Chapter 170. Early Raid
After a moment of thought, Seo-woon looked at Jin-ryong and said, "Farm outside the castle with Sa-gwang."
"Outside?"
The castle where Seo-woon's group had landed was surrounded by cliffs behind and a large lake in front.
While there was some land in front of the castle, it wasn't very large. Jin-ryong frowned in surprise for a moment before nodding. "Let's go outside and take a look."
"Sa-gwang. Go farm outside with my brother."
After giving the order, Seo-woon slowly walked forward, his gaze deepening as he farmed the inside of the castle.
The rules and gameplay were very different from what he'd imagined when he'd heard the words "siege warfare." Even as they wandered around the castle, none of his teammates reported finding anything.
"Something's weird, brother. We're in a castle, but there's nothing here."
Seo-woon turned around at the sound of Ki-chan's voice and gave an order. "Everyone except Sa-hyung and Sa-gwang, gather at the entrance of the keep."
Seo-woon gathered his teammates and threw himself out of the keep's fourth-story window, landing in front of the entrance in a single bound.
"Brother! Did you find anything?" Ki-chan asked.
Seo-woon nodded. "I don't think we'll find anything even if we search further." The team members' expressions tensed slightly at his words. Among them, Byeong-hoo and Neung-sung's expressions changed noticeably.
Compared to the other team members, they were new to Cloyd and didn't know Seo-woon very well. Instead, they knew how to survive in Cloyd very well from experience.
So, they knew very well how bad it was to waste time by missing out on 'farming' in the early stages.
Seeing the expressions on the two men's faces, Seo-woon continued. "I can't say for sure that the keep is completely empty, but I think the situation is mostly the same." Juriell and Ki-chan, who had caught on quickly, let out exclamations of surprise at Seo-woon's words. "Ah!"
"So that's it!"
Binghoo and Neung-sung's gazes flew toward the two. Juriell, who caught their gaze, spoke first. "An empty castle.
Just as he said, it means the castle is empty. It doesn't just mean there's no owner." Ki-chan finished his sentence. "The Crimson Keep has an owner, so it should be full of stuff, but we'll have to take some damage to get it."
"Exactly."
After Seo-woon confirmed this, Byeong-hoo and Neung-sung frowned and were lost in deep thought. At that moment, Jin-ryong's voice was heard. "Priest! I need to get up there!"
"Those are unusual enemies." When Nam-sa-gwang said that, his team members ran up the stairs to the top of the castle wall and, using their lightness skills, leaped over the wall in a single bound.
Not far away, Nam-sa-gwang and Jin-ryong were facing truly unique enemies, just as they'd said. Soldiers who looked as if they were made of clay. The yellowish-brown clay soldiers surrounded the two, radiating hostility. Crafted with such meticulous attention to detail, the clay soldiers' movements were so fluid that they were practically indistinguishable from humans.
Thirty clay soldiers, wearing breastplates and helmets with no face coverings, armed with spears and swords, completely surrounded the two of them and charged forward, brandishing their weapons.
-Tertater! -Perseok!
Even though their attacks were as swift as the human soldiers', it was impossible for just thirty of them to surround and subdue the two.
Jin-ryong spun around, drew his sword, and slashed his sword energy in all directions, while the other man drew powerful energy from both hands, instantly destroying the spearmen. They watched as the clay soldiers crumbled and collapsed.
"Do you know anything about these monsters?" Seo-woon asked Juriel.
"No. They're too sophisticated to be golems, but not human-like enough to be zombies or undead."
Seo-woon's eyes lit up at her words. Just as Seo-woon was about to approach the shattered clay soldiers, a mysterious scene unfolded. The collapsed and disintegrated clay soldiers began to rapidly heal and return to their original forms.
"Hmph." "That's strange."
Seo-woon and Dump looked at the rapidly recovering clay soldiers with curiosity. On the other hand, Juriel spoke with a serious expression. "Something's wrong. I don't feel any mana fluctuations. This isn't some magical phenomenon."
Hearing her words, Liringwi looked around. "Did they stumble upon the 'true law'?" Hearing her words, Neung-sung nodded. "If it were true law, Binggong wouldn't have missed this." Seeing his teammates preparing for battle with serious expressions, Seo-woon approached the recovering clay soldiers with a relaxed expression.
"There's no need to be so serious."
Seo-woon had already guessed this the first time he saw it, so he wasn't particularly surprised. More important to him was the information.
"Did you receive a separate notification?" Seo-woon asked Jin-ryong, who was standing next to him. Jin-ryong shook his head. "No."
The soldiers had almost recovered and were raising their weapons once more. When the crack in the face of the last soldier who thrust his spear forward had completely healed, the soldiers charged at the three men once more. "Control your strength and show us what you've got."
Jin-ryong and Nam-sa-gwang, about to crush the enemies once more, quickly withdrew their forces and began fighting them. "Dump!" As soon as Seo-woon shouted, Dump threw down his shield and plunged into the soldiers, armed only with his sword. Dump loved this kind of battle more than anyone.
In the chaotic battle where weapons clashed and it was hard to distinguish friend from foe, they swung their weapons, sweating and bleeding.
- Clink! - Boom!
But the soldiers were too weak for Dump to fight with full concentration.
"How are the soldiers' skills?" Seo-woon, who had instantly crushed the heads of five terracotta soldiers, asked Dump, who had split the last terracotta soldier's body in half. "They're weak."
"How weak are they? Compared to real soldiers?"
Seeing Seo-woon's detailed questioning, Dump turned his gaze to the terracotta soldiers who had begun to recover and said. "Well, they're much weaker than regular soldiers, but they're a bit better than the newly recruited soldiers. At least they don't seem to fear death and don't seem to be losing their stamina."
Seo-woon nodded. "More or less. Got it. From now on, eliminate them before they can even get up." After giving the order, Seo-woon quickly retreated back to where his worried friends were standing and fell back into deep thought.
"Brother, should we split up and 'farm' in other areas?" Ki-chan asked, having roughly grasped Seo-woon's thoughts and the situation. Looking into his eyes, it seemed he had some understanding of the current situation. "Yes. Move with Ryle and Bingjeong. There might be something going on near the lake. There might be new monsters as well. Gather as much information as possible. If another terracotta soldier appears, subdue it as quickly as possible, 'farm' it, and report back."
"Yes!"
As soon as the order was given, Ryle followed Ki-chan, but Bing-hoo and Neung-sa seemed a little hesitant. He seemed worried about the terracotta soldiers continuing to revive. Ryle took Byeong-hoo's hand and looked up at him as he led him away. "It's okay if Seo-woon says 'okay.'"
Seeing Ryle's bright smile, Byeong-hoo smiled and nodded as well. "Let's go."
"Yes." Neung-sa replied and followed Byeong-hoo.
As they headed to the other side, where the battle between the group and the terracotta soldiers was raging, Ki-chan's group, which had been scanning the surroundings carefully, began to fall behind, and the number of terracotta soldiers that had begun to revive began to dwindle.
Finally, when Jin-ryong completely crushed the last spearman that had begun to revive with his retreat technique, the remnants of the clay soldiers disappeared, and a yellowish-brown bead appeared in their center.
As soon as he picked up the bead, a notification sound was heard.
-Ding! You have obtained 300 infantry soldiers. (150 spearmen, 150 swordsmen.) *The obtained soldiers must be registered in the castle to be used. *If there are no military supplies, the number of soldiers will decrease by 10% per day.
While listening to the notification and examining the orb in her hand, Juriell approached Seo-woon and asked. "What kind of item is this?"
"Soldiers. Soldiers that can defend the castle, capture other castles, and be used in sieges."
"Soldiers?!"
Juriell wasn't the only one surprised by Seo-woon's words. None of the team members had even imagined that such soldiers could be 'farmed' as items and used as soldiers, so they were all stunned. Seo-woon wasn't particularly surprised, because these kinds of games had existed on Earth for a long time.
Ki-chan was familiar with it too, so he quickly went back to 'farming'. "So that's how you gather soldiers to defend the castle. Then…"
Juriell interrupted, and Seo-woon finished her sentence. "Exactly. That way you can 'farm' various types of soldiers and most of the materials needed for a siege. Or you could attack other castles and steal their materials."
"Map!"
As soon as Seo-woon finished speaking, Juri activated the map. She seemed to be strategically assessing the location of their own castle, the only one isolated from the other complex castles in the area. "I think we picked a good spot."
Seo-woon nodded, looking at the map with her. "If I'd known the rules were like this, we should have taken the largest castle in the center. There are quite a few red-owned castles nearby, and the farm area is large. We could have quickly farmed, attacked the surrounding castles, stockpiled supplies, and established a front line. Choosing this castle because it looked easy to defend was a mistake."
He nodded in agreement. It was good that the castle was easy to defend and safe from invasion, but having to cross the bridge to get out to farm was troublesome and inefficient.
Lingwei, who had been listening to their conversation, looked at the map and said. "For now, since the station master is active every day at midnight, we should ensure the castle's defenses and focus on farming to strengthen our base for now."
Hearing his words, Seo-woon pursed his lips and shook his head again. "That's a bad plan. We have a geographical advantage, so no one would be foolish enough to try to capture the castle in the early stages. Do you know what the most important thing in a strategy simulation game is?"
"What is it?"
Seeing Seo-woon's confident expression, Lee Ling-wei asked. Seo-woon smiled even wider and said, "Early raid."
"Early raid?"
"Yes. If we're unprepared, so are our enemies who start at the same time. In such a situation, it's important to attack first and push the enemy back. We have a good chance with this strategy."
Juriell opened her mouth with a worried expression. "We have far fewer men compared to other teams. We should split into a defensive team and an offensive team to reduce our number of men..." Seo-woon, understanding her concern, looked at her.
"We can already fill the numbers with infantry soldiers. In this game, a strong warrior is much more valuable than a large number of infantry soldiers. Each member of our quartet is a crown-level warrior who can fight against many enemies. There's no need to worry."
After Seo-woon said this and carefully examined the map, Juriell expressed no further concern. Always pushing forward with that expression on his face, Seo-woon always rewarded his teammates with successful moves.
With his experience solidifying into a strong confidence, they now hung on his every word. They were so impressed with his leadership that they were transported to another dimension.
"Alright. Let's finish the 'farm' here quickly."
Seo-woon divided his team into pairs and sped up the 'farming'. After a quick look around, he decided there was no one who could threaten his team members in this place, which was like the castle's front yard.
The game, which had started around morning, progressed into the afternoon as the 'farming' was completed.
"Everyone, give me a briefing on what you're 'farming'."
DumP and Limmin were the first to respond to Seo-woon's request. "We got 200 cavalry and 1,000 supplies." Then Nam-sa-gwang spoke. "I got 10 magic bombs."
"Magic bombs?"
Seo-woon asked about this unique name, which he'd never heard before, and Nam-sa-gwang read the item's description out loud.
"It's an item used to attack castle gates, and each one requires the sacrifice of a soldier. The 'ma-pok cart,' controlled by a soldier, charges toward the enemy castle gate and explodes."
"Not bad."
Bing-hoo and Neung-sung-ah spoke next. "We farmed tower reinforcement stones and tower installation stones."
Seo-woon nodded at the intuitive names, their purpose clear just by hearing them. Li-ling-wei and Juriell shook their heads with disappointed expressions. "We couldn't farm any items."
Jin-ryong and Ki-chan smiled as they looked at the items filling their hands. "Soldier-specific healing scrolls. Three scrolls that can heal 100 wounded soldiers, and soldier reinforcement stones. They can improve 100 soldiers by one level." When the expected items appeared, Seo-woon pursed his lips.
"And finally, Rael and I provided 5,000 units of military supplies. That brings our total to 6,000. We have a total of 500 soldiers, consisting of 300 infantry and 200 cavalry. We can sustain them for 12 days."
"Not bad for the first day. We can relax a bit today."
Seo-woon smiled at Jin-ryong's words but shook his head. "No. This is just the beginning of the game. If you look at the map, you can see a castle across the bridge in the near distance. It's not very big, but it was green when the game started. Now, as you can see, it's blue. This means the player has taken control. We'll attack that castle next."
Everyone looked at Seo-woon with surprised expressions, except for the team members who had already heard about the early raid from Seo-woon. "Already? Priest, we need to think carefully."
"Yes. You seem to have forgotten, but it will soon be evening and the sun will set. A night fight? If we don't return by midnight, we'll crash into the station!"
Seo-woon's smile deepened at Neung-so-hwa's words. "We'll finish by then. There's no way you forgot that important rule." Neung-so-hwa was about to voice her objection, but she covered her mouth and looked around.
All the surprised team members, including Jin-ryong, who had initially been against the idea, were now silently preparing for battle, waiting for Seo-woon's orders.
"What...?"
The atmosphere was so natural that she couldn't say anything else. Bing-hoo seemed to read the weather and smiled at Seo-woon with an amused expression.
"Then Juriell, Ki-chan, and Li-ling-wei will act as the offensive team with me, while the remaining four, Ryle, Limin, Dump, and the two from Bingjeongseong, will be responsible for defending the castle."
"What about the soldiers?"
Seo-woon smiled at Bing-gong's question. "The defensive team will have to defend the castle without soldiers."
Seo-woon's words made Nangso-hwa gasp in surprise. "You're taking all the soldiers with you?!"
Seo-woon nodded and turned towards the castle to register the soldiers.