Season 3: Chapter 330. Fire (1)
By the time the third era arrived, Rome started building walls around their base. The issue at that time was the forest. Building walls in a forest was never easy because efficiency dropped significantly. The uneven terrain and the need to build around trees consumed a lot of resources.
That was why the horn bow archers of Joseon targeted the forest area.
"Whew... thank god we didn’t run into anyone," Latte sighed in relief.
The archers who sprinted like mad regrouped inside the forest.
"Uh, p-please don’t come too close bro!"
Even as they ran together, they kept their distance because they could all end up dying together if they huddled too closely and got hit by a thrown spear.
"Man... using the militia early on and rushing in like this? Never seen that before," Pang commented as he brushed his hair back.
Considering his Civil Empire experience, it would be shocking even for the enemy if Pang said this was a first.
"Hmph. They must’ve done this to speed up the timing by a single tempo..."
Just as he began wondering why such an extreme strategy had been used...
Tiiing!
[Move]
Another move ping appeared. The order was clear: keep running. Soldiers didn’t need to think.
"Alright, okay! Run!"
The archers widened their formation and sprinted forward.
"Whoa! This is definitely fast!"
They couldn’t believe how quickly they were running across flat terrain. How far had they run?
[Stop]
The order to stop came, and everyone halted on the spot.
Rustle.
They all hid and crouched behind trees for cover.
Rome still seemed unaware of the infiltration. They probably assumed that Joseon went for a fast expansion elsewhere.
"What, are we waiting here?"
"What’s going on?"
In the heart of the forest, no Roman workers could be seen.
[Move]
Just then, another move command came through.
"Hey, Latte! Where are you going? It’s a stop command!"
Only Latte moved.
"Huh? No, this order is just for me!"
"What? Seriously?"
Latte moved forward alone. He felt uneasy and advanced slowly.
[Run]
Then, the command changed.
"Ah, dammit..."
Latte broke into a run. Charging through enemy territory unarmed and at full speed didn’t exactly feel comforting.
‘I’ll just stop thinking. Let’s just go.’
He shut his eyes tightly and sprinted. The commander had already drawn the route. He didn’t need to think about anything else. Still, a soldier’s movements became less efficient when they didn’t understand their mission.
[Scout & Lure]
Soon enough, the mission popped up in front of Latte.
"!"
He realized that his role was to act as bait.
‘Lure?’
There was no way the commander planned on luring workers. Roman soldiers were most likely nearby.
‘Am I gonna die on the first hit again?’
Soon, Latte spotted enemy workers.
‘There they are.’
An order came through as he nocked an arrow and carefully crept forward.
[Stop]
‘Stop?’
This new order caught him off guard. He hadn’t even attacked yet, so why stop? Standing still felt risky even though workers possessed a smaller field of vision. The confusion didn’t last long.
[Pyeonjeon - Complete]
The Pyeonjeon upgrade had been completed.
Clink.
A new weapon appeared on Latte’s belt. And then...
"!"
Boom!
A worker’s head exploded. An arrow had flown across the forest and struck its target.
‘Ah...!’
There was no need to ask who had fired.
‘Almond!’
Only now did Latte understand the true purpose of the plan.
‘I’m the eyes.’
Sometimes, the range of the arrow exceeded a player’s vision, especially on flat ground like this. If another ally lit up the target, the commander could mark it for Almond to shoot.
This sounded simple, but landing a shot on a target one couldn’t even see in a forest like this was practically a miracle. Despite that, the man behind Latte pulled it off every time.
Boom!
Boom!
One by one, workers collapsed without a sound.
‘Wow.’
Latte almost felt omnipotent as every worker he looked at suddenly dropped dead.
‘You. You’re next.’
Boom!
Boom!
They kept falling. Five workers had already died even though the arrows couldn’t be fired repeatedly. Losing five workers in the third era wasn’t catastrophic, but...
‘Rome has no idea.’
The fact that Rome hadn’t caught on was crucial. If the first shot instantly killed a worker, it wouldn’t trigger an alert for the commander. Unless Anto manually checked the workers in the forest, he wouldn’t notice.
All the workers within Latte’s sight had been eliminated.
"Whoa... does he still not know?"
For some reason, it felt like Anto would finally notice.
Tiiing.
Regardless, another order came.
[Move]
This time, the entire archer squad began moving forward. At this pace, they’d reach the main base soon if Anto still hadn’t noticed.
‘At this rate...’
Latte began to feel like they would actually clinch the victory here.
‘Did we even need the militia at this point?’
No matter what others said, the militia was meant for mobility. If the enemy hadn’t even noticed them, what was the point of mobility? Was it to climb the hill faster? He was still thinking when—
"!?"
Rustle.
Footsteps came from somewhere else. They were definitely not friendly units. Latte whipped his head around and saw something.
Tiiing!
[Danger]
Thunk!
He threw himself to the side. An arrow grazed his ear and pierced the tree behind him.
Crack!
The tree split with a loud crack. That wasn’t an ordinary arrow. It was a crossbow arrow.
[Geneva Crossbowmen]
Geneva crossbowmen emerged from the flank. And they weren’t alone.
Vwoooom!
[Movement Speed Buffed]
Roman infantry units began charging in, bolstered by cleric buffs. Like human tanks, they carried massive shields and maces.
"Waaaargh!!"
"Kill them!!"
Tiiing!
[Move]
Latte dashed toward the newly marked destination.
"AAARGH! I am dying on the first hit again! Dammit!"
***
Meanwhile, in Joseon’s think tank team...
"Uh... is he dying first again?" a concerned voice spoke among the group.
It was an ongoing joke that Latte always died on the first hit. Now he was even in charge of the bait mission, so the worry was understandable.
"Hmm."
Chi-Seung scratched his head uncertainly.
"Maybe..."
Statistically, Latte was a glass cannon. This meant he always led the charge. He had great reflexes and targeting, but poor evasion.
Just then, Hui-Chul spoke at the center of the table, "No. He won’t die."
"... What?"
But that situation was basically asking him to die. And it was Latte, the number one in always dying first.
"I never made full use of him, but Best Yi Sun-Shin is different."
Sure, Best Yi Sun-Shin was different. Still, Latte was just a regular soldier.
‘Now that I think about it...’
Best Yi Sun-Shin had once said something about Latte.
“Why does that guy always die first? Isn’t it because he always charges ahead? Hmm... is it just that?”
Later, she analyzed something and eventually said...
“Got it.”
What was it again?
***
Tiiing!
[Move]
As if waiting for it, another move command came.
Tatatatatak!
Latte dashed toward the marked point. Logically, he thought the new ping was an escape route.
"!?"
Tiiing!
[Move]
It wasn’t. As soon as he reached the destination, another move order popped up.
‘What is this...?’
As he hesitated...
Ting!
[Danger]
Another arrow came flying.
Fwoooosh!
"Whoops!"
Latte rolled and dodged again.
Thwack!
The trees around him collapsed.
Tiiiiiing!
Tiiing!
[Move]
[Move]
[Move]
Move pings kept coming one after another. That was when it hit him.
‘I’m going in circles!?’
Latte was the Joseon archers’ eyes and bait for the enemies.
‘Dammit!’
He kept running like his life depended on it.
Ti-ding!
[Danger]
[Danger]
Warning pings continuously appeared.
Latte flung his limbs into strange positions as crossbow arrows slipped through him like some kind of magic trick.
***
The entire Joseon think tank stood up.
"W-Whoa!? What!? He actually dodged it!?"
Latte was practically dragging the Roman army behind him.
"Whoa!! Keep going! Run!"
"Did he seriously dodge everything!?"
"What is happening!?"
‘Huh?’
Chi-Seung stared blankly at the absurd scene. And then he remembered.
“I got it. This guy is good at dodging, huh? That’s why he’s always in the vanguard.”
At first, it hadn’t made sense.
“Huh...?”
“He’s perfect as bait.”
“B-But he always dies first!?”
"Aaaaaagh!" Latte screamed and followed the designated path.
Crack! Crack!
Trees fell one after another. At one point, he even almost got slashed by a melee soldier.
Whoooosh!
"Yah!"
He rolled like an eel, sometimes nearly belly-flopping to survive.
‘What the hell...’
Chi-Seung couldn’t understand it. He knew Latte was agile, but this was something else. How could this be possible? Did changing commanders really boost a soldier’s performance this much?
“He reacts quickly, but his body is sluggish. If he were just a bit faster, he wouldn’t die first.”
Best Yi Sun-Shin had said Latte was slow, but his eyes were fast.
“He dodges after seeing it.”
Latte didn’t react preemptively. He only dodged after seeing attacks. If he saw it too late, he’d get hit. In that case—
“I just need to make him see quicker.”
Tiiing!
[Danger]
What would happen if Latte could see incoming attacks first? What if someone helped him see quicker?
"!"
Latte would react no matter what.
Whoooosh!
Another arrow grazed by.
"Waaaaaaaah!"
Crack!
Another tree crashed down.
"He dodged again! Latte!? How is this even happening!?"
"Those are fatal hits! And he’s still alive! Still!"
"He’s even running back toward them! He’s completely wrecking them now!"
Latte wasn’t fleeing. Instead, he ran even closer to them. That was the ordered route.
"While this is happening! Joseon—"
While Latte continued wreaking havoc, where had the other archers gone? What had they prepared? Rome had no clue.
"Joseon has completely surrounded them!!!"
"!?"
Boom!
A crossbowman’s head exploded. Only then did the Romans realize what was happening.
"Shit!"
Delayed sonic booms announced the presence of invisible enemies.
Fwoooosh...!
"It’s the Pyeonjeon!"
Joseon was using new bows. The Roman soldiers realized it, but it was already too late.
"Where are they!?"
"W-We don’t know..."
They couldn’t locate the source. No, they could, but it didn’t matter.
"!"
Arrows rained down from everywhere. The Joseon archers had already spread out in a massive circular formation thanks to the time Latte had bought them. It was a clockwise encirclement barrage formation.
"That bastard is coming back again!"
"What the hell! Where is he shooting from!? How is he shooting!?"
The Romans screamed as Latte ran back toward them. Latte locked eyes with the squad leader, Pierre.
"..."
Pierre gritted his teeth. He finally understood.
"That bastard is their eyes."
Unbelievable as it seemed, Latte acted as the other Joseon archers’ eyes while the commander marked the shooting paths. No other explanation made sense. Pierre figured it out fairly quickly, but—
‘I can’t hit him.’
He couldn’t stop the guy charging at him. Once a player got fired up, they sometimes showcased insane performances. Pierre felt it in his gut that Latte was on fire right now.
‘Too late.’
It was already too late.
"Latte! He’s still running! He’s still alive!?"
"Spears! Crossbows! It’s like they’re all hitting a ghost!"
"He’s completely in the zone!!"
There had to be a spark for the fire to catch. The spark had always been there, waiting for the wind. Cookie knew he wasn’t the wind.
“But Best Yi Sun-Shin is different.”
The one to bring the wind was her.
“If she does it properly...”
Cookie knew. If that spark met the wind, it would erupt into a full blaze that would consume the enemy.
“He might become the perfect eyes for us.”
Fwoooosh!
The Joseon archers encircling the battlefield unleashed their Pyeonjeon. They all aimed toward the center of the circle with Latte running through the middle.
Fwoooosh!
"WAAAAAAAAAH!!"
The roar of the crowd erupted like wildfire.