Genius Archer’s Streaming - Chapter 886
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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 4 Episode 17
6. Ace in the Hole (2)
There’s a saying.
Two is better than one.
Unfortunately, this often isn’t true.
Anyone who’s played doubles sports knows this.
Sometimes, going solo is better.
Almond understood this well.
‘Right. We fought like crazy back then.’
During my time at the athlete’s village, the people who fought the most weren’t soccer players coordinating eleven players or taekwondo athletes competing against each other.
They were racket doubles sports players.
While it’s always happening within this category, badminton was what we fought about most during Sanghyeon’s time.
“Aaaargh! Sang-chul! Just switch sports with Sang-hyun Yu!”
“W-what! Am I messing up right now?”
“No, our movements are crossing!”
In doubles sports, you share the same court and must cleanly receive shots fired from the opposite side.
The problem here was never that the opponent shot too well.
The difficulty was deciding who receives and who doesn’t—a judgment that had to be made perfectly by hearing only each other’s breathing.
This was the barrier to entry for doubles sports.
‘I need to steel myself.’
Almond recalled those days and steeled his resolve.
Coordinating with fellow players was already a barrier.
But the wall standing before Almond was nearly insurmountable!
‘My partner is Balloon Gum.’
Even someone as experienced as Almond couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Gulp.
He swallowed dryly and looked at the text that came to mind.
[You cannot defeat the demon alone! Defeat it through cooperation!]
-Religious unification lol
-So that’s how it is lol
-Wow
-Why can’t you do it alone??
Next, an explanation of the weapon appears.
[Weapon Utilization: Bell]
[The Shaman can detect evil spirits first and use the bell to reveal them to the team.]
A guide to roles appears.
Since it was a tutorial, the game was quite user-friendly.
‘I’ve already done this.’
The Shaman’s first role was already complete.
The next role appears.
It seems to vary depending on the weapon.
[Weapon Utilization: Talisman]
[You can temporarily stiffen enemies or attach talismans to the weak points of thought entities to completely exorcise evil spirits.]
The Shaman has two weapons.
Bells and talismans.
Then what about the Monk?
“Mond!”
“?”
At Balloon Gum’s shout, Almond turned around and immediately spat.
Pfft!
hahahahahaha
lol
Haha, that’s funny!
What?? lol
Iron ball lol
He had become completely bald.
“Ah… right now only ‘ㅋㅋㅋ’ is showing up in the chat? Huh?”
Balloon Gum grumbled, noticing Almond’s expression.
“I understand Taco’s feelings now.”
“Suddenly, a taco left-winger…”
No, why are you bringing up the real thing ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Bubble gum personality controversy is so shocking.
“Anyway, I need to tank this with crowd control.”
The Monk’s weapons are like this.
[Weapon Utilization: Wooden Fish]
[Striking the wooden fish in rhythm increases your defense and allows you to generate a barrier in your desired space to block attacks.]
The wooden fish that blocks projectiles and the prayer beads that bind enemies.
[Weapon Utilization: Prayer Beads]
[Throw the prayer beads to restrain evil spirits. Evil spirits cannot move or attack for a brief moment. Demons are annihilated.]
Oh no, of all things, a tank ㅋㅋㅋ
But isn’t bubble gum playing too important a role?
But since there’s only one, wouldn’t it just be almond alone?
Everyone’s already excluding bubblegum from their strategy…
If only the shaman had her bow, Almond would have just broken it.
The chat was already engaged in heated discussion about how to clear this game without Balloon Gum.
“Grrrrr.”
Meanwhile, the thought entity had completely taken form.
With a snout protruding like a wolf’s, blazing cyan eyes, and blades rising from the sides of both arms.
Whoosh!
Moreover, its arms were so long they dragged across the ground.
From the elderly seating area to the middle section, the arm stretched out in an instant.
“Graaahhh!”
Whoooosh!
The Bandit’s limb extended in a flash.
“W-wait, Mond! It’s coming!”
Dodging this in a subway car tilted at a 45-degree angle wasn’t easy.
Balloon Gum, released from Almond’s grip, rolled further down, while Almond himself slipped behind the metal pole at the end of the seat to evade.
Clang!!
The blade slashed viciously through the subway corridor.
“…Oh.”
Almond admired the attack, which was more thrilling than expected.
Now it was my turn to counterattack.
“Alright, hyung, I’ll… huh?”
Hahahahaha
Where the hell did you go lol
What the heck, haha
Balloon Gum was hanging far below.
“Oh, no, he rolled down!”
The subway car was tilting further, so even the slightest loss of grip would send you sliding downward.
It seemed Balloon Gum had let go for a moment too long.
“Can’t you throw the prayer beads?”
“I-I can… aaahhh!”
The Thought Entity’s attack came again.
Two arms tangled like a skipping rope, snapping back and forth as they slashed through the subway corridor.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
Sparks from grinding metal flew viciously.
“Phew.”
Balloon Gum sighed softly and peeked his head out again.
“You throwing?”
“Just throw it without talking.”
Hahahahaha
I’m annoyed lol
Are you mad already, Almond? lol
I’m dying laughing ㅋㅋㅋ
-after fighting with the national team players, dealing with Balloon Gum is frustrating~
Haha, seriously
If this were a real scenario instead of a tutorial, constantly talking and throwing like this would have already gotten him slashed to death.
“Hah!”
The prayer beads were finally thrown.
Crack!
It flies in a straight line accompanied by an electric effect.
Almond pulls a talisman from his pouch.
‘Looking at this, it seems I’m supposed to throw the prayer beads first and then attach the talisman.’
Having already played through several games, Almond could roughly decipher the developer’s intent.
The developer’s intention was to throw the prayer beads and then throw the talisman to hit the target.
Why?
The talisman has a specific spot that must be hit.
Just like Reina has a fixed weak point that must be targeted.
So relatively speaking, it’s quite difficult to hit just by aiming normally.
‘Of course, the monster is just a tutorial right now so it stays still, but it’ll probably get harder later.’
Having finished making these predictions, Almond felt proud of himself.
He was impressed with his own insight.
‘I really am the strategic Almond.’
Having predicted both the developer’s intent and the future, Almond decided to practice the scenario the developer wanted since this was an advertisement.
That was the plan, but—
—
“?”
Clang.
The prayer beads hit the subway pole and fell uselessly.
“Oh no.”
-Huh?
Hahahahahaha
-If he hit it on the first try, he wouldn’t be Balloon Gum~
-What about the legendary 3 magazines, 0 kills?
“Ah. I-I’ll throw again!”
“Don’t talk, just throw~”
“Got it, I’ll throw without talking!”
Hahahahaha
hahahahaha
Fantasy duo lol
That’s it, haha.
-Haha
Second attempt.
The prayer beads flew in a much better trajectory than before.
‘Okay. This should—’
But could it be that even luck wasn’t on Balloon Gum’s side?
Screeeech!
The subway tilted further.
“Whoa whoa whoa whoa?!”
The subway’s tilt, which had been 45 degrees, suddenly became 90 degrees.
During the process, the prayer beads bounce off the floor and scatter away.
-Gasp
-What is this
I guess the real thing starts from here.
They’re fighting up and down.
“Kyaaaaaaaaack!”
“M-mad, what! F-falling! Falling!”
The train car was completely turned vertical.
Almond hung from the seat rail like an iron bar, while Balloon Gum fell straight to the end.
“Cough!”
He descended using countless people as a bed.
Meanwhile, the Thought Entity still stood firm in the same position.
His legs were equally sharp as blades, allowing him to walk with them embedded in the floor.
But─
‘Huh.’
Almond’s eyes gleamed.
The Thought Entity appeared to be holding its position without issue, but to Almond’s eyes, it looked different.
The Thought Entity occasionally wavered while regaining balance, and at those moments, the crown of its head became exposed to him.
A red aiming point was drawn on the crown of its head.
In other words, it was where the talisman needed to be attached.
Whoosh!
He bounced off the iron bar and threw the talisman with his body.
Crack!
The talisman unfurled in midair and flew in a perfectly straight line.
-Ooh!
-Wow
That’s creepy/scary as hell.
The talisman heading straight for the crown.
However─
“?”
──Shwack!
The thug swung his arm and tore the flying talisman to shreds.
‘Huh.’
Thud.
Almond, who had thrown his body, grabbed the rail again from the opposite seat.
Though he had fallen one row lower.
‘Each throw carries significant risk.’
The talisman only flies in a perfectly straight line, so to create an angle to hit the thug, I have to throw my body into the corridor.
And the talisman I threw that way was just torn to shreds by the thug.
‘What now.’
I couldn’t understand how the talisman had been torn apart.
‘Again.’
Almond grabbed the seal once more and climbed up, then threw the talisman.
Shwack!
It tore apart just as before.
Almond’s eyes twitched.
‘Hmm? That movement is strange.’
It felt like the game’s physics were being defied in some subtle way.
[Expert has donated 10,000 won!]
[Isn’t that just an automatic bounce-back reaction?]
‘Ah.’
It’s automatic parrying.
Since it forces a parry reflexively, it even ignores the laws of physics.
‘So it’s cooperation after all?’
It seems the Monk needs to bind the thug with prayer beads so he can’t attack before the talisman can hit.
Auto-pairing is crazy/insane.
-Forced cooperation
-Balloon Gum needs to come up
-This is a tutorial so honestly if you just throw the beads well it’s super easy lol
“I think you have to throw the prayer beads first.”
As Almond muttered, someone sent a donation.
Ding.
[흠그정둔가 has donated 5,000 won.]
[But don’t the prayer beads bounce back too?]
“Uh… well, I’d have to try throwing them to know.”
Almond’s gaze turned toward Balloon Gum.
Hahahahaha
lol
-There’s pity in Almond’s eyes lol
-How would he know lol he didn’t throw it
-The prayer beads might bind him the moment they touch?
The viewers’ speculation could be right—the prayer beads might work.
The problem was that Balloon Gum didn’t have the right environment to throw from.
‘This won’t work.’
The train’s incline kept getting steeper, and Balloon Gum was still climbing up from below.
“Ugh… Mond! Go first! Go ahead!”
Hahahaha
-Geez lol
-What do you mean go first lol
-Is he telling him to go to the afterlife?
Almond shifts his gaze upward once more.
‘Even if the monster comes closer, what would happen then?’
The monster continues to maintain maximum distance, slashing away with elongated arms that stretch unnaturally long.
The pattern is simple, but approaching is difficult.
If I could get close, I’d just take the talisman directly and attach it. It seems the monster designed this pattern specifically to prevent that.
“I think I need to get closer… but what if I get sliced up?”
There’s gotta be some way to do this.
-Didn’t it say to cooperate? lol
-He’s completely ignoring the cooperation part lol
Almond pauses to think for a moment.
“I need to devise a strategy.”
In the old days, I would’ve just charged in recklessly and solved it.
But I’m different now—the one who climbed to world rank 1 in international competitions and strategic RTS games.
“Cookie said it, didn’t he? The answer lies in what the enemy wants least.”
-Oh
-Is Almond about to show us?
-He pulled it out! Cookie’s collection of wisdom!
-This feels ominous lol
Almond’s eyes dart around, searching, then suddenly flash with insight.
“So that means. I need to get closer.”
Really, the process just became a bit more complicated.
The conclusion feels the same.
-?
-Almond just got slower at judging lol
-lmao
-What is this even lol
* * *
“Ahahaha. Struggling this much in the tutorial?”
“Didn’t I tell you? One person doing well isn’t enough, right? Choosing Balloon Gum was absolutely the best decision!”
“Right. I think if I just play better than Balloon Gum, I can clear this. Game sales should increase too. We’ll be advertising for a long time!”
In reality, if the two of them coordinated properly, the tutorial could be cleared quite easily.
“The problem is the Monk can’t use the reverse barrier.”
Especially with the Monk, it would be simple.
The Monk approaches as close as possible first, then generates a reverse barrier with the wooden fish.
Instead of using that barrier to protect themselves, they wrap it around the Thought Entity.
Then all of its attacks for about one turn get completely nullified.
In that window, throw prayer beads to bind it, and the Shaman just throws a talisman precisely at its crown. Done.
“The Monk has a lot to do in that role, so they’re struggling.”
“They’re not even wrapping the Thought Entity with the reverse barrier—they’re not using the barrier at all right now.”
“They could even climb up using the barrier.”
The two chuckle with laughter.
-Crack crack.
-Ah, this is grinding on me for real
-Use the reverse barrier
Hey baldy, check out the chat lol
-Someone sponsor a reverse barrier
Backseat gaming experts in Balloon Gum’s chat were flooding the messages, unable to hold back.
“At this rate in the tutorial… we’re already exceeding the average clear time.”
I was a bit worried when Almond said he’d join.
There’s a saying in Ril.
One weak link is worse than four aces.
Right now, that saying proved true again.
Already in the tutorial, they’re approaching the testers’ average clear time.
And since it’s not even four aces but one ace and a weak link, how much worse could the loss be?
But the next moment, Almond starts moving.
“Huh? W-wait a second? What is that!?”
“Huh? He’s approaching like that!?”
At the suddenly unfolding situation, the two unknowingly stood up from their seats.
-Can he do that?
-Whoa
That’s crazy/That’s insane
lol
Hahaha
-What is this??
-The Young Master’s using sorcery~
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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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