Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 773
—————
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 243
80. The Verdict (2)
Joseon’s forces swept into the Japanese main base in an instant.
And there were two of them wielding bows.
Ringo was caught off guard.
He thought his opponent was tightening the noose around him, but it turned out to be preparation to breach the main base.
However, what truly shocked him wasn’t that his opponent had employed such a strategy.
He already knew from analyzing the previous match that Joseon transported arrows from the defense tower.
He had naturally already prepared countermeasures for that.
But….
‘This formation—psychological warfare.’
Because he sensed someone in Choi Sun-sin’s formation tactics.
‘This is exactly what I do.’
None other than Ringo himself.
When the opponent’s vision is narrow, appearing to gain something small, but actually aiming for something far greater.
This was Ringo’s specialty.
Those who had faced his formation tactics always said the same thing.
‘Before you know it, you’ve already given up something important.’
This phrase now echoed in Ringo’s mind.
He thought Joseon was tightening the pressure, but they were actually targeting his main base.
‘They couldn’t even keep up in the previous match.’
Ringo felt it instinctively.
His opponent was watching him, learning from him.
‘Is this even possible in actual combat?’
Even the elements where he held an advantage, his opponent was now replicating.
The enemy was already strong, and growing stronger by the moment. A sense of helplessness washed over him.
‘Where on earth did such a person come from?’
His mind grew increasingly tangled.
Countless possibilities were constantly being calculated in his head.
The massive trunk of a tree, and countless branches of ‘what if’ scenarios spreading outward.
Among them, was there something that could overcome this situation in one fell swoop?
There had to be. He needed to search further.
His tree sprouted more branches.
From one to two, from two to four, then eight….
The branches grew wildly toward the sky without limit, tangling upon themselves.
Mental confusion eventually manifests in the body.
Thump. Thump.
His heart rate climbed, blood pressure rose, and breathing grew ragged.
More and more air rushed in, and the accelerated blood frantically transported oxygen to his brain.
A faint dizziness began to set in.
The world he gazed upon grew increasingly blurred at its edges, as if reality itself were melting away.
‘I can’t let this happen.’
Ringo shook his head, forcing his eyes wide open.
He deliberately opened his mouth wide, steadying his breathing.
“Haah… Phew…”
When I became a chess champion.
That final match had been similar to this.
Endless retreat, my opponent’s pieces breaching my territory and ravaging it in all directions, my own pieces falling in droves, with nowhere left to go.
No one could see any hope.
In that small world of black and white squares, young Ringo seemed to have nowhere to escape.
So I didn’t run.
Hundreds, thousands of possibilities.
Surely one of them had to exist.
Believing that, I combed through the chessboard meticulously.
The realm of black and white.
Win or lose, live or die.
A world where only this simplicity existed.
Yet within each move lay thousands, tens of thousands of hypothetical worlds.
Ringo calculated everything in his mind—the branching paths, every leaf that grew from them—and repeated his best possible moves over and over until he finally prevailed.
“Haah…”
That was it.
Competition had never been easy.
‘This is how it’s always been.’
His hands no longer trembled.
His eyes confirmed the upgrade progress displayed above.
[Era 2 Upgrade – 97%]
I was nearly at Era 2.
Joseon would be slower than this, having spent considerable resources on defensive towers.
By adjusting my strategy accordingly, I could minimize damage.
No, in fact, this was an opportunity for a counterattack.
‘Joseon brought back their arrow transport strategy.’
It was a tactic I had prepared a countermeasure for.
His hand moved slowly but decisively, selecting a group of soldiers.
[Charge]
They formed a charge formation and rushed forward.
They would sever the supply line where the arrows were being transported, cutting off their reinforcements.
Waaaaaah!
The prepared charge unit advanced to cut off the supply line.
Ringo immediately turned his attention away from that battlefield.
He wasn’t the type to micromanage every single battle.
I prepared my next move.
‘I need to defend.’
Next comes defense.
Right now, Japan’s main base is completely empty without a single soldier. I need to send troops there.
But the path is blocked.
‘Joseon will stop them.’
Currently trapped near the oasis, I’d have to break through the Joseon encampment to reach the base.
The charge unit just cut off their waist, but even with just the head forces, Japan’s return will be blocked. Time will drag on.
If the workers at the main base suffer massive casualties in the meantime, it would be unbearable.
I had to send reinforcements to the main base as quickly as possible.
‘Then….’
My hand selected another unit.
About forty soldiers.
Ringo briefly checked the resource status displayed at the top.
‘Food is sufficient.’
Since fishing began at the oasis and some time had passed, food was not lacking.
‘Where is Joseon positioned?’
About twenty Joseon soldiers had already penetrated deep into Japan’s main base.
Those wielding bows numbered around two.
‘This should work.’
The calculation that I could handle them finished in Ringo’s mind, and the decision was made.
[Seppuku]
Seppuku.
That was the order given to the forty soldiers.
* * *
“Now, Japan is pushing through the center to cut off Joseon’s waist!”
“Joseon’s formation is spread wide and long! This could actually get cut through!?”
“But arrows have already been delivered in large quantities! With Almond and Ratte! And Barbarian Soldiers providing cover! The Workers take massive casualties! It’s possible!?”
“Yes! That’s right! Japan has to return to their main base to defend now! But there are so many checkpoints! It takes time! In the meantime, many Workers will die!”
That’s when it happened.
Boom.
[Japan – Age 2]
Japan had just advanced to Age 2.
And they began producing swords.
“Japan advanced to Age 2 first. Swords are being produced. But who’s coming to pick them up… wait!?”
King Gul was startled.
It wasn’t because of the Age 2 advancement.
Thud…
The Japanese soldiers near the oasis suddenly collapsed in droves.
-??
Wow, seppuku? Lol
lol
-What is this
-Wait, that’s actually being used??
I can’t provide a reliable translation for this text. The Korean characters appear to be incomplete or contain errors (like “ㄷㄷ” which are individual consonants rather than complete words), making it unclear what the intended meaning is.
“Is this seppuku!? Isn’t that only used when you’re trapped somewhere!?”
“Did they give up on the game!?”
“Is this a national apology!?”
“This is…”
King Gul surveyed the battlefield and realized something.
“They killed them to respawn them at the main base!?”
“Yes!?”
“They judged this way to be faster!”
“Ah! Breaking through all those Joseon Soldiers takes longer! Dying and respawning is faster!?”
“Yes! And there’s one more advantage! Joseon has no idea Japan made this choice!”
It wasn’t just faster—it was a method where the enemy couldn’t know reinforcements were coming.
“But isn’t the food cost too wasteful!?”
The only problem was food.
However, that was resolved through the lake’s resources.
“Japan ate from the lake early! So they have plenty of food! Even if they respawn all of them! They can quickly catch back up!”
It was the strength of Japan, having consumed the fishing resources from the lake.
Even after such a bold decision, the food resource loss was minimal. And even if there was any, it would be recovered quickly.
Besides, in RTS games, accumulating resources isn’t what matters—it’s how quickly you earn and spend them.
The goal isn’t to build assets, but to destroy enemies with money.
“They’re already recruiting one soldier at a time!? Because we expanded the barracks to two, three of them! They’re just pouring out all at once!?”
Japan’s fallen soldiers began resurrecting at their main base.
“Come on, Joseon! There’s still time!? Almond, Ratte! Shoot those arrows!”
“From now on, it’s a race against time! We need to inflict as much damage as possible!”
Almond and Ratte, lacking focus, were simultaneously targeting the same Workers and eliminating them with coordinated shots.
[Attack]
The moment the attack ping registered, two arrows invariably struck the target.
Thwack!
[Attack]
Thwack!
“The Workers are starting to decrease! But actually, the Workers can just escape into the town hall for a moment!?”
“We have to shoot them all before that happens!”
The Workers began retreating into the town hall.
“Ugh….”
A single Joseon Soldier attempting to follow them toward the town hall became a pincushion.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
The number of arrows being fired from the town hall steadily increased.
Joseon could no longer advance.
And Japan’s Workers couldn’t work either.
“Of course, if Joseon just drags out time in this state! It’s practically the same as killing all the Workers!”
Originally, Joseon could inflict significant damage simply by stalling here.
“Normally, the Barbarian Soldiers would just burn down houses and fields at the enemy main base to deal damage!?”
Now Joseon just needed to slowly encircle while buying time, and burn down buildings outside the town hall’s range.
However, by now, ten, fifteen, twenty soldiers had resurrected at Japan’s main base.
“But Japan… now quite a lot of soldiers have resurrected at their main base!”
Around this time, Joseon advanced to Age 2.
Boom.
[Joseon – Age 2]
“Still, Joseon Age 2! They’re focused!?”
“Ah. But Japan—Japan has already produced over seven of them!?”
Japan’s Age 2 equipped Swordsmen began slowly forming formations and advancing.
“Joseon still doesn’t know! They have no information right now!”
Meanwhile, the unit led by Almond and Ratte had no idea they were coming.
“Joseon’s arrow supply has been cut off!”
Joseon’s formation had been split at the waist, and arrows no longer reached them.
“No, they’re pushing toward Joseon’s main base!?”
What was surprising was that Japan, having cut off the supply line, began pushing their formation toward Joseon’s main base instead of their own.
“Oh! Joseon is panicking!? They didn’t expect this!”
“That’s right. Joseon probably expected the supply line to be cut! But they thought Japan would retreat back to their own main base! Then they’d pursue and kill them! And deliver the arrows! But!!”
“Ah! The arrows Joseon was supposed to deliver! They’re just using them in combat now!”
Joseon had to use the arrows meant for delivery to block them instead.
Those who had been firing arrows toward the Japanese main base now had to shoot at the Japanese forces right in front of them.
Thanks to the Concentration faction, Joseon wasn’t being pushed back.
“Look, Joseon isn’t being pushed back anymore! There are plenty of defensive towers set up in the middle!”
“The only problem is the arrows won’t reach!”
Half of the oasis.
The front lines didn’t retreat beyond that point.
It couldn’t have. Three defensive towers guarded beyond that.
However, the Japanese main base and Joseon’s main force had become too far apart.
The unit containing Almond and Ratte had become a separate detachment.
This was what Ringo had aimed for from the start.
At that moment, as if waiting for this, reinforcements respawned from the main base and entered.
“Swordsmen are entering! Ahhh…!”
Inside the Japanese main base.
With ten swordsmen at the front, the Japanese forces charged toward Joseon’s detachment.
Boom!
The moment Almond met them, he used Concentration to send one swordsman down.
And Ratte fought fiercely from the side as well.
Boom!
A Barbarian Soldier falls.
Japan’s Barbarian Soldiers stepped forward to protect the swordsmen.
An order was given.
[Maintain formation, retreat five steps]
Joseon pulled their formation back while the Barbarian Soldiers protected the archers to the end.
[Protect]
The Barbarian Soldiers were told who to protect.
[Attack]
The archers were told who the swordsmen were and who to kill first.
With targeting and proper defending in place, Joseon began to hold their ground.
“Joseon holding on somehow!”
They held.
That expression was accurate.
After all, the end of this detachment was already predetermined.
The moment Almond shot down the fifth swordsman, his hand reaching for the quiver grasped at empty air.
‘None left?’
Looking at Ratte beside him, he had only one arrow left in his quiver.
They searched for fallen arrows around them, but there were none.
Whoosh…!
The swordsmen couldn’t miss this opportunity. In an instant, they all drew their blades in unison and charged.
“Ahhhhh…!”
“No more, no more! We’re out of arrows! Out of arrows!!”
Sighs from the Korean commentators and audience.
Cheers and excitement from the Japanese audience.
Shink…!
Honda’s sword at the forefront, carrying all of it, rises high.
Desert sunlight glimmers, slashing diagonally across the air.
Whoosh!
* * *
Moments later.
Hisssssss…!
The capsule opened.
I lifted my upper body.
My gaze remained fixed on the ground, and my back bore the unmistakable marks of damp sweat.
Sweat droplets fell from the tips of my hair, scattered downward and flickering in my blurred vision.
Through that hazy, indistinct sight, I saw it.
The massive scoreboard standing tall in the center of the arena.
[Joseon: 2]
[Japan: 1]
Only then could I truly accept it.
The Quarterfinals of the National Tournament.
Joseon versus Japan.
Three matches.
Joseon had lost.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————