteal.

Crap! He’s good! Lars missed another shot. It was such a fast crossover! Taison should’ve had his hands full with advancing toward Lars, but he had no problem shifting his tempo midway to throw off Lars’s shots. And, as soon as Taison dodged, he never forgot to shoot back right away! It was like a crossover, yo!

Tai has always been good at this stuff. Lars had to hand to Taison. When they played basketball together, Taison was unstoppable when he had momentum and faced a blocker one-on-one. He always dribbled the ball from side to side at a fast pace, then broke through. Taison could beat anybody like this, even Lars could only stop that crossover like 50% of the time, maybe less.

I’ll whoop yo ass! Taison charged forward. Maybe I ain’t getting a starter spot this year, but then neither will you! I’mma murder yo ass to make sure of it!

Gah, I’m so dead! Lars’s HP dropped so low it was impossible to see the green bar anymore, it had a width of like one pixel at best.

There was no winning this fight, that much was clear at this point. So, Lars had to scoot! Combat Roll came out of cooldown, so Lars went for it. As soon as he reached a corner, he rolled right into it with Combat Roll. And, right afterwards, he followed up with a normal roll! A “Double Roll Escape Combo”, yo!

This sick maneuver created lots of space between him and Taison. Okay, it was going good! With this distance, Lars could get away and- gah! Nuuuuuu! Not that ult!!!

A human-sized bat chased after Lars! Crap, it was Taison! He transformed into a giant bat and darted after Lars! No! Nonono! That giant bat dude was way too fast...! The bat rammed into Lars and transformed back into its original form, that of a vampire.

The Vampire wrapped his arms around the Gunslinger and dug his teeth into the Gunslinger’s neck. It was a stun ability with DOT damage and life steal! Fuuuuuuuuu! Lars couldn’t move at all!

Ah, but wait! Lars had Cleanse! He could get away from this stun-

『You have been killed!』

“Geh, that was lame.” Lars smacked his forehead. Welp, he did about everything he could in that fight. Nobody could have guessed that Taison would pop outta nowhere like that on the other side of the map, that was a srs bsns shocker. It could legit be used as a scare-jump in a horror movie, word. “Welp, Tai put on a strong show but I'mma get him next time. Just lemme at him.”

“No,” Yuel objected. “It seems like you can't handle him one-on-one.”

“Wha!? I can totally do it! He only won because he had more HP! In a fair fight, I'd kick his butt for sure!”

“I wonder,” Yuel shrugged. “Either way, avoid fighting him 1v1. Even if you can sometimes win against him, it’s a big risk. Losing a Carry hurts way more than losing a Jungler.”

“Okay, I'll see what I can do,” Lars rolled his eyes. “Gotta say, Tai really played me there.”

“Hah!” Taison pumped a fist. “You saw that shit? You saw it, my bros!? I totally wrecked that loser!”

“Yes, yes,” Ellen smiled. “Thank you for the hard work, Taitai~” Thanks for doing my work for me~

“Good job,” Howard said. “You really impressed me there.”

“Khaha! C'mon, ya make me blush.” Taison pretended to be humble, but his cocky smug said it all. Eat shit, Lars! How ya like that, huh? Now, you're in 2nd place! I ain't gonna let ya get ahead of me again, yo!

Heh, he sure looks happy. Howard chuckled. This was good, a kill on Lars was a huge morale boost for Taison. It gave Taison confidence and momentum, so it’ll improve his odds of winning future engagements. The “Lars Killer” was now out of the bag and its first field test was successful, this was huge for the team. This should give them all the momentum they needed for winning this round.