Chapter 88: Almond with Practice (2)
Almond was currently ranked Platinum I with 55 points. He would be eligible for the next promotion matches once he reached 100 points. However, the promotion matches from Platinum to Diamond were five rounds instead of three. This meant that even if a player won first place, they would have to win another one to rank up.
Despite this, none of the 9000 viewers felt worried. Instead, they seemed excited.
— Can Almond really reach diamond today?
— Oh, for sure.
— This is a crazy record. All with just a bow and in one week!
— He did a bow challenge in Kingdom Age too!
— Let's go, Almond!
— I'm so excited.
— Is he going to be the king of diamond?!
***
Dududududu!
Almond thought, 'Sounds like my heartbeat,'?as he listened to the helicopter.
'Is it there?'
He looked down like usual and estimated his fall.
Tak. Tak.
Almond jumped up and down to warm up in the helicopter.
"Alright! We're going down!!!"
"Jump off!!!"
"Jump you, bastard! Don't scramble! Just jump!!"
The NPC soldiers began shouting. In the past, he would’ve jumped off in a panic. However, he simply relaxed now.
He checked every part of his body and even warmed up to the beat of their shouts.
'I’m in good condition today.'?
He double-checked his perfect condition because the brain significantly influenced gameplay and the user's condition heavily depended on it.
Almond pumped himself up and felt excited for today’s games.
'It's the jungle.'
It wasn't the usual desert map. It looked like the Amazon jungle, but the map layout remained the same.
'The Arsenal.'
This map still had the Arsenal. Almond wouldn’t change his strategy just because it switched to a jungle. He always aimed for the Arsenal.
Chuk.
He prepared to parachute down.
"Get off! Get off, you bastard!!!"
He could hear the shouts from behind him. Almond jumped out without hesitation.
Swooosh—?
The wind whistled past him as he fell. Almond looked around.
'As expected…'
Several people jumped off with him.
"Hey!"
"I want to be Almond when I grow up!!!"
"Ohhhhh man!"
They seemed like stream snipers. Almond had 9000 viewers now and needed to get used to this. In fact, he was already used to it.
'Sure, let's do this.'
He angled his body to the right and flew towards the stream sniper who greeted him.
"Huh... huh?! Hey, boss! What are you doing!"
"Boss, my ass."
The stream sniper panicked as Almond targeted him.
"Who told you to be so obvious?" Almond shouted at him with a smile and aggressively flew toward him. Then he grabbed the other player’s parachute cords.
Almond bent his body and kicked the opponent in the face.
Thud!
"H-Hey! Boss! What's wrong with you!?" he shouted with a bruised face.
— Holy shit!
— Wow, what kind of circus is this?
— Damn!
— Haha, that's what you get for being a stream sniper!
Thud! Thud!
Almond repeatedly kicked him. Finally, the stream sniper's parachute backpack fell off.
Paat.
Meanwhile, Almond and the other players' parachutes automatically opened.
"Aaaaaghh!? Boss, I'm going to die—"
The player fell straight into the ground and turned into ketchup.
— Boss, I'm going to die! He called you boss until the end LOL
— Kya, next!
— Wow man
— Oh yeah! Ketchup ending!
— Hahahahaha
[Heinz has donated 5000 won.]
[This is real ketchup!!!]
The stream sniper fell to his doom.
'Wow... that was a bit harsh.'
'W-What just happened?'
'Let's just shut up.'
The other players trying to get Almond's attention quickly shut their mouths. As a result, the rest of their descent became quiet.
***
Tak.
Almond landed in the Arsenal like always. He knew the quickest route to block off the basement entrance and where to find a bow thanks to repeating this strategy so many times.
"I'll find a bow right away since there are lots of people."
He easily made snap decisions like whether to go for a bow or a knife first or head straight to the basement due to all his accumulated experience.
Almond headed straight to the Arsenal's second floor because the first floor had already turned into chaos.
[Recurve Bow]
A bow could often be found on the second floor and Almond quickly picked it up. Of course, he couldn’t shoot as far without a power suit.
'I practiced that thing though.'
Using the traditional recurve bow would be best if he wanted to recreate his practice.
"As expected, the basement entrance is chaotic like usual."
Almond grabbed a rope and thought about descending to the first floor.
"Judging from last time, it seems like I don't necessarily have to go down there."
He wanted to improve his strategy. Previously, he shot other players from the second floor. He came up with this strategy after continuously coming to the Arsenal. The viewers called it the hill tank strategy.
— Kya! Hill tank!
— The guys down there probably have PTSD.
— It's like a fish tank!
— True.
Almond stuck his body out from the balcony. He could see fine, but it would be an awkward position to shoot in with his old form.
Creak…
However, Almond used a new form today. His archery became more flexible, faster, and more appropriate for bloodshed.
— Woah... his form looks different today.?
— What's changed?
— It looks iffy.
— Almond, you're so sexy!
— You're killing me even from the start!
— All your fans will die if I clip this!
The bowstring trembled as he nocked an arrow in his new form.
Pang!
The arrow cut through the air and struck a player's head.
"Kugh!"
[Almond → MoonRabbit]
[Eliminated!]
[99/100]
He took the first kill in the game.
"What the! There's an archer up there!"
"Fuck, isn't that Almond?!"
Almond was the only player who could shoot like that in the Arsenal. He continued shooting at a blinding speed.
Pang! Pang! Pang!
Three more arrows instantly flew in different directions.
[Almond → Smurf]
[Eliminated!]
[97/100]
[Almond → AcornUniverse]
[Eliminated!]
[96/100]
[Almond → LemonBee]
[Eliminated!]
[95/100]
Almond's name repeatedly came up on the kill log.
— Woah, he shoots even faster now.?
— And that's without the power suit?
— That's nuts.
— Headshots for all of them... I'm not even surprised anymore.
— Why's he doing better than yesterday?
His shooting looked magical.
"Holy shit."
"W-What's that? Is that really a bow?"
"Ah! Just go somewhere else! You're screwing up the game!"
— The best compliment LOL
— Haha a new compliment!
— Oh fuck, the game's over.
[GameVocab has donated 10,000 won!]
[Screwing up the game = You're too good, please let me go.]
Almond laughed after hearing that.
"You guys go somewhere else."
He smiled and drew his bowstring again.
Paaang!!
Four more players instantly died.
Some players threw axes and knives at him, but he deflected all of them with arrows. After that, they didn't even bother wasting their time.
'This isn't going to work.'
'He's a monster.'
'Let's just run to the storage.'
They hoped for the best and risked their lives running to the basement storage. Some escaped out of the Arsenal.
"Hey, you! I'll come for you later!"
It was better to avoid death for now and live a little longer.
— Later?!
— He's going to reappear later!
— So many compliments today!
— Haha, encore!
The basement entrance became empty after they all fled or ran to the storage.
— Woah! The basement!
— Is he the only one there?
— He has to go down quickly!
— But there's already a lot of people who went down there.
Almond tied his rope to the balcony and jumped to the first floor.
Fwhip!
He safely landed on the first floor. The few players who tried to ambush him by coming up the stairs had to turn back.
— He thought ahead already.?
— Good use of the rope. He's a veteran now.
— The guys who tried to ambush him are screwed!
— So cool…
Almond could see the dark entrance to the basement. The normal crowd had disappeared and the path in front of him was wide open.
'Should I go in?'
Almond wondered whether he should enter or bring something like a motorcycle to light the place on fire.
[The blue zone will shrink in 30 seconds!]
— Damn.
— He wasted too much time.
Almond briefly paused and checked the minimap as he prepared to leave the Arsenal.
"This time, it's shrinking toward me."
— No way!
— Wow, this can't be!?
— That's crazy!
— So funny how everyone is surprised.
— This is normal...
— I can't believe this. Almond gets lucky? This must be a bug!
A truly uncommon event had occurred. Almond headed back to the dark entrance.
'I think I have time to go in.'
***
Corpses stacked on top of one another and formed a wall in the basement. It seemed like half the players from earlier had died here.
"Brutal," Almond muttered as he entered the basement.
[Curious has donated 1000 won.]
[Why did you enter the basement today? Usually, you just light the place on fire.]
— Oh yeah, that's weird.
— I didn't notice because he walked in so naturally LOL
— Yeah, why did he enter?
— That's true. Usually, he lights it on fire or blows something up down there!
They were right. Almond never bothered to look around the basement filled with treasures. He simply destroyed it so no one could have the treasures.
"Ah, that's what I used to do because I thought everything in here would be useless. However, some weapons are useful even for me."
— Power suit?
— This guy's addicted to the power suit.
— That's super rare…
Tudududdu!
A fight seemed to be going on in the basement.
Tududududu!
He could hear constant gunfire.
"Seems like there's no power suit."
He only heard gunshots, but not the power suit’s signature stomping.
— Of course...
— That's super rare...
— Almond... you baby... did you want a power suit for Christmas?
Almond knew it was rare, but there was still a chance. His victory would be guaranteed if he got lucky and found one. He had no reason to not look for it.
'Then let's get some grenades and flashbangs.'
The Arsenal had more than just guns. It also had grenades, flashbangs, smoke grenades, etc. Almond could put them to good use and they would greatly help him later on.
[ScrubbyGuy has donated 10,000 won!]
[But... it's brutal in there. Will you be okay?]
Inside the treasure room would be like hell. Players fired at each other with legendary weapons. Even Almond would have difficulty fighting them with just a bow.
"It should be alright. I practiced."
— Oh...
— Practice?!
— Woah woah…?
— Shit, practice? My first time hearing him say that.
[Bandit has donated 5000 won.]
[Will you add some energy blast to the arrow or something?]
"It's not that, but it should help a bit since I practiced a lot."
Everyone could tell what he meant by practicing when he took his first shot.
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