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"Ah, Nico, you can't be so direct!"
"Ehehe… sorry."
Sylvia's friend glared at the newcomers as if wishing to chew them to death. "It's all a big misunderstanding! Sylvia would never do something like that, and the team leader made such insulting claims, which forced us to leave. Don't go spreading baseless rumors when you don't know anything!"
The two girls stared at each other in surprise, and even Danielle hummed thoughtfully. 'She so easily wove a tale to make everyone believe that it was Sylvia who actually got caught, and she herself was just being an overly loyal friend…'
The blonde villainess chuckled. 'If I hadn't heard about it from the guy who kicked them out himself, I would have almost believed it.'
Of course, even if she knew the 'inside story'… Danielle had no intention of exposing the insidious girl's lies. After all, Sylvia wasn't exactly her friend. Quite the opposite, in fact. So there was no point in defending that girl's reputation.
Danielle was far more interested in seeing that haughty girl's ego being destroyed.
"Oh look, our little warrior is finally moving."
The other two teammates also ignored Sylvia's fuming friend to focus on the match.
"Is that the girl our boss thought had a lot of potential?"
"She seems a little impatient, ahh."
Of course, Emilia couldn't stay still after waiting around for the heroine near her outermost turret for almost ten minutes.
"It's obvious that Sylvia is waiting for her to get impatient and enter the jungle, but the newbie still did it… is she stupid?"
"Nico is right, boss. A good warrior would have just kept pushing or farming to take advantage of the situation instead of looking for the enemy who is hiding in a perfect spot to ambush them. Stupid to the extreme!"
Normally, Danielle would also have agreed with their statements, but recalling how Emilia moved, she could only shake her head in denial. "No… instead of calling her stupid, we should say that she's just too confident in her skills."
Sylvia's friend snorted. "What skills? Just wait for Sylvia to tear her apart."
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Meanwhile, the heroine, Sylvia, was patiently waiting for her prey to walk into her zone to deal a single, lethal strike. In one of the best ambush spots on the map.
Of course, being the best spot, it was quite famous, and even a newbie would rarely cross it blindly unless they had no other choice.
But that was exactly why Sylvia was confident that her opponent would take this path.
'That look in her eyes… she definitely wanted to beat me up.' The heroine grinned. 'There's no way she won't come looking for me here.'
Sylvia quite looked down on people like that, always hiding their real feelings behind fake smiles and pretending to be polite even with those they clearly hated. Why not just be honest?
Of course, if she'd misjudged the crimson-haired little girl and Emilia actually pushed the towers instead of seeking to defeat her for a more decisive victory, Sylvia was more than willing to sincerely apologize for her rude assumptions.
'There she is…!' The yellow-eyed girl smirked. 'Walking into the Shadow Reaper's territory with nothing but that measly little defense to rely on… if I still struggle to defeat that brutish Moonlit Warrior, I would really be deserving of a beating.'
Unfortunately, her first 'sure kill' reaper arrow missed by barely a hair's breadth… and so did the second, and the third!
"Shit! What the fuck—?!"
The yellow-eyed girl could tell that her opponent had clearly not noticed when she fired her shot, and only relied on her reflexes and movement speed to 'luckily' dodge the first arrow, but how could she do it again and again?!
Unfortunately, the dumbfounded heroine didn't have much time to ponder on such thoughts.
"Thanks for revealing yourself, Sylvia. Or I would never have known where you were hiding like a rat!" Emilia smirked as she dashed past the lightning fast arrows with apparent ease.
Her body's movements might be restricted by the game's 'speed' stats, but nothing was stopping her from making full use of her inhuman observation and reaction ability.
The only way Sylvia could pin her down would be if she used an ability that gave Emilia no time to react at all, but how could such a thing exist in a 'fair' game?
Even the most powerful spells had a small window to allow the opponent the chance to counter or dodge them.
The yellow-eyed heroine never considered herself invincible. There was no professional player in the game who hadn't lost, after all.
She would have no complaints if Emilia won by any other means, but never had she ever faced a situation in which she failed to take down a target even after they walked into her perfectly set ambush.
Moreover, the way in which she just crudely charged in just seemed to scream 'I don't need to take you seriously' to Sylvia, and it was like a slap to her face.
The sword swished right past her neck as Sylvia stood there dumbfounded, and the heroine's avatar soon dissolved into particles of light.
The duel was over.
Emilia sighed as she looked at the victory screen. 'Well, let's hope that resolves the situation.'
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Danielle clapped happily to welcome the two of them, though the source of her joy was no secret to anyone. "Wonderful, wonderful! Although there was not a speck of strategy to be seen, the fluidity with which you two moved your avatars makes it clear that the two of you are more than qualified to join this team!"
Naturally, both the heroine and Emilia were aware of Danielle's firm belief in her strategies, and it was indeed true that they were good. But that was in the past.
As it was now, however, they were already well documented and countered by multiple experts. It was no wonder, really, that the Crimson Witches landed in such big trouble.
Unfortunately, the heroine was too embarrassed to face anyone after being beaten so easily, and rushed out of the room without even daring to take a look at her friend's face.
If she had, she would have noticed that her face was contorted not in disappointment, but disgust.
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