Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 145

—————
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 1 Episode 145
50. Reina’s Reason (2)
Today’s game had a substantial sum riding on it. The reward for clearing the three-star mission alone was 1.25 million won, and I’d received sponsorships for Ril thanks to the appearance of a big spender.
‘I never expected Story Mode to become this popular.’
Was it the curiosity surrounding Reina’s unrevealed three-star clear? Usually, games with stories struggle with both sponsorships and viewership, but today’s broadcast was thriving quite well.
Today’s stream was performing exceptionally.
[Current Viewers: 9,000]
The viewer count had climbed close to ten thousand.
This many viewers during morning hours was highly encouraging.
Sanghyeon was quite satisfied.
‘People really do recognize your efforts when you work hard.’
Starting the broadcast early in the morning and planning to practice Ril had paid off well. At least, that’s what I thought, unaware of what Juhyeok had been doing in the community.
‘Three-star clear. Let me focus on just that.’
The broadcast was already a success.
I decided to concentrate solely on the gameplay.
[Story Mode]
[Continue?]

* * *
The ruins of the second watchtower came into view again.
‘We pushed through to the second watchtower.’
If we’d pushed to the second watchtower, then only two towers remained before the Sanctum.
Crackle… crackle…
Warmth radiating alongside the sound of the campfire.
I was at the Base Camp set up nearby. Several children were warming themselves here.
Blue Team’s minions.
Most of them sat trembling, either from cold or the terror of war, but Reina moved about busily.
She threw more firewood onto the campfire where the youngest minions gathered, draped blankets over them, and whispered something into their ears. At this distance, I couldn’t hear what she said.
Almond thought about it. Something was strange about her, even seeing her again.
‘She really cares deeply for the minions.’
And I recalled.
What Reina had said when Story Mode began.
“I have a reason for coming to hate things like that.”
What could she mean?
‘That’ referred to possessing Reina and using her for ridiculous purposes. But this memory had no connection whatsoever to such playful antics.
‘Let me think about this more.’
If I had to find a connection, there could be one. Perhaps life as a minion was far removed from respect.
They were beings used like slaves and then discarded.
Did Reina hate the feeling of being ‘used and thrown away’ because of memories from that time?
‘Is this related to it?’
I felt that Almond had considerable potential.
Even if I switched perspectives, if I had lived such a life, I could understand being sensitive to such matters. Absolutely.
He muttered to himself, wondering if this might be the answer.
As if speaking to the game system itself.
“Is the minion’s life Reina’s reason?”
By common sense, there’s no way a three-star clear would happen like this, but my game knowledge falls short of common sense.
I was simply trying whatever came to mind.
[Unfortunately, it is not. However, there is a connection.]
Surprisingly, an answer came back.
Of course, it was a miss.
Hahaha, this guy is trying to get away with doing nothing.
“How would that even work? lol”
No, I’m more surprised that I even got a response? lol
-Wow is this the audacity of a newbie or something? Better than armament haki lol
-Such fresh originality no one thought of!
-So that’s why they say newbies always have that audacity.
Since I failed, mockery naturally came pouring in. However, I didn’t view this as a failure.
‘There’s a connection?’
I had obtained information I would never have known if I’d stayed quiet. The minion’s life wasn’t the answer, but there was a connection. And I’d also learned that if I asked questions this way, the system would sometimes respond.
[Time passes.]
Suddenly time had advanced.
“Huh?”
What unfolded before my eyes next were our allied minions preparing for an advance.
“Did we skip the assembly scene this time?”
-Seems like they skipped it because it got boring
-Maybe there’s a reason?
Just ask the system like you did before lol
-Hahaha, ask with your hands up
The viewers joked about raising my hand and asking, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time for that.
“Front line!! What are you doing!! Move!!”
Thud!
Someone shoved me hard from behind while I was momentarily dazed.
When I came to my senses, my colleagues were all rushing forward.
‘Ah, was I in the front line again?’
I hurriedly began running. I could see Reina’s blonde hair in the distance.
‘I’ll have to fight alongside Reina again this time.’
Fighting next to Reina would be disadvantageous for survival, but after fighting a few times, I’d grown accustomed to it.
Survival was no longer difficult. Rather, even moving to the front line, continuously observing Reina seemed to be the crucial point of this game.
“Reina!”
“Almond? Why are you so late?”
Young Reina grumbled, but her tone had grown considerably warmer compared to when we first met.
-Even young Reina…
-Hey, hey, it’s about archery skills, not looks?
Hahaha
-This is adult Reina’s scheming. There’s no way young Reina would actually like Almond!
Almond didn’t even get a chance to explain why he was late.
“A, a Contractor!”
A Contractor.
The enemy’s Contractor had arrived.
‘Insane.’
Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d encountered an enemy Contractor so quickly. And without any allied Contractor at that.
‘For minions, this must be an everyday situation.’
I’d simply been lucky so far.
Minions were exposed to this kind of danger at any moment.
The enemy Contractor was possessed by an assassin-class avatar. As Almond, who didn’t know Ril well, it was difficult even to guess who they were, and there was no point in trying.
Boom!
The Contractor’s form vanished in an instant along with the shadows.
“!”
Sensing an ominous presence, I rolled my body away.
Shhhhwaaaak──!
Sure enough, crimson blood mist scattered in all directions.
‘What?’
I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
A speed my eyes could barely follow. This was the power of Contractors as seen from a minion’s perspective.
After the black mist swept past once.
What I saw were just round heads rolling across the ground.
The heads of minions.
One of them spoke to me.
“A, Almond…”
“Theo? Damn…!”
A curse escaped my lips. For a moment, I almost forgot this was a game.
“I… I came to the front line… to become like you…”
The child who had spoken to me first after Reina, who had cheered my name.
Oh my god, seriously? ㅠㅠㅠ
Teo, nooooo! T_T
I’m sorry, noona ㅠㅠ
-Whoa this development is crazy.
-Where’s Reina?
Reina was nowhere to be seen.
‘Reina? Now that I think about it, where is she?’
I came to my senses and surveyed my surroundings.
‘Where is she?’
No matter where I looked, Reina was nowhere to be found. And she wasn’t the only one missing.
The archer minion beside me was gone too. In the blink of an eye, all the archer minions’ heads had been severed. Seven or eight children had been killed in a single strike.
This was what happened when minions faced a Contractor.
Whoosh—!
A black shadow had merely swept past once.
The shield-bearing minions in front were instantly torn apart, their armor shattered in half.
“Gack…!”
“Ugh!”
The minions couldn’t even think of counterattacking the Contractor. Only my gaze remained fixed on the Contractor.
A wavering shadow.
In my eyes as I stared at it, a hint of anger flickered.
I drew the bowstring as if entranced.
Of course, I was aiming at the opposing Contractor.
“Dodge, dodge! Almond!”
“What are you doing!?”
The moment I aimed at a Contractor instead of a minion, even the allied minions far away cried out.
“There are still enemy minions left! If you shoot the Contractor first, what—”
They were shouting as if it were some great rule, but it didn’t reach me.
Before I could even respond, my hand had already released the string.
Twang!
The arrow flew straight.
Immediately, blue flames bloomed on the Contractor’s head.
Boom!
A direct hit.
“You idiot! Contractors receive ‘Divine Protection’ so our attacks barely affect them!”
Reina’s voice finally reached me.
She was covered in mud from head to toe, as if she’d been rolling around somewhere.
“Hurry—”
She seemed to be telling me to run, but my arrows had other ideas.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I fired relentlessly at the Contractor.
Shadows bloomed again around the Contractor’s form. He seemed able to move to wherever the shadows appeared.
Shhhhwooosh…!
The form that reappeared was now behind Reina and me.
He wielded a black phantom-like sword and swung it down.
Whoosh!
But I was no longer there. I had already rolled forward. I had sensed he would emerge from behind.
My arrows never stopped.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three arrows flew as I rolled forward.
The Contractor dove back into shadow to pursue me, but the same thing happened again.
I had been measured at the world’s highest level of evasion. Even in this minion’s body, that ability remained intact.
No matter how much he pursued, only the Contractor took hits.
After repeating this about three or four times.
Thud.
The Contractor staggered backward.
“…I-impossible.”
A minion forcing the Contractor to retreat? Reina’s jaw dropped.
The Contractor was like a sun that minions could scarcely dare to gaze upon.
Yet I was now aiming at that sun without the slightest wavering.
I simply nocked arrows the same way, as if hunting wild beasts.
Those arrows flew toward the Contractor just as they did toward minions.
Whoosh-bang!
The Contractor took my barrage of arrows and staggered backward once more.
Evade every attack, land every shot—that’s how you win.
This was gameplay that pushed that simple principle to absurdly extreme limits.
-Dude, that’s insane
-You’re not supposed to do it like this though?
-Sir you’re gonna trigger a bug lmaooo
-Physical stats actually broken lol
-If this was our minion I’d already be Challenger~~
-Ah lmao Blue team’s definitely cheating right?! lmaooo
But ultimately, I was still just a minion.
‘I’m out….’
No mana left, no arrows left.
The Contractor saw his chance and charged. A black shadow swung with terrifying force.
I had no choice but to flee.
That was when it happened.
“Whoa! Well, well! Aren’t you that guy from back then!?”
Clang!
A resounding voice echoed from behind, deflecting the enemy Contractor’s attack.
It was our ally Contractor—Bart of the Iron Fortress.
[Time passes.]
The scene shifted in that instant.

* * *
‘What is this?’
It was my first time experiencing a scene transition during combat.
I wasn’t anywhere near the campfire now.
I was hidden in the dense thicket, eavesdropping on their conversation.
“That bastard cornered the Contractor.”
It was Bart’s voice.
“Hmm… This is a dangerous irregularity.”
The Contractor wielding a bow—Yuria.
It seemed all the other Contractors had gathered there as well.
“Impressive, but unnaturally so. Even more than Reina.”
“Reina’s already putting in so much effort with ‘memory management.’ And now another one like this….”
I had delivered a performance worthy of leading the Blue Team to victory today.
Yet the Contractors seemed to dislike it. Was that a normal reaction?
Did I somehow displease them?
Even so, it was strange.
On a battlefield where lives are at stake, they dislike an enemy who performs well?
-??!?
-What is this
-Chills
-My head’s spinning fr
-What? What?
The viewers seemed to share my confusion, expressing their surprise.
And I realized one fact that should have been so obvious.
‘They’re not… risking their lives. They’re not.’
Only the minions risked their lives in battle. The Contractors did not.
And one more thing.
‘Wait. Where am I?’
I checked my surroundings again.
It was a dense forest, but the clearing where the Contractors gathered was open ground.
A familiar clearing.
‘The Crematorium.’
It was where the minions always came to incinerate corpses after battle ended.
“Anyway, let’s call it here for today and observe more tomorrow.”
Yuria concluded the conversation and activated something at the Crematorium.
Whoooosh…!
Bright light blazed forth. I naturally assumed the corpses would be burned.
But that wasn’t what happened.
“!”
The corpses were transported somewhere else.
As the corpse vanished, I could see what had been emanating light from the ground—it wasn’t a raging fire, but a magic circle.
The magic circle blazed with brilliant light once more, and this time corpses materialized anew. Most wore crimson garments, appearing to be casualties from the Red Team.
And…
‘What in the world?’
The corpses began rising to their feet and walking forward.
No—they weren’t corpses at all.
Though their eyes held no light, they were alive.
They changed their garments at the Contractor’s command, shifting from crimson to azure.
Thus, quite effortlessly, they became Blue Team minions.

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