Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 853

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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 323
103. An Arrow Beyond the Game (5)
It had been this way since the preliminaries.
In truth, Cookie had never overwhelmed Anto through strategy alone. He had merely struggled on, relying on his soldiers’ superb plays and fortunate coincidences.
Commander Ranking 1st Place—Anto, a towering shadow.
Facing him bare-handed was not easy. The terror of not knowing what might emerge from the darkness lurked throughout every moment of the game.
Thus, virtually all commanders operated under the premise that they must not challenge Anto through strategy.
Rather than attempting something through strategy, they exploited Rome’s weaknesses in combat power or the gaps that emerged in the early game.
As the game progressed into the late stages, no one could withstand Anto’s management and counter-strategies.
Step into that deep, dense shadow, and you felt as though you would simply vanish and perish somewhere.
All commanders harbored a peculiar anxiety.
Since they led the victory or defeat of two hundred soldiers, if they suffered defeat through strategic counters, all responsibility for those two hundred fell upon their shoulders alone.
Hee-cheol was afraid too.
Yet he took a step that others dared not take.
It began with the attempt he made on “Ancient Walls” in the preliminaries.
He was completely seen through and suffered a devastating defeat.
Still, Hee-cheol persisted, and the foundation he laid led to victory in the first finals match.
The next step he took was the priest assassination operation he attempted in the second match.
This too was completely read and he lost.
But the third match—
“Anto is still! Chasing after Almond’s phantom!”
“I didn’t notice this at first! But as time passes, losses keep accumulating!? Meanwhile, Joseon! Advancing straight to the third era!!”
The arrow Almond fired in the second match had missed, but it flew forward and struck in the third match.
Though Almond was dead to Anto, he remained alive.
Because he appeared nowhere, he existed everywhere.
This was entirely an intentional strategy.
「It seems good to change Almond’s troop type this time.」
When he heard Choi Sa-rang’s advice.
Hee-cheol felt uneasy, yet he saw it as an opportunity instead.
‘Let me clash entirely through strategy.’
A chance to strip away everything and face Anto head-on.
Fortunately, the map was a naval battle.
A pure duel between commanders.
Terrifying.
‘No.’
Yet Hee-cheol lies to himself that he is not afraid.
He had to.
Two hundred soldiers stand behind me.
I cannot show fear before them.
Even through lies, I had to be a human unafraid.
To the Joseon team, Hee-cheol was a commander who knew everything and prepared for everything.
That’s the lie he’d been living.
And that’s what he would become.
He’d even lied to himself.
Otherwise, he couldn’t take another step forward.
Over that massive, pitch-black shadow called Anto.
[Release Falcon]
Whiiiiiiii!
Joseon’s falcon soars into the sky.
The dense shadow scatters as brilliant light pours down.
The enemy’s ambush is exposed.
“No way, Cookie!!!”
“My senses are absolutely sharp today!”
Boom!
The Panokseon’s cannon barrel glows white-hot.
The Soiseun explodes.
Brilliant flames reflected in Hee-cheol’s pupils.
‘It’s done.’
From this moment, the game is completely turned around.
After that, the Panokseon plunges into Rome’s main base and rampages.
The island’s key structures begin burning fiercely.
[Surrender]
Thud.
Only then does Hee-cheol close his eyes and lean back.
“Haa.”
He draws a deep breath.
“Haaa….”
[Game End]
Hee-cheol gazes up at the capsule’s ceiling.
Both his hands were trembling.
“I… I did it.”
I did it.
Finally, for the first time, it felt like I’d beaten Anto.
Commander versus commander.
A perfect one-on-one victory.

* * *
“Ha, they surrendered! They surrendered!”
“Yeeeeees! Yes!!”
The two commentators jumped to their feet and shouted.
“Joseon! Against Rome! Now leading 2 to 1! They’re pulling ahead!”
King Gul added excitedly, speaking rapidly.
“This series! Joseon continues to lead! Rome keeps chasing! This is the pattern we’re seeing! It’s unbelievable!”
“That’s right! Who could have predicted this outcome! Anto and the Rome team are truly formidable! But as a result, Joseon leads 2 to 1! There’s hope shining through!!”
“I won’t say it outright! But… this is unbelievable! Moreover, this match! It carries much deeper significance!?”
and ㅠㅠ
-Insane
Please, I’m begging you… (or: Please… *cries*)
2 vs 1, crazy
-Wow
-Cookie really fell apart this time lol
“What’s this deeper significance!?”
The deeper meaning King Gul perceived in this match wasn’t about Joseon leading 2 to 1, or some underdog rebellion or anything like that.
Rather, there existed a far more game-mechanically important element in these three matches.
“Almond! Almond never appeared once! Not on the broadcast!”
In these three matches between Rome and Joseon, Almond simply hadn’t appeared anywhere.
Yet few people had actually noticed this.
“Ah!?”
Even Caster seemed startled upon realizing it now.
-Gasp
lol
Almond went missing lol
-Huh? For real
Hahaha, that’s hilarious!
-He kept getting mentioned though lol never actually showed up
-Superstar carries without appearing “Nut”
Joseon won without Almond even appearing.
Moreover, not just Almond, but the other frontline archers weren’t visible either.
This carried significant implications for Joseon’s current situation.
“Not just Almond, but the archer units barely appeared on screen either? Those vaunted frontline forces Joseon prides itself on had virtually no impact!?”
“Y-yes! Looking at the replay now! It’s all ships! There are barely any people on screen!?”
That’s hilarious lol
Self-driving cars are crazy.
People are crazy lol
Suddenly the mood turned into Battleship lol
-Rome didn’t appear either lol
Naval warfare.
In Civil M right now, there was no element that could better exemplify a direct confrontation between commanders.
“This was truly a 1-on-1 duel between Cookie and Anto! ‘Hey, you come out!’ And they just beat each other senseless!”
“Ah! The commander was supposed to stay back there posing originally! But literally like a wild beast! He charged forward!?”
“Exactly! And in that confrontation, Cookie won! Who is Anto? Isn’t he Gort, the commander shining at 1st place in the commander rankings?”
“That’s right.”
“The fact that Cookie could engage in a 1-on-1 matchup against such an Anto is already remarkable! And he won! From this point on, Rome is in serious trouble!”
Indeed.
For Joseon, this was like being handed a new weapon, but conversely, Rome had been given a heavy burden.
The question now hung in the air: Could Anto truly always overwhelm Cookie?
“Moreover, in this match, Rome never even showcased the dignity of those ground infantry they boast so much about. Didn’t we see it in Match 2? They’re truly terrifying, right? But they never came out! Properly!”
The end of Match 2 had concluded with Rome’s armored infantry surging forward.
When they gathered in sufficient numbers, they became a bulldozer legion that swept away everything.
That fearsome aspect of Rome’s infantry was completely absent in Match 3.
Of course, this was Cookie’s intention.
“If Cookie had utilized archers and gone for a transport battle! Rome would have had room to deploy their infantry. But! Cookie deliberately steered this into a ship-versus-ship engagement. From the start, he kept shaking the board under his own control! And…”
Yes, this was Cookie’s intention.
A strategy born from Rome’s Era 3 ships being extremely vulnerable in coastal waters.
“Against the 1st-ranked commander, Anto! This wasn’t a victory just because it was naval warfare! Just because the naval faction was favorable! Rather, Joseon won by seeing through everything and overwhelming him! This is unbelievable!!”
-Shocking praise
I’m crying
-Cookie must have awakened
-Baked Cookie
Beeeep…!
At that moment, the players emerged from their capsules.
The Korean audience rose to their feet, erupting in cheers.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
“Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!”
“Guk Hee-cheol! Guk Hee-cheol! Guk Hee-cheol!”
The player receiving the most attention this time was not Almond.
It was Cookie.
The moment he emerged, he thrust one fist high into the air with commanding presence.
“Waaaaaaaaaa!”
The crowd roared even louder at his display.
“Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!”
In his eyes as he surveyed the audience, a firm resolve was evident.
“Ah, Cookie! You don’t usually respond to the crowd like this. You understand it yourself, don’t you! The significance of this match!”
“That seems to be the case! This side of Cookie! It’s rare to see!”
-Kyaa
-For real, he understands better than anyone
-How wonderful would that be
Finally, is the cookie achieving enlightenment? ㅠㅠ
-Wow

* * *
As countless cheers erupted toward the Joseon team,
the Roman players quietly entered the waiting room.
Thud.
When the door opened, Toby, the leader of Sync Tank, bore unmistakable signs of tension.
‘This matchup will be… quite impactful.’
Even Anto, who rarely showed change, seemed like something might shift.
The score was 2 to 1.
Now Joseon had only one step remaining, while Rome had two.
Rome had been continuously holding back Joseon.
Both in the game and in reality.
‘His expression hasn’t changed much.’
Toby examined Anto as he approached from various angles.
In major matches like finals, immediate mental state and condition matter far more than strategic preparation.
“Hah.”
Anto exhaled lightly and sat on the sofa.
And just as he had in every match, Anto immediately began providing feedback on the previous game.
“Now I understand.”
“…Pardon?”
Toby was startled.
He hadn’t anticipated such words at all.
Cookie had completely overwhelmed them in the last game.
His pride should have wavered at least somewhat.
“Cookie is indeed a formidable commander, and now I finally understand his ‘texture.’ It’s fascinating.”
He showed no signs of frustration whatsoever.
Rather, he spoke as though he was pleased to have discovered Cookie’s abilities.
Toby looked into Anto’s eyes.
His eyes sparkled just as they had when he first played this game.
That’s right.
Anto had always said it.
「The real fun of a game comes from adversity, not from victory.」
Games become enjoyable when you face challenges.
Toby too believed no gamer would deny this.
However, that’s only true when you play a game as a game.
Right now, this was a professional match with life on the line.
Yet Anto was still approaching it as a game.
That was the reason he could remain the greatest commander for such a long time.
“We need to revise each step of the strategy we’ve prepared.”
“All of it?”
“Yes. We don’t know what map will appear.”
Anto gestured for me to bring them out.
“Ah, understood.”
Toby brought over all the cards with maps drawn on them.
These were the maps that could appear in this finals.
Naturally, Sync Tank had written down strategies tailored to each of these maps.
Anto stared at them intently.
“This one won’t work against Cookie right now….”
As he spoke, he erased some entirely and filtered them out.
He revised the remaining ones or sent them up as they were.
‘Cookie right now?’
Toby sensed something significant in Anto’s words.
‘Has Cookie really improved so much more than in the preliminaries? No… no, if that were the case, he would have said so already in the first match. Could it be….’
Cookie had improved even more than in the second match.
At least, that’s how Anto saw it.
“Why are you so surprised, Toby.”
Anto casually remarked to him while sorting through the cards.
His eyes remained fixed solely on the strategy cards and map cards.
“Even if Cookie has risen a level, there exists a proper countermeasure. At a certain point, levels cease to have clear superiority and inferiority.”
There’s a saying in ranked games.
What works in the celestial tier doesn’t work in Bronze.
Certain strategies or psychological tactics simply don’t work if the opponent truly doesn’t understand them.
Of course, victory is assured. The difference in basic operational ability means the celestial tier player will naturally win.
Above all—
“I haven’t skipped over that tier myself.”
Even celestial tier players were once Bronze.
I don’t lack understanding of them.
‘Still… still, then.’
Toby felt relieved.
Anto was still looking down at them from far above.
It was merely a matter of changing the approach.

* * *
“What!?”
The entire Joseon Sync Tank Team shot to their feet.
It was because of what Hee-cheol had just said.
“W-what do you mean!? You’re at your peak form right now!!”
Chiseung rushed forward in disbelief, nearly grabbing Hee-cheol by the collar.
“No, why would you make such a decision… m-most of all…”
He was on the verge of tears.
‘We’ve been running toward this moment. For this final chance!’
But Hee-cheol sat down at one end of the conference table without responding.
It was not the commander’s seat.
“Choi Sa-rang will play in the next match. I’ve already discussed it with her. Prepare accordingly. Start preparing now—there’s no time to waste.”

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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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