Season 3: Chapter 239. Not Much Time Left (1)
Ringo's eyes trembled with fear.
'Since when...?'
Gold had been piling up, but their wood was suddenly at zero. When he checked the main base, all the workers chopping wood had been killed. He urgently issued [Search] orders everywhere. The main base didn’t have many available troops. The soldiers who had drowned had to be re-recruited as quickly as possible.
'What's going on? I thought only one enemy survived.'
Even while issuing orders, Ringo couldn't hide his confusion. He thought he had dealt with all the intruders on the island. Only one enemy, almost dead, remained. He had forgotten about it due to the larger battle.
'I told the soldiers to guard the forest.'
He had ordered the soldiers to defend, so it was understandable that they forgot about the enemy. Even if one enemy remained, the worst they could do was disrupt the wood gathering. The soldiers stationed nearby would be able to handle it.
Ringo's thoughts had been correct. He had accurately predicted the enemy's target. However, he didn't know how far the enemy could go.
"All dead...?"
The soldiers he stationed there were now corpses. Only one enemy existed, yet seven of his soldiers had died. The culprit was nowhere to be seen. Ringo could trace the route. From his perspective, he could see the trail left by the enemy.
Wherever the enemy blatantly passed, no workers remained. Where he hadn't gone, workers still continued their tasks. Based on this, the enemy had yet to reach the northern end where the other workers resided. The enemy had infiltrated from the southwest and moved northeast.
Ringo could deduce the enemy's current location.
'Here!'
His eyes widened and fixed on the barracks where soldiers revived.
'Could it be!?'
The barracks? A dreadful thought crossed Ringo's mind.
'Is he targeting the soldiers!?'
Sure enough...
Bang!
A newly revived soldier immediately died again.
"Dammit!"
Ringo inadvertently let out a curse. The soldiers he had revived to scout died as soon as they returned to this barracks.
'Not just workers, but soldiers too!'
He didn’t get any warnings since they all died in one hit. The population continued to quietly decrease. Being unarmed upon revival, the soldiers were defenseless against the enemy. Ringo felt dizzy. The main base was in chaos and alarms kept sounding from the sea.
Ting!
Ting!
[Under Attack]
[Under Attack]
"Ugh...!"
Ringo quickly dealt with the situation and turned his attention back to the sea. The number of Atakebunes had noticeably decreased.
***
"Ah! The Atakebunes can't move properly!"
"Has Ringo lost focus?"
The flat-bottomed ships typically moved like bicycles around corners, making large sweeping turns. When ordered to turn, they took a long wide path.
"The Atakebunes seem to be automatically following the Panokseons!"
With only orders to attack the Panokseons, the Atakebunes awkwardly made long, inefficient turns. It would have been better to relocate and re-engage under this strategic disadvantage.
Boom!
The Atakebunes fell apart one by one.
"In no time! Three or four have sunk!"
Several ships were hit and sunk with more continuously getting hit.
— So satisfying~
— Refreshing
— Wow
— Overwhelming firepower
— Praise the flat-bottomed ship
— Has Ringo lost it? This is embarrassing lol
Currently, the combat power difference in the naval battle was overwhelming. Joseon's skill was apparent, but Ringo's lack of focus was also a major factor.
"It seems Ringo hasn't been able to focus properly!"
"Yes! Super plays often come from the opponent's mistakes! It's impossible to achieve such high-level play alone!"
International matches gathered top-tier players worldwide. Exceptional performances required the opponent to make mistakes as well. High-level players not only played well, but also induced mistakes from their opponents.
"But this! This was a deliberate feint by Joseon! They had Almond on standby and acted at the perfect moment!"
Joseon had used a feint strategy, dividing Ringo’s attention and inducing mistakes.
"Exactly. It was a perfectly executed feint, especially in Civil Empire where feint strategies are hard to pull off! Best Yi Sun-Shin fully understood the unique aspects of naval warfare!"
Despite Japan having a faction suited for naval combat, they hadn't capitalized on it effectively.
"Oh! This player is so skilled! Do they really have no tournament experience? Isn't naval warfare hard for solo ranked players?"
Such skill suggested something beyond mere gaming ability. The commentators knew this wasn't just from playing games alone.
"Yes, especially knowing how to induce the opponent's mistakes! This isn't on the amateur level!"
Boom!
"As we speak! Another Atakebune sinks! The Japanese shipyards aren't operating anymore!"
"Japan has plenty of gold but no wood...!"
"Japan's faster ship production didn't pay off! They should have snowballed when they had the numbers advantage...!"
Boom!
Japanese ships sank one after another. With more Panokseons and turtle ships joining, the numbers grew in Joseon's favor.
"Ah...! Joseon is winning the naval battle!" OrangeKing threw an uppercut into the air and shouted, "We’re completely defeating Japan!!"
Boom!
The cannon fire continued and the turtle ships kept ramming. The remaining Japanese ships all sank.
"Wowwwwww!"
The cheers from the crowd grew even louder than the cannons.
"This means Joseon can take the gold island!"
After winning the naval battle, the sea belonged to Joseon for the time being. They could now mine gold from the gold island and replenish their resources to produce more ships.
"Can Japan handle it if Joseon produces more ships?"
"Most likely not! The battle has tipped too far! This was too crucial a fight! Oh! Almond! Who is this player!?"
"He’s still alive!?"
"And pursuing the enemy!"
Almond continued chasing enemies in Japan’s main base.
"Is Almond chasing them!?"
— LMAO
— Chasing enemies in their main base lol
— No way
— The recruited soldiers are running away and getting chased down lol
— Insane
"They've completely taken over that area!"
"Newly revived soldiers are unarmed, so they're easily killed by second era weapons! They're running away in fear, only to be chased down and killed!!"
Japan was in chaos both at the main base and across the islands. Joseon's ships docked at the gold island previously controlled by Japan.
"Let's conquer Tsushima!"
— LMAO
— Yes, Tsushima is ours!
Joseon's ships unloaded their ground troops. The gold island had little resistance besides some workers.
Whoosh!
They quickly set ablaze and destroyed the few defensive structures. Soon, Joseon took over the gold island and their gold reserves began filling up again. Joseon's shipyards resumed full-scale shipbuilding in preparation for the fourth era.
Joseon now had twenty-eight Panokseons, five turtle ships, and around ten fire ships.
Then—
Boom!
[Joseon - 4th Era]
Joseon advanced to the fourth era.
"Ah...! This is..."
OrangeKing had a hunch. Given Japan's current situation at the main base...
"In my opinion! This is it!"
Even though Japan eventually subdued Almond, they hadn't recovered from the damage. Japan couldn't even produce ten ships when they needed superior numbers on the ocean map. Without support from their essential faction, they had no hope left.
Flutter.
A white flag flew over Japan's castle.
[Surrender]
Japan finally surrendered. After the defeat’s confirmation, the Taegukgi replaced their white flag.
— Flutter~
— Wow
— Japan got conquered lol
— Yes
— Bartender, more drinks!
"Victoryyyyy!!!"
The Korean commentators jumped and shouted.
"Wowwwwww!"
Half the stadium turned red with waves of excitement and drums echoed out.
"Joseon leads Japan 2-0! One more match to the semifinals! Just one more to the Civil Empire national championship semifinals!"
The scoreboard numbers changed.
Joseon: 2
Japan: 0
Joseon was now one step away from defeating Japan and reaching the semifinals.
***
Two consecutive wins made an enormous impact. The Korean audience went into a frenzy.
"Wowwww!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Aah! Aaaaah!"
"What do we do!? They really won!"
The Balloon Stars members hugged each other with flushed faces. Other spectators did the same, high-fiving each other and screaming with strangers. However, not everyone was just celebrating.
Ju-Hyeok and BornToB quickly got busy among them.
"BornToB! They're here!"
"Yes!"
They stopped cheering and ran off somewhere.
'If Joseon wins the third game, the match will end soon.'
Ju-Hyeok calculated while running.
'Then, the only time to sell is now...!'
He hadn't expected Joseon to lead 2-0, so he hurried.
"There it is!"
"Yes!"
Someone waited there after being contacted by them and waved. They ran over to check the goods.
Whoosh.
The unwrapped goods revealed various turtle ship cheering items. There were turtle ship hats, where the ship sat on one’s head, and turtle ship flags that lit up red when one pressed the dragon head button.
"BornToB, pick some you like. Let's wear them now."
"Wear them?"
Shortly afterward, they appeared back at the stadium decked out in turtle ship gear.
"... Oh, what's that?"
"Are they selling those?"
The spectators who just watched the naval battle naturally grew interested.
Ju-Hyeok quickly raised his sign.
[2890 Yen]
It displayed the price.
"Turtle ship cheering merch for sale!"
As he shouted, people started approaching with some time left before the next game.
"Uh... give me a hat."
"I'll take a flag!"
Many who hadn't bought cheering items reacted quickly.
"Yes, thank you!"
Meanwhile, the players began entering for the third game.
"The players from the Republic of Korea are entering!"
"Please welcome them with bigger cheers and applause!"
It could be the final game. Ju-Hyeok thought about the number of turtle ships he brought and started sweating.
'This...'
Could he sell them all?
At the same time, another person also sweated nervously. Choi Sa-Rang, the current commander of Joseon, had sweat running down her neck despite the cool weather.
'There’s not much time left.'
She instinctively knew that she couldn’t perform at her best for long.