??*And with the handshakes out of the way, the battle between the strongest archer and the strongest summoner in the younger generation starts!*


    (Zach would have been the strongest archer in the younger generation if he was still alive…)


    *Let the countdown begin! 3!... 2!... 1!... fight!*


    Renna thought that Liam would jump back and try to summon his familiars, but she was sorely mistaken.


    Unlike ordinary summoners, who can barely use any lethal magic, Liam can use any type of magic because of the blessings of a true dragon.


    Shadow dragons are quite good at supporting, and Ellie is also exceptionally good at enhancing Liam''s magic.


    Thus, when Liam didn''t try to summon, Renna was taken aback for a moment, and that was enough for Liam to cast his magic.


    [Advanced Wind Magic: Wind Tornado Drill!]


    A huge magic circle appeared in front of Liam, and a gigantic, drill-shaped wind tornado fired towards Renna at a speed much faster than sound itself.


    But Renna was determined not to lose this early in the match.


    [Helen style: Repulsion type: Condensed Wind Arrow!]


    As the old saying goes, destroy poison with poison, and Renna did just that.


    She condensed the wind elements to create a wind arrow and fired it at the drill tornado.


    When the wind arrow collided with Liam''s attack, it burst apart and spread around to create repulsion, causing the wind tornado to scatter.


    Although she perfectly countered this attack, she knew that this was merely a show of power by Liam and nothing else.


    He was trying to show that he could use other things besides his familiars.


    ''He''s trying to intimidate me…''


    Indeed, if it were an ordinary A-ranker, they would have already been intimidated by Liam.


    Not only can Liam summon powerful beasts, he himself can fight with powerful magic, so the chances of winning against him are very low.


    ''But I won''t back down now; for the sake of the princess, I must fight…''


    [Helen Style: Precision Type: Fire Arrow Rain!]


    Renna stretched the bow string, condensed an arrow from fire elementals, and fired it at the sky.


    She repeated this more than a hundred times. (Don''t think it''s slow; she fired those hundred arrows in a matter of three seconds….)


    Furthermore, each of those arrows was of the ''precision type'', which means they will track down Liam through his mana and then pursue him no matter where he goes.


    A smile appeared on Liam''s face when he saw the sky, which was already filled with fire arrows.


    He immediately stomped the ground, and a magic circle appeared below his feet.


    [Summon: Titan Mammoth!]


    A gigantic mammoth emerged from the summoning circle and attempted to block Liam from the arrow rain.


    Seeing this, Renna smirked and said,


    "You think I will make the same mistake again? You used this mammoth to ck my attacks in the groupbat phase; I have already seen this trick once!"


    Renna waved her hand, and those hundreds of arrows fell from the sky at a speed three times faster than sound.


    Moreover, they directly bypassed the mammoth and aimed at Liam instead.


    Despite the approaching arrow rain, Liam remained unfazed and proceeded to order the mammoth.


    [Markom: Charged rush!]


    Summoned beasts have their own set of skills; you need to say their name and then tell them about the skill that they need to use to properly make the summoned beast attack the opponent. Usually summoners need to shout thesemands, but Liam has an amazing connection to his summoned beast, so he can speak to them directly through his mind.


    Thus, hismands are extremely efficient.


    (By the way, Markom is the name of that mammoth…)


    Liampletely ignored those arrowsing toward him and instead ordered Markom to attack Renna.


    This unexpected turn of events even surprised Renna.


    She was unaware that a shadow barrier had been protecting Liam all along.


    He can''t use the skills of the other summoned beasts without summoning them first, but that''s not the case with Ellie.


    She can protect him even if she isn''t on the field, and that''s exactly what she did.


    [Shadow Dragon''s Blessing: Shadow Barrier!]


    A shadow barrier covered Liam in its protection.


    All of the fire arrows that fell on it had little to no effect on the shadow barrier, as shadow magic and fire magic are direct counters of each other; whoever is the strong one wins easily.


    Seeing that Liam waspletely safe from her attacks, Renna gritted her teeth and decided to focus on dodging.


    Renna is an archer, and her physique is not strong; moreover, she doesn''t have the barrier protections like Liam, so it''s easier for her to get injured.


    She will lose if she doesn''t avoid this mammoth''s charge attack.


    [Helen Style: Defensive Type: Earth Wall!]


    Renna condensed an arrow made from earth elements and fired it towards the ground.


    After striking the ground, the arrow burst apart, and the earth elements inside it rushed out to form a massive wall ofpressed stones.


    Obviously, that fickle wall wasn''t enough to stop the attack of that gigantic mammoth, but it could buy some time for Renna.


    When Markom hit the wall, his attack got dyed for a few milliseconds, and that was enough for Renna to condense a wind arrow and fire it toward the ground near her feet.


    [Helen Style: Repulsion Type: Condensed Wind Arrow!]


    After hitting the ground, the wind arrow burst apart and spread, causing massive repulsion, which gave Renna a boost in speed as she dodged the mammoth''s attack.


    Markom couldn''t change his trajectory mid-attack, so he bypassed Renna directly after she left his field of view, and he ended up hitting the SS-rank barrier behind instead.


    But Liam wasn''t going to give Renna time to breathe.


    He stomped his leg, and with Ellie''s help, he cast


    [Shadow Dragon''s Blessing: Shadow Field!]


    Now that Liam is an A-ranker, he can bear the excessive load of Ellie''s abilities more easily.


    So when he used the shadow field, it was so big that it covered the whole stadium ground and only stopped after touching the SS-rank barrier.


    (Originally, it was much smaller when he used it against Rio in the group survival test, but now it''s much bigger whenpared to that time…)


    Not only did the shadow field ce enormous gravitational pressure on Renna, but it also made it difficult for her to use mana in this field.


    The enormous gravitational pressure made it difficult for Renna to move, so if Markom attacks again, she won''t be able to dodge it the next time.


    Moreover, this shadow field forced the mana in the surroundings to condense near Liam to help him further, which caused the mana to get thinner in the surroundings near Renna.


    Now, neither Renna could move, nor her attacks would have the same lethality as before.


    She was cornered by Liam easily.


    This is the horror of a summoner who has a dragon''s blessing.


    Renna made it to the fourth day of the tournament, which means she has won until now, and that shows her excellence.


    But even such a genius was reduced to a helpless state by Liam in just a few moves, which just shows how insanely strong Liam is when you aren''tparing him to Link and Rio.


    He''s in a league of his own.


    "Surrender now! Or Markom will crush you under his feet!"


    Hearing Liam''s words, Renna sighed and raised her bow with a smile on her face.


    "You are showing your power, so I must now let you down… I will use my strongest attack on you!"


    Renna took an air-tight, perfect stance in an instant.


    Her eyes closed as she moved the mana into her body.


    Seeing Renna take that stance all of a sudden, Liam felt a sudden chill run down his spine.


    ''Not good, something dangerous ising…''


    Liam, possessing strong intuition and a tendency to remain vignt, immediately stomped the ground and called out again.


    [Summon: Demonic Chimera!]


    Kazto emerged from the summoning circle and stood in front of Liam.


    At that moment, Renna was also condensing mana to form an arrow.


    [Blessing of the World Tree: Wood Condension!]


    [Helen Style: Secret Art: Unstoppable Heart Piercer!]


    Renna concentrated all of her mana into that single attack, condensing the arrow into a state so solid it resembled a real wood arrow.


    Moreover, that wood form was not simple either; it was enhanced by the world tree''s blessing that Renna can only use once per day.


    *Bam!*


    The arrowunched from Renna''s bow and flew toward Liam at a speed ten times faster than sound itself.


    It was nearly as fast as Rio''s speed when he used his Darkwing movement arts.


    The arrow created a sonic boom in the air, and a shockwave spread from where it wasunched; even the ground cracked due to that shockwave.


    Seeing that arrow, Ellie immediately warned Liam.


    [Master, I can feel it… I can''t stop that arrow with the shadow barrier… It seems to have been temporarily blessed by a w''… like how ''sword intent'' and ''dao rhythm'' works…]


    [We can''t stop that arrow!]


    Ellie was worried about Liam''s safety at that moment, but Liam was totally unfazed.


    A smirk appeared on Liam''s face.


    ''Indeed, summoning Kazto was the best choice after all…''


    Liam waved his hand and gave an order to Kazto.


    [Kazto: Space warp: Spatial Loop!]


    At Liam''s order, Kazto ced his hand on his head, and the space around Liam warped in an instant.


    When the unstoppable arrow came into contact with that warped space, it got stuck in it and started to spin around Liam in a circle, as Kazto had already trapped it in a spatial loop.


    As long as Liam''s mana doesn''t run out, Kazto can maintain that spatial loop, and that arrow will continue to circle in that warped space, which means it will not be able to hit Liam at all.


    Seeing that her final attack was also countered by Liam, Renna couldn''t help but sigh in helplessness.


    She sat down and stopped resisting the enormous gravitational force.


    "I admit defeat…"


    Renna had poured all of her mana into that one attack, and now that it was countered, she already knew that she was defeated thoroughly. There was no point in continuing this fight anymore.


    If she didn''t admitted defeat, that gigantic mammoth would have hit her next, and this time she doesn''t have the mana to dodge it''s attack.


    Thus, she decided to admit defeat.


    …


    …


    Author''s Note.


    Yo! It''s your beloved author here! Every candidate has some kind of hidden trump card here! It''s so amazing!!


    Question of the day.


    Which side character ability did you like the most?


    1. Arner''s unavoidable thunder


    2. Renna''s unstoppable, heart-piercing arrow


    3. Others


    By the way, don''t forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.