Season 3: Chapter 288. Vanguard (1)

OrangeKing couldn’t help but be amazed.

‘Is such speed even possible?’

Cookie’s trick had clearly worked on China and Liu Bei had definitely been shaken.

“But what is this formation!?”

“Is this really the land of

The Art of War

?”

— Wow, this is insane!

— Is that really Liu Bei?

— China is unbelievable!

— I can’t believe Liu Bei pulled that off!

Despite being caught off guard, Liu Bei quickly reorganized his forces and even optimized the formation according to the terrain and situation. It was hard to imagine a better formation for this scenario even with meticulous planning. And Liu Bei had done it on the fly.

Groups of eight to ten spearmen formed their own unique defensive formations, thrusting their spears at the approaching cavalry.

Thrust!

Thrust!

“The Joseon cavalry archers who tried to break their formation are getting wiped out! They’re trapped in a moving maze and can’t escape!”

The Chinese spearmen moved as one. Their formation felt like a living wall.

“Even the maze itself is constantly shifting! What can they do!?”

The cavalry archers had no choice but to keep moving. Their arrows were useless against the spearmen’s shields and the Chinese archer units they wanted to target were nowhere to be seen. They were caught in a never-ending rain of arrows, repeatedly colliding with dead ends and getting killed.

“Neeeeigh!”

Another cavalry archer fell. The commentators were practically shouting.

“There must be a way out! Is there really no way for them to survive!?”

“Ah...!”

“This maze, it’s built with a set number of soldiers, right? If one side is blocked, there has to be an open side like a sliding puzzle!”

OrangeKing felt startled. The caster’s insight was sharper than he expected.

“Y-You’re right! That’s exactly it!”

— Did the caster just school the analyst?

— Who’s the real expert here? LOL

— Gotta give props for that insight!

— Wow, what a moment of clarity.

Even OrangeKing, who had never seen a formation like this before, had been taken aback and thought the Joseon archers had no way out. Now, he realized that the maze had a limit. If China blocked one part of it too much, another part would inevitably open up. However, no one could tell where the opening was just by looking. It kept shifting constantly.

“Yeah, but it’s still hard to figure out! The paths keep changing!”

If it was hard to see from above, how could the cavalry archers figure it out from their vantage point?

“Ah...!”

The commentators and spectators felt a wave of despair. If all the cavalry archers died, Joseon’s chances of winning the third era battle would severely diminish. Joseon had bet everything on this era while China hadn’t.

China would regain the upper hand if they reached the Ming dynasty. Even if Joseon reached the fourth era, they wouldn’t have enough power to pull off a major comeback. Joseon had to win here and now.

“The best outcome would be for the cavalry archers to find a way out somehow! They need to make it out of there!”

The trapped cavalry needed to find a way to survive.

“Or if that doesn’t work, Cookie might have to send reinforcements to break them out by force even if it messes with his plans!”

The second option was for Cookie to send backup troops and completely break the formation.

“So what will Cookie decide to do?”

The camera naturally shifted to Joseon’s main forces. They still held their formation and showed no signs of moving. Cookie’s expression remained calm without the slightest hint of urgency.

***

Cookie had given clear orders to all his soldiers.

[Hold position]

It would have been easy to rush forward in a moment of emotion. Everyone knew that if the cavalry archers died, Joseon’s chances in the battle would become grim. Cookie knew this as well.

‘Stay still.’

He repeated the command to himself. His eyes were sharp, yet calm as he watched the cavalry archers panicking and falling one by one due to the sudden change in formation. Even one of the lead players had fallen, but Cookie didn’t move. This was China’s moment.

If they rushed in now and reacted emotionally after just a few hits, they’d fall right into China’s counterattack and get finished. The same principle applied here. If the cavalry archers didn’t make it back, the entire battle plan would change anyway. If he sent reinforcements now and they managed to break through, they’d still face another trial that China would control. The battle would definitely slip away from them then.

Cookie had to admit that Joseon didn’t have the power to break through when China controlled the fight, but things were different when Joseon took the lead in battle. They could win if they led the charge and forced China to react. That was the only way Joseon could win a direct fight against China.

Cookie didn’t chase. He waited and focused intensely while analyzing how the battle unfolded, how China responded, and how Liu Bei reacted. He sharpened his senses and watched every detail.

‘They’ll manage.’

Most importantly, he trusted them. The cavalry archers he sent ahead were the best of the best and carefully selected for this mission. They wavered, but they wouldn’t fall. Then, the movement of the cavalry archers suddenly shifted.

Thud!

The horse hooves began to synchronize as the soldiers moved in perfect harmony.

Thud! Thud!

“!”

Cookie’s eyes lit up. The player leading them raised his hand and changed the flow of the battle. It was Almond.

‘They can do it!’

***

“Over hereeeee!”

As soon as he shouted, the troops all received the order.

[Regroup]

However, the cavalry archers had scattered all over the place. Could they come together?

Thud!

In an instant, the soldiers who had split up turned their horses toward the same point. Their movements looked as sharp as a perfectly choreographed performance. They all gritted their teeth and charged toward the rendezvous point with fierce determination. Their focus and determination came from intense training.

“Here, not there. This way. Oh? Missed it.”

Almond had drilled his troops repeatedly, making them react instantly and making them shoot arrows while changing targets.

“...”

Shooting a single person with a bow was hard enough, but trying to shoot a small target moving around like flags in a game of

Red Light, Green Light?

Of course, the arrows would miss.

“You’re the one moving it! You moved it on purpose!”

Almond even moved the targets on purpose, which was why none of Pang's arrows ever hit.

“Get out there and run laps.”

Unfortunately, the verdict was always the same. Pang had to run until exhaustion.

“No way...”

“Go. Run.”

“... Fine.”

“Ugh...”

As Pang galloped behind Almond on horseback, he shook his head while recalling those memories.

“Run, horseeeeee!” Pang yelled out as he pushed his horse harder toward Almond’s rally point with all his might.

‘If you can’t run, I’ll have to run instead.’

Spears continued thrusting at him from all directions.

“Aaaahhhhhh!”

He somehow dodged them purely with his loud battle cries.

“Neeeeigh!”

“Huh?”

Even the spearmen attacking him felt taken aback.

‘He didn’t even get hit... Why is he screaming?’

With wild eyes and screams like a man possessed, Pang pushed through the spears as if they were nothing with his battle cries alone.

Thud! Thud!

This, too, was the result of intense training.

‘Now I get it!’

He finally realized what was happening. Thanks to Almond's command ping, his mind shifted into a trained state like a dog that normally barked fiercely at a stranger but cowered at the sight of its master.

‘It feels a bit insulting...’

He didn’t like it, but couldn’t deny that the training paid off.

“Haaaah! Pang has arrived!”

Thud! Thud!

In a mad dash, Pang managed to catch up to Almond's formation. He wasn’t the only one.

“I made it! No more running for me!”

“Me too! Hey, I’m here too!”

Other scattered members like Latte and Spam also managed to rejoin the group and stuck close behind. They shouted their names to ensure that they didn’t accidentally end up on the running list. This had happened a few times before.

“Pecorino reporting in!”

One by one, the cavalry archers regrouped. They managed to rally even though they had lost about 30-40% of their forces.

“!”

Almond turned to look at them with wide eyes in amazement.

‘Did my strategy... actually work?’

He believed that the rally point he had chosen provided an excellent route for the cavalry archers to escape, which was why so many had survived.

‘Good.’

His confidence grew. He turned his head back to face forward, spurring his horse on again with a swift kick.

“Follow me!”

Now he simply followed his instincts, determined to either escape this hellish maze or destroy it completely.

“Hiyaa!”

“Let’s gooooo!!!”

Despite having taken a beating, the troops' morale reached an all-time high.

“Our goal is to escape, right?!” Carrot asked from behind.

Almond glanced back and waved a finger at him.

“Nope.”

“!”

Carrot’s face turned serious. That gesture only came from Almond when he had immense confidence in his plan. Carrot couldn’t understand how Almond’s confidence always seemed to come back no matter how beaten down he was.

‘Again?’

Once again, Almond came back to life.

“Our goal is their archer unit, remember? From the start!”

“...”

Carrot became speechless at Almond’s bold determination. At this point, no reaction could faze the monster of self-confidence known as Almond. If Carrot stopped talking, it meant she was in awe of the strategy. If Carrot started talking a lot, it meant she was excited about the strategy. Everything seemed to validate Almond’s approach.

Instead of a council of wise advisors, a group of opportunists desperate to avoid the torture of running laps followed him.

“Let’s go, boss!”

“Yeah! Let’s do this!”

Even Pang, the former leader, supported the plan. The group's energy became sky-high like an elite special forces team.

‘I guess... this could work.’

Carrot had to admit there was some merit to it.

“Stick together!”

Clack!

Almond spurred his horse and zigzagged through the maze.

Whoosh!

Thrust!

Spears jabbed at him. New paths opened and closed as the formation shifted again. Almond and the cavalry archers following him dodged the attacks with ghost-like precision, galloping through the maze.

“!?”

The Chinese spearmen were left speechless as they watched the cavalry’s impossible maneuvers. They looked at Almond’s unit as if watching Mongol cavalry in action.

Whoosh!

The Joseon cavalry archers weaved through the maze like a single entity, moving like a snake slithering through tall grass. At the head of that snake, Almond finally found it.

‘There it is.’

He spotted the enemy’s archer unit, who had been harassing them all along.

“Aim!”

Almond drew his bow tight without even needing to confirm.

***

“What... What’s this?! Almond! What is this player doing!?”

“The way he's navigating the maze, is Cookie guiding him? He’s finding the perfect open paths!”

“But he’s not heading toward an exit, is he?!”

The commentators felt thrilled by the sudden shift in the cavalry archers’ movements. Even the crowd's energy began to rise.

“Almooonddd!!!”

“Dae-haan Ming-gook!!!”

The drumbeats grew louder and more intense.

Boom, boom! Boom, boom!

And then—

“It looks like they’re targeting the Chinese archer unit!”

“They found it! They actually found it!”

Almond’s bow grew taut and the other cavalry archers followed suit behind him.

“They’re about to shoot!”

Fwoooosh!

The cavalry archers unleashed their volley at the core of the enemy’s defense: the archer unit. A barrage of white arrows flew toward them.