Chapter 59 of Season 1 of The Genius Archer's Streaming

21. Almond's Rampage (2)

The early stages of the armory are intense.

Especially on the first floor, it's like a hellish landscape.

"Dieeeeee!"

"Damn it!"

"Raaaah!"

Thud! Thud!

The bloodbath continues with such primitive weapons that it's hard to tell if this is a medieval or modern battle.

The armory only has basic weapons like guns, swords, and bows until you go underground.

A mountain of corpses forms at the entrance to the stairs leading down.

Eventually, only about three or four people are left in the armory.

From this point on, they don't try to kill each other.

Because there's more than enough to farm even if they all go down together.

"Let's just go. It's easy."

"Sounds good."

"Yeah, yeah."

From this point on, there's no need to fight, even though the armory is already a living hell.

But the sound of someone's engine revving up was about to turn it into a 'hell of fire.'

Vroom!

"…What?"

The silhouette of a motorcycle advancing with a bright light behind it.

Vroom.

He was coming straight without a hint of hesitation.

"What…?"

Bring a motorcycle here?

Boom!

Before he could finish his sentence, he was sent flying by the motorcycle.

"Ugh!"

While flying.

Thud!

A knife embedded itself precisely in his head. It was thrown by Almond.

- Hahahaha

- So cool! Almond!

- Hahaha

- Wow, he killed him in mid-air!

- Flying is so funny hahaha

- His expression is priceless hahaha

The chat window was noisy, but a moment of silence fell in the armory. The player who just died hadn't even made it to the underground.

The three who had already gone down stared at each other blankly.

'Crazy?'

'What's going on?'

The tension began to rise.

They could hear each other swallowing hard.

A new player had entered.

'Let's go down first.'

'Yeah.'

'Farm and kill.'

The underground is filled with hero-grade weapons.

With the idea that farming comes first, they all jumped down at the same time.

"Hmm. They're all down there already, it seems."

Almond got off his motorcycle and walked towards the corpse that had died with a look of injustice.

"Wow, lucky. What a surprise."

- Oh, a combo!

- Ah, it's over hahaha

- Yeah!

- He has a combo hahaha

- Kya, he had a pistol instead.

It's the best for corpse farming. A compound bow appeared.

Even a flaming torch.

Almond smiled contentedly.

He pushed the motorcycle to the entrance of the basement.

Then, he kicked it with his foot, sending it down into the basement.

"They're probably all down there, right?"

Whoosh.

He lit the flaming torch and smiled.

- It's a hell of fire hahaha

- Wow, it's intense from the start!

- There's no way out hahaha

Boom!

The motorcycle's fuel exploded, and a massive inferno engulfed the armory.

* * *

Thud!

When they saw the motorcycle rolling down into the basement.

They should have noticed something was wrong.

"Damn it…!"

Something was definitely wrong.

But this is Stonez.

"…What?"

They muttered, "Who cares?" and focused on farming. How did they get the ticket to the armory's basement?

Just leave? They needed to fully equip hero-grade weapons and parts before leaving.

There was only one entrance to the basement, and the slaughter would continue even when they tried to leave.

Boom!!!

When the motorcycle exploded with a loud noise.

They finally realized something was wrong.

"Crazy?!"

"Wow."

The flames were blocking the entrance.

No one could survive like this.

In Battle Royale, even smoke can deal damage if it persists, and this was a confined space.

"Get out!!!"

"We have to get out!"

The three stopped farming and ran for their lives.

Waiting for them were mountains of corpses and Almond, who was drawing his bow.

* * *

Killing the three who were fleeing in panic was very easy.

They only had hero-grade weapons, no bulletproof vests or helmets.

Thud!

An arrow embedded itself in the forehead of the first person who managed to crawl out.

"…!?"

The next one who came up drew his gun and fired wildly.

Rat-tat-tat!

The bullets only hit the corpses.

The mountain of corpses was obstructing the shots. They had to aim through a tiny gap.

It was only about the size of a baby's fist.

'How did he hit that?!'

Only someone like Almond could hit such a small target. An arrow embedded itself in the eyes of the one who was staring at the gap.

Thud!

The corpse rolled down with the gleaming hero-grade weapons.

"Huff."

The last one, who was at the back, gasped and cowered.

At a glance, the opponent was a master.

Aiming wouldn't work.

'Let's hide for a moment.'

The fire was spreading mainly in the basement. This was the space between the first floor and the basement, and there were gaps for the smoke to escape.

They could hold out for a bit.

The opponent didn't know he was there. He would go inside to farm weapons. So, he would wait for that moment.

It was a good judgment.

Rattle…

Until Almond threw a grenade through the gap.

"!?"

Boom!!!

"Ah, there was one more, as expected."

Almond muttered as he cleared the corpses and went down to the basement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Juhyeok couldn't stop smiling as he watched the community reactions.

Almond's journey to Diamond was now being live-streamed on the community. Even before the match was over, iconic clips were continuously being uploaded.

Now, users were creating and uploading them on their own without Juhyeok's intervention.

- Isn't it time to really acknowledge him now?

- Almond is a god

- Please stop promoting him, Hako -_-

└ Hako? There are 4,000 live viewers right now? Hahaha

└ Hako, seriously hahaha

└ …Really. When did it get this big? Dang

The comments were positive.

With more viewers, the reactions were also more intense.

Even users who were new to Almond were starting to leave their impressions.

Of course, there were still resistors.

But even that was a good sign.

It meant the game was getting bigger.

Even those who didn't like Almond were becoming aware of him.

That meant the game was getting incredibly big.

All these anti-Almond forces would eventually become the betting money that Sanghyun and Juhyeok would win.

'If I can prove it, they'll all turn around.'

If Almond successfully reaches Diamond within two weeks, they would all have to acknowledge him.

Then, this growing game would turn into Almond's profit.

Thinking about it, Almond took first place again.

"Crazy! No, it was great!!!"

Juhyeok couldn't help but shout loudly.

He was achieving three consecutive first places, which seemed like a miracle.

In a game with 99 competitors, winning first place every match was incomprehensible to Juhyeok.

It didn't stop there.

Another match started, and about 30 minutes later.

Almond easily took first place again.

"Yessss!"

Juhyeok shouted excitedly, as if watching a national team soccer match.

Today, he felt more like a cheerleader than a manager.

He was ready to grab and shake the monitor.

"Hey, hey. Showing off, right? Sanghyun!!!"

Sanghyun's strategy remained the same.

Loot the armory and drastically reduce the number of weapons on the map.

In the so-called 'crap item' matches, there was no one who could beat Almond, making this strategy almost invincible.

Until the final placement match.

* * *

"Huff. This is the final placement match."

Almond said while resting in the waiting room.

He knew a lot was at stake in this match.

'Placement tests are the most important among all ranks.'

Placement matches, often called placement tests, have a huge impact on ratings.

They carry much more value than other matches.

In Battle Royale, placement tests consist of five matches.

If you win all five, you get at least Gold.

That would make the journey to Diamond much smoother.

Moreover, the missions he had taken were all related to this.

- I've put money on King Electronics Platinum, sir hahaha

- Winning all five should be easy, right?

- How do you beat this strategy hahaha

- If no one snipes him, he'll easily get Gold.

If he placed 50th or lower in any match, he wouldn't get Gold. Almond knew that.

'Should I use the same strategy again?'

Boom.

The final placement match was about to begin.

Many players boarded their helicopters.

The loud propeller sounds and curses pushed them from behind.

'Armory… one more time.'

It was the final placement match. Almond didn't want to try anything new.

He jumped towards the armory just like in the previous matches.

Thud.

The cold air pushed him forcefully.

Almond aimed his body towards the armory and looked around.

He wanted to gauge how many people were dropping.

But he saw a familiar avatar.

- Huh?

- Isn't that Pungsuna?

- Crazy. Did he snipe him?

- Wow hahaha

- Damn, he's here for revenge

- Oh, that attention-seeker hahaha

A notorious sniper, rated Diamond 1, was dropping alongside him.

Smirk.

Their eyes met in mid-air, and he gave a mocking salute.

Though the wind drowned out the sound, his lips formed the words:

"Long time no see?"

Almond also greeted him.

With a middle finger.

Pungsuna's face hardened.

- Hahahaha

- So refreshing hahaha

- This is Almond

- Hahahaha

- Let's take him down!!!

- But Pungsuna is Diamond 1, can he do it?