Season 3: Chapter 196: The Comeback(1)
“Ah, Almond climbed onto the elephant!”
“There are five enemies on top!”
“Those five quickly fell off the elephant!”
The commentators couldn't even explain what happened because the five enemies fell off so quickly. They couldn’t see exactly what happened with the naked eye.
“Suddenly, Almond is the only one left on the elephant after blocking arrows, pushing, and slashing!”
“The angle of attack was incredibly sharp!”
— Wow
— His judgment has been crazy since earlier
— Is this really Almond?
Only Almond remained on the elephant. However, the elephant still obeyed Persia's commands.
Almond had to stop it.
‘A single soldier alone?’
OrangeKing couldn’t see how it was possible, but Almond moved without hesitation.
All OrangeKing could do was cheer loudly, “Please, Almond! Stop the elephant!”
They couldn’t provide any proper commentary on what would happen.
— Hahaha
— “Stop!”
— Best Almond!
— How many times are you going to call for him?!
Everyone expected something great, but didn’t really believe it would happen. A single player stopping an elephant would be a miracle and not just wishful thinking.
Moments later, OrangeKing's eyes and the eyes of everyone watching suddenly widened.
‘!?’
What happened next...
‘What!?’
Almond did something neither he nor a great commander could achieve.
“What is this...?”
A miracle had truly happened. Explaining the process would be meaningless.
Slash!
A red line appeared as Almond’s sword slashed from the elephant's crown to the tip of its trunk.
The crowd fell into a moment of silence. The Iranian spectators were in disbelief while the Korean spectators doubted what they saw.
“Th-The elephant...”
Veins bulged on OrangeKing's neck as the massive elephant collapsed to the ground.
“He cut it downnnnnn!!!”
Boom!
With a cloud of dust, many Persian infantry died beneath the elephant and the ground quickly turned into hell. The air reeked not of blood, but of sulfur. The Persian soldiers died similarly to the many Joseon soldiers when the wall collapsed.
— ???
— Wow
— He cut down the elephant?!?!
— What??
— Unbelievable
— Elephant cut down!!
— Crazy????
Even the Korean spectators couldn’t believe what they saw. How would the Persian soldiers who experienced it feel?
For a moment, no one moved.
***
Cutting down an elephant alone would go down in the history of the national competition. It probably wouldn’t have been possible if this wasn’t a game.
No one would probably remember it either. History was always written by the victors.
“GG~”
[Defeat]
Joseon had been defeated.
“Ah... so close.”
The Joseon archers dispatched to Persia couldn't break through the tightly defended towers. The Persian commander Elepher remained calm until the end.
Even if one or two elephants had been killed, more elephants would come as long as Joseon’s resource harassment failed. Such was the nature of an RTS game. Being good in battles was only part of it.
“A single soldier shouldn’t be fighting an elephant in the first place. That’s what an RTS game is.”
— True
— So close
— A marine shouldn’t be fighting a lurker alone. Tanks should’ve been made back then
— That’s the essence
— Still unfortunate
— Breaking news: Hijab factory goes bankrupt due to order cancellations
Ultimately, war was a matter of resources, supply, and persistence. Both Joseon and Persia knew this well, but Persia excelled in these aspects in this game.
“Indeed, Joseon didn't have any favorable advantages in the early battles. It seemed hard to catch up and that’s the essence of an RTS game.”
The caster mentioned the lack of favorable variables for Joseon in the early battles. From there, a snowball effect never took place.
“Yes, Joseon is disadvantaged in this aspect. With no resource-based faction, Best Yi Sun-Shin and Cookie need to win battles and exchange those results for resources.”
Joseon needed to create resources through battles. This was their dilemma in this RTS game.
“Mongolia has a looting faction, so the system helps with that. Joseon doesn’t have anything similar.”
“That’s right. That strategy was created by reinterpreting the civilization this year. It worked so far.”
“Yes, meaning that the teams they faced until now weren’t better at fighting than Joseon. However, Persia is different.”
Indeed, many dangerous moments occurred in the first game.
“There were moments in the forest where the Joseon archers almost got wiped out. Except for Joseon’s top archers, the Persian archers are better overall.”
“Ah...”
The caster sighed at OrangeKing’s words.
— Oh no…
— Is OrangeKing angry? LOL
— Brutal truth
“In ranked games, the skill difference is evident even with the same champion. It’s the same with civilizations using the same weapons.”
OrangeKing’s words rang true. In a match between civilizations using the same primary weapon, even slight differences in skills became apparent. Such was the case with Persia.
“Joseon must not let their guard down after winning one game. They must think about winning with solid teamwork! The overall combat skill difference is evident!”
OrangeKing noticed something while watching the Joseon match.
Although it only appeared on the broadcast screen occasionally, all the commands and pings from the commander were displayed on the analysis desk for the commentators.
‘This won’t do.’
He sensed that the players lacked trust in the rookie commander. He understood this situation well because he had been a pro gamer in a team game.
It wasn’t anyone’s fault. They weren’t deliberately disobeying orders. They were hesitating without realizing it. However, that hesitation led to non-compliance in such high-stakes and high-level games where the opportunity to execute those orders vanished in an instant.
— Why is OrangeKing angry?
— Scary…
— We can win! Let’s go!
— He’s saying what needs to be said! It’s refreshing!
— He’s probably stating the harsh truth since losing one more game ends it
— So this is what happens in a mirror match with archery civilizations…
— If we lose, the trolls will have a field day again
— Let’s just cheer!
— Where’s Cookie? Will he appear in the third match???
***
Before the players returned to the waiting room…
“Why... why did this happen…?”
Chi-Seung tore at his hair while replaying the game on video multiple times.
“This is like an amateur team!” Chi-Seung screamed without realizing it.
“O-Oppa, calm down. Don’t act like this when the players arrive.”
Water Dumpling worried about the players' mentality, but Sharp Sphere seemed as angry as Chi-Seung.
“This isn’t right. This isn’t right. What should I do!? Should I crush them!? Arrrgh!”
Water Dumpling tried to calm Sharp Sphere as well.
“No. What are you, a monster? Calm down. Actually, Best Yi Sun-Shin’s order style is a bit unfamiliar.”
“What!?”
Chi-Seung turned to look at Water Dumpling.
“Why, why are you so scary…?”
“No. What? What part?”
“Well, um...”
“I felt it too. Speak.”
Chi-Seung also found her order style a bit uncomfortable to execute.
“It feels like there’s not enough time to execute orders. There seem to be more orders coming down within a set time.”
“Oh... and?”
“Sometimes there’s no order at all.”
“Wait...”
Chi-Seung seemed to think of something and played a file on his laptop.
[Best Yi Sun-Shin Rank Match Analysis]
[#13]
They had saved these analysis files when scouting Best Yi Sun-Shin.
“What’s the point of watching that now?”
“Better late than never. Will Cookie come back if we stay idle?”
Chi-Seung focused all his attention on the file playing back at double speed. He opened another file and repeated the process while mumbling.
“As I thought...”
She had a completely different style from Cookie.
“She gives out a lot of tactical commands. If Cookie creates situations to win, she enters situations she can’t win and tries to win them.”
“Ah... so the players are surprised by this.”
“It’s not just that. The soldiers are hesitant because they don’t trust her.”
The Joseon soldiers evidently didn’t trust their commander. That was why Chi-Seung felt angry.
Water Dumpling responded, “Because she’s not Cookie...”
She finally admitted the truth that she had been avoiding.
“Only Cookie can save Joseon like this.”
At that moment, the door to the strategy room opened.
With the sound of a wheelchair, Sa-Rang joined the conversation.
“So, is Cookie coming back?”
“...”
“Will he return to save Joseon?”
The think tank team couldn’t say anything due to her sudden appearance.
“Well...”
“He can’t return, can he?”
“Yes. It’s unlikely for this match.”
“Then you have to trust me. There’s no other choice, right?”
“Yes... indeed.”
They had no other choice.
“Let’s go to the waiting room. I have something to say to everyone.”
Unconsciously, Chi-Seung was already holding the handles of her wheelchair.
‘She seems angry, but she’s not shaken.’
He thought she would be the most shaken.
A commander they didn’t trust who lacked experience and just lost a crucial match. She would be trusted even less in the future, making the next game more difficult.
However, she seemed unfazed. Her eyes looked clearer than when she entered the capsule.
She had no real tournament experience, but Chi-Seung felt anticipation instead of anxiety. What would she say to the players? How would she gain their trust?
Boom!
The waiting room door opened and all the players’ eyes turned toward them.
“...”
A moment of silence followed.
Then, she began to speak slowly.