Season 2: Chapter 131. The Return of the Elite Four (2)
"Ah! The moment I mention it! Almond has appeared!"
The first archer from BornToB's camp appeared.
[Archer - Almond]
The archer's name was, of course, Almond. It was the name that always brought victory to BornToB.
— Just seeing his name makes me feel secure
— We've already won!
— But even alone, he can't overcome the wall, LOL
It took four minutes and fifty seconds after the game started for Almond to appear, which was faster than the average time.
"This time is also quite fast, right?! It's an entire three seconds faster than the average time! Despite the psychological warfare, it got even faster!"
— Hahahaha
— ??? Psychological warfare I don’t understand only makes me stronger
— BornToB is hard carrying the game
As soon as Almond appeared, he immediately ran toward the enemy base. This usually marked the end of most games.
"But!"
Brr was different and didn’t invest much in the psychological warfare. His mindset was that it would be good if it worked, but fine if it didn't.
He was fully aware that Almond would appear around this time.
"There's a wall! A wall has been prepared beforehand! It's ready right on time!"
Brr seemed to have referenced the match between Loop and BornToB. Loop managed to buy quite a bit of time by building a wall and nearly cornered BornToB. It was worth referencing.
"Ah. Is Almond confused again?"
Just like during the battle with Loop, Almond scratched his head after seeing the wall. His confusion didn't last long and he immediately started taking action.
"He's not just standing there dumbfounded like last time!"
"Yes. That's why experience is important."
Almond started circling along the wall. Sometimes, there could be a gap because the wall was wrongly built or not yet completely built.
"Ah. There's no gap. Brr prepared for this a long time ago!"
However, no gap could be found and no half-built walls remained.
Brr had been preparing this wall from the beginning, but Almond didn't panic and moved on to the next step.
He briefly stood there and requested something from BornToB.
"Ah. While I'm mentioning it! Almond has been given another armband?"
BornToB appointed Almond as the leader of the archer unit. Now, Almond had been granted on-field command.
"They seem to have decided to go for the pyramid strategy."
This was so Almond could command the soldiers to form a human pyramid. They planned to use the same tactic they used against Loop.
"It's not really a good tactic."
Kimchi Warrior's words were right. It was absolutely not a normal tactic. The number of people who could get over was very limited because of the unstable human pyramid.
According to Kimchi Warrior, they still went with this strategy for a reason.
"It must be because they've won with this before and want to have some fun with it."
The basis for BornToB and Almond's decision was their past victory with it. However, in this case, it could be a poison instead.
"A tactic that relies on an individual's super play won't necessarily work again. You can't expect that person to keep making those super plays. Honestly, it's not a good decision as a commander."
Relying on just one person to infiltrate the enemy base and massacre the workers was unrealistic. It was like entrusting the fate of the war to just one person.
However, Kimchi Warrior also discussed another perspective.
"Of course, another thing to consider is that the individual is Almond. Utilizing an excellent soldier with a strategy that suits them is also a virtue of the commander."
Kimchi Warrior evaluated that for BornToB, this could be the best strategy at the moment.
— Just summoning Almond is the only strategy needed
— BornToBe...
— ??? Help, Almond!!!
One choice could lead to drastically different outcomes.
"Wait, what are you doing KimchiWarrior?!"
"Commanding is always difficult. No one knows what results a choice will lead to."
"As I was saying! The pyramid is going up now!"
As OrangeKing said, soldiers began to lie down for Almond.
"Wow, they're not making a calculation mistake this time? It seems like they're going up smoothly all at once."
When the pyramid was halfway done...
"Uh?"
OrangeKing noticed some unusual movement from the enemy base.
"What, what's that?"
Suddenly, workers swarmed toward the wall where Almond was.
"No, they brought almost half of the workers?!"
Around thirty workers lined up toward the wall Almond was climbing. Even Kimchi Warrior seemed puzzled.
"What is that? I don't know either."
The workers stopped at a certain spot and a wall began to rise.
[Wooden Wall]
[Under Construction]
[12%]
Thunk! Thunk!
The large number of workers quickly erected more walls.
"Ah..." Kimchi Warrior sighed and realized what was happening.
"Eh?!"
OrangeKing couldn't hide his astonishment.
"This, this... Does Almond know?! What about BornToB?!"
"Both of them don't have any visibility on this. It's inside the enemy base."
"This, this could be..."
Almond was earnestly climbing the human pyramid they just completed, completely unaware of the situation.
Thunk! Thunk!
The workers built more walls faster than Almond could climb the first wall. They already completed the next walls by the time Almond finally climbed over the first one.
"Does he see it now?!"
"Ah... The tricky part is that he still doesn’t have enough visibility from the top of that wall!"
Almond looked down at the enemy base but couldn't see the enemy's strategy. The newly completed walls were out of sight.
"It's an unexplored area."
"Ah. BornToB and Almond don't know!"
Almond slowly descended the stairs. Strangely, not a single soldier guarded the wall. Since it was the same as last time, he didn't harbor any particular suspicions.
By the time Almond descended the stairs, he still hadn't seen the new walls. He carefully stepped forward to catch the workers. Just as the darkness before him was about to lift...
“Huh?”
Almond looked up with a dazed expression, realizing that some of the darkness didn't dissipate no matter how close he got. It was the shadow of another wall.
‘What's this?’
Even though he had climbed over a wall, another wall blocked him.
"Ah...! It's a trap!"
At first, he thought he had encountered a bent wall. He followed that wall all the way around. After a while, he found himself back where he started. He was trapped.
"Almond has become trapped, hasn't he?!"
— Wow
— Wow, they're doing all this just for one Almond??
— So blatantly stream sniping
A U-shaped wall had been added on top of the original wall like a hump. These walls had neither doors nor stairs and were built solely to trap Almond.
"Sigh," Almond sighed as if he couldn't believe it.
Then, he immediately turned around and ran. He tried to climb back up the stairs he came down from.
However, Brr had prepared for that too. Suddenly, a soldier appeared on the wall and slashed down with a sword.
Thump!
The rope was cut. The staircase made of ropes and wooden planks fell like dominoes.
Boom!
"Ah! What's with the stairs!?"
"It's an original feature. It's used to prevent the enemy from using your walls when they capture your base..."
When the enemy captured a base, the design allowed stairs to be cut off to prevent the use of the wall. This function was used in such a way.
"Now he's really trapped! How could this happen!? Was this prepared by Brr!?"
"It seems Brr prepared for Almond and expected him to come over first."
This was a blatant stream sniping situation.
OrangeKing didn't hide it anymore.
"Ah! The stream sniper is making the ultimate play! Using thirty workers and a wall soldier just to capture a single archer!!"
— Stream sniper play at its best lolol
— That’s doing too much haha
— Is this a raid?
OrangeKing mocked the enemy, but their tactics had worked. Almond was trapped, which dealt a huge blow to BornToB.
"Is Almond some giant?! Isn't this too much?!"
— They’re really focused on Almond LOL
— The enemy is really trying to win
— This is just ridiculous
Almond started to climb the wall using his emergency dagger, but it wasn't long before the dagger couldn’t bear his weight and broke.
"Ah... I can't get out, can I?"
Meanwhile, Brr had already sent out the cavalry he recruited.
Dudududu...!
"Wait a minute?! Brr's cavalry is exiting the gate and charging toward the human pyramid! They're almost there!"
Boom!
The sudden appearance of the second era cavalry caught the archers off guard and swept them away.
"Their lances aren't upgraded and they haven’t built a stable in the second era yet! So many cavalry units were summoned!? Stream sniper, you're truly impressive!"
— So casually calling him a stream sniper hahaha
— Impressive my foot, LOL
— Yay! Stream sniping is a skill too!
If the second era cavalry’s horses died, they would immediately become infantry because there were no stables to replenish horses. Without a stable, horses couldn’t be replenished.
Also, they couldn’t perform a lance charge and stab with lances because lance upgrades were still unavailable.
The advantage of second era cavalry was just being fast and strong against archers. Compared to their price, they were too expensive. The third era was usually considered the standard for cavalry.
However, Brr chose to use second era cavalry because it was the optimal choice in that situation.
Slash!
As the cavalry rode through the archers and swung their swords, the archers fell one after another.
The cavalry annihilated the archers near the wall and began racing toward BornToB's base.
The base was in danger. BornToB hastily built a defense tower and stopped sending archers to Brr's base. He positioned them near the town hall and built a spearmen training center.
"Good job, BornToB. You're responding well, aren't you? The enemy is coming with cavalry, so you're planning to block them with spearmen!"
BornToB was doing his best to prepare, but...
Originally, BornToB was just an ordinary B rank commander without Almond.
"Can this really be blocked!? The spearmen training center is just being built!!!"
"Ah... I don't know. We have to wait and see. He's done everything he can! And BornToB is quite good at combat command for a B rank! However..."
Kimchi Warrior was also viewing the situation pessimistically. It was true that BornToB had shown special skills in combat.
'But without Almond...'
Almond wasn't part of that army. Could BornToB still demonstrate enough combat prowess despite that? It was uncertain.
"Almond! Isn't there any way!? We need Almond!"
If only Almond could somehow get out, there would be a way.
The camera, seemingly aware of the situation, zoomed in on Almond still trapped.
"He's still trapped! It just can't be done!"
The camera zoomed in a bit more.
"Wait, what? He's aiming his bow up!?"
Almond was indeed aiming his bow toward the sky.
"What's he planning? Is Almond sending some kind of signal?"
Shortly afterward, he released the bowstring.
Whoosh!
An arrow shot straight up at a 90-degree angle and quickly descended.
"Huh?"
Almond took off his helmet and spread his arms wide.
OrangeKing's expression grew increasingly perplexed.
"???"
Then—
The arrow accurately struck Almond's head.
Thunk!
He died just like that.
"!?"
A moment of silence followed.
OrangeKing didn't understand what had happened, but Almond's viewers already realized what was going on.
— What's this? Did someone donate a million won?
— Why the sudden donation reaction?
— A classic reaction
Indeed, Almond couldn’t find a way out and chose to die. He forfeited the value of his weapons and armor in exchange.
Now that OrangeKing understood the situation, he frantically hit his head.
Whirrr!
The propeller spun wildly.
"Yeah, trap me again!!"
He imitated Almond, spreading his arms and shouting.
"Suicide and it's all over~~~!!"
— This is what you get, LOL
— How did this happen??!
— ??? With a bow and arrow, I can go anywhere (including heaven)
— Why is this happening? LOL
— Suicide Squad (literally)
A few minutes later, Almond was summoned as a different unit type.