Mr. Atlas in the top lane, Jack mid, Hei and I bottom lane. And Saber in the jungle. We assumed our tried-and-true positions from last time. And just like last time, when I arrived in lane, I sneaked into the bamboo grove to the right of the path.

Our opponents soon arrived as well, a pair of robots. One of them I recognized as the Mace-bot model from last time, who wielded a shield and had outsped my aim with its wheels. The other one wore a green cloak, wielded a heavy crossbow, and had a second, smaller grappling-hook crossbow on its belt. The Silver Player's Guide to Challenges dubbed it the Ranger. Its first level ability was an AoE bomb arrow that ruptured organs with its blast. Range 90 meters, 10 seconds cooldown. Its second level ability was a grappling hook that allowed it to zip around. It had more range than Mr. Atlas's, but was too weak to pull other targets toward itself. I hoped our intel advantage would be enough to keep us alive.

I reported our enemies in my team notebook. Mr. Atlas had written that he faced the Centaur robot, a mobile tanking unit, in top lane. Jack faced the Assassin robot in mid lane. Saber planned to clear out her jungle camps from bottom to top, and she told Mr. Atlas to prepare for her arrival in 30 minutes. Could Hei and I exploit those bits of info to our advantage somehow?

Before I came up with anything, the red and green golems arrived in lane. As the Ranger cocked its crossbow and took aim, I launched a surprise Frost Missile at it. The Ranger ducked, an instant too slow, and the Missile tore a chunk of wood off its shoulder. In retaliation, the Ranger fired a bomb arrow at our entire golem wave. The explosion deafened me, even from this distance. Thankfully, Hei dove out of the way and avoided the blast. Our golems, meanwhile, had chunks blown off.

If the Ranger took out our golems too quickly, it and Mace-bot would hit level 2 before us. That'd put us in danger of an all-in assault from them. I leaped out of the grove to help Hei by shooting at the enemy golems with my crossbow. The Mace-bot ran into the now-unoccupied bamboo grove, disappearing from our sight.

The second wave of golems soon arrived. We reached level 2 at the same time as our enemies. I cautiously stayed on the left side of the lane, away from the grove, wary of any sudden Shield-Charges from the Mace-bot.

I slinged spells at the Ranger, wearing it down with dents and tears. It launched a bomb back at me. The blast knocked me tumbling back. The world spun, my ears rang, and a deep ache began to radiate from my chest. Through the smoke I saw Hei rushing at me, shouting something I couldn't hear.

"I'm alright," I tried to say as I got back up and fired another Frost Missile at the Ranger. I had survived worse.

Eventually, the fourth golem wave arrived. Once we killed a few of those, we’d hit level 3 and unlock our third abilities. And likewise for our enemies. Knowing this, I used the AoE damage of my Vortex Shield to weaken the enemy golems. Hei, also, used the energy-burst from Voidstep to damage them. Soon, we were ahead of the enemy by two golem kills. No doubt we'd hit level 3 first, and they weren't even backing away yet in precaution. We’d exploit their carelessness for all it was worth.

I aimed my crossbow at an enemy golem. This would be the last kill we needed to level up.

"Plan A in five seconds," I told Hei. He responded with a nod.

A stone pillar erupted out of the ground behind me. It bludgeoned me in the spine, with sheer force that sent me airborne. I flew forward, then tumbled hard into the cobblestone lane-road. My back felt like a rib or two had shattered inside. As I gagged, I sputtered sparse drops of blood.

I…I knew what that was. That was an attack from the Burrower, a jungler robot that sneaked underground for short distances and manipulated stone to attack. I struggled back to my feet as the Mace-bot emerged from the bamboo grove, heel-wheels deployed and Shield-Charging at me. I raced back toward Hei and the safety of our tower. I fired a single Frost Missile at the Mace-bot to slow it down, but it swerved out of the way. It approached nearer, nearer…

I attempted to conjure a Vortex Shield, but it hadn’t gone off cooldown yet.

The Mace-bot slammed its heavy, metal shield down upon me. The blow knocked me down once again to the ground. I feebly tried to shield my head as the mace battered me, as the Ranger’s arrows buried into me. The world spun, and my legs went limp. The most I could manage were hoarse yelps. My HP fell fast.

From behind, the Burrower emerged, a bear-like behemoth with massive iron claws that could tear through bedrock. It slammed them down at me.

As the claws came at my face, Hei dashed to my side and repelled the Burrower with a Graviton Thrust. He pulled me up by the hand. We retreated toward our tower, chasing our slim chance at escape.

The tall grass near us rustled. I saw, hidden among the stalks, the tip of a black hood.

I recognized it as the Assassin robot. Wasn't it supposed to be in mid lane, with Jack?

It stepped out of the grass, swift as wind, and placed a hand on the grip of its sheathed shortsword. The air around us stilled. I knew that stance. The book we read called that move the Final Whisper.

I wanted to shout for Hei. But I knew, there was nothing he could do now.

In the blink of an eye, the Assassin dashed past me, with only a glowing trail marking the passage of its blade through me. I watched as a bleeding gash opened on my stomach. Then, the Assassin's blade pierced into my back, and its tip jutted out from my chest.

I screamed, pleading for it to stop as it twisted its weapon inside me. It hurt. It hurt so much.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

I startled awake in tears. My vision faded in and out, and soon I saw that I lay in a grassy field, in a scarlet patch stained by my own blood. By my side was the vending machine, with its soft electric hum and healing aura. A tightness seized my chest, then I realized I was hyperventilating.

Death Ward. My Death Ward saved me.

[HP: 75 / 680]

It'd be a while before I had enough HP to get back into action.

A beam of light rose from the ground beside me. When it faded, Hei was there, bloodied and unconscious. I wanted to help wake him up, but his wounds scared me; they looked grievous enough to have already killed him twice. But the healing of the vending machine washed over him too, and I decided it'd be best to leave him be, so his injuries could stabilize.

I reported in my notebook that both Hei and I lost our Death Wards.

「Red team has destroyed a bottom tower.」

Now we lost our tower as well.

It wasn't fair. How were the two of us supposed to survive against what was practically their entire team? If only their jungler came, we'd have made it out injured but whole. But against four of them? At that point, they just wanted us dead, and there wasn't a thing in the world we could do.

I waited for my HP to heal up. With the little gold I had, I managed to buy a single Potion of Arcana. What could we do next? The Ranger and Mace-bot were surely level 3 by now, and they'd likely be laying siege to our inner bottom-lane tower soon. We could go out to face them. But if all four robots returned to ambush us…

This time, we'd end up dead for real.

But what other options were there? Stay inside the safety of the walls, and wait for the rest of our team to lose three-against five? Saber was strong, but if she couldn't beat a single Headmaster Fink, she had no chance of equalizing two absent players. Not against these ruthless robots in Silver.

Perhaps I should've taken a Potion of Max HP instead, so I could just stay under our inner-tower, defend it, and keep myself alive. But I had already spent my gold. Please, please don't let this be the blunder that'd get everyone killed.

Regardless, I had to go. My HP was almost full again, and my wounds had closed. I grabbed my crossbow and headed for the bottom-lane gate.

"Wait up," Hei said. He had sat up quietly, still within the healing aura.

"Stay here," I told him. "I've got it covered."

I had Vortex Shield to protect me. I had safety from range. He had neither. And between the two of us, I dared say I was the more cautious. Once he healed up, he could join me. Until then, I'd need to play it safe alone.

He stood up and bought a Potion of Physical Damage. "Sophia. If anyone should stay, it's you. I just hit level 3."

"...Huh?"

"I need you to believe me," he said. "Right now, I'm the strongest person in this arena."