Season 3: Chapter 208. The Monster Battle (5)
OrangeKing stood up and shouted when Joseon breached Persia's main base, “Your elephant is awesome!”
— LOL
— So true~~
— Wow, bringing the elephant is so satisfying
— Did you see their elephant, OrangeKing?
— Let’s go!
The elephant Almond controlled seemed like a bulldozer. He felt unstoppable since it wasn’t his own elephant.
Crash!
Boom!
Almond charged forward and destroyed everything in sight.
“The cavalry is rushing in and setting fires everywhere!!!”
Whoosh!
Wherever the elephant changed direction, the cavalry passed through and set fires. Cavalry units were one of the most efficient at setting fires, so the base's main buildings began to burn rapidly.
It wasn’t just the buildings burning.
“It’s burning up!!”
“Fireeee!”
— LOL.
— The commentators are so excited, haha.
— Are we really going to the quarterfinals!? Really!?
— Wow~
— Latest news: Quarterfinal opponent has been decided.
Joseon started burning down the enemy camp and became unstoppable.
The morale of Joseon’s cavalry, which had even brought down elephants, reached its peak. They felt like they could fight Bator, the Mongolian death cavalry.
“Now, we need to calm down. Persia is also calmly preparing for the final battle!”
— You’re telling yourself to calm down, right?
— LOL you should calm down
— Can I turn up the volume again now?
— Agreed~
— A game in Civil Empire can always turn around at the last minute, so be careful guys.
“Yes, Joseon almost lost at the last minute before. In Civil Empire, troops commonly gather to turn the tide at the end!”
“That’s right, especially experienced players like Persia! They are calmly gathering troops in the back!”
Three elephants had been positioned around the town hall with defense towers being hastily built nearby. Additional troops also gathered at the back.
“Persia is aiming for a decisive strike! For now, the flames in the main base are fierce!”
Whoosh...!
Joseon had burned almost half of Persia’s main base in a circle. Persia's last defensive forces had been stationed in the center of the circle created by the flames. They waited for the final battle.
“It seems this pizza is no longer Persia’s! It’s turning into a Joseon pizza!”
“Joseon pizza!?”
“Yes! A new edition called the Fire Chicken Mala Pizza!!”
— No more pizza please...
— LOL
— Koreans have taken over pizzas too, lol
— Pizza representative: Please, end it here...
“Wow! That’s enough to call it Joseon pizza!”
“Now, Joseon is looking for an opportunity to completely conquer them!”
As OrangeKing said, Joseon seemed to be looking for the right opportunity and kept circling around.
“They’re obviously not waiting for new weapons, right?”
They clearly weren’t waiting for new weapons or something strategic. They were simply calculating how to end it in one strike.
“Yes! They’ll push through if they see an opening! That’s Best Yi Sun-Shin’s way!”
— LOL!
— Badass~
— Their courage is amazing!!
“Now...!”
“Booouuuuu!” the elephant roared and the Joseon army moved.
“Joseon’s elephant is leading the charge!”
Boom! Thud! Thud!
The elephant driven by Almond charged forward at a considerable speed.
“Persia! Persia’s elephant is coming out too!”
“Booouuuuu!”
One of Persia’s elephants turned its head toward Almond.
“Persia doesn’t have any siege weapons ready either! The only thing that can defeat an elephant is another elephant!”
“And now!!”
“Roarrr!”
At that moment, Joseon’s cavalry charged.
***
Countless cavalry rushed forward.
Swish!
Bread raised her sword and shouted at the top of her lungs, “This is our final charge!”
Boom! Boom!
Dust rose and the defense towers fired countless arrows.
“This might be the end of this match! Or the end of this tournament!”
The cavalry raised their small shields and armguards to deflect the arrows. Some cavalry wobbled and fell before reaching their destination.
The dense rain of arrows required considerable sacrifice.
“Charge!!!”
Still, the cavalry charged.
“The target is the enemy commander!!”
Woong!
Bread pointed her sword at the town hall and a red dot appeared in everyone’s sight.
[Eliminate]
Coffee did the same on the other side. He also charged through the rain of arrows and headed toward a single point.
“Ignore the arrows!! Just charge!!”
Persia’s defense towers and archers grew increasingly busy.
— Wow, this is intense..!
— The scale is amazing!
— So cool.
— This is Civil Empire at its best for sure.
— This is epic!!!!
“Joseon is simply using Almond to draw attention and bring out the enemy commander!!”
The Joseon cavalry ignored all the enemy defenses and charged through.
“But Persia! Of course, they expected this!”
Persia sent out its infantry hiding behind the town hall. These heavily armored spearmen with shields and long spears had clearly been prepared to fight the cavalry.
“Persia’s heavy infantry will soon clash with them!”
Boom!
Some Persian infantry flew back, but more spears pierced the hearts of the Joseon cavalry soldiers.
Thud!
The cavalry’s swords also slashed the spearmen’s throats.
Slash!
However, the cavalry’s charging momentum had been stopped.
“Neigh!”
The horses in the front reared up and lost their way.
“This is indeed the final battle, isn’t it!? It’s not easy!”
“Moreover, the elephants each blocked a cavalry squad!”
“Booouuuuuu!”
Another elephant blocked their path.
Thud!
“Ughhh!”
As the elephants stomped, the cavalry flew away like marbles.
“What is our elephant doing!?”
“It’s fighting another elephant!”
“Ah! It’s a vicious cycle! It’s Kenin’s elephant!”
On the other side, the elephants began fighting.
Boom!
Tusks clashed and sparks flew from the friction.
— Monster battle, damn.
— Wow.
— This is insane!!!
— Let’s go Almond!!
— This is so freaking cool.
Almond stood on the elephant.
“Almond! It doesn’t seem like he plans to win with the elephant!”
Four people stood on the elephant facing Almond. One was Kenin, who was one of the top three archers in the world.
“Ah! There’s the Anausha!”
The other three belonged to Persia’s special unit, the Anausha. They prepared to handle anyone who climbed the elephant.
“And there are three Anausha!? If you climb up, you’re in big trouble!”
“It’s a setup for the reconnaissance unit! Will Best Yi Sun-Shin and Almond back down because of this!?”
— True, LOL.
— Even if you tell him to back down, he’d just go in.
— Cool~!
— Fact: Almond doesn’t care about the Anausha.
Indeed, Almond didn’t care.
Thud! Thud!
He ran up to the elephant’s head and jumped at the enemy elephant. A precise curve shot greeted him as soon as he landed.
Clang!
He deflected it with a shuriken and jumped to the elephant's side.
“He deflected it when it was barely visible!?”
“Won’t he slip if he goes to the side!?”
Thud! Thud!
Almond used the shurikens to cling to the elephant’s skin while moving.
Three Anausha and a top archer stood in front of him. They were much more difficult than just archers.
He had to avoid the arrows first.
‘There aren’t any more orders.’
He thought he would receive instructions on how to handle this, but it was an all-out battle.
Almond only had one order.
[Seize]
[Seize]
[Seize]
The commander had ordered him to seize three elephants. There seemed to be no other instructions.
The ground battle was too fierce. The cavalry drew out the enemy’s defense by darting around, clearly moving under orders.
‘In that case...’
Almond had to solve this himself.
He had learned from Bread before. She said Lichtenauer’s Western swordsmanship was good, but a unique way to use Joseon’s Hwando existed and she had specially coached him.
He had learned those tricks for situations like this.
“Use it in emergencies.”
Thud...!
His arm muscles bulged as he used the shuriken for support and bounced back onto the elephant’s back.
“Oh!?”
“He’s rolling!?”
As he rolled on the ground, his movements became almost mystical.
“I’ll teach you how to draw the sword while rolling.”
The strange and dynamic movement looked like a dance.
‘What is this!?’
One of the nearby Anausha felt startled after Almond suddenly closed the distance. He swung his sword, but there weren’t many ways to cut someone rolling on the ground.
Meanwhile...
“What is this!? A windmill!?”
Surprisingly, the person on the ground had many options.
Slash!
“Aaaagh! He, he hit!?”
“He had a Hwando!?”
An Anausha’s leg flew off and their famed agile movement disappeared.
Suddenly, Almond stood as the Anausha fell.
“For the finishing move... take a step forward and fully swing with the sword’s center of gravity.”
Swish!
Almond raised his sword. This was the Taedo sword from Joseon’s fourth era, a larger version of the Hwando.
‘Step forward!’
Thud!
His Taedo split the Anausha in half and also dug into the elephant’s hide.
“Booouuuuu!”
The elephant staggered momentarily, presenting Almond with an opportunity.
Thud!
He ran up the swaying back.
“When striking consecutively, use the sword’s center of gravity and rotate your body with it.”
“Oh. Like the rotational strike of a flashing sword?”
“What’s that...?”
Swish...!
His black robe fluttered as his sword traced a curve.
Slash!
Slash!
The rotational strike accurately penetrated the enemies and blood sprayed. The Anausha fell one by one.
Kenin’s eyes widened, but he continued shooting arrows. However, Almond instantly dodged with the reconnaissance unit’s speed buff and even deflected an arrow toward an Anausha.
Thud!
[Disguise technique]
Another Anausha wearing a steel mask appeared from behind the raised body. Kenin realized it was an enemy, but still flinched because of that player’s skills.
That steel mask prevented headshots. Kenin wouldn’t be able to do anything if Almond wore the steel mask at such close range. He couldn’t instantly kill Almond with a headshot while the opponent could split him in two within three steps.
A cold voice murmured from behind the steel mask, “Chikicha.”
“Dammit—”
Almond instantly stepped forward and split Kenin from head to toe with the Taedo.
Boom!
“Woahhh! This fast!?”
From the commentators’ perspective, everything happened in a single breath.
Almond had been clinging to the elephant's side and suddenly rolled in. He danced around and instantly wiped out the enemies.
The elephant was now Joseon’s again.
“The elephants! Two elephants are charging at the same time!”
Almond also directed Kenin’s elephant toward the enemy. Then, he returned to his original elephant and charged together.
Thud!
The two elephants smashed another Persian elephant.
“This is a complete monster battle! Whoa!”
“Monsters!! Whoa~~”
— Lol
— Whoa~
— Whoa~~
— Whoa LOL
The heavily armored spearmen blocking the cavalry also got crushed like cookies.
“The path is clear!”
Bread didn’t miss this opportunity and pulled the reins to leap forward.
“Neigh!”
Her horse jumped over the enemy’s boundary. As soon as the horse landed, it sprinted toward the town hall.
Soon, Bread reached the entrance and immediately dismounted.
“Almost there...”
Thud! Thud!
She dismantled all her equipment and sprinted at top speed with only her sword.
Despite its size, the town hall’s structure was kept simple for such situations.
“Dammit...!”
Elepher tried to escape and desperately struggled.
“Die.”
Thud!
She stepped forward and struck down with her sword. Her speed surpassed even Elepher’s reaction.
Slash!
***
“!?”
“...!”
The commentators became momentarily speechless with their mouths wide open. The game spoke for them instead.
[Victory]
The soldiers had fought for just this one word.
They screamed in triumph.
“...!”
The soldiers ran around with wide eyes and their ears still ringing. They spread out their arms and felt the resonance in the air from the deafening cheers that filled the arena.
“Waaaaaah!!!”
Forty-three cavalry, thirty-four archers, and fifty-seven swordsmen had played seventy-four minutes of game time. Forty-three minutes had been pure combat. All of it had been for this third game between Joseon and Persia.
The victor was...
“Joseon! Korea is now in the quarterfinals!!”
Korea had won.
“Let’s gooo!!!”