Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 850

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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 3 Episode 320
103. An Arrow Beyond the Game (2)
[Undulating Waves]
The moment Anto laid eyes on the map, he sensed it instinctively.
‘I need to be cautious about drops from behind.’
Though the map’s concept initially appeared favorable for Rome at first glance.
Ships could penetrate deep enough to threaten drops (*transporting and landing troops) even behind the main base.
Or battle vessels could position themselves behind the base and strike the main base directly with their cannons.
Workers could suffer direct hits from ship bombardment.
A weakness born from randomness. A blind spot created as water streams extended randomly.
An unexpected vulnerability like this—even Anto hadn’t prepared for it.
In such cases, one could feel genuinely aggrieved.
Yet this was the nature of Civil M.
This very randomness was what made Civil Empire more engaging than other RTS games.
Because it resembled reality more closely.
The great Hannibal, who crossed the Alps and arrived at Rome’s doorstep.
Everything about Rome’s terrain and climate was foreign to him. Yet he ravaged Roman territory for a full fifteen years.
He exploited Rome’s geography better than the Romans themselves, and even weaponized the political structures of Roman nobility in warfare.
Rome subsequently learned and absorbed everything from Hannibal, passing it down to future generations.
Wasn’t Anto himself part of that legacy?
He remained unbothered by the unfavorable terrain.
‘This actually makes prediction easier.’
He even considered it advantageous, as he could immediately anticipate the strategies the enemy might use to trouble him.
「Special strategies require special execution abilities. But… Joseon is different.」
Hadn’t Anto already seen through the very principles of Joseon’s strategic construction?
‘Whatever falls within Almond’s execution ability. That’s what their strategy centers on.’
Joseon’s strategies were built with execution ability as the priority, everything constructed around it.
Rather than creating necessary strategies and then developing or deploying the abilities to execute them.
They centered on ability and fitted strategies around it.
It seemed similar at first glance, but it was fundamentally different.
The latter carried a desire to exhaust execution abilities to their fullest.
Their such greed, combined with this terrain seemingly designed to threaten workers through drops.
Ultimately, Joseon had only a few strategies available here.
‘They’re coming.’
Joseon’s ships departing became visible to Rome’s scout vessels.
[Swift Ship]
Joseon had chosen the Swift Ship.
‘Swift Ship. As expected….’
A Fire Ship could have dominated the seas.
Yet they selected the Swift Ship.
The Swift Ship lacks offensive capabilities, but it’s extraordinarily fast and can transport substantial troop numbers.
‘They’re targeting behind the island.’
Cookie will navigate the river behind the island and disembark the archers.
A strategy Rome cannot employ in the Age II era, lacking ranged forces.
A strategy only Joseon can execute—and profit from.
The Age II timing drop.
Cookie won’t want to miss this opportunity.
How could he simply pass it by?
If he constructs defense towers here and fortifies the position, Almond might even attempt another Priest snipe.
The game could end before Age III even arrives.
‘Then….’
Anto faced two choices here.
Draw the ship sufficiently inland toward Rome’s island and suppress it with ground forces.
Or detonate the Soiseun in the sea to block them preemptively.
The former costs less.
However, there exists a probability of failure.
Capturing the ship with ground forces yields tremendous advantage, but it requires considerable time and effort.
Moreover, Joseon previously demonstrated movements of boarding and dismounting vehicles to toy with melee soldiers.
I cannot envision Joseon’s archers being devoured by Roman infantrymen while aboard the ship.
Anto had to choose the latter.
So he positioned the Soiseun in readiness.
The Soiseun is a suicide ship—a vessel where attack equals self-destruction.
Since the pilot dies upon impact, ramming it into a cheap ship like the Swift Ship yields no profit.
The Soiseun costs more than the Swift Ship.
However, if archers are aboard the Swift Ship, the calculus changes entirely.
‘At least eight.’
Joseon’s ship carries a minimum of eight archers.
That number is necessary to disembark, harass workers, and construct defense towers.
If a single Soiseun could eliminate that entire force?
An enormous advantage for Rome.
[Standby]
Thus, the Soiseun remains on standby.
Joseon’s Swift Ship isn’t visible yet, but the route is obvious.
I know exactly where Cookie is targeting.
‘They’re coming.’
Just as predicted, the Swift Ship appears at the expected location and time.
Cookie remains readable to me.
The moment Anto was about to nod in satisfaction—
‘Hmm?’
His hand freezes.
‘There’s nothing.’
There was nothing.
I couldn’t see any troops on the deck.
Dropping archers behind enemy lines was the entire crux of this strategy.
But there were no archers.
Not even soldiers.
‘What is this.’
Just because I couldn’t see soldiers immediately didn’t mean they weren’t there.
They could simply be below deck instead of standing on the surface.
The problem was that Joseon typically needed to have soldiers visible on deck.
Swift Ships had no inherent attack capability, so the archers needed to fire arrows at least.
But there was no one.
‘Psychological warfare?’
The only reason Joseon would keep soldiers off the deck was psychological warfare.
They wanted to make it appear as though there were no soldiers inside.
Why?
‘Either they’re carrying too many soldiers.’
They were carrying far too many soldiers, and they didn’t want it discovered.
They wanted me to think it was merely a reconnaissance Swift Ship.
Otherwise, I’d destroy it far too easily with a Fire Ship.
‘But is that really the case?’
This was merely speculation dressed up as reasoning.
Anto stared intently at the Swift Ship.
There was nothing I could discern.
‘What should I do?’
If there were no soldiers aboard at all, I shouldn’t sacrifice a Fire Ship.
That would be a considerable financial loss.
If soldiers were aboard, the Fire Ship had to act.
Trying to stop it later would result in substantial losses.
Whoooosh….
Even as I deliberated, the Swift Ship continued advancing.
More and more reconnaissance information was reaching the enemy.
Anto had to make a decision.
If the first choice was wrong, the loss was minimal; if the second was wrong, the loss was catastrophic.
If the first choice was right, the gain was minimal; if the second was right, the gain was enormous.
‘It was a matter of which risk to choose.’
Trying to discern the enemy’s intentions in such situations often led directly into their trap.
In moments like this, the right approach was to choose mathematically.
Anto slowly raised his hand.

* * *
Meanwhile, on Joseon’s Sync Tank team.
The moment Joseon’s Swift Ship approached Rome’s main island, Chiseung and everyone rose from their seats.
‘The outcome will be decided here.’
If Cookie succeeds here, then Cookie’s hypothesis was correct.
Though it may seem trivial, whether we start correctly here or not will determine the major trajectory of this entire event.
When solving a lengthy equation, the first calculation must be correct to proceed to the next step, doesn’t it?
The premise must be sound before we can deliberate on the proposition, doesn’t it?
This situation is the same.
We will now determine whether Cookie’s premise is true or false.
‘It has to be right.’
If it is, then the probability of the larger, more complex equations that follow being correct increases significantly.
Chiseung clenches his fist tightly.
After the second match, Cookie had offered quite a thorough analysis of Anto.
「People don’t have a fixed characterization when discussing Anto… they call him a multi-talented operator.」
The Anto that Cookie faced in that finals was not like that.
「That might be true, but fundamentally, it’s not that he has no preferences. Anto simply dislikes taking the initiative. He’s skilled and accustomed to countering. The style that emerges from this countering is truly like a thousand faces, which is why such statements exist.」
Anto is passive.
He prefers reading his opponent’s movements and countering, rather than setting the board first himself.
In fact, this is a far more difficult approach when you think about it.
Rather than solving a problem I created, when my opponent throws a problem at me, I solve it in my own way.
Anto is certainly skilled.
But we must not be confused here.
He remains skilled, but Anto is a commander with his own distinct style.
「There’s another characteristic that emerges here. At crossroads, he chooses ‘minimal risk.’」
When countering his opponent, Anto wants to minimize risk.
「The Anto I’ve observed ultimately prioritizes efficiency to an extreme degree. He wants to accomplish multiple things with minimal movement. That’s why he prefers countering. Landing a counter is far more efficient than when I attack.」
Anto aiming for counters, while minimizing risk in the process.
Anto is a commander who desires high efficiency with minimal effort.
‘He aims only for counters while minimizing the risk when throwing that counter punch.’
To summarize: Anto aims for counters while controlling the force he puts into that counter punch.
He hits with moderate strength.
But that doesn’t matter.
A counter delivers multiple times the impact just by landing.
The reason Anto employs a counter strategy is because it’s far easier to control the risk.
In other words, his style is not passive counter preference, but extreme efficiency preference.
‘So─’
Whoooooosh!
The Swift Ship pierces deeper, ever deeper into Rome’s main island.
‘He will choose.’
Anto would choose the option with the least risk.
The path with the fewest casualties.
‘You’re brilliant, and you’ve completely analyzed us.’
Chiseung had sensed this during the second match as well.
Anto had completely seen through the commander assassination strategy.
He dissected his opponent’s psychology from the very foundation, analyzing every layer.
There was no way he could have countered so flawlessly otherwise.
I felt completely exposed.
‘Expose yourself again.’
So Chiseung made his resolve.
To return this feeling to Anto in kind.
‘Because there’s a time bomb hidden inside.’
Then Anto’s command came down.
[Self-destruct]
He had chosen the option with fewer losses.
The Soiseun rapidly approached as a Swift Ship.
Whoooosh!
Joseon’s Swift Ship flinched momentarily, attempting to change course.
At that moment, Anto’s expression curved into a subtle smile.
If the ship had been empty, Cookie wouldn’t have been monitoring its movements in real-time, and it wouldn’t have flinched at all.
Even if it flinched, it was meaningless.
The Soiseun was now nearly touching the Swift Ship.
“Wh-what!? The Soiseun is charging in!?”
At this critical moment, the Commentators’ eyes widened in shock.
“But! This is…!”
Kaboom!
The Soiseun ignited itself and exploded, reducing the Swift Ship to splinters as it sank.
King Gul shot to his feet and cried out.
“It’s empty!?”
There wasn’t a single soldier inside.
Anto’s expression hardened.
Thwack!
Chiseung sprang up and threw an uppercut into the empty air.
“That’s it!!”

* * *
Anto’s mistake with the Soiseun was clearly not a major problem.
“Honestly, it would’ve been harder not to make that call!?”
“That’s right. From Anto’s perspective, even taking a small loss, pulling back was the correct decision.”
In the commentators’ view, Rome hadn’t suffered significant damage—it wasn’t even a particularly noteworthy moment.
“But… wait…”
As time passed, it became increasingly apparent.
The ripple effects of that Soiseun mistake were now being felt.
The gap in era advancement was widening.
“No, looking at it now? Even though Joseon didn’t seem to gain much! They barely recruited any soldiers and practically rushed through the entire Age 2!?”
“What? You’re right!? Rome managed to build up a decent Age 2 force. But Joseon just… completely abandoned it and pushed through!?”
That small advantage began snowballing like a growing avalanche.
And then—
Boom.
[Joseon – Age 3]
Joseon surged into Age 3 at breakneck speed.
“No way, now Joseon! Looking at their early game, they’re making an incredibly bold leap forward!!”
“They reached Age 3 way ahead!? In naval warfare, that’s absolutely devastating!?”
The entire audience erupted in thunderous cheers.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
[Panokseon – 0%]
Ships began construction at Joseon’s docks.
This time, they were proper warships.

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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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