Season 3: Chapter 154: Fake Archer (1)
The Vikings advanced from the west and had already significantly approached. Now, they ran straight ahead without bothering to dodge the arrows. They seemed determined to finish this.
Joseon’s archers were well aware of this.
“They’re coming! Soon they’ll be within axe-throwing range! There are too many!”
The charging enemies were closing in and their numbers hadn’t diminished at all.
“Damn it! Should we move or stay?!”
Despite the shouting, the archers hadn’t received any orders.
“Why aren’t our arrows hitting?!”
To make matters worse, the archers in the west felt overwhelmed with tension and missed their shots.
“What should we do?!”
Even Pang couldn’t decide and give any orders.
Someone shouted at that moment, “Hold your positions!”
Pang suddenly remembered.
‘Ah.’
Cookie had said something. Pang hadn’t fully understood it then, but now it made sense.
“The enemies are fast, so they’ll change their approach. We’ve prepared for that too.”
Whoosh!
A figure swiftly moved and changed positions. No, that person never had a fixed position and didn’t need one. He could shoot curve shots from anywhere.
“The only player who doesn’t need to follow the strategy.”
Creek...!
Almond pulled out three arrows from the quiver of the soldier next to him and nocked them all at once.
“He’ll handle the unexpected.”
A player with no assigned position. It was Almond.
Swoosh!
The three arrows he shot flew toward the advancing Vikings.
Thud!
Only one arrow hit, but all the Vikings were now on the ground.
“!?”
They had rolled to the ground to avoid the barrage of arrows. They felt overwhelmed by the attack even though the correct move would’ve been to continue charging despite losing some men. Their reaction was surprising considering how fearlessly they had been charging.
‘No way. Could it be?’
Pang realized that the enemies recognized Almond. They had no reason to fall back, but overreacted when Almond aimed directly at them. Other teams had such fearsome players, but never before had there been one from Korea.
‘Has he become that kind of player…?’
Before Almond appeared, the three arrows began to glow white.
[Focus]
‘It’s real.’
The first arrows had been a feint without the focus trait. These arrows now would decisively kill the enemies.
Kiiing!
The white light flared.
“!”
The enemies, with their momentum delayed, could not avoid the next arrows. Almond gathered his focus and released the arrows with ruthless speed.
Swoosh!
Three arrows flew along white trajectories.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The arrows struck three Vikings trying to stand up and struck two in vital areas.
“!”
It was an incredible skill to witness. Any archer could try shooting multiple arrows at once, but maintaining such accuracy was nearly impossible. When three arrows were nocked, their trajectories differed due to the bow’s structure. Hitting all the targets accurately would be a matter of luck.
Almond had never used such an excessive multi-shot even in practice, so how…?
‘… I see!’
Pang realized it while looking at the Viking formation with the enemies deliberately clustered.
‘So that’s why he shot three at once?’
In such a case, even a rough shot could hit multiple targets. An expert archer like Pang could clearly understand the principle, but...
‘How does it look to the enemies?’
Trembling with shock in the distance, Jessie felt stunned despite her skills. Despite her commendable resolve, she gritted her teeth and continued to charge.
“Keep going! Charge! We’re almost there!”
However, the western archers regained their confidence and joined Almond this time.
“Just keep shooting whatever you can!”
Under Almond’s simple command, they started nocking and shooting two or three arrows at once too. They essentially followed a suppressive fire strategy that was enough to confuse the Vikings.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Vikings could not discern which arrows would be accurate and which would miss.
“Throw the axes!”
Jessie finally entered within throwing range and hurled her axe.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The loud whoosh of the flying axe grazed Almond’s shoulder and struck the soldier behind him.
Thud!
However, that wasn’t the only axe. Even in Pang’s direction...
“Huh?! Wha—”
Thud!
Latte, who stood next to him, suddenly flew backward and fell with an axe lodged in his forehead.
“Dammit. What the hell!?”
Pang turned and felt shocked.
“Shit… why are they alive?”
The supposedly dead Vikings had gotten back up.
***
“Waaah! Almond! Just by appearing, he’s dominating the battlefield!”
The commentators excitedly discussed Almond’s impact. They loved talking about the hero narrative of a player at length.
“His presence and his aura alone is stopping the Vikings! He’s like Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge!”
— For real
— What was that?
— They all fell over LOL
— Looking for the video titled “Joseon Archer Makes Vikings Fall Over in Fear” LOL
— Agreed~
“Now it’s clear why Almond is the team leader! It’s completely different from when Pang was leading!”
“Exactly! This may look similar to Joseon’s previous victory patterns, but it’s fundamentally different!”
“Right! They’re winning purely through combat skills now!”
OrangeKing pointed out that Joseon had never won purely through combat before. However—
“Wait! Hold on!”
He noticed something strange.
“Huh?”
The caster noticed it too.
“What is this? Has Valhalla been upgraded already?!”
Valhalla was the last hope for the Vikings in the fourth era. This unique trait allowed dead Vikings to resurrect once on the battlefield. It was a crucial comeback mechanism for the Vikings, who were weak in the late game. However, it was only the second era right now and not even the third.
“No way!”
“Then, what is this?!”
Despite the implausibility, the caster mentioned Valhalla because the supposedly dead Vikings had gotten back up and hurled their axes.
— WTF what is this??
— Are they zombies?
— Weren’t they dead?
— Were they pretending to be dead? LOL
— Wow, crazy
— Impressive
“We’ll need a replay to confirm, but this…”
OrangeKing shouted in disbelief, “No way! The Vikings resurrected?!”
The Vikings, who had been lying dead, now stood back up and threw their axes.
— LOL
— For real
— What is this???
— Total bug
— Is it Valhalla already?? LOL
— Creative LOL
“OrangeKing! Did they really resurrect?! Is it Valhalla?! What is this?!”
“Well, it seems…”
OrangeKing quickly reached a conclusion and recalled how quickly the Vikings from the east had been wiped out.
“It looks like they pretended to be dead! This is a tactic sometimes seen in tournaments!”
“Really!?”
“They just pretended to die early! So it looked like that to Joseon!”
“Ah…!”
It seemed that the Vikings charging east had received a special order. When they felt like they would die, they rolled on the ground and pretended to be dead.
“They crawled through the bushes and stood up right in front of them! Joseon can’t handle it!”
— Wow
— What kind of tactic is that? LOL
— The Viking commander is a legend
— So many tactics in the finals LOL
“The Vikings also prepared counters against archers! It’s going to be exhausting if they can keep using this fake tactic!”
“Yes! Both teams have prepared a lot for the first match and are giving us a lot to watch~!”
“This is the biggest crisis for the archers!”
Thud!
Thud!
The resurrected Vikings threw their axes. Within moments, three or four archers on the east side fell. The archers fighting in the valley faced their greatest threat yet.
“But! Joseon! They’re looting the enemy’s hunting posts right now!?”
Joseon was looting the Viking hunting posts.
“Ah! Cookie! He doesn’t fall behind in multitasking! He sent them in advance!
“The Vikings’ hard-earned food is being stolen… but if all the archers die here, the game will be ruined!”
The valley archers dying had not been part of the plan.
“Ah! Are they collapsing after all!? They need to buy more time!”
The archers’ formation broke as the Vikings quickly overwhelmed them.
***
“They’re breaking through!”
“Argh!”
“Dammit. What is this?!”
Joseon’s archers began to flee in panic. They had no choice. The supposedly dead Vikings came back to life and started attacking. They couldn’t just stay in position. As they fled, they shot as many arrows as they could.
[Berserk]
Bang!
With their faction ability, the Vikings charged and quickly decapitated the archers once they closed the distance.
Thud!
Even the West couldn’t fight properly in this situation. They couldn’t just keep shooting while their rear suffered an attack.
‘What’s going on?’
Almond felt momentarily confused and couldn’t understand why the Vikings reappeared from the east. Meanwhile, the Vikings breached the west.
Crossing the battle line, Jessie drew her sword and started cutting down archers.
“Sweep them!”
The resentful Vikings brutally slew the archers.
The bodies of Joseon soldiers floated down the valley stream. The remaining archers quickly dwindled to under five. They fought desperately and tried to take down as many enemies as possible before their inevitable deaths.
Suddenly, one of them grabbed all the quivers and started running somewhere.
“Huh? He’s running away!”
He fled toward the Viking camp and not the Joseon camp.
“What?”
“Catch him! It’s Almond!”
He wasn’t just any soldier. It was Almond, so the Vikings couldn’t let him go. Around five Vikings had been dispatched to chase him.
Meanwhile, the remaining archers had all died and the Vikings seized the valley.
“Chase him! Chase him!”
The Vikings could move much faster toward enemies because of their berserk trait. Despite Joseon’s mountainous tribe trait, the archers couldn’t outrun the Vikings. However—
“What? Why is that guy so fast?!”
“Is running a skill? What is this?!”
Strangely, they couldn’t close the gap and catch Almond. It was inexplicable. Running had a fixed speed in this game and it wasn’t a skill. Even with the mountain tribe trait, archers still moved slower than Vikings with the berserk trait. Why did such a gap currently exist?
One Viking noticed something strange.
“Wait. Why is that guy carrying so many quivers? Is he taunting us?”
Archers had unlimited arrows, so Almond had no reason to carry so many quivers.
“Wait… now that you mention it, earlier he… he was taking arrows from other soldiers’ quivers, right? Was that just for show?”
“Gasp.”
The Vikings looked at each other in shock.
“Wait, then—”
Just then…
Whoosh!
An arrow curved around a tree and pierced a Viking’s head from the side.
Boom!
A Viking’s head exploded in white flames as he collapsed.
“Dammit! Where is he!?”
Almond had disappeared in their moment of distraction.
The Vikings sent to hunt him backed up against each other and kept watch on all sides. Only dense trees could be seen no matter how much they looked around. The trees, which were supposed to protect them from arrows, now kept the hunter hidden instead.
“Put your ear to the ground since we can’t see.”
“Ugh!?”
Boom!
Another arrow flew from somewhere and shattered another Viking’s head.
“There he is!”
One Viking spotted him and ran, but it was pointless.
“?”
Almond had already run further away, disappearing again with overwhelming speed.
“Damn.”
They realized that they couldn’t catch him or escape.
“We’re screwed.”
Now that they were in the mountains, they were as good as dead at the hands of the hunter.
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