Chapter 38: Switching Games (3)

Thump.

Sang-Hyeon’s heart pounded when he felt the bow.

‘It’s really been a while.’

The compound bow might be unfamiliar to the average joe, but it became quite mainstream in archery. It just wasn’t officially used at the Olympics.

Almond had experience with compound bows because of his general interest in all bows.

‘Who would’ve thought I’d use this here?’

He had only ever practiced hitting still targets with a compound bow, so using it in this survival game excited him.

— What are you doing? Grab it!

— I think it’s better to look for a shotgun.?

— No, no, they’re chasing him right now. He has no choice.

He could hear footsteps climbing the stairs outside as he reminisced.

Thump, thump, thump!

The opponents planned to barge in from the 2nd floor to kill him.

— These guys are so unfair teaming up against a newbie.

— Kill em!

— Can’t you report them?

— Shudders.

Almond found himself in a difficult situation, but it had been his own fault for poorly landing and exposing himself.

Chuk—?

Almond grabbed the compound bow without any further thoughts and readied himself in front of a doorway with the stairs in sight.

His eyes turned cold and his breathing grew lighter.

Thud… thud…

He could hear their footsteps coming down.

Did they have weapons? It would be dangerous even if they only had pistols due to their numbers.

Thud… thud…?

The footsteps grew louder. Finally, he could see a pair of feet coming down the stairs.

Kling—?

A sharp metal noise resounded.

‘It’s a knife.’

Almond felt relieved that the first enemy coming down only had a hunting knife.

‘If it’s like this…’

Sang-Hyeon would’ve had to rush if the enemy had a gun, but a knife gave him time.

It wouldn’t be too late to fire even as the second person came down the stairs. Perhaps he could even wait for the third.

Thud. Thud.

Suddenly, the second person appeared on the stairs.

“!”

This new enemy had a handgun.

Creak…?

Almond determined that there was no need to wait any further.

The second player’s head became exposed as the third person’s feet came into view.

Swoosh!

The sound of air being cut rang out.

Thwack!

The arrow perfectly struck the center of his forehead. It flew with so much power that the enemy slammed against the wall and made a loud noise.

THUD!

[Almond → KeanuReverse]

[Eliminated!]

[99/100]

— Kyaaaa!

— Robin Hoooood!

— This is the power of Korea!

— His aim is insane!

— Wow…

— Headshot, instant kill!

— Don’t come near Almond without a helmet!

— Another round please!

It was an incredible shot considering it was his first in

Battle Large.

“What the!!!”

“Damn arrow!”

The other two finally noticed and quickly got into position.

One of them pointed towards Almond based on the arrow’s trajectory.

“Over there—”

Thwack.

He collapsed next to his teammate without finishing his sentence.

Thud—?

[Almond → K-Food]

[Double Kill!]

[98/100]

Only the one with a knife remained, but he ran off. His footsteps echoed as he fled after he determined that he was no match against Almond with just a knife.

“Running away? Should I chase him?”

Almond felt confused because this game was about survival and not fighting all the time.

— LOL

— It’s a game of survival.?

— You don’t have to kill everyone.

— Chase him! Now!

— Chase him as if your life depended on it!

— You guys are nuts.

The viewers wanted him to chase the enemy. They wanted justice against the players who were mercilessly hunting newbies.

“Then let’s chase him. He’s probably not far,” Almond muttered and slowly came out of the room.

Thud!

The door across from him suddenly opened. The enemy had picked up his own compound bow and faced Almond.

‘He was waiting?’

The enemy had only pretended to run away.

Creak…?

Both of them pulled their bowstrings at the same time.

Swoosh—?

Almond released his arrow first.

Thwack!

[Almond → TasteCow]

[Triple Kill!]

[92/100]

The arrow formed a clean hole in his head.

Thud—?

Almond smiled and walked over the corpse.

“He must’ve thought he could copy me.”

— LOL

— He thought it looked like a good idea hahaha?

— He must’ve been a beginner too.?

— 1v3 sheesh.

— Why’d they even team up?

— They think they’re the three musketeers.

Almond thought the opponents were beginners as well. They seemed to have played a couple of rounds before, which made them even more pitiful.

‘Are they just bad…’

Players who weren’t good despite having played several rounds. Almond faced these types of players in his current MMR (matchmaking rating).

This made it possible for even Almond, a complete beginner, to achieve a triple kill.

“I’m gaining some confidence from this.”

He was all warmed up now and could finally showcase his skills.

“Should we start farming now?”

***

He freely roamed around the house after killing those three and farmed for items. However, the small house didn’t have much to collect. He only found a couple of bandages and an energy drink.

“I should head out for now, right?”

— Yeah, you’ve gotta go out and farm.

— You need to find some armor too.

It was time for him to move on after cleaning out the house.

‘I wonder if the blue circle will close in soon.’

It would be safer to hide in a corner and camp out while waiting for people. However, a mechanic called the blue zone prevented that in this game.

[The blue zone will shrink in 30 seconds!]

The blue zone covered the entire map and gradually shrunk as time passed.

Kiiiing—?

A peculiar siren rang throughout the map.

Almond could see the map in the corner of his eye.

A player would slowly lose their health until they died if they stayed in the blue zone. They had to move closer to the circle’s center to survive.

‘This location isn’t very good.’

Almond found himself in a disadvantageous position after looking at the minimap. He had to move quickly and heard motorcycles outside.

“I should hurry.”

Almond rushed outside after the vehicles.

***

A vast desert greeted him when he stepped outside. He couldn’t hide anywhere and only had the compound bow

.?

An enemy could easily spot him, so he had to move carefully.

He slowly moved with his back against the wall.

Vrooooooom—?

He heard an engine growing louder as it approached.

Vroooom—

‘Just drive by…’

He couldn’t defeat a player on a vehicle, so he lay down and prayed for the car to drive by.

However—

“!”

Ting! Ting!

Sparks flew from the wall behind him.

“Eek!”

The players in the vehicle were shooting at him.

Almond rolled and instinctively dodged the bullets.

Ting! Ting!

The bullets followed him.

—

LOL

— Almond’s expression is hilarious.

— Right, now this is how a newbie looks like.

— So spicy!

— Oppa, so cute!

Almond looked quite foolish rolling around, but he couldn’t help it. It was his first time dodging bullets.

“I was just surprised because it’s my first time,” Almond made an excuse as he looked around.

‘Where am I?’

Vroooom!!!

He heard the engine rumbling behind him this time.

“!”

A jeep drove directly towards Almond.

Thump! Th-Thump!

Gunshots could be heard in the distance. Almond quickly hid behind a wall. A loud noise ripped through the air and the wall began to collapse.

Crumble—

‘Their bullets shattered the wall?’

It must’ve been a bigger gun with stronger bullets. Almond had no knowledge of guns in general and didn’t know what to expect.

“Damn.”

He ran towards the next wall without a chance to complain.

Ta ta tak.

He jumped from wall to wall with ease.

— Oooohh…

— Is he a ninja?

— As expected of Almond.

— There was nothing like this in Kingdom Age.

The game had a mechanic that assisted jumping from wall to wall, but Almond was still quite quick. The next round of bullets bounced off the wall and missed him. Also, this wall was sturdier than the previous one.

“Damn it! Why can’t I hit him!?”

Tatatata!

The frustrated enemy shot all over the place.

“Ah,?

stop fucking around and come out!”

“Kuahaha!”

Skrt—?

The jeep stopped and multiple players stepped out while laughing.

“Another group?”

Almond peeked at them and sighed. He felt annoyed by the situation.

— Hahaha.

— What the, why are there so many teams in this elo?

— Let’s report all of them.?

— Luck-based game.

The three people slowly walked towards Almond and their footsteps grew louder.

Almond rested against the wall and readied his bow.

“Phew.”

He took a short breath and slightly tilted his body to aim at them and shoot his bow.

Swoosh!

“Huh?”

Thwack!

The arrow struck an enemy’s head before any of them could react. The enemy didn’t wear any head protection since they were still in the early stages of the game. He immediately collapsed.

Thud.

[Almond → RaloFan]

[Elimnated!]

[88/100]

— Wow!

— He could cut sashimi with that precision.

— This is it. This is Kingdom Age!

— Kingdom Age LOL!

— Sir, this is Battle Large.

“What the!? How did he die in one shot?

“It was a headshot.”

“Fuck!”

Bows dealt great damage by default, so headshots guaranteed an instant kill. However, it was difficult because the criteria to land headshots were different. Bullets counted even if they brushed against someone’s head, but arrows had to directly land for them to count.

This handicap didn’t affect Almond because he always struck the center of his enemy’s head regardless of the situation.

Battle Large’s?

criteria felt quite generous to him compared to

Kingdom Age.?

‘One more.’

Thwack!

Another enemy had his head pierced by an arrow.

“Kugh!”

He collapsed with a small noise.

[Almond → ParkaFan]

[Eliminated!]

[85/100]

“J-Jesus Christ…”

The last one dived onto the ground and assumed a prone position. He finally realized the difference in skill between them.

“What are you?! Did you just go on a losing streak to dominate us!”

Almond couldn’t see the enemy and could only hear him.

‘Around here…’

He didn’t even need to see and could guess where the enemy was hiding. It was only a guess, but Almond’s guess would be deadly for the enemy.

Creak…?

Almond angled his bow up and aimed towards the sky as he drew the bowstring.

‘Hmmm.’

He nodded once and fired the shot.

The arrow fell from the sky and pierced the player who couldn’t even be seen.

Thwack!

“Urrrrk!”

Tutututu!

The enemy must’ve fired in a panic as scattered gunshots echoed out.

— What the???

— Did you hit him without even seeing him?

— No look shot?

— Wow.

— What’s the point of obstacles? Just shoot up.

Almond ran into a similar situation in the past while shooting at a similar angle. This time, he couldn’t even see the target.

‘But I could hear him.’

Thwack!

Another arrow landed.

Thwack!

The last one perfectly struck.

“Kugh!”

The enemy didn’t make a sound anymore.

[Almond → DopaFan]

[Knocked Out!]

He thought the enemy had died, but the dialogue was different this time.

“

Huh?

Knocked out?”

‘It should say eliminated. Why does it say knocked out?’

A player could only be knocked out in the squad game mode, which meant…

— No way…

— No wonder there were so many teams.

— They were showing up as eliminated because he kept getting headshots. Damn, this was squad mode.

— Was he playing against squads as a solo player in his first game? Goddamn…

— Legendary.

It all began with Almond’s mistake. He accidentally went into squad mode and fought against teams of 4 by himself.

‘Damn, really?’

Almond felt baffled by his mistake. Everyone had a squad except for him and on his first round as well!

[SoloAlliance has donated 10,000 won.]

[The solo alliance is deeply touched by your performance. We will reward you with 100,000 won if you reach rank 1!]

At least he received a donation mission thanks to playing solo.

“

Hahaha…

Thank you.”

Almond felt glad to receive the mission, but also uneasy.

‘What is it?’

Players could be revived in squad matches, but instantly died if they had no teammates left.

Squads were limited to groups of four and he had already killed three, which meant—

‘Wait, then one was—?’

Ping.

A silent shot echoed out as Almond fell back.