บท 92: The Ghosts of the Ancestors (4)
Each of Adonai's arrows was a terrifying weapon.
But there was a hand that caught them and crushed them.
"Stay back."
Aquila stepped forward, blocking Vikir and Aiyen.
She had sent the eight Deathknights that stood in her way back to the grave where they belonged, and now she was about to face Adonai, the final pinnacle, the supreme of the Balak.
Adonai, the leader of the Old Age, and Aquila, the leader of the New Era.
These two twin pinnacles, each at the pinnacle of archery, now faced each other in a timeless confrontation.
Vikir swallowed a dry saliva.
A battle between two absolute powers, master-level aura users who touch the realm of the Supreme, is not something you see every day.
Even in the Age of Destruction, where the heavens and earth were turned upside down on a daily basis, a battle of this magnitude was not common.
"...What will happen?"
"It's not even worth asking."
Aiyen beside him answered Vikir's question.
She opened her mouth with a determined expression.
"My mom never loses."
Aiyen's words exuded confidence.
But the reality was beginning to show otherwise.
Kararak-
Aquila raised her great bow and pointed it straight ahead.
The thick bowstring was pulled back under tremendous tension, and a powerful arrow was fired.
Boom!
Aquila shot at Adonai with a silver aura.
The solid aura flew like an arrow made of silver, piercing through the black aura emanating from Adonai's body.
[....]
Adonai immediately counterattacked.
His combat instincts were so sharp that they were firmly embedded in his deceased body.
…Boom!
The black aura emanating from Adonai's body exploded like steam.
The earth around him cracked, sulfurous gas billowing out of the cracks, and the black aura emanating from Adonai's body was black with sulfur, as if it were the flames of hell.
They ascended into the heavens in a maelstrom, and soon the vast expanse of sky was shrouded in dark clouds.
Toward these dark clouds, Aquila unleashed a barrage of silver flashes.
Silver flashes and black trajectories ferociously devouring each other.
It was so fast that even Aiyen, a novice Graduator, and Vikir, an advanced Graduator, could barely keep up with it.
"'Aquila, the speed of your bow rivals that of Adonai."
"My mother's archery skills are world-class, and I don't just mean in terms of accuracy."
Quite literally, these two living myths were giving future generations of warriors a real lesson.
Aquila and Adonai's combat is one of precision.
The basics of anticipating your opponent's movements and placing your arrows on a predictable path, while more advanced techniques such as spinning shots that take advantage of the air currents in which your opponent's arrows are flying, and parabolic shots that cause arrows to shoot out of nowhere from above or to the side, are effortlessly executed.
…BANG!
As Aquila ducked her head, a black arrow flew out and snapped the back of a log behind her.
…Boom!
As soon as Adonai leapt upward, a silver arrow embedded itself in the sandbar he was standing on, sending a tsunami of sand in all directions.
An all-out battle of attrition.
... But as time passed, it was Aquila who was losing ground.
Spot!
An arrow from Adonai grazes Aquila's side. The black arrows were slowly, steadily squeezing the air out of Aquila's lungs.
But it wasn't a matter of skill.
It's because Aquila needs the limited tools of arrows, and Adonai doesn't.
Sometimes, like Adonai, Aquila would simply concentrate her aura and send it out without an arrow, but it was so mana-draining that she couldn't use it except in a moment of great urgency.
Adonai, on the other hand, thanks to the negative energy he draws from Hell, can shoot out solid aura arrows of 100% purity.
Even.
"...Even the direction of the wind is unfavorable."
Vikir frowned.
Adonai had his back to the wind, and Aquila was facing it head-on.
The winds of the jungle seemed to be favoring Adonai's arrows, giving them more power, while Aquila's arrows were halved in power.
The difference is becoming increasingly visible in Aquila's body, which is becoming increasingly covered in scars.
Even Adonai's sniper shots were imbued with the poison of Madame Eight-Legged!
Tsutsutsutsuts...
The wounds on Aquila's body turned black.
Her complexion was growing pale in contrast.
Ping-ping-ping-ping
Moreover, the arrows that Aquila had sent out had suddenly begun to go in a completely strange direction.
The wind wrapped around her arrows and sent them flying in different directions, never reaching Adonai.
It was as if the entire jungle was protecting Adonai. Was he really a jungle god?
Bikir wondered. What could he do to reverse the odds?
At this rate, Aquila would lose, and all of Balak's warriors would be swept away by the Death Knight hordes.
" ... Should we kill Ahheman first?
Yes, but to do so would require penetrating Adonai's iron wall, which stands unmoving in place.
What's more, Ahheman had not withdrawn all of his Deathknights, but was instead focusing his efforts on controlling several Named-class Deathknights, including Adonai.
Balak's warriors are struggling against other Death Knights who are only slightly deterred by the sprinkling of salt, but not at all deterred.
"Someone needs to go get the rest of the warriors in town! At this rate, we're going to...!"
Vikir shouts urgently.
Aiyen clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Shhh. We're almost there."
"...?"
Vikir's eyes narrowed.
Aquila was getting tired, her arrows flying in strange directions with the headwind.
Adonai, on the other hand, still going strong.
Where in the world did she think she was winning?
But Aiyen, who is a better archer than Vikir, seems to see something else.
Aiyen. She's watching in awe as Aquila performs a miracle.
"I see it. I do. I see what my mother is seeing."
"...?"
Vikir could only shake her head.
Then.
It happened suddenly.
…Boom!
A mysterious arrow flew out and lodged in the center of Adonai's back.
A single, authentic arrow twitched.
It came from an unexpected direction, from behind, not from below, not from the latitude, not from the side.
[...?]
Adonai paused for a moment, surely there could only be one person behind him, Ahhe?
But.
Pfft!
Another arrow flew right back at him, hitting him in the back of the head.
And then another.
-Beep, beep, beep!
A huge number of arrows began to fly in from behind.
"Ugh!"
Ahheman flattened himself like a bug on the ground.
Several of the arrows flying from behind tore into his backside.
"...!"
Vikir looked up, his mouth half open.
Only now did he see the identity of the arrows coming from behind.
They were the blind arrows Aquila had been shooting at him a moment ago!
Pipipiping!
Another hail of arrows from behind. Still aimed at Adonai's back!
Whizz, whizz, whizz-!
The fierce wind was carrying Aquila's arrows back to Adonai.
Only then did Vikir realize the cause of the anomaly.
Aquila's arrows weren't flying in the wrong direction.
They seemed to have taken a wrong turn, only to surge upward in a whirlwind that raged across the jungle, only to spin around in a full circle and return to where they came from.
Like salmon running up a waterfall back to the place where they were born.
To the center of the black vortex that Adonai is creating, to where the wind begins!
…Puck! …Puck! Quack!
Adonai's exposed back was instantly transformed into a hedgehog.
After bouncing twice in the wind, the arrow became even more powerful than when it was originally released and struck its target.
Aquila's arrows, which could pierce rocks and logs, didn't completely penetrate Adonai's powerful body, but they still managed to make a good dent.
Boom!
Another arrow landed on top of the one in Adonai's thigh.
Only then did it manage to pierce Adonai's thigh, causing him to stagger and fall to his knees on the ground.
Aquila looked up, his complexion weary.
"Great Ancestor, if you were still alive and in good spirits, you would not have made such a simple mistake. It saddens me."
Aquila sent the last arrow flying toward the crippled Adonai.
A blind arrow struck him in the back and a sighted arrow in the front.
Adonai was unable to dodge Aquila's final shot.
Pfft!
An arrow halfway to the back of his head and another halfway to his forehead.
…Boom!
The two arrowheads meet at a single point.
Thud-!
Adonai fell to his knees.
The legend of a previous generation bowed before the myth of a new era.
"...."
Aquila looked at Adonai, kneeling before him, head bowed.
It didn't really feel like a victory.
Aquila was at the peak of his powers now, and the Adonai he had just faced had already died of old age and was no longer in the process of being resurrected from the dead.
Moreover, he was a corpse, lacking even basic intelligence, let alone a living mind, so it was hardly a proper match.
"If only Adonai had had the strength of his prime....
Aquila shook her head. She could only imagine the horrible consequences.
Then.
"Kaaaaaah!"
A muffled scream.
Ahheman was struggling with Adonai's corpse.
The battle was lost, as the Death Knight made from Adonai's corpse had fallen.
The few remaining Deathknights gathered around Ahheman, and a far greater number of Balak warriors surrounded him.
"Now die."
Aiyen glares at Ahheman with disdain.
But.
Ahheman's gamble was not yet over.
He has lost almost all of his life and mana, and is crippled from the waist down, but he still hasn't let go of his will to live.
"Don't come!"
Ahheman gathered Adonai's body and the bodies of the other ancestors together.
He grabbed a handful of blood from his hands and mouth.
"If you come near, your ancestors will be tainted with my blood!"
Ahheman's threat made everyone, including Aquila, pause for a moment.
Superstition held that a soul tainted with the blood of a traitor would be unable to enter the warrior's paradise.
In his final moments, Ahriman had relied on this small superstition to blackmail the others.
At this rate, the souls of the warriors would never be able to go to paradise, not to mention they would have been tricked by him.
The fact that he was so skilled in witchcraft made the situation even more dire.
"...."
Aquila raised his bow, but Ahriman was cunningly hiding behind the bodies of his ancestors.
Thus, all the warriors were unable to act rashly.
For if they did, they might not be able to honor their ancestors forever.
Just then.
"Stand down, everyone."
Vikir's voice rang out.
All eyes turned to see Vikir raising his bow and aiming an arrow.
However, the arrow was pointed in the wrong direction.
"...What are you going to do?"
Even Aquila, who had just used the wind to make an unbelievable hit, looked confused.
But. Vikir was confident.
"Climb to a higher place first."
That was Vikir's last piece of advice.
At the same time.
PING-!
The arrow from Vikir's bow flew in a parabolic arc.
It struck where the logs were stacked on top of each other, the knot of vines holding them together.
…Pow!
Vikir's arrow snaps, and the vine falls to the ground.
And then.
Grrrrr – snap – snap – snap.
As the vines snapped one by one, the heavy logs began to move in unison.
When the wooden barrier dam, which was held in place by vines, collapses, the things on the other side spill out.
Chhhhhhh.
It was a river that swelled during the long rainy season, the waves of a salt river full of melted white salt!
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