NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: First Place Alone (3)
[The blue zone will shrink in 30 seconds.]
Almond checked his minimap. The area within the blue circle was the safe zone.
“How unlucky.”
The blue zone hadn't moved in Almond's favor even once. He had to keep moving to stay within it since the beginning. This frustrated him, but his audience found it amusing.
— Unlucky...
— Almond: unlucky. Chat: lucky.
— Haha, take that Almond!
— You should at least be unlucky since you're good.
The viewers enjoyed it when the blue zone moved away from Almond. They could watch him make more plays if he kept moving and encountering enemies.
Also, they prayed against him because of the victory mission on the line.— Please... blue zone...
— Jesus, Buddha, Allah! Please let me keep my 50,000 won!
— Snipers, please blow his head off.
They hoped for Almond to die, so they wouldn’t lose their money.
‘Right, the sniper…’
One of the enemies was a sniper, which bothered Almond. He didn’t know much about this game, but even he felt that a sniper was a big threat.
The blue zone continued to close in, but some space remained. He risked getting shot at by an enemy in the distance that he couldn’t even see.
‘Are the three of them on the same team?’
His chances of victory would be unlikely if the remaining players were on the same squad. What could he do if one of them aimed at him while the other two came for him? That exact scenario soon occurred.
“Hey, there's only one left.”
“You two go scout and I'll cover you from here!”
Almond could easily hear them.
“Sigh…”
Their conversation made it clear that the three of them were on the same team. They were the only players remaining, so Almond had to face them alone.
— LOL, you're screwed.
— Jesus Christ.
— 3v1?
— 3v1 with only 4 players left. That's hell.
— Hell, for real.
Hell was the perfect word to describe Almond’s situation.
‘I'm quite unlucky.’
Unlucky wasn't quite the case for Almond because a squad of three usually remained at this point in the game. The unusual case was Almond, who had survived by himself.
He could only blame himself for queuing up in the wrong mode if he wanted to blame his luck.
Thud. Thud.
He could hear his opponents slowly approaching. They would soon discover his location since there were only a few locations left to check.
Thud.
His opponents suddenly stopped near him.
“Let’s stop right here,” one of them firmly said and they stopped moving.
“The blue zone is on our side. He has to cross this side no matter what.”
“Yeah, let's just wait for him to come out and shoot him.”
Luck was not on Almond’s side today. The blue zone slowly closed in on him and put him in a disadvantageous position. His opponents knew how to take advantage of that.
[The blue zone is now shrinking.]
Koong—
Almond could hear the blue zone closing in. His heart pounded at the same time.
‘I’m so close to winning…’
His next move would determine whether he placed first or fourth. The match would be settled here.
Would his title be, ‘First place in his first game' or 'He did pretty good in his first game?' The two were vastly different. This pivotal moment would determine whether he was remembered as a superstar or a decent gamer. Could Sang-Hyeon step up in this moment or not?
He clenched his teeth and the competitiveness sleeping inside him began to wake up.
‘I’m going to get first place with the bow.’
He glanced at the mission reward in the corner of his eye and focused his mind. This was a different mindset from Kingdom Age. This was a competition. He was proving his archery skills against others.
‘First, the guys in front of me.’
He prioritized the two waiting for him inside the blue zone and planned to get rid of them first. Thankfully, they didn't find Almond yet.
‘They let their guards down since they're in the blue zone and have three people left.’
His opponents naturally lowered their guards in this 3v1 situation with the blue zone closing in behind Almond.
From a different perspective, this provided Almond with his only opportunity.
Gulp.
He quietly swallowed the painkillers.
“Is he not here? The blue zone is almost closing in.”
“This is the only place. Just wait a little bit.”
As they said, Almond could almost feel the blue zone on his back as it inched closer. However, he didn't move at all.
[The blue zone is damaging you. Move away!]
Bzzzt—
His health began to decrease, but he didn’t feel any pain thanks to the painkillers and his health drained slower than normal.
‘A little more.’
Almond decided to hold on for a while longer.
“What the... did we miss him on the way here?”
“No way.”
Almond didn't intend on waiting long. He just wanted to wait long enough to confuse his opponents. That would be enough.
“Sigh... He must be on the other side.”
The two turned around to check the other side for a moment.
“Other side? That's not poss—”
Ping!
An arrow cut through the air and pierced one of their necks.
Thwack!
The arrow tip protruded from the enemy’s throat.
“Kugh!”
The enemy couldn't speak anymore with blood gushing out from his mouth.
“What the, where…”
Another arrow flew and pierced the same enemy in the heart.
“Kek!”
[Almond → lmfao07]
[Knocked Out!]
Almond had quicker judgment with faster and more precise movements than them.
“W-Where!?”
Tutututu…
The other teammate panicked and aggressively fired in the direction of the arrows. He sprayed his bullets and prayed to hit Almond. However, that was a foolish decision because Almond was no longer there.
Thwack!
The punishment for his foolishness was an arrow through the head. The enemy’s helmet had already been damaged from an earlier battle and was useless against the arrow.
[Almond → DuckHyeons]
[Eliminated!]
[3/100]
He instantly collapsed from the headshot.
Finally, Almond safely ran through the blue zone.
‘I barely made it!’
He only had around 10% of his HP left. Almond resisted the urge to loot the corpse and hid in a different spot.
‘One is still watching me.’
Another player watched and remained still even as their teammates fell. This calm sniper likely came up often on the kill log.
‘He's probably at an angle that I can't see, right?’
The sniper would’ve already taken a shot if he had a clear visual on Almond, which meant he didn't have a good shot right now.
‘I can roughly tell where the blind spots are.’
Almond visualized the road he crossed and imagined the blind spots from the sniper's perspective. He would be safe if he moved around those spots.
[The blue zone is shrinking.]
Almond had to move as he looked at the map because he was on the edge of the blue zone. He used his remaining medicine, healed himself to 100% HP, and slowly advanced.
‘I wonder where he is…’
Did the sniper change positions or were they still on standby?
Almond wasn't sure and needed to find their location.
“!”
He suddenly realized something.
‘They're moving?’
The knocked-out enemy was slowly crawling somewhere.
‘Why? To get revived?’
The sniper couldn't move from his position, so the knocked-out teammate was crawling on his own to get revived. That meant he would naturally reveal the sniper's position.
Almond crouched and sneaked closer too.
‘Wait…’
He suddenly thought to himself, ‘There's no way the sniper has time to revive him.’
Would he revive a teammate in this 1v1 situation? In Battle Large, reviving a teammate took a considerable amount of time. It was practically suicide in this situation. They must know that too despite their low ranks.
‘There's no reason to move and risk getting caught by me.’
In squad mode, they only needed one player to win the game.
The sniper had the advantage in this 1v1 situation because of the blue zone’s location. Why would he take the risk and move? Only one logical conclusion remained.
‘Bait!’
They would easily win if Almond took the bait and followed him. All the sniper had to do was aim and shoot at Almond crawling around.
Almond decided to use their own bait against them.
‘He must be hiding somewhere where he can see the path…’
Almond stopped moving and scouted the area around the trail. He discovered something when the blue zone began affecting him.
“!”
He could faintly see the opponent through the grass because of their shiny helmet that reflected the sunlight.
‘Are they unaware of that?’
The opponent hadn’t noticed their own mistake yet.
He had to act quickly and readied his bow in a crouched position.
‘What should I do?’
He couldn’t shoot in a crawling position.
‘I don't have much of a choice.’
Almond made a bold decision and decided to lie completely prone.
— Huh? Why is he suddenly lying down with his back on the ground?
— That's what cats do.
— Baby Almond needs a belly scratch.
— What the? Just giving up?
The viewers didn’t understand until what happened next.
Almond pushed against the bow with his feet and pulled the bowstring with both hands.
Creak…
The string became even tighter than when he drew it with one hand.
— Wow.
— I've seen this in Chinese movies!
— Is this a circus?
— ??? I can beat you while playing with my feet!
— Is he going to win with his feet?
It could be seen as a taunt, but it was the only logical choice from Almond's perspective. This was the only way to land his shot without revealing himself.
However...
‘Would this… work?’
Almond wondered if this insane technique would even work too. He didn’t have the luxury to hesitate. This was his only option left.
‘I’m going to land it.’
This arrow would land and kill his target. He exerted tremendous strength using his abs and tightly pulled the bowstring.
“Heup!”
And he released it.
Paaang!
The bowstring loudly echoed.
“!”
The opponent noticed as well and turned towards Almond.
Thwack!
But the arrow was quicker. It pierced through the sniper’s defense and perfectly landed.
“Kugh!”
The sniper quickly hid, still unaware of where the shot came from. That was a mistake.
Swoosh!
More arrows flew towards him after he let his guard down to heal himself. The arrows flew in a perfect trajectory and pierced his forehead.
Thwack!
“Kugh!”
The sniper thought he would be safe if the opponent couldn’t shoot straight at him. However, that had been his downfall because their opponent used a bow instead of a gun.
[Almond → TorinDoru]
[Eliminated!]
[1/100]
Thud...
The opponent’s corpse collapsed.
Du-dung!
The message Almond had been anticipating popped up as a drum resounded.
[1st Place]