Five minutes ago, England's supreme commander Heinz believed he had completely seized victory.

"We have already won in most of the battle areas. If we take control over here, the remaining gold mines for them are this one and this one."

Ping. Ping.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Pings appeared on the land he was overseeing. He was explaining the situation to his commanders through voice communication.

"If we take these two gold mines, they won't have resources to advance to the third age. Then, it's over."

Although he was British, he knew how to deal with the Korean civilization. They just had to prevent them from reaching the third era. In this game, advancing to a new era was like the molting of crustaceans. Even if they became much stronger afterward, the moment of their molting made them most vulnerable when their shells hadn’t hardened yet.

That moment was now. Right after, Korea advanced to the second era. When they had just molted and exposed their soft flesh, Heinz was ready to slice them open.

"Adelwald, you go here. Jaydril, you go here. Squeeze the gold mines with shield walls and provoke a reaction."

England's two commanders advanced toward the last hope for Korea, the two gold mines currently marked with pings.

Among them was the famous longbowman Jaydril. Fatefully or otherwise, he was headed toward the area guarded by Almond.

With the shield wall tactic, the Korean archers would be helpless. Without the help of melee units, the shield wall could not be broken.

"Make sure to produce more spears."

They needed to produce spears.

***

"The shield wallllllllll collapsed~~!!" OrangeKing shouted at the top of his lungs. "The timing of the shield wall collapsing! This is huge!!!"

England's shield wall tactic had always been a favorite strategy to completely counter Korea. In other words, it was always a thorn in the side of Korea. Breaking it with just archers meant a lot.

"Breaking it with just archers? Can you explain how critical this is?"

OrangeKing, not yet fully versed in the strategic battles of

Civil Empire

, found it difficult to explain in words. He turned to Chi-Seung.

"The fact that the shield wall was broken is encouraging. Not just because the shield wall itself was broken!"

Chi-Seung understood this theory perfectly. Of course, wasn't this precisely the specialty of the think tank he was in?

"First, you need to understand, England doesn’t use the shield wall to reach the end without collapsing!"

— ???

— :O

— Can't even imagine their real intention…

He revealed to the viewers the true intent behind the shield wall tactic. On the surface, the shield wall tactic seemed to be for pushing back the enemy or for taking over the enemy's territory.

In reality, it was not used that way. At least not when fighting against Korea.

"Then what is it?"

"It's to make Korea's resource flow inefficient!"

"What do you mean!?"

"It's to force Korea to produce melee weapons in the second era. If we have enough melee units, the shield wall can be easily broken."

"Ah…! But if Korea produces those in the second era…!"

"Yes! It's incredibly inefficient!"

— OMG

— Using it as a strategy enforcer…

— Impressive;

"From Korea's perspective, except for the commanders, they don't want to supply soldiers with melee weapons! It's inefficient, and it's best for Korea to endure the second era with just Korean short bows and the focus trait!"

Civil Empire

, like many other strategy games, was the same. A single tactic involved multiple layers of psychological warfare.

On the outside, it seemed like they wanted to defend their territory with shield walls… but the reality was to induce the enemy to waste their resources frivolously.

"What if Korea doesn’t produce melee weapons and horses?!"

"Then the shield wall won't be breached, and England will take almost all the land's resources!"

"Ah, so we have to reluctantly produce melee weapons?"

"We need to find the optimal production amount. Producing too many means England can follow into the second era and overwhelm us with the explosive resources of longbowmen!"

— Shocking

— What are we supposed to do then? lol

— Tears blind my view... The fierce battles of our ancestors…

— Wow, did they do too good a job simulating Korea’s combat power? lol

— Which game company is this?

Viewers expressed their dissatisfaction with what seemed to be an unfair matchup. However, it couldn't be helped. The game was already made, and it was a fact that their ancestors didn't dominate the world in the past.

Finding solutions within these conditions was their task.

"Then, the best strategy for Korea is to secure as many resources as possible and advance to the third era with crossbows and cannons, right?"

"That's right. Minimizing damage in the first and second eras and using guerrilla warfare with powerful ranged weapons like third era crossbows and cannons can make Korea strong."

"Wow! But now, Almond's side has breached the shield wall with just archers, right?"

At least in one area under Korea, they managed to implement that solution. Breaching the shield wall with just archers was major.

— Oh, that's why it's significant

— So that's a big deal

— An incredible buildup

— Ah~

— Guys~ we should be thankful to Almond~

Now, viewers could understand how encouraging it was for Almond and Coffee to break down the shield wall.

"War is waged with money. This play saved hundreds of gold."

The supreme commander didn't have to force the production of melee weapons like spears to breach the shield wall. Meaning they could maintain the efficiency of their resource flow.

However, a new phase unfolded.

"Ah! But England! They're not to be underestimated! After killing Coffee, they still charged in without a command structure!"

Korea managed to avoid a loss, but that alone couldn't stop England's offensive.

England's barbarian warriors charged forward even more fiercely.

“Dieeeeee!!”

“The high ground is in sight!”

Whoosh!

Some warriors threw spears that pierced the bodies of Korean archers.

Thud!

Thuck!

"Wow... this is ruthless! The Anglo-Saxons are truly from a nation of plunder!!!"

— lol

— That’s too much lol

— A nation of plunder lol

"The British Museum is already full, but they’re coming to plunder again! Just build another one. They can't resist plundering!"

— Crazy lol

— Drooling Saxons

— lol

— Seems like Kimchi has a lot to deal with lol

"If we're complacent because the shield wall collapsed, our Korean short bows will be exhibited in the British Museum! We need to be careful!"

"Right! From England's perspective, they just need to take over these gold mines!"

Korea managed to avoid the wasteful situation of mass-producing spears, but that didn't mean they could leave these gold mines unchecked. Avoiding an unfair situation was one thing. They still needed to defend. Ultimately, how well they blocked this charge was crucial.

Swoosh!

Swoosh!

The Korean archers desperately fired their arrows. England's warriors charged while diligently blocking with their shields.

Thud!

Thump!

"Our archers' accuracy is amazing..."

"Ah! Those damn shields! Those damn shields!!!"

"If it goes on like this, we'll be breached!?"

"They're changing the archers' positions! Quickly... Huh?"

At the moment, it seemed impossible to get a proper angle from the front.

"What's that!? Almond!?"

OrangeKing pointed somewhere.

"Almond! Almond found a spot to attack from!"

Almond had hidden himself at an angle that the enemies could not possibly anticipate an attack from.

"Moreover... he's now utilizing the focus trait?!"

He even figured out how to use Korea's focus trait.

"This is..."

Almond paused for a moment, observing the white energy blossoming in his hand. This was clearly some skill. As the light grew stronger, it seemed that holding the shot longer increased its power.

After about three seconds, a sharp sound signaled it had reached its peak as the arrow flared up intensely in white.

"Good."

Almond intuitively felt it was time to shoot and aimed at the farthest enemy. He held his breath and released the trembling tension of the bowstring in a smooth motion.

The bowstring's release was so gentle that he almost didn’t realize he had let it go.

With a much louder whoosh than before, the white arrow flew in a straight line with a slight parabola and struck.

With a powerful impact, it blew off a soldier's head.

"It, it exploded!!!"

"..!?"

The arrow didn’t just pierce, but literally blew off the enemy’s head.

OrangeKing screamed as if his own throat was about to burst, "A critical hit combined with the focus trait! The arrow pierced straight through!"

— A critical hit combined with focus for explosive damage lol

— Focused Almond, damn

— The head went pop~

— Wow lol his voice lol

Blood sprayed like rain in every direction.

The charging enemies glanced around. They didn’t halt their assault, but naturally felt startled as a comrade's head exploded from next to them.

"The enemies are now startled and searching for Almond!"

"It's hard to find him! The long curve of the shot makes pinpointing his location tricky!"

Almond shot from his hiding spot and inherently applied a strong curve, making it difficult for them to discern his location at a glance.

As they looked around, the English soldiers fell like bees to the Korean archers' arrows.

"Damn plunderers! If you dally in front of Korean bows, you die!"

"Exactly! Our archers' accuracy is the world’s best~! If you don't block with shields, you die!"

— Are you guys the ones shooting?

— lol really

— Dying from laughter here lol

— National team match, the oldies are super excited

— Kill them!!!

It all happened in an instant. The English soldiers had no choice but to focus ahead.

"Good. I wasn't spotted."

Almond placed another arrow on his bowstring. He waited a moment as the weak white light emerged again.

He intuitively felt it. There was no need to fully charge for three seconds. It wasn't necessary to kill the soldiers so spectacularly every time.

"The tension is increasing."

Almond was familiar with real bows and immediately understood the sensation of increasing tension. The increase in range and destructive power meant that the tension had increased. He concluded that only increasing the tension to an adequate level was much more efficient.

With a whoosh, after about 1.2 seconds of focusing the shot, he released the bowstring.

The arrow made a hissing sound like a snake, curved in, and pierced through the nape of a soldier.

With a thud, another enemy was hit without Almond needing to fully charge his shot for three seconds.

"It's not always necessary to fully charge for three seconds! It's skillful to only charge as much as needed at the moment!"

"Exactly! Like Almond is doing now!"

The soldier, who had been running, instantly died and rolled forward. It wasn't a noisy death like before.

It was a perfect shot, but Almond pondered.

"A bit faster."

Even 1.2 seconds was still too long. Would 0.7 seconds be appropriate? Using just enough curve to intercept the enemy seemed best.

This time, he shot the arrow even faster.

Almond's prediction was correct.

"Just this is enough?"

Even a vague focus of 0.7 seconds increased the tension. Both the range and destructive power increased. It was stronger than a regular short bow and went further. That was enough.

Again, an arrow curved just right and hit.

"Another kill! He’s controlling the focus trait's intensity at will!"

"It's easy to say, but controlling the aiming time of the bow to one's liking is unbelievable!"

"Right! Depending on the situation, aiming could become slower or faster! Controlling all this... Almond keeps shooting!"

Almond progressively fired and concluded that 0.5 seconds was optimal. He started killing English soldiers with a terrifyingly mechanical 0.5 second focus rate while rapid firing.

Someone started running toward his direction.

[Jaydril]

It was Jaydril, an English commander.

Almond shot an arrow at him without hesitation, but he swiftly blocked it with his shield.

"What's this guy doing?"

He exuded the aura of a skilled opponent.