Season 3: Chapter 204. The Monster Battle (1)
'It hit.'
Sa-Rang paused for a moment after the order to aim for the maximum range.
Almond had hit it in one shot.
'...'
Thump.
Her heart pounded rapidly.
'Could I have hit it?'
Almond probably surpassed even her in terms of long-distance aiming. Complicated thoughts flashed through her mind, but she erased them all. Regardless, everything went according to her plan.
[Attack]
Ping!
Every archer acted without hesitation when she ordered them to shoot the gold mine.
Not all of them could hit the workers at the gold mine, but they didn’t doubt the command since Almond had shown that it could be done.
'The leader first.'
She had to show the leader performing first for the others to follow and chose to command like this for the game.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bang!
Following Almond’s lead, numerous arrows split the sky and flew toward the gold mine. At least one to twenty percent of them would hit given the sheer number. Just with that, Persia would go mad.
Joseon would keep firing arrows and all those workers would eventually die.
That gold mine was now unusable, yet Persia showed no particular movement in their main camp.
'As expected...'
Sa-Rang knew Persia would react this way.
'They’ll come soon.'
She gave a standby order to the swordsman unit on the Persian main camp wall.
[Standby]
They would soon descend and occupy the ground. However, they hesitated upon receiving the order.
Then, she gave a separate order only to the leader, Malatang.
***
"Standby!!" Malatang shouted and raised his hand as they headed toward the stairs.
Snap!
The entire swordsman unit halted.
'What is this?'
Even Malatang himself didn’t know why they had to stop.
[Reposition back to the top of the wall]
Not only did the descending troops have to halt, but they had to return to the top of the wall.
'Weren't we supposed to occupy the main camp?'
To Malatang's knowledge, time was of the essence.
“Reduce on-site judgment as much as possible. This person gives a lot of tactical orders. That's our analysis.”
The think tank had gathered the leaders and told them this after Choi Sa-Rang left the feedback session.
'She said she’ll be giving multiple small orders.'
With such a style, they had no choice but to follow the orders as given. The leaders had to set an example for the soldiers to follow.
"Back to the top of the wall!!"
Ping!
Ping!
Malatang designated the area with his leader's authority and repositioned the soldiers to the top of the wall.
Some soldiers tilted their heads in confusion, but followed while running. This was distinctly different from the previous two games.
'It’s good enough for now.'
Snap.
Malatang stood in the designated standby position.
Then, another order came. It was more of a message than an order.
"..."
After reading the message, Malatang's face showed determination.
***
Persia ultimately abandoned the gold mine at their main camp.
"Persia’s gold mine at their main camp has stopped! Now, it's time to bring out what they’ve gathered in the multi!"
"Yes! Persia is now gathering elephants at six o'clock!"
"They are making a big move with this! The troops in the main camp are just trying to stay alive! That's the plan!"
Persia had produced elephants at the six o'clock location with their resources obtained from running the multi and main camp together.
"Wow. Player Malatang is really good at attracting elephants! Persia is using all their multi resources! They already have three elephants!!"
Other troops besides the elephants had gathered at six o'clock. Persia mostly regrouped its fallen soldiers there.
Persia had practically abandoned the operation of troops at the main camp.
"Does this mean they’re using the main camp as a shield!? It feels like the six o'clock multi is now the main camp!"
— The god of elephants, woah~
— I didn't know it was this crazy just by looking at the main camp.
— Wow...
— What will Malatang do if the main camp is abandoned?
— Should they just take those and head to Joseon's main camp??
— Insane.
The elephants definitely posed a threat to Joseon, who mainly used archers. Where would the elephants head to? They could either go to protect Persia’s main camp or head toward Joseon's main camp.
"Where are they going!?"
"Is Joseon... prepared!? Joseon doesn't think they will come to their main camp at all right now!"
"Joseon is watching. They saw it in advance with flying scouts!"
"Oh. Joseon's main camp is not taking any special measures! They’re confident! Wow!!"
Even after seeing the elephants, Joseon took no special measures for their main camp.
However, Sa-Rang placed Coffee and some scout cavalry at the paths between six and three o'clock as if to show Persia. She knew exactly who held the initiative.
"Wow. Joseon is saying they’ll go in too if Persia comes! That’s a threat, right!? Actually, it’ll be tough for Joseon if the elephants head to Joseon's main camp! This is a psychological game!"
"Where will Elepher go in the end!?"
“Boouuuu—”
Elepher set off immediately as the four elephants gathered.
[Move]
He pinged the location at nine o'clock toward their own main camp.
"Indeed! Joseon is acting like they could pull out the enemy commander at any moment! Showing such boldness! In the end, Persia is going back to their own camp!"
Commander Elepher's main body was still in the Persian main camp, which the Joseon archers shooting from the wall surrounded.
It took significant resolve for Persia to head toward Joseon's main camp, but Persia got caught up in Joseon's psychological warfare and failed to do so.
Now, the broadcast camera turned toward Persia's main camp where the final battle would clearly take place.
"Oh. Joseon's swordsmen are waiting on the wall. Shouldn't they be fighting down there?" the caster wondered about the swordsmen waiting on the wall instead of archers.
"I can't figure that out either. Maybe they think enemies will come up the wall? It's a headache because of the hill tank strategy!"
— It's now just a hill tank, lol
— Sorry, but they are archers, duh.
— Tank, lol.
"For Joseon, it's not easy because they have to deal with Persia's elephants at the main camp!"
Victory would only be possible by fighting and winning against the elephants in the enemy's main camp.
"Are they being too greedy!?"
"Yes! But this was the best choice for the hill tank strategy! Joseon is gaining a lot with very little damage. Persia must be more impatient! Joseon has built a multi in the meantime!!"
After making Persia impatient, Joseon successfully expanded with a multi in the twelve o'clock area. They had leftover money to spend after already securing all their troops.
— Wow!
— They are caught up.
— Oh, does this mean we’ll see a 4th era?
— The timing, holy shit~
Meanwhile, Persia's gold and food reserves rapidly depleted after producing elephants.
"Producing elephants is a double-edged sword! Joseon is clearly demonstrating that, right? It feels like they are even provoking Persia with arrows to keep producing elephants!”
OrangeKing felt that Joseon was somehow continuously inducing the production of elephants. Wasn't the arrow upgrade an enormous provocation from the very beginning?
"Joseon is still vulnerable to elephants even though they upgraded their arrows! Archers specialize in long-range, so they don't fight well against elephants! But you’re saying Joseon encouraged this!? Is that what you mean!?"
— They just wanted a hill tank.
— "As planned," lol
— Is it a fantasy lecture show?
— Didn’t they just exclude the elephants??
The faction upgrades that actually excelled at dealing with elephants were the firepower upgrade, which increased the range of siege weapons, and tiger armor, which allowed the training of melee soldiers.
However, Joseon had never chosen these upgrades this season.
Cookie's reinterpretation of Joseon's style was clear. They focused on hit-and-run strategies with archers and battles based on mobility variables.
Best Yi Sun-Shin, the top player, inherited this and chose only archery upgrades.
"This season, Joseon hasn't looked at any options other than archery. It has been a good choice so far, but... Oh!! At this moment, both sides have just spotted each other!"
“Boouuuu!”
The elephants appeared on the plain at nine o'clock. There had been four initially with two more following behind after Persia squeezed out their resources. Their resources continued to deplete, but they had gathered enough troops to pose a threat.
"What, Joseon?! What are they building right now!?"
Joseon confirmed that Persia had reached an irreversible point and quickly began some construction.
[Wall - 1%]
"A wall!?"
Joseon began building its own wall in front of the Ancient Walls surrounding Persia.
"Oh no, OrangeKing! Is this a cheese crust!? One more layer of bread!?"
— Wow~
— Cheese crust lol
— Double. Hahhaha.
— It's no longer a pizza, it’s just pastry.
— Lol.
"They are really being as sticky as cheese! Even if elephants break through one layer, there’s another one behind! This is a really persistent game!!"
Adding another layer of walls brought benefits beyond just making it difficult for elephants to enter.
"This way, the Persian soldiers inside the main camp can't get out either!"
It also increased the pressure on the main camp with two walls now between the main camp and reinforcements.
"Yes! Usually, you don't discard the cheese crust even if you discard the bread!"
— ???
—What are they saying? lol
— Lol!
The approaching Persian army’s speed increased.
"Persia saw the wall construction! And they’re rushing the elephants. But Joseon’s construction is quite fast!?"
Walls could be quickly built and the multiple fast-working Joseon workers finished in the blink of an eye.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
[Wall - Completed]
[Wall - Completed]
[Wall - Completed]
"The elephants are running!!"
Rumble...!
The elephants accelerated and charged toward the walls.
***
It was a terrifying sight from the top of the wall.
"Oh, they’re coming!"
The gigantic elephants running across the plain were targeting them.
"They’re coming from behind too!"
Meanwhile, Persian troops from the main camp finally attempted to break through the wall.
Ping!
The entire unit received an order.
[Move]
All the archers had been positioned to target the enemy’s main camp.
Ping!
Meanwhile, the swordsmen unit had been positioned to target the elephants.
[Move]
Ping!
Shield soldiers led by Moggie, a few spearmen, and archers positioned behind blocked the entrance to the stairs.
[Block]
The swordsmen unit dealing with the elephants received the most unusual order.
[Descend and prepare for an attack]
"..."
Malatang received the order.
'The same order as the second game...'
Following this order in the second game led to the wall collapsing and complete destruction at a disastrous time.
However, the order arrived much earlier this time.
"Breathe," Malatang exhaled heavily and raised his halberd high. "Prepare to descend!!"
Before the soldiers could react—
"They’re b-breaking through!!"
“Boouuuuu!”
Boom!
The elephant's tusks crashed into the wall. Suddenly, three or four elephants clustered tightly in front of the wall and started pushing.
"Ugh!?"
The wall swayed like water, causing the soldiers to stagger.
Malatang charged forward and shouted.
[Descend]
The order had been given.
"Descennnnnnnnndddddddd!!"
Only a few soldiers in position followed the order immediately. It didn't matter.
"Urah!"
Whoosh!
Malatang swung his halberd over his shoulder and began running.
[Jump from the top of the wall to attack first. Show the soldiers.]
He understood the unusually long sentence. He had to jump first.
Bang!
Even at the end of the wall, he didn't slow down and leaped.
"!"
All the swordsmen’s eyes widened as they watched him.
"Descennnnnnnnnddddddd!!" he shouted again and raised his halberd high.
Moments later, the halberd slashed down and split the body of an archer riding the elephant in half.
Boom!
Malatang landed at the same time.
"Wooooooaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
Splash...!
The splattering blood signaled the command to the entire swordsmen unit.
[Descend]
Ping! Ping! Ping...!
Simultaneously, they received all their designated positions to jump. Everyone charged forward without hesitation.
Swish.
Raising their halberds high, they launched themselves from their designated spots.
Bang!
"Descennnnnnnndddddddd!!!"
Countless soldiers rained down from the wall onto the elephants.