Season 2: Chapter 145: Concentration (2)
Almond was quickly being called to the main base. It oddly wasn't the entire squad, but just Almond and maybe one other person who was specifically picked out.
'Why are we being called to the main base?'
Although Almond was following orders, he didn't fully understand the situation. He wasn't anxious, but he was in a position where he needed to prove his worthiness to participate in the national competition. That was the reality.
Frankly, knocking a few people down with a club earlier didn't satisfy his pride. He considered himself an archer, and he was presumably being called here to become an archer. Winning with a bow would satisfy both himself and those who chose him.
However, suddenly being pulled from the front line to the very back felt like being sent to the commander's side instead of earning glory by killing enemies.
Almond couldn't help but ask, "Why are we going right now?"
He asked a comrade who was being dragged along with him. They seemed calm about it as if they knew the reason.
One comrade glanced over with a puzzled look and, realizing it was Almond, turned back to the front.
‘What is with these people? Did they receive orders not to talk to me?’
Almond suppressed the urge to smack them on the head like he did in Zombie School.
'These aren't NPCs.'
Right, he had to keep a calm mind. Then, they calmly arrived at the main base.
Click. Click.
Around Almond, soldiers who seemed to have received the same order lined up. They were all selected elite archers, but Almond couldn't tell just by looking at their faces.
— Oh, the named archers.
— Looks like they're about to get bows!
— ???
— Newbies just watch…
Some viewers who were somewhat familiar with Civil Empire seemed to recognize some IDs. Almond decided not to pay much attention to the chat during the scrim, so he didn't glance their way.
"That's the weapon supply depot," the soldier who answered his earlier question nudged Almond and explained.
Now, he could finally explain properly.
Almond felt a bit guilty about his earlier thoughts.
"If you're within the influence of that building, you can receive weapons anytime."
Weapons?
That means...
Whoosh.
[Short Bow]
A simple looking short bow was handed to Almond.
"Everyone called here has been selected as archers."
Light fell from above Almond and a text appeared.
[Branch Change]
[Barbarian Soldier → Archer]
[You will inflict additional damage to light armored infantry and receive an unlimited supply of arrows.]
[Trait Discovered!]
[Focus: The longer you pull the bowstring, the greater the arrow’s destructive power and range. Up to 3 seconds.]
He had now become an archer.
"We were called here for this. We've chosen a quick second age strategy to maximize the use of archers. The enemy will likely have a much higher weapon supply rate than us."
"… Oh."
Talk of the enemy having more soldiers with weapons didn't resonate with him. The moment Almond held the bow, he was filled with confidence. It was incomparable to when he fought with a club.
Then, the awaited command came.
[Barbarian soldiers from England are attacking the area. The squad is to defend the gold mine in that area!]
As soon as he received the bow, the command came. The mission was simple. Defend the area.
Whoosh!
The specific area was marked with a ping. Simultaneously, his squad assignment changed.
[2]
Apparently, there was no time to decide on a squad name. Their group was simply named 2.
If a squad was formed, there naturally had to be a leader. It wasn't Almond. He was only slightly disappointed by this, acknowledging that he wasn't yet in a position to lead.
Clatter! Clatter!
A figure riding a horse approached, who turned out to be the leader.
[Commander]
[Coffee]
In the national competition, aside from the supreme commander, two commanders directly engaged in combat and command. One of them was Coffee.
Thus, this Squad 2 was directly led by a commander. Commanders were among the first to receive horses, so Coffee was mounted.
He commanded them from on top of his horse.
"Squad! Move!"
Following his command, the soldiers began to run.
***
As they neared the operation area…
"Waaaaaaaah…!"
Shouts could be heard from afar. They had approached the operation area without realizing it.
Rumble, rumble…
Although they weren't mounted, their footsteps echoed like horse hooves. The silhouettes of the Anglo-Saxon warriors with shields became visible against the horizon, shouting as they approached. Many had bushy beards, and some had strange tattoos on their faces.
— Wow, it's really England vs. Korea.
— Amazing.
— So scary.
At that moment, Almond overheard Commander Coffee muttering.
"Damn... we lost the hill."
Losing that hill seemed to put them at a disadvantage. Even to Almond, it seemed obvious.
'It's too far to capture.'
From Korea's perspective, it was too far to attack in an attempt to seize it from the outpost. Perhaps that was why Coffee didn't seem particularly perturbed. He rode his horse through the soldiers and organized their formation.
"Take positions! In a single line!"
He was arranging the most efficient formation for archers to face infantry.
Almond's heart pounded. This was different in scale from when he had been fighting with clubs. This was a battle involving at least twenty people on each side with the enemy equipped with shields and organized formations while his side had bows and arrows.
When the archers lined up in a single row, the enemy began to charge down from the hilltop's peak toward them.
The commander shouted again, "Wait until they're within range!"
That meant they shouldn’t advance until the enemy came to them.
The supreme commander's order was clearly repeated once more.
[Defend the area]
Whoosh!
The marked area was a gold mine where workers busily mined gold. Next to it, workers hastily constructed another building.
[Wooden Defense Tower]
[Under Construction]
[16%]
They had about three or four defense towers. Buying time until these finished seemed to be the squad's goal. The objective was not to attack, but to defend as Coffee reiterated.
***
Coffee glanced back briefly.
'This will be their first battle as archers.'
He was already aware of Almond's reputation, but he chose not to acknowledge it. When new recruits arrived, commanders always observed first. They never interacted or gave their attention. This was the same in all corporations and organizations.
'There's no memory of a newbie being highlighted and it turning out well…'
Of course, Coffee was vaguely aware that Almond wasn't a typical individual. More accurately, he was aware that the public thought so. Everyone here was exceptional. This place was reserved for the top in this game.
Almond had joined them at just A+ rank. It was a bold move from Chi-Seung.
‘It might have been a rash decision.’
Even if Cookie understood that decision, what about the other soldiers? Of course, Chi-Seung hadn’t proceeded with this without some persuasion at least. He showed all of Almond's gameplay videos to the team members. Cookie, the supreme commander, was convinced after seeing them.
However, Coffee was not convinced.
‘Will it really work here?’
Like in LIL, even bronze players could produce super plays in videos. Whether such plays were possible depended on who the opponent was. That was why such super play videos didn't emerge anymore as players moved up to the top ranks because the opponents were also experts.
Coffee smiled bitterly.
‘It's the first match. Let's not take it too seriously.’
Given the opponents they've faced so far, expecting new recruits to satisfy his standards was too cruel.
The standards were different, yet Cookie had passed down instructions to each of the leaders to closely observe the combat abilities of the newcomer.
Rumble, rumble…!
The beast-like soldiers of England approached with louder footsteps. Looking at their numbers, there seemed to be at least forty.
Already, they faced a two-to-one difference in numbers. However, their side was defending and that side was attacking. Moreover, their side had second age weapons and the enemies still had first age weapons. The balance was fairly equal.
Creak…!
One by one, the archers pulled their bowstrings in advance. They seemed to think that the enemy would soon be within range.
The original range of the short bow was very short, but it could shoot as far as a regular bow utilizing the focus trait.
'The longer you pull the bowstring, the further it shoots.'
For this reason, the soldiers had been pulling their bowstrings for a while. Coffee's eyes sparkled.
"Here they come!!!"
After raising his spear high, he swung it down. That was the signal.
'If you shoot now, it'll reach.'
At that moment, the leading senior archer released his bowstring first.
Whooooosh─
Followed by that, all the Korean archers' arrows adorned the sky.
At this moment, Coffee's gaze fell on Almond's bow. The moment he witnessed that legendary bow for the first time…
'?'
His eyes literally turned into question marks.
***
Almond was about to shoot his first arrow in the national competition scrimmage.
At that moment, Chi-Seung was trembling more than Almond himself.
'Please, please let it show properly.'
He was the one who recruited Almond and caused this situation. How many things had happened since integrating him into the national team...
It wasn't easy and it hadn’t been made public. Thanks to Cookie's consideration, Almond even got the chance to participate in the scrimmage despite not yet being qualified.
It was ironic and impossible to expect Almond to perform well in the first match, yet he absolutely had to.
Perhaps Cookie deliberately created this situation. If Almond was really going to enter the national competition as a special case, he had to pass this kind of test.
"Almond is shooting now!" OrangeKing shouted and Chi-Seung could only gulp down his saliva.
"Eh?!"
At that moment, Chi-Seung also sighed.
"Eek!"
Chi-Seung nearly screamed to death for a reason.
Whooooosh…
Among the myriad of arrows adorning the sky, only Almond's arrow...
Thud.
It fell limply halfway through.
"Did I see it wrong?"
He wondered if his eyes were deceiving him. Seeing Almond's extremely puzzled expression confirmed he had seen it correctly.
"Ah."
Chi-Seung immediately understood why.
"He didn't read the focus trait explanation…"
The focus trait was a Korean trait where the longer an archer pulled the bowstring, the more the range and power of the arrow increased. It should have been explained to them when changing weapons for the first time.
Almond seemed to not have read the description. Hence, while the others had been pulling their bowstrings for a while, Almond just pulled and shot directly.
His shot fell significantly short of the range.
— Oh? Let’s endure this. Academic achievement: 0
— No, lol, what's happening? lol
— He didn't read it, huh? lol
— Why do I feel embarrassed? lol
— Almond's expression is so cute lol
— Almond can't focus.