Book 14 Chapter 10

Platinum Mercenary Group,

In the Northern Empire (2)

The Jeol-gok-gung-pa originated in the eastern part of the empire, where rough terrain is scattered due to the geographical influence of the Eternal Mountains.

To survive in such land, the culture of the east is focused on hunting and gathering rather than agriculture.

The archery of the Jeol-gok-gung-pa, which forms one of the two great archery schools in the empire, has developed to ignore the geographical elements of rough terrain and ensure the definite demise of prey.

For them, archery was not a martial art. It was a way of survival.

Masters of the Jeol-gok-gung-pa are said to be able to bend the arrow's trajectory up to twelve times until it reaches the target. This means they can precisely aim for the opponent's blind spot.

"Secret Art of Jeol-gok-gung, Samcheonsal (Three-Shift Kill)."

Short bows made from buffalo horn are considered top-tier masterpieces for their maneuverability in the harsh wilderness.

Masters went further, making bows from materials obtained from magical beasts rather than ordinary animals.

Archer Jack's bow was also made from the product of a B-class magical beast from Trident Point, and its elasticity cannot withstand anything less than the [Spiderweb of Gong-an-gong], known as a legendary bowstring.

"!"

At Jack's counterattack, the young mage Rin let out a hollow laugh, feeling his back drenched in cold sweat.

'When did he get behind me?'

If my reaction had been half a beat slower, my head would have been accurately pierced just now, with room to spare.

'Is such precise shooting possible on the ground I just raised?'

The archer was running with acrobatic movements, floating in the air, repeatedly firing small arrows.

Ping, ping, pipipipipiping…!

Reacting to the sound of magic deflecting the wind would be too late.

There is no sound, no visible arrow trajectory, and it moves all over the place, so it's safe to say instantaneous reaction is impossible.

I can't use Yorgen-type magic. It's too slow.

'Damn, this is amazing.'

I wanted this kind of fight.

I wanted this kind of battle of wits.

"Osarius-style Hand Seal, 4th Seal."

If there's a drawback to the small arrows, perhaps it's that their size and weight are smaller than regular arrows, resulting in less impact force?

But even that…

Thanks to the [King's Flesh], the magic took on the power of the abyss, perfectly compensating for it. The contact surface instantly rots.

"Wind Fan."

Then, I'll find another weakness.

For projectiles that are light but move at high speed, the rate of power loss due to air resistance is inevitably higher than that of typical arrows.

Piyuung───!

Just now, the small arrow that barely grazed past my eyes and lodged itself into the ground had its trajectory distorted by air resistance.

Even if magic corrects the power to maintain the trajectory as much as possible at the time of firing, shooting at that distance…

Even a slight deviation can create a huge difference.

"Good, shall I counterattack now?"

Archer Jack, facing it, could only tilt his head.

'Magic? When?'

That's strange.

He didn't open a magic book or construct it on his palm, yet he used magic to block the arrow.

All he did was intertwine his hands a few times.

'A trick? Or did he use magic in the blink of an eye, is that it?'

No, that's impossible in magic, which requires the most delicate adjustments among all types of magic usage.

'It's even a powerful enough wind to shake the forest. Does he have an artifact?'

This time it was Yorgen-type, meaning mental arithmetic.

As soon as a magic circle surged on the boy's palm and a series of magic casting processes began, the ground floating in the air started to fall.

Small stones, swirling around Jack like dust, flew at him incessantly.

"Keueup!"

Evading them with high-speed movement, Jack placed two small arrows between his fingers, notched one into a grooved arrow rest, and drew the bowstring.

"…Ah, no…!"

At that moment, the target was seen crying out desperately.

'Can't he use powerful magic now? Yes, he used three such powerful spells, so this is natural.'

Due to the surrounding noise, he couldn't hear the sound, only saw the lip movements, but it looked like begging for his life.

"…That guy…!"

Yes, at such a young age, using such magic, his body couldn't possibly be unharmed.

"…He's mine…!"

He hesitated for a moment.

"…Hey, you damn son of a bitch…!"

He had to follow the captain's orders, but that kid was too young. Killing him without any mercy…

"Gyu!"

Then, let's go with subduing him while avoiding vital points.

'Gyu?'

Instantly, something that filled his entire vision with white disrupted his aim. If the target isn't visible, even a master marksman cannot hit it.

"Gyu-gyu-gyu-gyut!"

Is this what it would feel like if God had breathed life into a snowball?

A white cotton ball tickled the archer's nose, and the archer ended up sneezing.

The short fall ended like that, and he plunged headfirst into the ground without time to break his fall.

* * *

Rista clashed with her opponent on top of a giant tree.

The bladed wind from the clash was fierce enough to sever the giant tree's twigs and topple them diagonally.

As leaves and branches poured down like rain, Rista faced her opponent, with the giant tree trunk between them.

"What! My partner got a dent in it!"

The woman bristled with annoyance upon seeing her staff deeply dented. Rista smiled apologetically.

"I tried to break it, but a flick was a bit insufficient. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were skilled enough to imbue your staff with that much magic."

Rista wasn't the only one gauging the opponent's identity. The woman was also assessing Rista from the recent clash and his appearance.

"Hey, are you looking down on me right now?"

"Why do you think that?"

"Are you asking because you don't know? If you're not looking down on me, why aren't you drawing that sword? The one bandaged on your back, it's a greatsword."

A faint light settled in Rista's eyes as he glanced up at the hilt of the Extreme Saint Sword Shyrpen, which protruded long behind his shoulder.

"Ah, this one isn't drawn unless it's a situation where it absolutely must be drawn."

"What?"

"In short, you're not an opponent worthy of drawing this. It's truly fortunate, for both of us."

Ha, ha ha, the woman's laughter, which had burst out in disbelief, suddenly vanished as if cut with a knife.

"This insolence! Fine, I'll crush you with my full power. Let's see if you can still be so cheeky after your limbs turn into dried shredded squid!"

The woman ripped off and threw away the green cloak she was wearing for camouflage.

Despite her fur attire, she was truly wild and imposing, but two things caught Rista's eye.

One was an emblem of six roaring grizzly bears, and the other was a gold-tier emblem.

"This Janna, rank 16 Gold-tier from the Platinum-tier mercenary group [Roar of the Grizzly Bear], will beat you down with full power!"

Within the fierce vortex of killing intent Janna unleashed, Rista lightly stretched.

"Well, let's see~ Would a knife-hand strike be enough?"

* * *

"…Gyu, gyu-gyu, gyu-gyu-gyu…!"

Archer Jack regained consciousness amidst painful vomiting.

"…Hey man, you're the only one who can remove the flesh, so what do I do…?"

A tearing pain erupted in his lower abdomen, and the [King's Flesh], which had been transmitting intense power throughout his body, detached.

"…Oh, he woke up. So, you should have been gentler…"

As he barely lifted his head, the boy was telekinetically lifting the flesh and putting it into a glass bottle.

Jack thought.

Why am I alive? If I had fallen from that height, it wouldn't be strange if my cervical spine had broken and I died.

His memory soon returned.

Before he plunged headfirst to his death, when he thought that, something soft… reduced the impact of the fall. That power was psychokinesis.

"Magic that distorts an entire landscape at that age… just who are you?"

Even before an answer came, Jack deduced the boy's identity.

"You're Rin."

With that appearance, power, and the rumors that had recently stirred up the entire continent, it was impossible not to know.

"A historical prodigy who became a 4-star mage at thirteen."

Why would such a being be collecting flesh?

It could be his own ambition, or it could be an order from the Mage Alliance.

This was not an area for conjecture. It was an answer that could only be obtained by asking. But there was another question Jack needed to ask right now.

"Why did you keep me alive?"

To that question, the genius mage, who had rewritten all historical records in the magical world at thirteen, vaguely averted his gaze and said.

"That is…"

"?"

"…Is the reason that important?"

At that moment, Jack felt that this must be the kind of compassion one who seeks truth shows towards life.

Jack is a master marksman.

He was a genius who could infer the meaning just by looking at the target's eyes and movements. That's why he couldn't help but be deeply moved.

"But if you go around doing things like this again, I'll kill you then, okay? Honestly, I wish you would, so I could finish the magic I was doing earlier."

Truly a childish provocation.

But from an adult's perspective, it was such a trivial provocation that Rin's pure intention of wanting Jack to abandon evil was all too evident.

Who's the adult here, I wonder…

"You'd better go help your bodyguard. My buddy, though lower in rank than me, is by no means weak."

"Meaning he's weaker than you?"

"That's how it is, but the outcome of a match between an archer and a swordsman cannot be determined by rank alone."

"So no matter how strong he is, he's about as strong as you?"

"That's right."

"Then I don't have to go."

"Why?"

"Why, because—"

That reason soon emerged, pushing through the bushes.

Jack's mouth dropped open.

The bodyguard appeared holding Janna by the nape of her neck, and neither of them had any injuries on their bodies.

This implied a tremendous underlying meaning.

Because it meant he had subdued and captured Janna lightly, without suffering any harm himself, and without inflicting any critical blow on her.

"Just what in the world happened…?"