Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 687

—————
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 157
52. Bow Within Bow (4)
The commentators are astonished when they see the position I’ve claimed.
“No way, such a perfect vantage point?!”
“Wait, Almond! You’re not directionally challenged after all!? You’re reading the map flow perfectly!”
-What’s going on?
-Just luck, I guess
-Almond was directionally challenged though, but looking at the fake nationals lol
-Wow
-Maybe he found this vantage point because he’s directionally challenged
“The mountain structure here spirals around as it descends, you see!?”
“Exactly. Like a spiral staircase!”
“Yes! What that means is! If you follow the path correctly! You can shoot both the rear and front without advancing ahead! After all, as you descend! When you look down from above, you return to the same position again, don’t you!?”
King Gul’s argument was this.
When you simplify this terrain greatly and look down from above, it resembles a snail shell spiral pattern.
In 3D, it’s a spiral staircase, but the spiral grows wider as you descend.
Even if someone ahead descends the stairs much earlier, they remain visible when looking down from above.
In other words, I can keep shooting the Vikings without missing them.
“Of course! Since the actual mountain terrain is more complex than a simple spiral, it’s not as easy as it sounds! But it’s definitely possible!”
It’s not as easy as it sounds.
When you actually stand on this mountain, countless trees and bushes obstruct your view.
From my position, there’s no way I could have the same understanding as the commentators.
Because the structure of this mountain path doesn’t come into view all at once.
But—
“Huh!?”
—Thud!
The Viking leading the charge stumbles, and the one behind him trips over the body and falls flat.
The entire Viking advance comes to a halt.
“W-wait! The path is too narrow!? The Vikings’ formation becomes awkward here!”
The mountain terrain is extremely treacherous.
The descending path is barely wide enough for two people to pass through.
When someone falls flat in such a place, they have no choice but to pause momentarily.
Of course, they could jump over the body and continue, but the problem is the second Viking. He’s tripped over the corpse.
Before he can get back up, they cannot leap over him and advance.
The entire Viking force had to wait until he stood up.
“T-this is a complete opportunity!?”
And what the commentators saw was identical to what appeared in my field of vision.
Vikings standing still with their heads perfectly exposed.
“Right now the Vikings! They don’t know where the arrows came from! They’re looking toward the other forest on the side!?”
From just the first shot, they cannot determine the arrow’s origin.
But if I shoot again, they’ll notice.
“Almond. If you shoot once more, you’ll take down one more!? Your position might be exposed though!”
The commentators grew excited, thinking I’d claim another kill.
But that wasn’t my intention.
‘If I shoot one person now, the others will raise their shields upward.’
If I fired a second arrow, they’d immediately detect where the shots came from above.
‘Then I’d only take down one and couldn’t get any more.’
Three crowns of heads were simultaneously exposed in a straight line.
Was I supposed to take down just one in a moment like this?
I didn’t want to.
Even after dozens of games, I’d never seen an opportunity like this before.
Whoosh.
I nocked three arrows simultaneously onto the bowstring.
Creak.
“Ah, Almond!? Three arrows right now!”
-No way
-Surely not
-Wow
-Huh??
3 seconds later.
All three arrows glowed with white light.
‘Five left.’
Counting the remaining arrows, my hands released all three simultaneously.
Boom──
“!?”
Before the commentators could even add another word, they flew in an instant and struck each target.
──Thud!
The three figures staggered, then crumpled to the ground.
“Aaaaaaahhh!?”
King Gul let out an astonished cheer as well, and the Vikings raised their shields upward at lightning speed.
Clang!
The extreme tension was visible even from here.
-Wow
-No way what
-Insane
-Was it possible because they were in a line? The judgment is insane
-Crazy
-Damn
“Three, all three died simultaneously!!! Simultaneously!!!”
And for good reason—three of them had just dropped dead at the same time.
From the Vikings’ perspective, it was easy to mistake this for an ambush unit.
As a result, the Vikings were delayed once more.
“The judgment! The judgment is art! This is it, right?! If I shoot next time from above, it’ll be exposed! They’ll block with shields! So that’s why he chose to catch them simultaneously!”
The sole weakness of shooting from above.
When shields are raised overhead, the entire body becomes covered, making it impossible to land any hits.
So Almond chose to fire three arrows simultaneously, and all three found their marks.
“This is different from the multi-shot he fired in the valley earlier, right?! That was for real killing! And he really did kill them!!”
All three arrows eliminated their targets.
Even if the angle was favorable, it was a remarkable display of accuracy.
“Ah! That decision to fire three arrows! It happened before the fallen Viking could even get back up! In that brief moment! Insane! Aamond!”
“I thought he was just delaying the rear guard! But the Vikings! The entire main force! The whole thing is significantly delayed!”
Meanwhile, the Vikings’ hunting outposts continued to come under attack.
When the Observer panned the camera to that scene, another roar erupted from the venue.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Almond! Almond! Almond!”
The cheers of the supporters in red, occupying less than a quarter of the stands, resonated throughout the entire arena.
Calling out Almond’s name.
“This is a crisis for the Vikings!? Three hunting outposts have already been completely destroyed by Joseon! If more are lost! It’ll become difficult!?”
Hunting outposts.
A unique building for the Vikings.
These structures not only store meat from hunting grounds but also produce gold.
They generate gold every few seconds, and produce additional gold whenever prey is brought in.
Because of this, Vikings don’t need workers to mine gold, making worker harassment largely ineffective against this civilization.
In other words, damaging hunting outposts deals a significant blow.
“Even if all the workers are killed, Vikings can survive! But if you touch the hunting outposts, that’s a different story!?”
The outposts are buildings the Vikings must absolutely protect.
“The Vikings are producing units haphazardly and sending defensive forces! But it takes too long for them to arrive! The main army that Almond is delaying right now should have been here already!?”
Unable to use the warriors already created, they’re producing new ones to send instead.
Naturally, this takes considerable time.
It would be faster for the main force already outside to advance.
“The main force is blocked by Almond right now! Does this make sense!? One person is holding back how many!?”
“With shields held like that, they can’t move quickly!”
The main force’s advance was sluggish. They were holding shields over their heads, wary of Almond’s arrows.
But then─
“Ah! But! Now the Vikings! They’re just ignoring Almond’s arrows! And running like crazy!?”
The Vikings lower their shields and begin sprinting forward rapidly.
“Is the priority to escape this location!?”
“Ah, it seems like they received orders from the commander!? To ignore it!”
“Good judgment!? Actually, they wouldn’t even know if it’s one person shooting from there or what.”
Whether Almond shoots arrows or not, they simply run.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Two more Vikings fell in succession to my arrows.
Yet they simply kept running.
Eventually, I had no choice but to chase after them on foot.
“Wait, Almond? You’ve stopped shooting? You should keep firing while pursuing them and take down as many as possible!?”
The commentators were bewildered by my decision to cease firing while giving chase.
“Huh? What’s this? Just catching up as fast as possible? Is that it?”
From their perspective, they couldn’t fathom why I’d stopped shooting while pursuing.
After all, they couldn’t see how many arrows remained in my quiver.
King Gul belatedly remembered this crucial detail.
“Ah… D-Don’t tell me he’s out of arrows!?”
-Wait
-No way
-Seriously?
-That’s right…
-Oh, he’s not an archer anymore
-Huh?
The viewers reacted with surprise as if they’d just remembered this fact.
“Ah! Almond, if you can just hold them back a little longer! You could actually end this game for real!?”
“This is so frustrating!”
If I could delay them further and eliminate one more outpost, it would be a devastating blow.
But with no arrows left, all I could do was chase after them.

* * *
“Huff. Huff….”
I began sprinting down the slope like a madman, chasing after the Vikings who suddenly accelerated their descent.
The quiver on my back held only two arrows, trembling with each movement.
Screeeech.
Yet I continued my pursuit, sliding down the mountainside almost like tumbling, barely maintaining control.
Why was I chasing them when I had so few arrows left?
[Stop them.]
Because the order given to me was still to stop them.
I had no arrows now.
With bow and arrows, I would be a tiger commanding this mountain. But now I was a tiger without fangs.
‘If you have no fangs, use your gums.’
It was a saying I heard like a slogan every day back at the fortress.
It wasn’t particularly pleasant to hear—sounded like something an old-timer would say—but somehow that spirit had been etched into my mind.
Whenever an order came down, my first thought was to find a way to accomplish it. The option to give up simply didn’t exist.
‘Gums….’
What could serve as my gums when I had no arrows?
Screeeech…!
After running for a while, I stopped at a cliff edge.
I looked down below.
The Viking Main Force was charging directly beneath me.
I gauged the height.
It wasn’t very high.
About two stories.
I had already decided what my gums would be.
‘Let’s go.’
I made my decision quickly.
Tap—
I sprinted forward in an instant and hurled myself off the cliff.
My chosen gums were my own body.

* * *
──Boom!
Something massive plummeted down onto the Vikings who had been charging forward.
“Ugh?!”
“What the—!”
It wasn’t a boulder, and Civil M hadn’t granted anyone the freedom to roll rocks down and crush soldiers.
There was only one thing that could fall from above with such size.
“?!”
The Vikings looked up in shock at what had fallen.
“An enemy—!”
──Crack!
An arrow with its bowstring already drawn burst the Viking’s head cleanly open. Crimson blood sprayed in all directions.
The Vikings’ gazes followed the slowly dispersing drops of red blood.
It was merely an instant.
I slid swiftly downward, seized the fallen Viking’s sword, and then
spun in a complete circle, slashing in all directions.
Shhwiiing──
Red lines were carved across the legs of the surrounding Vikings.
Enemies toppling in a circular pattern.
Rising sharply among them, I hurled the axe I’d seized from the front.
Whirling.
The axe flew straight toward someone’s head, but that Viking jerked his head back and dodged.
In the end, it only sheared away a few strands of red hair before striking the unfortunate Viking directly behind him.
Thud!
All of this happened in an instant after I fell.
In a flash, four or five Vikings were incapacitated, and naturally, their advance halted once more.
“Almond….”
Jessi, who had dodged the axe, drew her sword.
“You didn’t need to come all the way here to pick me up.”
Jessi immediately charged forward alongside the battle-crazed faction.
Crash──
I adjusted my grip on my sword and countered.
Whether it was Jessi or any other Viking, they might have a chance in close combat.
But at this point, what did it matter?
I swung my sword as well.
My only thought was to buy time.
──Clang!
The two blades collided, sparks erupting between them.

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