Season 2: Chapter 80. This is the Bow of Joseon (2)
The observer poured boiling water into his cup noodles. Almond's second game started when he began boiling the water. However, the second game ended before the noodles were even ready.
"Wow, that's fast. Even faster than my cup noodles."
The observer muttered as he slurped the noodles, "Will this even work?"
The first game was mediocre and the second was a total failure. Nothing impressive happened and it ended in defeat. Now, Almond only had one chance left. That one chance had to essentially showcase a performance as striking as a hacker's.
"Is that even possible? Probably not."
People tended to not perform their best when cornered. Having wasted the first two opportunities, the streamer was now under tremendous psychological pressure. Even if he was truly skilled, it was unlikely that he could fully demonstrate his skills in this final game. This problem had nothing to do with skills.
Few could overcome such situations due to the inherent limitations of being human. Those who could were called stars.
"Shining entities."
The observer smiled wryly. Such people were rare.
"Lucky," he remarked.
Not bad luck, but good luck from the observer's perspective. It was bad luck for Almond, but good for the observer.
"Anyway, it'll add to my achievements."
Observers didn’t publicly acknowledge this, but they preferred catching hackers. It was only logical and better to report catching several hackers than none at all for the sake of their performance. Observers secretly hoped for users to use hacks.
"Come on. Hurry up. Why do you keep rejecting the offers?" the observer urged Almond while slurping more noodles.
Almond had casually entered games before, but now meticulously filtered through offers.
***
'I need to choose wisely.'
For the first time in a while, Almond seriously contemplated.
'It's my last chance.'
He couldn't hastily decide based on a whim, especially with the last chance at stake.
'Besides, I spent fifty gold.'
Considering his investment, he was determined not to enter just any game.
"Let's filter for archer requests."
— Good idea.
— About time :(
— Should've done this earlier.
Spear soldiers began with a spear and archers with a bow. Until now, he had entered games with the mindset of picking up whatever was there. This time, he came prepared with a bow that cost fifty gold and set his mind on playing as an archer.
After a short wait, he received many requests for archers.
Ding.
Ding.
However, he rejected all those requests.
— ???
— Why reject them?
— What's happening?
Among them were requests that mercenaries would consider easy wins. He could earn money and rank points just by accepting them.
"Heh! Aalmmond! You're passing on those?! What exactly are you looking for?"
Peeeeanuuut grew impatient beside him and wondered why the game wasn't progressing. To her, it was like having a button to win money and rank points but not pressing it.
Almond didn’t intend on just winning and earning rewards. If these were stocks, he wouldn't be content with just earning money. He wanted to draw up his own graph. How crazy was that?
'I need the perfect stage to showcase my skills.'
It was hard enough to earn money, but wanting the graph to be to his liking was even more challenging. Unfortunately, Almond found himself in such a situation.
His side couldn’t already be at an advantage in the game. An equal footing wouldn't suffice. The situation would likely favor him once he entered with his bow.
However, a very disadvantageous situation wouldn't work either since the game could end before he even started. The best scenario would simply be a disadvantageous situation.
Ding!
[Commander Kimchi Warrior is requesting your support!]
The request fee was three gold with a bonus reward of two gold per worker killed. It required the player to be an archer. The situation was a standoff at the defensive line with the request seeking someone to play a defensive role on the city wall (slightly disadvantageous).
— Ah, slightly disadvantageous!
— Finally!?
— It's here!
The awaited situation had arrived. It was merely disadvantageous and not extremely so. This gap could potentially be turned around.
'But still...'
Almond hesitated to choose right away.
— A defensive battle and it's offering 1 gold per worker? Ridiculous!
— You can see the commander's character here.
— Lol, trying to trick us?
Despite the long-awaited request appearing, something felt off. The bonus reward was two gold per worker killed.
'It’s a defensive battle, but workers are the bonus reward? The amount of gold is also suspiciously high.'
It was unlikely to even see a worker in a defensive situation, let alone getting rewarded for killing them. The grandiose two gold per worker killed just seemed too obvious.
The commander was probably not very scrupulous.
'And the name, Kimchi Warrior. Is the commander Korean?'
Their ID also seemed odd.
'Should I pass on this...?'
Almond was facing a dilemma.
Rejecting it meant waiting for another request that could take minutes, hours, or even longer. The observer wouldn't stick around 24/7.
"I'll just do it. I'm not choosing based on the bonus reward anyway."
He decided to accept the request.
***
Finally, he entered the battlefield. As expected, he started at the training grounds. However, he appeared to be at the archery range instead of the infantry training grounds. Of course, no real training took place here. It was just for show.
In the game's setting, these troops were already trained and ready for immediate deployment.
Ping!
A command ping appeared.
[Gather]
This command was for the archers. The commander had pinged the top of the city wall.
"It's really a defensive battle."
Almond was experiencing a defensive battle for the first time and seemed excited as he ran toward the wall.
Other archers were already rushing toward the wall.
"!"
Over ten archery training grounds lined up along the vast plain. The dozens of archers emerging and running felt overwhelming.
— Wow, so many of them!
— Looks like a full-scale battle.
— So intense.
It seemed the troops were ordered to rush the wall as soon as they appeared. A fierce battle was presumably already underway at the wall.
As expected, Almond could hear the commotion as he approached.
"Wowwwwwww...!"
Boom!
Shouts mixed with the sounds of explosives from siege weapons attempting to break down the wall.
"It looks like I just need to get up there and defend," Almond explained to his viewers as he climbed the stairs leading to the top.
A line of archers already ascended ahead of him. It reminded him of people queuing up for a ride at an amusement park.
However—
"Uh... What?!"
This wasn’t an amusement park, but a battlefield.
Roar!
A heavy tremor could be felt as a hail of rocks rained down from the sky.
"Trebuchet!"
The stones had been launched from the enemy's trebuchet. Siege weapons were primarily used since bows and swords couldn’t bring down walls and buildings. These consisted of trebuchets for hurling giant stones, rams for smashing doors, and siege towers for transporting troops over walls.
They now faced the enemy's trebuchet, specifically the mangonel type that was designed not so much to destroy walls but to clear troops off of them.
Whooom!
Whoooom!
Rocks crashed into the wall.
"Arghhh!"
"Damn!"
Soldiers who climbed the wall went flying like ants.
Almond remained on the stairs away from the wall and sighed in relief, "Phew... I dodged that one."
If he had climbed up just a moment earlier, he could’ve died there.
— Lol, that was really close.
— Seriously lucky, wow.
— Lol, this is hilarious.
The problem didn't end there.
"Look out. It's rolling down!"
"Damn it."
Rumble!
A giant rock started rolling down from the top of the city wall’s stairs. One of the rocks launched from the mangonel trebuchet remained and rolled down due to gravity.
Archers ascending the stairs in a line screamed out.
"Go down! Go down!"
"How do we go down from here?"
The archers at the front panicked and pushed the ones behind them. Those at the back, of course, became sandwiched with others behind them too.
"Better to block it! Idiots!"
"How do you block a rock?"
Chaos ensued. The line that formed to ascend the wall turned into a queue for hell.
Thump!
The rock had already crushed two archers in the front and continued to roll down, stained with blood. Instead of stopping, the rock gained even more momentum due to the incline. It seemed like all the soldiers on the stairs would be annihilated.
"Throw it! Throw it!"
"Seriously!"
"My money!"
Some experienced archers threw their weapons down the stairs so they could use them again after resurrecting. The situation seemed that hopeless.
Almond hesitated to do the same and looked at his weapon.
'This...?'
The Joseon horn bow cost fifty gold and it was probably the most expensive weapon among all the bows present. If Almond threw it away, someone would surely take it.
'And I can't die, can I?'
This round was his last chance.
'I absolutely can’t die!'
Regardless of his resolution, the rock mercilessly rolled down and crushed the archers.
Crash!
***
Upon reaching the top of the wall, Almond faced a boulder launched by the enemy’s trebuchet. In such situations, a mere foot soldier couldn’t do much. Like the soldiers before him, the best he could do was hope for the best after resurrecting. There was no reason not to.
The observer couldn't help but be stunned by Almond's actions.
"... What?"
Firstly, Almond's incredible movement amazed him.
"Why go to such lengths...?"
Almond answered his question from the screen.
“Wow, that was close to ending right there.”
Then, the observer realized something. Almond was under a grave misconception.
"Does he think dying in the game counts as one round?"
The game administrators' statement to prove himself in three rounds referred to three rounds from the commander's perspective.
Once Almond entered the battlefield as a soldier, it didn’t matter how many times he died. It would be enough as long as he showed his prowess.
Due to how the previous two battles abruptly ended, Almond seemed unaware of this.
'Oh, dear.'
The observer became speechless and realized Almond had misunderstood.
"What does he think of us...?"
Almond thought he only had three lives in this game where dying was routine, yet he never complained once.
Suddenly, Almond seemed different.
'Should I tell him?'
The observer felt conflicted about whether or not to inform Almond of this fact.
'Let's see for now.'
He decided to observe for the time being and thought it wouldn't be too late to tell him once Almond died.