Season 3: Chapter 188: Well (2)
“He has returned from hell! Almond!!!”
— What just happened
— Revived like a beast lol
— What’s this?
— Nuts returned from hell
— Legendary
— Oh, it’s the trick the Vikings used
They thought Almond had died, but he suddenly stood up and drew his bow again.
“Valhalla!!!” OrangeKing shouted as Upra, one of the three archers, had his head blown apart.
“He’s using the same trick the Vikings used against ranged soldiers!”
The Vikings had used this psychological tactic against Joseon’s archers.
Confirming an enemy had died could be easily done up close, but not from a distance.
Persia couldn’t have imagined a trick rarely used by anyone other than the Vikings.
“Oh! Look at Kenin’s jaw drop!!”
— Why comment on the facial expression? lol
— LOL
— This is it~
“It’s like he’s seen a ghost!”
Kenin’s face looked like he’d seen a ghost as Almond aimed at him.
***
His comrade’s head exploded and a hellish enemy appeared behind him.
Kenin’s mouth dropped open. He couldn’t have imagined the enemy would play dead.
‘Did Upra’s arrow miss?!’
Upra’s arrow had barely missed earlier. Seeing it miss, Almond immediately decided to play dead.
Only the most veteran Vikings had such monstrous judgment.
‘Ah, the Vikings.’
The enemy had recently faced the Vikings. Now, it made sense. But what did it matter? It was too late. Understanding this wouldn’t solve the situation.
The tip of the enemy’s arrow pointed at Kenin, who wasn’t prepared at all. He had just turned his head to confirm the enemy’s presence. Unless the enemy missed, Kenin was as good as dead.
In a split second, all these thoughts flashed through his mind.
‘Still...!’
Kenin’s eyes changed.
How long would he have to wait to respawn if he died here? Respawns always happened in order.
Considering the dead barbarian soldiers, the archers would respawn much later. If that happened, Persia had no hope.
‘No matter how good you are, you can’t predict the future.’
Kenin gritted his teeth and twisted his body, rolling on the ground. He had to dodge like before. He could only survive the arrow with such sudden movements.
“Huff...!”
Kenin rolled on the ground and felt relieved at still being alive. That meant the enemy’s arrow had missed, but was that really the case?
‘Huh?’ Kenin questioned himself.
He hadn’t heard the sound of an arrow missing or being shot.
‘What’s this?’
The arrow hadn’t been shot yet. It was only a 0.1 second delay, but Kenin knew instinctively.
‘That bastard...’
The enemy had deliberately delayed shooting.
‘Watching to see how I dodge?!’
Kenin’s eyes bulged. Was it anger or astonishment? He couldn’t tell. One thing was certain. His pride had been thoroughly crushed. He realized that being called the strongest archer in this game had ended one second ago.
He could see it from far away. Beyond his fallen comrade and the fountain of blood, the enemy’s lips curled into a smile.
‘Is he laughing?’
The enemy laughed and muttered something as he released the arrow.
‘!’
Swoosh—
The arrow finally came flying.
Kenin, having already thrown himself once, couldn’t get up to run in time. His hand flailed in the air and his feet slipped on the dirt, failing to push off.
Of course, Kenin knew this would happen. Once he dodged, he couldn’t dodge again.
‘Even if you can’t predict the future...’
One could wait and shoot.
Screeeeech...!
The white light filled his vision and burned it away.
“Woooooaaaaahhh!!!”
A deafening cheer reverberated and shook the ground. Of course, this cheer didn’t come from Persia’s side.
***
“He hit! Almond! Almond!!!” OrangeKing shouted and stood up, his face about to burst.
“The Persian archers have been exterminated!!!”
Bang!
As he pounded the table, the audience erupted into a huge cheer.
“Woooooaaaaahhh!!!”
— This is crazy
— Persia annihilated
— This is it
— So satisfying~
“Oh, Kenin! Is this the end of the supposedly strongest archer!?”
“Ah, he died very disgracefully at the end!”
Kenin flailed in the air before rolling on the ground and dying pathetically.
— LOL
— Damn Almond, you demon, was that intentional??
— Waiting to shoot was legendary
— Kenin throwing himself was hilarious
— Almond’s judgment is something else
— Playing with him before killing
— The king of teabagging
While the Korean audience went into a frenzy, the Persian audience went silent like ghosts after witnessing the shocking sight.
“I’ve wanted to say this for a long time! Finally, I can say it! Almond has properly established the hierarchy!!”
Persia prided itself on having the best archers, but the hierarchy had been properly established after meeting Joseon.
“Oh, no! This is really establishing the hierarchy! Almond is so strong! Kenin might have to buy bread after this match!”
— LOL
— Is it that bad
— Buying bread lol
— Too harsh lol
“Are you sure, OrangeKing!?”
“Ah, yes! If it was me, I would! I bought orange juice for JeonJaPa when this happened to me!”
— LOL
— Fact: The orange juice thing is real
— Juice squeezed from tangerines
— To survive, you have to do what you have to do~
— That wasn’t intentional lol
“Oh, by the way, Kebab Ninja. Almond loves peanut soboro bread.”
— How do you even know that?
— He must’ve watched Zombie School lol
— Great taste
— Even in snacks, he prefers nuts
As the commentators jubilantly celebrated Almond’s victory, Joseon easily raided Persia’s base.
Noticing that the archers in the forest had been annihilated, Elepher’s expression visibly darkened.
“Ah, Elepher! His expression is deadly!”
“Yes, at this rate, he seems to have little left!”
“They say Elepher’s face turns red when he’s angry! He’s almost a tomato now!”
“He’ll turn purple soon! From a tomato to an eggplant! This might affect the next match!”
Joseon took this opportunity to push their archers even further.
“Ah, Joseon’s archers! Are they receiving signals? They’re boldly advancing to the guard towers!”
As their numbers increased, the archers fearlessly advanced to the guard towers. Even if a few died, they successfully neutralized the workers inside.
“Persia is in more trouble. And... Oh, a disaster is approaching!”
— Almond is coming
— Oh right, he’s coming
— Loss of willpower lol
Almond finally entered the enemy base.
Pang and Carrot felt stunned to see him alive.
“Wow. Just seeing him will make the enemies give up, right?”
The moment Elepher saw Almond…
[Surrender]
He raised the white flag.
The commentators jumped and shouted as if waiting for this moment.
“GG!! GG!!!”
— GG
— Well played
— Persia got destroyed
— Well done
— We won
— This is crazy
— They won the game before my chicken delivery arrived
— Born to win
Joseon had won the first game against Persia following their victory against the Vikings.
“Joseon wins the first game! Ah... Is Joseon really the underdog? This win was even cleaner than the games against the Vikings!”
“Yes. Choosing an archer strategy led to a direct skill battle against the Persian archers. And... Almond was simply better!”
— LOL
— That guy is just too good
— ??? Mom! My elephant turned into Almond!
— Didn’t even get to see the elephants
“It’s like Almond is saying, ‘Watch who the real best archer is!’”
“Yes! Honestly, watching this match, Almond is clearly above Kenin. No, not just Kenin, but he killed all of Persia’s elite archers! Alone!”
“Yes. And now the highlight reel! Let’s watch from Almond’s perspective!”
The highlight reel started on the broadcast screen. It showed Almond taking down eight enemy archers starting from the beginning.
“One”
Thud!
Almond counted as he took down one.
“Ah, Almond is counting?”
“Uh... why is he counting?”
The counting continued.
“Three”
“Four”
“Wow...”
“It’s an art even after seeing it again!”
Almond chased down and took out the enemies one by one.
The audience watched the replay, mesmerized by the first-person view.
“It was eight, huh? I have to tell Carrot.”
And the final scene came up.
“... Ah! The scene where he takes down Kenin! Why does he say it was eight?!”
— LOL
— What?
— This guy is weird
— Don’t try to understand lol
“Why tell Carrot? Did he count the enemies to know their numbers? But what’s the point after killing them all?”
— LOL
— He’s showing off
— Carrot is Almond’s external hard drive lol
— What’s the point of knowing after they’re dead? lol
— No way
“There was a report that he muttered something while taking the last shot. Maybe this will reveal the secret!”
— No way lol
— LOL
— Oh my
“Let’s see the final shot... No, the fake!”
“Wow! Faking a shot before shooting! This is art! It’s like watching when I played blink dagger on LIL—”
Everyone forgot the reason why Almond counted when he took the final shot.
“Chikicha”
“!?”
“Huh?”
The secret of why he counted had not been revealed. Only how humiliating he made Kenin’s death became clear.
“Chikicha!? Isn’t that what Almond used to shout in the LIL tournament!?”
“Ah... yes. It’s something he shouts when he has a grudge!”
— Crazy chikicha lol
— Wow, long time no see chikicha
— chikicha~ chikicha
— Now they don’t even say it’s the shout of a solo player lol
— He keeps using it because they mocked him for it
— Solo players cry today too
— Crazy grudge indeed
— Was it chikicha lol
They still couldn’t figure out why Almond counted.
***
Meanwhile, the community buzzed with posts about the game. The opinions had completely flipped compared to when Joseon was losing in the forest.
Big) In the end, we were frogs in a well...
This sentiment had been expressed in the Big Forum just ten minutes ago.
[Only a well~]
[^Well^]
[Welling around and getting beaten]
Posts kept appearing as if pushing the well analogy to slander Almond.
Now, it had changed.
— Stupid lol
— Lol
— Forcing memes sucks
— This is why the game doesn’t progress
— The frog turned out to be Naruto~
The initial post had over three hundred forty-seven comments all cursing the poster.
Now, posts like these dominated the top.
Big) The well knows the answer.
This post also had a picture.
[(Picture) This is Sparta!!!]
The scene from a movie showed someone kicking an enemy into a well.
— Crazy lol
— LOL
— Frogs kicked into the well
└ LOL
└ Hilarious lol
└ LOL
— The well hid its power
— (Well) knows the answer lol
— They’ll find the answer if they go in there
— How did it turn out like this? lol
— Well lord! One goes down!
└ LOL
└ Well lord lol
└ Goes down lol
— Cool
— ??? To the well of truth