Season 2: Chapter 109. Beyond the Wall (2)
Almond's strategy stunned all the users on Embul and they started posting on the forum.
[Wow, that guy is ruthless.]
[I can't believe what I'm seeing.]
[That’s really foolish.]
[It’s like a predator climbing, LOL]
Even veterans of the game couldn't imagine something like that. After all, who would think of stacking people to climb the wall by themselves? It would be futile if he went over alone, but─
Suddenly, posts started appearing in the community.
[LOL, but his hand can't reach.]
[The pyramid is poorly made, LOL.]
[It’s a miscalculation, haha.]
[Did anyone else see his hand not reaching?]
[Almond is so funny, LOL.]
While Almond's brutality initially astonished them, they started laughing again after seeing him struggle at the top of the wall when he couldn’t reach the edge.
***
Almond continued climbing the wall.
“Finally, he’s going over the wall!!! Huh?” OrangeKing suddenly sighed. “No...!”
A problem occurred. Although Almond reached the top, he couldn't reach the edge.
“He’s too short! Isn't it because there aren’t enough people? It's farther than we thought!”
Viewers initially thought there hadn’t been enough soldiers to build the human pyramid.
“No, there are still some soldiers left.”
Several archers idly watched from the ground.
If all of them had been used, Almond could have climbed up.
“Oh...! They designed the human pyramid wrong!”
Kimchi Warrior also became dumbfounded and speechless like OrangeKing.
They had enough soldiers, but just built the pyramid incorrectly.
— A walnut issue LOL.
— They miscalculated?! LOL.
— It’s a total failure.
“Oh, this is just like solving all the questions on a university entrance exam and then getting the last arithmetic calculation wrong...!”
Almond unexpectedly came up with a creative plan, but couldn’t make the exact calculations work. He failed to calculate how many soldiers needed to be stacked and ultimately failed to reach the top.
Many soldiers still remained on the ground.
“Almond needs to get over quickly. If the enemy commander notices, they’ll increase the number of guard towers,” Kimchi Warrior urgently commented.
If the enemy commander Loop noticed, they would immediately build guard towers near the wall.
For now, it hadn't caught Loop’s attention yet because he was busy advancing to the third era.
“Should they rebuild the pyramid!?”
“No, no. I don't think they have time for that.”
The enemy was busy advancing to the third era, but Almond and the soldiers probably didn’t have enough time to rebuild the pyramid. They had to figure something else out.
“It seems like he could make it if they try harder!”
The camera zoomed in on the scene and complaints from the soldiers could be heard.
“Uh... it's shaking! Hurry up!”
“What are you doing!”
“You crazy! Is the calculation wrong or is the design supposed to be this shaky!?”
If this were real life, some would have collapsed from exhaustion already. However, the pyramid still stood in the game despite being shaky and off-balance.
Rebuilding the pyramid in such a short time would be impossible.
— LOL!
— Hahahhahaha, so funny!
— Hilarious!
“I'm sorry,” Almond stood at the top and suddenly apologized.
Regular viewers of Almond's streams already knew.
— What’s he going to do?
— Is a nut apologizing?
— Wow, it’s the end of the world
Then, Almond slightly pushed up and down. He kicked the human pyramid he was standing on and jumped.
Thump!
Due to the impact, the human pyramid violently shook and eventually collapsed.
“Aaaaah!”
“You crazy...!”
“Urgh!”
Despite receiving a mountain of curses...
Chiiik─
Almond's hand caught the edge of the wall.
"Almond successfully grabbed the wall!"
Finally, he pulled himself up and climbed over.
"Wow! He finally made it! He did it!"
— LOL!
— He actually did it.
— But what can he do alone up there...
Despite OrangeKing's triumphant shouts, the reality remained harsh.
"But... what now?"
Looking down at the enemy's base from the wall, Almond saw countless guard towers.
[Completed]
[Cathedral]
Just then, the cathedral also finished.
Doom!
[Third Era - Age of Lords]
The enemy had advanced to the third era. Immediately afterward, a worker emerged and started building a knight school.
[Knight School]
[Under construction... 5%]
“An advanced military building, the Knight School, is under construction now!”
Once the enemy built those buildings, knights would start to appear.
“What happens when knights come out, Kimchi Warrior?”
“Knights initially have tremendous defense against non-explosive ranged attacks. Unless you hit the seams of their armor, you can assume arrows won't do any damage.”
“Ah. I see..."
OrangeKing became a bit sullen for a moment.
Even if Almond managed to hit the seams of a charging knight's armor, he wouldn’t kill them. The damage would be minimal unless he struck a vital spot.
Moreover, knights dealt additional damage against archers and were considered an overwhelming force.
As a commentator, OrangeKing decided to stay hopeful at least.
“But this could be an opportunity, couldn't it?”
— OrangeKing is starting his talk.
— Let's hear what he’s gonna say, guys LOL.
— He's going to argue again, LOL.
"Opportunity? What do you mean?" Kimchi Warrior asked in confusion.
What could possibly be an opportunity?
"Well, isn't the knight school still under construction?"
"Yeah."
"It's not up yet! Moreover, it’s being built in Almond’s range!"
"!"
Kimchi Warrior hadn't considered that. It wasn't just idle talk.
"So... does the range reach?"
— ?!
— It wasn't OrangeKing’s nonsense?!
— Holy SHIT.
Almond's arrows could reach the knight school’s construction site.
"Of course! The Joseon bow has tremendous range! And he can shoot even further from the wall, right?!"
"Yes, about twenty to thirty percent further."
Kimchi Warrior quickly estimated the distance and slapped his cheeks.
"It really might reach, but the angle is a bit tricky. He has to shoot between the wooden pillars of the construction site..."
Almond didn't give Kimchi Warrior time to finish explaining.
Creak!
From the enemy's wall, he swiftly pulled his bowstring.
Whoosh─
The release happened without a moment's pause.
Bang!
The arrow drew a large parabola in the air. If it hadn't been so silent, viewers wouldn't even have known he shot an arrow.
"─it!"
Thud!
As OrangeKing finished his comment, an arrow pierced a worker's head like a skewer. The arrow perfectly flew past the construction site and struck the worker.
"!"
The thrill of a perfectly shot arrow at almost maximum range made everyone's skin crawl.
"Aaaaaaaah!!" OrangeKing screamed and trembled as if someone had electrocuted him.
"It, it hit! From that distance! At that angle! It perfectly struck the vital spot!"
— Wow.
— Legend...
— For real, that’s insane.
— Did that really hit?
[Knight School]
[Under construction... 17%]
The knight school’s construction suddenly halted.
"The construction of the knight school has stopped! Player Loop needs more workers now!"
— ?
— Player?
— OrangeKing is now officially commentating.
OrangeKing grew heated and commentated as if he was watching an official tournament. He forgot that it was only a ranked match.
Loop sent three more workers and was determined to end the game.
"Three more workers are coming! Three! This shows they really want to end it, right?!"
"Well, with three workers... it would normally take about fifteen seconds..."
"So with three workers..."
At that moment, Almond shot up another arrow.
Whoosh─
Once again, after flying over a long distance, the arrow precisely pierced a worker's head.
Thud!
"Ah, there are only two now! How much time will it take... Nani?!"
OrangeKing's eyes nearly popped out because...
Thud!
Another worker fell.
Almond had shot a double shot at a speed that even the commentators missed.
— Nani? LOL.
— How much time, sir? LOL.
— LOL.
Now, only one worker remained at the knight school’s construction site. The worker deliberately ran between the covers to the knight school.
Shhhh!
"It’s a curve shot!"
Almond's arrow slithered like a snake and hunted down the worker's neck.
Thud!
"He’s fallen! All the additional workers have been annihilated! Who will build the knight school now!?"
The knight school’s construction site remained, but the building’s progress had stopped.
"It's bankrupt! The construction company building the knight school has gone bankrupt! Just like the stocks I bought! It's not rising anymore!"
— LOL.
— Will this really turn the tide?
— Loop, just build the knight school somewhere else!!
"Loop isn’t sending any more workers now. Loop, what's happening?"
"I think he might just accept the loss and stop building the knight school in that location."
"Oh, but the game barely refunds you if you cancel mid-construction, right?"
"Yes, especially buildings. The knight school is also an expensive building... so it’s a big loss."
With tears in his eyes, Loop sent workers to the opposite side to start building a new knight school.
"Another knight school is going up again. What will Almond do? It's completely on the other side."
"He can't interfere with that. Almond has to find another way to inflict damage."
"Right. Delaying the knight school’s construction won't end the game! Something must be done before the knights come out!"
OrangeKing earnestly scoured the enemy base, trying to figure out what Almond could do to win.
Alone in enemy territory, Almond faced numerous guard towers.
OrangeKing became flustered.
"There are just too... too many guard towers? Can he do this?"
No guard towers stood near the wall with Almond, but they densely filled the space between the workers and other key buildings.
"I don't know either, but only Almond can inflict damage on the enemy. The enemy is at their weakest right now when they’ve just advanced to the third era."
Almond started climbing down from the wall.
"Uh?! Almond! Are you going after the workers? What about the guard towers!?"
Over a dozen guard towers lined the path to the workers. Even one was enough to prevent an archer from getting close. Even a first level wooden guard tower would inflict significant damage.
Kimchi Warrior added on about the difficulty of the situation, "Right now, BornToB hasn't upgraded his ranged defense. Getting through the guard towers will be tough. Just three or four hits and you're dead."
"Oh... then getting through all that..."
"Normally, it'd be impossible."
"What do you mean normally?"
Kimchi Warrior left some room for possibilities in his words as if he knew what Almond was about to do.
Shortly afterward...
Tatatatatak!
As if to meet his expectations, Almond started running toward the guard towers at full speed without any hesitation.
"Eh!? He's just running! Without any hesitation!"
He was aiming for the workers chopping wood as the numerous guard towers targeted him.
Bang! Bang!
Arrows poured out from all sides.