Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 351

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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 2 Episode 71
26. The Bow (2)
Those words echoed through the dazed mind of Jesse in her spectral form.
‘What is that?’
What I’m drawing is a taut bowstring, what I’m holding is a curved bow, what I’m gripping is an arrow.
Yes. A bow.
That is a bow.
A weapon designed to kill enemies.
This object has no other purpose.
All that a bow considers is how much faster and easier it can kill.
All weapons are like this.
They pursue efficiency and function to extremes.
It should be far removed from aesthetic value. Yet nothing of that was considered.
Then why is it beautiful?
A bowstring made of sinew, a bow carved from buffalo horn, fish bladder glue binding them together, feathers from birds adorning the arrow’s fletching.
Earth, water, sky.
Elements gathered from every corner of the world advancing toward a single purpose—the death of an opponent—is a kind of madness.
This is what strikes the heart.
It is beautiful.
Why does watching him draw the bowstring make my chest swell?
Because I face a being honed eternally, perfected through extremity.
Jesse thought to herself.
‘They’re the same.’
The beauty of the bow and that man’s noble bearing are already one.
His right hand drawing straight and parallel, the appropriate shoulder-width stance of his two feet, the sharpness in his gaze, his heart beating slowly in contrast, his breathing stilled like the dead.
All of this to sever the target’s breath.
In time frozen breathlessly rigid, Jesse could not help but marvel.
For she witnessed the bowstring released as silently as a ghost’s whisper.
‘Wow.’
The sound of the arrow piercing the air rings out.
Pyuwoong──
The single arrow shot forth tears through gravity, flying straight. A scarlet light cradling flame traces a long horizontal line.
The soldier’s throat.
Where the scarlet flame came to rest.
──Thunk!
‘…!’
The enemy couldn’t even scream.
Thud.
As if time flowing slowly finally found its place again. The collapse happened in an instant.
Jesse’s jaw dropped.
Twang!
Another arrow flew.
Once would have been enough to rival performance art itself. Yet that masterpiece repeated without even granting a blink, manifesting anew in this world.
Thud!
Another enemy fell.
“There!”
“The archer has a bow!”
The enemies had pinpointed my location.
I stood with my back to the torchlight, so naturally I was clearly visible.
‘Dodge! Quickly!’
Jesse’s silent cry as a specter could not be heard.
I didn’t budge.
Standing in that exact spot, in that exact posture, as if nothing were amiss.
I drew the bowstring and released it again.
Like a machine born solely for this purpose.
Whoosh!
One charging enemy sprawled through the air.
Crash…!
I drew and released the bowstring again.
Another enemy fell.
Crash!
And another.
Boom!
“Ugh!”
Yet another fell.
I couldn’t see or hear when I’d fired.
Only the results now lay scattered across the ground. And as if by promise, each corpse bore an arrow lodged perfectly through the center of the neck.
In an instant.
Less than two seconds.
Seven soldiers fell in that span.
Jesse saw a message floating at the corner of her vision.
[Will you participate in the same battlefield again?]
The question she’d hesitated over before.
This time, she didn’t hesitate.
[Yes]

* * *
Looking around, there were no more enemies.
I lowered my bow and exhaled a shallow breath.
“Phew.”
Before me lay countless corpses of archers and spearmen scattered about.
“Are there any more coming?”
-Like they’d send more lol
-Would you go if you were them?
-He really didn’t die after all
As the viewers said, the enemy seemed to have no intention of sending reinforcements.
-Wow this is insane for real
-What the hell did I just watch???
-Crazy, it happened in an instant lol
The viewers were thrilled to see me rampage with the bow after so long.
[Shy Yeopo has donated 200,000 won!]
[I won’t set a per-kill mission!]
-How are you gonna do that lol for real
-That’s too much lol
-Oh my!
-Tell bigger donors to come!
“Thank you, Shy Yeopo. Please set one if you can.”
-This guy’s crazy lol
-Kill a reasonable amount and stop!
-Thump──thump
[Famous Scene has donated 100,000 won!]
[Worth the eye candy]
[CM Cheo-dol-i has donated 100,000 won!]
[That was incredible… wow lol]
[Jessi’s Sister has donated 20,000 won!]
[Wait. You’re not mentioning Jesse the hero? You nut fan jerk]
The donations continued pouring in after this.
It was clear evidence that the performance I’d just shown had left quite an impression.
“Wow. Thank you, Famous Scene and Cheo-dol-i.”
-Cheo-dol-i lol
-Cheo-dol-i is a laugh trigger lol
-Oh becoming a master lol
“Jessi’s Sister… Jesse said she’d come back. It’s not like she actually died.”
-So cold….
-You never read it as Jessi’s Sister lol
Will they come back? ㅠ
I gave my supporters a quick greeting before turning my attention back to the battlefield.
Among the fallen were archers as well.
“I’ll restock some arrows.”
I approached the corpses of the fallen archers and gathered their arrows.
If I had come out as an archer from the start, my quiver would automatically refill the moment it emptied due to the archer class trait, but since a spearman was wielding a bow, naturally I had no such benefit. I had to scavenge arrows one by one.
It could have been frustrating, but I gathered the arrows without complaint.
Simply being able to shoot a bow was enough to make me happy.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve let loose like this.’
That’s why my lips had been curled upward in a smile this whole time.
‘This is fun.’
I was finding Civil Empire genuinely entertaining.
Just as each car model has its own unique feel and handling, each bow has its distinct characteristics depending on the model.
I was curious what it would feel like to use a Korean recurve bow in an international competition. I’d never actually shot one in real life.
They were so rare that they were hard to come by, and even if you found one, the wood warped easily without proper humidity control, making it difficult to purchase and store one in a modest home.
Whoosh.
I refilled my quiver completely and stood up.
Then a question occurred to me.
‘But what happens to archers when they run out of arrows? It might not be as good as I thought….’
That’s right.
The real reason I had no particular complaint about scavenging arrows was simply because I didn’t know much about the archer class trait.
“I’ll go hunt down more workers.”

* * *
The enemy commander ‘2_many_moms’ had indeed noticed Almond and Jesse’s intrusion.
He had simply been careless.
After all, there were only two of them, and they were just Spearmen at that.
He figured that if he cycled Workers in and out of the camp and sent a squad of Soldiers, it would work out somehow. That’s all he thought before moving on.
But then….
“?!”
They were dead.
All the Soldiers he’d dispatched were dead.
He’d sent ten of them!
‘This makes no sense. What happened? Are they Trolls?’
He assumed the recruited players were trolling him. This level of trolling was definitely reportable.
The moment he decided he had to file a report.
He realized it wasn’t that.
Whoosh!
Whizz!
An enemy archer was firing arrows, and it caught his eye.
“?”
The Workers collapsed as if they were in on it together, getting hit by every single shot.
Thud.
Thunk.
Unless every arrow that archer fired was registering as a critical hit, there was no way every shot could drop someone in one hit.
He immediately ordered the Workers back into the lumber camp.
He thought that would at least solve the problem.
“What!?”
Bang.
He stood up abruptly, kicking his desk in disbelief.
The Workers never even made it into the lumber camp.
They all died while moving.
Now he couldn’t get any more lumber.
“What kind of arrows fire in rapid succession like that!?”
A result he couldn’t believe even seeing with his own eyes.
This case was obvious.
“This is hacking. Damn it.”
The enemy was using an illegal program. I knew it cost a fortune to use in the Capsule.
“Damn Chinese.”
Judging by the enemy’s black hair, they appeared to be Chinese. In that case, using hacks wasn’t particularly rare. In their cultural sphere, this kind of thing wasn’t even recognized as illegal.
He resolved to report them as a hacker user after the game ended.
But that was just damage control.
Right now, the game was still in progress.
I had to win this game.
“What do I do…”
There was only one way.
“What else? The best defense is a strong offense.”
I had the enemy’s main base within my grasp.
I intended to pour all my resources into taking it.
[Set up camp on the battlefield and begin constructing siege weapons!]
I ordered the engineers dispatched with my cavalry to begin constructing siege weapons.
No matter how strong a Knight was, they were still human. They couldn’t destroy the enemy’s castle walls. To completely end this game, siege weapons were essential.
And siege weapons required enormous amounts of lumber.
[Insufficient lumber!]
“…?”
I’d only just started constructing one or two siege weapons, and already the lumber was depleted.
The workers harvesting lumber had been under constant harassment since earlier.
In fact, they weren’t even gathering any right now.
My hands trembled violently.
“Damn… damn it…”
With the enemy’s downfall so close at hand.
I had to make a critical decision.
[Full cavalry retreat]
I ordered my forces to fall back.

* * *
“I… I survived!? I survived!”
The Commander Ibamman couldn’t contain his joy at survival, flailing his arms as he shouted.
The enemy cavalry had made a dramatic retreat.
“Wow, I almost got wiped out there!”
The enemy probably didn’t realize it, but I was running dangerously low on defensive resources.
Then suddenly, they withdrew their forces.
“Insane. This is insane.”
I knew exactly what caused this miracle.
[Special Mission Bonus]
[27 Gold]
Just looking at the bonuses accumulated in Almond’s name so far showed how much he’d accomplished.
I’d promised 1 gold per worker eliminated.
Currently, 27 gold had accumulated.
He’d taken down 27 workers.
Considering the enemy had a total of 50-60 workers, he’d slaughtered half of their workforce.
On top of that, he’d killed all the support troops that followed them.
“Wow… This guy is absolutely insane. Insane. He completely turned the enemy camp upside down! A legend!”
Ibamman continued celebrating.
“This isn’t the time for this.”
I regained focus and concentrated on the game again. Now it was time to lay the groundwork for a counterattack.
I needed to restart production at full capacity and rebuild the destroyed castle and village.
And most importantly, that spearman.
I needed to think about what to do with him now.
“At this point, it doesn’t matter if he dies…”
That spearman had done his job well enough anyway. There was no need for him to do anything more there.
“The best option is actually for him to die. Die and rejoin our battlefield.”
I hoped Almond would die and rejoin, continuing to perform brilliantly.
Surviving from that position was impossible anyway, and there was no reason to try.
He could just die and revive, earn higher pay, and continue fighting on the battlefield.
[You’ve done everything you need to. It’d be better to die and revive. If you rejoin my battlefield, I’ll give you plenty of special missions. I’ll also increase the contract fee by five times.]
After sending the message, I stopped paying attention to Almond. There was no reason he’d refuse this offer.
“What matters now is development. Development.”
I stopped focusing on Almond.
I began rebuilding my destroyed headquarters and started assembling my own cavalry.
Now I was preparing for a counterattack.
Cavalry units began stacking up one by one.
An imposing cavalry formation, ready to charge at any moment.
Ibamman savored the moment, admiring them briefly.
[wackjassey]
I spotted a familiar face, but Ibamman didn’t notice because I couldn’t see his ID.
And there was one more thing he failed to notice.
Contrary to his wishes, I had no intention of dying.
[Shy Yeopo has registered a mission!]
[Win without dying even once and earn 500,000 won!]
-Can’t bet per kill lmao lmao win without dying lmao
-This guy didn’t give up on math lol he’s so good at math lol
-How cunning! A quitter!
The first mission since the Civil Empire began had arrived.

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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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