Season 3: Chapter 225. Our ADC Almond (2)
OrangeKing criticized Joseon’s disadvantageous formation.
“Their formation is much more disadvantageous than expected! It seems all the effort put into the formation battle was in vain!”
“It looks that way to me too! If they get surrounded and overwhelmed like this, it’s going to be a disaster!”
“There’s no answer! This is like watching the highlights of Japanese soccer where they make killer passes! Tack! Tattadak! Bang! Goal! That’s what’s happening to them!”
— LOL
— Oof
— Just thinking about it is nerve-wracking
OrangeKing thought they had lost the formation battle to Japan.
“They’re almost within range! Are they not shooting because of the trees?”
“It seems like the command hasn’t been given! The first shot with the three seconds of focus is too important, so they’re being cautious!”
Joseon hadn’t shot at the swordsmen who were within range. It was a strange decision.
“Even that vice commander is getting in too deep! That position is too good. They need to keep him in check!”
“Maybe the trees are blocking the commander’s view?”
“The swordsmen might be hidden, but the vice commander should be clearly visible!”
“It seems like they’re allowing him to come in further. Uh, uh, uh!?”
— What?
— Huh?
— What’s going on?
— Wait
Thwack!
Almond’s arrow flew out and resolved all the confusion.
“Almond’s first shot?!”
Bang!
The arrow struck the vice commander’s head and emitted a bright white light. This perfect shot had been fully charged with focus for three seconds.
— Awesome
— Incredible
— Wow
— This is it
“Oh my! They’ve just taken down the vice commander with the first shot!?”
The enemy vice commander was dismounted.
“No way!? But!!!”
It didn’t end there.
Bang!
Arrows continued to hit his head in succession.
“Waaahhh!”
Cheers erupted from the Korean crowd.
“He’s dead!! The vice commander is dead!?”
“He was dismounted with his head exposed. In an instant, with continuous headshots—”
At that moment...
[Hawk Release]
Whistle!
Somewhere, Coffee ran over and released the hawk.
“Huh!? Now they use the hawk release!?”
— ?
— What?
— ??
— Why use the hawk now?
“Why are they using it now? Shouldn’t they have used it during the formation battle earlier... oh!?”
OrangeKing suddenly held his breath.
‘How could this be?’
Why did they release the hawk now? Why hadn’t they shot at the swordsmen within range until now? Why did they use this formation?
‘To this extent?’
All his questions were instantly answered.
***
‘Phew. Anyway, I’m on top in the formation battle.’
Ringo slightly relaxed after winning the intense formation battle. Then, his eyes widened.
‘What?’
His eyes and mouth dropped open.
‘Is this... possible?’
He couldn’t believe his eyes. The vice commander had died. That quickly? What happened? Yamato wasn’t someone who could be taken down by an arrow that easily.
That wasn’t all.
‘Are all these arrows from Joseon?’
Thwack!
White light pierced through the forest, accurately hitting the swordsmen.
‘No way...’
Bang, bang, bang!
White light burst from the heads of each target.
***
The swordsmen who were hit by arrows fell simultaneously, rolling on the ground.
Bang!
OrangeKing jumped and shouted, “This is Joseon’s archery! You Japanese invaders!!”
— LOL
— LOL
— This is it
— LOL
— Japanese invaders LOL
OrangeKing continued to shout excitedly, but his voice was drowned out by half of the stadium erupting in thunderous cheers.
“Waaahhh!!!”
The crowd’s roar was incomparable to previous matches. Everyone in red stood up waving their arms and the drummers beat their drums harder.
Thump! Thump! Boom-thump!
“Daehan Minguk!”
A resounding cheer echoed.
The sound was so overwhelming that it felt like they would crush the stadium.
“Wow! The excitement is incredible after the first victory!”
“Yes! And to explain the situation! All the arrows hit their targets! And they were all curved shots!”
All twelve curved shots hit their targets.
“How did this happen!? Has Joseon learned how to shoot curved shots?”
“I don’t know! Did they master curved shots after facing Persia!?”
It was hard to believe they could learn curved shots so quickly, especially since Joseon’s curved shots this time weren’t just about hitting the targets.
A replay was shown.
“Let’s watch the replay!”
This replay included the commander’s orders. The observer team decided it was better to show it.
Numerous lines and targets appeared instantly.
— Whoa
— Whoa
— What?
— Is the commander an AI?
— What?
— Is Best Yi Sun-Shin a genius?
— Wow
OrangeKing had roughly guessed this. They hadn’t shot even when the enemies were within range and waited until after the hawk release for curved shots. All for this moment.
“They waited to shoot the curved shots and saved the hawk release for this... oh!?”
OrangeKing’s predictions were spot on up to this point.
Swish...
The next scene was different. Lines appeared for each soldier and they all had one target. Each line indicated the angle for the curved shot. All this happened in an instant.
‘Calculated angles for the curve, target locations, the most effective targets for each of the ten soldiers from their positions...’
Listing it all was too complex, but everything had been perfectly executed in an instant.
— Wow
— Whoa
— Is this possible??
— Amazing
— They did that?
OrangeKing found himself getting choked up, unable to continue speaking, and the replay ended.
“Now, back to the live situation! Look!”
“Ah. We can see the damage to Japan now. They’ve momentarily halted their advance. But....”
The number of swordsmen had visibly decreased.
“Only half the swordsmen are left! Out of eight, four are left! And two of those are severely wounded! So, out of eight swordsmen, six were hit by arrows!”
Japan's composition included swordsmen, barbarian soldiers, and workers. Among them were eight swordsmen, two workers, sixteen barbarian soldiers, and one vice commander. Of these, six swordsmen and the vice commander had been hit.
Seven of the twelve arrows struck elite soldiers and the rest struck barbarian soldiers. Out of twenty-seven in total, twelve were injured with ten dead.
Even the vice commander had died.
“Just by the numbers, half of Japan’s total force was wiped out! And the vice commander also died!”
“No, the headshot percentage is almost half! Almond was right!”
— LOL
— This is nuts
— They really hit the heads easily, LOL
— LOL
The typical headshot rate at a national level was less than 20%. The overall average was much lower. In this one volley, the headshot rate was nearly 80%.
“Japan couldn’t respond to the curved shots, so they easily exposed their heads!”
Typically, they would protect their heads against archers. Thinking it wasn't the right angle, they got hit unexpectedly, leading to this result.
The vice commander was no exception. He had no idea Almond was targeting him, so he dismounted and exposed his head twice in quick succession.
“Japan is in shock! They’re maintaining the encirclement but retreating!?”
Japan hurriedly retreated out of the archers’ range while maintaining their formation.
“Ringo’s decision to retreat a bit might seem strange, but it could be a sharp judgment.”
“Oh, really?”
“They decided there’s no need to rush to kill the archers first! They’ve changed to binding the enemy rather than being stopped by them!”
— Mental victory LOL
— I’m ostracizing the whole class
— Will that work?
“The hawk release is over and Joseon loses their vision! Until the hawk release is available again, Japan can keep Joseon bound here! That’s their judgment!”
“If Japan advances any further, they might get completely wiped out, right!?”
“Yes!”
“Ah, that makes sense now.”
“Indeed! Ringo is delaying for time. It’ll be a loss if time is delayed for the victorious side!”
Joseon waited for the enemies to come closer, taking cover behind rocks and trees, ready to kill them all. However, the enemies didn’t come closer and disappeared.
“Now! Japan! Only the workers are quietly heading to the lake!?”
Two Japanese workers ran to the lake. Strangely, no Joseon soldiers blocked them.
“What!? The path is open!?”
“During the frantic formation battle, Japan subtly drove them this way!”
The reason was simple. Japan had subtly pushed the twelve archers who came to block them to the side while pressuring them with the encirclement. This opened the path to the lake.
Joseon found themselves fighting in a strange place when they came to their senses.
“Ah, sharp. Ringo is a chess player indeed. He’s strong in formation battles and sets up the board well!”
This was a familiar sight from other matches involving Japan. It seemed like they were losing, but they were winning.
When Joseon came to their senses, they found themselves being flanked or fighting in a strange position.
“Yes. Japan’s goal isn’t to fight! It’s to set up defenses near the lake and continuously supply themselves with marine resources! They never forget this grand strategy and keep implementing it! Their skills are good!”
“Looks like the Joseon archers have noticed now?”
The Joseon archers stopped hiding and peeked around. They found it strange that the enemies weren’t coming.
“The commander probably noticed first?”
“Yes. Joseon needs to break the encirclement now... but it doesn’t look easy!”
Joseon archers had to physically break through the encirclement.
“Don’t we outnumber them? We have twelve archers! And most of the enemies are barbarian soldiers!”
The caster thought breaking the encirclement would be easy, but OrangeKing shook his head.
“Joseon has to break through one side to escape! Then, they’ll be flanked from behind and surrounded! If they start charging, it’ll become disadvantageous for them!”
Because of the nature of the units, even if only four Japanese swordsmen survived, being flanked from behind would cause significant damage. Ample data supported this.
“This is a common scene with Japan’s swordsmen when fighting against ranged units. It’s hard not to be conscious of it!”
“Oh! And Japan is getting more swordsmen!?”
Japan had already sent more swordsmen for this lake battle.
“Japan has been continuously sending swordsmen since before! Now, five! Six!? If reinforcements arrive during the fight, it’ll be a disaster! They keep producing them!”
“But Joseon has no reinforcements!”
Again, both sides’ strategies diverged. Japan produced more swordsmen to secure the lake, but Joseon didn’t produce more archers to block them.
“It seems like Best Yi Sun-Shin’s strategy is, ‘You bet it all! I won’t bet more!’ The stakes are different!”
“Yes! For Joseon, it’ll only be close to even if all the archers die!”
“Or maybe it’s, ‘I only need twelve archers!’ Something like that?”
— LOL
— Doesn’t like investing a lot
— Avoiding losses even if they lose here
Joseon chose not to spend more resources, maintaining only twelve archers. This was similar to the trend seen in the last match against Persia. Even if it seemed like they were winning and losing back and forth, Joseon always had more money.
“When Joseon comes to their senses, they have more money! When Japan comes to their senses, they’re winning the formation battle! It’s a strong competition!”
“Now, let’s see how this unfolds...”
Of course, it was hard to say who made the right decision at this moment.
“Whoa!?”
Ting.
The Joseon army received a new command.
[Break through]
It was a simple command to break through.
“Is there a strategy!? What is this?”
It wasn’t a grand strategy or plan, just a normal breakthrough formation.
“What kind of strategy is this!?”
“This is the strategy, right!? Joseon’s favorite strategy!”
“What is it!?”
Certainly, the Japanese swordsmen were terrifying and capable of cutting down several archers instantly. Despite that—
“Our ADC Almond!!”
“Yes!?”
“Our ADC Almond! That’s the strategy! They think they can win just by fighting head-on!”
— LOL
— This is crazy
— Is that really it? LOL
— It’s true, right?
— LOL
Joseon believed they could break through the swordsmen’s encirclement with archers even in the forest, likely because they believed in the player leading the charge.
— Awesome
— Let’s gooo
— Right
— Just sweep them with 12!
— Seems like they’re really going for a breakthrough without spending more money