Chapter 173: The Strongest Smus Warrior (2)


    ‘There we go!’


    As soon as the arrow left the bowstring, Ian felt certainty from the sense he felt at the tips of his fingers.


    ‘If I can’t win against this guy with speed anyways, then the right way to go is maximizing my uracy rate and rapid-firing abilities.’


    The fact that it was difficult to aim and hit a moving target was an obvious truth.


    On top of that, if the target was an arrow that was flying at a tremendous speed of over 200 km/hr, there was nothing more to say.


    However, Ian was thinking of hitting the arrows that flew towards him.


    Bang-!


    As the arrows filled with a powerful strength met in the air, those ns became a reality.


    And the arrow that followed right behind that pierced through the boom and flew through to graze the side of the Smus warrior.


    He wasn’t able to deal critical damage, but because of the powerful strength that was attached to the arrow, the Smus warrior that received a bit of damage let out a low groan from his mouth.


    “Euk…”


    Eclipse, who was watching that scene from the outer area of the arena, was also staring at Ian with an interested expression.


    ? Oh, to have thought he would use such a tactic.


    It was a method that couldn’t even be attempted if one didn’t have enough guts and confidence.


    Truthfully, aside from gravity, the arena didn’t allow any other factors to affect the trajectory of the arrow, and as it was a VR game which was more generous than reality when it came to the shot judgment, it was a method that was possible, but either way, there was no change to the fact that Ian’s archery skills were to the point that they were wizardry.


    Ping- Pi-ping-!


    With his stance locked down, Ian continuously shot out arrows.


    As he didn’t move his body even one step, his uracy rate increasing by hundred-fold was a definite, but his shooting speed also increased even more.


    Of course, Ian also couldn’t hit all 100% of his opponent’s arrows and drop them.


    However, he seeded in intercepting over half of them, and for the rest, he was avoiding them by twisting his body or avoiding them with the least amount of movement possible.


    As the situation was like this, thanks to their simr abilities, the two people’s match that was too close to call began to lean towards Ian’s side more and more.


    Kaizar, who was watching the battle silently, opened his mouth towards Eclipse.


    “What do you think, Eclipse?”


    At Kaizar’s question, Eclipse slowly nodded his head as he replied shortly.


    ? It looks like I will have to acknowledge it this time.


    And Eclipse’s body, which was floating in the air, slowly began to fade.


    ? It seems my turn wille soon. I should prepare.


    After staring back and forth at Eclipse and Ian, Kaizar grinned as he began to watch the battle again.


    * * *


    “Hmm, so this is the fortress that blocked the attack of the DarkRuna Guildst time, huh?”


    The defensive fortress of the Pyro Domain.


    One man, who stood a little bit away from the defensive wall, slowly began to walk towards the fortress.


    It seemed he had put all of his personal settings to private, as no information popped up.


    On top of that, as he was wearing ck shamanist clothing and even a ck mask, he hadpletely hidden his identity, and with careful movements he melted into the crowd.


    “I need to go inside and take a look at the structure…”


    Anybody was allowed to enter the Pyro Domain as long as you were a user of the Luspel Empire.


    However, the defensive fortress that was made up of three tallyers of defensive walls controlled entry rigorously.


    It was a measure taken so that the internal structure of the fortress that wasplexly built for imprable defense wasn’t revealed to the outside.


    To go inside of the fortress, you had to be a guild member of the Lotus Guild or you needed the permission of the Guild Master Herz.


    However, it seemed this man was indifferent about that as he approached the rampart without hesitation.


    And shortly after.


    Seu-reu-reuk-.


    As if the man’s body melted into the darkness, he became transparent.


    He had used the ability Hide, which could be considered the representative ability of the Assassin.


    After having be invisible from using hide, he quickly climbed up the rampart.


    ‘I just need to be careful of the field of vision of the defensive towers with the Detector ability.’


    Amongst the defensive towers, there were ones loaded with a detecting ability that could percept invisibility as well.


    Because defensive towers were much more expensive thanpared to their fighting power, normally not a lot of them are built. Still, because they were ced all over the Pyro Domain fortress, his movements were incredibly careful.


    ‘How exactly were they able to prepare a Defensive Power at this scale in such a short amount of time?’


    With proficient movements, the man dug through each corner of the fortress as he began to capture the structure into his eyes.


    His movements of hiding his body in ces where the eyes of the guards couldn’t reach whenever the duration of his invisibility ended were as nimble and quiet as an alley cat.


    ‘Hmm… It looks like I won’t be able to go in there no matter what kind of method I use.’


    After sessfully investigating all of the fortress aside from a couple of ces that werepletely surrounded by detecting towers, he threw his body out of the fortress with quiet footsteps.


    Ta-tat-!


    The man threw his body down from incredibly high rampart without hesitation.


    It was an incredibly high height to the point that it would have been hard to escape instantaneous death if he was to hit the floor just like that, but he had such a rxed expression.


    However, shortly after.


    Seu-reu-reuk-.


    A ck fog burst out from the body of the falling man, and he suddenly transformed into the form of a crow.


    Caw- caw-!


    The crow, who had such ck feathers that it looked glossy, pped its wings towards darkness as it disappeared leisurely.


    * * *


    As Ian was using a bow, which was the weapon he was most confident with, he easily won against the B-rank Smus warrior.


    ? You have sessfully suppressed the B-rank Smus warrior.


    ? As you have seeded in suppressing them overwhelmingly in a short amount of time, you have jumped straight over the A-rank.


    The opponent that he faced next after even jumping over the A-rank with an overwhelming difference was none other than Eclipse.


    Ian narrowed his eyes as he asked.


    “Hmm… Were you the S-rank judge?”


    And at that question, Eclipse nodded his head.


    ? That’s right, Ian.


    Despite the one ranking battle finishing, the ‘Judgment Longbow of the Spirit King’ was still in Ian’s hands.


    And over Eclipse’s shoulder, the Judgment Sword shone a bright white light.


    Ian stared back and forth at the Judgment Bow in his hands and Eclipse’s Judgment Greatsword as he opened his mouth again.


    “It looks like this battle will not proceed with the same conditions as before.”


    Eclipse nodded his head.


    ? You’re sharp.


    Whoong-.


    While looking at him draw the greatsword hanging on his back and swing it back and forth in the air, Ian broke out into a cold sweat.


    ‘What the hell? How high is his Strength stat for him to be able to swing that so easily with one hand like that?’


    Eclipse’s words continued.


    ? Thisst battle it will be a battle that I will end up winning no matter what.


    “…?”


    ? No matter how good your fighting sense may be, it’s not enough to ovee the level difference between you and me with tricks.


    At Eclipse’s information that popped up above his head as soon as he was done speaking, Ian blinked his eyes, dumbfounded.


    ? Eclipse (Summoner) – Lv 250


    It was the first lv 250 he was seeing after Kaizar.


    Ian barely held back the string of swear words that almost came out.


    ‘No, what the hell, he should have given me a quest that I would be able to get through, how can there be such an unbnced stage setup?’


    Just like Eclipse’s words, no matter how much Ian flew and crawled, it would be impossible for him to ovee a 100-level difference.


    Ian let out a deep sigh as he opened his mouth.


    “It’s just as you said, mister. A fight that the result is already decided for anyways… Is there a reason to do it?”


    Eclipseughed as he replied.


    ? The result of the battle is decided, but there is still a reason for you to fight.


    “What is it?”


    ? There’s no need for you to defeat me here. As long as you are just acknowledged by me, you will receive the qualification for an S-rank.


    At those words, Ian’s disappointed expression slightly brightened.


    “Oh, if that’s the case…!”


    ? To be more precise, I should probably say that it is not my acknowledgment, but the acknowledgment of the ancestors.


    “Whatever it is, I got it. I’ll just do my best for now.”


    Ian spun the English Longbow that was in his hand in circles as he grinned.


    And at that overflowing confidence that he was showing, Eclipse also wore a satisfied expression as he replied.


    ? Alright, then shall we get started?


    As soon as Eclipse’s words ended, a countdown that notified of the battle began to ring through the arena.


    ? 3… 2… 1…


    Ian quickly ced an arrow against his bowstring.


    Piiing-!


    With Ian’s arrow leaving the bowstring as the start, the two people’s battle began.


    ? It looks like I’ll be able to warm up my body for the first time in a while.


    Eclipse swung the giant greatsword back and forth as he countered Ian’s arrow.


    Just like Eclipse forecasted, thebat stat difference between Ian and him was indeed overwhelming.


    However, it wasn’t like Ian was easily allowing his attacks tond on him either.


    Whoong-!


    This was because when it came to battles against someone powerful, Ian’s statposition, where hisbat abilities were umted on Agility, shone.


    Bang-!


    As Eclipse’s greatsword hit the ground of the arena, a boom rang out, and crushed rocks flew out in all directions.


    Ting- Ti-ting-!


    Ian evaded Eclipse, who charged at him, as he ced two arrows against the bowstring at once before shooting.


    When maintaining a steady distance while battling, the tactic of cing two or more arrows against the bowstring was something even Ian didn’t really use.


    This was because this brought an extreme drop to one’s uracy rate.


    However, when one needed to battle within a very short range like now, it was a different story.


    Ian had the ability to hit a target that was 1-2 metres in front of him even if he was to ce two, no, even three arrows against the bowstring.


    Ta-tang-!


    As Ian’s arrow hit the face of Eclipse’s sword, a metallic sound rang out, and he opened his mouth while slightly frowning.


    ? So, you use petty tricks, Ian.


    Ian continuously moved his body as he shortly responded.


    “It is, however, a high-ss skill.”


    The two people’s offensive and defensive battle proceeded fiercely for over 10 minutes.


    Ian was fighting well against an opponent whom he had a 100-level difference with.


    Ian’s exceptional control ability exerted the most influence as to why this was possible, but there were other reasons as well.


    Firstly, because they didn’t have any other equipment equipped aside from each of their weapons, nor could they even use any skills aside from their basic attack, it was thanks to that, that his pure control ability shone even more.


    However, as time passed, Ian ended up allowing Eclipse tond a proper hit.


    Bang-!


    “Euk-!”


    From just one of Eclipse’s hits, Ian was pushedpletely back before he rolled along the ground.


    It wasn’t as big of a skill like the one that Ian disyed when fighting the D-rank Smus warrior, but because Eclipse’s stats were so high, the damage of even an attack with a short track was incredible.


    While looking at his Vitality gauge bar that began to blink, Ian grumbled.


    “No, how are you so ignorantly strong?”


    Eclipse tightened his grip on his sword as he slightly nced at Kaizar.


    ? I’m probably weaker than that dude.


    And Eclipse charged forward again.


    While looking at his spirit, which was different from before, Ian internally let out a deep sigh.


    ‘As expected, he was taking it easy on me up until now.’


    While Eclipse showed a little faster and stronger movements little by little, he continuously suppressed Ian.


    From Ian’s perspective, Eclipse could immediately finish the battle.


    However, he just continued to corner Ian to his limits, and didn’t go ahead with the deciding attack.


    Had they fought about another ten minutes like that?


    Ian somewhat felt like he was being toyed with, but still, he wasn’tpletely in a bad mood.


    This was because he was moving his body crazily while battling one-on-one without borrowing the strength of his Familiars for the first time in a while.


    It felt as if he was reawakening the senses he was losing.


    However, just then, as Ian felt a foreign energy sink into his body, he widened his eyes.


    ‘What the hell is this now?’


    Along with that, a couple system messages popped up in front of Ian’s eyes.


    ? The Ancient Smus Warriors have acknowledged yourbat abilities.


    ? Your Potential that was imprisoned inside of you has been released.


    ? All of yourbat abilities have increased by 50%.