Season 3: Chapter 75: Ah-Ha! (1)
"Whaaat!? Three Spanish soldiers just died!"
OrangeKing felt shocked and scanned the map. He thought that Spain would solidify itself with its early scouting, but a reversal occurred.
— Dread
— Wow, an ambush counter??
— Impressive
— But why aren't they running away? lol
— This is big, isn't it?
"Yes! Dying was unexpected, wasn't it! Spain! Food is flying away! Time is flying away! And now there's a gap in their scouting forces!"
"Not just a gap in their scouts! There's also a gap in their strategy! How are they going to handle this!? Nacho must have a headache now!"
Nacho decided to defend first. Spain quickly began to form teams of five in that area.
"Ah...! Spain? Are they forming teams of five?"
"Yes. If Korea starts pushing in with force now, it'll be hard to stop! Even a slight decrease in numbers makes them desperate to prevent the worst..."
Of course, Spain made an appropriate decision. Continuing to form teams of two would make them too powerless if Korea suddenly pushed in. They made teams of five in the nearby area, which was almost the correct decision. However, the opponent also knew this would happen.
"On the other hand, Korea isn't pushing in with force at all right now! Spain got completely tricked!"
The ten man ambush team who carried out the earlier surprise attack had now scattered individually, which was the complete opposite of what Nacho anticipated.
"The enemy, by clustering into groups of five, created gaps through which they planned to widely spread out their soldiers and infiltrate!"
Sure enough, Cookie had determined the best routes based on the falcon's visibility.
Ting!
[Infiltration Route]
Each of the ten soldiers received their movement route.
"Ah! It’s the micro control that Korea is proud of! Each soldier is instantly provided with a different route!"
"From the enemy's perspective, this is unmanageable! Cookie completely understands the enemy's psychology!"
"It's like he can see exactly how they’ll move. Each route is so sharp!"
Cookie's judgment was exceptional and each route was thoroughly planned.
OrangeKing couldn’t help but admire it.
"Ah! The expression, ‘It's all in the palm of your hand,’ fits perfectly!"
All ten soldiers dispersed in different directions to infiltrate the Spanish camp.
"Once they infiltrate, will they start a tower rush?"
— Eventually it’ll be a tower rush, lol
— Another troll move by Cookie!
— This is really annoying, lol
"Yes, probably. There's not much else you can do in the first era. But! Are there any troops that got caught while infiltrating!?"
All ten soldiers couldn't infiltrate without being detected nor was it the plan.
Rather, Nacho needed to know that Korea was infiltrating to quickly spend money in strange places.
"Ah. How many will survive and get in? It's almost like the Silmido operation!"
"Even if only two get in, it's enough!"
"Ah? Among them, there's a soldier who happened to meet the deputy commander!"
A soldier even encountered the enemy's deputy commander.
"Ah... This is too much of a coincidence! The ones who met are Almond and Tres!"
These individuals had exchanged words in a video before the game started.
— Devil for attention vs. Devil of interviews, lol
— Ah... lol
— Is he the one who was in the video??
— So funny
— But Almond is at a disadvantage…
***
Was it a coincidence? Of all the people, the first Spanish soldier Almond met was Tres.
'This is too disadvantageous.'
Almond found himself in a difficult situation. He didn’t have a bow and only possessed a club in this barbaric era. He wouldn’t be able to do anything against a deputy commander. Ȓ�
The deputy commander, although crude, had been armed with a sword from the first era and was also on horseback.
"Oooooh?!"
Tres also recognized Almond and made a strange sound.
"You... it's you!?"
Swoosh!
He immediately drew his sword and charged on his horse.
"You... you bastard!!! Hiryaah!"
— MC lol
— Flashing brilliantly, lol
— Ah lol so scary
— What to do…
— Just die, damn it
— Just attract aggro and die
From how Tres charged, it was clear how familiar he was with horseback combat.
'Just dodge a few times and buy some time.'
Clatter! Clatter!
Almond also continued to run toward the charging enemy. Since they had changed their strategy to stall for time, Almond thought he would draw their aggro properly.
"The only variable in this operation is whether the enemy notices and assigns both deputy commanders to pursue us," Cookie had said.
One of the risks Cookie had mentioned was Tres.
Because Tres was on horseback, he could potentially sweep all ten Korean soldiers if he was lucky even though they had all dispersed in different directions.
If Almond could tie him down, the success rate of their plan would increase. Even dying while stalling for time would be considered a gain.
"He's coming to die!?"
Tres's sword flashed.
"I don't want to die."
However, Almond did not want to die. He knew Spain had placed a bounty on his head. It wasn't particularly harmful to him, but he did not want Tres to be the one to collect it by striking him down.
"Die!"
Whooosh!
Almond followed the path of the descending sword with his eyes.
"Haah~!"
When the enemy swung, Almond simply lay back and let the sword pass. It was a light dodge like something out of a choreographed action movie. Perhaps it even looked comical.
— Haah, ridiculous lol
— OMG lol
— A taunt? lol lol
"!?"
“Heeeeeigh...!”
Tres hurriedly stopped his horse and turned his head, but Almond was already running hard in another direction.
"This little rat?!"
Tres spurred his horse into a fierce gallop. After all, Almond was just an infantryman. Tres could catch up quickly.
However—
"Aaaargh!"
Boom!
Someone shouted and collided with Tres.
Even Almond felt startled by the loud noise and looked back.
'Spam?'
It was Spam, whom he hadn't realized was nearby. The horse struck Spam and he rolled over, but the horse also had to pause momentarily. In the game system, a head-on collision always stopped a charge.
"This, this...! What is this!?"
"Almond! Let's go! Come on!"
— Spam, poor guy
— Definitely the GOAT of ham...
— I'll remember this!
It seemed that Spam and Almond had similar routes. Or perhaps Cookie summoned Spam to serve as bait instead? It wasn’t clear, but Almond could keep running without slowing down thanks to this.
"You think I can't catch up!"
Behind him, Tres could be heard screaming in frustration.
"Out of the way!"
After Spam, another Joseon soldier joined.
Clang!
Even Deputy Commander Coffee appeared and Tres could not catch up.
— lol, he must be so annoyed lol
— Ah lol, they're ganging up on him
— Escape successful
By the time the commotion faded out of earshot…
'I see it.'
Beyond the dark mist, the silhouette of the Spanish main camp began to appear.
Someone waved from in front.
"Lord Almond~!"
"Almond is here too?"
Latte and Carrot had been waiting for him. It seemed those two also survived and arrived.
"Only the three of us survived?"
"Looks like it."
They would wait to see if anyone else came, but it seemed likely that only they had survived.
Another order came through from Cookie.
[Infiltrate Enemy Lines]
***
"Now, three soldiers have made it to the front of the Spanish camp!"
"Yes! Even if only two infiltrated and started building towers, Spain would be really annoyed because they don't have archers! But three!? This is an emergency!"
Sending two soldiers had been the goal, but three successfully arrived.
The commentators couldn't help but get excited.
"What will Nacho choose to do!? Will he build towers?! The second era is just around the corner!"
"He'll probably try to hold off with troops instead of towers! Building towers now would delay their progress to the second era. From Spain's perspective, that would be undesirable since they benefit from a quick upgrade to the next era!"
The best thing for Spain would be to call some of their troops back to the main camp to prepare for the enemy's infiltration.
"But! It seems impossible to stop them with just troops!"
All of Joseon's soldiers brazenly advanced toward twelve o'clock.
“Grrrrr...!”
"As the Joseon soldiers press into the Spanish camp, they're applying pressure! Spain has to block them here, don't they?"
Spain also had to build up forces to block the main force of Joseon, especially since three of their soldiers had died earlier. They couldn't afford to pull more troops back to the main camp.
"Spain can't afford to send troops back to the main camp now!"
"Exactly! Even if a few mosquitoes get into your bedroom when there's a swarm of beetles at the front door, you can't be dealing with the bedroom!"
— Lol, beetles
— Ugh...
— Can you even see those mosquitoes? Lol
"So you're saying, focus on the front door and let the original defense systems handle the bedroom?"
"Yes, Spain will try to block the three who infiltrated with just workers and defense structures."
"Workers?! Will that work? The soldiers who have infiltrated... aren't ordinary!"
Originally, the ten man ambush team was like a special forces unit composed only of aces. The last three survivors of that ten man team had now infiltrated Spain’s main camp. The idea of blocking them with workers would lead to unimaginable damage.
Therefore, Nacho made another choice.
[Soldier Recruitment - 3%]
It was a clever move.
"Ah! Spain is using their food supply to resurrect their three soldiers who died earlier? This is better than building defense towers and using wood!"
Among the resources needed to advance to the next era, food was the most manageable. The second era required a lot of gold and wood, but other resources weren't as heavily demanded.
Spain chose the defense strategy that sacrificed the least speed while advancing eras.
"It will take some time for Spanish soldiers to be recruited, right?"
"Correct. In the meantime! The three Joseon soldiers will infiltrate the Spanish main camp and go around the outskirts!"
“Waaaaah!”
As the Joseon forces entered the Spanish main camp, a tremendous cheer erupted from the stands.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Drums vibrantly rang out through the venue.
"Now! The soldiers have even reached the gold mine!? What now, Korea!?"
"Are they building it!? Is this really happening!?" OrangeKing shouted and furrowed his brows.
"Are they really building it!? Is it a tower rush!?"
Since the commander's order wasn't visible, they couldn't be sure yet. Korea could just be challenging the workers.
[Wooden Defense Tower - 1%]
The construction of a defense tower had begun.
Along with it, OrangeKing's voice rose.
"Aaaaaaah! They've started building! The first dig has been made!"
— Is it a dinosaur? Lol
— Are you going up yourself?
— Lol, omg
— Of course, the military is all about the shovel
"Korea is strangling their opponent not with swords or guns, but with a shovel! With digging!"
"Aaaah! So this is why we did all that digging in the military!?"
"Aha! Now I realize! Mr. Quartermaster! Is that why you had me digging so much!? To strangle the enemy's breath!"
— OMG lol lol lol lol
— Quartermaster lol lol
— LMAO
— Ah, Mr. Quartermaster...!
— Are you running out of breath?
The audience, perhaps inspired by OrangeKing's words, shouted even louder.
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
"Great! Korea!!"
Thump! Thump! Thump thump!
Drums and cheers resounded loudly in the stadium.
"Aaaah! From Spain's perspective, this must really be making them sweat! Imagine hearing such sounds as a Joseon defense tower rises in your main camp! It would drive you mad!"
The scene was a cauldron of excitement and frenzy.
"Could this really end the game!? Mr. OrangeKing!?"
"Spain will eventually stop it! But in the meantime, Korea can cause tremendous damage to the workers! That alone is a huge headache for Spain!"
[Wooden Defense Tower - 62%]
The defense tower was more than halfway completed.
[Soldier Recruitment Complete]
Spain finally resurrected their three dead soldiers. These three began to rush toward the Joseon defense tower. Their goal was to prevent its completion.
"Now! It's a critical moment from here on out! How quickly Spain can block this will change the flow of the game!"
The fate of both teams would diverge at this moment.