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Season 3: Chapter 164: Overtechnology (3)

The Viking commander Exmaster doubted his eyes.

‘What is this?’

Around one hundred Joseon soldiers had attacked the hunting outpost. They had already burned down one outpost.

‘Are they attacking now?’

Joseon unexpectedly put up a struggle.

‘A desperate move?’

The expected move would have been for Joseon to follow quickly into the second era. Instead, they chose to attack.

‘Cookie… he’s crazier than I heard.’

Fwoosh.

‘Then…’

[Assemble]

Exmaster temporarily halted production and ordered his troops to gather on the Joseon soldiers’ expected path. He gathered one hundred soldiers to match Joseon and even reduced hunting personnel.

‘Thanks to them, we’ll win automatically if we can stop this attack.’

Cookie had made a reckless move and Exmaster decided to end the battle here. The Vikings just needed to hold out until their second era equipment came out. Joseon wouldn’t stand a chance.

[Round Shield - 19%]

[Viking Sword - 19%]

The elite soldiers would sweep away the Joseon soldiers once they received these weapons. Then, the Vikings would fight with second era weapons while Joseon remained in the first era.

[Defend]

The Vikings just needed to prevent further damage to their outposts until then. They had the advantage.

***

The Joseon soldiers ran toward the next hunting outpost.

“The Vikings are coming!”

The Vikings quickly gathered their forces and approached.

“How do we bypass them!?”

Joseon aimed to raid the outposts and didn’t need to fight. However—

[Berserker]

Boom!

The Vikings scattered swiftly.

“Ah, right—”

Thwack!

The head of a Joseon soldier at the front flew off and red blood splattered in the wind.

A Viking holding an axe shouted fiercely behind the blood spray, “Kill them all!”

The Vikings, now high in spirits, all charged.

“Waaah!”

“Horororo!”

The Vikings’ second era trait, berserker, allowed them to charge at an incredible speed toward enemies.

“Damn, we can’t escape!”

“Fight! Fight! We can’t run!”

The Joseon soldiers couldn’t move any faster to escape because this wasn’t mountainous terrain.

This was the fearsome power of the Vikings. They would take over once close combat began and fought whenever they wanted.

“Kill them!”

“Aaah!”

Thwack!

Thump!

Over one hundred soldiers on each side began fighting. The battlefield quickly became chaotic.

Naturally, Joseon was at a disadvantage. They only had clubs while some Vikings had axes in the first era. With those Vikings leading, the enemies would win this melee battle.

Time was also on the Vikings’ side.

“We’ll win when our team with second era equipment arrives!”

Joseon had to be anxious. If they didn’t inflict significant damage, they would likely lose immediately.

“Damn, what can we do with just clubs!?”

“Is this a war of attrition?”

Joseon's soldiers understandably looked anxious in this visibly disadvantageous fight.

The red dots on the minimap pushed back the blue dots. The front-line soldiers had already died. Seeing that, the second line couldn’t fight properly.

Joseon’s momentum fell like dominoes. Then, it happened.

[Protect the Archers]

Twang!

A beam of light fell in the middle of the Joseon soldiers.

The Joseon soldiers felt momentarily confused at the mention of archers.

“Wait, we have archers?”

“It’s the first era.”

“Ah…”

They hadn’t planned such a strategy or practiced such a maneuver. Cookie had devised this impromptu tactic after being fooled by the Vikings. However, this command stated that they had archers in the first era. They recalled how this was possible.

“This… it’s from the defense tower! Almond has a bow!”

Joseon had used this strategy to defeat the French in the first era with a tower rush. Bows from the defense towers allowed for makeshift archers in the first era.

“Protect them!”

“Guard the archers!”

A circle formed around Almond and the Joseon soldiers raised their clubs.

Snap!

“We’ll win if we can protect them!”

***

The Vikings felt puzzled after seeing the Joseon soldiers’ resolute eyes.

“What’s with them?”

“What are they protecting?”

Joseon had attacked, yet now formed a defensive formation.

“Form a charging line!” a Viking shouted and raised his axe.

He judged that forming a line to charge would be more efficient than breaking through the circular formation directly.

Squeak…!

He adjusted his axe and shouted, “I can take down five at the front! Follow me!”

The Vikings, forming a line to charge, started running.

“Waaah! Kill them!”

“Sweep them away!”

The leading axe-bearer cleared the path followed by the others. The strongest faced the most opponents in this logical strategy.

However, the Viking’s arrowhead formation clashed with the circular formation.

Twang!

The sound of an arrow being shot shattered that logic.

“Charge— huh?”

Two arrows suddenly pierced the forehead of the lead Viking with an axe.

Thud!

He had been struck with a double headshot.

“?”

He fell backward without understanding what happened and disappeared into the battlefield dust.

Thud thud thud!

The following Vikings didn’t even see what happened and stepped over him.

“Wha— What was that?”

A Viking currently fighting looked around in surprise.

An arrow flew through the chaos, but Joseon was still in the first era!

“Damn! They have arrows!”

“What!?”

His voice didn’t reach the entire battlefield.

The Vikings had already charged forward, madly swinging their clubs at the Joseon soldiers and not knowing what was at the center of that formation.

***

Inside the circle protected by the Joseon soldiers, Carrot and Almond drew their bows and aimed at the next target.

Carrot shouted, “Axe wielder at three o’clock.”

“Three o’clock, confirmed.”

A first era bow couldn’t kill a Viking with one headshot alone. They had to shoot the same target simultaneously without the focus trait or the archer class’ bonus damage.

“Shoot.”

Twang!

Two arrows rang out and struck the head of a Viking wielding an axe at three o’clock.

Carrot quickly looked for the next target and shouted, “Next, seven o’clock!”

“Seven o’clock, confirmed.”

Carrot drew first and Almond followed.

Thud!

The Viking died with one arrow in the head and one in the chest.

“Pick up the axes!!”

A shout rang out among the Joseon soldiers to pick up the axes.

Malatang picked up an axe from a dead Viking and swung it.

“Hiyah!”

Thwack!

A Viking staggered and fell.

“Forward!!”

“Graaah!”

Joseon’s morale rose.

“One o’clock!”

“No more arrows.”

“Arrows! Ah… Uncle Pang!” Carrot shouted behind her.

***

Pang drew his bow around forty to fifty meters away from the battlefield. He nocked two arrows onto his bowstring. He wasn’t used to shooting a multi-shot, but it didn’t matter since he wasn’t aiming to hit anyone precisely. As long as the arrows landed nearby.

“Uncle! Hurry!!” Carrot’s voice echoed.

In this game, female voices could be heard easier because they were rare.

Pang shot as fast as he could.

“Wait a bit, will ya!”

Twang~

The arrows shot by Pang drew a deep arc and landed near Carrot and Almond.

Thud thud.

More arrows landed near Pang from the distant defense tower.

“Okay. Now it’s much faster.”

Spam and Latte kept shooting arrows at Pang from the defense tower, who then shot them to the battlefield. This way, Carrot and Almond received a continuous supply of arrows.

“Let’s go!”

***

The commentators’ eyes widened at this scene.

“No way! They’re relaying arrows from the defense tower!!”

“This strategy! They used it before! This time it’s even more intricate!!”

— Wow

— Not just a water relay LOL

— Awesome

— Crazy

— Only Joseon can pull this off

“Arrows are limited when using defense tower bows! That’s the problem! But they’re relaying arrows from the defense tower to Pang! And Pang is multi-shooting them continuously!”

“Is it okay for Carrot and Almond to fight this way while surrounded by allies!?”

“Even if allies get hit, they don’t take any damage! They just bounce off! This can be used strategically!”

“This improvised strategy by Cookie is amazing!”

“Yes. Fortunately, the map is a soft grain field that’s perfect for this situation! If it were a forest, trees would block the arrows and the rocky terrain would damage the arrows!”

— So detailed

— Wow, true

— Will this work?

— Like protecting the Marines, LOL

The caster had doubts. Could two archers significantly impact a fight involving nearly one hundred soldiers?

“OrangeKing! Is having Carrot and Almond as ranged fighters helpful in this battle!?”

“Of course! It makes a big difference! Melee soldiers can only fight in the front line! But ranged soldiers can kill from behind! Even the Vikings waiting to fight aren’t safe! That’s why famous RTS games show workers protecting one ranged unit to harass the enemy!”

— Rapper OrangeKing

— Take a breath

— True, that’s what cheese rush is LOL

— The efficiency is entirely different

— Cool

“Most importantly!” OrangeKing pointed something out, “They’re selectively killing axe-wielders!! This is the power of ranged units to target key enemies!!!”

Indeed, all the axe-wielding Vikings had fallen.

“Almond! Almond’s shooting speed is increasing! Pang’s shooting speed has increased too!”

— The power of repetitive tasks

— Is this the division of labor?

— Cool

— So fast LOL

— Automated factory LOL

Twang!

Twang!

Almond and Carrot’s shooting speed increased as they grew used to the relay.

“Enemies keep falling! Carrot! Almond! They’re shooting until their bowstrings break!”

Almond grabbed arrows from the ground without looking, nocked them, and shot at the Viking in front.

Thunk!

An arrow pierced the Viking’s eye, making him stagger back. Almond shot another arrow and the Viking fell.

More arrows landed on the ground. He quickly picked them up, nocked them, and shot.

A Viking trying to break through suffered a hit.

Thud!

An arrow pierced the Viking’s forehead and he fell, having already been weakened by clubs hitting him.

“The number of Vikings is visibly decreasing!”

Carrot and Almond maximized their impact on the battlefield by no longer targeting the same enemies. Back to back, they shot in different directions. Pang’s arrows came faster and more frequently.

The Vikings pushed harder. Enemies were everywhere.

Almond couldn’t afford to bend down to pick up arrows. He quickly nocked an arrow and shot. Another Viking fell.

“Joseon is…! Will they survive here and gain another chance!?”

“More! Just a bit more…!”

A Viking broke through the formation and charged with a club.

Pang’s arrow flew.

Thunk.

Almond caught it in mid-air.

“!?”

“Ah! Almond! What was that!?”

He nocked it and shot immediately with a quick draw and release, yet the arrow always landed accurately.

Thud!

The arrow struck the charging Viking’s head, who kept running and barely survived.

Almond kicked the ground.

Thud!

A club bounced up. He caught it and swung lightly.

Thwack!

The charging Viking flew sideways and rolled on the ground.

“Joseon!!!”

The commentators’ voices rose.

‘Huh…’

Almond looked past the fallen Viking and could no longer see any more enemies.

Thud thud…

Pang’s arrows continued to arrive on the battlefield, but neither Carrot nor Almond picked them up. They didn’t need to shoot anymore.