Season 3: Chapter 170: You Go to Valhalla (3)
Exmaster didn’t forget to occasionally check on the main base even during the intense battle in the central area.
‘They’ve reached the fourth era.’
Joseon advancing into the fourth era was entirely unexpected. He couldn’t even guess why, but realized it during the all-out battle in the central area.
‘Pyeonjeon?’
Joseon had chosen to use Pyeonjeon instead of mounted archers. Pyeonjeon was a weapon with many restrictions and less versatility compared to mounted archers. Using the mounted archers’ mobility to disrupt the enemy was more advantageous. The orthodox strategy was to not choose either and instead pour out a large number of units.
Despite this, Cookie chose Pyeonjeon for the central area war and Joseon advanced into the fourth era.
Exmaster immediately grasped the implication of this.
‘The Joseon spy.’
The Joseon Spy synergized very well with Pyeonjeon. A long-range attack would deal damage proportional to the distance. The ability to shoot Pyeonjeon, akin to a sniper rifle, enhanced the Joseon spy’s power considerably.
‘I must find him quickly.’
Exmaster’s eyes sharply scanned the main base.
‘One worker. One soldier.’
He found two casualties in the main base where no deaths would’ve normally taken place.
‘He’s here.’
The Joseon Spy had infiltrated and it was a skilled player. To have killed two people after infiltrating the main base meant that he had changed disguises twice.
The enemy's main base was a foreign environment that wasn’t built in a familiar style. Few could boldly kill two people and stroll around leisurely in such a place.
‘He’s not ordinary.’
This was to be expected since Joseon had selected one player out of two hundred to be the Joseon spy.
‘Where is he?’
Exmaster lowered his viewpoint to look at the main base’s situation in more detail. He still struggled to locate the spy with his naked eye. However—
‘There’s only one place the Joseon spy would head to.’
The Joseon Spy would only infiltrate their main base for one objective.
[Research Lab]
The spy intended to enter the research buildings and steal the Vikings’ research, allowing Joseon to copy and use a Viking faction. That faction would become Joseon's if the spy stole it and escaped back to their base. This was the real power of Joseon’s fourth era and why they were truly fearsome.
‘There he is.’
Exmaster spotted a figure emerging from the research lab.
The Viking warrior’s face seemed calm, but he took a peculiar path from Exmaster’s vantage point.
Exmaster tried to issue commands by dragging the Viking warrior with his hand. As expected, no response occurred. Naturally, the Joseon spy couldn’t see the Viking commander’s orders.
Exmaster immediately commanded the other Vikings around the spy.
[Attack]
***
“Hey, Chad. We’ve just been ordered to attack you?”
The Vikings couldn’t share all information with their commander. Those unaware of the bigger picture were barely aware of the Joseon spy. They didn’t know the Joseon spy would appear now and found an attack order on their comrade strange.
Of course, another command followed soon.
[It’s the Joseon spy]
Whoosh—
However, Chad’s hand moved faster. He pulled the bow from his waist like lightning and shook it thrice. Each time, something tore through the wind in three directions.
“!?”
The Vikings had no time to lift their shields or react. The three distant Vikings encircling Almond all had arrows lodged in their heads.
Thud!
The three Vikings died instantly even without the focus trait thanks to the damage being proportional to the distance.
Buzz…!
The three dead Vikings began to glow white. They would soon revive, but not without a delay.
‘Three down.’
Almond quickly shifted his gaze to the remaining two flustered Vikings.
“Dammit!?”
“What’s going on!?”
They hadn’t seen the commander’s command that it was the Joseon spy, but understood immediately afterward that Almond was the Joseon spy.
“I’ll rush him and get behind.”
One Viking activated the berserker trait and charged.
Boom!
Almond dodged the fast charge, but—
“!”
The Viking’s primary target had been the bow.
Thunk!
The Viking knocked away the bow and sent it rolling on the ground.
While losing the bow briefly distracted Almond, the other Viking who hadn’t charged yet dashed forward at the perfect opportunity.
Slash!
The Viking’s sword slashed through Almond’s afterimage. Indeed, it was only an afterimage.
“!?”
The Joseon spy’s agility was about twenty percent higher than a regular soldier’s. When fully utilized by someone skillful in action—
“Argh!”
Slash!
The opponent ended up dead and blood splattered as the Viking fell due to the sword that Almond had taken from Chad.
Although Almond possessed formidable combat skills, his expression didn’t look good.
‘They’ll revive again.’
He had killed four out of the five enemies.
“Round two, you bastard.”
The three who had died stood up with axes on their shoulders. Five Vikings could be seen on the field again.
‘This is troublesome.’
Even with the Joseon spy’s buffs, Almond couldn’t fight the reviving Vikings with just a sword after losing the bow. Running away would mean getting hit by the berserker trait’s charge from behind.
“You’re not leaving here.”
To Almond, the Viking’s words didn’t sound like mere bravado. He had survived by surprise and instinct so far, but those words would become reality if he fought the Vikings directly.
The situation didn’t favor Almond at all. He needed to kill them all and return to Joseon’s base, but they only needed to prevent him from leaving.
“!”
Whoosh!
A Viking swung a giant axe.
Clang!
Almond deflected it with his sword, but his hand trembled from the force. The game’s physics engine clearly simulated the axe’s weight.
Although Almond knew—
‘!?’
He couldn’t attribute the trembling solely to the weight. A memory of a white coat flashed in his vision.
“You can live normally, but as an athlete…”
Thump.
His heart suddenly pounded as he swung his sword to block the next attack.
Clang!
Clang!
His focus was slipping and the sword seemed to double in his vision. Or perhaps there were indeed two.
‘At this rate…’
He wouldn’t be able to block the next attack properly and the other Vikings had already surrounded him.
Almond took a few steps back. He gritted his teeth and tried to refocus.
He could feel how the Vikings launched their flanking attacks. He sensed the flow instinctively.
‘From behind.’
Whoosh!
Instead of blocking the strike, Almond ducked to avoid the attack from behind. Then, he rolled to the right and dodged another downward strike.
‘Huh?’
The axe flew toward him as if waiting for this moment.
Whoosh!
The axe grew larger in his vision.
‘I can’t dodge—’
Was this the end? Joseon would struggle to win this game if he couldn't steal Valhalla.
Clang!
“!?”
The flying axe’s path suddenly diverted and landed next to Almond’s head. Something else rolled in front of him.
‘Pyeonjeon…?’
This short arrow could be mistaken for a broken arrow. It was Pyeonjeon.
Thud! Thud!
The sound of hooves filled his ears. Only two people rode horses in this game, Coffee and Bread.
Bread was currently in the all-out battle.
‘Coffee!?’
It was Coffee. He rode in and shot the Pyeonjeon.
‘Riding while shooting Pyeonjeon?’
Almond felt surprised because Cookie had said it was impossible to accurately shoot Pyeonjeon while riding a horse, yet it just happened.
***
Coffee felt equally astonished and muttered to himself, “Huff… Huff… Shit… Did I hit it!? I aimed for the Viking.”
In a hurry, he shot the Pyeonjeon from a distance. He had aimed for the Viking, but only hit the Viking’s thrown axe. However, this turned out to be more effective.
“Crazy. Everything’s working today,” he repeated to himself and shouted, “What are you doing?! Get up!!!”
Coffee had dealt with the Vikings returning to the base and reached Almond first.
Coffee was already covered in blood and would have died if not for the additional health as a secondary commander. In that state, he shot the Pyeonjeon on horseback and struck the axe.
Almond quickly jumped from the ground and readied himself. Their gazes met over the long distance.
Coffee shouted energetically, “Okay! Let’s go!!!”
Creak—
Coffee drew his bow again. Almond refocused and engaged the Vikings in swordplay while Coffee shot arrows in between.
Whoosh!
One Viking fell.
Coffee drew his bow again and Almond dispatched another Viking with his sword.
An arrow struck another Viking in the torso and he fell. Coffee didn’t need to aim for the head since these Vikings had already revived once.
“Nice shot!!!”
Coffee cheered as he kept riding. His bow didn’t rest.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The Vikings fell despite their revival abilities. The number of Vikings that Almond had to face considerably dwindled.
Thud! Thud!
Coffee stopped shooting and rode hard.
‘More are coming.’
The gate in the distance began opening when they had dealt with almost all the visible Vikings. More Vikings were coming.
‘It’s dangerous to keep riding.’
Being on a horse wouldn’t be safe if the Vikings charged with the berserker trait.
‘What if Almond shoots on horseback?’
As a secondary commander, Coffee envisioned the scenario while riding. If Almond shot while riding the horse, they could handle those Vikings before getting caught. Yes, that was the best option.
“Almond!!!”
Coffee leaned over and extended his hand.
“Coffee…!”
Almond grabbed his hand with a look of sheer relief.
Clap!
Their hands clasped and Coffee pulled Almond onto the horse.
‘Oh…?’
Coffee sensed something.
‘What is it?’
He couldn’t pinpoint it immediately.
“Neigh…!”
Coffee turned the horse and aimed for Joseon’s direction.
“Get them!!!”
The Vikings charged with terrifying speed and seemingly activated their berserker trait. They moved at an incredible speed like something out of a martial arts novel.
‘Damn.’
After the third era, the berserker trait scaled with the speed of the enemy being pursued, making the Vikings even faster.
Almond urged Coffee, “What are you doing? Let’s go!”
Coffee handed him the bow.
“Take this first.”
Suddenly, Coffee jumped off the horse.
Thunk!
“Did I ever tell you?”
He turned to face the Vikings.
“My goal is to win too.”
“?”
That was news to Almond.
“Thanks for saying it for me. I envied you.”
Coffee smirked and slapped the horse’s rear.
“Neigh…!”
The horse whinnied and took off. The distance between Almond and Coffee widened while the distance between Coffee and the Vikings narrowed.
Coffee put his hand to his mouth and whistled.
“Whooo—”
[Send the Hawk]
The hawk revealed the path that he drew for Almond to follow and the path for himself in the opposite direction with Vikings charging at him.
‘The berserker trait scales with the speed of the closest enemy.’
If Coffee stayed, they would chase him instead of the horse. The berserker trait would activate and scale according to him. They couldn’t chase Almond on the horse anymore. It would be much more favorable for Coffee to buy some time here.
‘Three seconds. If I can hold for three seconds… it’ll be perfect.’
Shing.
Coffee drew his sword. He glanced at his trembling hands and gritted his teeth.
‘Did he always do this with such a hand?’
He had felt Almond’s grip when they clasped hands.
Coffee held his sword tighter. This was an assistant commander’s sword.
***
The all-out battle between the elite Vikings and Joseon’s forces continued in the central area for the last remaining resources.
Eventually, Joseon’s line completely broke and Jessie’s giant sword decapitated Bread.
Slash!
“The enemy commander is dead!!!” the Vikings shouted.
An enemy commander couldn’t revive after dying and this would be a decisive moment in the war that marked Joseon’s defeat.
“Charge!!!”
The Vikings could sense their victory at hand.
Slash!
A massive wing of light emanated from behind Jessie and the Vikings’ morale soared to the sky.
“Waaa!!!”
“To a great victory!!!”
Many Vikings trampled over Bread and the Joseon corpses. However—
“What…!?”
Buzz…!
A white light shot up from the ground and warmly enveloped the trampled corpses.
‘What is this?’
An unbelievable message appeared in front of Bread.
[Valhalla]
She rose from her bloody grave with blood-soaked hair and drew her sword.
Buzz…!
The entire ground glowed white. Many soldiers stood up, emanating halos, and rising from death.
Shing!
Bread drew her sword.
“All troops!!!”
The assistant commander’s sword pointed at the bewildered Vikings.
“Attack!!!”