Thunder Archer's Desperate Assault
A pitch-black liquid, as if forcibly squeezed from the darkness itself, nocked onto Lyka's bowstring. His pupils began to glow ruby red. The arrow, embodying a ferocious energy, scattered a chilling aura as it locked onto me.
This was a bad sign. Lyka had said with his own mouth that he'd offered his soul. This fight had a time limit for him.
I could probably win by just running away smartly, but there was no way Lyka, a top-tier ranged dealer, would let me slip away. Betting on that kind of luck would just get me royally screwed from behind.
Weeeeeeeng!!!
His red eyes stared at me like a rifle's laser sight. An ominous energy emanated from those eerie, glowing crimson pupils. And the black arrow on his bowstring doubled that menace.
'Gotta dodge that.'
I launched myself into the air. The moment I thought I'd escaped his aim, a thunderclap tore through the sky.
Kurrrr rumble!!!
No way this was the sound of just an arrow being loosed. The darkness shattered the very fabric of space. Like heat haze warping the air on a sweltering summer day, the space around the black arrow distorted like a reflection in rippling water.
At the center of that distortion, the arrow of darkness targeted me like a lone assassin. It dwarfed my own Darkness Arrow in power. Like a scorpion's stinger dripping with deadly venom, an instinctive dread radiated from it.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground hard, launching my body skyward. The arrow's speed was insane. At half-assed pace, it'd pierce me before I even registered it.
But my agility topped 400. Spotting his wind-up, I flung myself out of the arrow's path.
Shiiiiiik!
The instant I thought I'd cleared its attack range, the arrow curved smoothly and chased after me again.
"The Tracker's Arrow never misses its mark."
Tracker’s Arrow
One of Lyka's abilities. As he said, it was a relentless pain in the ass that locked onto a target and hounded them to the end. Even Lumiia struggled against it in the original story. Like a bulldog, it never let go—evasion alone wouldn't cut it.
The most effective counter to the Tracker's Arrow was cover. Its tracking was elite, but its pathfinding sucked. It ignored obstacles and flew straight-line, so you could blunt its power by using barriers.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
I kicked off the ground three times in massive leaps.
'Martial Hammer (Mu-hoe).'
I unleashed Martial Hammer on the ground for propulsion. Defying gravity, my body soared into the air. In a flash, the factory office rooftop came into view. The building wasn't tall—a single bound sufficed.
I leaped again, slipping behind the factory. The massive structure became my cover.
Ku-ku-ku-kung!
The Tracker's Arrow didn't maneuver elegantly like me. It brute-forced straight through the building wall toward me. The reinforced concrete crumbled like styrofoam. No surprise—I'd anticipated it.
'Holy Missile.'
I squeezed out mana to conjure ten Holy Missiles. To intercept the Tracker's Arrow. As it barreled through the building, its momentum weakened, ten bullets of light fired in unison.
Woooooong!
A deafening air wave rippled outward like ripples from a stone in a puddle. The explosion's blast wind slicked my hair back automatically.
The clash between Tracker's Arrow and Holy Missiles sheared off the entire outer wall of the office building. Infused with modern engineering's finest, it didn't fully collapse, but it looked like a half-demolished ruin—perfect battlefield cover, straight out of urban warfare.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before I could regroup, sniper rifle cracks echoed from Lyka's direction. No doubt...
"Kuh!"
Something pierced my shoulder. A dizzying, golden shock jolted through my body. Ignoring the pain, I rolled across the ground.
Definitely Sniper's Arrow. One of Lyka's techniques—an arrow invisible to the eye.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The booms sounded like anti-materiel rifles, not arrows. No time to sprawl out—Lyka had me dead to rights.
To take down Lyka, I needed to close the distance. But his attacks wouldn't let our gap shrink idly.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Any glimpse in the open field drew a Sniper's Arrow. Even behind cover, one punched through every three seconds.
"Let's see how long you can skulk like a rat."
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
Sparks flew from Lyka's side. Thunderbolt Arrow.
'Already pulling out his last resort? Yeah, he doesn't have much time left.'
Thunderbolt Arrow
Lyka's ultimate. A literal arrow infused with lightning power.
'Simple ability, but the sheer power is the problem.'
As the original Lyka put it, something like "borrowed thunderbolt."
And if he used it right, hiding behind cover would be pointless.
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
"This fight ends here."
The sparks grew louder. The battle was heating up.
"Bullshit!"
A bit more brainpower might yield a clever counter. But screw it—I wanted a head-on clash. Probably the adrenaline from the pain.
"Huuu~!"
I exhaled deeply. One beam of light from Lyka's sparking radiance gathered in my hand, forming a sleek sword.
'Light Saber.'
Gripping the blade, I eyed Lyka's direction. Pinpointing him amid the crackling sparks was child's play. For a sniper, his tech was the worst—broadcasting his position like that.
Of course, it didn't matter because the power made such flaws irrelevant. That's how devastating it was.
"Summoner. Time to pay."
Lyka murmured his death sentence in a low voice, then soared into the sky. Not from a ground leap—angelic wings sprouted from his back.
"Kuh! Hey! You okay!?"
Lumiia, locked in a grueling slugfest with Achillera, glanced my way. But Achillera's barrage cut her off.
"Here I go."
Lyka, ascending into the air, fixed on me. His White Sand Bow—the arrow that once pierced the sun—glowed like the sun itself.
Nocked on the string: a crackling thunderbolt. Sparking wildly, it asserted its presence like lightning on the verge of striking.
Kurrrrrr rumble!
As he drew the bowstring, the bolt anticipating launch spewed fiercer sparks. Dark clouds filled the sky in response—his technique warping the weather temporarily.
Was this how Zeus looked before unleashing divine thunder in myths?
Suddenly, I was the mortal defying the thunder god.
No fear, though. My heart pounded with excitement.
Did all humans who challenged gods feel this rush?
I get why myths teem with rebels against the divine. For this thrill, flipping off the absolute was nothing.
'Time Acceleration.'
Accelerating my body's time to boost agility.
'Darkness Armor.'
Donning black armor to raise defense.
My lips bit automatically.
Kurrrrrr rumble!
The thunderbolt left the White Sand Bow. Zigzagging like lightning scrawling graffiti across the sky.
'Full Moon Slash!'
1Lv (A-grade)
Consumes inner energy or mana to maximize the sword energy's lethality, unleashing a devastating strike that utterly rends the foe. Manwol Slash possesses 50% physical penetration.
The light particles on my Light Saber clawed toward the plummeting thunder in talon form. Heaven's wrath from above met earth's slash from below at the midpoint.
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-kung!
Before gauging the victor in raw power, the blast shoved my body. Even with Darkness Armor, the shock and heat engulfed me.
"Kuh-huk!"
I flipped through the air, crashing spectacularly into the factory fence. Without Darkness Armor, bones would've shattered.
Structures crumbled, smoke billowed everywhere. The intense heat forced my eyes away.
Only my sense of smell worked right. A metallic tang assaulted my nostrils unpleasantly—ozone from the lightning, probably.
"What about Lyka?"
He'd sniped from the sky like a coward. Likely dodged the blast damage. But after his ultimate...
Thud!
Something crashed to the ground. No need to look—I knew. Lyka had fallen. As expected, he'd poured everything into that attack. Meaning the winner of this fight was the survivor: me.