Season 2: Chapter 146: Concentration (3)
Chi-Seung's face turned pale.
‘I see. He just shot in sync with the command.’
Almond simply shot in sync with the commander's command. After all, it was his first time handling a Korean short bow, so he left his judgment to the commander.
"Almond seems really flustered, doesn't he?"
Hearing OrangeKing's remark and looking at Almond's expression, it was indeed true. Chi-Seung had never seen Almond make such a face in rank matches, but it seemed OrangeKing had seen it once.
"As far as I know, except for the restroom crisis in Zombie School, he's never been this flustered!"
— How do you know that?
— Shy nut OrangeKing…
— What's that?
— Ah, that's… lol
"Almond making such a mistake must be because the national competition is so nerve-wracking!"
— It's not a mistake, he just doesn't read explanations…
— True man special: Doesn't read more than 3 letters.
— Our child doesn't know how to focus! How shall we solve this!?
While OrangeKing casually referred to it as a mistake, Chi-Seung didn't think so. It wasn't appropriate to say Almond made a mistake. He was unaware of the trait.
Thinking about it, he couldn't have known.
‘The gap…’
That was the problem. Nerd otakus like them were the problem.
‘I thought too much from the perspective of a Civil Empire veteran.’
Chi-Seung kept telling himself to think from the perspective of the general public, but that never worked. He furrowed his brows and held his forehead. Then, he sighed and joined the commentary.
"It's hard to call it a mistake."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. This is my negligence. In the national competition server, skill descriptions are really small and pass by quickly."
"Ah…"
"Because it's a competition played by experts... It's not even considered necessary. I should have conveyed these essential skill tips to him. From my perspective, such skills were too obvious…"
Chi-Seung's advice to Almond in preparation for the national competition had been more about organization and teamwork.
"In a way, it's my fault," sighed Chi-Seung.
"Ah… So, it's highly likely he won't know for the rest of this match?!"
"Yes… He probably needs to figure it out."
"Ah. He's feeling something is strange right now and is testing it out by shooting another arrow into the air."
Whoosh…
Almond seemed to think there was something wrong with only his bow and shot another arrow into the air, suspecting a bug.
Since arrows were unlimited, it didn't matter.
"Is this okay?"
"It doesn't matter if he doesn't know! If he just shoots, it'll just be at the default range of a short bow. It won't be a big deal for Almond!"
From Almond's perspective, it didn’t matter. However, Commander Coffee was glaring with fierce eyes in the front.
Coffee's face looked even scarier than the fierce shouting of the English warriors.
Chi-Seung instinctively squinted his eyes.
"Ah… How could this be?"
He couldn't bear to watch this spectacle.
What would Coffee think of this? Chi-Seung could roughly guess. In Coffee's eyes, Almond was already a quirky novice causing a scene.
***
Question marks were the only thing that appeared on Coffee's face when Almond first missed.
"… Is he joking?"
The sight of Almond shooting arrows into the air looked like antics to anyone. It could even be misunderstood as playing a joke, which would be inexcusable.
Coffee also knew how Almond showcased shooting arrows straight up as a typical streamer reaction to kill himself.
"Could he be streaming?"
For Coffee, who had never dealt with big name streamers, he wondered if Almond was still concerned about his stream at this moment.
Coffee had all sorts of thoughts. Given his usual personality, he wanted to go up to Almond and say, "Just because you're good at LIL doesn't mean you'll be good at this."
However...
"No, Cookie said to leave him be as much as possible."
Leaving Almond be was one of the rather important commands given to the commanders in this scrim.
Cookie was a commander who valued gathering pure data quite a bit.
Meanwhile, Almond was almost finished with his testing.
"The range... should be about here."
He definitely realized that the range of his bow was shorter than that of the other Korean archers. He didn’t know about the focus trait because he didn't pull the bowstring for long as he quickly tested it.
"Hmm…"
He wondered if he missed something, so he glanced at the chat. Unfortunately, only comments laughing at him appeared at that moment. He had no time to scroll back and forth looking for answers.
Right in front of him was a heap of English barbarian warriors. Figuring out the bow's range before their axes or spears could reach his neck was highly unlikely.
Even as arrows rained down, most of the warriors didn’t die.
Whoosh…!
Their shields blocked all the arrows.
"Those shields... no, it’s a shield dome..."
The enemies formed a dome with their shields to defend from all sides. It was an application of the shield wall formation.
"How do we break through that?"
Almond pondered for a moment.
"Ah."
A good idea occurred to him.
"Well, I have to go forward anyway."
Despite being an archer, he began to rush forward.
***
Meanwhile, Coffee was trying his best to erase everything about Almond from his mind. He had to focus on this battle. His pride was somewhat hurt, but streamers were just attention seekers after all.
Almond probably thought such antics were fun.
Coffee bit his lip.
"You think this is just for fun..."
The national competition couldn't be dismissed as merely fun, at least not for him. While not everyone could empathize with his values, he expected respect and not ridicule like this.
He turned his gaze back to the English barbarian warriors.
Click. Click.
They were advancing step by step, shielded on all sides.
"Shield dome formation..."
At first glance, it seemed impossible to penetrate this formation with arrows. If this were reality, they wouldn't have dared to shoot the arrows, considering them too precious. Fortunately, they could continue shooting arrows to at least slow down the enemy's advance.
It bought the commander time to think.
"I'll go back and break it down with my body."
Arrows couldn’t penetrate it. Then, the conclusion was clear.
"Hyaah!"
He began to ride his horse. Being the commander, he was the only one on horseback. Who else would do it? Cookie probably considered this when placing him here.
The commanders had bonuses in defense and health.
Coffee was convinced that he was the best for this role. Even if the Korean players experienced a momentary absence of a commander, they would quickly adapt to another commander and continue the fight.
The horse galloped furiously through the shower of arrows.
"I will break through the shield wall!" he proclaimed loudly.
The numerous arrows being shot started to change their path. As if there was an invisible path, the arrows flew while avoiding the commander.
Such teamwork couldn't come from just mere training, but one player broke this perfect teamwork.
"?"
Surprisingly, this player not only broke out of the archer formation but also started running forward like a madman.
Coffee's eyes widened. It was Almond.
"What is he doing…?"
Coffee, unaware of Almond not knowing how to increase his range and thus having to move forward, wondered if he needed to issue a separate order.
If he ran without syncing with his allies, he could end up as a porcupine from friendly fire. The allied archers hadn't expected Almond to burst out like that. Indeed, it was questionable whether the archers would bother changing their arrow paths just for one newbie who suddenly charged forward.
"Damn."
Now was not the time to worry about others.
"The commander is here!"
The English soldiers brightened at the sight of Coffee. Spears protruded between the gaps in the shield dome like a porcupine.
Coffee had to change his path. Charging there would only end up getting him impaled without destroying their formation.
"Hyaaah!"
Even if he were to die, it had to mean something as the commander. He circled near the shield dome and raised his spear. The rear had to be empty.
"He’s striking from the rear."
If he entered from the rear of the shield wall and disrupted their formation, they'd have no choice.
Coffee precisely plotted his route, turning the horse's head as if on rails.
Then—
"!?"
"Come at me!"
Behind the shield wall, the enemy was already waiting.
"Did they leave one out?"
A spearman stretched his spear out to block the charge. Spearmen could naturally stop a cavalry charge. That was why they countered cavalry.
"What now?"
At that moment, the solution flew in.
Whizz!!
A projectile making a serpentine sound veered in.
"An arrow?"
It was an arrow.
Thwack!!
"Ugh!"
A curving shot came around the back of the shield dome and pierced the spearman’s neck blocking Coffee.
Whoosh!
"What? A curve shot…?"
Coffee lifted his head to look beyond the shield wall.
"Almond...?"
The arrow's owner was Almond. He had somehow reached a position about fifteen meters away from the shield wall.
"When did he get there?"
Coffee was more astonished by the fact that he was alive and in that position than his archery skills.
"How is he alive? Amid that arrow rain?"
Had his seniors made way for him by changing their arrow paths?
"No."
That wasn't it. Even if a few made way, most arrows flew straight. It was inevitable. With the commander's path also blocked, asking to spare Almond was too much.
However, Almond was alive. He dodged the arrows and continued to run forward. Then, he killed that spearman in the rear with a curve shot.
"…"
Coffee was puzzled. How had Almond anticipated this maneuver and shot to the rear?
Pondering would not yield an answer. The question itself was wrong. Almond simply shot to the rear because the front was blocked. It just happened to hit the spearman blocking Coffee. Nevertheless, the result was similar.
Thanks to Almond, there was now no spearman blocking Coffee.
"Now!"
Coffee increased his horse's speed. Missing this opportunity would mean another spearman could mark the rear.
"Uaaaah!"
With a shout, he collided with all his might.
The collision of his horse against them caused the shield wall to crumble.
"Kraaak!"
"The commander! Kill him!!!"
Thwack! Thwack…!
The English soldiers' axes and spears struck Coffee.
Instead of thrusting with his spear, Coffee raised it high.
"Fire!!!"
An explosive sound filled the air as relentless arrows descended, piercing through the English barbarians' flesh.
Many died, trampled or shot. Among them was Coffee, who fell joyously in battle, hit by numerous arrows in the front as he tried to pierce one more English soldier before dying.
"Vicious bastard."
"Ugh… that’s a Korean style play, really…"
"Go to hell!"
The English soldiers were in chaos, but someone's voice managed to organize the situation.
"The enemy commander is dead! There will be confusion!"
He was the one who killed Coffee, known as Jadriel of the Longbow, a renowned English commander.
"We've already closed much of the distance! Run! Take at least one of them to the underworld with you!!!"
The English soldiers, more than half still alive, could seize the momentum if they closed the distance against the archers.
England still held the initiative.
"Let's go!!!"
"The nastiest one is dead! We will win!!"
However, Jadriel did not know. The most vicious one was drawing his bowstring in the bushes beside their path.
Almond, after causing the shield wall to fall, had dodged the enemy's charge and hid in the side bushes.
Luckily, the enemies didn’t spot him. They were too busy killing Coffee who had charged the rear.
Almond slowly drew his bowstring and initially aimed at the closest target.
‘No.’
He switched targets to the furthest one to delay the enemies' realization of his position as much as possible. Maintaining the drawn bowstring, he merely shifted his focus.
At that moment, a faint white light began to gather at his fingertips.
Almond's eyes widened.
‘Huh?’