Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 367
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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 87
31. Rock, Paper, Scissors (3)
Caught in an ambush within an ambush, I succeeded in raising the morale of my troops through my precise marksmanship.
[Command]
[Toward the rear archers! Break through at one point!]
Upon receiving my order, the team members rose in unison and charged forward with a shout.
It was good that they began running with such high spirits.
The special unit, composed of seasoned archers, felled enemies with every shot they released.
However, I could not calculate the next step.
‘What do I do now?’
The enemy, initially caught off guard, lost over a dozen soldiers. But their response came swiftly after that.
The enemy dispersed from the area where my forces attempted to break through and positioned themselves on both flanks.
The front was empty, with archers visible only on both sides.
If we charged forward like this, it would become a game of dodging arrows.
The enemy only needed to draw their bowstrings eagerly toward my running soldiers—it was a coin flip situation.
Even if some died, if everyone ran in the same direction, a few might survive.
‘But we’re not even running in the same direction.’
Though the special unit ran together, they were all looking in different directions. No one knew where to go.
Each person’s idea of the “one point” was different.
“What?! That way?!”
“Not here?! We should follow the commander!”
“The commander keeps going back and forth?!”
I couldn’t run in a straight line either. Arrows flew from both flanks, and since this was a forest rather than a highway, the concept of a straight line didn’t exist here.
That was when it happened.
Ting!
[Charge Point]
The commander marked the charge point for us.
Every head in the special unit turned toward it.
‘There it is.’
‘Okay.’
‘Finally.’
And that wasn’t the end.
Ting!
[Cover]
The commander began marking routes where my soldiers could take cover.
I moved faster than anyone else.
“Over there!”
I rolled my body in an instant and dove into the cover area the commander had marked. Boulders and dense trees—arrows would need to be practically shoved through to penetrate this shelter.
Whoosh.
From within that gap, I drew my bow.
Twang!
Twang!
Enemy and Almond’s arrows flew simultaneously.
Thunk!
Almond’s arrow lodged itself in the enemy’s philtrum. The enemy’s arrow bounced off a rock.
“Here!”
“Come on!”
The special unit members followed Almond into the covered position.
They made this place their fortress, exposing only their upper bodies as they drew their bowstrings taut.
Twang! Twang! Twang!
Enemy and allied arrows crisscrossed through the air.
By the time dozens of arrows had embedded themselves in innocent trees.
“W-we’re retreating!”
“The enemy is falling back!”
The cry of victory echoed out.
The enemy had quietly begun pulling their front lines back.
* * *
Betty, the opposing commander shining at Rank 46, furrowed her brow with a puzzled expression.
“Hmm?”
Why were the ambush archers retreating?
Even if they annihilated all the enemies, it wouldn’t be enough.
Given the nature of a commander who observes all situations, she couldn’t see exactly what had happened.
“Was the flanking maneuver insufficient?”
Yet she remained unflustered.
If a new situation arose, she would simply analyze it and issue new orders accordingly.
First, she needed to understand why they had lost.
She temporarily halted production operations and focused her attention here.
“There’s an interesting variable at play here.”
A smile spread across her face.
This was the essence of the game. No matter how perfect the strategy, people executed it and people faced it.
Variables emerged regardless.
Such variables usually seemed insignificant at first. But by the end of the game, they snowballed into insurmountable mountains.
She had to nip them in the bud.
Like a skilled gardener pruning plants from their earliest sprouts, she needed to handle these variables carefully from the start.
Betty loved this gardener-like work. Meticulously and precisely, she pruned the enemy’s sprouts while cultivating her own into flourishing growth.
“Oh ho.”
As she observed the battle for a moment, she quickly discovered something.
“There’s an interesting one here.”
[Commander]
[Among the enemy archers, there’s a leader. Black-haired. I widened the distance further and concentrated all firepower on that one.]
Pew pew!
She clicked with her mouse at a point further back than the current frontline her archers had established.
[Retreat Position]
“Since we’re already pulling back, let’s go even further. Until their formation scatters.”
Just like with actual soldiers, when people walk or run, their individual speeds differ. Since the situation and terrain vary for each person, maintaining formation becomes difficult.
Unless they’re soldiers trained extremely rigorously, most formations crumble when moving long distances.
For example, if we assume an all-out sprint, even if they advance in a “─” formation initially, it eventually becomes a “|” formation. They end up lined up single-file, presenting their heads to the enemy.
That’s exactly the point Betty was aiming for.
“They’ll definitely come this way regardless.”
[Ambush]
She designated another ambush position.
She had pinpointed where the enemy would likely come.
* * *
“…Looks like they all retreated, doesn’t it?”
Almond asks while leaning his back against a rock crevice. He’s speaking to the viewers.
-ed
I can’t provide a meaningful translation for “-ㅇㅇ” as it’s not a standard Korean word or phrase. It appears to be placeholder characters or symbols rather than actual language content.
-Didn’t they just run away?
-Did we win?
-Almond wins!
At least they’d succeeded in driving back the ambush force.
Ding.
[Gandhi donated 1,000 won.]
Why can’t we just camp out here and build a fortress? lol I’m worried we might die ㅠ
Someone suggested through a donation to hold out here. And reasonably so—the current covered terrain could practically be considered a natural fortress.
Commander Kim Chi Warrior had chosen a proper location.
However, Almond shook his head.
“If we just stay here, we’ll still get sandwiched by the enemy spearmen. And we can’t build a fortress without workers anyway.”
Holding out here wouldn’t solve the problem. Once the spearmen reach them, this cover becomes meaningless. They’ll come close and thrust with their spears—what difference would obstacles make?
-Oh….
-Hodu high-speed spin
-What an incredible judgment
Besides, the commander’s order wasn’t to hold out here anyway.
It was to advance through this location.
“We probably need to move to the next area.”
The commander had marked a total of three covered positions.
In quest terms, they’d just cleared “Cover-1” in this linked quest chain.
Now it was time to move to Cover-2.
[Cover]
A single beam of light descends from the distant sky.
That’s the next target.
‘The remaining forces….’
[12/28]
Twelve soldiers remained.
Three fewer than when the counterattack began.
Almond found it regrettable, but since no one was actually dying, he decided to focus solely on the current target.
At that moment, Whiskey voiced a plausible concern from beside him.
“…Uh, Commander. What if the enemy anticipated our route again and is waiting for us?”
It appeared the enemy commander possessed considerable skill.
It was a scenario entirely within the realm of possibility.
‘Do I really need to account for that?’
Should I adjust my movements to counter such tactical calculations? And if I do, how would I move?
‘What do I do?’
Suddenly, the nightmare that was Commander Ibamman flashed through my mind. Honestly, from a soldier’s perspective, it was difficult to regard him as a proper commander.
Would this Kim Chi Warrior be different?
Better than the opposing commander?
As complex thoughts swirled through my head.
“I have a good idea.”
Whiskey proposed something.
* * *
Whoosh!
Almond’s special task force burst forth simultaneously, without hesitation.
Betty, observing the scene through scouts she had positioned nearby, smiled.
“Caught again.”
The opposing commander, Kim Chi Warrior.
His win rate was respectable for his rank, but only within his own tier.
They played in entirely different leagues.
Kim Chi Warrior was treading the orthodox path once more.
A commander who followed the righteous way was nothing but delicious prey to heterodox players like Betty.
“Koreans play like they’re reading from a textbook.”
Betty was reading the distinctly Korean command patterns. They responded identically as if trained from the same source, attacking in the same style.
Certainly, it was remarkably efficient. Beginners could climb ranks rapidly by simply imitating Koreans. However, their thinking was confined.
A spacious and comfortable cage was still a cage—it did not become the world.
Betty was a commander who roamed the world.
[Commander]
[They’re coming. Prepare concentrated barrage.]
Twang!
Her archer unit drew their bows in unison.
The enemies, unaware, were rushing forward rapidly to secure their own defensive positions.
They weren’t even in a proper stance to draw their bows.
‘There. The black-haired one.’
Betty had identified their leader amid the chaos.
[Commander]
[Here.]
Ping!
The foliage would obscure their vision entirely.
So Betty simply marked the strike point for them.
[Fire]
Twang──
The bowstring trembled, and the volley began.
Arrows tore through the brush, flying toward the enemies. All in the same direction.
With a concentrated barrage of this magnitude, no matter how fine the armor or how desperately they dodged, at least one would fall.
And that would be their leader.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
“Good.”
The black-haired man had become a porcupine in an instant.
He trembled violently and collapsed backward.
“I’ve eliminated the variable. Now it’s over… hm?”
Thwack-thwack!
In an instant, three of our Archers fell.
Looking toward where the arrows came from….
“…Ah, he didn’t die?”
The Black-Haired Archer.
He was hanging from a tree, ignoring cover and methodically shooting down our soldiers one by one from above.
“What? He’s hanging from a tree? Then that earlier barrage….”
It came from a completely different position than where the concentrated fire had been directed. This bastard was operating separately from his unit.
Then what about that guy who died earlier?
* * *
Whiskey left ㅠㅠ
-Such a noble sacrifice…
-Is this like that ritual suicide thing?
-Damn, what a real man.
-“Shadow Warrior Whiskey”
The reason viewers were mourning Whiskey like this.
「I have a good idea.」
His strategy had worked perfectly.
In other words, Whiskey had successfully died in Almond’s place.
「In special operations like this, commanders target skilled Players. Usually the Leader. If the enemy sets an ambush and gets another chance, they’ll come after you.」
He had decided to wear Almond’s clothes, deliberately expose his black hair, and rush out.
「I’ll die and rejoin with the reinforcements instead. You’re needed here.」
He had implied that he would respawn after death and rejoin them.
And Almond had accepted.
And now.
Whoosh!
Almond hung upside down from a tree branch, drawing his bowstring taut.
There were no other Colleagues. They had all taken the normal route. This was Almond’s solo operation alone.
「I’m telling you this because I think a Commander could pull it off. In this game, quivers never run dry.」
This was the tactic Whiskey had taught him along with those words.
Shooting this way, he could fire effectively even without a branch thick enough to stand on.
Twang!
With each shot Almond released, another Enemy fell.
The Enemies had claimed fairly good cover positions, but.
「Cover means nothing when you’re shooting from above.」
Cover designed to block arrows coming from the ground held no meaning for Almond hanging from the tree.
Twang!
Twang!
Whoosh!
With arrows flying in rapid succession, the Enemies fell like madmen.
Thud. Thud.
Corpses piled up in an instant.
Each body bore a single arrow lodged in the crown of its head, as if by agreement.
[20/30]
[18/30]
[15/30]
“There! Up in the tree!”
By the time they spotted Almond, their forces were already halved.
More than that, Almond’s special unit wasn’t idle either.
“Charge forward!”
Whoosh! Whoosh!
They seized the moment of the enemies’ confusion, closed the distance in a flash, and unleashed a barrage of arrows.
──Boom!
“Ugh!”
They either forced arrows through the gaps in cover or fired them high into the air, creating a rain of projectiles.
In that chaos, Almond leaped between trees, repositioning himself to another perch.
“…He’s gone!”
The enemies who had been trying to aim at him were left dumbfounded.
“Where the hell is he!?”
“The ping shows up here, but…!”
The commander’s ping didn’t display three-dimensional coordinates. It only revealed two-dimensional positioning.
That wasn’t enough. The curved shots made it difficult to pinpoint Almond’s exact location, especially since he continued moving through the trees.
“How many of them are there!?”
“This doesn’t seem like just one person!?”
Some even suggested that Almond wasn’t alone.
Rustle!
Then Almond appeared again, this time upside down from an entirely different tree.
To the enemies, he looked like nothing less than a ghost.
“There, there he is─”
──Thunk!
The very soldier pointing out the specter collapsed first.
[10/30]
The enemy count was now ten.
The allied count was also ten.
They were equal.
Only Almond, observing from above, could see this, so he shouted.
[Command]
[Enemy and allied forces are equal! Don’t hesitate—sweep them away!]
His cry echoed through the ears of every member of his special unit.
“Die!”
“Aaahhhhh!”
“Close in! Get right up on them and fire!”
“Just stab them with arrows!”
With audacious boldness, the special task force charged straight through the cover, their assault steadily whittling down the enemy numbers.
And then, finally….
“…!?”
Thud.
With the last soldier felled by Almond’s arrow as they fled.
The enemy ambush unit was completely annihilated.
“There’s still cover position-3 remaining.”
The original plan was to break through by passing the enemies and surviving.
Instead, I had obliterated them entirely.
-Did they kill them all???
-Insane lol
-That’s broken dude, they literally wiped them out lol
-This is dizzying
-Just passing through~(total annihilation)
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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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