“Waaa!”
Bae Dohyun pulled his spear from Melbard’s body amid overwhelming cheers from behind.
Taking the belt (power armor) from Melbard, he nonchalantly wiped the blood off his spear and started to turn his horse.
“You there! Face me now!”
“Stop right there! The duel isn’t over yet!”
Several knights rushed out from the viscount’s formation, shouting.
“No thanks.”
Bae Dohyun smirked, turning away without hesitation. Having achieved his goal, defeating a few more wouldn’t change the situation much.
Moreover, this battle needed to highlight the overall strength of the players, not just Bae Dohyun.
“It’s cowardice! Are you avoiding the challenge?”
“As expected, foreigners know nothing of honor!”
Ignoring the nonsense from behind, Bae Dohyun began riding back to his formation.
‘Cowardice? Attacking someone who just finished a duel is far more cowardly.’
The knights and their talk of honor, when their lord knew none, left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Stop right there, you savage foreigner!”
Thunk.
Then, something unprecedented happened during a knight’s duel. A knight from the viscount’s side shot an arrow at Bae Dohyun as he turned away.
“Watch out!”
“Behind you!”
The players’ shocked faces caught Bae Dohyun’s eye. Still, he didn’t turn around.
“Ah!”
The arrow had almost reached Bae Dohyun’s back. But bizarrely, it squirmed mid-air, orbiting around Bae Dohyun like a satellite.
Then, in an instant—
Whizz!
The arrow, now traveling twice as fast, zipped back toward the knight who had originally fired it.
“Grr!”
Ting!
Though the knight managed to deflect the arrow with his sword….
Thwack, thud!
He couldn’t prevent the dagger that followed and struck his horse’s forehead. Seeing this, the viscount’s knights hesitated briefly, while Bae Dohyun calmly returned to his formation, as if nothing had happened.
He could have formally protested to the royal observer about the knight’s cowardly shot, but—
‘The observer is probably in on it anyway.’
The knight would likely not survive this battlefield, so it didn’t matter.
“Damn it, that bastard! I’m going to get him!”
“To think he’d backstab us. That one’s mine.”
It certainly incited the players’ fury.
「M-Master! Are you alright? That bastard! I swear I’ll…」
「Um, the comms are still connected?」
「Huh? W-what?」
It seemed even Ken and the First Knights were thoroughly angered.
‘Well, in any case.’
The knight’s reckless act had diminished the fervor for the knight’s duel. All that remained was a head-on clash.
Bwooo!
Both formations began to move.
*
“Infantry forward.”
“Infantry forward!”
Bwooo!
Following the baron’s command, the 2,000-player unit and 500 soldiers of the Selfjord Barony began their advance.
In response, over 4,000 infantry from the viscount’s side also began to move out. The territory war appeared to be a straightforward power struggle without any special strategies.
The main difference was that the baron’s side had more cavalry left, while the viscount’s side had more archers.
Thwump, thwump.
As the horses pawed the ground, eager to dash forward, the infantry had advanced about 50 meters.
“Archers, prepare to fire.”
“Archers!”
With the flap of a banner, about 500 archers in two rows at the front of the main formation drew their longbows. Like a mirror image, a thousand archers from the enemy also prepared to fire.
A tense moment. The baron, assessing the distance, gave the order.
“Fire.”
“Commence firing!”
Thwack, twang!
Arrows flew into the sky, creating a rain of projectiles.
Though there were only 500 archers, they showcased their elite status by maintaining a consistent arrow formation that descended upon the enemy’s vanguard.
And the player’s formation at the baron’s front was also subjected to this arrow rain.
“Arrows incoming! Raise shields!”
The advancing troops halted momentarily, lifting their shields to defend against the arrows calmly.
Thud, thunk, pshhh.
It was clear that the enemy archers were less skilled, as only about a hundred arrows reached the baron’s formation.
And those at the forefront of the formation were elite players. None were hit by the sporadically falling arrows.
“Lower shields and advance!”
At the commander’s order, the players resumed their march. Meanwhile, in the viscount’s formation, several dozen casualties slowed their advance.
“The second wave is coming!”
Before they had taken a few more steps, another volley of arrows descended. Perhaps because the distance had closed, there seemed to be more arrows this time.
Thud, thunk.
Then they lowered their shields and advanced again.
“Man, this is tense.”
“Can’t we just charge forward?”
The players grumbled, but they had agreed to follow the baron’s initial command. After repeating the process a couple more times, the distance between them and the enemy’s infantry had reduced to about 150 meters.
Typically, the standard strategy would be to continue this process until the distance was less than 100 meters, then charge all at once.
「Now. Everyone, switch to second-stage combat formation! Groups ready, commence autonomous combat.」
「Switch to second-stage combat formation!」
Dismounting to join the advancing players, Bae Dohyun issued the order through guild communication.
At that moment, the players split into groups of five or six, forming small formations.
While melee class players set up improvised shield walls by planting large tower shields from their inventories into the ground, archer classes nocked arrows and fired at the enemy lines.
Whoosh!
Simultaneously, the mage classes cast long-range basic spells at the enemy.
“No need to aim precisely! Just shoot quickly!”
Commanders encouraged the surrounding players while firing arrows themselves.
Even the melee players, after setting up the tower shield barriers, drew bows from their inventories and started shooting, effectively converting the entire player formation into a long-range assault force.
Thunk.
“Wow, is this even hitting anything?”
“Who cares, just shoot! We’ve got plenty of arrows!”
Two friends in the melee swordsman class chatted while shooting arrows. They had first held a bow just a few days ago.
The First Player Association had ordered all players participating in the territory war to learn basic archery and conducted mandatory crash courses for a few hours over several days.
Naturally, without any skill enhancements or prior experience, these players couldn’t hit targets accurately.
However, one thing was certain.
Thwuck, thunk!
What would have been difficult for an ordinary person to even draw, the players effortlessly pulled back the high-tension bowstrings.
And while they couldn’t aim precisely, they could easily shoot arrows up to 150 meters. The bodies the players were using were in a different league from ordinary humans.
Even if their software (skills) was lacking, their hardware (physical abilities) was practically superhuman.
Moreover, the First Viscount generously provided every one of the 2,000 players with bows, arrows, and other military supplies, so there was no reason to refuse.
zz
For the viscount’s soldiers, this was a nightmare.
Thwack, thunk, thud!
“Aaagh!”
“My leg!!”
“Help me!”
Amid the sudden rain of thousands of arrows and the onslaught of various magical attacks, it was nearly impossible to defend with small shields and leather armor.
Moreover,
“Get a grip! Everyone, charge the enemy—urgh.”
Players specialized in sniping were specifically targeting commanders in the enemy ranks, adding to the chaos.
A few knights from the enemy’s main formation rushed in to command the infantry to charge, but the soldiers still hesitated, holding their shields in front of them as they charged.
“Waaa!”
But their shouts were weak. Trying to cross 150 meters under such a relentless barrage of arrows and magic was akin to running headlong into a fire with a bundle of sticks.
And this fact was even more apparent from the vantage point of the main formation atop the hill. The viscount’s vanguard of 4,000 had already been reduced to less than half, and as they got closer to the enemy, they seemed to be melting away in real time.
“How can this be? What are our archers doing?”
Viscount Jeremy screamed in disbelief, but his archers were already firing arrows fervently. The problem was that their attacks were ineffective against the player formation.
The tower shield barriers were efficiently protecting the mages and archers, and each group had at least one tank absorbing stray arrows.
“Aaagh!”
Even if some players got hit,
「Sector B-13 has sustained injuries」
「Received. Medics are on their way.」
Healing players would immediately tend to the wounded, thanks to real-time communication.
“Damn it. How is this even possible…?”
Garlond, the commander and chief knight of the Viscount Jeremy’s forces, gripped his reins and groaned.
He had never anticipated such an outcome.
‘Where are all these weapons and arrows coming from? And who are these people anyway?’
Typically, infantry was divided into distinct roles mainly due to differences in weapon proficiency and logistical reasons.
There was a limit to the equipment soldiers could carry into battle. For a commander, having multi-purpose soldiers who could wield shields, spears, bows, and swords would make strategic planning far easier.
But carrying such varied weapons into battle was impractical as they would tire before the fight even started. However, seeing these versatile soldiers on the battlefield was astonishing.
This was an advantage unique to players with the cheat-like inventory system. Bae Dohyun had utilized this to their advantage, making it a nightmare for the enemy commander.
‘At this rate…’
It was inevitable that their infantry would be annihilated and the battle lost. Garlond bit his lip and turned his head.
“Sir Yannick, can you lead the charge?”
“Well, there’s no other choice.”
Seeing the current dire situation himself, Yannick knew something had to be done.
Shortly after,
Bwooo!
As elite troops of Marquis McNeil stationed at the main formation and the remaining infantry stepped onto the battlefield, Yannick and a group of knights led a cavalry charge towards the enemy.
“Leave the enemy infantry to the foot soldiers; we’ll take down the enemy commander!”
Yannick opted for a flanking maneuver instead of a frontal assault. With their infantry being decimated, there was no point in getting bogged down fighting enemy foot soldiers.
This side had 40 knights. Among them, 20 were Expert-level knights.
‘A mere ten baronial knights can be swept away in no time.’
Even though they had fewer cavalry, it didn’t matter. Ordinary cavalry were just large targets to knights. But these movements did not escape Bae Dohyun’s notice.
「Switch to third-stage combat formation!」
(To be continued)