Season 3: Chapter 192: Mongolian Prairies (3)
The situation was distinctly different from the first game.
"All the Persian archers have entered the defense towers!"
"Ah, their turtling! Turtling…!"
— Space defense
— They won’t fall for it twice
— The three pests are shooting like crazy to avoid wearing hijabs
Persia, although not as numerous as Joseon, had a considerable number of archers. With the investment in defense towers, they had significantly strengthened the defense of their base.
The Joseon archers wouldn’t be able to do much there.
"Almond! Almond! He’s sniping the archers inside the defense tower!"
Joseon won some minor victories, but constantly sniping enemy archers inside the towers wasn’t sustainable. Against Persia’s adept defense, Almond’s sniping method would no longer be effective.
"Ah, the Persian archers are shooting through the gaps in the wooden planks of the towers. Persian bows are a bit smaller, so this is possible."
"Yes. Plus, they don't need to pull out arrows, making it much easier to shoot even if the stance is a bit awkward!"
Utilizing their advantages, they could continue shooting from safe positions within the defense towers. Despite the awkward stance, arrows from the towers acted as a sufficient threat.
Thud!
Thunk!
The Joseon archers who approached within range quickly died.
"Latte is out! Ah... the frontline Joseon archers are falling one by one!"
"They need reinforcements!!"
"The barbarian soldiers are rushing, but as I mentioned before, this map has limited resources! It’s hard to replenish troops once they die!"
The most crucial resources for an early archer rush were wood and food. This map had limited food supplies despite having ample wood.
"Joseon is pulling back the barbarian soldiers!"
"But Almond is advancing even further! Is he trying to target the workers?!"
As Joseon retreated, Almond moved in the opposite direction. With no direct orders given to the archers, it was unclear if this was part of a strategy.
***
The Persian base turned into hell for the Joseon archers.
"How many defense towers do they have!?"
"Ugh. They’ve done a complete job of city planning. We can’t even set fires here!"
The Joseon soldiers had no way to damage the defense towers and constantly became exposed to enemy arrows.
"Let's just charge toward the workers—"
Thud!
A Joseon archer forcing their way toward the workers immediately died. Skilled enemy archers guarded the route to the workers from inside the defense towers.
Almond assessed the situation.
"We should just kill the ones inside the towers first."
He decided that eliminating the hidden enemy archers would be their best option.
"Hey, can we even do that!? You haven’t been able to shoot since earlier. They’re shooting from behind wooden planks!" the frustrated Pang snapped back.
Understandably so, since their repeated attempts had only resulted in more deaths.
‘What should we do?’
While Almond pondered, Joseon began withdrawing the barbarian soldiers.
"Ah. It looks like a retreat. This game might be lost."
Pang quickly read the overall situation and realized what the retreat meant. On the other hand, Almond only grasped the gravity of the situation through Pang’s words.
‘Could we lose this round?’
It wasn’t just the rush failing. The entire game seemed to be slipping away.
‘Then…’
Almond felt like this could be their only chance. He had to cause some damage before retreating.
He scrutinized the defense towers. And then—
‘Huh?’
Something caught Almond’s eye.
Ping!
[Advance and attack again]
He sprinted forward as soon as he received the order. Not because he fully understood the command, but because he saw something at the marked spot.
He sprinted forward first.
Tat-tat-tat.
Then, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow. While running at full speed, the white light of focus gathered.
***
The commentators felt stunned as Almond ran in the opposite direction.
"Whoa!? What’s this!?"
"A reverse charge? Is this planned!"
"We can't tell! It’s like when he was counting in the previous game!"
— Lol
— Why was he counting? lol
— Did he tell Carrot?
— The eighth wonder
Even for Almond, running back so recklessly seemed like a rare and mysterious action. He usually left the judgment to the commander and only made decisions about the battle situation himself.
"Almond wouldn’t do this unless he felt extremely confident…"
Despite this, Almond ran alone and drew his bow.
Creak.
"What!? What’s this!?"
He didn’t aim at the workers, but at the defense tower where the enemy soldiers inside would have already been prepared.
***
It was widely known that Civil Empire had a much larger presence overseas. Although the game recently gained more attention in Korea, it was still relatively small compared to its immense popularity in the North American market.
The difference in population and user interest in historical themes contributed to this. Those who loved this game not only actively played ranked games, but also became well-versed in tournaments. Many watched international pro leagues, especially the national competition, which was the main event in Civil Empire.
Therefore, everyone knew about the famous three Persian archers and their skills.
[Almond prolly gonna get schooled.]
(Almond will probably get schooled.) (Translated)
[Joseon is good enough, but not better than PERSIA]
(Joseon is good enough, but not better than Persia.) (Translated)
[Kebab ninja got some mad skill.]
(Kebab ninja has mad skills.) (Translated)
The consensus was that Joseon was at a disadvantage mainly due to archery skills. Joseon’s archery didn’t stand out because of the three renowned Persian archers.
However, everyone felt shocked after experiencing an indescribable first game.
— What?
— One man literally killed them all? lol
— WTF
Almond had single-handedly taken down not just the three ace archers from Persia, but a total of eight Persian archers. This shattered everyone’s worldview and could be called a game-changer.
Although shocking, those who loved the game also felt thrilled about it and discussions about this flooded the chat.
— Wow, Almond is on a different level
— This is why Batman said, "Wanna get nuts? Let's get nuts." lol
— Who got schooled again?
— Welcome to Algworts! Nuts!
— It's nuts… it really is
Viewers filled the chat with mentions of nuts. Naturally, discussions about this also appeared in various communities. While many posts celebrated the emergence of the rookie Almond, many criticized Persia’s three archers.
They hadn’t just lost. They had been utterly humiliated.
The players themselves couldn’t easily dismiss this.
‘Dammit.’
Kenin hadn’t even seen the responses, but he could already imagine them. The first thing that the think tank told them was to absolutely avoid looking at their phones. Would it have been better to see it? In his mind, the haunting memory of the first game still lingered.
‘Let’s make up for it this time.’
Fortunately, they still had a chance. Things seemed to be going well for Persia in the second game.
Kenin took a prime position in the defense tower to ensure that enemies couldn’t get close.
‘Good. They’re retreating.’
Thanks to this, the enemies retreated without causing much damage to the workers.
"Yes!"
Cheers erupted from various defense towers. Turtling seemed easy, but those defending also felt stifled by it. Overcoming the enemy rush felt exhilarating.
Kenin raised his hand and shouted in relief from the suffocating defense, "Alright! Let’s do this!"
He felt determined to win this time and resolved himself.
"This time, it’ll be different! Persia—"
Thud!
Suddenly, a bright light flashed. His vision turned black and white as if the power had gone out. It had happened too suddenly.
‘What…?’
He was sure that the enemies had retreated. Only after becoming a ghost on the battlefield did he see what happened.
An arrow had pierced his head and instantly killed him.
Defense towers could see far, but such visibility didn’t suit close quarters.
‘?!’
Only after dying did Kenin also see who shot him.
‘…’
It was Almond. That guy again. Why did he charge in the opposite direction when everyone else retreated?
Kenin couldn’t understand.
‘Even if you die, you’ll kill me, huh!?’
Kenin grew furious, but he couldn’t do anything against a perfectly clean headshot. It was hard to believe such a shot was possible. Even if he didn’t want to, he had to admit what was happening right in front of his eyes.
‘Still… dying like this might be a relief. We’ve almost won the game.’
Kenin felt his death had some value. Almond had approached too deeply to kill him.
"Dammit! Kenin’s dead! Shoot that guy!"
"One enemy has infiltrated!"
Countless arrows flew toward Almond.
Twang! Twang!
Almond would soon die and make this a one-to-one exchange. Kenin had died and Almond would too. It wasn’t a loss. Plus, Persia had entirely blocked the enemy rush. They would now pull ahead after Joseon wasted its early investments.
The game significantly tipped in Persia’s favor.
‘Huh?’
Almost all the Persian archers aimed at Almond. He naturally attracted their focus after killing their ace.
‘No… some of them should look elsewhere! He’s already dead!’
Too many archers focused on Almond and he literally drew all the aggro.
In the middle of this, Almond also dodged a few shots. Was that possible?
‘Huh!? What’s happening!? We almost won…!’
Had Almond planned this?
Joseon’s archers suddenly changed direction and charged toward the gold mines. Persia’s defense focused mainly on wood resources and left the gold mines vulnerable.
Meanwhile, all the Persian archers focused on Almond.
‘Ah…’
The workers at the gold mines began dying.
In Kenin’s vision, a black cloth shimmered.
‘Ah…’
It was a hijab.