studiobondurri Season 3: Chapter 93: Ancient Castle Wall (3)
Season 3: Chapter 93: Ancient Castle Wall (3)
Almond received a composite bow after Pang and climbed to the top of a defense tower. As an archer, being on top of the defense tower meant he didn’t need to use the weapons inside it. This allowed them to exceed the tower's maximum capacity.
Cookie squeezed almost six players into each defense tower.
"They’re going to come out soon," Carrot murmured while squeezing in beside Almond.
She knew why Rome had to advance now.
"Hmm. Nice."
Almond thought this was one of the most boring matches ever as he plucked his bowstring.
Twang~
'I can finally shoot.'
He firmly watched the closed gates of Rome, ready to shoot at whoever came out.
"We’ll win if we can just hold them off here."
As Carrot said, Rome would have no hope if they failed to advance here.
"?"
Suddenly, Almond's eyes turned into question marks.
The chat window did the same.
— ?
— What's this?
— ??
— !?
The Korean team had been waiting for a while, but no one came out.
"They aren't coming out?"
The soldiers began to murmur.
"This is taking a while?"
"Are they preparing something else?"
As was known, most soldiers in Civil Empire possessed decent commanding abilities. Understanding and acting by themselves was not something that could be done with an empty head. Ꞧ
However, too many cooks could spoil the broth when there was a command vacuum like this.
"What's this? Is something wrong?"
"Just wait and see."
"There's no way we're going to the third era like this?"
At that moment, the waiting forces felt the most confused. Of course, it couldn't just be blamed on having too many cooks given the chaotic situation.
'What's going on?'
Far from being a mere soldier, Almond also tilted his head in puzzlement. Clearly, this situation was not normal. He eventually lowered his bow that was aimed toward the gate. He thought the enemy would come out any moment, but no signs of advance appeared.
Then, shortly afterward...
Doom~!
[Rome - 3rd Era]
The news rang out that Rome had advanced to the third era.
"!?"
"What?"
"Earlier than us?"
"No, this means they didn't produce any second era troops at all."
The soldiers became even more confused.
Rome's advancement into the third era meant they had never planned to develop in the second era.
"Do they even have the funds to produce units in the third era, Carrot?" Pang asked and grabbed Carrot.
"... No. It's impossible with just the main base resources."
"Then what's this!?"
"If we speak in your terms..."
Carrot's gaze turned to the back.
"We've been baited."
Her gaze went toward a distant place where Rome had likely built a secret building.
Following some order, a few soldiers and an assistant commander rushed toward that direction.
"We're screwed."
***
The observer revealed the entire field of vision.
OrangeKing nearly wailed, "Ahhhhh!"
An unbelievable reality appeared.
"What is this!? Did they anticipate this and keep it hidden!?"
"No, I can't believe it! That's the only way to interpret it!"
They felt astonished because of what they could clearly see with the total field of vision.
Anto had been sneaking workers out since the initial scouting.
"No, sneaking workers out like this is really rare!"
It was truly unexpected. In national competitions, unlike other RTS games where one started with as many as two hundred soldiers, precious worker resources were never used for scouting.
"Civil Empire has specific troops for scouting! There's no reason to scout with workers!"
"This could sometimes be a drag error that happens by chance... Ah, is the replay coming up now?"
The broadcasters were reluctant to believe that Anto had intended this, assuming it could be a coincidence.
"If you look at the replay..."
Even so, Cookie checked the two o'clock position last. Luck was not on their side.
"This really needs to be seen with one’s own eyes!"
Scouting could not be perfectly conducted otherwise. The Roman troops were waiting for that.
[Heavy Infantry]
[Genoese Crossbowmen]
These were armed third era Roman soldiers.
"Those Romans who just carried clubs are now third era soldiers! This... the Joseon soldiers will all die if they scout too aggressively!"
"But we have to go in! Cookie has no choice!"
Cookie still had to verify the location of Rome’s new base.
"They’ll eventually encounter each other!"
The heavy infantry in stout armor with maces and the third era troops armed with Genoese crossbows met Joseon's second era soldiers.
Thump!
As a bolt struck, a Joseon soldier almost flew backward.
The pikemen joined the fray, but the maces and other weapons quickly subdued them. The archers fired their bows, but second era composite bows were insufficient.
The heavy infantry were essentially as well-armed as knights. They simply took hits as the crossbowmen cleared the Joseon archers.
"Moreover, all troop related buildings have been constructed at the new base! The soldiers outside are stronger! This is also Anto's brilliance, isn’t it!?"
Although the soldiers in Rome's main base had not yet received any weapons, those at the new base had.
"Now, Cookie has noticed that Rome's remnants are armed because they have another base and a worker had escaped!!"
"Cookie has marked a location near two o'clock where the new Rome base is. His expression looks quite bad now."
"Meanwhile, Anto is completely dominating with this strategy!"
— Shocked
— Insane
— So this is what it feels like to be completely taken in by a strategy, damn
— Not the number one for nothing
— What do we do now?
"Of course, it's not over yet!?"
Fanfare resounded as soon as these words were spoken.
[Joseon - 3rd Era]
Doom!
Following Rome, Joseon also advanced to the third era after a slight delay because they had been preparing for a second era battle.
"Joseon has also reached the third era! We still can’t tell what will happen!"
Joseon also had a fully operational base and was a powerful civilization in the third era.
"Right!? Rome also wasted some time and money secretly building another base, didn't they!? Joseon, of course, spent some money and time on second era equipment too!"
The strategy of secretly building another base wasn’t commonly used for a reason. It took too much time to go to a hidden location and too much time for a single worker to build all the buildings.
There were surprisingly many variables. The broadcasters mentioned these variables while trying to inject some hope.
"Ah... Rome now has cavalry for scouting... lighting up the map's field of view one by one."
The swift cavalry made scouting much easier.
Rome, having advanced to the third era first, discovered Joseon's other base at the six o'clock position.
"Now, thirty Roman troops are heading toward Joseon's six o'clock base!"
Despite the infantry's slow speed, dozens of soldiers were crossing the map to attack.
OrangeKing swallowed dryly.
'This is really bad.'
Anto was far more strategic than expected.
It felt like hitting a very big wall. It hurt and bled a lot when one hit such a wall, but the real difficulty wasn’t the physical pain.
'I can't overcome it...'
The fact that one couldn't overcome it despite bleeding. That was the true pain.
"Ah, now! It's not enough that Joseon's base is being raided. They have no defensive troops there! All their troops are currently in front of the enemy's main base at eleven o'clock!"
Joseon's six o'clock base was at risk, but there was no movement to support it.
"It's tricky to send support! If too many forces are pulled back from the main base, they’ll be overrun in an instant!?"
"Right now, the only thing Joseon has going for it is blocking Rome's main base, which could be lost too!"
"Correct! So it's difficult to send much support..."
Perhaps only one thing could turn the tide for Korea.
'It's out.'
That one thing was coming now.
"But!"
OrangeKing exerted his voice at the perfect timing, "What if the crossbow appears now?!!"
Clang!
[Crossbow - 1%]
Finally, the third era's mightiest weapon began production in the armory.
— Wow finally
— This feels like the first time I'm seeing this.
— The crossbow is out
The archers who would receive crossbows were called out by name. Among them was Almond.