Season 2: Chapter 65. Turned Into A Spearman in the Game (2)
The ping came down from the sky as a beam of light.
— Oh, it's like the ping you get in real games.
— Peeeeanuuut is now brazenly giving orders, huh? LOL
— Peanut... giving orders?! Time for a Nutspunk world hierarchy reshuffle LOL
— Go! Go! Go!
The spearmen started running in that direction.
“Huff. Huff.”
They marched like soldiers, but remained silent since they were bots. This gave off an odd feeling.
Regardless, Almond also ran with them. Soon, he saw the spearmen attacking the workers.
"Aaaah!" one worker screamed and fell.
Three workers had already collapsed.
"Waaaaah! Kill them!" a spearman beside Almond suddenly shouted and charged forward.
Almond charged along with him.
"Run!"
The enemies started to flee.
'Can I catch them? There must be a speed limit.'
It was usually impossible to catch up in games where each role had a standardized speed.
'Wait?'
Surprisingly, he was catching up to them. These games normally had a speed limit, but a mercenary's abilities allowed them to run at full speed.
'That’s why there’s a ranking system for mercenaries...'
More skilled mercenaries could demand more gold. Whether it was allies or enemies, the bot soldiers couldn’t run very fast.
Almond quickly advanced to the front.
Tadadadak!
'I’m almost there!'
He could see the enemy's back and stepped on a protruding rock to leap forward while thrusting his spear. The spear pierced the back of an enemy's neck.
Puuk!
"Ack!"
The scene didn’t look gruesome at all. It simply felt like knocking down a doll due to the game’s casual style.
"Wow..."
It still felt satisfying though.
Zzzrrr...
The vibration transmitted through the spear felt a bit artificial, but it also felt surprisingly good.
"What! He caught up! Kill him!"
The enemies stopped fleeing and surrounded Almond, who had reached the front.
— Shock and awe!
— Is this also an order?
— You're dead if you get surrounded!
They surrounded him from all sides except the back and the enemy in front thrust his spear.
Clang!
Almond deflected his attack to the right with his own spear. They each thrust their spears.
Clang!
The spears clashed with each other and Almond ducked to roll forward. He dropped his spear so he could roll. Then, he drew the basic dagger he had and stabbed the spearman blocking the front in the lower jaw.
Puk!
"Argh!" the enemy screamed, but didn't die.
Almond had dealt insufficient damage.
Tadak!
Almond's foot moved behind the enemy and he spun around, using the soldier as a pivot. He wrapped his arm around the soldier's neck and held him like a hostage. He meant to use this soldier as a shield to prevent the enemies from recklessly thrusting their spears.
However, the enemy bots didn't seem to care.
Puuk!
They ruthlessly attacked their ally-turned-hostage.
"?!"
Puuk!
The spear also protruded from Almond's back, partially injuring him.
[Health 89%]
It was a shallow wound, so his health didn't drop much.
— Damn, these bots are ruthless.
— Missing Hyun-Ah, who was full of emotion and friendship.
— These bots are really just bots LOL
Almond didn’t expect the bots to be ruthless. He let go of the hostage and picked up the enemy's spear, swinging it again.
The enemies swung their spears in response.
Clang!
Three spears collided and created sparks. It seemed like an evenly matched fight, but Almond's spear suddenly sliced through an enemy's neck.
— What was that just now?
— Wow
— He took down three out of four alone... Amazing
The last remaining spearman grew startled and backed off a bit, seemingly to buy time. That was the wrong decision because time was on Almond's side.
This was Almond's territory. No additional enemy forces could come and Almond's side had a force of ten men.
Eventually, the approaching forces attacked the lone spearman from behind. They stabbed and made a beehive out of him before he died.
The training mode concluded like that.
***
Almond returned to the commander's point of view. Looking down, he saw the workers safely mining gold again. The soldiers split into two groups, either guarding the workers or scouting toward the enemy base.
Clap, clap, clap!
Peeeeanuuut appeared and clapped.
[Wow! You did so well, Almond! How many did you take down by yourself!?]
She waved her wand again and created a portal.
[You're ready for real action now! Let's go!]
It seemed she thought Almond understood the game well enough now.
[Let's wait for a mission at the tavern!]
Almond nodded and stepped into the portal.
Whoosh!
In an instant, he returned to the tavern.
"Hahaha!"
"That's right! The Troll Trio just..."
"Don't joke around!"
The tavern was as noisy as before.
Almond headed straight for the mercenary notice board. The list seemed to have changed a lot. It looked like everyone had been called away while he played the tutorial.
[C Rank]
Aaalmmond
jon$now
我想成为业主
蝶の谷
Wackjassey
...
He had been worried about the long waiting times due to the game's lack of popularity, but that didn’t seem to be the case seeing how quickly everyone left for work.
"The wait might be long, but I guess it's also fast because it's a global game."
— The global server integration is awesome.
— Usually, they try to group people from the same country though.
— There are hardly any Koreans, look LOL
Just then, an opportunity came for Almond.
[Commander MyDinner has requested your support.]
"Oh."
It came from a Korean commander. The mission details appeared immediately.
[Request Fee: 1 gold]
[Success Bonus: 1 gold per cavalry killed]
[Class: Spearman]
[Situation: Defensive battle. The enemy is advancing across the plains with cavalry. I need spearmen to block them. (Unfavorable)]
The request awarded one gold and additional bonuses. The situation seemed unfavorable, but offered many potential opportunities to fight. Almond decided to accept, but...
Ping!
[Basic spear weapon required]
He needed a spear to join as a spearman.
"What? Do I have to buy my own weapon?"
— Yeah, you use the reward money for that.
— You have to equip yourself.
— Why else would you get a reward? LOL
He had to buy his own weapon. No complaints there, but a request just came in. How would he have the time to buy a spear at a weapon shop?
[Oh! You don't have a spear! I'll specially provide one for you since it's your first mission!]
Bang!
Peeeeanuuut gestured, and a simple spear appeared out of thin air.
"Ah... Thanks, Peeeeanuuut. If that's the case, why not just give me a bow—"
[Let's quickly go and make a splash!]
Poof!
Peeeeanuuut waved her wand again and the portal sucked Almond away.
***
When he regained his senses, Almond found himself among numerous soldiers in a formation.
"What's this?"
The soldiers had different IDs displayed above their heads.
[ChiveManLOL]
[NoJiralNN]
[wackjassey]
[RollcakeYummy]
...
Surprisingly, this group had quite a few Koreans because of the Korean commander.
"I'm looking forward to how it is with a real person commanding."
— For real LOL
— We're a nation that played RTS as a traditional game, so it should be fine.
— I wonder if the commander is also a newbie?
— Why isn't this game more popular? It looks so fun.
— When can I command?
Ping!
A dazzling light struck down in the distance.
Ping! Ping!
[Assemble]
The text floated above the beam of light.
"Let's go."
Whoosh.
Almond, along with all the soldiers, silently picked up their weapons and started running.
"Everyone's armed differently? I guess I'm the only novice here..."
Each person had different equipment. Suddenly, numbers appeared.
[1-6]
"What's this?"
— That's the assembly number.
— The commander is detail-oriented.
— What's this?
As Almond wandered around in confusion, someone spoke to him.
"Hey, you're Korean, right? First time?"
A red-haired foreign woman spoke to him. He was surprised to hear Korean from her mouth. It was due to an automatic translation system.
[wackjassey]
Her ID was displayed above her head. He recalled seeing it on the waiting list earlier.
"Uh, yeah."
"Stay next to me. Not having a neighbor is disadvantageous."
She pointed to her side. Upon closer inspection, [1-6] was written there.
"Ah, thanks."
— Stunning.
— About to be "Raina'd."
— The foreign lady's beauty, wow.
Indeed, the woman with fiery red hair had a certain allure, especially on a battlefield.
'She reminds me of Rosenita.'
Excluding her hair color, she had a similar vibe to Rosenita.
Their eyes briefly met and her eyes wandered up and down at him for a moment.
"But you're really a newbie?" she asked if it was his first time.
"The outfit does look like a newbie's..."
“Yeah, it’s my first time. Why?”
“If it’s your first time, they don’t usually put you on the frontline. The rewards are good, but it’s difficult.”
"It's my first time, but I'm C rank."
"Oh, wow."
She looked surprised and extended a greeting.
"I didn't realize you were that skilled. Nice to meet you."
Her emerald green eyes sparkled with a smile. The chat room erupted and Ju-Hyeok, eating cup noodles, had to rush to ban countless comments.
— Everyone, take cover! It's a walnut bombardment!
— Ah!
— I... I better leave...
While the chat room was in chaos, drum sounds echoed from the distance.
Dududududu...!
No, it was the sound of horse hooves. Soon, it sounded like machine guns.
Kukukuku!!
"They're coming."
They came from the plains ahead.
Gulp.
Soldiers dryly swallowing could be heard.
Ding.
[Commander: Block.]
The commander issued a simple command.
The fairy added while trembling.
[S-S-Spearmen are the counter to cavalry! I-if you just thrust your spear, y-you can kill them!]
Was she also a newbie? She stuttered nervously or perhaps it was hard for her small body to handle the vibrations from the horses.
Kukukukuku...!
[Sh-show your valor here to earn honor points and become a veteran mercenary... Ahhhh!]
Kukukukukukukukuku!!!
The thunderous horse hooves drowned out her words.
The enemies came shouting.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
"Chargeeee!"
A veteran mercenary in the lead raised his spear and shouted, "Block themmmmm!"
He seemed like a veteran mercenary in charge.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
The soldiers on their side also started shouting. Almond joined in the shouting.
— Wow, this really feels like a war.
— Are these all real people?? Amazing.
— This game seems better than the LIL. Why isn't it more popular?
Although the game seemed better than LIL, the reason for its lesser popularity became apparent.
"Spears! Thrust forward!"
"They're coming! Coming—!"
A massive warhorse reared up and charged. It was almost upon them.
Kukung! Kukukung!
Their heartbeats thumped under the sound of the horse hooves.
Heeheeing!
Along with the neighing, a knight fully clad in silver armor charged with a massive lance.
Huuung!
The horse’s hot breath turned to steam the moment...
Puuuuk!!
The cavalry crashed into the spearmen and multiple spears pierced the cavalry.
“!?”
The world seemed to flip upside down. Then, darkness enveloped Almond’s vision.
Thump!
He felt a heavy blow to his head. When he opened his eyes, half of his allies had disappeared.
'Wha, what just happened...?'
He raised his head, which had been buried in the dirt, and realized something.
‘This just doesn't work?’
He had simply survived due to luck in that moment. Mindlessly following the commander's orders would only lead to death.
***
In a dimly lit room, a boy with candy in his mouth scratched his head.
"Ah... I got grazed there. This is tough."
His monitor showed the spearmen unit, half of which had been wiped out.
"Damn, can't these C rank spearmen handle it? How much did they spend on those cavalry? Was it an all-in rush?"
He clicked his mouse, issuing an order to the remaining spearmen.
[Attack]
He commanded the surviving spearmen to charge at the cavalry that just trampled over them. He was trying to buy some time since soldiers could be reproduced anyway.
"Try to buy some time. You're worth it just for the time considering how expensive those knights seem to be."
He focused on the production side for a while and checked if the workers had efficiently gathered resources like gold and wood, whether the enemy had done anything else, what the next building to construct should be, and so on.
"I need iron for the next tech upgrade..."
He glanced back at the plains where the battle had occurred. He planned to send more troops there as they needed to secure the iron in that area.
"What's this?"
To his surprise, the spearmen he ordered to attack to buy more time were still alive.