— — — — — —

With the Dragon Buff empowering them, the Red Team instantly gained a massive advantage.

Of course, they also knew the buff was temporary. They had to make as much happen as possible before it expired. So, for the first time since the match began, the three of them grouped up and launched a concentrated assault on the bottom lane’s second tower.

Or rather, what should have been the second tower. Kamio had already demolished it.

The previous dragon fight had been a complete disaster for the Blue Team.

Kamio had farmed several waves of minions, taken towers, stolen the dragon, and collected a mountain of gold and experience. Combined with the temporary boost from the Dragon Buff, her wand’s unsealing progress had climbed to the highest level in the entire match.

Eighty percent. For Kamio, eighty percent meant the power of three tails.

At that point, she could use nearly all of her magic.

Originally, the Blue Team had planned to send either Daphne or Fleur to split-push another lane while the others held the defense.

The plan lasted less than a minute.

Not long after one of them left, two of the remaining three defenders were blasted away and sent back to the respawn timer. The bottom lane’s high-ground tower fell shortly afterward.

In the end, all four of them could only huddle together and defend their base.

"I think this African guy is the spy."

While batting away incoming spells, Daphne turned to Fleur and spoke with absolute confidence.

"He was useless the whole game, and now he suddenly shows up trying to steal kills and act hardworking. That’s extremely suspicious."

Fleur nodded in agreement. "That’s exactly what I was thinking. I almost accused the wrong person earlier."

"Hmph. Good that you realized it." Daphne lifted her chin proudly. "When we get back, you’re buying me macarons. Double sweetness. I want Cuckoo Bee honey in them."

"You really know how to pick the expensive stuff." Fleur rolled her eyes. "Daph, my allowance can’t handle that."

The Cuckoo Bee was an exceptionally rare parasitic magical bee. Its honey production was tiny, producing a thick blue paste renowned as the finest honey in both sweetness and flavor.

Just a 30-gram jar cost dozens of Galleons.

"..."

Their completely unconcealed conversation reached Nassim’s ears word for word.

"Ladies, I can understand English."

Nassim defended himself with a deeply wronged expression. "I admit I haven’t accomplished much this match, but I’m really not a mole. And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to help earlier. The Red Team killed me. Twice. How can I be the mole?"

Nassim could accept being called weak.

What he absolutely could not accept was being branded a traitor.

From his perspective, he had simply been cursed by fate. He had been peacefully farming monsters in the jungle, minding his own business and practically humming to himself while clearing camps, when Ariana suddenly jumped out of a bush and deleted him on the spot.

The second death had been even worse.

After respawning, he’d rushed toward the dragon pit to support his team.

The moment he reached the riverbank, he ran into Kamio hiding in another bush.

By then, Kamio was already plotting how to steal the dragon kill. She hadn’t even intended to set up an ambush.

But Nassim had practically delivered himself to her doorstep.

If she didn’t take the free kill, that would have been the real waste.

So from Nassim’s point of view, he was innocent.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to contribute. His luck was simply atrocious.

Unfortunately, nobody was interested in hearing his explanation. The pressure on the Blue Team had become overwhelming.

One after another, they pulled out their remaining magic cards, desperately trying to buy time.

The Red Team had one fewer player, but Ariana and Kamio hadn’t used much from the start of the match. The number of magic cards in their possession was no less than the combined stockpile of the four defenders.

As a result, the battle turned into a full-blown item war.

To everyone’s surprise, the two sides actually fought to a standstill.

And it was the high-ground tower that suffered the most. Caught in the constant chain of explosions and magical bombardments, the structure trembled precariously with every passing second.

Finally, accompanied by a mournful cry, the unicorn-shaped high-ground tower collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Keep pushing!"

As the team’s unofficial big sister, Kamio sounded unusually excited. She charged at the front of the group, her wide sleeves billowing in the wind. From a distance, they almost looked like several tails sweeping back and forth ahead of her.

The newly spawned goblin defenders were shredded within moments.

Tom hadn’t designed any kind of nexus inhibitor or other defensive systems.

The only structures standing between the Red Team and victory were a Dragon Tower and a Phoenix Tower guarding the base.

Ariana glanced at Kamio in confusion.

Normally, Kamio was pretty laid-back. She rarely cared much about winning or losing, and she got along well with Daphne, Fleur, and even Ariana herself.

So why was she suddenly so determined to win today?

Had she realized she was leading in points and suddenly decided she wanted the championship?

For once, Ariana had guessed wrong.

Kamio had absolutely no interest in the title. The one thing she was interested in was Daphne.

The young lady was simply too entertaining.

Kamio couldn’t resist teasing her.

For example... First build up an overwhelming advantage.

Then use that advantage as leverage to strike a deal.

After all, she knew Tom and Daphne had made an agreement before the tournament. Daphne had to win this time, otherwise Tom wouldn’t keep indulging her increasingly unreasonable requests in the future.

’Greengrass, you wouldn’t want Tom to be disappointed in you, would you?’

’Then be a good girl and personally deliver Tom to my bed. If you do that, I’ll let you have the championship.’

Imagining Daphne’s aggrieved expression as she reluctantly cooperated with such a ridiculous proposal made Kamio burst out laughing.

Only after laughing did she realize something was wrong.

She immediately straightened her face and ignored the strange looks Ariana and Jauncey were giving her.

Unfortunately, her attacks became even more ruthless afterward. Sadly for her, the Dragon Buff was almost out.

Once the buff disappeared, the Red Team’s numerical disadvantage became obvious.

In the end, the overly eager Kamio made a mistake and dragged Ariana down with her, gifting the Blue Team a pair of kills and a much-needed chance to breathe.

While waiting to respawn at the base, Kamio found herself pondering a different question.

Who exactly was the Blue Team’s traitor?

At this point, they should have revealed themselves already.

Back during that last push, if someone had intentionally held back even a little, the game would have been over.

But all four players had fought desperately, as if their lives depended on it.

Did that mole even know how to play?

The girl bared her teeth in frustration.

How had she ended up with such a useless teammate?

Still, once Kamio got serious, her intelligence and cunning far surpassed those of the Blue Team’s champions.

By now, she had figured out the game’s true objective.

She instructed Ariana and Jauncey to focus entirely on defense, handed over every remaining defensive magic card to herself, then quietly slipped all the way to the Blue Team’s base.

Using three Armor Magic Cards in succession, she charged straight through the attacks of the Dragon and Phoenix Towers.

Amid the shocked cries of both the players and the audience watching through the Lume-Lenses, she simply tanked the tower fire and tore the structures down.

At the time, the entire Blue Team was busy launching an offensive on the front lines.

Not a single person noticed anything was wrong. And so, in a ridiculously anticlimactic fashion, their base was destroyed with almost no resistance.

When Tom’s voice echoed throughout the arena, announcing the end of the match, Fleur and Daphne were still standing there with blank expressions.

Neither of them had the slightest idea how they had lost.

Kamio finally let out a sigh of relief.

Now that she’d secured the victory, there was only one thing left on her mind.

Just who was that idiot traitor supposed to be?

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