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Season 3: Chapter 115: Tres vs. Almond (2)

The crossbow-firing watchtowers and the massive fortress cannons were all rendered useless.

“The Joseon mounted archers are tearing through everything!!!”

Perhaps it was a flawed idea from the start trying to catch the mounted archers with slow cannons.

Joseon’s mounted archers wore light armor and only wielded bows and arrows. Compared to European knights, they were light as feathers. If European knights were medieval tanks, the Joseon mounted archers were medieval motorcycles.

Slow weapons like cannons likely wouldn’t hit them, especially Almond, as long as they didn’t lose their focus.

“They’re not getting hit! Almond is drawing the aggro, but he still isn’t getting hit!”

“They would need to take predictive shots to hit him! It’s completely ineffective! Only Spanish workers are dying!”

The only way to hit with the cannons was to predict the archers’ movements and shoot ahead.

“Can they manage predictive shots!?”

“That’s Almond’s specialty, right? Dodging at the last moment!”

Predictive shots were meaningless against someone who could dodge after seeing the shot. In fact, that made dodging even easier for him.

Boom!

Another canon shot missed.

“Oh! It didn’t hit! Even the predictive shots missed!”

“I can’t help but think of the legendary Messi dribbling right now!”

“Dribbling and shooting arrows at the same time!?”

Thwack!

Whenever the archers drew their bows, the worker population dropped. Worker corpses littered the path of the mounted archers.

— It must be chaos

— One Almond is a handful, but 15 of them are running rampant lol

— Joseon’s mutants

— The Spanish soldiers can’t even keep up

The mounted archers moved with incredible mobility.

The Spanish soldiers could only watch as Joseon wreaked havoc. They were powerless.

“Oh…! Should Spain have prepared cavalry too!?”

That wasn’t possible. Spain had its reasons for not preparing any cavalry. Normally, cavalry was useless in siege warfare.

“That’s not right! These mounted archers would’ve been useless if the gate hadn’t opened!”

“Oh… right! Passing through the gate without suffering any damage was huge. Spain never expected such a surprise!”

Spain could’ve never imagined that the Joseon soldiers hiding inside the siege vehicles would open the gate so easily. Criticizing Spain for not preparing any cavalry was only a hindsight driven argument.

“Oh. Spain’s flow of resources has significantly dropped.”

War was inherently results-oriented and Spain’s resource supply per minute started to plummet. They had been ahead of Joseon by double in resource intake. Now, this had dropped to 1.5 times.

“Even so, Joseon needs to inflict more damage! They poured everything into this!”

Even with the drop, Spain was still ahead of Joseon.

Joseon needed to inflict more damage to gain a net benefit. This mounted archer rush was a significant resource risk and failing could mean immediate surrender.

“From Spain’s perspective, they need to go and kill them! They can’t kill them from afar! They need to cause chaos and break their concentration!”

“Oh! As we’re speaking…!”

The screen switched. Indeed, Spain had hastily prepared some cavalry with soldiers charging on horseback.

[Conquistador]

It was their conquistador unit.

“This unit is Spain’s pride, the conquistador!”

This rare third era unit could shoot guns while riding horses.

Such a unit required significant resources and time to upgrade and maintain.

“Oh… Spain’s cavalry is expensive! They finally prepared cavalry!? They’re risking everything!”

“They invested all their money and resources into muskets and horses! As a result, they could only manage ten conquistador units!”

— Even after all that, they still got 10 units out

— When did they come out?

— Spain’s resources are crazy, Korea needs to take down the highland base fast!!

— Kill more workers!!

Joseon had built up and squeezed out eighteen mounted archers throughout the game, yet Spain had hastily prepared ten conquistadors. This moment highlighted the resource difference.

“The two groups are still far apart! Joseon needs to keep inflicting damage!”

If Joseon failed to inflict more damage or ended up suffering losses themselves, it would be very troublesome.

OrangeKing recommended inflicting resource damage and retreating, “But! They don’t have to achieve all the damage in one battle! They can come back with more reinforcements!”

Joseon could return with proper siege vehicles for a siege battle as long as they maintained their forces. They could secure more resource lines in the meantime.

“They could take a breather and not push immediately. That would be more stable and they’re still far from the conquistadors!”

“Oh… but! That Tres! Tres is coming very fast!? He doesn’t seem like he’ll just let them go!”

“So they should retreat quickly and turn back the horses…”

The commentators grew anxious. They wanted Joseon to minimize mistakes with the finals on the line and seize a winning position in a losing game.

While not wrong, Cookie thought differently.

‘It has to be now.’

The opportunity to open the enemy gate this easily wouldn’t come again. More importantly, the battlefield’s momentum was on their side. Even in games, the troops’ morale was an unassailable and powerful weapon. It was invisible, but undeniably real. A chemical reality imprinted in the human hormone secretion system. That was military morale.

Right now, it was at its peak. When morale reached its peak and declined, that was a negative output. Even if the absolute value was higher than the initial level, it would be negative if it ever declined. That was human hormones.

What mattered wasn’t the absolute amount, but the rate of increase or decrease.

That was why momentum existed. When one had the momentum, they needed to keep pushing to maintain a positive state. If the momentum stopped, it didn’t just weaken the positive output. It became negative.

‘If the momentum shifts here, it’s over.’

Right now was a critical moment. Victory felt as strong as a waterfall. Soon, this upstream water would spread out into a calm river. Then, even if there was more water, it would have no power.

This intense force was only present now.

Ting!

[Conquistadors approaching]

[Attack]

Cookie commanded the mounted archers to hunt the conquistadors.

“Cookie! He ordered them to kill the approaching conquistadors!?”

“Oh… a bold choice!”

“It’s not an all-in move! He’s sending ten of the remaining fifteen mounted archers! The remaining five will continue to harass workers! This could be too greedy!”

“Yes. This way, they can continue to accumulate worker damage! But if the mounted archers take heavy losses, it’s all for nothing! The mounted archers are everything for Joseon right now!”

If the current mounted archer unit was wiped out, Joseon would lose their grip on victory.

***

“Hiya!”

Clop, clop!

Tres charged ahead in front. He was so fast that it was meaningless for the ten others to keep up with him. Despite this, he kept increasing his speed rather than matching their pace.

'Huh?'

He glared at the approaching mounted archers.

'Are they going to counterattack? As expected...'

Instinctively, he knew that they wouldn't run away.

Although it was a wise decision, it wasn't the winning one. A wise decision and a winning decision were different. That was war.

"Your commander is only a man!" he spat out provocative words and expertly loaded his gun.

Click!

Although he spoke fiercely, his mind coolly assessed the situation.

'We have a slower rate of fire.'

No matter how good their stats, he had no intention of fighting fairly. Stats were just numbers and actual combat was different. If he let the enemy shoot multiple arrows, they would quickly be at a disadvantage.

'We need to make it look like we're running and they're chasing.'

The pursuer was always at a disadvantage in a long-range battle, especially with bows. Shooting against the wind was harder.

'They're coming.'

The enemy entered their range.

Tres needed to turn his horse, but he advanced further.

Click!

He skillfully reloaded and fired again.

Bang!

"Damn!"

Another enemy fell.

Whether they died was unknown, but they were out of the fight.

His musket still had superior range.

'Now... they’re coming.'

The enemy was in range.

Whoosh!

As expected, arrows flew toward him. They aimed directly at his head.

Shick!

He dodged them. Bullets were almost invisible, but arrows could be seen.

However, the archers’ rate of fire was faster.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

More arrows flew. Dodging had its limits.

Tres gripped his gun and swung it.

Clang...!

The bayonet deflected an arrow.

"!?"

The approaching Joseon soldiers wore shocked expressions.

Tres smirked and pulled his trigger.

Bang!

***

"Oh, oh my! What was that just now!?"

"... Deflecting arrows while running!"

— Wow

— That’s insane

— He really talks big

— He’s a beast

Seeing Tres deflect arrows with his bayonet while riding shocked the viewers.

"This is truly the pinnacle of skill only possible in a game or virtual reality!"

"Right! And he took down three archers! Two of them are outright dead!"

— Wow...

— Insane

— Being an assistant commander must help

— Is that Tres?

"Oh, the mounted archers are trying to kill Tres! But Tres is changing direction!"

The mounted archers naturally wanted to punish him.

Tres immediately turned aside and the other Spanish soldiers began firing.

Bang! Bang!

The muskets fired from beyond the range of the bows, causing confusion among the mounted archers. Some got entangled while trying to dodge.

"Joseon's focus is shaking!"

Two minutes of continuous fighting could change heart rates. The mounted archers had been fighting for nearly seven minutes straight. They had been in extreme danger where a single mistake meant death.

"They dodged the shots well, but—"

Boom!n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

As OrangeKing spoke, a cannonball from the castle sent a mounted archer flying.

Only seven mounted archers remained.

"Aaah! They shouldn't have gotten hit!"

— ??

— Wait

— Shouldn’t they just dodge and fight again?

— Insane

— How many times do they have to dodge?

— Is this for real?

"Pulling off the same dodging trick is hard! They’re not in top shape anymore!"

"It's too chaotic! But only Joseon is in chaos! Spain’s soldiers are still fresh and focused!"

"Tres seems to be causing the chaos! He keeps drawing their aggro and causing disarray!"

Tres was dictating the battlefield now and held the initiative.

"Does a single assistant commander in direct combat make this much of an impact!?"

As an assistant commander, Tres could give orders and had a health bonus. This allowed for aggressive fighting.

"They can't be swayed by Tres! Following him means getting hit by muskets and cannon fire! This is Spain’s base!!!"

"But ignoring him is hard because he’s so good at fighting and riding! It’s driving them crazy!"

The combination of his extraordinary combat skills and tactics made a massive impact, but the opposing side had someone just as formidable.

"One mounted archer is ignoring everything and chasing Tres!"

One figure kept pursuing Tres while ignoring the cannons, tower fire, and bullets.

"You said not to get swayed!"

"That’s true, but…" OrangeKing trailed off.

This player possessed undeniable combat skills.

[Almond]

"Not if the opponent is me! Isn’t that what he’s saying!? With Almond, anything is possible!"

Almond charged through the bullets toward Tres.