EP.208 Reunion (3)
Crack.
As I tightened my grip, the arrow broke weakly in my hand. For a moment, I thought I must have been seeing things, but the broken arrow was still firmly in my grasp.
Not an illusion, but the real deal.
That’s why I scrutinized the arrowhead closely.
“…Hah.”
A hollow laugh slipped out between my lips.
The arrowhead and shaft had an unusual shape, different from a standard arrow. From the familiar appearance, I couldn’t help but recall someone.
“Elves’ arrows are different from humans’.”
“Humans go through annoying processes to reduce wind resistance, right? Elves don’t need that. We’re superior beings, unlike your inferior kind.”
“Oh, Kyle is the exception. Kyle is special.”
A racist who thinks her race is the most superior and all others are inferior.
‘Remia.’
This was reminiscent of the arrows that crazy woman used. It wasn’t the moonlit arrow that served as her emblem, but I had seen this type of arrow before.
I silently lifted my gaze.
I directed my attention towards the source of the arrow. What I saw was a spiral staircase, and someone hiding there, looking this way.
Long ears.
A green ranger outfit.
And cheap, whorish blonde hair.
An elf whose appearance perfectly matched the figure I had just recalled when I looked at the arrow. I couldn’t help but let out a hollow chuckle while gazing at the ear girl hanging from the staircase.
“Wow.”
The distance was great, but there was no way I wouldn’t recognize that damn face. My brow automatically furrowed, and my expression crumpled like I had bitten into a bug.
‘What the hell…’
This was an uncanny coincidence.
I didn’t know why that crazy woman was here, but the broken arrow in my hand was telling me that all of this was real.
Why was she here?
How did she get in?
What in the world was she after?
Wait, why the hell is she shooting arrows?
Countless thoughts raced through my mind, but one word remained in my head until the end. Nothing else mattered.
‘Is she really that crazy?’
My head was heating up.
I’m not an easy-to-anger person, but that’s when dealing with people. If the opponent isn’t human—in other words, if they’re an extraordinarily shocking individual… then things change a bit.
Crack.
I squished the arrowhead with my thumb. Throwing the broken and crushed arrow to the ground, I spat out.
“Is she crazy?”
Reuniting with an old comrade was the worst.
Assuming I could call that crazy woman a comrade, this meeting certainly deserved to be called the worst.
—
‘…Did you catch her?’
Remia furrowed her brows.
It was a situation she couldn’t comprehend. The arrow had clearly aimed at that woman from the blind spot. It was an arrow that couldn’t be stopped or evaded.
Was she just good at anticipating?
Or was there something more?
It was simple to find out. Remia nocked another arrow. This time, she pulled the bowstring tighter than before.
‘Shall I pierce her brain?’
It would be a good method to render her half-dead, then revive her with Sara’s blessing to extract information. That had been her idea until a moment ago, but…
“Wow, she is crazy?”
Now, after hearing a remark she couldn’t just brush off as an insult, things were different. Remia narrowed her eyes. Somehow, she felt an inexplicable familiarity from the woman she had never met.
‘That familiar annoyance.’
It frustrated her.
Remia aimed the arrowhead at the woman’s head. The robed woman remained still, merely staring at this place.
“…Arrogant bitch.”
Muttering softly, Remia released the arrow. The taut bowstring made a twang! sound.
Fshhuuu!
However, the sound the shot arrow made was unusual. Cutting through the air, the arrow targeted the woman’s head.
Crack!
But once again, it was caught.
The woman casually reached out her hand and grasped the arrow. It was as if she knew the trajectory of the arrow and where it was aiming.
“What are you doing?”
The woman let out a sneer.
The distance was great, yet an elf’s keen hearing picked up that mocking sound. Remia’s eyebrows twitched.
‘This can’t be luck, right?’
It wasn’t a coincidence. She wasn’t just good at anticipating.
This was a person with enough physical skills to catch an incoming arrow barehanded, the kind of reflexes and dynamic vision to recognize the arrow in flight.
‘…Superhuman?’
People called those capable of such feats superhumans.
Or rather, among the Demon Lord’s army, even the four calamities had at least that level of skill.
“What the hell are you?”
Remia shot the question.
Her voice ringing with mana echoed in the chamber.
Swish.
In response to Remia’s question, the woman silently raised her hand. That gesture crumpled Remia’s expression. Not knowing much about human curses, Remia couldn’t grasp the meaning behind that singular hand gesture.
But she did understand that it carried the weight of an insult.
“Shove it, ear girl.”
That was a hand gesture she had seen a pesky mage use against her sometimes.
“Are you asking for a fight?”
Now, she didn’t care who the opponent was.
An elven being wouldn’t tolerate an insult faced openly. When insulted, they would repay the indignity tenfold. That was the way of proud elves.
Remia reached for her quiver.
She slid arrows between her fingers and equipped four arrows simultaneously on her bow. At that moment, the woman began to move as well.
The woman lowered her stance.
Remia tightened her bowstring.
“You’re dead.”
She let loose the bowstring.
Four arrows were shot simultaneously. Four beams of light propelled towards the woman, who lightly stomped on the ground.
Pababababang!
The arrows embedded where the woman had just been. Remia furrowed her brows and caught her breath. The speed was remarkable. However, it posed no problem.
‘I’ve hit a black dragon before.’
Not being able to hit a moving target would be a disgrace for a renowned archer. Remia read the woman’s movements and drew back her bowstring.
Whoosh!
The arrow sliced through the air. Yet, this time, the trajectory wasn’t as consistent as before. Some drew curves and others began to spiral off in strange directions.
However, all arrows aimed at one target.
‘Ankles.’
Remia intended to pierce the ankles first. Watching her prey incapacitated and crawling on the ground was always a joyful sight for her.
Whiiiiil!
The arrow’s trajectory curved.
The seemingly off-target arrow spiraled toward the woman’s ankle.
Thud!
And the woman stomped her foot.
The ground shook, and the shockwave produced by her stomp obliterated the incoming arrows.
“…How?”
It was as if she knew precisely when the arrows were coming. Remia narrowed her eyes.
‘She knows?’
There was no time to be flustered.
The woman had already closed the distance and leaped off the ground. The space between them rapidly diminished. Remia took off running up the staircase.
Crack!
Her feet shattered the steps upon takeoff. The woman, holding onto the half-destroyed railing of the staircase, gazed back at her. The glowing blue pupils in the shadow were chilling.
For a moment, Remia felt fear.
That fact prodded at Remia’s pride.
“…How annoying.”
She spun around and jumped onto one of the columns lined in the chamber. Planting her foot on the decoration of the pillar, Remia threw her quiver into the air.
Crackle.
Dozens of arrows poured into the air.
Before the arrows fell to the ground, Remia’s hands snatched them. Letting loose four at a time, she moved her hands without pausing.
The sharp senses of an elf.
A body that had reached the pinnacle of superhuman ability.
Vision akin to that of a beast, piercing through everything.
Utilizing all of that, Remia exhibited rapid-fire shooting. Not only was it incredibly fast, but the arrows of the archer never missed their target. The trajectories may have been strange, but they all aimed at one thing.
Dozens of arrows dominated the space. Raining down like a storm, the arrows tightened around the prey’s neck.
In that situation, the prey chose not to dodge. The woman, who had been hanging on the railing, launched herself off the wall towards the hail of arrows.
‘…Is she trying to commit suicide?’
Absolutely not.
The woman clenched her fist. At that moment, blue mana burst forth like an explosion. Only then did Remia feel a strangeness in the woman’s figure.
‘…A mage?’
The explosive amount of mana.
What flickered in the woman’s clenched fist were traces of spells.
And Remia witnessed it.
Smash.
A shockwave burst forth from the woman’s swung fist.
Kaangggggg!
The shockwave obliterated all the arrows. They crumpled and shattered, scattering into the air. The raging wind made Remia’s vision blur.
“…What the hell?”
She had exhausted all her arrows.
The hunter had become the hunted.
Now, she found herself in a position where she was being chased.
“…Ugh!”
Remia kicked off from the column and leaped up.
Twisting her body in mid-air, she gauged the time she had been given. It wasn’t much.
‘Just once.’
Time to pull the bowstring back, merely once.
In the end, Remia retrieved the arrow she hadn’t wanted to use. The arrow equipped on the bowstring emanated a gentle light.
What rose was moonlight.
Remia lightly flicked the bowstring.
The moonlight pierced through the darkness and was loosed.
—
‘Moonlight arrow.’
Gazing at the approaching moonlight, Raniel furrowed her brows.
‘I was wondering when it’d be released…’
Of course, she had been saving it for the last moment.
Thinking that, Raniel narrowed her eyes. It was easy for her to push Remia to produce the moonlight arrow.
She knew Remia well.
While acting as a singular party, it was always Raniel’s job to devise and execute all strategies. Thus, she had an accurate grasp of Remia’s combat habits.
Limits of abilities.
Petty habits.
What point she would act out and how.
Knowing all that made it easy to deal with her. Honestly, without that knowledge, Remia was an easy opponent for Raniel.
‘But, when she’s with Kyle, it’s troublesome.’
Right now, however, they were just a rear guard.
As is typical for those at the rear, Remia’s individual combat abilities were considerably lacking compared to other superhumans.
However, there was one thing.
There was a single means within Remia to overturn all those matchups.
‘Blessing of moonlight.’
An arrow that one could create and use only if blessed by the World Tree!
‘Moonlight arrow.’
Raniel understood its destructive power well.
If her signature spell, Ashes to Ashes, could sweep away enemies by the unit, the moonlight arrow was optimized for piercing a single target.
Thus.
If the target is one, the moonlight arrow surpasses Raniel’s spells in sheer destructive power.
‘Honestly, it’s unfair. That’s just wrong.’
Grumbling, Raniel spun around while keeping her eyes trained on the incoming moonlight arrow, spreading her hands wide.
The moonlight arrow was indeed threatening.
To face it directly would require taking on some level of risk. But Raniel understood that the moonlight arrow couldn’t always unleash its power. With that power came evident weaknesses as well.
‘If you block the light, it becomes powerless.’
With her outstretched right hand.
Magic stored in each knuckle bloomed with light simultaneously.
Chains.
Spell-Nesting.
Spell-Bunch.
One foundational spell multiplied into dozens.
Dozens of chains coiled around the arrowhead of the moonlight arrow. Naturally, the chains did not prevent the moonlight arrow.
Ching!
The chains quivered and were all severed.
However, for a brief moment, the chains perfectly blocked the moonlight emanating from the arrowhead. And Raniel did not miss that moment.
Smash.
Her swung fist struck the arrowhead ensnared in chains. The moonlight arrow weakened by the blocked light shattered upon the shockwave bursting from Raniel’s fist.
Kaang!
With the ripple of the shockwave hitting later, Remia’s hair flew in every direction. Shielding her face, Remia closed her eyes. And when she opened them again…
“…Ah.”
Raniel was right in front of her.
Remia couldn’t accept that the moonlight arrow had been obliterated. As a result, her reaction was delayed by an instant.
Whack!
Raniel’s knee slammed into Remia’s abdomen. Thok!, the noise echoed as cracks formed along the column Remia had been leaning against.
“Cough…!”
Her swallowed breath was all expelled.
Remia’s vision momentarily blurred, and Raniel showed no signs of stopping.
Grasp.
Raniel’s hand clutched Remia’s head. The slender fingers tightened around it.
“Ugh, ugh!”
Remia struggled, but the grip was surprisingly strong. The pain of her head being squeezed made her scream.
“Let go of me…!”
“Shut it, ear girl.”
Raniel pulled her arm back. Consequently, Remia’s body was also dragged back. For an instant, Remia felt as if her body was floating.
Spinning in the air.
Amid her floating sensation, Remia recognized her situation through the scenery visible between the grasping fingers.
‘I’m falling.’
She leaped from the pillar and was dropping down.
The sensation of floating enveloped her. Her prized blonde hair danced chaotically in the air. Despite nearing the ground, the grip showed no intention of loosening.
If anything, it tightened.
Remia felt her head being squeezed tighter. Just when the ground was about to crash in, Raniel swung her pulled arm downward with force.
Kaang!
With a thunderous roar, Remia’s head smashed down into the ground. Cracks surged across the stone surface. Remia’s body convulsed briefly.
“Cough…!”
For an instant, Remia’s vision faded to black. The overwhelming pain left her feeling faint, and crimson blood trickled from Remia’s nose.
“Ugh.”
With her blurry vision, Remia looked up.
There was a human gazing down at her.
“Ahh, what a relief.”
That human looked down at her with an expression that suggested he felt a century’s worth of indigestion had finally been relieved. Filled with scorn, Remia felt rage bubbling within her.
What a deeply humiliating situation.
Gritting her teeth, she managed to speak through her anger.
“What are you…”
“Keep your mouth shut.”
The human reached out.
Remia flinched, her body shaking as she tightly shut her eyes. But no pain followed. Instead, Raniel just pointed at Remia with her finger.
“Hey, Cardi.”
She glanced elsewhere and spoke.
“You were curious about the archer, right?”
“…I did say I was curious.”
Suddenly, the ominous presence she had forgotten approached.
Remia could hear footsteps beside her ear. A feeling of inexplicable fear crept in. Her instincts rang alarm bells.
“You guys—I don’t know who you are, but you’re all dead. Kyle will kill you all. Can you handle it? Don’t you know my face? Who am I…”
Filled with fear, Remia yelled desperately.
But the footsteps continued to come closer.
Thud.
Eventually, the footsteps halted. In the midst of a silence, someone looked down at her. It was the male who had been beside the woman earlier, now clearly visible.
“…So you’re an elf. How unfortunate.”
Golden eyes.
Flowing silver hair.
And long ears, the symbol of elves.
“W-What…?”
Remia’s eyes widened.
She had heard of that existence, the silver-haired elf.
‘The elder of the elves, Orbel’s teacher and caretaker, the only elf remembering the ancient times.’
Elder Orbel had spoken.
The silver-haired elf was from the era before the current elves existed… and was a teacher and benefactor to all elves.
“Our foundation, the World Tree, was created by that silver-haired elf. Compared to that, today’s elves are nothing but fakes.”
The proudest of elves.
The ancient elf who seemed like a fairytale character.
Facing a living legend, Remia’s pupils trembled violently. Despite her panic, the silver-haired elf continued in a voice filled with lament.
“You possess no dignity, no courtesy towards your peers, and no pride at all. I find it hard to believe that this is truly an elf…”
“Remarkably enough, she’s an archer. Truly remarkable.”
“It’s truly the end times…”
It was a voice that sounded disillusioned with the world.
Casting a sideways glance at Remia, the yellow eyes were filled with clear disdain. Trembling, Remia opened her mouth.
“Could it be your name…”
“Shut that mouth.”
Cardi snapped back.
“I don’t want to exchange a single word with filthy kin.”
It was a gaze that clearly viewed her as a bug.
