Season 2: Chapter 144: Concentration (1)
The English soldiers were bewildered. Clearly, they had set the trap and the enemy took the bait. One of them even eagerly rushed in while drooling.
"What's with that one!?"
"Beat him to death!"
However, the fish that took the bait was too strong and almost dragged them along with the fishing line. Even more, he was so swift. No matter how they tried to hit him, he always dodged and remained unscathed.
"Ah, no good! Nothing is hitting!"
"What!?"
"Why isn’t anything hitting!"
Things didn't go as planned.
Almond, with his unique torso-twisting motion, dodged all the clubs that swung close to him.
'This is easier than dealing with swords.'
The reason Almond had an advantage in this club fight was simple. Fights with swords or spears involved technical skill, but not clubs. It was just a club.
There were no experts in swinging a club. It was equal for everyone. Against a knight who could freely wield a longsword, he would be disadvantaged the moment they crossed swords. Not in a club fight that was purely physical.
Whoosh!
Swish!
"He dodged again!?"
"Damn...!"
From the English’s perspective, nothing worked no matter what they tried.
Meanwhile, Almond's club struck them.
Thwack!
Like lightning, he stunned an opponent.
'Now, four...'
Almond had knocked down four enemies. This nearly neutralized half of the enemies, securing them a clear advantage.
Sure enough...
Thud.
The last English soldier fell and only two individuals remained standing after this battle.
[Pang]
[Almond]
In this five against ten fight, only two from the side with five members had survived.
Tap.
Pang passed by Almond and patted him on the back.
"Nice."
— Wowow
— He got praised lol
— ???: He said "nice"...
"Now, let's finish off the ones who got knocked out. Just hit hard at their critical spots a few times. They might not die in one hit, so make sure."
"Yes."
They went around hitting each English soldier lying on the ground to eliminate them. Leaving them knocked out would eventually allow them to revive. Killing them ensured permanent damage to the English civilization.
***
OrangeKing shouted with spit flying, "No way! Five of them took down ten!? And two of them even survived!? What is this!?"
Two from the side of five survived in the end, which was exciting.
— Really, they caught them all?
— Wow
— Did England pay you? Lol
The viewers were also surprised by the battle.
Kimchi Warrior acknowledged it, "This feels pretty good."
OrangeKing pressed further and asked, "Kimchi Warrior, is this common?"
"No. Of course, numbers are usually the key in club fights... but results like this happen sometimes when there are incredible physical folks involved. This time, that physical powerhouse was of course..."
"Almond, right!?"
"Yes. Pang seems to lean more toward the sensory type and it seems like Almond was placed in this scouting party for his physical capabilities."
"Ah, so you consider those aspects when forming scouting parties?"
"Yes, to some extent."
"Ah..."
"But, I think in terms of sensory abilities, England was better. They knew first how many of our scouts were nearby and prepared this trap."
"No way. They catch all that just by the sound of footsteps?"
"In the game, it's possible. Plus, these folks are all S+ veterans. There's a range of skills even within S+, and these are among the top."
In virtual reality, sensory capabilities like hearing or feeling varied from person to person. Those who specialized solely in these sensory capabilities had a significant presence in virtual spaces. Normally, these individuals were utilized as guides in Civil Empire to significantly reduce the risks in scouting.
Even among S+ ranks, top-tier guides could pull off plays like England just did.
"Wow. Well, that makes sense, doesn't it? The top amateurs from each country are coming! Is there a ranking system within S+? There was one in LIL, which I used to play."
"Hmm... There's nothing official, but we sort of informally divide it into S+++, S++, etc. We refer to these as three-star, two-star, and so on."
"Ah, one-star, two-star... that's a PTSD inducing system."
"Because of the military?"
"Yes. Well. Calling it SSS grade would be a bit..."
— lol military ranking
— SSS grade would make me want to kill myself lol
— lol
"So the guide handling the scouting for England just now, should we consider them a three-star?"
"Yes, they seem to be about that level. Pang is a two-star, it seems. They appear to be quite a perceptive player."
"Wow. But then! Why does it matter!?"
"Yes?"
OrangeKing suddenly zoomed his face into the camera.
"What's the use of knowing in advance~~ Just beat them all to death~~~!"
— lol madness;
— The camera frame can't even fit his face lol
— You startled me
"Anyway, thanks to the performance of Almond's scouting team, Korea is a bit... ah."
OrangeKing stopped because the situation wasn't the same for the other scouting teams.
"Wait a minute! Why does the population count look like this!"
[England]
[179/200]
[Korea]
[112/200]
— OMG
— Really??
— Wow
"Now, the replay is coming up."
The replay showed the same trick England used before, sending four members first and then having six rush in later. It was exactly the same, just not against Almond and Pang.
"Ah... so it wasn't that an English scout had better senses... They planned this from the start!?"
England pulled this strategy off across the entire map. The very act of grouping ten members for scouting was for this purpose.
"Ah. Other scouting teams got caught in this trap. Only one out of forty scouting teams won their fight like Almond's team did?"
"Yes... it's unavoidable."
"Wow! The national competition is ruthless!"
While OrangeKing seemed fascinated, Kimchi Warrior began to feel a headache.
'What's this?'
It wasn’t because the enemy’s tactic was so effective that it gave him a headache. Why would they show such an effective tactic now in a practice game?
'What are they doing in a scrimmage? Is this tactic supposed to be nothing?'
It was uncommon to reveal such a perfect sniping tactic in a practice game. They would just end up exposing their own strategy.
Today's scrimmage was open to the public and other teams could also watch. Thus, Cookie and the think tank team had discussed using strategies as normal as possible that could still gather data.
The goal was to gather stable data on the enemy soldiers by causing frequent battles without using any unique tactics that could surprise the opponent.
'Or is their goal to deliberately expose it?'
England could have intended to show off this strategy from the start. By exposing this strategy, they could anticipate how the opponent would prepare countermeasures and prepare their own counter to those countermeasures.
'That's too blatant.'
Using such psychological warfare in the first scrimmage was too obvious. Their intentions would be quickly seen through. Perhaps they wanted to make it seem too obvious, leading others to think that wasn’t the case.
As Chi-Seung's thoughts kept flipping back and forth, his head began to throb. Already, the fact that his thoughts extended this far meant that the opponent's psychological warfare had worked.
"... Chi, Mr. Chi! Kimchi!"
OrangeKing's voice, which had momentarily faded out, sharply came through again.
"Kimchi!"
"Yes."
"No! I thought you had logged out. What do you make of this situation?"
'What? Did that much time pass?'
Chi-Seung looked at his watch. It seemed he had been silent for about three minutes.
"Ah... sorry. The current situation is..."
He glanced over the map.
"Since England won the scouting battle... they'll now build outposts here and continue to expand their territory."
Chi-Seung drew a virtual line across the map. The land on Korea's side was significantly smaller.
"Is this disadvantageous?"
"It's about three to seven in terms of disadvantage."
"Ah..."
The game grew disadvantageous in proportion to the size of the land. As England sought to secure territory, the situation rapidly steepened.
"The infamous shields are starting to appear!"
The resource gap widened. Most of England's soldiers began to arm themselves with shields. From then on, it was impossible for Korea to outright win against England in a frontal battle.
"Shield soldiers are specially designed for this kind of area defense. Setting up a shield wall and pushing forward is also very oppressive."
In an area highlighted by the camera, England's soldiers could be seen waiting behind a shield wall. Long spears held by spear soldiers peered through the gaps in the shield wall, making it nearly impossible to penetrate them with close-range weapons alone.
"This faction is highly specialized in defense, and it's a great faction that doesn't fall behind in offense either."
"But, Cookie is ordering them to fight here?"
“Woooooah!”
Despite seeing the shield wall, Korean soldiers charged forward.
'This is for data.'
Chi-Seung knew Cookie intended to unfold as many battles as possible to see what outcomes arose in which situations.
If they didn’t fight because the opponent had shields, it would be hard to know where the limits were in such fights.
— What's this ???
— Just crashing in
— This is the top commander in the country???
— Wow
However, most viewers couldn't understand. Countless failures and data accumulation were necessary for success. Most people wouldn’t understand, or rather, they would never even feel that need. That was why only a few ever succeeded.
"Ah! The battle's lost, isn't it!? But it seems like they took down about ten enemies! Aren’t they taking too much damage like this!?"
Chi-Seung held back his words. After all, Cookie had his own intentions and the public perceived it differently.
Meanwhile, OrangeKing kept lamenting.
"Ah......! Ahhh!! I feel like I'm dying!"
"..."
"Ah! Ahh! Long live the independence of Korea!"
Around the time OrangeKing finished his three cheers for independence, all the Korean soldiers had died.
When about a third of the shield wall had crumbled, Chi-Seung saw significance in the fact that a third of the shield wall had been destroyed.
'We still did this much damage despite the power gap?'
Indeed, the physical capabilities of the national team had significantly leveled up.
He could see why Cookie considered this tournament their greatest opportunity. Like plants that grew stronger roots in harsh soil, Korea's disadvantageous faction made its soldiers stronger. Eventually, the soldiers would become strong enough to overcome the faction's disadvantages.
Cookie thought this year would be the starting point.
Surprisingly, OrangeKing also said something similar.
"Kimchi! Honestly, it's not because I'm Korean, but I think our soldiers fight better! Would it be better if we had bows here?!"
Chi-Seung was inwardly surprised.
OrangeKing was indeed a professional among professionals. He had managed to discern this. Or was it just a casual remark?
"Yes, if bows come into play... it would be better."
"Better how?"
"Well, England has longbowmen coming up. And until the third age when crossbows appear, longbows actually have the longest range in this game."
"… Ah."
— Damn
— That's too much
— I'm not playing! Not playing!
— That's why I don't play lol
— That would be real hell for Korea...
— Crossbows are the only hope
"However, that's just the specs of the bow. Among the second age factions of Korea, there's one called Focus."
"Focus?"
"Yes. The longer you pull the bowstring, the farther and more powerful the arrow flies. If used well, even second age shortbows can somewhat counter longbowmen."
"Ah… but that would mean a slower rate of fire since it takes longer to pull."
"Yes. That's a drawback, but being able to counter second age longbows is encouraging. And once crossbows come out, there's no comparison with longbows. Personally, I think this is the second best faction in Korea."
"Second? Then the first..."
While speaking, the Korean civilization advanced to the second age.
"Woah! Korea has moved to the second age first! No, how did this happen?!" OrangeKing exclaimed in surprise, clearly pleased.
After all, he thought Korea was at a significant disadvantage. Somehow, they moved to the second age first.
Chi-Seung thought differently.
'It's not something to be happy about.'
This was merely a different focus in strategy. The enemy focused on efficient first age mass production and would eventually move to the second age to attack the weakened Korea.
It was a choice between development and attack.
Joseon chose development, which wasn't a favorable situation. However, there was something to look forward to.
"Some soldiers are returning to the main base! This is…!"
That meant Korean archers were coming out.
"Yes. Now they're giving them bows and changing to an archer unit!"
Among the soldiers called back for the transition to archers, one familiar name appeared.
[Almond]