Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 1174

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 5 Episode 59
19. Popcorn’s Gambit (3)
“It’s been a while?”
Popcorn greeted Almond.
“…?”
Almond tilted his head in confusion.
‘What is this.’
I genuinely couldn’t remember.
‘Who was that again?’
-He seems to have no idea lol
-Almond doesn’t know. Just doesn’t know
-lololol
-But he’s so busy he probably wouldn’t remember lol
-Popcorn’s getting embarrassed lol
“….”
After all, there was no nickname floating above their face.
After checking the kill log, Almond finally understood.
[Popcorn → Balloon Gum]
“Popcorn!?”
It was Popcorn.
“Aha… you do remember!”
Popcorn, knowing what kind of person Almond was, seemed grateful just to be remembered.
“I never thought I’d end up in the same queue as you—”
Whoosh!
Almond’s dagger flew at him immediately.
“Whoa!”
Clang!
The Giant Machine beside him deflected the blade.
“Tsk. How dare you interrupt when the boss is speaking?”
When the slash didn’t connect, Almond summoned it again with shadow swordsmanship.
-lol what’s this concept
-What’s going on lol
-lololol
“Boss, I’ll handle this.”
“Stay put.”
“Yes.”
Popcorn looked back at Almond.
“You’re in quite a hurry.”
Popcorn laughed cheerfully.
Looking at the members beside him, it made sense that he’d be in a rush.
Popcorn also knew about the Civil Empire, so he knew who Bontovi was.
Wasn’t he the Balloon Gum of Civil M?
And now there’s the real Balloon Gum too.
‘What is this. I’m starting to feel bad about winning.’
Popcorn scratched his head.
‘Should I just lose?’
He glanced toward Almond.
There was no way a proper match could happen with the team in this state.
It would be more fun to just throw the game.
He was the same way during matches.
A player with the cunning to concede unimportant parts while seizing what truly mattered.
Winning in practice matches only revealed your full strength.
However, when Popcorn’s eyes met Almond’s, the corners of his mouth fell.
‘….’
That thought vanished entirely.
Almond’s eyes were far too sincere.
‘Are you really going to try?’
The viewers thought it was all because of the mission. Because he wanted to rank higher than Lemon. That’s what they all believed.
But from Popcorn’s perspective, there didn’t need to be so many reasons.
This was a simpler matter than they thought.
The world of competitors.
They were communicating in that language.
He was a creature that lived in that world.
The moment their eyes met, all negotiations were already over.
‘So you want to go for it.’
Sparks flew.
Crack!
[Blink]
Almond appeared instantly on Popcorn’s flank.
Grrrrr!
[Wolf Form]
Popcorn immediately transformed from human form into a wolf and dashed to the side.
Thud-thud-thud!
Popcorn instead approached Almond’s team formation.
Popcorn’s tank checked Almond while the ADCs aimed their guns at him.
“Almond’s exposed!”
“Kill him!”
It might look like Almond had truly overextended.
‘But no.’
He was going to pull back.
It’s a fake.
“Fake! Poking into enemy territory!”
Popcorn’s order.
The teammates simultaneously switched their targeting.
Then—
Crack!
[Blink]
Just as expected, Almond drew their attention for a moment before retreating back to his own formation.
‘I left my sword behind. They can all see it.’
Boom!
Popcorn’s ranged dealers unleashed their barrage.
Almond was in danger of being hit.
Letmi shouted.
“Bontovi!”
Crash!
Bontovi’s shield appeared and blocked the projectiles.
“Taaang~!”
-Wow
That’s insane/crazy.
-Crazy
Given the enemy team’s dual avatar composition, the situation favored Letmi if she could close in.
‘Good. If I just get close, we have a chance.’
Letmi dashed forward immediately, scattering nails.
Whoosh!
The nails completely covered the Giant Machine.
Growl!
Then Popcorn, in wolf form, charged in and tackled Letmi.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
Letmi was pushed back and knocked down momentarily.
[Bomb Drop]
“Die!”
A barrage of bombs from Paprika rained down on Popcorn.
[Falcon Form]
Whoosh!
But Popcorn quickly took flight again into the sky.
lol
-Wow damn
-Insane
-Really fast
-PopLuid is seriously insane lol
His objective from the start was to stop Letmi.
‘The key is whether the Mace Paladin can get close.’
He’s reading this situation exactly the same way.
The Mace Paladin lacks mobility among tanks, but he’s an avatar who can set up an incredibly advantageous board for his allies once he closes in.
Preventing that approach is Popcorn’s team’s winning condition.
That’s why he only knocked down Letmi and greedily pushed upward without overcommitting.
But then─
Flash!
“!?”
A brilliant silhouette appears descending from the sky.
Whirrrr!
Someone is spiraling downward.
“!”
Almond.
Our eyes met.
‘What is this? Did he predict it?’
How could he appear from there without throwing his blade beforehand?
‘I need to dodge.’
In falcon form, Popcorn tried to change direction, but─
‘I can’t.’
Directional changes weren’t easy during the initial descent.
Taking a hit in falcon form would multiply the damage several times over.
Just as the danger became apparent─
Flash!
A red light shoots from afar.
〔I shall fulfill the contract sealed in blood.〕
Popcorn’s team ADC, Ran.
His Ascension ability activated.
Boom!
It fired toward Almond.
Covering fire to protect Popcorn.
However─
Crack!
He’d already vanished.
-3cm blink lol
-And he pulled this off
-Crazy
-Insane
He appeared right beside Popcorn.
If anything, we had drawn even closer.
‘Does the remaining Blink belong to me?’
A sword infused with rotational force descended, blooming with blue sword energy.
Whoosh!
[Sword Energy]
[Rotating Strike]
The blue trajectory reflected in Popcorn’s wide-open eyes.
Popcorn’s falcon still couldn’t manage proper wing beats.
It wasn’t easy to change direction.
Descend again? Form transformation? Or just take the hit and counterattack?
It was ambiguous what to do.
Meanwhile, the enemy’s sword strike and two consecutive Blinks were a judgment filled with incredible conviction.
‘This is….’
Popcorn was dumbfounded.
No matter how I looked at it, this was that.
‘Does this bastard know?’
He knew about Popcorn’s Druid.
This wasn’t just any random attack.
‘Why?’

* * *
The muttering of the woman in the wheelchair.
“They’re saying they’ll go together. Just leaving me out.”
It was after hearing these words.
Sanghyeon realized that the four people Paprika had prepared were Jeon-ja-pa’s former teammates.
Except for the ADC, they were all planning to retire from professional play and pursue careers as streamers, coaches, or directors.
Before that, they decided to participate in the tournament as an event to boost their recognition again.
It was Paprika’s ambitious project.
From then on, Sanghyeon always sat in front of a computer, or lay down searching on his phone.
[Cosmic Best Play]
“…What are you doing? Spacing out.”
“Oh, no. Just. Ah, the hangover….”
Juhyeok found it strange that Sanghyeon just lay quietly on the bed, staring at his phone.
Even though he wasn’t particularly talkative, being a former athlete, he was usually active with his body.
Lying around like that was a bit odd.
‘How much did he drink.’
Sanghyeon turned back and searched for something else.
Opening several videos, I took them in with my eyes.
[Banana Jungle Route Analysis]
Banana’s jungle, which anchored the team’s center alongside the mid-laner.
[North American Finals Cosmic Quadrakill]
Cosmic’s teamfight prowess putting the final nail in the coffin.
[Popcorn’s Primary Avatar Druid Analysis]
The top laner Popcorn’s Druid, forcibly opening that teamfight and sometimes even closing it on his own terms.
Among all of it, this one stood out the most.
‘An avatar like this existed?’
Druid wasn’t an avatar that saw much use during the Nant match.
Through repeated patches in Ril, which avatars performed well and which didn’t kept changing, and the ‘meta’ shifted based on players’ analysis and counter strategies.
To explain meta simply, it’s one major trend.
It could be an operational method, a combat style, or even a ban-pick strategy.
Ultimately, what meta accomplishes is one thing.
‘The path to victory.’
Every plan aimed at winning.
When multiple teams begin recognizing this identically, it becomes ‘meta.’
At that time, the meta wasn’t favorable to Druid.
However, much time has passed now, Hammer Warrior became Mace Paladin, and numerous patches have been applied.
Moreover, it’s not siege warfare—it’s survival mode.
I heard it’s a mode where the pilot’s proficiency in handling avatars becomes far more important.
‘Then the probability of using Druid….’
Upon checking, Druid’s current avatar evaluation wasn’t that low.
-Masters can definitely pull it off
-When masters pick it, it’s way too strong lol
Isn’t this just a poorly made incarnation? lol
-When Bronze picks it, it’s a transformation bug, but when Challenger picks it, suddenly it’s a Transformer lol
Sanghyeon watches the video while taking notes on his phone.
‘From wolf… when danger strikes, to bird….’
In the video, Popcorn transforms into a wolf and pounces on his opponent.
An extremely risky play that dives deep into enemy territory, but.
[Falcon Form]
Whoosh!
The moment he transforms into a falcon, utilizing the brief invincibility window, he instantly sheds aggro.
But that’s not all. His aerial control is exceptional, allowing him to evade all enemy ranged attacks even in falcon form.
Here, Sanghyeon had a thought.
‘The projectiles come from so far away. It looks like he’s seeing and dodging them.’
In falcon form, not only is he swift, but his vision also improves significantly. In other words, his field of view expands.
Popcorn leverages that.
When intercepting the airborne state, only ranged attacks are effective, so that’s all that comes flying.
Yet he dodges them so smoothly.
‘Is it really okay to be this good?’
From Sanghyeon’s perspective, the falcon form’s risk hedging was far too easy.
Why hadn’t a Cosmic with such gameplay capabilities appeared until now?
The answer lay in Falcon’s form, as expected.
Reading its characteristics in detail.
‘…All damage counts as double? Critical hit probability also increases twofold?’
Falcon’s form easily escapes from enemies while airborne, but the moment it gets hit, it becomes tremendously disadvantageous.
If an ADC happened to strike a vital point, nearly half or more of its health would vanish.
‘But Popcorn dodges it all.’
Popcorn evades the barrage by sight.
This is where the gap in skill between different pilots widens.
Of course, there are considerable differences in Wolf form, Bear, Turtle, and so on.
‘It’s a strength, but at the same time, this is actually a weakness….’
Falcon seemed like a weakness.
He rewound the footage again.
[Rewind]
In the video, Popcorn in Wolf form pounces on an enemy, then immediately takes flight as Falcon.
‘I see it.’
After rewinding several times, it finally became visible.

* * *
Popcorn becomes Falcon and takes flight.
‘Now.’
A thread-thin gap that emerges even from perfect mastery.
Toward that opening, I throw my sword and blink.
Crack!
[Blink]
Almond’s shadow falls over the ascending Popcorn.
And there was support from Popcorn’s team.
Ran’s long-range barrage.
Ran’s barrage has a knockback effect on impact, making it lethal in the air.
And it flies directly toward Almond.
Crack!
[Blink]
As if I’d anticipated it, I slip past and blink using the sword I’d dropped.
Boom…!
Ran’s barrage detonates in empty air.
Almond positions myself beneath the Falcon’s belly.
I spin my body and draw my blade force.
[Spinning Strike]
[Blade Force]
‘Damn.’
Popcorn’s eyes widen in shock.
He flaps his wings.
Flap, flap!
The falcon’s trajectory shifts slightly.
‘It won’t reach—’
But the momentum is too strong.
Almond knows this.
‘It will hit!’
—Craaaaaaash!

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————