Genius Archer's Streaming Season 1 Episode 8
3. Who's Almond? (3)
A community with few active users but as many posts as any mid-sized game community.
A cost-effective community.
A community of the same old faces every day.
This is the story of 'King-chi-man' (short for 'Only Kingdom Age Talk'), the community for Kingdom Age.
Since the game had stagnated to the point of no return, information sharing was practically an afterthought, and most posts were just casual chatter about the game.
Of course, that was the true charm of King-chi-man.
Drawn by that charm, 'Dotorimuk,' a general game streamer and so-called corporate streamer, occasionally visited King-chi-man.
Wondering if there's any talk about me, he rested his chin on his hand and scrolled down the board, only to discover a topic being mentioned unusually often today.
"……Almond?"
The word Almond appeared incredibly frequently.
[Almond was fkin real]
[Is it Almond or a peanut? fk it's insane]
[He's streaming right now. Come watch.]
So there's another moron streamer playing Kingdom Age.
He really loved Kingdom Age too, but since it was such an unpopular game, he had long since switched to being a general game streamer.
With half gladness and half sympathy, Dotorimuk clicked on one of the posts.
There was a video linked in the post. In the thumbnail, Almond was holding a bow.
"……A bow? A bow challenge?"
Even before watching the video, his head started throbbing.
"Ha. Another freak makes their appearance."
Even as he said that, his mouth was smiling. At the thought that he might have found a comrade.
He quickly clicked on the video.
The video was shocking enough to instantly wipe the smile right off his face.
The very first scene was breathtaking.
"……What?"
The moment the bandit event started, the person named Almond in the video pierced right through the head of the leader 'Burka'.
"W-What is this?"
Dotorimuk had to rewind that part. It happened so fast that he couldn't properly grasp it.
Fwoooosh……!
The arrow flew, and Burka couldn't even react to the incoming arrow.
Thwack!
Just instant death.
"……This can't be."
People generally know that a headshot means instant death. But it's not completely 'instant.' There's a slight delay. But right now, Almond had instantly killed an elite mob called Burka.
It wasn't just a simple headshot.
"A Perfect Shot……?"
Perfect Shot.
A judgment superior to the headshot judgment.
In Kingdom Age, it's known that hitting a vital spot causes instant death.
However, for boss-level enemies, sticking an arrow like that into a vital spot doesn't kill them instantly.
Being able to send even them packing in one hit is the Perfect Shot.
This Perfect Shot is a hidden element of this game that isn't well known.
Even in this community full of veterans, it had barely been mentioned a few times.
That's because there's no need to mention it. That judgment never appears!
It's truly an extreme difficulty.
First, the arrow must be the first one fired at that target, and it must be fully drawn. Also, the charging time must not be too long; according to what's known, it must be fired within 1.5 seconds.
Above all, the most difficult part is the target.
Not just any vital spot, but the exact center of the vital spot must be hit.
It means you have to aim for an even smaller point within that already small area.
It's an absurd condition.
But as if to prove that it wasn't absurd after all, the arrow in the video pierced a hole right through the center of another bandit's vital spot.
Thwack!
"Again……."
Another Perfect Shot.
All the subsequent shots were identical.
What on earth was going on?
He couldn't believe that a human capable of such bullshit actually existed.
"Hacks?"
He momentarily suspected hacks, but that was a foolish suspicion. What idiot would bother using hacks in a dead game like this? Especially when it's not even a competitive game against other people.
"If not hacks, then what? Is he an Olympic gold medalist or something? Crazy."
Dotorimuk had unknowingly come very close to the correct answer, but he didn't realize it.
"Just who is he?"
He became curious about this person called Almond.
How many years of gaming experience, how much practice, what kind of know-how……
After searching the site with the keyword 'Almond.'
"Damn, crazy."
He fell into a sense of inferiority.
He checked several more times, but there was just too much clear evidence.
The viewers watching the stream in real-time were all witnesses as well.
"He says it's his first time doing this!?"
Fear crept into Dotorimuk's eyes.
Jealousy? Envy? Those are emotions you feel when someone who seems inferior to you starts doing better than you.
Right now, he was feeling 'awe.'
Before a one-of-a-kind genius.
"Shit, f*ck, I need to see this too."
It was almost time for him to start his own stream, but ever since the moment Burka died from a single arrow, such thoughts had long been erased from his mind.
Like a man possessed, he entered his capsule to watch Almond, and typed the name Almond into Trivi.
It was still the same bandit battle scene he had seen earlier.
However, it was slightly different.
'What's this?'
They weren't fighting the bandits; they were chasing the bandits and hunting them down.
* * *
"Chase them! Kill them all!!"
With Roman's booming shout, the entire mercenary group charged forward.
"Waaaaaah!"
"Kill theeeem!"
Almond also galloped his horse like an arrow.
The wind buffeted him back and forth, but even so, Almond calmly aimed his bow.
"Almond! Are you planning to shoot a bow while riding a horse?"
Roman pressed as he rode alongside him.
He fully knew Almond's skills, but shooting a bow while riding a horse was a completely different story.
When riding, it was generally more advantageous to use a spear or sword. That way, the horse's speed could be converted into destructive power, and it was beneficial in many ways.
"When riding, weapons that swing down like spears or blunt instruments are more advantageous."
But Almond had no intention of using any other weapon.
"I'm fine."
Almond stated his intention to keep using the bow as is. It was an obsession to the point of being strange.
'I think shooting a bow is fun.'
Having not properly held a bow for 10 years, it was inevitable that he had lingering attachments.
The problem was that Roman wasn't the type to listen to his subordinates' opinions.
But even that was an exception for Almond.
"Alright. If it's you, you can probably do it."
He accepted Almond's opinion.
-Is that really Roman?
-Just his name is Roman, right?
-Wow, unbelievable. Feels like that girl who spat at me is now acting all sweet in front of a popular guy.
-The metaphor is crazy lmaooo
Roman, who had suddenly become the sweet-acting girl.
However, Roman firmly believed in Almond and rode forward.
-But shooting while riding a horse must be hard…….
-Fr.
-Not many advantages either.
'That's true.'
Sanghyeon agreed.
Needless to say, Sanghyeon had never ridden a horse.
Being violently shaken up and down, could he really shoot properly?
He had his doubts too.
But he wasn't lacking in confidence.
'Anyway, shooting at a moving target is something I'm trying for the first time while playing the game too. I can do this as well.'
A game was designed so that everything could be done in the first place. Like all sports.
He reminded himself of that and confidently nocked an arrow.
Creak.
The bowstring was pulled taut, and Sanghyeon's eyes chased after a fleeing bandit.
Even on the violently vibrating horse, Sanghyeon's release didn't waver at all.
His hand releasing the bowstring didn't move a muscle.
How many times had he imagined this unwavering right hand over the past 10 years?
Fwip!
The arrow flew straight toward its target and embedded itself.
Thwack!
"Keugh!"
The bandit's throat was skewered like a spit. Since an arrow pierced him while on a horse, falling off was a given.
Neeeigh!
After that, the other bandits following behind trampled him to death.
'Hit the throat. I was aiming for the head.'
Since the target was shaking up and down, it seemed like he needed to match that rhythm to hit it accurately.
-Woah!
-Is he crazy!
-Insane!
-Mounted archery f*ck!
-Look at this, you Westerners! This is the Korean bow!
The viewers thought the arrow that pierced the throat had hit accurately. After all, whether you hit the throat or the back of the head, dying is the same either way.
'This won't do.'
But Sanghyeon wasn't satisfied. He wanted to hit it perfectly.
They say geniuses have high standards, right?
Sanghyeon was the same.
He liked driving himself to achieve things. Sanghyeon was a beast by nature. There was no compromise when it came to what he was a professional at.
Sanghyeon drove the horse even faster.
"Heeyah!"
Clack clack! Clack clack!
The horse's back oscillated even more violently up and down.
'I need to engrave the rhythm into my body.'
Sanghyeon began to match the shaking of his body with the horse's shaking rhythm. When it surged upward, his body rose too, and when it came down, his body went down too.
Then, at some point.
Sanghyeon held his breath and shone eyes like a beast.
'Now!'
Creak.
The bowstring pulled to full draw in an instant.
Thwack!!!
The arrow drew a slight parabola and……
Thump!
It cleanly pierced right through the center of the head of the bandit running at the very front.
-Woooah!
-It's even better than before?
Neeeigh……!
As the lead horse tripped, the formation of the fleeing bandits collapsed in a heap.
Fwip! Fwip!
Sanghyeon continued to chase and fire arrows, and every single one of his arrows embedded itself in the same spot.
The exact center of the head.
The bandits who instantly became corpses on horseback fell one by one.
"Kill them aaaall!"
"Waaaaaah!"
Slash! Slash!
Thanks to that, the mercenary group that had completely closed the distance ruthlessly swung their swords and spears, slaughtering the bandits.
From this point on, it wasn't even a hunt; it was a massacre.
"You are a god-sent archer!"
Roman shouted to Sanghyeon.
The other mercenaries also shouted one after another.
"I can't believe it, I've never seen such archery in my life!"
"Is this the second coming of Robin Hood?"
"I can't believe it even seeing it with my own eyes."
Each and every one of them was a nasty veteran who would normally be busy hazing the newcomer.
-Wow…… inferiority complex.
-kek the sweet girl effect.
-Hey hey. So the seniors…… had that side to them too…….
Those veterans were now just like children watching a magic show, looking up at Sanghyeon and singing nothing but praise.
-No joke. Seriously amazing.
-For a talent like this to appear in Kingdom Age. Insane.
Of course, the chat box wasn't much different.
And one more thing.
A situation that would surprise even Sanghyeon occurred.
"Hmm?"
Ding.
[Dotorimuk donated '100,000 won'.]
[All Perfect Shots……. Is this for real?]
It was the first donation received since the stream started.
A donation worth a whopping 100,000 won.
-Huh?
-Why is hyung here……?
-Is it real? Is it really Dotorimuk?
-This is crazy lmaooo
-Turn on your stream you bastard~!