Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Endless Harassment
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Kim Sung-jin hadn't completely ignored his opponent in the game.
There were plenty of clues given.
Judging from the enemy's forces appearing fewer than expected, he assumed they had invested resources elsewhere.
The problem was that his assumption about the direction was wrong.
Kim Sung-jin hadn't predicted that the opponent would use a knight drop.
In Humanity mirror matches, opponents backed into a corner like this often employed air units to strike at weaknesses.
Specifically, they used Humanity's air unit, the Spirit Sorcerer, to harass workers, then followed up with the [Spirit Assimilation] upgrade.
A Spirit Sorcerer with Spirit Assimilation was notoriously tricky.
Unless detected, it nullified all attacks.
'Of course I expected a Spirit Sorcerer...'
He already had a counter prepared for that.
The anti-air specialized unit produced from the Advanced Troop Training Facility: the Dwarf Anti-Air Gunner.
In front of a dwarf's old cannon, a flying Spirit Sorcerer was nothing more than a target.
That was why he planned to block any incoming Spirit Sorcerers at his main base with anti-air gunners.
However, what smashed into his main base wasn't an air unit, but four knights.
The opponent had skipped Spirit Sorcerers and gone straight for hot air balloons.
'A gambler...'
Hot air balloons were air units, but specialized solely for transport—they couldn't attack.
Even investing massive infrastructure and resources into producing one didn't increase the pure strength of their forces at all.
So the opponent had to gain an overwhelming advantage with this knight drop. Absolutely.
Failing to inflict damage would mean GG right away without surprise.
Yet they chose a hot air balloon over the attacking Spirit Sorcerer.
A judgment only a bold gambler would make.
And it perfectly pierced Kim Sung-jin's blind spot.
The knights began slaughtering workers.
He hurriedly chased with defensive forces and made the dwarf workers flee, but...
With the dwarf anti-air gunners' ground attack power and movement speed, suppressing knights was incredibly difficult.
In the end, he had to swallow his tears and recall the follow-up forces advancing toward the opponent's expansion to his main.
'If I'd normally defended the main with knights or mages, it would've been blocked right away. How did they gamble like this? ...No way, did they read that I'd defend with dwarf anti-air gunners?'
Startled by the sudden alarm, he whipped the screen to the opponent's expansion.
While Kim Sung-jin was busy blocking knights at his main, the main army—delayed by stalled follow-ups—came under attack.
A knight aboard a second hot air balloon dropped atop Kim Sung-jin's battle mages stationed on the magic circle.
Enemy forces blocked at the entrance began pouring out.
Simultaneously, the knight was massacring his workers in real-time.
Multitasking was one of Kim Sung-jin's strengths too.
Using hotkeys, he zipped between both screens multiple times per second, controlling forces.
Viewers complained of dizziness from the high-level offense and defense.
Fortunately, he successfully suppressed the knights that dropped at his main.
No, it was hard to call it successful.
Too many workers had died.
The main army, which had pushed aggressively, faced pouring enemies but retreated smoothly without engaging.
Unlike the opponent, who would keep producing follow-ups from their main, his forces were tied down there.
Prolonging the fight would lead to a stamina war where he'd lose everything.
For that reason, he accepted the one-sided loss and hurriedly pulled back the main army.
"Tch..."
He'd taken too much damage in that skirmish.
Focusing on catching the knights at main, he'd let the hot air balloon escape...
And three battle mages got picked off during retreat.
In Humanity mirrors, gathering battle mages—which had long production times—decided victory or defeat.
It was a bone-deep loss.
Kim Sung-jin agreed with the viewers: he was still ahead.
Until a massive building sliced through the sky from the opponent's main and settled at their expansion.
"No way, this was all a setup?"
Dragonkin themed around faith. Undead around black magic.
Humanity had its own signature theme like other races: magitech, blending magic and engineering.
The cradle of knowledge built over generations showcased feats impossible with just magic or engineering alone.
Its hallmark was architecture allowing certain buildings to float and move through the air.
Humanity's central building, the Supreme Court, could also be lifted and relocated.
The opponent exploited this: they'd built the Supreme Court at their main well before the skirmish.
To activate the expansion immediately when the trap succeeded, like now.
A dizzying sensation washed over Kim Sung-jin.
If that was true, he'd sacrificed three innocent battle mages out of fear of follow-ups that never came.
Too late to go back in now.
The opponent's expansion had battle mages snarling with magic circles deployed.
Charging there was suicide.
No. Not even.
Right now it looked 5:5, but there was an intangible gap in initiative.
Now the opponent could expand centrally.
Meaning unilateral harassment with hot air balloons anytime.
Unlike Kim Sung-jin, who lacked direct worker harassment tools.
'Stay calm. Got too rattled.'
The opponent couldn't advance smoothly either.
Dragon hunter traps laid during knight retreats dotted the map.
The traps had narrow but existing vision detection, usable to spot hot air balloon movements.
Plus, with no follow-ups produced, Kim Sung-jin had superior forces currently.
He couldn't move big knowing drops would hit main upon advance,
but he still had weapons in hand.
Only one way to use them now:
Take another expansion and use it for defense.
Dwarf workers, under Kim Sung-jin's command, began constructing a Supreme Court at the 12 o'clock multi.
He didn't forget to use Supreme Court policy declarations to illuminate the map and scout enemy moves.
And sure enough?
One enemy knight raced to 12 o'clock to check if he was taking the multi.
He killed it instantly with battle mages, but
They'd know he had defensive forces at 12 just from that.
So the opponent would move for their own multi too.
He swung two knights wide around the map edges, sending harassment to 6 o'clock.
No intention of letting them expand freely.
Unlike him, the opponent had few defenses at 6.
One knight tanked, killing an enemy worker.
This time, unlike before, he even confirmed the constructing building was a Supreme Court.
A small gain.
Afterward, he focused on catching up his delayed tech.
Various buildings rose, tending to upgrades and production.
With army and slight resource gaps, he'd hit max pop 200 first.
That was his advance timing.
The decisive moment.
The opponent used observatory ships—with detection—and a few knights to clear scattered traps.
Essential prep to avoid interference on later advances.
Whatever. Traps were freebies coming with every 75-mineral knight anyway.
Kim Sung-jin focused on solidifying his base.
Anti-air defense towers built for drops hammered the airborne intruder relentlessly, but
the knights dropping at both spots sacrificed the balloons to land atop workers.
The real harassment began.
Kim Sung-jin's minimap reading was pro-gamer level.
He reacted instantly, killing the knights.
Since knights dropped right on workers' heads, battle mages' AoE swept allies too—a disaster,
but no workers died to friendly fire.
Dwarfs not directly hit by knights just lost some HP.
Overall, a gain.
He downed two balloons without major losses.
"What! When?!"
Startled, he swung to main: two knights, god knows when they sneaked in, were butchering workers wildly.
Three spots at once, not two?
Over 10 seconds ignored—main workers were patchy like balding scalp.
Dared not check the knights' kill count.
Pulled expansion forces up, hurried suppression.
How many workers for just two knights?
The gain from downing balloons turned massive loss.
But it didn't end there.
Hot air balloons held four knights; only two dropped at main.
Where were the other two?
Hit the hit spot again.
BOOM!
Five workers at 12 o'clock exploded in a flashy blast.
The balloon dropping only two at main exploited his response gap to hit 12.
But the explosion wasn't the knights.
Kim Sung-jin's defensive battle mages auto-attacked the dropped knights.
First issue: knights landed smack in clustered workers.
Second: prior harassment left 12 workers near death from splash.
Enemy knights died without a single attack... but
Allied battle mages' AoE wiped workers like dominoes.
The opponent's taunt hit as expected.
But damage was too severe to retort.
With resources this depleted, his original plan hit major snags.
Now he even worried about timing rushes.
Supreme Court policy lit the map urgently: opponent advanced forces to 12 with observatory leading.
He could block now.
But in the production war after? With crippled resource lines, a tough task.
Defend using terrain somehow.
Sent main to 12, securing ideal defensive line.
Lifted Basic Troop Training Facility for battle mage vision to attack from afar.
No observatory like opponent, so buildings as substitute.
Skirmish began.
Mana shields from observatory buffed knights charged 12 entrance.
Battle mages drew circles, hurling fireballs.
Headset-shaking blasts and screams.
Pop counts plummeted, units dying en masse.
And the result...
"Phew... Barely held."
All-in focus on the fight.
Needed at least 1.3 exchange ratio to block follow-ups—micromanaged finer than anytime this game.
Over a minute battle ended in defensive success.
One more such exchange, and he could replace workers, recover income.
With breathing room, Kim Sung-jin glanced at chat, eyes narrowed.
That skirmish was top-tier even by his standards—wanted reactions.
But chat was unexpectedly grim.
Chills down his spine.
Sensing something off, he glanced minimap with dread.
Expansion. Empty after pulling main: red enemy dots.
Pop still dropping post-skirmish.
Trembling, screen to expansion.
"Ah..."
Four knights, each with 6 kills, stood proudly.
Mid-skirmish, drop hit his expansion.
Of course he won the fight.
Kim Sung-jin focused one screen; opponent multitasked two.
Main resources dwindling.
Expansion razed, mining halted.
Only 12 left for Kim Sung-jin; opponent mined two spots simultaneously.
Simple math: 2x gap.
No way to block next attack.
Game over in defeat.
Now he realized.
The opponent wasn't some average amateur.
Only one guess fit.
High chance it was a coworker sniping him incognito.