Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story

The trio dove deeper into the enemy side of the jungle. However, so far, there was no sign of the enemy.

"C'mon already!” Cornelia said. “I command you to show yourselves!" She checked left, then right, then left, and then right again. "Step forth so I can deliver you swift death!"

As if responding to her provocative call, a player showed up from around the corner. It was Average, the enemy Jungler. As a Lv. 1 Chronomancer, he was the easier target out of the options.

"Let us go!" Fiona charged at the prey without further ado. The man did not notice them at first, which gave them the initiative.

“Cornelia, throw your axe at him before he notices us.”

“Right on it!” Ohoho! The unsuspecting prey had absolutely no idea what was going to hit him!

And indeed, the poor prey’s mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Okay, so the next ward should be around here… Dan casually strolled through the jungle without a single care in the world. After all, it was the opening, the most chill part of the game. There wasn’t anything to worry about, or so he thought.

BAM! An axe lunged into his shoulder outta nowhere! “What the-!?”

Then, in the very next moment: SLASH! SLASH! Razor-sharp claws tore him asunder out of the blue!

“W-What’s going on-!?” Dan’s brain struggled to catch up to the insane situation in front of him. The enemy Werewolf was all over him, ravaging his flesh without any mercy!

The deep cuts from Grievous Assault caused a Bleeding state, making Dan lose additional HP every second. But, the Werewolf had no intention of stopping there. Rosemary continued to tirelessly unleash her claws at Dan! SLASH! SLASH!

To make things worse, that crazy wolf woman wasn’t alone. She was accompanied by two more allies, Berserker and Sage!

“The heck they’re all doing here!?” Dan cried out. A-Anyway, I gotta scram! Like, fast!

Except, he didn’t have any escape tools at the ready! He already used his one skill point to unlock Chronostatis, the class’s primary framing tool! Dang it!

Both Time Portal and Haste could’ve really helped him right now, but Dan never imagined he’d need these skills so early into the game…!

Amidst the panic, Dan’s first instinct was to roll away ASAP! So, he did exactly that.

Fortunately, the enemy started attacking him as soon as he popped around the jungle wall. It meant he could easily head back the way he came from and try to lose the attackers amidst the thick walls of the jungle.

Thus, Dan rolled out of the enemy’s view. Or, at least, that was the intention.

He executed the roll itself without any problem, but he forgot one important detail. Even though he rolled away, there was an axe still stuck in his shoulder. Said axe was connected to the Berserker via a chain.

“Oh, shi-! GAH!” WHISH! The enemy abruptly reeled in the axe, dragging Dan along with it!

The situation was turning from bad to worse. The chain pulled Dan out of the denser parts of the jungle, to a region that could best be described as an open area. Nuuuuuuuu!

Dan found himself surrounded by three enemies: Werewolf, Berserker, and Sage. Needless to say, his chances of making it out alive weren’t looking so hot right now…

Weeeeelp. If I can’t run, then might as well fight back! Dan cast Chronostasis right between the Berserker and the Sage. These amateurs didn’t keep enough space between each other, so Dan was gonna smack them both!

But, it turned out these girls were less scrubby than Dan gave them credit for. They noticed the spinning magical gears and sidestepped the attack in opposite directions.

Dang, maybe I should’ve targeted only one of them after all… Dan grimaced. He cast that AoE spell smack in the middle, so it only took the enemies a step and a half to get outta range. That was more than doable on reaction against this slowpoke of a spell, even for amateurs.

Okay, so what now? Dan laughed dryly. Am I basically screwed?

It turned out that yes, indeed, he was.

『You have been killed!』

“Weeeeelp.” There was literally nothing he could do about this situation. He was surrounded from all sides by these mad girls. It was the most absurd form of early aggression he had ever seen in his life, and that said a lot considering he played many games with Yuel.

“That just happened.” Dan shook his head. “Dunno what to even say about this. I think you better run for your life, Roi, They might be coming after you next.”

“Yeah, I can see them diving deeper after that crazy stunt, lol.” Roi laughed at the absurdity of what he just witnessed. These chicks be crazy! “I betcha they’re gonna go after my Wraith Camp. It’s robbery in broad daylight, man!”

“Word. That was a crazy play.” Dan nodded. “Like, nobody does that shit right at the opening game, right? What the actual heck.”

“... it was definitely an unconventional play,” Howard commented with an obvious hint of irritation in his tone. But, he wasn’t angry at Dan for failing to deflect that surprise attack. No, Howard was more frustrated with himself for letting something like that happen under his watch.

The opening isn’t something we’ve practiced that much, to be honest. Howard realized. It’s the most autopilot part of the game, so I didn’t think there was much to cover there. But, looks like there are some improvements to be made. Roi and Dan should’ve stuck closer together to avoid things like that.

The Valkyries probably noticed this while researching StormBlitz. This whole thing was probably the work of the Landberht Princess herself. What a pesky opponent.

This is the kind of gamble I would've expected somebody like Yuel to go for. I better be ready for anything in this game.

The Valkyries as a whole weren't a particularly amazing team, but the Landberht Princess showed a lot of promise. She was the only one who consistently performed well in the Leo scrim, and apparently, she was also a solid tactician.

I’m starting to think that maybe all that media coverage she's been receiving is well-deserved. From what they wrote, she’s been playing Mancers for less than a year, yet she's already at this level. Is this what they call a "genius"?

For a moment there, just a brief moment, Howard felt like a small fry. Even though he was unquestionably one of the best players in the region and should have no problem getting into the pro scene in a couple of years, it felt like there were too many players even in this region who were inherently more gifted than him.

Frankly, it was annoying. It’s like these brats were using speed hacks to catch up. They had less experience, yet they nearly caught up to Howard’s skill.

First, there were Yuel and Lars. They had fewer years of experience compared to Howard and Ellen, yet both sides were nearly even in battle. And, now there was this Landberht Princess who boasted incredible skill with virtually zero experience.

The existence of talented players like these made Howard's future look a little uncertain. He will surely get into the pro scene without any problem, but how far will he be able to climb there? How many more "prodigies" will be waiting for him there? Could it be that A-League was filled to the brim with obstacles like these?

Well, that’s far in the future. For now, everybody I’m fighting is a fellow middle schooler. Howard reminded himself. Maybe these guys are just fast learners. They might fall off later down the line, just as early-game classes lose their edge in the late-game.

That's what he always had to tell himself to keep his confidence afloat. Even though it looked as if a bunch of amateurs was catching up with him at lightning speed, Howard wanted to believe that their innate talent would only carry them so far.

And, to make sure they never reach me, I have to keep beating them. Howard asserted. So, it doesn’t matter how much talent you are packing, princess. You will not get any wins from me.

To live up to that promise, Howard switched gears in his mind. Before, he only told himself to not underestimate the Valkyries. Now, he was fully focused on taking them down, thoroughly and mercilessly.

“Roi, I agree with Dan’s assessment,” Howard said. “They’ll come for you blue buff.”

"Yep, figured as much." Roi nodded. "These chicks are fierce, lol. So, what do I do in situations like this, again? I feel like I haven't been in this kinda scenario like ever."

"True, it’s a peculiar situation."

Against a normal invade that targeted the Wraith Camp, the obvious response was to retreat. Such invades normally happened around the time minions were arriving, so going to the lane was the most efficient line of play.

However, this situation was different. The enemy's gank occurred way before the buff camps even spawned, so Roi had plenty of time to burn.

On paper, there should be enough time for him to farm either the Hyena Camp or the Wolf Camp, both of which spawned before the buff camps did. But, would he be able to farm these camps efficiently all by himself?

I'm sure a Viking can at least clear the Hyena Camp, but how much HP will that cost him? Probably too much.

Even Howard wasn't 100% savvy about such specifics. After all, no Viking would normally try to solo a jungle camp at Lv. 1.

But, to maintain high morale in the team, Howard acted confident. "The hyenas and wolves are too much for you to handle alone at Lv. 1," he claimed. "So, go straight to lane."

"Yep, figured it'll be something like that." Roi shrugged. "Okay, I'm off then."

"Since you have time until minions arrive, go enter the lane from behind.” Howard drew a path on the mini-map that went from Roi’s current location all the way to the far back of the lane, way behind the Top Turret. “No point entering the lane directly from the jungle.”

"Oh, true that.” Roi nodded. “Don't wanna run into these mad girls, lol."

And so, Roi followed the path Howard drew. It felt like a very weak play to be honest, but better safe than sorry.

As expected, the enemy trio didn't stop at killing Dan. They invaded deeper into StormBlitz's territory, setting their eyes on Roi’s Wraith Camp. It was daylight robbery!

Not only were the Valkyries going to get a bunch of gold and exp from all of these shenanigans, but they also threw StormBlitz's opening completely off the rails for Top Lane.

Basically, things were chaotic as heck, lol. Yuel would probably be proud if he saw this mad aggressive opening. And, as it happened, Yuel did in fact see this play, right from the audience.

So, this type of early invade works against Howard, huh. Yuel watched the turn of events with a complicated expression. I was planning to try something similar in our rematch, but Fiona beat me to it.

In a way, it was nice to get a confirmation that a hyper-aggressive play like that could catch Howard off guard. Yuel analyzed Howard's StormBlitza a lot and also concluded that Howard’s defense was uncharacteristically sloppy in the very opening of the game. As such, one of the many anti-Howard strategies he came up with was to strike hard during the very opening.

Unfortunately, the Valkyries pulled this trick first. Therefore, while it verified Yuel's thesis, it also meant Howard would be on guard against it next time.

So, that's one anti-Howard tactic to delete from the list. Yuel sighed. It was already hard enough to come up with tactics to defeat Howard, so he’d really appreciate it if random teams didn’t swoop in to steal his ideas.

Unlike him, his scouting partner was excited through the roof about this play. "It was such a marvelous play!" Vincent made noise. "It is almost unbelievable that a neophyte team like the Valkyries managed to expose such a crack in Aegis's absolute defense! This proves that the title of the 'Landberht Princess' is not just for show!"

"You know, I actually had the same idea myself..." Yuel grumped. "Now that the Valkyries showed this trick to everyone, it means it won’t work again."

"Indeed, that sounds correct.” Vincent nodded. “Surely, Aegis will study every facet of this opening to be 1000% ready for it next time."

"Yes. Knowing the guy, this is exactly what he’s going to do. Sigh...”

"I must say," Vincent continued. "I'm starting to think it's a shame you didn't tell the others to come here as well. I'm sure they would've enjoyed this show!"

"Perhaps, but we don't have the time to go and watch every scrim," Yuel argued. "Our team is severely lacking in experience, so we have to utilize every free moment to practice. Honestly, I almost skipped this scrim myself."

"It's not good to lie to yourself, Chessmaster." Vincent smiled meaningfully. "Hell would freeze over before you ever miss one of StormBlitz's scrimmages!"

"Hmph. Maybe so."

Even though it was easy enough to purchase a replay of the entire match after the fact, Yuel wanted to be physically present during StormBlitz's scrims. He believed there were certain things he could only fully grasp in real-time when he didn't have the ability to freeze or rewind the footage to analyze it extensively.

Because of that, Yuel sacrificed precious practice time to go and watch StormBlitz's scrims. Lars insisted on tagging along, but Yuel kept the goof at bay with one simple counterargument: "Don't you have a class you should be working on? Do you really think you have any spare time to burn?"

On the other hand, there was no problem in having Vincent tag along. In fact, it was more accurate to say that Yuel was the one tagging along here, as Vincent was the team's main scout.

Yes, the reporter wannabe volunteered to go and watch every single scrimmage in the region. Honestly, it was an overkill. Vincent was also a key part of the team, so he had to practice as well. He didn't have the option to burn all his free time on scouting opponents.

With that said, the guy was very diligent at the craft. He always returned with many important observations, some of which could only be caught in real time. As such, Yuel compromised and allowed Vincent to attend every scrim that had medium or higher priority.

Naturally, the most relevant scrims were the ones that involved the region’s powerhouses: StormBlitz, Leopards, and Taurus. These big three were the main threats for Stratus this year, so observing their plays from up close was arguably worth it, even at the expense of Vincent’s practice time.

And, as it turned out, this particular scrim might even turn into a must-watch. Perhaps it will not be a one-sided stomping like everybody was expecting...