novelnext Season 3: Chapter 118: After Qualification (1)
Season 3: Chapter 118: After Qualification (1)
"Joseon! No! Is South Korea going to the tournament!?"
"No, I thought they would take some time to gather resources after taking the highlands, but they're going straight in! Straight away!"
"The mounted archers are wreaking havoc in the enemy’s main base! All the enemy workers are being wiped out! Ahhh!"
"And now..."
For a moment, the commentators fell silent. Even the chat slowed down as time seemed to move slower.
[Surrender]
The enemy had declared a surrender.
"Waaaaaa!!!"
The players, without exception, ran into each other's arms and hugged each other tightly. Some collapsed onto the ground.
Bang!
Both commentators stood up simultaneously and shouted at the top of their lungs, "Geeee Geeeee!!!"
OrangeKing shouted while throwing uppercuts into the air, "After getting cut down by Gojoseon! Now it's North Korea's turn to cut them down!"
"When will they finally come to South Korea!! Spain!!?"
"Even if they lose this game! North Korea is considered the weakest among our Joseon provinces! But they won!"
— Haha
— When will they finally come to South Korea? Haha
— Seriously haha
— They’re saying anything haha
— Joseon provinces haha
— The Eight Lords haha
— LOL
The excited caster spat and shouted, "That's right! Spain! In the end, they have never truly dominated even against the weakest of the Joseon provinces! It's hard to believe that they are a strong team!"
"It feels like a complete mismatch! And now... Oh, wait! What's happening with the finals? This..."
The two paused to check their messages in This World. They were waiting for a signal from the production team.
"Has the result come out?"
The calculations were complicated enough that they couldn't immediately declare the results. As commentators, they had to be cautious.
— Please, please
— Come on, confirm it
— I think it’s confirmed
— Isn’t it a sure thing?
— Not absolutely sure??
— So nervous
This time of caution felt like an eternity to some viewers.
"Ah..."
The caster spoke after what seemed like an eternity, "We have just heard." He took a deep breath and shouted, "Joseon! South Korea! Advances to the tournament! It’s confirmed!!!"
With the news confirmed, OrangeKing jumped and spread his arms.
"Joseon! Advances to the tournament!!!"
— LOL
— Wow
— North Korea won, but why is Joseon advancing? I really don’t get it.
— OMG amazing
Another explosive cheer erupted from the audience after the confirmation.
"Waaaaa!"
"South Korea!"
The cheers resonated with the drums.
A huge white Taegeukgi was hoisted and fluttered in Spain’s main base.
— OMG
— Wow, we advanced
— Unbelievable
— This is crazy
— Amazing
— Seriously insane
— Congratulations
— Wow
***
The euphoria of advancing to the finals didn't fade easily. Not only because it was their first time in years, but also because this match had been a complete comeback victory.
"Ah... My heart won't stop racing! The highlights of the match are now being shown!"
"From just watching, it’s hard to tell if these are Spain’s highlights or Korea’s?!"
The highlight reel showed the moment when all eight siege towers had been captured.
— LOL
— Just from this, it looks like a Spanish victory
— Spain did well too
"A conversion like that is really not easy to pull off..."
"Right? Unless the other side cooperates perfectly..."
— Lol
— Exactly like a trick
— Right lol
"Who would’ve thought they were faking it? Soldiers panicked and ran out of the siege vehicles! Who would think this was staged?"
— Lol seriously
— Voldnut is insane haha
"There were too many missionaries. More than usual for missionaries and moving in large groups was also strange."
Cookie had observed Almond's reconnaissance.
"Considering that ambush conversions work well in mountainous terrain, I thought they might choose a conversion strategy."
"Oh? So you weren't certain?"
"That's right. I had to think of a way to counter the conversion while sticking to the original strategy. Then I came up with the fun strategy you saw."
— OMG haha
— Yeah, it's hard to be 100% sure just from that
— Is that why they came up with the Trojan Horse? Insane
— Incredible adaptability
"Oh... So that's why you kept using the siege towers? The commentators were puzzled, thinking you hadn't noticed the conversion."
"Yes. They're good decoys. Siege weapons are slow and don't consume the population. Plus, they're expensive and useful compared to soldiers."
— Wow
— Incredible
— Decoys
— Turning what you originally planned into decoys, amazing
— This was an improvised decision? Insane
The viewers felt surprised at how many tactical decisions had been made.
"While gathering the siege towers, there was another event that made me more certain."
"Oh, what was it?"
The reporter tried to recall any significant events, but couldn't think of any. To ordinary people, nothing special had happened.
"They were building a castle in a position easily scouted by hawks."
However, the decision to build a castle was significant to a commander.
"... Oh! That confirmed your suspicion?"
The reporter found it increasingly difficult to follow. For an ordinary person, fully understanding these strategic battles in one explanation was impossible no matter how simply Cookie explained it.
"Yes. In a typical third era Spanish strategy, it would be advantageous to make aggressive moves if they had that many missionaries. They would pressure us because missionaries and musketeers specialize in that."
"Oh..."
"But building a castle? That's a taunt to come over. It made me think that they were preparing something else"
"Ah... I see..."
The reporter's mind was going blank.
— ??? Really?
— OMG this is another kind of torture haha
— The devil of strategy... so strong!
"At that point, I was about eighty percent sure that it was a conversion strategy. Therefore, I went with a siege tower rush. As expected, they were planning a conversion and we followed the plan I hinted to Malatang at the start."
"Oh, what was the hint?"
"I told them not to come out until I gave the signal."
"Oh! Did you explain the situation? The players might have been confused."
"No. There was no time for that. I just had to get the result."
"Even so, Malatang executed it perfectly."
"Yes, he probably had a rough idea. There were unnecessary transport expansions to deceive Nacho..."
The rest of the story went mostly as the viewers witnessed.
However, the reporter still had to listen to the endless principles of strategic rock-paper-scissors.
"... Finally!"
She had to cut the interview short due to time.
"Please share your thoughts on advancing to the finals and your future goals!"
"Ah, yes."
Cookie smiled at the camera.
"I'm happy not just for us, but also for making the enemy fleetless."
"!?"
The reporter's face turned pale. This felt like déjà vu...
— LOL
— OMG haha
— Why beat the corpse?
— Isn't this a crime!?
— Almond said he learned it from Cookie in a stream and it was true haha
"I can't bring myself to watch the documentary, but I've heard that quite a few of our team members have become unemployed. So..."
Cookie uncharacteristically raised his voice at the end.
"Please continue to support us! We'll do our best until the end! Thank you!"
— So touching
— Let's go!
— So moving
— Let's go all the way!
***
That day, even media unrelated to esports reported on Korea's advancement to the finals.
[The "Underdog" Korea, predicted by everyone to fail, secures advancement after loss against Italy]
[Korea "Advances to Finals" - What’s different about this year?]
[Civil Empire National Tournament, "Finals Secured" - First stage in Osaka, Japan]
Interest from non-gamers began to grow.