Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 808
—————
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 278
91. Ask and Go Triple (2)
After the match against Japan.
The Joseon team gained tremendous popularity.
The interest that had been steadily building beforehand exploded completely following their narrow victory against Japan.
Thanks to this, numerous sponsorship offers poured in, the team’s resources became abundant, and players who had been streaming alongside Almond began receiving attention as well.
Even Kim Chi Warrior, the leader of the think tank who wasn’t a player on the field, now attracted quite a number of viewers to his broadcasts.
Among them, Almond, who was already famous.
I had every reason to use the expression that he had risen to the ranks of a star.
All manner of articles were written about him, and he emerged as a national sports hero.
This was undoubtedly related to his background.
He was once a promising prospect in the archery world who could have revived the struggling men’s archery, and had he not suffered a certain accident, he might have become a sports hero much faster.
Such a person lost everything in a single accident, only to return once more.
To a sport in the virtual world where what he had lost in reality still lived on.
People could not help but be enthusiastic about his story, so becoming a star was perhaps a predetermined fate.
There were even rumors that Almond had accumulated a year’s worth of advertisements and variety show appearances to complete after the tournament ended.
Even before the tournament concluded, he had responded to sponsorship filming requests and several interviews.
Because of this, some circles claimed that the Joseon team had popped the champagne cork too early.
The matches weren’t even finished yet. There were even scathing articles criticizing them for beginning external activities as if they had already won the championship.
It could certainly appear that way.
However, this was Hee-cheol’s request.
“I think it would be better for you to do external activities during this time.”
While doing external activities, I skipped several practice sessions.
I only participated in important scrimmages, avoided smaller matches, and conserved my stamina.
This was not negligence, but rather Hee-cheol’s intentional direction.
The external activity filming schedule could certainly be exhausting, but for me, it would be far better than drawing my bow in the virtual space.
However…
“Just take charge of training our Archer unit.”
I gained full authority over the Archer unit’s training and came to command all their sessions.
The expressions of the Archer unit members were generally not pleased.
‘He’s definitely going to make us run ourselves to death.’
‘Is he crazy or something?’
‘Oh Lord…!’
* * *
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
“Gasp… huff…!”
Ratte and Danggeun recalled that moment as they sprinted through the forest.
The day they’d lost their bowstring grip after taking a curve too sharply and spent the entire day just running!
‘I’ll hit it! I’ll hit it!’
My mind held no other command now—only the singular focus of striking the target.
I simply ran with everything I had.
[Hold]
Toward the position where the Commander’s order had been marked.
“Push forward!”
“Argh!”
There, the enemy Spearmen and our Barbarian Soldiers were locked in fierce combat.
[Alert]
However, the Alert marker was positioned far behind where the Spearmen were.
“What is this? There’s nothing here. Should I just shoot the Spearmen?”
Since the orders were marked from high above looking down, there were occasional position discrepancies.
Ratte had been about to shoot the Spearmen thinking it was one of those cases.
Tsk.
That’s when Danggeun grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
“That’s Hold and Alert. They’re separate orders marked differently. It’s not a position miss.”
Cookie had deliberately issued two distinct commands, accounting for exactly this kind of confusion.
Hold the Spearmen, then remain Alert to what comes behind.
“And Alert is the priority command.”
Orders have a hierarchical sequence. Generally distinguished by color.
Alert commands are red. The highest priority order.
Two separate locations marked with different orders.
Different colors too. In this case, it was hard to dismiss as a mistake.
“Something’s coming.”
That’s how Danggeun could predict it.
Beyond the forest—something different was approaching.
“What?”
Click.
At that moment, the sound of a crossbow loading echoed from the forest.
There was no hesitation between them.
‘Lianjian Soldiers!’
As if by agreement, they scattered in opposite directions, watching for where the Lianjian Soldiers would emerge.
“Gasp… huff…”
Ratte confirmed that Danggeun had disappeared into the forest beyond, and Danggeun verified Ratte’s position.
‘They’re coming.’
The two of them drew their bowstrings.
Twang.
[Concentration]
The light of concentration gathered.
With the bowstring already pulled back, that first shot would be crucial.
“Retreat! Fall back!”
The Chinese Spearmen withdrew.
Now that I knew what to look for, the retreat seemed oddly awkward.
The Chinese soldiers coordinated with each other exceptionally well. Their basic tactic was to form formations and pressure their opponents through synchronized movement.
If it were a dance, it would be a sword dance style. Normally, they rarely stumbled over each other’s feet.
Yet now they were performing an unconvincing, fumbling retreat.
Because of this, the Joseon Soldiers pursued them to seize complete victory.
Cookie wasn’t the type of commander to micromanage, barking orders about who should go where.
His style was to give soldiers the freedom to charge forward and finish the fight if they sensed momentum, or to pull back if something felt off.
In other words, the Joseon Soldiers were genuinely pursuing.
That’s why China felt safe revealing their Lianjian Soldiers.
There were four Lianjian Soldiers in total.
‘There they are!’
Danggeun and Ratte spotted them too.
Danggeun sent a hand signal.
She pointed to her target with her drawn bow.
Ratte also indicated his target with his bow.
Trees were densely scattered along the path toward those targets.
“Hah.”
Danggeun took a deep breath.
‘I have to curve it.’
The Joseon Barbarian Soldiers chased the Spearmen recklessly, and all the Lianjian Soldiers’ attention was focused in that direction.
They couldn’t see us at all.
‘I’ll need to curve around at least two trees.’
Even so, we were vastly outnumbered. Even with Dongsu, the moment Archers met Lianjian Soldiers, the Archers were at a disadvantage—and with fewer numbers, the instant our position was revealed, we’d lose.
‘I have to hit. First shot, no second chances.’
Danggeun kept repeating this to herself.
If I missed this one shot, everything would fall apart from the start.
A free curved shot being used in actual combat for the first time.
The first arrow where I had to calculate the angle myself.
Thunk.
The Lianjian Soldiers’ feet stepped forward.
Lianjian crossbows had recoil, so a stable stance was essential.
They positioned the crossbows on their knees and shouldered them.
Now they were preparing to fire.
Thump. Thump.
Her heart pounded as if it might burst from her chest.
“Exhale.”
Creak—
Was it nerves? Unable to release immediately, she drew the bowstring taut once more.
Full draw again.
With the bow pulled taut, her focus crystallized.
‘Think of practice.’
Strangely, her heartbeat began to settle.
‘I’ll only shoot what I missed during practice.’
When I missed during practice, hell began.
Missing in actual combat was comparatively merciful.
With that thought, the tension in the real match gradually diminished.
‘Now.’
Her eyes widened dramatically as she released the nocked arrow.
──Whoosh!
At that same moment, Ratte’s arrow also flew.
“!”
Splat!
White light erupted simultaneously from two points.
‘I got them!’
Two Lianjian Soldiers who had been positioned collapsed, while two others jolted up in alarm.
The Lianjian Soldiers were slow to react. They had no choice.
Turning their bodies quickly while wielding those heavy crossbows was simply impossible.
“Seven o’clock!!”
And even if they managed to spin around quickly to aim at where the arrows came from….
“!?”
“Wait, there’s nobody there!?”
All they found in their sights were dense pine trees.
Only after Joseon’s arrow burst through their heads once more did they understand.
“Curve shot—”
──Splat!
Another Lianjian Soldier fell pathetically.
This arrow came from Danggeun.
“Damn!”
Splat!
The last remaining Lianjian Soldier fell.
This arrow was Ratte’s.
‘We did it…!’
Their gazes met in midair.
And as if keeping a promise, I dash forward and unleash a barrage of arrows toward the Spearmen.
* * *
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
A tremendous roar erupts from the audience.
-Wow
-Insane
-What is this
-Whoa
-Crazy
-Is that Ratte and Danggeun???
The chat scrolls shrink in an instant.
“W-wait, what just happened!? I thought that was Almond!?”
The Caster also checks again in shock.
In forest terrain, there was no archer in Joseon besides Almond who could unleash curved shots with such freedom.
Actually, it was rare to find such skill in any nation, let alone just Joseon.
Only Persia’s Three Archers and Mongolia’s Ace unit came close.
“It’s not Almond! Almond is confirmed to be on the defensive tower right now! Ratte! Danggeun! These two players! With perfect curved shots in the forest terrain! And headshots no less! They’ve completely neutralized the Lianjian Soldiers!”
Persia’s Three Archers, Mongolia’s Ace unit.
Perhaps two players from Joseon now needed to be added to that prestigious list.
“Wait, the replay is showing! For this play alone! Danggeun! Ratte! You two were completely Almond! That’s it!”
-You were Almond lol
-???: You were totally Kenin!
-Wow
-High praise
“If this keeps up, China won’t be able to scout carelessly, right!? Those Lianjian units are expensive!?”
“That’s right!? They look expensive at a glance! No matter how much China makes from their customs revenue! This is a loss! Plus Joseon has a triple advantage!?”
“Ah. China is really retreating!”
* * *
“What, what is this!?”
“Where are the Lianjian Soldiers!”
The Chinese Players looked around frantically.
One of them cried out.
“Nine o’clock!”
Whoosh!
Another arrow took off a Spearman’s head.
“A, a curve shot!”
Someone recognized it was a curve shot.
“Didn’t they say only one of them could shoot properly!?”
“That one is here! Almond!”
“Okay!”
The Chinese Players weren’t as panicked as expected.
They seemed satisfied simply knowing that Almond was here.
[Retreat]
An order came down from Youbi, the Commander who had been observing the situation.
‘That’s enough.’
Youbi nodded impassively and sent in another prepared unit to infiltrate.
If Almond was there, there was no need to push further.
The Lianjian Soldiers were a loss, but knowing his location was already a gain.
Youbi knew all too well that in this forest terrain, Archers other than Almond couldn’t exert their full strength.
Joseon’s power was halved without bows.
But this mountain had too many trees, making bows difficult to use properly.
To prevent that, one would need to shoot curve shots freely in terrain like this.
If one could do that, an Archer could actually overwhelm any other unit type in the forest.
However, Joseon had no such talent besides Almond.
In other words, only Almond was a threat, while the other talents could do nothing when meeting with bows in the forest.
Since such calculations were already complete, Youbi confidently sent another unit to infiltrate.
[Infiltration]
Red dots began to move.
These were particularly experienced in anti-Archer combat.
Now that Almond was gone, it would be difficult to stop them.
‘I need to see inside somehow.’
Joseon didn’t attack first.
There were a few possible scenarios I could predict, but I needed to be certain.
‘It seems to be a double…’
Youbi had already narrowed it down to Joseon using a double tech tree.
He didn’t think it went as far as triple.
A triple build was the very end of a massive tree branching out into possibilities.
It was a build that existed only in the most obscure corner of strategy.
Just as people rarely memorize the last definition in a dictionary, it wasn’t a build that received much attention.
Yet Youbi hadn’t completely eliminated that possibility.
This was because the number of Archers prepared was far too small compared to what had been positioned atop the mountain.
Of course, it was possible he had simply happened to strike the side where fewer Archers were prepared by coincidence.
So I had to confirm it with certainty.
‘As long as it’s not an extreme build like a Triple, the win rate exceeds 90 percent.’
Given China’s current momentum, if the opponent hadn’t employed an extreme composition, the win rate surpassed 90 percent.
Conversely, the opponent’s guaranteed winning condition lay in some extreme at one end or the other.
I had to go in and verify that.
If I could just confirm it, the game would shift dramatically from this point.
That’s why I had employed a feint operation even for reconnaissance….
Ding!
This time, the order came down to Almond atop the defensive tower.
[Move]
Almond began sprinting toward the area where China was attempting to infiltrate.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————