Season 2: Chapter 73. Counterattack (1)
[Commander]
[An archer is hiding in the forest. Form a perimeter and close in.]
The cavalry leader was frankly dumbfounded upon receiving the commander's order.
"Why are we mobilizing our entire unit to catch one archer?"
Even as a veteran knight, he had never encountered such a situation. He wanted to question the commander's reasoning, but two-way communication wasn’t possible in this game. Only the commander gave unilateral orders. That made the capability of the commander even more crucial.
"Ah, I should have checked the commander's ranking before joining."
High-rank commanders usually meant fewer absurd situations.
Ironically, he often just quickly joined games without checking due to fewer invitations as a veteran knight with high pay. What could he do? He already received his pay and continuously disobeying the commander's orders could lead to future restrictions.
"Alright. Take your positions!"
The platoon of thirty cavalrymen quickly assumed their designated spots.
"The target is one archer! Close in!"
Upon the leader’s command, the cavalry began to infiltrate the forest from every direction.
"Footprints here!"
"Broken branches over here!"
One by one, traces began to be found.
'Looks like I know roughly where he is.'
The veteran knight was almost certain of the archer's location and ordered those in the lead, "Dismount from the horses. Tighten the net with spears."
In the thick forest, it was better to approach on foot as horses could be a disadvantage.
"Thrusting and swinging the spears should catch him."
***
Swish. Swish.
Following the veteran knight's instructions, the cavalrymen started sweeping through the bushes with their long spears in search of Almond hiding somewhere.
"What are we even doing...?"
"Really now."
This strategy didn’t particularly sit well with them, but they followed orders anyway. That was when it happened.
A soldier searching to the right flinched.
"!?"
He spotted a face in the bushes.
It was Almond lying down there. He greeted the soldier with an arrow instead of a wave.
Whizz─
The arrow flew straight and pierced the soldier's throat.
Thump!
"Keh... ack!"
He fell and couldn’t even scream properly.
"... Huh?!"
Two of his comrades nearby noticed his death.
"Ov-Over here... Ack!"
Thump!
One clutched his throat and fell with an arrow planted in the same spot as the first. The other soldier immediately lunged his spear toward Almond's location, but Almond rolled away.
Thump!
The spear only dug into the dirt.
Almond quickly turned and released another arrow.
Whizz!
“Urk!”
The lunging enemy fell in the same spear-thrusting posture. Three enemy soldiers had instantly fallen.
***
The veteran knight, still mounted, wandered through the forest. He was checking whether the soldiers were effectively tightening the net.
'Too many trees to see clearly.'
The dense forest made it difficult to visually confirm the soldiers' effectiveness. He circled around while keeping an eye on the situation. That was when he noticed something to the east.
"Hey, you there. Why are you standing still?"
He spotted an area where the perimeter wasn't closing in properly. One soldier stood still with his head drooping and his spear pointed down.
"Damn..."
The veteran knight immediately realized the situation.
"Hyah!"
Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
He galloped over only to find three dead soldiers.
"Three of them?!"
Each soldier was responsible for a twenty meter stretch. Three dead meant a sixty meter gap in the perimeter.
"The perimeter has been breached!"
The breach was to the east toward the enemy's main base. The archer was planning to escape in that direction. Anticipating this, the veteran knight ordered ten cavalrymen who hadn’t dismounted.
"Chase him toward the east!"
Whizz!
He shot a flare arrow eastward as he ordered them.
Clip-clop, clip-clop!
The ten cavalrymen skillfully navigated through the forest, but no other signal came.
"No traces here!"
"No footprints or anything..."
The cavalrymen came up empty.
[Not toward the east.]
The commander relayed new information to the veteran knight.
"... Not to the east?"
Then, he heard it.
Whizz.
A faint sound, but it was significant to the veteran knight's heightened senses.
"Could it be...?"
A sudden sense of dread struck him and he hurried west. Upon arriving...
"!"
“Neigh!”
Two soldiers lay dead with arrows lodged in the same spot.
'He didn't try to escape, but attacked instead!?'
Most would have fled in such a situation, but this archer chose to fight. He wasn't ordinary.
'Impressive.'
The archer risked losing all his equipment. In this extreme situation of being pressed by thirty men, he still showed no signs of giving up. He was fighting with everything he had despite the odds.
'That’s not your average mentality.'
The veteran knight shouted, "The enemy is still here! His arrows are accurate! He's aiming for the throat! Cover your neck with your arms! If you have shields, use them!"
***
Almond hid in a meadow shrouded with thick bushes where bending over rendered one invisible to the enemy.
"This is a good spot. I thought it would be more disadvantageous," he muttered.
He assumed being in the dense forest would be disadvantageous for shooting, but just ducking made him invisible in this wide area with high, dense bushes. This was ideal terrain for a one-vs-many fight.
"Looks like I can just pick off the ones who stray from the group."
— Can he really win this?
— Civil Empire's maps are randomly generated, right? This kind of variable is possible.
— Looks like he has the advantage with this terrain.
— Feels like he's already won.
One of the unique aspects of Civil Empire was that details changed even if the same map was chosen. The overall concept remained, but a pond or an expansive plain like this one could suddenly appear in the middle of the forest.
Almond suddenly heard something.
Snap─
Footsteps sounded from very close.
He quickly notched several arrows between his fingers.
Snap. Snap.
The enemy was roughly five steps away.
'I’ll shoot for the throat in one go when I see him.'
Pffff!
Almond sprang up. His eyes quickly scanned left and right before focusing on one spot, the enemy's throat.
He released the taut bowstring.
Whizz─
The arrow flew.
Clang!
A strange sound followed. It should have hit the target's neck, but...
"!?"
The arrow was deflected.
Almond hadn’t missed. He aimed precisely at the seam of the neck, but the arrow was somehow repelled.
— Damn...
— WTF?
— Oh, it’s over.
‘Damn.’
A single miss would put Almond at a great disadvantage.
‘Did he cover his neck with his arms?’
The enemy knew Almond was targeting the neck. Worse, the enemy had spotted him now.
"Search around here!"
‘Dammit.’
Almond ducked and hid in the bushes again.
Swish!
A giant wielding a mace burst through the dense bushes. It was the same soldier who blocked the arrow earlier.
— Oh my
— He scared me!
— So scary
"Found you, you rat!"
Almond was completely cornered. Now, hiding was as futile as a camel burying its face in the sand.
‘I have to shoot.’
Shooting was his only option, but the enemy kept guarding their neck. So where...?
Almond's mind raced as the giant raised his mace and swung.
Whoosh!
‘There.’
***
Having finally found Almond, the giant with the mace felt simultaneously thrilled and enraged.
‘Was I played by this one person all along!?’
The thought of being outwitted by a mere individual of Eastern descent infuriated him.
"Die!"
He swung the mace with great force.
Thud!
The ground tore apart, a testament to his immense strength, but the attack missed Almond. The giant didn’t care.
The archer's location had been revealed. His demise was just a matter of time.
"Ha. Just give up alrea... Huh?"
Suddenly, the giant sensed that something was off.
[HP: 32%]
His health bar suddenly dropped drastically. He couldn’t understand why.
‘What...?’
He felt an odd sensation under his arm as he raised his alertness.
"...!"
Three arrows had pierced him when he briefly raised his mace.
Swish...!
The bushes to his side rustled.
Whizz!
Another arrow flew from the left this time.
He instinctively covered his neck, but the arrow strangely curved. Then, something struck his ankle and knee.
Thwack! Thud!
"Wha... Huh?"
[HP: 0%]
He collapsed on the spot.
Thud.
A shadowy figure looked down on him.
"... I might run out of arrows," Almond muttered and pulled out the usable arrows from the giant’s body.
He discarded the damaged ones and found that his quiver was almost empty. He gazed into the distance.
"More are coming."
More enemies were approaching.
Swish.
He hid in the bushes again and listened closely.
"About four of them."
***
The veteran knight leading the cavalry rushed to the location upon hearing that the giant had found Almond.
"This place..."
He became speechless after seeing the terrain, which heavily favored the enemy.
‘There might be more casualties.’
Although he expected some losses, he never imagined that their pursuit could fail. The difference in numbers was overwhelming. Soon afterward...
"Found him! This rat!"
The voice belonged to the giant with the mace, who now raised his weapon high in the air.
‘He found him? It’s that guy.’
The veteran knight thought it was over when he saw the archer for the first time.
"There! You three, go support him."
"Yes!"
The other knights sprinted to the designated location. The enemy was just an archer cornered by three knights. There was no escape with his position revealed. Or so the veteran knight thought.
"!?"
Thud!
The giant with the mace fell first.
Then, one knight lunged in with a perfect sword strike. However, the archer dodged the blade by a hair's breadth while shooting three arrows right at their vital spots.
Thud!
One of the three knights fell. The remaining two furiously swung their weapons.
Swish! Slice!
They only damaged the bushes as Almond coolly retaliated. He flawlessly dodged and countered them with minimal steps and perfect evasion. His actions looked graceful like a beautiful harp player dancing in the meadow.
After enjoying the performance, no other soldiers remained in the field.
"..."
The veteran knight became speechless.
"This isn’t a hack. This is..."
Such instinctive movements couldn’t be achieved by unholy illegal programs.
‘Who is this?’
He looked intently at the unnamed archer.
Whoosh...
The wind blew as Almond stood in the swaying field.
Their eyes met and the commander's ping appeared.
Whizz!
[Commence an all-out attack!]
The red ping was an absolute command.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
The sound of more cavalry approaching could be heard.
‘This is really the end.’
Despite this being a game, the knight felt a pang of regret for the archer. He noticed Almond's empty quiver.
Almond was about to die. He seemed to accept his fate and started removing his armor.
Thud. Thud.
His heavy armor fell to the ground and only light cloth armor remained. Then he picked up a sword dropped by a knight.
‘Huh?’
Fearlessly, he faced the approaching ten cavalrymen and prepared to fight.
"Wow..."
The veteran knight was deeply moved. Not just by his skills, but by his unyielding spirit in such dire circumstances.
‘I wish I knew who he was.’
The sight was admirable, but also pitiable because the archer had no arrows or hope left.
Whoosh!
A red-haired knight passed by the veteran knight. For a moment, he had mistaken her for an ally.