Swoosh!

[Move]

They received a simple order to move to the designated area. The command to head to that area felt odd while encountering the Vikings. However, none of the Joseon soldiers hesitated and neither did Almond.

Rustle...!

Almond pushed through the dense underbrush and led the way.

‘They’re nearby.’

His keen senses clearly indicated that more enemies were approaching the twenty in their group. Usually, Pang would signal this, but Almond was the leader this time.

He raised his index finger and drew a circle. This signaled that enemies were approaching.

Swish.

He circled his finger again. This indicated that the enemies were surrounding them closely.

Despite the chaotic movement through the forested mountain path, the soldiers kept their eyes on Almond’s back and understood the signal. Perhaps because of this, everyone quickly moved into a defensive formation when Almond changed his hand signal.

The line marching forward spread into a diamond shape and they maintained their vigilance all around.

Almond decided to stick with this formation even though it slowed their pace. This wasn’t his judgment, but a pre-discussed strategy with Cookie.

Moving quickly was important, but having all twenty soldiers reach the destination intact was even more crucial.

‘All twenty of us must position ourselves near the valley.’

Almond reiterated the core of the operation internally as he took each step.

Rustle...!

Since their speed slowed, the sounds from the approaching enemies grew more distinct. The enemy was charging madly and not holding back.

‘Run.’

Swish.

Almond waved his hand to signal the destination. They started running again with the formation somewhat organized.

[Mountain Tribe]

Their trait activated and noticeably increased their speed.

Tap, tap, tap!

They ran through the mountains at an incredible speed that almost seemed unbelievable on such terrain.

However, the Vikings also had a trait that increased their speed when moving toward enemies and melee soldiers were generally faster.

Bang!

An arrow shot from the right rear echoed out.

‘Already?’

Thwack!

An arrow shattering a small tree could be heard. It hadn’t struck a Viking soldier.

“Waaaah!”

“Over there! Run!”

“Hoooold!”

The Vikings’ shouts echoed from every direction.

‘They’re making noise on purpose.’

The noise would obscure their approach. It was quite effective. Their voices kept echoing, making it hard to focus on their footsteps.

“Yoohooo!”

Their noises filled Almond’s ears, mixing up his senses and causing confusion. The underbrush blocked his view and the echoes made it hard to hear anything but the branches. ŖáŊỔΒЁṨ

Almond realized that trying to ensure everyone’s survival here would be wishful thinking.

Cookie had emphasized that getting everyone to the destination was more important than getting there quickly. Their top priority was reaching the destination.

At this rate, they would get completely surrounded and fail to reach it.

‘Run.’

Almond gestured to the rear to increase their running speed. The diamond formation gradually elongated and stretched until it became a single line.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

The sound of running filled the forest. It became indistinguishable whether it was from the Joseon soldiers or the Vikings.

The Joseon soldiers saw nothing but dark soil and green underbrush as they ran. Then—

Flash!

Suddenly, Vikings emerged from the underbrush.

Thwack!

An axe struck a Joseon soldier and flung him far away as if a car struck him.

“Damn it!”

“One down!”

“Shoot!”

Other Joseon soldiers fired their arrows in response.

Bang! Bang!

However, this had little effect. The Vikings just covered their heads with shields.

Thunk!

Thud...!

Only dull thuds could be heard as the Vikings’ shields bristled with arrows.

“Don’t shoot!” Carrot’s voice echoed. “Shooting just slows us down! We can’t win like this anyway! Just run!”

She was right. They had to run.

“We’ll be faster if we just run for it!”

Usually, archers would be slower than melee soldiers, but not here. The Joseon soldiers moved much faster in the mountains, so they kept running.

Their destination was close. The counterattack would begin there.

***

“Really... you’re choosing this map?”

Chi-Seung felt the most puzzled at the map selection meeting.

“Yes.”

Even the think tank team seemed unconvinced by the map that Hui-Chul chose. It would prevent early Viking raids, but also made it difficult for their own archers and cavalry.

“Wouldn’t the Ancient Walls map be better?”

The Ancient Walls provided natural defenses and didn’t affect archers.

“No. You can’t beat the Vikings just by blocking their early attacks. Many civilizations have tried that and rarely succeeded.”

Chi-seung had to agree with Cookie. Indeed, many civilizations tried to stop the Vikings early on and failed.

‘Right... every civilization knows this basic strategy, yet the Vikings still advanced.’

If blocking the early raids could counter the Vikings so easily, Korea wouldn’t be facing them in the main tournament right now.

“This Viking team is especially good at exploiting those who try to defend against them early, particularly when it comes to controlling food.”

Not all Viking countries played the same. Their playstyle varied greatly based on the players.

“When they sense the enemy trying to block them early, they immediately control all the food on the map and snowball quickly.”

“... Right.”

This Viking team excelled in controlling food, which was a core aspect of the Viking civilization. They were so good at this in the qualifiers that they had matches where the enemy couldn’t secure a single piece of food.

“The Ancient Walls’ desert terrain has limited food, making it even easier for the Vikings to control.”

“Ah.”

If the Vikings started controlling the food in the Ancient Walls map, Joseon would end up with nothing to eat due to the limited hunting resources.

Then, Chi-seung realized it.

“Ah, so it’s here?!”

The Steep Mountain Valley was a mountainous terrain rich in wildlife and offered plenty of food. It wouldn’t be easy even if the Vikings tried to monopolize the food resources. The Vikings would struggle to attack early and find it difficult to control the food supply.

Chi-Seung saw the logic behind this choice, but quickly found a flaw.

“We’d still be picking up scraps after the Vikings...”

The Vikings would still get more out of this map with plenty of wildlife.

“And it’s hard to cultivate fields in the mountainous terrain.”

Farming in the mountains was expensive. The early cost could outweigh the benefits.

“Hmm. We won’t farm. We’ll hunt like them.”

“What if we encounter the Vikings? Archers are ineffective here...”

Another major drawback of the map was the dense trees, making it difficult for archers. This put Joseon at a significant disadvantage because they relied heavily on archery.

“We’ll use archers.”

“...?”

However, Cookie insisted on using archers. Why?

“It’s a matter of skill.”

“Skill?”

“The Vikings offset their civilization’s weaknesses with their skill at exploiting early blockades.”

“So you’re saying we should improve our skills?”

By that logic, any team could win the World Cup by improving their soccer skills.

Cookie wasn’t talking about vague skills. He meant learning something specific.

“Yes, ultimately. I’m talking about a particular skill, Chi-Seung.”

Then, Cookie showed something to the think tank team. Almond appeared on the screen and performed a trick shot on horseback.

“...!”

Everyone in the think tank felt shocked. They had seen Almond’s trick shots circulating online, but this was different.

‘We have to learn that?’

Almond had demonstrated a skill that was rare even among Persian archers who created the technique. Only Almond could pull this off in the Korean team.

Naturally, a question arose.

“How?”

“There’s a way.”

Cookie pointed to a spot on the map.

Thud.

‘A valley...?’

The dense forest led to a valley. What was so special about it?

Chi-Seung’s eyes widened at Cookie’s next words.

“!”

Now, he finally understood why Cookie chose this map.

***

Some time passed in the lush forest with a flowing valley.

The archers gathered in groups and all focused on one person, Almond.

“Here.”

Almond pointed somewhere on his bow about a third of the way up the string.

“Don’t center it, but offset the balance...”

Swoosh.

The arrow he lightly shot curved around the tree in front and struck the target behind it.

“This is it. The method is simple.”

Almond shrugged and ended his demonstration.

Clap, clap, clap.

The archers seated before him clapped and murmured.

“Wow.”

“That’s insane.”

“At least the method is simple.

Haha...

”

As Almond had said, the method itself wasn’t complicated. Using Carrot’s analogy, it was like simple binary code made up of zeros and ones. However, no human could calculate faster than a computer.

Similarly, the curve shot wasn’t about the method but how accurately one could aim.

“How can we master this for actual use before the match? It seems impossible...”

The archers felt puzzled, but Cookie had a special plan.

“Memorize it.”

He gave them a simple command.

“Memorize the curve that matches the cover at each position.”

His solution was for them to memorize specific curve shots for specific situations. While it would take a lot of training to use curve shots in any situation, it would be different for predetermined cases.

It was like a math problem. Memorizing a particular formula allowed one to solve specific problems quickly, but any variation could throw everything off.

Civil Empire

’s maps only maintained their concept and the details always changed. However—

“It’s not well-known, but some maps have fixed areas that maintain their concept.”

“!”

Then, everyone realized it. Despite numerous practice runs, one area hadn’t changed.

“This is the valley through the steep mountain valley.”

***

“

Huff... huff...

We made it!”

After a breathless run, the Joseon soldiers finally reached the familiar valley they often saw.

Almond signaled them.

“Take your positions!”

With this command, several beams of light descended from the sky in succession.

Swoosh!

Ping!

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Each specific spot around the valley had been assigned a number. This was an unusually detailed battle order, emphasizing the battle’s importance.

“To your positions!”

The archers moved to their numbers. At their positions, they aimed at the approaching Vikings.

Creak!

The Vikings, seeing the archers, moved behind cover as they advanced.

“Hold...!”

A white light began to glow from the taut arrows.

[Focus]

Another beam of light descended from the sky.

Sizzle...!

The light traced long lines on the ground, forming curves that eventually closed into circles. The circles grew and shrank repeatedly, creating layers of concentric rings.

Each soldier seemed to be stirring ripples like in a calm lake. The purpose of these circles quickly became apparent as the Joseon archers released their arrows.

“Fire!!”

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Numerous blazing arrows flew according to their own paths.