Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 229

—————
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 229
79. The Wall (1)
“Wow. Are they opening Reina again?”
“Didn’t Greentea open her once before and get hit hard?”
“I thought Greentea Player’s boyfriend was… wouldn’t he have given her a heads up?!”
“Either way, Hong-cha Player’s audacity is remarkable!”
The commentators expressed a certain respect (?) for Hong-cha’s choice to open Reina.
“Still, Hong-cha’s Terrorist Boni has been opened. At this point, anything could happen. But why did they open her? Is it some kind of chivalrous spirit?”
“No. I think the pattern with Balloon Stars is that if only Reina gets opened, they don’t ban the bottom lane at all. That’s been the pattern since scrimmages.”
“Wow. That’s incredible confidence?”
“Actually, opening Reina could be even greater confidence!”
“It could be a mistake too.”
Who was showing confidence, and who was making a mistake?
Even the commentators couldn’t determine the advantage precisely.
-Unknown: It’s not a mistake, it’s a Bandit move!
-lol opening Reina takes guts
-Honestly, Hong-cha Boni might be stronger?
-If you see Almond Reina, you’d know structurally she can’t lose lol
-Only new viewers who haven’t seen Hong-cha Boni properly would root for Almond Reina lol
-Almond Reina is basically a bug where damage doesn’t register the way Reel designed her. What does it matter if it’s Hong-cha or anyone else ^~^
The chat was divided in opinions as well.
“Normally by matchups, Reina versus Boni. Who would be better, King Gul?”
At the Caster’s question, King Gul examined the data for a moment, then scratched his head.
“That’s hard to say exactly. Reina’s pick rate in high ranks is so low…”
“Ah…”
-Breaking news) Contrary to the analysts’ claims, nobody plays Reina…
-Reina specialty) Coffin
-Why Reina tolerates Almond: He’s the only one who lets her see the light of day.
“But I had several Reina specialists among my colleagues. From what they said, Reina doesn’t really like long-range ADCs.”
“Ah, right. She’s a bit short-ranged herself after all.”
“Boni shoots with a rocket launcher, so her range is quite long? Plus with splash damage, it’s hard to dodge.”
“So Boni would have the advantage?”
“In a standard scenario, yes. But since Boni doesn’t have any real escape tools, if Reina dives in well, it could go either way.”
“Ah. So they kind of counter each other? Just as I was saying that, it’s Almond Player’s turn.”
Even though Reina hadn’t been picked yet, the audience was already chanting for her.
-Reina! Reina! Reina!
-Reina is the most thrilling!
-Reina! Kill me with your arrows!
“Wow. At this point, even if they hadn’t planned to pick Reina, they’d have to pick her with this explosive support from the crowd?”
The Caster spoke, surprised by the audience’s explosive cheers.
“Yes. Honestly, everyone watching the Nant match wants this, right? A main character showdown between the players!”
“Honestly, I’m looking forward to it too.”
Even the Analyst, who usually maintained composure, was adjusting his Red Glasses with eyes full of anticipation.
As if answering that anticipation, a woman in a blue cloak materialized behind Almond.
Thump.
With the sound of the pick being confirmed, the cheers from the audience grew even louder.
Next, Hong-cha selected Boni.
“Explosions are a technique!”
Hong-cha raised her middle finger while saying the same thing she always said whenever she picked Boni on her broadcast.
-Waaaaaaah!
-Hong-cha! Hong-cha! Hong-cha!
-Me! Kill me! Unnie!
Then all the players’ picks were finalized.
“Alright! The match is starting. Let’s watch together!”
With the Caster’s gesture, the arena transformed into a battlefield.

* * *
Terrorist, Boni.
She’s an Avatar whose characteristic feature is wielding two weapons simultaneously.
One is a rocket launcher, and the other is an assault rifle.
Both feel like weapons that should only be mounted on tanks, things that humans shouldn’t dare to hold and fire.
Setting aside how Boni manages to handle so many weapons with her delicate frame, from the perspective of a Contractor who must wield them directly, it’s quite exhausting.
These two weapons have such distinct strengths and weaknesses that you must constantly switch between the appropriate weapon depending on the situation.
However, Hong-cha, who had played Boni the most, could do this as naturally as breathing.
It was a remarkably confident pick.
Click.
From the motion of loading the assault rifle, she exuded composure.
“Uh, unnie. Are you confident against Reina?”
Lemon asked in a trembling voice.
‘She’s not actually dying… why is she trembling?’
Lemon, who sometimes immerses herself in games more than necessary. It’s strange sometimes, but this is her main content. No matter what game she plays, she always gets this immersed.
“Of course.”
Hong-cha nodded without hesitation.
“But you banned her during Scrim.”
“During Scrim, I banned her because pulling her out to practice wouldn’t even count as practice, so I tried various other things instead.”
“Ah…”
“And banning the opponent’s most-played character during Scrim is a basic strategy in itself. That’s what a pro hyung I know told me.”
“Wow, I see.”
Hong-cha chuckled as she loaded the rocket launcher.
“That’s right. Your unnie has a plan for everything. Lemon.”
Lemon recalled a certain maxim that Pickle had once passed on to Greentea, though I chose not to voice it aloud.
I simply enjoyed pouring Hong-cha’s tea.
“Alright! I’m boarding that plan too!”

* * *
Almond warmed up by refreshing Strawberry’s jungle mobs.
Azure arrows burst forth in succession, detonating targets above the monsters.
Pop pop pop!
I stopped precisely after leaving about 2 HP remaining, then glanced down at my right arm.
‘Better than last time.’
My senses were far sharper than when I’d first unleashed Reina against Greentea.
Was there truly a difference between using her after a long interval versus using her consecutively?
Or perhaps….
‘No. It’s the capsule difference.’
Could it really be just the capsule making this difference?
This didn’t seem to be merely a placebo effect I was experiencing alone.
“Player Almond. Your movements are already different from the refresh, aren’t they?”
King Gul also noticed that Almond’s movements were extraordinary.
“Wow. I felt it last time too, but those targets are really bursting so cleanly, you know?”
Caster was impressed as well, though he seemed unable to find any particular difference from the previous Reina.
The Analyst was different.
“Indeed, today’s movements are different. During the scrim, the physical fight against Hong-cha Player seemed to be losing ground, but today it looks like he’ll nearly dominate.”
“Is that so? Wait, something’s already different?”
The professionals’ eyes perceive it.
What’s commonly called a player having light feet on a given day.
If that continues, the player is deemed to have improved in skill.
If Almond demonstrated such form with Reina this time as well, then his skill had genuinely risen.
“They’re meeting at the bottom right now!”
As Caster said, Reina and Boni faced each other.
At those words, King Gul added more flavor and spoke again.
“The meeting of two duos expected to deliver the hottest clash in this entire Nant tournament!”
Caster, not to be outdone, added one more comment.
“A meeting for the ages! Worthy of Orihime and Hikoboshi!”
A comparison that carried the weight of experience.
-???
-Sir, you’re showing your age….
-Your years are….
King Gul began pulling out everything he knew to salvage the situation.
“That’s right! Crow versus magpie! McDonald’s versus Burger King! Kang Baek-ho versus Seo Tae-woong! Pizza versus chicken! King Gul versus Jeon-ja-pa! Naruto versus Sasuke! A confrontation that stirs the soul!”
Why is there something weird in the middle? lol
King penguin is crazy lol
I’m dying laughing ㅋㅋㅋ
-He’s actually covering it
Amid such abundant comparisons and extreme anticipation from both sides, the minions clashed.
Clang! Clang!
The moment the minions’ blades met.
Hong-cha’s side unleashed rockets fiercely.
Whoooosh~!
“Lemon Hong-cha is incredibly aggressive. Just pounding away with rockets! It takes time for those rockets to recharge, you know.”
Boom! Boom!
The rocket launcher has splash damage, and each shot dealt tremendous damage.
It was perfect for clearing minions in one go. Even the dual-pistol pirate’s explosives couldn’t compare.
“Hong-cha Player, if you use the rocket launcher too much, it goes into rocket recharge. Pushing this hard means you’re trying to hit level 2 first, right!?”
“Yes! Just trying to seize the advantage early! We lost the last game because we couldn’t hit level 2 first, you know?”
“Plus, Taco Player can’t interfere this time, right? There’s no healing!”
“Almond’s minion-clearing ability, having to hit them one by one, should be at a huge disadvantage… huh?”
However, contrary to the casters’ expectations, the minion line didn’t easily push toward Almond’s side.
“Why isn’t the line pushing toward Almond’s side?”
“Balloon Stars’ minion count and Red Carpets’ minion count are almost identical!”
“Almond has to target and hit them one by one… is this even possible!?”
Reina has no splash damage.
She has to take them down one by one.
Yet her attack speed was incredibly fast.
Pew-pew! Pew!
“Reina’s attack speed is practically unlimited!”
“That’s right. Instead, if the target isn’t hit, it does zero damage! Go ahead and shoot wherever you can! Like this!”
“It’s like Almond is telling the production team! You guys messed up!”
“How far does this combo go! This isn’t a rhythm game!”
Pew! Pew-pew!
With each target above the minions bursting one after another, the blue mana shaped like an arrow grew increasingly powerful.
[12 Combo]
[13 Combo]
[14 Combo]
.
.
.
Whoosh!
The blue mana now blazed so intensely it could be called blue flames.
Hong-cha gritted his teeth and struck minions with rockets.
Boom! Boom!
Dark smoke billowed outward in all directions as Balloon Stars’ minions fell en masse.
“W-who’s going to hit level 2 first!?”
“Hong-cha! Hong-cha’s level 2!!!”
[Level Up!]
Hong-cha reached level 2 first.
Her lips curved upward in a smile.
“Hong-cha Player’s hand immediately goes to her waist!”
“She’s throwing a grenade! She learned the skill!”
The commentators were right.
[Stun Grenade]
Click.
She deftly pulled the safety pin with her teeth, threw it toward Almond, and charged forward.
“Switching weapons from rocket launcher to machine gun while moving forward!”
“Incredibly fast!”
“Lemon joining in as well──”
──Kaboom!
The grenade detonated mid-air.
“Almond Player! He intercepted the grenade in mid-air!!!”
However, the shrapnel that burst outward was unavoidable.
Almond took damage from the fragments, and Taco, who was positioned further ahead, was stunned.
Whoosh!
Through the hazy smoke, Boni emerged from Hong-cha’s position.
Click──
The machine gun began its barrage.
──Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!!
The minions protecting Almond collapsed in unison.
“Machine gun barrage!!!”
“Almond! Shouldn’t he be dodging!? Can he really win a direct confrontation against machine gun fire in the early game!?”
[Level Up!]
But at that moment, Almond also leveled up.
[Roll]
His blue cloak fluttered as he vanished from sight in an instant.
“Huh!?”
“Almond’s rolling! But the direction──!?”
Boni’s machine gun had a short range but astronomical DPS (Damage Per Second). While each individual rocket launcher shot dealt more damage, the machine gun fired hundreds of rounds in mere seconds.
If all those shots connected, it would unleash explosive damage rivaling any ADC.
In other words, if you fired one shot and retreated, the rocket launcher was superior, but in prolonged exchanges lasting 2-3 seconds or more, the machine gun had overwhelming dominance.
The downside was that firing for more than 5 seconds caused overheating, during which no shots could be fired while the cooling system activated.
So the standard play was to wait for the machine gun to heat up and its cooling system to kick in before engaging.
But…
“We have to hold out until the machine gun overheats!”
“Ah! Move! I can’t hold back my forward roll!”
Was Almond truly unable to restrain himself, like King Gul’s roar suggested?
Almond charged straight into Hong-cha’s barrage, which was still in full swing.
“Lemon is also level 2 right now!? If Lemon pours out skills too──”
Before that sentence could even finish.
Something whizzed past, and every target above Lemon exploded simultaneously, as if detonating at the exact same moment.
Kaboom!!!
From the impact, Lemon’s body flipped and flew backward.
He was dead.
“──Lemon is down!”
[First Blood!]
[Reckless Warrior → Lemon]
“What is this damage!? How is this even possible!?”
The words came from the commentator’s mouth, but they were truly what Hong-cha wanted to scream.
‘What the…’
[Health 21%]
Almond’s health bar entered her vision.
She quickly realigned her aim and pulled the trigger, unleashing a barrage of fire.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Amid the black smoke and scorching flames obscuring her vision, she pushed her concentration to the limit and managed to track Almond’s health dropping.
But at least in this moment, it was Almond whose concentration was superior.
Almond’s eyes scanned over thirty targets that materialized in an instant.
[31 Combo!]
Kaboom!
Suddenly, impacts crashed down from all directions—abdomen, arms, legs, every joint, the center of the face, north, south, east, and west.
[Mana Exposure!]
[Mana Exposure!]
[Mana Exposure!]
.
.
.
Her eyes couldn’t even keep pace with how fast her health was dropping.
And what reached her ears was the enemy’s victory cry.
[Reckless Warrior Double Kill!]
In her upward gaze, Almond came into view.
His health bar caught her attention.
[Health 5%]
It was a difference of just one shot.
Others might call it unfortunate…
‘I can’t get past this.’
That remaining 5% of Hong-cha’s health looked like an insurmountable wall to her.
The spectators’ roars erupted from the stands, shaking the arena.
-She’s insane!
-Reina! Reina!
-Reina!
After both players selected their main characters, those who had anticipated a close match in the bottom lane were left embarrassed by the overwhelmingly decisive victory.

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