Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 148

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Genius Archer’s Streaming Season 1 Episode 148
51. Contractor Hunt (1)
“You… No, we need to kill the Contractor.”
Reina spoke the words with a grave expression.
-Wait, kill a Contractor?
-Is that even possible?
-This is even harder than Emilia lol
-No lol how do we even kill them?
-Trembling trembling can we actually clear this mission?
The viewers were outraged at the difficulty of clearing Story Mode.
Though she said “we,” the flow naturally meant I had to be the one to kill them.
I couldn’t deny that I was momentarily at a loss for words.
‘Kill a Contractor…?’
A Contractor.
In truth, to a Minion, they were practically divine beings.
Minions were creatures whose physical abilities didn’t deviate much from humans, while Contractors wielded power that defied the world’s natural laws.
Blessed by the Avatar’s protection, they were difficult to kill even if struck fatally multiple times.
Meanwhile, Minions would fall into critical condition from merely grazing a Contractor’s attack. And that was if they were lucky. Usually, they’d die instantly in the blink of an eye.
The difference between humans and soldier ants.
Reina was proposing that a soldier ant kill a human.
“Yes.”
The soldier ant Almond nodded.
With my jaw, I would kill a human.
Reina’s eyes widened, then curved into crescents as she smiled brightly.
“Okay. Let’s try it.”
She extended her hand. It was an invitation to shake hands.
-You’ve been holding hands since earlier, why shake hands again lol
-Please stop the romance…
-“Please stop.”
-Do they get sick and die if they don’t hold hands?
My hand grasped hers.
Then Reina spoke.
“I’m Reina Lucent.”
Reina Lucent.
Lucent was probably her family name.
Accordingly, I should have shared my family name as well. But I naturally had no family name.
“I… don’t… remember.”
“I see.”
Reina didn’t seem to mind. Having no memories was common in this world.
“Tomorrow I’ll make another map and give it to you. Let’s meet here again.”
“But—”
“?”
“How did you draw this map? You only have….”
The words—you only have a few days’ worth of memories—never made it past my lips.
“Oh. I didn’t draw all of this myself.”
“What?”
“Most of it was already drawn. I just found it and finished it.”
Found it? Something like that?
I turned the map over in my hands, finding it strange.
On the back, there was small writing in an odd cursive script.
‘D, or maybe, Dr…? Hmm…’
It looked like letters of the alphabet, but the handwriting was so terrible and the paper so torn that I couldn’t make out what it meant.
I decided to accept it as a convenient game mechanic.
With that, we emerged from the thicket and cleared the battlefield.
[Time passes.]
The scene jumped to the next day in an instant.
Ding.
[Reina’s Map]
Reina’s map appeared, and a minimap was generated in the corner to the right. Just like when we played multiplayer for the Ril siege.
Reina stood before me.
“Listen carefully to what I say. If we fail even once, it’s over.”
She tapped the map somewhere and began her explanation.
“This is where we are right now.”
She continued passionately, explaining how to escape without being detected, where to reclaim our weapons, and….
“The Contractor is….”
How to kill the Contractor.
“Here.”
Her index finger trembled as it pointed to a location on the map. Even just pointing seemed to make her tense.
“From here on, you really need to listen carefully.”

* * *
Once the briefing concluded.
The operation commenced.
Almond and Reina, along with several minions she had gathered, assembled at a single location under the cover of darkness.
Mott, Holly, Jay, and others….
They were the children commonly referred to as Reina’s squad.
Moreover, Tom, Theo, Julia… even those who had switched from the Red Team back to the Blue Team yesterday were present.
Though they possessed no memories, precisely because of this, they harbored no vague terror of the Contractor.
It had been easy to convince them that they must escape this place.
All of them were already eager for the escape.
“Just follow my lead closely. Don’t forget to stay quiet.”
“Got it.”
“You all remember the operation briefing, right?”
“Yeah. We went over it again and again.”
For me, it had taken only about two explanations, but these minions seemed to have heard it repeatedly.
“Right. There’s a much better world waiting for us outside.”
A much better world….
Perhaps that might not be true. Yet I said nothing.
Rather, I could not.
I could not bring myself to utter such words—that hell itself might await us beyond these walls.
“Really? Almond?”
One of the minions grasped my collar and asked.
It was ‘Mott’, the one who followed me with particular devotion. He stubbornly insisted on using only a bow as his weapon.
“Yeah. Of course.”
I answered with a smile, and he smiled back in return.
“Then, let’s go.”

* * *
A dark night.
I could barely see even a foot ahead.
Of all times, it had to be a crescent moon. This place had three moons, yet not a single one shone brightly enough.
“Why is it so dark?”
A Soldier guarding the Armory yawned as he spoke. Already drowsy, the warmth radiating from the torch beside him and its crackling sounds tickled his ears, and sleep came pouring in.
“Why don’t you get some rest?”
“Hmm….”
At the Junior Soldier’s suggestion, he pretended to give in and leaned his back against the Wall for a moment.
“Should I?”
His bow was cumbersome to lean against, so he set it aside and closed his eyes.
That was his mistake.
With that action, he became Almond’s first target.
Rustle.
The Thicket below stirred, but the Junior Soldier standing beside him was too busy counting the constellations above to notice properly.
The Minion’s small size helped too.
Slide.
Almond drew the Senior Soldier’s small dagger from where he lay.
“Wha…?”
The Senior Soldier’s eyes opened to the glimmering moonlight. His vision spun upside down in an instant.
Slash!
In the inverted world, red rain was falling, and he saw the legs of a boy looking down at him.
Drip, drip….
He realized the red rain was blood spurting from his own neck and tried to scream, but.
“…! …!”
Only air whistled through his vocal cords. Only a pathetic wind sound escaped.
His scream came from the Junior Soldier’s mouth instead.
“Wha… Ugh!”
Thrust!
Almond’s dagger pierced upward through his gaping jaw.
The blade shattered his lower jaw, skewered his tongue, and pierced through to the roof of his mouth.
“Gack…! Ughhhhhh…!”
The Soldier staggered backward in a panic. His eyes wide with rage and pain, he brought his sword down toward Almond.
Almond angled his dagger diagonally. The blade smoothly deflected the strike.
Clang, clang, clang…!
The deflection succeeded, but the blade trembled from the difference in strength. The Soldier, confident in his victory, raised his sword again.
“Graaahhh…!”
Clang! Clang!
With each exchange of blows, the disadvantage fell on Almond.
Then, Almond kicked the Senior Soldier’s longsword between the Soldier’s legs and sent it flying.
Click.
The one who seized the longsword wedged between the legs was Reina, bursting from the thicket behind.
“Wh—?!”
The moment the Junior Soldier noticed her presence, his neck twisted backward.
Reina’s blue eyes stretched wide to the left.
Golden hair whipped through the air as a brilliant blade of moonlight flashed free from its sheath in an instant.
The spinning slash tore through the Junior Soldier’s upper body.
Shhhhk—!
Though the Minion’s power was weak, the added rotational force cleaved cleanly through the opponent’s flesh.
The upper half slid slowly downward, landing with a wet thud and creating a pool of blood that stained the thicket crimson.
-Are they really doing team play together?
-Number 1 team project students want according to Forbes
-Group assignment hope edition
That’s so cool and awesome ㅠㅠ
-Almond’s sword skills are solid too
-Reina’s seriously got style wow
I just want to rewatch this scene with Reina ㅠㅠ
The viewers, and even the Minions themselves, were astonished by how perfectly synchronized their movements were.
“Gasp.”
“This… this can’t be.”
“Wh… what?”
The Minions covered each other’s mouths, staring at the two Soldiers’ corpses that had fallen in an instant.
Exhale…
Both Reina and I simply breathed out softly. Neither of us offered any particular commentary.
Reina raised the longsword high and brought it down on the lock.
Crash!!
With the strike infused with blue mana, the Armory’s lock shattered.
“Here. Grab the weapons one by one.”

* * *
Reina and I filled the quiver to the brim with arrows. That wasn’t enough—we each slung a short sword and longsword across our backs as well. Arrows had a way of running out eventually.
‘I hope we never reach that point….’
Neither Reina nor I wanted to imagine such a scenario, but this wasn’t a matter of preference.
I tried to pack even the smallest throwing stars I could find.
Reina checked them one by one.
First, the most critical items.
“The restraint crossbow?”
“Got it.”
The Minions answered in unison.
“Good. What about the throwing stars?”
“Got it.”
After confirming only the most essential items for the operation.
Reina left the Warehouse.
“We can’t afford to waste time. Even if the Soldiers are incompetent, they still follow basic patrol protocols.”
Reina had memorized the Soldiers’ patrol routes. She’d been preparing meticulously all this time.
Reina unfolded a map and pointed from one location to another. Then she gauged the time by observing the stars and moon hanging in the sky.
“At this hour, this sector is under patrol. The area with the fewest guards is here.”
Her finger traced across the map as she spoke.
I didn’t grasp it all at once, but fortunately her route appeared on the minimap.
“Let’s go.”
Reina, myself, and the Minions carefully closed the Armory again and set out.

* * *
How much time had passed?
I felt as though I’d been moving for a solid thirty minutes in real time.
Thirty minutes of movement was nothing in itself, but darting about and hiding with the constant dread of being discovered drained my stamina far more than I’d anticipated.
‘I’m starting to feel the strain.’
It was around this thought that I arrived.
After evading countless patrol routes, crawling, sprinting, and scaling branches, I’d finally reached this place.
‘Is that it?’
In the distance, barely visible but unmistakable, two massive torches flickered. They resembled a door somehow….
-Wait, is that it?
-Ohhh it’s a door!
Come on minions, please hang in there ㅠㅠ
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly and waited for Reina’s next instruction.
“There’s a Contractor outside the door. One of them always guards the Battlefield’s entrance without fail.”
The most crucial location was indeed guarded not by ordinary Soldiers, but by a Contractor.
“R-Reina… C-can we really do this?”
“If we turn back now….”
“Haa… haa. I’m… struggling.”
The small Minions were faltering.
“Be quiet, you fools. Reina’s come this far for us.”
Mott stepped forward and rebuked them.
“Just hold on a little longer.”
Holly, a Minion who seemed somewhat more mature, also massaged the struggling children’s shoulders to comfort them.
Reina gazed at them quietly for a moment, then turned her gaze toward me.
“Almond.”
“?”
“…Beyond this, I’ve never been before.”
Reina grasped my hand tightly.
“It might be the last time.”
Her blue eyes sparkled more intensely than usual.
Like the tranquil sea of a resort.
“That’s why I wanted to tell you now.”
That sea drew closer and closer. If I fell into those deep waters, I might not be able to swim back out, yet no one could refuse it.
Everyone would want to know what lay beneath that glimmering surface.
“I won’t forget.”
Reina’s lips covered mine.
Some sound echoed through my mind. I didn’t know what it was yet.
The rich, moist, and warm sensation paused my thoughts for a moment.
If her eyes were a blue sea, her lips were like a warm sun.
Yet the promise it made was….
“Even if my memories fade, I won’t forget.”
A contradictory promise from the very start—one that could never be kept.
I wanted to say something in response to Reina.
“Oh my, how bashful. Why not mix our bodies together while we’re at it?”
A blinding white flash streaked past from behind.
──BOOM!
My entire vision erupted into white in an instant.
Screams echoed from all directions.
Eeeeeee──
A piercing tinnitus filled my ears, drowning out even the cries.
My entire body burned as if engulfed in flames.
I rolled desperately toward some unknown direction to escape.
Eeeee…
As the ringing subsided, my vision gradually returned.
“Ah, Almond….”
The first thing I saw was the head of the Minion ‘Mott’, pierced clean through by a massive arrow.
“Run… Julia… get away….”

* * *
[Beginner Tip: Minions do not attack Contractors first. Enemy Minions and Watchtowers take priority. Minions only attack Contractors when there are no other targets to attack, or when an enemy Contractor attacks a friendly Contractor.]

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