A new minion wave arrived. Like before, Matthew's job as an Aeromancer was very simple. He only had to cast Whirlwind on the enemy wave and then retreat, that's all.

I like it. Matthew thought. This is like Auto-Battle. There's nothing interesting about farming minions anyway, so might as well put the game on auto-grind until I run out of stamina.

And so, Matthew just kicked back and watched the tornado do all the work for him.

Under other circumstances, he might've bothered to step forward and shoot basic attacks at the minions. However, he deemed it too dangerous against a Bomber.

Of course, he also had the safer option of casting Jet Stream in order to shoot basic attacks from afar, but that was just a waste of MP as far as he was concerned. Now wasn’t the right time to cast it.

Unlike Matthew’s passiveness, his lane opponent was far more involved in the laning process.

Okay, done. Kai finished decorating the enemy swordsmen with Sticky Bombs. Next was the fun part.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Bouncy Bomb jumped thrice and caused three explosions in a row. Like before, this act of terrorism annihilated the entire frontline, save for one pesky swordsman.

Now, it should be that part where I blast the enemy laner, but... Kai made a face. He's too damn far! Why doesn’t he come any closer to shoot minions? What a lazy bum.

Merlin was the worst kind of defensive player, a bona fide turtle. He won’t come forward no matter what. No matter how much lane advantage Kai establishes, that turtle will keep sleeping under his tower.

Or, maybe he WANTS me to push. Kai glanced at Top Jungle on the mini-map, at the area where the enemy Jungler was last seen. Is this guy coming again?

She didn't have to wait long for an answer. A ward revealed Rook approaching the lane, with a very obvious intent of jumping Kai.

Okay, I'm out. Kai turned around and retreated.

This was just the regular response against incoming ganks, but the enemy side found it quite informative.

"She's retreating early," Matthew said. "They probably got a ward over there."

"Roger." Cato made a mental note.

Since the enemy already saw him coming, there was no point in stealthy approaching the lane anymore. Instead, Cato ran straight to Mid in order to help Matthew ASAP.

"Thanks," Matthew said. It was always nice to borrow the help of friends in order to split the burden. Especially, when said friends had 5-star heroes. It was the best.

Unlike this 4-star Aeromancer, which could only farm the minions using Whirlwind, Cato's 5-star Lionfolk tore through soldiers with his sharp basic attacks. Matthew only had to clean things up by scoring last-hits. It was ez life.

I hope we continue like this for a while. Matthew prayed. Manually fighting bosses is fun and all, but I prefer this auto-play grind for the early-game.

First, auto-grind to gain gold, and then use it to buy items and build a strong character. That’s the kind of chill routine Matthew preferred for the early game.

And so, by relying on Cato’s 5-star hero, the second wave was also eliminated without a problem. Once the co-op mission was finished, Cato took his leave.

Unfortunately, it was probably too much to expect Cato to drop by for every wave, so Matthew might have to start getting a little more aggressive with the minions soon. But, until then, he just wanted to chill and let the game flow peacefully toward the mid-game without any conflict.

However, his opponent clearly had other plans in mind.

Tch, is this really how they're going to play? Kai clicked her tongue. I mean, I knew they’re turtles, but this is a whole new level of turtling. It's like freakin' turtling corporation. Might as well rename their team “the Turtles”.

Not only was Merlin turtling to the extreme, but also Rook, their captain, was actively encouraging that behavior by agreeing to rotate to the lane. It was corporate turtling!

Can they really allow themselves to miss out on so much exp? I can't tell if they think this is fine, or if they're just underestimating us.

In the end, no matter how many waves have gone by, Kai never got a good opportunity to attack Merlin. She always had to retreat early in case Rook was planning to rotate to the lane, which he often did. Even if none of the wards showed the guy approaching the lane, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Huh. Ironic. Kai smiled wryly. I’ve been giving the guy a lot of shit about being too defensive, but I’m not exactly that proactive either.

Neither side wanted to take any risks during this important match. As a result, the situation in Mid remained a stalemate.

For Kai, it was only natural to exercise caution after her bitter experiences from the previous scrimmage. And, perhaps Merlin carried similar scars as well. After all, a playstyle of extreme turtling wasn’t born in a day. The guy was obviously very dedicated to it, probably with years of experience under his belt.

And, I’m starting to see there’s an obvious telegraph in his playstyle. Kai thought back on all their lane exchanges thus far.

For the first three waves, Merlin stayed at the back the entire time without lifting a finger. During these times, Rook rotated to the lane and helped to clear the remaining minions.

However, things played out differently on the fourth wave. That time, Merlin actually bothered to cast Jet Stream early in order to shoot minions from afar.

The wind blasts he fired accelerated after passing through Jet Stream, turning his basic attacks into sniper shots. Thanks to that, he was able to assault Kai’s frontline from all the way back at his tower.

Interestingly, the first time Merlin bothered to put in the effort, it was also the first time Rook didn’t rotate to the lane. It felt like Merlin went out of his way to farm the minions in order to compensate for the fact Rook won’t help him that round.

At first, I thought he might start playing more proactively from there onward, but...

On the fifth wave, everything returned to normal again. Merlin stayed far in the back and waited for Whirlwind to do all the work for him. After that, Rook joined him in lane for cleanup.

But then, on the wave after that, he used Jet Stream early again and Rook didn’t rotate to the lane that time.

This was starting to look like a pattern. It seemed like Merlin only bothered to attack the minions from afar when he knew that Rook won’t be joining him for the cleanup operation.

This means I can predict when Rook will rotate over here. Kai deduced. I’ve only seen two examples so far, but it makes perfect sense to me.

It was huge if true. It meant Kai had a reliable way to tell when it was safe for her to push alongside her minions.

I need to try it next time. Kai decided.

A new wave arrived, but this time Merlin didn't bother attacking the minions. So, this meant Rook will probably rotate to the lane in order to help with the farming.

Right on the money. Kai nodded as the Lionfolk showed up on the lane. Rook clawed through the minions and then vanished into the jungle as usual.

I can't believe somebody from the Leopards has such an obvious tell. Kai shook her head. Well, I'm not complaining. It makes things easier for me.

Finally, a faint opening emerged in Merlin's unapproachable defense. Kai just had to wait for the guy to step forward and shoot the minions with basic attacks, that'll be her opportunity to strike.

And, said opportunity presented itself on the very next wave. Merlin stepped forth and cast Jet Stream, then proceeded to fire wind blasts at Kai’s minions.

This is it! Kai nodded. Time to push!

First, she annihilated the enemy frontline as usual, using a combination of Sticky Bombs and Bouncy Bomb. And, this time, she equally hit all the swordsmen.

With every wave, she adjusted the angle and distance of her Bouncy Bomb until she reached perfection. So now, her deadly Bouncy Bomb blew up the entire enemy frontline, leaving none alive!

The bowmen were also injured by Bouncy Bomb’s explosion, so this was a great time to open an attack! Merlin should still feel safe while he had minions alive, so Kai took advantage of this critical moment in order to strike!

Little did she know that the enemy was very much anticipating this move.

"She's coming," Matthew informed.

"As they say, third time’s the charm~" Cato smiled impishly as he watched Beat's movements through the wall using X-ray vision. The enemy was visible to Matthew, so Cato could spy on her movements as well.

A beautiful trap, if I may say so myself. Cato nodded in satisfaction. Leave it to Esmeralda's pupils to come up with plays like this~

The entire setup was Matthew's idea, but it was something he and Cato both learned from their former mentor, Esmeralda. She was the Sweepers’ trickster, a pro at baiting people and turning the tables on them.

And now, her devoted pupils were about to do the same thing! Cato carefully calculated Beat’s position and activated Majestic Leap, planning to leap over the jungle wall.

“RAWWWWR!” the Lionfolk roared loudly as he took off toward the sky. Unfortunately, the sound alerted the enemy.

Shit, seriously!? Kai's body instinctively responded to the loud roaring. Every fiber of her body could tell: a Majestic Leap was coming!

I'm out! Kai tossed a satchel charge in front of her, then activated the skill again to immediately blow it up.

BOOM! The explosion sent her flying back to her side of the lane.

A moment later, the Lionfolk came crashing down from the sky. The leap was perfectly aimed, it even predicted a few steps ahead in order to land on Kai’s exact location.

However, Kai was no longer in that area. She dodged that bullet in a timely fashion, which naturally didn’t amuse the enemy.

"My, I missed?" Cato blinked. "Hmm. This lass is packing some fine reaction speed."

"We already knew that," Sonya criticized from the other side of the map. "When she performs her best, Beat is a highly skilled player with very fast reaction speed."

"Right, right." Cato nodded. "Of course you'd remember a detail like that. After all, mechanically skilled girls are your thing, right? Just like Jennifer~"

"What do you mean 'my thing'?"

"I wonder~"

"Sigh. Anyway, Jennifer was stronger," Sonya stated matter-of-factly. "But, Beat is not half bad, either. If she doesn't fall apart at any point today, then she's guaranteed to jump up a few ranks on my list."

"So, she's good enough to make you keep track of her rank. I see."

"I already told you before that I was keeping an eye on her..."

"Right, right. Anyway, this gank is a bust," Cato summarized. "I'll just help you clear the minions and then I'm out."

"Okay."

Instead of hunting down meaty prey, the poor lion ended up eating a vegetarian meal once again. Such was the sad tale of the ganking lion.

But, it wasn't a total waste. On the bright side, this gank must’ve scared her shitless. I can imagine what kind of frustrated face she's wearing right now~ I'm sure she won't try this ever again.

And indeed, as he speculated, the enemy learned a hard lesson from this exchange...