Chapter 39 of Season 1 of The Genius Archer's Streaming

15. Alone in First Place (1)

Squad.

In the military, it refers to a squad or a special operations team.

In Battle Royale, it means a team of four, and a squad match is a team battle of four.

The unique point is that you can play this squad match alone or with just two people. You don't necessarily need to play with four.

Thanks to this (?), Almond is now participating alone in a survival game where he should be part of a four-person team.

After taking down three enemies, he was shot by the remaining one.

Beep──

“─Gah!”

A sudden pain surged in his chest.

Boom─

His body lifted off the ground.

‘What… is this…’

His mind went blank.

All he could see now was the sky.

A sky so blue it hurt.

Flying, sticky red blood droplets.

‘Crazy.’

It felt incredibly real.

‘I got shot.’

Realizing he had been shot and fallen, he quickly got up.

Ting!

Sparks flew from where he had been lying. If he hadn't moved, he would have been dead.

“Huff.”

His heart rate skyrocketed.

It was so high that he thought he might be automatically logged out.

Almond's eyes widened, and he rolled his body.

Ting! Ting!

Fireworks exploded along the path his body rolled.

It was dangerous, but…

“Huff… huff…”

He managed to escape.

He hid behind a safe metal plate.

Almond panted heavily, trying to calm himself down.

- Hahaha

- Wow hahaha

- Solo squad lol

- Nice

- The roll move is hilarious

- Are you still alive? Hahaha

- Solo squad from the first match, wow

In the midst of this, he checked the chat window, showing his professional spirit.

‘…What’s this?’

The viewers didn't seem to realize how dangerous it had been.

‘Why did my heart rate go up so much?’

All virtual reality capsules detect and record various vital signs, such as heart rate.

His heart rate had just risen from yellow to orange.

If it turned red and stayed that way for more than a second, he would be logged out immediately.

‘Is this just me?’

He was confused whether this was a common phenomenon due to the game Battle Royale being too realistic, or if it was just a problem with him.

Thud─ Thud─

Then he heard footsteps.

“!”

Ah, this isn't the time to be standing around.

Almond quickly leaned against the wall and focused.

- Why?

- Coward hahaha

- Hahaha

- Solo?

- Didn't hear anything?

Didn't hear anything?

Almond was frustrated to the point of despair.

‘What the hell?’

Thud─! Thud─!

The noise was so loud it sounded like castanets right next to him.

Clearly, the enemy was approaching.

He closed his eyes and roughly estimated the distance to the enemy in his mind.

It wasn't far. The footsteps were slow but continuous, as if they knew Almond's exact position.

They were really coming to kill him.

‘Why bother?’ he thought, but such thoughts were useless.

The enemy was trying to kill him, and he needed to survive.

‘What should I do? The enemy has a gun…’

If he faced the enemy head-on, the bullets would obviously be faster.

He needed to act first to win.

‘Ah…!’

Almond, who had been pondering, realized something.

Why the enemy was coming here without hesitation.

‘They’re not trying to kill me.’

Thud.

He put an arrow in his mouth and nocked another one on the bowstring.

Thud─ Thud─

The footsteps continued. Almond waited calmly.

Thud.

The footsteps suddenly stopped.

Whoosh!

Almond quickly stood up and drew his bow.

“Uh…”

It was the last words of the enemy who was healing his teammate.

“F*ck─”

─Thud!

The arrow was neatly embedded in the center of the enemy's head.

Boom!

The body was pushed back and fell onto the sand.

The enemy had been trying to heal his teammate, which is why there was no hesitation in his steps.

He could see where his teammate was.

[Almond → RatFan]

[Eliminated!]

[Almond → DopaFan]

[Double Kill!]

[66 / 100]

A double kill appeared in the kill log.

This meant that the enemy who was unconscious also died. With no teammates left to revive him, the system automatically declared him dead.

“Phew. I won.”

He had wiped out a squad alone.

- Woohoo!

- Almond wins!!!

- Hahaha, so lonely…

- Hahaha

- Solo squad! Let's go!

- Hahaha

The chat started scrolling rapidly.

Sponsorships also came in.

[AAAAA~ Squish! donated 1,000 won.]

[You dodged that one, bro]

[DoRaLPJForever donated 5,000 won.]

[Unbelievable skill… This is real talent]

[Everyone~ donated 1,000 won.]

[Remember, he's only been using the body code for less than two weeks. And this is his first time playing Battle Royale…]

[LineCrosser donated 3,000 won.]

[This is beyond the level of Electromagnetic]

- Electromagnetic doesn't cross the line

- Nickname is worth it hahaha

- Honestly, Electromagnetic didn't have this level of talent

- Hahaha

- Honestly, the talent is no joke

- How can he play a game he's never played like this?

- No, he can't~ Electromagnetic can't be surpassed~

Sponsorships from unfamiliar names.

The amounts were relatively small, but that was a good sign.

It meant that more casual viewers were sponsoring him, and new viewers were starting to come in.

‘Going mainstream.’

In other words, he was starting to attract a mainstream audience.

It was too early to judge, but the game switch seemed to be successful.

Everything was going well.

“I'll go farming now.”

But then, an unexpected challenge appeared.

A choice challenge.

The challenge began when Almond saw a gun.

‘…A gun!’

The enemy he had just eliminated had a pretty good assault rifle, the popular M4.

It was obviously a better weapon than the compound bow.

‘Should I give up the bow?’

Almond was seriously considering it.

Most players would naturally pick up the gun. It was advantageous.

If he gave up the advantageous play, the viewers wouldn't understand. They would be frustrated.

‘But what if I succeed?’

But what if he won first place with the bow?

And as a solo squad?

And in the first match?

Almond was conflicted. For a streamer, character is more important than just being good.

Being good alone isn't enough to achieve major success.

The most significant part of his character was the ‘bow’ as a weapon.

He didn't want to give it up.

‘Even if viewers dislike it at first, winning would be the best. But if I lose…’

Just as he was thinking this,

Ding.

[SeoJia donated 10,000 won.]

[Mission: Win with the bow, 100,000 won]

A mission was set.

‘Oh.’

It was a perfect mission.

‘Huh?’

But the name was SeoJia.

A coincidence?

No way.

‘A coincidence…? No way.’

It was a bit burdensome. Almond knew what it meant to live in a low-income area.

The person probably wasn't well-off.

But refusing would be impolite.

[Accepted.]

“Thanks for the mission. I was going to use the bow anyway.”

- Hahaha, such a bad mission…

- Really going with the bow?

- Is it possible?

- Bow, bow!

- There's also a first-place mission. If I were you, I'd play it safe and go for the 100,000 won with the gun.

- The fun is winning first place with the bow

The viewers seemed to welcome the mission.

So, Almond left the gun and only picked up other equipment, moving away from the blue zone.

* * *

Vroom─

Almond was now driving the jeep that the previous squad had been in.

“Where should I go?”

Almond, who was driving, casually asked the viewers.

Since it was his first time playing, he didn't know where was advantageous or where items often appeared.

He was just moving away from the blue zone.

- First, get a helmet

- They often appear at the ranch.

- Ranch, go!

- There's no fixed location, but good items usually appear in large buildings.

“Ranch… Got it.”

Almond checked the map roughly and drove towards the ranch.

After driving for about 10 seconds,

- Uh, but you can't just drive straight

- Aggro max hahaha

- Kill me a bit~~!

The car noise was quite loud, attracting a lot of attention in densely populated areas.

Almond realized this too late.

Boom─

Sure enough, a loud noise made the car tilt.

“Uh…!?”

Boom.

The car flipped over completely.

Almond was in chaos inside.

“F*ck.”

- Hahaha

- So funny hahaha

- This is a noob.

- It looks like a grenade hahaha

- Another one might come!

Another one?

Almond quickly regained his senses and rolled out of the car.

Using the overturned car as a shield, he lay flat.

Just as the viewers said, another one came.

Boom!

The car tilted at a 45-degree angle.

- They seem to be good at it?

- The throw is accurate.

- Almost pro

- Doesn't seem like their rating

- This is bad hahaha. Squads usually move together.

Whoosh!

Now the jeep was on fire.

Almond quickly crawled into a nearby small house.

While closing the door and catching his breath,

Boom!

The jeep exploded a few seconds later, and the heat wave hit him.

Thinking about what would have happened if he had been there, he shuddered.

Almond, who had been staring at the scene for a moment, shook his head.

‘Let's go to the roof first.’

There was no one in the house.

Almond quickly ran up the stairs to the roof.

To find the enemy.

‘Where are they?’

Black ash was flying, obscuring his vision.

‘There they are.’

He could see one enemy approaching. The other three were preparing to support the vanguard.

‘Four of them.’

Sure enough, there were four enemies.

At that moment─

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

Ting!

A spark flew next to Almond.

The enemy's shot missed, but his position was revealed.

‘They found me.’

Thud! Thud!

Two of the four enemies kept firing to prevent Almond from escaping.

The other two ran towards the house where Almond was.

- Wow, it's a gank every moment

- The pain of being solo…

- Hahaha

- It's like my life…

- Go, Almond!!!

- Cowards!

- It's a squad match, what's cowardly hahaha

- But what can he do? They don't seem like amateurs.

Almond gave up on counter-shooting and leaned against the roof fence.

“Phew.”

Even in the midst of this, the suppression fire continued, so he couldn't even show his face.

There was no space to turn his body.

‘What can I do?’

Creak─

He drew his bowstring towards the sky.

Behind him.

- Uh, this is like in Fortress hahaha

- Backshot?!

- Dang, is it the same parabolic shot? But now he's shooting backwards…

A technique where, with his back against the wall, he adjusted the angle as high as possible and shot.

A technique commonly called a backshot in games like Fortress.

A shot that maximally utilized the trajectory of the projectile.

Almond closed his eyes and focused on the footsteps. He felt the wind on his skin.

Suck─

After taking a shallow breath,

He released the tightly drawn bowstring.

– Bang!

The arrow soared into the sky.

Then, he immediately nocked another arrow in his mouth and shot again.

Bang─

This time, the arrow also soared into the sky.

The two arrows, which had almost shot straight up, suddenly fell sharply.

Thud!

“Gah!”

The arrow hit the helmet of one of the approaching enemies right on the head.

Thud!

His helmet was dented, and his health was significantly reduced.

His confused teammate spoke up.

“What? What is….”

– Thud!

He didn't finish his sentence.

[Almond → Pincher]

[Eliminated!]

[47 / 100]

Unlike his teammate, he didn't have a helmet.

- Both arrows hit the head?!

- He can hit even when shooting backwards

- Is the compound bow a guided arrow?

- No, what kind of crazy shot is this hahaha

- Should we call this shot luck…?

- I didn't aim, but my aim is good!

- Unimaginable arrow!

- Dying while talking is so funny hahaha

- They didn't expect another arrow to come, I guess hahaha