Season 3: Chapter 169: You Go to Valhalla (2)

Infiltrating the enemy base at the beginning of the game was quite easy. Except for very special maps, no walls surrounded the main base and only a few soldiers stood guard. The best defense would be a few watchtowers. One could carefully sneak in and harass the workers, which happened quite often.

However, things changed after entering the third era. Even killing workers in the main base would be challenging. The main base would have more watchtowers and surrounding walls now.

Without siege weapons, breaching the walls was impossible. Infantry throwing torches wouldn't make a dent and archers were out of the question. That was why targeting other camps instead of the main base was preferred.

By the third era, the main base had few workers and almost no resources. What about the fourth era? It was better to target other camps to inflict resource damage.

Despite that, Almond headed toward the enemy's main base.

‘Here it is.’

The towering walls of the main base blocked his way. The imposing height felt intimidating just to look at.

In reality, no one would easily volunteer if someone told them to climb such walls using ladders.

Almond ran toward it without hesitation. He was a Joseon spy. His existence would be almost meaningless if he didn’t infiltrate the main base.

Even if the resources in the main base had been exhausted, it housed various research facilities and crucial buildings. For the Joseon spy, it was a land flowing with milk and honey.

Of course, being a Joseon spy didn’t grant him the ability to scale those towering walls like Spider-Man or disappear through the walls like Harry Potter.

The Joseon spy infiltrated in a much simpler and straightforward manner. They just confidently walked through the main gate.

Tap─

Almond stood before the gate.

Rumble!

The gate responded and lifted.

In Cookie’s vision, he saw Almond like usual.

[Disguise]

[Time Remaining: 01:27]

However, the enemies saw Almond as a Viking warrior. Almond had transformed into one of the deceased, so he wouldn't be noticed unless the commander was exceptionally vigilant. Entering the main base alone could reveal his identity to the commander, but the commander was currently focused on the crucial battle in the central area.

Boom… Bang…

Even here, the faint sound of the Shin-Gijeon explosions could be heard. The battle was still raging.

Almond’s infiltration of the main base coincided with the central area battle according to Cookie's plan.

Of course, Almond didn’t walk through the gate confidently because he understood all this reasoning. He did it simply because he had been told this was the way to go. That was Almond’s greatest strength as a soldier. He followed orders without a doubt and handled problems afterward.

If he hesitated and worried about potential problems, he wouldn’t hit the target. He learned this in high school and naturally walked through the gate.

Boom!

The gate closed behind him. He had successfully infiltrated the enemy’s main base.

‘This is…’

The buildings looked markedly different from Joseon’s architecture. With such architectural skills, they couldn't be called Vikings anymore. Both Norway and Denmark’s civilizations had been integrated under the name of Vikings, so fourth era Vikings boasted grand architecture. Having only one civilization per country was rare in the game, so such allowances were made.

Even for Joseon, a single ethnic nation, the early eras featured Three Kingdoms styles. By the third era, it felt like Goryeo or early Joseon.

‘Where is it?’

Almond didn’t focus on the buildings because he suddenly developed an aesthetic interest.

‘The research lab…’

He had memorized the research lab’s appearance while training as a Joseon spy and needed to search for it.

‘Finding it among so many buildings is hard.’

He struggled to find the building.

‘Let’s remain under the eaves as much as possible.’

He walked under the eaves as much as possible to stay out of sight. The commander typically viewed everything from above, so he moved like this to avoid being seen. However, walking like this limited his view of the buildings.

[Time Remaining: 00:19]

Time was running out. He had to kill someone to reset the disguise skill’s cooldown and immediately use it again.

‘No one is around.’

No soldiers could be seen due to the war happening outside.

‘Even a worker…’

He spotted a few workers in the distance carrying hammers and sandbags to build something.

Whizz—

Almond positioned himself in the shadows and pulled out his bow from under his cloak. He also took out the narrow tube and a short arrow hidden at his side.

[Time Remaining: 00:11]

Time was running out. He loaded the short arrow into the tube and drew his bow.

Twang.

Almond held his breath as he drew the Gakgung.

‘Let’s do this in one shot.’

The distance was quite far. It was his first time shooting so far with a bow and also his first time using Pyeonjeon in actual combat.

[Time Remaining: 00:06]

He quietly held his breath and waited for one worker to come into clear view.

Step. Step…

Then, footsteps sounded nearby. He could clearly feel the vibration from his knee touching the ground.

‘Someone’s coming.’

Had he been noticed or was it a coincidence?

[Time Remaining: 00:04]

There was no time left. Almond couldn’t even check.

The arrow tip wavered momentarily before stabilizing.

He aimed for the worker’s torso. He didn’t need a headshot. A fully charged Pyeonjeon and the Joseon spy’s long-range attack bonus would make it a one-shot kill.

He just worried that it would hit someone behind as well.

[Time Remaining: 00:02]

Swish.

Almond slowly released the arrow with his right hand.

[Time Remaining: 00:01]

Whoosh!

The arrow broke the sound barrier and tore through the air.

[Disguise deactivated]

Shhh.

The disguise melted away and revealed his original black outfit.

Thunk!

The worker collapsed in the distance.

A voice simultaneously called out from behind, “What are you doing?”

Footsteps approached him.

[Disguise]

Almond turned and shrugged his shoulders.

“...”

He didn’t speak because whatever he said would sound awkward after being translated.

The enemy was still far away.

Almond had already transformed into another Viking. He hoped that they would just pass by.

“… Hey? Did you just revive?”

Unfortunately, Almond had transformed into someone that the enemy recognized.

“I thought you died a long time ago. Did you die again even with Valhalla? How?”

The enemy stopped to talk. With no response from Almond, he assumed that he wasn’t visible and moved closer.

“What’s up? Can’t you see me!? It’s me, Chad.”

In the middle of this critical war, this guy had too much to say.

Almond bit his lip.

‘Is he in the same squad?’

The enemy continued to approach.

Almond had no choice but to turn and disappear down another path.

“Huh?”

Noticing something, the enemy stopped and quickly followed Almond.

“Who the hell are you—?”

Bang!

He was met with a glowing white arrow as he turned the corner.

The triple combination of the Joseon spy’s long-range attack bonus, the focus trait, and a headshot would easily down even a fourth era Viking.

‘He’ll revive.’

Almond approached and retrieved the Viking’s sword.

Buzz…!

The Viking glowed white and revived.

“You son of a— Huh?”

Fueled by revenge, he sprang up. However, Almond had already disappeared.

‘My sword…?’

His hand futilely swung through the air because his sword was missing.

The answer swiftly came.

Slash!

A strong blow from behind sent him tumbling and severed his head.

Almond killed him surprisingly easily due to his low health after reviving. Plus, the Viking had lost his weapon while reviving.

Almond had known exactly how to counter him.

‘Who is this guy?’

The fourth era Viking had been perfectly assassinated with no room for error. He never imagined being taken down without even being able to lift a finger.

“Chad.”

Whether to remember him or not, Almond murmured the Viking’s name to the severed head before disappearing down another path.

***

With ample disguise time, Almond quickly found the research lab.

‘Here it is.’

He walked confidently through the entrance with no guards to stop him.

This was an RTS game with field battles between soldiers and not a stealth action game. No soldiers guarded the research lab to specifically stop the Joseon spy.

Almond had already bypassed countless guards to get here.

The research lab was quite straightforward. Inside, luxurious wine-red wallpaper and golden lights sparkled. A large bookshelf could also be seen. Most of the books on it were gray. However, some emitted a faintly colored light.

‘There they are.’

Those were the completed research books.

‘Here…’

Almond’s eyes landed on a particular book as he scanned the shelves.

[Valhalla]

He smiled and reached out.

[Espionage]

The skill activated.

[Acquire the research Valhalla?]

[Only one research can be taken.]

They had already agreed on taking Valhalla. The answer was obvious.

Ding.

[The research Valhalla has been acquired.]

Stealing it happened immediately.

[Return to share the research results.]

However, the research had to be brought back to use it.

[Disguise]

Almond disguised himself as Chad, whom he killed earlier. Now, he even knew the name of his disguise. It would be much easier to handle.

***

Disguised as Chad, Almond sneaked out of the research lab to find the enemy barracks. He had already killed a worker and a soldier.

Going out alone from here would be too conspicuous. He planned to blend in with the reviving Viking soldiers and return to Joseon’s camp.

He remembered roughly where Chad had emerged from, so he quickly followed the path in reverse to find the barracks.

“Oh man, I died.”

“Got killed by Pyeonjeon’s barrage.”

“

Sigh…

but we joined the last battle. We should be winning, right?”

“With Valhalla, we’ve got an 80% chance.”

Listening to the revived soldiers’ chatter, Almond circled around and stood discreetly before the barracks.

‘I’ll blend in and slip away.’

After a few seconds, they received orders and started running somewhere.

Almond followed.

Rumble.

The gate opened safely and he exited the Viking base.

‘Phew.’

Subconsciously, Almond breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Let’s get out quietly.’

He needed to avoid a fight. The Joseon Spy was an intelligence agent and not a combat unit. Although he excelled in combat, he had to avoid fighting in this role.

Even though the backs of those Vikings ahead looked like targets, Almond recalled Cookie’s words and calmly followed the group.

However—

“Huh?”

“What’s this? A misplaced ping?”

“…?”

Suddenly, all the Vikings around turned to look at Almond.

“Hey, Chad. We’ve been ordered to attack you?”

For some reason, Chad’s lips curled into a slight smile.