Season 3: Chapter 210. The Eight Archers (2)
At the end of the game, Almond drove two elephants to crash into the enemy elephant.
Boom!
“Bouuuuuu!!” the struck elephant let out a dreadful scream and staggered back.
On top were one of Persia’s three ace archers and some Anausha.
As the elephant’s body swayed, they quickly jumped onto Almond's elephant.
“Kill him!”
They tried to take back Almond’s elephant. Almond faced the three Anausha as Persia’s ace archer took the other elephant.
‘This is...’
This was tough. Almond couldn’t imagine what would happen if he lost the elephant here. He couldn’t afford to lose.
He swung his long Taedo sword, trying to stay close to the Anausha and avoid arrows at the same time.
Whoosh!
Unlike the Anausha who felt surprised by Almond’s ambush earlier, these ones moved with complete coordination.
Sliiiide!
One intercepted the Taedo, deflecting it while the other two rushed in and surrounded Almond in three directions. They swung their swords as if to shred him apart. Each of them held two swords and a total of six blades slashed at him.
“!”
Almond quickly pulled out a shuriken as a makeshift double sword.
Clang!
He forcefully intercepted one sword with the shuriken, causing it to clash with another.
Clang!
He twisted his body to minimize the target area, blocking with the long Taedo.
“WTF...”
Did he block it? The astonished expressions of the Anausha could be seen even through their iron masks.
They slashed faster at Almond, driving him back.
Slash!
Clang!
The opportunity to counterattack had long vanished and blocking became increasingly difficult.
‘Let’s buy time at least.’
Almond realized that buying time was the best he could do. Below, Joseon's cavalry was creating gaps and archers filled the sky with arrows. Countless soldiers fell and countless more charged forward.
This war was nearing its conclusion.
Then—
[Victory]
These letters finally appeared.
“!”
“!?”
The Anausha, who had been fighting fiercely, lowered their swords in disbelief.
‘Did we win...?’
They felt stunned and so did Almond.
“Waaaaaah!”
A delayed roar of cheers swept over them like a wave. Only then did Almond realize it.
‘We’ve made it to the quarterfinals!’
He finally realized that Joseon had advanced to the quarterfinals.
***
Ssss.
When the capsule opened, Sang-Hyeon pulled out the USB and dashed out.
“Quarterfinals! We’re in the quarterfinals!”
Bang! Boom!
Fireworks exploded from the stands and the arena, celebrating Joseon's victory.
Pang emerged from his capsule and roared like a beast, “Almooond!”
“Aaaaaah!”
All the players jumped around like they’d lost their minds. It was understandable since no one expected Joseon to make it to the quarterfinals. Even among the players, only two had set a goal higher than the quarterfinals.
The players excitedly boasted about their heroic deeds.
“Do you know how I held out under that wall? Huh?!” Malatang bragged about his endurance under the wall.
Pang insisted that they call him by a certain title and yelled into everyone’s ears, “From now on, call me Curve Master Pang!”
For some reason, Carrot stood on top of Spam and wildly waved to the audience.
Everyone had played their part in this match, so they won. The players felt incredibly exhilarated. Their faces looked red as if drunk with excitement.
“Hey, Curve Master!”
“Hey, Captain Joseon!”
Pang even called Gon Captain Joseon as they put their arms around each other.
“Hahaha!”
“Hahaha!”
Pang also hugged Almond and shouted, “Ah! This is the Arash Slayer!”
Arash was the title for a godly archer in Persia given to Kenin.
Latte added, “No, bro! Who says a mouse is stronger than a tiger? Almond bro is just Almond!”
“Huh!? Hahaha! You’re right! He kept losing to our Almond every time! Nothing special about him anymore!”
The players gathered around Almond, chanting his slogan.
“Chikicha! Chikicha! Chikicha!”
Even the audience started chanting chikicha.
“Chikicha! Chikicha! Chikicha!”
The commotion drew the broadcast camera, which showed it on the jumbotron.
— LOL
— Chikicha, LOL
— The whole world is Chikicha...
— Crazy LOL!
Meanwhile, the jumbotron also showed the Persian side quietly leaving. Kenin, who had been walking with his head down, flinched.
The jumbotron replayed a scene in slow motion.
— Crazy, LOL
— LOL!!
— Kenin PTSD.
— Reflexive reaction~ damn~
— Slow-mo like it’s a goal highlight LOL
— Best moment ever.
Carrot, still on top of Spam, teased, “Kenin has officially changed his name to Chikicha! Stop it now!”
A wave of laughter spread. It was understandable. Anyone watching the replays would think Kenin’s name was Chikicha because Almond shouted that out every time he killed Kenin.
— So that’s why he reacted~
— Carrot is so cute LOL
— Never seen Carrot this excited.
— Their energy is crazy LOL~
— Does the Joseon team have alcohol in their capsules?
— LMAO
At that moment—
“Here comes the general!”
Sa-Rang, who had taken longer to emerge from her capsule due to assistance, finally appeared.
— General LOL
— Wow!!
— The big one’s coming~!
Was it a slight expression of joy? Although her face didn’t show it, her wheelchair seemed to be moving faster than usual.
Whiiir...
It would be hard to notice the difference unless one saw her often.
‘What? She can move that fast?’
Sang-Hyeon saw her often and immediately realized she was in a very good mood.
“Best Yi Sun-Shin! Best Yi Sun-Shin! Best Yi Sun-Shin!”
The players surrounded her while chanting. Not just dozens, but nearly hundreds of people chanted toward her.
“Best Yi Sun-Shin! Best Yi Sun-Shin! Best Yi Sun-Shin!”
The cheers spread to the audience.
Her face turned red and she waved her hands dismissively, but seemed very pleased.
Pang couldn’t contain himself and shouted, “Hey! Naruto! You’re the hero of our village!”
“What are you talking about?”
Carrot lightly kicked him, but the broadcast clearly picked up his voice.
— LOL
— Pang, the old man LOL
— Hahaha.
— It did feel like the Leaf Village~
— LOL.
— I love him sm!
After the players finished their celebrations, the MVP announcement appeared on the jumbotron.
As everyone expected, the first MVP of the match was Almond. For the third game, it was a rare MVP for the commander Best Yi Sun-Shin.
“Now! The MVPs have been announced! Let’s have an interview with today’s heroes!”
***
The interview started with the MVP from the first game.
The reporter unintentionally trembled as she held the microphone. Was she nervous? No. Her hand was trembling because she was gripping the mic too tightly.
‘Well, better to get it over with.’
She thought she couldn’t avoid this now that Joseon had won. At least it wasn’t just that person being interviewed endlessly. One was a commander, who would be easier to talk to.
The reporter steeled herself and went out with a bright smile.
“Hello! Congratulations so much!”
Both nodded in response to her greeting.
“Almond! Best Yi Sun-Shin! Joseon has achieved the miracle of making it to the quarterfinals! Did you think this would happen?”
She turned the mic to Sang-Hyeon.
He nodded as he answered, “Yes. I’m thinking about winning the championship.”
— Wow
— That’s right!!
— The championship LOL
— Making it to the quarterfinals is already amazing.
— Let’s show them the ball possession rate in the semifinals!
— Cool!!
Through the Fake National Team, the reporter already knew Sang-Hyeon wanted to win the championship.
‘Know the enemy and know yourself...!’
Recalling the wisdom of her ancestors, she continued the interview energetically without any sign of being flustered.
“Wow! All the way to the championship!? Such an incredible ambition—”
Then, an unexpected interruption came.
“I’m thinking about winning next year’s championship too.”
“Huh...?”
The woman in the wheelchair looked normal, but her statement sounded slightly off. Her ambition was impressive, but the timing was odd. It felt like she was saying her ambition was greater and questioned why Almond was being praised.
— ???
— Huh?
— Crazy LOL
— What is this? lol
— Damn~
“Wow! Looking ahead to next year! Truly a commander with a broad vision...”
As the reporter said this, she began feeling uneasy. She had faced the devil of interviews several times with nothing but this microphone and could sense instinctively what Almond would say next.
“I’m thinking about winning the championship the year after that.”
As expected, a childish competition began.
— What’s wrong with them?
— ??
— This nut is starting again.
— Why are you guys competing over this? LOL
— LMAO
— What’s going on here?
The reporter tried to speak again and raised the mic like a gavel to ask, “Is there a three year plan? Haha... Then please tell me ahead of time!”
— LOL
— For real, hahahaha.
— LMAO.
Thankfully, the ambition auction didn’t go any further.
“...”
However, Sa-Rang looked somewhat frustrated.
— Nut wins in the childish competition!
— LOL
— The more shameless one wins here.
— Do they not get along? LOL
— It’s hilarious how they never look at each other.
— What’s up with this? LOL
“Well, then. Let’s say we’ll win in two years too! Haha!”
The reporter smoothed over the situation with an awkward laugh and moved on to the next question.
“Almond! There was a moment when you brilliantly dealt with the famous three archers of Persia! How was it? Were the three archers different?”
The highlights played again and viewers watched in awe as Almond single-handedly took out eight archers in the forest.
— That forest scene was amazing!!
— This was awesome.
— Lol that’s where the game truly ended.
— What will the nut say this time? LOL
The reporter grew quite nervous.
‘I heard there was little fight with Kenin.’
She knew what happened to Almond today and what Kenin did to him from the community.
‘Just don’t swear.’
She thought it would be fortunate if Almond didn’t curse. After all, Kenin had put pressure on Almond’s injured arm.
“It’s the eight archers.”
“... Huh?”
Her fleeting sympathy vanished like foam on the waves.
“It’s not the three archers. It’s the eight archers...” Almond answered innocently while scratching his head.
The reporter felt stunned and had to silently mouth to the writers behind her.
‘Isn’t it the three archers?’
‘Yes, it’s the three archers.’
She was correct. What was wrong with him?
“Maybe you’re mistaken? Haha...”
“There were eight of them, so I changed it to the eight archers.”
“!?”
Sa-Rang, in her wheelchair, cleared her throat and turned her head.
The reporter’s soul was leaving her body and her face turned pale.
Meanwhile, the chat went wild.
— AHAHAHAHAHA
— Crazy LOL
— Cool.
— He changed it LOL
— What’s he saying? LOL
— He just changed it LOL
— Crazy LOL
— Amazing.
Dealing with Almond's interviews filled with sarcasm was tougher than usual. It felt like fighting fire with fire.
The reporter decided to go along with his words.
“Ah...! Unlimited confidence in your skills! Fantastic! Almond! We’ll definitely correct it! Persia has eight archers! No, eighteen archers! No, two hundred archers!”
— LOL
— 18 archers LOL
— 200 archers AHAHAHAHA
— LOL
— They’re rich in archers, right?
Sang-Hyeon, looking confused, shook his head and corrected her.
“It’s not two hundred archers... It’s the eight archers. They’re working hard too...”
“...”
The reporter inadvertently lowered the microphone.
‘Why are you like this to me...? You nut...’
— LOL
— Is he crazy?
— For anything above eight archers, please DM us to make a reservation (hands folded)
— They’re working hard too... Is he a sociopath? LOL
— He started it and now makes her the bad guy LOL
— The reporter can’t hold the mic LOL