Season 3: Chapter 80: The Time I Got Almond’s Number (1)
"Charge! Charge!"
Korea's main force swarmed into the Spanish camp. They began climbing the numerous defense towers. There were so many towers that the Spanish camp was embarrassingly no longer recognizable as such.
"Climb up! To the next tower! Who's next!?"
"Everyone climb up!"
With Korea’s main force joining, they had an abundance of personnel to man the towers.
"Fire!"
Phwoosh!
Hundreds of arrows flew from dozens of towers. A few halberds in such a place could not turn the tide. It was impossible to fend off the arrows raining down with halberds.
"Why aren't they dying!? Kill them!"
"Kill the deputy commanders! Kill the deputy commanders!"
Of course, the skilled Spaniards were showing their prowess amid this.
Tres took a halberd and managed to deflect arrows one by one, even cutting off a few heads of Joseon soldiers. However, Civil Empire was not a game like LIL with superpowers.
Whoosh!
Eventually, an arrow was destined to pierce his heart.
"…!?!"
Tres cursed harshly as he fell from his horse.
Blublublub—
When he stopped running, his horse collapsed too and became a hedgehog.
The cruel rain of arrows showed no sign of stopping.
Thudding!
If there were no soldiers to kill nearby, the arrows simply struck buildings. Destroying buildings with arrows took a while, but it felt like an incoming flood with arrows flying like this.
Rumble...!
[Collapsed]
Buildings began to collapse even though they took relatively long to fall.
Workers who came out instantly died.
"Not many left! Keep firing!"
"There's another one! Fire!"
If not a single worker could work, it naturally led to the death of a civilization.
Whoosh...!
The last worker that was summoned finally fell. It was then.
[Surrender]
Spain declared a surrender.
Even though all of Korea had been anticipating victory, a brief silence passed when they saw the surrender.
'... Surrender?'
At this moment, all the Korean players probably had the same thought. Perhaps they could win the next match as well. No, perhaps they could even make it to the finals this time. Or maybe… by some incredible stroke of luck, they could even win the championship.
All those fantasies and hopes soon surged through their hearts, climbed their throats, and burst forth.
"We won..." someone murmured softly as if it was a signal.
Everyone released the bowstrings they had been pulling.
Fwip fwing~
Arrows flew haphazardly everywhere, but no one cared. After all, there was nowhere left for them to land.
"We won! We wonnnnnn!!!"
"Wowwwwwwwwwww!!!"
The cheers of the crowd and the players mingled and spread in every direction.
Players hugged each other and jumped around. The numerous defense towers erected here and there swayed and trembled. It was as if the towers erupted like volcanoes with hot cheers bursting out like lava.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Deputy commanders rode horses back and forth, waving at the crowd. Someone threw their club up like fireworks. Soldiers roared for the victory each in their own way.
Among the numerous soldiers, one stood out conspicuously.
"!?"
Even amid this frenzy, those who saw this soldier's victory ceremony could only drop their jaws in astonishment.
— ???
— lmao
— This guy's crazy... this guy's crazy...
— lol
— What is this? lol
***
When Korea won, the cheerleaders in red sitting in the stands all jumped up and waved the Taegukgi.
"Wowwwwwwwwwww!!!"
"We wonnnnnnnn!"
Some, having spent money on items, even wore jetpacks and flew around.
One of them shouted while floating in the air, "Great, great, great Korea!"
Boom! Bang!
Loud drum sounds responded to his shout.
The Spanish spectators looked down at the arena in bewilderment as if they couldn't understand the game that just ended.
There, Korean players excitedly hugged and waved their hands. The Taegukgi fluttered on top of the Spanish town hall.
"Half of America was once theirs! Over the headquarters of that Spain is our Taegukgi! The Taegukgi flies!"
— Wow~
— Wow lol this game's production is crazy lol
— What a thrill lol
— Wow
OrangeKing, as expected, sprang from his seat and saluted the national flag.
Bang!
"KOREA!!"
No one commented on his exaggerated act because someone went even further.
— What's that?
— Huh?
— Is that Almond??
— Crazy…
— I never would've guessed lol
— lol
— When did he get up there? lol
Almond stood on the roof of the town hall where the Taegukgi was flying.
"Eh? Isn't that Almond!?"
"What, what is this…?"
Almond, with a stern expression, took out a bow and aimed it overhead.
"Huh? What, what is he doing? Is it a ceremony!?"
The caster, unaware of Almond's stream, was clueless. However, OrangeKing knew.
"Ahhh... Ah! This is!"
Almond did not give him the time to explain. He released the bowstring.
Phwoosh!
The arrow soared high.
The caster, unable to imagine what would happen, was astounded.
"Eh!?"
Whoosh!
The arrow Almond shot hit right on top of his head.
"This is! Almond's historic reaction!"
— What is that? lol
— OrangeKing's flapping performance suddenly turned into commentary, hilarious lol
— Why did he suddenly do that? lol
"Aha, I see?! That’s a sponsored reaction! Why did he suddenly do it!?"
Even OrangeKing, who knew about Almond's reaction, did not know the exact reason.
"He must be that excited~!"
"Must be!"
— lololol yay~
— lol for real
— Is this a bounty? lol?
The ceremony performed by Almond remained unclear in its meaning. The screen quickly shifted to another place.
"Ah! Everyone! The rankings of our group are being announced."
[Group C Rankings]
1. Korea: 2 wins 0 losses
1. Italy: 2 wins 0 losses
2. France: 0 wins 2 losses
2. Spain: 0 wins 2 losses
Korea, along with Italy, was tied for first place in their group with two wins each.
The caster beside OrangeKing shouted as if venting his frustration, "Korea! For now, we’re first place in the group!"
"Ah! First place! For Korea to achieve this, no one would have ever anticipated it!"
For a brief moment, they were first in their group. Seeing it with their own eyes made it even more moving.
"No way! There isn't another group as competitive as Group C! Who would have thought that Korea would be at the top in this group!?"
"Exactly! Soon, Korea will face Italy and France will face Spain. The order will be perfectly sorted out! For now, being first in the group is something to enjoy!"
— lol for real
— Yeah! We’re first in our group! Huh?!
— Enjoy it
— I'm really moved though
— Wow... this is so moving...
— If they beat Italy, it's really going to be crazy
"Ah... just looking at it makes the corners of my mouth rise. My heart is still pounding!"
"Me too! I still see that arrow toss scene flickering before my eyes!"
"That scene! Now, we’ll watch it again! While the MVP voting is going on, let's watch the highlight video!"
Next up was the highlight video.
"Ladies and gentlemen of South Korea! The glorious moments of our team, Korea!"
***
Bang!
"Damn it!!"
Tres returned to the This World lobby and furiously punched the wall.
"What is this! Losing to Korea like this!? Nacho! Are you kidding!?"
Tres immediately directed his anger at Nacho.
Although being a chief commander inherently carried the greatest responsibility, it was uncommon for players to criticize each other to this extent. However, Spain was markedly different from Korea where esports culture had long been established.
"If we lose to this strategy, what are we going to do? Huh? I can't even remember the last time I lost with first era weapons!!!"
Although they were called professionals, Western players perceived the game as just a game. They saw it more as entertainment than a pure sport. That was why emotions erupted so visibly when they felt upset.
"Haa..."
Nacho didn't offer any response other than a sigh. He certainly had a lot to say.
If Tres had properly taken out Almond, this wouldn't have happened. So on and so forth… but Nacho had some decency. It was too evident that there was already a discrepancy in their strategies to make excuses. He was painfully aware of this and had no choice but to bitterly swallow his team's anger.
"It’s like I'm the only one with egg on my face! Dammit!"
Tres continued to seethe with fury.
Uno couldn’t bear it and spoke up, "Fighting each other here won’t improve anything."
"It won’t improve anything!? It won’t!? So we should just sit still and it will improve?! The only thing that hasn't improved is our brilliant strategists' brains. Understand?"
"This guy...?!"
Provoked by Tres's sharp taunt, Uno also stood up angrily. This was the terrifying aspect of an unexpected defeat. Too many people felt wronged. Out of the two hundred players, one hundred eighty wouldn’t even know why they lost.
Everything seemed to be blamed on the commander.
Nacho briefly hung his head and ruffled his hair before speaking, "Disband."
Phwoosh!
With that word, the room exploded and everyone was forcibly ejected. Nacho would probably receive a bucket of curses for the sudden decision to disband, but cooling off was the priority.
[Logout]
Nacho completely exited This World.
Chiiiik...!
He emerged from the capsule.
"Phew."
He was finally out of the virtual reality. Just as the real world kept turning even if someone died, the internet world didn’t stop just because Nacho logged out. His torment was far from over.
[MVP: Almond]
After all, he had to watch Almond's interview.