Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 868

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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 338
108. The Fake Bow
“Ratte!! Almond!!!”
The commentators exclaim in excitement, their voices spraying with fervor.
Two out of three had fallen to the unexpected teamwork between the two of them.
“They caught that!? They actually caught that!?”
“How perfectly synchronized are they!?”
“But Pierre! Pierre can’t be stopped! Not with the priests joining in!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“This one person seems like they’ll completely seal off the sanctuary!”
“H-how much time do we have left!?”
We’re hilarious lol
ㅠㅠ (crying/tears)
Openly biased lolol
-Ah
I missed this.
-Our… they said.
The camera switches to Joseon’s main base.
“Ah, still! Still alive! Daisunsin Choi!”
Led by Choi Sun-sin, the cavalry unit still survives.
They continue to wield their blades fiercely.
“Shouldn’t we switch to the Immortal Yi Sun-sin at this point!? Why are they still alive!? Why won’t this game end!”
“I-I don’t know! The goalkeeper is fighting on the field! The goal won’t go in!!”
Can’t I just go in now? ㅠ
No, is that goalkeeper Kim Byung-ji? ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-So they’re just going to keep fighting like this???
-I’m dying of anxiety
Please win ㅠㅠ
“In any case, Joseon appears to have more time!”
Joseon’s final stand was proving more effective than expected.
“Almond! He’s entered the sanctuary!!”
Now inside the building.
The broadcast camera shifts to Almond’s perspective.
“It’s so cramped here! How can arrows even find space to slip through!?”
Narrow corridors and countless rooms.
Blocking that passage is Pierre alone.
Yet the presence of that single person is overwhelming.
Because of the priests positioned behind him.
“Huh!?”
At that moment, the broadcast screen splits in half.
“!”
“W-what is this!”
Thud.
Choi Sun-sin fell from his horse.
-What
-No way
-Ah
T_T
-Please no
-Gasp
-Damn
In that instant, as if caught in a whirlpool, all the soldiers were sucked toward a single point.

* * *
“Keep going! More! Push further!”
Whoosh!
I was surging forward, wielding my blade with ferocious intensity.
I cut down everything within my sight.
From here to complete victory… I could reach it.
I believed I could.
‘Huh?’
Whoosh….
Suddenly, I felt my blade moving sluggishly.
That was likely because my body was tilting backward in proportion to how much the blade moved.
“!”
In this moment, everything settled into a profound silence.
‘What is this.’
As everything froze, only my eyes struggled to move downward, surveying the situation.
‘What on earth.’
A spear was lodged in my horse.
Someone had crawled up from the ground and driven the spear through.
Perhaps being struck on the horse was fortunate.
‘I never saw it coming.’
I had never conceived of the idea that someone would feign death, crawl forward, and plant a spear.
Indeed, the Civil Empire was unpredictable.
It differed fundamentally from a game like Ril with its structured framework.
In the end, it was this very difference that exposed my vulnerability.
Neighhhh…!
My horse cried out in agony.
If I fell from the horse here, the probability of it ending was high.
“…! …!”
Bread galloped furiously toward me on horseback.
She was screaming something desperately, but I couldn’t hear her.
She wasn’t coming alone.
Thud-thud-thud…!
I felt it through the trembling of the earth itself.
The entire Roman army was charging forward.
And arrows and spears from every Roman soldier rained down upon me.
‘It’s not over yet.’
Crunch.
I bit down hard on my lip.
Pouring strength into my legs, I hurled my body forward.
I couldn’t avoid the fall.
But I had to land as far from this position as possible.
My body flew through the air.
‘Further.’
As far as I could possibly go.
After a brief flight, I hit the ground.
Boom!
“Gasp…!”
Rolling across the ground, my vision spun wildly, and only then did time seem to flow properly again.
Only then could I hear the sounds clearly.
“Hold the line!!”
Bread’s cry.
“Push them back!”
“The Supreme Commander has been unhorsed!”
The Roman army’s roar.
All forces converged at once.
Thud-thud-thud…!
Countless javelins and arrows embedded themselves in the bodies of most Joseon soldiers.
Even if they didn’t fall immediately, the slightest touch would kill them.
The Roman army crashed forward.
They surged like a tidal wave.
Rumble──

* * *
Grrrk…!
The moment Almond stepped into the hall, he drew his bowstring.
‘As expected. He’s blocking the way.’
Pierre was completely hidden behind his shield, blocking the corridor.
An arrow flew toward him, but it bounced off the shield.
──Thwang!
“You won’t get past me. The game is over.”
Pierre shouted from behind his shield.
The shield was enormous.
It might indeed be difficult to pass through it and find the Supreme Commander.
But─
‘The bigger, the better.’
Almond nocked another arrow.
This time, he fired three arrows at once.
Thud-thud-thud!
Sparks erupted from the shield as the arrows fell away.
The shield remained steadfast.
Only slight scratches marked its surface.
Grrrrk.
Almond drew his bowstring again.
“Wh… What.”
Pierre’s expression hardened.
Thud-thud-thud!
Three more arrows embedded themselves in the shield.
To Almond now, this was no shield.
It was merely a large target.
Pierre’s eyes trembled.
‘He’s targeting the durability.’
[Shield 71%]
Due to the durability that had gradually worn away until now, the shield’s current durability was 71%.
It was nearly impossible to deplete the shield’s durability entirely with arrows.
‘But it’s already been worn down to 71%.’
Yet nearly impossible and impossible are worlds apart.
The difference between zero and one.
From that difference alone, humanity created computers, and now even this virtual reality game runs.
Thwang!
Thud!
Arrows continued to be released.
[Shield 68%]
Joseon’s Gakgung—the bow with the highest damage among all bows.
And I’m firing three arrows at a time indiscriminately. The shield’s durability is depleting faster than I expected.
Thud-thud-thud!
[Shield 63%]
‘This is…’
Pierre’s eyes grow dim.
I’m anxious.
Almond feels the same way, but neither of us knows the situation on Joseon’s main front.
Thud-thud-thud!
[Shield 59%]
‘The priests have become useless.’
The priests positioned behind me aren’t playing any role.
After all, the priests could heal me, but they couldn’t repair the shield’s durability.
‘Then…’
Thud-thud-thud!
[Shield 53%]
The shield’s durability drops noticeably toward the halfway mark.
There’s a tendency for durability to deplete more steeply the lower it gets.
If that’s the case, there’s really only one conclusion I can draw here.
Click.
My foot steps forward.
‘Do I have to take the hits instead?’
I spare the shield and take the hits myself instead.
After all, my opponent isn’t aiming for vital points—just firing randomly.
Then I should go out. I can recover my health later anyway.
The moment I think that—
‘…!’
I feel a chill run down my spine.
I’ve read Almond’s expression.
‘Just now… his eyes subtly followed me.’
Whoosh.
I quickly pull my foot back.
‘So that’s what he was aiming for.’
The moment I stepped out to take the hits instead, Almond would have immediately shot my vital points and killed me.
In the end, I can’t step outside.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The shield vibrates again.
[Shield 42%]
The depletion rate is greater than before.
Once durability drops below half, it begins to deteriorate even while standing still.
‘When on earth will this end?’
Based on the main force’s situation, it should have finished long ago.
But it hasn’t ended.
‘Does that bastard… know something?’
Meanwhile, Almond continued drawing his bowstring with unshakeable composure.
Pierre’s anxiety could only intensify.
What is this.
Is there more time remaining than I thought?

* * *
‘How much longer will this go on.’
Almond didn’t know the time either.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
‘After all…’
After all, this was everything he could do.
Grrrrk—
Draw the bowstring, aim, and shoot.
——Twang!
This was the only reason he had become a player.
Because he simply always shot.
Whether snow fell or rain poured, whether the day was cold or hot.
He shot his bow.
Even if his right arm trembled and he couldn’t aim properly, he drew his bow even in his dreams.
He drew even a fake bow.
Grrrrk.
This bowstring he was drawing now was the same.
It was fake.
The texture, tension, and vibration were distinctly different from a real bowstring.
But it didn’t matter.
If all he could shoot was a fake bow, then he would shoot.
Twang-twang-twang!
Because it was fake, he could even perform the audacious feat of shooting three arrows at once, and because of that, the enemy’s shield gradually accumulated more and more damage.
Even Pierre, who had been so confident, gradually began to waver.
Meanwhile, Sanghyeon stood firm without wavering.
Always in the same stance.
Grrrrk.
He drew the bowstring again.
Even if this was fake.
Even if it was just a game.
Even if he was a fake national team player without the Taegeuk mark.
‘Regardless…’
Crunch.
I clench my teeth tightly.
Thump, thump, thump…
My heart begins to race violently.
My right arm trembles slightly.
‘Just shoot.’
Twang!
The arrow flies and embeds itself.
Sparks like welding burst forth as the shield is driven back.
The shield’s form visibly crumples.
Another arrow is released.
Twang!!!
The sparks ignite even more brilliantly.

* * *
Whoosh!
The buildings of Joseon began to burn.
Since earlier, some of Rome’s forces had been setting the Joseon main base ablaze.
They were erasing any possibility of retreat.
Buildings burned, and the Supreme Commander lay collapsed on the ground.
A hopeless situation.
Yet Sarang’s lips curl upward.
‘You don’t understand, do you?’
She rose to her feet again, gazing at the blazing battlefield.
If there’s nowhere to go back to—
‘Then there’s only one way forward.’
—Thump.
Her foot steps forward as she raises her upper body.
“Wait, shouldn’t we be retreating!?”
Bread, who had been protecting her from the front, cries out.
It wasn’t just her.
Most of the soldiers were moving backward.
The Supreme Commander’s fall had awakened their reason once more.
It had stirred the fear that the game could end right here.
Yet the most crucial figure rises in the exact opposite direction.
“Retreat, you say…”
Rome would not miss this opportunity.
Whoosh!
Armored soldiers charge toward her.
Crash!
Where the mace struck, only Sarang’s footprints remained.
“That’s ancient history.”
Whoooosh!
The armored soldier’s head flew cleanly toward the sky.
“!”
In that moment, Bread and Coffee’s eyes met.
As if they’d made a pact, they shouted simultaneously.
“Behind, there’s no behind anymore!”
“Forward! Turn around now!”
Survival lay only ahead.
Soldiers and cavalry alike—all of them ran.
Sarang charged forward as well.
Swinging her blade, she ran on two feet.
Everyone rushed toward the front.

* * *
[Shield 17%]
Pierre saw his opportunity.
‘I have to move forward. At this rate….’
The shield was reaching its limits.
The fact that the game still hadn’t ended meant something had gone terribly wrong.
He had to finish it here.
Grrrk.
Sanghyeon draws his bowstring again.
‘Is that it?’
He’d already sensed it.
That Pierre was about to make his decisive move.
Snap.
It would begin the moment he released the string.
Thud—
He takes his first step while lowering his shield.
[Movement Speed Increased]
Whoooosh!
The priest’s buff.
Pierre’s speed surges in an instant.
Almond released his string, but—
Clang clang clang!
Pierre’s spear deflected all three arrows in a heartbeat.
Sanghyeon retreated while considering whether to fire again, but—
‘This won’t work.’
If I retreat any further, everything falls apart.
I surged forward.
“!?”
The distance between me and Pierre suddenly narrowed drastically.
It was the combined effect of the militia’s and priest’s speed buffs.
‘Damn.’
Before I could even finish my spear swing, I was already upon him.
When you’re too close with a spear, there’s nothing you can do.
I rolled my body desperately.
If I could just slip past Pierre!
‘I got through….’
‘Not so fast.’
Screeeech…!
Pierre skidded to a halt and swung his shield in reverse.
Whoooosh─
A heavy sound echoed through the air.
A shield strike dealt no damage, but it could obstruct the enemy’s passage.
──Thud!
“!”
Direct hit.
I was slammed against the side of the corridor by the unexpected shield attack.
‘What…?’
Since the shield dealt no damage, the militia unit wasn’t eliminated.
“It’s over.”
It was finished.
To anyone watching, this fight was already decided.
Pierre skillfully adjusted his grip on the spear, shortening it as he aimed at me, pinned against the shield.
Whoosh.
The spearhead descended toward my crown.
But then─
“!?”
White light flashed, and his spear flew from his hands.
──Clang!
‘…What.’
Pierre’s gaze involuntarily turned backward.
“Gasp… Huff… Brother!!”
It was Ratte’s arrow.
He had pierced through the guild’s defense and made it here without the commander’s support.
“Run, run!!”
Taaaaaack─
Sanghyeon charged forward like a madman.
“?”
Pierre couldn’t comprehend it for a moment.
Why was he running in that direction?
Wasn’t this the timing to kill me?
That bastard holds a grudge against me.
But then, seeing what Sanghyeon pulled from his waist, Pierre’s instincts kicked in.
‘Huh?’
A tonghwa.
An auxiliary device that allows for shooting bolts.
That’s equipment used only for shooting at very distant targets.
For close targets, it actually fails to be effective.
What distant target could possibly be here?
‘Surely not.’
Pierre’s focus gradually shifted toward the distance.
‘Was he already running away?’
It appeared far away.
The end of this game.
Sanghyeon had seen it too.
He drops to one knee.
Chiiiik.
His knee drags across the ground as the bowstring is drawn taut.
Concentration gathers.
Sanghyeon closes his eyes briefly.
Huuu.
He exhales a single breath.
It’s quite far.
Even with the tonghwa, it’s at maximum range.
‘Three seconds.’
Three seconds of concentration are needed.
Only one chance.
“No, no, noooo!!”
Pierre screams and pulls back a newly manifested spear.
A throwing spear.
He’s about to hurl it without any aiming whatsoever.
Either way, if it grazes a militia member, they die.
Thump.
His front foot stamps the ground as his shoulder drives forward.
Whoooosh!
Pierre’s spear is hurled through the air.
‘Two seconds.’
I open my eyes once more.
Whoooosh…!
The light of concentration blazes forth.

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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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