Season 2: Chapter 122: Distraction Influence (4)
Almond didn't plan to kill a soldier in the tower. His priority had been to defend their gold mine at the 1 o'clock position, which was under threat. Almond knew this.
He initially planned to defend the 1 o'clock position. A forest path obstructed that area and promised significant advantages even if he fought against multiple enemies.
However…
“Almond, please defend the gold mine at 1 o'clock! You can block them in the forest!”
Strangely enough, Almond started doubting this strategy’s reliability when BornToB suggested it.
BornToB had no conviction in his voice and Almond didn’t trust him due to his previous actions.
‘Is there another way?’
Almond naturally started looking around for a better strategy. While staring intently at the tower…
‘Huh?’
He noticed something different than before.
‘Someone's moving inside.’
He spotted movements inside the tower. Obviously, the tower's attack method involved soldiers shooting arrows from inside. However, something felt off.
‘Was it like this before?’
Seeing movement inside the tower felt new for him. He had only seen cases where AI workers were inside and not actual soldiers.
‘So it's different when there's a person inside.’
AIs positioned themselves perfectly and didn't move, but actual players were different. They exposed their upper bodies a lot while aiming and shooting. Such vulnerabilities could be exploited.
‘It might work if I can pull it off.’
It seemed possible to accurately hit them.
He conveyed his opinion to BornToB, “I think I can neutralize the tower.”
“What?”
Neutralizing the tower and reclaiming the original 7 o'clock gold mine was a much better strategy than going to defend the 1 o'clock one. The best defense was offense.
“Bring all those workers here.”
Almond would neutralize the two towers while BornToB ordered the workers he initially sent to the 1 o'clock position to return to the 7 o'clock position. Once the workers arrived, they could resume mining gold as if nothing happened.
The enemy forces who went to the 1 o'clock position would find nothing.
After a moment of hesitation, BornToB agreed with Almond's plan.
“Alright, I understand!”
— Who's the commander here? LOL
— The world turned upside down LOL
— BornToB, play your own Civil Empire game!
— Everyone shut up! Almond is on a mission for a high speed walnut spin!
— Resurrection of the Invincible Nut!?
The workers at the 1 o'clock gold mine started moving en masse.
Almond also approached the tower.
***
The beginning of their plan succeeded.
"Raynamu Helicopter!" OrangeKing shouted after Almond killed an enemy inside the tower.
The enemy fell with just one shot.
"One shot! One kill! Almond handled it with just one shot!!"
— Damn!
— Insane;
— Even Doraemon would bow down to this
— All toast and burnt;
— Wow LOL
"Was it a fluke!? How is this even possible? What chilling accuracy!"
No one knew whether it was luck or skill. That didn't matter.
Most importantly, Almond knew it was possible now. He felt a surge of confidence while the enemy lost their morale.
“Hey! The enemy is hiding.”
“Yes, the remaining soldier in the tower is lying flat on the ground.”
The soldier lay flat on the ground despite being in the tower and avoided fighting.
The towers had two soldiers each.
[Defense Tower]
[1/5]
The only one left in that tower lost the will to fight. No more arrows came from the tower despite someone still being inside. Almond practically neutralized the threat already.
“Aah! Despite being inside the tower, the enemy is hiding and not shooting properly! This isn't a defense tower anymore! It's a defense bottom!!!”
“Pfft!” Kimchi Warrior had been taking a breather and burst out laughing.
— LOL
— What a role reversal
— Why does Kimchi like this so much? LOL
— Why call it a tower? It should be a “bottom.”
— Could this turn out even better?
Kimchi Warrior held his breath for a while before commentating again, “Well, let me explain why the opponent decided to hide without attacking anymore. It's a common occurrence.”
“It is?”
“Yes, this is characteristic of mercenaries who receive low wages.”
— Minimum wage mercenaries
— Mercenaries on welfare
— Ah, so it's about the money.
The enemy wasn't hiding out of fear of Almond. There was no real fear of dying in the game. He was afraid of losing money.
“This game has a system where you are less likely to profit the less you get paid. Weapons cost a minimum of 0.5 gold, and you need to invest at least one gold to stand a chance in combat. In most cases, it’s a break-even situation with many casualties.”
“Aha…”
“For instance, basic spearmen cost one gold. They only profit if they don't die or win the game.”
“So they chose not to lose their weapons even if they lose the game!?”
The basic spearman with the lowest wages chose to hide rather than die even if it meant losing the game.
“Yes, they can avoid a monetary loss as long as they stay alive.”
“Wow! A battlefield driven by harsh market economics! It's just like watching my wife!”
“…?”
“Oops…”
— ??
— LOL
— Might need to edit this part out
— Over here! Here!
Thump!
OrangeKing struck the table to change the topic.
“Almond isn’t content with turning one tower into a defense bottom. He’s now heading to capture the other tower!”
The enemy had two defense towers. Almond approached the second one after neutralizing the first.
He aimed much faster this time and fired an arrow.
Fwing!
The arrow flew high up and accurately struck the soldier leaning out to aim at Almond.
Thwack!
A screw nail arrow pierced deeply into the soldier’s eye.
“The soldier got hit! Almond hit the mark again! That soldier probably had no idea Almond was targeting him.”
“Yes, those soldiers can't communicate with the ones from the first tower. After all, this is medieval warfare.”
— That medieval feeling
— What a savage battle, LOL
— Wow, he definitely didn't see that coming.
“Ah!?”
The soldier’s slumped upper body hung over the railing and the bow he was about to shoot helplessly fell outside the tower. The soldier had died just like that.
[Wooden Defense Tower]
[1/5]
The number displayed on the tower changed.
“And he died!? Again, Almond killed an enemy with just one shot!”
Almond repeated the same result as before and successfully killed an enemy with a single shot. However, the other soldier in the tower reacted differently this time.
Creeeek.
He immediately shot an arrow at Almond.
"Ah! This time, the other soldier doesn't flinch despite their minimum wage! He’s a real soldier. That's it!"
Almond also shot an arrow back at him.
Fwip─
"Both of them shot at each other!"
Their arrows crossed. Although they shot almost at the same time, the enemy was at a much higher position. It wasn’t easy for the soldier to shoot accurately from this distance. His arrow missed pathetically.
Of course, it was a different story for Almond.
Thwack!
An arrow pierced the center of the enemy’s forehead and the number displayed on the tower changed again.
[Wooden Defense Tower]
[0/5]
The tower was now empty.
OrangeKing screamed, "No! Again! Another one shot kill! Is this not a coincidence?! Kimchi Warrior, what is this!? Have you ever seen this before!?"
OrangeKing almost grabbed Kimchi Warrior by the collar.
"The Arabs, Persians, Turkish, and Mongolians! Do they do this kind of thing!?"
— Such fierce determination LOL
— Why is he spinning the propeller on his head? LOL
— So scary LOL
Kimchi Warrior slightly backed away and replied, "Ah... I haven't seen this before either. It’s usually workers in towers. Since workers are AI, they perfectly position themselves with no chance of getting hit."
"Ah, so that’s it?"
"Putting spearmen in the towers was the problem. Still, it's unbelievable that Almond could hit them."
"Exactly! And he struck their vital spots too!"
"Yes. Although only their heads and upper chest are visible, Almond makes it seem like anywhere is a vital spot... It's impressive!"
— Just admit Almond is awesome!
— Someone give a shoutout to Korea’s archery LOL
— It’s like Kimchi is hurriedly unwrapping a package LOL
OrangeKing seemed satisfied with the answer and refocused on the game.
"What about the spearman who hid in the tower? Will he just keep hiding?"
"Ah... Probably?"
"How will Almond deal with this? Will he go into the tower?"
"Well... getting that close to a spearman is quite disadvantageous... If he climbs up, wouldn't the spearman be prepared to attack him?"
"Right. Oh, the workers have returned as we speak! They've returned to reclaim their homeland!"
One soldier still remained in one of the towers. The workers that BornToB evacuated earlier in the game returned to the gold mine.
Meanwhile, the spearmen squad that Ak47 dispatched stood dumbfounded and made no progress.
"AK47's spearmen battalion raided the gold mine at 1 o'clock, but nobody’s there! Everyone’s already gone back!"
— LOL empty house LOL
— That’s so ridiculous LOL
— Wow, their strategy was brilliant;
The spearmen searched around the gold mine, but couldn't even find a shadow.
Kimchi Warrior commented on the current situation, "Ah, this isn’t just a matter of missing the target. It's a considerable blow to their trust in their commander."
"Trust?"
"Yes, each unit is an actual player in this game. When an operation fails like this, those players lose trust in their commander. That's not good for anyone."
"Ah! That makes sense! I've experienced that a lot too. When the commander kept failing, I just didn't want to do anything anymore and got quickly annoyed!"
Unlike other RTS games, the cooperation of soldiers was also a resource. If commanders kept failing, some soldiers wouldn’t follow orders anymore even if it meant they would suffer a handicap. This could disrupt the progress of the game.
"Ah!? As if to add insult to the injury for AK47!"
OrangeKing pointed somewhere on the screen and made a fuss.
"The flag on the tower has changed!? How can this be!? The tower is no longer AK47's!"
The camera zoomed in on one of the towers to clearly show it. The flag that was there had changed to the blue color representing BornToB's camp. Their side had taken over one of the enemy towers.
"Ah! Has the tower also fallen in love with Almond!?"
— As they say, it’s made of Raina wood~~ Please take down the post~~
— Bottom level defense LOL
— Another one bites the dust…
OrangeKing's words were spot on. The tower hadn't really fallen in love with Almond.
"Ah, this is because the tower is empty. If an enemy enters, it becomes temporarily occupied again. It can be used as a building like this even by opposing sides."
"Forever!?"
"No, only temporarily. It’ll change back if you leave and it becomes empty again."
Such a scene commonly occurred in Civil Empire. An enemy could temporarily occupy an empty defense building.
It seemed like someone else hadn't noticed this fact.
"Ah!? Wait a minute! The soldier in the other tower doesn’t know about this yet!"
The soldier who was hiding from Almond stuck his head out of the tower to shoot at BornToB's returning workers.
"It looks like he's targeting BornToB's workers who just started mining again! But he doesn't know where Almond is! Almond is on the tower behind him!"
The soldier found the will to play again, but his timing was off.
Almond watched the scene from the opposite tower.
Shhhhhh─
An arrow made a snake-like sound and pierced the back of the soldier’s neck.
Pshht!
Blood sprayed as he collapsed.
"Ah! He's dead! Both wooden defense towers are now completely empty!"
With this, both of the wooden defense towers that AK47 built became empty.
"BornToB is taking advantage of this moment and putting his newly produced archers in the towers!"
Both towers became BornToB's properties.
"These towers have essentially become protectors of the gold mine."
Kimchi Warrior threw in a meaningful comment, "The game was previously seven to three in favor of AK47. Now, it’s six to four."
"Eh? It only decreased by that much?"
"It’s six to four in favor of BornToB."
For the first time since the game started, Kimchi Warrior stated that BornToB had the advantage.
— Wow, what a turnaround!
— Really?
— Didn't see that coming.
Kimchi Warrior could see countless messages popping up in the chat from the corner of his eye. He glimpsed at the content and the corners of his mouth rose.