Season 3: Chapter 318. The Bigger Picture (5)

The second game was far more one-sided than the first. Rome’s reputation as a strong team only reinforced this perception. Naturally, the community reactions followed suit.

[Rome: The cheetah is smiling...]

[??? Kyokyokyo! The first game was just a warm-up!]

[First game? That was merely an afterimage, Cookie.]

The general sentiment was that the first game had been nothing more than a warm-up for Rome.

— LOL

— Is this really the end?

— Feels like Dragon Ball levels of comeback.

— Damn... guess it ends here.

However, not everyone agreed.

— But honestly, wasn’t Cookie’s raw gameplay in the first game better?

Cookie had made virtually no mistakes in the first game with precise decision-making throughout, yet dissenting voices quickly countered.

└ What the heck does raw gameplay even mean, LOL.

└ Wasn’t the first game just pure luck? Ancient Walls map was totally against Anto.

└ For real, Anto’s map luck sucked so bad.

└ Wow, this thread is full of honorary Italians, huh.

Some argued that the Ancient Walls map inherently favored Cookie, but this claim was contradictory.

└ What nonsense is this? Ancient Walls is historically advantageous for Rome, LOL. Why do you think it turned against them? Use your brain.

└ Right? They even call it Rome’s Wall, LOL.

└ Amen to the truth.

The Ancient Walls had become unfavorable for Rome because of Cookie’s performance during the preliminaries. Anto had managed to find a single breakthrough, but couldn’t rely on it twice.

└ In the first game, Anto didn’t just reuse the same strategy. Cookie anticipated and countered it, dominating him. It’s basically what Anto did in the second game.

└ Agreed.

└ With the third game being a naval battle, there’s hope. Let’s hang in there.

Those who truly understood the game acknowledged Cookie’s stellar performance in the finals so far. It wasn’t immediately apparent to casual viewers since strategic decisions often seemed foolish in hindsight.

Even on Embul, a community known for knowledgeable players, opinions were split. Over at LIL Pro, infamous for its aggressive tone, the discourse was even harsher.

[Wow, absolutely destroyed.]

[What did Joseon even do?]

[The skill gap is ridiculous.]

[Don’t expect anything from the finals...]

[How do you lose on a mountain map?? Is this for real?]

[Even with divine help, they throw it away, LOL.]

[Great ancestors << The greatest mistake, LOL.]

Some commenters seemed genuinely furious. Winning against Rome in the finals would never be easy, but Joseon’s advantage on the map had created sky-high expectations. The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. This wasn’t just an issue for fans.

***

Thud! Thud!

Chi-Seung repeatedly slammed his head against the table.

"Ugh...!"

"Oppa! Stop it!"

Thud! Thud!

"Hic... Ugh..."

Chi-Seung was consumed by regret.

‘It was the wrong strategy. If we’d just stuck to leveraging the mountain map’s advantages... Cookie could’ve won today.’

Cookie’s form had been exceptional. His sharp decision-making in the first game and even parts of the second had been evident, but the rigid set-piece strategy used in the second game had backfired. Cookie excelled in adaptive play and thrived in unpredictable situations.

On the other hand, Anto excelled at pulling his opponent into his intended game plan. His ability to neutralize variables was so extraordinary that even unexpected events often fell within his control. Giving Cookie a fixed strategy to follow had been a mistake.

‘Idiot.’

Chi-Seung couldn’t help but blame himself.

‘A guaranteed win strategy? What nonsense.’

He had thought it was a trump card, but no such thing existed in the finals.

Thud!

"Oppa! Stop it already!"

Water Dumpling grabbed his hair and pulled hard. When Chi-Seung kept trying to slam his head, she yanked even harder.

"Ouch! Hey!"

"I’ll rip it all out if you don’t stop!"

Chi-Seung froze as the camera screen showed Takoyaki.

"Ahhh! No, no!"

"Are you going to stop?"

"Yes, yes! I’ll stop! Now let go!"

"Fine."

Water Dumpling finally released his hair. Chi-Seung shook his head and recomposed himself.

"Alright, let’s refocus. We’re not done yet."

"That’s right. It’s 1-1 now. The next game is a naval battle."

"Yeah."

Chi-Seung’s eyes lit up.

‘A reset.’

The previous games no longer mattered. Naval battles operated under entirely different rules. Whoever could forget the earlier games and prepare for the naval battle would have the upper hand.

More importantly...

‘This is our third consecutive chance.’

The Ancient Walls, Mountain Ravines, and now a naval battle... Joseon had a real shot at victory on all these maps. The naval battle, in particular, could be the deciding blow.

Few civilizations were as strong as Joseon on mountain or water maps. Rome, on the other hand, was relatively weaker in naval battles.

‘No, that doesn’t matter.’

Chi-Seung shook his head.

‘Nothing matters in the finals.’

The assumptions they relied on for map advantages had already been shattered. Believing in guaranteed strategies only gave Anto the upper hand. He needed to break free from this cycle.

Swish.

Chi-Seung brought up holographic screens displaying every naval map used in the tournament.

"Water Dumpling, review the second game with the team."

Naval battles were governed by an entirely different logic, making the second game irrelevant. The strategy team divided into two groups: one to review the second game for the fourth game and another to prepare for the third.

Chi-Seung pondered.

‘What strategy can we use that Anto won’t predict?’

“I would...”

Anto would outsmart a good strategy and a bad strategy simply wouldn’t work against him. What was the best course of action to crush him?

“... I’ll become Rome.”

“Huh?”

“Sphere is Joseon and I’ll be Rome.”

“...!”

Chi-Seung went to the other side of the table and grabbed a boat figure.

‘I have to become Anto.’

It seemed ridiculous, but they had no other way.

‘If I was Anto... what would I think Joseon would bring to the table? Joseon is strong on water. What would I do to fight this...’

***

Meanwhile, in the players’ lounge, Sang-Hyeon sat quietly with a cold damp towel over his head as he caught his breath. His clothes were drenched in sweat.

‘Now it’s the third game...’

From this point onward, fatigue would start to set in. Three games were manageable, but the finals wouldn’t end at the third game with the score tied 1-1.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Ziiing.

The voice came from a woman in a wheelchair. It was Choi Sa-Rang.

"You’ve been pushing yourself hard since that failed snipe."

She was supposed to be with the strategy team, but seemed more concerned about Sang-Hyeon’s condition. Next to her stood Song Ha-Na, the team doctor. When Sang-Hyeon glanced at her, Sa-Rang mumbled defensively.

"I just thought... in case it’s needed..."

Song Ha-Na interjected, "Hi, Sang-Hyeon. I’m not here to nag, so just tell me how you’re doing."

Despite her reassuring words, her expression looked sharp and serious.

"Uh... well..."

***

In the Roman players’ lounge, Anto reviewed the second game. Even though the third game would be a naval battle, they couldn’t ignore what happened earlier. Anto replayed the scene of Almond targeting the priest.

"For him to attempt that in such a situation... incredible."

The first shot had gone as Anto expected. Pierre, fully prepared, blocked it with ease.

Thunk.

Almond hadn’t known about Pierre while Pierre had been ready. What followed, however, had been unsettling.

"He started targeting workers."

Pierre nodded, recalling the moment Almond shifted focus. At first, they thought it was a feint, but doubt crept in as more workers fell.

“I started to hesitate a little. Was he really just targeting the workers? Could he not reach the priest at that distance?”

"He wasn’t just targeting workers. He was messing with our minds."

Anto stroked his beard with a tense expression.

“You probably hesitated for a moment there, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Pierre nodded. It looked subtle from a distance, but the final three arrows revealed a brief hesitation on Pierre’s part. He thought that he could no longer afford to let the workers go unprotected. Even Anto couldn’t issue commands for every little decision like this. It had purely been a psychological battle between Pierre and Almond.

With a flash of brilliance, Almond had dragged the outcome of the match (a large-scale result) down to the level of a micro-scale duel between himself and Pierre. If Pierre had been deceived there, the game would have slipped away. In the final moment, Pierre decided that it was better to stay near the priest even at the cost of some losses.

Thud!

Pierre’s shield ended up blocking Almond’s arrow.

“I was surprised. To be honest... I didn’t think it would reach.”

Pierre hesitated for a reason. While it would have been easy to pick off workers from that angle, the priest stood much farther back and was a single target among many. Almond was also under pursuit. On top of that, he deliberately pretended to aim for the workers. However, his arrow precisely targeted the priest’s head.

“It’s crucial. Not just in tactical terms, but strategically as well...”

To Anto, Almond was less of a tactical weapon and more of a strategic one. The tide of the game shifted based on whether he succeeded or not. The very existence of such a maneuver was only possible because of him.

“... But that also makes him predictable.”

Anto’s lips, which had twisted into a grimace, curved upward slightly.

“If you have a sword, few commanders will choose to rely on their fists instead.”

“Excuse me...?”

“Almond’s capabilities define Cookie’s strategic range. That’s how we shut them down so decisively in the second game.”

Anto had been closely observing Almond’s abilities from the first game. Even though they had lost that game, Anto never took his eyes off how Almond fought. And because of that, he understood.

“When he targeted the priest in the first game... even I couldn’t see the angle. In fact, I couldn’t see it precisely because I’m a commander. It was a combination of the range extension caused by the elevation difference and the player’s ability to push that to its absolute limit.”

Anto had seen exactly what Almond was capable of.

“There was no way Cookie wouldn’t try to use that in the second game. And it became obvious the moment I saw the map. They would try to take out the priest in the main base. It was inevitable.”

“That’s correct.”

Toby, the leader of Anto’s think tank, nodded while holding a notebook.

“They likely won’t target the priest again this time, but the approach will be the same. Cookie will craft a strategy that sits at the very edge of Almond’s executional limit.”

Toby had dissected Joseon’s strategic patterns. Although their strategies seemed to change on the surface, their core essence remained consistent.

“Their strategies are unique, and that’s why so many teams have fallen victim to them. But that uniqueness depends on an equally unique level of execution. However...”

Toby shook his head.

“It’s actually the reverse. That unique level of execution dictates their strategies. Cookie won’t deviate from this structure. The third game will be a naval battle, but I’m sure it’ll follow the same approach.”

Anto nodded.

“Since you put it that way, a few possibilities come to mind.”

Anto unfolded the naval battle map and began exploring various scenarios.