Classmancers - A MOBA Esport Story - Part 3

Vol.19 Ch.21: The Struggles of a New Team

For a greenhorn team like the Valkyries, it was clear that facing the Leopards, the regional champions, was a recipe for disaster. It wasn't going to be a competition at all.

Fortunately, the Leopards had a big club, so there were members from all levels of skill. Thanks to that, Fernando was able to arrange an improvised "second-string" team for the Valkyries to tackle. He promised to compose a team that matched the Valkyries' level.

Unfortunately, this arrangement was met with resistance. "Why should we play against the second-string?" Fiona demanded. "Let us start with their first-string. They will be our opponents at the regionals, so we have to understand the current skill gap between us."

The girl strongly insisted on that point. What's worse, Karen and Cornelia also got gung-ho on the topic, fully supporting Fiona.

Obviously, Kei argued against this proposal as much as she could. However, Fiona refused to budge on this point. And, since Kei's beefy salary was practically in the hands of that rich girl, she had to compromise.

And so, in the first round, the Valkyries went up against the main force of the regional champions. In retrospect, Kei should have worked harder to prevent that, even at the risk of hurting her salary.

As expected, the game was a disaster. The Leopards dominated the flow of the game from start to end.

To make things worse, they dragged it out more than necessary in a very bad taste. Apparently, this sadistic strategy was the signature playstyle of their shot-caller.

They could've wrapped up the game early to teach Fiona and Co. a quick and efficient lesson. Instead, they chose to drag things out to the point of bullying.

Naturally, Fernando scolded the hooligans after the game but it was too late. The damage was already done.

This one drawn-out game sucked all the fighting spirit out of the Valkyries. No matter how hard Kei and Fiona tried to revitalize the team, it proved impossible to recover the initial vigor.

For the next four games, the Valkyries played against the second-string Fernando prepared. It was clear he was very forgiving with his assessment of the Valkyries' skill level. He chose some of the least experienced pupils from the club, all freshmen and juniors.

Nonetheless, these were still pupils who trained under Fernando. They proved themselves formidable opponents.

On his end, Fernando did a fine job picking players who should've posed a fair challenge to the Valkyries. Alas, the Valkyries underperformed that day, gravely so. As a result, what should've been an even match ended up being a one-sided steamroll.

Out of all the members, only Fiona had the necessary mental fortitude to recover from the crushing defeat of the first game. Karen also coped decently, but she obviously tried too hard to prove herself in the following games, leading to unnecessary overextensions that cost her dearly.

The other members crashed and burned much harder than that, though. For example, Cornelia became even more irritable than usual and got into unfavorable fights all the time. Needless to say, she died many times that day.

Meanwhile, Andria's motivation vanished without a trace, so she just kind of floated out there like a jellyfish without trying to achieve anything. And lastly, Lua played even more timidly than she usually did, too afraid to commit any mistakes.

A dysfunctional team like that had no hope of ever defeating anybody from the Leopards, not even the second or third string. In the end, the whole thing turned into a bitter memory. Instead of giving the team a productive first experience on the competitive stage, the whole thing turned into a nightmare that was likely haunting them to this day.