Season 5: Chapter 31. How to Use Bubblegum (2)
Honestly, Ju-Hyeok was impressed at this point.
‘His shot calling got better.’
No viewer watched Almond more than Ju-Hyeok did because he also watched the real Yu Sang-Hyeon up close every day. By his standards, Almond’s shot calling had clearly improved.
‘At least he knows that you’ll die if you go out there.’
Almond understood exactly what would happen if Bubblegum pushed forward. The old Almond had never shown such foresight.
In the past, he would’ve said, “Let’s just charge in.” Then, he would realize mid-fight that the angle had been bad, get a few kills alone, and retreat.
Back in
Civil Empire
, Ji-Ah had to edit out all the “smart” gameplay. Ju-Hyeok had to listen to her complain about it every day.
‘He’s improved a ton compared to the bizarre stories I heard back then.’
In the end, Ju-Hyeok found himself hoping again.
‘What if this guy... is actually smart?’
The same hope always collapsed.
“Please die.”
“What?”
“You said it yourself. If you try to die, you’ll live... and if you try to live, you’ll die.”
“Th-that doesn’t mean you should actually die.”
“The person who said that died, and that war was won.”
The quote came from Cookie, the National Team's commander. Of course, it had been said in a completely different context.
‘Insane.’
Bubblegum’s eyes shook hard. The words carried a different weight. It didn’t sound like Almond.
He switched to the viewer mic channel and asked, “Why is this punk so smooth all of a sudden?”
— LMAOOOO for real
— Experience is scary
— Not his first time pushing someone to die
— He’s been through too much since the Lord days lol
— Veteran alpha male, damn
Answers flooded the chat. They said Almond talked like this because of experience. Technically, he had won the world championship. Depending on how one interpreted it... his words sounded terrifying.
‘E-experience?’
It reminded Bubblegum of that time he’d been picking out clothes as a gift for his friend’s wife. Back then, StrawberryShooter had known way too much about women’s clothing.
“Hohoho. It’s all experience, bro~.”
Was he talking about experience from giving gifts? Or... something else? Either way, it was experience. Experience was a scary word. Nothing trained a person more than that. This applied to Bubblegum as well.
“
Ah...
Alright. I’ll die.”
Wasn’t Bubblegum a specialist at that if nothing else? He was one of the few players who feared death the least. As a lord of death, he had tried every method of dying that the game designers had ever created. That was Bubblegum.
Almond stared into his eyes and nodded solemnly.
[Red Turtle]
[HP: 11%]
The Red Turtle’s health was about to hit zero.
“
AAAAAAAAH!
”
[Shield Charge]
KWA-AAANG!
Bubblegum suddenly fired off a skill and burst out.
“S-startled me, damn...”
“Enemy!”
Bubblegum came out with absurd confidence, and the enemies flinched. He was holding a shield, which meant he was a tank. Tanks didn’t die easily. If the enemy focused on a tank that deliberately drew aggro like this, the teamfight itself would fall apart. When a tank jumped out confidently, the standard play was to back off first.
“Stop the DPS!”
They had to stop attacking the Red Turtle. If Almond jumped out now, he would surely be able to steal the kill.
“B-back up!”
“Only the tank, forward!”
Their whole team pulled back a pace as their tank moved toward Bubblegum.
“
Grrrrr!
”
Meanwhile, the Red Turtle viciously kept tearing into that tank.
“Don’t DPS!”
“DPS, stop! Stop!”
[Red Turtle]
[HP: 9%]
The enemies stopped attacking, and the Turtle’s health didn’t drop any further.
— We’re screwed
— You can’t steal this
— Oh no
— Why are they actually good?
Almond couldn’t steal this kill without a contract. The enemies took a defensive formation and didn’t touch the Turtle.
Bubblegum stood there with his shield raised, confused. “What... what is this?”
Almond reacted similarly. “
Hmm.
”
The enemies were better than expected. Their DPS stop was perfect.
“What, he’s alone?”
Almond hadn’t stepped forward an inch just as perfectly as they had stopped attacking. The enemies didn’t even notice him. A split second of silence followed.
“He’s really alone?”
“Huh?”
Bubblegum’s face went blank too.
‘Alone? You’re not coming with me?’
Nothing moved. The Red Turtle’s health didn’t budge either. No shadows of other teammates appeared.
Even the Red Turtle tilted its head. “
Gurrk?
”
‘S-so... I was bait. Fine, it can’t be helped.’
Bubblegum suddenly put on a performance. “Everyone’s got them surrounded!?”
— Oh
— He’s doing it?
— Bluff lol
— The Daily Balloon Bluff, damn
“Get them!!”
The moment he said that, the enemies turned their heads.
“
Guuurrrrrk!
” The Red Turtle bit into their tank’s nape.
Crunch!
[HP: 35%]
The tank’s health dropped below half.
‘Now.’
Almond kicked off.
Girik.
His bowstring snapped taut. Almost simultaneously, an arrow flew.
Bang!
[Headshot!]
[HP: 21%]
Two more headshots followed in rapid succession.
Puh-bang!
[HP: 5%]
“What the hell?! A ranged DPS is in the bush!”
“Is it not just one guy? Why is it so fast?!”
They mistook the fast arrows for two ranged DPS joining in.
“Heal!”
Woooong!
[HP: 17%]
After a heal, the tank raised his shield to block the arrows.
Thunk!
Almond shouted, “Just burn the Turtle!”
— Holy shit lol
— Huh?
— Oh LOL
In truth, Almond was just bluffing like Bubblegum and pretending that they had more people.
“Burn?”
“Huh? I thought we were stopping DPS?”
“
Ah
, screw it!”
Bang!
The other side reacted. This was solo ranked, full of strangers matched together. They hadn’t memorized anyone’s voice in the early game.
— Holy shit
— Strategy is Almondoyle
— No way this works
— This is actually happening?? lol
The Red Turtle’s health started dropping again.
“Huh?”
Even Almond hadn’t expected that. He quickly shifted his aim back to the Turtle, but the enemies weren’t idiots. Some of them caught on.
“These bastards! There are only two of them! Shit!”
“Bruiser! Kill them!”
A bruiser charged in with a heavy polearm.
Clang!
Bubblegum threw himself forward and blocked with his shield.
“
Guhk!
W-what the hell?!”
Even Bubblegum looked shaken. By sheer coincidence, he successfully blocked while trying to run away.
— No way lol
— He blocked that?
— He blocked that???
Aside from that accidental block, an attack also flew toward Almond.
“Ice Spear!” The enemy mage cast a spell and sent an ice spear flying.
Even a near miss would slow Almond briefly and draw all incoming fire.
Slash!
Almond slipped out of the brush and dodged it cleanly.
“He dodged!?”
“There! Over there!”
The attack missed, but Almond’s position became completely exposed. Now, the enemies knew there were only two of them.
“They’re level two!”
The chaos that had already ignited wouldn’t stop.
“Don’t attack it!”
“If another spawns, we’re all dead!”
“Kill it! It’s almost down! They’re only level two!”
“Attack and kill them!”
They began disagreeing with each other. Even on battlefields like
Civil Empire
, communication was always the biggest problem. Without a commander, soldiers couldn’t communicate among themselves to execute tactics. Once communication diverged, it could never be unified again.
A leader had to exist, and their orders had to be absolute.
LIL
wasn’t like that. It was free with no rules.
“Kill this one first!”
Thud!
Even as the bruiser kept hammering at Bubblegum with a blunt weapon and shouted orders, the others kept attacking the Red Turtle.
“Kill the tank!”
“
Urgh!
”
Thunk!
[An ally has been defeated.]
[Ontario → Bubblegum]
They barely managed to take down Bubblegum and turned back around.
“The tank is down! Now we...”
They thought they had won. Only two enemies existed, right? With the tank gone, they could kill the Turtle and the ranged DPS. Victory was in sight.
‘I see it.’
Almond thought so too.
Girik...
‘An opening.’
Only now had the opening revealed itself. Not just anyone would see this gap. He shifted the arrow to the very edge instead of the center of the string.
Kiiiiiik...
This distorted draw with an unnatural bow pull was a familiar technique to Almond.
“
Haaa.
”
He took a deep breath. At the same time, he released his arrow.
Paaang!
The arrow didn’t fly straight toward the Turtle.
“Tank!?”
It seemed to be headed for the tank, whose health was already low from attacking the Turtle.
Clack.
The tank raised his shield.
Shiiiiiik.
The arrow curved beyond a simple arc.
‘A curve shot?’
Bang!
The arrow struck the Red Turtle’s head. In the end, the arrow had been aiming for the Turtle all along.
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
[Red Turtle]
Bubblegum, now a rune spirit, jumped in place.
‘Holy!’
[Your team has defeated the Red Turtle!]
[LazySoldier → Red Turtle]
‘Woooooo!’
Bubblegum cheered, and so did the chat.
— Damn
— Wow
— Kya
— Holy shit
— This is insane lol
— Wow
— Smart Young Man! Smart Young Man! Smart Young Man!
— He did it??
— Damn
Whoosh!
The Red Turtle’s buff appeared.
[Level Up!]
[Lv. 2 → Lv. 3]
Almond leveled up to level three, but not just any level three. His experience bar was already more than halfway full, and he had taken the Red Turtle’s experience all for himself.
The enemy tank screamed, “Take the rune box!”
“It’ll take more time to take it!”
The one who made the kill could absorb it instantly. Anyone else needed a purification period.
The tank shouted, “Just guard it there!”
An arrow flew straight into his open mouth.
Puh-bang!
[Enemy defeated!]
His health, already gutted by the Turtle, vanished instantly.
Pop!?
The tank turned into a rune spirit on the spot.
‘Good.’
Tap-tap-tap!
Almond threw himself forward. Nothing was holding him back now.
‘The contract will be instant.’
From experience, contracts were quite fast as long as the player didn’t hesitate.
‘If I can just contract...!’
He would have a chance if he could just touch the rune box and the contract went through. The instant the contract formed, he would also gain a brief window of immunity from damage. A full reversal was possible.
Kwagang!
[HP: 73%]
Bullets rained in. Even if Almond dodged some, he couldn’t dodge everything. His route was fixed.
— Gasp
— Just run!
— Can he make it?
— It’s over...
Puh-ung!
[HP: 35%]
His health seemed too low. He didn’t have a tank’s health. One mistake and it would all be over, but he was right there.
‘Please, I can’t be lower ranked than Sweet Potato.’
With that thought, Almond reached out.
Clack!
“Raina...!”
He called out the champion he wanted.
— Raina is banned lol
However, Raina had already been banned.
“KILL HIM!!”
Kwagang!
Every enemy DPS unloaded everything toward the rune box. The mage’s fireball, the gunner’s bazooka skill, and the archer’s multishot... They unleashed every skill they had. Thick smoke filled the impact zone as if a contractor’s ultimate had landed.
“D-did we get him!?”
In response, something shot out of the smoke.
Ziiiiiik!
It wasn’t a person.
[Wire Movement]
A rope shot out.
[Cautious Hunter – Sori]
Snap!
The rope snagged the mage.
“Wha?!”
Ziiiiiik!
The rope reeled in, instantly yanking the mage toward Sori.
Girik...
Whooosh!
While flying along the rope, Almond drew his bow. He nocked four arrows at once and released them at point-blank range.
Babang.
[Arrow of the Wind]
Puuung!
— Damn
— Holy shit
— Kya
— This is it
— Bang!
— Right in their face
— ??? Raina!
— Nice
— He just brute forced the strategy, now everyone has to listen to the Smart Young Man
[Beginner’s Tip]
[Ranked games are battlefields where contractors fight with absolute seriousness. Beginners are advised to consult their families and guardians thoroughly before entering.]

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