Season 2: Chapter 83. Nani?! (2)
Suddenly, dozens of heavily armored infantry appeared at the wall.
Rumble!
They all received one simple order from their commander.
[Annihilate the enemy archers!]
Red pings started popping up everywhere.
Swoosh!
The forty heavy infantry soldiers split into an east and west group before charging. All the archers fled except for two.
'What's this?'
'What's up with those guys?'
The infantry hesitated, wondering if the two brave archers had something planned. Their daring stand seemed utterly reckless, but no sign of any special preparation could be seen.
Then someone shouted, "They just came to die! Don't hesitate. Charge!"
Some soldiers just wanted to die quickly to switch roles or move to another battlefield. These two seemed to be that sort.
"Charge!"
Thinking so, the infantry resumed their assault.
Then─
Swoosh!
An arrow flew out and pierced the eye of a heavy infantryman.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
The soldier flinched in shock.
"Oh, my eye!"
Losing an eye hindered his sight, but no one was overly concerned. It was just one eye and the heavy infantryman specialized in ranged defense. They were hard to kill and even had shields. One had to hit them precisely to kill them.
"Shields!"
"Raise your shields!"
Now, they grew wary and prepared to block any attack. The soldier who lost his eye thought the same until─
"Ah, I was careless─"
Thud!
His vision went dark before he realized it.
"Uh...?!"
Tumble.
He stumbled as his steps became tangled. The soldiers behind him collided in confusion.
"What's going on!? Move!"
"I, I can't see!"
"What?!"
"Oh, come on."
They didn't realize the seriousness yet. Such traffic jams usually didn’t pose any concern. This sort of traffic wasn’t enough to stop them. After all, it was twenty against two. They simply felt annoyed that they had to momentarily stop their advances.
Then─
"Ugh!"
"Damn! What─"
Thump!
The two leading infantrymen suddenly collapsed and the rest of them saw the arrows accurately embedded in their comrades' vital points.
'What...?'
They started to sense that something was off, but only vaguely wondered why some of them kept tripping and falling.
Thud!
Meanwhile, the third infantryman fell.
Almond's bowstring never rested.
"What are you doing!? Raise your shields!"
"They're up!"
It seemed like only one archer was shooting, but the arrows came from every direction.
Thud!
A fourth infantryman fell.
They couldn't comprehend how just one archer had taken down their comrades.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
How could a heavy infantryman lose to an archer? It usually took an entire quiver of arrows to kill one of them.
Thud!
Another fellow infantryman collapsed before they could find the answer.
Six of them had fallen now. The question changed from how to 'What do we do?!'
The next soldier bravely charged forward and also fell as arrows pierced his vital spots.
Clang!
They couldn't figure out how their comrades were dying.
Creak.
In the meantime, Almond kept pulling his bowstring in the same motionless posture as before. His eyes calmly settled on the heavy infantrymen like hunting prey as he faced twenty of them blocking his path.
It felt as if he was saying something as they looked into his eyes.
'What are you doing? Why aren't you coming?'
Pang!
He released the bowstring again.
"Ugh."
Now, their seventh comrade had fallen and their steps faltered.
‘Fif... fifty meters.’
That was the distance between Almond and the heavy infantrymen.
Fifty meters was also the range where the bow could exert its maximum firepower. Only corpses would be found within this distance.
'Going forward means death.'
Anyone who stepped forward instantly died. The cursed zone didn’t shrink at all.
"What are you doing!? Charge!"
A heavy metal body loudly struck the ground and the next soldier in line became shocked.
'This is insane. The arrows are curving.'
Only after his comrade in front fell did he realize. No matter how much they shielded the front, they couldn’t advance.
The arrows seemed to fly straight, but curved unbelievably and struck them from unexpected directions.
'Ah!'
Thud!
[HP: 67%]
An arrow precisely pierced between his neck and ear, tearing through the thin armor and exposing his flesh. Blood gushed out, but he wouldn't die from a single hit as a heavy infantryman.
However─
'What the heck!?'
Swoosh! Swoosh!
More arrows flew in from the right and left, hitting the same vital spot.
[Death]
He died.
In no time, nine out of the twenty heavy infantrymen had died.
[Commander: Stop]
Another order from their commander came.
[Commander: Enemy reinforcements are coming. Retreat.]
***
Twenty armed soldiers charged with great momentum. They rushed in fearlessly, but began to fall one by one. Then three, four, and soon nine of them had fallen. Almost half of them collapsed before reaching Almond. None had made it within fifty meters of him.
Surprisingly, the soldiers halted their charge due to an order from their commander.
— Did he stop them??
— Wow
— Did he stop all of them by himself???
Almond didn’t kill all the enemies, but he managed to halt their charge this time. The enemies stopped advancing when they realized that powerful bow could pierce their armor within fifty meters.
— Crazy
— What kind of bow is that?
— The damage is insane
Indeed, the heavy infantrymen’s long-range defense and stamina became useless in front of the Joseon horn bow’s powerful draw strength and Almond's precise accuracy.
The tide of the battle had changed. Reinforcements for the allied infantry at the wall came rushing from behind.
"Raaaah!"
"Attack!"
The reinforcements made it in time thanks to Almond stopping half of the enemy forces. Almond finally managed to kill some enemy soldiers after three rounds and the viewers excitedly cheered.
— Wow
— Clip that!
— Almond! Almond!
— Mom, I want to be like Aaalmond when I grow up! He’s stronger than Almond!
Cheers and astonishment filled the chat.
This reaction wasn't just in the chat. The Japanese player, Whiskey, had observed the entire process and felt the same. He was so surprised that he accidentally spoke with his translator off.
“...!”
“Ni...”
***
"Nice!"
Ju-Hyeok clenched his fist and stood up abruptly. He had been worried that the third game would also be a failure. Now, everything turned out good.
The recent play probably wouldn’t immediately clear Almond of the hacking accusations.
"It's just the beginning."
The game was far from over. Almond was just starting to make his comeback. He would certainly shake off those accusations of hacking.
The community reactions also began to change.
[???: No, I said I want Almond!]
A post like this appeared, accompanied by a picture of North Korea's leader shouting on the phone.
["I don't care about warheads or whatever. Almond is the real nuke, right? Bring him here!"]
Comments like the following also appeared.
— Haven't seen this meme in a while lol
— Crazy
— Even the North covets Almond's archery skills
— ???: Those South Korean bastards made a nuke. I told you!!
— Now Almond needs to put missiles on his bowstring
Almond's existence was metaphorically likened to a nuke.
Another trending post read: [But isn't Almond really a hacker?]
However, the content differed from what the title suggested.
[Isn’t he using hacks to alter his looks? He’s way too good-looking.]
— I don’t even know what to say
— Come on, stop it
— Really
The most terrifying kind of hatred was baseless hatred and the same went for love.
"A groundless compliment post means... he’s doing really well."
Compliment posts with no basis about the streamer flooded in, which was a very good sign.
Of course, some posts were deliberately made to generate hype in times like these. Ju-Hyeok knew how to distinguish them. Quickly reading the mood told him everything.
— LOL for real
— Tears
— I can't help but smirk...
— I had a feeling this would happen
The comments all agreed with each other. Of course, some negative comments appeared as well.
— Here comes the fanboys again
└ Jealous? Then try streaming yourself to prove you're not a hacker, LOL
└ Fanboy! Fanboy! Fanboy!
└ Did you know? Almond isn’t actually a nut, but a ^nuke^.
└ Nuke nuke!
Comments mocking the trolls were plentiful. Even the nuclear nut meme to mock Almond was now being used by his fans.
The situation was relaxed enough for fans to use the trolls' own memes against them. Ju-Hyeok decided to add a bit more firepower to everything.
[Ju-Hyeok: Ji-Ah, make a YouTube short]
[Ji-Ah: Wait a sec]
Ju-Hyeok smiled meaningfully after sending his request to Ji-Ah.
‘Time for a viewer spike.’
After LIL, Almond had played two minor games in a row. His viewer count solidified in the mid ten thousands, which was the limit with minor games.
The mid ten thousands wasn't small, but it wasn't enough to satisfy someone like Ju-Hyeok. In an era of streamers with a million followers, being in the mid ten thousands didn't cut it for top-tier streamers.
‘Let's go for it.’
Almond needed growth with the award ceremony coming up. Even if he wasn’t on the level of Bubblegum, he needed to grow to the level of Acorn Jelly at least.
‘I was a bit worried about how to boost viewership with Civil Empire. It's a good game to showcase his archery, but it’s quite minor.’
Ju-Hyeok thought Civil Empire was the perfect game for Almond, but he didn’t have many plans on how to increase viewership. He only had one idea.
‘I hope the one idea I have falls into place...’
He only thought of one factor to cause a rapid viewership rise in Civil Empire. In Ju-Hyeok's opinion, it was the only way to break through and would definitely work.
Ju-Hyeok and Ji-Ah quickly moved according to his plan.
Ding.
[Ji-Ah: I made the shorts.]
Ji-Ah messaged him back.
Ju-Hyeok quickly typed back after receiving the file.
‘Let’s go full-on patriotic...’
Ju-Hyeok thought along that line as the post was being uploaded on LILPro.
Tadadadak...
[Japan in awe and the world in shock... (physically)]
That was the title of the post and it included the short clip from Ji-Ah.
The video showed Almond quickly sweeping away half of the enemy infantry on the ramparts, but that wasn't the focal point. It was the shocked reaction of the Japanese player next to him.
As Almond decimated the enemy forces, Whiskey watched and exclaimed in disbelief.
“Na... Nani?!”
The number of likes and comments rapidly increased.
— Damn, this is so real LOL
— If that title is true, what are we going to do? LOL
— It's not shock, they're falling to gunfire?
[Big +3]
[Big +15]
[Big +58]
The post was met with an explosive response.