Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 188

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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 188
64. New Challenger (2)
Taco had never believed for a moment that he’d come to DisWorld without any ulterior motive.
Suddenly appearing in the game and exchanging pleasantries with that sly grin—it all made sense now.
‘So that was his real purpose.’
Danmuji definitely wanted something.
“Balloon Stars, your matches ended pretty quickly, didn’t they? If you’re disappointed, would you like to play a practice game with us?”
Taco paused to consider.
‘Maybe this is actually fortunate.’
With our current roster, we absolutely cannot defeat High Protein.
‘This could be an opportunity to fill in Almond’s weak points….’
Danmuji’s sudden approach was unsettling, but it was undeniably a good opportunity.
Taco turned to Almond and asked.
“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
After accepting the proposal, Taco spoke quietly to Almond separately.
“This game will be educational. You’ll probably learn a lot, so don’t get too fixated on winning.”
“Understood.”
Both Almond, who answered, and Taco, who made the request, knew in their hearts that this would be difficult.
Don’t obsess over winning? That’s asking the impossible from people with professional blood running through their veins.
But they knew it anyway, simply reminding themselves as a matter of principle.

* * *
A practice game that came together suddenly, literally out of nowhere.
Because of that, the ban and pick phase ended in a flash.
It proceeded in a predictable fashion, with one notable exception: there were no bans against Almond whatsoever.
-Is Reina going?!?
-Wow, Almond’s ban is open again?
-This is straight-up provocation lol let’s go Reina divine punishment!
The viewers seemed to want Reina.
But Almond picked Ran instead.
[Pure White Sniper – Ran]
Ran was bewildered, wondering why he kept getting selected, but Almond had limited options.
Currently, Ran was the only ADC he could play comfortably with one hand.
Poison Dart Bunny was another candidate, but the enemy had conveniently banned him to counter Strawberry Shooter.
‘They left my ban open but banned everyone else’s.’
It was a situation that stung his pride a little.
Almond’s eyes met Danmuji’s across the arena. The playful-looking young man grinned wickedly.
Taco had said he came to assess Almond’s full capabilities. It seemed to be true.
‘He’s aware of me.’
He’d been staring this whole time.
I’d experienced this before. Back when Almond was rising as the most promising prospect, whenever we held team archery competitions, there was always this kind of interference.
Staring constantly, or breathing right next to me….
Given archery’s nature where mental fortitude accounts for over eighty percent, even minor irritations are enough to constitute effective interference.
‘Such a pointless tactic….’
Yet Almond ultimately became the youngest to claim gold at the National Championships.
That meant such interference barely affected him. Or perhaps, even if his performance was diminished by such tactics, he remained overwhelmingly dominant.
[Game starts in 10 seconds.]
The signal announcing the game’s beginning appeared.
Taco quickly organized the strategy.
“The strategy’s basically the same as before. The composition is almost identical too, right?”
Miho’s Solaria, Balloon Gum’s Ironball, Strawberry’s Ppokjujok, Taco’s Fisherman, Almond’s Ran.
Except for Strawberry and Taco, the composition was identical to the previous match.
The changed avatars didn’t really affect the tactics either.
This team’s color was mid-carry.
“During combat, we’ll move primarily around Solaria. In large-scale battles, you won’t even hear my orders anyway.”
“Roger!”
“Yep!”
“Understood!”
[Game starts!]
The world turned white and blurred.
All players were summoned to the battlefield.
The High-Protein team hadn’t particularly prepared an early-game strategy like Greentea’s baiting. There were no extreme invasions.
The game started normally.
Strawberry successfully hunted the first jungle camp, and Almond and Taco arrived normally at the bottom lane.
‘The Gunner and the Light Ring….’
Almond mentally catalogued the enemy avatars once more.
The enemy’s supporter was ‘Light Ring – Reina’. She throws luminous rings, and landing one applies a slow; landing twice applies a stun.
Kuguguugu….
The sound of minions rushing forward reached my ears.
White light gathered at Almond’s left index finger.
Since Ran attacks through charging and releasing, when multiple minions swarm in, it’s difficult to secure gold by landing last-hits on each one individually.
Once I miss one, I’ll probably keep missing.
Pang.
A minion with low health falls to Ran’s attack.
[+20G]
Fortunately, the opening was strong.
I need to maintain this rhythm.
“The enemy ADC is this guy named Baeksuk. He was pretty famous among amateur ADCs back in the day.”
Taco seized this brief moment of peace to relay information to Almond.
“He took a long break from the game, so he’s competing at Platinum rating now. But honestly, if he practices again, he’s the type who could push his skills up to Grandmaster. We need to be careful.”
I’d beaten the Master, and now there was a Grand Master. Almond wore a bitter smile.
“Can you even participate like that?”
“You can. I took three years off. As long as I don’t exceed last year’s highest rank, I’m eligible.”
While we exchanged idle talk, the enemies crept closer one step at a time.
They seemed ready to initiate combat soon.
“They’re looking to trade damage. What do you want to do?”
“We should probably play safe for now. This is a mid-lane push composition after all.”
Almond answered while recalling the concepts Taco had taught him.
-Oh, Almond’s actually using his head lol
-lol Taco’s really in teaching mode
-Old Almond: Just go forward, hit everything, dodge everything.
Taco nodded with satisfaction. So he wasn’t completely ignoring the lessons after all.
“Right. We just need to scale smoothly. There’s no need to force anything from the start. As long as we don’t make any major mistakes….”
Before he could finish, news arrived.
[Danmuji has secured First Blood!]
[Danmuji → Miho]
[Our allies have fallen.]
[Goguma → Balloon Gum]
Mid and top had died simultaneously.
-This is insane lol
-Just a typical solo queue moment, no?
-Wait, wait, when did I log into solo queue?! Why is my account…!
Don’t chew bubble gum ㅠㅠ
“This changes things.”
Taco didn’t seem particularly flustered. It was expected. The skill gap was unmistakable.
“We have more to do now. Just scaling won’t be enough.”
“Do we need to get kills?”
“Yeah. We’ll need to rack up some points here.”
Taco lifted his trident and muttered.
“Ran has advantages in range and firepower, but the Supporter has much faster attack speed. Except when reloading. We can’t fight honestly. We need to hit and run.”
“Shoot from a distance and retreat?”
“Yeah. The enemy Supporter is annoying enough that we need to measure our distance carefully.”
“I see. But….”
Almond knows he needs to use Ran’s range to wear down opponents.
He knows that’s Ran’s way. Greentea had destroyed enemies like that too.
No matter how much they hid behind minions, if even a strand of hair poked out, she’d land a hit on that hitbox and eliminate them.
But….
‘I can’t find the angle.’
Was this person called Baeksuk?
This person was different from Greentea.
There wasn’t a single awkward movement, and when hiding behind minions, I perfectly concealed my entire hitbox behind them.
There was no opening to land a shot.
According to Taco, the opponent was actually Grand Master tier.
Was that why? Unlike Greentea from earlier, who didn’t even seem to understand why she was hiding behind minions, Baeksuk was definitely flawless.
Moreover, the supporter beside her was well-trained too—her rank was low, but she was remarkably annoying to deal with.
From here on, the skill level was clearly different. I could feel it distinctly.
“You can’t find an angle, right?”
Taco asked as if reading my thoughts.
I continued processing minions while answering.
“Yes. It’s different from before.”
“Why do you think?”
Why couldn’t I see an opening? The answer was obvious.
“Because she’s better?”
“Because she’s skilled?”
“No. Even the best pros have openings. There’s a different reason.”
Was there really a special reason for this?
I tilted my head in confusion.
At the same time, I observed.
While trying to target Baeksuk whenever an opportunity appeared, I kept thinking.
What was the difference between Greentea and Baeksuk?
Simply skill?
It couldn’t be. Otherwise Taco wouldn’t keep talking about it.
My gaze shifted briefly to the chat window.
-Hey student! Don’t cheat!
-Crazy lol he glanced away lol so annoying lol
-Nobody tell him!
-Mhm mhm mhm!
-Fact) Actually nobody really knows here.
I couldn’t find the answer in the chat either.
My gaze turned to the enemies ahead.
After a moment of observation.
It became clear. The difference between Baeksuk and Greentea.
Greentea always aimed her bow at me, whether hiding or running away.
But Baeksuk’s gun never once pointed in my direction.
“…She’s only playing defense?”
Baeksuk only plays defense.
“That’s the answer.”
-Ohhh!
-You fooled me! This isn’t Almond! It’s Walnut!
-Almond! You were totally a walnut today!
—Now even mind games?! Un! Sub! Da! Almond!
As I got the answer right, I realized something.
Why I couldn’t spot any openings.
‘So there really were no openings.’
There’s a difference between Master and Grand Master, but naturally the results differ between someone who wants to attack enemies and someone who focuses entirely on defense.
Right now Baeksuk was pouring all his concentration into defense alone, so naturally he had far fewer openings than Greentea.
But Taco’s instruction didn’t end there.
“Then your question should become, ‘Why are they playing so defensively?'”
“Why they’re playing… defensively?”
“Right. You need to know that to counter them. Read your opponent’s psychology. Put yourself in their shoes.”
Put myself in their shoes…
My eyes turned toward the kill score.
A pitiful score.
But pitiful is from my perspective. From Baeksuk’s perspective?
An incredibly advantageous situation.
They’re winning even without doing anything…
‘Winning without doing anything?’
Right, reading that psychology, my opponent has no reason to fight right now.
Their team is already winning anyway.
Why force unnecessary fights?
‘I see. They’re playing efficiently.’
Since I have such an aggressive playstyle, I don’t hold back even when my team is winning.
But Goguma plays professionally with thorough teamwork.
When their team is winning, they choose not to do more even if they could.
“Because they’re winning…?!”
-Don’t spam Almond
-Why do you keep asking questions lol
-Are you a kid lol so cute
I wasn’t certain, but either way, I was right.
“Correct. So now, how do you counter an opponent like that? They only want profit. If you know that, you can think of something.”
Taco continued to stimulate my mind.
Taco can’t give orders every time. I needed to build up these advanced play concepts starting now.
Only then would I be able to handle a Challenger ADC.
‘How do I counter them?’
How do I draw out an enemy who only runs away desperately and hides?
‘They only want profit…’
Even while hiding, they’ll try to secure gains.
I observe the enemy again.
Now that I think about it, there’s only one moment they briefly reveal themselves.
A fleeting instant that Ran’s attacks could never hit, but.
Baeksuk would reveal herself briefly at some point regardless.
“I should aim for when she goes for the minions.”
“Exactly.”
By attacking low-health minions, she secured gold and experience.
Missing this opportunity meant a loss, so the strategy was to minimize risk while refusing to abandon gains.
This was the fundamental principle of the enemy’s playstyle.
So when minions died, even the enemy couldn’t remain completely hidden during those moments.
The health bar of our minions served as information about when the enemy would reveal herself.
‘This is it.’
Almond felt a sudden clarity wash over him, as if his mind had awakened.
“Then I should aim for her when she goes for the minions.”
“Normally, yes. But like I said, the opponent is quite skilled. She farms minions without any openings, efficiently securing them.”
That was true.
Baeksuk revealed herself like clockwork, only in 0.1-second intervals, methodically eliminating minions.
Moreover, I couldn’t predict where she’d appear to farm from.
I’d need to fire my skills preemptively, which made this approach difficult.
“Let’s take this one step further then. Against someone who farms minions like a machine, you need a bigger bait. How would you do it?”
A bigger bait?
Almond’s mind began working again.
‘A greater reward than killing minions….’
Minions gave gold and experience.
Certain monsters in the jungle provided special buffs. But that wasn’t relevant to this bottom lane situation.
The biggest bait here was….
‘Me.’
The best bait was Almond himself.
A big bait, the enemy’s psychology of wanting to avoid risk while still pursuing gains….
The picture became clear.
“I understand what to do.”
Almond steeled his resolve and took a step forward.
Into the enemy’s attack range.

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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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