’It looks like I am in a little bit of trouble.’
Fang Raon thought to himself with a smile on his face.
It sure looked like there was nothing he could do to turn the tables around, but he wasn’t all that worried.
While everyone was focusing on the spreading forest fire, his chess pieces—the three Assassins—had already been moved.
"How is it, you little shit? See how much you got outplayed? There is nothing you can do at this point!"
Rock said haughtily.
While he was waiting for the fire to spread over to the blue tower, he was also checking out the ground close to the red tower.
He knew that Fang Raon chose three Assassins with Stealth skills each one of them, because he couldn’t see any of his soldiers anywhere.
The only way he could detect his Assassins without the help of Detection Magic was the footprints on the ground!
’There is not a single footprint I can find. It means that they are nowhere close to my tower. It’s checkmate. I’ve won.’
Rock thought with a smirk.
"Heh."
In that moment, Fang Raon smiled back, and he tapped his forehead with his index finger. He gave an order to his soldiers.
’Kill them!’
At that moment, three invisible figures stepped onto the sandy beach of the red tower and ran straight to the mages.
’Footprints?! How the hell did they appear so suddenly?!’
Rock looked shocked, and before he could give a single order to his mages, the three Assassins shredded through them with their daggers.
"Ah..."
Della gasped in surprise and watched as Rock’s mage soldiers fell down and dissipated into thin air.
[Match over!]
[Winner—Fang Raon!]
"Haha, I guess I won."
Fang Raon said with a smile.
In that moment, the fire got quenched in the holographic forest, and the game shut down with Fang Raon’s victory.
Stunned.
Rock stared blankly at the holographic screen—he was full of confusion—and then he turned to look at Fang Raon.
He only had one question.
"How...?"
Della also looked at the young man. She had never seen her grandfather lose so badly. It didn’t even look close at the end.
"You couldn’t possibly get over those Earth Walls, and you wouldn’t be able to go through the burning forest either. There is no way for you to get to my tower, so how?"
Rock asked.
"I did get through Earth Walls. I had one of my Assassins stand under the wall and then used him as a human stepping stone for the two other Assassins to climb over.
"When they were at the top of the wall, they grabbed the Assassin and pulled him up with them. I then made them stay at the top of the wall.
"Otherwise, they would’ve made footprints on the ground, and my plan would’ve failed. I waited for the opportunity to make them all attack one mage each."
Fang Raon said.
’...It was that simple?’
Della thought in shock.
She thought that he must’ve had some really complex strategy, but in the end, Fang Raon didn’t really overthink it and had a simple but effective plan.
However, Rock knew that it wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
’It is really hard to give these soldiers complex orders. All you can do is pretty much make them run, attack, cast spells, and dodge.
’However, what Fang Raon did required a ’Complex Order,’ and I’ve only seen the best General’s Game players do Complex Orders before...
’I shouldn’t be surprised that he can do that. After all, he successfully controlled all ten soldiers before, so of course he can do this as well.’
Rock sighed.
"I didn’t know burning the forest was possible, so you’ve given me a lot to think about, and my strategies will be even stronger in the future."
Fang Raon said with a smile.
"Tch, don’t get too cocky now. I just made a mistake that helped you to win. You won’t win next time, I’ll guarantee that!"
Rock shouted and slammed his fist on the table.
It was true that he made a mistake, and all three of them agreed that Rock still should’ve won the match.
Rock got too cocky and dropped his guard.
If he had stayed alert, he could’ve given orders to his mages before Fang Raon’s assassins managed to attack.
With the Whirlwind Tornado attack, he could’ve stopped all assassins in their tracks.
Even if Rock wouldn’t have been able to defeat the assassins in the battle, all he had to do was stall.
The spreading forest fire was already very close to the blue tower, and it would’ve been destroyed in just two short minutes.
"Whoah..."
At that moment, Della exclaimed as she looked out of the window, and both Rock and Fang Raon looked out as well.
In the skies, the beautiful aurora borealis danced, casting a warm glow over the landscape below. The green, blue, and purple lights swirled and twirled, creating a breathtaking display of colors that seemed to be alive.
It was a truly breathtaking sight.
"...You should go get some sleep, Fang Raon. You’ll need it for tomorrow, as you’ll join Rock’s group at training but will also meet Fourth-Liners of Rose Record, whom you’ll be joining for future raids."
Della said gently.
"Mmh."
Fang Raon nodded.
He noticed the time and saw that it had gotten so late that he wouldn’t be able to see Chaewon today, as she had left work already.
’Right, Chaewon... I promised her some photographs.’
Fang Raon took out the in-game camera, opened the window to take a picture, and then snapped a couple pictures of the aurora borealis.
"I didn’t know you were photographing type."
Rock said.
"...There is a lot you don’t know about me."
Fang Raon said with a mysterious smile, then stored the camera away and sent the pictures to his Virtual Reality Pod.
With that, he said his farewells to the two of them and left the room before logging out for the night.
...
When Fang Raon opened his eyes, he came across a face staring back at him with a smile on his face.
"Took you long~"
Chaewon said with a smile and opened the pod, as she had been waiting for him to log out for a while now.
She wasn’t wearing her nurse uniform anymore. She was in her civilian clothes, and it made her look even more lovely than before.
"...Chaewon? I thought you were out of work already."
Fang Raon said in surprise.
"I’ve been waiting for you to come out. You sure are a bad boy for making me wait~"
Chaewon said with a pout.
"Ahah, sorry... Was there something you wanted to talk about?"
Fang Raon asked with a chuckle.
"Not really. I just wanted to see you before I head home. I’ll carry you to your bed, and head off~"
Chaewon said, took him out of the pod, and lowered him into the bed, tucking him under the blanket.
"There~ I’ll see you tomorrow."
She smiled and was about to leave, but then Fang Raon quickly said.
"In that pod, there should be a printing function. I grabbed a couple photographs for you, if you want to have them."
"Really?!"
Chaewon said excitedly, and she walked to the pod and pressed a button, which printed a couple of photographs.
When she caught a look at them, her eyes widened in surprise, and she took them into her hands.
"So beautiful..."