Chapter 41: First Place Alone (3)

Chapter 41: First Place Alone (3)

Donations bombarded Almond’s broadcast as a strange post appeared on the Battle Large?community. The post came from Calamari, who led the team I Love Mondays.

[I ran into a pro in bronze rank.gif]

Under the provocative title was a collection of Almond’s plays as gifs. The last line of the post read, ‘This player defeated all four of us...’

— ???

— That’s bronze rank?

└ Btw there’s no such thing as bronze rank. n0VElusB.c0M

— He’s at least master rank...

└ Fact, this is only possible because the opponent is also bronze.

— Isn’t he just a smurf who went on a losing streak?

— Who the fuck gets shot by that?

— There are still people who die from compound bows?

— Wait, did he shoot while in the air and kill them with arrows? How’s that possible?

└ Theoretically, it’s possible.

└ It’s possible! Don’t you guys watch any movies?

The comments were mostly negative. They just insulted Calamari and his teammates instead of recognizing Almond’s skills. This was a natural reaction towards the lowest rank.

Who would recognize the skills of a beginner on their first playthrough? But what if the opponents weren’t bronze ranked?

— I’m the user who posted this. What are you guys talking about? We’re not bronze rank. We were all diamond 1 last year.

└ Yeah and I’m grandmaster.

└ Diamond! Hilarious.

The reactions would be different if they were all diamond ranked players.

[I’m Calamari. I’ll prove it.]

The comments began to change in tone after Calamari proved himself.

— Huh? He’s for real?

— Calamari! Boss, what brings you here?

— Did you come back from retirement?

— Who the fuck is this nobody Calamari?

└ Doesn’t even know Calamari. What a newbie.

└ Get out of here kid.

— His team used to be pretty popular. They competed in some amateur tournaments, but I think they disbanded last year. They said they were too busy with life or something.

└ I’m one of the team members. We all came back today.

└ Why?

└ I flunked my interview. That’s why...

└ LOOL

└ HAHAHA

└ You all flunked? LOL

└ The diamond 1s of this world are jobless irl?

└ Motherfuckers...

Calamari was not only skilled, but also quite active in the community. He built a reputation in the community, so his words held some weight.

— Then who is that bronze rank?

— Hmm, that’s weird. They’re still a high rank squad even though they took a break for a year.

└ Yeah what the heck. I Love Mondays is pretty good.

— Then this doesn’t make sense, no? He killed them all with a compound bow.

— The world is falling apart...

They turned their attention towards the mysterious archer who eliminated an entire diamond ranked squad by himself with a compound bow.

— Is he a returning pro?

— What’s going on?

— Shudders.

— Definitely a smurf.

A lot of users wondered if Almond was a returning player or a smurf who went on a losing streak to rank lower.

[I found out who the bronze ranked archer is! He’s streaming right now!]

— He must be a smurf if he’s streaming right now.

└ So true.

— Is he really a smurf? Disappointing.

— Report him.

They heard he was streaming and felt certain he purposely dropped to bronze to dominate new players.

***

Almond continued to diligently farm.

“Sigh, it’s not here either.”

He couldn’t find much after exploring.

— Seems like someone already camped here.

— LOL, how is there not a single one?

— The first aid is usually already taken...

— He doesn’t even pick up guns. There’s nothing to take.

There were other items to pick up and several weapons more favorable than the compound bow. However, those weapons were all useless to him because of his donation missions.

[Mission: 1st place with the bow — 230,000 won]

[Mission: 1st place as a solo squad — 170,000 won]

‘Damn, it reached 230,000 won already?’

It started with 100,000 won, but other viewers continued adding to the mission.

‘400,000 won in total? That’s quite a bit...’

It was higher than his usual donations. He hadn’t received such a big amount since Seo Ji-Ah’s last donations.

He checked the bottom right corner for the number of viewers.

[Current viewers: 1905]

It suddenly jumped to 1900 viewers.

Almond maintained his poker face because he would break out of character if he looked too happy.

‘When did this many people come?’

His viewer count had dropped to 1100 when he switched games. He even saw it dip to 900, but it rose back to 1900 viewers.

— Wow, he really has a bow mission.

— Wow, so this guy is Almond...

— This smurf... who are you?

It seemed a lot of new viewers didn’t know him as he read the chat more carefully.

‘Smurf? What are they talking about?’

Almond knew what a smurf was. He wasn’t sure why they were calling him one since he was struggling to win.

‘Did they come from somewhere else?’

These individuals seemed to have heard of him and usually came from other communities. Almond didn’t have time to check every community to find out.

[The blue zone is now shrinking.]

Only 15 players remained as the blue zone shrunk again.

Kooong—?

Players who hid began to reveal themselves and moved towards the center after a loud noise rang out and the ground rumbled. They were forced to meet head-on as the playing space decreased.

Tutu! Tututu!

Gunshots could be heard as squads fought each other.

Almond slowly opened the door and followed the sound.

Tututu! Tu!

Five people died and suddenly disappeared off the map after all the gunfire.

[10/100]

Ten players remained. Almond didn’t know how many squads were left. All ten players could be from different squads or only two squads.

“Should I go now—”

As Almond prepared to turn the corner...

Thump.

He collided with someone.

“!”

The panicked opponent began firing everywhere and Almond threw himself behind a corner to dodge.

Thankfully, the opponent reacted too slowly and missed him. However, he would surely come for Almond.

Almond quickly hid and readied his bow.

Creak...?

‘...’

He nervously waited for the opponent to approach.

“Over there!!!”

Taang!

A gunshot rang out from the other side.

“Kugh!”

Thud.

The enemy Almond just encountered suddenly collapsed. His teammates tried to help him with some cover fire, but they were too late.

Tutututu!

Two different teams continued shooting at each other.

‘Oh, they’re not aiming at me anymore?’

One of the benefits of being a solo squad was that the other teams forgot about Almond as they fought each other.

He peeked out from the door and shot his arrow.

Ping!

From his opponent's perspective, a bow suddenly appeared and quickly disappeared.

“Hmmm?”

It was too late the moment the opponent wondered what he saw.

Thwack!

An arrow already pierced his forehead.

“Ah... fuck.”

The player Octopus fell back while cursing, but he didn’t die. Most players wore a rarer helmet late into the game. The arrow did manage to take half his HP though.

“Hey, there’s someone with a bow,” Octopus said while bandaging himself.

His teammate Baby Octopus frowned, “A bow? This late in the game?

“It’s probably some guy who got lucky hiding.”

Sometimes, a lucky player who farmed enough early on could just hide and survive late into the game.

“Sigh... What a pain in the ass,” Octopus complained.

They thought they only had to deal with one team, but some stranger with a bow appeared.

Thwack!

“Kugh!”

An arrow fell from the sky and landed straight on Octopus’ head. His helmet finally broke and he lost all his health because he didn’t finish bandaging up yet.

[Almond → Octopus]

[Knocked Out!]

“What?”

Baby Octopus felt baffled by the arrow that suddenly fell from the sky and downed his teammate.

“There was no opening. How...”

Another arrow fell shortly afterwards and answered his question.

Thwack!

“Argh!” Baby Octopus screamed with an arrow stuck in his shoulder. “He’s shooting up?”

Another arrow came flying before Baby Octopus could prepare himself.

Thwack!

It pierced his heart this time.

Thud.

[Almond → Baby Octopus]

[Eliminated.]

[6/10]

[Almond → Octopus]

[Eliminated.]

[5/10]

The team of two had been eliminated.

Almond had his bow still aimed at the sky and his bowstring fully drawn.

“Oh, they’re dead already?”

— Dead already LOL.

— You can’t dodge arrows.

— Trajectory is important everyone!

— The bow is pretty good!

— Wow, the bow is actually useful at times like this.

The compound bow could hardly be considered a good weapon. It was quiet and useful early on, but honestly became trash in the middle and later stages of a game. However, it seemed completely different in Almond’s hands.

— Damn, I can’t believe this works.

— I thought it was only possible theoretically...

— This is insane.

Almond could showcase 100% of his archery skills, no, 150% of it with this bow. One would mistakenly think the bow was better than guns while watching him.

“Now there’s only five left...”

Tang!

Another gunshot echoed.

[Fattie → thug956]

[Eliminated!]

[4/10]

Only four players remained.

— :O four people left!

— Suddenly, there were four...

— This is nerve-wracking.?

‘Now there’s... three, excluding me. First seems possible?’

He could receive a total of 420,000 won. Plus, the honor of winning first place in his first round of play as a solo squad. Almond felt victory in his grasp.

‘If the remaining three players aren’t on the same team...’?

It would definitely be possible if it wasn’t a 3 vs 1 situation, but a 2 vs 1 or 1 vs 1 situation.