Season 3: Chapter 157: Fake Archer (4)
The commentators felt shocked because of where Almond had positioned himself.
"No way, such a prime spot?!"
"Wait, wasn't Almond supposed to be bad with directions?! He's reading the flow of the map perfectly!"
— LOL, what?
— Is it just luck?
— Almond is bad with directions if you watch the Fake National Team series LOL
— Maybe he found this spot because he's bad with directions.
"Look at this mountain structure! It spirals down!"
"Yes, like a spiral staircase!"
"Exactly! If he follows the path well, he can shoot at both the front and back without having to advance! As they descend, they'll come back into view from above!"
To simplify OrangeKing's explanation, this terrain was like looking down on a snail shell's spiral from above. In 3D, it looked like a spiral staircase. The lower one went, the wider the circumference became. Even if someone descended the stairs far ahead, one could still see them from above. Thus, Almond could continuously shoot at the Vikings without losing sight of them.
"Of course! This terrain is more complex than a simple spiral, so it's not that easy. However, it's definitely possible!"
It wasn’t as simple as it sounded. When standing on this mountain, countless trees and bushes blocked one’s view. Almond didn’t have the same overview as the commentators. He couldn't see the whole structure of the mountain path, but—
“Oh!?”
Thud!
The leading Viking fell and the one behind him tripped over his body. The entire Viking advance halted.
“Wait a moment! The path is narrow! The Vikings are in a weird position!”
The terrain was extremely rough and the path down was barely wide enough for two people. If someone fell here, the whole advance would temporarily stop. They could jump over corpses quickly, but they couldn't jump over the second Viking before he got up. The entire Viking line had to wait for him to stand up.
“This is a perfect chance!”
The commentators saw the same thing as Almond. The Vikings perfectly exposed their heads and stopped in their tracks.
“The Vikings have no idea where the shots came from! They’re looking at the wrong part of the forest!”
One shot hadn’t been enough to reveal the shooter’s position. However, they would figure it out if Almond shot again.
“If Almond shoots again, he can take out one more! He might reveal his position though!”
The commentators thought Almond would aim for one more, but he had a different plan.
‘If I shoot one more, they’ll raise their shields.’
They would immediately know that the shot came from above if he shot another arrow.
‘Then I’d only get one more.’
Three Viking heads perfectly lined up. Such an opportunity to take out multiple enemies at once was rare. Almond didn't want to waste it.
He grabbed three arrows at once and nocked them.
Creak.
“Oh, Almond!? Three arrows at once!”
— Crazy
— No way
— Wow
— Huh??
After three seconds, all three arrows glowed white.
‘Five arrows left.’
Reciting the remaining arrows in his head, Almond released the three arrows simultaneously.
Whoosh—
“!?”
Before the commentators could even add anything else, the arrows instantly flew toward their targets.
Thud!
Three figures staggered and collapsed.
“Aaaah!” OrangeKing let out a scream of astonishment.
The Vikings raised their shields to the sky.
Thud!
Their extreme tension could be seen even from above.
— Wow
— Crazy, what was that?
— Impressive
— Straight line, incredible judgment
— Awesome
— Whoa
“They all died at the same time! At the same time!!!”
Three soldiers dying simultaneously would understandably make the Vikings think there was an ambush force. This further delayed the Vikings.
“Almond’s judgment is masterful! He knew shooting again would reveal his position, so he took them all out at once!”
The only drawback of shooting from above was that the raised shields would cover their entire bodies, making it impossible to hit them afterward.
Almond chose to shoot three arrows at once and succeeded in killing three Vikings.
“This is different from the multi-shot he used in the valley! This one was for actual killing and it worked perfectly!”
All three arrows found their targets. Even if the angle was easy, it required incredible marksmanship.
“Oh! He made the call to shoot three arrows before the fallen Viking could even get back up! In that brief moment! Almond is incredible!”
“The Vikings’ main force is being significantly held up!”
Meanwhile, the Viking hunting outposts continued to be attacked. The camera panned to this scene and the crowd cheered once more.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Almond! Almond! Almond!”
Although the fans were less than a quarter of the audience, their voices echoed through the stadium as they chanted Almond’s name.
“The Vikings are in trouble! Three outposts have been raided by Joseon! If they lose more, it will be hard to recover!”
These hunting outposts were unique Viking buildings that stored meat and produced gold. They generate additional gold every few seconds when meat was brought in. Vikings did not need workers to mine gold, making worker harassment less effective. On the flip side, losing these outposts dealt a huge blow to them.
“The Vikings can recover even if all their workers die, but losing the hunting outposts is a different story!”
The Vikings had to protect these buildings.
“The Vikings are producing and sending defensive troops as fast as they can, but it's taking too long! The troops that Almond is delaying should have been there already!”
The Vikings sent out newly produced warriors, but this still took some time. The main force already on the battlefield would have acted faster.
“The main force is being held back by Almond! How is one man holding back so many!?”
“They can’t move fast with their shields up like that!”
Their advance became sluggish as they moved with shields over their heads, wary of Almond’s arrows. However—
“Oh! But now! The Vikings are ignoring Almond’s arrows and running like mad!”
The Vikings lowered their shields and started sprinting.
“Are they prioritizing escaping this position!?”
“It looks like they’ve been ordered to ignore the arrows!”
“That’s a good call! They don’t know it’s just one person shooting.”
They simply ran and ignored Almond’s arrows.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Two more Vikings fell to Almond’s arrows, but the rest kept running. Almond had no choice and ran after them.
“What? Almond stopped shooting? He should keep firing while chasing them to maximize his kills!”
The commentators felt puzzled by Almond’s decision to not shoot while chasing.
“Huh? What’s this? He’s just following them? To keep up?”
They didn’t understand why Almond stopped shooting and couldn’t see the number of arrows in his quiver.
OrangeKing suddenly recalled this fact.
“Oh... Could he be out of arrows!?”
— Huh
— Whoa
— Crazy
— Right...
— He’s not an archer
— Huh?
The viewers also remembered that Almond wasn’t an actual archer.
“Oh! This game could’ve ended if Almond delayed them a little longer!”
“Such a shame!”
It would’ve been critical if Almond could delay them a bit longer for one more outpost to be raided. With no arrows left, Almond could only follow them.
***
“Huff. Huff...”
Almond madly ran after the sprinting Vikings. His quiver only held two arrows left, but he still pursued them while almost sliding down the mountain slope.
Why did he decide to chase them with so few arrows left?
[Stop them]
Because the command to stop them remained.
Almond barely had any arrows left. With a bow and arrows, he could command the mountains like a tiger. Now, he was like a tiger without teeth.
‘Use the gums if there are no teeth.’
He recalled hearing this often at Ah-Sung. It wasn’t pleasant and sounded old-fashioned, but the spirit of that phrase had been ingrained in Almond.
When given a command, he thought about how to execute it and not about quitting because it seemed impossible.
‘Gums...’
What could be his gums without arrows?
Screech.
He stopped at a cliff and looked down at the Vikings running below. He estimated the height. It wasn’t very high, about the height of a second floor.
Then, he decided what his gums would be.
‘Let’s go.’
He quickly made his decision.
Tap—
He sprinted and leaped off the cliff. He decided that his body would be his gums.
***
Thud!
A massive object falling from above struck the Vikings running below.
“Ugh!?”
“What was that!”
It wasn’t a rock. Civil Empire didn’t allow the freedom to drop rocks to kill soldiers. Only one thing that large could fall from above.
“?!”
The Vikings looked up in shock.
“An enemy—”
Thunk!
The already nocked arrow burst a Viking’s head, spraying blood everywhere. The rest of them gazed at the blood spraying in slow motion.
Almond slid down in that brief moment, grabbed the fallen Viking’s sword, and swung it in a circle.
Slash—
A red line cut across the legs of the nearby Vikings. They collapsed in a circle around Almond, who then threw an axe that he suddenly picked up.
Whirr.
The axe flew toward a Viking's head, but the Viking dodged it and only lost a few strands of red hair. The axe struck another Viking behind him.
Thunk!
All of this happened in a flash after Almond landed. In an instant, several Vikings had been incapacitated and their advance halted.
“Almond...”
Jessie, who had dodged the axe, drew her sword.
“You didn’t need to come all the way here to get me.”
She charged at him with the berserk trait.
Thud—
Almond gripped his sword and met her charge.
Jessie, or any other Viking, would be hard to defeat in melee combat. However, it was do or die.
Almond swung his sword to buy as much time as possible.
Clang!
Their swords clashed and sparks flew.