Season 3: Chapter 98: God Show (2)
In the forest of Region Two, Almond led the front and murmured as he drew his bowstring, "Found them."
Grrrrrrr…!
His arrow aimed at a worker's head.
The worker could not counterattack and a headshot wouldn’t trigger an alarm for the enemy commander.
He released the arrow without hesitation.
Twang!
The Roman worker fell.
From another side, crossbow strings echoed.
Twang! Twaaang!
The other Korean soldiers also took down more workers.
"Forward!!" Pang shouted.
Pang ordered them instead since their commander couldn’t. This was inevitable.
'Cookie can't always watch over this area.'
Almond also felt that the current situation for Korea wasn't good. Therefore, the battle in Region Two would likely continue without any orders. Still, that was okay.
The ten gathered here had already practiced enough in scrims to handle individual combat.
'Besides, Pang is still alive.'
With Pang as the leader, they didn’t have to act individually by themselves yet and continued to be successful.
The Korean archers steadily advanced, efficiently eliminating the workers.
Twang!
Twaaang!
They nearly annihilated all the workers harvesting wood, especially since everyone was getting headshots with a single shot.
It seemed the enemy commander hadn't noticed yet.
'If Cookie can't pay attention here, the enemy will have a hard time too.'
Cookie was probably focused on another battle and the enemy commander also concentrated there.
However—
"Ah…!"
A nearby archer gulped.
Thud!
"Aaaargh!"
A worker screamed as an arrow grazed his shoulder. It was a miss.
"It's okay."
Almond ran over, lightly flicking his bowstring.
"Look, the enemy—"
Thud!
Another arrow pierced the worker's head and he instantly fell.
"Sorry, what do we do…? I think the alarm might have gone off this time…"
The flustered archer named Pecorino was quite young. Almond had hardly ever spoken to him.
Regardless, Almond reassured him. Having only nine archers here, it would be problematic if even one lost their mental composure.
"It's okay. It was bound to happen eventually. You can’t always hit the head, right?"
"But you do it, bro."
"Yeah. I’m not talking about me… How could you always hit the head?"
"…?"
"Nobody thought you could. It's okay."
"…!?"
— LOL LOL LOL!
— OMG LOL~
— Is this… consolation?
— A high level psychological tactic to rekindle anger?
— This is not consolation but demoralization LOL!
— I'm dying hahahaha.
"Ahem… Understood."
The archer seemed to shake off his previous mistake and stood up.
"Let's go. If they send more reinforcements here, that's good too."
"But you don’t really know the strategy, do you…?"
"I know enough!"
Almond suddenly flared up at the attack on his intellect.
— LOL LOL LOL!
— HAHAHAHA.
— Hey, he's sensitive about nut brains, okay?
— Pecorino just says everything LOL. He’s not panicked, is he?
— Pecorino OMG~
Pecorino felt startled, having never seen Almond shout like this. After all, Almond was usually unemotional during games.
'Did I bother Almond? Is this my talent…?'
While Pecorino entertained this absurd thought, Pang approached and shoved them forward.
"Damn, that scared me. Why did you yell like that?! Let's go. Just shoot and kill any who come! We have to kill the gold miners anyway. Run!"
Pang's urging made Pecorino and Almond rush forward together.
It didn't take long to find the gold mine. The resource distribution was essentially the same, so a veteran like Pang could find it quickly without a commander's help.
The problem was something else.
Ping!
A strange sound rang out. Just as Almond thought that it was odd—
Thwack!
Something struck Pang's side.
"Keugh!?"
Pang rolled and bounced on the ground.
Suddenly, the forest grew very noisy.
“Enemy!!!”
"It's an ambush!"
"Damn!"
The Korean archers instantly flattened under the bushes or hid behind trees. Without knowing the enemy's position, hiding was their first response.
"Ha… Haah…"
Pecorino and Almond hid behind the same tree, which was a bit too small for the both of them.
"This is a bit tight. Should we move?"
Ting!
Another odd sound echoed out.
Crack!
A soldier in front fell. Now, only around seven Korean soldiers remained.
Meanwhile, Almond finally identified the enemy.
'Crossbows.'
They were the Genoese crossbowmen, a Roman unit known for using premium Genoese crossbows.
"Bro, what do we do?"
"You go out. It's your fault," Almond responded without hesitation.
"But you said it wasn’t my fault earlier!"
"When did I say that?"
The truth was that Almond had never said it wasn't Pecorino's fault. He only said such things were bound to happen.
— OMG LOL.
— Poor Pecorino…
— Pecorino cries LOL!
"Uh… I'll go, then."
Pecorino, sobbing or sighing weirdly, tried to move to another tree.
Ping!
An enemy crossbow fired the moment Pecorino stepped out.
Almond was already aiming with his bow drawn.
Swoosh—
Then, a thick bolt flew through the bushes. Almond discovered it immediately and released his tense bowstring.
Clang!
The arrow and bolt collided in mid-air, creating sparks.
"Gasp! Bro! You didn't abandon me!?"
— LOL Why are you touched?
— Half-abandoned, wasn’t it? LOL!
— Ah, he intentionally exposed you to confirm the enemy's position.
— Facts. He just used you as bait.
Then, Carrot's voice could be heard in the distance.
"From the direction we were advancing, nine o'clock! To the left!"
Almond, hearing this, immediately turned and fired another shot.
Pecorino also aimed and shot in that direction.
However—
Thud!
'The sound?'
The arrow didn’t make a satisfying sound like hitting an empty can.
Ping!
Instead, a bolt fired back from the other side.
Crack!
A tree fell.
Now that the Korean archers knew the enemy’s position, none of them were hit this time.
'What's going on? It seems like only one is shooting, but they're blocking our attacks…'
The Korean archers couldn’t clearly see through the dense bushes.
"Spam! Cover me!" Almond shouted and dashed forward.
"Yes! Ham!"
Spam and a few Korean archers bombarded the enemy with arrows. This would prevent the enemies from focusing on Almond.
'Wait.'
Suddenly, Almond had a bad feeling.
Ping!
The enemy fired their crossbow again. Normally, they wouldn't be able to shoot this way due to the cover. However—
'It's this way.'
Surprisingly, the bolt flew straight toward Almond. He couldn't deflect it with an arrow and hadn’t prepared one.
Instead, Almond swiftly turned around.
Thud!
— ??
— What?
— Gasp.
— Did it hit???
Almond felt a tingling shock on his back and momentarily stumbled, but quickly got back up.
"Ha."
He had blocked it with the shield strapped on his back.
— Wow!
— Crazy..
— Wow LOL.
— But the shield was pierced??
— That worked?
— His luck is insane LOL
Although the bolt pierced the shield, Almond’s last line of defense was the longsword also strapped behind him.
'Wow. I barely survived.'
Luckily, the longsword blocked it.
"Shoot again! I'll run!"
Almond discarded the pierced shield and sprang up to run again.
"He’s approaching again?! It's reckless!"
"It's okay!"
The distance widened a bit. Running again would mean getting pierced through the armor this time, but that was unavoidable.
'If they shoot the crossbow again, they’ll target someone else.'
The number of Korean archers would further decrease if the enemy targeted someone else other than Almond. If their numbers dropped to around five, they wouldn't be able to inflict significant damage on the enemy.
Almond made a decision. He raised his index and middle fingers.
Click.
At that moment—
[Militia]
Paaaang!!
All of Almond's armor burst off and he started moving incredibly fast.
[Movement speed has increased by 150%]
[Penetration has increased by 150%]
— Wow…
— Here?!
— Huh?
Tadadadadak—!
He could instantly rush toward the bushes where the enemy was hiding.
"There!"
Swoosh!
Almond drew his longsword and slashed.
Swoosh!
He cleanly cut through the bushes and revealed the identity of the enemy.
"!"
An iron turtle? That was Almond's first impression of the hidden enemy.
— Are they shielded?
— Wow, what is that?
— A shield wall, wow
— Crazy LOL
'To be this organized.'
If the Spanish troops were wild beasts, Rome was a complete organism.
The current shield dome tactic was difficult to execute without perfect teamwork. Even a slight misalignment could cause the shields to collide or expose gaps, but they even considered the convenience of the crossbowman.
They were like a living iron monster.
Click.
The crosshead of the loaded crossbow protruded from the monster's shell and the arrowhead aimed at Almond.
'Here it comes.'
Almond's eyes widened. He needed to concentrate. If he was careless due to the proximity, he would get hit.
He had to see where the enemy was aiming.
'Heart!'
Ping…!
The crossbow fired and echoed out.
Almond dodged to the left.
Chick—
The bolt grazed his clothing and flew past him, smashing a poor tree behind.
Pagagak!
"Did you dodge?! At this distance?"
The blue eyes of the Roman soldier behind the helmet looked astonished.
They were close enough to see each other's eye colors. Almond had dodged a shot from the crossbowman at such a distance?
It wasn't by chance. They were professionals and could definitely tell that Almond had intentionally dodged it.
"That bastard! Stab him! Kill him!"
Feeling threatened, the shield wall advanced to stab Almond. However, arrows flew in to cover Almond.
Pabababang!
"Arrows! Incoming!"
Thud! Thunk!
The Korean arrows struck the shields and bounced off.
"Damn! Where did that guy go!?"
"What?"
"The one who was just in front! I don’t see him!"
Almond had disappeared from their sight.
This was the major downside of their perfect spherical shield dome tactic. Their helmets already limited visibility, but the shields covering everything worsened their vision. This was why this tactic required extensive training.
"Don't worry! We just need to hold this position! Crossbowman! Shoot anyone you can see!"
They made a sound decision since they would win if they could maintain the shield wall and successfully defend their two o'clock position.
The crossbowman inside, though slow, would continue to shoot bolts.
The Korean soldiers couldn't breach this shield wall. The Korean crossbow wasn’t strong enough. They could pierce armor, but not shields. Even drawing their bows to the limit wouldn't pierce the Roman shields.
"Right! Just shoot anyone visible! Even if they draw their bows to the limit, they can’t pierce our shields!"
However, Almond was different. He had activated the militia trait.
It was rare for the militia trait to be noticed. Besides increased movement speed, it also had other buffs.
'Increased penetration.'
Someone in the Roman troops recalled this trait.
"No! That bastard used the militia trait, didn't he?! If he uses full focus with that, it’ll pierce the shields!"
Their shields could get pierced. Surprisingly, that wasn't the main problem.
"What…? They all must have used the militia trait then! Even if the shields are pierced, our armor won't be!"
The Roman infantry’s heavy armor would still withstand the attacks.
"So just maintain formation—"
All they had to do was maintain their formation. As they reached that conclusion, Almond released his arrow.
Pang!
The Roman troops had completely lost track of Almond's position.
"!?"
Boom!
For a while, they couldn't grasp what had happened and hadn't even expected it. They couldn't understand why a white hot arrow was shining inside the shield wall.
"…?"
The arrow had penetrated the tiny gap in the iron monster's back shell, piercing the head of the crossbowman inside. Moreover, it had even penetrated the neck of the shieldman behind him.
"…"
For a moment, silence fell among the Roman soldiers.
Thump!
A Roman shield in the front fell forward.
The exposed soldier urgently shouted, "Bl-Block the front!"
They shouted desperately for someone to lift the fallen shield and block the gap, but no one had the chance.
"Shoot!"
Pabababang!
The Korean archers poured their arrows into the exposed shield wall.