supporting a bowman

Vangark was at K2; he’d stayed to compete in Lord of Lords after taking first place in Supermina, and now he was facing CCS. He had to wait for the matchups to see if he’d be paired with one of his alliance mates. But he forgot to check—he’d been so busy that day that he simply logged in just minutes before the match. And he saw them again—the same alliance of archers he’d faced the last time. He knew that if he kept his name, they’d reject him; he’d invaded them three times before, so he changed it. He tried to remember which one he’d used, and they accepted him immediately. He asked—as if he didn’t know who was there—about the troops and who the rally leaders would be. They gave him the instructions: he was to reinforce with archers, and there would also be an infantry rally leader.

While they were telling him this, he was already training archers—a little over a million and a half—and standing before him was Benni, the leader of RoD. He would undoubtedly be a tougher opponent than the last one, so the losses would be greater. To reinforce, if Huiww, the strongest, managed to break into the fortress, he would send his T1 spear troops. He knew they would fight in the final battle, but he wasn’t willing to train those troops. He wanted the points to get the rewards; he wanted merit, and he would support every rally, but defending was another matter—it was a much greater drain on resources, speed-ups, and acceleration boots, something he wasn’t willing to spend. He would send whatever he had left over. Little by little, some members of FDH also began to arrive, led by Astrryx and Napoleon. But they weren’t enough to hold the fortress; they were strong, but they lacked the numbers to back them up. He wasn’t sure if there would be a conflict between the two sides, or if they would be allies, in which case the top three spots would be divided among them.

Before anyone else could, he positioned himself in the best spot, right next to the rally leader, at the front; his troops would move quickly, and he would be the first to arrive. Remembering how things went last time—when he started with five hundred thousand men and ended up with nearly a million—this time he had an army of seven hundred fifty thousand archers ready to go.

The first capture was made by RoD’s people, but Benni wasn’t there; it was a weaker one. It seemed strange to him, but it didn’t matter—Huiww had to start the rally, but he was taking a while. Vangark told him that the one in the fortress was defending with infantry and wasn’t as strong as Astryx or Benni, so he should attack. However, he took his time and it took nearly a minute. He wouldn’t push it; it wasn’t his alliance, nor his men—he was the guest, so he’d wait. He wasn’t going to switch to another alliance, since he wouldn’t know what to do with those trained archers, so he stayed. The first rally went as expected—a victory, some losses—but he began advising Huiww to send only T5 units, and to fill the rest of the rally with T4 troops; it was the best way to deal more damage. It took him a while to understand; he thought his troops would die, but other teammates, closer to him, explained it, and he got it. He immediately noticed the difference in his attacks, until Benni appeared out of nowhere. 

The enemy alliance made a move that caught many by surprise; apparently, they had joined the battle late. But now they had a problem: since the other side wasn’t as strong as he was, many wore themselves out by sending their troops; he no longer had the reinforcements his ally had initially. The FDH alliance took advantage of this, managing to seize control of the fortress for a few minutes, and Huiww succeeded as well; Vangark sent his T1 spears. The defense wasn’t very strong, since those accompanying him were more vassals than lords; the former reinforced slowly, so faced with the barrage of attacks and rallies, they were eventually driven out shortly thereafter.

On one hand, he wanted the one who was guiding him toward the rewards for the second time to secure a spot in the rankings; he would sacrifice all those T1s if necessary. He had accepted his advice in the midst of a battle; perhaps if he had known his real name, he wouldn’t have listened to him, nor would he have been able to join that alliance. After that, everything turned into confusion and chaos. No one could hold that building for long; there was a shortage of troops. Many, upon earning their points, left immediately—they didn’t need to stay, since they had no obligation to those who wanted the title. Vangark could have done the same, but he chose to stay and watch—and also to eliminate the archer troops he still had.

He captured the fortress a couple of times, just to test the timing of his advance. But he didn’t have the chance, as he had the previous time, to test his spears. Those inside the fortress were much stronger than he was; he didn’t want to take any chances. CCS was wrapping up; he thanked them for the brief stay, and they thanked him for his support. He’d gotten what he wanted—more than he’d initially expected from rivals like Benni and Astryx. Now he had to figure out what to do with the half-million T4 archers he had left over from that battle.

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