Chapter 130 – Episode 130. Battle of the Strongest (3)
Shrine Melia.
A longevity species that has lived in the Great Forest for over a thousand years. And a living legend with a history of participating in a warrior party a century ago.
‘Is this really Melia?’
By the time she confirmed that the arrow aimed at her was embedded in the wall next to her head, Bardos held her breath and stared in the direction the arrow had come from.
A distance far too far to reach with her own throwing power.
Beyond aiming at her target from that distance, there was only one Melia she knew who could accurately hit her memorized spells.
‘No, Melia was told that according to the information I gathered, she went missing shortly after the battle in the great forest. There won’t be Melia in the warriors party right now… !’
Even if she returned after that, the royal family would have brought her existence to the public immediately.
Just like Verdia, Melia was chosen as one of the hopes to lead humanity.
There are many benefits that can be gained just by revealing her face on the official line, but even so, not revealing it must mean that even her whereabouts have not been identified yet.
‘Then there is only one possibility…’
A new sniper is aiming here.
A sniper on the same level as Melia in terms of skill alone.
-Shuhaak!
At that moment, an arrow flew towards him in a parabolic arc.
If it had stopped, it would have been accurate enough to hit. Bardos, who escaped the attack by jumping to the side, stared at the sniper aiming here from the bell tower.
‘As expected, I can’t see it with my eyes.’
Even if it’s the same for opponents.
Each of the flying arrows were flying with their exact aim.
-Shu Shu Shuk!
Not just one, but three at a time. As if he realized that he couldn’t hit them with simple shooting, the number of arrows fired increased as time went by.
One is where you want to go. The other arrow is wary of the arrow and retreats.
And with the other foot, aiming for his own body that hesitated in conflict.
‘It’s a terribly vicious sniper.’
Is this how it feels to be a prey exposed to wolves that are closing the siege?
Hearing that thought for a moment, Bardos snorted involuntarily and began to speed up his movements.
‘Prey, am I?’
Even if he gave up all the responsibilities that existed in the sun, he still called himself one of the 10 strongest…
Are you trying to drive that big sniper as prey?
‘Upstart!’
The moment when the smoke of the beginning of the year that was watered in the mouth was absorbed more deeply.
Along with the heightened spirit along with him, the mana attracted to his body began to rampage wildly.
-Quad deuk!
Bardos swung the dagger at the flying arrows and knocked them out one by one. The opponent is also strong enough to attack with mana, but mana is used based on the caster in the first place.
It is only natural that the greater the distance, the weaker the power.
Even if you put mana into an attack that shoots from a distance, it will be difficult to overwhelm it with power unless you want to use external energy like magic.
‘You’re going to distract me by increasing the number, but I can’t help it. This side has a safety measure in place too.’
Yes, the cigarette in my mouth at this moment is a thing called ‘blue tobacco’.
It was a doping agent that minimized side effects, created by independently researching recipes he found during his adventures.
Although there are side effects such as insomnia or loss of appetite after use, it is a product that provides excellent mental uplifting power only when used.
‘Just one shot.’
Bardos, who had strengthened his concentration by relying on such items, struck down the flying arrows with a single dagger and drew mana into the weapon he was holding in his opposite hand.
‘If you throw with concentration, at least one… !’
Location is a specific condition.
The opponent won’t be able to move from there because he’s focused on sniping, so if you gather your strength and throw it, even a short-distance throw will have enough firepower to pierce the opponent’s head.
‘Okay, now!’
Bardos, who felt that the time had come, deflected the arrow with his dagger, and immediately bent his body to prepare to throw the memory held in his hand.
Expecting that memorization to be thrown from my hand, and soon to receive acceleration and pierce the opponent’s head.
– Kaang!
However, immediately after that, a crashing sound occurred in front of the hand that threw the memorized words.
Surprised, Bardos opened his eyes at him and looked down at the dark machine falling to the floor with sparks exploding.
‘What…’
The sight of the weapon that should have pierced the opponent’s head through the throw, falling in front of me before I even received that acceleration.
‘No way…’
Soon after, Bardos, who was faced with another fire, took a deep breath and stepped back from his seat, fixing his grip on the weapon in his hand.
‘Are you saying that I predicted that I would throw in the memorization at that timing?’
So that you don’t even recognize it?
– Viscount Chow!
Saturation starts to happen again from that moment on. But it feels different than before.
The numbers grew even more.
No, the ‘speed’ of the arrow is being adjusted so that it looks like that.
Which is fast, which is slow.
It even induces a trick to hit the second attack by inducing the arrow to deflect the first attack with an arrow that has increased speed following the first arrow.
‘Beyond predicting their movements, they know how to confuse their opponents.’
Attacks that do not have the same destructive power as Ymir, but focus on penetration.
The moment the guard failed, the attack, which had the power to pierce the body and die, added to the terrifying accuracy rate at this moment and was choking me.
‘This guy…’
The current skill is Melia level.
But what if this is just a ‘growth stage’?
‘This guy is real!’
Yes, this sniper is real.
If he continued his activities as an adventurer, it would be fair to carry on the title of ‘fixer’ following his footsteps.
-Pazu means!
However, at this moment, there is not only one existence that causes such a sense of crisis.
Around the time he heard the familiar noise, lightning struck the location where Bardos was fleeing and began to disturb the surroundings.
“Now, I sprinkled red pepper powder and bounced and fell.
After that, the woman in the red cloak coughed and closed the distance.
She was pursued by Yumir, who had barely recovered her breath from the tear gas she threw, and Bardos, feeling the bitter mana in her stealth.
“In return, should I be sure?”
“… I will turn around.”
-Quarreung!
At that moment, the land split from the spot where the lightning struck. And a raging storm.
In the aftermath, the ruins filled with collapsed buildings were swept away by the vortex, and soon began to rise as if they were flipped over.
Just the moment when the wind that swept around turned into a force that reversed gravity.
‘Reverse gravity…!’
Not limited to one or two things, but turning the area itself upside down. Hi, is this possible?
However, it is not difficult to deal with it if you know what kind of magic was used.
It is a problem that it is enough to resist by blocking the mana that wants to control my body, step on the fragments and counterattack.
Even if the sniper also has a strong accuracy, it will be impossible to aim if the field of view is reversed this far.
-Shuh!
Yeah, that’s what I thought until I felt a sense of crisis behind me.
‘Danger.’
Scary to look back, an arrow flew through the fragments.
‘It’s dangerous, this…!’
The moment he realized that the arrow had been pointed right in front of his eyes, Bardos’s mouth began to open reflexively.
And Kwaduk!
The moment a sniper shot right through the chaos landed on his head.
Yumir, watching from behind as the tip dug into his head and pushed it back, muttered reflexively, holding his breath.
“Have you done it?”
No, it didn’t fall.
Immediately after, Bardos, who landed on the floor in a precarious position, began to turn his head toward Yumir, thinking that the arrow had been stuck there.
Seeing the arrow that was aiming for my head, biting it off with her teeth.
“This crazy… Whoops!”
A piece of fragments bounced off as soon as I caught my breath in panic.
As Ymir stumbled, struck in the belly by her sudden attack, Bardos, who immediately closed her distance, kicked her in the side and knocked her to the ground.
“… It was great, ma’am.”
Right after that, Bardos grabbed her by the hair and raised his body in the direction the arrow flew.
“The archer over there was also the best… If I had a little more practical experience, I might have gone to the goal.”
As he put his body forward as if he were holding him hostage, the shot that had been fired as if he was tracking him was cut off like a lie.
He must have noticed.
If you try sniping further here, he realizes he’s surrogate to bring his teammates into orbit.
“But since we’ve already lost, we’ll have to pay the price of defeat, right?”
But if you don’t shoot, this side will just cut off your breath directly. As soon as he pointed the dagger at her neck, Ymir broke out in a cold sweat and spoke as if provoking him.
“…Haha, didn’t you usually take off your clothes first at times like this?”
“It looks like they’re trying to fight back with a beauty world, but unfortunately, the women are already tired of it.”
After abandoning responsibility and descending to the shadows in search of freedom, I have enjoyed everything that I can enjoy.
Alcohol, drugs and sex…
But any kind of pleasure is only temporary. To him, who lived a life that felt irritated no matter what he was absorbed in, it was nothing more than a prank like a beautiful egg.
Rather, what was exciting was the fight before this lewd body.
The thrill of having her life threatened over and over again. Walking the tightrope between life and death was something Shin only enjoyed when he was an adventurer.
“Well, thanks to that, I felt like I went back to the old days when I was having fun, but… It seems that this is the end.”
There is a risk of being chased if you drag it longer, so it would be better to finish it at this point.
Right after he tried to put power into the memory in his hand, he saw a shimmering light in front of the place he was looking at.
Even the moonlight, brighter than the fire that burns the surroundings in the aftermath of magic, is a light that feels divine.
– Chalgran!
Just as the light-bearing chain burst out of the air and tried to restrain her arm, Bardos let go of Ymir and stepped back from her, glaring at the woman standing on the other side of her.
“Ha, this… Did you drag too much time in the yard where the location was exposed?”
Ruins that have turned into chaos.
A knight who flaunts his presence with the seams of his armor that crisscross the gap, and a woman who can be called a priest.
– Chalgran!
As if following her movements, the chains embracing the light created in the air began to surround the surroundings one by one.
As if declaring the place he passed by itself as an area.
“While we were evacuating the surroundings, we had a good time. Ymir and Heira.”
A woman with lofty golden eyes appeared carrying the light that covered the whole area on her back.
Yumir, who saw that figure in her eyes, began to lift her collapsed body up with a smile.
“Come quickly. Fighting in the vanguard is not my specialty in the first place.”
Saying that, Yumir walked past her and left her seat.
I wondered if they were going to fight together, but I couldn’t see a single hesitation when I saw her leave without looking back.
Even though her hostage was freed, the arrow that flew from the bell tower was also cut off like a ghost.
Bardos, realizing that the fierce battle so far was nothing more than ‘wasting time’, sneered and glared at the knight approaching him.
“Okay. Is it because you have time to fight alone?”
The moment when the original cigarette was vomited and a new cigarette was bitten into the mouth.
At the end of it, Bardos, who had started the fire by snapping her fingers, spoke quietly to her, spewing blue smoke from her mouth.
“You are quite confident. The guy who was a kid when I was on active duty.”
“… The times are different now, Bardos.”
“Well, it doesn’t.”
She made a career, and she herself was older and sicker than then.
Even so, he couldn’t take her narcotic cigarette out of her mouth, so he said to himself while facing the woman who came in front of me quietly.
“Well, since we haven’t seen each other in such a long time, let’s say hello again. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, the war god’s shaman. How have you been?”
“Yes, I am glad to see you again. Solver Bardos. And…”
Polite greeting.
And the eyes that revealed the contempt for himself that followed.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen it since I became a criminal. The renegade Bardos.”
The moment when two of the continent’s 10 strongest people gathered in one place.
To put the commotion up until now to shame, a heavy silence began to come between the two.
