Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 646
—————
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 3 Episode 116
40. Tres vs Almond (3)
Meanwhile, at the Sync Tank hideout.
They were all craning their necks forward toward the monitors as if being sucked in.
“Done, it’s done!”
“Wow! We’re getting such a great advantage!”
“Now we just need to pull out, right!?”
Though they were supposed to be the ones observing the game most objectively.
But with the moment that determined whether they’d advance to the finals hanging in the balance, no one could maintain composure.
“Aaaaaaah! We’re not trying to gain too much of an advantage, are we!?”
Mool Mandu practically shrieked.
“W-well, it does look that way….”
The Cavalry Archer Unit had already inflicted considerable worker losses in the highland multi-battle.
From here on, the right move was to preserve them as much as possible and properly prepare for the next engagement.
That was certainly the theory….
“Cookie hyung sees this as momentum.”
Chiseung understood Cookie’s choice.
“Look at the soldiers’ condition right now. Their movements just now… they’re not at their usual level.”
“…!”
That was it.
The movements the Cavalry Archer Unit displayed when they first encountered the Musket Soldiers.
That sharpness, unity, concentration….
No matter how exceptional the Joseon Archer Players were, that level of performance only appeared once in a blue moon, even in practice matches.
Yet they’re showing it in this match where fate is decided.
‘How is this even possible?’
What made them so strong.
Or rather, who…?
“Almond’s following him! Tres! Is he trying to prevent him from being bait at all!? What do we do! Aaaagh!”
Mool Mandu urgently grabbed Chiseung’s shoulder and shook it.
On the screen, Almond was visible riding a horse at full gallop.
He intended to eliminate Tres.
Whether this was by command or a field judgment, I couldn’t tell.
‘It’s insane.’
Either way, it’s an insane decision.
For better or worse.
It’s insane.
[Ah! So many bullets heading toward Almond…!]
[T-they’re raining down!]
In formation, Almond was at the very front of his team, and while Tres was horizontally separated from his team, the front-to-back spacing was nearly aligned.
With this arrangement, the enemy’s focus naturally shifted to Almond.
Bang! Bang bang!!
Countless gun muzzles erupted with fire.
The acrid smoke from the firearms made it nearly impossible to see the enemy.
“!”
But I wasn’t on the horse.
At least, that’s how it appeared from this angle.
[Almond! Almond! That circus-like movement again!]
From the excited voices of the commentators, I was hanging on the opposite side with my legs wrapped around the horse.
As a result, either only the horse was being shot at, or the bullets were just cutting through empty air.
‘I’m perfectly exploiting the damage reduction that ranged attacks have against horses….’
Every civilization has horse armor upgrades.
It’s a feature that makes it quite difficult to damage horses with ranged weapons.
Since its game performance far exceeds actual horse armor, it’s an essential upgrade.
Thanks to this, Joseon could continue riding horses without issue as long as critical points weren’t struck accurately.
Just like Almond right now.
Clop! Clop!
As if nothing had happened, I continued galloping toward Tres.
[Now the Joseon Soldiers are coming for a counterattack?!]
The other Mounted Archers who had been at a distance from me began covering fire.
[The Spanish Soldiers were just focused on targeting Almond, so their concentration…!?]
The price for targeting me was steep.
Without any chance to respond, they received a barrage of dozens of arrows from the enemies.
Kyaaaah…!
A Spanish Soldier fell from his horse.
[Conquistador! One down!]
I never stopped once, continuing to pursue Tres.
Chiseung couldn’t help but admire it.
‘Already… the picture of the battlefield has changed.’
Though I hadn’t even fought Tres yet, I had already gained much.
I should have fought within the battlefield composition Tres had drawn.
But I splashed paint all over it.
The structure of the battlefield shifted back to Joseon’s advantage.
I didn’t stop there either.
Whoosh.
I pulled out an arrow and held it in my mouth, then gripped the reins with both hands.
Now I would catch up at full speed.
* * *
Clop clop! Clop clop!
Tres glanced over his shoulder while riding his horse.
Far behind, a figure kicked up dust as he pursued.
Tres recognized him.
‘That bastard….’
Aamond.
The one who grinds his teeth.
Grit…!
‘That guy from the interview.’
Whenever Tres thought of the interview, fury surged to the top of his head even now.
The Invincible Armada spoken of as if it were nothing, treated as if not even worth considering as an opponent.
‘I have to make it to the quarterfinals just to show that bastard.’
From the quarterfinals onward, naval battle maps appeared one by one. There, I could demonstrate Spain’s true power.
Tres measured the distance with a sidelong glance.
‘Almost in range.’
Within musket range.
That guy probably didn’t know the exact range of a musket.
Since it wasn’t a weapon they used.
When he reached the edge of the range, I’d seize that moment.
Then─
Ding.
[Lever Action Upgrade Complete]
The firearm’s performance upgraded.
Reloading was now relatively easier.
A smile spread across Tres’s lips.
The timing was perfect.
Without even turning around, I sensed it from the sound of hoofbeats and the feel I’d confirmed earlier.
‘Now!’
Whip.
He quickly rotated the barrel to chamber a round, then suddenly twisted his upper body around.
[Tres pulls the trigger while turning around! And the firearm’s upgraded too?!]
Bang!
The muzzle erupted with fire.
Red blood sprayed from Almond’s shoulder.
A grazing wound.
[He missed?!]
[It’s not easy to turn around and shoot from a galloping horse!]
The commentators thought Tres had missed, but Tres didn’t see it that way.
‘…!?’
My eyes widened.
The Thug’s horse had shifted direction slightly.
He’d seen it coming and dodged.
“Huh?”
A savage grin spread across my face.
“Yeah. You’re cut from the same cloth as me.”
[Eliminate]
Just then, Nacho’s order came down.
To kill the Thug.
“Hyah!”
Tres completely changed his horse’s direction.
With that wide, shooting-while-fleeing style of gunfire, there was no way he could catch the Thug.
* * *
“Ah!? Tres! You’re turning your horse around!? Giving up on fleeing!?”
King Gul cried out at Tres’s sudden change of course.
“Nacho made a judgment call! Tres being tied down by Almond is a loss for Spain’s side!”
“Exactly! Tres is an Assistant Commander, so being held up by a single Soldier is problematic!?”
Tres ran eastward, then changed his path to the north.
Almond followed him, turning northeast.
The distance began closing rapidly.
The moment Almond came within range, he pulled an arrow from his mouth and fired it instantly.
“Almond’s shooting!?”
Paaaang──
The arrow shot forth with an intense, wind-tearing sound.
Tres leaned back slightly and dodged it effortlessly.
──Whoosh!
-???
-Whoa
-Insane
-What was that just now?
-Crazy
“He dodged it!? This duel between the two of them is seriously no joke!?”
At this, King Gul shouted.
“Honestly, that arrow! If it were me, I’d just take it! The arrow Almond had in his mouth!? I’d actually welcome it!”
“Huh!? King Gul, you can’t dodge it anyway, so you’d just get hit!”
-Hahahahaha
-For real
-Pretending to take the hit lol
-Industry recognition lol
If the opponent was Reyna, I probably would’ve just gotten hit lol
ㅋㅋㅋㅋ (lol/haha)
-Face ID is this terrifying.
“Tres is launching a counterattack!”
Tres swiftly spun his musket around and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Flames erupted from the muzzle.
“Ah, Almond too!”
I released the bowstring with a snap.
Twang!
Tres ducked his head just barely to evade, then turned his horse’s head directly toward me.
There was no more time to waste.
A distance of roughly 200 meters.
Tres charged his horse toward me. The distance closed in an instant.
“Both of them are charging at each other!?”
I knew it would be difficult to hit before closing the gap, but I pulled the trigger anyway.
Bang!
I twisted my body slightly to evade.
The distance between us was now barely 150 meters.
“A-are they both dodging everything right now!?”
“This is….”
“In mounted shooting situations, the one evading actually has the advantage!?”
I drew the bowstring taut.
Without worrying about focus, this time I fired in rapid succession.
Twang-twang-twang!
“Almond! Three shots in an instant!? And the firing points are all different!? This can’t be dodged─”
──Clang!
Defying expectations, Tres evaded one while simultaneously batting away the other two with his bayonet.
At the same time, he pulled the trigger with his musket tilted to the side.
Bang!
“He fired while striking with the bayonet at the same time!? Right now!?”
lol
-Is this John Wick?
-Wow
-Can’t keep up with my eyes
──Thud!
A real bullet wound finally appeared on my side.
“Gaaaaaahhhhh!?”
Were you right? lol
Oh right, I forgot ㅠㅠ
-Damn, he’s bleeding a lot.
-He’s bleeding even more than that.
Almond’s upper body swayed for a moment.
The distance between them steadily narrowed.
Now barely a hundred meters remained.
‘Hah.’
Almond paused to steady his breathing.
The rhythm was different from before.
I gave my bow a brief rest from the relentless barrage of arrows.
Moments later, I drew three arrows.
I pulled slowly.
I released one breath. In that interval, my opponent would pull the trigger once more.
But that was fine.
Grrrrrrgh….
A bestial sound. My bow growled as if crying out.
Full draw. The bowstring pulled to its absolute limit.
Click!
My opponent finished reloading. Now the sound was audible even to me.
The distance was no more than fifty meters.
Clop… clop….
The rhythm of the horse moving up and down.
Resisting that motion, I braced my legs against the stirrups.
Distance: thirty meters.
Distance: twenty-five meters.
Distance: twenty….
‘Now!’
My eyes flashed with clarity.
Swish.
My right hand remained perfectly still. The bowstring released smoothly, as if I weren’t on a moving horse.
Twang──!
My opponent’s trigger was pulled.
Distance: fifteen meters.
I nocked the remaining arrow in an instant. Not at the center of the bowstring, but at some other point.
My opponent’s gun barrel flashed with fire.
Simultaneously, another arrow flew.
It traced a gentle curve.
Distance: fifteen meters.
I drew the bowstring once more.
Again, not at the center, but at an extremely peculiar position.
I released the string.
Boom!
The arrow traced a sharp curve through the air.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Ten meters away.
King Gul now screamed in an incomprehensible frenzy.
Bang!
Inexplicable sparks erupted from the point between them.
“W-were those projectiles colliding!?”
The arrow and bullet had canceled each other out.
“Was that intentional!?”
However, there were two more arrows.
Five meters away.
Only then did the arrow pierce through beside Tres.
Whiiiiiiiish──
‘!?’
Tres spun his body urgently to deflect it.
‘What?’
He couldn’t even tell where or how it had come from.
There was one more arrow.
‘What is this?’
He’d never seen arrows fly like this before.
Though he thrashed about with wide eyes, there was no way to move faster than an arrow already at his face.
Three meters away.
──Thunk!
The arrow pierced deep into his armor, straight through to his heart.
Two meters away.
“!”
Click!
The rifle shouldered against him.
Tres appeared to draw his last ounce of focus to fire, but instead swung it in a sudden motion.
Not firing—swinging.
Toward the enemy one meter ahead.
It was instantaneous. The moment their horses crossed paths.
I leaned back and retreated.
The bayonet grazed my throat.
Lying on my back, I drew the bowstring.
No—it was already drawn.
[Focus]
It reflected briefly in Tres’s pupils.
An arrowhead burning white-hot.
“!?”
Whoooosh──
Their horses had already passed each other.
Tres’s back was completely exposed.
Gold, red, black.
The Spanish Commander’s insignia fluttered in the wind.
The tricolor banner rippled, tracing a circle.
Black, red, and yellow.
A tricolor circle.
‘It resembles something….’
Thinking it looked like something, I released the bowstring.
The arrow flew in a straight line.
Like the arrows I shot in my boyhood, there was no technique to it.
Straight down a single path, tearing through the wind.
The center of the tricolor circle was torn and pierced.
──Thud!
A distant roar echoing faintly from afar.
「Another direct hit! The lens is shattered!! The youngest champion in the domestic tournament right now! The youngest….」
Tres collapsed and rolled across the ground.
The arrow embedded in the back of his neck protruded through the front.
It was certain.
Tres was dead.
Only then did the roar strike my ears.
A clear shout from right beside me.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————